Aug 10 1993
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Negotiations between Grumman Aerospace Corporation and Federal prosecutors broke down as they sought to resolve long-standing allegations stemming from the "Ill Wind" defense contracting scandal. Grumman agreed to pay about $20 million in penalties to settle a civil proceedings from the investigation, but said that the company wanted to simultaneously settle allegations that it had overcharged NASA on a computer contract. The prosecutors refused to settle, pending a Justice Department investigation of the NASA sources. (W Post, Aug 10/93)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Magellan Project officials announced the successful first-of-a-kind experiment to "aerobrake" a spacecraft by dipping it into the atmosphere of a planet. The Magellan spacecraft's orbit was changed from highly elliptical to nearly circular by dragging it through the top of the thick Venusian atmosphere repeatedly over a period of 70 days, ending on August 3, 1997.
The maneuver required minimal use of thruster fuel. Because fuel weight increases a spacecraft's launching costs and limits how many science experiments it can carry, aerobraking might allow NASA to save fuel and money on future spacecraft and conduct explorations that otherwise would not be possible, according to Magellan's Deputy Mission Director. The experiment also made it possible to gain another year of science from an old craft already in space.
Scientists said that the new orbit would give them an opportunity to analyze the rolling molten interior of Venus and study the planet's dense carbon dioxide atmosphere. Continuing with the probe, however, was dependent on inclusion of the project in NASA's budget for next year. (NASA Release 93-144; AP, Aug 10/93)
The first test flight of a reusable single-stage rocket, called the Delta Clipper Experimental, was scheduled to occur shortly at the White Sands Test Facility, a Federal site in the New Mexico desert. The 42-foot, 20-ton prototype was built by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation for the Defense Department. (NY Times, Aug 10/93)
The Wall Street Journal reported on the efforts of Japan to develop its own aerospace program, especially its work in developing advanced ceramic composite materials that could help protect future Japanese planes and spacecraft. (WSJ, Aug 10/93)
Clinton administration officials reported that the White House was completing plans to permit the export of U.S. rocket technology that had been restricted out of fear it would be used to develop ballistic missiles. The proposal to allow the sale of space technology under strengthened safeguards was part of a review of export policy ordered by President Clinton. (LA Times, Aug 10/93)
NASA announced that during the third week in July it had delivered the first data sets from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) to the National Space Science Data Center at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. As a result, researchers from around the world now have access to the COBE data that provided the scientific community with an unprecedented look at how the universe began. (NASA Release 93-145)
Technicians reentered the engine compartment of Space Shuttle Discovery to replace what was believed to be a bad temperature sensor. The problem delayed some launch countdown preparations but, according to Shuttle Test Director Mike Leinbach, posed no threat to the launch, scheduled for the morning of August 12. (B Sun, Aug 12/93; RTW Aug 11/93, Aug 12/93; UPI, Aug 11/93; P Inq, Aug 12/93; W Post, Aug 12/93; USA Today, Aug 12/93)
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that NASA was renewing its interest in aeronautics. In 1992, aeronautics accounted for about eight percent of NASA's $14.3 billion budget; if the Agency got the funding it had requested, NASA planned to spend $8.6 billion on aeronautics from 1994 though 1998-an increase of 50 percent. (San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 11, 1993; LA Times, Aug 25/93)
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