Apr 5 1971
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First simulated altitude test of manned Apollo 15 CM in KSC vacuum chamber was postponed after oil was found leaking from light fixture. Problem did not affect spacecraft. {SBD, 4/6/71, 183)
Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences continued hearings on NASA FY 1972 authorization. Roy P. Jackson, NASA Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, testified that LeRC quiet engine program was proceeding on schedule: "Tests of full-scale fans for the engine have revealed much new information on the interrelationships among noise, aerodynamic performance, and structural integrity. The complete experimental engine will be operated in about 6 months. Results ... indicate that we may expect to better the original noise abatement goals. Program results are given to industry on a continuing basis. . . . We can expect some of our improvements to be adopted by industry in new engine designs before completion of our program." NASA AEC Space Nuclear Systems Office Manager Milton Klein said: "Reactor power sources will be required to provide power in amounts greater than a few kilowatts for many of the missions of the future. For unmanned military satellites, radiation hardening-mandatory for certain military missions-and low recurring costs for multiple missions are important advantages of small reactor systems. For unmanned NASA earth orbit missions, reactors become cost effective above a few kilowatts, a power range needed for such applications missions as communications satellites. In manned missions over-riding advantage of reactor systems is their ability to accommodate unforeseen large increases in power demand." Advanced reactor systems "are needed for electric propulsion systems capable of high energy missions ... to the far planets" Associate Administrator for Tracking and Data Acquisition Gerald M. Truszynski reported that satellite network included "ten electronic ground stations ... operated by NASA, which are supplemented by an optical tracking network operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The electronic stations provide a worldwide system which ... tracks each satellite . . . determines the status of onboard systems.. . commands the satellite's functions, and ... acquires stored or real-time data from the satellite. The optical stations, which include laser capabilities at selected sites, provide specialized services in precision orbital tracking." (Transcript)
LeRC was studying blown-flap STOL aircraft using series of fans mounted atop each flap semispan, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Concept was similar to fan/flap arrangements studied in wind tunnel tests: Bleed air from main engines was ducted to periphery of each fan nacelle and drove fans through tip turbines. now from fans then passed over flaps, which could be deflected up to 60¦ for landing. (Av Wk, 4/5/71, 44)
April 5-7: Conference on Remote Sensing of Chesapeake Bay was held at Wallops Station to identify primary environmental problems of area and determine extent to which remote sensing from aircraft or satellites could contribute to solution. States of Maryland and Delaware, Commonwealth of Virginia, NASA, and Smithsonian Institution participated. Chesapeake Bay area was one of four regional test sites under consideration for evaluation of remote sensing techniques. Experiments would be conducted in area using data to be acquired by first Earth Resources Technology Satellite (EETS-A) scheduled for launch by NASA in spring 1972. (NASA Release 71-55; WS PAO)
National Endowment for Humanities sponsored Thomas Harriot Symposium at Univ. of Delaware, honoring Elizabethan mathematician, astronomer, geographer, navigator, and philosopher sent to New World in 1585 by his patron, Sir Walter Raleigh. Harriet had written first English account of wealth of America, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. After 350 yrs of obscurity, Harriot was being revived by scholars who were mentioning his name with Kepler and Galileo, New York Times reported. Harriot had independently begun telescopic observation of heavens in July of 1609, at about time Galileo did in Italy, and had drawn what was believed to be earliest map of moon in which vast seas and craters were recognizable. He had observed and counted sun spots through telescope using London fog as filter and had calculated period of solar rotation and traced moons of Jupiter. In 1601 he had discovered law governing refraction of light. (Reinhold, NYT, 4/8/71, 39)
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