Apr 15 1977
From The Space Library
JSC announced award of a $5 189 500 supplement to an existing contract with Rockwell International's Space Division, Downey, Calif., covering 8 engineering changes in the Space Shuttle orbiter to accommodate the European-built Spacelab in the Shuttle's cargo bay. (JSC Release 77-26)
Industrial exploration had made sweeping changes in today's society, ranging from thumbnail-size computers to Space Shuttles operating with the regularity of commercial airlines, Rockwell International chairman W.F. Rockwell, Jr., told the annual Explorers Club dinner in New York City. A microprocessor small enough to balance on the end of a thumb could compute 10 times faster than a 30-ton device introduced in 1946, and would cost $15 to $20, compared to the millions of dollars that the old computer cost, he said. Forecasting the potential of the Shuttle, being developed largely by Rockwell for NASA, he reviewed possible payloads including solar power satellites and navsats; he ended by comparing explorers setting out in search of new discoveries and new knowledge with the explorers in industry searching to improve products and service. (Rockwell Release R-18)
ERDA announced it had selected Shenandoah, Ga., as the site for building a second solar total-energy experimental plant. The factory, manufacturing knitwear, would be the first in the U.S. to get all its electric power, steam, heating, and cooling from solar energy. A West German firm, Wilhelm Bleyle K.G., would operate the factory and the Georgia Power Co. would operate the solar-energy plant to provide up to 200kw of electricity and 1200kw of heat energy. Construction should begin in 1979 and be completed in 1981.
Robert Fri, acting ERDA administrator, said the knitwear factory would demonstrate the production of hot water and steam as byproducts of solar-power generation, making year-round use of the heat that would otherwise be wasted during the mild weather of spring and fall in that area. ERDA had planned another experimental total solar-energy plant, scheduled to begin construction in 1978 to serve Ft. Hood army base in Killeen, Tex. (ERDA Release 77-70)
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