Dec 21 1984
From The Space Library
NASA announced that a six-member team from GSFC was helping to establish the first satellite data link to the South Pole that would make possible real-time collection of scientific data from the pole, which was not possible in the past. The effort was in support of a joint program with the National Science Foundation; the Applied Research Laboratory of the University of Texas, Austin; NOAA; and a number of other government, private, and education institutions. To establish a real-time communications link by any means other than by satellite would cost as much as $35 million compared with approximately $250,000 via satellite, "The project could revolutionize communications in the region," said Goddard engineer Michael Comberiate. "Currently, scientific data collected from the Pole during the winter months must be stored and shipped out by aircraft during Astral Summer" (November 1-February 1). The link would use existing polar-orbiting satellites to relay data from the pole to McMurdo Sound, which would retransmit the data to a geostationary satellite that, in turn, would transmit the information to the continental United States. This routing was necessary because signals from the transmitter at the Pole (90°S latitude) were too far below the horizon to be acquired by a geostationary satellite. The McMurdo station, however, was located on the edge of the Antarctic (77°S) and was barely in view of the geostationary satellite. The link with polar orbiting Landsat 4 and Landsat 5, with Dynamics Explorer 1 (DE-1), and with Nimbus 7 would allow reliable transmission of routine, high-volume data from scientific investigations being conducted at the Pole by 20 different institutions. (NASA Release, Dec 21/84)
A Titan 34-D rocket with a top-secret payload was launched at 7:02 p.m. local time from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in what might be the final military space mission of the year. An Air Force statement did not indicate whether the payload reached the planned orbit. The next announced DOD launching was scheduled for January 23, 1985, when the Space Shuttle would carry an intelligence satellite into orbit. (NY Times, Dec 23/84, A-14)
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