Aug 9 1985
From The Space Library
A conflict between industrial and developing countries over the use of space would likely be the dominant issue at the five-week World Administrative Radio Conference that would open August 9 in Geneva, the NY Times reported. The meeting was intended to negotiate a plan to avert traffic jams in the space used by orbiting communications satellites.
The conflict existed as a result of the desire of industrial countries to gain an advantage from their technical lead with a flexible approach to assigning orbital slots and the desire of some developing countries to reserve orbital slots years before they might be used.
Communications experts around the world said the increased use of low-cost satellites to expedite domestic, regional, and world communications was leading to a virtual traffic jam in the satellite belt, 22,300 miles above the equator. The radio frequencies that gave the clearest signals also were rapidly filling. The U.S. and INTELSAT used most of the orbit space and radio spectrum.
Reagan Administration officials said they would offer a proposal that the U.S. refrain for 10 years from using parts of the radio spectrum opened to satellite use by a 1979 conference. By staying out of the expanded spectrum, U.S. officials said, the U.S. would reassure less-developed nations that there would be radio room for them when their satellite-launching plans matured. The U.S. plan would let a country ask for radio frequencies 15 years in advance against the current five years.
The U.S. plan would also establish a requirement that countries with a satellite in operation made compensatory payments to countries forced to put satellites in less desirable orbits or forced to use less desirable radio frequencies.
The most persuasive aspect of the U.S. proposal was the prospect that between 50 and 100 U.S. satellites were at some stage of planning, development, or scheduled for launch over the next three years.
Less-developed countries, particularly those in the tropical zone, wanted rigid assignments of radio bands, including the lower frequencies then dominated by the developed nations, because the bad weather common in the tropics did not noticeably disturb those frequencies. (NYT, Aug 7/85, D1)
A flight today of an F-14 marked the completion of the latest phase in the plane's aileron-rudder interconnect (ARI) program, which was intended to coordinate turns, prevent wing rock, and resist spins at high angle of-attach flight conditions, the DFRC X-Press reported. Dryden Space Flight Center (DFRC) modified the F-14 X's basic analog flight control system for ARI.
Although earlier configurations were successful in flight tests, pilots noted a deficiency in loss of roll power in high angle-of-attack flight regions. NASA then developed a “cross control” feature in the ARI system to correct the problem.
The cross control feature allowed the pilot to roll the aircraft opposite to lateral stick input but in the direction of the rudder pedal input. This gave the F-14 pilot roll power needed for tactical maneuvering while the aircraft was in a high angle-of-attack mode.
Flight tests of the cross control feature began in June 1985. Two NASA Ames-DRFC F-15 project pilots, three Navy pilots, and one Grumman pilot flew these initial evaluation flights. As part of the evaluation program, four other Ames-DRFC pilots not involved in the F-14 program flew the aircraft.
NASA Ames-DFRC pilot Ed Schneider said after his flight that “The new modification permits improved rolling performance at angles of attack above 30°, yet the system retains spin resistance and wing rock suppression, both ARI features.” Navy personnel taking part in the evaluation would make presentations on program results to NAVAIR. Navy pilot Lt. Commander Chuck Baucom would also present results at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots' September symposium. (DFRC X-Press, Aug 16/85, 2)
World amateur radio operators participated in the shuttle amateur radio experiment (SAREX) on Space Shuttle mission 51-F, the Lewis News reported. SAREX allowed people connected with amateur radio to talk with Challenger's crew and watch TV transmissions from the flight deck.
The SAREX test, conducted during off-duty hours in cooperation with onboard mission specialists/ham operators Tony England and John-David Bartoe and mission commander Gordon Fullerton, allowed world amateur radio operators access to the Space Shuttle's voice and video transmissions to earth on amateur 2-m band. A video buffer circuit designed, built, and tested by Lewis Research Center (LeRC) ham operators was key to SAREX's success.
The SAREX system worked in two primary modes, one mode at a time. The first allowed voice communications back and forth between radio operators on the ground and spacecraft crew.
The second primary mode was amateur TV. Using a set-up similar to the ham radio system, amateur TV operators and the Space Shuttle crew sent images to one another-the first such use of two-way video in space. Users transmitted color TV pictures in a slow-scan-mode-one picture every 8 to 36 seconds.
SAREX, closely connected to the Young Astronaut Program, was a joint effort of the American Relay League and NASA. A ham radio experiment with mission specialist Owen Garriott conducted in 1983 on STS-9 was generally credited as the genesis for the current SAREX. (Lewis News, Aug 9/85, 1)
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