Mar 17 1973
From The Space Library
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, reported on NASA's contribution toward environmental improvement, in a speech before the 37th Annual Meeting of the National Wildlife Assn. in Washington, D.C.: "No part of the changing, moving face of the globe we inhabit is free of human influence or removed from human interest. We therefore can afford to leave no part unmonitored. From forest fires to hurricanes, from the slow erosion of granite hills to the short-lived volcanic eruption or avalanche, from the atmospheric particulates to crop diseases to oil spills-we need to know the condition of our environment, minute by minute." From this knowledge would flow the interrelated set of local, national, and international measures "that will make our planet what we want it to be." The key was "to know how they will be deployed and how they will be used. I personally believe that the greatest lag today is in the development of mature social and political institutions to collect, manage, and act on the whole new level of environmental information we are able to generate." The major impact of current activities, largely data collection by ERTS l Earth Resources Technology Satellite (launched by NASA July 23, 1972), would be "to force the development of a new level of maturity on society." NASA's jobs were to extract, display, and use the information its tools could provide. "We must develop and expand natural and predictive models of the new environment . . . to provide . . . real assessments so necessary in real-world decision making." The larger job was the "development of competent local, regional, national, and global institutions that will build and-operate such systems.” (Text)
Infrared photos were made from a leased aircraft by Marshall Space Flight Center's Environmental Applications Office during an Alabama flood emergency. Photos-for analysis of flooded areas, water sources, flow patterns, and runoff routes-had been requested by the U.S.,Geological Survey. They would be used also by civil defense organizations, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Redstone Arsenal engineers, and the North Alabama Regional Council of Governments. (MSFC Release 73-35)
Selection of four companies to continue second-phase development of a microwave landing system was announced by Secretary of Transportation Claude S. Brinegar. International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. had been awarded a $4 765 760 contract; Hazeltine Corp., $4 401000; Bendix Corp., 83 196 090; and Texas Instruments, Inc., $3 063 840. The MLS would provide Category III (zero visibility-zero ceiling) landing capabilities as well as low-cost ground facilities for use at low density airports. (FAA Release 73-15)
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