May 17 1974
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R., with the cooperation of East Germany and Czechoslo-vakia, launched Intercosmos 11 from Baykonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, U.S.S.R., into orbit with a 511-km apogee, 483-km perigee, 94.6-min period, and 50.6° inclination. The spacecraft, launched on the 250th anniversary of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, would study shortwave ultraviolet and x-ray radiation of the sun and the upper atmosphere. (GSFC Wkly SSR, 16-22 May 74; Tass, FIBS-Sov, 21 May 74, U2)
A prototype direct-readout ground station, designed by Goddard Space Flight Center to receive high-resolution weather photos from satellites, left GSFC for Dakar, Senegal. It was to play a key role in the Global At-mospheric Research Program's Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) to study tropical weather patterns. Using the ground station, planners could quickly advise scientists aboard participating ships to focus atten-tion on specific weather conditions and could route aircraft into regions where cloud development was detected. The prototype unit, which pro-duced real-time images as large negative or positive transparencies with a resolution four to eight times greater than units already in use, con-sisted of four vans weighing a total of 12 000 kg. Future models would weigh 270 kg and could be built at modest cost by other countries. (NASA Release 74-129)
NASA announced selection of International Business Machines Corp. for an $11-million, two-year, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to design, develop, and implement a ground-based computing and data-processing system for the space shuttle and other programs. (NASA Release 74-132)
Science and technology might be stepping into a more important role in the conduct of foreign policy, a Science article said. During an April speech before the United Nations Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State, had urged that we "now apply science to the problems which science has helped to create." He proposed international action in four areas: agricultural technology, birth control, energy, and weather. The Science article noted that access to U.S. technology had been a major induce-ment toward detente for the U.S.S.R. and the People's Republic of China. Although the speech had made no specific commitments, the proposals, announced by the Secretary of State, became U.S. Government policy. By calling on science to help solve the world's problems, "Kissinger clearly has the monster in his sights . . . but whether a coherent science policy will emerge is not yet evident." (Wade, Science, 17 May 74, 780- 781 )
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