Oct 3 1974
From The Space Library
A spherical object from Cosmos 654 satellite was reported re-covered in Ohio. Cosmos 654, launched 17 May 1974, had been reported by the press as a Soviet ocean surveillance satellite. The debris was believed to have been a portion of the staging system used to move the craft from its initial low, near-circular orbit into a higher, longer life orbit with a 1022-km apogee and 915-km perigee. There the nuclear systems required for ocean surveillance radar equipment and sensors could decay naturally before the orbit decayed years in the future. (SBD, 3 Oct 74,164-5; GSFC SSR, 31 Oct 74)
3, 4, 9 October: The House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Sub-committee on Space Science and Applications held hearings on 11.11. 14978 and H.R. 15781, bills to establish offices in the Dept. of the Interior and NASA to operate an Earth Resources Survey System. Hugh T. Loweth, Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Science of the Office of Management and Budget, testified that more experimentation was needed before the Earth Resources Technology Satellite program entered the operational phase, but witnesses from industry and other agencies of Government recommended accelerating the program immediately. Dr. Rocco A. Petrone, NASA Associate Administrator, and Charles A. Mathews, Associate Administrator for Applications, opposed adoption of the bills, stressing NASA'S desire for "an evolutionary approach" that minimized an artificial distinction between experimental and operational satellites and concentrated instead on immediate dissemination of data and simultaneous improvement of the system [see 6, 8, 9 Aug. and 18 Sept.]. (Testimony)
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