May 26 1976
From The Space Library
NASA announced plans for a 3-mo demonstration this summer of using Ats 6-known as the "teacher in the sky"-to help some of the world's poorest people boost food production, improve health and nutrition, expand family planning, and raise income levels, through applications of remote sensing, space communications, and high-resolution aerial photography. The program, a joint effort of NASA and the Agency for International Development, would consist of both filmed and live portions broadcast to as many as 30 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. AID would provide $3 million to finance the demonstration. At a UN conference in Nairobi 6 May on trade and development, Secretary of State Kissinger emphasized the use of satellite technology to improve cooperation between industrialized and developing nations; depending upon the response to the broadcasts, AID would be prepared to propose to Congress a long-range follow-up technology program. Ats-6 was completing a year-long program of instructional television for India; upon completion of this mission 31 July, NASA would move the satellite to a location over the Western Hemisphere where it would beam audio or audiovisual presentations in black and white or in color to special receivers on the ground. AID officials and NASA specialists would set up one transmitter-receiver unit in the capital of each participating country, and up to 5 receivers in outlying locations; each receiver terminal would be equipped with color-television monitors. The live portion of the demonstration would feature 2-way discussions between U.S. personalities and representatives of the recipient countries; a local program would be developed in the host country to demonstrate the communications abilities of the ATS. NASA would be responsible for moving the equipment from country to country and for operation of the satellite and associated equipment. (NASA Release 76-101)
A new device developed by the USAF Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards AFB, Calif., would permit an annual "physical examination" of the motors of intercontinental ballistic missiles while the missiles were still in the silo. The practice of removing the motors for inspection had resulted in high costs for handling and transportation as well as high risk of damage to the motors. The AF Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) at Los Angeles asked AFRPL to find a compact, safe, and economical means of inspection, and acoustical holography was selected. The system when fully developed would be able to scan the outside of an intact missile top to bottom, probing the propellant inside its motors. The device worked much like sonar, transmitting high-frequency sound waves and registering reflected vibrations; the reflected waves, processed electronically, would reproduce any flaws in the propellant on a cathode ray tube for instant viewing or photographing, and the information would be stored in a computer for later evaluation. Future uses of acoustical holography might be made in medical science, improving on current x-ray techniques. (AF Release OIP 174.75)
26-27 May: John H. Disher, Director of Advanced Programs, NASA Office of Manned Space Flight, was keynote speaker at a space industrialization symposium at Marshall Space Flight Center sponsored jointly by MSFC and the Alabama section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Defining apace industrialization as "the use of space to produce a salable/profitable product or a service which companies as a business expense or citizens through their taxes are willing to pay for," Disher reviewed uses of space for communications, weather prediction, navigation and mapping, and earth-resources survey; he then described the advantages of space environment-earth overview, zero gravity, vacuum, heat and waste disposal, and uninterrupted solar energy-for future uses, concluding with a prediction of a growing tourist industry in space. The symposium concluded 26 May at the annual banquet of the Ala. AIAA with an address on "Space Industrialization as a Concept" by Dr. Krafft A. Ehricke, science advisor for North American Space Division, Rockwell International Corp. Sessions of the symposium dealt with space habitation, space transportation, space processing of materials, and space power. The symposium was organized to disseminate recent information on expanded space operations after the advent of the Space Shuttle to all segments of the scientific and technical community; participants included NASA centers, other government agencies, industry and universities. (NASA Release 76-81; MSFC Release 76-64, 76-79; Disher text)
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