Feb 24 1978
From The Space Library
NASA announced that Nimbus 6, a meteorological research satellite, would track the 6000km (3728mi) journey by dogsled of a lone Japanese explorer from northern Canada to the North Pole and back. The Smithsonian Institution, which had a scientific stake in the venture, had asked GSFC to manage the tracking. The 6-mo journey would begin March 4, 1978. The explorer, 37-yr-old Naomi Uemura of Tokyo, had driven a dogsled solo some 12 000km (7457mi) from Greenland to Alaska over an 18mo period in 1975 and 1976. During his upcoming Arctic journey, Uemura would carry a 4.5kg (101b) battery powered satellite beacon on his dogsled to transmit once per min an automatic radio signal, including local temperature and atmospheric pressure. Nimbus 6 overflying the pole every 108min would monitor the signals and collect the data for relay to GSFC by a NASA tracking station in Fairbanks, Alaska, Uemura would systematically collect snow, ice, and air samples for Japan's Natl. Inst. of Polar Research and the Water Research Inst. of Nagoya Univ. Researchers needed as accurate a record as possible of Uemura's daily positions to correlate with the collected data. Satellite-tracking data would also verify Uemura's dead reckoning and celestial-navigation readings, particularly difficult in polar regions. NASA's expenditures on the venture would be minimal because both the Nimbus 6 and its ground-control computer would be routinely operating on a 24hr basis. (NASA Release 78-29)
DFRC reported that it had awarded the Ames Industrial Corp., Bohemia, N.Y., a,$218 000 fixed-price contract to develop and fabricate a small lightweight manned oblique-wing aircraft. NASA had begun a low-cost study of piloting an oblique-wing aircraft. At lower flight speeds, the wing would orient itself perpendicular to the fuselage, producing efficient quiet operation for takeoff and landing and for lowspeed cruise flight. This would substantially reduce engine thrust required for takeoff, resulting in quieter operations during takeoff and landing. In high-speed flight, the wing would pivot fore and aft, forming oblique (up to 60°) angles with the aircraft fuselage.
Studies had suggested the "scissor-wing" concept would offer better flight performance at high speeds; as an aircraft went faster, pivoting the wing to an oblique angle would decrease air drag, giving increased speed and longer range for the same fuel expenditure. Computer and windtunnel studies at ARC had shown that an oblique-wing transport aircraft flying at 1000mph might realize twice the fuel economy of either the current British-French Concorde or the Soviet SST, and also might alleviate the sonic-boom problem. DFRC expected delivery of the aircraft in late 1978 and planned its first flights early in 1979. (DFRC X-Press, Feb 24/78)
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