Apr 3 1978
From The Space Library
NASA announced it had adjudged performance of the HEAO 1 satellite successful, as it had accomplished its primary and secondary objectives. HEAO 1 had demonstrated that, in addition to its operating mode, normal scanning, it could point at specific celestial objects for detailed investigations; it had performed more than 50 pointings. NASA had solved some minor problems with the stored-command programmer early in the mission. The experiment complement had continued to receive high-resolution data over an energy range of 150 to 10 million electron volts. Although the sensitivity of the large-area counter array instruments had degraded, several of the counters remained unimpaired because of their modular construction and were able to achieve overall objectives.
HEAO l data clarified x-ray sources barely visible in older studies; the faintest sources seen were 10 to the 5th times weaker than the first x-ray star (ScoX-1) discovered 15yr ago. HEAO 1 had identified many distant active sources, such as quasars, Seyfert galaxies, and BL Lacerta objects. For example, HEAO 1 observed the BL Lacerta object Markarian-5011 spectra, which were extremely hard, establishing the lack of surrounding gas. HEAO 1 had discovered that the strongest active sources in the galaxy were emitting radiation into the MeV range as a result of stimulation by strong nonthermal emission mechanisms. A map of diffuse x-rays in the range 0.15 to 60KeV indicated a hot thermal plasma extending beyond earth's galaxy, and possibly early evolution of the universe. (NASA MOR S-832-77-01 [postlaunch] April 3/78)
The Mar. 25 launch failure of a Martin Marietta Titan IIIC carrying 2 DOD/TRW defense satellite-communications system (Dscs 2) spacecraft had left the U.S. with degraded defense communications, Av Wk reported. The situation could worsen if one of the aging spacecraft in synchronous orbit should fail before another Dscs 2 launch scheduled in about 6mo. One Dscs 2 spacecraft serving Atlantic Ocean traffic, another serving Western Pacific communications, and a third serving Indian Ocean traffic had normally handled worldwide superhigh-frequency defense-communications requirements for the U.S. A NATO 3B spacecraft had been on loan to provide communications in the Eastern Pacific. One of the lost spacecraft would have orbited over the Western Pacific, and the spacecraft already there would have replaced the Dscs 2 nearing the end of its usefulness above the Indian Ocean. The other spacecraft located over the Eastern Pacific would have freed the NATO 3B spacecraft for return to its primary command. Loss of the 2 spacecraft meant that the oldest Dscs 2 might fail before being replaced, leaving the Indian Ocean areas with less coverage and placing an increased burden on the Atlantic spacecraft.
Two Dscs 2 spacecraft had been intended for launch in 6mo as in-orbit spares; now they would become primary replacements for the pair lost Mar. 25. A normal Dscs 2 system would require 4 operational spacecraft and 2 in-orbit spares. In view of the recent failures and 2 previous ones, future Dscs launches and orbital operations would have to be 100% successful to maintain the system using all 16 spacecraft that NASA had procured. (Av Wk, April 3/78, 19)
A Saturn IB rocket, twin of the one that launched Skylab and Apollo Soyuz test project (ASTP) astronauts into space, would begin a barge journey from KSC to Tokyo Apr. 5, KSC announced. The Saturn IB, part of the largest group of U.S. space hardware ever displayed overseas, would be only one of hundreds of artifacts borrowed from NASA centers across the U.S. for a Japanese space science exposition scheduled to begin July 16, ninth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. The U.S. display would include full-scale Mercury-Redstone, Mercury Atlas, and Gemini-Titan rockets; a lunar rover; Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft that had actually flown in space; a detailed mockup of the Viking lander; and an ATS-6 (applications technology satellite) communications satellite.
The Association for the Space Science Exposition, an umbrella organization for the Japan Science Society and the Japanese Maritime Science Promotion Foundation, had organized the exposition at an estimated cost of $21 million and would defray all costs of dismantling, loading, round-trip shipping, reloading, and reinstalling artifacts. The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution had coordinated the loan of the space artifacts. (KSC Release 38-78; Marshall Star, April 19/78, 2)
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