Aug 4 1978
From The Space Library
MSFC announced it had awarded Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., a $2.7 million contract to develop and deliver a flight experiment solar-array wing by May 1980 for a Shuttle orbital-flight test in November 1980. A significant step toward producing large amounts of power in space, the experiment would verify structural and dynamic characteristics of the solar-array wing, its electrical performance, and the readiness of solar-array technology for planetary- and earth-orbit Space Shuttle payload applications.
The solar-array wing, 32m (105ft) long and 4m (13.5ft) wide, folded and stored in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay during launch, would be extended to its full length and retracted several times during the test. When its solar-cell surface was fully extended, the array's 82 panels would convert solar energy to produce 12.5kw of power. Only three of the panels would be active in the experiment flight. The experimental solar-array wing would demonstrate that use of this technology to augment power for Shuttle and Spacelab could extend mission duration and lead to a solar-electric propulsion stage. Solar-array technology could have Shuttle-payload applications such as space-base construction, satellite power systems, and power modules. NASA's Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology had directed the solar-array program as part of a larger effort on solar-electric propulsion for long-term missions in the mid-1980s. (NASA Release 78-123; Marshall Star, Aug 9/78, 1; DSFC X-Press, Aug 11/78, 4; AID, Aug 4/78, 151; Av Wk, Aug 14/78, 15)
Lewis Research Center announced that NASA Hq had joined with the FAA in sponsoring a 3-day aircraft-icing workshop at LeRC. Attended by more than 100 icing specialists, sensor/instrument specialists, meteorologists, and weather forecasters, the workshop had assessed fixed-wing and rotocraft operational icing, evaluated facilities requirements for R&D and certification, examined ways to improve icing forecasts, and identified gaps in knowledge of aeronautical icing. LeRC had been chosen for the conference because its research on icing in the 1940s and 1950s was still important in aircraft certification; it also had the largest icing-study facility currently actively operating in North America. As a result of needs defined at the workshop, LeRC would begin a new program of research on icing. (Lewis News, Aug 4/78, 2)
NASA reported that the Natl. Business Aircraft Association at its annual convention in St. Louis Sept. 13 would present to Dr. Richard Whitcomb, aeronautical scientist at Langley Research Center, its Meritorious Service to Aviation Award for 1978. Whitcomb would be honored for "significant contributions to the field of aviation." Among those contributions were the area-rule design (a "Coke bottle" airplane shape that reduced drag and increased aircraft speed without the need for additional power, incorporated in every U.S. supersonic airplane now flying); and the "supercritical" wing developed during the 1960s to increase the speed and range of subsonic aircraft without an increase in required power or fuel consumption. Whitcomb had begun his career in 1943 with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA's predecessor, and was head of LaRC'S Transonic Aerodynamics Branch. (NASA Release 78-119)
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