Dec 15 1978
From The Space Library
DFRC and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory had joined in a study of the "Mars airplane" (a derivative of the Mini sniffer), the DFRC X-Press reported. The idea of a Mars airplane resulted from a January 1977 meeting between David Scott, former director of DFRC, and JPL director Dr. Bruce Murray, who had offered JPL's assistance in perfecting the hydrazine engine of the Mini-Sniffer remotely-piloted vehicle (RPV) designed to fly at 70 000 to 100 000ft. The plane was originally a low-cost alternative to the U-2 for atmospheric research; DFRC's Dale Reed and JPL personnel had recognized the possibility that the Mini-Sniffer could cruise halfway around Mars in the planet's low gravity and thin atmosphere, using its unique non-airbreathing hydrazine engine.
Developmental Sciences, Inc. had received a $60 000 contract for designs to send four Mars airplanes folded into capsules to conduct low altitude surveillance flights down Martian canyons and volcanoes and over icecaps. The researchers believed technology was advancing so quickly in lightweight solar cells, beamed-microwave energy, lightweight electric motors and batteries, and lightweight radioisotope electric generators, that it would soon produce a generation of high-flying long endurance long-range aircraft, the paper noted. (DFRC X-Press, Dec 15/78, 3)
A jack-in-the-box parachute had proved to be an effective spin recovery device, DFRC X--Press reported. Known as jack-in-a-box because of its deployment mechanism, the parachute had been installed in the nose of a spin-research vehicle, a 23-ft model of a modern fighter air-launched from a B-52 at 50 000ft and flown into a spin at 25 000ft. On command from a pilot on the ground, the nose parachute had deployed and recovered the vehicle from the spin. After parachute jettison, the SRV ground operator flew the SRV to a near-perfect landing on the Rogers dry lakebed. Results indicated that maintenance of a relatively clean airflow around the nose of the aircraft would permit use of a significantly smaller parachute, simplifying its installation. (DFRC X-Press, Dec 15/78, 3)
INTELSAT announced reduced charges for many of its satellite services for the ninth consecutive yr. Meeting in Washington, D.C., INTELSAT's board of governors had reduced the monthly charge for full-time two-way telephone circuits on an INTELSAT satellite (about 80% of the INTELSAT system) from $1140 to $960 beginning in Jan. 1979. Charges for on-demand telephone circuits (known as SPADE circuits) would drop from 16 to 14 cents/min. Original rate for satellite telephone circuits established by INTELSAT in 1965 was $5334/mo; since then, advancing technology had increased demand and improved efficiency so that INTELSAT could progressively reduce its rates. Marcel Perras of Canada, chairman of the board of governors, said INTELSAT was considering a 5-yr plan to lower the rate for satellite telephone circuits to less than $700/mo by 1983. (INTELSAT 78-35-1)
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