Jul 14 1980
From The Space Library
MSFC reported that a planned 542-second test July 12 of the three engine cluster for Shuttle's main propulsion system lasted only 106 seconds because of fire indication in the aft compartment of the orbiter simulator. Up to cutoff, all engines and other parts of the propulsion system apparently worked normally, including completion of the scheduled gimbaling and throttling of the engine. About 45 seconds of the firing reached 102% of rated thrust, first time for the cluster at this performance level. Inspection after the test showed a small hole in the no. 3 engine's fuel preburner that allowed burning gas to escape into the area above the heatshield containing the powerheads. Damage was confined to the one engine, with none to the facility or the rest of the test article, MSFC engineers said.
The damaged engine would probably be returned to the manufacturer, Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International at Canoga Park, Calif., for inspection and repair. A committee headed by Dr. Herman Thompson, deputy director of the science and engineering directorate at MSFC, was appointed to find the cause of the accident; no date would be set for further testing until the committee made its report. (MSFC Release 80-97; NASA Release 80-113)
ComSatCorp said that it had signed a contract with MultiVisions, Ltd., of Anchorage for the first commercial use of a new 10-meter multiple-beam torus antenna, a revolutionary design allowing a user to work with as many as seven geosynchronous satellites at the same time. The usual parabolic dish antenna could work with only one satellite at a time.
The torus, scheduled to be in operation in Anchorage next year, would be equipped initially to receive television programs from three satellites simultaneously. With three dual-polarization receive-only feeds, the new antenna could receive up to 72 different programs from 72 different transponders from U.S. domestic satellites, and additional feeds would provide even greater capacity. Where access to more than one satellite was needed, the torus would be cheaper both to build and to operate than the two or more conventional antennas that would usually be required. It would also reduce the amount of real estate needed for several parabolic antennas and the amount of interference in congested frequency areas (of which Anchorage was one). ComSatCorp had asked the FCC for permission to locate torus antennas at Etam, W. Va., Andover, Maine, and Jamesburg, Calif. (ComSatCorp Release 80-30)
INTELSAT announced that Guinea became: the 105th member in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department when Ambassador Mamady Lamine Conde signed the operating agreement. Guinea planned to operate a ground station using the INTELSAT spacecraft located over the Indian Ocean. (INTELSAT Release 80-15-I)
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