May 30 1985
From The Space Library
NASA announced it had selected Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp., Western Development Laboratories, to negotiate a cost-plus award-fee contract for the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) that would include three spacecraft (GOES-I, J, and K) and a two spacecraft option (GOES--L and M). The contract had a proposed cost of $221 million and would provide for a series of GOES satellite systems. each with a five-year design life, that would contribute to continuation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES program in the 1990 to 2000 era. NASA had scheduled a late 1989 launch for the first GOES satellite in this new series.
The contract statement of work covered the satellite bus; imaging, sounding, and space-environment monitor instruments; and flight-support equipment and services to accomplish deployment of the spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit from the Space Shuttle. The contract also included operations ground equipment and support to ensure compatibility of the spacecraft systems with established ground systems operated by NOAA.
NASA assigned Goddard Space Flight Center responsibility for project management. (NASA Release 85-80)
NASA announced that NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and RCA engineers had stabilized the NOAA--8 satellite after it began tumbling out of control when an oscillator in the spacecraft's altitude control system failed. Engineers were continuing a three-week checkout of the spacecraft to ensure that all calibrations were in order, at which time the satellite would be fully operational.
The satellite carried search and rescue (SARSAT) equipment that would resume operation as part of an international program begun in September 1983 to use satellites to save people in downed airplanes or on ships in distress. During the 11 months NOAA-8 malfunctioned, three USSR and one U.S. satellite were picking up distress signals and relaying them to ground stations.
The reactivated NOAA-8 would assume weather data collection that NOAA-6 had been doing. NOAA-6 had no search and rescue equipment and its infrared radiometer for taking temperature measurements was not working. (NASA Release 85-81)
The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) State Council decided to use an international communications satellite over the Indian Ocean to transmit TV programs to people in outlying areas, FBIS Beijing XINHUA Domestic Service in Chinese reported. Although satellite transmission of TV programs covered areas where 62% of the population lived, reception in some areas was poor. Therefore, the State Council decided to create a special fund to present 50 ground stations to outlying areas and over the next two to three years to expand this ground-station network.
In addition to TV programs, the satellite would transmit newspaper facsimile, educational programs, medical consultations, weather information, and computer linkages. (Beijing XINHUA Domestic Service in Chinese, May 30/ 85)
NASA would probably use the desert runways of Edwards Air Force Base for landings of the remaining seven Space Shuttle missions in 1985 due to brake damage caused by the grooved tarmac at Kennedy Space Center, the Washington Post reported.
"Let's face it, these brakes are right at the edge in a vehicle that lands as heavy and as fast as the shuttle does,' said astronaut Daniel Brandenstein, commander of the next Space Shuttle mission. "My guess is we'll be landing for awhile out in the Mojave, where there's no end to the runways and there's almost nothing on either side of the runways to worry about either." Also, studies suggested that the Space Shuttle nose gear might require rebuilding to provide better steering during landing in a crosswind, a situation more likely to occur at KSC than at Edwards. Cost of such rebuilding could run as high as $3 million for each orbiter. (W Post, May 30/85, A19)
NASA announced that interdisciplinary teams of teachers, scientists, and engineers selected seven finalists in the fifth national Space Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP), a joint venture of NASA and the National Science Teachers Association. Judges based selection of finalists' entries upon individual scientific or engineering merit for possible flight aboard the Space Shuttle.
The national winners and their teacher-advisors would attend in August a special Space Shuttle conference at Kennedy Space Center and view the launch of the Discovery Space Shuttle mission 51-L. NASA would present the finalists and their teacher-advisors with orbiter models, and their schools would receive orbiter models for trophy case display.
The sixth year of SSIP competition would open in September 1985. (NASA Release 85-79)
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