Apr 22 1991
From The Space Library
The Defense Department lifted military secrecy from Shuttle missions, not because of decreased Soviet threat or the nature of the payload but because of the cost of security. The move was expected to save the government $80 million. Security would be applied more selectively because the Soviet Union and the American public were considered to be familiar with the nature of most space flights to date. Discovery would carry a pay-load known as Cirris, for Cryogenic Infrared Radiation Instrumentation for Shuttle, designed to determine the feasibility of the space-based detection of enemy aircraft and missiles. (NY Times, Apr 22/91; P Inq, Apr 23/91)
A Soviet commentator castigated the United States for its refusal to return to Moscow a display model of a spacecraft nuclear reactor Topaz 2 brought to a scientific convention in January. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the Soviets had unwittingly exported it to the United States and returning it would be an illegal export under the Atomic Energy Act. Soviet news agency described the act as a "regrettable breach of agreements" that would lead to questioning Soviet-U.S. nuclear cooperation. (AP, Apr 22/91)
An editorial in a space publication stressed the need for space flight to gain some congressional advocates and for NASA's new launcher plan to be salvaged before it was too late. (SP News, Apr 22-28/91)
Republican Congressman from California Tom Campbell said he would not object to the closing of a military installation in his district provided that it was "fair." In this connection, he would not oppose the proposed closing of Moffett Field, from which NASA tests aircraft and spacecraft in wind tunnels and simulators and the Navy flies its P-3 Orion antisubmarine warfare missions over the Pacific. Local officials and business people argued that closure of the field would cause Lockheed Missiles and Space Company to move else-where, taking its 25,000 employees, in addition to the some 12,200 jobs lost from the Navy. (W Post, Apr 22/91)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, awarded a $145 million contract to Loral Infrared and Imaging Systems, Lexington, Massachusetts to design and build the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). This instrument would fly on NASA's first Earth Observation System (EOS) satellite flights in 1998. AIRS would be a global thermometer in space to study the effects of increased greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere. The main goal of EOS-A satellites is to study the effects of potential global warming through long-term observations. AIRS would operate continuously for five years. (NASA Release 91-61; WSJ, Apr 23/91)
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