Dec 28 1992
From The Space Library
A group of physicists working at Fermilab near Chicago announced that they had observed a "top quark," the last of the fundamental building blocks of matter to have its existence confirmed in the laboratory. Repeat experiments to confirm the existence of the top quark were underway, but if the findings hold up, the event could become one of the most celebrated in the study of particle physics. (B Sun, Dec 28/92)
NASA scientists began a new attempt to open the stuck antenna on the Galileo space probe by rotating the satellite to point the antenna toward the Sun. They hoped the warmth would expand the metal fittings and release the stuck mechanism. If this maneuver fails, they were prepared to turn the antenna's electric motors on and off at rapid intervals to "hammer" the jammed mechanism in a final bid to overpower what they believed were stuck pins and pop open the antenna. (W Post, Dec 26/92, Dec 29/92, Dec 30/92; The Sun, Dec 26/92, Dec 30/92, Dec 31/92; USA Today, Dec 29/92, Dec 31/92; NY Times, Dec 29/92, Dec 31/92; UPI, Dec 29/92, Dec 30/92; AP, Dec 28/92, Dec 29/92, Dec 30/92; P IN, Dec 31/92; W Times, Dec 31/92)
Lockheed Corporation formed a joint venture with Russian aerospace firm Krunichev Enterprise to market the Russian-built Proton rocket for commercial satellite launches, a move that could help make Russia one of the dominant forces in the world-wide commercial launch business. Lockheed was to be responsible for marketing the Russian rocket to Western customers and would provide payload integration. Rockets were to be launched from the Baikonur site in Kazakhstan. (WSJ, Dec 29/92; LA Times, Dec 29/92; NY Times, Dec 29/92)
Russia launched a spaceship carrying insects and two monkeys into orbit to conduct radiation experiments on the creatures. Experts from the European Space Agency as well as Italian, German, and other foreign scientists were to oversee the biological experiments. The ITAR-Tass news agency also said that Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Sergei Avdeyev, who had spent five months aboard the Mir Space Station, were in good condition following routine medical examinations. (AP, Dec 28/92, Dec 29/92)
Astronomers ruled out any possibility that Comet Swift-Tuttle would collide with the Earth on its next pass through the inner solar system in 2126. In October astronomers warned that the comet might hit the Earth during that pass, potentially creating a pall of dust capable of blocking sunlight, disrupting climate, and threatening human civilization. More accurate calculations of Swift-Tuttle's orbit showed that there was no chance of a collision. (NY Times, Dec 29/92; The Sun, Dec 30/92)
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