Mar 15 1993
From The Space Library
Researchers writing in the current issue of the journal Nature announced that they had detected a guitar-shaped nebula attached to the fastest known star in the galaxy; the star is at the tip of the neck of the "guitar." The speed of the star, a pulsar, which scientists calculated traveled at least 500 miles per second through the Milky Way galaxy, created a "bow-shock" wave in the rarified gas of outerspace. The shockwave heated the gas it encountered and made it give off energy, now appearing as the outline of the star's wake. The wake was detectable only with the world's most powerful telescope, according to Cornell University astronomer James M. Cordes. (W Post, Mar 15/93; Time, Mar 22/93)
Speaking to a meeting of the American Astronautical Society, Representative Alan Mollohan warned that unless NASA could prove it contributed to U.S. economic competitiveness, politicians would view it as a "cold war anachronism." According to an article in Space News, Mollohan's comments reflected the view of both the White House and members of Congress. The message: change or become irrelevant. (Space News, March 15-21)
Europe, Japan, and Canada-the United States's partners in the Space Station project-rejected NASA's move to redesign the project. They instead demanded that the team begin by considering revisions to the current plan. They warned that they might be forced to pull out of the program if the United States changed the plan significantly. (Space News, March 15-21/93)
According to Space News, in a March 10 letter to Vice President Gore, Senator Howell Heflin, D-Alabama, argued against canceling the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program. Heflin said he opposed a proposal to close the rocket motor plant in Iuka, Miss.; those opposing the closing hoped that the plant eventually would be used to build a hybrid rocket motor for a National Launch Center. (Space News, March 15-21/93)
Representative George E. Brown Jr, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, warned the Clinton administration that ordering a redesign of the Space Station might doom not only the Space Station but also other international "big science" projects. He also sent a letter to NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin cautioning him against abandoning the current design, which had cost $8 billion so far. (W Post, Mar 16/93)
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