Apr 6 1993
From The Space Library
NASA announced that NASA scientists had direct evidence that red supergiants-the largest stars known-end their existence in massive explosions known as supernovae. Until this week, astronomers could only speculate that these explosions represented the death of such stars. NASA's international ultraviolet explorer (IUE) satellite obtained the new evidence through observations of a new supernova on March 30. (NASA Release 93-63)
John H. Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, out-lined to the members-designate of the Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station, three budget options. The three options are a low option of $5 billion, a mid-range option of $7 billion, and a high option of $9 billion. Each option would cover the total expenditures for the Space Station from fiscal year 1994 through 1988. (NASA Release 93-64)
Bryan O'Connor, a former astronaut and Deputy Director of the Redesign Team and Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight at NASA, said that NASA engineers planned to have three new design options ready by June. O'Connor said that two plans could cut the cost of the project by 50 percent or more. The third plan, which would be based on the current Space Station Freedom concept, would cost more. Whether the redesign effort could be done quickly and cheaply was still in doubt, O'Connor said. (AP, Apr 6/93; W Post, Apr 6/93)
The Wall Street Journal reported that NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, was searching for an easy-listening sonic boom. The search was a key part of early U.S. research efforts to design a new airliner to fly twice as fast as sound.
Sitting inside a foam-lined cinder-block box the size of a toddler's play-house, more than 30 volunteers were being paid $30 for the afternoon to judge how "annoying" different sonic booms were compared to other aircraft noise. If researchers can solve the sonic boom problem, the economic rewards could be significant. (WS Journal, Apr 6/93)
An article in the journal Nature reported that when the European-American spacecraft Ulysses flew by Jupiter in February 1992, it detected puffs of planetary dust coming from the planet. Six times an instrument on Ulysses recorded bursts of tiny dust grains striking the craft, coming at intervals of about 28 days. The same spacecraft also discovered dust grains from beyond the solar system in the environs of Jupiter. (NY Tames, Apr 6/93)
An article in the Washington Post discussed the failed launch of the 14-story Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 25. The rock-et partially lost power 24 seconds after liftoff and sent its military communications satellite into a useless orbit. This was the third problem-filled General Dynamics launch in two years. Future launches were placed on hold until completion of investigation of the failed launch. (W Post, Apr 6/93)
The launch of Space Shuttle Discovery's eight-day scientific mission, scheduled for 2:32 a.m. April 6 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, was aborted 11 seconds before liftoff when computers detected a problem. It was the second aborted launch in two weeks for the Shuttle program. The previous launch, involving the Shuttle Columbia, was halted three seconds from liftoff on March 22.
The likely cause of the shutdown was a computer circuit problem. Computer data indicated a valve had not closed in Discovery's main propulsion system, raising the danger of a hydrogen fuel spill and a possible explosion. Engineers, however, believed that the valve had closed properly and that a faulty sensor switch or broken wire prevented that information from being received by the on-board computers. NASA hoped to launch Discovery on April 8. (AP, Apr 6/93, Apr 7/93; UPN, Apr 4/93; W Post, Apr 7/93; NY Times, Apr 7/93; W Times, Apr 7/93; B Sun, Apr 7/93; UPI, Apr 7/93)
John H. Gibbons, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, said that the United States and its International Space Station partners-Europeans, Canadians, and Japanese-have agreed to give "full consideration" to use of Russian space technology and experience in the redesign of the American Space Station Freedom. Gibbons said that Russian help would he requested "on an as-needed consulting basis" if NASA found that Russian expertise and equipment could save money for the United States. Russia had been operating the Space Station Mir for more than a decade. (W Post, Apr 7/93, Apr 13/93; NY Times, Apr 7/93, Apr 8/93, Apr 11/93, Apr 13/93; LA Times, Apr 7/93; AP, Apr 6/93; Reuters, Apr 6/93; CSM, Apr 8/93; RTW, Apr 11/93; P Inq, Apr 13/93; B Sun, Apr 13/93)
The New York Times reported that a new exploding star, or supernova, was discovered on March 28 by an amateur astronomer in Spain. The new super-nova lies about 12 million light years from the Earth. Describing the supernova, Dr. Alex Fillipenko of the University of California at Berkeley, said, "This is the brightest supernova explosion the Northern Hemisphere has seen since 1937." Scientists hoped that the star would provide more clues to the universe. (NY Times, Apr 7/93; W Post, Apr 12/93; AP, Apr 5/93, Apr 13/93; RT, Apr 12/93; APN, May 5/93)
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