Jul 29 1993
From The Space Library
NASA selected Hughes STX Corporation, Lanham, Maryland, to negotiate a five-year contract, proposed at $121.7 million, to provide support of computer systems management for Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. (NASA Release C93-m)
NASA selected AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation, Greenbelt, Maryland, for negotiations leading to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, estimated at $40.8 million, to provide Transportable Laser Ranging Systems for the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. The contract was to directly support Goddard's Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) Mission. The SLR technique measures the round-trip flight time of very short laser pulses from ground-based stations to retro-reflector-equipped satellites. (NASA Release C93-n)
A 240-pound Array of Low-Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors (ALEXIS) satellite was launched into orbit April 25 onboard an Air Force Pegasus rocket for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Officials at the New Mexico laboratory had hoped to demonstrate that they could handle space missions faster, better, and cheaper than NASA. However, one of the satellite's four solar panels was damaged during the launch, and the satellite was deemed a loss.
Unmanned satellites frequently diagnose their own maladies, make adjustments needed to survive, and allow themselves to be reprogrammed in orbit. This is what happened to ALEXIS, which on July 5 was brought under control and a week later conducted its first experiment. Scientists now expect to get much of the data they seek from the damaged satellite. The craft uses six telescopes to capture x-rays that could reveal evidence of weapons proliferation, and it carries an experiment designed to determine how Earth's atmosphere distorts radio signals. (LA Times, Jul 29/93)
The House of Representatives passed an amendment to the National Helium Act of 1960. The amendment judged the helium program as a case of government waste and voted to end its monopoly on sales to the space program. The 1996 Act required NASA to buy its helium from the government-run reserve, even though it could be bought for as much as $10 less per 1,000 cubic feet on the open market. The Senate was still considering the amendment.
In the same session, the House passed a bill authorizing NASA to spend $30 billion over the next two years. (W Post, Jul 30/93; AP, Jul 29/93; Jul 30/93; B Sun, Aug 23/93; NY Times, Sep 21/93)
The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland hosted six three-day sessions of Aerospace for Kids, designed to teach children about aerospace technology and Goddard this summer. The program was to host 150 children over a six-week period this summer. (Prince George's Sentinel, Jul 29/93)
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