Nov 7 1995
From The Space Library
A satellite payload designed and built by college students was launched onboard a NASA launch vehicle. Shortly after launch the SURFSat-1 was separated from the primary payload and moved into a polar orbit. When the project began in 1987, six Caltech students were chosen to begin the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURFSat). Each summer a new group of undergraduates took over. Through 1994, 61 students have participated. The satellite has two experiments: one tests how Earth's atmosphere affects the new Ka-band being implemented on NASA's Deep Space Network, and the other tests ground stations supporting NASA's new Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry project. The latter will be used to communicate with a Japanese spacecraft that will make radio astronomy studies of quasars and other objects at the edge of the universe. (NASA Release 95-204; Space News, Sep 4/95 & Nov 13/95)
NASA will pursue a non-competitive contract with United Space Alliance to assume responsibility eventually for Space Shuttle operations. Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin Corporation, together holding 69 percent of the dollar value of all Shuttle related prime contracts, formed the joint venture, "United Space Alliance." The non-competitive contract was clearly in the public interest as no other company could possibly meet NASA's safety, manifest and schedule requirements. (NASA Releases 95-158 & 205; W Post, Nov 8/95; WSJ, Nov 8/95; Fla Today, Nov 8/95 & Dec 6/95; Space News, Dec 4/95; AP, Aug 3/95; Av Wk, Nov 13/95)
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