May 1965
From The Space Library
A camera capsule from the Saturn I SA-7, launched from Eastern Test Range Sept. 18, 1964, was found in shallow waters off San Salvador in the Bahamas. Color film in the capsule had deteriorated and was not usable. The capsule was the third one found of the eight flown on the SA-7. The first two were found in November 1964, near San Salvador and Eleuthera Islands. Film in these capsules was in good condition. (Marshall Star, 5/19/65, 6)
Bell Telephone Laboratories astronomers detected radio waves that seemed to be "flying in all directions through the universe." Dr. Arno A. Penzias and Dr. Robert W. Wilson made the observations with the horn antenna developed for communications satellite research at Holmdel, N.J, Princeton Univ. scientists led by Dr. Robert H. Dicke, Prof. of Physics, unaware of the BTL observation, reached a prediction of the existence of such waves, which they theorized were remnants of light waves from the primordial explosion giving birth to the universe, In this theory of the universe's origin-the "big bang" theory-the galaxies all originated at a single point, shooting outward ever since the cataclysmic event. According to the theory, the light waves were stretched into radio waves by the expansion of the universe. (Sullivan, NYT, 5/21/65)
Remarkable adaptability of some fungi and bacteria to life in atmosphere containing high concentrations of ammonia and methane was discovered by Dr. S. M. Siegel and Miss Constance Guimarro of the Union Carbide Research Institute and reported in Icarus. The report suggested there might therefore be life on Jupiter, where extremes of temperature and a dense atmosphere of these noxious gases would seem to make life-forms resembling those on earth unlikely. The research was supported by NASA contract. (Schmeck, NYT, 5/12/65; Icarus, iv/1965, 37-40)
Carl Sagan, Harvard Univ. and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sidney Coleman, Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard Univ., reviewed the need for sterilization of Mars-bound spacecraft to protect that planet from contamination. Using probability theory, Sagan and Coleman specified formulas to provide predictions of onboard-experiment and Mars-contamination relationships. (A&A, 5/65, 22-27)
Research expenditures in 1963 totaled $5.9 billion in the national economy, according to National Science Foundation report. Of this amount, $3.4 billion (58%) was financed by the Federal Government and $2.1 billion (35%) by industry, with colleges and universities and other nonprofit institutions providing the remaining 7%, In performance of research, industry spent $3.2 billion (54%) ; colleges and universities, $14 billion (24%) ; Federal Government, $.9 billion (14%) ; and other nonprofit institutions, $.4 billion (7% ), Of the $5.9 billion total, nearly $2 billion was expended for basic research and the rest for applied research, Predominant in basic research performance were the colleges and universities and other nonprofit institutions, spending more than $1 billion (57%) of the $2 billion total. (NSF Reviews ..., Vol. I, 5/65, 1, 2)
Article in Soviet Life by Academician Anatoli Blagonravov described the "three-directions of modern astronautics": "The first is the study of the earth's upper atmosphere and the portion of space adjoining our planet, , "The second is the study and exploration of ... the moon, "The third is the study of solar space, including the nearest planets, Mars and Venus. "Soviet scientists are working in all three directions, "The first to be launched, always, are the automatic scouts, followed by men, . The final stage in the solution of the first problem-exploration of near space-will probably be to set up a permanent manned space observatory-town, with bilateral contact maintained through rockets, Of course, long before this, reliable systems of meteorological sputniks, worldwide television sputniks, navigation sputniks, etc, will have been established... "Several interesting moves have been taken in the second direction [lunar exploration], . The automatic devices have not yet explored the moon's surface in detail, have not yet determined the conditions prevailing there, Presumably, they will be followed by animals. Only after the safe return of the ship to earth has been assured will man go to the moon. "Manned landing will be preceded by numerous earth-moon flights. In the course of these flights the conditions along the entire route will be studied, detailed maps of the lunar surface made, and lunar space investigated. Need I add that all these flights will be made by teams of scientists only? "The first stage in the exploration of the moon will be to set up a permanent research station on its surface... . "In the third direction-the exploration of near solar space and near planets-only the first steps have been taken, the first flights of automatic scouts... The interplanetary routes will be explored again and again by automatic stations that will bring back much needed information on space and the nature of the planets to which they are sent, Only then will the first interplanetary expeditions take off. They will carry even larger teams than the lunar reconnaissance expeditions." (Soviet Life, 5/65, 48)
Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, President of Cal Tech, discussed objectives of the space program and what men hoped to learn through the space program about the moon, the planets, the sun, interplanetary space, and the earth itself. He concluded: "Man's growing understanding of the nature and constitution of the universe had led to new advances in our knowledge of physics and of chemistry; and these in turn have led to applications of this knowledge to the development of things which men have found useful. We have never been able to predict in advance what the usefulness would be of new knowledge about the nature of the physical universe. All we know is that, by and large, new knowledge always has proved useful-and often it has proved useful in the most unexpected and unforeseeable ways, No one would have predicted that Newton's enunciation of the laws of motion would lead to the age of machinery; that Faraday's experiments would lead to the age of electricity; or that Einstein's theory of relativity and Bohr's theory of the atom would lead to the atomic bomb and atomic power, "We do know one thing: that scientific research which has been aimed at purely practical problems though it often has been of great value, has over a long run been of less value in producing wholly new things than has the research aimed solely at the extension of knowledge. The extension of man's knowledge is the basic and the overriding purpose of the space exploration program." (Text, JPL Laboratory, 5/65, 10-12)
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