Dec 19 1963

From The Space Library

EXPLORER XIX was launched by NASA from PMR on a Scout booster. The 17.8-lb. polka-dot balloon satellite was placed in orbit by a new fourth stage (X-258) of the Scout booster. Apogee was lower than planned and resulted in an orbital period almost six min. less than planned. This, plus a very weak signal from the tracking beacon on the satellite, caused several days' delay in confirming satellite inflation and in defining the orbital data. Optical and radar tracking confirmed orbital data as : apogee, 1,488 mi. ; perigee, 366 mi.; period, 115.8 min.; inclination, 78.62°. EXPLORER XIX, like EXPLORER IX, is an atmospheric density satellite. Because of its large surface area and very low mass such a satellite is very sensitive to fluctuations in density in the upper atmosphere. These changes, largely caused by variations in solar radiation, can be measured by into in the satellite's orbit. EXPLORER XIX was launched into polar orbit and, when tracked by NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for a good portion of an 11-yr. solar cycle, should provide atmos­pheric density data on the earth's high latitudes comparable to those provided by EXPLORER IX for the lower latitudes. (EX. SIX Project Office, LaRC . J. O'Sullivan; NASA Releases 63-271 and 281)

COSMOS XXIV earth satellite orbited by U.S.S.R. (apogee, 254 mi.; perigee, 131 mi.; period, 90.5 min.; inclination to the equator, 65°). Tass said the satellite carried scientific instru­mentation for "continuing the study of outer space" in accordance with program announced March 16, 1962, and the onboard equip­ment was functioning normally. (Tass, Komsomolskaya Pravda., 12/20/63, 1, ATSS-T Trans.)

President Johnson signed H.R. 8747, FY 1964 Appropriations for Independent Offices (P.L. 88-215). The President issued a spe­cial statement criticizing Congressional amendment prohibiting U.S. participation in manned lunar landing program with any other country "without the consent of the Congress," calling the restriction unnecessary and undesirable. (NASA Leg. Act. Rpt. 11/211; Finney, NYT, 12/20/63)

AFSC Commander Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF) wired con­gratulations to William Bergen, President of Martin Co., and to Maj. Generals Waymond A. Davis and Benjamin Funk of AFSC for solving "pogo-stick action" in the Titan II booster for Project Gemini. The sharp surging accelerations during early stages of flight were noted early this year. To solve the problem, Martin Co. engineers redesigned the fuel distribution system to include "surge chambers." In the two test-flights of Titan II's incorpo­rating the modification, the booster met NASA-USAF requirements for manned space flight. (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 12/20/63)

The Black Report was submitted to President Johnson by Presi­dential advisers Eugene R. Black, former World Bank president, and industrialist Stanley de J. Osborne. The report said : "We conclude that one of the basic philosophies of the current program, namely that of tying the United States effort to the Concorde and therefore compressing the time of development and construction, is dangerous, technically and economically. "We feel that a superior aircraft which is available in two to three years of the first 'Concorde' deliveries will still be able to catch the bulk of the world market." (Wash. Daily New, 2/13/64; CN , 2/14/64)

James Reston, writing of President Johnson's attack on poverty, said the President was faced with having "to choose not necessarily between the moon and the slums, but between the problems of today and the problems of tomorrow. " . some of the President's scientific advisers have recom­mended that . . . [the FY 1965 budget request for Project Rover] be cut again to $100 million, which is less than half the Rover project budget for the current [fiscal] year. "There is, of course, no assurance that money saved on this project would be approved by the Congress for an attack on poverty and illiteracy in the slums, but President Johnson's decision on this will give some indication of the set of priorities he proposes to establish for his Administration . . . ." (Reston, NYT, 12/20/63, 28)

NASA and Government of Malagasy Republic announced agreement for installation of transportable tracking station at Majunga, Madagascar, for monitoring injection phase of such U.S. satel­lites as Nimbus, Echo, and Orbiting Geophysical Observatory. (NASA Release 63-279)

$9,847,000 contract for electrical and mechanical equipment for three launcher umbilical towers for Saturn V launch vehicle was awarded by John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA, to two-company team of Paul Smith Construction Co. and E. C. Ernst Co., Inc. (Space Bus. Daily, 12/20/63, 432)

Despite renaming of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy, the nearby town of Cape Canaveral would retain its name by choice of its 4,000 residents. Committee on Domestic Geographic Names said it would never approve a new name for a town over protests of its populace. (Diggins, Wash. Post, 12/20/63)

Martin-Marietta Corp. of Baltimore announced its research efforts had demonstrated continuous electrical current generated by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Scientists of Martin Marietta's nuclear division said they achieved this goal-passing a stream of high-temperature ionized gas through a magnetic field to generate electricity-by solving the major problem of equipment's melting from the heat necessary in the MHD process. They used principle of magnetically induced nonequilibrium ionization of gas, in which temperature of the electrons is made higher than that of the gas itself; the electrons then conduct electricity without penalty of overheating. Experiments employed helium gas seeded with molten cesium droplets to enhance ionization. Dr. Mostafa Talaat, project director, said current generated was a few thousandths of an ampere. First practical use of MHD power generation, combined with heat derived from nuclear reactor, was estimated at 5-10 years away. (Schmeck, NYT, 12/20/63, 31)

Dr. J. N. Bahcall of Cal Tech's Kellog Radiation Laboratory out­lined at American Physical Society meeting in Pasadena a pro­posed experiment to determine temperature of sun's interior. A tank the size of an Olympic-size swimming pool, sunk at bottom of 5,000-ft. shaft drilled into the earth to screen cosmic rays, would be filled with 100,000 gals. of chlorine-37 isotopes. Neutrinos from sun bombarding the pool would change chlorine- 37 into argon-37. Measuring rate of change would help physicists determine solar temperature as well as sun's structure and com­position. ( Becker, NYT, 12/20/63, 31)

• December

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