Aug 2 1965
From The Space Library
MARINER IV's tape recorder was turned off at the end of its second playback of the 21 pictures it took of Mars on July 14. A spokesman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the second run of pictures would be compared with the first as a check against possible errors in transmission and reception. No. significant differences had been reported yet by scientists studying the photographs. (UPI, Chic. Trib, 8/3/65; NASA Proj. Off.)
NASA announced plans to install Unified S-Band System equipment at Corpus Christi communications station for use with Apollo spaceflights, With the system, the station would be able to combine in a single two-way transmission all types of communications with the three Apollo astronauts. Seven kinds of communications would be conducted simultaneously, including tracking the spacecraft; commanding its operations and confirming execution of commands; two-way voice conversation; continuous checks on the astronauts' health; continuous check on the spacecraft and its functions; continuous information from onboard experiments; and television pictures of the astronauts and their exploration of the moon. All communications would be conducted with one 30- ft,-dia. parabolic ground antenna to be constructed at Corpus Christi. (NASA Release 65-250)
Astronaut Edward H. White II (L/Col., USAF) and David S. Lewis, president of McDonnell Aircraft Corp., launched Operation Zero Defect at the McDonnell plant in St, Louis, Mo., county. They addressed an outdoor gathering of 3,400 employees, asking them to continue doing a good job of producing spacecraft and Phantom F-4 jet fighters for USAF, USN, and the Marines. (St, Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/2/65)
Hamilton Standard delivered to NASA Manned Spacecraft Center a prototype portable life support system (PLSS) to be used by Project Apollo astronauts, Weighing about 60 lbs., unit was designed for use with water-cooled undergarment astronauts would wear beneath a spacesuit during lunar surface exploration, Water-cooled undergarment would cool the astronaut by conducting the metabolic heat generated by his motions into water which would circulate through a web of plastic tubing in contact with the skin, Water would carry the heat into the portable life support system which would recool and recirculate it. Contract called for delivery of 52 packs. Testing of the undergarment and the PLSS would be conducted at MSC. (Houston Post, 8/3/65)
ComSatCorp received a check from AT&T for use of 60 channels on EARLY BIRD I comsat during its first month of operation. It was the first operating revenue ComSatCorp had had; previous income had been interest on the $200 million received from sale of stock to the public. The AT&T check was only half as much as had been expected originally; ComSatCorp's initial estimates had been based on expectation that AT&T would use 100 channels on EARLY BIRD I. (Wash, Post, 8/3/65)
Alternate methods for re-establishing communications with MARINER IV on its next closest approach to earth around Sept, 4, 1967, were being considered by Mariner project planners at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Aviation Week and Space Technology reported: (1) attempted reacquisition beginning in early February 1967, making use of the spacecraft's high-gain directional antenna to obtain data from the spacecraft for up to 10 mo.; (2) reliance solely on MARINER IV's low-gain antenna for transmission, permitting two-way communications for four to six weeks around September 1967, In the 10-mo. plan, reacquisition would be initiated when the spacecraft was about 135 million mi. from earth, Due to relative sun-earth positions in February 1967, the angle at which the high-gain directional antenna would be permanently fixed would enable it to be aimed at the earth by having MARINER IV roll about its longitudinal axis, which would be pointed at the sun. The 100-kw. transmitter at Goldstone tracking station would send the necessary commands to MARINER IV, In the latter plan, use of the 210-ft. antenna, expected to become operational at Goldstone in January 1966, could extend reception of intelligible telemetry signals to as long as six weeks, compared with four using the standard 85-ft. dishes of the Deep Space Network. W. A. Collier, assistant Mariner project manager at JPL, told Aviation Week that MARINER IV would be of particular scientific interest in 1967. First, there were no other interplanetary probes being sent away from the sun at that period. Second, when MARINER IV passed within 6,000 mi, of Mars July 14, the gravitational pull of the planet had tilted the plane of the spacecraft out of the plane of the ecliptic. MARINER IV, 5.3 million mi. above the ecliptic in September 1967, would give scientists their first chance to compare interplanetary findings outside this plane with those obtained in it, Preliminary estimates were that the 10-mo, plan would cost between $5 million and $15 million, while the four-to-six-week project would cost less than $1 million, MARINER IV, launched Nov, 28, 1964, was in solar orbit with a period of 567.11 days, perihelion of 1031 million mi., and aphelion of 146.2 million mi. (Watkins, Av. Wk., 8/2/65, 32)
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