Feb 4 1964
From The Space Library
U.S. Committee for International Quiet Sun Year (IQSY) and USN announced satellite to monitor solar x-ray emission, instrumented by Naval Research Laboratory scientists, was launched recently to initiate continuous "watch on the sun" during IQSY (1964-65). First signals from the satellite showed the sun now is close to its minimum activity, reported NRL scientists Robert W. Kreplin, Talbot A. Chubb, and Herbert Friedman. Any solar activity that occurs this year should be isolated and relatively uncomplicated, permitting the satellite to record individual storm centers, in contrast to IGY which was marked by succession of overlapping storms. Observatories in 14 countries joined U.S. in preparing to utilize continuous data transmissions from the satellite. At press conference, the NRL scientists said that astronauts on lunar flight would be under no more radiation danger during maximum period of solar cycle than during minimum period. Friedman explained: "All available evidence indicates that solar minimum is as bad as solar maximum for superflare eruption." To date, superflares occur at random and cannot be predicted. (NAS-NRC Release; USN Background Statement; Simons, Wash. Post, 2/5/64)
House Committee on Science and Astronautics began hearings on NASA authorization for FY 1965. NASA Administrator James E. Webb testified: "In the tight budget situation faced by the President for Fiscal Year 1965 it was necessary to stress with him and the Bureau of the Budget that unless the full $53 billion authorization requested for FY 1965, and the supplemental appropriation of $141 million requested for FY 1964 are approved, the manned space flight program will encounter further delays. It will then not be possible to achieve the national goal of exploring the moon with men within this decade. "There may be some inclination to assume that the adjustment of our program to the reductions imposed for FY 1964 indicates that this will likewise be possible in the event of reductions in the request which is before you at this time. I cannot emphasize too strongly that this is not the case. "In adjusting our program to compensate for the reductions made in the appropriation for FY 1964, we have already sacrificed the margins and early target dates which were needed, and which in reality are still needed, in our effort to achieve the goals which have been set for us. In fact, Mr. Chairman, we are not able to maintain a reasonably balanced program, and accommodate the entire reduction, with any strong assurance that we can meet the 1970 lunar target date. The best we can say is that we have a "fighting chance." "To sum up our situation in a sentence, if we do not receive the funds which the President has requested, there is nothing left to sacrifice except the National goal itself. ". .. whether it is agreed or not that international considerations and national security factors require that we hold to the present pace of the space program, the fact is that prudence and economy will be served. Even if economy alone were to be the guiding consideration in the evaluation of the NASA request for FY 1965, the cost of establishing and maintaining superiority in space will be less if we maintain the pace, the momentum, which the supplemental appropriation and this authorization request will provide." . . Despite the difficulties which have been experienced, we can still put two American explorers on the moon in this decade, and we can do it for less than $20 billion. . . [But] if the program is further curtailed, if the momentum is lost, if the Apollo program is stretched into the next decade, the cost will not be under $20 billion, it will be several billions more. The ultimate cost will increase for each year in which achievement of our goal is delayed." . . [According to a NASA study], the cost of the lunar exploration would increase by approximately $1 billion for each year that the landing is delayed. A three year delay would cost $3 billion, a six year delay $6 billion, with no corresponding improvement in the benefits obtained. . .." (Testimony: CR. 2/5/64, A545-48)
NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden testified before House Committee on Science and Astronautics: "Because of the initiative and the daring of the Wright Brothers, this nation gave man the capacity for powered flight, freeing him forever from the bonds which for thousands of years of human existence had confined his activities to land and sea. The United States became the first country in the world to possess a military airplane when, in 1908, the Army Signal Corps contracted for a Wright biplane. "Yet, prior to World War I this nation was still so preoccupied with conventional weapons systems that it totally neglected the development of aeronautics-the force which was to dominate warfare for the next quarter century. In 1914, the United States possessed fewer military aircraft and of inferior types than the six leading aeronautical nations (including Mexico). The United States in 1914 was the only major nation in the world not to possess an aeronautical laboratory with an up-to-date wind tunnel. By November 1918, not one aircraft of American design and manufacture had entered combat operations during World War I. "In the 30's we were so preoccupied with refinement of conventional piston-driven aeronautical systems that we made little progress in jet propulsion. Meanwhile, the Germans set out to build a bigger and better NACA and to a large extent, they did, developing jet propelled military aircraft and 51/2-ton V-2 rockets, which almost spelled disaster in World War II. "In the late 40's, despite the fact that Robert H. Goddard had demonstrated the feasibility of a liquid-fueled rocket engine in this country in 1926, and despite the memory of V-2's raining on London during the blitz, we were so preoccupied With mating jet carriers to our exclusively held atomic bomb capability that we neglected missilery While other nations forged ahead. And finally, in the 50's, our A-bomb advantage gone, we were so preoccupied with the development of our ballistic missile program that We neglected a clear opportunity to become first in space. "Today, the nation faces, We all face, this question: Have we learned enough from the often bitter and always costly experience of the last half century not only to carry out with determination this effort to meet the requirements of the present in space research and exploration, but to exercise the vision Which is demanded if we are not, once again, to find ourselves lagging in the next phase of this most challenging effort? .. . "The present gap in manned flight activity is a direct consequence of a postponement of the decision to proceed beyond Project Mercury from September 1960, until May 1961, when President Kennedy recommended the present manned lunar landing project as a national goal "The decisions which confront us today are those which will determine whether this kind of history will repeat itself a few years hence and whether we will once again experience a bitter awakening to the fact that others have seized the initiative in the more advanced space missions of the future. . . ." (Testimony; CR, 2/5/64, A548-50)
Nike-Cajun sounding rockets with grenade experiments were launched at Wallops Island, Va., and Ft. Churchill, Canada, in current NASA series of comparative upper atmosphere studies. The experiments were designed to obtain wind and temperature data and to measure the effects of the "Warming trend" at altitudes ranging up to 55 mi. Nike-Cajun launched from Wallops reached 73.8-mi. altitude, with all 12 of its grenades exploding; Nike-Cajun from Ft. Churchill reached 78-mi. altitude, with 11 grenades functioning normally and the twelfth ejecting but not exploding. (Wallops Release 64-14; NASA Rpt. Sm.)
Dr. Joseph F. Shea, manager of Apollo Spacecraft Office at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, said in Milwaukee speech that the most probable date for U.S. manned lunar landing was late in 1968 or early in 1969. He discussed goals of Ranger TV probes, Surveyor lunar Lander, and Lunar Orbiter probes, which would provide information about the moon preparatory to manned lunar landing. If these should fail, he said, NASA would plan manned Apollo reconnaissance flights to orbit the moon before the landing flight. "It might set our landing back six months to a year, but if the other programs don't work, we aren't dead." (Pease, Milwaukee Journal, 2/4/64)
Scientists at Aerospace Medical Div., Brooks AFB, said in paper presented by Maj. William B. Clark at space medicine conference that, with proper reconnaissance training, astronauts in space could easily spot missile bases, encampments, troop movements, and "unsuspected targets of opportunity" from outposts 100-mi. high. The scientists' report was based on studies of visual reports of six U.S. astronauts who made space flights and relied heavily on accounts by Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (Maj., USAF). (AP, N.Y. Her. Trib, 2/5/64; AP, Phil. Eve. Bull. 2/6/64)
Rep. James C. Cleveland (R.-N.H.), member of House Select Committee on Government Research, wrote in Washington World magazine: "Fourteen to fifteen billion dollars of the taxpayer's money is going into R&D this year. The figure was only $2 billion 10 years ago. "More than 30 different departments, bureaus, and agencies of the Federal Government conduct research or have it conducted for them, often in the same fields. . . . "A breakdown of Federal research and development spending shows that five organizations account for 90 percent of it. These are the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the National Science Foundation. About 70 percent of these funds support military research and development. About 10 percent of the total funds is channeled to colleges and universities. . . (CR, 2/4/64, A563)
NASA scientist John M. Eggleston told space medicine conference at Brooks AFB that astronauts on lunar flight would face less danger from space radiation than was once thought. "If the Apollo spacecraft as it is now designed were exposed to the largest solar flare seen in the latest solar cycle, the astronaut would be exposed to only one tenth of the critical dose designated for space flight. "An exposure to the critical dose would probably make an astronaut sick within a few days. . . . But it would not prevent him from finishing the mission and returning to lead a normal life." (AP, Houston Post, 2/5/64)
In Washington Evening Star article, William Hines reported Georgetown Univ. astronomer Dr. Carl C. Kiess' conviction that life cannot exist on Mars. Dr. Kiess' spectrographic observations of the planet convinced him no oxygen or water vapor existed there. Nitrogen compounds have been detected, and Dr. Kiess believed Martian atmosphere is 97-99% pure nitrogen gas. He believed density of air at Martian surface is greater than is generally believed, meaning that nitrogen tetroxide could exist as gas, liquid, and solid-gaseous above 70° F, solid below 14° F, and liquid in between. In laboratory experiments Dr. Kiess had demonstrated that when various nitrogen compounds are subjected to temperature changes they turn color to duplicate "seasonal" color changes observed on Mars, even creating artificial "snow storm" and simulating waxing and waning of Martian "polar caps." Dr. Kiess' view was minority opinion, refuted by majority of scientists. Dr. Lewis Kaplan of JPL said in interview that Dr. Kiess' conclusions were based on spectrographic analyses which had been refuted by better spectrographic analyses of Vancouver, B.C., scientists. (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 2/4/64)
Danish Government announced it would join international telecommunication system based on global communications satellites. (AP, NYT, 2/6/64, 6)
DOD announced appointment of Thomas F. Rogers, MIT scientist, as Assistant Director (Communications and Electronics), Defense Research and Engineering. (DOD Release 101-64)
42 FAA flight service stations were going to be converted into remote-control facilities with expected savings of between $30,000 and $40,000 per year per station, FAA announced. (FAA Release 64-9)
DOD and AEC announced first at-sea automatic weather station powered by nuclear energy had begun operation in the Gulf of Mexico. The 60-watt Snap-7D nuclear generator was expected to last 10 years as compared to conventional batteries requiring recharging every six months. The NOMAD (Navy Oceanographic Meteorological Automatic Device) was forerunner of worldwide network of unattended weather stations designed to provide meteorological and oceanographic data. (DOD Release 103-64)
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