Dec 26 1964
From The Space Library
A National Geographic report, based on findings by NASA and Air Force researchers, estimated that the earth's gravitational field picked up several million tons of dust and small particles every year and that the total accumulation of this material on the earth's surface since its formation two billion years ago was well over ten feet. (NYT, 12/27/64)
It was reported that the Marconi Co., Ltd., in England, was attempting to perfect a safety aid that would make gliders more visible to radar to help avoid air-to-air crashes with aircraft. Carefully calculated pat-terns of thin foil, detectable by different radar wavelengths, were being mounted in and on a test glider flown by the London Gliding Club. (Sci. Serv., NYT, 12/26/64, 9)
Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Administrator, said in an article written for the Florida Times-Union: "Expansion's of man's geographical horizons have almost invariably been linked with surges of creativeness in the arts and sciences. The Space Age could well revitalize human affairs even more than did the vigorous world-ranging of Western navigators that ended the stagnation of the Dark Ages in Europe. . . . "Already some philosophers see the possibility that world-wide inter-est in the space program and growing international participation in it could be the first steps toward providing our troubled race with a moral and constructive substitute for war. "It is entirely possible that, along with broadening of perspectives, there will be basic changes for the better in man's aspirations as astronauts of many nations venture deeper and deeper into the vastness of space in which ours is but one small planet circling a sun-star of relatively minor importance.. ." (Fla. Times-Union, 12/27/64)
Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, said the Florida Times-Union: "Any statement of what space exploration will be like 100 years from now is . . . in the same league as crystal ball gazing.. . . Any specific projects which we may describe . . . will fall far short of activities that will be routine a century from now. "One hundred years ago the 'iron horse' was the fastest means of travel available.. . . Airplanes Were unknown. In this atmosphere Jules Verne sat down and wrote . . . "From the Earth to the Moon' published in 1865. . . . His spacecraft carried three men (and two dogs) , was launched from the east coast of Florida, circled the Moon, and returned to Earth during a round trip that took 11 days. . . . Jules Verne used a huge cannon buried in the sand to boost his capsule to escape velocity. . . . Today we are using Saturn chemical rockets to propel our Apollo spacecraft outward for its first trip to the Moon. And by the year 2064 altogether new means of propulsion will make our present-day launch vehicles and spacecraft appropriate relics for the Smithsonian Institution. . . ." (Fla. Times-Union, 12/27/64)
December 26-30: A plasma torch, designed and built by scientists at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles in a space chemistry program sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), was demonstrated publicly for the first time at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), at Montreal. The device provided the first laboratory source of extremely hot, pure plasma which could be precisely modulated, and whose composition could be varied widely, thus making it possible for scientists to simulate the chemistry of the hottest stars. (AFOSR Release 12-16-4S; M&R, 1/4/65, 21)
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