Mar 6 1970
From The Space Library
Sert II spacecraft with experimental electric rocket engine (launched Feb. 3) was already setting endurance records and returning valuable technical data, NASA announced. Endurance test begun Feb. 14 was continuing satisfactorily. Only problem was failure of miniature electrostatic accelerometer, one of three instruments for measuring thrust. (NASA Release 70-34)
Science published report of Apollo 12 Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team. Samples from Ocean of Storms were about one billion years younger than Apollo 11 samples from Tranquility Base. While most conclusions reached on Apollo 11 rocks also applied to Apollo 12 rocks, Apollo 11 crystalline rocks displayed one texture (lath-shaped ilmenite and plagioclase with interstitial pyroxene) and similar modes (50% pyroxene, 30% plagioclase, 20% opaque, 0 to 5% olivine), while Apollo 12 crystalline rocks showed wide range in texture and mode. Most Apollo 12 igneous rocks fitted fractional crystallization sequence, indicating that they represented either parts of single intrusive sequence or samples of number of similar sequences. Breccias were of lower abundance at Ocean of Storms site than at Tranquility Base, "presumably because the regolith at the Ocean of Storms is less mature and not as thick as at Tranquility Base." Complex stratification existed in lunar regolith, "presumably due mainly to the superposition of ejecta blankets." Apollo 12 sample 12033 indicated presence of layer of volcanic ash. Greater carbon content in Apollo 12 breccias and fines than in crystalline rocks was "presumably due largely to contributions of meteoritic material and solar wind." Amount of indigenous organic material capable of volatilization or pyrolysis, or both; appeared extremely low in Apollo 12 samples. Content of noble gas of solar wind origin was less in fines and Breccias of Apollo 12 rocks than in fines and breccias from Apollo 11's Tranquility Base site. Breccias contained less solar wind contribution than did fines, indicating that breccias were formed from fines lower in solar wind noble gases than were fines at surface. Presence of nuclides produced by cosmic rays showed Apollo 12 rocks had been within 1 m (3.3 ft) of surface for 10 million to 200 million yrs. Igneous rocks had crystalized 1.7 billion to 2.7 billion yrs ago. (Science, 3/6/70, 1325-39)
Dr. John E. Naugle, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications, testified before Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences during FY 1971 NASA authorization hearings: "One of the immediate challenges to NASA, and particularly to the Office of Space Science and Applications, for this decade will be to understand the problems of the ecology of the earth, to determine and develop the space systems which will be required to solve these problems, and to understand the long-range implications of their use so that we do not, by their use, create new problems for mankind." In FY 1971 NASA budget had almost doubled resources allocated to applications in FY 1969. Agency was proceeding with ERTS, cooperating with ESSA in Global Atmospheric Research Program, and studying with FAA and ESRO "feasibility of establishing a joint navigation and traffic control satellite system over the North Atlantic within the next decade." (Testimony)
Dr. Donald G. Rea, former NASA Deputy Director for Planetary Programs in OSSA, would become JPL Assistant Laboratory Director for Science March 16, NASA announced. In newly created post Dr. Rea would be responsible for managing JPL's total science program and would act as JPL'S chief scientist. (NASA Release 70-37)
In Science editorial, Preston Cloud of UCLA Dept. of Geology said: "Planet Earth, seen from space, appears as a fragile and limited life-supporting system in a vast emptiness. That such a view is, in fact, an accurate one is now more widely accepted than it was not long ago, before Earth's problems of overpopulation, over consumption, limited resources, and environmental degradation attained the limelight. The danger is that a government and public now deluged by doomsday prophecies and bemused by equally confident reiterations that technology will cure all may hesitate in coming to grips with the problem, in the hope that, given time, it will go away." (Science, 3/6/70, 1323)
March 6-8: NASA launched barrage of 31 sounding rockets-Arcas, Nike-Apache, Nike-Cajun, Nike-Tomahawk, Nike-Iroquois, Aerobee 150, Aerobee 170, and Javelin-from Wallops Station to collect data on solar eclipse. Meteorology, ionospheric physics, and solar physics experiments were provided by four universities and seven other research organizations. All 31 rockets were launched on time, all vehicles performed satisfactorily, and excellent radar traces and telemetry records were received. Only one experiment, ozone and water vapor experiment on a Nike-Cajun, failed to return any scientific data. Three other experiments-solar flare spectrum on an Aerobee 170, airglow experiment on a Nike-Tomahawk, and Pitot probe on a Nike-Apache-were partial successes. Of three supporting Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launches from WSMR two experiments were successful and were recovered. Third was recovered but pointing-control system had not trained experiment on sun. (NASA Releases 70-39, 70-28)
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