Mar 2 1966
From The Space Library
NASA’s PIONEER VI interplanetary probe, launched Dec. 16, 1965, passed near earth after 76 days of near-perfect operation in solar orbit. Probe was 84,190,800 mi. from the sun, passing 7,775,600 mi. closer than earth does, and in earth’s orbital plane on a course which would ultimately take it within 75.6 million mi. of the sun. Devised to study interplanetary space, PIONEER VI had telemetered 250 million readings from its six scientific instruments covering 3,300 separate measurements and taken 2.5 million readings of 100 engineering measurements. It had also registered solar wind speed of 1,636,000 mph on Feb. 23, close to highest speed previously recorded of 1,675,000 mph by EXPLORER XVIII in earth orbit. Preliminary scientific findings would be presented to American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington, D.C., April 19-22. Pioneer project was managed by ARC. ‘‘(NASA Release 66-43,)’’
Vice President Hubert Humphrey, accompanied by NASA Administrator James E. Webb and NASC Executive Secretary Edward C. Welsh, flew by helicopter to GSFC for three-hour tour, during which they watched GSFC technicians receive first photos from ESSA II meteorological satellite. Successful operation of ESSA II officially created world’s fist fully operational weather-forecasting satellite network. ‘‘(AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/2/66; AP, Balt. Sun, 3/3/66)’’
NASA successfully launched two companion sounding rockets five minutes apart from NASA Wallops Station for simultaneous measurements of properties of the neutral atmosphere, ionosphere, and solar radiation intensities at 120-to 380-mi. altitudes. Aerobee 150A sounding rocket with 180-lb. AFCRL-instrumented payload to measure solar ultraviolet radiation and electron temperatures as function of altitude reached 142-mi. (229-km.) altitude. While Aerobee 150A was still in flight, four stage solid-propellant Javelin boosted instrumented payload to 380-mi. (611-km.) altitude to obtain simultaneous measurements of neutral gas densities, temperatures, and composition; ion densities and composition, and electron temperatures and densities. Data from both flights were telemetered to the ground and would be correlated to study effects of solar radiation on ionosphere and upper atmosphere. ‘‘(Wallops Release 66-12; NASA Rpt. SRL)’’
Discovery of two powerful x-ray galaxies which might indicate existence of a whole family of celestial objects was reported by Naval Research Laboratory physicist Dr. Herbert Friedman at a news conference in Washington, D.C. The two galaxies-Cygnus A and M-87-were among the strongest of the 10,000 galaxies that emit radio signals and had been detected previously only by optical telescopes and by their radio emissions. “The startling thing about these extra-galactic sources is that their x-ray output is 10 to 100 times greater than their combined output of light and radio waves,” Dr. Friedman said, and he suggested that an x-ray satellite or a “fence-like array of 1,000 Geiger counters erected on the moon” could identify the sources. The discovery supported theory of an “exploding universe” whose evolution over billions of years, and in the future, would be characterized by violent cosmic explosions far beyond the relative calm of the Milky Way. Dr. Friedman, E. T. Byram, and T. A. Chubb obtained data from an April 1965 Aerobee sounding rocket fight. ‘‘(Clark, NYT, 3/3/66, 2; Simons, Wash. Post, 3/3/66, A3)’’
In a special message to Congress, President Johnson urged the establishment of a Cabinet-level Dept. of Transportation consolidating FAA and several other Federal agencies and functions “to serve the growing demands of this great Nation, to satisfy the needs of our expanding industry and to fulfill the right of our taxpayers to maximum efficiency and frugality in Government operations.” The President repeated the proposal made in his State of the Union message Jan. 12 for US. program to construct and flight-test 2,000-mph supersonic aircraft. He requested $200 million in FY 1967 to initiate prototype phase, including completion of design competition, expanded economic and sonic boom studies, and start of prototype construction. U.S. planned to conduct first flight tests by 1970, he said, and to introduce the aircraft into commercial service by 1974. The President also directed his Science Adviser to work with NASA, FAA, Dept. of Commerce, and Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to devise an “action program” to attack the problem of aircraft noise- “a growing source of annoyance and concern to the thousands of citizens who live near many of our large jetports.” ‘‘(Pres. Doc., 3/7/66, 304-12)’’
In statement presented to the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications, summarized significant 1965 mission results: “The 1965 successful Space Science and Applications missions totaled 16. Of these, eight were scientific satellites; three, applications satellites; three, deep-space probes; and two were vehicle developments. Science and applications experiments have also been carried on five manned missions. “The list of US. space firsts was extended during 1965. Ranger IX took the first close-up pictures of the floor of a lunar crater. For the first time, as television pictures of the lunar surface were being obtained from the Moon, they were sent on a real-time basis to home receivers. MARINER IV achieved the first successful mission to Mars. It obtained the first close-up pictures of the Martian surface, revealing the cratered character of the planet. By October 1, 1965, MARINER IV had extended the long-range communication record to 191 million miles; it has since been tracked to its maximum distance of 216 million miles. The various measurements of the Mars magnetic field, atmosphere, and ionosphere constitute significant firsts. Early Bird became the first operational commercial communication satellite. The first full global picture of the Earth’s cloud cover in a single day as it will be observed by TOS was provided by TIROS IX early in the year. In the Gemini program excellent pictures were obtained of the terrain and the gegenschein, a faint reflection of sunlight from materials dispersed throughout interplanetary space. It was clearly established that astronauts can perform scientific experiments in space, producing excellent usable results. “During 1965, 138 sounding rockets were launched to continue the investigation of our atmosphere, and to carry out exploratory space experiments. In support of the International Quiet Sun Year, the ship USNS Croatan launched some 77 rockets while sailing down the West coast of South America. Over 90 percent of the sounding rocket launches and about 80 per cent of the payloads were successful, yielding data on cosmic rays, and the Earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetic field. A Goddard Space Flight Center sounding rocket observed the planet Mars in the ultraviolet, indicating an atmosphere pressure of about five millibars at the planet’s surface, which agrees well with the MARINER IV data. Other rocket flights made ultraviolet studies of the [Ikeya-Seki] Comet of 1965, and of the Sun in ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths.” ‘‘(Testimony; NASA Auth. Hearings, 341-5)’’
NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Tracking and Data Acquisition, Gerald M. Truszynski, testified before the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences: “To provide effective support of flight projects, NASA has established a worldwide network of tracking and data acquisition stations. . . . This network, at the present time, consists of ground stations which are operational or under construction at 28 locations. These stations are located in the United States and 16 foreign countries and territories. They represent a total capital investment of over $600 million and are operated by more than 2,500 highly trained NASA, contractor, and foreign national personnel. . . . “Many of the stations being used for Gemini support will also be used for Apollo. Capabilities are being added at these stations while other stations are being established. The network for support of Apollo missions . . . will consist of 10 fixed land stations with 30-foot antennas, three stations with 85-foot antennas, 1 transportable station, 5 instrumentation ships, and 8 instrumentation aircraft. In addition, three 85-foot antenna stations normally used for deep space missions will be used for support of Apollo. . . . “Our efforts are directed toward having the network fully qualified for lunar mission support in 1967.” ‘‘(Testimony; NASA Auth. Hearings, 383, 387)’’
Dr. Hermann H. Kurzweg, NASA Director of Research, OART, in testimony before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics’ Subcommittee on Advanced Research and Technology, discussed the development at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center of a new automatic programmer called AMTRAN (Automatic Mathematical Translator) : ‘‘In this system, keyboards and cathode ray oscilloscopes, by which mathematical commands and replies to and from a central digital computer may be transmitted and received, can be located near the desk of the mathematician, and operated directly by him. Experiments have indicated that this new AMTRAN computer system may reduce the time required for solutions of certain problems by a factor of 100. An additional economical advantage of AMTBAN is that sets of keyboards and display screens, all working through the same central computer, may be located in a large number of locations for direct and immediate use.” ‘‘(Testimony; NASA Auth. Hearings, 600-02)’’
FCC adopted a Notice of Inquiry inviting comments by interested parties to be submitted by Aug. 1, 1966, on five specific questions concerning legality, compatibility with the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, and economic and technical feasibility of proposed FCC authorization of non governmental communications satellite facilities. ‘‘(Text)’’
U.S.S.R.’s Zond III interplanetary probe, launched July 18, 1965, was 153,520,000 km. (95,397,328 mi.) away from earth in heliocentric. orbit gradually receding from the sun, Tass announced. All equipment was said to be functioning normally. ‘‘(Tass, 3/2/66)’’
Harold B. Finger, Director of NASA Nuclear Systems and Space Power Div., speaking at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, summarized the history and development of electricity in space exploration and predicted it would play an increasingly important role in the future of the space program: “It is important to remember that the program of space exploration is still young and there is still a vast sea and many space objectives to explore and to learn about. The highest power levels used in space so far have been only a few kilowatts.. . .” Orbital research laboratories, lunar bases, broadcast satellites, and interplanetary spacecraft, he said, would require increasing levels of electric power. ‘‘(Text)’’
U.S. scientists were questioning whether VENUS III’s landing on the planet had been a mistake, reported Walter Sullivan in the New York Times. He noted that the Nov. 28, 1965, issue of Izvestia had reported the two probes would pass on different sides of Venus and that Mstislav V. Keldysh, president of Soviet Academy of Sciences, had told a Moscow press conference Feb. 10 that both probes would ‘‘approach” the planet about March 1, but that no “soft” landing would be attempted. Marvin Miles of the Los Angeles Times reported that U.S. scientists, emphasizing the difficulty of knowing the exact track of distant planets, said that a small trajectory error could have caused a crash-landing even though a flyby might have been programmed. ‘‘(Sullivan, NYT, 3/2/66, 22; Wash. Post, 3/3/66, A21)’’
Report of Feb. 15 firing of French ballistic missile 1st stage from LES Landes launching site south of Bordeaux, France, published in Air et Cosmos and confirmed by French Ministry of Armed Forces, indicated base was operational, Washington Post reported. Development of the base, intended to bridge the gap between the scheduled 1967 closing of Hammaguir Range and the 1968 opening of the French Guiana base, had been kept secret and “it had not been realized that the base was anywhere near ready for use,” Post suggested. ‘‘(Wash. Post, 3/3/66, A16)’’
Rupert Wildt, professor of astrophysics at Yale Univ., had been named to receive the Eddington Gold Medal-highest award of Royal Astronomical Society of England. ‘‘(NYT, 3/3/66, 58M)’’
Home-built photo-receiver set of RCA electronics engineer Wendell Anderson in Morristown, N.J., received photos of North Atlantic storm taken by ESSA I meteorological satellite-first known usable pictures ever received from an orbiting satellite on home-made set. Equipment, which included 25-yr.-old ham radio, 20 ft. of copper tubing, television antenna, mast, sheet of chicken wire, wooden laundry hangers, sawed off rolling pin, and $25 microscope, cost $600-$31,000 less than an ESSA ground station. Anderson used antenna to pick up signals on ham radio, taped signals on recorder, reducing them to series of electrical impulses that could be changed into light signals, then beamed light through reverse end of a microscope onto spinning sheet of film to record photos. ‘‘(O’Toole, NYT, 3/3/66, 31)’’
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30 31
