February 1978
From The Space Library
Gossamer Condor, the manpowered aircraft that won the $85 000 Kramer prize in 1977, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the National Aeronautic Association reported. The 96-ft wingspan had been cut into 4 pieces for shipping across country with the fuselage and stabilizer. Gossamer Condor had the largest wingspan and was the lightest of any plane in the museum, the wing-covering accounting for only 4.51b of the craft's total 701b. An intricate web of piano wire held the structure together. Flight speed, reaching 10mph, had required the manpower equivalent of one-third of a horsepower. Designer Paul MacCready had substantiated his belief in the potential of ultralight craft. (NAA newsletter, Feb 78, 4)
The Carter administration, calling for national commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, had designated DOT lead agency to coordinate programs and materials, the National Aeronautic Association reported. The task force for the 75th anniversary, which had held its first meeting at DOT in Jan., would be a clearinghouse to avoid duplication, facilitate innovation, and develop ideas suitable for agencies and private organizations. Peter Clapper, FAA assistant administrator for public affairs, noted that the American people had taken for granted the tremendous advances in aviation over the last 75yr and that the anniversary offered an opportunity to bring these advances to public attention. (NAA newsletter, Feb 78, 1)
Rep. Melvin Price (D-111.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, had written President Carter expressing concern that recent administration decisions could seriously impair the strategic defense posture of the U.S., the National Aeronautic Association reported. Price wrote: "I have attempted to comprehend the rationale behind the combination of decisions leading to cancellation of the B-1, cancellation of production of the Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM), terminating production of the Minuteman III Missile, and the reduction in funds for the development of the advanced MX missile system." He emphasized that, despite the consensus of defense experts that U.S. silos would be vulnerable within 3 to 5yr, the President had reduced MX funds and stretched out its schedule.
Price also voiced concern over the apparent lack of correlation or adequate interchange between the military departments principally responsible for strategic capability and others in the administration principally responsible for preparing proposals for and participating in SALT negotiations. Price concluded: "It is my hope that working with the administration we can be prepared (at the time the fiscal 1979 defense program is considered) to begin to provide those systems necessary to ensure a halt to the trend that sees the United States falling behind the strategic might of the Soviets." (NAA newsletter, Feb 78, 1)
The USAF announced it had selected McDonnell Douglas Corp., Long Beach, Calif., as primary contractor for the advanced tanker cargo aircraft (ATCA). Award of the $28 million contract would initiate production-engineering tooling and other nonrecurring activities. The aircraft would be funded over the next 5yr, with the intent of eventually ordering 20 of them. Primary objective of ATCA would be to increase mobility of U.S. forces in contingency operations by refueling fighters and simultaneously carrying fighter-support equipment and personnel on overseas deployments; refueling strategic airlifters (such as C-5 and C-141) during overseas deployments and resupply missions; refueling strategic offensive and reconnaissance aircraft during long-range conventional operations; and selectively augmenting cargo-carrying capability. (AFSC Newsreview, Feb 78, 1)
The USAF announced it had tested at Ramstein, W. Germany, a new "brain" for the imaging infrared (IIR) Maverick missile, a digital centroid tracker developed for a joint Air Force-Navy IIR program by Hughes Aircraft Co., to prevent loss of target lock-on, a problem inherent in the older analog system. The centroid tracker would locate a target such as an industrial complex or tank using a sensor that picked up infrared or heat images, calculated boundaries of the target, and guided the missile to the approximate center. The IIR Maverick (designated AG65D), most advanced version of this new missile, had demonstrated in tests earlier this year improved performance in daytime or nighttime and adverse weather conditions over earlier TV-guided Mavericks. (AFSC Newsreview, Feb 78, 4)
The Jan/Feb issue of Satellite Pathways reviewed COMSAT accomplishments, noting that satellite communications technology had advanced through research and development programs at COMSAT Laboratories, engineering support it had provided to current satellite systems, and its work on satellite systems of the future. COMSAT's research and engineering programs had aimed primarily at more powerful and long-lived multiple-beam satellites operating with smaller earth stations in higher communications frequencies; these programs would lead to more efficient use of the frequency spectrum allocated to satellite communications by simultaneous multiple use of the same frequency bands and transmitting communications in high-speed digital rather than conventional analog modes.
Among achievements in 1977, the article mentioned new nickel hydrogen batteries developed by COMSAT under INTELSAT sponsorship; data collected from COMSAT-built 13- and 18-gigahertz transponders aboard the Ats 6 satellite and the 19- and 28-gigahertz beacons aboard the COMSTAR satellites; a simulator that could handle communications for the INTELSAT V satellites that would form a global system in the 1980s; and new communications processing equipment to convert conventional analog signals into digital signals, and vice versa. (Satellite Pathways, Jan/Feb 78, 12)
Science Indicators 1976, ninth annual report of the National Science Board recently transmitted to Congress by the President, noted an increase in U.S. research and development expenditures during 1976 to an estimated $38.1 billion in current dollars; however, constant-dollar spending of $28.5 was only 2.5 % above the 1974 level. Measured in current dollars, federally supported R&D expenditures in 1976 had climbed to an estimated new high of $20.1 billion; however, constant-dollar levels stood at $15 billion, 18% below the peak reached in 1967. National spending for basic research' in current dollars had climbed substantially since 1960, to a new high in 1976. However, estimated constant-dollar expenditures in 1976 had advanced only about 2% above the 1975 level, remaining nearly 11 % below the peak year of 1968. The federal government was the source of most support for basic research in 1976, as it had been in past years. The federal share amounted to 68% of the total since 1971, compared with approximately 60% in 1960, whereas industry's share had remained stable at approximately 15 % throughout the 1970s, in sharp contrast to its 28% share in 1960. (NSF report, Feb 78)
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