Dec 10 1975
From The Space Library
Marshall Space Flight Center announced it would distribute the first NASA Standard Parts List (NSPL) to all NASA centers and contractors in Jan. The NSPL was to include electronic parts selected from experience in flights, tests, failure analyses,, and recent plant surveys, to ensure reliability. The standardization had been undertaken to solve problems of small-quantity buying, high cost, long delivery schedules, market fluctuations, part failures, and extensive rework. The cost of correcting problems resulting from failure of parts had been estimated as 100 times the cost of preventing the use of poor quality parts to begin with. The NASA Standard Parts Lead Office, located at MSFC because of its experience in parts management developed during the Saturn program, would establish requirements for parts, coordinate the effort with all NASA Centers, and issue and maintain the list. (NASA Release 75-303; MSFC Release 75-259)
The Air Force had formally entered into an agreement with NASA on development of an experimental hypersonic research aircraft capable of mach 6 flight. The two agencies had agreed after a joint 1974-75 study that "the combined objective and the national interest" would be best served by a joint hypersonic flight-test program. The agreement provided that the report of the joint study would be the baseline document for program development; that technology development and experimental tests would be completed in 1976 so preliminary design study could begin in FY 1977; that personnel from both agencies would participate in all phases to the maximum extent practicable; and that an ad hoc steering committee would be established to prepare a project plan for use in vehicle procurement. (Memo of understanding, 10 Dec 75)
A long-duration free-flying manned space station in earth orbit appeared to be the most economical way of providing a continuing manned presence in space, according to "Manned Orbital Systems Concepts," a study conducted for Marshall Space Flight Center by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. A station that could significantly extend the time in space planned for the Space Shuttle would offer advantages for doing a given amount of work with fewer flights and reducing the number of turnarounds, checkouts, and similar operations. A permanent facility could offer maintenance and repair and even reconfiguration of payloads. The study envisioned development of four-man facilities that would serve as building blocks for growth into larger stations for 12 or 24 workers as needed; the four-man configuration would consist of a subsystems and habitability module carried into orbit by one Shuttle and joined with a logistics and payload module carried on a second mission. Several payload modules could be docked in tandem with the core vehicle, or in radial locations through use of a multiple-port docking adapter. The core vehicle would be left on station for a nominal lifetime of 5 yr, logistic and payload modules being replaced at 90-day intervals. Crew exchange and resupply would occur every 90 days. The study concluded that problems anticipated by the world in the 1990s should be solved in the 1980s, and that an extended-duration manned orbital facility could contribute significantly to those solutions. (MSFC Release 75-26)
INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization-had awarded a 20-mo fixed-price contract for $220 000 to the Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm Co. of Munich for design, fabrication, and test of a prototype lightweight deployable solar array for use in synchronous satellites. The new array would provide 30 to 33 watts per kg at the end of a 7- to 10-yr mission, compared to the current level of 10 to 15 watts per kg. (INTELSAT Release 75-20)
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