Dec 4 1973
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 614 from Plesetsk into orbit with an 807-km (501.5-mi) apogee, 769-km (477.8-mi) perigee, 100.6- min period, and 74.0° inclination. (GSFC SSR, 12/31/73; SBD, 12/6/73, 186)
A New York Times editorial commented on the flight of Pioneer 10 to within 130 000 km (81 000 mi) of Jupiter: Never before had "the mind of man projected its sensors so far out in space toward such a distant heavenly body." Already, preliminary results had "surprised scientists and challenged existing views." Climaxing 350 years of scientific study of Jupiter, the clear and detailed data from Pioneer 10 inaugurated "a qualitatively new stage in man's knowledge of this giant planet and his understanding of how its physical and other properties relate to the larger problem of the origin of the solar system and of the universe." (NYT, 12/4/73, 42)
Latin America opposed direct and uncontrolled satellite transmission of TV programs during the Second World Broadcasting Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.S. delegation had maintained that censorship of direct transmission would be restriction of the freedom of information. Argentine jurist Augusto Ferrer replied that "without govern-mental control . . . individual countries would find themselves subject to various forms of intervention in their cultural sovereignty, in their national security, and in their psychological development." Conference President Jose A. Castro said the rest of the Latin American countries had come out against direct broadcasting. (FBIS-Inter-American Affairs, 12/21/73, Al)
President Nixon signed Executive Order 11748 establishing the Federal Energy Office in the Executive Office of the President. He announced the appointment of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon as Executive Director. The President said: "I have decided to bring to- gether in one agency the major energy resource management functions of the Federal Government to provide the centralized authority we must have for dealing with the energy crisis." He was assuming chairman-ship of the Energy Emergency Action Group, "which will continue to oversee all major policy issues relating to energy." He would ask Con-gress to create a Federal Energy Administration "and, in the Executive Office of the President, a Federal Energy Office to carry out all energy-related functions." (PD, 12/10/73, 1388-92)
Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-Wash.), at the Nixon Administration's re-quest, introduced S. 2776 to establish a Federal Energy Administration, an independent executive agency to deal with the energy emergency for two years. (CR, 12/4/73, S21776-81)
Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NM.) introduced H.R. 11762 to direct the National Science Foundation to start and support basic geothermal energy research and to amend the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 to direct NASA to carry out a demonstration program for the development of the commercial use of geothermal resources. (CR, 12/4/73, E7752-3)
The Air Force Systems Command announced it had signed a $3 450 000 agreement to initiate a study for the Dept. of the Interior Office of Coal Research on a more efficient method of generating electrical power from coal with less pollution. Electrical energy would be extracted from a high-temperature ionized gas-similar to the flaming exhaust of a rocket or jet engine-by directing it through a magnetic field. Work on the process would be conducted at AFSC's Arnold Engineering Development Center, using a magnetohydrodynamic generator built in the 1960s as an electrical power source for a wind tunnel. (AFSC Release 01P 157.73)
NASA launched a Black Brant IVA sounding rocket from Poker Flats, Alaska, carrying a Univ. of Alaska aeronomy and barium cloud-release experiment to a 569.7-km (354-mi) altitude. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. The barium cloud was viewed by Alaskan ground sites but the planned support by Skylab 4 mission (launched Nov. 16) was not available because of scheduling problems. (GSFC proj off)
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