Feb 3 1976
From The Space Library
Tests on the Lageos-a geophysical research satellite expected to remain in orbit several million years-concluded at Goddard Space Flight Center at the end of Jan., NASA announced, and the satellite would be shipped to the Western Test Range in California for launch in late April. Called the "cosmic golf ball" because of its 426 special reflectors designed to return laser pulses to their exact point of origin on the earth, Lageos would provide a stable point in the sky to permit measurement of the relative locations of participating ground stations within a few centimeters; these measurements would provide scientists with models of earth's crustal motion, useful in predicting earthquakes. Manager of the Lageos project would be the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala. (MSFC Release 76-17)
A team of engineers and scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory had devised a way to transfer blood without contamination and lengthen its safe storage time, NASA announced. Using a concept developed in space craft sterilization, the team-under contract to the National Heart and Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health-worked out an aseptic fluid-transfer system on which patents had been applied for by the Calif. Institute of Technology, which operates JPL for NASA. Two dual-walled tubes, fused and penetrated by heat, would permit clean transfer of blood from one container or bag to another; the unique connector would be manufactured as part of the container. Outer portions of the tubing would be polyvinyl chloride, and the inner parts of heat-resistant kapton; application of heat at 200°C through a metal clamp to the flat end links of each tube would effectively fuse the tube and sterilize the adjoining areas. Heat could be applied by a portable device no larger than an ordinary hair dryer. The method was reported to kill 99.999% of all bacteria and spores, even when surfaces had been purposely contaminated. (NASA Release 76-20)
Pioneer 10-on its way out of the solar system-would crass the orbit of Saturn nearly a billion miles from earth on 10 Feb., NASA announced. As it crossed Saturn's orbit, the Pioneer would be 1 384 600 000 km from the sun and 1 435 807 000 km from earth; however, the big-dish antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network should be able to hear the spacecraft as far out as the orbit of Uranus-3.2 billion km from earth-which it should reach in 1979. Systems aboard the 256-kg spacecraft were still operating, and the Pioneer was returning valuable information on the character of the interplanetary medium in the unexplored space beyond the orbit of Jupiter, which it flew past in Dec. 1973. Project officials said that communication might be possible well beyond Uranus. Pioneer 10 carried a message for any intelligent beings who might retrieve it on its wanderings through the galaxy; scientists calculated that it might encounter a star system once every million years, and should remain in good condition even though its nuclear power source would die in a few decades. (NASA Release 76-21; ARC Release 76-04)
An environmental satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had used its capability of measuring ocean temperatures to help fishermen on the Calif. coast find tuna and salmon. A pilot project using satellite imagery to locate areas of "upwelling" off the coast-areas where cold nutrient-rich water would rise from the bottom to the surface-had shown that these areas were favored by the fish, and the fishermen could save time and fuel by using the data to locate them. NASA's polar-orbiting satellite passing over the coast twice daily would use visual and infrared sensors to relay data including sea-surface temperatures to earth, where images of thermal fronts indicated upwelling areas. The fronts transferred to navigation charts would be available to fishermen at northern Calif. ports. NASA's National Environmental Satellite Service conducted the research through a NOAA-supported sea grant program at Humboldt State Univ.; the technique would be applicable to fishing industry in many parts of the world. (NOAH Release 76-10)
A new manmade fiber stronger than nylon for possible use in drogue parachutes had been tested in the 5-m transonic tunnel at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Ohio, the Air Force announced. The material, called Kevlar, had been developed by DuPont for use in tires, and could be woven into parachute materials twice as strong as nylon with only half the 'weight and volume of nylon counterparts. The AEDC tests used 4 ribbon-type parachutes 2 m in diameter, tested to destruction; one was 100% nylon, another 100% Kevlar, and the remaining two were composed of different blends of the two substances. The tests measured dynamic loads as the chutes were deployed at about 966 km per hr at simulated altitudes from 15 to 115 km; steady-state loads were also measured at those altitudes for speeds of from 640 to 1440 km per hr. The material-evaluation tests were a novelty for the tunnel, normally used for aerodynamic studies of large-scale models or engine compatibility with flight hardware. (AF 01P 003.76)
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