Jul 15 1965
From The Space Library
The first close-up picture of Mars transmitted by NASA's MARINER IV in an eight-hour broadcast over a distance of 134 million mi. clearly showed the edge of the planet. Transmitted to earth as a series of 5 million radio signals representing zeroes and ones, the picture was received at the Madrid and Johannesburg tracking stations and relayed to JPL. A JPL computer reconstructed the digits to produce images consisting of a series of dots of varying darkness. With transmission at 8.3 dots a second, 8½ hrs. were required to receive the photograph. The photo sequence began when the bright edge, or limb, of Mars was seen by a light sensor which triggered MARINER IV's magnetic tape recorder. Initial information came from an experimental device called a "cluge" which built up a rough pattern of the photo on a monitor screen as it was relayed from the tracking stations to JPL. Taken at a low angle with an oblique view, the first photograph did not show the detail expected in later photographs. At a news conference at JPL, Dr. James A. Van Allen, Univ. of Iowa, said that during its Mars flyby, MARINER IV had discovered with a variety of detectors that Mars had little or no magnetic field and, therefore, no radiation belts. This would indicate that the planet lacks a liquid core and thus differs basically from earth, Lack of a metallic core, liquid or solid, would be evidence that the planet never went through the churning internal processes that gave the earth its layered structure, Mars would not have continents formed of lightweight rocks and ocean basins underlain with basaltic rock as found on earth. W. M. Alexander, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, explained that there was no evidence of a belt or unusual concentration of cosmic dust around the planet, nor, pointed out Dr. H. S. Bridge, MIT, was there any evidence of a shock wave caused by solar wind flowing across the planet. The solar wind was the steady outflow of thin, hot, high-velocity gas from the sun, Dr. William H. Pickering, Director of JPL, when questioned by newsmen on the possibility of higher life existing on Mars, pointed out that the absence of a magnetic field indicated the planet's atmosphere was hit with all types of radiation and the existence of life would depend on how deep the atmosphere was and the extent of radiation that reached the surface. Asked if he were discouraged about the possibility of finding life on the planet, Dr. Pickering replied: "No, I have always felt we will find some sort of life on Mars." Dr. Pickering pointed out that one explanation for the reddish hue of Mars might be the presence of limonite, an iron oxide. This would suggest that iron was uniformly spread through the planet rather than being largely concentrated in the core, as on earth. (Transcript; Sullivan NYT, 1/16/65, 1, 10; Miles, Wash. Post, 7/16/65, A1,A3; Sullivan, NYT, 7/17/65, 1, 6)
Astronauts James A. McDivitt (Maj., USAF) and Edward H. White, II (Maj. USAF) of the June 3-7 GEMINI IV flight received USAF astronaut wings from Gen. John P. McConnell, USAF Chief of Staff, in an Air Force ceremony at the Pentagon, X-15 test pilot Joseph H. Engle (Capt, USAF) also received USAF astronaut wings, thus becoming the 12th American to receive the award and the fifth to wear the insignia for suborbital flight. Meanwhile the Senate Armed Services Committee approved President Johnson's promotion of Astronauts Walter M. Schirra from commander to captain and John W. Young from Lt. commander to commander. (DOD Release 458-65, 7/14/65)
Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director of Kennedy Space Center, NASA, said in an address at the First World Exhibition of Transport and Communications in Munich: "It is my personal opinion, shared by some colleagues, that space flight will logically follow the pattern of historical development which has characterized the transportation industry. That is, the exploitation of the system is an outgrowth of its invention, "This pattern is vividly demonstrated by the popular American legend that Henry Ford invented the automobile, when in fact the automobile is not really an American invention at all. For one thing, it was not invented by any one man, but by a host of inventors-most of them Europeans, "However, Henry Ford did initiate the exploitation of this invention as a means of transportation for almost every family in America, Ford was a man of great inventive genius who strove to mass produce a highly reliable automobile at low unit cost. So Ford took advantage of this once-novel invention, the automobile, by developing to a high degree the arts of mass production with interchangeable parts, line assembly, and finally conveyor assembly; and thus he ushered in a new age of public transportation. "The automobile also serves as an excellent example that even the farsighted and visionary inventor often cannot visualize the ultimate utilization of his invention by the public. For the modern automobile is a combination of many inventions-the wheel, the pneumatic tire which in turn depended upon the discovery of vulcanized rubber, the internal combustion engine and gasoline-to name a few. To illustrate an extreme case, I seriously doubt if the inventor of the wheel could visualize its use in such a supernatural machine as the automobile! In the more recent past, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., a brilliant American petrochemist of the late-nineteenth century, considered gasoline a useless and dangerous byproduct of his process for refining lamp kerosene, "The thing to remember is that the automotive industry did not spring from public demand. It came about because there were inventors who braved ridicule and worse and because others were quick to seize upon their creations. There was no expressed requirement for the airplane, nor for the trans-Atlantic air travel opened up by Charles Lindbergh. The novel products of inventive minds become the everyday products of our society. The full impact of these products is unpredictable at the time of their invention. "The American scientist, Robert Goddard, who created the first liquid-fueled rockets in the United States, remarked that 'Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it.' "The men who dreamed up and worked out methods of efficient transportation unwittingly opened up broad new vistas, and touched off the growth of tremendous production and service industries. They showed the way to expedite the movement of people and goods, and they also accelerated the exchange of ideas and customs and thus promoted understanding and cooperation, "Robert Goddard in America, like Hermann Oberth in Europe, were scorned and laughed at in their time. But while we are meeting here, men are preparing more journeys into the limitless areas beyond Earth's atmosphere, working with much the same theories and techniques proposed by Oberth and Goddard." (Text)
"One absolute certainty is that if the atomic bomb had not gone off at Alamogordo 20 years ago tomorrow, the spacecraft MARINER IV would not have flown past Mars yesterday," wrote William Hines in the Washington Evening Star. He continued: "Space and the atom are more closely interrelated than most people realize. We are in a space race today because-and only because-big rockets were developed by the East and West starting about 15 years ago. . . Solely to carry atomic (and later hydrogen) warheads. There would have been no space race without big rockets because the staggering development costs for space applications alone could never have been justified. "The 'aerospace business' of the non-atomic 60's, then, would have been 'airplane business' pure and simple-and airplanes would be much different than they are today. There would be no 'atomic energy industry,' of course-and these two differences would have a measurable economic impact. Probably a million jobs nationwide depend either directly or indirectly on space and the atom. "Equally obviously, two vast bureaucracies dedicated to 'running' space and the atom would not exist. The Atomic Energy Commission has about 7,300 employees and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration about 33,000. Together they 'own' something like $18 billion worth of property." (Hines, Wash, Eve. Star, 7/15/65)
A contract for about $60 million would be signed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with Republic Aviation Corp. for Phase II development of the Advanced Orbiting Solar Observatory (AOSO), NASA announced. Republic would furnish two flight spacecraft and a prototype; work would also include final development and design, checkout, experiment integration, and launch support services. The Phase I portion of the project was completed in July 1965, Launching of the 1,250-lb. AOSO, planned for the late 1960's, would be from Vandenberg AFB by a thrust-augmented Thor-Agena rocket; the observatory would provide a constant search for isolated or unusual solar activity. (NASA Release 65-234)
Northwind, a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, left Copenhagen for a three-month scientific voyage of the Soviet Arctic providing a "floating platform" for civilian scientists aboard to conduct oceanographic and meteorological studies in the Barents and Kara Seas-areas for which the U.S. had little scientific data. (NYT, 7/16/65)
Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, received the Pioneer of the Wind-Rose Award, Order of the Diamond, in Munich, Germany, Dr. Debus, first recipient of the award, was cited for his historical contribution to rocket launch technology and for his contributions to science through his work in rocketry. Award was made at the First International Transport Exhibit. (Brevard Sent., 8/1/65)
USAF would begin retiring more than 300 of its B-52 strategic bombers next year, predicted Howard Margolis in the Washington Post, Margolis theorized that USAF would then seek more money for its follow-on bomber, the AMSA (Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft), and money for several wings of F-111's for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber force as the B-52's Were mothballed. (Margolis, Wash, Post, 7/15/65)
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