May 5 1976
From The Space Library
Oso 8, an Orbiting Solar Observatory launched 21 June 1975, had performed without failure of any subsystem except a redundant solar sensor, and was judged successful, according to a postlaunch mission operations report. Primary mission objectives were high-resolution spatial and spectral observations of the solar chromosphere and transition regions, obtained by the pointed experiments aboard the observatory; secondary mission objectives were met with "substantial numbers" of observations of solar x-rays, earth airglow, and cosmic x-ray background radiation. At launch, Oso 8 carried the most comprehensive package of cosmic x-ray experiments ever included in a single payload, including the first satellite instrument containing large-area thin plastic window detectors to measure ultrasoft x-rays; the first high-sensitivity crystal spectrometer flown to measure cosmic x-ray sources with extremely high spectral resolution; and the first satellite experiment flown to measure x-ray polarization of cosmic sources with high sensitivity. (MOR S-82175-09 [postlaunch], 10 May 76)
Agreements between the French government and the European Space Agency for use of launch facilities at Kourou, French Guiana, were signed in Paris by Michel d'Ornano, minister for industry and research, and Roy Gibson, director general of ESA. The Kourou facilities include the Guiana Space Centre belonging to France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (ONES) and the Ariane launching site belonging to ESA that replaced the former equatorial base belonging to the defunct ELDO organization [see 11 Jan.]. The meeting of the European Space Conference in April 1975 had decided that all ESA member states would contribute to the costs of the Guiana space center until the end of 1980. Ariane (the ESA heavy launcher now under development) would provide Europe with a satellite launch capability of its own after 1980. (ESA newsletter, Aug 76, 2)
The Energy Research and Development Administration announced plans to launch a giant manned and instrumented balloon, Da Vinci II , between 24 May and mid-June to determine physical and chemical changes in air pollutants over distances of several hundred km from their source. The helium-filled balloon more than 70 m high-equaling, with its gondola, the height of a 15-story building, and carrying the same crew of 4 that flew on Da Vinci I in November 1974-would fly for up to 36 hr at altitudes from 3 to 9 km from St. Louis, Mo., to a point in Ill., Ky., or 0. Da Vinci I flew from Las Cruces to Wagon Mound, N.M., in 12 hr to prove the feasibility of using a manned instrumented balloon for lower atmosphere research. Grew members were Dr. Rudolf J. Engelmann of NOAH; Otis Imboden, photographer from the National Geographic Society; Jimmie Craig, pilot from the U.S. Naval Weapons Center; and Mrs. Vera Simons, project consultant and experienced balloonist, who originated the idea for the project. The crew would use a variety of instruments to conduct more than 20 experiments to show what happens to a plume of polluted air as it moves across several states. (ERDA Release 76-128)
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