Sep 28 1978
From The Space Library
NASA announced that it and the U.S. Army Aviation Research and Development Command at WFC had accepted the first rotor systems research aircraft (RSRA) to provide the U.S. with a sophisticated and much needed research facility for continued development of rotary wing technology. NASA and the Army would obtain data from the RSRA helicopters to verify and to investigate technology of existing and advanced rotor systems. RSRA would make unnecessary costly and extensive modification of helicopter aircraft for flight investigations of each new rotor design, and could produce precise measurements of a variety of rotors under repeatable test conditions.
RSRA featured the first helicopter-crew emergency-escape system (an active isolator/balance system) and could be configured as a helicopter, compound aircraft (helicopter with fixed wings), or fixed-wing aircraft. The active isolator/balance system's main rotor vibratory forces and moments could provide wide band attenuation of vibrations to the fuselage, permitting installation of different rotors without retuning the fuselage. The emergency-escape system allowed upward extraction of the crew, sing tractor rocket motors to sever the main rotor blades and separate and fragment the canopies. The system, consisting solely of mechanical and pyrotechnic components, was insensitive to electromagnetically induced radiation and lightning.
Acceptance marked completion of the design, fabrication, and flight test of the second RSRA delivered in helicopter configuration. The first RSRA had been scheduled for acceptance after completion of flight tests in the compound configuration. Sikorsky Aircraft Div. of United Technologies Corp. had built the RSRAs for NASA and the Army. (NASA Release 78-148)
NASA announced it had rescheduled launches of the Tiros-N third generation operational meteorological satellite and the Nimbus-G pollution-monitoring satellite, originally set for mid-Sept. to Oct. 14 and 23, respectively. NASA had postponed the WTR launches because of malfunction of an onboard computer in Tiros-N, and subsequent discovery of reworking required for tape recorders on both Tiros-N and Nimbus-G [see Sept. 18]. NASA had returned the tape recorders to the manufacturer for correction of the suspected problem (loose solder particles) and would reinstall the instruments in the spacecraft over the next 2wk. (NASA Release 78-149)
NASA announced it would award Rep. Olin Teague (D-Tex.) its Distinguished Public Service Medal Oct. 3 during a 20th anniversary observance. Chairman Teague, who headed the House Committee on Science and Technology, had announced he would retire from Congress after 2 decades of service. NASA had declared his unswerving support of the agency and the U.S. space program an inspiration to all NASA employees. (NASA anno Sept 28/78)
LaRC announced it had selected Dr. Larry Pinson, aerospace engineer in its structures and dynamics division, to participate in the President's executive interchange program, designed to foster improved relations between the government and private industry by yearly having 50 to 75 middle management executives from both sectors spend a yr in the opposite sector gaining in-depth on-the-job experience. The program had trained more than 450 executives since its inception under President Lyndon Johnson.
Pinson had begun his term with the Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, in August. He had received awards for work on vibration of space vehicles, and had been a consultant during the Apollo program on various studies of light problems. He had received a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from the Va. Polytechnic Inst. and had begun his NASA career at LaRC in 1963. (LaRC Release 78-51)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
