Apr 18 1980
From The Space Library
LaRC said that NASA had awarded three major U.S. manufacturers contracts for 14.5-month studies of advanced supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing Company, Lockheed California, and McDonnell Douglas, each received a $1.15 million contract to work in the same discipline, but each on its own concept. Boeing's was a 270-passenger delta-wing, cruise speed Mach 2.4; Douglas's was an arrow-wing carrying 225-500 passengers, cruise speed Mach 2.2; Lockheed's was an arrow-wing carrying 290 passengers, cruise speed Mach 2.5.
Each firm would broaden its research in aerodynamics, lightweight titanium and composite-material structures, and variable-cycle engines for subsonic and supersonic operation. Past studies by these contractors on reducing fuel consumption and noise and on economic considerations needed updating. LaRC would manage the work at the contractors' facilities. (LaRC Release 80-29; NASA Release 80-51)
WFC awarded a $1.239 million fixed-price noncompetitive contract to Automation Industries, Inc., a Vitro subsidiary, for a mobile C-band instrumentation radar system to replace an existing MPS-19 radar, updating WFC's tracking capabilities. (WFC Release 80-3)
LaRC said that it would close the Environmental-Quality Projects Office (EQPO) set up in 1972 to lead NASA's programs in that area and would turn over future work to the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications at NASA Headquarters. LaRC was chosen for its experience in remote-sensing research and in developing advanced instrumentation. Other centers worked on particular problems: JSC, Earth-resources study; GSFC, meteorological research; and ARC, aircraft flight problems. EQPO head John Mugler said LaRC's leadership had helped that center build a. growing atmosphere and water-quality program. (LaRC Release 80-28)
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