Aug 29 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced it had tentatively chosen 114 scientists to participate in the Jupiter-orbiter probe mission scheduled for 1981-1982. More than 500 scientists had submitted proposals for research in response to a 1976 invitation from NASA. Thirteen selectees would have interdisciplinary jobs, helping with mission plans and coordinating research and instrumentation to ensure best results from the mission. NASA would assign the others to 17 individual-experiment areas; principal investigators for 3 of those areas would be from nations other than the U.S. JPL would manage the Jupiter-orbiter project, and ARC would manage the probe system. (NASA Release 77-177)
NASA reported that LeRC had been operating a power generator for 30,000hr without a break and was aiming for 50 000hr of continuous operation, hoping to use the system in deep space missions. The Brayton space power generator, a closed-cycle gas turbine, had been running for more than 3yr under rigorous space environment conditions of temperature, pressure, and speed.
For the test, ordinary electric lab heaters had provided energy to the generator; in space, the generator would draw energy from the sun or from a nuclear source. The Brayton engine had dispelled the "myth that only static nonrotating systems have the endurance potential for long space voyages," said Jack A. Heller, LeRC engineer in charge of the advanced engine work. The system, he said, "not only is showing reliability but it is performing at a high energy-efficiency level of 25% or better without any signs of degradation." (NASA Release 77-178)
The W Post reported conflict between the USAF and NASA not only over use of the Mojave desert area [see Aug. 20] but also over use of radio frequencies that NASA considered the key to contacting alien intelligences, and that the Air Force wanted for a satellite global navigation system. The USAF wanted to use a band scientists called the, "waterhole," in which hydrogen and oxygen radiate natural radio signals into space (the combination of the two into water had given the band the name), thought to be the area in which alien civilizations might conduct a dialogue in space. The USAF had selected these frequencies for navigation signals as carrying less interference. Should the USAF have a navigation-satellite network in place by 1984, its signals would drown out any other signals on those frequencies. (W Post, Aug 29/'77, Al)
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