Dec 15 1967
From The Space Library
NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) reactor (NRX-A6) was successfully ground-tested by NASA and AEC at Jackass Flats, Nev., achieving major goal of one-hour duration for nuclear rocket technology program and demonstrating that rocket reactors could be operated for periods longer than those required for most space missions. Test, in which reactor operated for 60 min at 1,100-mw design power, was sixth in series to obtain additional data on reactor characteristics under extended operation duration in joint NASA-AEC Rover program. (AEC Release K-285; Aero Tech, 1/1/68, 13)
U.S.S.R. announced successful completion of rocket tests in second Pacific area near Midway Island to test equipment for spacecraft landings at sea. Tests in other areas had been completed Dec. 13. Series, which began Nov. 28, had been scheduled to last until Dec. 30. (UPI, NYT, 12/14/67, 16; SBD, 12/18/67,246)
Univ. of Iowa professor Dr. James A. Van Allen, writing in Science, warned against "abandoning in situ study of the planets to the Soviet Union." Citing important contributions made by unmanned planetary probes, he noted that intelligible telemetry signals had been received from MARINER IV from ranges as great as 320 million km and that the spacecraft was still operating properly 36 mo after launch. Entire MARINER V mission, he said, "was conducted with such precision and competence as to draw cheers from even the most hardened professionals." Although successful Mariner missions had been accomplished at a cost of less than 2% of NASA budget, Congress had failed to provide for preparatory work for any specific planetary mission beyond Mariner Mars '69, he said. "Even more devastating is the reluctance of NASA to forcefully request adequate funding for such work . . . despite the existence of well conceived programs of great scientific potential. . . . The basic technology is available, and a rich diversity of feasible experiments has been proposed. . . ." Despite evidence that U.S.S.R.'s planetary exploration plans were both ambitious and increasingly competent, he said, U.S. "is now allowing its own high competency in planetary exploration to decay. . . ." (Science, 12/15/67)
The New York Times later commented: "Professor Van Allen is entirely right in his complaint . . . that [US.] is spending a ridiculously small sum . . . on planetary exploration by unmanned rockets. . . . the cost-effectiveness in scientific terms of the nation's planetary program is far greater than that of the Apollo program for a manned flight to the moon, the nearly bottomless well into which the vast majority of NASA's funds are now going. The existing allocation of funds is scientifically irrational, explicable principally in terms of the propaganda and public relations returns envisaged from `winning' the moon race." (NYT, 12/19/67,46)
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