Dec 23 1963
From The Space Library
NASA announced it would negotiate contract extension with General Electric Co. for plant- and test-support services at NASA Mississippi Test Facility. Extension was expected to exceed $25 million. NASA had selected GE in February 1962 to support Project Apollo including systems integration, checkout, and reliability-including plant and test support at MTF. (NASA Release 63-283)
JPL awarded contract to Motorola, Inc., for fabrication and system integration of receiving subsystems operating at S-band frequencies in the Deep Space and Manned Space Flight tracking networks. Contract was follow-on to present contract awarded March 1962 under which Motorola designed and fabricated modules for S-band receiving subsystems for Deep Space Network. The additional equipment was for the NASA Unified S-Band System, in which receiving equipment for both networks are identical except for slight difference in operating frequency. Unified S-Band System allows all communications functions between ground stations and spacecraft to be accomplished at single frequency; provides more efficient power transfer between ground station's directive antennas; and reduces by hundreds of times the galactic noise received on UHF frequencies. (NASA Release 63-284) [[ General Dynamics]] was proposing combination of fluorine-and liquid-oxygen Atlas and Centaur upper stage as a cheaper substitute for Titan III booster for USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory, UPI, Missiles and Rockets reported. (M&R, 12/23/63, 9)
Manned Spacecraft Center announced building contractors had been invited by Corps of Engineers to submit contract proposals for construction of Spacecraft Control Technology Laboratory at MSC. The laboratory will be a $1,500,000 addition to the Spacecraft Research Office and Laboratory and will contain facilities for noise and vibration testing. (MSC Release 63-261)
Aerojet General Corp. reported it had developed new solid fuels that can propel a missile a mile in one second after ignition. Based on combination of mechanical and chemical methods, the propellants have fastest burning rate ever obtained in nonexplosive solid fuels, Aerojet said. (M&R, 12/23/63, 9)
Dr. Glen Wilson, staff member of Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, said in Missiles and Rockets interview : "Contrary to some published reports, President Johnson is not predisposed to a military emphasis on space. He will judge the requirements of DOD and NASA strictly on merit, if his past performance is any measure." Dr. Wilson recalled Johnson was Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee's Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee, later was Chairman of Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from its inception until he became Vice President. Dr. Wilson stressed that "it must be noted that Johnson was one of the few men on the Hill to recognize the supreme importance of the SPUTNIK I launch, and he instigated an extraordinary session of Senate hearings a few weeks later." (M&R, 12/23/63, 16)
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arms Control Arthur Barber advised defense industry to seek nondefense markets as insurance against, declining defense budgets. Barber estimated there was a better than even chance of some East-West arms control agreement with mutual inspection provisions during 1964. (M&R, 12/23/63, 16)
Article in Steel, the Metal-Making Weekly, included remarks by Louis B. C. Fong, Director, NASA's Technology Utilization Program, and Dr. Earl P. Stevenson, member of NASA's Industrial Application Advisory Board : "Spin-off is in the form of ideas and innovations, not finished products ready to roll off production lines and change American buying habits overnight," explained Mr. Fong. "A recent study by Denver Research Institute, Denver, uncovered examples (of spin-off) and added that these examples do not include all, nor can they be considered statistically representative of, the transfers which have taken place. "NASA centers have come up with about 850 innovations thought to have industrial potential. The majority have been in the mechanical and electrical fields, 34 percent each, followed by materials, 22 percent, energy sources, nine percent and life sciences, one percent. "Time (the interval between the inception of an innovation and its commercial application) is an inherent problem. It takes four to seven years to make an idea into something practical. It will be tough to speed up that process that occurs between conception and use," Mr. Fong stated. Dr. Stevenson commented that : "Small firms, as well as large aerospace contractors, can benefit from spin-off. Techniques . . . being developed in the fabrication of rockets and space vehicles are not . . . of the assembly line and mass production [varieties], but rather those of the job shop." (Steel, the Metal-Making Weekly, 12/23/63)
General Electric Co. received $2,000,000 increment to existing USAF cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for work on Titan II launch vehicle program. (DOD Release 1593-63)
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