Feb 11 1966
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS CVIII carrying scientific instruments for continued space research into orbit with 865-km. (537.2-mi.) apogee; 227-km. (141-mi.) perigee; 95.3-min. period; and 48.9° inclination. Equipment was functioning normally. ‘‘(Tass, 2/12/66)’’
NASA and Swedish Space Research Committee (SSRC) signed Memorandum of Understanding to conduct pulsed laser radar experiments to determine relationship of noctilucent clouds to height, distribution, and scattering properties of cosmic dust and aerosol particles. SSRC would provide optical equipment and design and construct light transmitter optical system; NASA would provide laser head, power supply, and other equipment. Each agency would bear the cost of the equipment it would supply and the responsibilities it would undertake. Results of experiments would be made available to scientific world. ‘‘(NASA Release 66-35)’’
Device to alter wavelength of a laser beam to tune it for specific tasks such as communications, surgery, analysis of materials, or industrial applications was patented by Bell Telephone Labs. physicists Drs. Joseph A. Giordmaine and David A. Kleinman. In patented method, laser beam would be passed at a calculated angle through a special crystal so that frequency of the emerging light would be a multiple of original beam’s. ‘‘(Jones, NYT, 2/12/66,33)’’
Breadboard of [[Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application|NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) was tested by NASA and AEC at Nuclear Rocket Development Station, Jackass Flats, Nev. Initial fixed-drum start tested control drum response; maximum power reached was 230 mw, compared with reactor’s 1,100-mw design power. Test duration was nine minutes, and maximum exhaust temperature was 1,540°F. After a second low-pressure start was aborted, system was given normal start; in 22-min. test it reached 350-mw maximum power and 2,130°F maximum temperature. NERVA engine had been successfully started twice on Feb. 3. ‘‘(Atomic Energy Programs, 1966, 186)’’
Theoretical possibility of self-supporting tapered cable extending 22,000 mi. into space from earth and from extraterrestrial rotating or revolving bodies was examined in Science report by John Isaacs, Hugh Bradner, and George E. Bachus, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and Allyn C. Vine, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Cable, referred to as a “skyhook,” would be extended downward from a satellite in synchronous orbit, become an extension of the satellite, and be held in place by the balance between centrifugal and gravitational forces that keeps any satellite in orbit. Authors of the report conceded in a telephone interview with Harold Schmeck of the New York Times that “present-day engineering is not yet up to the task of making a cable strong enough and light enough for the sky hook project from earth.” ‘‘(Science, 2/11/66, 682-3; Schmeck, NYT, 2/12/66, 12)’’
DOD would use Titan III booster to launch 23 comsats in three launch groups to form a global communications system, M/G Ben I. Funk, Cmdr., AFSC’s Space Systems Div., told National Assn. of Manufacturers in New York. Orbiting about 18,206 mi. above earth, satellites would form system “of high reliability and reasonably long life, secure against interference, and with sufficient capacity to handle a high volume of unique and vital military traffic,” Funk said. He also revealed that USAF was seeking solutions to problems of reusable boosters, maneuvering reentry, lighter-weight materials, and higher performance fuels. ‘‘(Text, Av. Daily, 2/15/66)’’
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