Mar 7 1973
From The Space Library
Listen to Lunar Science press conferences on this date:
Dr P Wasilewski (George Washington University), Dr Johannes Geiss (University of Bern), Dr John Reynolds (University of California Berkeley), Dr Joel Watkins (University of Galveston), Dennis Williams (PAO)
Dr Robert Fleischer (GE), Dr Oliver Schaeffer (University of New York Stoney Brook), Dr Dimitri Papanastassiou (Caltech), Dr Thomas Gold (Cornell)
Elements of the space shuttle preliminary bioresearch laboratory simulator had been delivered to Marshall Space Flight Center, MSFC announced. Equipment would be installed aboard the payload carrier simulator for testing. The bioresearch laboratory model, the first shuttle-era payload to be delivered for testing and integration at MSFC, included a mass-measurement and microscopy unit, preparation unit, centrifuge, cryogenic freezer for storage of tissue, and an instrument for freeze-drying tissue. (MSFC 'Release 73-31)
Dale D. Myers, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, testified on cooperation with the Dept. of Defense during Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences hearings on the FY 1974 NASA authorization: NASA and DOD were evaluating alternative vehicles to the space tug and development approaches that could provide the capability to transport shuttle payloads to and from higher-than-earth orbits, or propel payloads to earth-escape velocity. A joint decision would be made in the fall as to which agency would conduct the development of "this very important propulsive stage." Air Force personnel had been assigned to the space shuttle program offices, and NASA personnel served in a liaison capacity at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO). Civilian and military representatives of DOD served on source evaluation boards and working groups on aerodynamics, structure, propulsion, crew systems, electronics, and operations. Don sponsored special industry and in-house studies such as payload requirements, security, and crew safety. DOD also provided results of research in solid rocket technology, lifting bodies, thermal protection, and similar topics. (Transcript)
Apollo Soyuz Test Project Program Director Chester M. Lee testified on the status of the joint 1975 U.S.-U.S.S.R. mission, during the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight hearings on the FY 1974 NASA authorization. Activities were being directed to identify and define candidate ASTP experiments to provide data for U.S. and Soviet scientists, provide for coinvestigators in both countries, require active cooperation by Soviet cosmonauts, and use existing hardware where possible. Experiments would be discussed at the March meeting of U.S.-U.S.S.R. working groups [see March 15-30]. No launch vehicle work specifically for ASTP had begun, but modification, testing, and checkout would begin during the coming year at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 and other facilities. The program was "on schedule and moving well toward our current mission date of mid-July 1975.” (Transcript)
Roy P. Jackson; NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics and Space Technology, testified on aeronautical programs before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Aeronautics and Space Technology during FY 1974 NASA authorization hearings: "NASA's advanced transport technology (ATT) program is aimed at expediting technology advances that could facilitate development of environmentally acceptable, and economically superior, next-generation U.S. air transports. The ATT system studies have shown that by the early 1980's a new subsonic/sonic transport-quieter, cleaner, safer, and more economical than the current wide-body jet transports could be realized through technology advances which could be ready for commitment to application late in the 1970's. These advances would include supercritical aerodynamics and related configuration treatment, techniques for suppression of engine noise and emissions, composite structures, and active control systems." The studies would be extended in FY 1974 "by concentrating more heavily on the system improvement tradeoffs, and corresponding technology, involved in optimizing design for efficient terminal operations as well as cruise performance." An analysis and wind-tunnel test program would investigate the sources and the reduction of airframe noise. "Recent studies and flight tests have indicated that as we continue to reduce engine source noise, it may also be necessary . . to treat airframe noise." Further testing of airframe shielding and analyses would determine the operational and economic feasibility of new concepts like the yawed-wing, low supersonic design being investigated at Ames Research Center. Propulsion technology programs underway would examine further noise reduction potential than that already being demonstrated in the conventional takeoff and landing aircraft experimental quiet engine program. When results were promising, plans for a follow-on CTOL experimental quiet engine, Mark 11, would be developed. The terminal-configured vehicles and avionics program, "a major new thrust in NASA research," was described by George W. Cherry, Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs in OAST: "While undertaken primarily to achieve increased capacity and quieter operations in the terminal area, this research will also aim at . . . improved accuracy, reliability, and automation of instrument flight in the approach, landing, and rollout process." Facilities at Wallops Station and at Langley Research Center would simulate an advanced complex air terminal through hard-wire connections to the Federal Aviation Administration's National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center. A specially equipped Boeing 737 would be flown to ensure compatibility of advanced airborne navigation, guidance, and control with the advanced landing aids and the air traffic control procedures under development by the FAA. Dr. Seymour C. Himmel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Technology in OAST, reported NASA general-aviation programs were being directed to provide technology for designing future U.S. aircraft that are "safer, more productive, and clearly superior to the rapidly growing foreign competition." NASA's role encompassed "a broad technology effort . . for a data base to improve the safety of all flight operations, while simultaneously pursuing the growing technological need for increased efficiency and performance" of general aviation. U.S. aviation products dominated world markets but this advantage was disappearing in the face of a rapidly emerging foreign production capacity. Cumulative imports of turbine-powered aircraft outnumbered exports, with a cumulative deficit of more than 200 aircraft and $200 million. (Transcript)
The Anglo-French Concorde supersonic transport aircraft carried an 11000-kg (24000-1b) payload on a 6300-km (3900-mi), 3-hr 38-min flight-time journey from Toulouse, France, to the Madeira Islands and return. The distance flown equaled the distance between Washington, D.C., and Paris over which current scheduled flights took 7 hrs 42 min. (BAC-Aerospatiale Release 6C/73)
President Nixon congratulated recipients of the 1973 Federal Women's Award at the White House. Among the recipients was Marjorie R. Townsend, Project Manager, Small Astronomy Satellite, Goddard Space Flight Center [see Feb. 22]. (PD, 3/12/73, 233)
Rep. Lawrence R. Coughlin (R-Pa.) resigned from the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and was elected to the House Committee on the judiciary. (NASA LAR XII/26)
The Air Force announced the award of a $62 426 400 fixed-price-incentive contract to Boeing Co. for operational and maintenance ground equipment for the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile force for FY 1973. (DOD Release 116-73)
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