March 1974
From The Space Library
Apollo 17: Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330), dated 1973, was issued. The Taurus-Littrow landing site for the 7-19 Dec. 1972 final mission of the lunar landing program had been the most diverse in both geologic features and samples brought back. Seismic traverse experiments had indicated basaltic flows extended to a depth of 1.2 km. The traverse gravimeter experiment had provided limits to the density of underlying material and permitted development of models to help interpret mascons. Analysis of mare basalts from the Apollo 11, 12, 15, and 17 missions and from the U.S.S.R.'s Luna 16 indicated that the filling of the mare basins took place mostly between 3.2 billion and 3.8 billion yrs ago. Formation of more than 90% of the cratering was believed to be 4 billion yrs earlier. Highland material collected on Apollo 14, 16, and 17 missions showed a widespread occurrence of breccias with an apparent age of 3.8 billion to 4.1 billion yrs, with strong evidence that rocks as old as 15 billion to 4.6 billion yrs existed on the moon. Dark mare regions were thought to be underlain by lava, but craters had been mostly caused by impacting projectiles. The moon was once active volcanically but was now quiet, with any activity since 3 billion yrs ago highly restricted or nonexistent. It had a crust more than 60 km thick and a negligible overall magnetic field.
Two theories of lunar evolution had come from mission data. The first was that the planet was chemically layered during its formation, with a low interior temperature gradually increasing, perhaps reaching the melting point in the last billion years, while the initial heat of the exterior gradually decreased. The second theory assumed that the moon, chemically homogeneous and molten during formation, underwent extensive chemical differentiation resulting in surface concentration of radioactivity very shortly after formation. None of the three theories of origin of the moon-separation from the earth, capture from a solar orbit, or formation from a dust cloud-could be absolutely eliminated by data collected to date, but chemical differences made it unlikely that the moon was torn from the earth. (Text)
Experiments carried out during the U.S.S.R.'s eight-day Soyuz 13 mission launched 18 Dec. 1973 were further evidence that the U.S.S.R. was continuing manned space station efforts, a Spaceflight article said. The flight had included the Oasis 2 experiment, part of a plan to demonstrate that biological closed-cycle life support systems could be used for large space stations and other long-duration manned missions. Observation of stars in the ultraviolet range with the Orion 2 telescope was also a continuing program related to space station activity. Cosmonaut Konstantin P. Feoktistov had said in a statement to the British Interplanetary Society that, in the years between the Soyuz 11 tragedy in June 1971 and the Soyuz 12 mission in September 1973, design engineers had been analyzing the performance of all spacecraft systems and making modification and improvements. He stressed that work on manned space stations was continuing because of the importance of these stations in the exploration of natural resources. Soyuz 12 and Soyuz 13 crews had made multispectral photos of the earth's surface. (SF, March 74, 110)
NASA submitted its report NASA Energy-Related Research and Development to the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, at the request of its chairman, Sen. Frank E. Moss (D-Utah) . NASA'S FY 1974 budget had included a $2-million authorization for energy R&D for projects in solar energy utilization; energy conversion, transmission, and storage; transportation and propulsion systems; and energy and environmental conservation. Long-range research included studies of satellite systems to collect solar energy, convert it to electricity, and transmit it to the earth by microwave beams. In one study the use of solar cells would be considered, while in another the possibility of a turbo-generator in space would be explored.
Near-term projects included demonstration of residential solar heating and cooling at Marshall Space Flight Center, office building tests at Langley Research Center, and component studies at Lewis Research Center. LeRC was also sponsoring a study of crops that could be converted into clean fuels, and a NASA-National Science Foundation study was testing wind-electric generating devices. Projects at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and LeRC sought to design low-polluting but higher efficiency automobile engines, and Flight Research Center was testing configuration changes to reduce aerodynamic drag for trucks.
Energy conversion research included an LeRC study, in cooperation with the Dept. of Interior, of technical and economic advantages of a potassium topping cycle to permit higher peak cycle temperatures and produce 40% more electrical power for a given quantity of fuel than could conventional steam systems. (Com Print)
U.S. trunkline air traffic rose to unexpected heights, but industry officials were hesitant to interpret gains during the first quarter of 1974 as a positive trend for the year. United Air Lines, Inc., revenue-passenger-miles rose 13.6% in March over March 1973; Delta Air Lines, Inc., 10.1%; and Eastern Airlines, Inc., 7.4%. Local service carriers also reported near-record traffic improvements for March, with many show-ing load factors above the 55% level, rather than the normal monthly 44%. High fuel costs, however, were forcing the load-factor level re-quired for airlines to break even to all-time highs.
International operations were an exception to the general rise: Pan American World Airways, Inc., reported a revenue-passenger-mile decline of 61% in system-wide scheduled operations for March; Trans World Airlines, Inc., a 10.9% dip. (Av Wk, 14 April 74, 29-30)
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