Nov 3 1978
From The Space Library
NASA announced preparations to launch its second High Energy Astronomy Observatory HEAO-B, continuing a three-mission program to study some of the most intriguing mysteries of the universe: pulsars, quasars, exploding galaxies, and black holes. Launch would be from KSC on an Atlas Centaur about Nov. 13. Carrying a focusing x-ray telescope and a variety of sensitive instruments, HEAO-B would maneuver and point for long periods of time at selected x-ray sources previously identified by HEAO 1. Pictures returned by HEAO-B would be the first spacecraft-generated x-ray images of objects other than the sun. HEAO-B's images, acquired by x-ray telescope, would be converted to telemetry received and taped by ground stations and eventually reconstructed as photographs showing size, structure, and detail of objects viewed by the spacecraft. HEAO-B, with a design 1yr mission lifetime, would be placed in low circular orbit far enough above the atmosphere to detect radiation normally unable to reach earth's surface.
MSFC had managed HEAO for NASA's Office of Space Science. KSC would manage launch operations including prelaunch checkout, launch, and flight through observatory separation in orbit. Lewis Research Center managed launch-vehicle procurement and related activities for the HEAO program. MSFC would control the in-orbit HEAD observatories, in conjunction with TRW flight-control engineers operating from Goddard Space Flight Center. Cost of the three-mission HEAO program was about $248 million, HEAO-B's approximately $87 million. (NASA Release 78-165; MOR S-382-78-02 [prelaunch] Oct 30/78)
NASA announced it had awarded Vought Corporation, Dallas, Tex., a modification of its contract to provide Scout launch vehicles. Under the modification, Vought would provide NASA with 12 additional guidance systems for use on Phase 8 Scouts (107 vehicles had constituted Phases 1 through 7), the same system used on the launch vehicle since the Scout program began. Vought had been the Scout project's prime contractor since 1959; the first Scout launched in 1960 was designed to put a 130-lb payload into a 300-nautical-mi circular earth orbit. The latest Scouts were designed to place a 404-Ib payload in that orbit. Scout vehicles had been launched from Wallops Island, Va., Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and San Marco, Kenya. Vought valued the modification at approximately $6.5 million. Langley Research Center would manage the 2.5-yr contract. (LaRC Release 78-67)
FBIS reported that the USSR and India had signed a protocol for launch of a second India satellite. The two countries were working on a flying model of the spacecraft and preparing ground stations. Representatives of the USSR Academy of Sciences and India's outer-space exploration organization had discussed satellite plans for several yr. The second India spacecraft, like the first, would be launched from Soviet territory, and the carrier rocket and launching complex would be provided gratis by the USSR. (FBIS, Tass in English, Nov 3/78)
FBIS reported the USSR announced it had fired a geophysical rocket, Vertikal 7, to a height of 1500km for research on the ionosphere and on shortwave radiation. The instrument package, which separated at 175km on the ascent trajectory, contained equipment prepared by scientists from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the Soviet Union. Launch apparently took place from the facilities at Kapustin Yar, site of previous Vertikal launches. (FBIS, Tass in English, Oct 3/78)
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