Oct 5 1969
From The Space Library
GSFC scientists and Smithsonian Institution ecologist Dr. Helmut K. Buechner planned to use female elk named Moe for first experiment in tracking animals by satellite, New York Times said. Wearing 23-lb instrumentation around neck, elk was expected to migrate from point in Wyoming to national elk refuge south of Yellowstone Park at Jackson Hole, Wyo.-100-mi distance. (Teltsch, NYT, 10/5/69, 16)
October 5-11: International Astronautical Federation (IAF) held 20th Congress in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, gave Invited Lecture Oct. 6 on Apollo Program, space benefits, Apollo Applications program, and lunar exploration. Apollo Applications program would "study the earth through the use of a six lens multispectral camera installation. On Apollo 9 some of the rudimentary work was done using four lenses. 50% more kinds of information will be brought back by the crews of Apollo Applications. Because almost everything on earth has a different reflective quality, as distinctive as a signature or a fingerprint, results from this photographic exploration can be expected to yield rich rewards. Many of the earth sciences look to this kind of information for answers to previously unanswerable questions. Hydrologists are interested in discovering not only the depth, but also the temperature of the waters of the world, and these conditions can be ascertained from space. Warm water attracts certain species of fish, so fishermen are also interested in these experiments. "Agronomists believe that soil chemistry will reveal itself on a large scale in certain kinds of filtered photography. Agriculturists know that different crops, at different stages of their development and in different states of health, reflect distinctive amounts of light. They hope, using the photographs we will take, to get some measure of the world's crop, as well as some knowledge of its condition. Geologists, who have found clues to mineral deposits in the Gemini and Apollo pictures, look to this more sophisticated photography for additional information, and for distinctions which will eventually permit certain kinds of prospecting from space. Cartographers and Geodesists are interested in everything from urban sprawl to continental drift." Sun would be prime target for exploration in Apollo Applications program, with experiments conducted by astronaut-astronomers using Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) in orbit. "For the first time we will have a massive set of instruments with high resolution for looking in some depth and detail at the activities of the sun from beyond the veil of the earth's atmosphere." Program would consist of three missions into near-earth space, one of 28 days and two of 56 days each. First step would be establishment of Saturn V workshop in orbit, planned for March 1972 launch, followed by launches of solar panels, ATM, and crew of three for 28-day stay. Second manned mission was scheduled for launch about three months after first, with third to follow one month after return of second crew. (Text)
At Third International History of Astronautics Symposium Oct. 10, organized by IAF in connection with its 20th Congress, A. Ingemar Skoog of Swedish Interplanetary Society traced rocket development in Sweden from 1807, when military first understood possibilities of rockets in warfare, to mid-1860s, when rockets were taken out of service. "An examination of the rockets preserved at the Army Museum in Stockholm, has shown that all 14 rockets are still fitted with their original propellant. This will be tested by propellant experts later this year in order to find out the properties of a 140 years old propellant." (Text)
W. Geisler of Polish Astronautical Society had submitted paper on history and development of rocket technology and astronautics in Poland before 1949: use of rockets on Polish territory by Tartars in 13th century probably had marked introduction of use of rockets in Europe. (Resume) - Frederick I. Ordway, III, of Univ. of Alabama delivered paper "The Alleged Contributions of Pedro E. Paulet to Liquid Propellant Rocketry." "Paulet, a Peruvian chemical engineer-turned-diplomat, spent much of his professional foreign service career in Europe. . . . his claim to being a precursor of liquid propellant rocketry rests in a letter he wrote from Rome on the 23rd of August 1927 that was published in the 7 October 1927 issue of the Lima, Peru, newspaper El Comercio. Therein, he describes liquid propellant rocket engine experiments he had conducted . . . in Paris thirty years earlier. . . . Relying on this source and derivatives, many subsequent writers have accorded Paulet a perhaps undeserved place in the history of rocketry." (Summary )
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
