Oct 6 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced that its administrator, Dr. Robert A. Frosch, and Hans Matthoefer, minister for research and technology for the Federal Republic of Germany, had signed a memorandum of understanding for participation in a Jupiter orbiter/probe mission to be launched by the Space Shuttle in 1982.
The mission would send an orbiter and a probe on the most detailed investigation to date of the environment and moons of Jupiter, the first opportunity for 114 investigators to measure Jupiter directly as well as remotely from various orbital positions over a long period of time. The orbiter, carrying 10 instruments, would circle Jupiter for at least 20mo; the probe, carrying 6, would plunge into the atmosphere. West Germany would provide a retropropulsion module to inject the orbiter into its path around Jupiter, as well as „the scientific instruments and the services of 14 German investigators in preparing the two spacecraft and analyzing their data. JPL would manage the U.S. project, ARC the probe, JSC the Space Shuttle. An office in West Germany would manage FRG's share. (NASA Release 77-211)
MSFC reported that a highly sensitive gamma ray telescope carried to 40km (25mi) altitude by a giant helium-filled balloon on a 40-hr flight had studied an unusual binary-star system (AM Herculis in the constellation Hercules) in which material from the larger star was falling onto the dwarf companion.
Dr. Thomas A. Parnell of MSFC's space sciences laboratory said the flight was seeking discrete gamma-ray emissions from particular celestial bodies to identify the chemical elements and isotopes existing there; AM Herculis was one of 6 unusual objects sought by the 0.75m-diameter (2.5ft) telescope loaned by Rice institute to MSFC in a joint astronomy project. The balloon instrumentation was similar to part of the payload on HEAO 1, launched Aug. 12 to make high-energy astronomy surveys. Detection of gamma rays in objects by HEAO 1 would be confirmed by the balloon flights, the two sets of information being complementary. Dr. Parnell noted that balloons had carried models of HEAD instruments in preliminary tests; another MSFC balloon launched last week had carried a cosmic-ray detector like one to be flown on HEAO-C in 1979. (MSFC Release 77-186)
ARC reported that the city of Genoa, Italy, had awarded it the Columbus gold medal for the multibillion-mile flights of two Pioneers to Jupiter. The medal, presented annually during Columbus Day celebrations in the explorer's birthplace, would be accepted Oct. 12 by acting ARC director Clarence A. Syvertson, who would be in Europe at the time. (ARC Release 77-42)
Langley Research Center announced it would dedicate Oct. 11 the site of Project RECOUP (refuse-consuming utility plant), first jointly funded federal and municipal project of its kind, to generate steam from burning refuse [see Jan. 19]. Construction would begin in 1978 and be completed in 1980; NASA would share the $8.4 million cost of the plant with the US Air Force and the city of Hampton, Va. The plant would burn more than 80% of the refuse from Hampton, LaRC, the Langley Air Force Base, the Army's Fort Monroe, and the Veterans Administration hospital; in a 24-hr operation, it would burn about 200 tons a day, doubling the capacity of Hampton's landfill. LaRC would use the steam generated by the plant to augment its present heating system, saving about 2.4 million gallons of oil per yr. (LaRC Release 77-46)
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