Sep 1 1974
From The Space Library
In an effort toward accurate earthquake prediction, antennas at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goldstone Tracking Station-200 km apart and on either side of the San Andreas Fault-were receiving radio signals from quasars outside the galaxy. As part of JPL'S Astronomical Radio Interferometric Earth Surveying (AMES) project, techniques developed for spacecraft navigation could measure the precise distance between the antennas by monitoring the arrival times of identical radio signals, accurate to one tenth of a billionth of a second. Changes in the times could indicate three-dimensional shifts in the earth's crust up to an initial accuracy of 10 cm, with an eventual accuracy goal of 2 cm. Scientists hoped that ARIES techniques would help prove the theory that earthquakes were preceded by a swelling of the earth's surface up to one meter over hundreds of square kilometers and provide a major new tool in earthquake research and prediction. (JPL Release 710; JPL proj off, interview, 3 Dec 75)
1-13 September: The Air Force SR-71 Blackbird aircraft sped from New York to London in a record 1 hr 56 min on 1 Sept., piloted by Capt. Harold B. Adams. Flown to England for display at the Farnborough International 74 air show through 8 Sept., the strategic reconnaissance aircraft built by Lockheed Aircraft Corp. could survey more than 260 000 sq km of the earth's surface an hour from above 24 400 m. On 13 Sept., the SR-71 set another record, flying from London to Los Angeles in 3 hrs 47 min. (DOD Release 410-74; AP, W Post, 14 Sept 74, All)
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