Sep 27 1978
From The Space Library
NASA announced that LaRC physicist Dr. Joseph Heyman had received his third IR-100 award given by Industrial Research magazine for one of the 100 most significant new technical products of 1978. Presentation of the award to Dr. Heyman at a banquet in Chicago Sept. 21 marked the first time the magazine had selected one person three times for the honor. Dr. Heyman's previous awards had been in 1974 and 1976. His 1978 device, jointly developed at LaRC and Washington Univ., St. Louis, was an acoustoelectric transducer that used very high-pitched sound waves to improve accuracy in measuring deviations in structural properties. Unlike conventional transducers, the new device was insensitive to the shape of sound waves, and would allow researchers to identify and evaluate more accurately material flaws and to characterize biomedical specimens and tissue. Heyman's first IR-100 award had been for a continuous-wave ultrasonic microemboli monitor, which traced impurities in a patient's blood during open-heart surgery. His 1976 award had been for an ultrasonic bolt stress monitor to indicate changes in bolt strain of less than one part in 10 000. (NASA Release 78-147; LaRC Release 78-48; Langley Researcher, Sept 22/78, 5)
NASA reported it had launched a 2-stage Nike-Apache sounding rocket at 1:30 am EDT Sept. 27 from Wallops Island to investigate ionization sources in the upper atmosphere during geomagnetic activity. The experiment had been postponed day to day since June 2, awaiting an intense magnetic storm that usually followed solar flares. The rocket payload had reached a peak altitude of 183km (114 statute mi), and preliminary results indicated that all instrumentation performed satisfactorily and obtained good data. The launch was the last in a series for the Joint American-Soviet Particle Intercalibration (JASPIC) Project to compare U.S. and Soviet particle-measuring instrumentation [see May 15]. The two nations had jointly conducted eight rocket-borne experiments in June from the Wallops range and the Soviet research ship, Professor Vize, located off Va.'s eastern shore. (WFC Release 78-1)
MSFC announced it had test-fired Sept. 6 at the White Sands Test Facility a version of the rocket engine that would maneuver the Space Shuttle orbiter. The 10sec-duration burn was the first firing of the 6000-lb thrust engine in combination with propellant tanks, feedlines, and other components of the orbital maneuvering subsystem (OMS) pod. OMS engines using nitrogen tetroxide and monomethyl hydrazine as oxidizer and fuel had been designed for reuse in up to 100 space missions, with 1000 starts for a total firing lifetime of 15hr. The engines would pro- vide thrust for final orbital insertion at the end of launch phase, orbit circularization, orbit transfer, changing and rendezvous maneuvers, and deorbit burns. (Marshall Star, Sept 27/78, 2)
The Congressional Record reported that Sen. Adlai Stevenson III (D-Ill) had submitted S. 3530 proposing specific goals for the U.S. space program in the next 10yr, including large space structures, solar-power satellites, public service communications, space processing, and various space science initiatives, with procedures for the president to translate the goals into specific budget actions.
"The United States stands today on the threshold of a new era in space, . . . inaugurated with the launching of the Space Shuttle late next year, will be characterized by . . . `routine utility.' The prospect of conducting frequent trips to near earth orbit-up to 60 per year according to current projections-aboard the shuttle opens a range of applied and scientific activities not feasible with expendable rockets.
". . . . a commitment by the Federal Government is needed to initiate this new era in space... Decisions during the next year or so will more than likely set the course of U.S. space activities for the balance of this century. A balanced and reasonable program, as set forth in this legislation, will insure this Nation's leadership in developing the space environment for the benefit of people in this country and around the world. . . " (CR, Sept 27/78, S 16354)
NASA, which had dropped plans in 1977 for a 1982 mission to rendezvous with Halley’s Comet, had decided on a 1985 mission to rendezvous with comet Tempel 2 that would include a flyby of Halley’s Comet and deployment of a probe into its coma, Defense/Space Business Daily reported. Powered by a solar-electric (ion) propulsion system, the spacecraft would deploy its probe toward Halley in 1985 and would rendezvous with Tempel 2 in 1988. Until mid-1978 NASA had been considering as a new start for FY81 a 1985 mission using ion propulsion to comet Encke. In testimony before the House Space Subcommittee, Associate Administrator Dr. Noel Hinners had said NASA would make systems-definition studies in FY79 of the spacecraft, science, and ion drive element of the Tempel 2 mission. (D/SBD, Sept 27/78, 108)
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