Aug 16 1972
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 514 from Plesetsk into orbit with 975-km (605.8-mi) apogee, 957-km (594.7-mi) perigee, 104,3- min period, and 82.9° inclination. (GSFC SSR, 8/31/72; Soy Aera, 8/21/72, 64)
NASA announced signing of definitive contract with North American Rockwell Corp. Rocketdyne Div. for development and production of space shuttle main engine. NASA had announced selection of Rocketdyne for negotiation of contract July 13, 1971, but award had been delayed pending outcome of protest by United Aircraft Corp. Pratt & Whitney Div, Initial work had been under way for several months under temporary contracts during final negotiations. First increment of cost-plus-award-fee contract for primary development through Aug. 31, 1975, was estimated at $205 766 000. Second increment of $236 709 000 would be for engine production and remaining development from Sept. 1, 1975, to June 30, 1979. (NASA Release 72-167)
NASA conducted successful trial run of airborne visible-laser optical- communications (AFLOC) flight tests to determine effects of atmosphere on vertical transmission of laser beams, Two-month series of tests using WB-57 aircraft at 18 000 m (60 000 ft), above 95% of earth's atmosphere, would be operated by Manned Spacecraft Center over ground station at Redstone Arsenal near Marshall Space Flight Center. Tests were part .of overall NASA program to develop optical communications systems for use during 1970s. Similar visible-light experiment was planned for Applications Technology Satellite ATS-G, to be launched by NASA in 1975. In trial test, experiments, checking out pulsed-laser radar acquisition- and-ranging system, located aircraft flown from Ellington Air Force Base, Tex., and tracked it to 18 000 km (58 000 ft) but did not attempt laser communications. (msFC Release 72-109)
NASA announced resignation of Daniel J. Harnett, Assistant Administrator for Industry Affairs and Technology Utilization, effective Sept. 1. Harnett would join Aeronca, Inc., in major executive capacity. He had joined NASA Oct. 1, 1969. (NASA Release 72-165; A&A 1969)
Bathroom commode system for space shuttle passengers was described by Manned Spacecraft Center engineer A. F. Behrend, Jr., and J. E. Swider, Jr., of United Aircraft Corp. Hamilton Standard Div. during annual Environmental Control and Life Support System Conference in San Francisco. In space, high- velocity airstreams would compensate for earth's gravity and would assist water-flush mechanism. Waste would be vacuum dried and chemically treated. System, being built for further testing and evaluation by Hamilton Standard under $238 000 NASA contract, was of type being studied by commercial airlines to reduce maintenance and operating costs. (NASA Release 72-163)
Wallops Station announced award of $1 074 000, one-year contract renewal to Computer Sciences Corp. for engineering support services at Wallops. (WS Release 72-9)
August 16-17: Dr. George M. Low, NASA Deputy Administrator, spoke on NASA's attack on costs during symposium "Cost-A Principal System Design Parameter" in Washington, D.C. Symposium was sponsored by National Security Industrial Assn. and Armed Forces Management Assn. NASA was facing major cost problems. If NASA did not "do something about the high cost of doing business in space, and do it soon, our nation's space program is in deep trouble. We are on the verge of exciting new discoveries in space science, but we cannot follow through as rapidly as we should because we can't afford it. We see before us many important space applications, but we cannot move out as rapidly as we should because we can't afford it. Most important of all, we may lose our hard-won worldwide leadership in space, if we don't find a way to do more for our money!" NASA could do little about budgetary restraints, "but there is a great deal we can do about costs. Doing something about the high cost of doing business in space is today's biggest challenge." In past, NASA had been forced to develop expensive equipment for one-time use. "Today we have 52 operating civilian spacecraft. By the end of next year we will launch 35 more, for a total of 87" representing "43 different spacecraft types-on the average each space-craft [type] is flown only twice!" But payloads had become more complex, while launch costs decreased. "We are no longer as limited in weight and volume as we were ten years ago; with the shuttle, weight and volume constraints will be non-existent for many missions. This means that we should now optimize our payloads for low cost and high reliability, and not for minimum weight and maximum performance.... I am convinced that if we do this, we can drastically reduce the cost of doing business in space. And this . . . is as great a technological challenge as everything else that we have done in space." (Text)
Air Force initiatives in controlling system cost were summarized by Gen. George S. Brown, Commander of Air Force Systems Command: prototyping to avoid high developmental costs, joint operational technical reviews to identify tradeoffs that would reduce acquisition costs, contracting techniques to reduce acquisition costs, full support of program managers to reduce acquisition costs, improvement in life-cycle costing technique to identify actions that would minimize total cost of ownership, and positive actions to achieve reliability and maintainability goals for increasing system effectiveness and decreasing cost of ownership. (Text)
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