Aug 18 1978
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Pioneer Venus 2, launched from Cape Canaveral Aug. 8 on an Atlas Centaur, would take about 5mo to arrive at Venus, encounter being predicted for Dec. 9. The second craft of this mission was referred to as the multiprobe bus. Pioneer Venus 1, launched previously, was an orbiter that would study the Venus atmosphere and other planet characteristics for 243da.
In the multiprobe phase of the mission, a large entry probe would make detailed soundings of the lower Venus atmosphere and clouds, while three small probes descending through the planet's atmosphere measured atmospheric conditions at widely separated points during a 60min effective life before impact. NASA had designed the 30 experiments aboard Pioneer Venus 1 and 2 as a coordinated observation system; the mission would use six spacecraft-largest number ever devoted to one planet-and would make the most measurements at the greatest number of locations.
The multiprobe spacecraft consisted of a spin-stabilized 2.4m (8ft)-diameter cylindrical bus weighing 904kg (19901b) and carrying 51kg (1161b) of scientific instruments. A thermal-controlled compartment in the cylinder would house instruments, communications, and data handling systems, as well as navigation, orientation, thruster, and power systems. The large probe and three small probes would be launched from the bus, which was covered with solar cells.
The high density, high temperatures, and corrosive constituents of the Venus atmosphere had offered designers of the entry craft a difficult problem, complicated by high entry speeds of about 41 600km/hr (26 000mi/hr). Also, all instruments in the probe pressure-measuring vessels required either observation of or direct-sampling access to the hostile atmosphere. (JPL Universe, Aug 18/78, 1; Spaceport News, Aug 4/78, 1. Lewis News, Aug 4/78, 1; Av Wk, Aug 17/78, 23)
JSC announced it would issue an RFP for management-consulting firms to answer questions such as; Would controlling 40 to 60: Space Shuttle flights per yr limit JSC's ability to perform its basic R&D job? How could JSC keep costs low to encourage maximum use of the Space Transportation System? How would increased Shuttle activity affect JSC relationships with other NASA centers and contractors? If Shuttle launches reached the expected rate of one or two per wk by 1985, JSC officials wanted to be sure these operations did not deplete already limited personnel and other resources JSC would need to remain a major R&D arm of the space agency.
JSC planners had drafted an operations plan for the full-use era of the Shuttle, whose onboard capabilities had exceeded those of previous spacecraft. The plan would reduce the number of flight controllers now assigned to real-time ground operations, and would increase the effort put into flight planning. Because JSC flight control work would affect NASA-wide operations and JSC would have large responsibilities in future spaceflight R&D, center management wanted an outside examination of the plan and alternatives before making a commitment. (JSC Roundup, Aug 18/78, 1)
KSC reported that Joseph Malaga, center director of administration and management operations, had accepted appointment as vice chairman of the 16th Space Congress to be held Apr. 25-27, 1979. Sponsored annually by the Canaveral Council of Technical Societies, the congress had originated as a weekend seminar for engineers: and technicians and had evolved into an event drawing speakers and delegates from technical communities throughout the world. Malaga would also be NASA's senior representative to the Congress. (Spaceport News, Aug 18/78, 1)
The remote location of the White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) just east of Las Cruces, N.M., had made it ideal for testing space-propulsion and power systems and for investigating the behavior of propellants and other hazardous chemicals, said the JSC Roundup in a feature article. "We have no environmental limits for testing Shuttle programs," said WSTF Technical Manager Louis Gomez. "We recently added seven square miles of buffer along the western boundary of the facility as we saw various types of land use creeping our way from Las Cruces." Valued at $75 million in 1973 dollars, WSTF had been designed to operate with 1000 people; current facility population was 670, of which 74 were NASA employees, most of the others being Lockheed Electronics Co. employees on a facility-maintenance and test-operations contract. Rockwell and McDonnell Douglas also had employees at WSTF for orbital-maneuvering and attitude-thruster testing.
Currently on the test stands were a version of the orbital-maneuvering subsystem pod and the orbiter's forward and aft reaction-control subsystems. OMS engines had been rated at 6000-lb thrust. Steam ejectors that could produce a vacuum of 120 000ft-equivalent altitude in two of the propulsion test chambers would simulate engine firing in a near-space environment. Liquid oxygen and alcohol fed to three modified X-15-type rocket engines would produce a plume quenched with water, making high-velocity steam to aspirate the altitude chambers. Another lab would burn, stretch, pound, heat, and immerse complex samples of materials and substances that were candidates for use in space, to record how the materials responded to such punishment. Some tests were on flame propagation in pure oxygen at varying pressures; others might be for flashpoints and impact ignition.
When the tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) designed to work with the Space Transportation System (STS) would arrive on station in geosynchronous orbit, a new ground station at WSTF would collect data and voice transmissions to and from orbiters and other spacecraft. Three 60ft-diameter Ku-band TDRS antennas and a control center/support building were under construction there. WSTF would relay Shuttle data and voice to other geosynchronous satellites; the transmission would bounce back from an adjacent RCA ground station to the two 30ftdiameter RCA dishes at JSC, then to mission-control at Houston. Western Union would employ about 100 people at the ground station after it had become operational in 1980. (JSC Roundup, Aug 18/78, 4)
NASA's Office of Legislative Affairs had reported on a letter from the National Taxpayers Union to Sen. James Abourezk regarding S.2860, a bill that would commit the U.S. to the development and demonstration of solar power satellites. The letter read in part; " . . . Passage of this bill would commit the nation's taxpayers to $25 million ... in fiscal year 1979. Conservation estimates indicate capital investment reaching a ... price tag of $2.5 trillion! The proponents of this legislation indicate that passage would commit the nation to a program plan to study the feasibility of utilizing solar energy to generate electricity for domestic purposes. This is not the first phase of this study. We respectfully point out that such a program has already been underway for sometime by the Department of Energy and NASA....
"Boeing estimates that the cost of a single launch vehicle would be $10 billion alone while the cost per satellite is in the $20.5 billion neighborhood. These are just a sampling of the costs in terms of dollars; they do not reflect the potential dangers to the environment that are inherent in this program. While the use of solar energy is always viewed as benign, this bill would spawn a ... malignancy on the nation's already fiscally ill taxpayers . . . " (NASA Legis Actv Rept. Aug 22/78)
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