Feb 2 1965
From The Space Library
Capt. Joseph H. Engle ( USAF) flew X-15 No. 3 to 98,200 ft. altitude and a maximum speed of 3,886 mph (mach 5.7) in a test to determine how ablative material reacted to intense heat. (NASA X-15 Proj. Off.; UPI, Wash. Post. 2/3/65; X-15 Flight Log)
NASA announced it would negotiate a two-phase contract with Aerojet-General Corp, for design and development of a liquid-hydroGen. re-generatively cooled exhaust nozzle for the Phoebus nuclear rocket reactor test program. First phase of the contract would include a four-month preliminary design study of nozzle concepts and an evaluation of fabrication and testing methods. This phase would be negotiated on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis at an estimated value of $400,000. Using results of Phase I, the contractor would design, develop, test, and deliver three nozzles to the Nuclear Rocket Development Station at Jackass Flats, Nev. Phase II would be awarded as an incentive contract with an estimated value of $10 million. Phoebus, a 5,000-megawatt reactor, would be tested as part of the program to develop nuclear propulsion devices for space missions. ( NASA Release 65-28)
Discussing the missions and plans of NASA's new Electronics Research Center, Dr. Winston E. Kock, ERC Director, told the Harvard Engineers Club in Cambridge: "I believe that the recent strengthening of research in NASA can act to overcome any such braking of scientific enthusiasm which the recent changes in our defense program . . . may have instigated. I have seen at first hand true research enthusiasm at two NASA Research Centers, Lewis in Cleveland, and Ames in California, and, at Cambridge's new NASA Research Center, the response we have had from inventive, research-minded individuals, expressing an interest in association with the Center has been phenomenal. I have always believed in the saying 'necessity is the mother of invention,' and I feel certain that it was the necessities of World War II that brought into bloom radar, the jet aircraft, nuclear power, the V-2 rocket (which led to our present missile and space rockets), and many other developments which have proved to be of vital importance to our way of life. So, I feel that a counterbalance to today's reduced necessities of the broad, new opening field of space research . . . will help to keep our nation's research talent active and enthusiastic, and maintain it in the strong virility it has exhibited since the start of World War II." (Text)
Charles W. Harper, Director of NASA Hq. Aeronautics Div., discussed aeronautical research at a luncheon of the Aviation/Space Writers Association, He said: " ... aviation has a tremendous potential in the short-haul 'aerial bus.' Both VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) and STOL (short take-off and landing) are being considered for this job... . On the basis of our current knowledge I would conclude the VTOL commercial transport offers tremendous potential but requires additional research ... before it is ready for detailed feasibility study as a commercial transport. On the other hand the STOL machine is ready for a careful examination since the major problems seem to be in hand. "A 20 to 50 passenger STOL machine should, or could, have a top speed of 300 to 400 knots, a steep approach with a touch down at 45 knots and an operational field length of some 1200 to 1500 feet. All weather operation is required and, with the aid of space technology advances, this appears quite possible. We think we can display electronically to the pilot the important features of the airport so that he can approach it and land using the same information that he does in clear weather. "We see two large markets for vehicles of this type. In a smaller simple version, perhaps bearing a little sacrifice in performance, an air transport well suited for use in underdeveloped areas. Rugged, easy to fly and simple to maintain, it could enable these countries to jump from jungle or desert trails to modern transport system without building enormously expensive railways and highways. This would be a good market for U.S. industry. In a larger sophisticated version it could be the vehicle to make the present short haul feeder lines self sufficient, not depending on connecting traffic from the trunk lines. This too would be a desirable situation for American industry. NASA plans to pursue both of these potentials actively until the air industry has enough confidence in success to proceed on its own. . . ." (Text)
Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, addressed the Science Teachers' Association of Santa Clara County, Calif., at NASA Ames Research Center. He said: "The question then is, what has man done in space to date? According to the eminent archaeologist, V. Gordon Childe, whatever man has done in the relatively short evolutionary history documented by his fossil remains, he has done without significantly improving his inherited equipment by bodily changes detectable in his skeleton. Moreover, this equipment is inadequately adapted for survival in any particular environment, and indeed it is inferior to that of most animals for coping with any special set of conditions. Yet in spite of his physical inferiority, man has been able to adjust himself to a greater range of environment than any other creature, to multiply much faster than any near relative amongst the higher mammals, and indeed to beat them all at their special tricks. Thus he learned to control fire, and he developed the skills to make clothes and houses, with the result that he lives and thrives from pole to pole on earth, and already he is concerned with a population explosion. He has developed trains and cars that can outstrip the fleetest cheetah, and he has developed the airplane so that he can mount higher than the eagle. Moreover, he developed telescopes to see further than the hawk, and firearms to lay low the elephant or any other animal, including himself. But whatever their use, the important point is that fire, clothes, houses, trains, airplanes, telescopes, and guns are not part of man's body. He can set them aside at will. They are not inherited in the biological sense, but rather the skill needed for their conception, production, and use is part of our intellectual heritage, the result of a tradition built up over many generations and transmitted not in the blood but through speech and writing. "The true stepping stones to the moon are ourselves and our forefathers. The stepping stones beyond are our children, and much of what they will be and where they will lead the human race, is up to you and your kind. If you succeed in your work, you will have made an invaluable contribution to the betterment of man's ability to make himself, to master himself, and finally to understand himself in his environment. Indeed, if you are especially successful, you may, in the words of V. R. Potter, 'develop a new breed of scholars, men who combine a knowledge of new science and old wisdom, men who have the courage of the men of the Renaissance who thought truth was absolute and attainable,' and who may yet be right. I submit we can do no less than find out." (Text)
Philco Corp., opposing the bid by the Communications Satellite Corporation to supply DOD with communications satellite service, asked the FCC to prevent ComSatCorp from signing a "sole source" contract with Hughes Aircraft Co. Philco, which was already preparing a satellite system for DOD under a contract awarded in July 1963, said ComSatCorp's proposed contract "is in violation of the letter and spirit of the FCC rules and regulations which require competition in ComSatCorp procurement." Since ComSatCorp apparently had been negotiating the matter for some time, "its present statement that stringent time requirements impel waiver of the FCC's rules and regulations is insupportable," Philco said. Under ComSatCorp's plan, DOD would be supplied 24 satellites built by Hughes Aircraft Co. and would pay for service only if the satellites worked. ComSatCorp would absorb the costs if they did not. DOD had made no decision for or against the offer. (Wash. Eve. Star, 2/2/65; UPI, NYT, 2/3/65, 54)
Sen. Warren G. Magnuson (D-Wash.) introduced in the Senate a bill to provide for a national oceanographic program and the establishment of a National Oceanographic Council. Senator Magnuson said the National Oceanographic Council would have "certain key responsibilities and functions . . . in the oceanographic field [which] would be similar to those of the National Aeronautics and Space Council in the space program. . . ." He noted that "a number of departments and agencies have separate missions in the aeronautics and space program," and that the National Aeronautics and Space Council "takes precedence over" the operating agencies to coordinate the national aeronautics and space program. Similarly, 6 departments and 22 agencies "are engaged or have a direct interest in the seas... ." (CR, 2/2/65, 1754-57)
R. E. Clarson. Inc., of St. Petersburg, Fla., was awarded a $2,179,000 contract for alterations to Launch Complex 34, Cape Kennedy, to accommodate the Saturn IB rocket, Army Corps of Engineers made the award. (AP, Miami Her., 2/3/65)
Editorializing in the Washington Evening Star about "lean years" beginning for the aerospace industry, William Hines said: ". . . Since the '50s, aerospace companies have become accustomed to a diet of caviar, filet and champagne. The government has poured something like 100 billion into rockets, missiles and spacecraft since the Soviet Union's Sputnik went up in October, 1957. The torrent of funds is now being reduced, if not precisely to a trickle, certainly to a more moderate flow. . . . "The aerospace crisis is serious enough that the management-consultant firm of Arthur D. Little, Inc., has just published a study, `Strategies for Survival in the Aerospace Industry.' It makes the following revealing point: " 'The period 1954-1963 w as one of remarkably steady growth in the funding of military and space systems. In fact, it was so steady that many participants perhaps forgot that there were concrete, finite objectives to be achieved with these funds.', ." (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 2/2/65)
Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced plans to buy American military aircraft to replace British aircraft, an action he said would save more than $840 million over a 10-yr. period. The two U.K. projects being dropped were the P-1154 vertical take-off supersonic strike aircraft and the HS-681 short take-off military transport. Both were made by the Hawker Siddeley group. American Phantom H's, made by McDonnell Aircraft, would be ordered to replace the P-1154. Phantoms were already on order to replace the Royal Navy's Sea Vixens. Lockheed's C-130's would replace the HS-681. The American planes would be equipped with British engines. On the question of the TSR-2, which the U.K. was considering replacing with General Dynamics' F-111, Mr. Wilson said there was not enough information yet to make a final decision. (Farnsworth, NYT, 2/3/65, 9; Clymer, Balt. Sun, 2/3/65)
Soviet news agency Tass announced that firing of a new type of multistage rocket booster on Jan. 31 had been so successful that further tests in the Pacific series had been canceled. The rocket had travelled more than 8,000 mi. in the Pacific southwest of Hawaii. (UPI, Wash, Daily News, 2/2/65; UPI, Wash. Post, 2/3/65)
A brightly illuminated object in the sky near Langley AFB, Va., was widely reported as a UFO but identified by USAF as a weather balloon with the sun reflecting off its surface. (Newport News Daily Press, 2/3/65)
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