Jan 25 1976
From The Space Library
The Great Galactic Ghoul struck again, reported Washington Post staff writer Thomas O'Toole, when one of the unmanned Viking spacecraft (Viking 2) approached the orbit of Mars and lost one of its three ovens designed to heat samples of the Martian surface and look in the gases for signs of Martian life. Space scientists found that almost all the accidents with Mars-bound spacecraft-three failures and four near failures-had occurred in the same region, which had no unusual features such as extra cosmic dust or increased solar wind, magnetic field, or background radiation. First "victims of the Ghoul" were Soviet spacecraft - Zond 2 in 1964, and Mars 1 a year later-whose batteries died when they crossed the area and never came on again. One Mariner lost its radio in the Ghoul's orbit but came back on when it reached Mars; another lost one or two instruments to cosmic dust; two others lost their guidance stars when they reached the Ghoul's orbit, but locked on them again when they left it. Most costly casualty of the Ghoul was Mariner 7, whose battery exploded the day in 1969 when it crossed the Ghoul's orbit, damaging the rest of the spacecraft so that it was useless by the time it flew past Mars. The area was about 56 million km from earth and 209 million km from the sun, and Viking 2 would not leave it until some time in February; scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were hoping for no further damage to it or to the other Viking, which was coming along a month behind the first. (W Post, 25 Jan 76, A-3)
Establishment of an Office of Science, Engineering, and Technology Policy in the White House, a goal of U.S. scientists since 1973, would become effective within 6 wk or so, the New York times reported. Since President Nixon had abolished a similar office, the scientific community had been concerned over the lack of provision at the top level of government for sophisticated advice on science and technology affecting U.S. policies on world food supplies, environmental pollution, energy, transportation, disarmament, and similar problems. The Ford Administration had encouraged Congress to establish such an office by law rather than et one up by executive order, and the House of Representatives had passed an Administration-backed bill in Nov. 1975. A Senate bill, "roughly comparable" according to the NYT, had been agreed upon by several committees and was on its way to passage; this measure would establish a White House office with a director and as many as 4 associates, who would work closely with the Office of Management and Budget on science and technology budgets and would prepare an annual report for the President to send to Congress on science, engineering, and technology, with options on federal investment and priorities in the three related fields. The Senate bill would also call for authorization of funds to establish science and technology offices in each state; the House bill did not have similar provisions. (NYT, 25 Jan 76, 26)
The Federal Aviation Administration's flight service station at Tucumcar , N.M., was receiving reports of cigar-shaped flying objects with pulsating colored lights dominating the night skies over Clovis, N.M. The objects were reported by policemen and residents for 4 nights, and a reporter photographed one of the objects showing a curved strip of light against a black background. FAA radar had shown nothing unusual, a spokesman said. (W Star, 25 Jan 76, A-7)
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