Jul 21 1978
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
After 2 decades as key booster in NASA's space program, the Atlas Centaur would remain "old reliable" for a variety of planetary, commercial, and military payloads launched in the 1980s, Lewis News reported. The Centaur project had begun in November 1958 when DOD's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) awarded the first contract to General Dynamics after a study recommending a high-energy upper stage for the Atlas launch vehicle. Before the study, Pratt and Whitney had received a contract for a hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine. Since Centaur would be the first space-launch vehicle to use a liquid hydrogen/liquid-oxygen combination, a whole new technology was needed for handling materials, behavior, fabrication, and testing of liquid hydrogen in a space environment, not only to make Centaur a success but also because this fuel was to be used for the upcoming Apollo program.
In 1958 Centaur received its first mission assignment, definition of geosynchronous orbit, and in 1960 its first deep-space mission. The creation of NASA resulted in transfer of the Centaur program from ARPA to NASA in July 1959. LeRC, which had pioneered research in hydrogen technology and had fired an experimental liquid-hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine with 50001b thrust as early as 1953, received technical management of Centaur in 1962. The first successful flight of an Atlas Centaur in Nov. 1963 included the world's, first inflight ignition of a hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine. Centaur had proved its operational capability in 1965 by successfully injecting a dynamic model of the Surveyor spacecraft into a prescribed transfer trajectory, resulting in a simulated lunar-target impact.
After successfully launching Surveyor (for the first soft landing on the moon) and Pioneer 11 (for a flyby of Jupiter), NASA in the mid-1960s had directed its efforts to integrating the Centaur with the USAF Titan booster. General Dynamics had built an improved Centaur adaptable to both the Atlas and the Titan boosters; Martin Marietta had conducted studies for NASA on integrating the Titan booster with an improved Centaur, and on modifications needed to the Titan launch facility at ETR.
Atlas Centaur missions had included earth-orbiting spacecraft such as the applications technology satellite, orbiting astronomical observatories, Comstar, high-energy astronomical observatories, and FltSatCom. Atlas Centaur, used for future missions with HEAO and FltSatCom spacecraft, would remain one of NASA's prime launch vehicles until the Space Shuttle became fully operational. (Lewis News, July 21/78, 1)
In 1977 JPL scientists Donn Lynn and Jean Lorre had agreed to apply image-processing techniques to photographs of the Shroud of Turin, but had not expected their results to be published in newspapers and magazines around the world, JPL Universe reported. Their "mild curiosity" about the relic had introduced them to other American scientists who proposed using a variety of sophisticated tests to determine how the shroud had been imprinted. The result was a trip planned for Oct. that would take Lynn and Lorre to Turin, where church authorities would allow the American science team an unprecedented 24hr examination of the shroud itself.
Coinciding with a public exhibition and international conference about the shroud, the tests would entail infrared and ultraviolet photography as well as conventional black-and-white pictures. Other team members would make radiographic and x-ray fluorescence examinations, all to investigate the mechanical formation of the "negative" image on the cloth. The shroud had been stitched to a protective cloth backing, but the team would use a flexible optical instrument to examine the reverse side of the fragile fabric. Major business corporations, including photographic and electronic-equipment companies such as Polaroid, Kodak, and the Brooks Institute of Photography had agreed to lend or donate facilities and equipment for the tests. Lynn and Lorre expected to provide a quick-look report of their findings soon after the Turin exhibition. (JPL Universe, July 21/78, 1)
The JSC Roundup printed a report by Dr. Thornton Page on his experiences during a friendship tour to China. Page, who had used the extreme-ultraviolet camera during Apollo missions, had asked for and received tours of Chinese astronomical facilities; in discussions with Chinese, Page learned most of their data were of western origin because of the limited quality and size of Chinese astronomical instruments.; "They were delighted to have the books, reports, pamphlets, and photos I presented to them, particularly the NASA photos of Shuttle, Skylab in orbit, and ALSEP instruments deployed on the moon," Page reported. "They spoke about the large telescope under construction in Nanking, and their own telescope planned for a mountain site some 30mi northeast of Peking. Drs. Pan How-Ren and Wu Jian-Cheng are calibrating x-ray and far-UV detectors for use on a satellite, but they could not tell me when it will fly." The Chinese told Page that a major change in national policy on science had taken place during the past yr, since the "Gang of Four" had been removed from power. Chairman Hua had given high priority to science and technology and had set a goal of doubling by 1982 the number of scientists and technicians in China. "None of the scientists I met," Page added, "was involved in teaching, and none of our other visits do universities and high schools in Manchuria or Shanghai revealed classroom instruction in these subjects." (JSC Roundup, July 21/78, 1)
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