July 1976
From The Space Library
“Landsat Looks at Hometown Earth”, “Studying Grizzly Habitat by Satellite” and “The Next Frontier?” articles appear in National Geographic Magazine
Scientists at JPL completed a list of "purple pigeons"-bright birds of the future-as unmanned planetary missions considered feasible for the period 1980-1990. In hopes that Viking 1's successful landing on Mars might prompt wider support for such missions, JPL proposed 7 advanced missions that would probably be reduced to 3 or 4 to be forwarded to NASA Hq. The list includes: return to Mars with rover vehicles to extend exploration of the Martian surface; a lander for one of Jupiter's moons, accompanied by a satellite around the planet; a similar mission to Saturn and its moon Titan; asteroid rendezvous and near-range photographic mission; a radar-mapper satellite for Venus; flight to Halley's Comet with a solar-sailer satellite (propelled by solar radiation); and establishment of an automated station on the moon for extended study of the lunar environment, probably by an international scientific group. (Av Wk, 26 July 76, 16)
Marshall Space Flight Center announced a number of activities, centered on the Space Shuttle, including testing, procurement, and completion of facilities.
MSFC awarded 14 contracts each of which totaled more than $50 000. (MSFC Release 76-155)
MSFC completed preparation of a 2.8% scale model of the Space Shuttle solid-fuel rocket booster (SRB) that would be tested in Ames Research Center wind tun booster (the 2 supersonic facilities and the 4.2m transonic facility). MSFC had used a 0.5% scale model in its smaller trisonic (over mach 3) wind tunnel to develop preliminary environmental data; the smaller tunnel was cheaper to operate, and a smaller model was cheaper to alter. Data from the ARC tests would be use in SRB component vibration and acoustic design and in establishing qualification-test criteria, and finally for generation of data on the acoustic environment for reentry of an actual full-scale SRB. (MSFC Release 76-120)
Completing the first phase of acoustic testing that used scale models of the Space Shuttle with models of the Kennedy Space Center launch pad, MSFC announced that it had begun another test program using a scale model of the Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launch pad and a Shuttle model having working main engines and solid-fuel rocket boosters to the same scale. The Vandenberg launch pad differed from that at KSC, but MSFC said that much of the information obtained since Aug. 1974 in 150 test firings to evaluate different acoustic methods for the KSC launch pad would be useful in suppressing noise at the Vandenberg site. The tests were made to determine the best way to control noise and ignition overpressure when Shuttle engines and boosters were ignited at launch; uncontrolled pressures and acoustics could damage the Shuttle or its payload. Tests were scheduled for completion in Dec. 1976. (MSFC Release 76-117)
MSFC announced award of a $247 363 contract to Rockwell's Space Div. for a 12-mo study of Shuttle booster and external tank options that could reduce cost per flight and increase payload weight capability. (MSFC Release 76-118)
MSFC announced that the first flight-configuration nozzle for the Shuttle main engine under development by Rockwell's Rocketdyne Div. had been completed and successfully proof-tested. Completion of the nozzle represented a significant design and manufacturing achievement; the nozzle consisted of 1080 precisely formed tapering tubes brazed to a shell and stiffened by bands. It was about 3m tall and 2.7m in diameter, weighing about 454 kg. Attached to the main combustion chamber of the main engine, the nozzle would allow exhaust gases to expand to obtain maximum thrust, contributing to highly efficient burn. (MSFC Release 76-128)
MSFC announced completion of tests conducted with KSC to determine the effects of salty and brackish water on materials used in elements of the Space Shuttle. Recovery of 2 Shuttle boosters after each launch would require towing the boosters in the salty Atlantic Ocean and into the brackish waters of a Fla. river. The studies used an integrated test bed constructed from the same materials and covered with the same sealants and paints planned for use on flight rockets, carrying samples of electrical and electronic equipment and hydraulic systems being considered for Shuttle use. The test bed, shipped to KSC, was put into the ocean for 7 days and in the Banana River for 3 days, at a depth that closely simulated actual booster-recovery conditions. Returned to MSFC, the test bed had been subjected to study by engineers and technicians to discover the effects of the ocean and river environments, and to look for corrosion or marine biological growth. After this study, the refurbished test bed would be used again for tests in the ocean by KSC personnel. (MSFC Release 76-131)
MSFC announced it had requested bids from industry on development of range-safety receivers for the Space Shuttle. Each Shuttle's 2 booster solid rockets would carry 2 receivers and the external tank 1, a total of 5 for each launch. The receivers would be part of a safety system that would let the range safety officer destroy the vehicle in case of a malfunction at launch. NASA planned to reuse the receivers up to 20 times, recovering and returning the equipment to the manufacturer for testing before it was shipped to the assembly contractor for reuse. (MSFC Release 76-132)
MSFC announced that assembly of the first Space Shuttle external tank had begun at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Assembly should be completed and the tank delivered to the Natl. Space Technology Laboratories at Bay St. Louis, Miss., in mid-1977 for use in the test program for the main propulsion engine. The tests would use the tank, three Shuttle main engines, and other components in actual firings to verify the design and operation of the main propulsion system. The program would consist of 15 test firings, 1 l at or near the full 8-min duration. (MSFC Release 76-137)
MSFC announced preparations for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle orbiter in mid-July for a series of tests at MSFC's dynamic test facility. The orbiter would arrive at the Redstone airfield in 1978 atop a modified Boeing 747 and be off-loaded by KSC personnel. On the ground, the orbiter would become the responsibility of MSFC personnel, who would move it to the test facility and mate it with the rest of the Space Shuttle elements for vibration tests. This would be the first time all elements of the Shuttle were united. Tests were scheduled to run from spring to winter of 1978. (MSFC Release 76-141)
MSFC announced completion of tests on minitank 5, a small aluminum tank coated with a spray insulation that would be used to protect the Space Shuttle's external tank and its highly volatile liquid hydrogen contents from engine exhaust or aerodynamic heat. This was the fifth of 13 such tanks to be tested at MSFC. The tests were to determine the effectiveness of Martin Marietta's foam insulation against stress encountered during Shuttle launch and space flight. Besides acoustic and vacuum tests, the minitanks would undergo pressure, boiloff, and holding tests with liquid hydrogen; the hold test would determine the effect of a 7-hr idle period on a full tank's insulation system. The test period of 7 hr was estimated to be the longest time a fueled Shuttle would have to wait on a launch pad before liftoff. (MSFC Release 76-142)
MSFC announced completion; the only totally new structure built exclusively for testing the Space Shuttle external tank; the pneumatic test facility at Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, which would accommodate the tank measuring 47 m long (more than half the length of a football field) and 8.4 m in diameter. Empty, the tank would weigh about 34 000 kg. The pneumatic facility would be used for proof tests and leak tests of the external tank's liquid hydrogen tank; the proof test would pressurize the tank with gaseous nitrogen and apply a series of external loads with 9 hydraulic cylinders. The leak test would verify that no out-of-specification leaks existed. Martin Marietta Aerospace was prime contractor at Michoud for external tank production. (MSFC Release 76-143)
Johnson Space Center announced it had awarded to Klate Holt Co. of Houston a 1-yr $1.5-million extension of contract for custodial support services at JSC. The cost-plus-award-fee contract was originally awarded in July 1975. The contractor had provided custodial services in 82 buildings at JSC and to buildings occupied by JSC at nearby Ellington AFB. (JSC Release 76-45)
The Newsreview, published by the Air Force Systems Command, reported that a long-winged U-2 aircraft on loan to NASA had successfully completed tests' in the "icy grip" of the main chamber at McKinley Climatic Laboratory during which it underwent exposure to temperatures as low as -57°C. The laboratory, operated by the USAF Armament Development and Test Center at Eglin AFB, Fla., conducted the tests at NASA's request to isolate flight-control malfunctions occurring in the cold temperatures of high altitude. The U-2, a single-seat single-engine jet designed to operate at altitudes above 21 km, had been used by NASA as an earth-resources survey tool, making observations in astronomy, high altitude atmospheric physics, and geophysics in addition to supporting general earth-resources programs. (AFSC Newsreview, July 76, 6)
Gene Sivertson of Langley Research Center's Space Systems Div. had developed a new idea for search and rescue operations using passive reflectors with imaging or side-looking radar to locate persons in emergency situations. The passive reflectors could be rigid, inflatable, or erectable structures that would show up on a radar system as bright spots easily distinguishable from clutter signals of the terrain. The reflectors could be carried as standard equipment by aircraft, ships and small boats, earth vehicles, and individuals; different packages could be tailored to the user's needs. The inflatable concept would use a balloon containing a reflector structure of aluminized mylar, with a small helium or hydrogen gas generator in the canister holding the mylar-saran balloon. Deployed in an emergency situation, the reflector would mark a distress site and provide a radar target. The concept had been field-tested in Mich. and Fla. with excellent test films as a result. Sivertson hoped to have the imaging radar on satellites with continuous global monitoring, and to test the system on the Space Shuttle in the 1980s. (Langley Researcher, 9 July 76, 3)
Dr. John A. O'Keefe, geophysicist at Goddard Space Flight Center, published a book, Tektites and Their Origin, which noted that a piece of the moon could be purchased for a small amount. Tektites, the glass pebbles that fall from the sky, are ejecta from lunar volcanoes and not debris of meteorite impacts on the moon or the earth as previously suggested. Lunar missions that discovered tektite-like glass in the dust at some sites, the study of microscopic tektites from the bottom of earth's seas, and the volcanic appearance of some layered tektites caused the change in ideas. (Goddard News, July 76, 3)
Calling the Landsat photographs "some of the most fascinating, most valuable photographs ever taken," Readers Digest magazine said the satellites "will have enormous effect on our lives and on the lives of our children," as they revealed "things never before known about the earth and man's activities omit, vastly improving our ability to make the planet more habitable." The article quoted NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher: "If I had to pick one Space Age development most likely to save the world, I would pick the Landsats and the satellites that will evolve from them later in this decade." The article described the process by which Landsat images were collected, processed, and used for a number of purposes: detecting oil and mineral deposits, finding sources of fresh water, assessing crops, forecasting and minimizing damage from natural disasters, and monitoring population growth and pollution, among others. The Landsats, despite their importance, were still "in their infancy," the article said, looking toward the day when "few activities will be undertaken on ... the globe without first consulting these electronic oracles in space." (RD, July 1976, 13)
An unusually high loss of total blood hemoglobin after the first 16 days of flight was one of the medical findings from the Salyut 4 -Soyuz 18 mission reported by Cosmonauts Vitaly I. Sevastyanov and Lt. Col. Pyotr Klimuk to the 19th annual meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council of Scientific Unions. If valid, the Soviet data would represent a "significant departure" from earlier data on body mechanisms governing red cells in zero gravity, said Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine. Klimuk told the Phila. meeting that hemoglobin had decreased 16% in his blood and 25% in Sevastyanov's by the 16th day of the flight; although past data showed hemoglobin loss averaging 1 % daily, Sevastyanov must have had a mechanism that "destroyed more cells than normal" to achieve the 25% deficiency. U.S. Skylab missions reported that crewmen normally recovered their ability to produce red blood cells with more time in orbit; the cosmonauts did not discuss their recovery from the hemoglobin deficiency, but reported that nothing medical had been discovered during their 63-day flight to prevent increased duration of Soviet space flight. (Av Wk, 5 July 76, 49)
New federal policies deriving from the Occupational Health and Safety Act and. the National Environmental Policy Act would affect about 30% of the USAF's Aerospace Medical Division investment in biotechnology research and development, said an article in Aviation Week magazine. "USAF has yet to appreciate ... how important these two laws are going to be. The day is rapidly coming when even major weapons systems will never get through [a Defense System Acquisition Review council] without having to come to grips with .., the occupational safety of the people that have to work around the system and the impact of ... noise, electromagnetic radiation effects and toxic effluents," said Col. George C. Mohr, director of AMD research and development.
Among items of special interest were the rocket fuels-unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and monomethylhydrazine-and the hydrochloric-acid fallout expected from Shuttle motor exhaust during launches at Vandenberg AFB; effects of laser exposure on eyes and skin; effects of multiple stress, including that caused by locating or operating equipment; and development of hardware, such as a lightweight 1-kg helmet to replace the standard 2-kg helmet that caused "high moment" effects on the wearer during sustained high-gravity maneuvers in the new generation of fighter aircraft. Another environmental-safety hardware item was a new 9-layer 25-mm windshield for planes to overcome the bird-strike problem, in place of the standard 2-layer 8.5-mm-thick windshield.
A major problem, Col. Mohr said, has been that biotechnology standards and criteria often were not considered until after the system concept had been finalized; another problem is the DOD policy of tri-service planning, an attempt to ensure that the services do not duplicate research. Use of mathematical modeling in biotechnology had tended to "drive aerospace medicine research toward an engineering discipline," the article said; the data output is usable by design engineers, while new legislation prevents use of humans in hazardous testing, and cost of laboratory animals has soared. (Av Wk, 19 July 76, 219)
"To prove that enthusiastic but untrained high school and college-age students can build a 5-kw solar generator," a project called Sunfire managed by JPL's Space Exploration Post would build such a generator for inhabitants of Pitcairn Is. in the South Pacific about 8000 km east of Australia. In 1974, Howard Broyles of JPL became interested in using solar energy to supply power at low cost, and discovered that the Pitcairn residents could use the power; he interested a physics teacher at the local high school in the actual construction of a solar electric generator, and work began as a class project. When the site of construction became unavailable at the end of the school year, the project, under the name Seep (solar energy experimentation project), was offered to the JPL Space Exploration Post and approved by Dr. William H. Pickering, JPL Director. Sunfire-backward acronym for Energy for Remote Islands From the Sun-would be a 5-kw generator converting solar rays into electricity by using a parabolic mirror to focus the rays on a boiler that makes steam, turning a double set of turbines that run alternators to produce the power. The Pitcairn residents, fewer in number "than JPL's Building 180 has employees," are mostly descendants of the crew of HMS Bounty, which mutinied in 1790 and found refuge on the small remote island. (Laboratory, 1976-4, 8)
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