Mar 23 1978
From The Space Library
LaRC announced award to Micro Craft, Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., of a contract to design and build precision models for windtunnel tests at the center. The small-scale models of controlled shape and finish, designed specifically for research and development projects, would consist of metals, moldable or formable materials, fiberglass reinforced resins, woods, or combinations. The contract might also require specialized model-support equipment and other unique items needed for model tests. Micro Craft estimated the value of the 3-yr, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract at $2.8 million. (LaRC Release 78-14)
NASA's Scientific and Technical Information Office announced publication of a 276-page summary, The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, of the findings of a blue-ribbon group of 16 U.S. scientists on detecting possible radio signals from intelligent life in the universe. Based on the results of a series of SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) workshops held during 1975 and 1976, the summary had 3 sections: Consensus, Colloquies, and Complementary Documents, covering subjects like preferred frequency bands, search strategies, and scanning devices used on radio telescopes. "Consensus" at the beginning of the book reviewed the conclusions reached by the SETI group: a serious search for extraterrestrial intelligence was both timely and feasible; a significant SETI program with potential for secondary benefits could be undertaken with only modest resources; large systems of great capability could be built; and SETI was intrinsically an international endeavor in which the U.S. could take a lead. NASA's proposed FY79 budget contained a request for $2 million for JPL to start the SETI program in Oct. 1978 and run it for 5yr. The funds, if approved, would be for an all-sky all-frequency search for radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life, using existing antennas of the Deep Space Network at Goldstone, Calif., and state-of-the-art hardware including a new very-wide-bandwidth supercooled preamplifier to be developed specifically for the effort. (ARC Astrogram, Mar 23/78, 1)
NASA announced that the governors of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon had unanimously agreed to participate in a 3yr program demonstrating the use of NASA-supplied satellite data for natural resources management in their states. Governors Dixy Lee Ray, John Evans, and Robert Straub, together with federal representative Pat Vaughan, constituted the Pacific Northwest Regional Commission. They voted $480 000 from commission funds to support first-yr activities beginning in Apr. 1979. The 3-yr plan would be a follow-up of the Land Resource Inventory Demonstration Project launched by the commission in 1975 during which more than 45 state and local agencies in the 3 states had used satellite data for surveys and inventories of various landcover types. Continuing the program would provide the state agencies doing planning and natural-resource management with an operational capability of extracting and using information from NASA's Landsat satellite system, and would aid them in using the more sophisticated data from Landsat-C after its launch. The Pacific Northwest program would join others across the U.S. sponsored by NASA's Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications demonstrating the use of space technology by state and local governments, businesses, and universities. (ARC Astrogram, Mar 23/78, 2)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
