Mar 3 1978
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
NASA announced award of a contract worth approximately $10.5 million to RCA for -a high-quality television camera system to transmit live color and black and white TV during manned orbital Space Shuttle flights. The closed-circuit TV camera system installed on the Space Shuttle would photograph earth-orbital missions starting in 1979 through the 1980s. Under contract to Johnson Space Flight Center, RCA would provide up to 50 cameras for approximately 504 Shuttle flights over the next decade. Each Shuttle orbiter might carry up to 6 cameras; the system would consist of several TV cameras, a video control unit, pan and tilt mechanisms, and various monitors. Cameras installed in the crew compartment, cargo bay, and on a remote manipulator arm would use a 525-line standard compatible with broadcast television. A portable TV camera used during astronaut extravehicular activity (EVA), for example, could look at areas of the orbiter not visible to the permanently mounted cameras. The portable camera equipped with its own viewfinder would allow astronauts to focus accurately on an object such as the moon or a free-flying satellite in space. The TV system should help the crew in retrieving satellites from space, removing spacecraft from the cargo bay of the Shuttle, and repairing or replacing parts of a satellite on the servicing platform mounted in the orbiter's payload bay. (JSC Roundup, Mar 3/78, 1)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced it had fabricated and displayed a prototype roving ball planetary explorer, an instrument-laden reinforced-fabric ball capable of inflating and deflating automatically or on remote command from earth during possible Mars exploration. Driven by high winds known to prevail on the planet's surface, or powered and steered by an inner drive system much like that of a bicycle, such balls or balloons could roam freely and conduct scientific experiments and measurements over a vast area. A ball could partially deflate if necessary for additional study of a particular area. This "bouncing ball" would offer the advantages of low cost, long life, and extended traverse of the planet's landscape. As a Mars explorer, a ball would constitute a payload of 20 to 30kg (about 44 to 661b) capable of a traverse of 100 to 200km (60 to 120mi). The "skin" of the ball, "sandwiched" or laminated Mylar and Kevlar (both registered DuPont products), would be strong enough to cover some of Mars's most difficult terrain. Schjeldahl Corp. designed and built the ball for the Aerospace Corp. for the ATMOSAT project. Jacques Blamont of France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) had proposed the concept. (JPL Universe, Mar 3/78, 1)
Remote control might soon operate the two drawbridges linking KSC with the Florida mainland over the main channel of the Intracoastal Waterway, NASA announced. An experimental remote-control system tested on the 170-ft-long twin-leaf bridge spanning Haulover Canal would be a prototype for a permanent system both at the canal and at the dual-bridge span of the NASA causeway across the Indian River. The experimental system should demonstrate the feasibility and cost effectiveness of remote bridge operation; in actual use, a duty officer in the launch-control center would use TV cameras, loudspeakers, and microphones mounted on the bridge to monitor and talk with canal and road traffic. A small microwave dish atop the bridge-control tower would transmit TV signals to a receiver on top of the 525ft-tall Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, and audio signals would travel by telephone wire. An operational system could save approximately $200 00 per yr and pay for itself over 4yr. (KSC Release 22-78; Spaceport News, Mar 3/78, 1)
Langley Research Center announced it would host Mar. 7-9 an advanced technology airfoil research conference offering the aviation community a comprehensive review of the latest technical developments in airfoil computational analysis and design methods, airfoil test facilities and techniques, and various applications of new airfoil technology. Presented by NASA, supporting contractors, and university grantees, the technical sessions would cover progress in mathematical codes for use in electronic digital computers for airfoil analysis and design, coupled with progress in analog computers through wind-tunnel test facilities and special techniques of investigation; general aviation aircraft; transports; rotorcraft; propellers; windmills; and agricultural aircraft. (LaRC Release 78-12)
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