May 9 1980
From The Space Library
JSC announced NASA selection of two California aerospace firms to negotiate contracts for production of solar cells as a supplemental power source for the Space Shuttle orbiter. Applied Solar Energy Corporation and Spectrolab would each receive a $300,000 contract to develop a large-area low-cost solar cell for NASA's proposed power-extension package, to be produced at the rate of 144,000 space-qualified solar cells per year, reducing the cost to $30 per watt. (Solar cells now cost from $80 to $120 per watt.) The power-extension item would be a 2,000-pound package folded into the orbiter cargo bay; in orbit, the item would be moved out by a remote mechanical arm, the 177-foot wings unfolding to supply the Shuttle with 26 kilowatts of electric power. (JSC Release 80-032)
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) reported that a team of its scientists was working on a solar-ultraviolet (UV) spectral irradiance monitor (SUSIM) for use on the Space Shuttle to study long-term variations in solar flux for more accurate monitoring of UV radiation from the solar chromosphere and corona. Solar radiation in the wavelengths under study control many photochemical processes in Earth's atmosphere at altitudes below 100 kilometers; variations in the radiation may alter the composition of the lower atmosphere, affecting the lifetime of pollutants and ion density in the D region. The Navy also considered the D region of the atmosphere important because of its direct effect on communications systems.
The principal investigator, Dr. Guenter E. Brueckner, said that measurements by conventional methods in the 120- to 400-nanometer wavelength range were not accurate enough for scientists to define values for solar-flux variations over time. The monitor would travel as a solar sensor on an early orbiter flight; the spacecraft pilot would use its real-time data to point directly at the Sun in order to monitor the entire solar disk and measure variation of its intensity with solar activity. Brueckner's team consisted of three scientists-Michael E. Van Hoosier, Dr. Dianne K. Prinz, and Dr. John-David F. Bartoe-developing and testing the SUSIM for Shuttle flight. Both Prinz and Bartoe had passed mental and physical tests 1. or astronaut-scientists and had been chosen to make a Shuttle flight; one of them might obtain firsthand data on solar activity by actually using monitor on a Shuttle flight. (NRL Release 20-5-80C)
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