Nov 17 1978
From The Space Library
NASA reported completion of a 3yr Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) using space-age technology to monitor global wheat production. A symposium at Johnson Space Center attended by more than 700 conferees from 22 nations representing federal agencies, private companies, universities, and foreign governments, presented results of the experiment.
The experiment had begun in 1974 to determine if data from a Landsat orbiting some 805km (500mi) above earth could be used with surface observations and weather information derived from U.S. operational environmental satellites to predict the size of the world's wheat crop. Major foreign study areas were Canada and the Soviet Union, with preliminary examination of wheat-growing areas of Australia, People's Republic of China, Brazil, India, and Argentina. The U.S. Great Plains area served for extensive test and evaluation of techniques, since it was the best source of statistical data with known reliability. LACIE had been designed to improve global wheat-production forecasts by making foreign production predictions as early as possible in the crop season. The goal of the project was to develop estimates accurate within 10% of the true production at harvest time in 9yr out of 14; tests over the winter-wheat area of the Great Plains showed the goal could be met. Using LACIE techniques to monitor Soviet wheat crops harvested in 1977, the system estimated a production of 91.4 million metric tons, less than 1 % below the Soviets' official announcement of 92 million tons. However, the system's ability to achieve such accuracy from yr to yr had yet to be determined. Findings were presented at the four-day symposium by the LACIE participants: NASA, USDA, NOAA, and cooperating universities and industry.
A peer-evaluation team composed of prominent scientists, chaired by Dr. Don Paarlberg, former director of economics for USDA, reviewed the LACIE techniques and reported on them to the symposium. Dr. Paarlberg stated that "LACIE results to date clearly demonstrate that present remote-sensing capabilities can be combined with or substituted for conventional methods of information collection in order to improve foreign crop production estimates;" He concluded that " . . . for global wheat regions such as the USSR the LACIE technology can be made operational ... for regions where technology requires improvement, funding for further research and development should be continued." (NASA Release 78-179)
NASA announced it had asked scientists to propose experiments for a 1984 mission to obtain a first global view of the Venus surface. Launched by the Space Shuttle, the Venus-orbiting imaging radar (VOIR) spacecraft would circle the planet for at least Imo taking radar pictures and measuring the atmosphere and the surface. It would be the most detailed scientific examination to date of the surface of Venus, perpetually covered by clouds.
Announcing the solicitation, Dr. Noel Hinners, NASA associate administrator for Space Science, said: "NASA is engaged in a continuing program of space exploration, a major part of which is directed at the solar system. The VOIR program is a key step in that endeavor ... While considerable knowledge of Venus's atmospheric properties will be forthcoming from the Pioneer Venus mission, and while the Soviet Venera missions have provided valuable data on surface properties at three localities, information regarding the surface morphology on a global scale and all of the insights that this scientific information provides is lacking. A major technical goal of the VOIR mission, therefore, is to obtain global radar imagery with sufficient resolution to address fundamental questions regarding the origin and evolution of the planet, and to lay the groundwork for subsequent more detailed investigations of the surface and interior." Hinners emphasized that VOIR had not been approved but said that early selection of scientific participants and investigations would assure a well-defined program upon approval.
Under present plans, in 1984 NASA would launch one spacecraft from the Space Shuttle to Venus with a typical trajectory beginning in Dec. 1984 to arrive at Venus in May 1985. The spacecraft would remain in an elliptical parking orbit around Venus through May and June 1985, while the Deep Space Network was occupied with the Galileo project [see Nov. 10]. In late June or early July a propulsion maneuver would put VOIR into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 300km (180mi). Radar mapping and other science gathering would begin in July and continue for 5mo.
VOIR imagery should verify the presence or absence of continents, ocean basins, mountain belts, rift valleys, fault belts, or volcanoes, and might reveal the nature and time sequence of plate tectonic activity, as well as any relationship between this and volcanic episodes in the history of the planet. If impact craters were present (as suggested by earth-based radar observations), the mission might determine their size and frequency. The VOIR orbiter, weighing approximately 5000kg (11 0001b) at launch, would consist of a bus with a synthetic aperture radar and other science instruments. (NASA Release 78-180)
NASA was proceeding cautiously toward its prospective 30/20GHz satellite communications demonstration program, with development starting in FY82 instead of the faster pace envisioned earlier, Aerospace Daily reported. Several questions of policy and organization remained unresolved, one of them being administration guidelines that appeared to contradict President Carter's recently announced civilian space policy [see Oct. 11]. Major issues in the 30/20GHz program included whether a dedicated satellite was to be flown and, if so, whether and how it should be used, apart from demonstrating NASA technology objectives. Another issue concerned the relationship between NASA and the Commerce Dept.'s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), set up to take over support formerly provided by NASA to public service satellite-communications users.
The 30/20 GHz program had been presented in May to the NASA Advisory Council as a prospective FY80 development program, leading to 1984 launch of a satellite using a Space Shuttle-compatible antenna less than 15ft in diameter, about 20 spot beams, and fast onboard switching. However, in November, an ad hoc satellite-communications subcommittee of the NAC learned that the current prospect was for multiple contractor Phase B definition studies in FY80, with technology work to precede FY82 development and a 1985 launch. (A/D, Nov 17/78, 78)
Launches of USSR military space missions continued a marked decline, with total flights in 1978 23% fewer than in 1977, a possible Soviet effort to influence the atmosphere for a SALT 11 agreement, Defense/Space Business Daily reported. Notable omissions from the Soviet military-spaceflight schedule were satellites related to antisatellite interceptor development and nuclear-powered ocean surveillance. These systems had come under intense public scrutiny and criticism in the past yr, as President Carter emphasized that they were major instruments of instability and needed to be banned. No antisatellite system launch had occurred for several months, since the Soviets had agreed to discuss a ban of such weapons and just before the convening of the first such meeting in May. The last Soviet ocean surveillance satellite was Cosmos 954, which had reentered over Canada Jan. 24 trailing fragments of its nuclear reactor [see Jan. 28, Feb. 20]. At that point in 1978, the USSR had sent 50 military missions into space, a significant reduction from the 65 completed in the same time period in 1977. However, the USSR had not reduced photographic reconnaissance/surveillance activity; launch of the high-resolution observer Cosmos 1047 Nov. 15 was the 28th photographic recon/survey mission in 1978, launched at the same rate as in 1977. (D/SBD, Nov 17/78, 79)
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