Nov 4 1975
From The Space Library
Inflation and procurement reforms had hiked NASA's charge for a Delta launch by about 20% for the average customer, Aerospace Daily said. Prospective users 2 yr ago had been quoted less than $10 million per launch; current cost had risen to $11-12 million, and those wanting 1978 launches had been quoted $13-14 million. The Delta had been the NASA launcher most in demand because of its size and price, most widely applicable among government and commercial users; the Kennedy Space Center, capable of one launch every 5 wk, had been booked solid for the foreseeable future. NASA had been renegotiating payment schedules, but no launch schedules had been changed except for technical reasons not related to cost. (Aero Daily, 4 Nov 75, 11)
Largest of U.S. air carriers, United Airlines, and All Nippon Airways of Japan-one of the 10 largest airlines in the world-supported NASA's 10-yr program to reduce aircraft fuel use. Testifying before the Senate Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, executives of both companies said the airlines needed the improved technology but did not have the financial ability to conduct the research, estimated to cost $490 to $670 million. A spokesman for the Federal Energy Administration said more analysis was needed before Congress decided to fund the NASA program; the airlines should consider less expensive ways of conserving fuel, such as operating at higher load factors. (Transcript, 256, 271, 299)
Soviet polar station Severny Polyus-22 had been scheduled to get a companion, a Moscow Tass broadcast reported. Drifting on an ice floe in the Arctic for the past 3 yr, the station's scientists had made about 200 scientific landings on the ice since last spring to observe the ice, the ocean, and the atmosphere. Another ice floe in the area of the "inaccessibility pole" was to receive station Severny Polyus-23, and the first deliveries of prefab houses and stocks of fuel and food had already been made by air. Scientists were to arrive at the new station in a few days. The high-latitude expedition, called Sever-27, was described as the biggest in the history of Arctic exploration, aimed at a comprehensive survey of the Arctic Ocean between the coasts of the U.S.S.R., Canada, and Greenland; about 50 scientists had participated. Work had also been done under an international program called Polex, to photograph the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and to study the lower surface of the polar ice cap. (FBIS No 214, 4 Nov 75)
4-5 November: A study called "Outlook for Aeronautics," on probable aeronautical progress during the next 25 yrs, had forecast development of a Concorde 11 supersonic transport and an entirely new second-generation SST, NASA witnesses told the House Subcommittee on Aviation and Transportation R&D. The hearing was first of a series called to get an early start on H.R. 11573, NASA's FY 1977 budget authorization. Earliest dates of introduction for the Concorde 11 and advanced SST had been set at 1985 and 1995 respectively. Recent NASA technology work on the advanced SST included an anticipated engine-noise breakthrough based on noise-suppressor research, as well as on changes in engines and aircraft configurations. (Transcript, Vol. 11 Part 1: 9, 67, 117)
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