Sep 15 1967
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
ATS I (Advanced Technical Satellite) was used experimentally to relay weather photographs of current storms to the US. Weather Bureau's National Hurricane Center in Miami and other hurricane watchers in the Caribbean. The satellite was launched by NASA into its synchronous orbit on Dec. 7, 1966, and was positioned over Christmas Island in the Pacific at an altitude of 22,000 miles. The satellite had been used as a test bed for advanced meteorological, communications, and satellite control systems, and also had made scientific measurements of its orbital environment. Photographs were recorded and radioed to earth by the ESSA V weather satellite while passing over the storm area. The collected photographic data were then compiled as a mosaic and gridded by computers at ESSA before delivery to the Goddard Space Flight Center ground station at Mojave, Calif., for radio transmission to the ATS 1. The satellite then retransmitted the gridded data to earth by means of its weather facsimile (WEAFAX) experiment. Any ground station equipped with the relatively inexpensive Automatic Picture Transmission receivers could read out the pictures. Mosaics would be transmitted daily on an experimental basis in this manner between 9 and 10 pm, EDT. WEAFAX was a joint NASA-ESSA experiment. (NASA Release 67-243)
MARINER IV, launched Nov. 28, 1964, survived apparent micrometeoroid shower. Spacecraft's cosmic dust detector registered 17 hits within 15 min, while MARINER IV traveled between orbits of earth and Mars. Spacecraft was 29.6 million miles from earth and had traveled about 1.4 billion miles in its 1,020 days of flight. Micrometeoroid shower had caused temporary change in spacecraft's attitude but no loss of power. Scientists concluded, from one-degree temperature drop inside spacecraft, that only the thermal shield was damaged. Within about a week, spacecraft was operating without any apparent effect from incident. Since photographing Mars in July 1965, MARINER IV had been used for engineering experiments and acquisition of scientific data. (O'Toole, W Post, 9/16/67, A7; NASA Proj Off)
USAF launched unidentified satellite from WTR using Thor-Agena D booster; satellite reentered Oct 4. (Pres Rep 1967)
Findings of 14-mo study by Denver Research Institute (DRI) , under NASA contract, of methods governing acquisition of new technology in 62 firms in four industries-electric batteries, printing and reproduction, industrial controls, and medical electronics-were summarized in Science. Report, `The Channels of Technology Acquisition in Commercial Firms and the NASA Dissemination Program," concluded that (1) few organizations were vigorously seeking to acquire new technological know-how from space research; (2) little had been done to increase the technical awareness of the manufacturer outside the space and military fields; and (3) the technologist faced with an immediate problem was inclined to use information in standard manuals two to five years behind the state of the art. The report noted that "most individuals felt it too difficult to retrieve relevant material from the mass of government publications and indicated that they expected to learn of important government-developed technology through trade and professional channels. In several firms, those interviewed felt it wasn't really practical to keep up with and use government technology unless one's firm had government R&D contracts." (Greenberg, Science, 9/15/67,1016-18)
William Markowitz, physics professor at Marquette Univ., summarized his study of the reported flight dynamics of UFOS (unidentified flying objects) in Science. Study was made because of letter in Oct. 21, 1966, Science by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, consultant to USAF's Project Blue Book, urging investigation of residue of puzzling UFO cases by physical and social scientists. Markowitz's findings: (1) the control of reported UFOS by extraterrestrial beings is contrary to the known laws of physics and (2) the data published do not justify the holding of investigations. He added that he would not believe that earth had ever been visited by any extraterrestrial until he was shown such a visitor. (Markowitz, Science, 9/15/67,1274-79)
A Soviet astronomer, V. Makarov, had said UFO reports were not all hoaxes, according to the magazine Technica Molodezhi. The astronomer added that he did not believe they were full of little men from far out in space either. Previously, UFOs had been written off by Soviet commentators as inventions of the foreign press or the hallucinations of disturbed persons. Mr. Makarov wrote that "the files of some private persons and organizations dealing with these phenomena either as their official job or out of curiosity are filled with considerable information. Whatever they may be, we cannot say that some phenomena which are still hard to explain exist in reality." Mr. Makarov said data had come from radar stations, pilots, and scientists "about whose common sense and honesty we have no right to be doubtful." (NYT, 9/14/67)
“How to Get Around on the Moon” article by Kenneth Gatland in Daily Telegraph supplement, features pictures of Grumman MOLAB.
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