August 1975

1 August: The Indian Space Research Organization began transmitting instructional programs to inexpensive ground receivers in more than 2400 isolated villages throughout India, using NASA's Ats 6 Applications Technology Satellite launched 30 May 1974. As part of the 1-yr satellite instructional television experiment (SITE), the transmissions would stress improved agricultural techniques, family planning and hygiene, and school courses pertinent to Indian villagers' needs. After the experiment, Ats 6 would be repositioned over the western hemisphere.

During its first year in operation, Ats 6 had transmitted medical and educational programs to remote communities in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, and Appalachia. During the 15-26 July Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission, the satellite had helped relay communications from the Apollo spacecraft to ground stations, increasing coverage from the usual 17% to 55% for each orbit. (NASA Release 75-221; NASA MOR M-966-75-01, 7 July 75; Borders, NYT, 3 Aug 75, 10) Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wisc.), a critic of the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, reported that the Soviet Union had bugged the conversations of U.S. astronauts and technicians at the Moscow space center before the July space flight. Using information received from two sources and confirmed through official channels, Sen. Proxmire said that the bugs were discovered while the astronauts and technicians were watching a televised Soviet hockey game. Wanting a closer view of the game, U.S. astronaut Robert F. Overmyer moved his chair nearer the TV screen, causing a wire leading from the chair into the floor to snap. The Washington Post quoted a spokesman for NASA as confirming the incident, but saying there was no evidence the wire "had anything to do with a listening device." (AP, W Post, 2 Aug 75; Av Wk, 11 Aug 75, 17) Kennedy Space Center announced award of a $5 137 000 contract to Mayfair Construction Co. to modify the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for Space Shuttle operations. The contract provided for modifications to High Bay 3's extensible work platforms, installation of new checkout cells in High Bay 4, and modifications to the north door of the VAB transfer aisle and related support facilities. (KSC Release 160-75) 2 August: Landsat 2, launched 22 Jan. 1975, developed a noise problem with one of its two image tape recorders, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. The satellite's mission was not in danger because the backup recorder was functioning properly. (Av Wk, 11 Aug 75, 13)

3 August: Space expenditures resulted in tangible economic benefits, according to a report, "The Economic Impact of NASA R&D Spending," being prepared for NASA by Chase Econometric Associates, Inc., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Using methods developed for regular national economic forecasts, Chase predicted that, if NASA's research and development budget were increased by $1 billion for the

1975-84 period, the U.S. gross national product (GNP) would swell by $23 billion or 2% over the normal rate of growth. Labor productivity in the nonfarm areas of the economy would rise more than 2% over the normal growth rate, and more than one million jobs would be created, reducing the unemployment rate by nearly 0.4% by 1984.

According to Chase, the key to NASA's domestic economic importance was in the agency's widespread technological advances that benefited a wide range of industries. Although the technological benefits were readily visible, NASA's influence on the nation's economy was more subtle, taking about 5 yr to work its way through the system. (Text, NASA Final Rpt, CR 144351, April 76; Holland, P Inq, 3 Aug 75)

• Appointment of Dr. S. Ichtiaque Rasool, special assistant to the NASA Deputy Associate Administrator, to be the Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science became effective. In that position Dr. Rasool would be primary adviser to Dr. Noel W. Hinners, Associate Administrator for Space Science. He would also serve as chairman of the Space Science Steering Committee, responsible for drawing skills and resources of the nation's scientific community into NASA programs. Dr. Rasool had joined NASA in January 1965 as senior research scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies; in 1971 he was named Deputy Director for Planetary Programs, serving until 1974 when he became special assistant to the Deputy Associate Administrator. (NASA anno, 22 Aug 75)

3 August-6 November: Ariel 5, a U.S.-U.K. cooperative satellite launched 15 Oct. 1974 to study galactic and extragalactic x-rays, detected weak cosmic x-ray emissions from the constellation Orion on 3 Aug. The emissions, subsequently confirmed by NASA's Explorer 53 (SAS 3 Small Astronomy Satellite launched 7 May 1975), steadily increased in intensity until they were five times greater than any observed to date. New York Times reporter Walter Sullivan quoted Dr. Terry Matilsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist, as saying that when the emissions were first observed "we couldn't believe it.

Sas 3-operated by Goddard Space Flight Center-was able to pinpoint the location of the emissions to within 1 or 2 arc-min. With this clue scientists hoped to explain the phenomenon using ground-based optical and radio telescopes. Observatories around the world had been alerted and were trying to pinpoint the source.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported MIT's Dr. Saul A. Rappaport as speculating that the emissions probably had been caused by masses of material falling from a large star into an extremely dense neutron star or black hole. The falling matter would heat up enough to emit bursts of x-rays and visible light.

Dr. Noel Hinners, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, reported 6 Nov. to the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Science and Applications that the Explorer 53 observations had identified the optical counterpart of the x-ray emissions as a faint, otherwise normal-looking star that had brightened 100 times over previous observations. Dr. Hinners repeated Dr. Rappaport's theory and told the subcommittee that, because a similar brightening of this star had been observed in 1917, it was being classified as a recurrent nova. (1977 NASA authorization hearing transcripts, vol 1, part 1; Sullivan, NYT, 17 Aug 75, 21; AP, P Inq, 31 Aug 75)

4 August: NASA announced completion of a program conducted by Jet Propulsion Laboratory to measure the constituent gases of the stratosphere to help determine the effects on the earth's ozone layer of gases released from aerosol spray cans. Using a Fourier interferometer onboard a U-2 aircraft, JPL scientists had measured the distribution of hydrogen chloride molecules at altitudes between 10 and 21 km during 6 separate flights in May. Hydrogen chloride-produced by the breakdown of aerosol gas molecules in the upper atmosphere and released naturally, in small amounts, from the ocean surface and volcanic eruptions-was one of several trace gases thought to play a major role in controlling the equilibrium of the protective ozone layer. JPL had found traces of the chloride beginning at 15 km, and reaching a maximum of almost 1 part per billion at 20 km. Although the results did not represent a direct effect of aerosol gas, or Freons, on stratospheric ozone, JPL scientists recommended continuing measurements to detect any future buildup.

The ozone measurements, part of NASA's Stratospheric Research Program, had begun when a JPL-designed instrument was flown on the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic transport in 1973. Data collected on these flights included the first detection of nitric oxide, along with new information on the geographic and vertical distribution of water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane, and furnished a base for the 1975 study. (NASA Release 75-223; Miles, LA Times, 21 Aug 75)

The Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS), an aeronautical facility designed to reproduce up-and-down and sideways motions of aircraft during takeoff and landing, was being built at Ames Research Center, NASA announced. Costing about $3.5 million, the VMS would move as much as 18 m in height and 12 m sideways, accurately simulating flare and touchdown. Practice in the simulator would enable pilots to cope better with the complexities of flying sophisticated aircraft such as short takeoff and landing (STOL) and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) types. (NASA Release 75-224)

Michael Collins, Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, and Santiago Astrain, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, signed an agreement to transfer three early Intelsat communications satellites to the Museum as part of its 1976 inaugural display. INTELSAT was providing the museum with a backup model of the INTELSAT's Early Bird 1, launched 6 Apr. 1965 as the first commercial comsat. A backup model of the second-generation Intelsat II and an engineering model of third-generation Intelsat III satellites would also be sent for display. Fourth-generation satellites would not be represented because they were too large for display.

The new Air and Space Museum, located in Washington, D.C., was scheduled to open 4 July 1976. (INTELSAT Release 75-9) Westar communications satellites would soon be used for communications to and from offshore oil drilling platforms and exploratory vessels in waters adjacent to the continental U.S., Western Union Telegraph Co. announced. The offshore facilities previously had depended for communication on microwave relay networks and cabling, methods that had become increasingly expensive and impractical as the facilities were moved farther and farther off shore. (Westar news release, 4 Aug 75)

• "Technology will be available for manned flights well before the year 2000, allowing even better research of the planet's [Mars'] composition," Dr. George Sands, associate Viking Project scientist at Langley Research Center, stated in an interview with the Newport News Times Herald. "The Viking missions [scheduled for August launch] are just the prelude of things to come." Dr. Sands continued, "The results of [the] probe to Mars this month will be very significant for the future of planetary exploration and additional trips to Mars." (Biggins, Times Herald, 4 Aug 75)

• Marshall Space Flight Center was seeking industry proposals for procurement of parallel definition studies of the atmospheric, magnetospheric, and plasmas in space (AMPS) payload, a reusable research facility to be integrated with Spacelab. The proposed 12-mo studies were to define an overall AMPS program with special emphasis on ground- and flight-support systems and subsystems, systems engineering and integration, and ground/orbital operations with the Space Shuttle and Spacelab.

AMPS, a single laboratory system flown with the Space Shuttle, would perform experiments and observations in atmospheric science, magnetospheric physics, and plasma physics. (MSFC Release 75-172) 4-6 August: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, at its 1975 aircraft systems and technology meeting in Los Angeles, Calif., presented the following aerospace awards.

(AIAA Release, 22 July 75)

5 August: The Saturn IB, used to launch three U.S. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project astronauts into space [see 15-24 July], had experienced no unscheduled holds whatever during countdown, making it the most perfect launch of the Saturn series, Ellery B. May, manager of the Saturn Program Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said. Saturn 210, manufactured in 1967, was 10th of the IB series and had the oldest engine used. All Saturn launches had been successful and had met their objectives; although some had anomalies, such as leaks or faulty wiring, no major configuration changes were ever necessary.

The ASTP mission marked the end of the Saturn series, but its impact on technology would continue. "Space Shuttle main engines (SSME) are an outgrowth of technology from Saturn engines," May explained. The major difference between the two was that the Shuttle

must have much higher pressure systems than ever before required and must be reusable. (MSFC Release 75-174)

• The wingless unpowered X-24B lifting body had made its first landing on a concrete runway at Edwards, Calif., to demonstrate maneuver and safe landing of an unpowered reentry vehicle on a conventional runway. After launch from a B-52 aircraft flying at 14 000 m, test pilot John N. Manke, chief Flight Research Center pilot for the X-24B project, had ignited a small rocket engine, propelling the X-24B to a speed of 1381 km per hr and altitude of 18 300 m. Manke then shut off the engine and glided to a perfect 300-kph landing on the 4600-m

runway.

The 11.3-m-long X-24B was a part of a joint NASA-Air Force program to study transonic flight characteristics and landing ability of a vehicle designed for hypersonic speeds. (FRC Release 24-75; LA Times, 6 Aug 75)

Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) defended the nation's space program during a tour of Space Shuttle facilities at Rockwell International Corp. in Downey, Calif. According to Sen. Tunney, the most important justification for the space program was to provide new technology in weather mapping and control, to help increase the amount of land available for food production, and to locate additional stocks of natural resources in this country. Sen. Tunney stated, "I quite frankly think without a space program. . .mankind is going to have a rendezvous with destiny which would be catastrophic. . . ." But with this kind of program, a world food supply and adequate resources can "keep this country going indefinitely." (Pasadena Star News, 6 Aug 75)

• An Ames Research Center wind tunnel used primarily for testing the Space Shuttle had been shut down after a steel flange failed, setting off a high-powered explosion of compressed gas. The blast scattered hundreds of hot aluminum oxide pebbles over a wide area, causing several fires but no serious injuries. Space Shuttle testing had been postponed until the facility, which generated pressures up to 126 kg/cm2 (1800 psi) in testing models at 14 times the speed of sound, could be declared operational again. An investigation board was formed to determine the cause of the accident and recommend actions to prevent recurrence. (ARC Astrogram, 14 Aug 75, 1; ARC Experimental Fluid Dynamics Br, interview, 27 June 77; UPI, W Post, 7 Aug 75, A17)

• Two Boeing Co. scientists had proposed construction of a 64-million-kg solar power satellite, with 57 sq km of mirrors, to collect and concentrate solar energy, together with thermal engines to convert solar power into electricity, the Christian Science Monitor reported. A microwave transmission system would convert the electricity to a form suitable for transmission to earth. CSM quoted Boeing as saying that within 2 decades "Powersat" could provide up to 10 000 mw of useful power, twice the hydroelectric capacity of Grand Coulee Dam. (AP, CSM, 6 Aug 75, 7)

• Kennedy Space Center announced award of an $18 749 million contract to Blount Brothers Construction Co. for modification of Launch Complex 39 Pad A, to accommodate all early Space Shuttle missions. The complex had been the site of all but one of the historic Saturn V launches; Pad B, from which the Skylab Orbital Workshop was launched, would be modified later. The contract included conversion of the mobile launcher for Shuttle operations. (KSC Release 164–75)