detection instruments, to develop a test for life on Mars for use aboard the Viking spacecraft (launched 20 Aug.)

NASA scientists working with the firefly chemicals at Goddard Space Flight Center had developed many applications, including a method of detecting bacteria in water; this permitted speedy diagnosis of urinary infections, as well as testing the effect of various antibiotics on particular infections.

Univ. of Calif. scientists continued the research, adapting the techniques for related work in measuring creatine phosphokinase (CPK) in the bloodstream. CPK, present in all human blood, was produced in abnormally high quantities during muscle-cell degeneration that accompanied cardiac arrest or muscular dystrophy. CPK could be treated to produce ATP and, with the application of firefly chemicals, to produce a glow proportionate to the amount of CPK in the bloodstream. Researchers had used the measurements as a quick blood test to tell whether a patient had suffered a heart attack. (NYT, 25 Aug 75) 26 August-3 September: NASA launched Symphonie 2, France and West Germany's second experimental communications satellite at 9:42 pm EDT 26 Aug. from Eastern Test Range. A three-stage thrustaugmented Thor-Delta launch vehicle boosted the spacecraft into a synchronous transfer orbit with a 37 974-km apogee, 413-km perigee, 678.3-min period, and 13.2° inclination. On 29 Aug. at 11:48 am EDT, ground controllers activated the onboard liquid-fueled apogee motor to circularize the orbit at geosynchronous altitude. By 31 Aug. Symphonie 2 was in an orbit with a 35 870-km apogee, 35 364-km perigee, 23-hr 47-min period, and 0.0° inclination. NASA's primary objective for the mission-to launch the Symphonie 2 into a synchronous transfer orbit with sufficient accuracy to enable the satellite to accomplish its operational mission-had been successfully completed, and the mission was adjudged successful on 3 Sept.

When finally positioned at 11.5° west longitude over the equator, the 402-kg Symphonie 2 would provide 1200 telephone, 8 voice, and 2 TV channels for experimental communications between Europe and the African and South American continents.

Second of two experimental comsats developed by the FrenchWest German Consortium Industriel France-Allemand pour le Satellite Symphonie (CIFAS), under the direction of Germany's Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung GFW and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Symphonie 2 would expand the French-West German experimental satellite TV and telegraph communications program begun with the launch of Symphonie 1 on 18 Dec. 1974.

In October 1973 NASA had agreed to provide the launch vehicle and services on a cost-reimbursable basis, and in June 1974 had signed a launch services contract with the consortium. Estimated cost of hardware and services was $12 million. Goddard Space Flight Center, under the direction of the Office of Space Science, was responsible for the launch vehicle and for limited tracking during initial activities. When the satellite separated from the vehicle third stage, the Symphonie Project Operations Group in France and West Germany would assume operational responsibility. (NASA MORS S-492-204-75-02, 25 July, 3 Sept; GSFC SSR, 31 Aug 75; GSFC Wkly SSR, 21-27 Aug 75; NASA Release 75-234)

• A prototype of the YC-15 advanced medium short-takeoff-and-landing (AMST) cargo transport successfully completed its first flight. Airborne for 2 hr 26 min, the YC-15 was flown from Long Beach municipal airport to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., achieving a peak altitude of 5500 m and a top speed of 485 kph. During the flight the pilots evaluated the aircraft's flight controls, handling and slow-speed-flight qualities, and speed advance to the assigned maximum.

Built by McDonnell Douglas Corp. for the Air Force, the YC-15 was the first large transport aircraft to include both the NASA-developed supercritical wing for improved flight performance and reduced fuel consumption, and externally blown flaps for powered lift. This aircraft and a second nearing completion would be evaluated, during a 12-mo flight-test program, against established Air Force performance goals and against two YC-14 prototype AMSTS built by Boeing Co. (Fink, Av Wk, 11 Aug 75, 18-20; NYT, 27 Aug 75, 58; AFSC Newsreview, 16 Oct 75, 16) 27 August: Astronomers had picked up microwave signals that dated back 10 billion yrs to the creation of the universe, Sir Bernard Lovell, director of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope station, told the 137th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. First picked up accidentally by equipment testing space communications, and later monitored by a sounding rocket, the signals apparently had originated in the cataclysmic explosion-the "big bang"-caused when a single primeval fireball exploded to form the universe. The observed radiation was "a relic of the high-temperature phase of the universe," Lovell stated, "perhaps within a second or so of the beginning of the explosion."

Lovell urged scientists to reexamine their responsibility to society during their quest for knowledge of the universe and life on other planets; he questioned whether man could "survive for long the consequences of the probing of scientists," saying that the search. might produce answers too overwhelming for the mind of man to comprehend. He warned that extensive military involvement might lead to great human disaster, recalling how man's quest for knowledge had led to the development of nuclear weapons. (AP, W Star, 28 Aug 75) NASA announced that astronaut Thomas P. Stafford would leave the NASA astronaut corps effective 1 Nov. to become commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Serving as a NASA astronaut since September 1962, Stafford made the first rendezvous in space when he flew the Gemini 6 mission (launched 15 Dec. 1965) to meet the already orbiting Gemini 7 crew. He also commanded Gemini 9 (3-6 June 1966), which rendezvoused with the previously launched augmented target docking adapter. Stafford was commander of Apollo 10 (18-26 May 1969), first lunar-orbital mission to use the complete Apollo spacecraft; during the mission he and crew member Eugene A. Cernan flew the lunar module to within 15 km of the surface while John W. Young orbited the moon in the Apollo spacecraft. In July Stafford headed the three-man Apollo crew for the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission (15-24 July 1975); he had accumulated a total of 507 hr 43 min in space and flown 6 space missions. (NASA Release 75-241)

27 August-7 September: Field operations of an ocean bathymetry expedition sponsored jointly by NASA and the Cousteau Society had

been successfully completed in the Central Bahamas. Objective of the expedition was to evaluate the usefulness of Landsat satellite sensors for measuring water depth in shallow seas and for improving the accuracy of mapping ocean-bottom features. Thirteen satellitesincluding NASA's Landsat 1 and 2, Sms 1, and Ats 3; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Noaa 3 and 4 and Essa 8; and six satellites of the Navy's Transit Navigation System, plus two research vessels Cousteau Society's Calypso and the Johns Hopkins University's Beayondan-recorded bathymetric data at selected sites. Scuba divers measured ocean floor reflectivity and water transparency with sophisticated underwater instruments.

Participating in the expedition were Cousteau Society head Jacques Cousteau and his son Philippe; NASA Project Manager Dr. Enrico P. Mercanti and science monitor Ross McCluney, both of Goddard Space Flight Center; and Dr. Fabian Polcyn of the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan. NASA Director of User Affairs Russell L. Schweikart coordinated the project. Also participating was President Gerald R. Ford's son Jack, who accompanied the expedition for the first phase, assisting with several underwater and onboard experiments. (NASA Releases 75-240, 75-257)

28 August: The Air Force announced successful test flight of an F-111D equipped with a turbofan jet engine having all-composite third-stage fan blades 40% lighter than conventional titanium blades. This was the first military operational evaluation of a rotating structural engine component made of composite materials. (AFSC Release OIP 214.75) • A red-tide detection program had been approved by Goddard Space Flight Center and the Florida Department of Natural Resources (FDNR). Caused by an ocean-borne phytoplankton, Gymnodinium breve, "red tide" had left thousands of dead fish rotting on beaches in coastal estuaries. Ocean-color scanners-mounted on Landsat 1 and 2 (launched 23 July 1972 and 22 Jan. 1975) and on NASA's U-2 research aircraft could detect subtle color variations in coastal waters, to warn of changes in concentration and species of marine phytoplankton populations and indicate possible red-tide invasions. Research vessels would verify the findings by on-site sampling. Program managers hoped the data would lead to the development of an early warning system that would allow crews to combat effects of the red tide. (NASA Release 75-242)

29 August: Successful lung surgery performed 26 Aug. on Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Astronaut Donald K. Slayton revealed no evidence of malignancy, the Johnson Space Center Roundup reported. During the 2.5-hr surgery, doctors at the Texas Medical Center removed a triangular wedge that included the 4-mm nodule detected during postflight x-rays [see 20 Aug.] plus a small amount of normal surrounding tissue. Adjacent lymph nodes were biopsied and found normal; doctors found no signs of any other lesions. Slayton would remain in the hospital for 7 to 10 more days. (JSC Roundup, 29 Aug. 75, 1) • A backup Skylab Orbital Workshop and an airlock module and multiple docking adapter would be shipped by barge to Washington, D.C., for display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. Stripped of all equipment that could be used for future programs, the workshop would be cut into three sections for transport;

two doors would be added and the floor strengthened to accommodate the flow of tourists. The museum was scheduled to open 4 July 1976. (MSFC Release 75-189)

• Rockwell International Corp., prime contractor for the Space Shuttle, announced selection of Consolidated Controls for a $1.5-million contract to provide high- and low-pressure helium valves for the Shuttle Orbiter reaction-control system (RCS). The valves would control helium output in the RCS propellant tanks, serving as a manifold shutoff valve in the vernier engine and as a low-pressure helium shutoff valve. (Rockwell Release SP-29)

31 August: Communications Satellite Corp., U.S. representative in the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium, transmitted its twelfth annual report to the President, covering the activities of ComSat from 1 July 1974-30 June 1975.

Two more Intelsat IV satellites had been orbited, Intelsat IV F−8 21 Nov. 1974 over the Pacific Ocean and Intelsat IV F-1 22 May 1975 over the Indian Ocean. A third satellite, Intelsat IV F-6, failed to achieve orbit when the launch vehicle malfunctioned.

By 30 June 1975 a network of 112 antennas-27 more than last year at 88 earth stations was providing 379 ComSat pathways, with 107 countries leasing satellite services, an increase of 7 over the previous year.

Comsat General Corp., a subsidiary, had entered into a joint venture with the European Space Agency and the Government of Canada on 3 Dec. 1974 to provide satellite capacity for an Aerosat (aeronautical satellite) communications test and evaluation program. Comsat General and International Business Machines Corp. had notified the Federal Communications Commission that they would seek to enter the domestic satellite business with one or more partners. ComSat's earth stations in Connecticut and California neared readiness for Marisat (maritime satellite) communications services in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean areas.

ComSat reported a net income of $44 918 000, or $4.49 per share, up from $36 299 000 or $3.63 per share in 1973. (Text) During August: "The importance of space to our defensive military effort can only increase in the future," Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, retiring commander of the Air Force Systems Command and NASA's Apollo Program Director from 1964-69, said in an interview. Gen. Phillips speculated that aircraft, including the B-1 bomber under development by the U.S., would be an important part of the military force "for as many decades ahead as anyone cares to project." However, he saw energy scarcities increasing the need for training simulators and alternative aircraft fuels. (AFSC Newsreview, Aug 75, 1)

September 1975

1 September: NASA's Small Astronomy Satellite (Sas 2, launched as Explorer 48 16 Nov. 1972) had observed a pulsar in the Vela constellation that generated two bursts of gamma rays for each burst of radio waves, the Astrophysical Journal reported. No other pulsar had been found to exhibit such properties. The new observation indicated that pulsarssmall, dense, rapidly spinning stars thought to be remains of a huge stellar explosion or supernova-were much more complex than had been believed.

Detection of gamma rays from Vela meant that pulsars were a likely source of cosmic rays. Many astrophysicists had believed that only very young pulsars could produce cosmic energies, but the Sas 2 observations cast doubt on this conclusion: Scientists believed that the Vela pulsar was more than 10 000 yrs old. (D.J. Thompson et al., Astrophysical Journal, 1 Sept 75; GSFC Release G-75-20) • Appointment of Lt. Gen. William J. Evans as commander of the Air Force Systems Command became effective. Gen. Evans, who had been deputy chief of staff for research and development at Air Force Hq, was replacing retiring Gen. Samuel C. Phillips. AFSC had been responsible for developing Air Force aerospace technology. (AFSC Newsreview, Aug. 75)

2 September: Marshall Space Flight Center announced the award of a $4 409 000 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to Bendix Corp. for design, development, test and evaluation, and fabrication of integrated electronic assemblies (IEA) for Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters on the first six Shuttle developmental flights. Each booster would require two IEAS: The forward IEA would initiate release of the nose cap and frustum, jettison the solid-rocket-motor nozzle, detach the parachute, and turn on recovery aids. The aft IEA would interface with the Orbiter, the forward IEA, and other avionic systems. Delivery of the IEAS would begin in 1976 and continue through 1 Apr. 1979. (MSFC Release 75-190)

3 September: Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists had released "Automobile Power Systems Evaluation Study," urging adoption of a billion-dollar program to mass-produce, by 1985, a fuel-saving pollution-free replacement for the standard internal combustion engine, Richard Witkin reported in the New York Times. Funded by a $500 000 grant from the Ford Motor Co. with the understanding that the study would be independent and unbiased, JPL's report recommended accelerated, parallel development of the Brayton gas turbine and Stirling external combustion engine until a clear choice could be made between them. The study found that either engine not only was virtually pollution-free and cut fuel consumption by 30 to 45% but also could be mass-produced at a cost differential small enough to be easily recovered through fuel savings by the first owner.