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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0216.PDF
Missiles and Spaceflight The fifth anniversary of the creation of the US worldwide tracking network for spacecraft was celebrated at the American Embassy in London on January 31 (see page 211). In the above photograph the American Minister, Mr Lewis G. Jones, is seen receiving Sir Edward Hullard, chairman of the space-research steering group, with Mr Denzil Freetb, MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Science, on the right. Above left, Mr R. F. G. Sarell of the Fcreign Office, Or William W. Greulich (US Science Attache) and Sir Edward bullard Several British scientists concerned with spacecraft tracking were present at the American Embassy reception on January 31, including Mr C. Nicolson, manager of the Minitrack station at Winkfield, seen here (left) with Mr William A. Brady of Voice of America CONTROL CENTRE FOR MOON FLIGHTS A new Mission Control Center for manned space flights in Projects Gemini and Apollo is to be built for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, by the Philco Corporation. Until the new centre goes into operation in mid-1964, early Gemini flights will be directed from the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral, but the Mercury centre is not designed to handle the rendezvous flights under Gemini or any of the Apollo missions. The new centre will act as the focal point for the entire ground system of operational support. From the centre, both the manned spacecraft and the ground network of tracking stations will be directed. The installation will consist of several major electronic subsystems, covering communications, displays, simulation and training, and computers. Philco is to design and develop much of this equipment, and integrate the entire complex into an operational system. Estimated cost of the Philco contract is f 30 million. This excludes the computer complex (to be provided by IBM under separate contract) but includes some $18 million worth of other electronic equipment to be installed, and one year of maintenance and operation following completion of the centre. Total cost of the whole centre is expected to exceed $50 million. The foundations for the centre, which will occupy a 200ft-square, three-storey building, are now under construction at Houston. The computers and the communications centre will be located on the ground floor, and two identical mission control rooms will be on the two upper floors. It is expected that fewer than 20 controllers will be in the mission control room during a flight, but more than 250 technical and administrative people will be involved in carrying out supporting duties in adjacent rooms. The centre's computer- driven data displays will make extensive use of television and back lighted projection techniques. DATA FROM SOVIET MARS PROBE Preliminary data from the Soviet spacecraft Mars 1 were announced by the Tass news agency on January 28. The announcement included the following points:— The Mars 1 interplanetary station has been in flight for aboui three months. During this time the station in its movement round the Sun has covered a distance of about 230m kilometres and is 43m kilometres away from the Earth. When the station was leaving the sphere of the Earth's influence its speed was about 4km/sec. Now the speed has grown to 10.2 km/sec. This is explained by the fact that the Earth and the station, mov ing along their orbits, have considerably diverged; and the difference in the direction of the speeds of their movement relative to the Sun is already making itself felt substantially. The distance be tween the Earth and the Mars probe is now so great that the time for sending radio signals to the station and back is of considerable duration—4min 47sec, whereas slightly over two seconds are needed to bounce back radio signals from the Moon. Regular and stable radio communications are being maintained with the station. Telemetric data received on Earth indicate that the temperature and pressure on board the station are maintained in the pre-set range; temperature from 15 to 20°C above zero, pressure 850mm. Exposure to light has diminished considerably because the distance between the probe and the Sun has increased. Therefore, according to the flight programme, on January 5 the groups of elements of the solar batteries were switched into a parallel circuit. Over 50 radio contacts with the probe have been carried out from the beginning of the flight, and over a thousand commands have been transmitted to the probe. The radio-telemetric system has transmitted a great amount of scientific and technical informa tion. Preliminary data of these investigations can already be announced It has been established, for instance, that the intensity of cosmic- rays in outer space, measured during the flight of the Mars 1 station, increased by several tens of per cent as compared with the measure ments made in 1959 by Soviet space rockets. This is explained by the lesser solar activity at present. Growing intensity of cosmi: radiation has also been noticed during the flight of the station which, apparently, can be explained by the drawing-off of the probe from the Sun. Investigation of plasma in the near-Earth zones of space has confirmed that, as was discovered by means of Soviet space rockets.
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