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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0334.PDF
The first flight-rated Saturn S-IV second stage to undergo static firings is here seen on its arrival earlier this month at the Douglas Aircraft test facility near Sacramento, California. Engines are six Pratt & Whitney LR-IOs, burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen Missiles and Spaceflight ROCKET EXHAUST EFFECTS "If the United States and Soviet Union ever commence launching large space rockets on a weekly basis, the build-up of exhaust gases trapped in the upper atmosphere may be sufficient to brighten the night-time sky and alter the environment where spacecraft re-enter the Earth's atmosphere." This prediction is made by Jerome Pressman, manager of atmospheric physics at the Geophysics Corporation of America, in a recent address to the 31st annual meeting of the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences. He heads a staff of GCA scientists engaged by the Defense Department to evaluate the consequences of an accelerated space programme. Mr Pressman noted that rockets the size of the Nova system for manned exploration of the Moon will carry 1,500 short tons of fuel for the rocket's first stage, 500 tons for the second stage, and another 250 tons for the third stage. He said that, depending upon the movement of upper-atmosphere winds, as little as 100 tons of foreign gaseous materials released above 62 miles would circulate like a mammoth smog cloud measuring roughly 100 miles in width, and for a period which could be as long as several weeks. The atmosphere at an altitude of 80 miles is a billion times [US billion, 10"—Ed] less dense than the atmosphere at sea level. Hence, release of a single ton of exhaust gases at 80 miles has the same effect there as release of a billion tons near the Earth's surface. Weekly launchings of large space rockets, Mr Pressman said, may cause a build-up of exhaust gases in the atmosphere sufficient to change the nature of its present composition. While there are as yet no indications that this would adversely affect man in his environ ment on Earth, the effects of frequent launchings may be seen in an increased brightness of the night-time sky, a phenomenon similar in appearance to an aurora borealis. Even today a single small upper-atmosphere research rocket can create a glow visible in the night-time sky over the entire eastern seaboard of the US, when only a 101b payload of sodium pellets is released from the rocket in vaporized form. The glow, which is visible during twilight rocket experiments, is due to the Sun's rays striking the fluorescent sodium vapour while the Earth below remains in darkness. A build-up of space-rocket exhaust gases in the upper atmos phere is also likely to affect heating rates and radio-signal attenua tion of spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. Changes in electron density of the ionosphere, that region of the atmosphere which is electrified, will also affect the normal reflection of radio and radar signals beamed from Earth. This, said Mr Pressman, might require adjustments in long-distance, over-the- horizon communications techniques. SYNCHRONOUS METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE Republic Aviation Corporation reported on February 8 that it had been awarded a contract to study over-all systems requirements for a synchronous meteorological satellite (SMS). An announcement made simultaneously by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration described it as the first such contract awarded. 318 FLIGHT International, 28 February 1963 I According to Dr Harry J. Goett, director of the NASA Goddard I Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, the $136,640 contract calls for a four-month study by Republic at its Farmingdale, NY, research centre, to determine the technical systems needed for 24hr surveillance of the Earth's cloud cover and to identify the major scientific and engineering advances required for the space craft and the ground stations. As currently envisioned, the SMS would be placed in a synchronous orbit at an altitude of 22,240 miles, with a programmed lifetime of one year. The Republic proposal was one of 16 received by Goddard from contractors throughout the USA. Twelve of the proposals were over-all studies of the spacecraft and the ground stations systems, while four were for specific SMS systems. Since the SMS concept is still in the preliminary study phase, hardware contracts are not yet contemplated. The weather-satellite programme already includes the Tiros and Nimbus spacecraft. Syncom Vanished The launch on February 14, by three-stage Delta from Cape Canaveral, of the Syncom synchronous commu nication satellite was given the international designation 63-4. The shot resulted in the satellite disappearing during injection into orbit at some 22,300 miles' altitude. Dr Hugh L. Dryden, deputy director of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administra tion, announced on February 19 that the small apogee kick motor may have exploded. Telemetry contact was lost 20sec after this motor was due to fire. At least 22 Orbits for Gordon Cooper NASA astronaut L. Gor don Cooper Jr stated on February 8 that his mission—MA-9 —has been extended from 18 orbits, in about 26hr, to at least 22 orbits, in some 34hr. It would, he said, go beyond the 22 orbits if he and his capsule were fit enough to continue. If his Mercury capsule were allowed to drift, while its occupant made minimum use of fuel, oxygen, and water, the theoretical limit of endurance would be more than two days, allowing some 33 orbits to be com pleted. But the MA-9 mission involves many experiments which will reduce the permissible duration. One major task involves partial (and possible complete) decompression of the capsule, in order to see, as Cooper said, "how well a man can live in a pressure suit." Launch date will not be until mid-May. First photograph of the engineering test model of the second joint L/S/UK satellite, the S-52 or UK-2. Prime contractor to NASA is the Westinghouse Air Arm Division. British scientists will provide the instrumentation for measuring galactic radio noise, the distribution of ozone in the atmos phere and the quantity and size of micrometeoroids in space. Following this model, two prototypes and two flight specimens will be built before the S-52 is launched
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