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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1665.PDF
FLIGHT International, 12 September 1963 475 Missiles and Spaceflight FIVE MEN, ONE CABIN A second attempt to carry out an "engineering test of an integrated life-support system," in which five men will live in a small space chamber for up to 30 days, was due to begin last week at the Boeing Company's Seattle plant. The first experiment began on July 16 but was terminated because of a defect in the chamber. The Boeing Company's installation is the first to include all elements of life support for a 150 man-days space mission, and was designed and built for the Office* of Advanced Research and Tech nology of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The system is one of several being developed by NASA for advanced space flights. * In the current test the chamber simulates crew quarters on a space station or at a Moon base. Its equipment includes an environ mental system producing cabin oxygen from solid, superoxide chemicals. A waste disposal system collects, processes and recovers water from body waste, cabin condensation and sink draining. Crew-members use a closed-circuit shower which has a separate water supply which is filtered and chemically treated for re-use. Crew-members have a "heavy work load" of tests to carry out in simulating the problems of spaceflight. The crew comprises R. H. Lowry of Boeing bioastrautics; Maj Edward Westlake of the USAF Systems Division; Roger Barnicki, an X-15 personnel equipment specialist; Charles Proctor, a company biochemist; and Richard Farrell, a company psychologist. Each member of the crew is responsible for maintaining a specific portion of the life- support equipment under test. "PEACEFUL MILITARY" SPACE PROGRAMMES Mr Richard N. Gardner, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, suggested last month that the attempt to build "peaceful space co-operation and a regime of law for outer space" through United Nations did not eliminate the need for military space programmes to maintain the security of the United States and the free world. He said that there was no inconsistency in this view because military space programmes were necessary to keep the peace, while civilian space programmes were necessary to help the world live better in peace. Addressing a meeting of the American Bar Association, Mr Gardner said that the United States would not refrain from military activities in space until military activities on Earth had been regulated by disarmament agreements. But the US would refrain °,!n 'Pacing weapons of mass destruction in orbit unless com- addrf *« d° S° by the actiom of the Sovict Union." Mr Gardner f .' " We earnestly hope that the Soviet Union will likewise ™mn„ m ^ing steps that will extend the arms race into outer space, CHAR FIRING ^uccessful test firing of a "char motor" at Lockheed Propulsion go-ah ?ero' Cauf> facility, less than two months after contract to de ma^s the first major milestone in the firm's assignment moto51^1' build and test 156in-diameter solid-propellant rocket or s tor the US Air Force Space Systems Division. The char H-ifk: This helium-filled Sky Hook balloon is designed to carry scientific instru ments aloft for extended periods in all types of weather. Made by Goodyear, the craft is here being moved to a mooring location at Akron, Ohio, for tests motor is so called because it is used to determine characteristics of materials. It consists of a vertical cylinder about 4ft high, topped by a heavy-duty nozzle. The interior is heavily insulated and can withstand several firings before rework. The char motor test—on an undisclosed recent date—provided valuable information on performance of various substances under high rocket exhaust temperatures. The test had three primary objectives: comparative evaluation of seven proposed jet tab materials; comparative evaluation of eight insulation materials; and study of the heat flux environment of the jet tabs. Further testing of sub-scale jet tab systems on intermediate-size Spear solid-propellent motors will say, LPC, "precede the first firing of a 156in-diameter hardware early next year." US/SOVIET GEOMAGNETIC RESEARCH The following is the text of the magnetic-field-survey section and planetary research section of the joint agreement between NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences which was announced on August 16 (the sections on meteorological satellites and on com munication satellites were reproduced in our issues of August 29 and September 5 respectively):— Magnetic Field Survey through the Use of Artificial Satellites 1. Objectives It shall be the aim of the co-operative effort at this stage to produce a mapping of the Earth's magnetic field by using US and USSR satellites flown during the International Years of the Quiet Sun (IQSY). 2. Satellite orbits The form of orbits, their altitudes and incli nation to the equator will be selected by the satellite-launching country, in accordance with the objective of the experiment. It is agreed that the accuracy of determining space and time co-ordinates for the separate magnetic measurements on the satellite be such that, after necessary processing by the satellite-launching country, the magnetic data would not contain errors greater than ± 10 gammas. 3. Times of satellite launchings The times of satellite launchings will be determined by the satellite-launching country and will take place during the IQSY. It is recommended that launchings take place in 1965 since one may expect, in 1965, that the ground-based magnetic observatory programmes of all countries participating in the IQSY will be in full operation. 4. Lifetime of satellites It is agreed that the lifetime of each satellite be such that the minimum density of magnetic measurements from each satellite correspond to no less than one per 200km square on the Earth's Surface. [Continued overleaf
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