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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0100.PDF
102 Spaceflight GEOS-B launch is for it to contribute to the NASA-managed US National Geodetic Satellite Programme (NGSP). Scientists in other nations are taking part, including those from France, West Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK, and results will be made available to the world scientific community. GEOS-B is being launched into a 921-by-691-mile orbit, inclined 74° to the Equator; it will complete a revolution every 112.4min and is being gravity gradient-stabilised by means of an extendable 60ft boom. It carries six geodetic systems: <1) flashing-light beacons emitting a combined candle power of 6,620 candle-secondsHper-flash, to be photographed against a background of stars; (2) corner cube quartz reflectors to pin- point the satellite's position by reflecting a laser beam; (3) three radio transmitters for determining the line-of-sight velocity of the satellite, using the Doppler shift principle and USN Tranet tracking equipment; (4) a radio transponder which can be used to give distance ifrom the satellite to an interro- gating ground station of the US Army Secor network; (5) range and range-rate transponders for simultaneous deter- mination of satellite-to-ground station range and line-of-sight velocity using the NASA satellite tracking and data acquisition network; and (6) C-band transponder systems at Stadan stations, to be used for calibration and experiment to deter- mine applicability of the C-band tracking system to satellite geodesy. NASA says, of this type of space research, that "during the past decade, largely because of satellite techniques, knowledge of the shape and gravitational field of the Earth has been advanced as much as in the centuries since the Greek postula- tion of a spherical Earth about 600 BC. "With satellites as tools, scientists have determined that the flattening of the Earth at the poles is less than had previously 1>een believed, that the Earth is somewhat pear-shaped, that the Equator is elliptical instead of circular, and that the surface •gravity of the Earth has several 'hills' and 'valleys' which are as much as 100 to 300ft higher or lower than the average." Azur, the first German resesrch satellite (see "Pre-Azur Trials Com- plete"), displayed at the Hanover Industrial Fair in May last year FLIGHT International, 18 January A COSMOS 135 FINDING Experiments carried out with the help of Cosmos 135, ^ was launched in December 1966, have shown that the un, hypothesis on the existence of a special dust cloud round j Earth is untenable. According to this hypothesis, Earth, moving round the Sun, traps dust by its gravitational _ Another explanation for the dust cloud was that the dust \ formed by the fragmentation of bigger particles in the atmosphere. On the Cosmos tests, a spokesman of the Institute of Physics and Technology, Leningrad, has said i it was established that the concentration of dust in in planetary space was approximately the same everywhere; ] had no special micrometeorite train. Cosmos 135 carried instruments designed specially for | experiment. One of them was sited on a pull-out panel i acoustically isolated from the satellite. Before launch, it < estimated that the counter would register up to a nun impacts daily by small particles if the dust cloud round t Earth really existed. However, this assumption was refuted j the very first results. During 140hr, the isolated sensor did i register a single impact by micrometeorites, and only onclj was registered in the subsequent 120hr. Reliability of the in ment was controlled with the help of an impact simulal which sent out signals to show that the sensors were functio correctly. PRE-AZUR TRIALS COMPLETE All sounding-rocket trials within the framework of the project—the first German research satellite—were comple recently with the successful launching in December of | scientific payload by Nike-Apache rocket from Esrange, i European Space Research Organisation range at Kiruna j northern Sweden. The experiments carried (Flight, Nova ber 23 and December 28) were devoted to measuring electron and proton flow in the auroral zone at high altitm magnetic variations and auroral intensity in specific waij length ranges. Integration of the payload was undertaken 1 the German space industry and the launch vehicle was suppli| free of charge by NASA. In this Esrange firing, the flight model was flown of the scientific payload first laun on November 10, 1966, at Fort Churchill in Canada. Azur (see photograph, this page) has been designed experiments in the lower part of the stratosphere and will) launched by a Scout vehicle. SPAIN'S ESRO WITHDRAWAL The Spanish Government's declaration of intent to withdi from the European Space Research Organisation was "with regret" at the last ESRO Council meeting, held in'. on December 21, 1967. At this meeting, under the chairmanship of Dr A. Ho (West Germany), Mr G. Migliulo (Italy) was elected chairman and Mr U. Montalenti, who is a graduate engineer j the Politechnico, Turin, and has held senior executive app ments with Fiat and Olivetti, was elected Director of Euro Space Operations, at Darmstadt, West Germany. ELDO's SETTS Contract The European Launcher Develcj ment Organisation has placed a contract with SETIS, " recently formed international industrial consortium (Fi December 14, page 1012), for technical management ser for its current programme. Launch Complex Contract NASA has awarded a firm i price contract ($1,233,644) to Doyle and Russell Inc. 82? 21st Street, Norfolk, Va, for construction of a new lau«, complex. The work consists of constructing an assembly shj launch pad and mobile shelter, launch terminal build"1 liquid fuel storage area, launch control building and sub-statii enclosure. Estimated completion time is 365 days. Spacecraft Scoreboard for July-December 1947 appears on pages l»
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