September 17, 1990

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HEADLINE NEWS

Initiative Work Quiekens As Some Lunar Concepts Avoid Station

WASHINGTON The Bush Administration’s Outreach Program to find innovative ideas and technology to develop a lunar base as a stepping-stone to Mars has begun to identify concepts that avoid use of the U. S./intemational space station. NASA and the Administration have previously described the space station Freedom as an essential orbiting support facility for any future U. S. lunar base or manned Mars mission.

By CRAIG COVAULT

HEADLINE NEWS

New Chinese Polar Weather Satellite Beams Back Images of Eastern U. S.

WASHINGTON Chinese weather satellite image of the eastern U. S. and central Atlantic shows the capability of the new Feng Yun 2 spacecraft launched by China Sept. 3. The spacecraft is China’s second polar orbit weather satellite launched by a Long March 4 booster from a new launch site southwest of Beijing.

HEADLINE NEWS

NASA Will Make Fourth Attempt To Launch Mission 35 on Sept. 18

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER NASA will make a fourth attempt to launch space shuttle Mission 35 with its Astro astronomical telescope payload at 1:28 a. m. (EDT) on Sept. 18 if additional leaks are not found in the propulsion and engine systems. A successful liftoff of the orbiter Columbia on this mission will enable the agency to launch Discovery with the Ulysses solar probe as early as Oct. 8, well within its window that closes Oct. 23.

By EDWARD H. KOLCUM

HEADLINE NEWS

Accident Involving Titan 4 SRM Should Not Affect Launch Schedule

EDWARDS AFB, CALIF. An industrial accident involving a developmental Titan 4 solid rocket motor segment that fell to the ground and burned will not affect the newest heavy lift booster’s current launch schedules, according to Air Force officials.

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT

HEADLINE NEWS

Florida Leads Effort to Organize States With Stakes in Commercial Space

COCOA BEACH, FLA. Florida is leading a move to organize as many as a dozen states into a unified political and economic group that could take the U. S. commercial space industry into the highly competitive international market. A meeting of representatives of states with the highest stakes in aerospace and high technology will be held in Denver on Sept. 25 to solidify the objectives of what is being called the Aerospace States Assn.

HEADLINE NEWS

Magellan Spacecraft Regains High-Data Rate Communications

LOS ANGELES The Magellan spacecraft has reestablished high-data rate communications with Earth, after operating on backup systems for a month, and was expected to start radar mapping the surface of Venus on Sept. 15. A computer fault caused a temporary loss of communications on Aug. 16, and since then the backup S-band medium gain antenna has limited downlink telemetry to 40 bit/sec., with an occasional burst to 1,200 bit/sec. (Aw&sT Sept. 10, p. 30).

HEADLINE NEWS

Aircraft Search For Missing Peruvian 727

BOSTON Canadian Forces aircraft assisted by U. S. Air Force and British Royal Air Force aircraft have been searching the waters off Newfoundland for a missing Peruvian Boeing 727-200 that ditched in the North Atlantic with 16 persons on board.

ATF PROTOTYPES: COMPARATIVE DESIGN ANALYSIS

ATF Prototypes Outstrip F-15 In Size and Thrust

LOS ANGELES Air Force advanced tactical fighter prototypes unveiled by the two competing contractor teams reveal designs that are larger than the McDonnell Douglas F-15 air superiority fighter. While the wingspans are about the same as the F-15 to fit into limited hangar space, the ATF prototypes have wings with 35-55% more area and planforms that are tuned for low radar observability and structural efficiency.

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

NASA Develops Carbon-Carbon Elevon For Application to Hypersonic Vehicle

LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON, VA. NASA has designed a segment of a carbon-carbon elevon and plans to determine if the technology can be applied to control surfaces of hypersonic vehicles, such as the National Aero-Space Plane. Advanced carbon-carbon was chosen for the elevon test program because it is well suited for use in “hot structures,” such as control surfaces for hypersonic vehicles that must withstand temperatures up to 3,000F.

By EDWARD H. PHILLIPS

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

Experiments Show Collimated Optics Increase Depth of 3-D Flight Displays

HAMPTON, VA. Experiments at Langley Flight Research Center have shown that collimated optics can significantly increase depth-viewing volume of head-down, 3-D stereo pictorial flight displays. The increase in depth-viewing volume “is a breakthrough in head-down stereo display technology,” Russell V. Parrish, coinvestigator with the Crew/Vehicle Interface Research Branch, Flight Management Div., at Langley, said.

By EDWARD H. PHILLIPS

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September 17, 1990

September 17, 1990