Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-02-18


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changes in equipment in thu
vehicle"
The slim, 72-foot. three stagI
Vanguard rocket was a sourc,
Of continual headaches for 1T
project officers since the first
one blew up two feet of the
pad December 6. 1857. Much Of
the difficulty with Vanguard
as contrasted to the more sue
cessful Redstone. Jupiter and
Thor satellite and space-probe
launchings-is believed to have
stemmed from the nature oil
the bird. AS DR.. Glennan point
ed out yesterday:
This was the project that
was started from scratch as Q
satellite launching program fol
the International Geophysical
Year"
Unlike the other rockets
which were primarily weapons
adapted for scientific purposes
Vanguard was designed without
military applications in mind.
Nations to Get Data
Although ICY officially ended
December 81, information from
Vanguard II will be furnished
to the 66 nations which partici-
pated in the l8-month-lons
study of the earth and space.
The National Academy Of
Sciences announced that "in
accordance with normal ICY
procedures, as soon as it was
determined that Vanguard II
was in orbit, the academy's ICY
committee sent a message to
the ICY committee of other
participating nations through
/. the worldwide ICY COM
munications network centered
at Fort Belvoir, Va"
The NASA announcement
added:
GAS is the case with other
scientific earth satellite S
launched by the United States
as part of the ICY program,
the scientific information gath
cred by Vanguard II will be
shared with all other partici-
pants in the ICY as soon as it
become available"
1t appeared likely that it
would be several days, possibly
even two weeks, before much
comprehensive information is
accumulated. Cloud-cover data
as broadcast from the satellite
by a special tape-recorder- radio
arrangement will not be of any
use until it is fed into a special
computer system, scientists
said.
DR.. Hans Ziegler, Army Sig
nal Corps scientist who devised
the cloud-cover experiment,
said the tape-recorded infor-
nation would be transformed
electronically into "analog"
pictures which would bear a
resemblance to the top surface
of the earth'S cloud layer. At
first it will take some time to
get the computer in shape to
turn out the pictures, he indi-
Gated.
The cloud-cover experiment
will be followed by three more
in the Vanguard series, NASA
officials said. Dates for the sub
sequent shots were not made
public, but DR.. Homer Newell,
a top space official with the
agency, gave these details about
I Instrumentation
The next Vanguard, to be
known officially as SLV-5, as
the fifth in the programs sat
elite launching vehicle" series,
will contain magnetometers for
precise measurement of the
earth'S magnetic field. 1t also
will take up a 30-inch inflatable
sphere of aluminium coated my
lar plastic, which will float in
dependently of the principal
satellite and will enable ground
observers to get precise meas
urements of atmospheric den
sites at orbital attitudes.
SLV-6 will contain instru-
ments to determine the "radia-
ton balance" of the earth. This
is the difference, if any, be-
tween the amount of energy
received,-practically all Of it
from the Sun-and the amount
reradiated into space from the
oceans, land masses and clouds.
The final Vanguard satellite,
SLV-7, will contain solar radia-
ton and magnetism measure
ment devices. 1t will weigh so
pounds, more than twice as
much as any previous VAN
guard. and about one-third
more than total weight of each
Iof the three Army Explorers
Oribted last wear