July-August 1980:space activities report

GAMMA RAY SATELLITE

The Gamma Ray Observatory, a proposed new start in NASA’s fiscal 1981 budget, is designed to explore sources of gamma rays in space - the most energetic form of radiation known.

The Earth-orbiting observatory, to be launched by the Space Shuttle in 1985, will carry instruments which will detect gamma rays in a variety of forms, such as very high energy gamma rays from pulsars, nuclear gamma rays and gamma ray bursts.

The planned orbit is 250 to 300 miles in altitude. Information returned is expected to provide a much deeper understanding of the nature of supernovas, pulsars, quasars and radio galaxies, the character of the universe at an early time, and the possible existence of antimatter in the universe. Scientists also hope to learn more about the incredibly dense matter which makes up such objects as neutron stars. The data may also shed more light on the nature of gamma ray bursts - erratic pulses of gamma rays that appear every month or so and flash across the Solar System.

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FLIGHT MODEL

Earlier this year NASA signed a contract to purchase from ESA a flight model of Spacelab, the European manned space laboratory. This is in accordance with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding concluded in 1975 between NASA and ESA which provided for the supply of a Spacelab to NASA and for the purchase by NASA of a second one. This order was converted by ESA on 30 January into a contract with European industry.

The price agreed with the Spacelab prime contractor, the German firm ERNO, amounts to 117.1 MAU (at 1979 economic conditions and the 1979 exchange rate). The contract provides for the supply to NASA of a fully-equipped pressurized module, five instrumentation pallets, and various associated equipments and spares. These items will be supplied to the United States in deliveries phased over the period from October 1981 to April 1984.

Spacelab is an orbital laboratory which is to be flown within the main element of the NASA Space Shuttle - the Orbiter - to which it will remain attached; it may be assembled in various configurations: pressurized module only, pressurized module plus instrumentation pallet(s), or instrumentation pallets only, and may be manned when the pressurized module is used. It can carry out missions of at least a week in orbits ranging between 200 and 900 km altitude. After each mission the Orbiter returns to the Earth and receives a new payload which can either be a further Spacelab or other equipment to be carried into space.

The first Spacelab mission is at present scheduled for April 1982. It will be a joint ESA/NASA mission for which Spacelab will carry a mixed payload shared equally between the two agencies. There will be two payload specialists on board the Spacelab, one European and one American.

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MODEL "T" SOYUZ

The Soviet Union launched a Soyuz-T, a new type of unmanned Soyuz transport spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 16 December 1979. The spacecraft was put into an initial orbit of 201/232 km x 51.6°, 88.9 min. Three days later the new transport spacecraft linked up with the Salyut 6 space station, writes Gerald L. Borrowman. The docking of the Soyuz-T was the 16th link-up of a spacecraft with the Salyut 6. The Soviet news agency Tass reported that Salyut-6 was “actively functioning after 26 months of operations.” The Salyut 6 space station has been unmanned since cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin returned to Earth on 19 August 1979 after setting a new space endurance record of 175 days and 36 minutes.

Soyuz-T is described as having onboard a digital complex which allows ground control to monitor the execution of manoeuvres, the condition of all systems and other current information. Soyuz-T is testing a new propulsion system which is similar to the joint propulsion unit of the Salyut 6 space station. The design of Soyuz-T incorporates the manned transport features of the basic Soyuz and cargo-carrying capabilities of the Progress unmanned transports. Soyuz-T is reported to be capable of carrying a three-man crew.

Testing of the Soyuz-T apparently began on 29 November 1976, when Cosmos 869 was orbited for an 18-day mission. A second test, Cosmos 1001, was given an 11-day trial in orbit from 4-15 April 1978. The most recent test was Cosmos 1074 from 31 January to 1 April of last year, a 60-day mission which may be a demonstration of the spacecraft’s orbital endurance.

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ASRC EXPANSION PLANS

The Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville,Alabama, has unveiled ambitious plans that would vastly expand the size of its present facilities and add many new attractions to cater to the millions of visitors expected in the next decade. The many BIS members who have visited the site during organised tours of the USA will already be aware that the present display is extremely impressive.

Director Ed Buckbee said plans call for enlarging the centre’s displays by inclusion of a Space Shuttle in launch configuration with its two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and related hardware;creating a youth science camp; and adding a planetarium, Saturn service tower and a multitude of recreational facilities. All these additions to the existing 35-acre centre would be built on some 380 acres of adjacent land currently part of the Redstone Arsenal.

Already the largest rocket and space museum in the world and containing more than 1,500 pieces of rocket and space hardware valued at over $30 million, the ASRC also serves as a major repository for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and has on loan more than 300 major historic artifacts.

Stressing the ASRC has been self-sustaining since it first opened its doors in 1970, Buckbee appealed for joint government and industry support to raise the more than $11 million needed for expansion over an eight-year period.

The ASRC hopes to raise more than $5 million for the first phase, scheduled for FYs 1980-1982, with the private sector being asked to contribute $1.5 million. Local governments and state grants are expected to make up the rest.

Based on current out-of-state attendance figures, Buckbee estimates the projected expansion will draw 500,000 visitors annually by the mid-80s and 750,000 by the end of the decade,generating $25 million for the centre, and contributing $60 million to the area economy and $5 million to local taxes.