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N63
17392
cd£~
AEROSPACE
JANUARY
1962
JAMES
E.
WEBB
was
appointedAdministrator,
Na
tionalAeronautics and Space Administration,
in
February,1961.
He
received
his
A.B.degree fromthe University
of
North Carolina,and;tudied
law
at
GeorgeWashington University.
He
has
honorary
LL.D
.degrees
from
theUniversity of North Carolina,SyracuseUniversity and Colorado College.
He
served
as
Director of
Bureau
of
the
Bud-
get
from
1946-49,andasUnder Secre tary
of
State
from
1949-52.
SPACE
EXPLORATION
--
---.....--
1962
By
James
E.
Webb
Administrator, N
atio
nal Aeronautics and S
pa
ce
Adm
inistration
S
pace flight
in
theUnited States
has just
reached its
fourth
anniversary.
It
was onJan
uar
y 31,1958,
that
ExplorerI,a 31-poundcylinder, waslaunchedinto orbit. Now theoldest man-made vehicle
in
space, its predecessors having
"decayed,"
Explorer I is still silentlyorbiting
earth
and
it is interesting tonotethat thispioneer spacecraft may still
be
"
up"
when manfirstsets foot onthemoon.
The
first fouryears of American space explorationhavebeen extremely active ones.
In
that
time, theU.S. has successfullylaunched 65 spacecraft,
and
the
broad
American space
program
offers considerable promise for thefuture.As
we
enterthe fifth
year of
space progress,
it
is
appropriate
to takea short-range look
at"what's
next."
What
willthenext12months
bring
in American spaceflight?
The
coming year will see the introductionof some new space
programs
and the continuation of a
numberof
projects started in earlieryears. Among
the
major
steps will
be
a newseries of scientific spacecraft,advances
in
applied spacecraft,
the
first planetary investiga-
 
--
tion,with missions to the vicinity ofVenus,
forward steps
inlunar
exploration,
and
manned
pa
ce
fli
ght.
The
.civil pace
pro
g
ram
, conductedbythe ational Aeronautics
and
paceAd minitration, can be broken down into three general
ar
eas:scientific pacecraft,which eek
pur
ely cientificinformation to addto man' s
tor
ehoue of knowledge about
th
euniyer
e;
applied
pa
cec
raft
,whichcan
be
emplo'ed in the
near futur
eto
brin
g
pra
cticalbnefit to
mankind
;
and
manned space
fli
ght.
!!
~o;.
vii
o
~
r
li
stfor
1962
arethe
-c
ientific
p
ac
ec
raft
,which include soundingrockets a
nd
atellite which ope
rat
einthevicinity of
ear
th;
and
lunar,planetary
and
interplanetarypacecraft.In thefo
rm
er c
at
eg
or
ywill beacontinuing
er
ies ofspaceprobes,small in trumented package which
ar
elaunc
hed
onuborbital
fli
g
ht
toac
quir
especific
data
.
There
willal
so
be a co
ntinuati
onof theExplorerserie ofe
arth
satellit
e,
which
.\Till
seekgeneral in fo
rmati
on oncomicradiation.the
earth's
magnetic field,micrometeoritefrequencyand allied
area
of interest. Theseatellites
,\Till
be
launched into varyingtypeof orbits''lith differe
nt
combinations of instruments.A scientific space
program
of coniderableinterest scheduled forfirstlaunch in 1962, is
o
0,
the
Orbitin
gSolarObservatory. thefirst of a series of satellite ob ervatories which in cludesOAO(OrbitingAstronomicalOberva t
ory)
and
OGO(OrbitingGeophysicalOb- erv
atory
).The
0 0
satellite is 37 inchestall andweigh
about
440 pounds.
It
contains anumber of instrumentstomake solar measure ment of
the
ultraviolet,g
amma
ra
yand
x-
ra
y
re
gion of the spectrum
from
pointsabovethe
earth's
atmosphere, which distorts suchmea urements. OSO is stabilized
and
sunoriented,so
that
the instruments
are
alwayspo
inting
towardthe sun.
The
first
0 0
willbe
launched
into a circular
earth
orbit
at
analtitude
of
300 miles;
later
versions willbeent into solar orbit.
The
comin
gyear will also see an expanded
2
---------
national
lunar
exploration
program
withthe
Ranger
spacecraft.Rangeris a10-foot tall spacecraft weighing
about
725pounds.
Ran
g
er
willreleasea capsuledesignedto "
hard"
land
onthe
lunar
surface, sendingback
lunar data
inthe
periodjust
beforeimpact
and
performing
a
number
of experimentswhile on routeto the moon.
For
acquisition
oflunar
data,
Ranger
isequippedwith instruments to measure surface
radiation and
withtelevision cameraswhichwillsend
back
toe
arth
"close-up" photos ofthemoonmoments
befor
eimpact.
Ran
g
er
willalsocontain asmall,ejectable capsule designedtosurvive
the
impact
through
a combination of aretrorocket to slowits descent,
and
cushioning material
in
thecapsuleitself.
The
spherical capsule,weighing
about
300 pounds, contains aseismometertorecord
"moon
quakes,"
and
atempe
rature
recordingdevice. Analtimeter will trigger its ejection from the
Ranger
pacec
raft
about 15 miles abovethe
lunar
surfac
e.
Once on the surface,thecapsule will immediately
start
transmittingdatatoearth,
and
it
willcontinue to do so
for
30to60days.
The
firsttest flightsofthe
Ranger
spacec
raft
were attempted in1961.
In
1962, three
Ran
g
erlunar
missions
are
scheduled;the firstof these,launchedin
January
,was a
nearmi
s,pas
ing
within 23,000milesof the moon
and
providing
valuable experience
In
spacec
raft
technology.Although
Pioneer
V,launched
in
1960,provided someinterplanetary data, the first. S. attemptto acquire
information about
apecific planet will comein 1962.Scheduled for thisy
ear are
two launches of the
Mariner
R spacecraft,designedfora "fly-by"
of
Venus,comingwithin approximately16,000 milesof
earth's
nearest
planetar
yneighbor
in
space.
The
1,100-pound
Mariner
Rwillinvestigateinterplanetary spacebetween theorbits ofe
arth
and Venus
and
will
carry
instrumentation to record
dataabout
Venus itself,
such
asthe temperature ofthesurface
and
atmosphereandthestrength of theVenusian magnetic
field_
In
additionto theseprograms,
the
United
States willparticipate in 1962,
in
a new in
ternational
program
designedto
provide
-----
foreign nations with spaceresearchcapabil
it
y.
In
cooperation withthe
United
Kingdom
and
Canada,the
U. S.
will
make
availablelaunch vehicles
and
spacecraft,togetherwithtrackingand
data
acquisitionfacilities,for experimentto
be
conducted bythese nationswithinstrumentationoftheirowndesign.. Theyeartocome will also witnessprogress inthe fieldofappliedspacecraft,
the
meteoro
lo
gicaland communications satellites whichhave been
under
testsince1960.The
Tirosprogram
(Television
and
InfraRed Ob
S8
rv
:::ti
an
Sat
ellite)
ha
sbeen ai_
'--ned
ztdevelopment of an
earth
satellite system to
aid
in
weatherforecasting by transmittingtelevision photographs of
earth's
cloudcoverand infra-red measurements ofthe solar en
ergy
absorbed andreflected
byearth
.Sincelessthanone-fifth of
earth'sarea
can
be
cov
ered
by
g
round
observations, such a systemcanfill
in the
large
gapsbetweenstationsand
aid
immeasureably inaccurateforecasting.
The
pr0
3
ram
to date has been highlysuccesful.
Tiros
I, launched in April, 1960, wasfollowedby
Tiros
II
(November,1960) andTiros
III
(July,
1961).
These satellites sent
back
many
thousandsof good
cloud
coverphotos which were
put
topracticaluse.
Tiros
data
are
analyzedat two
U.S.
Weather
Bureaustations,wheremeteorologists process the pic tures and
prepare
cloudanalyses, showing onamap the distribution,
structure
and fonn
oftheclouds.
The
maps
are
transmitted by facsimileto the ational Meteorological Centerin Washington for use in
preparing
weathermaps
and
prognostic charts.The satellites'valuewas attested recently byDavid
S.
Johnson,chief ofthe U.S. Weather Bureau's Meteorological SatelliteLaboratory. As an example,
he
citedthe photo
graphs
oftropical
storm
Liza taken
by
Tiros
III
in
1961.
"These
showed,"saidMr. Johnson,
"that
theanalyzedposition
of
the
stonn
centeras determined
from
the fewconventional observations available was
in error
by
about
500kilometers(about
300
statutemiles)
."
Otherexamplesmentionedby
Mr.
Johnson
 
werethe
accurate
forecast bytheAustralianweather service of a breakinan extendedheat
I ~
-
ave,
made
possible
by
data
from Tiros
II
,
and
Tiros
Ill's
discovery of
Hurricane
Esther_During1962, there will be
four
additionalTiros launches, thefirst to takeplace withinthe firstq
uarter
oftheyear.They will
be at
the sametimedevelopmental
and
operationalmissions,
for
the Weather Bureau will continue to utilize
Tiros
data.
Tiro,
however,
has
one
main
disadvantage:itscamerasdo not always
point
at earth;
theatellite remainsina fixed attitude,so
thatduring
a
major
portion of the
orbit
thecam
era!>J
are directed away from
earth,
out into
paC
e-This deficiency will be corrected in
the
_eco
••
l·aeneration
meteorological satellite,'in!b,lwhich
·
will
be earth-orientedthroughoutit"orbit.Two imbus satellites,flown _imultaneously in
polar
orbits,can
provide
in
formation
from
every
point
on
earth
everysix
hour.
Late
in
1962,A A willlaunch
fIe
fir t
of
these advanced satellites.
At
thesametime,A A
has
under coniderationa third-generation weather satellite knownasAeros,capableof injectionintoa circular
tationary
orbit
at an altitude of 22,300 miles.Threeofthesecanprovidecontinuousmoni toringof globalweather.
There
will be,in1962, considerable activity-..'
otber
major
applied spacecraftprogram,involving development of a spacecommunications system.
There
are
two typesofcommunicationssatellites: the passive.
in
which
ianals
are
sent
from
one
point
on
ear
th and
"bounced"
off the satellite to an
ot
her
point
on
earth, and
the active-repeater,
10
whICh
the atellitecontains
eqmpment for
receiving
and
re-transmittingtelevision,tele phone andotherformsofsignals_ Echo I,launched in August, 1960, i
an
example
of
the passivesatellite;
it
is a 100-foot ylar plastic,aluminum-coated inflatable
phere
offwhich ignals were bounced successfully.A A
has
scheduled
another
9S0-mile altitude
suborbital
flightof a
larger
(13S-footdiameter)Echo sphere which will be
"rigid
ized"
to
retain it
shape even afterlossofthe inflatedga . Later, the rigidized Echo will belaunchedinto
orbi
tas a passive communication satellite experiment.Alsoin 1962,in the last half oftheyear, ASA will conductthefirsttestofanactive repeater satellite known
as
Relay,a 29-inchoctagonal spacecraft containing twotransmitters andavarietyofother equipment for relay
ing
messages
and
telemeteringtest results.Another spacecraft scheduled for1962
launch
is Telstar,the firstcommercialcom munications satellite,a
project
sponsoredbyAmerican Telephone and
Telegraph
Com
pan
y. Telstar will be an active-repeater satellite, asphereweighing about 170 pounds.
With
Telstar AT&T will conduct television,telephone,radio
and
telegraph experimentsbetweencompany gro
und
stations
in
Maine
and
ew
Jer
sey.ASA will
provide-and
bere-imbursed
for-launch
vehicles,
launching
and
tracking facilities and
range
and
launch
crewsfor each satellite
of
theTelstar series,possiblytwoof which will be launched
in
1962.
Where
Relay
and
Telstar
are
relativelylowaltitude communications satellites, with
orbital
apogees of
about
3,000 miles,
another space
communications
project
scheduled
for
1962
launch
isthe
high
altitude,
or
24-hoursatellite,Syncom.An active-repeatersatellite, Syncom will weigh about 50 pounds.
It
willbelaunchedinto
orbit
at
an a
ltitude
of22,300miles,thesamealtitude requ
ired for
thesocalled stationary satellite whichremainsoveragiven spoton the
earth's
surface. Syncomwill
not
be stationary,however.
It
will move,close to a selected
meridian
oflongitude
near
the
U.
S.
east coast, ina
"figure
eight"
pattern
33degrees
north
and
south ofthe equator.These four programs,togetherwith
the
Army's
Advent active-repeater
"stationary"
satellite,will
provide
the
data on
whichtobase a tullyoperational globalcommunica tions satellite system.
J
ow,let us look
at
the
manned
spaceflight program.
During
1961,
this
program
enjo
yed
ingular
success, as theRedstonelaunched
Mercury
capsule
carried
thefirsttwo American a tronauts into space on sub
orbita
lflights.
Later in
theyear, the
larger
Atlas booster launched Enos, the chimpanzee,ona single
orbit
mission, pavingtheway
for
mannedorbital
fli
ght.
During
thenextyear, therewill
be
a seriesofmanned
Mercury
missions,theexactnum
ber
tobe determined
by
the degree of successattained. Tentatively,NASA
has
scheduledsix flights.
The
firstfour
fli
g
hts
will consist
of
three
earth
orbits each, or aflight
duration
of approximately four
and
one-half hours_Later,
to
test
man's
ability
to
live
and
work
in
thespaceenvironment
for
longerperiods,therewill
be
two18-orbitmissions,
in
whichthe
astronaut
will
remain
in
space
for
27hours.
In
themeantime, there will
be
a
greatamount
of behind-the-scenes effort
in
development of
more
advanced
manned
spacecraft.
Work
will begin on the
Project
Gemini spacecraft,a
lar-
ger,two-mancapsuledesigned
forearth orbiting
missions of considerably greater
duration
than
those planned
for
the Merc
ur-
y
program.
At
the same time,
initial
development
of
the Apollo spacecraft willget
under
way. Apollo is the
craft
which will ultimately
land
three astronauts on the moon, after aseries of
earth
orbiting andcircumlunar
missions.
In
another
area
of
manned
space flight,
the
X·IS
special research
airplane
will continueits investigation ofthespacethreshold.
Last
year,the
X-IS
flew toanaltitudeof 217,000 feet and a speed of 4,093 miles
per
hour,
with
standing
temperatures up to
1200
degreesFahrenheit.
In
thecoming year,
it
will
be
flown tostill higher speeds and altitudes as
it
continuesto explore aeromedical problems,aerodynamic
and structural
heating
,hypersonic stability and control
and
piloting problems related to this newflight regime.
The
results ofthis
program
will
make
important
contributions to the developmentof a supersoniccommercial transport,a
lifting
re-entryspacecraft
and
the"aerospace
plane"
ofthe
future
.Thisversatile
aircraft
is capable of
pertorming
a wide
variety
ot
nussions
in
near
space.
There
willalsobe considerableactivity
in
the development of
la
u
nch
vehiclesfor
future
space research.
For
operational space exploration, NASA will continuetoemploy suchlaunchvehicles asDelta,Atlas,
and
AtlasAgena. Atthesametime, therewill
be
aseries of tests ofthe newer launchvehicles;
in
some cases the experiments will
be
combinedwith operationallaunches.
The
four-stage solid-propelled Scout vehicle, first
fli
ght-tested
in
1960, will
under
goseventest launchesin1962,
carry
ingresearchinstrumentation
in
each case.Five ofthe launcheswill be devotedtosuper circul
ar
(escape velocity) re-entrytests,seek-
COMPARISON
OF
MANNED
SPACECRA
FT
3
PROJECT
MERCURY
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