aeronautics
space exploration research a look back
at this year in aeronautics and space
and a preview of things to come
these are the highlights
three mariner spacecraft have flown by
mars in recent years
they were fleeting glimpses and the
craft did not fly close to the
mysterious red planet
two thousand miles was the closest on
november 13th
mariner 9 changed all that as its
braking rocket fired
the picture-taking mariner swung into
orbit around mars
an orbit allowing the spacecraft to come
within 850 miles of the surface
as it circles the planet twice a day it
will photograph
and gather data for at least three
months mapping
seventy percent of the planet's surface
the two small moons of mars phobos and
deimos
will also be closely scrutinized
mars appears to have gone or is going
through some type of planetary evolution
the main question is whether it is an
evolving planet
or a decaying one mars is more
earth-like than any other planet
its clouds seasonal changes and polar
ice caps are intriguing
as the mariner 9 returns its vast
accumulation of data and pictures
scientists will have their first
close-up view and hopefully clues to the
history and evolution of mars
the earth and the solar system
the sun is roughly 10 000 times larger
than earth
its very presence affects our daily
lives
to learn more about this and about how
it affects our environment
nasa orbited three unmanned scientific
explorers
imp interplanetary monitoring platform
was the first
the versatile imp eighth in a series is
exploring interplanetary space
and the outer fringes of the earth's
magnetosphere
it also provides warnings of possible
solar flare radiation hazards to
moon-bound astronauts
with the naval research laboratory nasa
launched the solrad
satellite it too studies the sun's
radiation and records the disturbances
which can disrupt
long-range communications and navigation
systems
this computer-type picture shows the
sun's disk and
inner corona it was returned by oso 7
the latest in the orbiting solar
observatory series
oso is trying to determine the direct
effects solar flares have on the
environment
weather and communications earth is
surrounded by the magnetosphere
an enormous teardrop shaped region
formed by the solar wind
a supersonic stream of particles blowing
on the earth's magnetic field
it is in this region that a craft like
the small scientific satellite does
its job its mission is to investigate
the causes of worldwide magnetic
disturbances
and map in detail the ways in which the
motion of these particles changes with
time
nearly 300 sounding rockets were
launched from wallops island virginia in
1971
their payloads are used to explore the
region through and just above the
earth's atmosphere
but below the area where satellites
orbit
sounding rocket probes return an
enormous amount of information about
earth and the atmosphere surrounding it
interested scientists from all over the
world bring their experiments to wallops
island for launching
stratoscope 2 a large astronomical
telescope
was hoisted into the sky by a giant
balloon from the marshall space flight
center in huntsville alabama
this was the eighth stratoscope flight
its goal obtained sharper pictures of
certain galaxies
nebulae and the planet saturn above the
distortion of the earth's atmosphere
the four-ton telescope is so accurate it
can distinguish two
objects thirty miles apart from one
thousand miles away
scientists will be working on the data
returned by stratoscope two for the next
several months
nasa used planes like this in checking
out cameras and sensing equipment to be
carried on future earth resources
satellites
and the manned orbiting skylab space
station
an interesting side benefit took place
this summer as the specially equipped
planes were used to detect southern corn
blight during the 1971 growing season
high altitude infrared photos were taken
and then analyzed by purdue university
and the department of agriculture
these photographs were used to determine
the extent and degree
of corn blight at the request of the
local government
survey missions were flown over the
island of jamaica
much of the water from jamaica's 200
inches of rainfall
never reaches its cities it is believed
that submarine springs carry a portion
of the water offshore
into the ocean this was indicated by the
preliminary analysis
here is one of a pair of high-altitude
aircraft converted for use in earth
resource
surveys they are operating from nasa's
ames research center near san francisco
the data collected by these flights is
being used to simulate
future remote sensing earth resources
satellites
satellites that will be used to study
agriculture
forestry geology oceanography and urban
development
test pilots at nasa's flight research
center in california
flew a plane with a new type wing this
year
called the supercritical wing it is
shaped quite differently from
conventional wings the new design alters
the flow of air over the top of the wing
allowing an aircraft to fly faster
farther
and at a lower operating cost
this sleek black plane the yf-12 capable
of flying 2000 miles per hour
made 25 test flights
the joint nasa air force program is
studying problems associated with
propulsion
in-flight stopping and restarting of
engines heating
and structural dynamics the research is
aimed at furthering the development and
operations of future
civil and military aircraft
eight times the m2 lifting body was
carried aloft and dropped over the dry
lake desert in central california
the wingless m2 and other lifting body
types
are the research forerunners of craft
like the proposed shuttle
that could fly a space mission and then
return through the earth's atmosphere
and land like an airplane
a new flight program began at nasa's
ames research center with the x-14b
vertical take-off and landing plane
equipped with an
on-board digital computer the x-14
serves as a flying flight simulator
by duplicating in advance the piloting
qualities of proposed
new planes
the aim center is also responsible for
doing research on short takeoff and
landing aircraft
this is one of the planes used to test
new concepts
the ov-10a bronco the united states is
very interested in developing a short
takeoff and landing plane
for use as an inter-city transport in
the nation's busy metropolitan air
corridors
in an effort to reduce the noise of jet
aircraft as they land
nasa with american airlines spent 50
hours investigating the problems
connected with steeper landing
approaches
it appears that by keeping aircraft
higher above the ground
and reducing engine power during the
landing approach
noise near airports can be lessened
operational procedures for this type of
noise abatement
are being analyzed
attacking the jet noise problem at its
source engineers at the lewis research
center in cleveland are supervising
tests of a quieter jet engine the goal
is to develop an engine that will be 15
to 20 decibels quieter than present
aircraft engines
how long does it take jet aircraft to
come to a stop
on a wet runway to find out aeronautics
experts from nasa's langley research
center in virginia
cooperating with air force and faa
officials
conducted a series of landing studies at
several airports around the country
time after time runways were flooded
with water
then ground vehicles and the test
aircraft tried stopping on the wet
pavements
the increased knowledge of runway
friction gained from these tests
should result in improved safety for
both aircraft and airport ground
operations in adverse weather conditions
the scene is cape canaveral friday may
5th
1961 it was on this date that astronaut
alan b
shepherd became the first american to be
rocketed into space
ten years later january 31st 1971
alan b shepard made his second space
flight
this time as commander of apollo 14 the
country's third
moon landing with astronauts mitchell
and rusa accompanying shepherd
apollo 14 marked the beginning of
large-scale use of the moon
for science these are some of the 94
pounds of lunar rocks returned from the
moon's ancient hills of from morrow by
apollo 14.
they are beginning to tell scientists a
story a story
three and one half billion years old
from them we are learning about the
early history of not only the moon
but other planets as well the earth
mars even venus and mercury
this is the view seen by apollo 15
astronauts
scott and irwin as their spacecraft
falcon arched over the hadley rail
located in the foothills of the moon's
aponine mountains
eight feet minus one contact
man okay the falcon is on the plane at
hadley
roger roger falcon
theirs was to be the most extensive
exploration of the moon
ever made
to prepare for the july mission scott
and irwin practiced on similar earth
terrain at the rio grande gorge in new
mexico
they also spent many hours getting used
to the lunar rover
here's what it actually looked like to
the moon riders as they drove their
four-wheel
car over 16 miles of lunar surface
as a result of their increased mobility
the pair returned 180 pounds of lunar
rocks and deep core samples
after liftoff and while in lunar orbit
the trio launched a small
scientific satellite called the
sub-satellite to study the area around
the moon
as they headed earthward astronaut al
worden climbed outside the spacecraft
and retrieved film from a pair of
mapping cameras
the scientific instruments left by
apollo 15 and the photographs and
samples they returned
are giving us a real understanding of
the moon in relationship to the earth
and the sun we asked mr dale myers
nasa's director of manned space flight
to give us a status report on skylab
the united states first space station
this year has been a big year for skylab
all of the hardware for the program
is coming into focus our qualification
programs are underway the
major elements of the skylab system are
in the final positions of manufacturing
and checkout
now one of the more important things to
me about skylab is it gives us an
opportunity to
learn more about man's capability to
work and live in space
1971 a year of significant achievement
in aeronautics and space
these have been the highlights
this special report brought to you by
nasa the national aeronautics and space
administration