Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 237
November 9: NASA S-27 Project Officer reported Canadian ALOUETTE
topside-sounder satellite was performing as expected. Launched
Sept. 28, ALOUETTE was considered ((a very successful experiment
since it is producing not only ionospheric data but also informa-
tion about the earth’s magnetic field. . . . Operation of the
11
satellite continues to be normal. . . .
0 $1 stage of Saturn C-1 space vehicle was static-fired for full dura-
tion at full thrust (1.5 million lbs.) for first time, at NASA Marshall
Space Flight Center. Previous full-duration firings had attained
1.3 million-lb. thrust.
0 Scientists at Jodrell Bank Experimental Station announced they
had measured part of Milky Way’s magnetic field, marking first
time positive evidence had been obtained of the field’s existence.
Milk Way’s magnetic field measured 25 millionths of a gauss
(earti surface’s magnetic field measures about half a gauss). Led
by Dr. Rodney D. Davies, research team had spent 20,000 hours
over past four years on the experiment, involvin radiotelescopic
measurement of light from a star cluster 1,000 lig % t years away.
0 Floyd L. Thompson, Director of NASA Langley Research Center,
announced construction of $12.3-million space radiation effects
laboratory would begin in March and would be completed in
about two years. Facility, to be operated by NASA and three
-Virginia colleges, would be used to study effects of radiation on
space vehicle materials and components; it would simulate radia-
tion hazards astronauts and spacecraft would encounter in space.
Facility would be used also in graduate studies program in con-
junction with the three colleges-Univ. of Virginia, College of
William and Mary, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
0 Hughes Aircraft Co. reported final assembly of Syncom synchronous
communications satellite had been completed. Spacecraft was
undergoing final checkout before delivery to NASA at Cape Canav-
eral, where it would be launched early 1963.
0 Univ. of Illinois radiotelescope at Vermilion River Observatory was
dedicated. The radiotelescope, world’s largest, included 400’ x
600’ x 65‘ parabolic reflector. Prof. George W. Swenson, Jr.,
Univ. of Illinois project engineer for the observatory, said radio-
telescope’s first job would be to map Milky Way. The $871,650
telescope was financed mainly with grants from Office of Naval
Research (ONR) , with supplemental grants from National Science
Foundation (NSF) and Univ. of Illinois.
0 Use of missiles and earth-orbiting satellites in forest-fire detection
was forecast by R. C. Howard of British Columbia Forest Prod-
ucts, Ltd., speaking in Vancouver to annual convention of
Canadian Institute of Forestry. Howard said satellites would
report fires to computer center which would evaluate the fire,
permitting foresters to dispatch missile with built-in-fire extin-
guisher.
Washington Post reported that Thrust-Augmented Thor (TAT)
booster would be used with Agena D upper stage to orbit first of
new Discoverer satellite series.
British Institute for Strategic Studies estimate reported that the
Free World has more than six times as many ICBM’s as the Soviet
Union, but that the Soviet Union has far more IRBM’S than the
Free World.