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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1903 35
released-that the density of the atmosphere at 420 mi. was 3 x
lo-’’ grams per cubic centimeter, or 1/40 million millionth of that
at sea level. EXPLORER IX density values were about 10 times
lower than those computed in 1959 from earlier satellites. Most
of this decrease is attributed to the decrease in solar activity since
the peak of the solar cycle in 1958 and 1959. Changes were also
clearly related to the 27-day rotational period of the sun and to
the occasional violent solar storms that affect the earth’s atmos-
phere. EXPLORER IX, a 12-ft. aluminum-foil sphere painted with
white “polka dots,” was expected to have an orbital life of two
more years. As it spiraled down into denser atmosphere, it was
expected to provide much more information on density at altitudes
down to 100 mi.
March 14: United Nations opened a public register on satellites in
orbit. At the time of opening, it contained only the U.S. report
submitted on March 5, which reported “72 US. space vehicles
and associated objects in sustained orbit or space transit” as of
February 15, 1962.
0 NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced the selection
of Military Electronics Division of Motorola, Inc., aa con-
tractor to manufacture and test radio equi ment in the fist two
phases of a program to augment the Deep s! pace Instrumentation
Facility b providing “S” band capability for stations at Gold-
stone, Cah.; Woomera, Australia; and Johannesburg, South
Africa. With these stations located some 120’ apart around
the earth, DSIF would have a high-gain, narrow-beam-width,
high-frequency system, with very little interference from cosmic
noise and would provide much improved telemetering and track-
ing of satellites as far out as the moon and nearby planets.
0 Walter C. Scott, Chief of NASA’s Space Power Technology Program,
testifying before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics,
said one of the promising developments in solar cells
was the possibility of producing thin strips of silicon solar cells
on some kind of substrata. If this can be done, the “much lower
cost, lower weight and improved mechanical properties will be
attractive to the space industry and for that matter to the
civilian economy. Thin films of cadmium sulfide have been
roduced in small areas with conversion efficiencies of 3%. It
{as been stated that if this efficiency could be increased to 5%
and produced in large areas, solar power would be economically
competitive with conventional sources at rates of 3 to 4 mils per
kilowatt hour.”
0 Navy launched solid-propellan t Terrier-Asp IV sounding rocket
from Point Arguello in successful first flight test.
Theodore Shabad, Moscow correspondent for the New York Times,
described the Clubs of Young Cosmonauts in U.S.S.R. The
Moscow club was organized in January 1962 under joint sponsorship
of Moskovsky Komsomolets, newspaper of the Young Communist
League, and the cosmonautics section of the Soviet
Federation of Aviation S orts. Its purpose was to interest
youngsters in space and as0 Y to publicize Soviet achievements
in space.
USAF announced it would extend space surveillance to the moon
through a system developed by the Space Track Research &
Development Facility at Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Mass.