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NASA News Release #8 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WASHINWON 25, 0. C. PIONEER V PRESS CONFERENCE, APRIL 29, 1960 12 o’clock noon We have available this morning press packages containing summaries of Pioneer V results prepared by the individual experimenters . Members of the panel are: Dr. Homer Newell, Deputy Director, NASA Office of Space Flight Programs. Mr. Harry doett, Director, NASA Ooddard Space Flight Center Dr. John Lindsay, NASA Project Scientist on Pioneer V, Goddard Space Flight Center Major Jay Smith, Director of Space Probe Pro ects, Air Force Ballistic E”issi3.e Division i ARDC) Inglewood, Calif. Dr. John A. Simpson, Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. Dr. John Winckler, School of Physics, University of Minnesota, I Minneapolis, Minn. Dr. Charles P. Sonett Director of Space Physics Section, Research & Development Division, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif . Dr. Adolph K. Thiel, Director, Experimental Space Projects,’ Space Technology Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Paul Glaser, Assistant to the Mrector, Experimental Space Projects, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc, Mr. Maurice Dubin, Head of Aeronomy Section, NASA Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Headquarters. Dr. Brian O’brien, Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 4-- Walter T. Bonney, Director Office of, Public Information I NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Washington, D.C. PRESS CONFERENCE PIONEER V Friday, 29 April 1960 The press conference was called to order at 12:OO noon, Mr. Herb Rosen, Office of Public Information, NASA, presiding. PANEL MEMBERS: DR. HOMER NEWELL, Deputy Director, NASA Office of Space Flight Programs . HR. HARRY GOETT, Director, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. DR. JOHN LINDSAY, NASA Project Scientist on Pioneer V, Goddard Space Flight Center. MAJOR JAY SMITH, Director of Space Probe Projects, Air Force Ballistic Missile Division (ARDC), Inglewood, California. DR. JOHN A. SIWSON, Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. DR. JOHN WINCKLER, School of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. DR. CHARLES P. SONETT, Director of Space Physics Section, Research and Development Division, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc., Los Angeles, California. DR. ADOLPH K. THIEL, Director, Experimental Space Projects, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc. MR. PAUL GLASER, Assistant to the Director, Experimental Space Projects, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc. a. MAURICE DUBIN, Head of Aeronomy Section, NASA Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Headquarters. L PANEL ME- (cgntinued): DR. BRIAN O'BRIW, Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. DR. ROBERT K. SOBERMAN, Cambridge Research Center, Am. +++ s 8 deol '! L.. MR. ROSEN: Welcome to another press conference at the National Aeronautics and Space Administrdtion. We called you together for one major reason, and that is,as you well know, one of the principal missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to learn something about space, pursue space exploration projects, collect a world of data, analyze these data, and then report to the scientific and general communities on the results and the findings, As you know, the American Geophysical Union is meeting in Washington. I think today is the first of a three- day session. A number of papers are being presented on the findings of Explorer VI, Explorer VII, and Pioneer V. We have assembled here an illustrious group of experimenters who have designed equipment that is now flying either in Earth orbit or on its way into an Earth-Venus type of orbit, In your press kits there are learned documents, abstracts of the papers that will be presented at the A.G.U. They will give you a five-minute or ten-minute summary of their findings and the conclusions that they have reached. After the conclusion of these presentations we will throw the discussion open to questions and answers from the panel. They have behind them a battery of experts to fill in the blank spots of their own knowledge. Let me introduce them to you and give you an idea of what they will be talking about. On my far right, Dr. Brian O'Brien, Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. O'Brien will talk about the Explorer VII. He will be working hand in glove with the man immediately to his left, Dr. John Winckler, School of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. To his left is Mr, Harry Goett, the Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,Goddard Space Flight Programs. I want to point out that these experiments are con- ducted under the jurisdiction of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Next to him is Dr. Homer Newell, Deputy Director, de02 3 NASA, Off ice of Space Flight Programs. Beside him is Dr. John A. Simpson, Enrica Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. He will talk about the Chicago experiment that was contained in Pioneer V. Next is Dr. Charles P. Sonett, Director of Space Physics Section, Research and Development Division, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc., Los Angeles, California. Dr. Sonett will talk about the magnetometer experiments. Next to him is Dr. Adolph K. Thiel, Director, Experimental Space Projects, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc. Dr. Thiel will give you some run-down on the position and performance of Pioneer V. Next to him we have Mr. Maurice Dubin, Head of Aeronomy Section, NASA Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Headquarters, Mr. Dubin will talk about the meteorite experi- ment. In the question and answer period, for those of you who want to use names, behind will be gentlemen who will be responding to questions that come from the floor. Reading from my right: Mr. Paul Glaser, Assistant to the Director, Experimental Space Projects, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc., John Lindsay, NASA Project Scientist on Pioneer V, Goddard Space Flight Center. Next to him, Major Jay Smith, Director of Space Probe Projects, Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, ARK, I nglewood , Calif or nia . Next to him, Dr, Robert K. Soberman, Cambridge Research Center, ARDC. There is another correction to the press kit. On release 60-183, the Pioneer V statistics, there is on the very first line after "launch", alt'itude 78.1 degrees. Please delete that if you will, de03 4 From this point on I would like to turn the pro- ceedings over to Dr. Homer Newell, who will carry on. DR. NEWELL: Thank you, Herb. The launching of a satellite or a space craft is of course an exciting event, especially when one gets back to news that the launching has been successful. But even more exciting is the influx of data from such a successful satellite or space craft. We are assembled here today to talk about data which has come back from Pioneer V primarily. However, -- and this is an interesting point that I think we should develop -- the data which is coming back from Pioneer V is adding to a picture that has been growing from the data coming back from previous probes and satellites. You will find, as the experimenters review their results, that they will have reference to previous probes -- for example, Pioneer I -- and to previous satellites -- for example, Explorer VI . In particular there is a satellite in operation right now which is still functioning, namely Explorer VII, which has given data that can be correlated with the informa- tion coming back from Pioneer V. For this reason we have Dr. O'Brien here to talk on Explorer VII. The Pioneer V was instrumented, as you know, to study particles in space, and to observe magnetic fields encountered in space: the magnetic field of the Earth, and beyond the Earth in interplanetary space. I should like to call your attention to an item that Mr. Rosen mentioned in his introduction, namely that at the American Geophysical Union meetings this afternoon, at the Department of Interior Auditorium at 2:OO o'clock, technical papers on the subject of this panel discussion will be given by the experimenters. Without any further introduction on my part, then, let us turn to the main part of this session. I would like to call first on Dr. Adolph Thiel, of STL. DR. THIEL: Ladies and gentlemen, Pioneer V is a scientific space probe, and the main purpose of this today is really to present to you the results as far as they have been developed from the scientific experiments. Nevertheless, in starting off this session it might 8 de04 5 be useful to review very briefly the engineering performance of Pioneer V. I would like to in a very brief time give you some idea how Pioneer V, from an engineering viewpoint, has performed so far. The first chart I have here summarizes the position of Pioneer V as a function of calendar days. At the present time, today, the Pioneer V is about 6.7 million miles from the Earth. The distance from Pioneer V to the Sun is about 90 million miles. The distance which Pioneer V actually has traveled in orbit is shown in this column. Today it has traveled something of the order of 383 or 384 million miles. In the last column this might really best illustrate to you what these distances really mean. The last column summarizes the communication time between the ground station to the Pioneer V and back again. So you can see we are really reaching quite far into space. Today it takes, to communicate with Pioneer V, one minute and ten seconds. At the time of its closest approach to Venus, which is about August 10, this Communication time will increase to about eight and a quarter minutes. Also of interest might be how much tracking actually has been accomplished so far.
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