Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 1983 Activities
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Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 1983 Activities NOTE TO READERS: ALL PRINTED PAGES ARE INCLUDED, UNNUMBERED BLANK PAGES DURING SCANNING AND QUALITY CONTROL CHECK HAVE BEEN DELETED Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 1983 Activities National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, D.C. 20546 Contents Page Page .................... 1 Environmental Protection Agency . 73 1 PEPE/NEROS Resu 73 2 Cloud Venting Study . 73 4 Future Activities . 73 5 National Science Foundation . 75 Aeronautics . 6 Astronomy . 75 National Aeronautics and Space Atmospheric Sciences . 75 Administration . 11 Smithsonian Institution . 77 Applications to the Earth . 11 Space Sciences . 77 Science . 13 Planetary Sciences . 78 Space Transportation . 15 Department of State . 79 Space Research and Technology 19 Activities within the United Nations . 79 Space Tracking and Data System 21 Communications Satellites . 80 Aeronautical Research and Tech 22 Remote Sensing . 80 Department of Defense . 27 Technology Transfer . 80 ................... 27 Arms Control and Disarmament Agency . 81 32 International Discussions of Space Arms 37 Control . 81 38 Space Policy . 81 41 United States Information Agency . 83 41 Space Shuttle . ... 83 46 Other Programs . 84 Space Support Activities . 47 Space and Atmospheric Research . 49 Appendixes Aeronautical Programs . 50 Department of Energy . 51 A- 1. U.S. Spacecraft Record . 85 Space and Special Applications of A-2. World Record of Space Launches Nuclear Power . 51 Successful in Attaining Earth Orbit or Remote Sensing of the Earth 52 Beyond ........................... 85 Nuclear Test Detection . 52 A-3. Successful U. S. Launchings - 1983 . 86 Department of the Interior . 53 B- 1. U. S. -Launched Applications Satellites, Earth Resources Observation Systems . 53 1978-1983 ........................ 91 Monitoring the Environment . 54 B-2. U.S.-Launched Scientific Satellites, .................... 56 1978-1983 ........................ 93 56 B-3. U.S.-Launched Space Probes, 1975-1983 94 International Activities . 57 C. U.S. and Soviet Manned Spaceflights, Department of Agriculture 59 1961-1983 ........................ 95 Federal Communications C 61 D. U.S. Space Launch Vehicles . 99 Communications Satel . 61 E-1. Space Activities of the U.S. Government: International Confere 62 Historical Budget Summary - New Specialized Satellite Systems . 63 Budget Authority . 100 Department of Transportation . 65 E-2. Space Activities Budget . 101 Aviation Safety . 65 E-3. Aeronautics Budget . 102 Environniental Res 67 F. Expendable Launch Vehicles: Air Navigation and Traffic Control . 68 Presidential Policy Announcement . 103 iii Aerospace Events of 1983 Four operational flights of the Space Shuttle make a busy schedule. On STS 6, above left, astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peter- son practice using tools in Challenger‘s cargo bay in April- the first U.S. spacewalk in nine years. Procedures are to be used in repairing an ailing satellite on a later mission. Above right, Challengds remote manipulator arm grasps the free-orbiting Shuttle Pallet Satellite, SPAS 01, during exercises in June on STS 7, which de- ployed and later retrieved the satellite. Astro- naut Sally Ride at left, mission specialist on STS 7, uses a screwdriver to clean an air filtering system in the Shuttle mid-deck. “TFNG on her constant-wear garment stands for “thirty-five new guys,” the 1978 class of astronauts. On STS 8 in August, astronaut Guion Bluford, below left, mission specialist, checks the sample pump on the continuous-flow electrophoresis experi- ment, designed to separate biological materials. Spacelab 1, at right, is installed in the orbiter Columbia for launch on STS 9 in November. The crew access tunnel, the only major piece of Spacelab hardware made in the United States, connects the European-built pres- surized laboratory to the orbiter’s crew com- partment. Beyond the laboratory module, the pallet exposes experiments directly to the space environment. STS 9 carried the largest crew launched into space to date. Clustered in the aft end of Spacelab (below, clockwise from bottom center) are John Young; Ulf Merbold, European Space Agency payload specialist from West Germany; Owen Gar- riott; Brewster Shaw; Byron Lichtenberg; and Robert Parker. A projection of the entire sky assembled from data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (ZRAS, launched in January) shows more than 250,000 in- frared point sources. The plane of our galaxy runs horizontally across the middle. The bright region above the center is in the Ophiucus constellation, and the similar region at right just below center is in Orion. Both are intense regions of star formation. Two white blobs below center toward the right are the Large and Small Magellenic Clouds, small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. A Global Mapped Vegetation Index image, compiled from June 19-26 data from NOAA 7 and 8 satellites, depicts the extent and “greenness” of vegetation in the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. The weekly composite is produced from global data col- lected daily. The darker the shading, the more vegeta- tion present. Aeronautical research continued during the year. The X-29 forward-swept-wing aircraft (below) began ex- tensive ground testing in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-Air Force-NASA program to develop integrated, advanced aerodynamic, struc- ture, and flight control technology. At bottom, in the USAF-NASA advanced fighter technology program, the AFT1 F- 16 aircraft incorporates digital fly-by-wire control and canard surfaces. Flight tests of the digital flight control system were completed in 1983. J The 25th anniversary year of the official United Pioneer 10 left the solar system in June 1983, the first States aeronautics and space program was marked by man-made object to do so. The International Sun- four operational Space Shuttle missions and twenty- Earth Explorer ISEE 3- which completed its studies of seven other U.S. payloads launched into orbit. Space the sun begun in 1978 -was maneuvered onto a path Shuttle missions- three of them flown by the fleet’s to encounter the Comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1985. second orbiter, Challenger - deployed satellites in space New satellites were launched to upgrade communica- for commercial and government users, retrieved a tions, navigation, and weather networks. satellite from space for the first time, and carried com- Cooperative international space activities increased mercial, university, and government experiments in with operational use of the Shuttle in addition to many disciplines in addition to the 10-day maiden cooperative satellites; scientists from 14 nations sup- flight of the European-built Spacelab with its more ported experiments on Spacelab 1. In the United Na- than 70 experiments in life sciences, astronomy, solar tions, however, differences arose over the role of the physics, space plasma physics, earth observations, and Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in materials processing. questions of use of the geosynchronous orbit and of The Shuttle carried into space the first U.S. woman military use of space, which the United States believes astronaut, the first black astronaut, and the first Euro- are appropriate to other U.N. committees or the Inter- pean specialist aboard a U.S. spacecraft. On one mis- national Telecommunications Union. sion, two astronauts left the orbiter’s cabin for extra- In March, a presidential directive called for a long- vehicular activity to work in the open cargo bay. The term research and development program to explore Shuttle’s Spacelab mission in November carried a crew strategic defense technology to eliminate threats from of six, the largest launched into space to date. ballistic missiles. DoD prepared a program that will Of the 31 U.S. payloads launched into orbit during seek to develop a nonnuclear system that could destroy 1983, 11 were by the Department of Defense and 20 by enemy ballistic missiles and warheads throughout their NASA (1 for DoD). These launches included 4 Shuttle launch-to-impact sequence, to protect military and orbiter flights and 5 satellites launched from the Shut- civilian resources in the United States and allied coun- tle; 22 satellites were put into orbit on 18 expendable tries. launch vehicles, with 1 DoD vehicle launching 3 During the year, both DoD and NASA made ad- satellites at once and 2 launching 2 each. Satellites in- vances in aeronautical technology for improved air- cluded 10 launched by NASA for communications (all craft, and the Federal Aviation Administration, but 1 for paying customers), 3 to monitor the weather NASA, and DoD continued research to improve the (2 by NASA for the National Ocean and Atmospheric safety of the nation’s airways. Administration and 1 by DoD), 1 navigation satellite This summary chapter surveys calendar 1983 by DoD, and 4 scientific satellites (3 by NASA in inter- achievements in the U.S. space and aeronautics pro- national projects and 1 for DoD). DoD launched 9 gram by function. The succeeding chapters present the other military satellites. Both NASA and DoD began work of individual agencies in more detail. actions responding to the Administration’s endorse- ment of increased commercial development in space Communications activities. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (ZRAS) Both international and domestic communications launched in January in a U.S.-Netherlands- networks increased and improved their services in United Kingdom project surveyed the entire sky to 1983 to meet the still expanding demand. Of the 10 make hundreds of new discoveries in the universe, in- communications satellites launched by NASA during cluding five comets, many asteroids, formation of new the year, 5 were for commercial U.S. domestic use, 4 stars, and the possible beginning of solar systems were international, and 1 was leased by NASA for around Vega and other stars. Three other scientific satellite communications. An increasing number, 4 of satellites also began studies in space during the year, as the 10, were launched from the Space Shuttle, and 6 four planetary spacecraft launched in the 1970s con- were put into orbit by expendable launch vehicles.