Robert C. Seamans, Jr. relationship between the Deputy Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration national space program and Washington, D. C. the oceanography program It is a pleasure to be with you here this evening. are aware of, and in many cases responsible for, these It may appear completely incongruous for an official new opportunities in research and development of the of the Space agency to be addressing an audience such sea. Therefore, I plan to discuss this evening some of as this. the activities underway within the NASA research and However, today there are many strong ties between the development program which may have particular bearing oceans, the air and space. on the continued development of global oceanography as For centuries the oceans have provided the avenues for an important science with many significant applications exploration, the highways of commerce, the staging area available through modern technology. for aggression, a flexible position for defense; and in addition were a major source of food. The explorers, the Application of space technology to sea captains, admirals, and the fishermen of the past terrestrial phenomena centuries learned pragmatically the interaction of the air To set the stage, let me examine a project that has and the sea and through the art of sailing used the been in the news for the past week. I am speaking now dynamics of the air to exploit the surface of the sea. of Surveyor, our automated lunar landing spacecraft. More recently specialized and able groups have con- This spacecraft typifies the extent to which space technol- ducted scientific studies of the sea, its inhabitants, its ogy has advanced in the nine years since our nation currents, its depth, and its relationship to the atmo- decided to explore the space frontier. This spacecraft, sphere. However, today the 71% of our world covered by after being launched toward the Moon, was commanded water is being looked at with new perspective due to to precisely alter its course towards the desired landing the impetus of diminishing land resources and due to our site; was advised when to fire its retro motor to slow its possession of scientific and technological skills which per- progress toward the Moon; and was told to "see" the mit greater exploration and exploitation of the seas. Moon so as to control its terminal descent, gently land- We now have before us many examples of air, sea, and ing on the lunar surface at 10 ft sec"1. This is a remark- space technology, working together as partners for the able engineering feat. However, the scientific mission better understanding of our total environment. Some of began only after reaching the surface of the Moon. You the more highly publicized examples of this are typified have probably seen some of the pictures received from by Scott Carpenter's participation in Sealab experiments; the three Surveyors that are now on the Moon. Such pic- the aerospace industry's involvement in oceanography typ- tures are obtained through a complex series of commands ified by the Lockheed Missile and Space Company's de- from the ground and corresponding electronic and velopment of the Deep Quest deep submersible; and very mechanical responses by the spacecraft. To help us recently the utilization of NASA's Applications Tech- better understand the lunar surface, Surveyor spacecrafts nology Satellite in synchronous equatorial orbit over the have photographed the "lurain," measured its resistance Pacific demonstrating the acquisition of data from to landing impact, picked up and manipulated the soil ground sensors. Using this satellite, rainfall and river with a mechanical shovel, blown the soil about with height data are obtained from normally inaccessible sites rocket engine exhaust and examined the chemical com- and are twice daily relayed to the Weather Bureau's position of the soil with an Alpha backscattering in- Office of Hydrology, clearly indicating the value of this strument. technology not only to hydrology, but also to ocea- The proven ability to perform such complicated tasks nographic type needs. Prospects for further progress and to return video quality data from lunar distances through increased cooperation are extremely bright. We demonstrates the advanced nature of present technology. at NASA welcome the new encouragement given in- This technology can be readily adapted to Earth, ocean, creased activity in oceanography by the Congress and the or air-based stations. Executive Branch of the Government. I am sure that you NASA's role in bringing this same technology to bear i Speech presented at the 2nd International Buoy Sym- on measurements and data collection of terrestrial posium, 19 September 1967, Washington, D. C. phenomena is not so well publicized, but is the aspect of 798 Vol. 48, No. 11, November 1967 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/10/21 06:00 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society our program which can have great impact on our nation's role NASA satellite programs played in the development expanding programs of oceanography. Of particular of the existing communications satellite system which is interest to buoy developers and users is the Interrogation, now available commercially on a daily basis. We are Recording and Location System for terrestrial data col- proud of our part in helping found this industry which lection. This system, IRLS for short, was developed at has greatly expanded and improved our intercontinental NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to demonstrate communications. Further extensions of satellite com- the feasibility of using a satellite to locate and determine munication capability are now being developed and the position of sensors, receive data from the sensor, tested within the NASA program. Our objective in these record that data onboard the spacecraft, and later relay activities is to develop equipment and techniques to per- the data to ground stations. Possible terrestrial sensors mit communications through satellites between smaller are meteorological stations or buoys, oceanographic and lower powered terrestrial stations. Emphasis is buoys, gauges strapped to the Earth for measuring strains being placed on what is called multiple access communi- leading to earthquakes, drifting balloons, ice islands, or cations techniques. Satellite communications can open any of a wide variety of data platforms located on the up vast areas of the ocean in which communications are surface of the Earth or in its atmosphere. presently nonexistent or unreliable at best. Small, rela- The first demonstration model of IRLS will be rela- tively inexpensive communications equipment which tively limited, with the capacity of on the order of 100 can provide reliable, all-weather communications in these terrestrial platforms. Ultimately, however, a capability is ocean areas, I think, offers obvious advantages which I envisioned for interrogating up to 32,000 separate surface need not discuss in detail. units deployed at random, accurately fixing their posi- The Navy pioneered in the use of satellites for precise tions and recording data from them twice each day. ocean navigation. NASA is studying advanced navigation This, I think, is an excellent example of a system first systems utilizing this and other satellite technology, conceived for specific discipline purposes—in this case again with the emphasis on minimizing the weight, size meteorological—which has broad applicability for other and cost of systems required aboard the ship or aircraft. uses, including oceanography. It is quite easy to conceive One of the strongest pressures to bring about such how such a system could begin to solve many of the prob- an operational system is the congestion of North Atlantic lems hindering world-wide fixed or free buoy systems for air traffic routes. Development of a system capable of the study of currents and ocean-depth profile data. Such handling navigation and traffic control problems of this a system could greatly ease some of the data recording magnitude, and with the precise position determination problems on which the National Academy of Sciences required, could also enhance shipboard navigation and and others have made strong recommendations. In fact, position determination. with daily or twice daily interrogation of research buoys, the amount of data obtained could be greatly increased Meteorological satellites over present techniques and, furthermore, could be made Meteorology is another field already utilizing the van- available in near real time. tage point of space for an operational system. This The location feature of the system also could con- operational system provides daily observation of the ceivably permit broader application of free buoys by global cloud cover both over land and in the hereto- providing tracking and inventory on a near real time fore sparsely known weather regions over the oceans. basis. Accurate analyses of free buoy drift over a long This cloud cover is a most visible and dramatic indica- period of time is doubtlessly a useful tool for more accu- tion of the dynamic state of the Earth's environment. rately charting ocean currents. Large scale atmospheric circulations, the determination of The initial demonstration of this technique is planned jet streams and wind sheers are indicated through cloud for early 1968 aboard the Nimbus B polar orbiting cover pictures taken by these satellites. Each day, photo- meteorological satellite. Participation of the Woods Hole graphs of the entire globe are obtained