1.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
NASA
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1963 photo showing Dr. William H. Pickering, (center) JPL Director, President John F. Kennedy, (right). NASA Administrator James Webb in background. They are discussing the
Mariner program, with a model presented.
NASA
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Seal of NASA
NASA
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At launch control for the May 28, 1964,
Saturn I SA-6 launch.
Wernher von Braun is at center.
NASA
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Mercury-Atlas 6 launch on February 20, 1962
2.
TRW Inc.
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TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software, TRW built many spacecraft, including Pioneer 1, Pioneer 10, and several space-based observatories. It was #57 on the Fortune 500 list, and had 122,258 employees, tRW’s roots were founded in 1901, and it lasted for more than a century until being acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002. Persons coming from TRW were important to build up corporations like SpaceX, in 1953, the company was recruited to lead the development of the United States first ICBM. Starting with the design by Convair, the multi-corporate team launched Atlas in 1957. It flew its full range in 1958, and was adapted to fly the Mercury astronauts into orbit, TRW also led development of the Titan missile, which was later adapted to fly the Gemini missions. The company served the US Air Force as systems engineers on all subsequent ICBM development efforts, in 1960, Congress spurred the formation of the non-profit Aerospace Corporation to provide systems engineering to the US government, but TRW continued to guide the ICBM efforts. TRW originated in 1901 with the Cleveland Cap Screw Company, founded by David Kurtz and their initial products were bolts with heads electrically welded to the shafts. In 1904, a welder named Charles E. Thompson adapted their process to making automobile engine valves, and, by 1915, Charles Thompson was named General Manager of the company, which became Thompson Products in 1926. Their experimental hollow sodium-cooled valves aided Charles Lindberghs solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1937, Thompson Motor Products bought J. A. Drake and Sons. The company made high performance valves that were used in racing engines of the day. Dale Drake bought the Offy engine design with his partner Louis Meyer in 1946 and won the Indianapolis 500 twenty-seven times, more than any other engine design. During the period leading up to World War II, through the end of the Korean war, Thompson Products was a key manufacturer of component parts for aircraft engines, including aircraft valves. The TAPCO plant, owned by the U. S. Government and it employed over 16,000 workers at the peak of WW II production. They grew frustrated with Howard Hughes’ management, and formed the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation in September 1953, the detonation of a thermonuclear bomb by the Soviet Union spurred Trevor Gardner to form the Teapot Committee in October 1953. Chaired by John von Neumann, its purpose was to study the development of ballistic missiles, Ramo and Wooldridge were committee members, and Ramo-Wooldridge Corp. became the lead contractor of the resulting ICBM development effort, reporting to the United States Air Force. With continued backing from Thompson Products, Ramo-Wooldridge diversified into computers and electronic components and they also produced scientific spacecraft such as Pioneer 1. Thompson Products and Ramo-Wooldridge merged in October 1958 to form Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc. unofficially known as TRW, in February 1959, Jimmy Doolittle became Chairman of the Board of Space Technology Laboratories, the division which continued to support the Air Force ICBM efforts
TRW Inc.
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TRW Inc.
3.
Thor-Able
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The Thor-Able was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket used for a series of re-entry vehicle tests and satellite launches between 1958 and 1960. It was a two stage rocket, consisting of a Thor IRBM as a first stage, and a Vanguard-derived Able second stage, on some flights, an Altair solid rocket motor was added as a third stage. It was a member of the Thor family, and a predecessor of the Delta. Sixteen Thor-Ables were launched, nine on sub-orbital re-entry vehicle test flights, six launches resulted in failures, in which three of those failures were the result of an Altair upper stage added to the rocket to allow it to launch the spacecraft onto a trans-lunar trajectory. All sixteen launches occurred from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A, the Thor-Able vehicle had a stronger airframe than the standard Thor IRBM and had the inertial guidance system replaced by a radio guidance package mounted on the Able stages. It saw its first test on April 23,1958 when Vehicle 116 was launched from LC-17A with a nose cone containing a mouse named MIA. At 7,10 PM EST, the Thors engine roared to life and drove the Able stage, two minutes and fifteen seconds after launch, at an altitude of 50 miles, the Thor exploded and sent the hapless rodent into the Atlantic Ocean instead of space. The cause of the failure was traced to a turbopump bearing coming loose and resulting in pump shutdown, with no attitude control, the Thor pitched down and its LOX tank ruptured from aerodynamic loads. On July 9, Thor 118 lifted off for an attempt with a mouse named MIA II. A third attempt was made on July 23, the press refused to call the mouse by the name of MIA III, so she was instead christened Wickie, after a local female news reporter who had covered the space program at Cape Canaveral. Attention now turned to Thor-Able 127 and Pioneer 0, the worlds first lunar probe and this flight took place on August 17, but ended embarrassingly when the Thor exploded 77 seconds into the launch due to another turbopump malfunction. On October 10, Pioneer 1 was launched on Thor 130, the second stage shut down too early and the probe did not have sufficient velocity to escape Earths orbit. It reentered the atmosphere and burned up 43 hours after launch, Pioneer 2 was launched November 8 and reentered the atmosphere less than an hour after launch when the third stage failed to ignite. The next six Thor-Able flights were suborbital tests for the Air Force, all of these were successful except the first one, which failed to stage due to an electrical problem and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. On August 7, Explorer 6 was launched on Vehicle 134, on September 17, Transit 1A failed to orbit due to the third stage again failing to ignite. On November 3, Pioneer 5 was successfully launched, intended originally as a Venus probe, technical delays caused it to be launched after the 1959 Venus window had closed so that it was instead sent into heliocentric orbit. The final Thor-Able launch orbited Tiros 1 on April 4,1960, the Able upper stage name represents its place as the first in the series, from the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet. List of Thor and Delta launches Thor Space Technology Laboratories Documents Archive
Thor-Able
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Launch of the
Transit 1A satellite on a Thor-Able II
Thor-Able
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Thor-Able at the
Air Force Space & Missile Museum
Thor-Able
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Rockets
4.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
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Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Commands 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, CCAFS is the primary head of Americas Eastern Range with three launch pads currently active. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip provides a 10, 000-foot runway close to the launch complexes for military airlift aircraft delivering heavy, a number of American space exploration firsts were launched from CCAFS, including the first U. S. Earth satellite, first U. S. astronaut, first U. S. astronaut in orbit, first two-man U. S. spacecraft, first U. S. unmanned lunar landing, and first three-man U. S. spacecraft. The CCAFS area had used by the United States government to test missiles since 1949. On June 1,1948, the U. S. Navy transferred the former Banana River Naval Air Station to the U. S. Air Force, with USAF renaming the facility the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base on June 10,1949. On October 1,1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Base was transferred from the Air Materiel Command to the Air Force Division of the Joint Long Range Proving Ground. On May 17,1950, the base was renamed the Long Range Proving Ground Base, in 1951, the Air Force established the Air Force Missile Test Center. Early American sub-orbital rocket flights were achieved at Cape Canaveral in 1956 and these flights occurred shortly after sub-orbital flights launched from White Sands Missile Range, such as the Viking 12 sounding rocket on February 4,1955. Following the Soviet Unions successful Sputnik 1, the US attempted its first launch of a satellite from Cape Canaveral on December 6,1957. However, the rocket carrying Vanguard TV3 blew up on the launch pad, NASA was founded in 1958, and Air Force crews launched missiles for NASA from the Cape, known then as Cape Canaveral Missile Annex. The row of Titan and Atlas launch pads along the coast came to be known as Missile Row in the 1960s, nASAs first manned spaceflight program was prepared for launch from Canaveral by U. S. Air Force crews. Mercurys objectives were to place a spacecraft in Earth orbit, investigate human performance and ability to function in space. Suborbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Armys Redstone missile from LC-5, Orbital flights were launched by derivatives of the Air Forces larger Atlas D missile from LC-14. The first American in orbit was John Glenn on February 20,1962, three more orbital flights followed through May 1963. Flight control for all Mercury missions was provided at the Mercury Control Center located at Canaveral near LC-14 and he had also convinced Gov. C. Farris Bryant to change the name of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy and this resulted in some confusion in public perception, which conflated the two. This name was used through the Gemini and early Apollo programs, however, the geographical name change proved to be unpopular, owing to the historical longevity of Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
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Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
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A
Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral, on July 24, 1950.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
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Alan Shepard watches Gus Grissom's
Liberty Bell 7 launch in the Mercury Control Center
5.
Spacecraft
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A spacecraft is a vehicle, or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, on a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies, robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a body are artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of reentry to Earth they may be divided in non-winged space capsules, Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, the launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments, while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layers density and it also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellites false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection, Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR. The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit and this altitude is called the Kármán line. In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket, as of 2016, only three nations have flown manned spacecraft, USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The first manned spacecraft was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, there were five other manned missions which used a Vostok spacecraft. The second manned spacecraft was named Freedom 7, and it performed a sub-orbital spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187 kilometers, there were five other manned missions using Mercury spacecraft. Other Soviet manned spacecraft include the Voskhod, Soyuz, flown unmanned as Zond/L1, L3, TKS, China developed, but did not fly Shuguang, and is currently using Shenzhou. Except for the shuttle, all of the recoverable manned orbital spacecraft were space capsules. Manned space capsules The International Space Station, manned since November 2000, is a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Canada and several other countries, some reusable vehicles have been designed only for manned spaceflight, and these are often called spaceplanes. The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, the first reusable spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19,1963. The first partially reusable spacecraft, a winged non-capsule, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarins flight
Spacecraft
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More than 100 Russian
Soyuz manned spacecraft (TMA version shown) have flown since 1967, originally for a
Soviet manned lunar program, but currently supporting the
International Space Station.
Spacecraft
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The US
Space Shuttle flew 135 times from 1981 to 2011, supporting Spacelab, Mir, and ISS. (Columbia's first launch shown)
Spacecraft
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The first artificial satellite, Sputnik
Spacecraft
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The first manned spacecraft,
Vostok 1
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
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Flag
United States
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The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
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The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
7.
Dipole antenna
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In radio and telecommunications a dipole antenna or doublet is the simplest and most widely used class of antenna. A dipole antenna consists of two identical conductive elements such as metal wires or rods, which are usually bilaterally symmetrical. The driving current from the transmitter is applied, or for receiving antennas the output signal to the receiver is taken, between the two halves of the antenna, each side of the feedline to the transmitter or receiver is connected to one of the conductors. This contrasts with an antenna, which consists of a single rod or conductor with one side of the feedline connected to it. A common example of a dipole is the rabbit ears television antenna found on broadcast television sets and this is the simplest type of antenna from a theoretical point of view. Dipoles are resonant antennas, meaning that the serve as resonators, with standing waves of radio current flowing back. So the length of the elements is determined by the wavelength of the radio waves used. The most common form is the dipole, in which each of the two rod elements is approximately 1/4 wavelength long, so the whole antenna is a half-wavelength long. The radiation pattern of a dipole is omnidirectional, it radiates equal power in all azimuthal directions perpendicular to the axis of the antenna. For a half-wave dipole the radiation is maximum,2.15 dBi perpendicular to the axis, falling monotonically with elevation angle to zero on the axis. Several different variations of the dipole are also used, such as the dipole, short dipole, cage dipole, bow-tie. The dipole was the earliest type of antenna, it was invented by German physicist Heinrich Hertz around 1886 in his investigations of radio waves. The feedpoint impedance of an antenna is very sensitive to its electrical length. Therefore, a dipole will generally only perform optimally over a narrow bandwidth. The real and imaginary components of impedance, as a function of electrical length, are shown in the accompanying graph. The detailed calculation of these numbers are described below, note that the value of the reactance is highly dependent on the diameter of the conductors, this plot is for conductors with a diameter of.001 wavelengths. Dipoles that are smaller than the wavelength of the signal are called short dipoles. These have a low radiation resistance making them inefficient antennas
Dipole antenna
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UHF Half–Wave Dipole
Dipole antenna
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UHF half-wave dipole aircraft
radar altimeter antenna
Dipole antenna
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Three dimensional radiation pattern of a vertical half-wave dipole antenna.
8.
Liquid-propellant rocket
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A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket is a rocket engine that uses liquid propellants. This permits the use of low-mass propellant tanks, resulting in a mass ratio for the rocket. An inert gas stored in a tank at a pressure is sometimes used instead of pumps in simpler small engines to force the propellants into the combustion chamber. These engines may have a mass ratio, but are usually more reliable. And are therefore used widely in satellites for orbit maintenance, some designs are throttleable for variable thrust operation and some may be restarted after a previous in-space shutdown. Liquid propellants are used in hybrid rockets, in which a liquid oxidizer is generally combined with a solid fuel. This seminal treatise on astronautics was published in 1903, but was not distributed outside Russia until years later, german V-2 inventor Wernher von Braun considered Paulet one of the fathers of aeronautics. The National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D. C. has a plaque honoring the memory of Paulet. He was the only known developer of liquid-propellant rocket engine experiments in the 19th century, however, he did not publish his work. In 1927 he wrote a letter to a newspaper in Lima, historians of early rocketry experiments, among them Max Valier, Willy Ley, and John D. Clark, have given differing amounts of credence to Paulets report. Paulet described laboratory tests of, but did not claim to have launched a liquid rocket. Wernher von Braun, in his book World History of Aeronautics states, Pedro Paulet was in Paris in those years, experimenting with his tiny two-and-a-half kilogram motor, by this act, Paulet should be considered the pioneer of the liquid fuel propulsion motor. Further, in his History of Rocketry and Space Travel, von Braun recognizes that by his efforts, Paulet helped man reach the Moon. The rocket, which was dubbed Nell, rose just 41 feet during a 2. 5-second flight that ended in a cabbage field, goddard proposed liquid propellants about fifteen years earlier and began to seriously experiment with them in 1921. In Germany, engineers and scientists became enthralled with liquid-fuel rockets and this amateur rocket group, the VfR, included Wernher von Braun, who became the head of the army research station that secretly built the V-2 rocket weapon for the Nazis. The German-Romanian Hermann Oberth published a book in 1922 suggesting the use of liquid propellants, after World War II the American government and military finally seriously considered liquid-propellant rockets as weapons and began to fund work on them. The Soviet Union did likewise, and thus began the Space Race, bipropellant liquid rockets generally use a liquid fuel, such as liquid hydrogen or a hydrocarbon fuel such as RP-1, and a liquid oxidizer, such as liquid oxygen. The engine may be a rocket engine, where the fuel and oxidizer
Liquid-propellant rocket
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Liquid rocket schematic.
Liquid-propellant rocket
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Robert H. Goddard, bundled against the cold
New England weather of March 16, 1926, holds the launching frame of his most notable invention — the first liquid rocket.
Liquid-propellant rocket
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Bipropellant liquid rockets are simple in concept but due to high temperatures and high speed moving parts, very complex in practice.
Liquid-propellant rocket
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Soyuz TMA-13 erected at Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad
9.
Moon
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The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits planet Earth, being Earths only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, following Jupiters satellite Io, the Moon is second-densest satellite among those whose densities are known. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384,400 km, the Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earths sky, after the Sun and its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its prominence in the sky and its cycle of phases have made the Moon an important cultural influence since ancient times on language, calendars, art. The Moons gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and this matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future. The Moons linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ±0.07 centimetres per year, since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by uncrewed spacecraft. The usual English proper name for Earths natural satellite is the Moon, the noun moon is derived from moone, which developed from mone, which is derived from Old English mōna, which ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mǣnōn, like all Germanic language cognates. Occasionally, the name Luna is used, in literature, especially science fiction, Luna is used to distinguish it from other moons, while in poetry, the name has been used to denote personification of our moon. The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, a less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene, from which is derived the prefix seleno-. Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia, the names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion, and selenocentric. The name Diana is connected to dies meaning day, several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moons formation 4.51 billion years ago, and some 60 million years after the origin of the Solar System. These hypotheses also cannot account for the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. This hypothesis, although not perfect, perhaps best explains the evidence, eighteen months prior to an October 1984 conference on lunar origins, Bill Hartmann, Roger Phillips, and Jeff Taylor challenged fellow lunar scientists, You have eighteen months. Go back to your Apollo data, go back to computer, do whatever you have to. Dont come to our conference unless you have something to say about the Moons birth, at the 1984 conference at Kona, Hawaii, the giant impact hypothesis emerged as the most popular. Afterward there were only two groups, the giant impact camp and the agnostics. Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System, computer simulations of a giant impact have produced results that are consistent with the mass of the lunar core and the present angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system
Moon
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Full moon as seen from Earth's
northern hemisphere
Moon
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The Moon, tinted reddish, during a
lunar eclipse
Moon
–
Near side of the Moon
Moon
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Far side of the Moon
10.
Ionization chamber
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Ion chambers have a good uniform response to radiation over a wide range of energies and are the preferred means of measuring high levels of gamma radiation. They are widely used in the power industry, research labs, radiography, radiobiology. An ionization chamber measures the charge from the number of ion pairs created within a gas caused by incident radiation and it consists of a gas-filled chamber with two electrodes, known as anode and cathode. The electrodes may be in the form of plates, or a cylinder arrangement with a coaxially located internal anode wire. A voltage potential is applied between the electrodes to create a field in the fill gas. This generates a current which is measured by an electrometer circuit. The electrometer must be capable of measuring the small output current which is in the region of femtoamperes to picoamperes, depending on the chamber design, radiation dose. This continual generation of charge produces a current, which is a measure of the total ionizing dose entering the chamber. However, the chamber cannot discriminate between radiation types and cannot produce a spectrum of radiation. This is in distinction to the Geiger-Müller tube or the proportional counter whereby secondary electrons, the following chamber types are commonly used. This is a chamber open to atmosphere, where the fill gas is ambient air. The domestic smoke detector is an example of this, where a natural flow of air through the chamber is necessary so that smoke particles can be detected by the change in ion current. Other examples are applications where the ions are created outside the chamber but are carried in by a flow of air or gas. These chambers are normally cylindrical and operate at atmospheric pressure, and this is to stop moisture building up in the interior of the chamber, which would otherwise be introduced by the pump effect of changing atmospheric air pressure. These chambers have a body made of aluminium or plastic a few millimetres thick. The material is selected to have a number similar to that of air so that the wall is said to be air equivalent over a range of radiation beam energies. The higher the number of the wall material, the greater the chance of interaction. The wall thickness is a trade-off between maintaining the air effect with a wall, and increasing sensitivity by using a thinner wall
Ionization chamber
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Ionization chamber made by Pierre Curie, c 1895-1900
Ionization chamber
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Schematic diagram of parallel plate ion chamber, showing drift of ions. Electrons typically drift 1000 times faster than positive ions due to their much smaller mass.
Ionization chamber
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Hand-held integral ion chamber survey meter in use
Ionization chamber
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View of sliding beta shield on integral hand held instrument
11.
Micrometeoroid
–
A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid, a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram. A micrometeorite is such a particle that survives passage through the Earths atmosphere, micrometeoroids are very small pieces of rock or metal broken off from larger chunks of rock and debris often dating back to the birth of the Solar System. Micrometeoroids are extremely common in space, tiny particles are a major contributor to space weathering processes. When they hit the surface of the Moon, or any airless body, in order to understand the micrometeoroid population better, a number of spacecraft have carried micrometeoroid detectors. In 1957 Hans Peterson conducted one of the first direct measurements of the fall of space dust on the Earth, if this were true, then the Moon would be covered to a very great depth as there are limited forms of erosion to remove this material. In 1961 Arthur C. Clarke popularized this possibility in his novel A Fall of Moondust and this was cause for some concern among the groups attempting to land on the Moon, so a series of new studies followed to better characterize the issue. This included the launch of spacecraft designed to directly measure the micrometeorite flux or directly measure the dust on the surface of the Moon. These showed that the flux was much lower than earlier estimates, around 10,000 to 20,000 tons per year, most lunar samples returned during the Apollo Program have micrometeorite impacts marks, typically called zap pits, on their upper surfaces. Micrometeoroids have less stable orbits than meteoroids, due to their surface area to mass ratio. Micrometeoroids that fall to Earth can provide information on millimeter scale heating events in the solar nebula, meteorites and micrometeorites can only be collected in areas where there is no terrestrial sedimentation, typically polar regions. Ice is collected and then melted and filtered so the micrometeorites can be extracted under a microscope, sufficiently small micrometeoroids avoid significant heating on entry into the Earths atmosphere. Micrometeoroids pose a significant threat to space exploration, the average velocity of micrometeoroids relative to a spacecraft in orbit is 10 kilometers per second. Resistance to micrometeoroid impact is a significant design challenge for spacecraft, while the tiny sizes of most micrometeoroids limits the damage incurred, the high velocity impacts will constantly degrade the outer casing of spacecraft in a manner analogous to sandblasting. Long term exposure can threaten the functionality of spacecraft systems, impacts by small objects with extremely high velocity are a current area of research in terminal ballistics. The risk is high for objects in space for long periods of time. They also pose major engineering challenges in theoretical low-cost lift systems such as rotovators, space elevators, and orbital airships
Micrometeoroid
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Micrometeorite, collected from the Antarctic snow, was a micrometeoroid before it entered the Earth's atmosphere
Micrometeoroid
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Lunar sample 61195 from
Apollo 16 shows numerous zap pits on its surface caused by micrometeorite impacts
12.
Magnetometer
–
A compass is a simple example of a magnetometer, one that measures the direction of an ambient magnetic field. Magnetometers are widely used for measuring the Earths magnetic field and in geophysical surveys to detect anomalies of various types. They are also used in the military to detect submarines, consequently, some countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, classify the more sensitive magnetometers as military technology, and control their distribution. Magnetic fields are vector quantities characterized by strength and direction. The strength of a field is measured in units of tesla in the SI units. 10,000 gauss are equal to one tesla, measurements of the Earths magnetic field are often quoted in units of nanotesla, also called a gamma. Gaussmeters and teslameters are magnetometers that measure in units of gauss or tesla, in some contexts, magnetometer is the term used for an instrument that measures fields of less than 1 millitesla and gaussmeter is used for those measuring greater than 1 mT. There are two types of magnetometer measurement. Vector magnetometers measure the components of a magnetic field. Total field magnetometers or scalar magnetometers measure the magnitude of the magnetic field. Magnetometers used to study the Earths magnetic field may express the components of the field in terms of declination. Absolute magnetometers measure the magnitude or vector magnetic field, using an internal calibration or known physical constants of the magnetic sensor. Relative magnetometers measure magnitude or vector magnetic field relative to a fixed but uncalibrated baseline, also called variometers, relative magnetometers are used to measure variations in magnetic field. Magnetometers may also be classified by their situation or intended use, stationary magnetometers are installed to a fixed position and measurements are taken while the magnetometer is stationary. Portable or mobile magnetometers are meant to be used while in motion, laboratory magnetometers are used to measure the magnetic field of materials placed within them and are typically stationary. The performance and capabilities of magnetometers are described through their technical specifications, major specifications include Sample rate is the amount of readings given per second. The inverse is the time in seconds per reading. Sample rate is important in mobile magnetometers, the sample rate, bandwidth or bandpass characterizes how well a magnetometer tracks rapid changes in magnetic field
Magnetometer
–
Helium Vector Magnetometer (HVM) of the
Pioneer 10 and
11 spacecraft
Magnetometer
–
Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetometer No. 18., used in the magnetic survey of
Maryland conducted in the 1890s
Magnetometer
–
A uniaxial fluxgate magnetometer.
Magnetometer
–
A
fluxgate compass /inclinometer.
13.
Resistor
–
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses. High-power resistors that can dissipate many watts of power as heat may be used as part of motor controls, in power distribution systems. Fixed resistors have resistances that only slightly with temperature, time or operating voltage. Variable resistors can be used to adjust circuit elements, or as sensing devices for heat, light, humidity, force, Resistors are common elements of electrical networks and electronic circuits and are ubiquitous in electronic equipment. Practical resistors as discrete components can be composed of various compounds, Resistors are also implemented within integrated circuits. The electrical function of a resistor is specified by its resistance, the nominal value of the resistance falls within the manufacturing tolerance, indicated on the component. Two typical schematic diagram symbols are as follows, The notation to state a resistors value in a circuit diagram varies, one common scheme is the letter and digit code for resistance values following IEC60062. It avoids using a separator and replaces the decimal separator with a letter loosely associated with SI prefixes corresponding with the parts resistance. For example, 8K2 as part marking code, in a diagram or in a bill of materials indicates a resistor value of 8.2 kΩ. Additional zeros imply a tighter tolerance, for example 15M0 for three significant digits, when the value can be expressed without the need for a prefix, an R is used instead of the decimal separator. For example, 1R2 indicates 1.2 Ω, and 18R indicates 18 Ω, for example, if a 300 ohm resistor is attached across the terminals of a 12 volt battery, then a current of 12 /300 =0.04 amperes flows through that resistor. Practical resistors also have some inductance and capacitance which affect the relation between voltage and current in alternating current circuits, the ohm is the SI unit of electrical resistance, named after Georg Simon Ohm. An ohm is equivalent to a volt per ampere, since resistors are specified and manufactured over a very large range of values, the derived units of milliohm, kilohm, and megohm are also in common usage. The total resistance of resistors connected in series is the sum of their resistance values. R e q = R1 + R2 + ⋯ + R n, the total resistance of resistors connected in parallel is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of the individual resistors. 1 R e q =1 R1 +1 R2 + ⋯ +1 R n. For example, a 10 ohm resistor connected in parallel with a 5 ohm resistor, a resistor network that is a combination of parallel and series connections can be broken up into smaller parts that are either one or the other
Resistor
–
A typical axial-lead resistor
Resistor
–
Axial -lead resistors on tape. The component is cut from the tape during assembly and the part is inserted into the board.
Resistor
–
An aluminium-housed power resistor rated for 50 W when heat-sinked
Resistor
–
Resistors with wire leads for through-hole mounting
14.
Nickel-cadmium battery
–
The nickel–cadmium battery is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes. Wet-cell nickel-cadmium batteries were invented in 1899, among rechargeable battery technologies, NiCd rapidly lost market share in the 1990s, to NiMH and Li-ion batteries, market share dropped by 80%. A NiCd battery has a terminal voltage during discharge of around 1.2 volts which decreases little until nearly the end of discharge, however, the materials are more costly than that of the lead acid battery, and the cells have high self-discharge rates. Sealed NiCd cells were at one time used in portable power tools, photography equipment, flashlights, emergency lighting, hobby R/C. The superior capacity of the Nickel-metal hydride batteries, and more recently their lower cost, has largely supplanted their use, further, the environmental impact of the disposal of the toxic metal cadmium has contributed considerably to the reduction in their use. Within the European Union, NiCd batteries can now only be supplied for replacement purposes or for certain types of new equipment such as medical devices, larger ventilated wet cell NiCd batteries are used in emergency lighting, standby power, and uninterruptible power supplies and other applications. The first Ni–Cd battery was created by Waldemar Jungner of Sweden in 1899, at that time, the only direct competitor was the lead–acid battery, which was less physically and chemically robust. With minor improvements to the first prototypes, energy density increased to about half of that of primary batteries. Jungner experimented with substituting iron for the cadmium in varying quantities, jungners work was largely unknown in the United States. Thomas Edison patented a nickel– or cobalt–cadmium battery in 1902, in 1906, Jungner established a factory close to Oskarshamn, Sweden to produce flooded design Ni–Cd batteries. In 1932 active materials were deposited inside a porous nickel-plated electrode, the first production in the United States began in 1946. Up to this point, the batteries were pocket type, constructed of nickel-plated steel pockets containing nickel, around the middle of the twentieth century, sintered-plate Ni–Cd batteries became increasingly popular. Fusing nickel powder at a well below its melting point using high pressures creates sintered plates. The plates thus formed are highly porous, about 80 percent by volume, positive and negative plates are produced by soaking the nickel plates in nickel- and cadmium-active materials, respectively. Sintered plates are much thinner than the pocket type, resulting in greater surface area per volume. In general, the amount of reactive material surface area in a battery. Today, all consumer Ni–Cd batteries use the Swiss roll or jelly-roll configuration and this design incorporates several layers of positive and negative material rolled into a cylindrical shape. This design reduces internal resistance as there is an amount of electrode in contact with the active material in each cell
Nickel-cadmium battery
–
From top to bottom: "Gumstick", AA, and AAA Ni–Cd batteries
Nickel-cadmium battery
–
View of a vented cell aircraft battery from the side
Nickel-cadmium battery
–
Eight Ni-Cd batteries in a battery pack
15.
Silver-oxide battery
–
A silver-oxide battery is a primary cell with a very high energy to weight ratio. Available either in small sizes as button cells, or in custom designed batteries where the superior performance of the silver-oxide chemistry outweighs cost considerations. These larger cells are found in applications for the military. In recent years they have become important as reserve batteries for manned and unmanned spacecraft, spent batteries can be processed to recover their silver content. Silver-oxide primary batteries account for over 20% of all battery sales in Japan. A related rechargeable secondary battery usually called a silver–zinc battery uses a variation of silver–oxide chemistry and it shares most of the characteristics of the silver-oxide battery, and in addition, is able to deliver one of the highest specific energies of all presently known electrochemical power sources. Long used in specialized applications, it is now being developed for more mainstream markets, a silver-oxide battery uses silver oxide as the positive electrode, zinc as the negative electrode plus an alkaline electrolyte, usually sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The silver is reduced at the cathode from Ag to Ag, the electrolyte used is a potassium hydroxide / water solution. The process is continued until the cell reaches a level where the decomposition of the electrolyte is possible at about 1.55 Volts. This is taken as the end of a charge, as no charge is stored. Compared to other batteries, a silver oxide battery has an open circuit potential than a mercury battery. This technology had the highest energy density prior to lithium technologies, primarily developed for aircraft, they have long been used in space launchers and crewed spacecraft where their short cycle life is not a drawback. Non-rechargeable silver–zinc batteries powered the first Soviet Sputnik satellites as well as US Saturn launch vehicles, the primary power sources for the command module were the hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells in the service module. Only these batteries were recharged in flight, after the Apollo 13 near-disaster, an auxiliary silver–zinc battery was added to the service module as a backup to the fuel cells. Silver oxide batteries become hazardous on the onset of leakage, this generally takes five years from the time they are put into use, until recently, all silver oxide batteries contained up to 0. 2% mercury. The mercury was incorporated into the anode to inhibit corrosion in the alkaline environment. Sony started producing the first silver oxide batteries without added mercury in 2004, history of the battery Secondary cell Fuel cell Battery recycling List of battery types List of battery sizes Comparison of battery types Battery nomenclature
Silver-oxide battery
–
Silver oxide cells
16.
Mercury battery
–
A mercury battery is a non-rechargeable electrochemical battery, a primary cell. Mercury batteries use a reaction between mercuric oxide and zinc electrodes in an alkaline electrolyte, the voltage during discharge remains practically constant at 1.35 volts, and the capacity is much greater than a similarly sized zinc carbon battery. Mercury batteries were used in the shape of cells for watches, hearing aids, cameras and calculators. For a time during and after World War II, batteries made with mercury became a power source for portable electronic devices. Due to the content of mercury and environmental concerns about its disposal. Both ANSI and IEC have withdrawn their standards for mercury batteries, the battery system had the advantages of long shelf life and steady voltage output. After the Second World War the battery system was applied for small electronic devices such as cardiac pacemakers. In the United States, mercury batteries were manufactured by companies including P. R. Mallory and Co Inc, Union Carbide Corporation, RCA Corporation. Mercury batteries use either pure mercury oxide —also called mercuric oxide—or a mixture of HgO with manganese dioxide as the cathode, mercuric oxide is a non-conductor, so some graphite is mixed with it, the graphite also helps prevent collection of mercury into large droplets. The half-reaction at the cathode is, HgO + H2O + 2e− → Hg + 2OH− with a potential of +0.0977 V vs. NHE. The anode is made of zinc and separated from the cathode with a layer of paper or other porous material soaked with electrolyte, two half-reactions occur at the anode. A little extra mercuric oxide is put into the cell to prevent evolution of gas at the end of life. Sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide are used as an electrolyte, sodium hydroxide cells have nearly constant voltage at low discharge currents, making them ideal for hearing aids, calculators, and electronic watches. Potassium hydroxide cells also have better performance at lower temperatures, mercury cells have very long shelf life, up to 10 years. A different form of mercury battery uses mercuric oxide and cadmium and this has a much lower terminal voltage around 0.9 volts and so has lower energy density, but it has an extended temperature range, in special designs up to 180 C. A12 volt battery of this type was used for residential smoke detectors. Mercury batteries are very similar to silver-oxide batteries, mercury batteries using a mercury oxide cathode have a very flat discharge curve, holding constant 1.35 V voltage until about the last 5% of their lifetime, when their voltage drops rapidly. Mercury batteries with cathodes made of a mix of mercuric oxide and manganese dioxide have output voltage of 1.4 V, in 1998 the ban was extended to cells containing more than 0. 005% by weight of mercury
Mercury battery
–
Mercury battery "РЦ-53М", Russian manufactured in 1989
17.
Pacific Ocean
–
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
Pacific Ocean
–
Maris Pacifici by
Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean; see also
Waldseemüller map (1507).
Pacific Ocean
–
The Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
–
USS
Lexington under air attack on 8 May 1942 during the
Battle of the Coral Sea
Pacific Ocean
–
Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707.
18.
Magnetic field
–
A magnetic field is the magnetic effect of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude, as such it is represented by a vector field. The term is used for two distinct but closely related fields denoted by the symbols B and H, where H is measured in units of amperes per meter in the SI, B is measured in teslas and newtons per meter per ampere in the SI. B is most commonly defined in terms of the Lorentz force it exerts on moving electric charges, Magnetic fields can be produced by moving electric charges and the intrinsic magnetic moments of elementary particles associated with a fundamental quantum property, their spin. In quantum physics, the field is quantized and electromagnetic interactions result from the exchange of photons. Magnetic fields are used throughout modern technology, particularly in electrical engineering. The Earth produces its own field, which is important in navigation. Rotating magnetic fields are used in electric motors and generators. Magnetic forces give information about the carriers in a material through the Hall effect. The interaction of magnetic fields in electric devices such as transformers is studied in the discipline of magnetic circuits, noting that the resulting field lines crossed at two points he named those points poles in analogy to Earths poles. He also clearly articulated the principle that magnets always have both a north and south pole, no matter how finely one slices them, almost three centuries later, William Gilbert of Colchester replicated Petrus Peregrinus work and was the first to state explicitly that Earth is a magnet. Published in 1600, Gilberts work, De Magnete, helped to establish magnetism as a science, in 1750, John Michell stated that magnetic poles attract and repel in accordance with an inverse square law. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb experimentally verified this in 1785 and stated explicitly that the north and south poles cannot be separated, building on this force between poles, Siméon Denis Poisson created the first successful model of the magnetic field, which he presented in 1824. In this model, a magnetic H-field is produced by magnetic poles, three discoveries challenged this foundation of magnetism, though. First, in 1819, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that an electric current generates a magnetic field encircling it, then in 1820, André-Marie Ampère showed that parallel wires having currents in the same direction attract one another. Finally, Jean-Baptiste Biot and Félix Savart discovered the Biot–Savart law in 1820, extending these experiments, Ampère published his own successful model of magnetism in 1825. This has the benefit of explaining why magnetic charge can not be isolated. Also in this work, Ampère introduced the term electrodynamics to describe the relationship between electricity and magnetism, in 1831, Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction when he found that a changing magnetic field generates an encircling electric field
Magnetic field
–
One of the first drawings of a magnetic field, by
René Descartes, 1644. It illustrated his theory that magnetism was caused by the circulation of tiny helical particles, "threaded parts", through threaded pores in magnets.
Magnetic field
–
Magnetic field of an ideal cylindrical
magnet with its axis of symmetry inside the image plane. The magnetic field is represented by
magnetic field lines, which show the direction of the field at different points.
Magnetic field
–
Hans Christian Ørsted, Der Geist in der Natur, 1854
19.
Pioneer program
–
The Pioneer program is a series of United States unmanned space missions that were designed for planetary exploration. There were a number of missions in the program, but the most notable were Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 carry a golden plaque, depicting a man and a woman and information about the origin and the creators of the probes, should any extraterrestrials find them someday. Credit for naming the first probe has been attributed to Stephen A. Saliga, while he was at a briefing, the spacecraft was described to him as a lunar-orbiting vehicle with an infrared scanning device. Saliga thought the title too long and lacked theme for an exhibit design, the earliest missions were attempts to achieve Earths escape velocity, simply to show it was feasible and study the Moon. This included the first launch by NASA which was formed from the old NACA and these missions were carried out by the US Air Force and Army. Most missions here are listed with their most recognised name, while successful, the missions returned much poorer images than the Voyager program probes would five years later. In 1978, the end of the program saw a return to the inner Solar System, with the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Multiprobe, the new missions were numbered from Pioneer 6.8 AU distance to the Sun. Their orbital periods are slightly shorter than Earths. Pioneer 7 and Pioneer 8 are in orbits with 1.1 AU distance to the Sun. Their orbital periods are slightly longer than Earths. Since the probes orbital periods differ from that of the Earth, from time to time, the probes can sense parts of the Sun several days before the Suns rotation reveals it to ground-based Earth orbiting observatories. If a powerful solar magnetic storm is formed, they can warn Earth in advance, Pioneer 10 – Jupiter, interstellar medium, launched March 1972 Pioneer 11 – Jupiter, Saturn, interstellar medium, launched April 1973 Pioneer H – identical to Pioneers 10 and 11. Proposed out-of-the-ecliptic mission for 1974, but was not built
Pioneer program
–
Pioneer 10, undergoing construction in 1971. Pioneer 10 and
11 are the most famous probes in the Pioneer program, the first probes to visit the
outer planets, and the first to go beyond the orbit of
Pluto.
Pioneer program
–
The
Pioneer plaque attached to Pioneers 10 and 11
Pioneer program
–
Artist's conception of the Pioneer 6–9 spacecraft
Pioneer program
–
Artist's conception of the Pioneer Venus spacecraft
20.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
–
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the PG, is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has won six Pulitzer Prizes since 1938, the Post-Gazette began its history as a four-page weekly called The Pittsburgh Gazette, first published on July 29,1786 with the encouragement of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. It was the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains, published by Joseph Hall and John Scull, the paper covered the start of the nation. As one of its first major articles, the Gazette published the newly adopted Constitution of the United States, in 1820, under publishers Eichbaum and Johnston and editor Morgan Neville, the name changed to Pittsburgh Gazette and Manufacturing and Mercantile Advertiser. David MacLean bought the paper in 1822, and later reverted to the former title, craig, whose service lasted from 1829 to 1841, the Gazette championed the Anti-Masonic movement. Craig turned the Gazette into the citys first daily paper, issued every afternoon except Sunday starting on July 30,1833, in 1844, shortly after absorbing the Advocate, the Gazette switched its daily issue time to morning. Its editorial stance at the time was conservative and strongly favoring the Whig party, by the 1850s the Gazette was credited with helping to organize a local chapter of the new Republican Party, and with contributing to the election of Abraham Lincoln. The paper was one of the first to suggest tensions between North and South would erupt in war, after consolidating with the Commercial in 1877, the paper was again renamed and was then known as the Commercial Gazette. In 1900, George T. Oliver acquired the paper, merging it six years later with The Pittsburg Times to form The Gazette Times, the Pittsburgh Post first appeared on September 10,1842, as the Daily Morning Post. It had its origin in three pro-Democratic weeklies, the Mercury, Allegheny Democrat, and American Manufacturer, which came together through a pair of mergers in the early 1840s, the three papers had for years engaged in bitter editorial battles with the Gazette. Like its predecessors, the Post advocated the policies of the Democratic Party and its political opposition to the Whig and later Republican Gazette was so enduring that an eventual combination of the two rivals would have seemed unlikely. The 1920s were a time of consolidation in the long-overcrowded Pittsburgh newspaper market, in 1923, local publishers banded together to acquire and kill off the Dispatch and Leader. After swapping the Sun in return for Hearsts Gazette Times, Block had both morning papers, which he combined to form the Post-Gazette, hearst united the evening papers, creating the Sun-Telegraph. Both new papers debuted on August 2,1927, in 1960, Pittsburgh had three daily papers, the Post-Gazette in the morning, and the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph in the evening and on Sunday. The Post-Gazette bought the Sun-Telegraph and moved into the Sun-Telegraphs Grant Street offices, the Post-Gazette tried to publish a Sunday paper to compete with the Sunday Press but it was not profitable, rising costs in general were challenging the companys bottom line. In November 1961, the Post-Gazette entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Press Company to combine their production, the Post-Gazette owned and operated its own news and editorial departments, but production and distribution of the paper was handled by the larger Press office. This agreement stayed in place for over 30 years, the agreement gave the Post-Gazette a new home in the Press building, a comfortable upgrade from the hated Sun-Telly barn. Constructed for the Press in 1927 and expanded with a wall in 1962
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
–
The main sign near the front entrance.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
–
The 2006-07-23 front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
–
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Building in
Downtown Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
–
The distribution center
21.
Associated Press
–
The Associated Press is an American multinational nonprofit news agency headquartered in New York City that operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. The AP is owned by its contributing newspapers and radio and television stations in the United States, all of which stories to the AP. Most of the AP staff are members and are represented by the Newspaper Guild, which operates under the Communications Workers of America. As of 2007, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,700 newspapers, in addition to more than 5,000 television, the photograph library of the AP consists of over 10 million images. The AP operates 243 news bureaus in 120 countries and it also operates the AP Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, as part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, most member news organizations grant automatic permission for the AP to distribute their local news reports. The AP employs the inverted pyramid formula for writing that enables the news outlets to edit a story to fit its available publication area without losing the storys essentials. Cutbacks at rival United Press International in 1993 left the AP as the United States primary news service, although UPI still produces and distributes stories and photos daily. Other English-language news services, such as the BBC, Reuters, some historians believe that the Tribune joined at this time, documents show it was a member in 1849. The New York Times became a member shortly after its founding in September 1851, initially known as the New York Associated Press, the organization faced competition from the Western Associated Press, which criticized its monopolistic news gathering and price setting practices. The revelations led to the demise of the NYAP and in December 1892, when the AP was founded, news became a salable commodity. The invention of the press allowed the New York Tribune in the 1870s to print 18,000 papers per hour. During the Civil War and Spanish–American War, there was a new incentive to print vivid, Melville Stone, who had founded the Chicago Daily News in 1875, served as AP General Manager from 1893 to 1921. He embraced the standards of accuracy, impartiality, and integrity, the cooperative grew rapidly under the leadership of Kent Cooper, who built up bureau staff in South America, Europe and, the Middle East. He introduced the telegraph typewriter or teletypewriter into newsrooms in 1914, in 1935, AP launched the Wirephoto network, which allowed transmission of news photographs over leased private telephone lines on the day they were taken. This gave AP a major advantage over other media outlets. While the first network was only between New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, eventually AP had its network across the whole United States, in 1945, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Associated Press v. The decision facilitated the growth of its main rival United Press International, AP entered the broadcast field in 1941 when it began distributing news to radio stations, it created its own radio network in 1974
Associated Press
–
The AP headquarters in October 2008, located at
450 West 33rd Street, in
New York City.
Associated Press
–
Associated Press
Associated Press
–
Logo on the former AP Building in New York City
Associated Press
–
The APTN Building in London
22.
Pioneer 0
–
The probe was intended to be called Pioneer, but the launch failure precluded that name. The spacecraft consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a truncated cone frustum of 6.5 inches high on each side. The cylinder was 29 inches in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the cone was 76 cm. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone, the shell was composed of laminated plastic and was painted with a pattern of dark and light stripes to help regulate temperature. A diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a micrometeorite hitting the diaphragm would generate an acoustic pulse that would travel through the diaphragm to the microphone. The microphone contained a crystal that rang at 100 kc under influence of the acoustic pulse. A bandpass amplifier would amplify the signal, so it could be detected, a search-coil magnetometer with nonlinear amplifier to measure the Earths, Moons and interplanetary magnetic field. At the time it was not known whether the Moon had a field or not. The spacecraft was powered by batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system. Ground commands were received through the dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was to be spin-stabilized at 1.8 revolutions per second, Pioneer 0 was launched on Thor missile number 127 at 12,18,00 UTC on August 17,1958 by the United States Air Force, only 4 minutes after the scheduled launch time. It was destroyed by an explosion of the first stage of the Thor booster,73.6 seconds after lift-off at 16 kilometres altitude,16 km downrange over the Atlantic Ocean. The failure was suspected to be due to a bearing that came loose. Erratic telemetry signals were received from the payload and upper stages for 123 seconds after the explosion, Air Force officials stated that they were not surprised at the failure, adding that it would have been more of a shock had the mission succeeded. It was the mission in the Pioneer program carried out by the United States Air Force. Pioneers 0-2 documents at Space Technology Laboratories archive
Pioneer 0
–
Thor-Able I
23.
Pioneer 2
–
Pioneer 2 was the last of the three project Able space probes designed to probe lunar and cislunar space. Launch took place at 07,30,00 UTC on November 8,1958, after Pioneer 1 had failed due to guidance system deficiencies, the guidance system was modified with a Doppler command system to ensure more accurate commands and minimize trajectory errors. An attempt to fire the engines on the probe was unsuccessful. Pioneer 2 was nearly identical to Pioneer 1 and it consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone frustum on each side. The cylinder was 74 centimeters in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the cone was 76 centimeters. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone, the shell was composed of laminated plastic. The total mass of the spacecraft after vernier separation but before injection rocket firing was 39.5 kilograms, the scientific instrument package had a mass of 15. The spacecraft was powered by batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system. Radio transmission was at 108.06 MHz through a magnetic dipole antenna for the system, telemetry. Ground commands were received at 115 MHz, the spacecraft was to be spin-stabilized at 1.8 revolutions per second, the spin direction approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory. Space Technology Laboratories Documents Archive NSSDC Master Catalog, Spacecraft Pioneer 2
Pioneer 2
–
Pioneer 2
24.
Pioneer 3
–
This spacecraft was intended as a lunar probe, but failed to go past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit as planned, but did reach an altitude of 102,360 km before falling back to the Earth. The revised spacecraft objectives were to measure radiation in the outer Van Allen radiation belt using two Geiger-Müller tubes and to test the mechanism for a lunar photographic experiment. Pioneer 3 was a cone-shaped probe 58 cm high and 25 cm diameter at its base, at the tip of the cone was a small probe which combined with the cone itself to act as an antenna. At the base of the cone a ring of mercury batteries provided power, a photoelectric sensor protruded from the center of the ring. The sensor was designed with two photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon when the probe was within about 30,000 km of the Moon, at the center of the cone was a voltage supply tube and two Geiger-Müller tubes. A transmitter with a mass of 0.5 kg delivered a phase-modulated signal of 0.1 W at a frequency of 960.05 MHz, the modulated carrier power was 0.08 W and the total effective radiated power 0.18 W. A despin mechanism consisted of two 7 gram weights which could be spooled out to the end of two 150 cm wires when triggered by a hydraulic timer 10 hours after launch. The weights would slow the spin from 400 rpm to 6 rpm and then weights. However, a lunar flyby rather than impact would still be considered a successful mission, the flight plan called for the Pioneer 3 probe to pass close to the Moon after 33.75 hours and then go into solar orbit. The Juno II lifted from LC-5 at 12,44 AM on December 6, the injection angle was also about 71° instead of the planned 68°, and the de-spin mechanism also failed to operate. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 102,360 km before falling back to Earth and it re-entered Earths atmosphere and burned up over Africa on December 7 at approximately 19,51 UT at an estimated location of 16.4 N,18.6 E. The probe returned telemetry for about 25 hours of its 38-hour-6-minute journey, the other 13 hours were blackout periods due to the location of the two tracking stations. The returned information showed that the temperature remained at about 43 °C over most of the period. While Pioneer 3 did not meet its mission objective of a lunar flyby. The Pioneer 3 probe data in addition to the data from the previous Explorer 1, the trapped radiation starts at an altitude of several hundred miles from Earth and extends for several thousand miles into space. These Van Allen radiation belts surrounding the Earth are named for Dr. James Van Allen, NSSDC Master Catalog, Spacecraft Pioneer 3 Pioneer III scientific instrument
Pioneer 3
–
Pioneer 3
25.
Pioneer 4
–
It carried a payload similar to Pioneer 3, a lunar radiation environment experiment using a Geiger–Müller tube detector and a lunar photography experiment. It passed within 58,983 km of the Moons surface, however, Pioneer 4 did not come close enough to trigger its photoelectric sensor. The spacecraft was still in orbit as of 1969. It was the only successful lunar probe launched by the U. S. in 12 attempts between 1958–63, only in 1964 would Ranger 7 surpass its success by accomplishing all of its mission objectives. Pioneer 4 was a cone-shaped probe 51 cm high and 23 cm in diameter at its base, at the tip of the cone was a small probe which combined with the cone itself to act as an antenna. At the base of the cone a ring of mercury batteries provided power, a photoelectric sensor protruded from the center of the ring. The sensor was designed with two photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon when the probe was within about 30,000 km of the Moon, at the center of the cone was a voltage supply tube and two Geiger–Müller tubes. A transmitter with a mass of 0.5 kilograms delivered a phase modulated signal of 0.1 W at a frequency of 960.05 MHz, the modulated carrier power was 0.08 W and the total effective radiated power 0.18 W. A despin mechanism consisted of two 7 gram weights which spooled out to the end of two 150 cm wires when triggered by a hydraulic timer 10 hours after launch. The weights were designed to slow the spin from 400 rpm to 6 rpm. The probe had S/N #4, with probe #3 recalled from launch due to technical issues, Pioneer 4 was launched with a Juno II launch vehicle, which also launched Pioneer 3. Juno II closely resembled the Juno I vehicle that launched Explorer 1 and its first stage was a 19.51 m elongated Jupiter IRBM missile that was used by the U. S. Army. On top of the Jupiter propulsion section was a guidance and control compartment that supported a rotating tub containing the rocket stages 2,3 and 4, Pioneer 4 was mounted on top of stage 4. At 12,10 AM EST on the night of March 2-3 and this time, the booster performed almost perfectly so that Pioneer 4 achieved its primary objective, returned radiation data and provided a valuable tracking exercise. The distance was not close enough to trigger the photoelectric sensor. The probe continued transmitting radiation data for 82.5 hours, to a distance of 409,000 miles, the cylindrical fourth stage casing went into orbit with the probe. The communication system had worked well, and it was estimated that signals could have been received out to 680,000 miles had there been enough battery power, luna 1 – a similar Soviet space program mission launched January 2,1959, several weeks before Pioneer 4. NASA JPL Pioneer 3 and 4 NSSDC Master Catalog, Spacecraft Pioneer 4
Pioneer 4
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Pioneer 3
Pioneer 4
–
Pioneer 4
Pioneer 4
Pioneer 4
26.
Pioneer P-3
–
Pioneer P-3 was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. S. Tests of maneuvering a satellite in space, since that flight was successful, Atlas 20D was reused for the Able program, coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including an Able x 248 rocket third stage. Because 20D had been built for the Mercury program, it had thicker-gauge skin than the standard Atlas ICBM. All proceeded normally until T+45 seconds when a shock was recorded by the Atlass rate gyros followed by the payload fairing breaking off of the launch vehicle. The Atlas itself was unaffected by the incident and completed its burn on schedule, the failure was traced to an improperly vented payload shroud that broke apart when the air pressure inside started exceeding the external pressure as the atmosphere thinned with altitude. In addition to changing prelaunch procedures, the shroud was redesigned to be more aerodynamic on future flights, Pioneer P-3 was a 1 meter diameter sphere with a propulsion system mounted on the bottom giving a total length of 1.4 meters. The mass of the structure and aluminum alloy shell was 25.3 kg, the solar panels charged chemical batteries. Attached to the bottom of the sphere was a 90 N vernier rocket for mid-course propulsion and this space engine was designed and built under contract with NASA by the Space Technology Laboratories of TRW. Two dipole UHF antennas protruded from the top of the sphere on either side of the rocket nozzle. Two dipole UHF antennas and a long VLF antenna protruded from the bottom of the sphere, thermal control was planned to be achieved by a large number of small propeller blade devices on the surface of the sphere. The blades themselves were made of material and consist of four vanes which were flush against the surface. Square heat-sink units were mounted on the surface of the sphere to help dissipate heat from the interior. The television camera pointed through a hole in the sphere between two of the solar panel mounts. The micrometeorite detector was mounted on the sphere as well, the total mass of the science package including electronics and power supply was 55 kg. Able NSSDC Master Catalog, Spacecraft Pioneer P-3 Space Technology Laboratories Documents Archive The fascinating story of the Worlds First Space Engine
Pioneer P-3
–
Able IV, The World's first space engine [
clarification needed]
Pioneer P-3
–
The Atlas-Able rocket
27.
Pioneer P-31
–
Pioneer P-31 was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. S. Tests of maneuvering a satellite in space, the spacecraft was launched on Atlas vehicle 91D coupled to Thor-Able upper stages including an Able solid propellant third stage on December 15,1960. At T+73 seconds, the Atlas experienced total structural breakup and loss of telemetry, the upper stages continued transmitting data until impact with the ocean. The payload fell into the Atlantic Ocean 12 to 20 km from Cape Canaveral in about 20 meter deep water, and a salvage operation recovered parts of the launch vehicle and the payload. This seemed a quite probable scenario since an Atlas launch earlier in the year had succumbed to apparent aerodynamic bending, parts of the Atlas, probe, and upper stages were retrieved from the sea floor. Examination of telemetry data revealed that the Ables engine had inadvertently ignited and detonated the Atlass LOX tank and this was proven by data indicating that the Able began accelerating at the moment of disturbance while the Atlas decelerated. The failure was described as especially disappointing since it was the launch in the Able probe series as its successor. In the end, the US space program would not see a successful lunar probe until Ranger 7 four years later. It also marked the launch in the first generation of lunar probes. Pioneer P-31 was virtually identical to the earlier Pioneer P-30 satellite which failed, the mass of the structure and aluminum alloy shell was about 30 kg and the propulsion units roughly 90 kg. The solar panels charged nickel-cadmium batteries, attached to the bottom of the sphere was a 90 N vernier rocket for mid-course propulsion and lunar orbit maneuvers which could be fired four times. Around the upper hemisphere of the tank was a ring-shaped instrument platform which held the batteries in two packs, two 1. Two dipole UHF antennas protruded from the top of the sphere on either side of the rocket nozzle. Two dipole UHF antennas and a long VLF antenna protruded from the bottom of the sphere, the transmitters operated on a frequency of 378 MHz. Thermal control was planned to be achieved by 50 small propeller blade devices on the surface of the sphere, the blades themselves were made of reflective material and consist of four vanes which were flush against the surface, covering a black heat-absorbing pattern painted on the sphere. Square heat-sink units were mounted on the surface of the sphere to help dissipate heat from the interior. A plasma probe was mounted on the sphere to measure energy, the micrometeorite detector and sun scanner were mounted on the sphere as well. The total mass of the package including electronics and power supply was roughly 60 kg
Pioneer P-31
–
The Pioneer P-31.
28.
Pioneer 5
–
Pioneer 5 was a spin-stabilized space probe in the NASA Pioneer program used to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus. It was launched on March 11,1960 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A at 13,00,00 UTC with a dry mass of 43 kg. It is a 0.66 m diameter sphere with 1.4 m span across its four solar panels, data was received until April 30,1960. Among other accomplishments, the confirmed the existence of interplanetary magnetic fields. Pioneer 5 was the most successful probe in the Pioneer/Able series, since it was not possible to send the probe to Venus, it would instead merely investigate interplanetary space and an actual mission to the planet would have to wait another three years. The spacecraft was a 0.66 m diameter sphere with four panels that spanned over 1.4 m. It was equipped with four scientific instruments, A triple coincidence omnidirectional proportional counter telescope to detect solar particles and it could detect photons with E >75 MeV and electrons with E >13 MeV. A rotating search coil magnetometer to measure the field in the distant field of the Earth, near the geomagnetic boundary. It was capable of measuring fields from 1 microgauss to 12 milligauss and it consisted of a single search coil that was mounted on the spacecraft in such a way that is measured the magnetic field perpendicular to the spin axis of the spacecraft. It could output its measurements in both an analog and a digital format, a Neher-type integrating ionization chamber and an Anton 302 Geiger-Müller tube to measure cosmic radiation. It was mounted normal to the axis of the spacecraft. A micrometeorite momentum spectrometer that consisted of two diaphragm and microphone combinations and it was used to measure the amount of meteoritic dust particles and the momentum of these particles. Booster performance during launch was overall excellent considering the numerous difficulties with the Thor-Able vehicle. There were some minor anomalies with the second stage flight control system resulted in unplanned pitch and roll motions. The spacecraft returned data collected by the magnetometer on the magnetic field, the spacecraft also measured solar flare particles, and cosmic radiation in the interplanetary region. The micrometeorite counter failed to operate as the data system saturated and failed to operate properly, the recorded digital data were transmitted at 1,8, and 64 bit/s, depending on the distance of the spacecraft from Earth and the size of the receiving antenna. Weight limitations on the solar cells prevented continuous operation of the telemetry transmitters, about four operations of 25 min duration were scheduled per day with occasional increases during times of special interest. A total of 138.9 h of operation was completed, the major portion of the data was received by the Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Hawaii Tracking Station because their antennas provided grid reception
Pioneer 5
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Pioneer 5 mounted to its
Thor Able launcher.
Pioneer 5
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Pioneer 5 with test equipment.
Pioneer 5
–
Current
Pioneer 5
29.
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9
–
Pioneer 6,7,8, and 9 were space probes in the Pioneer program. They were also known as Pioneer A, B, C, the fifth was lost in a launch accident. Pioneers 6,7,8, and 9 were created to make the first detailed, comprehensive measurements of the wind, solar magnetic field. They were designed to measure large scale magnetic phenomena and particles, data from the vehicles has been used to better understand stellar processes and the structure and flow of the solar wind. The vehicles also acted as the worlds first space-based solar weather network, providing data on solar storms which impact communications. The experiments studied the positive ions and electrons in the wind, the interplanetary electron density, solar and galactic cosmic rays. Each craft was identical, with a dry mass of 146 kg. They were spin-stabilized 0.94 m diameter ×0.81 m tall cylinders with a 1.8 m long magnetometer boom, the main antenna was a high-gain directional antenna. The spacecraft were spin-stabilized at about 1 Hz, and the axis was perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Instruments, By ground command, one of five bit rates, one of four data formats, the five bit rates were 512,256,64,16, and 8 bit/s. Three of the four data formats contained primarily scientific data and consisted of 32 seven-bit words per frame, one scientific data format was for use at the two highest bit rates. Another was for use at the three lowest bit rates, the third contained data from only the radio propagation experiment. The fourth data format contained mainly engineering data, the four operating modes were, real time, telemetry store, duty cycle store, and memory readout. In the real-time mode, data were sampled and transmitted directly as specified by the data format, in the telemetry store mode, data were stored and transmitted simultaneously in the format and at the bit rate selected. In the duty-cycle store mode, a frame of scientific data was collected and stored at a rate of 512 bit/s. In the memory readout mode, data was read out at whatever bit rate was appropriate to the distance from Earth. As stated by JPL, The Pioneer 6–9 program has been touted as one of the least expensive of all NASA spacecraft programs in terms of scientific results per dollar spent and its original design life expectancy was only 6 months. Although NASA described Pioneer 6 as extant as of 26 March 2007, at this time Pioneer 6 had operated for 12,758 days, making it the oldest operating space probe until it was surpassed by Voyager 2 on August 13,2012
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9
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Artist's conception of the Pioneer 6–9 spacecraft
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9
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Launch of Pioneer 6 on a
Delta-E rocket
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9
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Current
Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9
30.
Pioneer 10
–
Pioneer 10 is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing 258 kilograms, that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to escape velocity from the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, Pioneer 10 was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a 2.74 meters diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided a combined 155 watts at launch and it was launched on March 2,1972, by an Atlas-Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15,1972, and February 15,1973, photography of Jupiter began November 6,1973, at a range of 25,000,000 kilometers, and a total of about 500 images were transmitted. The closest approach to the planet was on December 4,1973, radio communications were lost with Pioneer 10 on January 23,2003, because of the loss of electric power for its radio transmitter, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion kilometers from Earth. An advocacy group named the Outer Space Panel and chaired by American space scientist James A. Van Allen, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center put together a proposal for a pair of Galactic Jupiter Probes that would pass through the asteroid belt and visit Jupiter. These were to be launched in 1972 and 1973 during favorable windows that occurred only a few weeks every 13 months, Launch during other time intervals would have been more costly in terms of propellant requirements. Approved by NASA in February 1969, the spacecraft were designated Pioneer F and Pioneer G before launch, later they were named Pioneer 10. They formed part of the Pioneer program, a series of United States unmanned space missions launched between 1958 and 1978 and this model was the first in the series to be designed for exploring the outer Solar System. More than 150 scientific experiments were proposed for the missions, the experiments to be carried on the spacecraft were selected in a series of planning sessions during the 1960s, then were finalized by early 1970. NASA Ames Research Center, rather than Goddard, was selected to manage the project as part of the Pioneer program, the Ames Research Center, under the direction of Charles F. Hall, was chosen because of its previous experience with spin-stabilized spacecraft. The requirements called for a small, lightweight spacecraft which was magnetically clean and it was to use spacecraft modules that had already been proven in the Pioneer 6 through 9 missions. In February 1970, Ames awarded a combined $380 million contract to TRW for building both of the Pioneer 10 and 11 vehicles, bypassing the usual bidding process to save time, B. J. OBrien and Herb Lassen led the TRW team that assembled the spacecraft. Design and construction of the spacecraft required an estimated 25 million man-hours, to meet the schedule, the first launch would need to take place between February 29 and March 17 so that it could arrive at Jupiter in November 1974. The encounter trajectory for Pioneer 10 was selected to maximize the information returned about the environment around Jupiter. It would come within three times the radius of the planet, which was thought to be the closest it could approach. The trajectory chosen would give the spacecraft a good view of the sunlit side, the Pioneer 10 bus measured 36 centimeters deep and with six 76-centimeter long panels forming the hexagonal structure
Pioneer 10
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Artist's impression of Pioneer 10 's flyby of
Jupiter
Pioneer 10
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Pioneer 10 in the final stages of construction
Pioneer 10
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Pioneer 10 on a Star-37E kick motor just prior to being encapsulated for launch
Pioneer 10
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Two of the SNAP-19 RTGs mounted on an extension boom
31.
Pioneer 11
–
It was the first probe to encounter Saturn and the second to fly through the asteroid belt and by Jupiter. Due to power constraints and the vast distance to the probe, approved in February 1969, Pioneer 11 and its twin probe, Pioneer 10, were the first to be designed for exploring the outer Solar System. Subsequent planning for an encounter with Saturn added many more goals, Map the magnetic field of Saturn and determine its intensity, direction, determine how many electrons and protons of various energies are distributed along the trajectory of the spacecraft through the Saturn system. Map the interaction of the Saturn system with the solar wind, measure the temperature of Saturns atmosphere and that of Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn. Determine the structure of the atmosphere of Saturn where molecules are expected to be electrically charged. Map the thermal structure of Saturns atmosphere by infrared observations coupled with radio occultation data, obtain spin-scan images of the Saturnian system in two colors during the encounter sequence and polarimetry measurements of the planet. Probe the ring system and the atmosphere of Saturn with S-band radio occultation, determine more precisely the masses of Saturn and its larger satellites by accurate observations of the effects of their gravitational fields on the motion of the spacecraft. As a precursor to the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn mission, verify the environment of the plane to find out where it may be safely crossed by the Mariner spacecraft without serious damage. Pioneer 11 was built by TRW and managed as part of the Pioneer program by NASA Ames Research Center, a backup unit, Pioneer H, is currently on display in the Milestones of Flight exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D. C. Many elements of the proved to be critical in the planning of the Voyager Program. The Pioneer 11 bus measured 36 centimeters deep and with six 76-centimeter-long panels forming the hexagonal structure, the bus housed propellant to control the orientation of the probe and eight of the twelve scientific instruments. The spacecraft had a mass of 260 kilograms, information for the orientation was provided by performing conical scanning maneuvers to track Earth in its orbit, a star sensor able to reference Canopus, and two Sun sensors. The space probe included a redundant system transceivers, one attached to the high-gain antenna, each transceiver was 8 watts and transmitted data across the S-band using 2110 MHz for the uplink from Earth and 2292 MHz for the downlink to Earth with the Deep Space Network tracking the signal. Prior to transmitting data, the probe used an encoder to allow correction of errors in the received data on Earth. Pioneer 11 used four SNAP-19 radioisotope thermoelectric generators and they were positioned on two three-rod trusses, each 3 meters in length and 120 degrees apart. This was expected to be a distance from the sensitive scientific experiments carried on board. Combined, the RTGs provided 155 watts at launch, and decayed to 140 W in transit to Jupiter, the spacecraft required 100 W to power all systems. The spacecraft included two command decoders and a distribution unit, a very limited form of processor, to direct operations on the spacecraft
Pioneer 11
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Artist's impression of Pioneer 11 's flyby of
Saturn.
Pioneer 11
Pioneer 11
Pioneer 11
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Principal investigator: Edward Smith / JPL
32.
Pioneer H
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Pioneer H is an unlaunched unmanned space mission that was part of the US Pioneer program for a planned 1974 launch. Had this mission and spacecraft been launched, it would have been designated Pioneer 12, as planning for the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions progressed, mission scientists found themselves desiring a third probe. In 1971, a formal study was proposed for a spacecraft to be launched to Jupiter in 1974. This was the first Out-Of-The-Ecliptic mission proposed, for Jupiter and solar observations, nASA/Ames Research Center would have managed the project. The NASA contractor TRW Systems Group would have constructed Pioneer H from the spare components intended for the Pioneer F and G probes. NASA management did not approve the proposal, and it was never launched in 1974. In 1976 NASA transferred the craft to the Smithsonian Institution, in January 1977, Pioneer H was moved to the National Air and Space Museum, where it was eventually displayed as a replica of Pioneer 10. The Pioneer H mission concept was realized with the Ulysses mission. The Juno mission, currently at Jupiter in an orbit, is taking the magnetometer observations of Jupiters poles that Pioneer H would have performed. Pioneer H hangs in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, while described in official Smithsonian records as a replica, the spacecraft was considered fully functional by Pioneer mission planners. However, our case fell on deaf ears at NASA headquarters, and the spare spacecraft now hangs in the main gallery of the National Air and Space Museum, at 1 AU and zero ecliptic latitude
Pioneer H
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Pioneer H at NASM, behind James A. Van Allen
Pioneer H
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Pioneer H (diagram), uses same design as Pioneer 10 and 11
Pioneer H
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Pioneer H as it hangs in the National Air and Space Museum
Pioneer H
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Orbiters
33.
Pioneer Venus project
–
The Pioneer Venus project was part of the Pioneer program consisting of two spacecraft, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, launched to Venus in 1978. The program was managed by NASAs Ames Research Center, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter entered orbit around Venus on December 4,1978, and performed observations to characterize the atmosphere and surface of Venus. It continued to transmit data until October 1992, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe deployed four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere on December 9,1978. All four probes transmitted data throughout their descent to the surface, one probe survived landing and transmitted data from the surface for over an hour. The Pioneer mission consisted of two components, launched separately, an orbiter and a multiprobe, the orbiter was launched on 20 May 1978 with an Atlas-Centaur rocket. The orbiters mass was 517 kg, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter was inserted into an elliptical orbit around Venus on December 4,1978. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe was launched on August 8,1978 on an Atlas-Centaur rocket and it consisted of a 290 kg bus which carried one large and three small atmospheric probes. The large probe was released on November 16,1978 and the three small probes on November 20, all four probes entered the Venus atmosphere on December 9, followed by the bus. The Pioneer Venus large probe was about 1.5 m in diameter, after deceleration from initial atmospheric entry at about 11.5 km/s, a parachute was deployed at 47 km altitude.8 m in diameter and 90 kg each small probe. The small probes were each targeted at different parts of the planet, They had no parachutes, the Pioneer Venus bus also carried two experiments, a neutral mass spectrometer and an ion mass spectrometer to study the composition of the atmosphere. With no heat shield or parachute, the bus made measurements only to about 110 km altitude before burning up, Pioneer Venus specifications at NASA The Pioneer Venus Orbiter,11 years of data. Results published in May 1,1990
Pioneer Venus project
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Cloud structure in
the Venusian atmosphere in 1979, revealed by ultraviolet observations by
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Pioneer Venus project
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Geography
Pioneer Venus project
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Orbiters
Pioneer Venus project
34.
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
–
The Pioneer Venus Orbiter, also known as Pioneer Venus 1 or Pioneer 12, was a mission to Venus conducted as part of the Pioneer Venus project. Launched in May 1978 atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, the spacecraft was inserted into an orbit around Venus on December 4,1978. It returned data on Venus until October 1992, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter was launched by an Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR rocket, which flew from Launch Complex 36A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch occurred at 13,13,00 on May 20,1978, Venus orbit insertion occurred on December 4,1978. Manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter was based on the HS-507 bus, the spacecraft was a flat cylinder,2.5 meters in diameter and 1.2 meters long. All instruments and spacecraft subsystems were mounted on the end of the cylinder, except the magnetometer. A solar array extended around the circumference of the cylinder, a 1.09 metres despun dish antenna provided S and X band communication with Earth. A Star-24 solid rocket motor was integrated into the spacecraft to provide the thrust to enter orbit around Venus, from Venus orbit insertion to July 1980, periapsis was held between 142 and 253 kilometres to facilitate radar and ionospheric measurements. The spacecraft was in a 24-hour orbit with an apoapsis of 66,900 kilometers, thereafter, the periapsis was allowed to rise to a maximum of 2,290 kilometres and then fall, to conserve fuel. In 1991, the Radar Mapper was reactivated to investigate previously inaccessible southern portions of the planet, the spacecraft continued to return data until 8 October 1992, with the last signals being received at 19,22 UTC. The Pioneer Venus Orbiter disintegrated upon entering the atmosphere of Venus on October 22,1992, Observations could only be conducted when the probe was closer than 4700 km over the planet. A20 Watt S-band signal was sent to the surface that reflected it, resolution at periapsis was 23 x 7 km. From its orbit of Venus, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter was able to observe Halleys Comet when it was unobservable from Earth due to its proximity to the sun during February 1986, UV spectrometer observations monitored the loss of water from the comets nucleus at perihelion on February 9. Young, Richard E. Sommer, Simon C, findlay, John T. Kelly, G. M. Thermal Contrast in the Atmosphere of Venus, Initial Appraisal from Pioneer Venus Probe Data, hoffman, J. H. Hodges, R. R. McElroy, M. B. Donahue, T. M. Kolpin, M. Composition and Structure of the Venus Atmosphere, laboratory Corroboration of the Pioneer Venus Gas Chromatograph Analyses. Hartle, R. E. Hedin, A. E. Kasprzak, W. T. Spencer, N. W. Hunten, D. M. Carignan, G. R. Venus Upper Atmosphere Neutral Gas Composition, First Observations of the Diurnal Variations. Implications of the Gas Compositional Measurements of Pioneer Venus for the Origin of Planetary Atmospheres, Stewart, A. Ian, Barth, Charles A
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
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Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
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Pioneer Venus 1 at KSC
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
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A map of Venus produced from Pioneer data
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
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Orbiters
35.
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
–
The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, also known as Pioneer Venus 2 or Pioneer 13 was a spacecraft launched in 1978 to explore Venus as part of NASAs Pioneer program. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe bus was constructed by the Hughes Aircraft Company and it was cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of 2.5 metres and a mass of 290 kilograms. Unlike the probes, which did not begin making direct measurements until they had decelerated lower in the atmosphere, the bus was targeted to enter the Venusian atmosphere at a shallow entry angle and transmit data until destruction by the heat of atmospheric friction. The spacecraft carried one large and three small probes, designed to collect data as they descended into the atmosphere of Venus. All four probes continued transmitting data until impact, however, one survived and continued to transmit data from the surface, the Large probe carried seven experiments, contained within a sealed spherical pressure vessel. After deceleration from initial atmospheric entry at about 11.5 kilometres per second near the equator on the side of Venus. The large probe was about 150 centimetres in diameter and the vessel itself was 73.2 centimeters in diameter. Three identical small probes, around 0.8 metres in diameter, were deployed and these probes consisted of spherical pressure vessels surrounded by an aeroshell, but unlike the large probe, they had no parachutes and the aeroshells did not separate from the probes. The small probes were each targeted at different parts of the planet and were named accordingly, the North probe entered the atmosphere at about 60 degrees north latitude on the day side. The Night probe entered on the night side, the Day probe entered well into the day side, and was the only one of the four probes which continued to send radio signals back after impact, for over an hour. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe was launched by an Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR rocket, the launch occurred at 07,33 on August 8,1978, and deployed the Multiprobe into heliocentric orbit for its coast to Venus. Prior to the Multiprobe reaching Venus, the four probes were deployed from the main bus, the large probe was released on November 16,1978, and the three small probes on November 20. All four probes and the bus reached Venus on December 9,1978, the large probe was the first to enter the atmosphere, at 18,45,32 UTC, followed over the next 11 minutes by the other three probes. The bus entered the atmosphere at 20,21,52 UTC, the four probes transmitted data until they impacted the surface of Venus. The Day Probe survived impact, returning data from the surface for over an hour, below the altitude of 50 km the temperatures measured by the four probes are identical to within a few degrees. They are between 448 °C and 459 °C on the surface, the ground pressure is between 86.2 bar and 94.5 bar. Nephelometers identified three cloud layers with different characteristics, overall data from airborne sensors confirmed, while specifying the data obtained by the Soviet space probe Venera program that preceded this mission. Young, Richard E. Sommer, Simon C, findlay, John T. Kelly, G. M
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
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Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
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Pioneer Venus Bus with probes attached
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
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Pioneer Venus Large Probe opens its parachute
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe
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Orbiters
36.
Pioneer plaque
–
The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft. The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were the first human-built objects to escape velocity from the Solar System. The plaques were attached to the antenna support struts in a position that would shield them from erosion by interstellar dust. He approached Carl Sagan, who had lectured about communication with extraterrestrial intelligences at a conference in Crimea, Sagan was enthusiastic about the idea of sending a message with the Pioneer spacecraft. NASA agreed to the plan and gave him three weeks to prepare a message, together with Frank Drake he designed the plaque, and the artwork was prepared by Sagans then wife Linda Salzman Sagan. Both plaques were manufactured at Precision Engravers, San Carlos, California, the first plaque was launched with Pioneer 10 on March 2,1972, and the second followed with Pioneer 11 on April 5,1973. Material,6061 T6 gold-anodized aluminum Width,229 mm Height,152 mm Thickness,1.27 mm Mean depth of engraving,0.381 millimeters Mass, approx. 0.120 kilograms At the top left of the plate is a representation of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen. The spin-flip transition of a hydrogen atom’s electron has a frequency of about 1420.405 MHz, light at this frequency has a vacuum wavelength of 21.106 cm. Below the symbol, the small vertical line—representing the binary digit 1—specifies a unit of length as well as a unit of time, both units are used as measurements in the other symbols. On the right side of the plaque, a man and a woman are shown in front of the spacecraft, between the brackets that indicate the height of the woman, the binary representation of the number 8 can be seen. In units of the wavelength of the transition of hydrogen this means 8 ×21 cm =168 cm. The right hand of the man is raised as a sign of good will, although this gesture may not be understood, it offers a way to show the opposable thumb and how the limbs can be moved. Originally Sagan intended the humans to be holding hands. The original drawings of the figures were based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, one can see that the womans genitals are not really depicted, only the Mons pubis is shown. It has been claimed that Sagan, having time to complete the plaque, suspected that NASA would have rejected a more intricate drawing. Carl Sagan said that the decision to not include the line on the womans genitalia which would be caused by the intersection of the labia majora was due to two reasons. First, Greek sculptures of women do not include that line, second, Carl Sagan believed that a design with such an explicit depiction of a womans genitalia would be considered too obscene to be approved by NASA
Pioneer plaque
–
The plaque attached to
Pioneer 10
Pioneer plaque
–
The illustration on the Pioneer plaque
37.
Space policy of the United States
–
The early history of United States space policy is linked to the US–Soviet Space Race of the 1960s, which gave way to the Space Shuttle program. There is a current debate on the post-Space Shuttle future of the space program. Space advocacy organizations may provide advice to the government and lobby for space goals, the President is legally responsible for deciding which space activities fall under the civilian and military areas. The President also consults with the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget. Before taking office as President, John F. Kennedy persuaded Congress to amend the Act to allow him to set the precedent of delegating chairmanship of this council to his Vice President, the Council was discontinued in 1973 during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush re-established a differently constituted National Space Council by executive order, International aspects of US space policy may involve diplomatic negotiation with other countries, such as the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. In these cases, the President negotiates and signs the treaty on behalf of the United States according to his constitutional authority, once a request is submitted, the Congress exercises due diligence to approve the policy and authorize a budgetary expenditure for its implementation. In support of this, civilian policies are reviewed by the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducts hearings on proposed space treaties, and the various appropriations committees have power over the budgets for space-related agencies. In addition, the Department of Commerces National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operates various services with space components, military space activities are implemented by the Air Force Space Command, Naval Space Command, and Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Funding for space programs occurs through the budget process, where it is mainly considered to be part of the nations science policy. In the Obama administrations budget request for fiscal year 2011, NASA would receive $11.0 billion, out of a total research and development budget of $148.1 billion. Other space activities are funded out of the research and development budget of the Department of Defense, the United States is a party to four of the five space law treaties ratified by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The United States has ratified the Outer Space Treaty, Rescue Agreement, Space Liability Convention, and the Registration Convention, the United Nations General Assembly adopted five declarations and legal principles which encourage exercising the international laws, as well as unified communication between countries. No one nation may claim ownership of space or any celestial body. Objects launched into space are subject to their nation of belonging, including people, objects, parts, and components discovered outside the jurisdiction of a nation will be returned upon identification. If a nation launches an object into space, they are responsible for any damages that occur internationally, prior to the Soviet Unions launch of Sputnik 1, Eisenhower had already authorized Project Vanguard, a scientific satellite program associated with the International Geophysical Year. At the suggestion of Eisenhowers science advisor James R. Killian, the result was the National Aeronautics and Space Act passed in July 1958, which created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Eisenhower appointed T. Keith Glennan as NASAs first Administrator, with the last NACA Director Hugh Dryden serving as his Deputy, NASA as created in the act passed by Congress was substantially stronger than the Eisenhower administrations original proposal
Space policy of the United States
–
President Nixon visits the
Apollo 11 astronauts in
quarantine after observing their landing in the ocean from the deck of the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet.
Space policy of the United States
Space policy of the United States
–
President Reagan delivering the March 23, 1983 speech initiating the
Strategic Defense Initiative.
Space policy of the United States
–
The launch of the
Ares I-X prototype on October 28, 2009 was the only flight performed under the Bush administration's
Constellation program.
38.
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
–
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U. S. federal agency founded on March 3,1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1,1958, the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics, NACA was pronounced as discrete letters, rather than as a whole word. NACA was also key in developing the area rule that is used on all modern supersonic aircraft and it was modeled on similar national agencies found in Europe. The most influential agency upon which the NACA was based was the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in December 1912, President William Howard Taft had appointed a National Aerodynamical Laboratory Commission chaired by Robert S. Woodward, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Legislation was introduced in both houses of Congress early in January 1913 to approve the commission, but when it came to a vote, assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote that he heartily the principle on which the legislation was based. Walcott suggested the tactic of adding the resolution to the Naval Appropriations Bill, according to one source, The enabling legislation for the NACA slipped through almost unnoticed as a rider attached to the Naval Appropriation Bill, on 3 March 1915. The committee of 12 people, all unpaid, were allocated a budget of $5,000 per year. President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law the day, thus formally creating the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. On January 29,1920, President Wilson appointed pioneering flier, by the early 1920s, it had adopted a new and more ambitious mission, to promote military and civilian aviation through applied research that looked beyond current needs. NACA researchers pursued this mission through the impressive collection of in-house wind tunnels, engine test stands. Commercial and military clients were also permitted to use NACA facilities on a contract basis, facilities Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory Ames Aeronautical Laboratory Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory Muroc Flight Test Unit In 1922, NACA had 100 employees. In addition to assignments, staff were encouraged to pursue unauthorized bootleg research. The result was a string of fundamental breakthroughs, including thin airfoil theory, NACA engine cowl, the NACA airfoil series. The full-size 30-by-60-foot Langley wind tunnel operated at no more than 100 miles per hour and these were speeds Lockheed engineers considered useless for their purposes. Arnold took up the matter and overruled NACA objections to higher air speeds, NACA built a handful of new high-speed wind tunnels, and Mach 0.75 (570 mph was reached at Moffetts 16-foot wind tunnel late in 1942. In the years immediately preceding World War II, NACA was involved in the development of designs that served key roles in the war effort. This enabled the B-17 to be used as a key aircraft in the war effort, the designs and information gained from NACA research on the B-17 were used in nearly every major U. S. military powerplant of the Second World War. Nearly every aircraft used some form of forced induction that relied on information developed by NACA, because of this, U. S. -produced aircraft had a significant power advantage above 15,000 feet, which was never fully countered by Axis forces
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
–
The official seal of NACA, depicting the
Wright brothers ' first flight at
Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
–
The inscription on the wall is NACA's mission statement: "...It shall be the duty of the advisory committee for aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution..." By an Act of Congress Approved March 3, 1915
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
–
The first meeting of the NACA in 1915
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
–
The NACA Test Force at the
High-Speed Flight Station in Edwards, California. The white aircraft in the foreground is a
Douglas Skyrocket.
39.
Space Task Group
–
The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with managing Americas manned spaceflight programs. Headed by Robert Gilruth and based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, it managed Project Mercury, for instance, President Richard Nixon appointed such a group in February 1969 to outline a post-Apollo spaceflight strategy, chaired by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. Created on November 5,1958, the Space Task Group was headed by Robert Gilruth, originally it consisted of 45 people, including eight secretaries and computers, the occupational title for women who ran calculations on mechanical adding machines. Of its 37 engineers,27 were from Langley Research Center, the head of the public affairs office was John Shorty Powers. In 1959, the group was expanded by the addition of 32 engineers from Canada and these new engineers included Jim Chamberlin, George Harris, John Hodge, Owen Maynard, Bryan Erb, Rodney Rose, and Tecwyn Roberts. Webb got the approval of Kennedy, and the Congress, on September 19, Webb announced the new Manned Spacecraft Center would be built on a Houston, Texas site donated by Rice University. By September 1962, his organization was moved to Houston and construction had begun, the MSC facility was completed in September 1963. This council was tasked with making recommendations on the direction of the US civilian, occasionally this council was referred to as a Space Task Group. President John F. Kennedy persuaded Congress to modify the law to him the authority to appoint the Vice President to chair the council in his place. As the Apollo program reached its climax in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon directed Vice President Spiro T. Agnews Space Task Group to recommend a future direction of the US manned space program. Agnew enthusiastically supported an ambitious Space Transportation System program including reusable spacecraft, permanent Earth and Lunar stations, arrows to the Moon - Avros Engineers and the Space Race. Apollo, The Race to the Moon, swenson, Jr. Loyd S. James M. Grimwood, Charles C. Alexander. This New Ocean, A History of Project Mercury, archived from the original on 2007-08-23
Space Task Group
–
Sign on the Space Task Group building in June 1961
40.
Thomas O. Paine
–
Thomas Otten Paine, an American scientist and advocate of Space exploration, was the third Administrator of NASA, serving from March 21,1969 to September 15,1970. During his administration at NASA, the first seven Apollo manned missions were flown, Paine was also deeply involved in preparing plans for the post-Apollo era at NASA. Born in Berkeley, California, Paine attended public schools in various cities, in World War II, he served as a submarine officer in the Pacific and in the subsequent Japanese occupation. He qualified as a Navy deep-sea diver and was awarded the Commendation Medal, from 1946-49, Paine attended Stanford University, receiving an M. S. degree in 1947 and Ph. D. in physical metallurgy. Paine was married to Barbara Helen Taunton Pearse of Perth, Western Australia and they had four children, Marguerite Ada, George Thomas, Judith Janet, and Frank Taunton. He joined the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, in 1949 as a research associate, where he started research programs on magnetic and composite materials. In 1951, Paine transferred to the Meter and Instrument Department of G. E. in Lynn, Massachusetts, as the manager of materials development, and later as a laboratory manager. From 1958 through 1962, Dr. Paine was an associate and manager of Engineering Applications at the Research and Development Center of the General Electric Company in Schenectady. From 1963 to 1968, Paine was manager of TEMPO, the Center for Advanced Studies of General Electric located in Santa Barbara, Dr. Paine was appointed Deputy Administrator of NASA on January 31,1968. Upon the retirement of James E. Webb on October 8,1968 and he was nominated as NASAs third Administrator on March 5,1969, and confirmed by the Senate on March 20,1969. Dr. Paine was recruited to succeed Mr. Webb by President Lyndon Johnson, during his administration at NASA, the first seven Apollo manned missions were flown, highlighted by the first ever manned lunar landing by Apollo 11. In all,20 astronauts orbited Earth,14 traveled to the Moon, many automated scientific and applications spacecraft were also flown in U. S. and cooperative international programs. Paine was also involved in preparing plans for the post-Apollo era at NASA. President Richard Nixon rejected these plans, however, Paine was instrumental in acquiring the Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages which rest on the lunar surface today. He personally corresponded with world leaders and coordinated the efforts to enshrine the messages on a tiny silicon disc manufactured by the Sprague Electric Company of North Adams, paines name is also etched onto the disc. Paine discussed the idea of the messages with the State Departments U, Paine left GE in 1976 to become the President and Chief Operating Officer of Northrop Corporation, where he also served as a Director. Paine retired as President of Northrop in 1982, in 1982, Paine established Thomas Paine Associates - High Technology Enterprises in Westwood, CA, and relocated it in Santa Monica, CA, in 1986. TPA also housed Paine’s 3400-volume Submarine Warfare Library, which was donated to the Nimitz Library
Thomas O. Paine
–
Thomas O. Paine
41.
Rogers Commission Report
–
The Rogers Commission Report was created by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The failure of the O-rings was attributed to a design flaw, more broadly, the report also determined the contributing causes of the accident. Most salient was the failure of both NASA and its contractor, Morton Thiokol, to respond adequately to the design flaw, the Commission found that as early as 1977, NASA managers had not only known about the flawed O-ring, but that it had the potential for catastrophe. This led the Rogers Commission to conclude that the Challenger disaster was an accident rooted in history, the report also strongly criticized the decision making process that led to the launch of Challenger, saying that it was seriously flawed. There was a meeting the night before the launch to discuss any major pressing issues that might delay the launch further, several of the Morton Thiokol engineers stated their concerns about the O-rings and urged the council to delay the launch. However, because there were no members of the safety council and it is certain that even though higher-ranking members of the council did know about the issues, there were plenty of members that could have stopped the launch but decided not to. This was done in part because of the management structure at NASA. One of the commissions members was theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. His style of investigating with his own direct methods rather than following the schedule put him at odds with Rogers. Feynmans own investigation reveals a disconnect between NASAs engineers and executives that was far more striking than he expected and his interviews of NASAs high-ranking managers revealed startling misunderstandings of elementary concepts. One such concept was the determination of a safety factor, in one example, early tests resulted in some of the booster rockets O-rings burning a third of the way through. These O-rings provided the gas-tight seal needed between the vertically stacked cylindrical sections that made up the fuel booster. NASA managers recorded this result as demonstrating that the O-rings had a safety factor of 3. If a 1,000 pound truck drove across the bridge and it cracked at all, even just a third of the way through a beam, the safety factor is now zero, Feynman was disturbed by two aspects of this practice. First, NASA management assigned a probability of failure to each individual bolt, sometimes claiming a probability of 1 in 108, Feynman pointed out that it is impossible to calculate such a remote possibility with any scientific rigor. Secondly, Feynman was bothered not just by this sloppy science, Feynman suspected that the 1/100,000 figure was wildly fantastical, and made a rough estimate that the true likelihood of shuttle disaster was closer to 1 in 100. He then decided to poll the engineers themselves, asking them to write down an estimate of the odds of shuttle explosion. Feynman found that the bulk of the engineers estimates fell between 1 in 50 and 1 in 200, not only did this confirm that NASA management had clearly failed to communicate with their own engineers, but the disparity engaged Feynmans emotions
Rogers Commission Report
–
Members of the Rogers Commission arrive at
Kennedy Space Center.
Rogers Commission Report
–
Front page of the Commission Report to Congress
Rogers Commission Report
–
The Space Shuttle solid rocket booster field joint assembly (from the Rogers Commission report
Rogers Commission Report
42.
Space Exploration Initiative
–
The Space Exploration Initiative was a 1989–1993 space public policy initiative of the George H. W. Bush administration. The President noted it was destiny to explore, and America’s destiny to lead. He asked Vice President Dan Quayle to lead the National Space Council in determining what was needed to carry out missions in terms of money, manpower. In the event, execution of the initiative was assigned to NASA, in August 1987 a committee chaired by former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride released a report entitled Leadership and America’s Future in Space. The Ride Report advocated establishment of a permanent moon base by 2010, on January 5,1988 President Ronald Reagan approved a revised United States national space policy, which was classified. On February 11 a summary Fact Sheet about the policy was publicly released, the policy identified six goals of United States space activities, the last of which was, to expand human presence and activity beyond Earth orbit into the solar system. In the view of NASA, the July 20,1989 speech by President Bush, following this announcement NASA Administrator Richard Truly initiated a study of the options to achieve the President’s goals, headed by Johnson Space Center Director Aaron Cohen. A report on that study, called, the 90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the Moon, the 90-Day Study estimated SEI’s long-term cost at approximately 500 billion dollars spread over 20 to 30 years. In particular, Democratic members of Congress had almost immediate criticism over Bushs plan, chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Jim Sasser, stated The President took one giant leap for starry-eyed political rhetoric, and not even a small step for fiscal responsibility. The hard fact is, this Administration doesnt even have its space priorities established for next year, President Bush sought international partners, but the program was thought too expensive even for an international endeavor. The Lunar Orbiter Missions would yield information on the distribution of high-TiO regolith on the whole Moon. The purpose was stated to be to provide a detailed geochemical and mineralogical map of the Moon, global stereoimaging to aid in site selection was also given as a function of the mission. The CLL program would have consisted of a series of Apollo-type missions, one mission was entitled Outpost Site Survey and Resource Assessment, involving the use of rovers. The site selected was in Mare Tranquillitatis near 15° N 22° E
Space Exploration Initiative
–
Artistic rendition of Space Station Freedom with the STS Orbiter Vehicle
43.
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
–
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board was convened by NASA to investigate the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-107 upon atmospheric re-entry on February 1,2003. The panel also recommended changes that should be made to increase the safety of future shuttle flights, the CAIB released its final report on August 26,2003. The board found both the physical cause of the accident and also what it called organizational causes. During re-entry into the Earths atmosphere, this damage allowed super-heated gases to enter and it was the seventh known instance of a piece of foam, from this particular area of the external tank, breaking free during launch. The problem of debris shedding from the tank was well known and had caused shuttle damage on every prior shuttle flight. The damage was usually, but not always, minor, over time, management gained confidence that it was an acceptable risk. NASA decided that it did not warrant an extra EVA for visual inspection, feeling that it would be like a car going down a highway, the board made 29 specific recommendations to NASA to improve the safety of future shuttle flights. Only two further Space Shuttle missions were allowed to be flown before the implementation of these recommendations, after the CAIB report came out, NASA implemented all recommended changes and flew its first post-Columbia mission in 2005. As part of the CAIB recommendations, the Shuttle carried a 50-foot inspection boom attached to the robot arm, NASA retired the Space Shuttle fleet on July 21,2011 after completing the ISS and the final flight and subsequent landing of Atlantis. The Shuttles replacement, Orion, was to have consisted of an Apollo-derived spacecraft launched on the Ares I rocket, Orion would not face the dangers of either an O-ring failure or shedding foam. In addition to ferrying crews to the ISS, the Orion spacecraft was to allow NASA to return to the Moon, chairman of the board Admiral Hal Gehman, USN Board members Rear Admiral Stephen Turcotte, Commander, Naval Safety Center Maj. General John Barry, Director, Plans and Programs, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command Maj. General Kenneth W. Hess, Commander, Air Force Safety Center Dr. James N. Hallock, Chief, Aviation Safety Division, U. S. Department of Transportation, wallace, Director of Accident Investigation, Federal Aviation Administration Brig
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
–
Columbia memorial in
Arlington National Cemetery
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
–
Close-up photo of left Bipod Foam Ramp
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
–
Main articles
44.
Vision for Space Exploration
–
The Vision for Space Exploration was a plan for space exploration announced on January 14,2004 by President George W. Bush. It was conceived as a response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the state of human spaceflight at NASA and it was replaced by the space policy of the Barack Obama administration in June 2010. S. Outlining some of the advantages, U. S. President George W. NASA has also outlined plans for manned missions to the far side of the Moon, all of the Apollo missions have landed on the near side. Unique products may be producible in the nearly limitless extreme vacuum of the surface. The Moon would become a proving ground also toward the development of In-Situ Resource Utilization, the NSS believes that the Moon may be a repository of the history and possible future of our planet, and that the six Apollo landings only scratched the surface of that treasure. For example, Rep. Dave Weldon said, I think this is the best thing that has happened to the program in decades. Throughout much of 2004, it was whether the U. S. Congress would be willing to approve. However, in November 2004, Congress passed a bill which gave NASA the $16.2 billion that President Bush had sought to kick-start the Vision. According to then-NASA chief Sean OKeefe, that spending bill “was as strong an endorsement of the space exploration vision, as any of us could have imagined. ”In 2005, Congress passed S.1281, the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, which explicitly endorses the Vision. NASAs Lunar Architecture forms a key part of its Global Exploration Strategy, the first part of the Lunar Architecture is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in June 2009 on board an Atlas V. The preliminary design review was completed in February 2006 and the design review was completed in November 2006. An important function of the orbiter will be to look for evidence that the increased concentrations of hydrogen discovered at the moons poles is in the form of lunar ice. After this the flights will make use of the new Ares I. However, VSE itself is poised to propel a host of beneficial Moon science activities, including lunar telescopes, selenological studies, with or without VSE, human spaceflight will be made sustainable. However, without VSE, more funds could be directed toward reducing human spaceflight costs sufficiently for the betterment of low Earth orbit research, business, alternatively, VSE could afford advances in other scientific research, in-situ lunar business industries, and lunar-space tourism. The VSE budget required termination the Space Shuttle by 2010 and of any US role in the International Space Station by 2017 and this would have required, even in the most optimistic plans, in a period of years without human spaceflight capability from the US. Termination of the Space Shuttle program, without any planned alternatives and this severely limited any future of low earth orbit or deep space exploration. Ultimately, the lack of funding caused the VSE to fall short of its original goals
Vision for Space Exploration
–
Cover page of report of Aldridge Commission, Report of the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004
Vision for Space Exploration
–
Two planned configurations for a return to the Moon, heavy lift (left) and crew (right)
Vision for Space Exploration
–
This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2015)
45.
Space Race
–
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union and the United States, for supremacy in spaceflight capability. The technological superiority required for such supremacy was seen as necessary for national security, the Space Race spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, unmanned space probes of the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon. The Soviet Union beat the US to this, with the October 4,1957 orbiting of Sputnik 1, the race peaked with the July 20,1969 US landing of the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11. The USSR tried but failed manned lunar missions, and eventually cancelled them, the Space Race has left a legacy of Earth communications and weather satellites, and continuing human space presence on the International Space Station. It has also sparked increases in spending on education and research and development, the origins of the Space Race can be traced to Germany, beginning in the 1930s and continuing during World War II when Nazi Germany researched and built operational ballistic missiles. Wernher von Braun, a young engineering prodigy, was recruited by Becker and Dornberger to join their secret army program at Kummersdorf-West in 1932, von Braun dreamed of conquering outer space with rockets, and did not initially see the military value in missile technology. They led the team built the Aggregate-4 rocket, which became the first vehicle to reach outer space during its test flight program in 1942 and 1943. By 1943, Germany began mass-producing the A-4 as the Vergeltungswaffe 2 and its supersonic speed meant there was no defense against it, and radar detection provided little warning. Germany used the weapon to bombard southern England and parts of Allied-liberated western Europe from 1944 until 1945, after the war, the V-2 became the basis of early American and Soviet rocket designs. The United States also acquired a number of complete V2 rockets. The German rocket center in Peenemünde was located in the part of Germany. On Stalins orders, the Soviet Union sent its best rocket engineers to this region to see what they could salvage for future weapons systems, the Soviet rocket engineers were led by Sergei Korolev. He had been involved in clubs and early Soviet rocket design in the 1930s. After the war, he became the USSRs chief rocket and spacecraft engineer and his identity was kept a state secret throughout the Cold War, and he was identified publicly only as the Chief Designer. In the West, his name was officially revealed when he died in 1966. They were not allowed to participate in final Soviet missile design, with their help, particularly Helmut Gröttrups group, Korolev reverse-engineered the A-4 and built his own version of the rocket, the R-1, in 1948. Later, he developed his own designs, though many of these designs were influenced by the Gröttrup Groups G4-R10 design from 1949. The Germans were eventually repatriated in 1951–53 and he also started developing liquid-fueled rockets in 1921, yet he had not been taken seriously by the public
Space Race
–
The Soviet Union achieved an early lead in the space race by launching the first artificial satellite
Sputnik 1 (replica) in 1957
Space Race
–
The United States led during the "Moon race" by landing
Neil Armstrong (pictured) and
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, July 1969.
Space Race
–
Astronaut
Thomas P. Stafford and cosmonaut
Aleksei Leonov shake hands in space, signifying the end of the "space race"
Space Race
–
Wernher von Braun (1912–1977), technical director of
Nazi Germany 's missile program, became the United States' lead rocket engineer during the 1950s and 1960s
46.
NASA Astronaut Corps
–
It is based at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The first U. S. astronaut candidates were selected by NASA in 1959, the military services were asked to provide a list of military test pilots who met specific qualifications. After stringent screening, NASA announced its selection of the Mercury Seven as its first astronauts, since then, NASA has selected 20 more groups of astronauts, opening the corps to civilians, scientists, doctors, engineers, and school teachers. As of the 2009 Astronaut Class 61% of the selected by NASA have come from military service. NASA selects candidates from a pool of applicants with a wide variety of backgrounds. From the thousands of applications received, only a few are chosen for the intensive Astronaut Candidate training program, including the “Original Seven”,339 candidates have been selected to date. The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior position for active astronauts in the Corps. The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the Corps and is the adviser to the NASA Administrator on astronaut training. The first Chief Astronaut was Deke Slayton, appointed in 1962, the current Chief Astronaut is Christopher Cassidy. Salaries for newly hired civilian astronauts are based on the federal governments General Schedule pay scale for grades GS-11 through GS-14, the astronauts grade is based on his or her academic achievements and experience. Astronauts can be promoted up to grade GS-15, as of 2015, astronauts based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, earn between $66,026 and $158,700. Military astronauts are detailed to the Johnson Space Center and remain on duty for pay, benefits, leave. There are no age restrictions for the NASA Astronaut Corps, Astronaut candidates have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. Candidates must be U. S. citizens to apply for the program, there are three broad categories of qualifications, education, work experience, and medical. Candidates must have a degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science. The degree must be followed by at least three years of related, progressively responsible, professional experience or at least 1,000 pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft, an advanced degree is desirable and may be substituted for experience. Teaching experience, including experience at the K -12 levels, is considered to be qualifying experience, blood pressure not to exceed 140/90 measured in a sitting position Standing height between 62 and 75 inches As of July 2015 the corps has 46 active astronauts and 36 management astronauts. The highest number of active astronauts at one time, was in 2000 when there were 149, all of the current astronaut corps are from the classes of 1996 or later
NASA Astronaut Corps
–
NASA
space suits previously worn by the Astronaut Corps at the Johnson Space Center
47.
Budget of NASA
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As a federal agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration receives its funding from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress. The following charts detail the amount of federal funding allotted to NASA each year over its past fifty-year history to operate aeronautics research, unmanned and manned space exploration programs. Seen in the year-by-year breakdown listed below, the amounts that NASA has been budgeted from 1958 to 2011 amounts to $526.178 billion—an average of $9.928 billion per year. By way of comparison, total spending over this period by the National Science Foundation was roughly one-fifth of NASAs expenditures, $101.5 billion, or $2 billion a year. Notes for table, Sources for a part of data, U. S. Office of Management and Budget, Air Force Associations Air Force Magazine 2007 Space Almanac Secondary references. CS, Year 1959-1968, 1989-1996, NASA Pocket Stats, http, CS, Year 1993-2011, Workforce Information Cubes, https, //wicn. nssc. nasa. gov 8. Contractors,1969, http, //history. nasa. gov/SP-4102/ch5. htm NASAs budget peaked in 1964-66, the agency was building up to the first moon landing, the Apollo program involved more than 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. In March 1966, NASA officials told Congress that the 1959-72 run-out cost of the Apollo program would be an estimated $22.718 billion, the total cost turned out to be between $20 and $25.4 billion in 1969 dollars. The costs of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets came to about $83 billion in 2005 dollars, Apollo spacecraft cost $28 billion, including the Command/Service Module, $17 billion, Lunar Module, $11 billion, and launch vehicles. The discounted rate of return for investment will have been 33 percent. A1992 commentary in the British science journal Nature reported, The economic benefits of NASAs programs are greater than generally realized, the main beneficiaries may not even realize the source of their good fortune. Only a scaled-back Space Shuttle was approved, and NASAs funding leveled off at just under 1% in 1976, after a brief increase to 1. 01% in 1992, it declined to about 0. 49% in 2013. The American public, on average, believes NASAs budget has a larger share of the federal budget than it actually does. It is estimated that most Americans spent less than $9 on NASA through personal income tax in 2009, however, there has been a recent movement to communicate discrepancy between perception and reality of NASAs budget as well as lobbying to return the funding back to the 1970-1990 level. The United States Senate Science Committee met in March 2012 where astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson testified that Right now, to help with public perception and to raise awareness regarding the widespread benefits of NASA-funded programs and technologies, NASA instituted the Spinoffs publication. According to the NASA Spinoff about page the technologies in these reports created interest in the technology transfer concept, its successes, the reports generated such keen interest by the public that NASA decided to make them into an attractive publication. Thus, the first four-color edition of Spinoff was published in 1976, in the 2010s conservatives have opposed the earth science aspects of NASA spending. These opponents are skeptical of climate change and they argue that current spending on earth science, particularly climate research is in pursuit of political agendas
Budget of NASA
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A map from NASA's web site illustrating its economic impact on the U.S. states (as of
FY 2003)
Budget of NASA
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NASA insignia
48.
NASA spin-off technologies
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In 1979, notable science fiction author Robert A. For more than 50 years, the NASA Technology Transfer Program has connected NASA resources to private industry, contrary to common belief, NASA did not invent Tang, Velcro or Teflon. In 2008, NASA announced an interactive Web feature, NASA @ Home, Spinoff is a NASA publication featuring technology made available to the public. Since 1976, NASA has featured an average of 50 technologies each year in the annual publication, when products first spun off from space research, NASA presented a black and white report in 1973, titled the Technology Utilization Program Report. Because of interest in the reports, NASA decided to create the annual publications in color, Spinoff was first published in 1976, and since then, NASA has distributed free copies to universities, the media, inventors and the general public. Spinoff describes how NASA works with industries and small businesses to bring new technology to the public. As of 2016, there were over 1,920 Spinoff products in the database dating back to 1976, the following is a list of technologies sometimes mistakenly attributed directly to NASA. In many cases, NASA popularized technology or aided its development, barcodes - The barcode was invented in 1948. However, NASA developed a type of barcode that could endure space environments, cordless power tools - The first cordless power tool was unveiled by Black & Decker in 1961. It was used by NASA and a number of spinoff products came out of those works, magnetic Resonance Imaging, best known as a device for body scanning. NASA contractor JPL developed digital signal processing, which has applications in medical imaging, microchip - The first microchip, also known as an integrated circuit, was developed in 1958 that was years before the first space mission. Quartz clocks - The first quartz clock was invented in 1927, however, in the late 1960s, NASA partnered with a company to make a highly accurate quartz clock. Smoke detectors - NASAs connection to the smoke detector is that it made one with adjustable sensitivity as part of the Skylab project. Space Pen - A common urban legend states that NASA spent an amount of money to develop a pen that would write in space, while the Soviets used pencils. )Tang juice powder - Tang was developed by General Foods in 1957. It was used in the multiple space missions, which gave brand awareness to it. Teflon - Telflon was invented by a DuPont scientist in 1941 and used on frying pans from the 1950s, however it has been applied by NASA to heat shields, space suits, Velcro - Velcro is a Swiss invention from the 1940s. Velcro was used during the Apollo missions to anchor equipment for astronauts, Diatek Corporation and NASA developed an aural thermometer that measures the thermal radiation emitted by the eardrum, similar to the way the temperature of stars and planets is measured. This method avoids contact with mucous membranes and permits rapid temperature measurement of newborn or incapacitated patients, NASA supported the Diatek Corporation through the Technology Affiliates Program
NASA spin-off technologies
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Apollo 11 in the orbit of the
Moon, July 1969
NASA spin-off technologies
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This ice-free airplane wing uses Thermawing's Aircraft Anti-Icing System, a NASA spin-off.
NASA spin-off technologies
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Initially referred to as "slow spring back foam", temper foam matches pressure against it and slowly returns to its original form once the pressure is removed.
NASA spin-off technologies
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Water Security Corporation's Discovery Water Filtration System
