Duplicates Flashes Seen in Space : Shuttle Zaps Target With Beam in Research on Stars
Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger zapped a satellite with an electron beam gun Thursday to duplicate in miniature the powerful energy fields of stars in a study of a phenomenon that has long intrigued scientists.
A 6 1/2-foot free-flying satellite called the Plasma Diagnostics Package was hit with a jolt from the gun aboard the space shuttle. The astronauts said they could see flashes of light as the beam followed natural magnetic lines to the satellite.
Scientists on the ground called the demonstration “a fabulous success.”
Bolts of Energy
The experiment duplicated on a small scale the bolts of electron energy that astronomers have detected flashing in deep space between large stars many light years apart. It is hoped that data gathered by the PDP will help explain the phenomenon.
Meanwhile, National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers evaluated the amount of rocket propellant left on board Challenger and studied the possibility of raising the shuttle’s orbit. Scientists hoped that the orbit could be raised 8 to 10 miles to enhance data being gathered by a device studying the abundance of helium in the sun.
The spacecraft went into a lower-than-expected orbit when a rocket engine shut down during its launch Monday. The shuttle is circling Earth at a top altitude of about 195 miles, 46 miles lower than planned.
Scientists in a ground control station at the Johnson Space Center were described by mission scientist Eugene Urban as “overwhelmed” by the quality of data gathered by 12 experiments in Challenger’s cargo bay.
Experts Confounded
But a $60-million pointing device that refuses to operate as designed continued to confound experts. Changes in computer software designed to correct a flaw in digital instructions within the pointing device have been tried, but an optical aiming element in the system still failed to work Thursday.
Other parts of the complex, German-made pointing device were working, however, and program manager John Thomas said the device was a qualified success.
“Considering the totality of the system, it has performed as we expected,” Thomas said. When fed fine-tuned aiming information from an adjacent telescope, the pointing device was able to accurately track targets on the sun, he said.
Shuttle commander Gordon Fullerton, co-pilot Roy D. Bridges Jr., medical researcher F. Story Musgrave and scientists Karl Henize, Loren W. Acton, John-David Bartoe and Anthony England are scheduled to land Monday afternoon at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Meanwhile, the White House said Thursday that President Reagan has ordered cargo capacity on space shuttle flights to be sold at auction to foreign and commercial users, beginning Oct. 1, 1988.
The announcement said the minimum acceptable bid would be $74 million for a cargo bay load on a shuttle flight.
