NASA to Launch HCO Instrument, Will Test Spectroscope 15 Minutes

In May or June a rocket will carry an ultra-violet spectroscope built by the Harvard College Observatory on a 15-minute test flight in an Aerobee rocket.

The spectroscope is designed to be part of the Orbiting Solar Observatory II, a satellite which will observe the sun from a position high above the earth's atmosphere.

It is impossible for ultraviolet radiation to penetrate the atmosphere and therefore the satellite, to be launched this fall, may give astronomers a "picture" of solar radiation which they have never had before. When finally in the satellite, the observatory's instrument will scan the sun and the information it sends back to earth will help explain how the sun works, how it affects the earth, and how its intense radiation might endanger a future astronant.

In order to check the spectroscope's operation before it is used in OSO II, NASA launched it in an Aerobee rocket last November, for a 15 minute flight over White Sands. The instrument failed to operate properly, and gave only intermittent readings of ultraviolet intensity. If the device had been recovered, as planned, it could have been checked for mechanical flaws. But the spectroscope was destroyed when the rocket crashed in the desert.

At White Sands, N.M. missile range the capsule will be mounted on an Aerobee rocket and fired by NASA technicians. As the Aerobee speeds upwards, data will be sent to earth, recording all the activities of the spectroscope, which will begin to analyze the sun's light. After the test is over, Harvard can examine the data and the recovered instrument, and prepare itself for the actual satellite launching this fall.