alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (05/04/84)
NASA today reported some encouraging words on two troublesome secondary stage rockets, the PAM and the IUS. McDonnel Douglas, which manufactures the PAM, which put two satellites into errant orbits this past year and 18 previous successes, says it has devised a method whereby it can tell which rockets will work and which will not. The method involves a CAT-scan-like test of the rocket nozzle, pinpointed as the source of trouble earlier this year. The report comes too late to launch a Canadian satellite on the 19 June mission (Canada has rescheduled the satellite for a 1985 mission), but it does now make it possible to launch two communications satellites in August. NASA also reported that the IUS will undergo one more test-firing, and if that works well, it will be ready for use in launching a twice-postponed DoD package and the TDRS-2 satellite.