THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994 TAG: 9406180242
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940618 LENGTH: WEEKSVILLE
The Pasquotank County company, TCOM Limited Partnership, is hoping to build a mammoth, lighter-than-air craft to transport the next version of the Hubble Space Telescope to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.
{REST} Scientists believe this retrievable telescope system would outperform the current Hubble craft.
Three Hubble experts from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Baltimore visited TCOM's Weeksville plant Thursday to learn how these balloons, known as aerostats, can be used in 21st century airborne astronomy.
``It went very well. We had a very successful demonstration,'' said Jim Gregory, facilities manager for the TCOM plant, on Friday.
The visit is part of a six-month study on the feasibility of a Polar Stratospheric Telescope, better known in the space industry as POST.
The project would use a helium-filled aerostat the size of a football field to transport a 20-foot telescope about 7.6 miles to the edge of the Earth's stratosphere. Power would be provided by an inch-thick coil carrying electric currents.
This tether would be attached at the other end to a ground system manned by scientists and TCOM workers stationed in the Artic, a hostile environment that also offers the group the best atmospheric conditions.
POST promoters say the telescope would provide clearer and more detailed pictures of stars and galaxies at a fraction of its predecessor's cost.
The Hubble scope, which took about 30 years from its conception to its launch in 1990, is expected to cost NASA up to $7 billion during its 15-year lifespan. That includes $629 million spent last winter to send astronauts into orbit to repair and improve the telescope.
``That's a significant cost,'' said Al Boswell, a TCOM spokesman at company headquarters in Columbia, Md. ``With this project, the cost is insignificant - very insignificant.''
The entire POST project is estimated at $40 million to $60 million and could be ready to operate two years after construction begins. That phase could come as early as the late 1990s, TCOM officials said.
In addition, costly repairs would be reduced by the aerostat's ability to be retrieved in about an hour, they said.
``We think that we are on to something,'' Boswell said. ``It could mean a whole industry that opens up to us.''
It could also mean an economic boom for the Elizabeth City area, where the aerostat and ground system would be built.
``Our employment would be increased significantly,'' Gregory said Friday.
Just how many new positions, mostly blue-collar jobs for high school graduates, is difficult to predict at this point, Gregory said. ``The increase in manpower would be a function of what other contracts we'd be working on simultaneously.''
The scope of the project also would influence employment, he added. TCOM currently has 75 employees at the Weeksville operation.
POST's potential to provide TCOM with a new purpose is critical for that company and two other lighter-than-air industries in Weeksville that had depended heavily on defense contracts to stay afloat.
Florida-based Airship International Ltd. markets commercial aircraft, such as the Budweiser blimp and the colorful Pink Floyd vessel recently seen in the Pasquotank area.
Westinghouse Airship Inc., which owns the world's largest airship with a length of 220 feet, is struggling financially to stay above ground.
In addition to teaming up with the space industry, TCOM is hoping to use its aerostat balloon material to manufacture oil booms, floats used to contain oil spills.
The POST aerostat also will break new ground for the Weeksville plant. The proposed space retrieval system requires a 90-meter aerostat at twice the volume of a 72-meter aerostat, currently the largest in the fleet. A new tether and mooring system are needed.
The entire project also requires the endorsement and approval of NASA. Gregory said Friday that NASA has been receptive.
by CNB