SECRETARY'S REPORT 171 



In conjunction with the icy-conglomerate model of a comet, Dr. 

 Wliitney reexamined the theory of heat transfer within glaciers. He 

 showed that radioactive transfer can be appreciable and can signifi- 

 cantly influence measured temperatures in glaciers. Dr. Whitney, 

 Dr. Charles A. Lundquist, and Douglas Pitman have initiated labora- 

 tory work to elucidate the transfer of heat and mass witliin porous, 

 subliming matrices such as snow or frosty sand. Preliminary experi- 

 ments confirm that this work will be highly valuable for insight into 

 comet phenomena. 



Solar observations. — Information about solar phenomena may be 

 acquired by relatively direct or by indirect observational tecliniques. 

 Heating of the earth's atmosphere or oscillations in the direction of a 

 comet's tail are examples of indirect means of gleaning solar data. 

 The Observatory is also involved in more direct measurements. 



Dr. Leo Goldberg directs a broad program of solar-oriented re- 

 search, mostly under the auspices of Harvard College Observatory, but 

 partly within the research program of the Astrophysical Observatory. 

 An important part of Dr. Goldberg's program concerns the prepara- 

 tion of solar spectrometers for rocket and satellite flights.^* 



A model of the Harvard spectrometer for Orbiting Solar Observa- 

 tory B was flown in an Aerobee high rocket from Wliite Sands, New 

 Mexico, on September 6, 1963. Three full scans and part of a fourth 

 were obtained of the solar spectrum between 1350 and 500 A. Good 

 records were obtained of the emission lines and of the Lyman con- 

 tinuum. Dr. Robert W. Noyes of the Astrophysical Observatory as- 

 sisted in the reduction of the data from this experiment. 



The flight model for the OSO-B spectrometer was integrated into 

 the spacecraft at Ball Brothers Research Corporation in Colorado 

 and subsequently delivered to Cape Kennedy for final testing and 

 preparation for flight. A disastrous accident during spin-balance 

 testing, in which the third stage of the rocket to which the satellite was 

 attached ignited, caused the destruction of the entire payload. A 

 spare instrument now being calibrated will be integrated into a new 

 spacecraft during the next fiscal year. Dr. Noyes supervised the set- 

 ting up of a "Quick Look" Data System, by which data from experi- 

 ments aboard the Orbiting Solar Observatories will be acquired by 

 Harvard-SAO in decoded, legible form within a short time of the 

 satellite's pass over a ground station, thus permitting near-real-time 

 control of the experiment. 



Designs are currently being prepared " for an improved version of 

 the spectrometer capable of one arc minute resolution on the disk, 

 which will probably be flown about 1966. 



See footnotes, p. 177. 



