> are in "private practice" so to speak.  Many physicans will refer their
> patients with Crohn's disease to RD's for dietary help.  If you can get
> your friend's physician to make a referral, medical insurance should pay for
> the RD's services just like the services of a physical therapist.  The
> better medical insurance plans will cover this but even if your friend's
> plan doesn't, it would be well worth the cost to get on a good diet to
> control the intestinal discomfort and help the intestinal lining heal.
> Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease of the intestinal lining and
> lipoxygenase inhibitors may help by decreasing leukotriene formation but
> I'm not aware of tea or turmeric containing lipoxygenase inhibitors.  For
> bad inflammation, steroids are used but for a mild case, the side effects
> are not worth the small benefit gained by steroid use.  Upjohn is developing
> a new lipoxygenase inhibitor that should greatly help deal with
> inflammatory diseases but it's not available yet.
>
> Marty B.
Be sure a dietician is up to date on Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis.
Previously, low residue diets were recommended, but this advice has
now changed.  Also, there will be differences in advice in patients with
and without obstructuon remaining, so input by the physician will be
important.  I find the dietician very important in my practice, and
I send most of my patients to a dietician in the course of seeing
them, since dieticians know so much better how to get diet histories
and evaluate the contents of a diet than I do.
Steve Holland
From: jag@ampex.com (Rayaz Jagani)
Subject: Re: Homeopathy: a respectable medical tradition?
Nntp-Posting-Host: dst-s4-21
Organization: Ampex Corporation, Redwood City CA
Lines: 27
In article <19609@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>In article <3794@nlsun1.oracle.nl> rgasch@nl.oracle.com (Robert Gasch) writes:
>>
>>In many European countries Homepathy is accepted as a method of curing
>>(or at least alleiating) many conditions to which modern medicine has
>>no answer. In most of these countries insurance pays for the
>>treatments.
>>
>
>Accepted by whom?  Not by scientists.  There are people
>in every country who waste time and money on quackery.
>In Britain and Scandanavia, where I have worked, it was not paid for.
>What are "most of these countries?"  I don't believe you.
>
>
When were you in Britain?, my information is different.
From Miranda Castro, _The Complete Homeopathy Handbook_,
ISBN 0-312-06320-2, oringinally published in Britain in 1990.
From Page 10,
.. and in 1946, when the National Health Service was established,
homeopathy was included as an officially approved method
of treatment.
From: tony@nexus.yorku.ca (Anthony Wallis)
Subject: "Choleric" and The Great NT/NF Semantic War.
Organization: York University
Lines: 64
[Cross-posted from alt.psychology.personality since it talks about
physician's personalities.  Apologies to sci.med readers not
familiar with the Myers-Briggs "NT/NF" personality terms.  But,
in a word or two, the NTs (iNtuitive->Thinkers) are approximately your
philosophy/science/tech pragmatic types, and the NFs (iNtuitive-Feelers)
are your humanities/social-"science"/theology idealistic types.  They
hate each others' guts (:-)) but tend to inter-marry.
The letter "J" is a reference to conscienciousness/decisiveness.]
Jon Noring emits typical NF-type stuff
> [Physicians] are just responding in their natural way:
> Hyper-Choleric Syndrome (HCS).  ..
> ..it is fascinating that a disproportionate number of
> physicians will type out as NT ..
> One driving characteristic of an NT, especially an NTJ, is their obvious
> choleric behavior (driver, type A, etc.) - the extreme emotional need to
> control, to lead, and/or to be the best or the most competent. ..
Please get it right, Jon.
(This NTJ has a strong desire to correct semantic mistakes,
because the NFs of this world are fouling the once-pristine NT
intellectual nest with their verbal poop.)
The dominant correlation is NT <-> Phlegmatic (and _not_ NT <-> Choleric).
One of the semantic roots of "choleric" is the idea of "hot" (emotional)
and one of the semantic roots of "phlegmatic" is "cold" (unemotional).
Here is a thumbnail sketch (taken from Hans Eysenck, refering to Wundt)
relating the Ancient Greek quadratic typology with modern terms:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emotional
^
("Melancholic")                 |                     ("Choleric")
|
Thoughtful Suspicious     |    Quickly-aroused Hotheaded
Unhappy Worried    |   Egocentric Histrionic
Anxious   |  Exhibitonist
Serious | Active
Unchangeable < ------------------------------------------------> Changeable
Calm | Playful
Reasonable  |  Carefree
Steadfast Persistent   |   Hopeful Sociable
Highly-principled Controlled    |    Controlled Easy-going
|
("Phlegmatic")                   |                     ("Sanguine")
|
v
Non-emotional
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suspect that your characterisation of NTs as "choleric" is what
you psych-types call a "projection" of your own NF-ness onto us.
> Maybe we need more NF doctor's.  :^)
Perhaps in serious pediatics and "my little boy's got a runny
nose, doctor" general practice, but, please God, not in neurology,
opthamology, urology, etc. etc.  And NF-psychiatry should seperate
from NT-(i.e. real) psychiatry and be given a new name .. something
like "channeling"  :-).
--
tony@nexus.yorku.ca = Tony Wallis, York University, Toronto, Canada
From: noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring)
Subject: Re: Is MSG sensitivity superstition?
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Lines: 45
In article dpc47852@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Daniel Paul Checkman) writes:
>bruce@Data-IO.COM (Bruce Reynolds) writes:
>
>>Anecedotal evidence is worthless.  Even doctors who have been using a drug
>>or treatment for years, and who swear it is effective, are often suprised
>>at the results of clinical trials.  Whether or not MSG causes describable,
>>reportable, documentable symptoms should be pretty simple to discover.
But it is quite a leap in logic to observe one situation where anecdotal
evidence led nowhere and therefore conclude that anecdotal evidence will
NEVER lead anywhere.  I'm sure somebody here can provide an example where
anecdotal evidence (and the interpretation of it) was upheld/verified by
follow-on rigorous clinical trials.
>I tend to disagree- I think anecdotal evidence, provided there is a lot of it,
>and it is fairly consistent, will is very important.  First, it points to the
>necessity of doing a study, and second, it at least says that the effects are
>all psychological (or possibly allergy in this case).  As I've pointed out
>person's "make-believe" can easily be another person's reality...
Good point.  There has been a tendency by some on this newsgroup to "circle
the wagons" to the viewpoint that anecdotal medical evidence is worthless
(maybe to counter the claims of those who are presenting anecdotal evidence
to support controversial subjects, such as the "yeast hypothesis").  But
evidence is evidence - it requires a "jury" or a process to sort it out and
determine the truth from the junk.  Medicine must continue to strive to better
understand the workings of the body/mind for the purpose of alleviating
illness - anecdotal evidence is just one piece of the puzzle;  it is not
worthless.  Rather, it can help focus limited resources in the right direction.
Jon Noring
--
Charter Member --->>>  INFJ Club.
If you're dying to know what INFJ means, be brave, e-mail me, I'll send info.
=============================================================================
| Jon Noring          | noring@netcom.com        |                          |
| JKN International   | IP    : 192.100.81.100   | FRED'S GOURMET CHOCOLATE |
| 1312 Carlton Place  | Phone : (510) 294-8153   | CHIPS - World's Best!    |
| Livermore, CA 94550 | V-Mail: (510) 417-4101   |                          |
=============================================================================
Who are you?  Read alt.psychology.personality!  That's where the action is.
From: banschbach@vms.ocom.okstate.edu
Subject: How To Prevent Kidney Stone Formation
Lines: 154
Nntp-Posting-Host: vms.ocom.okstate.edu
Organization: OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
I got asked in Sci. Med. Nutrition about vitamin C and oxalate production(
toxic, kidney stone formation?).  I decided to post my answer here as well
because of the recent question about kidney stones.  Not long after I got
into Sci. Med. I got flamed by a medical fellow for stating that magnesium
would prevent kidney stone formation.  I'm going to state it again here.
But the best way to prevent kidney stones from forming is to take B6
supplements.  Read on to find out why(I have my asbestos suit on now guys).
Vitamin C will form oxalic acid.  But large doses are needed (above 6 grams
per day).
1. Review Article "Nutritional factors in calcium containing kidney
stones with particular emphasis on Vitamin C" Int. Clin. Nutr. Rev.
5(3):110-129(1985).
But glycine also forms oxalic acid(D-amino acid oxidases).  For both
glycine and vitamin C, one of the best ways to drastically reduce this
production is not to cut back on dietary intake of vitamin C or glycine,
but to increase your intake of vitamin B6.
2. "Control of hyperoxaluria with large doses of pyridoxine in
patients with kidney stones" Int. Urol. Nephrol. 20(4):353-59(1988)
200 to 500 mg of B6 each day significasntly decreased the urinary
excretion of oxalate over the 18 month treatment program.
3. The action of pyridoxine in primary hyperoxaluria" Clin. Sci. 38
:277-86(1970).  Patients receiving at least 150mg B6 each day
showed a significant reduction in urinary oxalate levels.
For gylcine, this effect is due to increased transaminase activity(B6 is
required for transaminase activity) which makes less glycine available for
oxidative deamination(D-amino acid oxidases).  For vitamin C, the effect is
quite different.  There are different pathways for vitamin C catabolism.
The pathway that leads to oxalic acid formation will usually have 17 to 40%
of the ingested dose going into oxalic acid.  But this is highly variable
and the vitamin C review article pointed out that unless the dose gets upto
6 grams per day, not too much vitamin C gets catabolized to form oxalic
acid.  At very high doses of vitamin C(above 10 grams per day), more of the
extra vitamin C (more than 40% conversion) can end up as oxalic acid.  In a
very early study on vitamin C and oxalic production(Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol.
Med. 85:190-92(1954), intakes of 2 grams per day up to 9 grams per day
increased the average oxalic acid excretion from 38mg per day up to 178mg
per day.  Until 8 grams per day was reached, the average excreted was
increased by only 3 to 12mg per day(2 gram dose, 4 gram dose, 8 gram dose
and 9gram dose). 8 grams jumped it to 45mg over the average excretion
before supplementation and 9 grams jumped it to 150 mg over the average
before supplementation.
B6 is required by more enzymes than any other vitamin in the body.  There
are probably some enzymes that require vitamin B6 that we don't know about
yet.  Vitamin C catabolism is still not completely understood but the
speculation is that this other pathway that does not form oxalic acid must
have an enzyme in it that requires B6.  Differences in B6 levels could then
explain the very variable production of oxalic acid from a vitamin C
challenge(this is not the preferred route of catabolism).  Increasing your
intake of B6 would then result in less oxalic acid being formmed if you
take vitamin C supplements.  Since the typical American diet is deficient
in B6, some researchers believe that the main cause of calcium-oxalate
kidney stones is B6 deficiency(especially since so little oxalic acid gets
absorbed from the gut).  Diets providing 0 to 130mg of oxalic acid per day
showed absolutely no change in urinary excretion of oxalate(Urol Int.35:309
-15,1980).  If 400mg was present each day, there was a significant increase
in urinary oxalate excretion.
Here are the high oxalate foods:
1. Beans, coca, instant coffee, parsley, rhubarb, spinach and tea.
Contain at least 25mg/100grams
2. Beet tops, carrots, celery, chocolate, cumber, grapefruit, kale,
peanuts, pepper, sweet potatoe.
Contain 10 to 25 mg/100grams.
If the threshold is 130mg per day, you can see that you really have a lot
of latitude in food selection.  A recent N.Eng.J. Med. article also points
out that one good way to prevent kidney stone formation is to increase your
intake of calcium which will prevent most of the dietary oxalate from being
absorbed at all.  If you also increase your intake of B6, you shouldn't
have to worry about kidney stones at all. The RDA for B6 is 2mg per day for
males and 1.6mg per day for females(directly related to protein intake).
B6 can be toxic(nerve damage) if it is consumed in doses of 500mg or more
per day for an extended peroid(weeks to months).
The USDA food survey done in 1986 had an average intake of 1.87 mg per day
for males and 1.16mg per day for females living in the U.S.  Coupled with
this low intake was a high protein diet(which greatly increases the B6
requirement), as well as the presence of some of the 40 different drugs that
either block B6 absorption, are metabolic antagonists of B6, or promote B6
excretion in the urine.  Common ones are: birth control pills, alcohol,
isoniazid, penicillamine, and corticosteroids.  I tell my students to
supplement all their patients that are going to get any of the drugs that
increase the B6 requirement.  The dose recommended for patients taking
birth control pills is 10-15mg per day and this should work for most of the
other drugs that increase the B6 requirement(this would be on top of your
dietary intake of B6).  Any patient that has a history of kidney stone
formation should be given B6 supplements.
One other good way to prevent kidney stone formation is to make sure your
Ca/Mg dietary ratio is 2/1.  Magnesium-oxalate is much more soluble than is
calcium-oxalate.
4. "The magnesium:calcium ratio in the concentrated urines of
patients with calcium oxalate calculi"Invest. Urol 10:147(1972)
5. "Effect of magnesium citrate and magnesium oxide on the
crystallization of calcium in urine: changes producted by food-magnesium
interaction"J. Urol. 143(2):248-51(1990).
6.Review Article, "Magnesium in the physiopathology and treatment
of renal calcium stones" J. Presse Med. 161(1):25-27(1987).
There are actually about three times as many articles published in the
medical literature on the role of magnesium in preventing kidney stone
formation than there are for B6.  I thought that I was being pretty safe in
stating that magnesium would prevent kidney stone formation in an earlier
post in this news group but good old John A. in Mass. jumped all over me. I
guess that he doesn't read the medical literature.  Oh well, since kidney
stones can be a real pain and a lot of people suffer from them, I thought
I'd tell you how you can avoid the pain and stay out of the doctor's office.
Martin Banschbach, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Chairman
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
1111 W. 17th Street
Tulsa, Ok. 74107
"Without discourse, there is no remembering, without remembering, there is
no learning, without learning, there is only ignorance".  From a wise man
who lived in China, many, many years ago.  I think that it still has
meaning in today's world.
From: kxgst1+@pitt.edu (Kenneth Gilbert)
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Gyro (souvlaki) sauce
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 19
In article <1r8pcn$rm1@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu> Donald_Mackie@med.umich.edu (Donald Mackie) writes:
:In article <1993Apr22.205341.172965@locus.com> Michael Trofimoff,
:tron@fafnir.la.locus.com writes:
:>Would anyone out there in 'net-land' happen to have an
:>authentic, sure-fire way of making this great sauce that
:>is used to adorn Gyro's and Souvlaki?
:
:I'm not sure of the exact recipe, but I'm sure acidophilus is one of
:the major ingredients.   :-)
:
The only recipies I've ever seen for this include plain yogurt, finely
chopped cucumber and a couple of crushed cloves of garlic -- yummy.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=  Kenneth Gilbert              __|__        University of Pittsburgh   =
=  General Internal Medicine      |      "...dammit, not a programmer!" =
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Subject: Re: Great Post! (was Re: Candida (yeast) Bloom...) (VERY LONG)
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science
Lines: 50
In article <noringC5wzM4.41n@netcom.com> noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring) writes:
Hate to wreck your elaborate theory, but Steve Dyer is not an MD.
So professional jealosy over doctors who help their patients with
Nystatin, etc., can't very well come into the picture.  Steve
doesn't have any patients.
>response to specificially Candida albicans, and I showed a strong positive.
>Another question, would everybody show the same strong positive so this test
>is essentially useless?  And, assuming it is true that Candida can grow
Yes, everyone who is normal does that.  We use candida on the other arm
when we put a tuberculin test on.  If people don't react to candida,
we assume the TB test was not conclusive since such people may not
react to anything.  All normal people have antibodies to candida.
If not, you would quickly turn into a fungus ball.
>This brings up an interesting observation used by those who will deny
>and reject any and all aspects of the 'yeast hypothesis' until the
>appropriate studies are done.  And that is if you can't observe or culture
>the yeast "bloom" in the gut or sinus, then there's no way to diagnose or
>even recognize the disease.  And I know they realize that it is virtually
>impossible to test for candida overbloom in any part of the body that cannot
>be easily observed since candida is everywhere in the body.
>
>It's a real Catch-22.
>
You've just discovered one of the requirements for a good quack theory.
Find something that no one can *disprove* and then write a book saying
it is the cause of whatever.  Since no one can disprove it, you can
rake in the bucks for quite some time.
>>...I have often wondered what an M.D. with chronic
>>GI distress or sinus problems would do about the problem that he tells his
>>patients is a non-existent syndrome.
>
That is odd, isn't it?  Why do you suppose it is that MDs with these
common problems don't go for these crazy ideas?  Does the "professional
jealosy" extend to suffering in silence, even though they know they
could be cured if they just followed this quack book?
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Subject: Re: Homeopathy: a respectable medical tradition?
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science
Lines: 26
In article <C5qMJJ.yB@ampex.com> jag@ampex.com (Rayaz Jagani) writes:
>
>From Miranda Castro, _The Complete Homeopathy Handbook_,
>ISBN 0-312-06320-2, oringinally published in Britain in 1990.
>
>From Page 10,
>.. and in 1946, when the National Health Service was established,
>homeopathy was included as an officially approved method
>of treatment.
I was there in 1976.  I suppose it must have died out since 1946,
then.  Certainly I never heard of any homeopaths or herbalists in
the employ of the NHS.  Perhaps the law codified it but the authorities
refused to hire any homeopaths.  A similar law in the US allows
chiropractors to practice in VA hospitals but I've never seen one
there and I don't know of a single VA that has hired a chiropractor.
There are a lot of Britons on the net, so someone should be able to
tell us if the NHS provides homeopaths for you.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jcherney@envy.reed.edu (Joel Alexander Cherney)
Subject: Epstein-Barr Syndrome questions
Article-I.D.: reed.1993Apr23.034226.2284
Reply-To: jcherney@reed.edu
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR
Lines: 19
Okay, this is a long shot.
My friend Robin has recurring bouts of mononucleosis-type symptoms, very
regularly.  This has been going on for a number of years.  She's seen a
number of doctors; six was the last count, I think.  Most of them have
said either "You have mono" or "You're full of it; there's nothing wrong
with you."  One has admitted to having no idea what was wrong with her,
and one has claimed that it is Epstein-Barr syndrome.
Now, what she told me about EBS is that very few doctors even believe that
it exists.  (Obviously, this has been her experience.)  So, what's the
story?  Is it real?  Does the medical profession believe it to be real?
Has anyone had success is treating EBS?  Or is it just something to live
with?  Thanks for your assistance.
Joel "The Ogre" Cherney
jcherney@reed.edu
Of the Horde
From: paulson@tab00.larc.nasa.gov (Sharon Paulson)
Subject: Re: food-related seizures?
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA, USA
Lines: 48
<C5uq9B.LrJ@toads.pgh.pa.us> <C5x3L0.3r8@athena.cs.uga.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cmb00.larc.nasa.gov
In-reply-to: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu's message of Fri, 23 Apr 1993 03:41:24 GMT
In article <C5x3L0.3r8@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington) writes:
Newsgroups: sci.med
Path: news.larc.nasa.gov!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!athena!aisun3.ai.uga.edu!mcovingt
From: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington)
Sender: usenet@athena.cs.uga.edu
Nntp-Posting-Host: aisun3.ai.uga.edu
Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens
References: <PAULSON.93Apr19081647@cmb00.larc.nasa.gov> <116305@bu.edu> <C5uq9B.LrJ@toads.pgh.pa.us>
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 03:41:24 GMT
Lines: 27
In article <C5uq9B.LrJ@toads.pgh.pa.us> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>In article <116305@bu.edu> dozonoff@bu.edu (david ozonoff) writes:
>>
>>Many of these cereals are corn-based. After your post I looked in the
>>literature and located two articles that implicated corn (contains
>>tryptophan) and seizures. The idea is that corn in the diet might
>>potentiate an already existing or latent seizure disorder, not cause it.
>>Check to see if the two Kellog cereals are corn based. I'd be interested.
>
>Years ago when I was an intern, an obese young woman was brought into
>the ER comatose after having been reported to have grand mal seizures
>why attending a "corn festival".  We pumped her stomach and obtained
>what seemed like a couple of liters of corn, much of it intact kernals.
>After a few hours she woke up and was fine.  I was tempted to sign her out as
>"acute corn intoxication."
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
How about contaminants on the corn, e.g. aflatoxin???
--
:-  Michael A. Covington, Associate Research Scientist        :    *****
:-  Artificial Intelligence Programs      mcovingt@ai.uga.edu :  *********
:-  The University of Georgia              phone 706 542-0358 :   *  *  *
:-  Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A.     amateur radio N4TMI :  ** *** **  <><
What is aflatoxin?
Sharon
--
Sharon Paulson                      s.s.paulson@larc.nasa.gov
NASA Langley Research Center
Bldg. 1192D, Mailstop 156           Work: (804) 864-2241
Hampton, Virginia.  23681           Home: (804) 596-2362
From: ffujita@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Frank Fujita)
Subject: Re: "Choleric" and The Great NT/NF Semantic War.
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 6
Also remember that most people map the
sanguine/choleric/melencholic/phlegmatic division onto the extraversion
and neuroticism dimensions (Like Eysenck) and that the MBTI does not
deal with neuroticism (Costa & McCrae).
Frank Fujita
From: grante@aquarius.rosemount.com (Grant Edwards)
Subject: Re: Krillean Photography
Reply-To: grante@aquarius.rosemount.com (Grant Edwards)
Organization: Rosemount, Inc.
Lines: 41
Nntp-Posting-Host: aquarius
stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini) writes:
: Living things maintain small electric fields to (1) enhance certain
: chemical reactions, (2) promote communication of states with in a
: cell, (3) communicate between cells (of which the nervous system is
: a specialized example), and perhaps other uses.
True.
: These electric fields change with location and time in a large
: organism.
Also True.
: Special photographic techniques such as applying external fields in
: Kirillian photography interact with these fields or the resistances
: caused by these fields to make interesting pictures.
Not really.
Kirlian photography is taking pictures of the corona discharge from
objects (animate or inanimate).  The fields applied to the objects are
millions of times larger than any biologically created fields.  If you
want to record the biologically created electric fields, you've got to
use low-noise, high-gain sensors typical of EEGs and EKGs.  Kirlian
photography is just phun-with-physics type stuff (right up there with
soaking chunks of extra-fine steel wool in liquid oxygen then hitting
them with a hammer -- which, like a Kirlean setup, is fun but possibly
dangerous).
: Perhaps such pictures will be diagonistic of disease problems in
: organisms when better understood. Perhaps not.
Probably not.
--
Grant Edwards                                 |Yow!  Vote for ME -- I'm
Rosemount Inc.                                |well-tapered, half-cocked,
|ill-conceived and
grante@aquarius.rosemount.com                 |TAX-DEFERRED!
From: rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind)
Subject: Re: Arrhythmia
Organization: Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Mass., USA
Lines: 26
NNTP-Posting-Host: enterprise.bih.harvard.edu
In article <1993Apr22.205509.23198@husc3.harvard.edu>
perry1@husc10.harvard.edu (Alexis Perry) writes:
>In article <1993Apr22.031423.1@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu>
u96_averba@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu writes:
>>doctors said that he could die from it, and the medication caused
>	Is it that serious?  My EKG often comes back with a few irregular
>beats.  Another question:  Is a low blood potassium level very bad?  My
>doctor seems concerned, but she tends to worry too much in general.
The term arrhythmia is usually used to encompass a wide range of abnormal
heart rhythms (cardiac dysrhythmias).  Some of them are very serious
while others are completely benign.  Having "a few irregular beats"
on an EKG could be serious depending on what those beats were and
when they occurred, or could be of no significance.
Low blood potassium levels probably predispose people with underlying
heart disease to develop arrhythmias.  Very low potassium levels are
clearly dangerous, but it is not clear how much of a problem
low-end-of-normal levels are:  a lot of cardiologists seem to treat
anyone with even a mildly low-normal potassium level.
--
David Rind
rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu
From: rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind)
Subject: Re: Candida(yeast) Bloom, Fact or Fiction
Organization: Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Mass., USA
Lines: 17
NNTP-Posting-Host: enterprise.bih.harvard.edu
In article <1993Apr22.153000.1@vms.ocom.okstate.edu>
banschbach@vms.ocom.okstate.edu writes:
>poster for being treated by a liscenced physician for a disease that did
>not exist.  Calling this physician a quack was reprehensible Steve and I
>see that you and some of the others are doing it here as well.
Do you believe that any quacks exist?  How about quack diagnoses?  Is
being a "licensed physician" enough to guarantee that someone is not
a quack, or is it just that even if a licensed physician is a quack,
other people shouldn't say so?  Can you give an example of a
commonly diagnosed ailment that you think is a quack diagnosis,
or have we gotten to the point in civilization where we no longer
need to worry about unscrupulous "healers" taking advantage of
people.
--
David Rind
rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu
From: chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu
Subject: Re: Homeopathy: a respectable medical tradition?
Lines: 43
Nntp-Posting-Host: vms.ocom.okstate.edu
Organization: OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
In article <C5y5zr.B11@toads.pgh.pa.us>, geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
> In article <C5qMJJ.yB@ampex.com> jag@ampex.com (Rayaz Jagani) writes:
>
>>
>>From Miranda Castro, _The Complete Homeopathy Handbook_,
>>ISBN 0-312-06320-2, oringinally published in Britain in 1990.
>>
>>From Page 10,
>>.. and in 1946, when the National Health Service was established,
>>homeopathy was included as an officially approved method
>>of treatment.
>
> I was there in 1976.  I suppose it must have died out since 1946,
> then.  Certainly I never heard of any homeopaths or herbalists in
> the employ of the NHS.  Perhaps the law codified it but the authorities
> refused to hire any homeopaths.  A similar law in the US allows
> chiropractors to practice in VA hospitals but I've never seen one
> there and I don't know of a single VA that has hired a chiropractor.
> There are a lot of Britons on the net, so someone should be able to
> tell us if the NHS provides homeopaths for you.
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't think they provide homeopaths, heck the heir apparent was trying to
promote Osteopaths to the ranks of eligibility a couple of years back... It
pleased my family no end, since I'm at an Osteopathic school, sort of
validated it for them...then I told them that the name was the same but the
practice was different....oh.
If you're seeking validation for your philosophy on the strength of
the national health service adopting it, I suggest that you are not very
sure of the validity of your philosophy. I believe in 1946, the NHS was
still having its nurses taught the fine art of "cupping", which is the
vacuum extraction of intradermal fluids by means of heating a cup, placing
it on the afflicted site and allowing it to cool.
I wouldn't take my sick daughter to a homeopath.
David N. Chorley
***************************************************************************
Yikes, I'm agreeing with Gordon Banks
**************************************************************************
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Subject: Re: Modified sense of taste in Cancer pt?
Organization: University of Northern Iowa
Lines: 16
In article <1993Apr21.134848.19017@peavax.mlo.dec.com>, lunger@helix.enet.dec.com (Dave Lunger) writes:
>
> What does a lack of taste of foods, or a sense of taste that seems "off"
> when eating foods in someone who has cancer mean? What are the possible
> causes of this? Why does it happen?
I can't answer most of your questions, but I've seen it happen in
family members who are being treated with radiation and/or chemotherapy.
Jory Graham published a cookbook many years ago (in cooperation with
the American Cancer Society, I think) called "Something has to taste
good" (as I recall).
The cookbook was just what we needed several times when favorite foods
suddenly became "yech".
Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
From: turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin)
Subject: Re: Great Post! (was Re: Candida (yeast) Bloom...) (VERY LONG)
Summary: How virtually?
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 30
NNTP-Posting-Host: im4u.cs.utexas.edu
-*-----
In article <noringC5wzM4.41n@netcom.com> noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring) writes:
>> ... if you can't observe or culture the yeast "bloom" in the
>> gut or sinus, then there's no way to diagnose or even recognize
>> the disease.  And I know they realize that it is virtually
>> impossible to test for candida overbloom in any part of the body
>> that cannot be easily observed since candida is everywhere in
>> the body.
In article <C5y5nM.Axv@toads.pgh.pa.us> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
> You've just discovered one of the requirements for a good quack theory.
> Find something that no one can *disprove* and then write a book saying
> it is the cause of whatever.  Since no one can disprove it, you can
> rake in the bucks for quite some time.
I hope Gordon Banks did not mean to imply that notions such as
hard-to-see candida infections causing various problems should not
be investigated.  Many researchers have made breakthroughs by
figuring out how to investigate things that were previously thought
"virtually impossible to test for."
Indeed, I would be surprised if "candida overbloom" were such a
phenomena.  I would think that candida would produce signature
byproducts whose measure would then set a lower bound on the
extent of recent infection.  I realize this might get quite
tricky and difficult, probably expensive, and likely inconvenient
or uncomfortable to the subjects, but that is not the same as
"virtually impossible."
Russell
From: bmdelane@quads.uchicago.edu (brian manning delaney)
Subject: Re: diet for Crohn's (IBD)
Reply-To: bmdelane@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 27
One thing that I haven't seen in this thread is a discussion of the
relation between IBD inflammation and the profile of ingested fatty
acids (FAs).
I was diagnosed last May w/Crohn's of the terminal ileum. When I got
out of the hospital I read up on it a bit, and came across several
studies investigating the role of EPA (an essentially FA) in reducing
inflammation. The evidence was mixed. [Many of these studies are
discussed in "Inflammatory Bowel Disease," MacDermott, Stenson. 1992.]
But if I recall correctly, there were some methodological bones to be
picked with the studies (both the ones w/pos. and w/neg. results). In
the studies patients were given EPA (a few grams/day for most of the
studies), but, if I recall correctly, there was no restriction of the
_other_ FAs that the patients could consume. From the informed
layperson's perspective, this seems mistaken. If lots of n-6 FAs are
consumed along with the EPA, then the ratio of "bad" prostanoid
products to "good" prostanoid products could still be fairly "bad."
Isn't this ratio the issue?
What's the view of the gastro. community on EPA these days? EPA
supplements, along with a fairly severe restriction of other FAs
appear to have helped me significantly (though it could just be the
low absolute amount of fat I eat -- 8-10% calories).
-Brian <bmdelane@midway.uchicago.edu>
From: andrew@calvin.dgbt.doc.ca (Andrew Patrick)
Subject: Any Interest in a Mailing List on Epilepsy and Seizures?
Nntp-Posting-Host: calvin.dgbt.doc.ca
Organization: Communications Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 36
I have seen a fair bit of traffic recently concerning Epilepsy and
seizures.  I am also interested in this subject -- I have a son with
Epilepsy and I am very active with the local association.  I posted a
message like this a few months ago and received no replies, but here it
is again.
Is anyone interested in participating in a mailing list on Epilepsy and
seizures?  This would allow us to hold discussions and share
information via electronic mail.  I already run a Listserver for two
other groups, so the mechanics would be easy.
If you are interested, mail me a note.  If I get enough replies, I will
make it happen and provide you with the details.
BTW, I have also started a database on Epilepsy.  This is part of my
research on natural language question answering systems.  Users of this
service are able to ask questions about Epilepsy and the program
searches the database and retrieves its best response.  The technology
works by comparing your question against a set of questions that have
been seen before.  All new questions that are not answered are recorded
and used to improve the system.
This database is still small and sparse, but we are adding new
information.  To try it out, do the following
telnet debra.dgbt.doc.ca
login: chat
Then select the Epilepsy item from the menu of databases.
--
Andrew Patrick, Ph.D.       Communications Research Centre, Ottawa, CANADA
andrew@calvin.dgbt.doc.CA
For a good time, run "telnet debra.dgbt.doc.ca" and login as "chat".
From: bmdelane@quads.uchicago.edu (brian manning delaney)
Subject: Re: Epstein-Barr Syndrome questions
Keywords: EBV CFS CFIDS
Reply-To: bmdelane@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 47
In article <1993Apr23.034226.2284@reed.edu> jcherney@reed.edu writes:
>Okay, this is a long shot.
>
>My friend Robin has recurring bouts of mononucleosis-type symptoms, very
>regularly.  This has been going on for a number of years.  She's seen a
>number of doctors; six was the last count, I think.  Most of them have
>said either "You have mono" or "You're full of it; there's nothing wrong
>with you."  One has admitted to having no idea what was wrong with her,
>and one has claimed that it is Epstein-Barr syndrome.
>
>Now, what she told me about EBS is that very few doctors even believe that
>it exists.  (Obviously, this has been her experience.)  So, what's the
>story?  Is it real?  Does the medical profession believe it to be real?
>
>Has anyone had success is treating EBS?  Or is it just something to live
>with?  Thanks for your assistance.
Outbreaks of a chronic-mono-like entity were originally called EBS (or
some variant thereof) because most of the people with this disease had
elevated levels of antibodies to the EBV virus. But not all of them
did, which prompted an official renaming of the disease to Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome (this renaming took place in the Annals of Internal
Medicine, Jan. 1988, I believe). Now it's also called Chronic Fatigue
and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), since it seems clear that
some sort of immune disregulation is causing the probs.
Astonishly, there are still docs who tell people with massively
swollen glands, recurrent fevers and nightsweats, etc., that there's
nothing wrong with them. This is not the same thing as saying that the
syndrome may have a (at least partly) psychological cause. The
disagreement among people whose thoughts are worth considering centers
on just what the cause is. No one knows, but theories include:
psychological stress, some sort of virus (a retrovirus, say most --
maybe one of the newly discovered herpes viruses), environmental
toxins, bacteria (and, yes, candida), genes, (and/)or some combo of
these.
There's no outright cure at the moment, but different docs try
different things, some of which seem to help.
Massive amounts of info on the condition are available these days.
Post your Q to alt.med.cfs, and you will be flooded w/facts.
Note: There are lots of far better understood (and better treatable)
diseases that look like CFIDS. Make sure these get ruled-out by a good
doc.
From: cfaks@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Alice Sanders)
Subject: Frozen shoulder and lawn mowing
Organization: Eastern Illinois University
Lines: 12
Ihave had a frozen shoulder for over a year or about a year.  It is still
partially frozen, and I am still in physical therapy every week.  But the
pain has subsided almost completely.  UNTIL last week when I mowed the
lawn for twenty minutes each, two days in a row.  I have a push type power
mower.  The pain started back up a little bit for the first time in quite
a while, and I used ice and medicine again.  Can anybody explain why this
particular activity, which does not seem to stress me very much generally,
should cause this shoulder problem?
Thanks.
Alice
From: noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring)
Subject: Re: Great Post! (was Re: Candida (yeast) Bloom...) (VERY LONG)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Lines: 38
In article turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:
>I hope Gordon Banks did not mean to imply that notions such as
>hard-to-see candida infections causing various problems should not
>be investigated.  Many researchers have made breakthroughs by
>figuring out how to investigate things that were previously thought
>"virtually impossible to test for."
>
>Indeed, I would be surprised if "candida overbloom" were such a
>phenomena.  I would think that candida would produce signature
>byproducts whose measure would then set a lower bound on the
>extent of recent infection.  I realize this might get quite
>tricky and difficult, probably expensive, and likely inconvenient
>or uncomfortable to the subjects, but that is not the same as
>"virtually impossible."
I recall reading in the recently revised edition of the "Yeast Connection"
that there is indeed work by researchers to do this.  Of course, they are
working on the theory that candida overbloom with penetration into mucus
membrane tissue with associated "mild" inflammatory response can and does
occur in a large number of people.  If you reject this "yeast hypothesis",
then I'd guess you'd view this research as one more wasteful and quixotic
endeavor.  Stay tuned.
Jon Noring
--
Charter Member --->>>  INFJ Club.
If you're dying to know what INFJ means, be brave, e-mail me, I'll send info.
=============================================================================
| Jon Noring          | noring@netcom.com        |                          |
| JKN International   | IP    : 192.100.81.100   | FRED'S GOURMET CHOCOLATE |
| 1312 Carlton Place  | Phone : (510) 294-8153   | CHIPS - World's Best!    |
| Livermore, CA 94550 | V-Mail: (510) 417-4101   |                          |
=============================================================================
Who are you?  Read alt.psychology.personality!  That's where the action is.
From: uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu!gila005 (Stephen Holland)
Subject: Re: diet for Crohn's (IBD)
Organization: Gastroenterology - Univ. of Alabama
Lines: 54
In article <1993Apr23.211108.26887@midway.uchicago.edu>,
bmdelane@quads.uchicago.edu (brian manning delaney) wrote:
>
> One thing that I haven't seen in this thread is a discussion of the
> relation between IBD inflammation and the profile of ingested fatty
> acids (FAs).
>
> I was diagnosed last May w/Crohn's of the terminal ileum. When I got
> out of the hospital I read up on it a bit, and came across several
> studies investigating the role of EPA (an essentially FA) in reducing
> inflammation. The evidence was mixed. [Many of these studies are
> discussed in "Inflammatory Bowel Disease," MacDermott, Stenson. 1992.]
>
> But if I recall correctly, there were some methodological bones to be
> picked with the studies (both the ones w/pos. and w/neg. results). In
> the studies patients were given EPA (a few grams/day for most of the
> studies), but, if I recall correctly, there was no restriction of the
> _other_ FAs that the patients could consume. From the informed
> layperson's perspective, this seems mistaken. If lots of n-6 FAs are
> consumed along with the EPA, then the ratio of "bad" prostanoid
> products to "good" prostanoid products could still be fairly "bad."
> Isn't this ratio the issue?
>
> What's the view of the gastro. community on EPA these days? EPA
> supplements, along with a fairly severe restriction of other FAs
> appear to have helped me significantly (though it could just be the
> low absolute amount of fat I eat -- 8-10% calories).
>
> -Brian <bmdelane@midway.uchicago.edu>
As you note, the research is mixed, so there is no consensus on the
role of fatty acids in Ulcerative colitis.  There is a role for short
chain fatty acids in patients with colostomies and rectal pouches
that are inflammed (Short is butyrate and shorter).  There may be a role
for treatment of UC with Short chain fatty acids, and I am looking
forward to the upcoming AGA meeting in Boston to see what people are
doing.
You raise a hypothesis about the studies and restriction of other
fatty acids.  You should contact the authors directly about that or
even write a letter to the editor - it is a good point.  By the way,
the abbreviation EPA is not in general use, so I do not know what
fatty acid you are speaking about.
And to Brian an U of C ---  There is a physician named Stephen Hanauer
there who is a recognized expert in the treatment of IBD.  You might
give him a call.  He is interested in new combinations of drugs for
the treatment of IBD.  If you call please say hello to him from me,
I was looking at U of C for a position, and perhaps still am.  And
be sure to look into joining the CCFA.
Best of Luck.
Steve Holland
From: lundby@rtsg.mot.com (Walter F. Lundby)
Subject: Re: Is MSG sensitivity superstition?
Nntp-Posting-Host: accord2
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Lines: 23
In article <1993Apr20.173019.11903@llyene.jpl.nasa.gov> julie@eddie.jpl.nasa.gov (Julie Kangas) writes:
>
>As for how foods taste:  If I'm not allergic to MSG and I like
>the taste of it, why shouldn't I use it?  Saying I shouldn't use
>it is like saying I shouldn't eat spicy food because my neighbor
>has an ulcer.
>
Nobody is saying that you shouldn't be allowed to use msg.  Just
don't force it on others. If you have food that you want to
enhance with msg just put the MSG on the table like salt.  It is
then the option of the eater to use it.  If you make a commerical
product, just leave it out. You can include a packet (like some
salt packets) if you desire.
Salt, pepper, mustard, ketchup, pickles ..... are table options.
Treat MSG the same way.  I wouldn't shove my condiments down your
throat, don't shove yours down mine.
WFL
--
Walter Lundby
From: noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring)
Subject: Quack-Quack (was Re: Candida(yeast) Bloom, Fact or Fiction)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Lines: 69
In article rind@enterprise.bih.harvard.edu (David Rind) writes:
>Do you believe that any quacks exist?  How about quack diagnoses?  Is
>being a "licensed physician" enough to guarantee that someone is not
>a quack, or is it just that even if a licensed physician is a quack,
>other people shouldn't say so?  Can you give an example of a
>commonly diagnosed ailment that you think is a quack diagnosis,
>or have we gotten to the point in civilization where we no longer
>need to worry about unscrupulous "healers" taking advantage of
>people.
I would say there are also significant numbers of unscrupulous doctors (of
the squeaky-clean, traditional crew-cut, talk to the AMA before starting
any treatment, kind) who recommend treatments that, though "accepted", may
not be necessary for the patient at the time.  And all for making a quick
buck.  I would not be surprised if the cost of medical services in the U.S. is
significantly inflated by these "quacks of a different color".  In fact, I'd
say these doctors are the most dangerous since they call into question the
true focus of the medical profession.  The AMA and the Boards should focus
on these "quacks" instead of devoting unbelievable energy on 'search-and-
destroy-missions' to pull the licenses of those doctors who are trying non-
traditional or not fully accepted treatments for their desperate patients
that traditional/accepted medicine cannot help.
***************************************************
Now to make a general comment on many recent posts:
***************************************************
Lately I've seen the word "quack" bandied about recklessly.  When a doctor or
doctor-wanna-be has decided to quit discussing any controversial medical
subject in a civilized manner, all he/she has to do is say "quack-quack" and
somehow they magically expect the readership of this newsgroup to roll over
on their backs and pee-pee on themselves in obedience.  What do they teach
you in medical school - how to throw your authority around?
Let me put it another way to make my point clear:  "quack" is a nebulous word
lacking in any precision.  Its sole use is to obfuscate the issues at hand.
The indiscriminate use of this word is a sure sign of incompetency;  and coming
from any medical doctor (or wanna-be), where competency is expected, is real
scary.
But what do I know, I've already been diagnosed by the sci.med.gods in this
newsgroup as being 'anal retentive', and 'psychotic'.  I look forward to more
net.diagnoses.  Hey, they're free.
Jon "Quacks 'R Us" Noring
(p.s., may I suggest - seriously - that if the doctors and wanna-be-doctors on
the net who refuse to have an open mind on alternative treatments and
theories, such as the "yeast theory", should create your own moderated group.
You can call it sci.med.traditional.moderated or sci.med.AMA-approved, so you
can keep anal-retentives like me out of it.)
--
Charter Member --->>>  INFJ Club.
If you're dying to know what INFJ means, be brave, e-mail me, I'll send info.
=============================================================================
| Jon Noring          | noring@netcom.com        |                          |
| JKN International   | IP    : 192.100.81.100   | FRED'S GOURMET CHOCOLATE |
| 1312 Carlton Place  | Phone : (510) 294-8153   | CHIPS - World's Best!    |
| Livermore, CA 94550 | V-Mail: (510) 417-4101   |                          |
=============================================================================
Who are you?  Read alt.psychology.personality!  That's where the action is.
From: davel@davelpcSanDiego.NCR.com (Dave Lord)
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Gyro (souvlaki) sauce
Reply-To: davel@davelpcSanDiego.NCR.com (Dave Lord)
Organization: NCR Engineering and Manufacturing, San Diego, CA
Lines: 13
In article <1r8pcn$rm1@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu>, Donald Mackie
<Donald_Mackie@med.umich.edu> writes:
> In article <1993Apr22.205341.172965@locus.com> Michael Trofimoff,
> tron@fafnir.la.locus.com writes:
> >Would anyone out there in 'net-land' happen to have an
> >authentic, sure-fire way of making this great sauce that
> >is used to adorn Gyro's and Souvlaki?
>
> I'm not sure of the exact recipe, but I'm sure acidophilus is one of
> the major ingredients.   :-)
It's plain yoghurt with grated cucumber and coriander (other spices are
sometimes used). Some people use half yoghurt and half mayonaise.
From: solmstead@PFC.Forestry.CA (Sherry Olmstead)
Subject: Re: Heat Shock Proteins
Nntp-Posting-Host: pfc.pfc.forestry.ca
Reply-To: solmstead@PFC.Forestry.CA
Organization: Forestry Canada (Pacific Forestry Centre)
Lines: 25
rousseaua@immunex.com writes about heat shock proteins (HSP's) and DNA.
I hate to be derogatory, but in this case I think it's warranted.
HSP's are part of the cellular response to stress.  The only reason they
are called 'heat shock proteins' is because they were first demonstrated
using heat shock.  Dead tissue (ie. meat) is not going to produce ANY
protein- because it's DEAD!
Also, who cares if the DNA you are ingesting is mutated!?  It will be
completely digested in your stomach, which is about pH 2.
Some of you worry WAY too much.  Eat a healthy, balanced diet and relax.
My advice is, if you don't know what you are talking about, it is better
to keep your mouth shut than to open it and remove all doubt about your
ignorance.  Don't speculate, or at least get some concrete information
before you do!
Sherry Olmstead
Biochemist
SHERRY OLMSTEAD                   Title: Lab Technician
Forestry Canada                   Phone: (604) 363-0600
Victoria, B.C.                    Internet: SOLMSTEAD@A1.PFC.Forestry.CA
From: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Subject: Poisoning with heavy water (was Re: Too many MRIs?)
Reply-To: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Organization: GEC-Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow, UK
Lines: 61
In article <1993Apr19.043654.13068@informix.com> proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes:
>In article <1993Apr12.165410.4206@kestrel.edu> king@reasoning.com (Dick King) writes:
>>
>>I recall reading somewhere, during my youth, in some science popularization
>>book, that whyle isotope changes don't normally affect chemistry, a consumption
>>of only heavy water would be fatal, and that seeds watered only with heavy
>>water do not sprout.  Does anyone know about this?
>>
>
>I also heard this. I always thought it might make a good eposide of
>'Columbo' for someone to be poisoned with heavy water - it wouldn't
>show up in any chemical test.
No one else seems to know, so I'll post this.
This topic came up on sci.physics.fusion shortly after the cold-fusion
flap started.  As I recall, its been done to some experimental mice.
They showed various ill effects and eventually died.  The reason is
that deuterium does not have exactly the same reaction rates as
hydrogen due to its extra mass (which causes lower velocity, Boltzman
constant, mumble).  This throws various bits of body biochemistry out
of kilter, and you get sick and die.
I've never heard of anyone being poisened this way, in or out of real
life.  The process takes quite a while.  If anyone wants to write this
book, I would imagine you would have to:
1: Replace a significant fraction of the water in the body with heavy
water.
2: Wait while normal breakdown and repair processes cause other
molecules in the body to be synthesised using the deuterium.
During this process the victim would gradually deteriorate and
eventually die, but I imagine it would take weeks during which the
poisoner would have to ensure that a significant proportion of the
water the victim ingested was heavy.
You would get such a mess of symptoms that the doctors would be both
alarmed and confused.  Why should every organ in the body suddenly
begin to deteriorate?  If you can figure out how the poisoner gets the
heavy water into the victim in a hospital then you could have a real
story here.
Come to think of it, <2> would continue even after the heavy water was
no longer being ingested, so hospitalisation might be too late.
The most detectable effect would be that the victim's body fluids
would literally be "heavy".  Water has a molecular weight of 18 and
heavy water has a MW of 20.  Thus the victim's weight will increase by
about 1% for every 10% of body water replaced by heavy water.  Maybe
the detection occurs because some pathologist in the lab notices that
the victim's urine is strangely dense.  Is there any medical test
involving the specific gravity of a body fluid?
Paul.
--
Paul Johnson (paj@gec-mrc.co.uk).	    | Tel: +44 245 73331 ext 3245
--------------------------------------------+----------------------------------
These ideas and others like them can be had | GEC-Marconi Research is not
for $0.02 each from any reputable idealist. | responsible for my opinions
From: bbenowit@telesciences.com (Barry D Benowitz)
Subject: Re: eye dominance
In-Reply-To: rsilver@world.std.com's message of Mon, 12 Apr 1993 21:02:31 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host: kyanite
Organization: Telesciences CO Systems, Inc.
Lines: 24
In article <C5E2G7.877@world.std.com> rsilver@world.std.com (Richard Silver) writes:
>   Is there a right-eye dominance (eyedness?) as there is an
>   overall right-handedness in the population? I mean do most
>   people require less lens corrections for the one eye than the
>   other? If so, what kinds of percentages can be attached to this?
>   Thanks.
Yes, there is such a thing as eye dominance, although I am not sure if
this dominance refers to perscription strength.
As i recall, if you selectively close your dominant eye, you will percieve
that the image shifts. This will not happen if you close your other eye.
I believe that which eye is dominant is related to handedness, but I
can't recall the relation at the moment.
--
Barry D. Benowitz
EMail:	bbenowit@telesciences.com (...!pyrnj!telesci!bbenowit)
Phone:	+1 609 866 1000 x354
Snail:	Telesciences CO Systems, 351 New Albany Rd, Moorestown, NJ, 08057-1177
From:  Alla V. Kotenko <avk@lst.msk.su>
Subject: SALE! MELITTIN (see letter)
Reply-To: avk@lst.msk.su
Organization: Laboratory Systems & Technology, Ltd.
Lines: 17
MELITTIN
In cooperation with the State Scientific Center on Antibiotics
we have elaborated our own technology of bee venom components isolation,
particularly melitin, using modern chromatographic eduipment by "Pharmacia"
and "Millipore" Companies, with application of only the materials, admitted
for manufacturing pharmaceutic production. High quality of our product is
acknowledged by the expertise of the Accredited test laboratory firm "Test"
v/o "Souzexpertisa" TPP RF.
��littin - no less than 92% of the primary substance content.
Quantity:from 100 g up to 5 kg.
Date of manufacture: March 1993.
Price:2500 dol.USA per 1g.
Certificate:Is on sale
Adress:105094,Moscow,Semyenovskiy Val,10-a,
"BOST"Partnership Ltd.Tel/fax 194-86-04,369-46-68
From: Nigel@dataman.demon.co.uk (Nigel Ballard)
Subject: Re: Adult Chicken Pox
Distribution: world
Organization: Infamy Inc.
Reply-To: Nigel@dataman.demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.21)
Lines: 19
>I am 35 and am recovering from a case of Chicken Pox which I contracted
>from my 5 year old daughter.  I have quite a few of these little puppies
>all over my bod.  At what point am I no longer infectious?  My physician's
>office says when they are all scabbed over.  Is this true?
I have been in the same boat as you last year. I've tried four times to
send you an email response, but your end doesn't seem to accept my mail?
Please let me know if you receive this.
Cheers Nigel
************************************************************************
* NIGEL BALLARD  | INT: nigel@dataman.demon.co.uk  |    VACANT LOT     *
* BOURNEMOUTH UK | CIS: 100015.2644   RADIO-G1HOI  |     FOR RENT      *
************************************************************************
DIARIES OF THE FAMOUS...
Colonel Custer...Surrounded by Indians, just when I fancied a Chinese!
From: candee@brtph5.bnr.ca (Candee Ellis P885)
Subject: Re: HELP for Kidney Stones ..............
Organization: BNR Inc. RTP, NC
Lines: 8
If you think you have kidney stones or your doctor tells you that you do,
DEFINITELY follow up on it.  My sister was diagnosed with kidney stones
1 1/2 years ago and given medication to take to dissolve them.  After that
failed and she continued to be in great pain, they decided she had
endometriosis.  When they did exploratory surgery, they discovered she
had a tumor, which turned out to be rhabdomyosarcoma -- a very rare
and agressive cancer.  I realize this is not what happens in the majority
of cases, but you never know what can happen and shouldn't take chances!
Subject: Why isolate it?
From: chinsz@eis.calstate.edu (Christopher Hinsz)
Organization: Calif State Univ/Electronic Information Services
Lines: 13
Does anyone on this newsgroup happen to know WHY morphine was
first isolated from opium?  If you know why, or have an idea for where I
could look to find this info, please mail me.
CSH
any suggestionas would be greatly appreciated
--
"Kilimanjaro is a pretty tricky climb. Most of it's up, until you reach
the very, very top, and then it tends to slope away rather sharply."
Sir George Head, OBE (JC)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOGIC: "The point is frozen, the beast is dead, what is the difference?"
Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrr (JC)
From: Daniel.Prince@f129.n102.z1.calcom.socal.com (Daniel Prince)
Subject: Re: Is MSG sensitivity superstition?
Lines: 12
To: milsh@nmr-z.mgh.harvard.edu (Alex Milshteyn)
AM> Having said that, i might add, that in MHO, MSG does not enhance
AM> flavor enoughf for me to miss it.  When I go to chinese places,
AM> I order food without MSG.
To me, MSG tastes just like a mixture of salt and sugar.  I don't
think that is the case with most people.  What does it taste like
to you?
... If wishes were horses, we'd all have to wear hip boots!
* Origin: ONE WORLD Los Angeles 310/372-0987 32b (1:102/129.0)
From: Daniel.Prince@f129.n102.z1.calcom.socal.com (Daniel Prince)
Subject: Re: Can men get yeast infections?
Lines: 13
To: smithmc@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Lost Boy)
LB> I know from personal experience that men CAN get yeast infections. I
LB> get rather nasty ones from time to time, mostly in the area of the
LB> scrotum and the base of the penis.
I used to have problems with recurrent athlete's foot until I
started drying between my toes with my blow drier after each time
I bathe.  I also dry my pubic area while I am at it to prevent
problems.  You might want to try it.
... My cat types with his tail.
* Origin: ONE WORLD Los Angeles 310/372-0987 32b (1:102/129.0)
From: et@teal.csn.org (Eric H. Taylor)
Subject: Re: Gravity waves, was: Predicting gravity wave quantization & Cosmic Noise
Summary: Dong ....  Dong ....  Do I hear the death-knell of relativity?
Keywords: space, curvature, nothing, tesla
Nntp-Posting-Host: teal.csn.org
Organization: 4-L Laboratories
Distribution: World
Expires: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 06:00:00 GMT
Lines: 30
In article <C4KvJF.4qo@well.sf.ca.us> metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern) writes:
>crb7q@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Cameron Randale Bass) writes:
>> Bruce.Scott@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Scott) writes:
>>> "Existence" is undefined unless it is synonymous with "observable" in
>>> physics.
>> [crb] Dong ....  Dong ....  Dong ....  Do I hear the death-knell of
>> string theory?
>
>     I agree.  You can add "dark matter" and quarks and a lot of other
>unobservable, purely theoretical constructs in physics to that list,
>including the omni-present "black holes."
>
>     Will Bruce argue that their existence can be inferred from theory
>alone?  Then what about my original criticism, when I said "Curvature
>can only exist relative to something non-curved"?  Bruce replied:
>"'Existence' is undefined unless it is synonymous with 'observable' in
>physics.  We cannot observe more than the four dimensions we know about."
>At the moment I don't see a way to defend that statement and the
>existence of these unobservable phenomena simultaneously.  -|Tom|-
"I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have
no properties."
"Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the
space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved,
is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I,
for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view." - Nikola Tesla
----
ET  "Tesla was 100 years ahead of his time. Perhaps now his time comes."
----
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 06/15 - Constants and Equations
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Article-I.D.: cs.constants_733694246
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:57:26 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 189
Supersedes: <constants_730956482@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Archive-name: space/constants
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:04 $
CONSTANTS AND EQUATIONS FOR CALCULATIONS
This list was originally compiled by Dale Greer. Additions would be
appreciated.
Numbers in parentheses are approximations that will serve for most
blue-skying purposes.
Unix systems provide the 'units' program, useful in converting
between different systems (metric/English, etc.)
NUMBERS
7726 m/s	 (8000)  -- Earth orbital velocity at 300 km altitude
3075 m/s	 (3000)  -- Earth orbital velocity at 35786 km (geosync)
6371 km		 (6400)  -- Mean radius of Earth
6378 km		 (6400)  -- Equatorial radius of Earth
1738 km		 (1700)  -- Mean radius of Moon
5.974e24 kg	 (6e24)  -- Mass of Earth
7.348e22 kg	 (7e22)  -- Mass of Moon
1.989e30 kg	 (2e30)  -- Mass of Sun
3.986e14 m^3/s^2 (4e14)  -- Gravitational constant times mass of Earth
4.903e12 m^3/s^2 (5e12)  -- Gravitational constant times mass of Moon
1.327e20 m^3/s^2 (13e19) -- Gravitational constant times mass of Sun
384401 km	 ( 4e5)  -- Mean Earth-Moon distance
1.496e11 m	 (15e10) -- Mean Earth-Sun distance (Astronomical Unit)
1 megaton (MT) TNT = about 4.2e15 J or the energy equivalent of
about .05 kg (50 gm) of matter. Ref: J.R Williams, "The Energy Level
of Things", Air Force Special Weapons Center (ARDC), Kirtland Air
Force Base, New Mexico, 1963. Also see "The Effects of Nuclear
Weapons", compiled by S. Glasstone and P.J. Dolan, published by the
US Department of Defense (obtain from the GPO).
EQUATIONS
Where d is distance, v is velocity, a is acceleration, t is time.
Additional more specialized equations are available from:
ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/MoreEquations
For constant acceleration
d = d0 + vt + .5at^2
v = v0 + at
v^2 = 2ad
Acceleration on a cylinder (space colony, etc.) of radius r and
rotation period t:
a = 4 pi**2 r / t^2
For circular Keplerian orbits where:
Vc	 = velocity of a circular orbit
Vesc = escape velocity
M	 = Total mass of orbiting and orbited bodies
G	 = Gravitational constant (defined below)
u	 = G * M (can be measured much more accurately than G or M)
K	 = -G * M / 2 / a
r	 = radius of orbit (measured from center of mass of system)
V	 = orbital velocity
P	 = orbital period
a	 = semimajor axis of orbit
Vc	 = sqrt(M * G / r)
Vesc = sqrt(2 * M * G / r) = sqrt(2) * Vc
V^2  = u/a
P	 = 2 pi/(Sqrt(u/a^3))
K	 = 1/2 V**2 - G * M / r (conservation of energy)
The period of an eccentric orbit is the same as the period
of a circular orbit with the same semi-major axis.
Change in velocity required for a plane change of angle phi in a
circular orbit:
delta V = 2 sqrt(GM/r) sin (phi/2)
Energy to put mass m into a circular orbit (ignores rotational
velocity, which reduces the energy a bit).
GMm (1/Re - 1/2Rcirc)
Re = radius of the earth
Rcirc = radius of the circular orbit.
Classical rocket equation, where
dv	= change in velocity
Isp = specific impulse of engine
Ve	= exhaust velocity
x	= reaction mass
m1	= rocket mass excluding reaction mass
g	= 9.80665 m / s^2
Ve	= Isp * g
dv	= Ve * ln((m1 + x) / m1)
= Ve * ln((final mass) / (initial mass))
Relativistic rocket equation (constant acceleration)
t (unaccelerated) = c/a * sinh(a*t/c)
d = c**2/a * (cosh(a*t/c) - 1)
v = c * tanh(a*t/c)
Relativistic rocket with exhaust velocity Ve and mass ratio MR:
at/c = Ve/c * ln(MR), or
t (unaccelerated) = c/a * sinh(Ve/c * ln(MR))
d = c**2/a * (cosh(Ve/C * ln(MR)) - 1)
v = c * tanh(Ve/C * ln(MR))
Converting from parallax to distance:
d (in parsecs) = 1 / p (in arc seconds)
d (in astronomical units) = 206265 / p
Miscellaneous
f=ma    -- Force is mass times acceleration
w=fd    -- Work (energy) is force times distance
Atmospheric density varies as exp(-mgz/kT) where z is altitude, m is
molecular weight in kg of air, g is local acceleration of gravity, T
is temperature, k is Bolztmann's constant. On Earth up to 100 km,
d = d0*exp(-z*1.42e-4)
where d is density, d0 is density at 0km, is approximately true, so
d@12km (40000 ft) = d0*.18
d@9 km (30000 ft) = d0*.27
d@6 km (20000 ft) = d0*.43
d@3 km (10000 ft) = d0*.65
Atmospheric scale height	Dry lapse rate
(in km at emission level)	 (K/km)
-------------------------	--------------
Earth	    7.5			    9.8
Mars	    11			    4.4
Venus	    4.9			    10.5
Titan	    18			    1.3
Jupiter	    19			    2.0
Saturn	    37			    0.7
Uranus	    24			    0.7
Neptune	    21			    0.8
Triton	    8			    1
Titius-Bode Law for approximating planetary distances:
R(n) = 0.4 + 0.3 * 2^N Astronomical Units (N = -infinity for
Mercury, 0 for Venus, 1 for Earth, etc.)
This fits fairly well except for Neptune.
CONSTANTS
6.62618e-34 J-s  (7e-34) -- Planck's Constant "h"
1.054589e-34 J-s (1e-34) -- Planck's Constant / (2 * PI), "h bar"
1.3807e-23 J/K	(1.4e-23) - Boltzmann's Constant "k"
5.6697e-8 W/m^2/K (6e-8) -- Stephan-Boltzmann Constant "sigma"
6.673e-11 N m^2/kg^2 (7e-11) -- Newton's Gravitational Constant "G"
0.0029 m K	 (3e-3)  -- Wien's Constant "sigma(W)"
3.827e26 W	 (4e26)  -- Luminosity of Sun
1370 W / m^2	 (1400)  -- Solar Constant (intensity at 1 AU)
6.96e8 m	 (7e8)	 -- radius of Sun
1738 km		 (2e3)	 -- radius of Moon
299792458 m/s	  (3e8)  -- speed of light in vacuum "c"
9.46053e15 m	  (1e16) -- light year
206264.806 AU	  (2e5)  -- \
3.2616 light years (3)	 --  --> parsec
3.0856e16 m	 (3e16)  -- /
Black Hole radius (also called Schwarzschild Radius):
2GM/c^2, where G is Newton's Grav Constant, M is mass of BH,
c is speed of light
Things to add (somebody look them up!)
Basic rocketry numbers & equations
Aerodynamical stuff
Energy to put a pound into orbit or accelerate to interstellar
velocities.
Non-circular cases?
NEXT: FAQ #7/15 - Astronomical Mnemonics
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 12/15 - Controversial Questions
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Article-I.D.: cs.controversy_733694426
Expires: 6 May 1993 20:00:26 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 252
Supersedes: <controversy_730956589@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Archive-name: space/controversy
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:06 $
CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS
These issues periodically come up with much argument and few facts being
offered. The summaries below attempt to represent the position on which
much of the net community has settled. Please DON'T bring them up again
unless there's something truly new to be discussed. The net can't set
public policy, that's what your representatives are for.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SATURN V PLANS
Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints
have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on
microfilm.
The problem in re-creating the Saturn V is not finding the drawings, it
is finding vendors who can supply mid-1960's vintage hardware (like
guidance system components), and the fact that the launch pads and VAB
have been converted to Space Shuttle use, so you have no place to launch
from.
By the time you redesign to accommodate available hardware and re-modify
the launch pads, you may as well have started from scratch with a clean
sheet design.
WHY DATA FROM SPACE MISSIONS ISN'T IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE
Investigators associated with NASA missions are allowed exclusive access
for one year after the data is obtained in order to give them an
opportunity to analyze the data and publish results without being
"scooped" by people uninvolved in the mission. However, NASA frequently
releases examples (in non-digital form, e.g. photos) to the public early
in a mission.
RISKS OF NUCLEAR (RTG) POWER SOURCES FOR SPACE PROBES
There has been extensive discussion on this topic sparked by attempts to
block the Galileo and Ulysses launches on grounds of the plutonium
thermal sources being dangerous. Numerous studies claim that even in
worst-case scenarios (shuttle explosion during launch, or accidental
reentry at interplanetary velocities), the risks are extremely small.
Two interesting data points are (1) The May 1968 loss of two SNAP 19B2
RTGs, which landed intact in the Pacific Ocean after a Nimbus B weather
satellite failed to reach orbit. The fuel was recovered after 5 months
with no release of plutonium. (2) In April 1970, the Apollo 13 lunar
module reentered the atmosphere and its SNAP 27 RTG heat source, which
was jettisoned, fell intact into the 20,000 feet deep Tonga Trench in
the Pacific Ocean. The corrosion resistant materials of the RTG are
expected to prevent release of the fuel for a period of time equal to 10
half-lives of the Pu-238 fuel or about 870 years [DOE 1980].
To make your own informed judgement, some references you may wish to
pursue are:
A good review of the technical facts and issues is given by Daniel
Salisbury in "Radiation Risk and Planetary Exploration-- The RTG
Controversy," *Planetary Report*, May-June 1987, pages 3-7. Another good
article, which also reviews the events preceding Galileo's launch,
"Showdown at Pad 39-B," by Robert G. Nichols, appeared in the November
1989 issue of *Ad Astra*. (Both magazines are published by pro-space
organizations, the Planetary Society and the National Space Society
respectively.)
Gordon L Chipman, Jr., "Advanced Space Nuclear Systems" (AAS 82-261), in
*Developing the Space Frontier*, edited by Albert Naumann and Grover
Alexander, Univelt, 1983, p. 193-213.
"Hazards from Plutonium Toxicity", by Bernard L. Cohen, Health Physics,
Vol 32 (may) 1977, page 359-379.
NUS Corporation, Safety Status Report for the Ulysses Mission: Risk
Analysis (Book 1). Document number is NUS 5235; there is no GPO #;
published Jan 31, 1990.
NASA Office of Space Science and Applications, *Final Environmental
Impact Statement for the Ulysses Mission (Tier 2)*, (no serial number or
GPO number, but probably available from NTIS or NASA) June 1990.
[DOE 1980] U.S.  Department of Energy, *Transuranic Elements in the
Environment*, Wayne C.  Hanson, editor; DOE Document No.  DOE/TIC-22800;
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., April 1980.)
IMPACT OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE ON THE OZONE LAYER
From time to time, claims are made that chemicals released from
the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are responsible
for a significant amount of damage to the ozone layer. Studies
indicate that they in reality have only a minute impact, both in
absolute terms and relative to other chemical sources. The
remainder of this item is a response from the author of the quoted
study, Charles Jackman.
The atmospheric modelling study of the space shuttle effects on the
stratosphere involved three independent theoretical groups, and was
organized by Dr. Michael Prather, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space
Studies.  The three groups involved Michael Prather and Maria Garcia
(NASA/GISS), Charlie Jackman and Anne Douglass (NASA/Goddard Space
Flight Center), and Malcolm Ko and Dak Sze (Atmospheric and
Environmental Research, Inc.).  The effort was to look at the effects
of the space shuttle and Titan rockets on the stratosphere.
The following are the estimated sources of stratospheric chlorine:
Industrial sources:    300,000,000 kilograms/year
Natural sources:     75,000,000 kilograms/year
Shuttle sources:	  725,000 kilograms/year
The shuttle source assumes 9 space shuttles and 6 Titan rockets are
launched yearly. Thus the launches would add less than 0.25% to the
total stratospheric chlorine sources.
The effect on ozone is minimal:  global yearly average total ozone would
be decreased by 0.0065%. This is much less than total ozone variability
associated with volcanic activity and solar flares.
The influence of human-made chlorine products on ozone is computed
by atmospheric model calculations to be a 1% decrease in globally
averaged ozone between 1980 and 1990. The influence of the space shuttle and
Titan rockets on the stratosphere is negligible.  The launch
schedule of the Space Shuttle and Titan rockets would need to be
increased by over a factor of a hundred in order to have about
the same effect on ozone as our increases in industrial halocarbons
do at the present time.
Theoretical results of this study have been published in _The Space
Shuttle's Impact on the Stratosphere_, MJ Prather, MM Garcia, AR
Douglass, CH Jackman, M.K.W. Ko and N.D. Sze, Journal of Geophysical
Research, 95, 18583-18590, 1990.
Charles Jackman, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch,
Code 916, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD  20771
Also see _Chemical Rockets and the Environment_, A McDonald, R Bennett,
J Hinshaw, and M Barnes, Aerospace America, May 1991.
HOW LONG CAN A HUMAN LIVE UNPROTECTED IN SPACE
If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a
minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your
breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to
watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your
Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal
experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no
immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do
not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.
Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some
[mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue)
start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from
lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes,
you're dying. The limits are not really known.
References:
_The Effect on the Chimpanzee of Rapid Decompression to a Near Vacuum_,
Alfred G. Koestler ed., NASA CR-329 (Nov 1965).
_Experimental Animal Decompression to a Near Vacuum Environment_, R.W.
Bancroft, J.E. Dunn, eds, Report SAM-TR-65-48 (June 1965), USAF School
of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas.
HOW THE CHALLENGER ASTRONAUTS DIED
The Challenger shuttle launch was not destroyed in an explosion. This is
a well-documented fact; see the Rogers Commission report, for example.
What looked like an explosion was fuel burning after the external tank
came apart. The forces on the crew cabin were not sufficient to kill the
astronauts, never mind destroy their bodies, according to the Kerwin
team's medical/forensic report.
The astronauts were killed when the more-or-less intact cabin hit the
water at circa 200MPH, and their bodies then spent several weeks
underwater. Their remains were recovered, and after the Kerwin team
examined them, they were sent off to be buried.
USING THE SHUTTLE BEYOND LOW EARTH ORBIT
You can't use the shuttle orbiter for missions beyond low Earth orbit
because it can't get there. It is big and heavy and does not carry
enough fuel, even if you fill part of the cargo bay with tanks.
Furthermore, it is not particularly sensible to do so, because much of
that weight is things like wings, which are totally useless except in
the immediate vicinity of the Earth. The shuttle orbiter is highly
specialized for travel between Earth's surface and low orbit. Taking it
higher is enormously costly and wasteful. A much better approach would
be to use shuttle subsystems to build a specialized high-orbit
spacecraft.
[Yet another concise answer by Henry Spencer.]
THE "FACE ON MARS"
There really is a big rock on Mars that looks remarkably like a humanoid
face. It appears in two different frames of Viking Orbiter imagery:
35A72 (much more facelike in appearance, and the one more often
published, with the Sun 10 degrees above western horizon) and 70A13
(with the Sun 27 degrees from the west).
Science writer Richard Hoagland has championed the idea that the Face is
artificial, intended to resemble a human, and erected by an
extraterrestrial civilization. Most other analysts concede that the
resemblance is most likely accidental. Other Viking images show a
smiley-faced crater and a lava flow resembling Kermit the Frog elsewhere
on Mars. There exists a Mars Anomalies Research Society (sorry, don't
know the address) to study the Face.
The Mars Observer mission will carry an extremely high-resolution
camera, and better images of the formation will hopefully settle this
question in a few years. In the meantime, speculation about the Face is
best carried on in the altnet group alt.alien.visitors, not sci.space or
sci.astro.
V. DiPeitro and G. Molenaar, *Unusual Martian Surface Features*, Mars
Research, P.O. Box 284, Glen Dale, Maryland, USA, 1982. $18 by mail.
R.R. Pozos, *The Face of Mars*, Chicago Review Press, 1986. [Account of
an interdisciplinary speculative conference Hoagland organized to
investigate the Face]
R.C. Hoagland, *The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever*,
North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, USA, 1987. [Elaborate
discussion of evidence and speculation that formations near the Face
form a city]
M.J. Carlotto, "Digital Imagery Analysis of Unusual Martian Surface
Features," *Applied Optics*, 27, pp. 1926-1933, 1987. [Extracts
three-dimensional model for the Face from the 2-D images]
M.J. Carlotto & M.C. Stein, "A Method of Searching for Artificial
Objects on Planetary Surfaces," *Journal of the British Interplanetary
Society*, Vol. 43 no. 5 (May 1990), p.209-216. [Uses a fractal image
analysis model to guess whether the Face is artificial]
B. O'Leary, "Analysis of Images of the `Face' on Mars and Possible
Intelligent Origin," *JBIS*, Vol. 43 no. 5 (May 1990), p. 203-208.
[Lights Carlotto's model from the two angles and shows it's consistent;
shows that the Face doesn't look facelike if observed from the surface]
NEXT: FAQ #13/15 - Space activist/interest/research groups & space publications
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 13/15 - Interest Groups & Publications
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Article-I.D.: cs.groups_733694492
Expires: 6 May 1993 20:01:32 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 354
Supersedes: <groups_730956605@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Archive-name: space/groups
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:08 $
SPACE ACTIVIST/INTEREST/RESEARCH GROUPS AND SPACE PUBLICATIONS
GROUPS
AIA -- Aerospace Industry Association. Professional group, with primary
membership of major aerospace firms. Headquartered in the DC area.
Acts as the "voice of the aerospace industry" -- and it's opinions
are usually backed up by reams of analyses and the reputations of
the firms in AIA.
[address needed]
AIAA -- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Professional association, with somewhere about 30,000-40,000
members. 65 local chapters around the country -- largest chapters
are DC area (3000 members), LA (2100 members), San Francisco (2000
members), Seattle/NW (1500), Houston (1200) and Orange County
(1200), plus student chapters. Not a union, but acts to represent
aviation and space professionals (engineers, managers, financial
types) nationwide. Holds over 30 conferences a year on space and
aviation topics publishes technical Journals (Aerospace Journal,
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, etc.), technical reference books
and is _THE_ source on current aerospace state of the art through
their published papers and proceedings. Also offers continuing
education classes on aerospace design. Has over 60 technical
committees, and over 30 committees for industry standards. AIAA acts
as a professional society -- offers a centralized resume/jobs
function, provides classes on job search, offers low-cost health and
life insurance, and lobbies for appropriate legislation (AIAA was
one of the major organizations pushing for IRAs - Individual
Retirement Accounts). Very active public policy arm -- works
directly with the media, congress and government agencies as a
legislative liaison and clearinghouse for inquiries about aerospace
technology technical issues. Reasonably non-partisan, in that they
represent the industry as a whole, and not a single company,
organization, or viewpoint.
Membership $70/yr (student memberships are less).
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The Aerospace Center
370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW
Washington, DC 20077-0820
(202)-646-7400
AMSAT - develops small satellites (since the 1960s) for a variety of
uses by amateur radio enthusiasts. Has various publications,
supplies QuickTrak satellite tracking software for PC/Mac/Amiga etc.
Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
P.O. Box 27
Washington, DC 20044
(301)-589-6062
ASERA - Australian Space Engineering and Research Association. An
Australian non-profit organisation to coordinate, promote, and
conduct space R&D projects in Australia, involving both Australian
and international (primarily university) collaborators. Activities
include the development of sounding rockets, small satellites
(especially microsatellites), high-altitude research balloons, and
appropriate payloads. Provides student projects at all levels, and
is open to any person or organisation interested in participating.
Publishes a monthly newsletter and a quarterly technical journal.
Membership $A100 (dual subscription)
Subscriptions $A25 (newsletter only) $A50 (journal only)
ASERA Ltd
PO Box 184
Ryde, NSW, Australia, 2112
email: lindley@syd.dit.csiro.au
BIS - British Interplanetary Society. Probably the oldest pro-space
group, BIS publishes two excellent journals: _Spaceflight_, covering
current space activities, and the _Journal of the BIS_, containing
technical papers on space activities from near-term space probes to
interstellar missions. BIS has published a design study for an
interstellar probe called _Daedalus_.
British Interplanetary Society
27/29 South Lambeth Road
London SW8 1SZ
ENGLAND
No dues information available at present.
ISU - International Space University. ISU is a non-profit international
graduate-level educational institution dedicated to promoting the
peaceful exploration and development of space through multi-cultural
and multi-disciplinary space education and research. For further
information on ISU's summer session program or Permanent Campus
activities please send messages to 'information@isu.isunet.edu' or
contact the ISU Executive Offices at:
International Space University
955 Massachusetts Avenue 7th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)-354-1987 (phone)
(617)-354-7666 (fax)
L-5 Society (defunct). Founded by Keith and Carolyn Henson in 1975 to
advocate space colonization. Its major success was in preventing US
participation in the UN "Moon Treaty" in the late 1970s. Merged with
the National Space Institute in 1987, forming the National Space
Society.
NSC - National Space Club. Open for general membership, but not well
known at all. Primarily comprised of professionals in aerospace
industry. Acts as information conduit and social gathering group.
Active in DC, with a chapter in LA. Monthly meetings with invited
speakers who are "heavy hitters" in the field. Annual "Outlook on
Space" conference is _the_ definitive source of data on government
annual planning for space programs. Cheap membership (approx
$20/yr).
[address needed]
NSS - the National Space Society. NSS is a pro-space group distinguished
by its network of local chapters. Supports a general agenda of space
development and man-in-space, including the NASA space station.
Publishes _Ad Astra_, a monthly glossy magazine, and runs Shuttle
launch tours and Space Hotline telephone services. A major sponsor
of the annual space development conference. Associated with
Spacecause and Spacepac, political lobbying organizations.
Membership $18 (youth/senior) $35 (regular).
National Space Society
Membership Department
922 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
Washington, DC 20003-2140
(202)-543-1900
Planetary Society - founded by Carl Sagan. The largest space advocacy
group. Publishes _Planetary Report_, a monthly glossy, and has
supported SETI hardware development financially. Agenda is primarily
support of space science, recently amended to include an
international manned mission to Mars.
The Planetary Society
65 North Catalina Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106
Membership $35/year.
SSI - the Space Studies Institute, founded by Dr. Gerard O'Neill.
Physicist Freeman Dyson took over the Presidency of SSI after
O'Neill's death in 1992. Publishes _SSI Update_, a bimonthly
newsletter describing work-in-progress. Conducts a research program
including mass-drivers, lunar mining processes and simulants,
composites from lunar materials, solar power satellites. Runs the
biennial Princeton Conference on Space Manufacturing.
Membership $25/year. Senior Associates ($100/year and up) fund most
SSI research.
Space Studies Institute
258 Rosedale Road
PO Box 82
Princeton, NJ 08540
SEDS - Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Founded in
1980 at MIT and Princeton. SEDS is a chapter-based pro-space
organization at high schools and universities around the world.
Entirely student run. Each chapter is independent and coordinates
its own local activities. Nationally, SEDS runs a scholarship
competition, design contests, and holds an annual international
conference and meeting in late summer.
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
MIT Room W20-445
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139
(617)-253-8897
email: odyssey@athena.mit.edu
Dues determined by local chapter.
SPACECAUSE -  A political lobbying organization and part of the NSS
Family of Organizations. Publishes a bi-monthly newsletter,
Spacecause News. Annual dues is $25. Members also receive a discount
on _The Space Activist's Handbook_. Activities to support pro-space
legislation include meeting with political leaders and interacting
with legislative staff. Spacecause primarily operates in the
legislative process.
National Office			West Coast Office
Spacecause			Spacecause
922 Pennsylvania Ave. SE	3435 Ocean Park Blvd.
Washington, D.C. 20003		Suite 201-S
(202)-543-1900			Santa Monica, CA 90405
SPACEPAC - A political action committee and part of the NSS Family of
Organizations. Spacepac researches issues, policies, and candidates.
Each year, updates _The Space Activist's Handbook_. Current Handbook
price is $25. While Spacepac does not have a membership, it does
have regional contacts to coordinate local activity. Spacepac
primarily operates in the election process, contributing money and
volunteers to pro-space candidates.
Spacepac
922 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202)-543-1900
UNITED STATES SPACE FOUNDATION - a public, non-profit organization
supported by member donations and dedicated to promoting
international education, understanding and support of space. The
group hosts an annual conference for teachers and others interested
in education. Other projects include developing lesson plans that
use space to teach other basic skills such as reading. Publishes
"Spacewatch," a monthly B&W glossy magazine of USSF events and
general space news. Annual dues:
Charter		$50 ($100 first year)
Individual	$35
Teacher		$29
College student $20
HS/Jr. High	$10
Elementary	 $5
Founder &     $1000+
Life Member
United States Space Foundation
PO Box 1838
Colorado Springs, CO 80901
(719)-550-1000
WORLD SPACE FOUNDATION - has been designing and building a solar-sail
spacecraft for longer than any similar group; many JPL employees lend
their talents to this project. WSF also provides partial funding for the
Palomar Sky Survey, an extremely successful search for near-Earth
asteroids. Publishes *Foundation News* and *Foundation Astronautics
Notebook*, each a quarterly 4-8 page newsletter. Contributing Associate,
minimum of $15/year (but more money always welcome to support projects).
World Space Foundation
Post Office Box Y
South Pasadena, California 91301
PUBLICATIONS
Aerospace Daily (McGraw-Hill)
Very good coverage of aerospace and space issues. Approx. $1400/yr.
Air & Space / Smithsonian (bimonthly magazine)
Box 53261
Boulder, CO 80332-3261
$18/year US, $24/year international
ESA - The European Space Agency publishes a variety of periodicals,
generally available free of charge. A document describing them in
more detail is in the Ames SPACE archive in
pub/SPACE/FAQ/ESAPublications.
Final Frontier (mass-market bimonthly magazine) - history, book reviews,
general-interest articles (e.g. "The 7 Wonders of the Solar System",
"Everything you always wanted to know about military space
programs", etc.)
Final Frontier Publishing Co.
PO Box 534
Mt. Morris, IL 61054-7852
$14.95/year US, $19.95 Canada, $23.95 elsewhere
Space News (weekly magazine) - covers US civil and military space
programs. Said to have good political and business but spotty
technical coverage.
Space News
Springfield VA 22159-0500
(703)-642-7330
$75/year, may have discounts for NSS/SSI members
Journal of the Astronautical Sciences and Space Times - publications of
the American Astronautical Society. No details.
AAS Business Office
6352 Rolling Mill Place, Suite #102
Springfield, VA 22152
(703)-866-0020
GPS World (semi-monthly) - reports on current and new uses of GPS, news
and analysis of the system and policies affecting it, and technical
and product issues shaping GPS applications.
GPS World
859 Willamette St.
P.O. Box 10460
Eugene, OR 97440-2460
(503)-343-1200
Free to qualified individuals; write for free sample copy.
Innovation (Space Technology) -- Free. Published by the NASA Office of
Advanced Concepts and Technology. A revised version of the NASA
Office of Commercial Programs newsletter.
Planetary Encounter - in-depth technical coverage of planetary missions,
with diagrams, lists of experiments, interviews with people directly
involved.
World Spaceflight News - in-depth technical coverage of near-Earth
spaceflight. Mostly covers the shuttle: payload manifests, activity
schedules, and post-mission assessment reports for every mission.
Box 98
Sewell, NJ 08080
$30/year US/Canada
$45/year elsewhere
Space (bi-monthly magazine)
British aerospace trade journal. Very good. $75/year.
Space Calendar (weekly newsletter)
Space Daily/Space Fax Daily  (newsletter)
Short (1 paragraph) news notes. Available online for a fee
(unknown).
Space Technology Investor/Commercial Space News -- irregular Internet
column on aspects of commercial space business. Free. Also limited
fax and paper edition.
P.O. Box 2452
Seal Beach, CA 90740-1452.
All the following are published by:
Phillips Business Information, Inc.
7811 Montrose Road
Potomac, MC 20854
Aerospace Financial News - $595/year.
Defense Daily - Very good coverage of space and defense issues.
$1395/year.
Space Business News (bi-weekly) - Very good overview of space
business activities. $497/year.
Space Exploration Technology (bi-weekly) - $495/year.
Space Station News (bi-weekly) - $497/year.
UNDOCUMENTED GROUPS
Anyone who would care to write up descriptions of the following
groups (or others not mentioned) for inclusion in the answer is
encouraged to do so.
AAS - American Astronautical Society
Other groups not mentioned above
NEXT: FAQ #14/15 - How to become an astronaut
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 14/15 - How to Become an Astronaut
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Article-I.D.: cs.astronaut_733694515
Expires: 6 May 1993 20:01:55 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 313
Supersedes: <astronaut_730956661@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Archive-name: space/astronaut
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:02 $
HOW TO BECOME AN ASTRONAUT
First the short form, authored by Henry Spencer, then an official NASA
announcement.
Q. How do I become an astronaut?
A. We will assume you mean a NASA astronaut, since it's probably
impossible for a non-Russian to get into the cosmonaut corps (paying
passengers are not professional cosmonauts), and the other nations have
so few astronauts (and fly even fewer) that you're better off hoping to
win a lottery. Becoming a shuttle pilot requires lots of fast-jet
experience, which means a military flying career; forget that unless you
want to do it anyway. So you want to become a shuttle "mission
specialist".
If you aren't a US citizen, become one; that is a must.  After that,
the crucial thing to remember is that the demand for such jobs vastly
exceeds the supply.  NASA's problem is not finding qualified people,
but thinning the lineup down to manageable length.	It is not enough
to be qualified; you must avoid being *dis*qualified for any reason,
many of them in principle quite irrelevant to the job.
Get a Ph.D.  Specialize in something that involves getting your hands
dirty with equipment, not just paper and pencil.  Forget computer
programming entirely; it will be done from the ground for the fore-
seeable future.  Degree(s) in one field plus work experience in
another seems to be a frequent winner.
Be in good physical condition, with good eyesight.	(DO NOT get a
radial keratomy or similar hack to improve your vision; nobody knows
what sudden pressure changes would do to RKed eyes, and long-term
effects are poorly understood.  For that matter, avoid any other
significant medical unknowns.)  If you can pass a jet-pilot physical,
you should be okay; if you can't, your chances are poor.
Practise public speaking, and be conservative and conformist in
appearance and actions; you've got a tough selling job ahead, trying
to convince a cautious, conservative selection committee that you
are better than hundreds of other applicants.  (And, also, that you
will be a credit to NASA after you are hired:  public relations is
a significant part of the job, and NASA's image is very prim and
proper.)  The image you want is squeaky-clean workaholic yuppie.
Remember also that you will need a security clearance at some point,
and Security considers everybody guilty until proven innocent.
Keep your nose clean.
Get a pilot's license and make flying your number one hobby;
experienced pilots are known to be favored even for non-pilot jobs.
Work for NASA; of 45 astronauts selected between 1984 and 1988,
43 were military or NASA employees, and the remaining two were
a NASA consultant and Mae Jemison (the first black female astronaut).
If you apply from outside NASA and miss, but they offer you a job
at NASA, ***TAKE IT***; sometimes in the past this has meant "you
do look interesting but we want to know you a bit better first".
Think space:  they want highly motivated people, so lose no chance
to demonstrate motivation.
Keep trying.  Many astronauts didn't make it the first time.
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas
Announcement for Mission Specialist and Pilot Astronaut Candidates
==================================================================
Astronaut Candidate Program
---------------------------
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a need for
Pilot Astronaut Candidates and Mission Specialist Astronaut Candidates
to support the Space Shuttle Program. NASA is now accepting on a
continuous basis and plans to select astronaut candidates as needed.
Persons from both the civilian sector and the military services will be
considered.
All positions are located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas, and will involved a 1-year training and evaluation
program.
Space Shuttle Program Description
---------------------------------
The numerous successful flights of the Space Shuttle have demonstrated
that operation and experimental investigations in space are becoming
routine. The Space Shuttle Orbiter is launched into, and maneuvers in
the Earth orbit performing missions lastling up to 30 days. It then
returns to earth and is ready for another flight with payloads and
flight crew.
The Orbiter performs a variety of orbital missions including deployment
and retrieval of satellites, service of existing satellites, operation
of specialized laboratories (astronomy, earth sciences, materials
processing, manufacturing), and other operations. These missions will
eventually include the development and servicing of a permanent space
station. The Orbiter also provides a staging capability for using higher
orbits than can be achieved by the Orbiter itself. Users of the Space
Shuttle's capabilities are both domestic and foreign and include
government agencies and private industries.
The crew normally consists of five people - the commander, the pilot,
and three mission specialists. On occasion additional crew members are
assigned. The commander, pilot, and mission specialists are NASA
astronauts.
Pilot Astronaut
Pilot astronauts server as both Space Shuttle commanders and pilots.
During flight the commander has onboard responsibility for the vehicle,
crew, mission success and safety in flight. The pilot assists the
commander in controlling and operating the vehicle. In addition, the
pilot may assist in the deployment and retrieval of satellites utilizing
the remote manipulator system, in extra-vehicular activities, and other
payload operations.
Mission Specialist Astronaut
Mission specialist astronauts, working with the commander and pilot,
have overall responsibility for the coordination of Shuttle operations
in the areas of crew activity planning, consumables usage, and
experiment and payload operations. Mission specialists are required to
have a detailed knowledge of Shuttle systems, as well as detailed
knowledge of the operational characteristics, mission requirements and
objectives, and supporting systems and equipment for each of the
experiments to be conducted on their assigned missions. Mission
specialists will perform extra-vehicular activities, payload handling
using the remote manipulator system, and perform or assist in specific
experimental operations.
Astronaut Candidate Program
===========================
Basic Qualification Requirements
--------------------------------
Applicants MUST meet the following minimum requirements prior to
submitting an application.
Mission Specialist Astronaut Candidate:
1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering,
biological science, physical science or mathematics. Degree must be
followed by at least three years of related progressively responsible,
professional experience. An advanced degree is desirable and may be
substituted for part or all of the experience requirement (master's
degree = 1 year, doctoral degree = 3 years). Quality of academic
preparation is important.
2. Ability to pass a NASA class II space physical, which is similar to a
civilian or military class II flight physical and includes the following
specific standards:
Distant visual acuity:
20/150 or better uncorrected,
correctable to 20/20, each eye.
Blood pressure:
140/90 measured in sitting position.
3. Height between 58.5 and 76 inches.
Pilot Astronaut Candidate:
1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering,
biological science, physical science or mathematics. Degree must be
followed by at least three years of related progressively responsible,
professional experience. An advanced degree is desirable. Quality of
academic preparation is important.
2. At least 1000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. Flight
test experience highly desirable.
3. Ability to pass a NASA Class I space physical which is similar to a
military or civilian Class I flight physical and includes the following
specific standards:
Distant visual acuity:
20/50 or better uncorrected
correctable to 20/20, each eye.
Blood pressure:
140/90 measured in sitting position.
4. Height between 64 and 76 inches.
Citizenship Requirements
Applications for the Astronaut Candidate Program must be citizens of
the United States.
Note on Academic Requirements
Applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must meet the basic
education requirements for NASA engineering and scientific positions --
specifically: successful completion of standard professional curriculum
in an accredited college or university leading to at least a bachelor's
degree with major study in an appropriate field of engineering,
biological science, physical science, or mathematics.
The following degree fields, while related to engineering and the
sciences, are not considered qualifying:
- Degrees in technology (Engineering Technology, Aviation Technology,
Medical Technology, etc.)
- Degrees in Psychology (except for Clinical Psychology, Physiological
Psychology, or Experimental Psychology which are qualifying).
- Degrees in Nursing.
- Degrees in social sciences (Geography, Anthropology, Archaeology, etc.)
- Degrees in Aviation, Aviation Management or similar fields.
Application Procedures
----------------------
Civilian
The application package may be obtained by writing to:
NASA Johnson Space Center
Astronaut Selection Office
ATTN: AHX
Houston, TX 77058
Civilian applications will be accepted on a continuous basis. When NASA
decides to select additional astronaut candidates, consideration will be
given only to those applications on hand on the date of decision is
made. Applications received after that date will be retained and
considered for the next selection. Applicants will be notified annually
of the opportunity to update their applications and to indicate
continued interest in being considered for the program. Those applicants
who do not update their applications annually will be dropped from
consideration, and their applications will not be retained. After the
preliminary screening of applications, additional information may be
requested for some applicants, and person listed on the application as
supervisors and references may be contacted.
Active Duty Military
Active duty military personnel must submit applications to their
respective military service and not directly to NASA. Application
procedures will be disseminated by each service.
Selection
---------
Personal interviews and thorough medical evaluations will be required
for both civilian and military applicants under final consideration.
Once final selections have been made, all applicants who were considered
will be notified of the outcome of the process.
Selection rosters established through this process may be used for the
selection of additional candidates during a one year period following
their establishment.
General Program Requirements
Selected applicants will be designated Astronaut Candidates and will be
assigned to the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center, Houston,
Texas. The astronaut candidates will undergo a 1 year training and
evaluation period during which time they will be assigned technical or
scientific responsibilities allowing them to contribute substantially to
ongoing programs. They will also participate in the basic astronaut
training program which is designed to develop the knowledge and skills
required for formal mission training upon selection for a flight. Pilot
astronaut candidates will maintain proficiency in NASA aircraft during
their candidate period.
Applicants should be aware that selection as an astronaut candidate does
not insure selection as an astronaut. Final selection as an astronaut
will depend on satisfactory completion of the 1 year training and
evaluation period. Civilian candidates who successfully complete the
training and evaluation and are selected as astronauts will become
permanent Federal employees and will be expected to remain with NASA for
a period of at least five years. Civilian candidates who are not
selected as astronauts may be placed in other positions within NASA
depending upon Agency requirements and manpower constraints at that
time. Successful military candidates will be detailed to NASA for a
specified tour of duty.
NASA has an affirmative action program goal of having qualified
minorities and women among those qualified as astronaut candidates.
Therefore, qualified minorities and women are encouraged to apply.
Pay and Benefits
----------------
Civilians
Salaries for civilian astronaut candidates are based on the Federal
Governments General Schedule pay scales for grades GS-11 through GS-14,
and are set in accordance with each individuals academic achievements
and experience.
Other benefits include vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan, and
participation in group health and life insurance plans.
Military
Selected military personnel will be detailed to the Johnson Space Center
but will remain in an active duty status for pay, benefits, leave, and
other similar military matters.
NEXT: FAQ #15/15 - Orbital and Planetary Launch Services
Subject: Diffs to sci.space/sci.astro Frequently Asked Questions
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:50:16 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Supersedes: <diffs_730956190@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 294
Archive-name: space/diff
DIFFS SINCE LAST FAQ POSTING (IN POSTING ORDER)
(These are hand-edited context diffs; do not attempt to use them to patch
old copies of the FAQ).
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.intro
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06400	Thu Apr  1 14:47:22 1993
--- FAQ.intro	Thu Apr  1 14:46:55 1993
***************
*** 101,107 ****
NASA Langley (Technical Reports)
NASA Spacelink
National Space Science Data Center
-		  Space And Planetary Image Facility
Space Telescope Science Institute Electronic Info. Service
Starcat
Astronomical Databases
--- 101,106 ----
***************
*** 130,135 ****
--- 129,135 ----
LLNL "great exploration"
Lunar Prospector
Lunar science and activities
+	      Orbiting Earth satellite histories
Spacecraft models
Rocket propulsion
Spacecraft design
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.net
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06405	Thu Apr  1 14:47:24 1993
--- FAQ.net	Thu Apr  1 14:46:57 1993
***************
*** 58,63 ****
--- 58,67 ----
elements are sent out on the list from Dr. Kelso, JSC, and other sources
as they are released. Email to elements-request@telesoft.com to join.
+     GPS Digest is a moderated list for discussion of the Global Positioning
+     System and other satellite navigation positioning systems. Email to
+     gps-request@esseye.si.com to join.
+
Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (vac@cs.cmu.edu) to join.
***************
*** 223,227 ****
--- 227,241 ----
1030. If in fact you should should learn of unauthorized access, contact
NASA personnel.
+     Claims have been made on this news group about fraud and waste. None
+     have ever been substantiated to any significant degree. Readers
+     detecting Fraud, Waste, Abuse, or Mismanagement should contact the NASA
+     Inspector General (24-hours) at 800-424-9183 (can be anonymous) or write
+
+	  NASA
+	  Inspector General
+	  P.O. Box 23089
+	  L'enfant Plaza Station
+	  Washington DC 20024
NEXT: FAQ #3/15 - Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.data
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06410	Thu Apr  1 14:47:26 1993
--- FAQ.data	Thu Apr  1 14:46:54 1993
***************
*** 216,237 ****
Telephone: (301) 286-6695
Email address:   request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
-
-
-     SPACE AND PLANETARY IMAGE FACILITY
-
-     Available 24 hours a day via anonymous FTP from pioneer.unm.edu. Has
-     approximately 150 CD-ROM's full of imagery, raw, and tabular data. To
-     start, get the file:
-
-	  pioneer.unm.edu:pub/info/beginner-info
-
-     This will hopefully give you all of the information you need to get data
-     from their machine. beginner-info has been translated to other
-     languages, you should look inside pub/info for the particular language
-     that meets your needs.
-
-     Contact help@pioneer.unm.edu.
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE
--- 216,221 ----
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.math
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06415	Thu Apr  1 14:47:28 1993
--- FAQ.math	Thu Apr  1 14:46:56 1993
***************
*** 60,65 ****
--- 60,71 ----
Gives series to compute positions accurate to 1 arc minute for a
period + or - 300 years from now. Pluto is included but stated to
have an accuracy of only about 15 arc minutes.
+
+     _Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac_ (MICA), produced by the US
+     Naval Observatory. Valid for years 1990-1999. $55 ($80 outside US).
+     Available for IBM (order #PB93-500163HDV) or Macintosh (order
+     #PB93-500155HDV). From the NTIS sales desk, (703)-487-4650. I believe
+     this is intended to replace the USNO's Interactive Computer Ephemeris.
_Interactive Computer Ephemeris_ (from the US Naval Observatory)
distributed on IBM-PC floppy disks, $35 (Willmann-Bell). Covers dates
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.references
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06420	Thu Apr  1 14:47:30 1993
--- FAQ.references	Thu Apr  1 14:46:59 1993
***************
*** 93,100 ****
US Naval Observatory
202-653-1079 (USNO Bulletin Board via modem)
202-653-1507 General
-	  202-653-1545 Nautical Almanac Office (info on the Interactive
-	      Computer Ephemeris)
Willmann-Bell
P.O. Box 35025
--- 93,98 ----
***************
*** 138,151 ****
SDI's SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that should fly in
mid-1993. Further development towards an operational single-stage to
!     orbit vehicle is uncertain at present; for considerably more detail on
!     the SSRT program, get the document
!	  ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/DeltaClipper
!     by anonymous FTP or through the email server.
HOW TO NAME A STAR AFTER A PERSON
Official names are decided by committees of the International
--- 136,151 ----
SDI's SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that should fly in
mid-1993. Further development towards an operational single-stage to
!     orbit vehicle (called Delta Clipper) is uncertain at present.
!     An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is available by
!     anonymous FTP or email server in the directory
!	  bongo.cc.utexas.edu:pub/delta-clipper
+     Chris W. Johnson (chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu) maintains the archive.
+
HOW TO NAME A STAR AFTER A PERSON
Official names are decided by committees of the International
***************
*** 223,228 ****
--- 223,236 ----
University Press, 1970. Information about the Lunar Orbiter missions,
including maps of the coverage of the lunar nearside and farside by
various Orbiters.
+
+
+     ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES
+
+     A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is
+     available by anonymous FTP in:
+
+	  ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/Satellites
SPACECRAFT MODELS
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.addresses
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06435	Thu Apr  1 14:47:34 1993
--- FAQ.addresses	Thu Apr  1 14:46:51 1993
***************
*** 75,80 ****
--- 75,85 ----
the latter, an SF 171 is useless. Employees are Caltech employees,
contractors, and for the most part have similar responsibilities.
They offer an alternative to funding after other NASA Centers.
+
+	  A fact sheet and description of JPL is available by anonymous
+	  FTP in
+
+	      ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/JPLDescription
NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC)
Houston, TX 77058
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.new_probes
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06450	Thu Apr  1 14:47:38 1993
--- FAQ.new_probes	Thu Apr  1 14:46:58 1993
***************
*** 8,13 ****
--- 8,19 ----
team, ISAS/NASDA launch schedules, press kits.
+     ASUKA (ASTRO-D) - ISAS (Japan) X-ray astronomy satellite, launched into
+     Earth orbit on 2/20/93. Equipped with large-area wide-wavelength (1-20
+     Angstrom) X-ray telescope, X-ray CCD cameras, and imaging gas
+     scintillation proportional counters.
+
+
CASSINI - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. Cassini is a joint
NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian
system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe. Cassini
***************
*** 98,115 ****
MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Has mapped almost the entire
!     surface at high resolution. Currently (11/92) in mapping cycle 4,
!     collecting a global gravity map.
MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.
!     Launched 9/24/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. MO is currently (3/93) in
transit to Mars, arriving on 8/24/93. Operations will start 11/93 for
one martian year (687 days).
!     TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched in
!     August 1992 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the
TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global
observations of the sea level for several years, substantially
increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also
--- 104,121 ----
MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Has mapped almost the entire
!     surface at high resolution. Currently (4/93) collecting a global gravity
!     map.
MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.
!     Launched 9/25/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. MO is currently (4/93) in
transit to Mars, arriving on 8/24/93. Operations will start 11/93 for
one martian year (687 days).
!     TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched
!     8/10/92 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the
TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global
observations of the sea level for several years, substantially
increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also
===================================================================
diff -t -c -r1.18 FAQ.astronaut
*** /tmp/,RCSt1a06465	Thu Apr  1 14:47:43 1993
--- FAQ.astronaut	Thu Apr  1 14:46:52 1993
***************
*** 162,174 ****
specific standards:
Distant visual acuity:
!		20/100 or better uncorrected,
correctable to 20/20, each eye.
Blood pressure:
140/90 measured in sitting position.
!     3. Height between 60 and 76 inches.
Pilot Astronaut Candidate:
--- 162,174 ----
specific standards:
Distant visual acuity:
!		20/150 or better uncorrected,
correctable to 20/20, each eye.
Blood pressure:
140/90 measured in sitting position.
!     3. Height between 58.5 and 76 inches.
Pilot Astronaut Candidate:
Subject: Space FAQ 01/15 - Introduction
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:53:44 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Supersedes: <intro_730956346@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 310
Archive-name: space/intro
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:10 $
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SCI.SPACE/SCI.ASTRO
INTRODUCTION
This series of linked messages is periodically posted to the Usenet
groups sci.space and sci.astro in an attempt to provide good answers to
frequently asked questions and other reference material which is worth
preserving. If you have corrections or answers to other frequently asked
questions that you would like included in this posting, send email to
leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech).
If you don't want to see the FAQ, add 'Frequently Asked Questions' to
your KILL file for this group (if you're not reading this with a newsreader
that can kill articles by subject, you're out of luck).
The FAQ volume is excessive right now and will hopefully be trimmed down
by rewriting and condensing over time. The FAQ postings are available in
the Ames SPACE archive in FAQ/faq<#>.
Good summaries will be accepted in place of the answers given here. The
point of this is to circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old
answers. Better to build on top than start again. Nothing more depressing
than rehashing old topics for the 100th time. References are provided
because they give more complete information than any short generalization.
Questions fall into three basic types:
1) Where do I find some information about space?
Try your local public library first. The net is not a good place to ask
for general information. Ask INDIVIDUALS (by email) if you must. There
are other sources, use them, too. The net is a place for open ended
discussion.
2) I have an idea which would improve space flight?
Hope you aren't surprised, but 9,999 out of 10,000 have usually been
thought of before. Again, contact a direct individual source for
evaluation. NASA fields thousands of these each day.
3) Miscellanous queries.
These are addressed on a case-by-case basis in the following series of
FAQ postings.
SUGGESTIONS FOR BETTER NETIQUETTE
Read news.announce.newusers if you're on Usenet.
Minimize cross references, [Do you REALLY NEED to?]
Edit "Subject:" lines, especially if you're taking a tangent.
Send mail instead, avoid posting follow ups. (1 mail message worth
100 posts).
Internet mail readers: send requests to add/drop to SPACE-REQUEST
not SPACE.
Read all available articles before posting a follow-up. (Check all
references.)
Cut down attributed articles (leave only the points you're
responding to; remove signatures and headers). Summarize!
Put a return address in the body (signature) of your message (mail
or article), state your institution, etc. Don't assume the
'reply' function of mailers will work.
Use absolute dates. Post in a timely way. Don't post what everyone
will get on TV anyway.
Some editors and window systems do character count line wrapping:
keep lines under 80 characters for those using ASCII terminals
(use carriage returns).
INDEX TO LINKED POSTINGS
I've attempted to break the postings up into related areas. There isn't
a keyword index yet; the following lists the major subject areas in each
posting. Only those containing astronomy-related material are posted to
sci.astro (indicated by '*' following the posting number).
#	Contents
1*	Introduction
Suggestions for better netiquette
Index to linked postings
Notes on addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Contributors
2*	Network resources
Overview
Mailing lists
Periodically updated information
Warning about non-public networks
3*	Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.
Introduction
Viewing Images
Online Archives
NASA Ames
NASA Astrophysics Data System
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (Mission Information and Images)
NASA Langley (Technical Reports)
NASA Spacelink
National Space Science Data Center
Space Telescope Science Institute Electronic Info. Service
Starcat
Astronomical Databases
Astronomy Programs
Orbital Element Sets
SPACE Digest
Landsat & NASA Photos
Planetary Maps
Cometary Orbits
4*	Performing calculations and interpreting data formats
Computing spacecraft orbits and trajectories
Computing planetary positions
Computing crater diameters from Earth-impacting asteroids
Map projections and spherical trignometry
Performing N-body simulations efficiently
Interpreting the FITS image format
Sky (Unix ephemeris program)
Three-dimensional star/galaxy coordinates
5*	References on specific areas
Publishers of space/astronomy material
Careers in the space industry
DC-X single-stage to orbit (SSTO) program
How to name a star after a person
LLNL "great exploration"
Lunar Prospector
Lunar science and activities
Orbiting Earth satellite histories
Spacecraft models
Rocket propulsion
Spacecraft design
Esoteric propulsion schemes (solar sails, lasers, fusion...)
Spy satellites
Space shuttle computer systems
SETI computation (signal processing)
Amateur satellies & weather satellites
Tides
6*	Constants and equations for calculations
7*	Astronomical Mnemonics
8	Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
NASA Centers / Arianespace / ESA / NASDA / Soyuzkarta / Space
Camp / Space Commerce Corporation / Spacehab / SPOT Image
Other commercial space businesses
9	Space shuttle answers, launch schedules, TV coverage
Shuttle launchings and landings; schedules and how to see them
Why does the shuttle roll just after liftoff?
How to receive the NASA TV channel, NASA SELECT
Amateur radio frequencies for shuttle missions
Solid Rocket Booster fuel composition
10	Planetary probes - Historical Missions
US planetary missions
Mariner (Venus, Mars, & Mercury flybys and orbiters)
Pioneer (Moon, Sun, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn flybys and orbiters)
Ranger (Lunar lander and impact missions)
Lunar Orbiter (Lunar surface photography)
Surveyor (Lunar soft landers)
Viking (Mars orbiters and landers)
Voyager (Outer planet flybys)
Soviet planetary missions
Soviet Lunar probes
Soviet Venus probes
Soviet Mars probes
Japanese planetary missions
Planetary mission references
11	Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules
Cassini
Galileo
Magellan
Mars Observer
TOPEX/Poseidon
Ulysses
Other space science missions
Proposed missions
12	Controversial questions
What happened to the Saturn V plans
Why data from space missions isn't immediately available
Risks of nuclear (RTG) power sources for space probes
Impact of the space shuttle on the ozone layer
How long can a human live unprotected in space
How the Challenger astronauts died
Using the shuttle beyond Low Earth Orbit
The "Face on Mars"
13	Space activist/interest/research groups and space publications
Groups
Publications
Undocumented Groups
14	How to become an astronaut
15	Orbital and Planetary Launch Services
NOTES ON ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, ETC.
Unless otherwise specified, telephone numbers, addresses, and so on are
for the United States of America. Non-US readers should remember to add
the country code for telephone calls, etc.
CREDITS
Eugene Miya started a series of linked FAQ postings some years ago which
inspired (and was largely absorbed into) this set.
Peter Yee and Ron Baalke have and continue to spend a lot of their own
time setting up the SPACE archives at NASA Ames and forwarding official
NASA announcements.
Many other people have contributed material to this list in the form of
old postings to sci.space and sci.astro which I've edited. Please let me
know if corrections need to be made. Contributors I've managed to keep
track of are:
0004847546@mcimail.com (Francis Reddy)	- map projections
ad038@yfn.ysu.edu (Steven Fisk)		- publication refs.
akerman@bill.phy.queensu.CA (Richard Akerman)   - crater diameters
alweigel@athena.mit.edu (Lisa Weigel)	- SEDS info
aoab314@emx.utexas.edu (Srinivas Bettadpur) - tides
awpaeth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Alan Wm Paeth) - map projections
aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)		- Great Exploration
baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)	- planetary probe schedules
bankst@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Timothy Banks)	- map projections,
variable star analysis archive
bern@uni-trier.de (Jochen Bern)		- German mnemonic translation
brosen@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Bernie Rosen)	- Space Camp
bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)   - FITS format
cew@venera.isi.edu (Craig E. Ward)		- space group contact info
chapin@cbnewsc.att.com (Tom Chapin)		- planetary positions
cunnida@tenet.edu (D. Alan Cunningham)	- NASA Spacelink
cyamamot@kilroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Cliff Yamamoto) - orbital elements
datri@convex.com (Anthony Datri)		- PDS/VICAR viewing software
daver@sjc.mentorg.com (Dave Rickel)		- orbit formulae
dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Phil Fraering)		- propulsion
eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)		- Saturn V plans, SRBs
eugene@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)	- introduction,
NASA contact info, started FAQ postings
french@isu.isunet.edu (Patrick M. French)	- space group contact info
g@telesoft.com (Gary Morris)		- amateur radio info
gaetz@cfa.harvard.edu (Terry Gaetz)		- N-body calculations,
orbital dynamics
grandi@noao.edu (Steve Grandi)		- planetary positions
greer%utd201.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov (Dale M. Greer)   - constants
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)	- survival in vacuum,
astronaut how-to, Challenger disaster, publication refs, DC-X
higgins@fnal.bitnet (William Higgins)	- RTGs, publishers,
shuttle landings, spysats, propulsion, "Face on Mars"
hmueller@cssun.tamu.edu (Hal Mueller)	- map projections,
orbital dynamics
jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)	- launch services
jim@pnet01.cts.com (Jim Bowery)		- propulsion, launch services
jnhead@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu (James N. Head) - atmospheric scale heights
jscotti@lpl.arizona.edu (Jim Scotti)	- planetary positions
kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu (Kieran A. Carroll)- refs for spacecraft design
ken@orion.bitnet (Kenneth Ng)		- RTGs
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov (Ken Jenks)	- shuttle roll manuever
klaes@verga.enet.dec.com (Larry Klaes)	- planetary probe history
leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)		- crater diameters
lfa@ssi.com (Lou Adornato)			- orbital dynamics
maury.markowitz@egsgate.fidonet.org (Maury Markowitz)   - propulsion
max@west.darkside.com (Erik Max Francis)	- equations
mbellon@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM		- N-body calculations
mcconley@phoenix.Princeton.edu (Marc Wayne Mcconley)    - space careers
msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)			- Mariner 1 info.
mwm@cmu.edu (Mark Maimone)			- SPACE Digest
nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Dr. Nick Watkins)	- models, spysats
ohainaut@eso.org (Olivier R. Hainaut)	- publishers, STARCAT
oneil@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Graham O'Neil)	- Lunar Prospector
panama@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham)	- cometary orbits, IAU
paul.blase@nss.fidonet.org (Paul Blase)	- propulsion
pjs@plato.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott)	- RTGs
pschleck@unomaha.edu (Paul W. Schleck)	- AMSAT, ARRL contact info
rdb@mel.cocam.oz.au (Rodney Brown)		- propulsion refs
rja7m@phil.cs.virginia.edu (Ran Atkinson)	- FTPable astro. programs
rjungcla@ihlpb.att.com (R. Michael Jungclas)- models
roelle@sigi.jhuapl.edu (Curt Roelle)	- German mnemonic translation
seal@leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov (David Seal)	- Cassini mission schedule
shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)	- photos, shuttle landings
smith@sndpit.enet.dec.com (Willie Smith)	- photos
stephen@gpwd.gp.co.nz (Stephen Dixon)	- shuttle audio frequencies
sterner@warper.jhuapl.edu (Ray Sterner)	- planetary positions
stooke@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca (Phil Stooke)	- planetary maps
ted_anderson@transarc.com (Ted Anderson)	- propulsion
terry@astro.as.utexas.edu (Terry Hancock)	- NASA center info
thorson@typhoon.atmos.coloState.edu (Bill Thorson) - FITS info
tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Todd L. Masco)	- SPACE Digest
tom@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley)	- refs for algorithms
veikko.makela@helsinki.fi (Veikko Makela)	- orbital element sets
Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org (Wales Larrison) - groups & publications
wayne@csri.utoronto.ca (Wayne Hayes)	- constants
weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) - Voyager history
yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp (Yoshiro Yamada)	- ISAS/NASDA missions
yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)		- AMES archive server,
propulsion
In Net memoriam:
Ted Flinn
NEXT: FAQ #2/15 - Network Resources
Subject: Space FAQ 02/15 - Network Resources
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:54:26 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Supersedes: <net_730956391@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 241
Archive-name: space/net
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:15 $
NETWORK RESOURCES
OVERVIEW
You may be reading this document on any one of an amazing variety of
computers, so much of the material below may not apply to you. In
general, however, systems connected to 'the net' fall in one of three
categories: Internet, Usenet, or BITNET. Electronic mail may be sent
between these networks, and other resources available on one of these
networks are sometimes accessible from other networks by email sent to
special 'servers'.
The space and astronomy discussion groups actually are composed of
several mechanisms with (mostly) transparent connections between them.
One mechanism is the mailing list, in which mail is sent to a central
distribution point which relays it to all recipients of the list. In
addition to the general lists for space (called SPACE Digest for
Internet users, and SPACE on BITNET), there are a number of more
specialized mailing lists described below.
A second mechanism is Usenet 'netnews'. This is somewhat like a bulletin
board operating on each system which is a part of the net. Netnews
separates contributions into hundreds of different categories based on a
'group name'. The groups dealing most closely with space topics are
called 'sci.space.news', 'sci.space', 'sci.space.shuttle', 'sci.astro',
and 'talk.politics.space'. Contributors 'post' submissions (called
'articles' in netnews terminology) on their local machine, which sends
it to other nearby machines. Similarly, articles sent from nearby
machines are stored locally and may be forwarded to other systems, so
that an article is posted locally and eventually reaches all the Usenet
sites interested in receiving the news group to which the article was
posted.
Gateway machines redirect the Usenet sci.space group into Internet and
BITNET mailing lists and vice versa; the other Usenet groups are not
accessible as mailing lists. If you can receive netnews, its more
flexible interface and access to a wider range of material usually make
it the preferred option.
MAILING LISTS
SPACE Digest is the main Internet list, and is now being run by the
International Space University (in only its second change of management
in over a decade). Email space-request@isu.isunet.edu (message body
should be in the format 'subscribe space John Public') to join. Note
that the moderated SPACE Magazine list is defunct at present for lack of
a moderator. Old copies of SPACE Digest since its inception in 1981 are
available by anonymous FTP. Retrieve
julius.cs.qub.ac.uk:pub/SpaceDigestArchive/README
for further details.
Elements is a moderated list for fast distribution of Space Shuttle
Keplerian Elements before and during Shuttle flights. NASA two line
elements are sent out on the list from Dr. Kelso, JSC, and other sources
as they are released. Email to elements-request@telesoft.com to join.
GPS Digest is a moderated list for discussion of the Global Positioning
System and other satellite navigation positioning systems. Email to
gps-request@esseye.si.com to join.
Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (vac@cs.cmu.edu) to join.
Space-tech is a list for more technical discussion of space topics;
discussion has included esoteric propulsion technologies, asteroid
capture, starflight, orbital debris removal, etc. Email to
space-tech-request@cs.cmu.edu to join. Archives of old digests and
selected excerpts are available by anonymous FTP from
gs80.sp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.205.90) in /usr/anon/public/space-tech,
or by email to space-tech-request if you don't have FTP access.
SEDS-L is a BITNET list for members of Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space and other interested parties. Email
LISTSERV@TAMVM1.BITNET with a message saying "SUBSCRIBE SEDS-L your
name". Email saying "INDEX SEDS-L" to list the archive contents.
SEDSNEWS is a BITNET list for news items, press releases, shuttle status
reports, and the like. This duplicates material which is also found in
Space Digest, sci.space, sci.space.shuttle, and sci.astro. Email
LISTSERV@TAMVM1.BITNET saying "SUBSCRIBE SEDSNEWS your name" to join.
Email saying "INDEX SEDSNEWS" to list the archive contents.
Ron Baalke (baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) runs a mailing list which
carries the contents of the sci.space.news Usenet group. Email him
to join the list.
As a general note, please mail to the *request* address to get off a
mailing list. SPACE Digest, for example, relays many inappropriate
'please remove me from this list' messages which are sent to the list
address rather than the request address.
PERIODICALLY UPDATED INFORMATION
In addition to this FAQ list, a broad variety of topical information is
posted to the net (unless otherwise noted, in the new group
sci.space.news created for this purpose). Please remember that the
individuals posting this information are performing a service for all
net readers, and don't take up their time with frivolous requests.
ACRONYMS
Garrett Wollman (wollman@UVM.EDU) posts an acronym list around the
first of each month.
ASTRO-FTP LIST
Veikko Makela (veikko.makela@helsinki.fi) posts a monthly list of
anonymous FTP servers containing astronomy and space related
material to sci.space and sci.astro.
AVIATION WEEK
Henry Spencer (henry@zoo.toronto.edu) posts summaries of
space-related stories in the weekly _Aviation Week and Space
Technology_.
BUYING TELESCOPES
Ronnie Kon (ronnie@cisco.com) posts a guide to buying telescopes to
sci.astro.
ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASA
Don Barry (don@chara.gsu.edu) posts the monthly Electronic Journal
of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic to sci.astro.
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL
Swaraj Jeyasingh (sjeyasin@axion.bt.co.uk) posts summaries of
space-related news from _Flight International_. This focuses more on
non-US space activities than Aviation Week.
LARGE ASTRONOMICAL PROJECTS
Robert Bunge (rbunge@access.digex.com) posts a list describing many
"Large Telescope Projects Either Being Considered or in the Works"
to sci.astro.
NASA HEADLINE NEWS & SHUTTLE REPORTS
Peter Yee (yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov) posts a variety of NASA material,
including NASA Headline News (with the schedule for NASA SELECT),
shuttle payload briefings and flight manifests, and KSC shuttle
status reports. For Usenet users, much of this material appears in
the group sci.space.shuttle.
NASA UPDATES
Ron Baalke (baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) posts frequent updates from
JPL, Ames, and other centers on the Ulysses, Gailileo, Pioneer,
Magellan, Landsat, and other missions.
ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS
TS Kelso (tkelso@blackbird.afit.af.mil) posts orbital elements from
NASA Prediction Bulletins.
Mike Rose (mrose@stsci.edu) posts orbital elements for the Hubble
Space Telescope to sci.astro.
Jost Jahn (j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de) posts ephemerides for asteroids,
comets, conjunctions, and encounters to sci.astro.
SATELLITE LAUNCHES
Richard Langley (lang@unb.ca) posts SPACEWARN Bulletin, which
describes recent launch/orbital decay information and satellites
which are useful for scientific activities. Recent bulletins are
available by anonymous FTP from nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov in
ANON_DIR:[000000.ACTIVE.SPX].
SHUTTLE MANIFEST
Ken Hollis (gandalf@pro-electric.cts.com) posts a compressed version
of the Space Shuttle launch manifest to sci.space.shuttle. This
includes dates, times, payloads, and information on how to see
launches and landings.
SOLAR ACTIVITY
Cary Oler (oler@hg.uleth.ca) posts Solar Terrestrial reports
(describing solar activity and its effect on the Earth) to
sci.space. The report is issued in part from data released by the
Space Enviroment Services Center, Boulder Colorado. The intro
document needed to understand these reports is available by
anonymous FTP from solar.stanford.edu (36.10.0.4) in
pub/understanding_solar_terrestrial_reports. nic.funet.fi
(128.214.6.100) also has this document in
/pub/misc/rec.radio.shortwave/solarreports and is an archive site
for the reports (please note this site is in Europe, and the
connection to the US is only 56KB). A new primary archive site,
xi.uleth.ca (142.66.3.29), has recently been established and will be
actively supported.
SOVIET SPACE ACTIVITIES
Glenn Chapman (glennc@cs.sfu.ca) posts summaries of Soviet space
activities.
SPACE ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER
Allen Sherzer (aws@iti.org) posts a newsletter, "One Small Step for
a Space Activist," to talk.politics.space. It describes current
legislative activity affecting NASA and commercial space activities.
SPACE EVENTS CALENDAR
Ron Baalke (baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) posts a calendar including
anniversaries, conferences, launch dates, meteor showers and
eclipses, and other space-related events.
SPACE NEWS
John Magliacane (kd2bd@ka2qhd.UUCP) posts "SpaceNews" (covering
AMSATs, NOAA and other weather satellites, and other ham
information) to rec.radio.amateur.misc and sci.space.
SPACE REPORT
Jonathan McDowell (mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu) posts "Jonathan's Space
Report" covering launches, landings, reentries, status reports,
satellite activities, etc.
TOWARD 2001
Bev Freed (freed@nss.fidonet.org) posts "Toward 2001", a weekly
global news summary reprinted from _Space Calendar_ magazine.
WARNING ABOUT NON-PUBLIC NETWORKS
(Included at the suggestion of Eugene Miya, who wrote the item)
NASA has an internal system of unclassified electronic mail and bulletin
boards. This system is not open for public use. Specifically, NASA
personnel and procurement operations are regarded with some sensitivity.
Contractors must renegotiate their contracts. The Fair and Open
Procurement Act does not look kindly to those having inside information.
Contractors and outsiders caught using this type of information can
expect severe penalities. Unauthorized access attempts may subject you
to a fine and/or imprisonment in accordance with Title 18, USC, Section
1030. If in fact you should should learn of unauthorized access, contact
NASA personnel.
Claims have been made on this news group about fraud and waste. None
have ever been substantiated to any significant degree. Readers
detecting Fraud, Waste, Abuse, or Mismanagement should contact the NASA
Inspector General (24-hours) at 800-424-9183 (can be anonymous) or write
NASA
Inspector General
P.O. Box 23089
L'enfant Plaza Station
Washington DC 20024
NEXT: FAQ #3/15 - Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.
Subject: Space FAQ 03/15 - Data Sources
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:55:35 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Supersedes: <data_730956427@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 463
Archive-name: space/data
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:07 $
ONLINE AND OTHER SOURCES OF IMAGES, DATA, ETC.
INTRODUCTION
A wide variety of images, data, catalogs, information releases, and
other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net.
A few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access, while the
remainder support some form of file transfer. Many sites are listed as
providing 'anonymous FTP'. This refers to the File Transfer Protocol on
the Internet. Sites not connected to the Internet cannot use FTP
directly, but there are a few automated FTP servers which operates via
email. Send mail containing only the word HELP to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
or bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu, and the servers will send you instructions
on how to make requests.
The sources with the broadest selection of material are the NASA Ames
SPACE archive and the National Space Science Data Center.
Don't even ask for images to be posted to the net. The data volume is
huge and nobody wants to spend the time on it.
VIEWING IMAGES
The possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly
large, and I won't attempt to cover common formats (GIF, etc.) here. To
read PDS and VICAR (and many other) formats on Unix systems running X,
use XV 2.11, available by anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu
(18.24.0.12) in contrib/xv-2.11.tar.Z and the other standard X11 FTP
sites.
The FAQ for the Usenet group alt.binaries.pictures discusses image
formats and how to get image viewing software. A copy of this document
is available by anonymous FTP from the Usenet FAQ archives at
pit-manager.mit.edu (18.72.1.58), in directory
pub/usenet/alt.binaries.pictures.
ONLINE ARCHIVES
NASA AMES
Extensive archives are maintained at NASA Ames and are available via
anonymous FTP or an email server. These archives include many images and
a wide variety of documents including this FAQ list, NASA press
releases, shuttle launch advisories, and mission status reports. Please
note that these are NOT maintained on an official basis.
FTP users should connect to ames.arc.nasa.gov (128.102.18.3) and look in
pub/SPACE. pub/SPACE/Index contains a listing of files available in the
archive (the index is about 200K by itself).
To access the archives by email, send a letter to
archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov (or ames!archive-server). In the
subject of your letter (or in the body), use commands like:
send SPACE Index
send SPACE SHUTTLE/ss01.23.91.
The capitalization of the subdirectory names is important. All are in
caps. Only text files are handled by the email server at present; use
one of the FTP email servers described in the introduction to this
section for images or programs.
The Magellan Venus and Voyager Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus CD-ROM image
disks have been put online in the CDROM and CDROM2 directories. The
disks will be rotated on a weekly basis. Thousands of images are
available in these collections.
The GIF directory contains images in GIF format. The VICAR directory
contains Magellan images in VICAR format (these are also available in
the GIF directory). A PC program capable of displaying these files is
found in the IMDISP directory (see the item "VIEWING IMAGES" below).
The NASA media guide describes the various NASA centers and how to
contact their public affairs officers; this may be useful when pursuing
specific information. It's in MISC/media.guide.
Any problems with the archive server should be reported to Peter Yee
(yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov).
NASA ASTROPHYSICS DATA SYSTEM
The ADS is a distributed data retrieval system which is easy to use and
provides uniform access to ground-based and space-based astronomy data
from NASA data centers across the country. It currently has over 140
data catalogs of radio, infrared, optical, UV, and X-ray data which can
be queried by position or any other parameter in the catalog. The ADS
also provides tools to manipulate and plot tabular results. In addition,
ADS has a Beta version of an Abstracts Service which allows users to
query over 125,000 abstracts of astronomy papers since 1975 by authors,
keywords, title words, or abstract text words.
ADS use requires direct Internet access. For more info and to sign up to
become a user, email ads@cuads.coloradu.edu. The User's Guide and
"QuickStart" Guide are available by anonymous FTP to sao-ftp.harvard.edu
in directory pub/ads/ADS_User_Guide (PostScript files).
Contact Carolyn Stern Grant (stern@cfa.harvard.edu).
NASA JET PROPULSION LAB (MISSION INFORMATION AND IMAGES)
pubinfo.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.6.2) is an anonymous FTP site operated by
the JPL Public Information Office, containing news releases, status
reports, fact sheets, images, and other data on JPL missions. It may
also be reached by modem at (818)-354-1333 (no parity, 8 data bits, 1
stop bit).
Contact newsdesk@jplpost.jpl.nasa.gov or phone (818)-354-7170.
NASA LANGLEY (TECHNICAL REPORTS)
techreports.larc.nasa.gov is an anonymous FTP site offering technical
reports. To get started, cd to directory pub/techreports/larc/92 and
retrieve files README and abstracts.92. Most files are compressed
PostScript. The reports are also in a WAIS database with the following
description:
(:source
:version 3
:ip-name "techreports.larc.nasa.gov"
:tcp-port 210
:database-name "nasa-larc-abs"
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer "M.L.Nelson@LaRC.NASA.GOV"
:description "NASA Langley Research Center Technical Reports
Contact tr-admin@techreports.larc.nasa.gov.
NASA SPACELINK
SpaceLink is an online service located at Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Alabama. The system is specifically designed for
teachers. The data base is arranged to provide easy access to current
and historical information on NASA aeronautics, space research, and
technology transfer information. Also included are suggested classroom
activities that incorporate information on NASA projects to teach a
number of scientific principles. Unlike bulletin board systems, NASA
Spacelink does not provide for interaction between callers. However it
does allow teachers and other callers to leave questions and comments
for NASA which may be answered by regular mail. Messages are answered
electronically, even to acknowledge requests which will be fulfilled by
mail. Messages are generally handled the next working day except during
missions when turnaround times increase. The mail system is closed-loop
between the user and NASA.
SpaceLink also offers downloadable shareware and public domain programs
useful for science educators as well as space graphics and GIF images
from NASA's planetary probes and the Hubble Telescope.
You can dial in at (205)-895-0028 (300/1200/2400/9600(V.32) baud, 8
bits, no parity, 1 stop bit), or telnet to spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
(128.158.13.250, also known as xsl.msfc.nasa.gov) if you're on the
Internet. Anonymous FTP capability (password guest) is now available.
Most of this information is also available from the Ames server in
directory SPACELINK.
NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER (NSSDC)
The National Space Science Data Center is the official clearinghouse for
NASA data. The data catalog (*not* the data itself) is available online.
Internet users can telnet to nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.36.23) and
log in as 'NODIS' (no password). You can also get the catalog by sending
email to 'request@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov'.
You can also dial in at (301)-286-9000 (300, 1200, or 2400 baud, 8 bits,
no parity, one stop). At the "Enter Number:" prompt, enter MD and
carriage return. When the system responds "Call Complete," enter a few
more carriage returns to get the "Username:" and log in as 'NODIS' (no
password).
The system is menu-driven; topics available as of 3/93 are:
1   -	Master Directory - NASA & Global Change
2   -	Personnel Information Management System
3   -	Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data
4   -	Interplanetary Medium Data (OMNI)
5   -	Request data and/or information from NSSDC
6   -	Geophysical Models
7   -	CANOPUS Newsletter
8   -	International Ultraviolet Explorer Data Request
9   -	CZCS Browse and Order Utility
10  -	Astronomical Data Center (ADC)
11  -	STEP Bulletin Board Service
12  -	Standards and Technology Information System
13  -	Planetary Science & Magellan Project Information
14  -	Other Online Data Services at NSSDC
15  -	CD-ROMS Available at NSSDC
For users with Internet access, datasets are made available via
anonymous FTP once you select the desired datasets from the online
catalog. For other users, data may be ordered on CD-ROM and in other
formats. Among the many types of data available are Voyager, Magellan,
and other planetary images, Earth observation data, and star catalogs.
Viewers for Macintosh and IBM systems are also available. As an example
of the cost, an 8 CD set of Voyager images is $75. Data may ordered
online, by email, or by physical mail. The postal address is:
National Space Science Data Center
Request Coordination Office
Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 633
Greenbelt, MD  20771
Telephone: (301) 286-6695
Email address:	 request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE
stsci.edu (130.167.1.2) has a large amount of information about the
Hubble Space Telescope available by anonymous FTP, such as status
reports and newsletters, in addition to material oriented towards HST
observers and proposers. Get the top level README file to begin with.
Contact Pete Reppert (reppert@stsci.edu) or Chris O'Dea
(odea@stsci.edu).
STARCAT
The Space Telescope European Coordination Facility, at ESO/Garching
provides on-line access to a huge astronomical database, featuring
- Observation log files of several satellites/telescopes
(IUE,IRAS,HST,NTT...).
- Spectra and images (IUE, HST).
- Most of the astronomical catalogues (SAO, HR, NGC, PPM, IRAS,
Veron, GSC and many others, more than 50) in a very convenient
way (give center+radius+kind of objects, and you get the
corresponding files!).
Log on as ``starcat'' (no password) on node stesis.hq.eso.org
(134.171.8.100) or on STESIS (DECnet). The files created can be
retreived by FTP. Contact: Benoit Pirenne, bpirenne@eso.org (phone +49
89 320 06 433) at ST-ECF
ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES
The full SAO stellar database is *NOT* available online, probably due to
the 40 MB size. It may be ordered on magnetic tape from the NSSDC. A
subset containing position and magnitude only is available by FTP (see
"Astronomy Programs" below).
nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) has a large collection of astronomical
programs for many types of computers, databases of stars and deep sky
objects, and general astronomy information in directory /pub/astro. This
site is mainly for European users, but overseas connections are
possible.
The Ames archives contain a database of 8,436 galaxies including name,
RA, declination, magnitude, and radial velocity in MISC/galaxy.dat.
Supplied by Wayne Hayes (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca).
iris1.ucis.dal.ca (129.173.18.107) has a number of GIFs from Voyager,
Hubble, and other sources available by anonymous FTP in pub/gif (most of
this data is also in SPACE/GIF on the Ames server). Please restrict
access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time.
pomona.claremont.edu has the Yale Bright Star catalog for anonymous FTP
in directory [.YALE_BSC]. Contact James Dishaw
(jdishaw@hmcvax.claremont.edu).
The Hubble Guide Star catalog is available on CD-ROM for the Mac and PC
for $49.95 US (catalog # ST101).
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
390 Ashton Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time
FAX: (415) 337-5205
For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn has a
service to distribute astronomical data to interested amateurs at cost.
About 30-40 catalogs are available for DM 6..8/disk. Several floppy disk
formats are available. Because of the expense of receiving email on his
system, he asks that you contact him by physical mail:
Jost Jahn
Neustaedter Strasse 11
W-3123 Bodenteich
GERMANY
Phone: FRG-5824-3197
ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS
Various astronomy-related programs and databases posted to the net in
the past are archived for anonymous FTP at multiple sites, including
ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9). Also see the ASTRO-FTP list posted to sci.astro
monthly, which is more complete than this list.
Astonomical/Space-related sources of interest in comp.sources.unix:
Volume 8:	    phoon	moon phase and date routines
Volume 12,13:   starchart	starchart program & Yale Star data
Volume 15:	    moontool	shows moon phase picture on Suns
Volume 16:	    sao		reduced SAO catalog
Astonomical/Space-related sources of interest in comp.sources.misc:
Volume  8:	    moon	another moon phase program
Volume 11:	    starchart	starchart program, version 3.2
Volume 11:	    n3emo-orbit orbit: track earth satellites
Volume 12:	    starchart2	starchart program, update to version 3.2.1
Volume 13:	    jupmoons	plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl]
Volume 13:	    lunisolar	lunisolar (not sure what this does)
Volume 14:	    ephem-4.21	astronomical ephemeris, v4.21
Volume 14:	    n3emo-orbit patch to orbit 3.7
Volume 18:	    planet	planet generation simulator
Elwood Downey (e_downey@tasha.cca.cr.rockwell.com), the author of
"ephem", has offered to mail copies to people who can't find it on one
of the archives.
XSAT, an X Window System based satellite tracking program, is
available by anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12) in
contrib/xsat1.0.tar.Z. Contact Dave Curry (davy@ecn.purdue.edu)
for more information.
Xsky, a computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, is available for
anonymous FTP on arizona.edu in the directory [.SOFTWARE.UNIX.XSKY] as
xsky.tarz. Contact Terry R. Friedrichsen (terry@venus.sunquest.com) for
more information.
The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is available via
anonymous FTP from kauri.vuw.ac.nz (130.195.11.3) in directory
pub/astrophys. This is intended for specialists in this field, and they
would appreciate people from outside New Zealand confining their FTP
access to the astrophys directory, as they pay a significant amount for
Internet access. Contents are relatively sparse at present due to the
youth of the archive - contributions are encouraged. Contact the archive
administrator, Timothy Banks (bankst@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) for more
information.
The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is available by anonymous FTP from
idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.57.82). This is a central repository for
general purpose astronomy procedures written in IDL, a commercial image
processing, plotting, and programming language. Contact Wayne Landsman
(landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov) for more information.
ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS
The most recent orbital elements from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (513)-427-0674. Documentation and tracking
software are also available on this system. The Celestial BBS may be
accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1
stop bit, no parity.
Orbital element sets are available via anonymous FTP from the
following sites:
archive.afit.af.mil (129.92.1.66)	    NASA,TVRO,Shuttle
directory: /pub/space
ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)	    NASA,TVRO,Molczan,CelBBS,
directory: /pub/astro/pc/satel	    Shuttle (*)
kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.1.165)     NASA,Molczan
directory: /pub/space/
SPACE DIGEST ARCHIVES
Copies of back issues of Space Digest are archived on
LISTSERV@UGA.BITNET. Send mail containing the message "INDEX SPACE" to
get an index of files; send it the message "GET filename filetype" to
get a particular file.
LANDSAT AND NASA PHOTOS
You can get black-and-white 1:1M prints, negatives, or positives for
$10, $18, $12 respectively for any Landsat data more than 2 years old
from EDC, (Eros (Earth Resources Orbiting Satellite) Data Center). Call
them at (605)-594-6511. You get 80 meter resolution from the MSS
scanner, 135x180 kilometers on a picture 135x180 mm in size. I think you
have to select one band from (green, red, near IR, second near IR), but
I'm not sure. Digitial data is also available at higher prices.
Transparencies of all NASA photos available to the public can be
borrowed from the NASA photo archive; you can have copies or prints
made.
NASA Audio-Visual Facility
918 North Rengstorff Ave
Mountain View, CA  94043
(415)-604-6270
PLANETARY MAPS
The USGS address for maps of the planets is:
U.S. Geological Survey,
Distribution Branch,
Box 25286, Federal Center, Bldg. 41
Denver, CO 80225
Maps cost $2.40 to $3.10 per sheet (a few come in sets of 2 or 3 sheets).
The best global maps of Mars based on Viking images are 1:15,000,000
scale in 3 sheets. These maps are:
I-1535 (2 sheets only) - relief, albedo, names
I-1535
I-1618 (3 sheets) - relief, names
I-2030 (3 sheets) - relief, topographic contours
I-1802-A,B,C (3 sheets) - geology
There are many other maps as well: 30 sheets at 1:5,000,000 scale in
relief, albedo, geology, photomosaic forms (not all 30 sheets available
in all formats); 140 sheets at 1:2,000,000 scale as photomosaics of the
whole planet, about 100 sheets of interesting sites at 1:500,000 scale
in photomosaic format, and lots of special sheets.
Then there are maps of Mercury, Venus, the Moon, the four Galilean
Satellites, six moons of Saturn and five of Uranus. [Phil Stooke
(stooke@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca), the author of this item, has offered to
respond to email requests for information on any topic relating to lunar
and planetary maps.]
COMETARY ORBIT DATA
The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and the Minor Planet
Center announce the sixth edition of the Catalogue of Cometary Orbits in
IAU Circular 4935. The catalogue contains 1292 entries which represent
all known comets through November 1989 and is 96 pages long.
Non-subscribers to the Circulars may purchase the catalogue for $15.00
while the cost to subscribers is $7.50. The basic catalogue in ASCII
along with a program to extract specific orbits and calculate
ephemerides is available on MS-DOS 5.25-inch 2S2D diskette at a cost of
$75.00 (the program requires an 8087 math coprocessor). The catalogue
alone is also available by e-mail for $37.50 or on magnetic tape for
$300.00.
Except for the printed version of the catalogue, the various magnetic
media or e-mail forms of the catalogue do not specifically meantion
non-subscribers. It is possible that these forms of the catalogue may
not be available to non-subscribers or that their prices may be more
expensive than those given. Mail requests for specific information and
orders to:
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
NEXT: FAQ #4/15 - Performing calculations and interpreting data formats
Subject: Space FAQ 05/15 - References
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:56:44 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Supersedes: <references_730956466@cs.unc.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 665
Archive-name: space/references
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:21 $
REFERENCES ON SPECIFIC AREAS
PUBLISHERS OF SPACE/ASTRONOMY MATERIAL
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
1290 24th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
More expensive but better organized slide sets.
Cambridge University Press
32 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022
Crawford-Peters Aeronautica
P.O. Box 152528
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 287-3933
An excellent source of all kinds of space publications. They publish
a number of catalogs, including:
Aviation and Space, 1945-1962
Aviation and Space, 1962-1990
Space and Related Titles
European Southern Observatory
Information and Photographic Service
Dr R.M. West
Karl Scharzschild Strasse 2
D-8046 Garching bei Munchen
FRG
Slide sets, posters, photographs, conference proceedings.
Finley Holiday Film Corporation
12607 East Philadelphia Street
Whittier, California 90601
(213)945-3325
(800)FILMS-07
Wide selection of Apollo, Shuttle, Viking, and Voyager slides at ~50
cents/slide. Call for a catalog.
Hansen Planetarium (Utah)
Said to hold sales on old slide sets. Look in Sky & Telescope
for contact info.
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3303 NASA Road One
Houston, TX 77058-4399
Technical, geology-oriented slide sets, with supporting
booklets.
John Wiley & Sons
605 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10158-0012
Sky Publishing Corporation
PO Box 9111
Belmont, MA  02178-9111
Offers "Sky Catalogue 2000.0" on PC floppy with information
(including parallax) for 45000 stars.
Roger Wheate
Geography Dept.
University of Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4
(403)-220-4892
(403)-282-7298 (FAX)
wheate@uncamult.bitnet
Offers a 40-slide set called "Mapping the Planets" illustrating
recent work in planetary cartography, comes with a booklet and
information on getting your own copies of the maps. $50 Canadian,
shipping included.
Superintendent of Documents
US Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402
Univelt, Inc.
P. O. Box 28130
San Diego, Ca. 92128
Publishers for the American Astronomical Society.
US Naval Observatory
202-653-1079 (USNO Bulletin Board via modem)
202-653-1507 General
Willmann-Bell
P.O. Box 35025
Richmond, Virginia 23235 USA
(804)-320-7016 9-5 EST M-F
CAREERS IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY
In 1990 the Princeton Planetary Society published the first edition of
"Space Jobs: The Guide to Careers in Space-Related Fields." The
publication was enormously successful: we distributed 2000 copies to
space enthusiasts across the country and even sent a few to people in
Great Britain, Australia, and Ecuador. Due to the tremendous response to
the first edition, PPS has published an expanded, up-to-date second
edition of the guide.
The 40-page publication boasts 69 listings for summer and full-time job
opportunities as well as graduate school programs. The second edition of
"Space Jobs" features strategies for entering the space field and
describes positions at consulting and engineering firms, NASA, and
non-profit organizations. The expanded special section on graduate
schools highlights a myriad of programs ranging from space manufacturing
to space policy. Additional sections include tips on becoming an
astronaut and listings of NASA Space Grant Fellowships and Consortia, as
well as NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space.
To order send check or money order made payable to Princeton Planetary
Society for $4 per copy, plus $1 per copy for shipping and handling
(non-US customers send an International Money Order payable in US
dollars) to:
Princeton Planetary Society
315 West College
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ  08544
DC-X SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT (SSTO) PROGRAM
SDI's SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that should fly in
mid-1993. Further development towards an operational single-stage to
orbit vehicle (called Delta Clipper) is uncertain at present.
An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is available by
anonymous FTP or email server in the directory
bongo.cc.utexas.edu:pub/delta-clipper
Chris W. Johnson (chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu) maintains the archive.
HOW TO NAME A STAR AFTER A PERSON
Official names are decided by committees of the International
Astronomical Union, and are not for sale. There are purely commercial
organizations which will, for a fee, send you pretty certificates and
star maps describing where to find "your" star. These organizations have
absolutely no standing in the astronomical community and the names they
assign are not used by anyone else. It's also likely that you won't be
able to see "your" star without binoculars or a telescope. See the back
pages of Astronomy or other amateur astronomy publications for contact
info; one such organization may be found at:
International Star Registry
34523 Wilson Road
Ingleside, IL 60041
This is not an endorsement of ISR.
LLNL "GREAT EXPLORATION"
The LLNL "Great Exploration", a plan for an on-the-cheap space station,
Lunar base, and Mars mission using inflatable space structures, excited
a lot of interest on the net and still comes up from time to time. Some
references cited during net discussion were:
Avation Week Jan 22, 1990 for an article on the overall Great
Exploration
NASA Assessment of the LLNL Space Exploration Proposal and LLNL
Responses by Dr. Lowell Wood LLNL Doc. No. SS 90-9. Their address
is: PO Box 808 Livermore, CA 94550 (the NASA authors are unknown).
Briefing slides of a presentation to the NRC last December may be
available. Write LLNL and ask.
Conceptual Design Study for Modular Inflatable Space Structures, a
final report for purchase order B098747 by ILC Dover INC. I don't
know how to get this except from LLNL or ILC Dover. I don't have an
address for ILC.
LUNAR PROSPECTOR
Lunar Exploration Inc. (LEI) is a non-profit corporation working on a
privately funded lunar polar orbiter. Lunar Prospector is designed to
perform a geochemical survey and search for frozen volatiles at the
poles. A set of reference files describing the project is available in
ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/LEI/*
LUNAR SCIENCE AND ACTIVITIES
Grant H Heiken, David T Vaniman, and Bevan M French (editors), "Lunar
Sourcebook, A User's Guide to the Moon", Cambridge University Press
1991, ISBN 0-521-33444-6; hardcover; expensive. A one-volume
encyclopedia of essentially everything known about the Moon, reviewing
current knowledge in considerable depth, with copious references. Heavy
emphasis on geology, but a lot more besides, including considerable
discussion of past lunar missions and practical issues relevant to
future mission design. *The* reference book for the Moon; all others are
obsolete.
Wendell Mendell (ed), "Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st
Century", $15. "Every serious student of lunar bases *must* have this
book" - Bill Higgins. Available from:
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3303 NASA Road One
Houston, TX 77058-4399
If you want to order books, call (713)486-2172.
Thomas A. Mutch, "Geology of the Moon: A Stratigraphic View", Princeton
University Press, 1970. Information about the Lunar Orbiter missions,
including maps of the coverage of the lunar nearside and farside by
various Orbiters.
ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES
A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is
available by anonymous FTP in:
ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/Satellites
SPACECRAFT MODELS
"Space in Miniature #2: Gemini" by
Michael J. Mackowski
1621 Waterwood Lane, St. Louis, MO 63146
$7.50
Only 34pp but enough pictures & diagrams to interest more than just the
modelling community, I feel.
Marco's Miniatures of Dracut, Mass. have produced a 1/144 Skylab in an
edition of 500 & a 1/48 Lunar Rover (same scale as Monogram and Revell
Lunar Modules) in a similar edition. Prices are $45 for Skylab, $24 for
LRV. Check with them for postage etc. I have no connection with them,
but have found their service to be good and their stock of rare/old kits
*is* impressive. Prices range from reasonable ($35 for Monogram 1/32
scale Apollo CSM with cutaway details) to spectacular ($145 for Airfix
Vostok).
Four Star Collectibles
P.O. Box 658
Dracut Mass 01826, USA.
(508)-957-0695.
Voyager, HST, Viking, Lunar Rover etc. kits from:
Lunar Models
5120 Grisham
Rowlett, Texas 75088
(214)-475-4230
As reviewed by Bob Kaplow:
Peter Alway's book "Scale Model Rocketry" is now available. Mine
arrived in the mail earlier this week. To get your own copy, send
$19.95 + $2.50 s/h ($22.45 total) to:
Peter Alway
2830 Pittsfield
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
The book includes information on collecting scale data, construction
of scale models, and several handy tables. Appendicies include plans
for 3 sport scale models, a 1:9.22 D Region Tomahawk (BT50), a 1/40
V-2 (BT60), and a 1/9.16 Aerobee 150A (BT55/60).
I've only begun to study the book, but it certainly will be a
valuable data source for many modellers. Most vehicles include
several paragraphs of text describing the missions flown by the
rocket, various specs including "NAR" engine classification, along
with a dimensioned drawing, color layouts & paint pattern, and a
black & white photograph.
The vehicles included are the Aerobee 150A, Aerobee 300, Aerobee Hi,
Arcas, Asp, Astrobee 1500, Astrobee D, Atlas Centaur, Atlas-Agena,
Atlas-Score, Baby WAC, D-Region Tomahawk, Deacon Rockoon, Delta B,
Delta E, Gemini-Titan II, Iris, Javelin, Juno 1, Juno 2, Little Joe
1, Little Joe 2, Mercury-Atlas, Mercury-Redstone, Nike-Apache,
Nike-Asp, Nike-Cajun, Nike-Deacon, Nike-Tomahawk, RAM B, Saturn 1
Block 1, Saturn 1 Block 2, Saturn 1B, Saturn 5, Scout, Standard
Aerobee, Terrapin, Thor-Able, Titan III C, Titan III E, Trailblazer
1, V-2, Vanguard, Viking Model 1, Viking Model 2, and Wac Corporal.
ROCKET PROPULSION
George P. Sutton, "Rocket Propulsion Elements", 5th edn,
Wiley-Interscience 1986, ISBN 0-471-80027-9. Pricey textbook. The
best (nearly the only) modern introduction to the technical side of
rocketry. A good place to start if you want to know the details. Not
for the math-shy. Straight chemical rockets, essentially nothing on
more advanced propulsion (although earlier editions reportedly had
some coverage).
Dieter K. Huzel and David H. Huang, "Design of Liquid Propellant
Rocket Engines", NASA SP-125.
NTIS N71-29405		PC A20/MF A01	1971  461p
Out of print; reproductions may be obtained through the NTIS
(expensive). The complete and authoritative guide to designing
liquid-fuel engines. Reference #1 in most chapters of Sutton. Heavy
emphasis on practical issues, what works and what doesn't, what the
typical values of the fudge factors are. Stiff reading, massive
detail; written for rocket engineers by rocket engineers.
SPACECRAFT DESIGN
Brij N. Agrawal, "Design of Geosynchronous Spacecraft",
Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-200114-4.
James R. Wertz ed, "Spacecraft Attitude Determination and
Control", Kluwer, ISBN 90-277-1204-2.
P.R.K. Chetty, "Satellite Technology and its Applications",
McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-8306-9688-1.
James R. Wertz and Wiley J. Larson (editors), "Space Mission
Analysis and Design", Kluwer Academic Publishers
(Dordrecht/Boston/London) 1991, ISBN 0-7923-0971-5 (paperback), or
0-7923-0970-7 (hardback).
This looks at system-level design of a spacecraft, rather than
detailed design. 23 chapters, 4 appendices, about 430 pages. It
leads the reader through the mission design and system-level
design of a fictitious earth-observation satellite, to
illustrate the principles that it tries to convey. Warning:
although the book is chock-full of many useful reference tables,
some of the numbers in at least one of those tables (launch
costs for various launchers) appear to be quite wrong. Can be
ordered by telephone, using a credit card; Kluwer's phone number
is (617)-871-6600. Cost $34.50.
ESOTERIC PROPULSION SCHEMES (SOLAR SAILS, LASERS, FUSION...)
This needs more and more up-to-date references, but it's a start.
ANTIMATTER:
"Antiproton Annihilation Propulsion", Robert Forward
AFRPL TR-85-034 from the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory
(AFRPL/XRX, Stop 24, Edwards Air Force Base, CA 93523-5000).
NTIS AD-A160 734/0	   PC A10/MF A01
PC => Paper copy, A10 => $US57.90 -- or maybe Price Code?
MF => MicroFiche, A01 => $US13.90
Technical study on making, holding, and using antimatter for
near-term (30-50 years) propulsion systems. Excellent
bibliography. Forward is the best-known proponent
of antimatter.
This also may be available as UDR-TR-85-55 from the contractor,
the University of Dayton Research Institute, and DTIC AD-A160
from the Defense Technical Information Center, Defense Logistics
Agency, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA 22304-6145. And it's
also available from the NTIS, with yet another number.
"Advanced Space Propulsion Study, Antiproton and Beamed Power
Propulsion", Robert Forward
AFAL TR-87-070 from the Air Force Astronautics Laboratory, DTIC
#AD-A189 218.
NTIS AD-A189 218/1	  PC A10/MF A01
Summarizes the previous paper, goes into detail on beamed power
systems including " 1) pellet, microwave, and laser beamed power
systems for intersteller transport; 2) a design for a
near-relativistic laser-pushed lightsail using near-term laser
technology; 3) a survey of laser thermal propulsion, tether
transportation systems, antiproton annihilation propulsion,
exotic applications of solar sails, and laser-pushed
interstellar lightsails; 4) the status of antiproton
annihilation propulsion as of 1986; and 5) the prospects for
obtaining antimatter ions heavier than antiprotons." Again,
there is an extensive bibliography.
"Application of Antimatter - Electric Power to Interstellar
Propulsion", G. D. Nordley, JBIS Interstellar Studies issue of
6/90.
BUSSARD RAMJETS AND RELATED METHODS:
G. L. Matloff and A. J. Fennelly, "Interstellar Applications and
Limitations of Several Electrostatic/Electromagnetic Ion Collection
Techniques", JBIS 30 (1977):213-222
N. H. Langston, "The Erosion of Interstellar Drag Screens", JBIS 26
(1973): 481-484
C. Powell, "Flight Dynamics of the Ram-Augmented Interstellar
Rocket", JBIS 28 (1975):553-562
A. R. Martin, "The Effects of Drag on Relativistic Spacefight", JBIS
25 (1972):643-652
FUSION:
"A Laser Fusion Rocket for Interplanetary Propulsion", Roderick Hyde,
LLNL report UCRL-88857. (Contact the Technical Information Dept. at
Livermore)
Fusion Pellet design: Fuel selection. Energy loss mechanisms.
Pellet compression metrics. Thrust Chamber: Magnetic nozzle.
Shielding. Tritium breeding. Thermal modeling. Fusion Driver
(lasers, particle beams, etc): Heat rejection. Vehicle Summary:
Mass estimates. Vehicle Performance: Interstellar travel
required exhaust velocities at the limit of fusion's capability.
Interplanetary missions are limited by power/weight ratio.
Trajectory modeling. Typical mission profiles. References,
including the 1978 report in JBIS, "Project Daedalus", and
several on ICF and driver technology.
"Fusion as Electric Propulsion", Robert W. Bussard, Journal of
Propulsion and Power, Vol. 6, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1990
Fusion rocket engines are analyzed as electric propulsion
systems, with propulsion thrust-power-input-power ratio (the
thrust-power "gain" G(t)) much greater than unity. Gain values
of conventional (solar, fission) electric propulsion systems are
always quite small (e.g., G(t)<0.8). With these, "high-thrust"
interplanetary flight is not possible, because system
acceleration (a(t)) capabilities are always less than the local
gravitational acceleration. In contrast, gain values 50-100
times higher are found for some fusion concepts, which offer
"high-thrust" flight capability. One performance example shows a
53.3 day (34.4 powered; 18.9 coast), one-way transit time with
19% payload for a single-stage Earth/Mars vehicle. Another shows
the potential for high acceleration (a(t)=0.55g(o)) flight in
Earth/moon space.
"The QED Engine System: Direct Electric Fusion-Powered Systems for
Aerospace Flight Propulsion" by Robert W. Bussard, EMC2-1190-03,
available from Energy/Matter Conversion Corp., 9100 A. Center
Street, Manassas, VA 22110.
[This is an introduction to the application of Bussard's version
of the Farnsworth/Hirsch electrostatic confinement fusion
technology to propulsion. 1500<Isp<5000 sec. Farnsworth/Hirsch
demonstrated a 10**10 neutron flux with their device back in
1969 but it was dropped when panic ensued over the surprising
stability of the Soviet Tokamak. Hirsch, responsible for the
panic, has recently recanted and is back working on QED. -- Jim
Bowery]
"PLASMAKtm Star Power for Energy Intensive Space Applications", by
Paul M. Koloc, Eight ANS Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion
Energy, special issue FUSION TECHNOLOGY, March 1989.
Aneutronic energy (fusion with little or negligible neutron
flux) requires plasma pressures and stable confinement times
larger than can be delivered by current approaches. If plasma
pressures appropriate to burn times on the order of milliseconds
could be achieved in aneutronic fuels, then high power densities
and very compact, realtively clean burning engines for space and
other special applications would be at hand. The PLASMAKtm
innovation will make this possible; its unique pressure
efficient structure, exceptional stability, fluid-mechanically
compressible Mantle and direct inductive MHD electric power
conversion advantages are described. Peak burn densities of tens
of megawats per cc give it compactness even in the
multi-gigawatt electric output size. Engineering advantages
indicate a rapid development schedule at very modest cost. [I
strongly recommend that people take this guy seriously. Bob
Hirsch, the primary proponent of the Tokamak, has recently
declared Koloc's PLASMAKtm precursor, the spheromak, to be one
of 3 promising fusion technologies that should be pursued rather
than Tokamak. Aside from the preceeding appeal to authority, the
PLASMAKtm looks like it finally models ball-lightning with solid
MHD physics. -- Jim Bowery]
ION DRIVES:
Retrieve files pub/SPACE/SPACELINK/6.5.2.* from the Ames SPACE
archive; these deal with many aspects of ion drives and describe the
SERT I and II missions, which flight-tested cesium ion thrusters in
the 1960s and 70s. There are numerous references.
MASS DRIVERS (COILGUNS, RAILGUNS):
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (for example, v. 27 no. 1, January
1991 issue). Every so often they publish the proceedings of the
Symposium on Electromagnetic Launcher Technology, including hundreds
of papers on the subject. It's a good look at the state of the art,
though perhaps not a good tutorial for beginners. Anybody know some
good review papers?
NUCLEAR ROCKETS (FISSION):
"Technical Notes on Nuclear Rockets", by Bruce W. Knight and Donald
Kingsbury, unpublished. May be available from: Donald Kingsbury,
Math Dept., McGill University, PO Box 6070, Station A, Montreal,
Quebec M3C 3G1 Canada.
SOLAR SAILS:
Starsailing. Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel. Louis Friedman,
Wiley, New York, 1988, 146 pp., paper $9.95. (Not very technical,
but an adequate overview.)
"Roundtrip Interstellar Travel Using Laser-Pushed Lightsails
(Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 21, pp. 187-95, Jan.-Feb.
1984)
TETHERS:
_Tethers and Asteroids for Artificial Gravity Assist in the Solar
System,_ by P.A. Penzo and H.L. Mayer., _Journal of Spacecraft
and Rockets_ for Jan-Feb 1986.
Details how a spacecraft with a kevlar tether of the same mass
can change its velocity by up to slightly less than 1 km/sec. if
it is travelling under that velocity wrt a suitable asteroid.
GENERAL:
"Alternate Propulsion Energy Sources", Robert Forward
AFPRL TR-83-067.
NTIS AD-B088 771/1	  PC A07/MF A01   Dec 83 138p
Keywords: Propulsion energy, metastable helium, free-radical
hydrogen, solar pumped (sic) plasmas, antiproton annihiliation,
ionospheric lasers, solar sails, perforated sails, microwave
sails, quantum fluctuations, antimatter rockets... It's a wide,
if not deep, look at exotic energy sources which might be useful
for space propulsion. It also considers various kinds of laser
propulsion, metallic hydrogen, tethers, and unconventional
nuclear propulsion. The bibliographic information, pointing to
the research on all this stuff, belongs on every daydreamer's
shelf.
Future Magic. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Avon, 1988. ISBN 0-380-89814-4.
Nontechnical discussion of tethers, antimatter, gravity control,
and even futher-out topics.
SPY SATELLITES
*Deep Black*, by William Burrows;
"best modern general book for spysats."
1) A Base For Debate: The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar, Des Ball,
Allen and Unwin Australia, 1987 ISBN 0 04 355027 4 [ covers DSP early
warning satellites]
2) Pine Gap: Australia and the US Geostationary Signals intelligence
satellite program, Des Ball, Allen and Unwin Australia, 1988 ISBN 0 04
363002 5. [covers RHYOLITE/AQUACADE, CHALET/VORTEX, and MAGNUM signals
intelligence satellites]
3) Guardians: Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites, Curtis Peebles, 1987,
Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 17654 [ good on MOL, military Salyut and Soviet
satellites, less so on others. Tends to believe what he's told so flaws
in discussion of DSP, RHYOLITE et al..]
4) America's Secret Eyes In Space: The Keyhole Spy Satellite Program,
Jeffrey Richelson, 1990, Harper and Row, ISBN 0 88730 285 8 [ in a class
of its own, *the* historical reference on the KEYHOLE satellites]
5) Secret Sentries in Space, Philip J Klass, 1971.
"long out of print but well worth a look"
SPACE SHUTTLE COMPUTER SYSTEMS
%J Communications of the ACM
%V 27
%N 9
%D September 1984
%K Special issue on space [shuttle] computers
%A Myron Kayton
%T Avionics for Manned Spacecraft
%J IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
%V 25
%N 6
%D November 1989
%P 786-827
Other various AIAA and IEEE publications.
Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience
James E.  Tomayko
1988?
SETI COMPUTATION (SIGNAL PROCESSING)
%A D. K. Cullers
%A Ivan R. Linscott
%A Bernard M. Oliver
%T Signal Processing in SETI
%J Communications of the ACM
%V 28
%N 11
%D November 1984
%P 1151-1163
%K CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: D.4.1 [Operating Systems]:
Process Management - concurrency; I.5.4 [Pattern Recognition]:
Applications - signal processing; J.2 [Phsyical Sciences and Engineering]:
astronomy
General Terms: Design
Additional Key Words and Phrases: digital Fourier transforms,
finite impulse-response filters, interstellar communications,
Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence, signal detection,
spectrum analysis
AMATEUR SATELLIES & WEATHER SATELLITES
A fairly long writeup on receiving and interpreting weather satellite
photos is available from the Ames SPACE archive in
pub/SPACE/FAQ/WeatherPhotos.
The American Radio Relay League publication service offers the following
references (also see the section on AMSAT in the space groups segment of
the FAQ):
ARRL Satellite Experimenters Handbook,		#3185, $20
ARRL Weather Satellite Handbook,		#3193, $20
IBM-PC software for Weather Satellite Handbook, #3290, $10
AMSAT NA 5th Space Symposium,			#0739, $12
AMSAT NA 6th Space Symposium,			#2219, $12
Shipping is extra.
The American Radio Relay League
Publications Department
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(203)-666-1541
TIDES
Srinivas Bettadpur contributed a writeup on tides, available from the
Ames SPACE archive in pub/SPACE/FAQ/Tides. It covers the following
areas:
- 2-D Example of Tidal Deformation
- Treatment of Tidal Fields in Practice
- Long term evolution of the Earth-Moon system under tides
The writeup refers to the following texts:
"Geophysical Geodesy" by K. Lambeck
"Tides of the planet Earth" by P. Melchior
NEXT: FAQ #6/15 - Constants and equations for calculations
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 09/15 - Mission Schedules
Supersedes: <schedule_730956538@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 177
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:59:07 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/schedule
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:23 $
SPACE SHUTTLE ANSWERS, LAUNCH SCHEDULES, TV COVERAGE
SHUTTLE LAUNCHINGS AND LANDINGS; SCHEDULES AND HOW TO SEE THEM
Shuttle operations are discussed in the Usenet group sci.space.shuttle,
and Ken Hollis (gandalf@pro-electric.cts.com) posts a compressed version
of the shuttle manifest (launch dates and other information)
periodically there. The manifest is also available from the Ames SPACE
archive in SPACE/FAQ/manifest. The portion of his manifest formerly
included in this FAQ has been removed; please refer to his posting or
the archived copy. For the most up to date information on upcoming
missions, call (407) 867-INFO (867-4636) at Kennedy Space Center.
Official NASA shuttle status reports are posted to sci.space.news
frequently.
WHY DOES THE SHUTTLE ROLL JUST AFTER LIFTOFF?
The following answer and translation are provided by Ken Jenks
(kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov).
The "Ascent Guidance and Flight Control Training Manual," ASC G&C 2102,
says:
"During the vertical rise phase, the launch pad attitude is
commanded until an I-loaded V(rel) sufficient to assure launch tower
clearance is achieved. Then, the tilt maneuver (roll program)
orients the vehicle to a heads down attitude required to generate a
negative q-alpha, which in turn alleviates structural loading. Other
advantages with this attitude are performance gain, decreased abort
maneuver complexity, improved S-band look angles, and crew view of
the horizon. The tilt maneuver is also required to start gaining
downrange velocity to achieve the main engine cutoff (MECO) target
in second stage."
This really is a good answer, but it's couched in NASA jargon. I'll try
to interpret.
1)	We wait until the Shuttle clears the tower before rolling.
2)	Then, we roll the Shuttle around so that the angle of attack
between the wind caused by passage through the atmosphere (the
"relative wind") and the chord of the wings (the imaginary line
between the leading edge and the trailing edge) is a slightly
negative angle ("a negative q-alpha").	This causes a little bit of
"downward" force (toward the belly of the Orbiter, or the +Z
direction) and this force "alleviates structural loading."
We have to be careful about those wings -- they're about the
most "delicate" part of the vehicle.
3)	The new attitude (after the roll) also allows us to carry more
mass to orbit, or to achieve a higher orbit with the same mass, or
to change the orbit to a higher or lower inclination than would be
the case if we didn't roll ("performance gain").
4)	The new attitude allows the crew to fly a less complicated
flight path if they had to execute one of the more dangerous abort
maneuvers, the Return To Launch Site ("decreased abort maneuver
complexity").
5)	The new attitude improves the ability for ground-based radio
antennae to have a good line-of-sight signal with the S-band radio
antennae on the Orbiter ("improved S-band look angles").
6)	The new attitude allows the crew to see the horizon, which is a
helpful (but not mandatory) part of piloting any flying machine.
7)	The new attitude orients the Shuttle so that the body is
more nearly parallel with the ground, and the nose to the east
(usually).  This allows the thrust from the engines to add velocity
in the correct direction to eventually achieve orbit.  Remember:
velocity is a vector quantity made of both speed and direction.
The Shuttle has to have a large horizontal component to its
velocity and a very small vertical component to attain orbit.
This all begs the question, "Why isn't the launch pad oriented to give
this nice attitude to begin with?  Why does the Shuttle need to roll to
achieve that attitude?"  The answer is that the pads were leftovers
from the Apollo days.  The Shuttle straddles two flame trenches -- one
for the Solid Rocket Motor exhaust, one for the Space Shuttle Main
Engine exhaust.  (You can see the effects of this on any daytime
launch.  The SRM exhaust is dirty gray garbage, and the SSME exhaust is
fluffy white steam.  Watch for the difference between the "top"
[Orbiter side] and the "bottom" [External Tank side] of the stack.) The
access tower and other support and service structure are all oriented
basically the same way they were for the Saturn V's.  (A side note: the
Saturn V's also had a roll program.  Don't ask me why -- I'm a Shuttle
guy.)
I checked with a buddy in Ascent Dynamics.	He added that the "roll
maneuver" is really a maneuver in all three axes: roll, pitch and yaw.
The roll component of that maneuver is performed for the reasons
stated.  The pitch component controls loading on the wings by keeping
the angle of attack (q-alpha) within a tight tolerance.  The yaw
component is used to determine the orbital inclination.  The total
maneuver is really expressed as a "quaternion," a grad-level-math
concept for combining all three rotation matrices in one four-element
array.
HOW TO RECEIVE THE NASA TV CHANNEL, NASA SELECT
NASA SELECT is broadcast by satellite. If you have access to a satellite
dish, you can find SELECT on Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72
degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. F2R is stationed
over the Atlantic, and is increasingly difficult to receive from
California and points west. During events of special interest (e.g.
shuttle missions), SELECT is sometimes broadcast on a second satellite
for these viewers.
If you can't get a satellite feed, some cable operators carry SELECT.
It's worth asking if yours doesn't.
The SELECT schedule is found in the NASA Headline News which is
frequently posted to sci.space.news. Generally it carries press
conferences, briefings by NASA officials, and live coverage of shuttle
missions and planetary encounters. SELECT has recently begun carrying
much more secondary material (associated with SPACELINK) when missions
are not being covered.
AMATEUR RADIO FREQUENCIES FOR SHUTTLE MISSIONS
The following are believed to rebroadcast space shuttle mission audio:
W6FXN  - Los Angeles
K6MF   - Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California
WA3NAN - Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Maryland.
W5RRR  - Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, Texas
W6VIO  - Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California.
W1AW Voice Bulletins
Station    VHF	   10m	   15m	   20m	  40m	 80m
------	 ------  ------  ------  ------  -----	-----
W6FXN	 145.46
K6MF	 145.585			 7.165	3.840
WA3NAN	 147.45  28.650  21.395  14.295  7.185	3.860
W5RRR	 146.64  28.400  21.350  14.280  7.227	3.850
W6VIO	 224.04		 21.340  14.270
W6VIO	 224.04		 21.280  14.282  7.165	3.840
W1AW		 28.590  21.390  14.290  7.290	3.990
W5RRR transmits mission audio on 146.64, a special event station on the
other frequencies supplying Keplerian Elements and mission information.
W1AW also transmits on 147.555, 18.160. No mission audio but they
transmit voice bulletins at 0245 and 0545 UTC.
Frequencies in the 10-20m bands require USB and frequencies in the 40
and 80m bands LSB. Use FM for the VHF frequencies.
[This item was most recently updated courtesy of Gary Morris
(g@telesoft.com, KK6YB, N5QWC)]
SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER FUEL COMPOSITION
Reference: "Shuttle Flight Operations Manual" Volume 8B - Solid Rocket
Booster Systems, NASA Document JSC-12770
Propellant Composition (percent)
Ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer)			69.6
Aluminum						16
Iron Oxide (burn rate catalyst)			0.4
Polybutadiene-acrilic acid-acrylonitrile (a rubber) 12.04
Epoxy curing agent					1.96
End reference
Comment: The aluminum, rubber, and epoxy all burn with the oxidizer.
NEXT: FAQ #10/15 - Historical planetary probes
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 10/15 - Planetary Probe History
Supersedes: <probe_730956556@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 527
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:59:36 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/probe
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:19 $
PLANETARY PROBES - HISTORICAL MISSIONS
This section was lightly adapted from an original posting by Larry Klaes
(klaes@verga.enet.dec.com), mostly minor formatting changes. Matthew
Wiener (weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu) contributed the section on
Voyager, and the section on Sakigake was obtained from ISAS material
posted by Yoshiro Yamada (yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp).
US PLANETARY MISSIONS
MARINER (VENUS, MARS, & MERCURY FLYBYS AND ORBITERS)
MARINER 1, the first U.S. attempt to send a spacecraft to Venus, failed
minutes after launch in 1962. The guidance instructions from the ground
stopped reaching the rocket due to a problem with its antenna, so the
onboard computer took control. However, there turned out to be a bug in
the guidance software, and the rocket promptly went off course, so the
Range Safety Officer destroyed it. Although the bug is sometimes claimed
to have been an incorrect FORTRAN DO statement, it was actually a
transcription error in which the bar (indicating smoothing) was omitted
from the expression "R-dot-bar sub n" (nth smoothed value of derivative
of radius). This error led the software to treat normal minor variations
of velocity as if they were serious, leading to incorrect compensation.
MARINER 2 became the first successful probe to flyby Venus in December
of 1962, and it returned information which confirmed that Venus is a
very hot (800 degrees Fahrenheit, now revised to 900 degrees F.) world
with a cloud-covered atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide
(sulfuric acid was later confirmed in 1978).
MARINER 3, launched on November 5, 1964, was lost when its protective
shroud failed to eject as the craft was placed into interplanetary
space. Unable to collect the Sun's energy for power from its solar
panels, the probe soon died when its batteries ran out and is now in
solar orbit. It was intended for a Mars flyby with MARINER 4.
MARINER 4, the sister probe to MARINER 3, did reach Mars in 1965 and
took the first close-up images of the Martian surface (22 in all) as it
flew by the planet. The probe found a cratered world with an atmosphere
much thinner than previously thought. Many scientists concluded from
this preliminary scan that Mars was a "dead" world in both the
geological and biological sense.
MARINER 5 was sent to Venus in 1967. It reconfirmed the data on that
planet collected five years earlier by MARINER 2, plus the information
that Venus' atmospheric pressure at its surface is at least 90 times
that of Earth's, or the equivalent of being 3,300 feet under the surface
of an ocean.
MARINER 6 and 7 were sent to Mars in 1969 and expanded upon the work
done by MARINER 4 four years earlier. However, they failed to take away
the concept of Mars as a "dead" planet, first made from the basic
measurements of MARINER 4.
MARINER 8 ended up in the Atlantic Ocean in 1971 when the rocket
launcher autopilot failed.
MARINER 9, the sister probe to MARINER 8, became the first craft to
orbit Mars in 1971. It returned information on the Red Planet that no
other probe had done before, revealing huge volcanoes on the Martian
surface, as well as giant canyon systems, and evidence that water once
flowed across the planet. The probe also took the first detailed closeup
images of Mars' two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
MARINER 10 used Venus as a gravity assist to Mercury in 1974. The probe
did return the first close-up images of the Venusian atmosphere in
ultraviolet, revealing previously unseen details in the cloud cover,
plus the fact that the entire cloud system circles the planet in four
Earth days. MARINER 10 eventually made three flybys of Mercury from 1974
to 1975 before running out of attitude control gas. The probe revealed
Mercury as a heavily cratered world with a mass much greater than
thought. This would seem to indicate that Mercury has an iron core which
makes up 75 percent of the entire planet.
PIONEER (MOON, SUN, VENUS, JUPITER, and SATURN FLYBYS AND ORBITERS)
PIONEER 1 through 3 failed to meet their main objective - to photograph
the Moon close-up - but they did reach far enough into space to provide
new information on the area between Earth and the Moon, including new
data on the Van Allen radiation belts circling Earth. All three craft
had failures with their rocket launchers. PIONEER 1 was launched on
October 11, 1958, PIONEER 2 on November 8, and PIONEER 3 on December 6.
PIONEER 4 was a Moon probe which missed the Moon and became the first
U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Sun in 1959. PIONEER 5 was originally
designed to flyby Venus, but the mission was scaled down and it instead
studied the interplanetary environment between Venus and Earth out to
36.2 million kilometers in 1960, a record until MARINER 2. PIONEER 6
through 9 were placed into solar orbit from 1965 to 1968: PIONEER 6, 7,
and 8 are still transmitting information at this time. PIONEER E (would
have been number 10) suffered a launch failure in 1969.
PIONEER 10 became the first spacecraft to flyby Jupiter in 1973. PIONEER
11 followed it in 1974, and then went on to become the first probe to
study Saturn in 1979. Both vehicles should continue to function through
1995 and are heading off into interstellar space, the first craft ever
to do so.
PIONEER Venus 1 (1978) (also known as PIONEER Venus Orbiter, or PIONEER
12) burned up in the Venusian atmosphere on October 8, 1992. PVO made
the first radar studies of the planet's surface via probe. PIONEER Venus
2 (also known as PIONEER 13) sent four small probes into the atmosphere
in December of 1978. The main spacecraft bus burned up high in the
atmosphere, while the four probes descended by parachute towards the
surface. Though none were expected to survive to the surface, the Day
probe did make it and transmitted for 67.5 minutes on the ground before
its batteries failed.
RANGER (LUNAR LANDER AND IMPACT MISSIONS)
RANGER 1 and 2 were test probes for the RANGER lunar impact series. They
were meant for high Earth orbit testing in 1961, but rocket problems
left them in useless low orbits which quickly decayed.
RANGER 3, launched on January 26, 1962, was intended to land an
instrument capsule on the surface of the Moon, but problems during the
launch caused the probe to miss the Moon and head into solar orbit.
RANGER 3 did try to take some images of the Moon as it flew by, but the
camera was unfortunately aimed at deep space during the attempt.
RANGER 4, launched April 23, 1962, had the same purpose as RANGER 3, but
suffered technical problems enroute and crashed on the lunar farside,
the first U.S. probe to reach the Moon, albeit without returning data.
RANGER 5, launched October 18, 1962 and similar to RANGER 3 and 4, lost
all solar panel and battery power enroute and eventually missed the Moon
and drifted off into solar orbit.
RANGER 6 through 9 had more modified lunar missions: They were to send
back live images of the lunar surface as they headed towards an impact
with the Moon. RANGER 6 failed this objective in 1964 when its cameras
did not operate. RANGER 7 through 9 performed well, becoming the first
U.S. lunar probes to return thousands of lunar images through 1965.
LUNAR ORBITER (LUNAR SURFACE PHOTOGRAPHY)
LUNAR ORBITER 1 through 5 were designed to orbit the Moon and image
various sites being studied as landing areas for the manned APOLLO
missions of 1969-1972. The probes also contributed greatly to our
understanding of lunar surface features, particularly the lunar farside.
All five probes of the series, launched from 1966 to 1967, were
essentially successful in their missions. They were the first U.S.
probes to orbit the Moon. All LOs were eventually crashed into the lunar
surface to avoid interference with the manned APOLLO missions.
SURVEYOR (LUNAR SOFT LANDERS)
The SURVEYOR series were designed primarily to see if an APOLLO lunar
module could land on the surface of the Moon without sinking into the
soil (before this time, it was feared by some that the Moon was covered
in great layers of dust, which would not support a heavy landing
vehicle). SURVEYOR was successful in proving that the lunar surface was
strong enough to hold up a spacecraft from 1966 to 1968.
Only SURVEYOR 2 and 4 were unsuccessful missions. The rest became the
first U.S. probes to soft land on the Moon, taking thousands of images
and scooping the soil for analysis. APOLLO 12 landed 600 feet from
SURVEYOR 3 in 1969 and returned parts of the craft to Earth. SURVEYOR 7,
the last of the series, was a purely scientific mission which explored
the Tycho crater region in 1968.
VIKING (MARS ORBITERS AND LANDERS)
VIKING 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 20, 1975 on
a TITAN 3E-CENTAUR D1 rocket. The probe went into Martian orbit on June
19, 1976, and the lander set down on the western slopes of Chryse
Planitia on July 20, 1976. It soon began its programmed search for
Martian micro-organisms (there is still debate as to whether the probes
found life there or not), and sent back incredible color panoramas of
its surroundings. One thing scientists learned was that Mars' sky was
pinkish in color, not dark blue as they originally thought (the sky is
pink due to sunlight reflecting off the reddish dust particles in the
thin atmosphere). The lander set down among a field of red sand and
boulders stretching out as far as its cameras could image.
The VIKING 1 orbiter kept functioning until August 7, 1980, when it ran
out of attitude-control propellant. The lander was switched into a
weather-reporting mode, where it had been hoped it would keep
functioning through 1994; but after November 13, 1982, an errant command
had been sent to the lander accidentally telling it to shut down until
further orders. Communication was never regained again, despite the
engineers' efforts through May of 1983.
An interesting side note: VIKING 1's lander has been designated the
Thomas A. Mutch Memorial Station in honor of the late leader of the
lander imaging team. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington,
D.C. is entrusted with the safekeeping of the Mutch Station Plaque until
it can be attached to the lander by a manned expedition.
VIKING 2 was launched on September 9, 1975, and arrived in Martian orbit
on August 7, 1976. The lander touched down on September 3, 1976 in
Utopia Planitia. It accomplished essentially the same tasks as its
sister lander, with the exception that its seisometer worked, recording
one marsquake. The orbiter had a series of attitude-control gas leaks in
1978, which prompted it being shut down that July. The lander was shut
down on April 12, 1980.
The orbits of both VIKING orbiters should decay around 2025.
VOYAGER (OUTER PLANET FLYBYS)
VOYAGER 1 was launched September 5, 1977, and flew past Jupiter on March
5, 1979 and by Saturn on November 13, 1980. VOYAGER 2 was launched
August 20, 1977 (before VOYAGER 1), and flew by Jupiter on August 7,
1979, by Saturn on August 26, 1981, by Uranus on January 24, 1986, and
by Neptune on August 8, 1989. VOYAGER 2 took advantage of a rare
once-every-189-years alignment to slingshot its way from outer planet to
outer planet. VOYAGER 1 could, in principle, have headed towards Pluto,
but JPL opted for the sure thing of a Titan close up.
Between the two probes, our knowledge of the 4 giant planets, their
satellites, and their rings has become immense. VOYAGER 1&2 discovered
that Jupiter has complicated atmospheric dynamics, lightning and
aurorae. Three new satellites were discovered. Two of the major
surprises were that Jupiter has rings and that Io has active sulfurous
volcanoes, with major effects on the Jovian magnetosphere.
When the two probes reached Saturn, they discovered over 1000 ringlets
and 7 satellites, including the predicted shepherd satellites that keep
the rings stable. The weather was tame compared with Jupiter: massive
jet streams with minimal variance (a 33-year great white spot/band cycle
is known). Titan's atmosphere was smoggy. Mimas' appearance was
startling: one massive impact crater gave it the Death Star appearance.
The big surprise here was the stranger aspects of the rings. Braids,
kinks, and spokes were both unexpected and difficult to explain.
VOYAGER 2, thanks to heroic engineering and programming efforts,
continued the mission to Uranus and Neptune. Uranus itself was highly
monochromatic in appearance. One oddity was that its magnetic axis was
found to be highly skewed from the already completely skewed rotational
axis, giving Uranus a peculiar magnetosphere. Icy channels were found on
Ariel, and Miranda was a bizarre patchwork of different terrains. 10
satellites and one more ring were discovered.
In contrast to Uranus, Neptune was found to have rather active weather,
including numerous cloud features. The ring arcs turned out to be bright
patches on one ring. Two other rings, and 6 other satellites, were
discovered. Neptune's magnetic axis was also skewed. Triton had a
canteloupe appearance and geysers. (What's liquid at 38K?)
The two VOYAGERs are expected to last for about two more decades. Their
on-target journeying gives negative evidence about possible planets
beyond Pluto. Their next major scientific discovery should be the
location of the heliopause.
SOVIET PLANETARY MISSIONS
Since there have been so many Soviet probes to the Moon, Venus, and
Mars, I will highlight only the primary missions:
SOVIET LUNAR PROBES
LUNA 1 - Lunar impact attempt in 1959, missed Moon and became first
craft in solar orbit.
LUNA 2 - First craft to impact on lunar surface in 1959.
LUNA 3 - Took first images of lunar farside in 1959.
ZOND 3 - Took first images of lunar farside in 1965 since LUNA 3. Was
also a test for future Mars missions.
LUNA 9 - First probe to soft land on the Moon in 1966, returned images
from surface.
LUNA 10 - First probe to orbit the Moon in 1966.
LUNA 13 - Second successful Soviet lunar soft landing mission in 1966.
ZOND 5 - First successful circumlunar craft. ZOND 6 through 8
accomplished similar missions through 1970. The probes were
unmanned tests of a manned orbiting SOYUZ-type lunar vehicle.
LUNA 16 - First probe to land on Moon and return samples of lunar soil
to Earth in 1970. LUNA 20 accomplished similar mission in
1972.
LUNA 17 - Delivered the first unmanned lunar rover to the Moon's
surface, LUNOKHOD 1, in 1970. A similar feat was accomplished
with LUNA 21/LUNOKHOD 2 in 1973.
LUNA 24 - Last Soviet lunar mission to date. Returned soil samples in
1976.
SOVIET VENUS PROBES
VENERA 1 - First acknowledged attempt at Venus mission. Transmissions
lost enroute in 1961.
VENERA 2 - Attempt to image Venus during flyby mission in tandem with
VENERA 3. Probe ceased transmitting just before encounter in
February of 1966. No images were returned.
VENERA 3 - Attempt to place a lander capsule on Venusian surface.
Transmissions ceased just before encounter and entire probe
became the first craft to impact on another planet in 1966.
VENERA 4 - First probe to successfully return data while descending
through Venusian atmosphere. Crushed by air pressure before
reaching surface in 1967. VENERA 5 and 6 mission profiles
similar in 1969.
VENERA 7 - First probe to return data from the surface of another planet
in 1970. VENERA 8 accomplished a more detailed mission in
1972.
VENERA 9 - Sent first image of Venusian surface in 1975. Was also the
first probe to orbit Venus. VENERA 10 accomplished similar
mission.
VENERA 13 - Returned first color images of Venusian surface in 1982.
VENERA 14 accomplished similar mission.
VENERA 15 - Accomplished radar mapping with VENERA 16 of sections of
planet's surface in 1983 more detailed than PVO.
VEGA 1 - Accomplished with VEGA 2 first balloon probes of Venusian
atmosphere in 1985, including two landers. Flyby buses went on
to become first spacecraft to study Comet Halley close-up in
March of 1986.
SOVIET MARS PROBES
MARS 1 - First acknowledged Mars probe in 1962. Transmissions ceased
enroute the following year.
ZOND 2 - First possible attempt to place a lander capsule on Martian
surface. Probe signals ceased enroute in 1965.
MARS 2 - First Soviet Mars probe to land - albeit crash - on Martian
surface. Orbiter section first Soviet probe to circle the Red
Planet in 1971.
MARS 3 - First successful soft landing on Martian surface, but lander
signals ceased after 90 seconds in 1971.
MARS 4 - Attempt at orbiting Mars in 1974, braking rockets failed to
fire, probe went on into solar orbit.
MARS 5 - First fully successful Soviet Mars mission, orbiting Mars in
1974. Returned images of Martian surface comparable to U.S.
probe MARINER 9.
MARS 6 - Landing attempt in 1974. Lander crashed into the surface.
MARS 7 - Lander missed Mars completely in 1974, went into a solar orbit
with its flyby bus.
PHOBOS 1 - First attempt to land probes on surface of Mars' largest
moon, Phobos. Probe failed enroute in 1988 due to
human/computer error.
PHOBOS 2 - Attempt to land probes on Martian moon Phobos. The probe did
enter Mars orbit in early 1989, but signals ceased one week
before scheduled Phobos landing.
While there has been talk of Soviet Jupiter, Saturn, and even
interstellar probes within the next thirty years, no major steps have
yet been taken with these projects. More intensive studies of the Moon,
Mars, Venus, and various comets have been planned for the 1990s, and a
Mercury mission to orbit and land probes on the tiny world has been
planned for 2003. How the many changes in the former Soviet Union (now
the Commonwealth of Independent States) will affect the future of their
space program remains to be seen.
JAPANESE PLANETARY MISSIONS
SAKIGAKE (MS-T5) was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center by ISAS on
January 8 1985, and approached Halley's Comet within about 7 million km
on March 11, 1986. The spacecraft is carrying three instru- ments to
measure interplanetary magnetic field/plasma waves/solar wind, all of
which work normally now, so ISAS made an Earth swingby by Sakigake on
January 8, 1992 into an orbit similar to the earth's. The closest
approach was at 23h08m47s (JST=UTC+9h) on January 8, 1992. The
geocentric distance was 88,997 km. This is the first planet-swingby for
a Japanese spacecraft.
During the approach, Sakigake observed the geotail. Some geotail
passages will be scheduled in some years hence. The second Earth-swingby
will be on June 14, 1993 (at 40 Re (Earth's radius)), and the third
October 28, 1994 (at 86 Re).
HITEN, a small lunar probe, was launched into Earth orbit on January 24,
1990. The spacecraft was then known as MUSES-A, but was renamed to Hiten
once in orbit. The 430 lb probe looped out from Earth and made its first
lunary flyby on March 19, where it dropped off its 26 lb midget
satellite, HAGOROMO. Japan at this point became the third nation to
orbit a satellite around the Moon, joining the Unites States and USSR.
The smaller spacecraft, Hagoromo, remained in orbit around the Moon. An
apparently broken transistor radio caused the Japanese space scientists
to lose track of it. Hagoromo's rocket motor fired on schedule on March
19, but the spacecraft's tracking transmitter failed immediately. The
rocket firing of Hagoromo was optically confirmed using the Schmidt
camera (105-cm, F3.1) at the Kiso Observatory in Japan.
Hiten made multiple lunar flybys at approximately monthly intervals and
performed aerobraking experiments using the Earth's atmosphere. Hiten
made a close approach to the moon at 22:33 JST (UTC+9h) on February 15,
1992 at the height of 423 km from the moon's surface (35.3N, 9.7E) and
fired its propulsion system for about ten minutes to put the craft into
lunar orbit. The following is the orbital calculation results after the
approach:
Apoapsis Altitude: about 49,400 km
Periapsis Altitude: about 9,600 km
Inclination	: 34.7 deg (to ecliptic plane)
Period		: 4.7 days
PLANETARY MISSION REFERENCES
I also recommend reading the following works, categorized in three
groups: General overviews, specific books on particular space missions,
and periodical sources on space probes. This list is by no means
complete; it is primarily designed to give you places to start your
research through generally available works on the subject. If anyone can
add pertinent works to the list, it would be greatly appreciated.
Though naturally I recommend all the books listed below, I think it
would be best if you started out with the general overview books, in
order to give you a clear idea of the history of space exploration in
this area. I also recommend that you pick up some good, up-to-date
general works on astronomy and the Sol system, to give you some extra
background. Most of these books and periodicals can be found in any good
public and university library. Some of the more recently published works
can also be purchased in and/or ordered through any good mass- market
bookstore.
General Overviews (in alphabetical order by author):
J. Kelly Beatty et al, THE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM, 1990.
Merton E. Davies and Bruce C. Murray, THE VIEW FROM SPACE:
PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE PLANETS, 1971
Kenneth Gatland, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE
TECHNOLOGY, 1990
Kenneth Gatland, ROBOT EXPLORERS, 1972
R. Greeley, PLANETARY LANDSCAPES, 1987
Douglas Hart, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOVIET SPACECRAFT, 1987
Nicholas L. Johnson, HANDBOOK OF SOVIET LUNAR AND PLANETARY
EXPLORATION, 1979
Clayton R. Koppes, JPL AND THE AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM: A
HISTORY OF THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, 1982
Richard S. Lewis, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE
UNIVERSE, 1983
Mark Littman, PLANETS BEYOND: DISCOVERING THE OUTER SOLAR
SYSTEM, 1988
Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff, THE STARFLIGHT
HANDBOOK: A PIONEER'S GUIDE TO INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, 1989
Frank Miles and Nicholas Booth, RACE TO MARS: THE MARS
FLIGHT ATLAS, 1988
Bruce Murray, JOURNEY INTO SPACE, 1989
Oran W. Nicks, FAR TRAVELERS, 1985 (NASA SP-480)
James E. Oberg, UNCOVERING SOVIET DISASTERS: EXPLORING THE
LIMITS OF GLASNOST, 1988
Carl Sagan, COMET, 1986
Carl Sagan, THE COSMIC CONNECTION, 1973
Carl Sagan, PLANETS, 1969 (LIFE Science Library)
Arthur Smith, PLANETARY EXPLORATION: THIRTY YEARS OF UNMANNED
SPACE PROBES, 1988
Andrew Wilson, (JANE'S) SOLAR SYSTEM LOG, 1987
Specific Mission References:
Charles A. Cross and Patrick Moore, THE ATLAS OF MERCURY, 1977
(The MARINER 10 mission to Venus and Mercury, 1973-1975)
Joel Davis, FLYBY: THE INTERPLANETARY ODYSSEY OF VOYAGER 2, 1987
Irl Newlan, FIRST TO VENUS: THE STORY OF MARINER 2, 1963
Margaret Poynter and Arthur L. Lane, VOYAGER: THE STORY OF A
SPACE MISSION, 1984
Carl Sagan, MURMURS OF EARTH, 1978 (Deals with the Earth
information records placed on VOYAGER 1 and 2 in case the
probes are found by intelligences in interstellar space,
as well as the probes and planetary mission objectives
themselves.)
Other works and periodicals:
NASA has published very detailed and technical books on every space
probe mission it has launched. Good university libraries will carry
these books, and they are easily found simply by knowing which mission
you wish to read about. I recommend these works after you first study
some of the books listed above.
Some periodicals I recommend for reading on space probes are NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC, which has written articles on the PIONEER probes to Earth's
Moon Luna and the Jovian planets Jupiter and Saturn, the RANGER,
SURVEYOR, LUNAR ORBITER, and APOLLO missions to Luna, the MARINER
missions to Mercury, Venus, and Mars, the VIKING probes to Mars, and the
VOYAGER missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
More details on American, Soviet, European, and Japanese probe missions
can be found in SKY AND TELESCOPE, ASTRONOMY, SCIENCE, NATURE, and
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN magazines. TIME, NEWSWEEK, and various major
newspapers can supply not only general information on certain missions,
but also show you what else was going on with Earth at the time events
were unfolding, if that is of interest to you. Space missions are
affected by numerous political, economic, and climatic factors, as you
probably know.
Depending on just how far your interest in space probes will go, you
might also wish to join The Planetary Society, one of the largest space
groups in the world dedicated to planetary exploration. Their
periodical, THE PLANETARY REPORT, details the latest space probe
missions. Write to The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue,
Pasadena, California 91106 USA.
Good luck with your studies in this area of space exploration. I
personally find planetary missions to be one of the more exciting areas
in this field, and the benefits human society has and will receive from
it are incredible, with many yet to be realized.
Larry Klaes  klaes@verga.enet.dec.com
NEXT: FAQ #11/15 - Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 15/15 - Orbital and Planetary Launch Services
Supersedes: <launchers_730956689@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 195
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 20:02:47 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/launchers
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:11 $
ORBITAL AND PLANETARY LAUNCH SERVICES
The following data comes from _International Reference Guide to Space Launch
Systems_ by Steven J. Isakowitz, 1991 edition.
Notes:
* Unless otherwise specified, LEO and polar paylaods are for a 100 nm
orbit.
* Reliablity data includes launches through Dec, 1990. Reliabity for a
familiy of vehicles includes launches by types no longer built when
applicable
* Prices are in millions of 1990 $US and are subject to change.
* Only operational vehicle families are included. Individual vehicles
which have not yet flown are marked by an asterisk (*) If a vehicle
had first launch after publication of my data, it may still be
marked with an asterisk.
Vehicle        |     Payload  kg  (lbs)   | Reliability | Price | Launch Site
(nation)       |  LEO	   Polar    GTO   |		|	| (Lat. & Long.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariane					    35/40  87.5%	  Kourou
(ESA)								 (5.2 N, 52.8 W)
AR40		4,900	  3,900    1,900    1/1		  $65m
(10,800)  (8,580)  (4,190)
AR42P		6,100	  4,800    2,600    1/1		  $67m
(13,400)  (10,600) (5,730)
AR44P		6,900	  5,500    3,000    0/0 ?	  $70m
(15,200)  (12,100) (6,610)
AR42L		7,400	  5,900    3,200    0/0 ?	  $90m
(16,300)  (13,000) (7,050)
AR44LP	8,300	  6,600    3,700    6/6		  $95m
(18,300)  (14,500) (8,160)
AR44L		9,600	  7,700    4,200    3/4		  $115m
(21,100)  (16,900) (9,260)
* AR5	       18,000	   ???	   6,800    0/0		  $105m
(39,600)		  (15,000)
[300nm]
Atlas					   213/245 86.9%	 Cape Canaveral
(USA)								 (28.5 N, 81.0W)
Atlas E	 --	   820	     --     15/17	  $45m	 Vandeberg AFB
(1,800)				(34.7 N, 120.6W)
Atlas I	5,580	  4,670    2,250    1/1		  $70m
(12,300)  (10,300) (4,950)
Atlas II	6,395	  5,400    2,680    0/0		  $75m
(14,100)  (11,900) (5,900)
Atlas IIA	6,760	  5,715    2,810    0/0		  $85m
(14,900)  (12,600) (6,200)
* Atlas IIAS	8,390	  6,805    3,490    0/0		  $115m
(18,500)  (15,000) (7,700)
Delta					   189/201 94.0%	 Cape Canaveral
(USA)								 Vandenberg AFB
Delta 6925	3,900	  2,950    1,450   14/14	  $45m
(8,780)	 (6,490)  (3,190)
Delta 7925	5,045	  3,830    1,820    1/1		  $50m
(11,100)  (8,420)  (2,000)
Energia					    2/2  100%		 Baikonur
(Russia)							 (45.6 N 63.4 E)
Energia      88,000	 80,000     ???     2/2		  $110m
(194,000) (176,000)
H series				    22/22 100%		 Tangeshima
(Japan)								(30.2 N 130.6 E)
* H-2	       10,500	 6,600	   4,000    0/0		  $110m
(23,000)	(14,500)  (8,800)
Kosmos					   371/377 98.4%	 Plestek
(Russia)							 (62.8 N 40.1 E)
Kosmos      1100 - 1350  (2300 - 3000)		 $???	 Kapustin Yar
[400 km orbit ??? inclination]			 (48.4 N 45.8 E)
Long March				    23/25 92.0%		 Jiquan SLC
(China)								 (41 N	100 E)
* CZ-1D		 720	  ???	    200     0/0		  $10m	 Xichang SLC
(1,590)		   (440)			 (28 N	102 E)
Taiyuan SLC
CZ-2C		3,200	  1,750    1,000    12/12	  $20m	 (41 N	100 E)
(7,040)	 (3,860)  (2,200)
CZ-2E		9,200	   ???	   3,370    1/1		  $40m
(20,300)		  (7,430)
* CZ-2E/HO     13,600	   ???	   4,500    0/0		  $???
(29,900)		  (9,900)
CZ-3		???	   ???	   1,400    6/7		  $33m
(3,100)
* CZ-3A		???	   ???	   2,500    0/0		  $???m
(5,500)
CZ-4		4,000	   ???	   1,100    2/2		  $???m
(8,800)		  (2,430)
Pegasus/Taurus				    2/2   100%		Peg:  B-52/L1011
(USA)								Taur: Canaveral
Pegasus	 455	   365	    125     2/2		  $10m	  or Vandenberg
(1,000)   (800)    (275)
* Taurus	1,450	  1,180     375     0/0		  $15m
(3,200)	 (2,600)   (830)
Proton					   164/187 87.7%	 Baikonour
(Russia)
Proton       20,000	   ???	   5,500   164/187	  $35-70m
(44,100)		  (12,200)
SCOUT					    99/113 87.6%	Vandenberg AFB
(USA)								Wallops FF
SCOUT G-1	 270	   210	    54	    13/13	  $12m	(37.9 N  75.4 W)
(600)	  (460)    (120)			San Marco
(2.9 S	40.3 E)
* Enhanced SCOUT 525	   372	   110	    0/0		  $15m
(1,160)   (820)   (240)
Shavit					    2/2   100%		Palmachim AFB
(Israel)							( ~31 N)
Shavit	 ???	   160	   ???	    2/2		  $22m
(350)
Space Shuttle				    37/38  97.4%	Kennedy Space
(USA)								Center
Shuttle/SRB  23,500	   ???	   5,900    37/38	  $248m (28.5 N 81.0 W)
(51,800)		  (13,000)		  [FY88]
* Shuttle/ASRM 27,100	   ???	   ???	    0/0
(59,800)
SLV					    2/6    33.3%	SHAR Center
(India)       (400km)  (900km polar)				(13.9 N 80.4 E)
ASLV		150	   ???	    ???     0/2		  $???m
(330)
* PSLV		3,000	  1,000     450     0/0		  $???m
(6,600)	 (2,200)   (990)
* GSLV		8,000	   ???	   2,500    0/0		  $???m
(17,600)		  (5,500)
Titan					    160/172 93.0%	Cape Canaveral
(USA)								Vandenberg
Titan II	 ???	  1,905     ???     2/2		   $43m
(4,200)
Titan III    14,515	  ???	   5,000    2/3		   $140m
(32,000)		  (11,000)
Titan IV/SRM 17,700	 14,100    6,350    3/3		   $154m-$227m
(39,000)	(31,100)  (14,000)
Titan IV/SRMU 21,640	 18,600    8,620    0/0		   $???m
(47,700)	(41,000)  (19,000)
Vostok					    1358/1401 96.9%	Baikonur
(Russia)		 [650km]				Plesetsk
Vostok	4,730	  1,840     ???     ?/149	   $14m
(10,400)	(4,060)
Soyuz		7,000	   ???	    ???     ?/944	   $15m
(15,400)
Molniya	1500kg (3300 lbs) in	    ?/258	   $???M
Highly eliptical orbit
Zenit					    12/13  92.3%	Baikonur
(Russia)
Zenit        13,740	 11,380    4,300    12/13	   $65m
(30,300)	(25,090)  (9,480)
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 07/15 - Astronomical Mnemonics
Supersedes: <mnemonics_730956500@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 95
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:57:55 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/mnemonics
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:14 $
ASTRONOMICAL MNEMONICS (This is the last FAQ section posted to sci.astro)
Gathered from various flurries of mnemonic postings on sci.astro.
Spectral classification sequence: O B A F G K M R N S
Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me Right Now, Sweetheart. (a classic)
O'Dell's Big Astronomical Fiasco Gonna Kill Me Right Now Surely
Obese Balding Astronomy Found Guilty; Killed Many Reluctant
Nonscience Students.
Octopus Brains, A Favorite Gastronomical Kitchen Menu,
Requires No Sauce
Odd Ball Astronomers Find Generally Kooky Mnemonics
Really Nifty Stuff
Oh Big And Ferocious Gorilla, Kill My Roomate Next Saturday
Oh Boy, A Flash! Godzilla Kills Mothra! Really Not Surprising!
Oh Boy, An F Grade Kills Me
On Bad Afternoons Fermented Grapes Keep Mrs. Richard Nixon Smiling
On, Backward Astronomer, Forget Geocentricity; Kepler's Motions
Reveal Nature's Simplicity
Our Bad Astronomy Faculty Gets Killed Monday
Oven Baked Ants, Fried Gently, Kept Moist, Retain Natural Succulence
Overseas Broadcast: A Flash!  Godzilla kills Mothra!
(Rodan Named Successor)
Overweight Boys and Fat Girls Keep Munching
Only Bored Astronomers Find Gratification Knowing Mnemonics
Oh Bloody Astronomy!  F Grades Kill Me
Order of the planets:
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth (Terra)
Mars
(Asteroids)
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
Mother Very Thoughtfully Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest
My Very Erotic Mate Joyfully Satisfies Unusual Needs Passionately
Men Very Easily Make Jugs Serve Useful Nocturnal Purposes
Man Very Early Made A Jug Serve Useful Noble Purposes
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets
My Very Eager Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets
My Very Exhausted Mother hAs Just Swept Up a Planetary Nebula
Most Voters Earn Money Just Showing Up Near Polls
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza-pies
Many Viscious Elephants Made John, Suzy and Uncle Need Protection
Solar Mass Very Easily Makes All Jupiter's Satellites Undergo
Numerous Perturbations.
Mein Vater erklaert mir jeden Sonntag unsere niedlichen Planeten
(My Father explains to me every Sunday our nine planets)
Man verachte einen Menschen in seinem Unglueck nie -- Punkt
(Never scorn/despise a person in his misfortune/bad luck/misery
-- period!)
Colors of the spectrum: Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet
ROY G. BIV  (pronounce as a man's name)
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain
Read Out Your Good Book In Verse
Galilean Satellite of Jupiter: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto
I Expect God Cries
I Eat Green Cheese
I Embarrass Good Christians
Ich erschrecke all guten Christen
(I scare all good Christians)
Saturnian Satellites
MET DR THIP
Miriam's Enchiladas Taste Divine Recently. Tell Her I'm Proud.
(Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion,
Iapetus, Phoebe)
Uranian Satellites:
MAUTO
Mispronunciations Afflict Uranus Too Often
My Angel Uriel Takes Opium
(Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon)
NOTE: the remaining FAQ sections do not appear in sci.astro, as they cover
material of relevance only to sci.space.
NEXT: FAQ #8/15 - Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 08/15 - Addresses
Supersedes: <addresses_730956515@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 230
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:58:29 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/addresses
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:38:55 $
CONTACTING NASA, ESA, AND OTHER SPACE AGENCIES/COMPANIES
Many space activities center around large Government or International
Bureaucracies.	In the US that means NASA.  If you have basic information
requests: (e.g., general PR info, research grants, data, limited tours, and
ESPECIALLY SUMMER EMPLOYMENT (typically resumes should be ready by Jan.  1),
etc.), consider contacting the nearest NASA Center to answer your questions.
EMail typically will not get you any where, computers are used by
investigators, not PR people. The typical volume of mail per Center is a
multiple of 10,000 letters a day. Seek the Public Information Office at one
of the below, this is their job:
NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is the
civilian space agency of of the United States Federal Government.
It reports directly to the White House and is not a Cabinet
post such as the military Department of Defense.  Its 20K+ employees
are civil servants and hence US citizens.  Another 100K+ contractors
also work for NASA.
NASA CENTERS
NASA Headquarters (NASA HQ)
Washington DC 20546
(202)-358-1600
Ask them questions about policy, money, and things of political
nature. Direct specific questions to the appropriate center.
NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Moffett Field, CA 94035
(415)-694-5091
Some aeronautical research, atmosphere reentry, Mars and Venus
planetary atmospheres. "Lead center" for Helicopter research,
V/STOL, etc. Runs Pioneer series of space probes.
NASA Ames Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Facility [DFRF]
P. O. Box 273
Edwards, CA  93523
(805)-258-8381
Aircraft, mostly. Tested the shuttle orbiter landing
characteristics. Developed X-1, D-558, X-3, X-4, X-5, XB-70, and of
course, the X-15.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, MD 20771
[Outside of Washington DC]
(301)-344-6255
Earth orbiting unmanned satellites and sounding rockets. Developed
LANDSAT.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
California Institute of Technology
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109
(818)-354-5011
The "heavies" in planetary research probes and other unmanned
projects (they also had a lot to do with IRAS). They run Voyager,
Magellan, Galileo, and will run Cassini, CRAF, etc. etc.. For
images, probe navigation, and other info about unmanned exploration,
this is the place to go.
JPL is run under contract for NASA by the nearby California
Institute of Technology, unlike the NASA centers above. This
distinction is subtle but critical. JPL has different requirements
for unsolicited research proposals and summer hires. For instance in
the latter, an SF 171 is useless. Employees are Caltech employees,
contractors, and for the most part have similar responsibilities.
They offer an alternative to funding after other NASA Centers.
A fact sheet and description of JPL is available by anonymous
FTP in
ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/JPLDescription
NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC)
Houston, TX 77058
(713)-483-5111
JSC manages Space Shuttle, ground control of manned missions.
Astronaut training. Manned mission simulators.
NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC)
Titusville, FL 32899
(407)-867-2468
Space launch center. You know this one.
NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)
Hampton, VA 23665
[Near Newport News, VA]
(804)-865-2935
Original NASA site. Specializes in theoretical and experimental
flight dynamics. Viking. Long Duration Exposure Facility.
NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC)
21000 Brookpark Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44135
(216)-433-4000
Aircraft/Rocket propulsion. Space power generation. Materials
research.
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Huntsville, AL 35812
(205)-453-0034
Development, production, delivery of Solid Rocket Boosters, External
Tank, Orbiter main engines. Propulsion and launchers.
Michoud Assembly Facility
Orleans Parish
New Orleans, LA 70129
(504)-255-2601
Shuttle external tanks are produced here; formerly Michoud produced
first stages for the Saturn V.
Stennis Space Center
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi 39529
(601)-688-3341
Space Shuttle main engines are tested here, as were Saturn V first
and second stages. The center also does remote-sensing and
technology-transfer research.
Wallops Flight Center
Wallops Island, VA 23337
(804)824-3411
Aeronautical research, sounding rockets, Scout launcher.
Manager, Technology Utilization Office
NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility
Post Office Box 8757
Baltimore, Maryland 21240
Specific requests for software must go thru COSMIC at the Univ. of
Georgia, NASA's contracted software redistribution service. You can
reach them at cosmic@uga.bitnet.
NOTE: Foreign nationals requesting information must go through their
Embassies in Washington DC. These are facilities of the US Government
and are regarded with some degree of economic sensitivity. Centers
cannot directly return information without high Center approval. Allow
at least 1 month for clearance. This includes COSMIC.
The US Air Force Space Command can be contacted thru the Pentagon along with
other Department of Defense offices. They have unacknowledged offices in
Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Colorado Springs, and other locations. They have
a budget which rivals NASA in size.
ARIANESPACE HEADQUARTERS
Boulevard de l'Europe
B.P. 177
91006 Evry Cedex
France
ARIANESPACE, INC.
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 875
Washington, DC 20006
(202)-728-9075
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA)
955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20024
(202)-488-4158
NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NASDA)
4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome
Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, JAPAN
SOYUZKARTA
45 Vologradsij Pr.
Moscow 109125
USSR
SPACE CAMP
Alabama Space and Rocket Center	U.S. SPACE CAMP
1 Tranquility Base			6225 Vectorspace Blvd
Huntsville, AL 35805		Titusville FL  32780
(205)-837-3400			(407)267-3184
Registration and mailing list are handled through Huntsville -- both
camps are described in the same brochure.
Programs offered at Space Camp are:
Space Camp - one week, youngsters completing grades 4-6
Space Academy I - one week, grades 7-9
Aviation Challenge - one week high school program, grades 9-11
Space Academy II - 8 days, college accredited, grades 10-12
Adult Program - 3 days (editorial comment: it's great!)
Teachers Program - 5 days
SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services)
504 Pluto Drive		    69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower
Colorado Springs, CO 80906	    Houston, TX 77002
(719)-578-5490		    (713)-227-9000
SPACEHAB
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Suite 201 West
Washington, DC 20004
(202)-488-3483
SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION
1857 Preston White Drive,
Reston, VA 22091
(FAX) (703)-648-1813    (703)-620-2200
OTHER COMMERCIAL SPACE BUSINESSES
Vincent Cate maintains a list with addresses and some info for a variety
of companies in space-related businesses. This is mailed out on the
space-investors list he runs (see the "Network Resources" FAQ) and is also
available by anonymous ftp from furmint.nectar.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.209.111) in
/usr/vac/ftp/space-companies.
NEXT: FAQ #9/15 - Schedules for space missions, and how to see them
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 11/15 - Upcoming Planetary Probes
Supersedes: <new_probes_730956574@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 243
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 20:00:01 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/new_probes
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:17 $
UPCOMING PLANETARY PROBES - MISSIONS AND SCHEDULES
Information on upcoming or currently active missions not mentioned below
would be welcome. Sources: NASA fact sheets, Cassini Mission Design
team, ISAS/NASDA launch schedules, press kits.
ASUKA (ASTRO-D) - ISAS (Japan) X-ray astronomy satellite, launched into
Earth orbit on 2/20/93. Equipped with large-area wide-wavelength (1-20
Angstrom) X-ray telescope, X-ray CCD cameras, and imaging gas
scintillation proportional counters.
CASSINI - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. Cassini is a joint
NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian
system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe. Cassini
is scheduled for launch aboard a Titan IV/Centaur in October of 1997.
After gravity assists of Venus, Earth and Jupiter in a VVEJGA
trajectory, the spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in June of 2004. Upon
arrival, the Cassini spacecraft performs several maneuvers to achieve an
orbit around Saturn. Near the end of this initial orbit, the Huygens
Probe separates from the Orbiter and descends through the atmosphere of
Titan. The Orbiter relays the Probe data to Earth for about 3 hours
while the Probe enters and traverses the cloudy atmosphere to the
surface. After the completion of the Probe mission, the Orbiter
continues touring the Saturnian system for three and a half years. Titan
synchronous orbit trajectories will allow about 35 flybys of Titan and
targeted flybys of Iapetus, Dione and Enceladus. The objectives of the
mission are threefold: conduct detailed studies of Saturn's atmosphere,
rings and magnetosphere; conduct close-up studies of Saturn's
satellites, and characterize Titan's atmosphere and surface.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Titan is the possibility that its
surface may be covered in part with lakes of liquid hydrocarbons that
result from photochemical processes in its upper atmosphere. These
hydrocarbons condense to form a global smog layer and eventually rain
down onto the surface. The Cassini orbiter will use onboard radar to
peer through Titan's clouds and determine if there is liquid on the
surface. Experiments aboard both the orbiter and the entry probe will
investigate the chemical processes that produce this unique atmosphere.
The Cassini mission is named for Jean Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), the
first director of the Paris Observatory, who discovered several of
Saturn's satellites and the major division in its rings. The Titan
atmospheric entry probe is named for the Dutch physicist Christiaan
Huygens (1629-1695), who discovered Titan and first described the true
nature of Saturn's rings.
Key Scheduled Dates for the Cassini Mission (VVEJGA Trajectory)
-------------------------------------------------------------
10/06/97 - Titan IV/Centaur Launch
04/21/98 - Venus 1 Gravity Assist
06/20/99 - Venus 2 Gravity Assist
08/16/99 - Earth Gravity Assist
12/30/00 - Jupiter Gravity Assist
06/25/04 - Saturn Arrival
01/09/05 - Titan Probe Release
01/30/05 - Titan Probe Entry
06/25/08 - End of Primary Mission
(Schedule last updated 7/22/92)
GALILEO - Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe, in transit. Has returned
the first resolved images of an asteroid, Gaspra, while in transit to
Jupiter. Efforts to unfurl the stuck High-Gain Antenna (HGA) have
essentially been abandoned. JPL has developed a backup plan using data
compression (JPEG-like for images, lossless compression for data from
the other instruments) which should allow the mission to achieve
approximately 70% of its original objectives.
Galileo Schedule
----------------
10/18/89 - Launch from Space Shuttle
02/09/90 - Venus Flyby
10/**/90 - Venus Data Playback
12/08/90 - 1st Earth Flyby
05/01/91 - High Gain Antenna Unfurled
07/91 - 06/92 - 1st Asteroid Belt Passage
10/29/91 - Asteroid Gaspra Flyby
12/08/92 - 2nd Earth Flyby
05/93 - 11/93 - 2nd Asteroid Belt Passage
08/28/93 - Asteroid Ida Flyby
07/02/95 - Probe Separation
07/09/95 - Orbiter Deflection Maneuver
12/95 - 10/97 - Orbital Tour of Jovian Moons
12/07/95 - Jupiter/Io Encounter
07/18/96 - Ganymede
09/28/96 - Ganymede
12/12/96 - Callisto
01/23/97 - Europa
02/28/97 - Ganymede
04/22/97 - Europa
05/31/97 - Europa
10/05/97 - Jupiter Magnetotail Exploration
HITEN - Japanese (ISAS) lunar probe launched 1/24/90. Has made
multiple lunar flybys. Released Hagoromo, a smaller satellite,
into lunar orbit. This mission made Japan the third nation to
orbit a satellite around the Moon.
MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Has mapped almost the entire
surface at high resolution. Currently (4/93) collecting a global gravity
map.
MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.
Launched 9/25/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. MO is currently (4/93) in
transit to Mars, arriving on 8/24/93. Operations will start 11/93 for
one martian year (687 days).
TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched
8/10/92 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the
TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global
observations of the sea level for several years, substantially
increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also
will increase understanding of how heat is transported in the ocean.
ULYSSES- European Space Agency probe to study the Sun from an orbit over
its poles. Launched in late 1990, it carries particles-and-fields
experiments (such as magnetometer, ion and electron collectors for
various energy ranges, plasma wave radio receivers, etc.) but no camera.
Since no human-built rocket is hefty enough to send Ulysses far out of
the ecliptic plane, it went to Jupiter instead, and stole energy from
that planet by sliding over Jupiter's north pole in a gravity-assist
manuver in February 1992. This bent its path into a solar orbit tilted
about 85 degrees to the ecliptic. It will pass over the Sun's south pole
in the summer of 1993. Its aphelion is 5.2 AU, and, surprisingly, its
perihelion is about 1.5 AU-- that's right, a solar-studies spacecraft
that's always further from the Sun than the Earth is!
While in Jupiter's neigborhood, Ulysses studied the magnetic and
radiation environment. For a short summary of these results, see
*Science*, V. 257, p. 1487-1489 (11 September 1992). For gory technical
detail, see the many articles in the same issue.
OTHER SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS (note: this is based on a posting by Ron
Baalke in 11/89, with ISAS/NASDA information contributed by Yoshiro
Yamada (yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp). I'm attempting to track changes based
on updated shuttle manifests; corrections and updates are welcome.
1993 Missions
o ALEXIS [spring, Pegasus]
ALEXIS (Array of Low-Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors) is to perform
a wide-field sky survey in the "soft" (low-energy) X-ray
spectrum. It will scan the entire sky every six months to search
for variations in soft-X-ray emission from sources such as white
dwarfs, cataclysmic variable stars and flare stars. It will also
search nearby space for such exotic objects as isolated neutron
stars and gamma-ray bursters. ALEXIS is a project of Los Alamos
National Laboratory and is primarily a technology development
mission that uses astrophysical sources to demonstrate the
technology. Contact project investigator Jeffrey J Bloch
(jjb@beta.lanl.gov) for more information.
o Wind [Aug, Delta II rocket]
Satellite to measure solar wind input to magnetosphere.
o Space Radar Lab [Sep, STS-60 SRL-01]
Gather radar images of Earth's surface.
o Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer [Dec, Pegasus rocket]
Study of Stratospheric ozone.
o SFU (Space Flyer Unit) [ISAS]
Conducting space experiments and observations and this can be
recovered after it conducts the various scientific and
engineering experiments. SFU is to be launched by ISAS and
retrieved by the U.S. Space Shuttle on STS-68 in 1994.
1994
o Polar Auroral Plasma Physics [May, Delta II rocket]
June, measure solar wind and ions and gases surrounding the
Earth.
o IML-2 (STS) [NASDA, Jul 1994 IML-02]
International Microgravity Laboratory.
o ADEOS [NASDA]
Advanced Earth Observing Satellite.
o MUSES-B (Mu Space Engineering Satellite-B) [ISAS]
Conducting research on the precise mechanism of space structure
and in-space astronomical observations of electromagnetic waves.
1995
LUNAR-A [ISAS]
Elucidating the crust structure and thermal construction of the
moon's interior.
Proposed Missions:
o Advanced X-ray Astronomy Facility (AXAF)
Possible launch from shuttle in 1995, AXAF is a space
observatory with a high resolution telescope. It would orbit for
15 years and study the mysteries and fate of the universe.
o Earth Observing System (EOS)
Possible launch in 1997, 1 of 6 US orbiting space platforms to
provide long-term data (15 years) of Earth systems science
including planetary evolution.
o Mercury Observer
Possible 1997 launch.
o Lunar Observer
Possible 1997 launch, would be sent into a long-term lunar
orbit. The Observer, from 60 miles above the moon's poles, would
survey characteristics to provide a global context for the
results from the Apollo program.
o Space Infrared Telescope Facility
Possible launch by shuttle in 1999, this is the 4th element of
the Great Observatories program. A free-flying observatory with
a lifetime of 5 to 10 years, it would observe new comets and
other primitive bodies in the outer solar system, study cosmic
birth formation of galaxies, stars and planets and distant
infrared-emitting galaxies
o Mars Rover Sample Return (MRSR)
Robotics rover would return samples of Mars' atmosphere and
surface to Earch for analysis. Possible launch dates: 1996 for
imaging orbiter, 2001 for rover.
o Fire and Ice
Possible launch in 2001, will use a gravity assist flyby of
Earth in 2003, and use a final gravity assist from Jupiter in
2005, where the probe will split into its Fire and Ice
components: The Fire probe will journey into the Sun, taking
measurements of our star's upper atmosphere until it is
vaporized by the intense heat. The Ice probe will head out
towards Pluto, reaching the tiny world for study by 2016.
NEXT: FAQ #12/15 - Controversial questions
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Space FAQ 04/15 - Calculations
Supersedes: <math_730956451@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 334
Distribution: world
Expires: 6 May 1993 19:56:03 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
Keywords: Frequently Asked Questions
Archive-name: space/math
Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:12 $
PERFORMING CALCULATIONS AND INTERPRETING DATA FORMATS
COMPUTING SPACECRAFT ORBITS AND TRAJECTORIES
References that have been frequently recommended on the net are:
"Fundamentals of Astrodynamics" Roger Bate, Donald Mueller, Jerry White
1971, Dover Press, 455pp $8.95 (US) (paperback). ISBN 0-486-60061-0
NASA Spaceflight handbooks (dating from the 1960s)
SP-33 Orbital Flight Handbook (3 parts)
SP-34 Lunar Flight Handbook   (3 parts)
SP-35 Planetary Flight Handbook (9 parts)
These might be found in university aeronautics libraries or ordered
through the US Govt. Printing Office (GPO), although more
information would probably be needed to order them.
M. A. Minovitch, _The Determination and Characteristics of Ballistic
Interplanetary Trajectories Under the Influence of Multiple Planetary
Attractions_, Technical Report 32-464, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., Oct, 1963.
The title says all. Starts of with the basics and works its way up.
Very good. It has a companion article:
M. Minovitch, _Utilizing Large Planetary Perubations for the Design of
Deep-Space Solar-Probe and Out of Ecliptic Trajectories_, Technical
Report 32-849, JPL, Pasadena, Calif., 1965.
You need to read the first one first to realy understand this one.
It does include a _short_ summary if you can only find the second.
Contact JPL for availability of these reports.
"Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics", Peter C. Hughes 1986, John Wiley and
Sons.
"Celestial Mechanics: a computational guide for the practitioner",
Lawrence G. Taff, (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1985).
Starts with the basics (2-body problem, coordinates) and works up to
orbit determinations, perturbations, and differential corrections.
Taff also briefly discusses stellar dynamics including a short
discussion of n-body problems.
COMPUTING PLANETARY POSITIONS
More net references:
Van Flandern & Pullinen, _Low-Precision Formulae for Planetary
Positions_, Astrophysical J. Supp Series, 41:391-411, 1979. Look in an
astronomy or physics library for this; also said to be available from
Willmann-Bell.
Gives series to compute positions accurate to 1 arc minute for a
period + or - 300 years from now. Pluto is included but stated to
have an accuracy of only about 15 arc minutes.
_Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac_ (MICA), produced by the US
Naval Observatory. Valid for years 1990-1999. $55 ($80 outside US).
Available for IBM (order #PB93-500163HDV) or Macintosh (order
#PB93-500155HDV). From the NTIS sales desk, (703)-487-4650. I believe
this is intended to replace the USNO's Interactive Computer Ephemeris.
_Interactive Computer Ephemeris_ (from the US Naval Observatory)
distributed on IBM-PC floppy disks, $35 (Willmann-Bell). Covers dates
1800-2049.
"Planetary Programs and Tables from -4000 to +2800", Bretagnon & Simon
1986, Willmann-Bell.
Floppy disks available separately.
"Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics" (2nd ed), J.M.A. Danby 1988,
Willmann-Bell.
A good fundamental text. Includes BASIC programs; a companion set of
floppy disks is available separately.
"Astronomical Formulae for Calculators" (4th ed.), J. Meeus 1988,
Willmann-Bell.
"Astronomical Algorithms", J. Meeus 1991, Willmann-Bell.
If you actively use one of the editions of "Astronomical Formulae
for Calculators", you will want to replace it with "Astronomical
Algorithms". This new book is more oriented towards computers than
calculators and contains formulae for planetary motion based on
modern work by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Naval
Observatory, and the Bureau des Longitudes. The previous books were
all based on formulae mostly developed in the last century.
Algorithms available separately on diskette.
"Practical Astronomy with your Calculator" (3rd ed.), P. Duffett-Smith
1988, Cambridge University Press.
"Orbits for Amateurs with a Microcomputer", D. Tattersfield 1984,
Stanley Thornes, Ltd.
Includes example programs in BASIC.
"Orbits for Amateurs II", D. Tattersfield 1987, John Wiley & Sons.
"Astronomy / Scientific Software" - catalog of shareware, public domain,
and commercial software for IBM and other PCs. Astronomy software
includes planetarium simulations, ephemeris generators, astronomical
databases, solar system simulations, satellite tracking programs,
celestial mechanics simulators, and more.
Andromeda Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 605
Amherst, NY 14226-0605
COMPUTING CRATER DIAMETERS FROM EARTH-IMPACTING ASTEROIDS
Astrogeologist Gene Shoemaker proposes the following formula, based on
studies of cratering caused by nuclear tests.
(1/3.4)
D = S  S  c  K  W	    : crater diameter in km
g  p  f  n
(1/6)
S = (g /g )		    : gravity correction factor for bodies other than
g	  e  t		      Earth, where g = 9.8 m/s^2 and g	is the surface
e		      t
gravity of the target body. This scaling is
cited for lunar craters and may hold true for
other bodies.
(1/3.4)
S = (p / p )	    : correction factor for target density p  ,
p	  a   t							    t
p  = 1.8 g/cm^3 for alluvium at the Jangle U
a
crater site, p = 2.6 g/cm^3 for average
rock on the continental shields.
C			    : crater collapse factor, 1 for craters <= 3 km
in diameter, 1.3 for larger craters (on Earth).
(1/3.4)
K			    : .074 km / (kT TNT equivalent)
n			      empirically determined from the Jangle U
nuclear test crater.
3		   2		       19
W = pi * d	* delta * V  / (12 * 4.185 * 10  )
: projectile kinetic energy in kT TNT equivalent
given diameter d, velocity v, and projectile
density delta in CGS units. delta of around 3
g/cm^3 is fairly good for an asteroid.
An RMS velocity of V = 20 km/sec may be used for Earth-crossing
asteroids.
Under these assumptions, the body which created the Barringer Meteor
Crater in Arizona (1.13 km diameter) would have been about 40 meters in
diameter.
More generally, one can use (after Gehrels, 1985):
Asteroid	    Number of objects  Impact probability  Impact energy
diameter (km)		       (impacts/year)	   (* 5*10^20 ergs)
10			    10		     10^-8		10^9
1			 1 000		     10^-6		10^6
0.1	       100 000		     10^-4		10^3
assuming simple scaling laws. Note that 5*10^20 ergs = 13 000 tons TNT
equivalent, or the energy released by the Hiroshima A-bomb.
References:
Gehrels, T. 1985 Asteroids and comets. _Physics Today_ 38, 32-41. [an
excellent general overview of the subject for the layman]
Shoemaker, E.M. 1983 Asteroid and comet bombardment of the earth. _Ann.
Rev. Earth Planet. Sci._ 11, 461-494. [very long and fairly
technical but a comprehensive examination of the
subject]
Shoemaker, E.M., J.G. Williams, E.F. Helin & R.F. Wolfe 1979
Earth-crossing asteroids: Orbital classes, collision rates with
Earth, and origin. In _Asteroids_, T. Gehrels, ed., pp. 253-282,
University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Cunningham, C.J. 1988 _Introduction to Asteroids: The Next Frontier_
(Richmond: Willman-Bell, Inc.) [covers all aspects of asteroid
studies and is an excellent introduction to the subject for people
of all experience levels. It also has a very extensive reference
list covering essentially all of the reference material in the
field.]
MAP PROJECTIONS AND SPHERICAL TRIGNOMETRY
Two easy-to-find sources of map projections are the "Encyclopaedia
Brittanica", (particularly the older volumes) and a tutorial appearing
in _Graphics Gems_ (Academic Press, 1990). The latter was written with
simplicity of exposition and suitability of digital computation in mind
(spherical trig formulae also appear, as do digitally-plotted examples).
More than you ever cared to know about map projections is in John
Snyder's USGS publication "Map Projections--A Working Manual", USGS
Professional Paper 1395. This contains detailed descriptions of 32
projections, with history, features, projection formulas (for both
spherical earth and ellipsoidal earth), and numerical test cases. It's a
neat book, all 382 pages worth. This one's $20.
You might also want the companion volume, by Snyder and Philip Voxland,
"An Album of Map Projections", USGS Professional Paper 1453. This
contains less detail on about 130 projections and variants. Formulas are
in the back, example plots in the front. $14, 250 pages.
You can order these 2 ways. The cheap, slow way is direct from USGS:
Earth Science Information Center, US Geological Survey, 507 National
Center, Reston, VA 22092. (800)-USA-MAPS. They can quote you a price and
tell you where to send your money. Expect a 6-8 week turnaround time.
A much faster way (about 1 week) is through Timely Discount Topos,
(303)-469-5022, 9769 W. 119th Drive, Suite 9, Broomfield, CO 80021. Call
them and tell them what you want. They'll quote a price, you send a
check, and then they go to USGS Customer Service Counter and pick it up
for you. Add about a $3-4 service charge, plus shipping.
A (perhaps more accessible) mapping article is:
R. Miller and F. Reddy, "Mapping the World in Pascal",
Byte V12 #14, December 1987
Contains Turbo Pascal procedures for five common map projections. A
demo program, CARTOG.PAS, and a small (6,000 point) coastline data
is available on CompuServe, GEnie, and many BBSs.
Some references for spherical trignometry are:
_Spherical Astronomy_, W.M. Smart, Cambridge U. Press, 1931.
_A Compendium of Spherical Astronomy_, S. Newcomb, Dover, 1960.
_Spherical Astronomy_, R.M. Green, Cambridge U. Press., 1985 (update
of Smart).
_Spherical Astronomy_, E Woolard and G.Clemence, Academic
Press, 1966.
PERFORMING N-BODY SIMULATIONS EFFICIENTLY
"Computer Simulation Using Particles"
R. W. Hockney and J. W. Eastwood
(Adam Hilger; Bristol and Philadelphia; 1988)
"The rapid evaluation of potential fields in particle systems",
L. Greengard
MIT Press, 1988.
A breakthrough O(N) simulation method. Has been parallelized.
L. Greengard and V. Rokhlin, "A fast algorithm for particle
simulations," Journal of Computational Physics, 73:325-348, 1987.
"An O(N) Algorithm for Three-dimensional N-body Simulations", MSEE
thesis, Feng Zhao, MIT AILab Technical Report 995, 1987
"Galactic Dynamics"
J. Binney & S. Tremaine
(Princeton U. Press; Princeton; 1987)
Includes an O(N^2) FORTRAN code written by Aarseth, a pioneer in
the field.
Hierarchical (N log N) tree methods are described in these papers:
A. W. Appel, "An Efficient Program for Many-body Simulation", SIAM
Journal of Scientific and Statistical Computing, Vol. 6, p. 85,
1985.
Barnes & Hut, "A Hierarchical O(N log N) Force-Calculation
Algorithm", Nature, V324 # 6096, 4-10 Dec 1986.
L. Hernquist, "Hierarchical N-body Methods", Computer Physics
Communications, Vol. 48, p. 107, 1988.
INTERPRETING THE FITS IMAGE FORMAT
If you just need to examine FITS images, use the ppm package (see the
comp.graphics FAQ) to convert them to your preferred format. For more
information on the format and other software to read and write it, see
the sci.astro.fits FAQ.
SKY (UNIX EPHEMERIS PROGRAM)
The 6th Edition of the Unix operating system came with several software
systems not distributed because of older media capacity limitations.
Included were an ephmeris, a satellite track, and speech synthesis
software. The ephmeris, sky(6), is available within AT&T and to sites
possessing a Unix source code license. The program is regarded as Unix
source code. Sky is <0.5MB. Send proof of source code license to
E. Miya
MS 258-5
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
THREE-DIMENSIONAL STAR/GALAXY COORDINATES
To generate 3D coordinates of astronomical objects, first obtain an
astronomical database which specifies right ascension, declination, and
parallax for the objects. Convert parallax into distance using the
formula in part 6 of the FAQ, convert RA and declination to coordinates
on a unit sphere (see some of the references on planetary positions and
spherical trignometry earlier in this section for details on this), and
scale this by the distance.
Two databases useful for this purpose are the Yale Bright Star catalog
(sources listed in FAQ section 3) or "The Catalogue of Stars within 25
parsecs of the Sun" (in pub/SPACE/FAQ/stars.data and stars.doc on
ames.arc.nasa.gov).
NEXT: FAQ #5/15 - References on specific areas
From: bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu (Mark Bradford)
Subject: Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
Supersedes: <space/acronyms_731394007@GZA.COM>
Organization: LifeForms Unlimited, Cephalopods
Lines: 509
Expires: 19 May 1993 04:00:04 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: pad-thai.aktis.com
Keywords: long space astro tla acronyms
X-Last-Updated: 1992/12/07
Archive-name: space/acronyms
Edition: 8
Acronym List for sci.astro, sci.space, and sci.space.shuttle:
Edition 8, 1992 Dec 7
Last posted: 1992 Aug 27
This list is offered as a reference for translating commonly appearing
acronyms in the space-related newsgroups.  If I forgot or botched your
favorite acronym, please let me know!  Also, if there's an acronym *not*
on this list that confuses you, drop me a line, and if I can figure
it out, I'll add it to the list.
Note that this is intended to be a reference for *frequently seen*
acronyms, and is most emphatically *not* encyclopedic.  If I incorporated
every acronym I ever saw, I'd soon run out of disk space!  :-)
The list will be posted at regular intervals, every 30 days.  All
comments regarding it are welcome; I'm reachable as bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu.
Note that this just tells what the acronyms stand for -- you're on your
own for figuring out what they *mean*!  Note also that the total number of
acronyms in use far exceeds what I can list; special-purpose acronyms that
are essentially always explained as they're introduced are omitted.
Further, some acronyms stand for more than one thing; as of Edition 3 of
the list, these acronyms appear on multiple lines, unless they're simply
different ways of referring to the same thing.
Thanks to everybody who's sent suggestions since the first version of
the list, and especially to Garrett A. Wollman (wollman@griffin.uvm.edu),
who is maintaining an independent list, somewhat more verbose in
character than mine, and to Daniel Fischer (dfi@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de),
who is maintaining a truly HUGE list (535 at last count) of acronyms and
terms, mostly in German (which I read, fortunately).
Special thanks this time to Ken Hollis at NASA, who sent me a copy of NASA
Reference Publication 1059 Revised: _Space Transportation System and
Associated Payloads: Glossary, Acronyms, and Abbreviations_, a truly
mammoth tome -- almost 300 pages of TLAs.
Special Bonus!  At the end of this posting, you will find a perl program
written by none other than Larry Wall, whose purpose is to scramble the
acronym list in an entertaining fashion.  Thanks, Larry!
A&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics
AAO: Anglo-Australian Observatory
AAS: American Astronomical Society
AAS: American Astronautical Society
AAVSO: American Association of Variable Star Observers
ACE: Advanced Composition Explorer
ACRV: Assured Crew Return Vehicle (or) Astronaut Crew Rescue Vehicle
ADFRF: Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (was DFRF) (NASA)
AGN: Active Galactic Nucleus
AGU: American Geophysical Union
AIAA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIPS: Astronomical Image Processing System
AJ: Astronomical Journal
ALEXIS: Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors
ALPO: Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
ALS: Advanced Launch System
ANSI: American National Standards Institute
AOA: Abort Once Around (Shuttle abort plan)
AOCS: Attitude and Orbit Control System
Ap.J: Astrophysical Journal
APM: Attached Pressurized Module (a.k.a. Columbus)
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit
ARC: Ames Research Center (NASA)
ARTEMIS: Advanced Relay TEchnology MISsion
ASA: Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ASI: Agenzia Spaziale Italiano
ASRM: Advanced Solid Rocket Motor
ATDRS: Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
ATLAS: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science
ATM: Amateur Telescope Maker
ATO: Abort To Orbit (Shuttle abort plan)
AU: Astronomical Unit
AURA: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
AW&ST: Aviation Week and Space Technology (a.k.a. AvLeak)
AXAF: Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility
BATSE: Burst And Transient Source Experiment (on CGRO)
BBXRT: Broad-Band X-Ray Telescope (ASTRO package)
BEM: Bug-Eyed Monster
BH: Black Hole
BIMA: Berkeley Illinois Maryland Array
BNSC: British National Space Centre
BTW: By The Way
C&T: Communications & Tracking
CCAFS: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
CCD: Charge-Coupled Device
CCDS: Centers for the Commercial Development of Space
CD-ROM: Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
CFA: Center For Astrophysics
CFC: ChloroFluoroCarbon
CFF: Columbus Free Flyer
CFHT: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
CGRO: (Arthur Holley) Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (was GRO)
CHARA: Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy
CIRRIS: Cryogenic InfraRed Radiance Instrument for Shuttle
CIT: Circumstellar Imaging Telescope
CM: Command Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CMCC: Central Mission Control Centre (ESA)
CNES: Centre National d'Etude Spatiales
CNO: Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen
CNSR: Comet Nucleus Sample Return
COBE: COsmic Background Explorer
COMPTEL: COMPton TELescope (on CGRO)
COSTAR: Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement
CRAF: Comet Rendezvous / Asteroid Flyby
CRRES: Combined Release / Radiation Effects Satellite
CSM: Command and Service Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CSTC: Consolidated Satellite Test Center (USAF)
CTIO: Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory
DCX: Delta Clipper eXperimental
DDCU: DC-to-DC Converter Unit
DFRF: Dryden Flight Research Facility (now ADFRF)
DMSP: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
DOD: Department Of Defense (sometimes DoD)
DOE: Department Of Energy
DOT: Department Of Transportation
DSCS: Defense Satellite Communications System
DSN: Deep Space Network
DSP: Defense Support Program (USAF/NRO)
EAFB: Edwards Air Force Base
ECS: Environmental Control System
EDO: Extended Duration Orbiter
EGRET: Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (on CGRO)
EJASA: Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ELV: Expendable Launch Vehicle
EMU: Extravehicular Mobility Unit
EOS: Earth Observing System
ERS: Earth Resources Satellite (as in ERS-1)
ESA: European Space Agency
ESO: European Southern Observatory
ET: (Shuttle) External Tank
ETLA: Extended Three Letter Acronym
ETR: Eastern Test Range
EUV: Extreme UltraViolet
EUVE: Extreme UltraViolet Explorer
EVA: ExtraVehicular Activity
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FAST: Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer
FFT: Fast Fourier Transform
FGS: Fine Guidance Sensors (on HST)
FHST: Fixed Head Star Trackers (on HST)
FIR: Far InfraRed
FITS: Flexible Image Transport System
FOC: Faint Object Camera (on HST)
FOS: Faint Object Spectrograph (on HST)
FRR: Flight-Readiness Review
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
FTS: Flight Telerobotic Servicer
FUSE: Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
FWHM: Full Width at Half Maximum
FYI: For Your Information
GAS: Get-Away Special
GBT: Green Bank Telescope
GCVS: General Catalog of Variable Stars
GEM: Giotto Extended Mission
GEO: Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
GDS: Great Dark Spot
GHRS: Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (on HST)
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
GLOMR: Global Low-Orbiting Message Relay
GMC: Giant Molecular Cloud
GMRT: Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time (also called UT)
GOES: Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite
GOX: Gaseous OXygen
GPC: General Purpose Computer
GPS: Global Positioning System
GRO: Gamma Ray Observatory (now CGRO)
GRS: Gamma Ray Spectrometer (on Mars Observer)
GRS: Great Red Spot
GSC: Guide Star Catalog (for HST)
GSFC: Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)
GTO: Geostationary Transfer Orbit
HAO: High Altitude Observatory
HD: Henry Draper catalog entry
HEAO: High Energy Astronomical Observatory
HeRA: Hermes Robotic Arm
HF: High Frequency
HGA: High Gain Antenna
HLC: Heavy Lift Capability
HLV: Heavy Lift Vehicle
HMC: Halley Multicolor Camera (on Giotto)
HR: Hertzsprung-Russell (diagram)
HRI: High Resolution Imager (on ROSAT)
HSP: High Speed Photometer (on HST)
HST: Hubble Space Telescope
HUT: Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (ASTRO package)
HV: High Voltage
IAPPP: International Amateur/Professional Photoelectric Photometry
IAU: International Astronomical Union
IAUC: IAU Circular
ICE: International Cometary Explorer
IDA: International Dark-sky Association
IDL: Interactive Data Language
IGM: InterGalactic Medium
IGY: International Geophysical Year
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
IOTA: Infrared-Optical Telescope Array
IOTA: International Occultation Timing Association
IPS: Inertial Pointing System
IR: InfraRed
IRAF: Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
IRAS: InfraRed Astronomical Satellite
ISAS: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Japan)
ISM: InterStellar Medium
ISO: Infrared Space Observatory
ISO: International Standards Organization
ISPM: International Solar Polar Mission (now Ulysses)
ISY: International Space Year
IUE: International Ultraviolet Explorer
IUS: Inertial Upper Stage
JEM: Japanese Experiment Module (for SSF)
JGR: Journal of Geophysical Research
JILA: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSC: Johnson Space Center (NASA)
KAO: Kuiper Airborne Observatory
KPNO: Kitt Peak National Observatory
KSC: Kennedy Space Center (NASA)
KTB: Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary (from German)
LANL: Los Alamos National Laboratory
LaRC: Langley Research Center (NASA)
LDEF: Long Duration Exposure Facility
LEM: Lunar Excursion Module (a.k.a. LM) (Apollo spacecraft)
LEO: Low Earth Orbit
LeRC: Lewis Research Center (NASA)
LEST: Large Earth-based Solar Telescope
LFSA: List of Frequently Seen Acronyms (!)
LGA: Low Gain Antenna
LGM: Little Green Men
LH: Liquid Hydrogen (also LH2 or LHX)
LLNL: Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory
LM: Lunar Module (a.k.a. LEM) (Apollo spacecraft)
LMC: Large Magellanic Cloud
LN2: Liquid N2 (Nitrogen)
LOX: Liquid OXygen
LRB: Liquid Rocket Booster
LSR: Local Standard of Rest
LTP: Lunar Transient Phenomenon
MB: Manned Base
MCC: Mission Control Center
MECO: Main Engine CutOff
MMH: MonoMethyl Hydrazine
MMT: Multiple Mirror Telescope
MMU: Manned Maneuvering Unit
MNRAS: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
MOC: Mars Observer Camera (on Mars Observer)
MOL: Manned Orbiting Laboratory
MOLA: Mars Observer Laser Altimeter (on Mars Observer)
MOMV: Manned Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle
MOTV: Manned Orbital Transfer Vehicle
MPC: Minor Planets Circular
MRSR: Mars Rover and Sample Return
MRSRM: Mars Rover and Sample Return Mission
MSFC: (George C.) Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA)
MTC: Man Tended Capability
NACA: National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (became NASA)
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA: NAtional Space Development Agency (Japan)
NASM: National Air and Space Museum
NASP: National AeroSpace Plane
NBS: National Bureau of Standards (now NIST)
NDV: NASP Derived Vehicle
NERVA: Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application
NGC: New General Catalog
NICMOS: Near Infrared Camera / Multi Object Spectrometer (HST upgrade)
NIMS: Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (on Galileo)
NIR: Near InfraRed
NIST: National Institute for Standards and Technology (was NBS)
NLDP: National Launch Development Program
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAO: National Optical Astronomy Observatories
NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
NRO: National Reconnaissance Office
NS: Neutron Star
NSA: National Security Agency
NSF: National Science Foundation
NSO: National Solar Observatory
NSSDC: National Space Science Data Center
NTR: Nuclear Thermal Rocket(ry)
NTT: New Technology Telescope
OAO: Orbiting Astronomical Observatory
OCST: Office of Commercial Space Transportation
OMB: Office of Management and Budget
OMS: Orbital Maneuvering System
OPF: Orbiter Processing Facility
ORFEUS: Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer
OSC: Orbital Sciences Corporation
OSCAR: Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio
OSSA: Office of Space Science and Applications
OSSE: Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (on CGRO)
OTA: Optical Telescope Assembly (on HST)
OTHB: Over The Horizon Backscatter
OTV: Orbital Transfer Vehicle
OV: Orbital Vehicle
PAM: Payload Assist Module
PAM-D: Payload Assist Module, Delta-class
PI: Principal Investigator
PLSS: Portable Life Support System
PM: Pressurized Module
PMC: Permanently Manned Capability
PMIRR: Pressure Modulated InfraRed Radiometer (on Mars Observer)
PMT: PhotoMultiplier Tube
PSF: Point Spread Function
PSR: PulSaR
PV: Photovoltaic
PVO: Pioneer Venus Orbiter
QSO: Quasi-Stellar Object
RCI: Rodent Cage Interface (for SLS mission)
RCS: Reaction Control System
REM: Rat Enclosure Module (for SLS mission)
RF: Radio Frequency
RFI: Radio Frequency Interference
RIACS: Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science
RMS: Remote Manipulator System
RNGC: Revised New General Catalog
ROSAT: ROentgen SATellite
ROUS: Rodents Of Unusual Size (I don't believe they exist)
RSN: Real Soon Now
RTG: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
RTLS: Return To Launch Site (Shuttle abort plan)
SAA: South Atlantic Anomaly
SAGA: Solar Array Gain Augmentation (for HST)
SAMPEX: Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer
SAO: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
SAR: Search And Rescue
SAR: Synthetic Aperture Radar
SARA: Satellite pour Astronomie Radio Amateur
SAREX: Search and Rescue Exercise
SAREX: Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
SAS: Space Activity Suit
SAS: Space Adaptation Syndrome
SAT: Synthetic Aperture Telescope
S/C: SpaceCraft
SCA: Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
SCT: Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative
SDIO: Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
SEI: Space Exploration Initiative
SEST: Swedish ESO Submillimeter Telescope
SETI: Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence
SID: Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance
SIR: Shuttle Imaging Radar
SIRTF: Space (formerly Shuttle) InfraRed Telescope Facility
SL: SpaceLab
SLAR: Side-Looking Airborne Radar
SLC: Space Launch Complex
SLS: Space(lab) Life Sciences
SMC: Small Magellanic Cloud
SME: Solar Mesosphere Explorer
SMEX: SMall EXplorers
SMM: Solar Maximum Mission
SN: SuperNova (e.g., SN1987A)
SNR: Signal to Noise Ratio
SNR: SuperNova Remnant
SNU: Solar Neutrino Units
SOFIA: Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy
SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory
SPAN: Space Physics and Analysis Network
SPDM: Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator
SPOT: Systeme Probatoire pour l'Observation de la Terre
SPS: Solar Power Satellite
SRB: Solid Rocket Booster
SRM: Solid Rocket Motor
SSF: Space Station Fred (er, Freedom)
SSI: Solid-State Imager (on Galileo)
SSI: Space Studies Institut
SSME: Space Shuttle Main Engine
SSPF: Space Station Processing Facility
SSRMS: Space Station Remote Manipulator System
SST: Spectroscopic Survey Telescope
SST: SuperSonic Transport
SSTO: Single Stage To Orbit
STIS: Space Telescope Imaging Spectrometer (to replace FOC and GHRS)
STS: Shuttle Transport System (or) Space Transportation System
STScI: Space Telescope Science Institute
SWAS: Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite
SWF: ShortWave Fading
TAL: Transatlantic Abort Landing (Shuttle abort plan)
TAU: Thousand Astronomical Unit (mission)
TCS: Thermal Control System
TDRS: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
TDRSS: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
TES: Thermal Emission Spectrometer (on Mars Observer)
TIROS: Television InfraRed Observation Satellite
TLA: Three Letter Acronym
TOMS: Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TPS: Thermal Protection System
TSS: Tethered Satellite System
UARS: Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
UBM: Unpressurized Berthing Mechanism
UDMH: Unsymmetrical DiMethyl Hydrazine
UFO: Unidentified Flying Object
UGC: Uppsala General Catalog
UHF: Ultra High Frequency
UIT: Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (Astro package)
UKST: United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope
USAF: United States Air Force
USMP: United States Microgravity Payload
UT: Universal Time (a.k.a. GMT, UTC, or Zulu Time)
UTC: Coordinated Universal Time (a.k.a. UT)
UV: UltraViolet
UVS: UltraViolet Spectrometer
VAB: Vehicle Assembly Building (formerly Vertical Assembly Building)
VAFB: Vandenberg Air Force Base
VEEGA: Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist (Galileo flight path)
VHF: Very High Frequency
VLA: Very Large Array
VLBA: Very Long Baseline Array
VLBI: Very Long Baseline Interferometry
VLF: Very Low Frequency
VLT: Very Large Telescope
VMS: Vertical Motion Simulator
VOIR: Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar (superseded by VRM)
VPF: Vertical Processing Facility
VRM: Venus Radar Mapper (now called Magellan)
WD: White Dwarf
WFPC: Wide Field / Planetary Camera (on HST)
WFPCII: Replacement for WFPC
WIYN: Wisconsin / Indiana / Yale / NOAO telescope
WSMR: White Sands Missile Range
WTR: Western Test Range
WUPPE: Wisconsin Ultraviolet PhotoPolarimter Experiment (Astro package)
XMM: X-ray Multi Mirror
XUV: eXtreme UltraViolet
YSO: Young Stellar Object
#!/usr/bin/perl
# 'alt', An Acronym Scrambling Program, by Larry Wall
$THRESHOLD = 2;
srand;
while (<>) {
next unless /^([A-Z]\S+): */;
$key = $1;
$acro{$key} = $';
@words = split(/\W+/,$');
unshift(@words,$key);
$off = 0;
foreach $word (@words) {
next unless $word =~ /^[A-Z]/;
*w = $&;
vec($w{$word}, $off++ % 6, 1) = 1;
}
}
foreach $letter (A .. Z) {
*w = $letter;
@w = keys %w;
if (@w < $THRESHOLD) {
@d = `egrep '^$letter' /usr/dict/words`;
chop @d;
push(@w, @d);
}
}
foreach $key (sort keys %acro) {
$off = 0;
$acro = $acro{$key};
$acro =~ s/((([A-Z])[A-Z]*)[a-z]*)/ &pick($3, $2, $1, ++$off) || $& /eg;
print "$key: $acro";
}
sub pick {
local($letter, $prefix, $oldword, $off) = @_;
$i = 0;
if (length($prefix) > 1 && index($key,$prefix) < 0) {
if ($prefix eq $oldword) {
$prefix = '';
}
else {
$prefix = $letter;
}
}
if (length($prefix) > 1) {
local(*w) = substr($prefix,0,1);
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ /^$prefix/i || ++$i > 30;
$word =~ s/^$prefix/$prefix/i;
$word;
}
elsif (length($prefix) == 1) {
local(*w) = $prefix;
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && vec($w{$word}, $off, 1) || ++$i > 10;
$word = "\u\L$word" if $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/;
$word;
}
else {
local(*w) = substr($oldword,0,1);
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/ == 0 || ++$i > 30;
$word;
}
}
-- Mark Bradford (bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu) <> To err is human, to moo bovine.
"It's an ill wind that gathers no moss."
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: HLV for Fred (was Re: Prefab Space Station?)
Article-I.D.: zoo.C51875.67p
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 28
In article <C5133A.Gzx@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) writes:
>>>Titan IV launches ain't cheap
>>Granted. But that's because titan IV's are bought by the governemnt. Titan
>>III is actually the cheapest way to put a pound in space of all US expendable
>>launchers.
>
>In that case it's rather ironic that they are doing so poorly on the commercial
>market.  Is there a single Titan III on order?
The problem with Commercial Titan is that MM has made little or no attempt
to market it.  They're basically happy with their government business and
don't want to have to learn how to sell commercially.
A secondary problem is that it is a bit big.  They'd need to go after
multi-satellite launches, a la Ariane, and that complicates the marketing
task quite significantly.
They also had some problems with launch facilities at just the wrong time
to get them started properly.  If memory serves, the pad used for the Mars
Observer launch had just come out of heavy refurbishment work that had
prevented launches from it for a year or so.
There have been a few CT launches.  Mars Observer was one of them.  So
was that stranded Intelsat, and at least one of its brothers that reached
orbit properly.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 30
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <C50zxA.1K9@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1ppm7j$ip@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
|>I thought the area rule was pioneered by Boeing.
|>NASA guys developed the rule,  but no-one knew if it worked
|>until Boeing built the hardware 727 and maybe the FB-111?????
|
|Nope.  The decisive triumph of the area rule was when Convair's YF-102 --
|contractually commmitted to being a Mach 1.5 fighter and actually found
|to be incapable of going supersonic in level flight -- was turned into
|the area-ruled YF-102A which met the specs.  This was well before either
|the 727 or the FB-111; the 102 flew in late 1953, and Convair spent most
|of the first half of 1954 figuring out what went wrong and most of the
|second half building the first 102A.
|--
|All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
|                    - Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
Good thing i stuck in a couple of question marks up there.
I seem to recall, somebody built  or at least proposed a wasp waisetd
Passenger civil transport.  I thought it was a 727,  but maybe it
was a DC- 8,9???   Sure it had a funny passenger compartment,
but on the other hand  it seemed to save fuel.
I thought Area rules  applied even before transonic speeds,  just
not as badly.
pat
From: dchien@hougen.seas.ucla.edu (David H. Chien)
Subject: Orbit data - help needed
Organization: SEASnet, University of California, Los Angeles
Lines: 43
I have the "osculating elements at perigee" of an orbit, which I need
to convert to something useful, preferably distance from the earth
in evenly spaced time intervals. A GSM coordinate system is preferable,
but I convert from other systems. C, pascal, or fortran code, or
if you can point me to a book or something that'd be great.
here's the first few lines of the file.
0  ()
1  (2X, A3, 7X, A30)
2  (2X, I5, 2X, A3, 2X, E24.18)
3  (4X, A3, 7X, E24.18)
1  SMA       SEMI-MAJOR AXIS
1  ECC       ECCENTRICITY
1  INC       INCLINATION
1  OMG       RA OF ASCENDING NODE
1  POM       ARGUMENT OF PERICENTRE
1  TRA       TRUE ANOMALY
1  HAP       APOCENTRE HEIGHT
1  HPE       PERICENTRE HEIGHT
2      3  BEG  0.167290000000000000E+05
3    SMA       0.829159999999995925E+05
3    ECC       0.692307999999998591E+00
3    INC       0.899999999999999858E+02
3    OMG       0.184369999999999994E+03
3    POM       0.336549999999999955E+03
3    TRA       0.359999999999999943E+03
3    HAP       0.133941270127999174E+06
3    HPE       0.191344498719999910E+05
2      1  REF  0.167317532658774153E+05
3    SMA       0.829125167527418671E+05
3    ECC       0.691472268118590319E+00
3    INC       0.899596754214342091E+02
3    OMG       0.184377521828175002E+03
3    POM       0.336683788851850579E+03
3    TRA       0.153847166458030088E-05
3    HAP       0.133866082767180880E+06
3    HPE       0.192026707383028306E+05
Thanks in advance,
larry kepko
lkepko@igpp.ucla.edu
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: University of Rochester
Lines: 41
In article <843@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken) writes:
>> The real reason why accelerator breeders or incinerators are not being
>> built is that there isn't any reason to do so.  Natural uranium is
>> still too cheap, and geological disposal of actinides looks
>> technically reasonable.
>>
>
>	November/December, 1987 page 21 - "Science and Technology in Japan".
>			Seawater Uranium Recovery Experiment
>	"The ground uranium reserves are estimated at about 3.6 million tons,
> and it is anticipated that the demand and supply balance will collapse by the
> end of the 20th century.  In Japan, a resources poor country, technological
> development are now under way to economically collect uranium dissolved in
> seawater.  The total quanity of uranium dissolved in seawater is estimated
> to be about 4.6 billion tons, a huge amount when compared with ground uranium
> reserves......."
I hate to pour cold water on this, but currently seawater extracted
uranium, even using the new, improved fiber absorbers from Japan, is
about 20 times more expensive than uranium on the spot market.
Uranium is *very* cheap right now, around $10/lb.  Right now, there
are mines closing because they can't compete with places like Cigar
Lake in Canada (where the ore is so rich they present safety hazards
to the mines, who work in shielded vehicles).  Plenty of other sources
(for example, uranium from phosphate processing) would come on line before
uranium reached $200/lb.
"Demand and supply balance will collapse" is nonsense.  Supply and
demand always balance; what changes is the price.  Is uranium going
to increase in price by a factor of 20 by the end of the century?
Not bloody likely.  New nuclear reactors are not being built
at a sufficient rate.
Uranium from seawater is interesting, but it's a long term project, or
a project that the Japanese might justify on grounds of
self-sufficiency.
Paul F. Dietz
dietz@cs.rochester.edu
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Nasa (dis)incentives
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 23
[questions and issues WRT congress raised and discussed}
Dennis Replies;
>Now black when it is white is just white. Except that when black is called
>white money is put into the system in a study to find out just when it is
>justified to call black, white.  It is also apparant that when white is called
>black, just the opposite occurs. Now white is a color, but when white is
>called black, it calls into question the validity of the color spectrum.
...
>It is a given however that NASA nor the military, whose competence in
>differentating black from white is well known (remember the black and
>white paint on the Saturn V rocket?) That nothing will occur here either.
>When black and white are used by congress, who cares nothing for results,
>just more money for pork barrel jobs brought about by the black/white
>controversy....
Dennis, why must you always see things in black and white terms? :-)
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Alaska Pipeline and Space Station!
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 25
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr5.160550.7592@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
|
|I think this would be a great way to build it, but unfortunately
|current spending rules don't permit it to be workable.  For this to
|work it would be necessary for the government to guarantee a certain
|minimum amount of business in order to sufficiently reduce the risk
|enough to make this attractive to a private firm.  Since they
|generally can't allocate money except one year at a time, the
|government can't provide such a tenant guarantee.
Fred.
Try reading a bit.  THe government does lots of multi year
contracts with Penalty for cancellation clauses.  They just like to be
damn sure they know what they are doing before they sign a multi year
contract.   THe reason they aren't cutting defense spending as much
as they would like is the Reagan administration signed enough
Multi year contracts,  that it's now cheaper to just finish them out.
Look at SSF.  THis years funding is 2.2 Billion,  1.8 of which will
cover penalty clauses, due to the re-design.
pat
From: shread@ll.mit.edu ( Peter Shread)
Subject: El Sets
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Distribution: us
Lines: 5
I am looking for a source of orbital element sets
other than UAF/Space Command.  I believe there is
one on CompuServe.  Please let me know what other
possible sources there are and how I can reach
them.  Thanks much.
From: moroney@world.std.com (Michael Moroney)
Subject: Re: Vulcan? (No, not the guy with the ears!)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Lines: 21
victor@inqmind.bison.mb.ca (Victor Laking) writes:
>Does anyone have any info on the apparent sightings of Vulcan?
>
>All that I know is that there were apparently two sightings at
>drastically different times of a small planet that was inside Mercury's
>orbit.  Beyond that, I have no other info.
>Does anyone know anything more specific?
>(Yes, this happened LONG before Star Trek and is apparently where they
>got the reference for the "guy with the ears".)
Yes, long before Star Trek.  Before Einstein, in fact.
Vulcan as a planet inside Mercury was hypothesized to explain a perturbation
of Mercury's orbit that could not be explained by the known planets.  But
Einstein's theory of relativity explained Mercury's motion, and analysis
of Mercury's motion now shows there are _not_ any planets inside its orbit.
-Mike
From: yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: Griffin / Office of Exploration: RIP
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
Lines: 19
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: yuggoth.ces.cwru.edu
Any comments on the absorbtion of the Office of Exploration into the
Office of Space Sciences and the reassignment of Griffin to the "Chief
Engineer" position?  Is this just a meaningless administrative
shuffle, or does this bode ill for SEI?
In my opinion, this seems like a Bad Thing, at least on the surface.
Griffin seemed to be someone who was actually interested in getting
things done, and who was willing to look an innovative approaches to
getting things done faster, better, and cheaper.  It's unclear to me
whether he will be able to do this at his new position.
Does anyone know what his new duties will be?
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Brian Yamauchi			Case Western Reserve University
yamauchi@alpha.ces.cwru.edu	Department of Computer Engineering and Science
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: gallas2@marcus.its.rpi.edu (Sean Michael Gallagher)
Subject: Funding for NASA
Article-I.D.: rpi.87g54s_
Lines: 8
Nntp-Posting-Host: marcus.its.rpi.edu
I am doing a political science paper on the funding of NASA and pork-barrel
politics.  I would be interested in information about funding practices and
histories of some of the major programs (Apollo, STS, SSF, etc) and the
funding of SSTO to contrast.  Could someone please recommend some sources
that would be useful?  Thank you.
--
Sean Gallagher
gallas2@rpi.edu
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: Alaska Pipeline and Space Station!
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 16
on Date: 01 Apr 93 18:03:12 GMT, Ralph Buttigieg <ralph.buttigieg@f635.n713.z3.fido.zeta.org.au>
writes:
/Why can't the government just be a tennant? Private commercial concerns
/could just build a space station system and charge rent to the government
/financed researchers wanting to use it.
I believe that this was the thought behind the Industrial Space Facility.  I
don't remember all the details, but I think Space Services (?) wanted NASA to
sign an anchor tenancy deal in order to help secure some venture capital but
NASA didn't like the deal.  (I'm sure I'll hear about it if I'm wrong!)
Disclaimer: Opinions stated are solely my own (unless I change my mind).
Ben Muniz     MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@consrt.rockwell.com    w(818)586-3578
Space Station Freedom:Rocketdyne/Rockwell:Structural Loads and Dynamics
"Man will not fly for fifty years": Wilbur to Orville Wright, 1901
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: Long Island (was Why use AC at 20kHz for SSF power)
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 21
on Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1993 23:19:46 GMT, Edmund Hack <arabia!hack> writes:
/In article <1pgdno$3t1@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
/>
/>I always thought GD's  Fighter plants were in Long Island.
/>
/No, Northrup has a plant on Long Island.
I don't think Northrup ever had a plant on Long Island.  The two main airframe
manufacturers there were (Fairchild)/Republic which closed its doors after the
T-46 cancellation, and Grumman (which is still hanging on last I time I called).
I think Sperry also started there.  If you're ever in the area check out the
Cradle of Aviation Museum at Mitchell field (now mostly parking lots behind the
Nassau Coliseum and the community college).  Good display of vehicles from Long
Island, including a LEM flight article.
Disclaimer: Opinions stated are solely my own (unless I change my mind).
Ben Muniz     MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@consrt.rockwell.com    w(818)586-3578
Space Station Freedom:Rocketdyne/Rockwell:Structural Loads and Dynamics
"Man will not fly for fifty years": Wilbur to Orville Wright, 1901
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: How do they ignite the SSME?
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 21
on Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1993 12:38:50 GMT, Paul Dietz <dietz@cs.rochester.edu>
writes:
/in essence, holding a match under the nozzle, is just *nuts*.  One
/thing you absolutely must do in such an engine is to guarantee that
/the propellants ignite as soon as they mix, within milliseconds.  To
/do otherwise is to fill your engine with a high explosive mixture
/which, when it finally does ignite, blows everything to hell.
Definitely! In one of the reports of an early test conducted by Rocketdyne at
their Santa Susanna Field Lab ("the Hill" above the San Fernando and Simi
Valleys), the result of a hung start was described as "structural failure" of
the combustion chamber.  The inspection picture showed pumps with nothing below
, the CC had vaporized!  This was described in a class I took as a "typical
engineering understatement" :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions stated are solely my own (unless I change my mind).
Ben Muniz     MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@consrt.rockwell.com    w(818)586-3578
Space Station Freedom:Rocketdyne/Rockwell:Structural Loads and Dynamics
"Man will not fly for fifty years": Wilbur to Orville Wright, 1901
From: jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green)
Subject: Re: Vulcan?  (No, not the guy with the ears!)
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 31
>In article <VNci2B7w165w@inqmind.bison.mb.ca> victor@inqmind.bison.mb.ca (Victor Laking) writes:
>>From: victor@inqmind.bison.mb.ca (Victor Laking)
>>Subject: Vulcan?  (No, not the guy with the ears!)
>>Date: Sun, 04 Apr 93 19:31:54 CDT
>>Does anyone have any info on the apparent sightings of Vulcan?
>>
>>All that I know is that there were apparently two sightings at
>>drastically different times of a small planet that was inside Mercury's
>>orbit.  Beyond that, I have no other info.
>>
>>Does anyone know anything more specific?
>>
As I heard the story, before Albert came up the the theory
o'relativity and warped space, nobody could account for
Mercury's orbit.  It ran a little fast (I think) for simple
Newtonian physics.  With the success in finding Neptune to
explain the odd movments of Uranus, it was postulated that there
might be another inner planet to explain Mercury's orbit.
It's unlikely anything bigger than an asteroid is closer to the
sun than Mercury.  I'm sure we would have spotted it by now.
Perhaps some professionals can confirm that.
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
| Heaven, n.:                                                   |
|   A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk |
|   of their own personal affairs, and the good listen with     |
|   attention while you expound your own.                       |
|                  Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"     |
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Article-I.D.: srl03.pgf.734063192
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 22
shag@aero.org (Rob Unverzagt) writes:
>In article <5APR199318045045@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>> According the IAU Circular #5744, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e, may be
>> temporarily in orbit around Jupiter.  The comet had apparently made a
>> close flyby of Jupiter sometime in 1992 resulting in the breakup of the
>> comet.  Attempts to determine the comet's orbit has been complicated by
>> the near impossibility of measuring the comet's center of mass.
>>
>Am I missing something -- what does knowing the comet's center
>of mass do for you in orbit determination?
>Shag
I'm not sure, but it almost sounds like they can't figure out where the
_nucleus_ is within the coma. If they're off by a couple hundred
miles, well, you can imagine the rest...
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Blow up space station, easy way to do it.
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr5.184527.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 28
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
This might a real wierd idea or maybe not..
I have seen where people have blown up ballons then sprayed material into them
that then drys and makes hard walls...
Why not do the same thing for a space station..
Fly up the docking rings and baloon materials and such, blow up the baloons,
spin then around (I know a problem in micro gravity) let them dry/cure/harden?
and cut a hole for the docking/attaching ring and bingo a space station..
Of course the ballons would have to be foil covered or someother radiation
protective covering/heat shield(?) and the material used to make the wals would
have to meet the out gasing and other specs or atleast the paint/covering of
the inner wall would have to be human safe.. Maybe a special congrete or maybe
the same material as makes caplets but with some changes (saw where someone
instea dof water put beer in the caplet mixture, got a mix that was just as
strong as congret but easier to carry around and such..)
Sorry for any spelling errors, I missed school today.. (grin)..
Why musta  space station be so difficult?? why must we have girders? why be
confined to earth based ideas, lets think new ideas, after all space is not
earth, why be limited by earth based ideas??
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
going crazy in Nome Alaska, break up is here..
From: DKELO@msmail.pepperdine.edu (Dan Kelo)
Subject: M-81 Supernova
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 7
How 'bout some more info on that alleged supernova in M-81?
I might just break out the scope for this one.
____________________________________________________
"No sir, I don't like it! "-- Mr. Horse
Dan Kelo     dkelo@pepvax.pepperdine.edu
____________________________________________________
From: jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green)
Subject: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 25
Suppose the Soviets had managed to get their moon rocket working
and had made it first.  They could have beaten us if either:
* Their rocket hadn't blown up on the pad thus setting them back,
and/or
* A Saturn V went boom.
If they had beaten us, I speculate that the US would have gone
head and done some landings, but we also would have been more
determined to set up a base (both in Earth Orbit and on the
Moon).  Whether or not we would be on Mars by now would depend
upon whether the Soviets tried to go.  Setting up a lunar base
would have stretched the budgets of both nations and I think
that the military value of a lunar base would outweigh the value
of going to Mars (at least in the short run).  Thus we would
have concentrated on the moon.
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
| "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving	|
| the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the 	|
| Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."    		|
|                  <John F. Kennedy; May 25, 1961> 		|
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Portable Small Ground Station?dir
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr5.185700.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 21
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <C4zGAM.2nJ@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
> In article <1993Apr2.214705.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>>How difficult would it be to set up your own ground station?
>
> Ground station for *what*?  At one extreme, some of the amateur-radio
> satellites have sometimes been reachable with hand-held radios.  At the
> other, nothing you can do in your back yard will let you listen in on
> Galileo.  Please be more specific.
> --
> All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
>                     - Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
SPECIFIC:
Basically to be able to do the things the big dadies can do.. Monitor, and
control if need be the Shuttle...
Such as the one in Australia and such....
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 37
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>On 4 Apr 1993 20:31:10 -0400, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) said:
>Pat> In article <1993Apr2.213917.1@aurora.alaska.edu>
>Pat> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>>Question is can someone give me 10 examples of direct NASA/Space related
>>research that helped humanity in general? It will be interesting to see..
>Pat> TANG :-) Mylar I think.  I think they also pushed Hi Tech
>Pat> Composites for airframes.  Look at Fly by Wire.
>Swept wings--if you fly in airliners you've reaped the benefits.
Didn't one of the early jet fighters have these?
I also think the germans did some work on these in WWII.
>Winglets.  Area ruling.  Digital fly by wire.  Ride smoothing.
A lot of this was also done by the military...
>Microwave landing systems.  Supercritical wings.  General aviation
>air foils.
Weren't the first microwave landing systems from WWII too?
>--
>Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
>shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
> "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot
Egad! I'm disagreeing with Mary Shafer!
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Griffin / Office of Exploration: RIP
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 43
yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>Any comments on the absorbtion of the Office of Exploration into the
>Office of Space Sciences and the reassignment of Griffin to the "Chief
>Engineer" position?  Is this just a meaningless administrative
>shuffle, or does this bode ill for SEI?
>In my opinion, this seems like a Bad Thing, at least on the surface.
>Griffin seemed to be someone who was actually interested in getting
>things done, and who was willing to look an innovative approaches to
>getting things done faster, better, and cheaper.  It's unclear to me
>whether he will be able to do this at his new position.
>Does anyone know what his new duties will be?
First I've heard of it. Offhand:
Griffin is no longer an "office" head, so that's bad.
On the other hand:
Regress seemed to think: we can't fund anything by Griffin, because
that would mean (and we have the lies by the old hardliners about the
$ 400 billion mars mission to prove it) that we would be buying into a
mission to Mars that would cost 400 billion. Therefore there will be
no Artemis or 20 million dollar lunar orbiter et cetera...
They were killing Griffin's main program simply because some sycophants
somewhere had Congress beleivin that to do so would simply be to buy into
the same old stuff. Sorta like not giving aid to Yeltsin because he's
a communist hardliner.
At least now the sort of reforms Griffin was trying to bring forward
won't be trapped in their own little easily contained and defunded
ghetto. That Griffin is staying in some capacity is very very very
good. And if he brings something up, noone can say "why don't you go
back to the OSE where you belong" (and where he couldn't even get money
for design studies).
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: DC-X: Vehicle Nears Flight Test
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr5.191011.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 53
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <C4zHKw.3Dn@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
> In article <2736@snap> paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson) writes:
>>This bit interests me.  How much automatic control is there?  Is it
>>purely autonomous or is there some degree of ground control?
>
> The "stick-and-rudder man" is always the onboard computer.  The computer
> normally gets its orders from a stored program, but they can be overridden
> from the ground.
>
>>How is
>>the transition from aerodynamic flight (if thats what it is) to hover
>>accomplished?  This is the really new part...
>
> It's also one of the tricky parts.  There are four different ideas, and
> DC-X will probably end up trying all of them.  (This is from talking to
> Mitch Burnside Clapp, who's one of the DC-X test pilots, at Making Orbit.)
>
> (1) Pop a drogue chute from the nose, light the engines once the thing
> 	stabilizes base-first.  Simple and reliable.  Heavy shock loads
> 	on an area of structure that doesn't otherwise carry major loads.
> 	Needs a door in the "hot" part of the structure, a door whose
> 	operation is mission-critical.
>
> (2) Switch off pitch stability -- the DC is aerodynamically unstable at
> 	subsonic speeds -- wait for it to flip, and catch it at 180
> 	degrees, then light engines.  A bit scary.
>
> (3) Light the engines and use thrust vectoring to push the tail around.
> 	Probably the preferred method in the long run.  Tricky because
> 	of the fuel-feed plumbing:  the fuel will start off in the tops
> 	of the tanks, then slop down to the bottoms during the flip.
> 	Keeping the engines properly fed will be complicated.
>
> (4) Build up speed in a dive, then pull up hard (losing a lot of speed,
> 	this thing's L/D is not that great) until it's headed up and
> 	the vertical velocity drops to zero, at which point it starts
> 	to fall tail-first.  Light engines.  Also a bit scary, and you
> 	probably don't have enough altitude left to try again.
> --
> All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
>                     - Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
Since the DC-X is to take off horizontal, why not land that way??
Why do the Martian Landing thing..  Or am I missing something.. Don't know to
much about DC-X and such.. (overly obvious?).
Why not just fall to earth like the russian crafts?? Parachute in then...
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
Please enlighten me... Ignorance is easy to correct. make a mistake and
everyone will let you know you messed up..
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Alaska Pipeline and Space Station, Go Commerical.
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr5.191701.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 15
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Sounds liek what the FED has to do is sign a 50 or more year lease to use
certain parts of a space station that is built and designed and such by a
commerical company or consortium of companies (such as like Alyeska) for a
small amount of rent in return for certain incentives and such.. Such as tax
and other right off and also a monopoly on certain products.. The commerical
builders would have certain perks given to them to make there end easier (taxes
, contracts, regulatory concesions and such..)
Is it workable, just might work..
After all, if China can lease out Hong Kong and the people of Hong Kong can
make money, this could work..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Terraforming Venus: can it be done "cheaply"?
Organization: University of Rochester
Lines: 9
Would someone please send me James Oberg's email address, if he has
one and if someone reading this list knows it?  I wanted to send
him a comment on something in his terraforming book.
Paul F. Dietz
dietz@cs.rochester.edu
Potential explosive yield of the annual global
production of borax:  5 million megatons
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: MACH 25 landing site bases?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr5.193829.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 7
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
The supersonic booms hear a few months ago over I belive San Fran, heading east
of what I heard, some new super speed Mach 25 aircraft?? What military based
int he direction of flight are there that could handle a Mach 25aircraft on its
landing decent?? Odd question??
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: ken@sugra.uucp (Kenneth Ng)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Private Computer, Totowa, NJ
Lines: 18
In article <1993Mar31.191658.9836@mksol.dseg.ti.com: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
:Just a bit off, Phil.  We don't reprocess nuclear fuel because what
:you get from the reprocessing plant is bomb-grade plutonium.  It is
:also cheaper, given current prices of things, to simply fabricate new
:fuel rods rather than reprocess the old ones, creating potentially
:dangerous materials (from a national security point of view) and then
:fabricate that back into fuel rods.
Fabricating with reprocessed plutonium may result in something that may go
kind of boom, but its hardly decent bomb grade plutonium.  If you want bomb
grade plutonium use a research reactor, not a power reactor.  But if you want
a bomb, don't use plutonium, use uranium.
--
Kenneth Ng
Please reply to ken@eies2.njit.edu for now.
"All this might be an elaborate simulation running in a little device sitting
on someone's table" -- J.L. Picard: ST:TNG
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Griffin / Office of Exploration: RIP
Article-I.D.: news.C51r3o.9wK
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 23
yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>Any comments on the absorbtion of the Office of Exploration into the
>Office of Space Sciences and the reassignment of Griffin to the "Chief
>Engineer" position?  Is this just a meaningless administrative
>shuffle, or does this bode ill for SEI?
Unfortunately, things have been boding ill (is that a legitimate conjugation?)
for a while.  While the Office of Exploration had some great ideas, they never
got much money.  I've heard good things about Griffin, but it's hard to want
him back in a job where he couldn't do anything.
>Does anyone know what his new duties will be?
The group examining the Freedom-based space station redesign proposals is
headed by Michael Griffin, "NASA's cheif engineer" in the words of Space News.
I believe this is him.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Tout ce qu'un homme est capable d'imaginer, d'autres hommes
seront capable de la realiser"
-Jules Verne
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: DC-X: Vehicle Nears Flight Test
Article-I.D.: news.C51rzx.AC3
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 34
nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
[Excellent discussion of DC-X landing techniques by Henry deleted]
>Since the DC-X is to take off horizontal, why not land that way??
The DC-X will not take of horizontally.  It takes of vertically.
>Why do the Martian Landing thing..
For several reasons.  Vertical landings don't require miles of runway and limit
noise pollution.  They don't require wheels or wings.  Just turn on the engines
and touch down.  Of course, as Henry pointed out, vetical landings aren't quite
that simple.
>Or am I missing something.. Don't know to
>much about DC-X and such.. (overly obvious?).
Well, to be blunt, yes.  But at least you're learning.
>Why not just fall to earth like the russian crafts?? Parachute in then...
The Soyuz vehicles use parachutes for the descent and then fire small rockets
just before they hit the ground.  Parachutes are, however, not especially
practical if you want to reuse something without much effort.  The landings
are also not very comfortable.  However, in the words of Georgy Grechko,
"I prefer to have bruises, not to sink."
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Tout ce qu'un homme est capable d'imaginer, d'autres hommes
seront capable de la realiser"
-Jules Verne
From: ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu (;;;;RD48)
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Keywords: food
Article-I.D.: agate.1pr5u2$t0b
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 19
NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.berkeley.edu
I had spacefood sticks just about every morning for breakfast in
first and second grade (69-70, 70-71).  They came in Chocolate,
strawberry, and peanut butter and were cylinders about 10cm long
and 1cm in diameter wrapped in yellow space foil (well, it seemed
like space foil at the time).
The taste is hard to describe, although I remember it fondly.  It was
most certainly more "candy" than say a modern "Power Bar."  Sort of
a toffee injected with vitamins.  The chocolate Power Bar is a rough
approximation of the taste.  Strawberry sucked.
Man, these were my "60's."
--
Gavin Helf
UC Berkeley Political Science
Berkeley-Stanford Program in Soviet Studies
ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu
From: gnb@leo.bby.com.au (Gregory N. Bond)
Subject: Re: Area Rule (was Re: Space Research Spin Off)
Article-I.D.: bby.1993Apr6.064720.6920
<1pnuke$idn@access.digex.net> <SHAFER.93Apr4200752@ra.dfrf.nasa.gov>
<1ppm7j$ip@access.digex.net> <1993Apr5.133619.1@fnalf.fnal.gov>
Organization: Burdett, Buckeridge & Young, Melbourne, Australia
Lines: 9
In-Reply-To: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov's message of 5 Apr 93 13:36:19 -0600
Nntp-Posting-Host: leo-gw
Can somebody elaborate on "Area Ruling".  I gather it's something to
do with aerodynamics of trans-sonic planes, and can be summarised as
"Coke bottle good, Coke can bad".  Anyone provide more details,
derivation etc?
--
Gregory Bond <gnb@bby.com.au> Burdett Buckeridge & Young Ltd Melbourne Australia
Knox's 386 is slick.            Fox in Sox, on Knox's Box
Knox's box is very quick.       Plays lots of LSL. He's sick!
(Apologies to John "Iron Bar" Mackin.)
From: seale@possum.den.mmc.com (Eric H Seale)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Nntp-Posting-Host: pogo.den.mmc.com
Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver
Lines: 8
baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>According the IAU Circular #5744, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e, may be
>temporarily in orbit around Jupiter.  The comet had apparently made a
>close flyby of Jupiter sometime in 1992 resulting in the breakup of the
>comet.
Ooooh -- who would have thought that Galileo would get the chance to
check out a comet TOO?!?
From: drickel@bounce.mentorg.com (Dave Rickel)
Subject: Re: So I'm an idiot, what else is new?
Originator: drickel@bounce
Nntp-Posting-Host: bounce.mentorg.com
Organization: Mentor Graphics
Keywords:
Lines: 17
In article <9303311213.AA49462@jsc.nasa.gov>, mcelwre@cnsvax.uwec.edu (R. E. McElwaine) writes:
|> RUSSIA'S OPERATIVE
|>
|>                In March 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
|>           proposed to the United States and the United Nations a global
|>           defense shield (with "Star Wars"-type weapons) AGAINST
...
Funny.  A bit disturbing.  Forging a posting seems somewhat unethical, even
if the subject is as notorious as McElwaine.
Followups should definitely not go to sci.space.
david rickel
drickel@sjc.mentorg.com
From: roland@sics.se (Roland Karlsson)
Subject: Re: Magellan Venus Maps (Thanks)
In-Reply-To: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov's message of 30 Mar 1993 00:34 UT
Lines: 14
Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista
Thanks Ron and Peter for some very nice maps.
I have an advice though.  You wrote that the maps were reduced to 256
colors.  As far ad I understand JPEG pictures gets much better (and
the compressed files smaller) if you use the original 3 color 24 bit
data when converting to JPEG.
Thanks again,
--
Roland Karlsson             SICS, PO Box 1263, S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
Internet: roland@sics.se    Tel: +46 8 752 15 40          Fax: +46 8 751 72 30
Telex: 812 6154 7011 SICS   Ttx: 2401-812 6154 7011=SICS
From: szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo)
Subject: SSF Redesign: Constellation
Summary: decentralize & automate functions
Keywords: space station, constellation
Article-I.D.: techbook.C51z6E.CL1
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 220-0636
Lines: 89
SSF is up for redesign again.  Let's do it right this
time!  Let's step back and consider the functionality we want:
[1] microgravity/vacuum process research
[2] life sciences research (adaptation to space)
[3] spacecraft maintenence
The old NASA approach, explified by Shuttle and SSF so far, was to
centralize functionality.  These projects failed to meet
their targets by a wide margin: the military and commercial users
took most of their payloads off Shuttle after wasting much effort to
tie their payloads to it, and SSF has crumbled into disorganization
and miscommunication.  Over $50 billion has been spent on these
two projects with no reduction in launch costs and littel improvement
in commercial space industrialization.  Meanwhile, military and commercial
users have come up with a superior strategy for space development: the
constellation.
Firstly, different functions are broken down into different
constellations placed in the optimal orbit for each function:
thus we have the GPS/Navstar constellation in 12-hour orbits,
comsats in Clarke and Molniya orbits, etc.  Secondly, the task
is distributed amongst several spacecraft in a constellation,
providing for redundancy and full coverage where needed.
SSF's 3 main functions require quite different environments
and are also prime candidates for constellization.
[1] We have the makings of a microgravity constellation now:
COMET and Mir for long-duration flights, Shuttle/Spacelab for
short-duration flights.  The best strategy for this area is
inexpensive, incremental improvement: installation of U.S. facilities
on Mir, Shuttle/Mir linkup, and transition from Shuttle/Spacelab
to a much less expensive SSTO/Spacehab/COMET or SSTO/SIF/COMET.
We might also expand the research program to take advantage of
interesting space environments, eg the high-radiation Van Allen belt
or gas/plasma gradients in comet tails.  The COMET system can
be much more easily retrofitted for these tasks, where a
station is too large to affordably launch beyond LEO.
[2] We need to study life sciences not just in microgravity,
but also in lunar and Martian gravities, and in the radiation
environments of deep space instead of the protected shelter
of LEO.  This is a very long-term, low-priority project, since
astronauts will have little practical use in the space program
until costs come down orders of magnitude.  Furthermore, using
astronauts severely restricts the scope of the investigation,
and the sample size.  So I propose LabRatSat, a constellation
tether-bolo satellites that test out various levels of gravity
in super-Van-Allen-Belt orbits that are representative of the
radiation environment encountered on Earth-Moon, Earth-Mars,
Earth-asteroid, etc. trips.  The miniaturized life support
machinery might be operated real-time from earth thru a VR
interface.  AFter several orbital missions have been flown,
follow-ons can act as LDEFs on the lunar and Martian surface,
testing out the actual environment at low cost before $billions
are spent on astronauts.
[3] By far the largest market for spacecraft servicing is in
Clarke orbit.  I propose a fleet of small teleoperated
robots and small test satellites on which ground engineers can
practice their skills.  Once in place, robots can pry stuck
solar arrays and antennas, attach solar battery power packs,
inject fuel, etc.  Once the fleet is working, it can be
spun off to commercial company(s) who can work with the comsat
companies to develop comsat replaceable module standards.
By applying the successful constellation strategy, and getting
rid of the failed centralized strategy of STS and old SSF, we
have radically improved the capability of the program while
greatly cutting its cost.  For a fraction of SSF's pricetag,
we can fix satellites where the satellites are, we can study
life's adaptation to a much large & more representative variety
of space environments, and we can do microgravity and vacuum
research inexpensively and, if needed, in special-purpose
orbits.
N.B., we can apply the constellation strategy to space exploration
as well, greatly cutting its cost and increasing its functionality.
Mars Network and Artemis are two good examples of this; more ambitiously
we can set up a network of native propellant plants on Mars that can be used
to fuel planet-wide rover/ballistic hopper prospecting and
sample return.  The descendants of LabRatSat's technology can
be used as a Mars surface LDEF and to test out closed-ecology
greenhouses on Mars at low cost.
--
Nick Szabo					 szabo@techboook.com
From: drickel@bounce.mentorg.com (Dave Rickel)
Subject: Re: Quaint US Archaisms
Article-I.D.: news.1993Apr06.090626.21880
Organization: Mentor Graphics
Lines: 14
Originator: drickel@bounce
Nntp-Posting-Host: bounce.mentorg.com
In article <C512wC.B0M.1@cs.cmu.edu>, nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
|> Oh, and the other advantage is that you don't have shit constants like
|> 32.??? hanging around.
No, instead you have stupid things like 3600 and 86400 and 31556925.9747 and
299792.458 and 9.80665 and ...
How many cc's in a ml anyway?  The metric system has its problems, just not
as many of them.
david rickel
drickel@sjc.mentorg.com
From: flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]")
Subject: The Area Rule
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 12
I read it refered to as the "parabolic cross-section" rule;
the idea was that if you plot the area of the fuselage cross-
section as a function of the point fore-and-aft along the
fuselage, a plot that is a **paraboloid** minimizes somethin'
or 'nother (to be technical about it).
--
* Fred Baube (tm)         *  In times of intellectual ferment,
* baube@optiplan.fi       * advantage to him with the intellect
* #include <disclaimer.h> * most fermented
* May '68, Paris: It's Retrospective Time !!
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: HLV for Fred (was Re: Prefab Space Station?)
Article-I.D.: iti.1993Apr6.124456.14123
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 22
In article <C5133A.Gzx@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) writes:
>>[Titan III is the cheapest US launcher on a $/lb basis]
>In that case it's rather ironic that they are doing so poorly on the commercial
>market.  Is there a single Titan III on order?
They have a few problems. The biggest technical problem is the need to find
two satellites going to the same rough orbit for a luanch.
They also don't show much interest in commercial launches. There is more
money to be made churning out Titan IV's for the government. After all,
it isn't every day you find a sucker, er, customer who thinks paying
three times the commercial rate for launch services is a good idea!
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
|  aws@iti.org     |  nothing undone"                                       |
+----------------------71 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Alaska Pipeline and Space Station!
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 20
In article <1993Apr5.160550.7592@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>Why can't the government just be a tennant?
>I think this would be a great way to build it, but unfortunately
>current spending rules don't permit it to be workable.
Actually, that is no longer true. In the last few years Congress has
ammended laws to provide whatever is needed. Note that both Spacehab
and Comet are funded this way.
The problems aren't legal nor technical. The problem is NASA's culture.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
|  aws@iti.org     |  nothing undone"                                       |
+----------------------71 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Article-I.D.: aio.1993Apr6.134526.14966
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
Lines: 17
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
John Elson (jelson@rcnext.cso.uiuc.edu) wrote:
: Has anyone ever heard of a food product called "Space Food Sticks?"
I remember those awful things.  They were dry and crumbly, and I
recall asking my third-grade teacher, Miss G'Francisco, how they
kept the crumbs from floating around in zero-G.  She had no clue.
I have not seen anything like them in today's space program.
Some Apollo technology is best forgotten.
-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
"HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH
FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969, A.D.
WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND."
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Metric vs English
Article-I.D.: mksol.1993Apr6.131900.8407
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 31
In <1993Apr5.195215.16833@pixel.kodak.com> dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>Keith Mancus (mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov) wrote:
>> Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca (Bruce Dunn) writes:
>> > SI neatly separates the concepts of "mass", "force" and "weight"
>> > which have gotten horribly tangled up in the US system.
>>
>>   This is not a problem with English units.  A pound is defined to
>> be a unit of force, period.  There is a perfectly good unit called
>> the slug, which is the mass of an object weighing 32.2 lbs at sea level.
>> (g = 32.2 ft/sec^2, of course.)
>>
>American Military English units, perhaps.  Us real English types were once
>taught that a pound is mass and a poundal is force (being that force that
>causes 1 pound to accelerate at 1 ft.s-2).  We had a rare olde tyme doing
>our exams in those units and metric as well.
American, perhaps, but nothing military about it.  I learned (mostly)
slugs when we talked English units in high school physics and while
the teacher was an ex-Navy fighter jock the book certainly wasn't
produced by the military.
[Poundals were just too flinking small and made the math come out
funny; sort of the same reason proponents of SI give for using that.]
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Market or gov failures
Article-I.D.: mksol.1993Apr6.133130.8998
Distribution: sci
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 52
In <C4tCL8.7xI.1@cs.cmu.edu> 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom) writes:
>[Fred saying that gov coercive poser is necessary for any space program]
>I reply;
>>>BTW, Fred, you've really crossed the border, since you admit that the ideas
>>>you support can only be carried out with coercive power.  Now that's really
>>>f***in' intolerant, so get off yer high horse about tolerance.
>Fred replies;
>>No, Tommy, I "admit" that there are such things as 'market failures'
>>which necessitate intervention by other than capitalist forces to
>>correct.
>I guess your understanding of this 'market failure' should be classified
>under Phil's 'economics on the level of 19th century medicine', since you
>apparently completely ignored that this 'market failure' can as easily,
>or even much more easily, be attributed to "government intervention
>failure".  So, in addition to a strong moral argument against what you
>propose, there is also a strong utilitarian argument, namely that gov's
>destruction of wealth through confiscastory taxation and redistribution
>on a major scale has made significant private capital investments harder
>to make.
I note that you make no such case as you claim can be 'even more
easily made'.  Yes, the argument can (and has) been made that current
government policy creates even larger market barriers than there were
in the first place, but there is no such term as 'government failure',
since the government can change policies whenever it pleases.  The
market doesn't do that and is governed by (relatively) well-understood
forces.  This libertopican bilge about 'moral arguments' about
taxation, etc., is, at bottom, so much simplistic economic thinking.
It can only be 'justified' by cliche derision of anyone who knows more
about economics than the libertopian -- which is what invariably
happens.  Tripe a la Tommy, the new libertopian dish.
>>Get a clue, little boy, and go salve your wounded pride in my not
>>considering you infallible in some other fashion.  I'm not interested
>>in your ego games.
>Puh-leese, Fred.  This, besides being simply an attempt to be insulting,
>really belongs on private mail.  If 'ego-games' are so unimportatnt to
>you, why the insults and this strange negative attatchment for me?
Wherever do you get this inflated idea of your own importance?
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: pete@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Peter Alexander Merel)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Nntp-Posting-Host: extro.ucc.su.oz.au
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Lines: 25
jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>If they had beaten us, I speculate that the US would have gone
>head and done some landings, but we also would have been more
>determined to set up a base (both in Earth Orbit and on the
>Moon).  Whether or not we would be on Mars by now would depend
>upon whether the Soviets tried to go.  Setting up a lunar base
>would have stretched the budgets of both nations and I think
>that the military value of a lunar base would outweigh the value
>of going to Mars (at least in the short run).  Thus we would
>have concentrated on the moon.
Great speculation - I remember being proud on behalf of all the free
world (you think that way when you are seven years old) that we had
got there first. Now I'm almost sorry that it worked out that way.
I guess the soviets would have taken the victory seriously too, and
would almost certainly not have fallen victim to the complacency that
overtook the US program. Perhaps stretching to match US efforts would
have destabilized them sooner than it did in fact - and in the tradition
of Marvel Comics 'What If', this destabilization in the Brezhnev era might
have triggered the third world war. Hmm, maybe it was a giant leap after all.
--
Internet: pete@extro.su.oz.au          |         Accept Everything.            |
UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!extro!pete |         Reject Nothing.               |
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 78
In <1993Apr2.150038.2521@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
>In article <1993Apr1.204657.29451@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>>This system would produce enough energy to drive the accelerator,
>>>perhaps with some left over.  A very high power (100's of MW CW or
>>>quasi CW), very sharp proton beam would be required, but this appears
>>>achievable using a linear accelerator.  The biggest question mark
>>>would be the lead target chemistry and the on-line processing of all
>>>the elements being incinerated.
>>
>>Paul, quite frankly I'll believe that this is really going to work on
>>the typical trash one needs to process when I see them put a couple
>>tons in one end and get (relatively) clean material out the other end,
>>plus be able to run it off its own residual power.  Sounds almost like
>>perpetual motion, doesn't it?
>Fred, the honest thing to do would be to admit your criticism on
>scientific grounds was invalid, rather than pretend you were actually
>talking about engineering feasibility.  Given you postings, I can't
>say I am surprised, though.
Well, pardon me for trying to continue the discussion rather than just
tugging my forelock in dismay at having not considered actually trying
to recover the energy from this process (which is at least trying to
go the 'right' way on the energy curve).  Now, where *did* I put those
sackcloth and ashes?
[I was not and am not 'pretending' anything; I am *so* pleased you are
not surprised, though.]
>No, it is nothing like perpetual motion.
Note that I didn't say it was perpetual motion, or even that it
sounded like perpetual motion; the phrase was "sounds almost like
perpetual motion", which I, at least, consider a somewhat different
propposition than the one you elect to criticize.  Perhaps I should
beg your pardon for being *too* precise in my use of language?
>The physics is well
>understood; the energy comes from fission of actinides in subcritical
>assemblies.  Folks have talked about spallation reactors since the
>1950s.  Pulsed spallation neutron sources are in use today as research
>tools.  Accelerator design has been improving, particularly with
>superconducting accelerating cavities, which helps feasibility.  Los
>Alamos has expertise in high current accelerators (LAMPF), so I
>believe they know what they are talking about.
I will believe that this process comes even close to approaching
technological and economic feasibility (given the mixed nature of the
trash that will have to be run through it as opposed to the costs of
separating things first and having a different 'run' for each
actinide) when I see them dump a few tons in one end and pull
(relatively) clean material out the other.  Once the costs,
technological risks, etc., are taken into account I still class this
one with the idea of throwing waste into the sun.  Sure, it's possible
and the physics are well understood, but is it really a reasonable
approach?
And I still wonder at what sort of 'burning' rate you could get with
something like this, as opposed to what kind of energy you would
really recover as opposed to what it would cost to build and power
with and without the energy recovery.  Are we talking ounces, pounds,
or tons (grams, kilograms, or metric tons, for you SI fans) of
material and are we talking days, weeks, months, or years (days,
weeks, months or years, for you SI fans -- hmmm, still using a
non-decimated time scale, I see  ;-))?
>The real reason why accelerator breeders or incinerators are not being
>built is that there isn't any reason to do so.  Natural uranium is
>still too cheap, and geological disposal of actinides looks
>technically reasonable.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 32
In <1pp6reINNonl@phantom.gatech.edu> matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca) writes:
>In article <841@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken) writes:
>>	Well this pretty much says it.  I have gotten alot of replys to this
>>and it looks like oil is only on Earth.  So if those greedy little oil companys
>>who obviously don't give **** about it uses up all the oil then that leaves us
>>high a dry.
>Greedy little oil companies?  Don't blame them; oil companies just supply the
>demand created by you, me, and just about everyone else on the planet.  If we
>run out, its all our faults.
He also ignores a few other things.  While organics would become
significantly more expensive were all the oil to disappear (and thus
some things would no longer be economically feasible), oil is hardly
an irreplaceable resource any more than most other consumables.  As
supply decreases, prices rise and alternatives become more
competetive.  He also needs to consider that there has been an
estimated 30 years of reserves pretty much as long as anyone has cared
about petroleum; whatever the current usage rate is, we always seem to
have about a 30 year reserve that we know about.
[I'm not sure that last figure is still true -- we tend not to look as
hard when prices are comparatively cheap -- but it was certainly true
during hte 'oil crisis' days of the 70's.]
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: apryan@vax1.tcd.ie
Subject: STS-56 Press Kit
Lines: 9
Nntp-Posting-Host: vax1.tcd.ie
Organization: Trinity College Dublin
Lines: 9
Does anyone know ifthe STS-56 email press kit was ever released?
-Tony Ryan, "Astronomy & Space", new International magazine, available from:
Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1, Ireland.
6 issues (one year sub.): UK 10.00 pounds, US$20 surface (add US$8 airmail).
ACCESS/VISA/MASTERCARD accepted (give number, expiration date, name&address).
(WORLD'S LARGEST ASTRO. SOC. per capita - unless you know better? 0.033%)
Tel: 0891-88-1950 (UK/N.Ireland) 1550-111-442 (Eire). Cost up to 48p per min
From: lochem@fys.ruu.nl (Gert-Jan van Lochem)
Subject: Dutch: symposium compacte objecten
Summary: U wordt uitgenodigd voor het symposium compacte objecten 26-4-93
Keywords: compacte objecten, symposium
Organization: Physics Department, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Lines: 122
Sterrenkundig symposium 'Compacte Objecten'
op 26 april 1993
In het jaar 1643, zeven jaar na de oprichting van de
Universiteit van Utrecht, benoemde de universiteit haar
eerste sterrenkundige waarnemer. Hiermee ontstond de tweede
universiteitssterrenwacht ter wereld. Aert Jansz, de eerste
waarnemer, en zijn opvolgers voerden de Utrechtse sterrenkunde
in de daaropvolgende jaren, decennia en eeuwen naar de
voorhoede van het astronomisch onderzoek. Dit jaar is het 350
jaar geleden dat deze historische benoeming plaatsvond.
De huidige generatie Utrechtse sterrenkundigen en studenten
sterrenkunde, verenigd in het Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht,
vieren de benoeming van hun 'oervader' middels een breed scala
aan feestelijke activiteiten. Zo is er voor scholieren een
planetenproject, programmeert de Studium Generale een aantal
voordrachten met een sterrenkundig thema en wordt op de Dies
Natalis aan een astronoom een eredoctoraat uitgereikt. Er
staat echter meer op stapel.
Studenten natuur- en sterrenkunde kunnen op 26 april aan een
sterrenkundesymposium deelnemen. De onderwerpen van het
symposium zijn opgebouwd rond een van de zwaartepunten van het
huidige Utrechtse onderzoek: het onderzoek aan de zogeheten
'compacte objecten', de eindstadia in de evolutie van sterren.
Bij de samenstelling van het programma is getracht de
deelnemer een zo aktueel en breed mogelijk beeld te geven van
de stand van zaken in het onderzoek aan deze eindstadia. In de
eerste, inleidende lezing zal dagvoorzitter prof. Lamers een
beknopt overzicht geven van de evolutie van zware sterren,
waarna de zeven overige sprekers in lezingen van telkens een
half uur nader op de specifieke evolutionaire eindprodukten
zullen ingaan. Na afloop van elke lezing is er gelegenheid tot
het stellen van vragen. Het dagprogramma staat afgedrukt op
een apart vel.
Het niveau van de lezingen is afgestemd op tweedejaars
studenten natuur- en sterrenkunde. OOK ANDERE BELANGSTELLENDEN
ZIJN VAN HARTE WELKOM!
Tijdens de lezing van prof. Kuijpers zullen, als alles goed
gaat, de veertien radioteleskopen van de Radiosterrenwacht
Westerbork worden ingezet om via een directe verbinding tussen
het heelal, Westerbork en Utrecht het zwakke radiosignaal van
een snel roterende kosmische vuurtoren, een zogeheten pulsar,
in de symposiumzaal door te geven en te audiovisualiseren.
Prof. Kuijpers zal de binnenkomende signalen (elkaar snel
opvolgende scherp gepiekte pulsen radiostraling) bespreken en
trachten te verklaren.
Het slagen van dit unieke experiment staat en valt met de
technische haalbaarheid ervan. De op te vangen signalen zijn
namelijk zo zwak, dat pas na een waarnemingsperiode van 10
miljoen jaar genoeg energie is opgevangen om een lamp van 30
Watt een seconde te laten branden! Tijdens het symposium zal
er niet zo lang gewacht hoeven te worden: de hedendaagse
technologie stelt ons in staat live het heelal te beluisteren.
Deelname aan het symposium kost f 4,- (exclusief lunch) en
f 16,- (inclusief lunch). Inschrijving geschiedt door het
verschuldigde bedrag over te maken op ABN-AMRO rekening
44.46.97.713 t.n.v. stichting 350 JUS. Het gironummer van de
ABN-AMRO bank Utrecht is 2900. Bij de inschrijving dient te
worden aangegeven of men lid is van de NNV. Na inschrijving
wordt de symposiummap toegestuurd. Bij inschrijving na
31 maart vervalt de mogelijkheid een lunch te reserveren.
Het symposium vindt plaats in Transitorium I,
Universiteit Utrecht.
Voor meer informatie over het symposium kan men terecht bij
Henrik Spoon, p/a S.R.O.N., Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht.
Tel.: 030-535722. E-mail: henriks@sron.ruu.nl.
******* DAGPROGRAMMA **************************************
9:30   ONTVANGST MET KOFFIE & THEE
10:00   Opening
Prof. dr. H.J.G.L.M. Lamers (Utrecht)
10:10   Dubbelster evolutie
Prof. dr. H.J.G.L.M. Lamers
10:25   Radiopulsars
Prof. dr. J.M.E. Kuijpers (Utrecht)
11:00   Pulsars in dubbelster systemen
Prof. dr. F. Verbunt (Utrecht)
11:50   Massa & straal van neutronensterren
Prof. dr. J. van Paradijs (Amsterdam)
12:25   Theorie van accretieschijven
Drs. R.F. van Oss (Utrecht)
13:00   LUNCH
14:00   Hoe zien accretieschijven er werkelijk uit?
Dr. R.G.M. Rutten (Amsterdam)
14:35   Snelle fluktuaties bij accretie op neutronensterren
en zwarte gaten
Dr. M. van der Klis (Amsterdam)
15:10   THEE & KOFFIE
15:30   Zwarte gaten: knippen en plakken met ruimte en tijd
Prof. dr. V. Icke (leiden)
16:05   afsluiting
16:25   BORREL
--
Gert-Jan van Lochem	     \\		"What is it?"
Fysische informatica	      \\	"Something blue"
Universiteit Utrecht           \\	"Shapes, I need shapes!"
030-532803			\\			- HHGG -
From: apryan@vax1.tcd.ie
Subject: Cosmos 2238
Lines: 11
Nntp-Posting-Host: vax1.tcd.ie
Organization: Trinity College Dublin
Lines: 11
I need as much information about Cosmos 2238 and its rocket fragment (1993-
018B) as possible. Both its purpose, launch date, location, in short,
EVERYTHING! Can you help?
-Tony Ryan, "Astronomy & Space", new International magazine, available from:
Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1, Ireland.
6 issues (one year sub.): UK 10.00 pounds, US$20 surface (add US$8 airmail).
ACCESS/VISA/MASTERCARD accepted (give number, expiration date, name&address).
(WORLD'S LARGEST ASTRO. SOC. per capita - unless you know better? 0.033%)
Tel: 0891-88-1950 (UK/N.Ireland) 1550-111-442 (Eire). Cost up to 48p per min
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 22
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr6.061329.25582@den.mmc.com>, seale@possum.den.mmc.com (Eric H Seale) writes...
>baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>>According the IAU Circular #5744, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e, may be
>>temporarily in orbit around Jupiter.  The comet had apparently made a
>>close flyby of Jupiter sometime in 1992 resulting in the breakup of the
>>comet.
>
>Ooooh -- who would have thought that Galileo would get the chance to
>check out a comet TOO?!?
Comet Gehrels 3, which was discovered in 1977, was determined to have
been in a temporary Jovian orbit from 1970 to 1973.  Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e
may remain in orbit around Jupiter long enough to allow Galileo to
make some closeup observations.  The orbital trajectory for Comet
Shoemaker-Levy is still being determined.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: msmilor@skat.usc.edu (Mark Smilor)
Subject: Summer Internships
Article-I.D.: skat.1psaifINNfc5
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu
Hi Folks not exactly certain if this is the best place to ask, but I am
searching for a summer internship in engineering.  I will be graduating in early
May with a B.S. in aerospace engineering and then pursuing my Masters this Fall
.Does anyone know of anything that is available, I am in the process of applyi
ng to some of the larger companies (ie. MacDac, Martin Marietta, Lockheed.  If a
nyone knows of anything I would appreciate it if you could mail it to me.
Thanks in advance
Mark Smilor
msmilor@skat.usc.edu
or
smilor@aludra.usc.edu
From: shag@aero.org (Rob Unverzagt)
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Keywords: food
Article-I.D.: news.1pscc6INNebg
Organization: Organization?  You must be kidding.
Lines: 35
NNTP-Posting-Host: aerospace.aero.org
In article <1pr5u2$t0b@agate.berkeley.edu> ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu (;;;;RD48) writes:
> I had spacefood sticks just about every morning for breakfast in
> first and second grade (69-70, 70-71).  They came in Chocolate,
> strawberry, and peanut butter and were cylinders about 10cm long
> and 1cm in diameter wrapped in yellow space foil (well, it seemed
> like space foil at the time).
Wasn't there a "plain" flavor too?  They looked more like some
kind of extruded industrial product than food -- perfectly
smooth cylinders with perfectly smooth ends.  Kinda scary.
> The taste is hard to describe, although I remember it fondly.  It was
> most certainly more "candy" than say a modern "Power Bar."  Sort of
> a toffee injected with vitamins.  The chocolate Power Bar is a rough
> approximation of the taste.  Strawberry sucked.
An other post described it as like a "microwaved Tootsie Roll" --
which captures the texture pretty well.  As for taste, they were
like candy, only not very sweet -- does that make sense? I recall
liking them for their texture, not taste. I guess I have well
developed texture buds.
> Man, these were my "60's."
It was obligatory to eat a few while watching "Captain Scarlet".
Does anybody else remember _that_, as long as we're off the
topic of space?
Shag
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Unverzagt        |
shag@aerospace.aero.org   |       Tuesday is soylent green day.
unverzagt@courier2.aero.org |
From: will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Ryukoku Univ., Seta, Japan
Lines: 12
In article <1pp6reINNonl@phantom.gatech.edu>, matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca) writes:
>
> Greedy little oil companies?  Don't blame them; oil companies just supply the
> demand created by you, me, and just about everyone else on the planet.  If we
> run out, its all our faults.
>
Ok, so how about the creation of oil producing bacteria?  I figure
that if you can make them to eat it up then you can make them to shit it.
Any comments?
Will...
From: will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Ryukoku Univ., Seta, Japan
Lines: 4
Thanks for the Update.
Will...
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Keywords: food
Lines: 25
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
In article <C50z77.EE6@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, jelson@rcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (John Elson) writes:
>Has anyone ever heard of a food product called "Space Food Sticks?" This
>was apparently created/marketed around the time of the lunar expeditions, along
>with "Tang" and other dehydrated foods. I have spoken with several people
>who have eaten these before, and they described them as a dehydrated candy.
>Any information would be greatly appreciated.
A freeze dried Tootsie Roll (tm).  The actual taste sensation was like nothing
you will ever willingly experience.  The amazing thing was that we ate a second
one, and a third and ....
I doubt that they actually flew on missions, as I'm certain they did "bad
things" to the gastrointestinal tract.  Compared to Space Food Sticks, Tang was
a gastronomic contribution to mankind.
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |God gave us weather so we wouldn't complain
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |about other things.
PADI DM-54909                     |
PS. I don't think Tang flew, either.  Although it was developed under contract.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: pushing the envelope
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: na
Lines: 35
In <1993Apr3.233154.7045@Princeton.EDU> lije@cognito.Princeton.EDU (Elijah Millgram) writes:
>A friend of mine and I were wondering where the expression "pushing
>the envelope" comes from.  Anyone out there know?
Every aircraft has flight constraints for speed/AOA/power.  When
graphed, these define the 'flight envelope' of that aircraft,
presumably so named because the graphed line encloses (envelopes) the
area on the graph that represents conditions where the aircraft
doesn't fall out of the sky.  Hence, 'pushing the envelope' becomes
'operating at (or beyond) the edge of the flight (or operational)
envelope'.
Note that the envelope isn't precisely known until someone actually
flies the airplane in those regions -- up to that point, all there are
are the theoretical predictions.  Hence, one of the things test pilots
do for a living is 'push the envelope' to find out how close the
correspondence between the paper airplane and the metal one is -- in
essence, 'pushing back' the edges of the theoretical envelope to where
the airplane actually starts to fail to fly.  Note, too, that this is
done is a quite calculated and careful way; flight tests are generally
carefully coreographed and just what is going to be 'pushed' and how
far is precisely planned (despite occasional deviations from plans,
such as the 'early' first flight of the F-16 during its high-speed
taxi tests).
I'm sure Mary can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about
this process (and then some).
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: ml@chiron.astro.uu.se (Mats Lindgren)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Uppsala University
Lines: 14
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: chiron.astro.uu.se
Comet P/Helin-Roman-Crockett also spent some time as a temporary
satellite to Jupiter a few years ago if you believe the calculations
by Tancredi, G., Lindgren, M. and  Rickman, H.(Astron. Astrophys.,
239, pp. 375-380, 1990).
--
-------------------------------------------------------------
|  Mats Lindgren             |  Mats.Lindgren@astro.uu.se   |
|  Astronomical Observatory  |  21619::laban::ml            |
|  Box 515                   |                              |
|  751 20 Uppsala            |  Phone (+46) (0)18 51 35 22  |
|  Sweden                    |  Fax               52 75 83  |
-------------------------------------------------------------
From: enf021@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Achurist)
Subject: Re: Abyss: breathing fluids
Nntp-Posting-Host: cc_sysk
Organization: Coventry University
Lines: 31
In article <93089.204431GRV101@psuvm.psu.edu> Callec Dradja <GRV101@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>I am a bit nervous about posting this beacause it is begining to
>stray fron the topic of space but then again that doesn't seem to
>stop alot of other people. :-)
>
>With all of this talk about breathing at high pressures, I began
>to think about the movie Abyss. If you remember, in that movie one
>of the characters dove to great depths by wearing a suit that used
>a fluid that carries oxegen as opposed to some sort of gas. Now I
>have heard that mice can breath this fluid but for some reason, humans
>are unable to. Does anyone know more details about this?
>
>Gregson Vaux
>
I believe the reason is that the lung diaphram gets too tired to pump
the liquid in and out and simply stops breathing after 2-3 minutes.
So if your in the vehicle ready to go they better not put you on
hold, or else!! That's about it. Remember a liquid is several more times
as dense as a gas by its very nature. ~10 I think, depending on the gas
and liquid comparision of course!
Acurist
From: glover@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Eric Glover)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Nntp-Posting-Host: unseen1.acns.nwu.edu
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Lines: 45
In article <1993Apr06.020021.186145@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>Suppose the Soviets had managed to get their moon rocket working
>and had made it first.  They could have beaten us if either:
>* Their rocket hadn't blown up on the pad thus setting them back,
>and/or
>* A Saturn V went boom.
The Apollo fire was harsh, A Saturn V explosion would have been
hurtful but The Soviets winning would have been crushing. That could have
been *the* technological turning point for the US turning us
from Today's "We can do anything, we're *the* Super Power" to a much more
reserved attitude like the Soviet Program today.
Kennedy was gone by 68\69, the war was still on is the east, I think
the program would have stalled badly and the goal of the moon
by 70 would have been dead with Nasa trying to figure were they went wrong.
>If they had beaten us, I speculate that the US would have gone
>head and done some landings, but we also would have been more
>determined to set up a base (both in Earth Orbit and on the
>Moon).  Whether or not we would be on Mars by now would depend
>upon whether the Soviets tried to go.  Setting up a lunar base
>would have stretched the budgets of both nations and I think
>that the military value of a lunar base would outweigh the value
>of going to Mars (at least in the short run).  Thus we would
>have concentrated on the moon.
I speulate that:
+The Saturn program would have been pushed into
the 70s with cost over runs that would just be too evil.
Nixon still wins.
+The Shuttle was never proposed and Skylab never built.
+By 73 the program stalled yet again under the fuel crisis.
+A string of small launches mark the mid seventies.
+By 76 the goal of a US man on the moon is dead and the US space program
drifts till the present day.
>/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
>| "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving	|
>| the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the 	|
>| Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."    		|
>|                  <John F. Kennedy; May 25, 1961> 		|
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Abyss: breathing fluids
Article-I.D.: access.1psghn$s7r
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 19
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <C4t3K3.498@cck.coventry.ac.uk> enf021@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Achurist) writes:
|
|I believe the reason is that the lung diaphram gets too tired to pump
|the liquid in and out and simply stops breathing after 2-3 minutes.
|So if your in the vehicle ready to go they better not put you on
|hold, or else!! That's about it. Remember a liquid is several more times
|as dense as a gas by its very nature. ~10 I think, depending on the gas
|and liquid comparision of course!
Could you use some sort of mechanical chest compression as an aid.
Sorta like the portable Iron Lung?   Put some sort of flex tubing
around the 'aquanauts' chest.  Cyclically compress it  and it will
push enough on the chest wall to support breathing?????
You'd have to trust your breather,  but in space, you have to trust
your suit anyway.
pat
From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Re: pushing the envelope
Organization: University of Central Florida
Distribution: na
Lines: 18
> In <1993Apr3.233154.7045@Princeton.EDU> lije@cognito.Princeton.EDU (Elijah
Millgram) writes:
>
>
> A friend of mine and I were wondering where the expression "pushing
> the envelope" comes from.  Anyone out there know?
>
Everbody has been defining envelope.
Why was the world "envelope" chosen, rather than say "shell",
or "boundary".  In analogy with the envelopes of airships perhaps?
Actually, "shell" might be good.  Push the shell too hard and
it (the aircraft?) breaks.
--
Thomas Clarke
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central FL
12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826
(407)658-5030, FAX: (407)658-5059, clarke@acme.ucf.edu
From: thomsonal@cpva.saic.com
Subject: Cosmos 2238: an EORSAT
Article-I.D.: cpva.15337.2bc16ada
Organization: Science Applications Int'l Corp./San Diego
Lines: 48
>Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1993 15:40:47 GMT
>I need as much information about Cosmos 2238 and its rocket fragment (1993-
>018B) as possible. Both its purpose, launch date, location, in short,
>EVERYTHING! Can you help?
>-Tony Ryan, "Astronomy & Space", new International magazine, available from:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ocean Reconnaissance Launch Surprises West
Space News, April 5-11, 1993, p.2
[Excerpts]
Russia launched its first ocean reconnaissance satellite in 26 months
March 30, confounding Western analysts who had proclaimed the program dead.
The Itar-TASS news agency announced the launch of Cosmos 2238 from
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, but provided little description of the payload's mission.
However, based on the satellite's trajectory, Western observers
identified it as a military spacecraft designed to monitor electronic
emissions from foreign naval ships in order to track their movement.
Geoff Perry of the Kettering Group in England... [said]  Western
observers had concluded that no more would be launched. But days after the
last [such] satellite re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, Cosmos 2238 was
launched.
"Cosmos-2238" Satellite Launched for Defense Ministry
Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian  1238 GMT 30 March 1993
Translated in FBIS-SOV-93-060, p.27
by ITAR-TASS correspondent Veronika Romanenkova
Moscow, 30 March -- The Cosmos-2238 satellite was launched at 1600 Moscow
time today from the Baykonur by a "Tsiklon-M" carrier rocket. An ITAR-TASS
correspondent was told at the press center of Russia's space-military forces
that the satellite was launched in the interests of the Russian Defense
Ministry.
Parameters Given
Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 0930 GMT 31 March 1993
Translated in FBIS-SOV-93-060, p.27
Moscow, 31 March -- Another artificial Earth satellite, Cosmos-2238, was
launched on 30 March from the Baykonur cosmodrome.
The satellite carries scientific apparatus for continuing space research.
The satellite has been placed in an orbit with the following parameters:
initial period of revolution--92.8 minutes; apogee--443 km; perigee--413 km;
orbital inclination--65 degrees.
Besides scientific apparatus the satellite carries a radio system for the
precise measurement of orbital elements and a radiotelemetry system for
transmitting to Earth data about the work of the instruments and scientific
apparatus. The apparatus aboard the satellite is working normally.
From: games@max.u.washington.edu
Subject: Aerospace companies cooperate in reusable vehicle market.
Article-I.D.: max.1993Apr6.121843.1
Distribution: world
Lines: 34
NNTP-Posting-Host: max.u.washington.edu
What would all of you out there in net land think of the big 6 (Martin
Mariatta, Boeing, Mcdonell Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, Rockwell)
getting together, and forming a consortium to study exactly what the market
price pints are for building reusable launch vehicles, and spending say
$3million to do that.  Recognizing that most of the military requirements
for launch vehicles are pulled out of a hat somewhere (say, has the shuttle
ever really used that 1200mi crossrange capability?  You get the idea, figure
out how many, how often, where to, etc...)
Then taking this data, and forming a sematech type company (bad example, I
know... but at least its an example...)  To develop between 3 and 5 craft
designs.  Then to take all of those designs, and figure out EXACTLY what
the technologies are, and demonstrate those technologies, in order to
eliminate designs that can't be built today.  And lets say that this
portion again funded by the GOV cost about $20 million.
And from here all of these companies went their separate ways, with the
intention of taking all of the market data and the design data to wall
street, and saying "I want to build this vehicle, and here are the numbers
that show %20 ROI, fund me...)
Now many of you think that this is a joke, but I have it on good authority that
just this project is shaping up in the background. It seems that the aerospace
companies have learned that everyone yelling similar but different things
ends up in many programs that do nothing much and get canceled (NASP, NLS,
ALS, DCY?, etc...)  They need to work more in the japaneese, and european
spirit of initial cooperation.  They have also learned that design requirements
that are phony (I.E. some generals idea of what a space vehicle ought to be)
ends up getting chopped up in congress, because it is not a REAL requirement.
Any feedback?
John.
From: games@max.u.washington.edu
Subject: SSTO Senatorial (aide) breifing recollections.
Article-I.D.: max.1993Apr6.125512.1
Distribution: world
Lines: 78
NNTP-Posting-Host: max.u.washington.edu
The following are my thoughts on a meeting that I, Hugh Kelso, and Bob Lilly
had with an aide of Sen. Patty Murrays.  We were there to discuss SSTO, and
commercial space.  This is how it went...
After receiving a packet containing a presentation on the benifits of SSTO,
I called and tried to schedule a meeting with our local Senator (D) Patty
Murray, Washington State.  I started asking for an hour, and when I heard
the gasp on the end of the phone, I quickly backed off to 1/2 an hour.
Later in that conversation, I learned that a standard appointment is 15 minutes.
We got the standard bozo treatment.  That is, we were called back by an aide,
who scheduled a meeting with us, in order to determine that we were not
bozos, and to familiarize himself with the material, and to screen it, to
make sure that it was appropriate to take the senators time with that material.
Well, I got allocated 1/2 hour with Sen. Murrays aide, and we ended up talking
to him for 45 minutes, with us ending the meeting, and him still listening.
We covered a lot of ground, and only a little tiny bit was DCX specific.
Most of it was a single stage reusable vehicle primer.  There was another
woman there who took copius quantities of notes on EVERY topic that
we brought up.
But, with Murray being new, we wanted to entrench ourselves as non-corporate
aligned (I.E. not speaking for boeing) local citizens interentested in space.
So, we spent a lot of time covering the benifits of lower cost access to
LEO.  Solar power satellites are a big focus here, so we hit them as becoming
feasible with lower cost access, and we hit the environmental stand on that.
We hit the tourism angle, and I left a copy of the patric Collins Tourism
paper, with side notes being that everyone who goes into space, and sees the
atmosphere becomes more of an environmentalist, esp. after SEEING the smog
over L.A.  We hit on the benifits of studying bone decalcification (which is
more pronounced in space, and said that that had POTENTIAL to lead to
understanding of, and MAYBE a cure for osteoporosis.  We hit the education
whereby kids get enthused by space, but as they get older and find out that
they havent a hop in hell of actually getting there, they go on to other
fields, with low cost to orbit, the chances they might get there someday
would provide greater incentive to hit the harder classes needed.
We hit a little of the get nasa out of the operational launch vehicle business
angle.  We hit the lower cost of satellite launches, gps navigation, personal
communicators, tellecommunications, new services, etc...  Jobs provided
in those sectors.
Jobs provided building the thing, balance of trade improvement, etc..
We mentioned that skypix would benifit from lower launch costs.
We left the paper on what technologies needed to be invested in in order
to make this even easier to do.  And he asked questions on this point.
We ended by telling her that we wanted her to be aware that efforts are
proceeding in this area, and that we want to make sure that the
results from these efforts are not lost (much like condor, or majellan),
and most importantly, we asked that she help fund further efforts along
the lines of lowering the cost to LEO.
In the middle we also gave a little speal about the Lunar Resource Data
Purchase act, and the guy filed it separately, he was VERY interested in it.
He asked some questions about it, and seemed like he wanted to jump on it,
and contact some of the people involved with it, so something may actually
happen immediatly there.
The last two things we did were to make sure that they knew that we
knew a lot of people in the space arena here in town, and that they
could feel free to call us any time with questions, and if we didn't know
the answers, that we would see to it that they questions got to people who
really did know the answers.
Then finally, we asked for an appointment with the senator herself.  He
said that we would get on the list, and he also said that knowing her, this
would be something that she would be very interested in, although they
do have a time problem getting her scheduled, since she is only in the
state 1 week out of 6 these days.
All in all we felt like we did a pretty good job.
John.
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
From: shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
t> <1993Apr2.213917.1@aurora.alaska.edu><1pnuke$idn@access.digex.net>
<SHAFER.93Apr4200752@ra.dfrf.nasa.gov><pgf.734062799@srl03.cacs.usl.edu>
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
In-Reply-To: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu's message of Tue, 6 Apr 1993 02:19:59 GMT
Lines: 64
On Tue, 6 Apr 1993 02:19:59 GMT, pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) said:
Phil> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>On 4 Apr 1993 20:31:10 -0400, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) said:
>Pat> In article <1993Apr2.213917.1@aurora.alaska.edu> Pat>
>nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes: >Question is can someone give me 10
>examples of direct NASA/Space related >research that helped humanity
>in general? It will be interesting to see..
>Pat> TANG :-) Mylar I think.  I think they also pushed Hi Tech Pat>
>Composites for airframes.  Look at Fly by Wire.
>Swept wings--if you fly in airliners you've reaped the benefits.
Phil> Didn't one of the early jet fighters have these?  I also think
Phil> the germans did some work on these in WWII.
The NACA came up with them before World War II.  NASA is directly
descended from the NACA, with space added in.
You'll notice that I didn't mention sweep wings even though the
X-5, tested at what's now Dryden, had them.  We did steal that one
dirctly from the Germans.  The difference is that swept wings don't
change their angle of sweep, sweep wings do.  Perhaps the similarity
of names has caused some confusion?  747s have swept wings, F-111s
have sweep wings.
>Winglets.  Area ruling.  Digital fly by wire.  Ride smoothing.
Phil> A lot of this was also done by the military...
After NASA aerodynamicists proposed them and NASA test teams
demonstrated them.  Richard Whitcomb and R.T. Jones, at Langley
Research Center, were giants in the field.
Dryden was involved in the flight testing of winglets and area
ruling (in the 70s and 50s, respectively).  It's true that we
used military aircraft as the testbeds (KC-135 and YF-102) but
that had more to do with availability and need than with military
involvement.  The YF-102 was completely ours and the KC-135 was
bailed to us.  The Air Force, of course, was interested in our
results and supportive of our efforts.
Dryden flew the first digital fly by wire aircraft in the 70s. No
mechnaical or analog backup, to show you how confident we were.
General Dynamics decided to make the F-16 flyby-wire when they saw how
successful we were.  (Mind you, the Avro Arrow and the X-15 were both
fly-by-wire aircraft much earlier, but analog.)
Phil> Egad! I'm disagreeing with Mary Shafer!
The NASA habit of acquiring second-hand military aircraft and using
them for testbeds can make things kind of confusing.  On the other
hand, all those second-hand Navy planes give our test pilots a chance
to fold the wings--something most pilots at Edwards Air Force Base
can't do.
--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
"A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot
From: adam@sw.stratus.com (Mark Adam)
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
Lines: 22
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: paix.sw.stratus.com
Keywords: food
In article <1pr5u2$t0b@agate.berkeley.edu>, ghelf@violet.berkeley.edu (;;;;RD48) writes:
> The taste is hard to describe, although I remember it fondly.  It was
> most certainly more "candy" than say a modern "Power Bar."  Sort of
> a toffee injected with vitamins.  The chocolate Power Bar is a rough
> approximation of the taste.  Strawberry sucked.
>
Peanut butter was definitely my favorite. I don't think I ever took a second bite
of the strawberry.
I recently joined Nutri-System and their "Chewy Fudge Bar" is very reminicent of
the chocolate Space Food. This is the only thing I can find that even comes close
the taste. It takes you back... your taste-buds are happy and your
intestines are in knots... joy!
--
mark ----------------------------
(adam@paix.sw.stratus.com)	|	My opinions are not those of Stratus.
|	Hell! I don`t even agree with myself!
"Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad."
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 23
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <6APR199314571378@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
|Comet Gehrels 3, which was discovered in 1977, was determined to have
|been in a temporary Jovian orbit from 1970 to 1973.  Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e
|may remain in orbit around Jupiter long enough to allow Galileo to
|make some closeup observations.  The orbital trajectory for Comet
|Shoemaker-Levy is still being determined.
a
What about positional uncertainties in S-L 1993e?   I assume we know where
and what Galileo is doing within a few meters.   But without the
HGA,  don't we have to have some pretty good ideas, of where to look
before imaging?  If the HGA was working,  they could slew around
in near real time (Less speed of light delay).  But when they were
imaging toutatis????  didn't someone have to get lucky on a guess to
find the first images?
Also, I imagine S-L 1993e will be mostly a visual image.  so how will
that affect the other imaging missions.  with the LGA,  there is a real
tight allocation of bandwidth.   It may be premature to hope for answers,
but I thought i'd throw it on the floor.
pat
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Plutonium based Nuclear Power plants.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 13
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Todays New York TImes just wrote about a pact being negotiated
between us and the Russians  to develope  High Temperature
Gas Cooled Fission Reactors using Re-Cycled Weapons Grade plutonium
from Warhead stockpiles.   THe fuel will be pelletized in ceramic
for safety,  and then after depletion will be sufficiently
contaminated with by-products to make extraction of the remaining
plutonium hazardous enough to deter re-use.
Apparently the project will be led by General Atomics of San Diego
with funding from the US GOvernment.  THe pilot plant will be built
and operated by the russians.
pat
From: gawne@stsci.edu
Subject: Re: Vulcan?  (No, not the guy with the ears!)
Distribution: na
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Lines: 42
In article <VNci2B7w165w@inqmind.bison.mb.ca>, victor@inqmind.bison.mb.ca
(Victor Laking) writes:
> Does anyone have any info on the apparent sightings of Vulcan?
>
> All that I know is that there were apparently two sightings at
> drastically different times of a small planet that was inside Mercury's
> orbit.  Beyond that, I have no other info.
The sightings were apparently spurious.  There is no planet inside of
the orbit of Mercury.
The idea of Vulcan came from the differences between Mercury's observed
perihelion precession and the value it should have had according to
Newtonian physics.  Leverrier made an extensive set of observations
and calculations during the mid 19th century, and Simon Newcombe later
improved on the observations and re-calculated using Leverrier's system
of equations.  Now Leverrier was one of the co-discoverers of Neptune
and since he had predicted its existence based on anomalies in the orbit
of Uranus his inclination was to believe the same sort of thing was
afoot with Mercury.
But alas, 'twere not so.  Mercury's perihelion precesses at the rate
it does because the space where it resides near the sun is significantly
curved due to the sun's mass.  This explanation had to wait until 1915
and Albert Einstein's synthesis of his earlier theory of the electrodynamics
of moving bodies (commonly called Special Relativity) with Reimanian
geometry.  The result was the General Theory of Relativity, and one of
it's most noteworthy strengths is that it accounts for the precession
of Mercury's perihelion almost exactly.  (Exactly if you use Newcomb's
numbers rather than Leverrier's.)
Of course not everybody believes Einstein, and that's fine.  But subsequent
efforts to find any planets closer to the sun than Mercury using radar
have been fruitless.
-Bill Gawne
"Forgive him, he is a barbarian, who thinks the customs of his tribe
are the laws of the universe."                       - G. J. Caesar
Any opinions are my own.  Nothing in this post constitutes an official
statement from any person or organization.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 45
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr6.125608.7506@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
|In <1993Apr2.150038.2521@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
|>>
|>>Paul, quite frankly I'll believe that this is really going to work on
|>>the typical trash one needs to process when I see them put a couple
|>>tons in one end and get (relatively) clean material out the other end,
|>>plus be able to run it off its own residual power.  Sounds almost like
|>>perpetual motion, doesn't it?
|
|I will believe that this process comes even close to approaching
|technological and economic feasibility (given the mixed nature of the
|trash that will have to be run through it as opposed to the costs of
|separating things first and having a different 'run' for each
|actinide) when I see them dump a few tons in one end and pull
|(relatively) clean material out the other.  Once the costs,
|technological risks, etc., are taken into account I still class this
|one with the idea of throwing waste into the sun.  Sure, it's possible
|and the physics are well understood, but is it really a reasonable
|approach?
|
How is it ever going to be an Off- the Shelf Technology if someone doesn't
do it?  Maybe we should do this as part of the SSF design goals. ;-)
Gee fred.  After your bitter defense of 20 KHz power as a Basic technology
for SSF, Id think you would support a minor research program like this.
And does anyone who knows more Particle physics then me,  know if the IPNS
could Prove this technology?
|
|>The real reason why accelerator breeders or incinerators are not being
|>built is that there isn't any reason to do so.  Natural uranium is
|>still too cheap, and geological disposal of actinides looks
|>technically reasonable.
|
It may also help there is political gridlock on the entire
nuclear technical agenda.  There were big political opponenents to
Fast Breeder Technologies.  WIPP is being fought to death in Courts.
Even if you could make a nuclear incinerator, do you really think
even Deaf SMith County Nevada would accept it?  NIMBY'ism rules
nuclear power concerns.  Only the medical community has been
able to overrule  nuclear  technology opposition.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 29
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <SHAFER.93Apr6094402@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>Dryden flew the first digital fly by wire aircraft in the 70s. No
>mechnaical or analog backup, to show you how confident we were.
Confident, or merely crazed?  That desert sun :-)
>successful we were.  (Mind you, the Avro Arrow and the X-15 were both
>fly-by-wire aircraft much earlier, but analog.)
>
Gee, I thought the X-15 was Cable controlled.  Didn't one of them have a
total electrical failure in flight?  Was there machanical backup systems?
|
|The NASA habit of acquiring second-hand military aircraft and using
|them for testbeds can make things kind of confusing.  On the other
|hand, all those second-hand Navy planes give our test pilots a chance
|to fold the wings--something most pilots at Edwards Air Force Base
|can't do.
|
What do you mean?  Overstress the wings,  and they fail at teh joints?
You'll have to enlighten us in the hinterlands.
pat
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: space food sticks
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 9
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Keywords: food
dillon comments that Space Food Sticks may have bad digestive properties.
I don't think so.  I think  most NASA food products were designed to
be low fiber 'zero-residue' products so as to minimize the difficulties
of waste disposal.  I'd doubt they'd deploy anything that caused whole sale
GI distress.  There aren't enough plastic baggies in the world for
a bad case of GI disease.
pat
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: The Area Rule
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 20
Distribution: sci
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
I am sure  Mary or Henry can describe this more aptly then me.
But here is how i understand it.
At Speed,  Near supersonic.  The wind behaves like a fluid pipe.
It becomes incompressible.  So wind has to bend away from the
wing edges.   AS the wing thickens,  the more the pipes bend.
If they have no place to go,  they begin to stall,  and force
compression, stealing power from the vehicle (High Drag).
If you squeeze the fuselage,  so that these pipes  have aplace to bend
into,  then drag is reduced.
Essentially,  teh cross sectional area of the aircraft shoulf
remain constant for all areas of the fuselage.  That is where the wings are
subtract, teh cross sectional area of the wings from the fuselage.
pat
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: DC-X: Vehicle Nears Flight Test
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 14
In <1993Apr5.191011.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>Since the DC-X is to take off horizontal, why not land that way??
>Why do the Martian Landing thing..  Or am I missing something.. Don't know to
>much about DC-X and such.. (overly obvious?).
You missed something.  I think it takes off vertically and is intended
to land the same way.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Alaska Pipeline and Space Station!
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 45
In <1pq7rj$q2u@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>In article <1993Apr5.160550.7592@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>|
>|I think this would be a great way to build it, but unfortunately
>|current spending rules don't permit it to be workable.  For this to
>|work it would be necessary for the government to guarantee a certain
>|minimum amount of business in order to sufficiently reduce the risk
>|enough to make this attractive to a private firm.  Since they
>|generally can't allocate money except one year at a time, the
>|government can't provide such a tenant guarantee.
>Fred.
>	Try reading a bit.  THe government does lots of multi year
>contracts with Penalty for cancellation clauses.  They just like to be
>damn sure they know what they are doing before they sign a multi year
>contract.   THe reason they aren't cutting defense spending as much
>as they would like is the Reagan administration signed enough
>Multi year contracts,  that it's now cheaper to just finish them out.
I don't have to "try reading a bit", Pat.  I *work* as a government
contractor and know what the rules are like.  Yes, they sign some
(damned few -- which is why everyone is always having to go to
Washington to see about next week's funding) multi-year contracts;
they also aren't willing to include sufficient cancellation penalties
when they *do* decide to cut the multi-year contract and not pay on it
(which can happen arbitrarily at any time, no matter what previous
plans were) to make the risk acceptable of something like putting up a
private space station with the government as the expected prime
occupant.
I'd like a source for that statement about "the reason they aren't
cutting defense spending as much as they would like"; I just don't buy
it. The other thing I find a bit 'funny' about your posting, Pat, is
that several other people answered the question pretty much the same
way I did; mine is the one you comment (and incorrectly, I think) on.
I think that says a lot.  You and Tommy should move in together.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 30
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1psfan$pj0@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes...
>In article <6APR199314571378@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>|Comet Gehrels 3, which was discovered in 1977, was determined to have
>|been in a temporary Jovian orbit from 1970 to 1973.  Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e
>|may remain in orbit around Jupiter long enough to allow Galileo to
>|make some closeup observations.  The orbital trajectory for Comet
>|Shoemaker-Levy is still being determined.
>a
>
>What about positional uncertainties in S-L 1993e?
If Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e is in Jovian orbit, and if the comet
is still hanging around when Galileo arrives, then I'm sure it will
be added to the list of targets.  We'll have by then over two years
of Earth-based observations to help narrow down the positions of the
pieces of the comet. It probably won't be too much different than
what was done with Gaspra.
>But when they were
>imaging toutatis?
Galileo did not image Toutatis.  That came from Earth-based radar.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: The Dorsai Grey Captains
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: oit.gatech.edu
In article <844@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken) writes:
>	Ok, so how about the creation of oil producing bacteria?  I figure
>that if you can make them to eat it up then you can make them to shit it.
>Any comments?
Sure.  Why keep using oil?  A hydrogen/electric economy would likely be
cleaner and more efficient in the long run.  The laws of supply and demand
should get the transition underway before we reach a critical stage of
shortage.
--
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew
Internet: matthew@phantom.gatech.edu
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: Gibbons Outlines SSF Redesign Guidance
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Nntp-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 76
NASA Headquarters distributed the following press
release today (4/6). I've typed it in verbatim, for you
folks to chew over. Many of the topics recently
discussed on sci.space are covered in this.
Gibbons Outlines Space Station Redesign Guidance
Dr. John H. Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and
Technology Policy, outlined to the members-designate of
the Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space
Station on April 3, three budget options as guidance to
the committee in their deliberations on the redesign of
the space station.
A low option of $5 billion, a mid-range option of $7
billion and a high option of $9 billion will be
considered by the committee. Each option would cover
the total expenditures for space station from fiscal
year 1994 through 1998 and would include funds for
development, operations, utilization, Shuttle
integration, facilities, research operations support,
transition cost and also must include adequate program
reserves to insure program implementation within the
available funds.
Over the next 5 years, $4 billion is reserved within
the NASA budget for the President's new technology
investment. As a result, station options above $7
billion must be accompanied by offsetting reductions in
the rest of the NASA budget.  For example, a space
station option of $9 billion would require $2 billion
in offsets from the NASA budget over the next 5 years.
Gibbons presented the information at an organizational
session of the advisory committee. Generally, the
members-designate focused upon administrative topics
and used the session to get acquainted. They also
received a legal and ethics briefing and an orientation
on the process the Station Redesign Team is following
to develop options for the advisory committee to
consider.
Gibbons also announced that the United States and its
international partners -- the Europeans, Japanese, and
Canadians -- have decided, after consultation, to give
"full consideration" to use of Russian assets in the
course of the space station redesign process.
To that end, the Russians will be asked to participate
in the redesign effort on an as-needed consulting
basis, so that the redesign team can make use of their
expertise in assessing the capabilities of MIR and the
possible use of MIR and other Russian capabilities and
systems. The U.S. and international partners hope to
benefit from the expertise of the Russian participants
in assessing Russian systems and technology. The
overall goal of the redesign effort is to develop
options for reducing station costs while preserving key
research and exploration capabilities. Careful
integration of Russian assets could be a key factor in
achieving that goal.
Gibbons reiterated that, "President Clinton is
committed to the redesigned space station and to making
every effort to preserve the science, the technology
and the jobs that the space station program represents.
However, he also is committed to a space station that
is well managed and one that does not consume the
national resources which should be used to invest in
the future of this industry and this nation."
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said the Russian
participation will be accomplished through the East-
West Space Science Center at the University of Maryland
under the leadership of Roald Sagdeev.
From: shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
In-Reply-To: prb@access.digex.com's message of 6 Apr 1993 14:06:57 -0400
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
<pgf.734062799@srl03.cacs.usl.edu>
<SHAFER.93Apr6094402@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov> <1psgs1$so4@access.digex.net>
Lines: 38
On 6 Apr 1993 14:06:57 -0400, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) said:
Pat> In article <SHAFER.93Apr6094402@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov>
Pat> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>successful we were.  (Mind you, the Avro Arrow and the X-15 were both
>fly-by-wire aircraft much earlier, but analog.)
>
Pat> Gee, I thought the X-15 was Cable controlled.  Didn't one of them
Pat> have a total electrical failure in flight?  Was there machanical
Pat> backup systems?
All reaction-controlled aircraft are fly-by-wire, at least the RCS part
is.  On the X-15 the aerodynamic control surfaces (elevator, rudder, etc)
were conventionally controlled (pushrods and cables) but the RCS jets
were fly-by-wire.
|The NASA habit of acquiring second-hand military aircraft and using
|them for testbeds can make things kind of confusing.  On the other
|hand, all those second-hand Navy planes give our test pilots a chance
|to fold the wings--something most pilots at Edwards Air Force Base
|can't do.
Pat> What do you mean?  Overstress the wings, and they fail at teh
Pat> joints?
Navy aircraft have folding or sweeping wings, in order to save space
on the hangar deck.  The F-14 wings sweep, all the rest fold the
wingtips up at a joint.
Air Force planes don't have folding wings, since the Air Force has
lots of room.
--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
"A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot
From: dragon@access.digex.com (Covert C Beach)
Subject: Re: Mars Observer Update - 03/29/93
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Lines: 33
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Keywords: Mars Observer, JPL
In article <1pcgaa$do1@access.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>Now isn't that always the kicker.  It does seem stupid to  drop
>a mission like Magellan, because there isn't  70 million a year
>to keep up the mission.  You'd think  that ongoing science  could
>justify the money.  JPL gets accused of spending more then neccessary,
>probably some validity in that,  but NASA  does put money into some
>things  that really are Porcine.  Oh well.
I attended a colloquium at Goddard last fall where the head of the
operations section of NASA was talking about what future missions
were going to be funded.  I don't remember his name or title off hand
and I have discarded the colloquia announcement. In any case, he was
asked about that very matter: "Why can't we spend a few million more
to keep instruments that we already have in place going?"
His responce was that there are only so many $ available to him and
the lead time on an instrument like a COBE, Magellan, Hubble, etc
is 5-10 years minumum.  If he spent all that could be spent on using
current instruments in the current budget enviroment he would have
very little to nothing for future projects.  If he did that, sure
in the short run the science would be wonderful and he would be popular,
however starting a few years after he had retired he would become
one of the greatest villans ever seen in the space community for not
funding the early stages of the next generation of instruments.  Just
as he had benefited from his predicessor's funding choices, he owed it
to whoever his sucessor would eventually be to keep developing new
missions, even at the expense of cutting off some instruments before
the last drop of possible science has been wrung out of them.
--
Covert C Beach
dragon@access.digex.com
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Economics
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 14
>If all the ecomomists in the world were laid end to end . . .
>Punchline #1: they would all point in different directions.
>Punchline #2: they wouldn't reach a conclusion.
Punchline #3: it would be a good idea just to leave them there.
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: Washington Post Article on SSF Redesign
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Nntp-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 52
"Space Station Redesign Leader Says Cost Goal May Be
Impossible"
Today (4/6) the Washington Post ran an article with the
headline shown above. The article starts with "A leader
of the NASA team in charge of redesigning the planned
space station said yesterday the job is tough and may
be impossible." O'Connor is quoted saying whether it is
possible to cut costs that much and still provide for
meaningful research "is a real question for me."
O'Connor said "everything is fair game," including
"dropping or curtailing existing contracts with the
aerospace industry, chopping management of the space
station program at some NASA facilities around the
country, working closely with the Russian space station
Mir, and using unmanned Titan rockets to supplement the
manned space shuttle fleet."
O'Connor says his team has reviewed 30 design options
so far, and they are sorting the serious candidates
into three categories based on cost.
The Post says O'Connor described the design derived
from the current SSF as a high cost option (I believe
Kathy Sawyer, the Post writer, got confused here. I
listened in on part of O'Connor's briefing to the press
on Monday, and in one part of the briefing O'Connor
talked about how the White House wants three options,
sorted by cost [low, medium, and high]. In another part
of the briefing, he discussed the three teams he has
formed to look at three options [SSF derivative @ LaRC,
modular buildup with Bus-1 @ MSFC, and Single Launch
Core ["wingless Orbiter"] @ JSC. Later, in response to
a reporters question, I thought I heard O'Connor say
the option based on a SSF redesign was a "moderate"
cost option, in between low & high cost options. Not
the "high cost" option as Sawyer wrote).
The article goes on to describe the other two options
as "one features modules that could gradually be fitted
together in orbit, similar to the Russian Mir. The
other is a core facility that could be deposited in
orbit in a single launch, like Skylab. That option
would use existing hardware from the space shuttle -
the fuselage, for example, in its basic structure."
The last sentence in the article contradicts the title
& the first paragraph. The sentence reads "He
[O'Connor] said a streamlined version of the planned
space station Freedom is still possible within the
administration's budget guidelines."
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: Blue Ribbon Panel Members Named
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Nntp-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 71
The following press release was distributed April 1 by
NASA Headquarters.
Space Station Redesign Advisory Members Named
Along with Dr. Charles M. Vest, recently named by Vice President
Albert Gore to head the advisory committee on the redesign of the
Space Station, NASA has announced the names of representatives
from government and industry and academic experts from across the
country to participate in an independent review of the redesign
options being developed by NASA.
"I am extremely honored to have been selected to lead this
important review panel. America's future in science and
technology and as a world leader in space demands our utmost
attention and care," said Vest. "We have assembled a diverse
panel of experts that, I believe, will bring the appropriate
measures of insight, integrity and objectivity to this critical
task."
The advisory committee is charged with independently assessing
various redesign options of the space station presented by NASA's
redesign team, and proposing recommendations to improve
efficiency and effectiveness of the space station program. Space
station international partners also are being asked to
participate and will be named at a later date. The advisory
committee will submit its recommendations in June.
Advisory committee members named today include:
Dr. Charles Vest              Dr. Bobby Alford
President, MIT                Executive VP & Dean of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Mr. Jay Chabrow               Dr. Paul Chu
President, JMR Associates     Director, Texas Center for
Superconductivity
University of Houston
Dr. Ed Crawley                Dr. John Fabian
Prof of Aero & Astro          President & CEO
MIT                           ANSER
Maj. Gen. James Fain          Dr. Edward Fort
Deputy Chief of Staff for     Chancellor
Requirements; Headquarters    North Carolina AT&T
USAF Materials Command        State University
Dr. Mary Good                 Mr. Frederick Hauck
Senior VP of Technology       President, International Technical
Allied Signal, Inc.           Underwriters
Dr. Lou Lanzerotti            Mr. William Lilly
Chair, Space Sciences         National Academy of Public
Board, National Research      Administration
Council
Mr. Duane McRuer              Dr. Brad Parkinson
President Systems Technology  Prof of Astro & Aero
Stanford University
Dr. Robert Seamans            Dr. Lee Silver
Former NASA Deputy Admin.     W.M. Keck Foundation Professor
for Resource Geology
California Institute of
Technology
Dr. Albert "Bud" Wheelon
Retired CEO
Hughes Aircraft
From: freed@nss.org (Bev Freed)
Subject: FAQs
Organization: The NSS BBS, Pittsburgh PA (412) 366-5208
Lines: 8
I was wondering if the FAQ files could be posted quarterly rather than monthly.  Every 28-30 days, I get this bloated feeling.
--
Bev Freed - via FidoNet node 1:129/104
UUCP: ...!pitt!nss!freed
INTERNET: freed@nss.org
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: FAQs
Article-I.D.: mojo.1pst9uINN7tj
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 10
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <10505.2BBCB8C3@nss.org>, freed@nss.org (Bev Freed) writes:
>I was wondering if the FAQ files could be posted quarterly rather than monthly
>.  Every 28-30 days, I get this bloated feeling.
Or just stick 'em on sci.space.news every 28-30 days?
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: University of Rochester
In article <844@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (William Reiken) writes:
>	Ok, so how about the creation of oil producing bacteria?  I figure
> that if you can make them to eat it up then you can make them to shit it.
> Any comments?
They exist.  Even photosynthetic varieties.  Not economical at this
time, though.
Paul F. Dietz
dietz@cs.rochester.edu
From: jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu.au (Joseph Askew)
Subject: Re: the call to space (was Re: Clueless Szaboisms )
Organization: Statistics, Pure & Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide
Lines: 34
In article <1pfiuh$64e@access.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>If the japanese are really going for Nukes, why not go with better
>technology then we have.  AS opposed to BWR/PWRs  have they really
>considered some of the 3rd generation Inherently safe designs.
The Japanese are still on the learning curve as far as nuclear power goes.
This means that unlike the Germans (who do great things all by themselves)
the Japanese tie up with foreign companies. The major one is Mitsubishi
(who else) who have a sharing agreement with GE I think. No chance of a
new design.
>Sodium has lots of chemical problems but it really solves design
>difficulties.  Or the inherently safe types.
Sodium has *lots* of chemical problems. Like it eats stainless steel. Very
slowly but it gets there in the end. Not what I call a desired property.
As for design difficulties, what does sodium do there? It is a bitch and
it is only its chemical properties (flwed though they are) that means it
gets used. Two loops? That's not a design problem? Isolation from air and
water? That doesn't cause design problems? In comparison BWR's a dream rides!
>PWR's work real good,  but they need lots of steel,  and they are highly
>complex systems.  Simplicity is a virtue.
Don't get none of that in a Liquid Sodium Breeder! More steel, more complexity.
Joseph Askew
--
Joseph Askew, Gauche and Proud  In the autumn stillness, see the Pleiades,
jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu  Remote in thorny deserts, fell the grief.
Disclaimer? Sue, see if I care  North of our tents, the sky must end somwhere,
Actually, I rather like Brenda  Beyond the pale, the River murmurs on.
From: jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu.au (Joseph Askew)
Subject: Re: the call to space (was Re: Clueless Szaboisms )
Keywords: trumpet calls, infrastructure, public perception
Organization: Statistics, Pure & Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide
Lines: 32
In article <1pfj8k$6ab@access.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>In article <1993Mar31.161814.11683@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>It isn't feasible for Japan to try to stockpile the amount of oil they
>>would need to run their industries if they did no use nuclear power.
>Of course,  Given they export 50 % of the GNP,  What do they do.
Well they don't export anywhere near 50% of their GNP. Mexico's perhaps
but not their own. They actually export around the 9-10% mark. Similar
to most developed countries actually. Australia exports a larger share
of GNP as does the United States (14% I think off hand. Always likely to
be out by a factor of 12 or more though) This would be immediately obvious
if you thought about it.
>Anything serious enough to disrupt the sea lanes for oil will
>also hose their export routes.
It is their import routes that count. They can do without exports but
they couldn't live without imports for any longer than six months if that.
>Given they import everything,  oil is just one more critical commodity.
Too true! But one that is unstable and hence a source of serious worry.
Joseph Askew
--
Joseph Askew, Gauche and Proud  In the autumn stillness, see the Pleiades,
jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu  Remote in thorny deserts, fell the grief.
Disclaimer? Sue, see if I care  North of our tents, the sky must end somwhere,
Actually, I rather like Brenda  Beyond the pale, the River murmurs on.
From: jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu.au (Joseph Askew)
Subject: Re: Small Astronaut (was: Budget Astronaut)
Organization: Statistics, Pure & Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide
Lines: 25
In article <1pfkf5$7ab@access.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>Only one problem with sending a corp of Small astronauts.
>THey may want to start a galactic empire:-)   Napoleon
>complex you know.  Genghis Khan was a little guy too.  I'd bet
>Julius caesar never broke 5'1".
I think you would lose your money. Julius was actually rather tall
for a Roman. He did go on record as favouring small soldiers though.
Thought they were tougher and had more guts. He was probably right
if you think about it. As for Napoleon remember that the French
avergae was just about 5 feet and that height is relative! Did he
really have a complex?
ObSpace :  We have all seen the burning candle from High School that goes
out and relights. If there is a large hot body placed in space but in an
atmosphere, exactly how does it heat the surroundings? Diffusion only?
Joseph Askew
--
Joseph Askew, Gauche and Proud  In the autumn stillness, see the Pleiades,
jaskew@spam.maths.adelaide.edu  Remote in thorny deserts, fell the grief.
Disclaimer? Sue, see if I care  North of our tents, the sky must end somwhere,
Actually, I rather like Brenda  Beyond the pale, the River murmurs on.
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: NASA "Wraps"
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Nntp-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 133
In the April edition of "One Small Step for a Space Activist",
Allen Sherzer & Tim Kyger write:
"Another problem is what are called 'wraps' (or sometimes
the 'center tax'). When work for a large program like
Freedom or Shuttle is performed at a NASA center, the
center skims off a portion which goes into what amounts
to a slush fund. This money is used to fund work the
center manager wants to fund. This sum is estimated to
be over a third of the funds allocated. Think about
that: Of the $30 billion cost of Freedom, fully $10
billion won't be spent on anything having anything
to do with Space Stations! Now, maybe that $10 billion
was wisely spent (and maybe it wasn't), but the work done
with it should stand on its own merits, not distorting
the cost of other projects. Congress has no idea of the
existense of these wraps; Congress has never heard the
term 'center tax'. They look at the Station they are
getting and the price they are paying and note that
it doesn't add up. They wonder this blissfully unaware
that a third of the money is going for something else."
My dear friends, your mixing fact and fiction here. A couple
of weeks ago, when I first read this in your posting, I
talked with one of the cost experts here in Space Station
at Headquarters [if you wondering why I didn't post a
response immediately, I do have a real job I'm supposed
to be doing here at Headquarters, & digging up old 20 kHz
data & looking into Sherzer/Kyger claims rates pretty low
on the totem pole of priority. Also, I spent last weekend
in Kansas City, at the National Science Teachers
Association conference, extolling the virtues of SSF
to 15,000 science teachers.]
First off, yes, the concept of 'center tax', or 'wrap' does
exist. If I recall the numbers correctly, the total 'tax'
for the SSF program for this fiscal year is around $40 Million.
This was computed by adding up the WP-1, WP-2, and WP-4
center 'taxes'. With the SSF budget for this fiscal year at
$2.2 Billion, my calculater says the tax percentage is
04/2.2 = 1.8%
Over the life of the SSF program, using your figure of $30
billion for the cost of SSF, a tax at a 1.8% rate comes to
$540 million. This is alot less than $10 billion, but I
will concede it's still an appreciable amount of pocket
change.
I should note that your estimate of the tax rate at 1/3 could
be close to the actual rate. The tax is only charged on funds
that are spent at the center (kind of like McDonalds at some
states, where you do have to pay sales tax if you eat
the food at the restaurant, but you don't if you get it
take-out). For example, at WP-4, the vast bulk of the funds
we receive go to the Rocketdyne Contract, and are *NOT*
subject to the center tax (I don't have the numbers in
front of me, but I'd guess at least 95% of the WP-4 funds
go to Rocketdyne). So, you could be right about a tax
rate of 1/3, but it's only applied to funds spent at the
center, and not to the prime contracts.
This leads to the obvious question "What is the government
doing with SSF funds that don't go to the prime contractors?
(i.e. ok, WP-4 gets a slice of the $30 billion pie. A
big portion of this slice goes to Rocketdyne. What happens
to the balance of the funds, which aren't eaten
up by the center tax?)"
At WP-4, we call these funds we spend in-house supporting
development funds (as they are supporting the development
work done by Rocketdyne). We have used these funds to
setup our own testbed, to checkout the electrical
power system architecture. Our testbed has a real life
solar array field (left over from solar cell research
research a few years back), with lead-acid car batteries
(to simulate the Nickel-Hydrogen batteries on SSF), DC
switchgear, DC-DC converter units, and simulated
loads. Data from the testbed was used in a recent
change evaluation involving concerns about the stability
of the power system.
We have also used the supporting development money to
purchase Nickel Hydrogen batteries, which are on life
testing at both Lewis and the Crane Naval facility in
Indiana. As a side point, 6 of the battery cells on
test recently hit the four year life test milestone.
38 cells have completed 18,552 to 23,405 cycles (the
on-orbit batteries go through 5,840 cycles per year).
As a final example, my 'home' division at Lewis used
the supporting development funds to purchase personal
computers and work stations, for performing system
analyses (like modeling of the performance of the
electrical power system, availability calculations
using a Monte-Carlo simulation, setting up a
database with information on weight of the power
system elements).
Finally, the money raised by the 'tax' does not all
go into a 'slush fund.' At Lewis, the director
does control a small discretionary fund. Each year,
any individual at Lewis can submit a proposal to
the director to get money from this fund to look
at pretty much anything within the Lewis Charter.
Most of the tax, however, goes to fund the 'general'
services at the Center, like the library, the
central computer services division, the Contractor
who removes the snow, etc. Thus, it is rather
difficult to determine what percentage of the
SSF budget doesn't go for SSF activities. To get
an accurate figure, you would have to take
the annual expenditure for the library (for example),
and then divide by the amount of the library funds
used to support SSF (which would be hard to
compute by itself - how would you figure out
what percentage of the bill for Aviation Week for
1 year is 'billable' to SSF, would you base it on
the person-hours SSF employees spend reading AV-week
versus the rest of the center personnel). You would
then have to compare this estimate of the SSF
portion of the library expense with the portion of
the tax that goes to support the library. Who knows,
maybe SSF overpays on the tax to run the library, but
we underpay for snow removal? Talk about
a burecratic nightmare!
My last point is that I can't believe your claim that
Congress has never heard of the term 'center tax.'
Unfortunately, all of the NASA testimony before
Congress isn't on a computer, so I can't do a simple
word search someplace to prove you wrong. But surely,
in some GAO audit somewhere, these NASA cost methods
were documented for Congress?
From: buenneke@monty.rand.org (Richard Buenneke)
Subject: DC-X Rollout Report
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 124
McDonnell Douglas rolls out DC-X
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- On a picture-perfect Southern
California day, McDonnell Douglas rolled out its DC-X rocket ship last
Saturday.  The company hopes this single-stage rocket technology
demonstrator will be the first step towards a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO)
rocket ship.
The white conical vehicle was scheduled to go to the White Sands
Missile Range in New Mexico this week.  Flight tests will start in
mid-June.
Although there wasn't a cloud in the noonday sky, the forecast for
SSTO research remains cloudy.  The SDI Organization -- which paid $60
million for the DC-X -- can't itself afford to fund full development of a
follow-on vehicle.  To get the necessary hundreds of millions required for
a sub-orbital DC-XA, SDIO is passing a tin cup among its sister government
agencies.
SDIO originally funded SSTO research as a way to cut the costs for
orbital deployments of space-based sensors and weapns.  However, recent
changes in SDI's political marching orders and budget cuts have made SSTO
less of a priority.  Today, the agency is more interested in using DC-X as
a step towards a low-cost, reusable sounding rocket.
SDIO has already done 50 briefings to other government agencies,
said Col.  Simon "Pete" Worden, SDIO's deputy for technology.  But Worden
declined to say how much the agencies would have to pony up for the
program. "I didn't make colonel by telling my contractors how much money I
have available to spend," he quipped at a press conference at McDonnell
Douglas Astronautics headquarters.
While SDIO has lowered its sights on the program's orbital
objective, agency officials hail the DC-X as an example of the "better,
faster, cheaper" approach to hardware development.  The agency believes
this philosophy can produce breakthroughs that "leapfrog" ahead of
evolutionary technology developments.
Worden said the DC-X illustrates how a "build a little, test a
little" approach can produce results on time and within budget.  He said
the program -- which went from concept to hardware in around 18 months --
showed how today's engineers could move beyond the "miracles of our
parents' time."
"The key is management," Worden said. "SDIO had a very light hand
on this project.  We had only one overworked major, Jess Sponable."
Although the next phase may involve more agencies, Worden said
lean management and a sense of government-industry partnership will be
crucial. "It's essential we do not end up with a large management
structure where the price goes up exponentially."
SDIO's approach also won praise from two California members of the
House Science, Space and Technology Committee. "This is the direction
we're going to have to go," said Rep.  George Brown, the committee's
Democratic chairman. "Programs that stretch aout 10 to 15 years aren't
sustainable....NASA hasn't learned it yet.  SDIO has."
Rep.  Dana Rohrbacher, Brown's Republican colleague, went further.
Joking that "a shrimp is a fish designed by a NASA design team,"
Rohrbacher doubted that the program ever would have been completed if it
were left to the civil space agency.
Rohrbacher, whose Orange County district includes McDonnell
Douglas, also criticized NASA-Air Force work on conventional, multi-staged
rockets as placing new casings around old missile technology. "Let's not
build fancy ammunition with capsules on top.  Let's build a spaceship!"
Although Rohrbacher praised SDIO's sponsorship, he said the
private sector needs to take the lead in developing SSTO technology.
McDonnell Douglas, which faces very uncertain prospects with its
C-17 transport and Space Station Freedom programs, were more cautious
about a large private secotro commitment. "On very large ventures,
companies put in seed money," said Charles Ordahl, McDonnell Douglas'
senior vice president for space systems. "You need strong government
investments."
While the government and industry continue to differ on funding
for the DC-XA, they agree on continuing an incremental approach to
development.  Citing corporate history, they liken the process to Douglas
Aircraft's DC aircraft.  Just as two earlier aircraft paved the way for
the DC-3 transport, a gradual evolution in single-stage rocketry could
eventually lead to an orbital Delta Clipper (DC-1).
Flight tests this summer at White Sands will "expand the envelope"
of performance, with successive tests increasing speed and altitude.  The
first tests will reach 600 feet and demonstrate hovering, verticle
take-off and landing.  The second series will send the unmanned DC-X up to
5,000 feet.  The third and final series will take the craft up to 20,000
feet.
Maneuvers will become more complex on third phase.  The final
tests will include a "pitch-over" manever that rotates the vehicle back
into a bottom-down configuration for a soft, four-legged landing.
The flight test series will be supervised by Charles "Pete"
Conrad, who performed similar maneuvers on the Apollo 12 moon landing.
Now a McDonnell Douglas vice president, Conrad paised the vehicles
aircraft-like approach to operations.  Features include automated
check-out and access panels for easy maintainance.
If the program moves to the next stage, engine technology will
become a key consideration.  This engine would have more thrust than the
Pratt & Whitney RL10A-5 engines used on the DC-X.  Each motor uses liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants to generate up to 14,760 pounds of
thrust
Based on the engine used in Centaur upper stages, the A-5 model
has a thrust champer designed for sea level operation and three-to-on
throttling capability.  It also is designed for repeat firings and rapid
turnaround.
Worden said future single-stage rockets could employ
tri-propellant engine technology developed in the former Soviet Union.
The resulting engines could burn a dense hydrocarbon fuel at takeoff and
then switch to liquid hydrogen at higher altitudes.
The mechanism for the teaming may already be in place.  Pratt has
a technology agreement with NPO Energomash, the design bureau responsible
for the tri-propellant and Energia cryogenic engines.
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: Space Research Spin Off
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
In article <1psgs1$so4@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>|
>|The NASA habit of acquiring second-hand military aircraft and using
>|them for testbeds can make things kind of confusing.  On the other
>|hand, all those second-hand Navy planes give our test pilots a chance
>|to fold the wings--something most pilots at Edwards Air Force Base
>|can't do.
>|
>
>What do you mean?  Overstress the wings,  and they fail at teh joints?
>
>You'll have to enlighten us in the hinterlands.
No, they fold on the dotted line.  Look at pictures of carriers with loads of
a/c on the deck, wings all neatly folded.
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |God gave us weather so we wouldn't complain
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |about other things.
PADI DM-54909                     |
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: nuclear waste
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 34
In <1psg95$ree@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
[On the issue of 'burning' nuclear wastes using particle beams...]
>How is it ever going to be an Off- the Shelf Technology if someone doesn't
>do it?  Maybe we should do this as part of the SSF design goals. ;-)
>Gee fred.  After your bitter defense of 20 KHz power as a Basic technology
>for SSF, Id think you would support a minor research program like
>this.
I sometimes wonder if your newsfeed gives you different articles than
everyone else, Pat.  Just a *few* corrections:
1) I never 'defended' 20kHz power, other than as something reasonable
to GO LOOK AT.
2) I have also never opposed a *research project* into feasibility of
the spalling reactor approach to 'cleaning' nuclear waste -- I simply
doubt it could be made to work in the Real World (tm), which ought to
become clear fairly quickly during a research program into feasibility
(sort of like what happened to 20 kHz power -- it proved to have a
down-side that was too expensive to overcome).
I figure 2 things wrong in a single sentence is a high enough fault
density for even you, Pat.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Re: pushing the envelope
Article-I.D.: rave.1psogpINNksq
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Distribution: world
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
Lines: 11
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
> flight tests are generally carefully coreographed and just what
> is going to be  'pushed' and how
> far is precisely planned (despite occasional deviations from plans,
> such as the 'early' first flight of the F-16 during its high-speed
> taxi tests).
.. and Chuck Yeager earlier flights with the X-1...
C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV
From: ralph.buttigieg@f635.n713.z3.fido.zeta.org.au (Ralph Buttigieg)
Subject: Commercial point of view
Organization: Fidonet. Gate admin is fido@socs.uts.edu.au
Lines: 29
Original to: szabo@techbook.com
G'day szabo@techbook.com
29 Mar 93 07:28, szabo@techbook.com wrote to All:
sc> szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo), via Kralizec 3:713/602
sc> Here are some longer-term markets to consider:
Here are some more:
* Terrestrial illumination from orbiting mirrors.
* World enviroment and disaster monitering system. (the Japanese have
already developed a plan for this, called WEDOS) Although this may be more
of a "public good".
* Space tourism.
* Energy relay satellites
ta
Ralph
--- GoldED 2.41
* Origin: VULCAN'S WORLD - Sydney Australia (02) 635-6797  3:713/6
(3:713/635)
From: bobc@sed.stel.com (Bob Combs)
Subject: Re: Blow up space station, easy way to do it.
Organization: SED, Stanford Telecom, Reston, VA 22090
Lines: 16
In article <1993Apr5.184527.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>This might a real wierd idea or maybe not..
>
>
>Why musta  space station be so difficult?? why must we have girders? why be
>confined to earth based ideas, lets think new ideas, after all space is not
>earth, why be limited by earth based ideas??
>
Choose any or all of the following as an answer to the above:
1.  Politics
2.  Traditions
3.  Congress
4.  Beauracrats
From: buenneke@monty.rand.org (Richard Buenneke)
Subject: White House outlines options for station, Russian cooperation
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 71
------- Blind-Carbon-Copy
To: spacenews@austen.rand.org, cti@austen.rand.org
Subject: White House outlines options for station, Russian cooperation
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 93 16:00:21 PDT
From: Richard Buenneke <buenneke@austen.rand.org>
4/06/93:  GIBBONS OUTLINES SPACE STATION REDESIGN GUIDANCE
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
April 6, 1993
RELEASE:  93-64
Dr.  John H.  Gibbons, Director, Office of Science and Technology
Policy, outlined to the members-designate of the Advisory Committee on the
Redesign of the Space Station on April 3, three budget options as guidance
to the committee in their deliberations on the redesign of the space
station.
A low option of $5 billion, a mid-range option of $7 billion and a
high option of $9 billion will be considered by the committee.  Each
option would cover the total expenditures for space station from fiscal
year 1994 through 1998 and would include funds for development,
operations, utilization, Shuttle integration, facilities, research
operations support, transition cost and also must include adequate program
reserves to insure program implementation within the available funds.
Over the next 5 years, $4 billion is reserved within the NASA
budget for the President's new technology investment.  As a result,
station options above $7 billion must be accompanied by offsetting
reductions in the rest of the NASA budget.  For example, a space station
option of $9 billion would require $2 billion in offsets from the NASA
budget over the next 5 years.
Gibbons presented the information at an organizational session of
the advisory committee.  Generally, the members-designate focused upon
administrative topics and used the session to get acquainted.  They also
received a legal and ethics briefing and an orientation on the process the
Station Redesign Team is following to develop options for the advisory
committee to consider.
Gibbons also announced that the United States and its
international partners -- the Europeans, Japanese and Canadians -- have
decided, after consultation, to give "full consideration" to use of
Russian assets in the course of the space station redesign process.
To that end, the Russians will be asked to participate in the
redesign effort on an as-needed consulting basis, so that the redesign
team can make use of their expertise in assessing the capabilities of MIR
and the possible use of MIR and other Russian capabilities and systems.
The U.S. and international partners hope to benefit from the expertise of
the Russian participants in assessing Russian systems and technology.  The
overall goal of the redesign effort is to develop options for reducing
station costs while preserving key research and exploration capabilitiaes.
Careful integration of Russian assets could be a key factor in achieving
that goal.
Gibbons reiterated that, "President Clinton is committed to the
redesigned space station and to making every effort to preserve the
science, the technology and the jobs that the space station program
represents.  However, he also is committed to a space station that is well
managed and one that does not consume the national resources which should
be used to invest in the future of this industry and this nation."
NASA Administrator Daniel S.  Goldin said the Russian
participation will be accomplished through the East-West Space Science
Center at the University of Maryland under the leadership of Roald
Sagdeev.
------- End of Blind-Carbon-Copy
From: dpage@ra.csc.ti.com (Doug Page)
Subject: Re: Sr-71 in propoganda films?
Nntp-Posting-Host: ra
Organization: Texas Instruments
Distribution: sci
Lines: 28
In article <1993Apr5.220610.1532@sequent.com>, bigfoot@sequent.com (Gregory Smith) writes:
|> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
|>
|> >In <1phv98$jbk@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
|>
|>
|> >>THe SR-71 stopped being a real secret by the mid 70's.
|> >>I had a friend in high school who had a poster with it's picture.
|>
|> >It was known well before that.  I built a model of it sometime in the
|> >mid 60's, billed as YF-12A/SR-71.  The model was based on YF-12A specs
|> >and had a big radar in the nose and 8 AAMs in closed bays on the
|> >underside of the fuselage.  The description, even then, read "speeds
|> >in excess of Mach 3 at altitudes exceeding 80,000 feet."
|>
|> L.B.J. publically announced the existance of the Blackbird program
|> in 1964.
He's also the one who dubbed it the SR-71 - it was the RS-71 until LBJ
mippselled (sic) it.
FWIW,
Doug Page
***  The opinions are mine (maybe), and don't necessarily represent those  ***
***  of my employer.                                                       ***
From: abdkw@stdvax (David Ward)
Subject: Re: Questions about Titan IV and Ariane 5
Distribution: sci
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center - Robotics Lab
Lines: 26
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1
In article <C50orq.7G0@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, gwg33762@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Garret W. Gengler) writes...
>In sci.space you write:
>
>>Try the ENVIRONET database at GSFC. FTP to envnet.gsfc.nasa.gov or
>>128.183.104.16, or call (310)286-5690.  They have data on STS, Ariane, Titan,
>>Atlas, Delta and Scout launch environments.
>
>Howdy.  Thanks for the info.
>
>I tried "anonymous" FTP there, but it didn't work.
>I also tried telnetting to the same address, but it asked for a login
>and password, although there was a note saying that the new username for
>environet was "envnet".
>
>Anyways, do you have any idea what else I should try?
>
>Thanks,
>Garret
>
>
The home office number for ENVIRONET is (301) 286-5690 (note area
code change).  A friend of mine used to use it to get LDEF data, but
he had to apply for a login name and password.  I have a call in for
more info, which I hope to get in the morning.
David W. @ GSFC
From: dpage@ra.csc.ti.com (Doug Page)
Subject: Re: Quaint US Archaisms
Nntp-Posting-Host: ra
Organization: Texas Instruments
Lines: 41
In article <C512wC.B0M.1@cs.cmu.edu>, nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
|> In article <1993Apr2.170157.24251@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes:
|>
<stuff deleted>
|> Of course the units of force have the same names as those of weight,
|> but in order to use them you need to keep useful constants like the
|> omnipresent 32.???? ft/sec^2 around.
|>
|> Maybe you'd like to go over again how this system is _so_ natural and
|> _so_ easy to use, Gary? While you're at it, you can figure out for us
|> the weight of 17 barrels and a quart of foo (density 17lb 2 3/4 oz per
|> cubic foot) on the moon (gravity 5 ft 7 3/32 in/sec^2). Let's face it,
|> even the imperial system uses a basically metric way of relating
|> quantities (i.e. that would be written as 5.59 ft/sec^2); the only
|> thing you're hanging on to is the right to express the same quantity
|> as 1731 inches, 144.25 feet, 48.0833 yards or 2.186 chains. What
|> everyone else is saying is _why_ do you want to do that?
|>
|> Any apparent remaining complexity in the SI system is due to the
|> multiplicity of the aforesaid prefixes. In fact what's going on (and
|> the fundamental difference between SI and imperial) is that you have
|> exactly one unit of each type, and all values of that type are
|> expressed as some multiple of the unit.
You mean like: seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years. . .  :-)
Remember,  the Fahrenheit temperature scale is also a centigrade scale.  Some
revisionists tell the history something like this:  The coldest point in a
particular Russian winter was marked on the thermometer as was the body
temperature of a volunteer (turns out he was sick, but you can't win 'em all).
Then the space in between the marks on the thermometer was then divided into
hundredths.
:-)
FWIW,
Doug Page
***  The opinions are mine (maybe), and do not necessarily represent those  ***
***  of my employer (or any other sane person, fot that matter).            ***
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Fred and Tom, ad naseum
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 189
>>Nick sez;
I'm not very impressed by the old so-called "prospecting" work from
LPI, it has almost all been geared towards industrially silly processes on
the moon as an excuse to put astronauts there.   [...]
>>Fred replies;
Translation:  It doesn't support the Nick Szabo Vision of the Future
to Which You MUST Subscribe...
>Tom sez;
Fred, we're all supporting what each of us thinks should be done, to some
degree.  If you have a problem with what Nick thinks should be done,
address it, instead of just complaining about his doing so.
>Fred again;
You really don't get what the 'complaints' are about, do you?
[not incredibly clear explanation of complaints...something between
feelings regarding Nick's method, and judgments about his meaning]
T
>>Maybe I'd get it if you said what the complaints are about, rather than
>>doing the same things that you mean to complain about.  When you trash
>>people, how am I supposed to read that as 'trashing people is bad'?
F
>Gee, funny that you get it now, then?  Deliberate obtuseness, perhaps?
*** Fred's issue #1;  Nick's alleged trashing of others ***
I only got it when you stopped trashing, and made your point patently,
instead of 'allegorically'.  That was my point all along, Fred.
>>>>Not only
>>>>do you do the same thing on the net (honestly reporting your ideas
>>>>on matters of policy and projects in space), but your response was just
>>>>baiting, not even part of a debate.
>>>I have yet to see Nick enter into anything remotely resembling "a
>>>debate".  I see him flame anyone or anything who disagrees with The
>>>One True Szabo Plan; I see him attacking people, calling them "lazy
>>>bastard" because they had the temerity to disagree with the Almight
>>>Nick; I see him questioning peoples ethics, again because they had the
>>>temerity to disagree with Lord God Szabo.  But debate?  BWAAaaahhhaaaa.
>>I'm glad you can laugh, since your ratio of debate/insult is about the same.
>Not even close, Tommy, and generally only when I'm dealing with
>someone like Nick.
I see we are dealing with a problem in a conflict of interpretations, not
least of which is your belief that only you can adequately judge what is
and is not debate.  Suffice to say that I disagree with you on that last
point.  Why don't you take a poll, Fred, if you want some psuedo-objective
point-of-view?
And, as usual, you defend your insults with "he started it."  "Yeah, I
took some of his research and called it my own, but he started it."  "So
what if I stole his car, he stole my lawnmower first."  Besides that, I
think it's still open to interpretation whether Nick actually did start it.
So your defense, besides being lame, and contradicting the first part of
the sentence in which it occurs, may not even apply anyway.
Your defense reminds me of the guy that broke the borrowed tool:  "I
never borrowed it, I already gave it back, and it was broken when you
gave it to me."  Make up yer mind, Fred!
>>>>I'm not convinced that people are necessary in all parts of every space-
>>>>based process, and your response doesn't tell me a thing about the
>>>>reasons why you think they should be, except to impune the motives of
>>>>the person with a divergent opinion.
>>>Who said I think they should be, Tommy?  Show me a note where I said
>>>that and I'll eat this terminal.    ****See below, Fred****
>>Fred, I cocluded that you did, since you took issue with it.  The fact
>>that my conclusion was incorrect, i.e. that you were taking issue with
>>something different, is evidence that your communication style is
>>confusing.
>Or evidence that your reading and comprehension style are inadequate.
First, I try to address what I think you meant, for which I am rewarded
with a denial of sorts, and a smart remark.  Then, I point out that I am
not clear what you did mean, rather than risking your childish ire, wrongly
interpreting you a second time, and I'm stupid for it.  I just can't win,
can I, Fred?  You've got a great point here somewhere, it's just that
between stupid people that you must insult, and your jealous guarding of
your valuable opinions, you never actually get around to making it.
>Please quote the 'it' I took issue with.  I believe you will see (if
>you look) that what I was and am taking issue with is Mr Szabo's idea
>that the manned program should be scrapped until such time as his
>toaster-based infrastructure is finished.  All Hail the Szabo Plan!
*** Fred issue #2;  Nick's alleged meaning ***
Too bad the plan only exists in your mind, instead of Nick's, or you
would have a really good point.  Instead you have provided a good reason
to ignore your insults, since they are based on incorrect interpretations
that you have made about others.  Forgive me for giving your insults more
meaning than they ever should have had.
My reading of what Nick actually said is that "people aren't required in
all parts of all space processes", so your taking issue with his opinions
regarding people in the space program, I read as "People are required in
all parts of all space processes."  So, help me out, here, Fred, since I'm
so patently stupid.  Did you read Nick wrong?  Or are you going to eat
your terminal now?  If the latter, I sure hope it's one of those Cheeto and
string models that all the computer mags have been raving about :-)
The point is, _I_ am not stupid because of _your_ incorrect assumption.  I'd
only be stupid if I insulted you for having made it.  But, alas, that's your
job, Fred.
And, finally, your style is confusing, since you tried to make two points,
simultaneously, with an allegory/insult.  Sadly, one point addressed a 'plan'
that only existed in your mind, and the other took issue with behaviors that
you do as much as anyone.
>More deliberate lack of understanding, Tommy?
No, no, I finally got it.  You don't like the plan that Nick's posts made
you imagine.  And you don't like Nick's obnoxious behavior, even though
it's no worse than your own.  Thanks for taking the time with someone as
dense as myself.
>>>>If you have a problem with Nick's delivery, address that.  The way you
>>>>bait, you're perpetuating the lack of discourse that you complain of.
>>>No, Tommy, the 'bait' is that which elicits the response.  *NICK*
>>>'baits'; I just flame him for being an obnoxious fool.
>>I don't really care who started it.  I read this list to get information
>>and other's views on the issues to which it was dedicated, not to be
>>your Mom (He started it!  No, he did!) or to hear about why Nick is a very
>>bad guy.  If you think flaming is bad, stop flaming, or at least get to
>>the point in the first post, instead of explaining yourself all the time.
>That's nice, Tommy.  When you pay me to post to the net you can
>complain about not getting your money's worth.  Perhaps if you weren't
>(deliberately?) too thick to get the point the first time I wouldn't
>have to waste time "explaining [myself] all the time"?
Of course, Socrates.  How could it be otherwise?
>I think it's neat how all this criticism from you started after your
>'fatherly' admonitions to me about how such things should be handled
>outside Usenet were somewhat rebuffed.  Being a little hypocritical,
>Tommy (to go with the immaturity)?  Or is this just the pique of a
>net.ghod wannabe who got turned down by someone he *thought* was new
>(and hence could be 'instructed' -- Tommy, I saw you come on the net).
Who cares who came on the net first?  If you do, consider that you saw
me come on after a brief haitus, before which I was on for about 2 years.
If you had seen me on the net first, you'd remember when Nick and I went
down exactly the same road regarding rude, unneccesary behavior.  It's
just amazing to me that you continue to take issue with behavior that's
no worse than your own.
Let's see here, my complaints about your obnoxious behavior are hypocritical,
while your flames against people you decide are flamers isn't, and my
complaints about your name-calling are immature, while your name-calling
isn't.  Yeah, right.  Maybe if you called me some more names, I might
see it better, Fred.
"Net.ghod wannabe"?  Naturally, Fred, you've correctly interpreted my
motivations, when yours are impossible to judge from your actions (as
your insulting of people that try, proves).  I didn't really care about
people that fill the net with personal garbage, what I really wanted was to
impress everyone.  I only put my complaints with your behavior on private
mail, not because it belongs there, but because I thought you were such a
jerk that you'd bring it back to the Net, playing right into my hands.
Alas, I had no idea what an intellectual master you were, turning tables and
bringing the history of these posts to the net, for the noble and valuable
purpose of embarassing me.  Whether I should feel stupid because I tried
to make suggestions to such a superior intellect, or becuase I tried to
communicate like an adult with a self-righteous ass, still isn't clear.
Well, Fred, you exposed me.  Now I'll never be able to get a(nother) job
with NASA, since they all know that I'm stupider than Fred McCall.  Well,
I just hope you're happy.  Please leave me alone, now.  I just don't
have the heart to attempt keeping up with one so far above me.  Maybe Nick
or Pat can approach your high standards, but I'm dropping it now.
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: DC-X Rollout Report
Article-I.D.: topaz.STEINLY.93Apr6170313
Distribution: sci
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 29
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: buenneke@monty.rand.org's message of Tue, 6 Apr 1993 22:34:39 GMT
In article <C532v3.Ftn.1@cs.cmu.edu> buenneke@monty.rand.org (Richard Buenneke) writes:
McDonnell Douglas rolls out DC-X
...
SSTO research remains cloudy.  The SDI Organization -- which paid $60
million for the DC-X -- can't itself afford to fund full development of a
follow-on vehicle.  To get the necessary hundreds of millions required for
This is a little peculiar way of putting it, SDIO's budget this year
was, what, $3-4 billion? They _could_ fund all of the DC development
out of one years budget - of course they do have other irons in the
fire ;-) and launcher development is not their primary purpose, but
the DC development could as easily be paid for by diverting that money
as by diverting the comparable STS ops budget...
- oh, and before the flames start. I applaud the SDIO for funding DC-X
devlopment and I hope it works, and, no, launcher development is not
NASAs primary goal either, IMHO they are supposed to provide the
enabling technology research for others to do launcher development,
and secondarily operate such launchers as they require - but that's
just me.
|  Steinn Sigurdsson	|I saw two shooting stars last night		|
|  Lick Observatory	|I wished on them but they were only satellites	|
| steinly@lick.ucsc.edu |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?		|
| "standard disclaimer"	|I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983	|
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Re: Vulcan? No, not Spock or Haphaestus
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 16
Distribution: world
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
> Another legend with the name Vulcan was the planet, much like Earth,
> in the same orbit
There was a Science fiction movie sometime ago (I do not remember its
name) about a planet in the same orbit of Earth but hidden behind the
Sun so it could never be visible from Earth. Turns out that that planet
was the exact mirror image of Earth and all its inhabitants looked like
the Earthings with the difference that their organs was in the opposite
side like the heart was in the right side instead in the left and they
would shake hands with the left hand and so on...
C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV
C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov
Claudio Oliveira Egalon
From: tuinstra@signal.ece.clarkson.edu.soe (Dwight Tuinstra)
Subject: Re: Clementine name
Reply-To: tuinstra@signal.ece.clarkson.edu.soe
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 21
Nntp-Posting-Host: signal.ece.clarkson.edu
In article F00001@permanet.org, Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permanet.org (Mark Prado) writes:
>Please go just one step further:
>How has the word "Clementine" been associated with mining?
>
Could be the (folk?) song "Clementine".  If memory serves, part of it goes:
In a cavern, by a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
and his daughter, Clementine.
Anyone who watched Huckleberry Hound can sing you the chorus :-)
Is there a story/real person behind the song?
+========================================================================+
|  dwight tuinstra             best:  tuinstra@sandman.ece.clarkson.edu  |
|                         tolerable:  tuinstrd@craft.camp.clarkson.edu   |
|                                                                        |
|        "Homo sapiens: planetary cancer??  ...  News at six"            |
+========================================================================+
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Some Recent Observations by Hubble
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 23
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: HST, Pluto, Uranus
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Here are some recent observations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope:
o The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) was used to make ultraviolet
observations of both the planet Pluto, and its moon Charon. The
peakups were successful. The observations were executed as
scheduled, and no problems were reported.
o Observations were made using the High Speed Photometer of the Planet
Uranus during an occultation by a faint star in Capricornus. These
observations will help in our understanding of the planet's
atmospheric radiative and dynamical processes. This event occurred
close to the last quarter moon, and special arrangements had to be
made to modify the lunar limit tests to allow these observations.
The observations are currently being reviewed, and all the
observations looked okay.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: almo@packmind.EBay.Sun.COM (Alan Monday-WWCS Business Mgt. Group)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 14
Distribution: world
Reply-To: almo@packmind.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: packmind.ebay.sun.com
Hey!? What happened to the solar sail race that was supposed to be
for Columbus+500?
In article 29848@news.duc.auburn.edu, snydefj@eng.auburn.edu (Frank J. Snyder) writes:
>
>I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
> Sails. I understand that the JPL did an extensive study on the subject
> back in the late 70's but I am having trouble gathering such information.
>
>Are there any groups out there currently involved in such a project ?
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Ozone GIFs Available
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 90
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Ozone, UARS, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
==========================
OZONE GIF IMAGES
April 15, 1993
==========================
Two GIF images of the ozone maps over the northern and southern
hemispheres are now available at the JPL Info public access site.  These maps
were produced by the Microwave Limb Sounder aboard the Upper Atmosphere
Research Satellite (UARS), and are courtesy of the Public Information Office
at JPL.  Note that the images are in GIF89a format, so make sure your display
software supports this format (as opposed to the older GIF87a format).  The
caption files accompanying the images are appended at the end of this message,
as well as being embedded in the images.  The images are available by dialup
modem at +1 (818) 354-1333, up to 9600 bps, parameters N-8-1, or by using
anonymous ftp to:
ftp:      pubinfo.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.6.2)
user:     anonymous
cd:       news (will be moved to the images directory in 30 days)
files:    ozone93a.gif - Northern hemisphere
ozone93b.gif - Southern hemisphere
Also, photographic prints of these images can be ordered from Newell Color
Lab listed below.  Refer to the P number associated with the images when
ordering.
Newell Color Lab
221 N. Westmoreland Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90064
Telephone: (213) 380-2980
FAX: (213) 739-6984
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ozone93a.gif
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO                                                     P-42210
April 14, 1993
This graphic depicts chlorine monoxide and ozone over Earth's
northern hemisphere in February 1992 and 1993.  These maps were
produced by the Microwave Limb Sounder aboard the Upper
Atmosphere Research Satellite.  The chlorine monoxide (ClO) maps
(left) are for a layer about 20 kilometers (66,000 feet) above
the Earth's surface on February 17, 1992 (above) and 1993
(below).  The ozone maps show the total amount above an altitude
of about 12 kilometers (41,000 feet) averaged over the period
from February 15 to March 6 for the two years.  The Microwave
Limb Sounder, developed and operated by a team at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, is one of several instruments on the
Goddard Space Flight Center's Upper Atmosphere Research
Satellite, launched in September 1991.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ozone93b.gif
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION                                             P-42211
April 14, 1993
This graphic depicts chlorine monoxide (ClO) and the Antarctic
ozone hole.  These maps, produced by the Microwave Limb Sounder
aboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, show the amount
of chlorine monoxide (left) and ozone (right) in the stratosphere
at altitudes above 20 kilometers (66,000 feet).  Very small
abundances of ozone appear where there are large abundances of
chlorine monoxide, the dominant form of chlorine that destroys
ozone.  Data from September 21, 1991 (top) are compared with
those from September 20, 1992 (bottom).  The Microwave Limb
Sounder, developed and operated by a team at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, is one of several instruments on Goddard
Space Flight Center's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
launched September 12, 1991.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Sixty-two thousand (was Re: How many read sci.space?)
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 67
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1993Apr15.072429.10206@sol.UVic.CA>, rborden@ugly.UVic.CA (Ross  Borden) writes:
> In article <734850108.F00002@permanet.org> Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permanet.org (Mark Prado) writes:
>>
>>One could go on and on and on here, but I wonder ... how
>>many people read sci.space and of what power/influence are
>>these individuals?
>>
> 	Quick!  Everyone who sees this, post a reply that says:
>
> 			"Hey, I read sci.space!"
>
> Then we can count them, and find out how many there are! :-)
> (This will also help answer that nagging question: "Just what is
> the maximum bandwidth of the Internet, anyways?")
A practical suggestion, to be sure, but one could *also* peek into
news.lists, where Brian Reid has posted "USENET Readership report for
Mar 93." Another posting called "USENET READERSHIP SUMMARY REPORT FOR
MAR 93" gives the methodology and caveats of Reid's survey.  (These
postings failed to appear for a while-- I wonder why?-- but they are
now back.)
Reid, alas, gives us no measure of the "power/influence" of readers...
Sorry, Mark.
I suspect Mark, dangling out there on Fidonet, may not get news.lists
so I've mailed him copies of these reports.
The bottom line?
+-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide.
|     +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population
|     |     +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all
|     |     |      +-- Recent traffic (messages per month)
|     |     |      |      +-- Recent traffic (kilobytes per month)
|     |     |      |      |      +-- Crossposting percentage
|     |     |      |      |      |    +-- Cost ratio: $US/month/rdr
|     |     |      |      |      |    |      +-- Share: % of newsrders
|     |     |      |      |      |    |      |   who read this group.
V     V     V      V      V      V    V      V
88  62000  1493   80%  1958  4283.9    19%  0.10   2.9%  sci.space
The first figure indicates that sci.space ranks 88th among most-read
newsgroups.
I've been keeping track sporadically to watch the growth of traffic
and readership.  You might be entertained to see this.
Oct 91   55  71000  1387   84%   718  1865.2    21%  0.04   4.2%  sci.space
Mar 92   43  85000  1741   82%  1207  2727.2    13%  0.06   4.1%  sci.space
Jul 92   48  94000  1550   80%  1044  2448.3    12%  0.04   3.8%  sci.space
May 92   45  94000  2023   82%   834  1744.8    13%  0.04   4.1%  sci.space
(some kind of glitch in estimating number of readers happens here)
Sep 92   45  51000  1690   80%  1420  3541.2    16%  0.11   3.6%  sci.space
Nov 92   78  47000  1372   81%  1220  2633.2    17%  0.08   2.8%  sci.space
(revision in ranking groups happens here(?))
Mar 93   88  62000  1493   80%  1958  4283.9    19%  0.10   2.9%  sci.space
Possibly old Usenet hands could give me some more background on how to
interpret these figures, glitches, or the history of Reid's reporting
effort.  Take it to e-mail-- it doesn't belong in sci.space.
Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey              | In a churchyard in the valley
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory  | Where the myrtle doth entwine
Bitnet:           HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET  | There grow roses and other posies
Internet:       HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV  | Fertilized by Clementine.
SPAN/Hepnet:           43011::HIGGINS  |
From: Chris W. Johnson <chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: New DC-x gif
Organization: University of Texas at Austin Computation Center
Lines: 20
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d20
X-XXMessage-ID: <A7F316D13D01BE1F@gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu>
X-XXDate: Thu, 15 Apr 93 19:42:41 GMT
In article <Cohen-150493082611@q5022531.mdc.com> Andy Cohen,
Cohen@ssdgwy.mdc.com writes:
> I just uploaded "DCXart2.GIF" to bongo.cc.utexas.edu...after Chris Johnson
> moves it, it'll probably be in pub/delta-clipper.
Thanks again Andy.
The image is in pub/delta-clipper now. The name has been changed to
"dcx-artists-concept.gif" in the spirit of verboseness. :-)
----Chris
Chris W. Johnson
Internet:   chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu
UUCP:       {husc6|uunet}!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!chrisj
CompuServe: >INTERNET:chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu
AppleLink:  chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu@internet#
...wishing the Delta Clipper team success in the upcoming DC-X flight tests.
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Article-I.D.: mojo.1qkmkiINNep3
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <1993Apr15.204210.26022@mksol.dseg.ti.com>, pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron) writes:
>
>There are actually only two of us.  I do Henry, Fred, Tommy and Mary.  Oh yeah,
>this isn't my real name, I'm a bald headed space baby.
Damn!  So it was YOU who was drinking beer with ROBERT McELWANE in the PARKING
LOT of the K-MART!
UNLIMITED INSEMINATION OF THIS MESSAGE
RIGIDLY REFUSED
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: *Doppelganger* (was Re: Vulcan? No, not Spock or Haphaestus)
Article-I.D.: mojo.1qkn6rINNett
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
Distribution: world
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 17
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <1993Apr15.170048.1@fnalf.fnal.gov>, higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>This was known as *Journey to the Far Side of the Sun* in the United
>States and as *Doppelganger* in the U.K... Later, they went
>on to do more live-action SF series: *UFO* and *Space: 1999*.
>
>The astronomy was lousy, but the lifting-body spacecraft, VTOL
>airliners, and mighty Portugese launch complex were *wonderful* to
>look at.
They recycled a lot of models and theme music for UFO.  Some of the
concepts even showed up in SPACE: 1999.
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: ETRAT@ttacs1.ttu.edu (Pack Rat)
Subject: Shuttle Launch Question
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 16
There has been something bothering me while watching
NASA Select for a while.  Well, I should'nt say
bothering, maybe wondering would be better.  When
they are going to launch they say (sorry but I forget
exactly who is saying what, OTC to PLT I think)
"Clear caution & warning memory.  Verify no unexpected
errors. ...".  I am wondering what an "expected error" might
be.  Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but
inquiring minds just gotta know............
Yeah, yeah, I know, its those dumb cosmospheres again!
=============================================================
Randy Padgett, Supervisor      BITNET   : ETRAT@TTACS
Academic Computing Facilities  Internet : ETRAT@TTACS.TTU.EDU
Texas Tech University          THEnet   : TTACS::ETRAT
Lubbock, TX 79409-42042  (806) 742-3653   FAX (806) 742-1755
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: How to get there? (was Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 27
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1993Apr15.051309.22252@stortek.com>, pg@sanitas.stortek.com (Paul Gilmartin) writes:
> Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey (higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov) wrote:
> : While you're at it, comet experts, explain how a comet gets into
> : Jovian orbit to begin with!
>
> : There are non-gravitational forces from heating and outgassing when a
> : comet gets into the inner solar system.  [...]
>
> Don't forget the Galilean satellites of Jupiter.
My poor old physics intuition will be very surprised if these tiny
masses, sitting very close to Jupiter, play any role whatsoever in the
problem.   Or, to put it more technically, the extra "volume" they add
to the phase space of possible capture trajectories is negligible.
Jupiter is 2E27 kg, while the Galilean satellites are around 1E23.
Also, as I said, the few references that I've looked at do not
mention outgassing or breakup as important processes.  The important
thing is a Jupiter-Sun-comet "reverse slingshot" that leads to a
weakly Jupiter-bound orbit for the comet (at least a temporary one).
Bill Higgins                       | Late at night she still doth haunt me
Fermilab                           | Dressed in garments soaked in brine
Bitnet:       HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET  | Though in life I used to hug her
Internet:   HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV  | Now she's dead, I draw the line!
SPAN/Hepnet:       43011::HIGGINS  |  --after the tragedy, "Clementine"
From: jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch)
Subject: A WRENCH in the works?
Originator: jmcocker@c00068-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Lines: 19
Hi all,
I really thought that by now I would have seen something
about this, but I haven't, so here goes:  Last night on
the evening news, the anchorperson said something to the
effect that one of the SSRBs that was recovered after the
recent space shuttle launch was found to have a wrench of
some sort rattling around apparently inside the case.  There
was no elaboration as to where specfically the item was
found, of what type of wrench it was, but the anchorperson
did say something about a NASA official commenting that
there would be an inquiry into how the thing got in the SSRB.
Has anybody else on the net whose info sources may be
better than mine heard anything about this?  It seems rather
weird.
Mitch ---------------------------->jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu
From: DPierce@world.std.com (Richard D Pierce)
Subject: Re: Some Recent Observations by Hubble
Keywords: HST, Pluto, Uranus
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Lines: 13
In article <15APR199316461058@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>Here are some recent observations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope:
>
>     o Observations were made using the High Speed Photometer of the Planet
>       Uranus during an occultation by a faint star in Capricornus.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wow! I knew Uranus is a long way off, but I didn't think it was THAT far away!
--
|                Dick Pierce                |
|    Loudspeaker and Software Consulting    |
| 17 Sartelle Street   Pepperell, MA  01463 |
|       (508) 433-9183 (Voice and FAX)      |
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 04/15/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 113
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from Neal Ausman, Galileo Mission Director
GALILEO
MISSION DIRECTOR STATUS REPORT
POST-LAUNCH
April 9 - 15, 1993
SPACECRAFT
1.  On April 9, real-time commands were sent, as planned, to reacquire
celestial reference after completion of the Low Gain Antenna (LGA-2)
swing/Dual Drive Actuator (DDA) hammer activities.
2.  On April 9, the EJ-1 (Earth-Jupiter #1) sequence memory load was uplinked
to the spacecraft without incident.  This sequence covers spacecraft activity
from April 12, 1993 to June 14, 1993 and includes a window for the Radio Relay
Antenna (RRA) slew test on April 28, 1993.  The command loss timer was set to
11 days as a part of this sequence memory load.
3.  On April 12 and 15, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss
timer to 264 hours, its planned value during this mission phase.
4.  On April 12, cruise science Memory Readouts (MROs) were performed for the
Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EUV), Dust Detector (DDS), and Magnetometer
(MAG) instruments.  Preliminary analysis indicates the data was received
properly.
5.  On April 12, an Ultra-Stable Oscillator (USO) test was performed to verify
the health status of the USO and to collect gravitational red shift experiment
data; long term trend analysis is continuing.
6.  On April 14, a 40bps modulation index test was performed to determine the
optimal Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) when transmitting at 40bps.  Preliminary
analysis of the data suggests that the present pre-launch selected modulation
index is near the optimal level.
7.  On April 15, cruise science Memory Readouts (MROs) were performed for the
Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EUV) and Magnetometer (MAG) instrument.
Preliminary analysis indicates the data was received properly.
8.  On April 15, a periodic RPM (Retro-Propulsion Module) 10-Newton thruster
flushing maintenance activity was performed; all 12 thrusters were flushed
during the activity.  Thruster performance throughout the activity was nominal.
9.  The AC/DC bus imbalance measurements have not exhibited significant
changes (greater than 25 DN) throughout this period.  The AC measurement reads
19 DN (4.3 volts).  The DC measurement reads 111 DN (12.9 volts).  These
measurements are consistent with the model developed by the AC/DC special
anomaly team.
10. The Spacecraft status as of April 15, 1993, is as follows:
a)  System Power Margin -  60 watts
b)  Spin Configuration - Dual-Spin
c)  Spin Rate/Sensor - 3.15rpm/Star Scanner
d)  Spacecraft Attitude is approximately 18 degrees
off-sun (lagging) and 6 degrees off-earth (leading)
e)  Downlink telemetry rate/antenna- 40bps(coded)/LGA-1
f)  General Thermal Control - all temperatures within
acceptable range
g)  RPM Tank Pressures - all within acceptable range
h)  Orbiter Science- Instruments powered on are the PWS,
EUV, UVS, EPD, MAG, HIC, and DDS
i)  Probe/RRH - powered off, temperatures within
acceptable range
j)  CMD Loss Timer Setting - 264 hours
Time To Initiation - 260 hours
GDS (Ground Data Systems):
1.  Galileo participated in a second DSN (Deep Space Network) acceptance test
for the DSN Telemetry Phase 3 Upgrade on April 13, 1993, using CTA-21
(Compatibility Test Area 21).  The purpose of this test was to verify
the flow of Galileo telemetry data through the new Telemetry Group Controller
(TGC) and the Telemetry Channel Assembly (TCA).  The TGC/TCA is the replacement
for the current Telemetry Processing Assembly (TPA).  Seven different telemetry
rates were run for this test; all ran well on both the MTS (MCCC Telemetry
Subsystem) and the AMMOS MGDS V18.0 GIF with the exception of 10bps.  The
10bps rate had some trouble staying in lock; it appears the TGC/TCA was
not metering the data correctly.  Further comparisons between the MGDS and MTS
data from this test are being conducted. MVT (Mission Verification Test) of
the TGC/TCA system is expected to begin May 16, 1993.
TRAJECTORY
As of noon Thursday, April 15, 1993, the Galileo Spacecraft trajectory
status was as follows:
Distance from Earth         152,606,000 km (1.02 AU)
Distance from Sun           277,519,800 km (1.86 AU)
Heliocentric Speed          93,400 km per hour
Distance from Jupiter       543,973,900 km
Round Trip Light Time       17 minutes, 4 seconds
SPECIAL TOPIC
1.  As of April 15, 1993, a total of 70184 real-time commands have been
transmitted to Galileo since Launch.  Of these, 65076  were initiated in the
sequence design process and 5108 initiated in the real-time command process.
In the past week, 7 real time commands were transmitted: 6 were initiated in
the sequence design process and one initiated in the real time command process.
Major command activities included commands to reacquire celestial reference,
uplink the EJ-1 sequence memory load, and reset the command loss timer.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Successful Balloon Flight Measures Ozone Layer
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 96
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from:
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. (818) 354-5011
Contact:  Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              April 15, 1993
#1506
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory report the
successful flight of a balloon carrying instruments designed to
measure and study chemicals in the Earth's ozone layer.
The April 3 flight from California's Barstow/Daggett Airport
reached an altitude of 37 kilometers (121,000 feet) and took
measurements as part of a program established to correlate data
with the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).
The data from the balloon flight will also be compared to
readings from the Atmospheric Trace Molecular Spectroscopy
(ATMOS) experiment which is currently flying onboard the shuttle
Discovery.
"We launch these balloons several times a year as part of an
ongoing ozone research program.  In fact, JPL is actively
involved in the study of ozone and the atmosphere in three
important ways," said Dr. Jim Margitan, principal investigator on
the balloon research campaign.
"There are two JPL instruments on the UARS satellite," he
continued.  "The ATMOS experiment is conducted by JPL scientists,
and the JPL balloon research provides collaborative ground truth
for those activities, as well as data that is useful in its own
right."
The measurements taken by the balloon payload will add more
pieces to the complex puzzle of the atmosphere, specifically the
mid-latitude stratosphere during winter and spring.
Understanding the chemistry occurring in this region helps
scientists construct more accurate computer models which are
instrumental in predicting future ozone conditions.
The scientific balloon payload consisted of three JPL
instruments:  an ultraviolet ozone photometer which measures
ozone as the balloon ascends and descends through the atmosphere;
a submillimeterwave limb sounder which looks at microwave
radiation emitted by molecules in the atmosphere; and a Fourier
transform infrared interferometer which monitors how the
atmosphere absorbs sunlight.
Launch occurred at about noontime, and following a three-
hour ascent, the balloon floated eastward at approximately 130
kilometers per hour (70 knots).  Data was radioed to ground
stations and recorded onboard.  The flight ended at 10 p.m.
Pacific time in eastern New Mexico when the payload was commanded
to separate from the balloon.
"We needed to fly through sunset to make the infrared
measurements," Margitan explained, "and we also needed to fly in
darkness to watch how quickly some of the molecules disappear."
It will be several weeks before scientists will have the
completed results of their experiments.  They will then forward
their data to the UARS central data facility at the Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland for use by the UARS
scientists.
The balloon was launched by the National Scientific Balloon
Facility, normally based in Palestine, Tex., operating under a
contract from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.  The balloon was
launched in California because of the west-to-east wind direction
and the desire to keep the operation in the southwest.
The balloons are made of 20-micron (0.8 mil, or less than
one-thousandth of an inch) thick plastic, and are 790,000 cubic
meters (28 million cubic feet) in volume when fully inflated with
helium (120 meters (400 feet) in diameter).  The balloons weigh
between 1,300 and 1,800 kilograms (3,000 and 4,000 pounds).  The
scientific payload weighs about 1,300 kilograms (3,000) pounds
and is 1.8 meters (six feet) square by 4.6 meters (15 feet) high.
The JPL balloon research is sponsored by NASA's Upper
Atmosphere Research Program and the UARS Correlative Measurements
Program.
#####
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Being cynical never helps
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | to correct the situation
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | and causes more aggravation
| instead.
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Russian Operation of US Space Missions.
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 10
I know people hate it when someone says somethings like "there was an article
about that somewhere a while ago" but I'm going to say it anyway.  I read an
article on this subject, almost certainly in Space News, and something like
six months ago.  If anyone is really interested in the subject I can probably
hunt it down given enough motivation.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Tout ce qu'un homme est capable d'imaginer, d'autres hommes
seront capable de le realiser"
-Jules Verne
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Lines: 11
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
There are actually only two of us.  I do Henry, Fred, Tommy and Mary.  Oh yeah,
this isn't my real name, I'm a bald headed space baby.
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |Texans: Vote NO on Robin Hood.  We need
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |solutions, not gestures.
PADI DM-54909                     |
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: *Doppelganger* (was Re: Vulcan? No, not Spock or Haphaestus)
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 22
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1qju0bINN10l@rave.larc.nasa.gov>, C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON) writes:
> There was a Science fiction movie sometime ago (I do not remember its
> name) about a planet in the same orbit of Earth but hidden behind the
> Sun so it could never be visible from Earth.
This was known as *Journey to the Far Side of the Sun* in the United
States and as *Doppelganger* in the U.K.  It was produced by the great
team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (whose science was usually a bit
better than this).  It may have been their first production using live
actors-- they were better known for their technophilic puppet shows,
such as *Supercar*, *Stingray*, and *Thunderbirds*.  Later, they went
on to do more live-action SF series: *UFO* and *Space: 1999*.
The astronomy was lousy, but the lifting-body spacecraft, VTOL
airliners, and mighty Portugese launch complex were *wonderful* to
look at.
Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey              | In a churchyard in the valley
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory  | Where the myrtle doth entwine
Bitnet:           HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET  | There grow roses and other posies
Internet:       HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV  | Fertilized by Clementine.
SPAN/Hepnet:           43011::HIGGINS  |
From: jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Lines: 37
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
In article <15APR199315012030@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
> In article <1993Apr15.094320.1723@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes...
>>> > So how close would the comet have gotten to Jupiter on the pass that
>>> > put it into temporary orbit, and how far is it likely to get from
>>> > Jupiter before it makes its escape?
>>>
>>> The answer to all of these questions is we don't know yet.
>>> We don't know for sure if the comet is in a temporary orbit.
>>
>>I see.  I wasn't so interested in this particular case as in typical
>>behavior, anyway.  Can these questions be answered for a previous
>>instance, such as the Gehrels 3 that was mentioned in an earlier posting?
>
> Gehrels 3 was in a temporary Jovian orbit for about 3 or 4 years.  I'll
> get the orbital elements from Dance of the Planets and post them here.
Sorry folks, I should have done this, and meant to just after i hit the
send key...
Orbital Elements of Comet 1977VII (from Dance files)
p(au)          3.424346
e              0.151899
i              1.0988
cap_omega(0) 243.5652
W(0)         231.1607
epoch       1977.04110
Also, perihelions of Gehrels3 were:
April  1973     83 jupiter radii
August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
Hope this helps...I'm even less of an orbital mechanic than I am an artist.
John Garland
jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca
From: tkelso@afit.af.mil (TS Kelso)
Subject: Two-Line Orbital Element Set:  Space Shuttle
Keywords: Space Shuttle, Orbital Elements, Keplerian
Nntp-Posting-Host: scgraph.afit.af.mil
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology
Lines: 21
The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element sets are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are updated daily (when
possible).  Documentation and tracking software are also available on this
system.  As a service to the satellite user community, the most current
elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below.  The Celestial
BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using
8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
Element sets (also updated daily), shuttle elements, and some documentation
and software are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.afit.af.mil
(129.92.1.66) in the directory pub/space.
STS 56
1 22621U 93 23  A 93105.06179397  .00044513  00000-0  12649-3 0   230
2 22621  57.0022 147.2850 0004246 288.7332  38.0941 15.92991629  1084
1993 023B
1 22623U 93 23  B 93103.37312705  .00041032  00000-0  11888-3 0    86
2 22623  57.0000 155.1150 0004422 293.4650  66.5967 15.92653917   803
--
Dr TS Kelso                           Assistant Professor of Space Operations
tkelso@afit.af.mil                    Air Force Institute of Technology
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: DC-X update???
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 35
In article <1993Apr14.231654.14060@stsci.edu> rdouglas@stsci.edu (Rob Douglas) writes:
>This question is probably mostly for Allen Sherzer, but anyone who KNOWS
>would be welcome to answer.  I was just wondering if we could have some kind
>of update on DC-X.
Well it rolled out two weeks ago. As we speak it is at White Sands getting
ready. I would have called my sources for the latest but they are all out
of town (in NM).
As for the future, there is at least $5M in next years budget for work
on SSRT. They (SDIO) have been looking for more funds and do seem to have
some. However, SDIO is not (I repeat, is not) going to fund an orbital
prototype. The best we can hope from them is to 1) keep it alive for
another year, and 2) fund a suborbital vehicle which MIGHT (with
major modifications) just make orbit. There is also some money for a
set of prototype tanks and projects to answer a few more open questions.
Better news comes from the new Spacelifter effort. The USAF managers of
this program are very open to SSTO and will have about $50M next
year for studies. This would be enough to bring DC-Y to PDR.
Now not all of this money will go to DC but a good case could be made
for spending half on DC.
Public support is STILL critical. Meet with your Congressperson (I'll
help you do it) and get his/her support. Also call your local media
ans get them to cover the flight tests.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------62 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: aa429@freenet.carleton.ca (Terry Ford)
Subject: NASP
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 15
Could someone please send me the basics of the NASP project:
1. The proposal/objectives
2. The current status of the project/obstacles encountered
3. Chance that the project shall ever be completed
or any other interesting information about this project.
Any help will be much appreciated
--
Terry Ford [aa429@freenet.carleton.ca]
>House, Nepean, Ontario, Canada, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Cluster A21<
DISCALIMER: Any injuries occuring as a direct result from the reading of this
message INCLUDING HEART PALPITATIONS is not my fault in any shape or form.
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: Space Event in Los Angeles, CA
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 52
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           Contact:  OASIS (310) 364-2290
15 April 1993                                Los Angeles, CA
LOCAL NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY CHAPTERS SPONSOR TALK BY L.A.
ADVOCATE OF LUNAR POWER SYSTEM AS ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE WORLD
On April 21, the OASIS and Ventura County chapters of the National
Space Society will sponsor a talk by Lunar Power System (LPS) co-
inventor and vice-president of the LPS Coalition, Dr. Robert D.
Waldron.  It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockwell Science
Center in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Dr. Waldron is currently a Technical Specialist in Space
Materials Processing with the Space Systems Division of Rockwell
International in Downey, California.  He is a recognized world
authority on lunar materials refinement.  He has written or
coauthored more than 15 articles or reports on nonterrestrial
materials processing or utilization.  Along with Dr. David
Criswell, Waldron invented the lunar/solar power system concept.
Momentum is building for a coalition of entrepreneurs, legal
experts, and Soviet and U.S. scientists and engineers to build
the Lunar Power System, a pollution-free, energy source with a
potential to power the globe.
For the past three years members of the coalition, nearly half
from California, have rejuvenated the commercial and scientific
concept of a solar power system based on the Moon.
The LPS concept entails collecting solar energy on the lunar
surface and beaming the power to Earth as microwaves transmitted
through orbiting antennae.  A mature LPS offers an enormous
source of clean, sustainable power to meet the Earth's ever
increasing demand using proven, basic technology.
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Space
Industrialization) is the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the
National Space Society, which is an international non-profit
organization that promotes development of the space frontier.
The Ventura County chapter is based in Oxnard, CA.
WHERE:  Rockwell Science Center Auditorium, 1049 Camino
Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA.
DIRECTIONS: Ventura Freeway 101 to Thousand Oaks, exit onto
Lynn Road heading North (right turn from 101
North, Left turn from 101 South), after about 1/2
mile turn Left on Camino Dos Rios, after about 1/2
mile make First Right into Rockwell after Camino
Colindo, Parking at Top of Hill to the Left
From: rborden@ugly.UVic.CA (Ross  Borden)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Nntp-Posting-Host: ugl-gw.uvic.ca
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Lines: 33
In article <1qjs1j$306@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>
>
>In the old days,  their used to be Arbitron stats'  that analyzed
>the readership and posting volumes  by group  and user.
>
>They were available from UUNET.   That's how you check the
>readership of Sci.space,  not some stupid  unscientific attempt
>to  flood the newsgroup.
>
>I have abetter idea.  WHy don't we all reply directly to the
>origanator  of this post,  and tell him we read sci.space ;-)
>
>
>pat
Sigh.
I try to make a little joke, I try to inject some humour here
and what happens?  In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn:
"I say, that was a _joke_, son."
I thought that the bit about McElwaine, not to mention the two
smileys, would indicate to even the most humour impaired that I was
JOKING.
Sigh.
(And will everyone who pat's suggestion (thanks bunches, pat)
*please* stop sending me email.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  I shot a man just to watch him die;    |     Ross Borden                   |
|  I'm going to Disneyland!               |     rborden@ra.uvic.ca            |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: abdkw@stdvax (David Ward)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Launch Question
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center - Robotics Lab
Distribution: sci
Lines: 18
In article <C5JLwx.4H9.1@cs.cmu.edu>, ETRAT@ttacs1.ttu.edu (Pack Rat) writes...
>There has been something bothering me while watching
>NASA Select for a while.  Well, I should'nt say
>bothering, maybe wondering would be better.  When
>they are going to launch they say (sorry but I forget
>exactly who is saying what, OTC to PLT I think)
>"Clear caution & warning memory.  Verify no unexpected
>errors. ...".  I am wondering what an "expected error" might
>be.  Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but
In pure speculation, I would guess cautions based on hazardous
pre-launch ops would qualify.  Something like "Caution:  SRBs
have just been armed."
It does raise an interesting question as to how hard it is to
pick out an Expected Error from an Unexpected Error in the heat
of the moment.
Subject: <None>
From: bioccnt@otago.ac.nz
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Nntp-Posting-Host: thorin.otago.ac.nz
Lines: 12
Can someone please remind me who said a well known quotation?
He was sitting atop a rocket awaiting liftoff and afterwards, in answer to
the question what he had been thinking about, said (approximately) "half a
million components, each has to work perfectly, each supplied by the lowest
bidder....."
Attribution and correction of the quote would be much appreciated.
Clive Trotman
From: nanderso@Endor.sim.es.com (Norman Anderson)
Subject: Re: A WRENCH in the works?
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp.
Lines: 13
jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch) writes:
>effect that one of the SSRBs that was recovered after the
>recent space shuttle launch was found to have a wrench of
>some sort rattling around apparently inside the case.
I heard a similar statement in our local news (UTAH) tonight. They referred
to the tool as "...the PLIERS that took a ride into space...". They also
said that a Thiokol (sp?) employee had reported missing a tool of some kind
during assembly of one SRB. No more info as to the location in the SRB.
I agree, pretty weird.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 10
In article <1qk4qf$mf8@male.EBay.Sun.COM> almo@packmind.EBay.Sun.COM writes:
>Hey!? What happened to the solar sail race that was supposed to be
>for Columbus+500?
There was a recession, and none of the potential entrants could raise any
money.  The race organizers were actually supposed to be handling part of
the fundraising, but the less said about that the better.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: lazarus@katarina.dev.cdx.mot.com (John McGlaughlin)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Nntp-Posting-Host: katarina.dev.cdx.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Codex, Canton, Massachusetts
Lines: 18
rborden@ugly.UVic.CA (Ross  Borden) writes:
>	Quick!  Everyone who sees this, post a reply that says:
>			"Hey, I read sci.space!"
>Then we can count them, and find out how many there are! :-)
>(This will also help answer that nagging question: "Just what is
>the maximum bandwidth of the Internet, anyways?")
Don't you think it would be better to E-mail back to you that we read sci.space
so that you can count them and every server in the world does not have to get
BW'd to death.  Or instead you could possible cut and past all the senders into
a single post and save on header bandwidth....  Not meaning to be taken as a
flame  it's late and we have to work toward a demo .... little punchy
--
-jftm-
From: stephens@geod.emr.ca (Dave Stephenson)
Subject: Re: Clementine Science Team Selected
Nntp-Posting-Host: ngis.geod.emr.ca
Organization: Dept. of Energy, Mines, and Resources, Ottawa
Lines: 32
nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
>In article <stephens.734792933@ngis> stephens@geod.emr.ca (Dave Stephenson) writes:
>   Remember the first government scientist in the British Empire was
>   the Astronomer Royal, who was paid [...] from the Department
>   of Ordinance Budget (i.e. the military). Flamsteed House (the original
>   RGO) was built out of Army Surplus Scrap ( A gate house at the Tower of
>   London ?), and paid for by the sale of time expired gunpowder [...]
>At the time, astronomy was vital to the military, in that navigation
>and cartography were of primary impoortance to the military, and good
>cartography was impossible without good astronomy.
>The relevance these daysis somewhat less obvious.
>Nick
It still applies, except the astronomy these days is Very Long Baseline
Radio Astronomy coupled to GPS and Satellite Laser Ranging. The data
from NASA's and the Naval Observatory's (among others) is a vital
source of data for studies into crustal dynamics, Earth rotation, and
purturbations. Every time there is a leap second added to the New Year,
remember the military and science are still co-habiting nicely. The
same VLBI was used to track Gallileo as it passed the Earth, and used
so little fuel that it can afford to observe Ida.
--
Dave Stephenson
Geodetic Survey of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Internet: stephens@geod.emr.ca
From: 8725157m@levels.unisa.edu.au
Subject: Cold gas roll control thruster tanks
Organization: University of South Australia
Lines: 5
Does anyone know how to size cold gas roll control thruster tanks
for sounding rockets?
Thanks in advance,
Jim.
Organization: ESOC European Space Operations Centre
From: <TNEDDERH@ESOC.BITNET>
Subject: Re: Apollo Training in Iceland
Distribution: sci
Lines: 10
The Apollo astronauts also trained at (in) Meteor Crater in the Flagstaff
area (Arizona).  There is now a museum with a space shop.
Caution: they ease you by 6$. Compared to a KSC visit it's not worth.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Thorsten Nedderhut             |  Disclaimer:
mbp Software & Systems GmbH    |
c/o ESA/ESOC/FCSD/OAD/STB      |  Neither ESA nor mbp is responsible
Darmstadt, Germany             |  for my postings!
tnedderh@esoc.bitnet           |
From: rdl1@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Lorenz)
Subject: Cold Gas tanks for Sounding Rockets
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Lines: 14
Nntp-Posting-Host: eagle.ukc.ac.uk
>Does anyone know how to size cold gas roll control thruster tanks
>for sounding rockets?
Well, first you work out how much cold gas you need, then make the
tanks big enough.
Working out how much cold gas is another problem, depending on
vehicle configuration, flight duration, thruster Isp (which couples
into storage pressure, which may be a factor in selecting tank
wall thickness etc.)
Ralph Lorenz
Unit for Space Sciences
University of Kent, UK
From: pbd@runyon.cim.cdc.com (Paul Dokas)
Subject: Big amateur rockets
Organization: ICEM Systems, Inc.
Lines: 23
I was reading Popular Science this morning and was surprised by an ad in
the back.  I know that a lot of the ads in the back of PS are fringe
science or questionablely legal, but this one really grabbed my attention.
It was from a company name "Personal Missle, Inc." or something like that.
Anyhow, the ad stated that they'd sell rockets that were up to 20' in length
and engines of sizes "F" to "M".  They also said that some rockets will
reach 50,000 feet.
Now, aside from the obvious dangers to any amateur rocketeer using one
of these beasts, isn't this illegal?  I can't imagine the FAA allowing
people to shoot rockets up through the flight levels of passenger planes.
Not to even mention the problem of locating a rocket when it comes down.
And no, I'm not going to even think of buying one.  I'm not that crazy.
-Paul "mine'll do 50,000 feet and carries 50 pounds of dynamite" Dokas
--
#include <std.disclaimer>
#define FULL_NAME                          "Paul Dokas"
#define EMAIL                              "pbd@runyon.cim.cdc.com"
/*            Just remember, you *WILL* die someday.             */
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Shuttle oxygen (was Budget Astronaut)
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Lines: 29
: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
: >There is an emergency oxygen system that is capable of maintaining a
: >breathable atmosphere in the cabin for long enough to come down, even
: >if there is something like a 5cm hole in the wall that nobody tries
: >to plug.
Josh Hopkins (jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) replied:
: Wow.
: Double wow.  Can you land a shuttle with a 5cm hole in the wall?
Personnally, I don't know, but I'd like to try it sometime.
Programmatically, yes, we can land an Orbiter with a 5 cm hole in
the wall -- provided that the thing which caused 5 cm hole didn't
cause a Crit 1 failure on some of the internal systems.  There are
a few places where a 5 cm hole would cause a Bad Day -- especially
if the 5 cm hole went all the way through the Orbiter and out the
other side, as could easily happen with a meteor strike.  But a
hole in the pressure vessel would cause us to immediately de-orbit
to the next available landing site.
-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
"NASA turns dreams into realities and makes science fiction
into fact" -- Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator
From: dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein)
Subject: japanese moon landing?
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC
Lines: 17
Afraid I can't give any more info on this.. and hoping someone in greter
NETLAND has some details.
A short story in the newspaper a few days ago made some sort of mention
about how the Japanese, using what sounded like a gravity assist, had just
managed to crash (or crash-land) a package on the moon.
the article was very vague and unclear.  and, to make matters worse, I
didn't clip it.
does this jog anyone's memory?
thanks
dannyb@panix.com
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Big amateur rockets
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 30
In article <C5Ky9y.MKK@raistlin.udev.cdc.com> pbd@runyon.cim.cdc.com (Paul Dokas) writes:
>Anyhow, the ad stated that they'd sell rockets that were up to 20' in length
>and engines of sizes "F" to "M".  They also said that some rockets will
>reach 50,000 feet.
>
>Now, aside from the obvious dangers to any amateur rocketeer using one
>of these beasts, isn't this illegal?  I can't imagine the FAA allowing
>people to shoot rockets up through the flight levels of passenger planes.
The situation in this regard has changed considerably in recent years.
See the discussion of "high-power rocketry" in the rec.models.rockets
frequently-asked-questions list.
This is not hardware you can walk in off the street and buy; you need
proper certification.  That can be had, mostly through Tripoli (the high-
power analog of the NAR), although the NAR is cautiously moving to extend
the upper boundaries of what it considers proper too.
You need special FAA authorization, but provided you aren't doing it under
one of the LAX runway approaches or something stupid like that, it's not
especially hard to arrange.
As with model rocketry, this sort of hardware is reasonably safe if handled
properly.  Proper handling takes more care, and you need a lot more empty
air to fly in, but it's basically just model rocketry scaled up.  As with
model rocketry, the high-power people use factory-built engines, which
eliminates the major safety hazard of do-it-yourself rocketry.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: jfw@ksr.com (John F. Woods)
Subject: Re: A WRENCH in the works?
Organization: Kendall Square Research Corp.
Lines: 15
nanderso@Endor.sim.es.com (Norman Anderson) writes:
>jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch) writes:
>>effect that one of the SSRBs that was recovered after the
>>recent space shuttle launch was found to have a wrench of
>>some sort rattling around apparently inside the case.
>I heard a similar statement in our local news (UTAH) tonight. They referred
>to the tool as "...the PLIERS that took a ride into space...". They also
>said that a Thiokol (sp?) employee had reported missing a tool of some kind
>during assembly of one SRB.
I assume, then, that someone at Thiokol put on their "manager's hat" and said
that pissing off the customer by delaying shipment of the SRB to look inside
it was a bad idea, regardless of where that tool might have ended up.
Why do I get the feeling that Thiokol "manager's hats" are shaped like cones?
From: jim@inqmind.bison.mb.ca (jim jaworski)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Organization: The Inquiring Mind BBS  1 204 488-1607
Lines: 36
rborden@ugly.UVic.CA (Ross  Borden) writes:
> In article <734850108.F00002@permanet.org> Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permane
> >
> >One could go on and on and on here, but I wonder ... how
> >many people read sci.space and of what power/influence are
> >these individuals?
> >
> 	Quick!  Everyone who sees this, post a reply that says:
>
> 			"Hey, I read sci.space!"
>
> Then we can count them, and find out how many there are! :-)
> (This will also help answer that nagging question: "Just what is
> the maximum bandwidth of the Internet, anyways?")
>
As an Amateur Radio operator (VHF 2metres) I like to keep up with what is
going up (and for that matter what is coming down too).
In about 30 days I have learned ALOT about satellites current, future and
past all the way back to Vanguard series and up to Astro D observatory
(space).  I borrowed a book from the library called Weater Satellites (I
think, it has a photo of the earth with a TIROS type satellite on it.)
I would like to build a model or have a large color poster of one of the
TIROS satellites I think there are places in the USA that sell them.
ITOS is my favorite looking satellite, followed by AmSat-OSCAR 13
(AO-13).
TTYL
73
Jim
jim@inqmind.bison.mb.ca
The Inquiring Mind BBS, Winnipeg, Manitoba  204 488-1607
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Shuttle oxygen (was Budget Astronaut)
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 19
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <1993Apr16.151729.8610@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
>Josh Hopkins (jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) replied:
>: Double wow.  Can you land a shuttle with a 5cm hole in the wall?
>Personnally, I don't know, but I'd like to try it sometime.
Are you volunteering? :)
> But a
>hole in the pressure vessel would cause us to immediately de-orbit
>to the next available landing site.
Will NASA have "available landing sites" in the Russian Republic, now that they
are Our Friends and Comrades?
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permanet.org (Mark Prado)
Subject: Sixty-two thousand (was Re: How many read sci.space?)
Lines: 32
Reply address: mark.prado@permanet.org
If anyone knows anyone else who would like to get sci.space,
but doesn't have an Internet feed (or has a cryptic Internet
feed), I would be willing to feed it to them.  I have a nice
offline message reader/editor, an automated modem "mailer"
program which will pick up mail bundles (quickly and easily),
and an INSTALL.EXE to set them up painlessly.  No charge for
the sci.space feed, though you have to dial Washington, D.C.
This is NOT a BBS -- it's a store & forward system for mail
bundles, with minimum connect times.  (I'm used to overseas
calls.)  (This is not an offer for a free feed for any other
particular newsgroups.)  Speeds of up to 14400 (v32bis) are
supported.  VIP's might be offered other free services, such
as Internet address and other functionality.
I get my feed from UUNET and run a 4-line hub.  I've been
hubbing for years -- I have an extremely reliable hub.
The software I provide runs under MS-DOS (and OS/2 and Windows
as a DOS box).  Other, compatible software packages exist for
the MacIntosh and Unix.
Any responses should be private and go to:
mark.prado@permanet.org
(By the way, to all, my apologies for the public traffic on my
glib question.  I really didn't expect public replys.  But thanks
to Bill Higgins for the interesting statistics and the lead.)
* Origin: PerManNet FTSC <=> Internet gateway (1:109/349.2)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 14
In article <C5Kys1.C6r@panix.com> dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein) writes:
>A short story in the newspaper a few days ago made some sort of mention
>about how the Japanese, using what sounded like a gravity assist, had just
>managed to crash (or crash-land) a package on the moon.
Their Hiten engineering-test mission spent a while in a highly eccentric
Earth orbit doing lunar flybys, and then was inserted into lunar orbit
using some very tricky gravity-assist-like maneuvering.  This meant that
it would crash on the Moon eventually, since there is no such thing as
a stable lunar orbit (as far as anyone knows), and I believe I recall
hearing recently that it was about to happen.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: rjungcla@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (R. M. Jungclas)
Subject: Re: Big amateur rockets
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville, IL.
Distribution: usa
Lines: 48
In article <C5Ky9y.MKK@raistlin.udev.cdc.com> pbd@runyon.cim.cdc.com (Paul Dokas) writes:
>I was reading Popular Science this morning and was surprised by an ad in
>the back.  I know that a lot of the ads in the back of PS are fringe
>science or questionablely legal, but this one really grabbed my attention.
>It was from a company name "Personal Missle, Inc." or something like that.
>
>Anyhow, the ad stated that they'd sell rockets that were up to 20' in length
>and engines of sizes "F" to "M".  They also said that some rockets will
>reach 50,000 feet.
>
>Now, aside from the obvious dangers to any amateur rocketeer using one
>of these beasts, isn't this illegal?  I can't imagine the FAA allowing
>people to shoot rockets up through the flight levels of passenger planes.
>Not to even mention the problem of locating a rocket when it comes down.
>
>And no, I'm not going to even think of buying one.  I'm not that crazy.
>
>
>-Paul "mine'll do 50,000 feet and carries 50 pounds of dynamite" Dokas
Could it be Public Missile, Inc in Michigan?
From the description of ad here, it sounds like they're talking about
"High Power Rocketry", an outgrowth of model rocketry.  This hobby
uses non-metallic structural compoments and commerically manufactured
engines ranging in impulse classification from G to P.  The hobby
has been flourishing from early 1980s and is becoming increasing popular.
Technically this is not consider amateur rocketry.
Any rocket with a liftoff weight greater than 3.3 pounds OR using a
total impulse of G or greater, REQUIRES an FAA waiver to launch.
Typically, a group of people get an FAA waiver for specified period
of time (ie week, weekend, etc.) at a designated site and time, and
all of the launches are then covered under this "blanket waiver".
There is also a "High Power Safety Code" which designates more
specific rules such as launch field size, etc.
Finally, in order to purchase any of the larger (Class B) rocket
motors you need to certified through either the National Association
of Rocketry or Tripoli Rocketry Association. Certification procedures
require a demonstarted handling and "safe" flight at a total impulse
level.
For more information, watch rec.models.rockets newsgroup.
R. Michael Jungclas                    UUCP:      att!ihlpb!rjungcla
AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville, IL.       Internet:  rjungcla@ihlpb.att.com
From: Lawrence Curcio <lc2b+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Big amateur rockets
Organization: Doctoral student, Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 26
NNTP-Posting-Host: po3.andrew.cmu.edu
In-Reply-To: <C5Ky9y.MKK@raistlin.udev.cdc.com>
Let's see. These aren't, in a strict sense, amateur rockets. That term
denotes rockets, the engines of which are constructed by the user. The
rockets you describe are called HPR, or high power rockets, to
distinguish them from (smaller) model rockets. They use factory-made
ammonium perchlorate composite propellants in phenolic plastic engines
with graphite nozzles. The engines are classified by impulse. A "D"
engine, for example, can have no more than 20 newton-seconds of impulse.
An "F" engine can have no more than 40 ns. Each letter corresponds to a
doubling of the maximum impulse. So far, engines up to size "O" are
available pretty much off the shelf. Engines of size H and above are
shipped as Class B explosives, and as such are controlled. Engines of
size F and below are shipped as Class C explosives, and are not as
controlled. Class F engines, BTW, are not HPR engines, but model rocket
engines. (Class G engines go in and out of legal limbo.)
There is an HPR Society, The Tripoli Rocket Society, I believe, which
holds events at various sites throughout the year, with all legalities
(FAA waiver included) taken care of. The National Association of
Rocketry is more concerned with engines below H, though it is involved
in HPR as well. These societies certify users of HPR rockets, and
companies will not sell to uncertified individuals.
Bottom Line: It's legit. I suggest you send for a catalog - but forget
the dynamite, will ya?
-Larry C.
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: Space Event near Los Angeles, CA
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 55
Apologies if this gets posted twice, but I don't think the first one
made it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           Contact:  OASIS (310) 364-2290
15 April 1993                                Los Angeles, CA
LOCAL NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY CHAPTERS SPONSOR TALK BY L.A.
ADVOCATE OF LUNAR POWER SYSTEM AS ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE WORLD
On April 21, the OASIS and Ventura County chapters of the National
Space Society will sponsor a talk by Lunar Power System (LPS) co-
inventor and vice-president of the LPS Coalition, Dr. Robert D.
Waldron.  It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockwell Science
Center in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Dr. Waldron is currently a Technical Specialist in Space
Materials Processing with the Space Systems Division of Rockwell
International in Downey, California.  He is a recognized world
authority on lunar materials refinement.  He has written or
coauthored more than 15 articles or reports on nonterrestrial
materials processing or utilization.  Along with Dr. David
Criswell, Waldron invented the lunar/solar power system concept.
Momentum is building for a coalition of entrepreneurs, legal
experts, and Soviet and U.S. scientists and engineers to build
the Lunar Power System, a pollution-free, energy source with a
potential to power the globe.
For the past three years members of the coalition, nearly half
from California, have rejuvenated the commercial and scientific
concept of a solar power system based on the Moon.
The LPS concept entails collecting solar energy on the lunar
surface and beaming the power to Earth as microwaves transmitted
through orbiting antennae.  A mature LPS offers an enormous
source of clean, sustainable power to meet the Earth's ever
increasing demand using proven, basic technology.
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Space
Industrialization) is the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the
National Space Society, which is an international non-profit
organization that promotes development of the space frontier.
The Ventura County chapter is based in Oxnard, CA.
WHERE:  Rockwell Science Center Auditorium, 1049 Camino
Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA.
DIRECTIONS: Ventura Freeway 101 to Thousand Oaks, exit onto
Lynn Road heading North (right turn from 101
North, Left turn from 101 South), after about 1/2
mile turn Left on Camino Dos Rios, after about 1/2
mile make First Right into Rockwell after Camino
Colindo, Parking at Top of Hill to the Left
From: drunen@nucleus.ps.uci.edu (Eric Van Drunen)
Subject: Re: Big amateur rockets
Nntp-Posting-Host: nucleus.ps.uci.edu
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 30
Actually, they are legal! I not familiar with the ad you are speaking of
but knowing Popular Science it is probably on the fringe.  However, you
may be speaking of "Public Missle, Inc.", which is a legitimate company
that has been around for a while.
Due to advances in composite fuels, engines are now available for model
rockets using similar composites to SRB fuel, roughly 3 times more
powerful than black powder motors.  They are even available in a reloadable
form, i.e. aluminum casing, end casings, o-rings (!).  The engines range
from D all the way to M in common manufacture, N and O I've heard of
used at special occasions.
To be a model rocket, however, the rocket can't contain any metal
structural parts, amongst other requirements.  I've never heard of a
model rocket doing 50,000.  I have heard of > 20,000 foot flights.
These require FAA waivers (of course!).  There are a few large national
launches (LDRS, FireBALLS), at which you can see many > K sized engine
flights.  Actually, using a > G engine constitutes the area of "High
Power Rocketry", which is seperate from normal model rocketry.  Purchase
of engines like I have been describing require membership in the National
Association of Rocketry, the Tripoli Rocketry Assoc., or you have to
be part of an educational institute or company involved in rocketry.
Amatuer rocketry is another area.  I'm not really familiar with this,
but it is an area where metal parts are allowed, along with liquid fuels
and what not.  I don't know what kind of regulations are involved, but
I'm sure they are numerous.
High power rocketry is very exciting!  If you are interested or have
more questions, there is a newsgroup rec.model.rockets.
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Subject: Re: DC-X update???
Nntp-Posting-Host: starman.convex.com
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
not necessarily those of CONVEX.
Lines: 32
In <1993Apr15.234154.23145@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>As for the future, there is at least $5M in next years budget for work
>on SSRT. They (SDIO) have been looking for more funds and do seem to have
>some. However, SDIO is not (I repeat, is not) going to fund an orbital
>prototype. The best we can hope from them is to 1) keep it alive for
>another year, and 2) fund a suborbital vehicle which MIGHT (with
>major modifications) just make orbit. There is also some money for a
>set of prototype tanks and projects to answer a few more open questions.
Would the sub-orbital version be suitable as-is (or "as-will-be") for use
as a reuseable sounding rocket?
>Better news comes from the new Spacelifter effort. The USAF managers of
>this program are very open to SSTO and will have about $50M next
>year for studies. This would be enough to bring DC-Y to PDR.
Thank Ghod! I had thought that Spacelifter would definitely be the
bastard Son of NLS.
(And just as a reminder:)
>Now not all of this money will go to DC but a good case could be made
>for spending half on DC.
>Public support is STILL critical. Meet with your Congressperson (I'll
>help you do it) and get his/her support. Also call your local media
>and get them to cover the flight tests.
From: kpa@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Karl Anderson)
Subject: Re: A WRENCH in the works?
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Nntp-Posting-Host: oslo.rchland.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Rochester
Lines: 42
From another space forum
>  NOW WHERE DID I LEAVE THOSE PLIERS?
When workers at the Kennedy Space Center disassembled the STS-56
solid rocket boosters they were surprised to find a pair of pliers
lodged into the outside base of the right hand SRB.  The tool survived
the trip from the launch pad up to approximately a 250,000 foot
altitude, then down to splashdown and towing back to KSC.
NASA spokesperson Lisa Malone told the media,
"It's been a long time since something like this happened.  We've
lost washers and bolts (before) but never a tool like this."
The initial investigation into the incident has shown that a
Thiokol Corp. technician noticed and reported his pliers as missing on
April 2nd.  Unfortunately, the worker's supervisor did not act on the
report and Discovery was launched with its "extra payload".  NASA
officials were never told of the missing tool before the April 8th
launch date.
The free-flying pliers were supposed to be tethered to the SRB
technician.  When the tool was found in an aft section of the booster,
its 18-inch long rope was still attached.  The pliers were found in a
part of the booster which is not easily visible from the launch pad.
|(Ron's ed. note:  naaahhh,  just too easy)
A spokesperson for the Lockheed Space Operations Company said that
the Shuttle processor will take "appropriate action".  Thiokol is a
subcontractor to LSOC for work to prepare Shuttle hardware for launch.
_________________________________________________________
Karl Anderson
DEV/2000: Configuration Management/Version Control
Dept 53K/006-2		Rochester, Minnesota 55901
253-8044		Tie 8-453-8044
INTERNET: karl@vnet.ibm.com
PRODIGY: CMMG96A
"To seek, to strive, to find, and not to yield."
Alfred Lord Tennyson
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: A WRENCH in the works?
Lines: 31
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
In article <25228@ksr.com>, jfw@ksr.com (John F. Woods) writes:
>nanderso@Endor.sim.es.com (Norman Anderson) writes:
>>jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch) writes:
>>>effect that one of the SSRBs that was recovered after the
>>>recent space shuttle launch was found to have a wrench of
>>>some sort rattling around apparently inside the case.
>>I heard a similar statement in our local news (UTAH) tonight. They referred
>>to the tool as "...the PLIERS that took a ride into space...". They also
>>said that a Thiokol (sp?) employee had reported missing a tool of some kind
>>during assembly of one SRB.
It was a test of the first reusable tool.
>
>I assume, then, that someone at Thiokol put on their "manager's hat" and said
>that pissing off the customer by delaying shipment of the SRB to look inside
>it was a bad idea, regardless of where that tool might have ended up.
>
>Why do I get the feeling that Thiokol "manager's hats" are shaped like cones?
Pointy so they can find them or so they will stick into their pants better, and
be closer to their brains?
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |Texans: Vote NO on Robin Hood.  We need
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |solutions, not gestures.
PADI DM-54909                     |
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 16
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <C5Kys1.C6r@panix.com> dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein) writes:
>A short story in the newspaper a few days ago made some sort of mention
>about how the Japanese, using what sounded like a gravity assist, had just
>managed to crash (or crash-land) a package on the moon.
The Japanese spacecraft, Hiten, crashed on the Moon last weekend.  For the
past three years it has made several lunar flybys and even did some
aerobraking experiments with Earth's atmosphere.  It was placed in lunar
orbit in February 1992, and I guess it finally ran out of fuel and was
unable to maintain its orbit around the Moon.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: xrcjd@mudpuppy.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine)
Subject: Washington Post Article on US-Russian Space Cooperation
Organization: NASA/GSFC Greenbelt Maryland
Lines: 23
Reported yesterday in the Washington Post (Kathy Sawyer, writer):
The article plays down the Russian role in US space.
Gibbons (science advisor to Clinton) sent Goldin a letter indicating
NASA should not limit redesign options to those compatible with Mir
orbit.
The White House thinks expectations for Russian cooperation have been
raised too high.
The article reports that some think the spending and schedule limits
for space station are so stringent that the redesign is nearly
impossible.  That's why some think Goldin has begun looking at
Russian hardware.
Goldin states NASA will present all options to the administration
which will then have decision making power.
Goldin and the White House have totally ruled out using Energia to
boost the station.
--
Chuck Divine
From: rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu (Ray Swartz (Oh, that guy again))
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Reply-To: rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu
Organization: Vis-Orb Tragnetics Recorporation
Lines: 35
In article <C5L2xt.IqD@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <C5Kys1.C6r@panix.com> dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein) writes:
>>A short story in the newspaper a few days ago made some sort of mention
>>about how the Japanese, using what sounded like a gravity assist, had just
>>managed to crash (or crash-land) a package on the moon.
>
>Their Hiten engineering-test mission spent a while in a highly eccentric
>Earth orbit doing lunar flybys, and then was inserted into lunar orbit
>using some very tricky gravity-assist-like maneuvering.  This meant that
>it would crash on the Moon eventually, since there is no such thing as
>a stable lunar orbit (as far as anyone knows), and I believe I recall
>hearing recently that it was about to happen.
The gravity maneuvering that was used was to exploit 'fuzzy regions'.  These
are described by the inventor as exploiting the second-order perturbations in a
three body system.  The probe was launched into this region for the
earth-moon-sun system, where the perturbations affected it in such a way as to
allow it to go into lunar orbit without large expenditures of fuel to slow
down. The idea is that 'natural objects sometimes get captured without
expending fuel, we'll just find the trajectory that makes it possible". The
originator of the technique said that NASA wasn't interested, but that Japan
was because their probe was small and couldn't hold a lot of fuel for
deceleration.
This from an issue of 'Science News' or 'The Planetary Report' I
believe, about 2 months ago(?).
Raymond L. Swartz Jr. (rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu)
================================================================================
I read the newspaper today and was amazed that, in 24 hours, five billion
people could accomplish so little.
================================================================================
From: goltz@mimi.UU.NET (James P. Goltz)
Subject: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: UUNET Technologies Inc, Falls Church, VA, USA
Lines: 31
NNTP-Posting-Host: mimi.uu.net
Background: The Orion spacedrive was a theoretical concept.  It
would be a drive using thermonuclear explosions to drive a spacecraft.
The idea was that you'd detonate devices with somewhere from one to
ten megatons yield behind a "pusher plate" attached to the main
spacecraft.  The shock wave from the explosions would transfer
momentum to the ship.
Now, in an atmosphere I can see this.  The energy of the explosion
heats the atmosphere, which expands explosively and slams a shock wave
into the pusher plate.  But in a vacuum, only two things I can see are
going to hit the plate: fission/fusion products (barium, krypton,
helium, neutrons, evaporated bomb casing) and electromagnetic
radiation (gammas mostly, some light/heat from irradiated fission
products).
Would this work?  I can't see the EM radiation impelling very much
momentum (especially given the mass of the pusher plate), and it seems
to me you're going to get more momentum transfer throwing the bombs
out the back of the ship than you get from detonating them once
they're there.
I must be missing something.  Would someone enlighten me via email?
Thanks.
--
--Jim
---
Jim Goltz                    AlterNet Engineer               goltz@uunet.uu.net
From: mwm+@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Maimone)
Subject: How to read sci.space without netnews
Summary: Space Digest address
Nntp-Posting-Host: a.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 36
In article <734975852.F00001@permanet.org> Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permanet.org (Mark Prado) writes:
>If anyone knows anyone else who would like to get sci.space,
>but doesn't have an Internet feed (or has a cryptic Internet
>feed), I would be willing to feed it to them.
Kudos to Mark for his generous offer, but there already exists a
large (email-based) forwarding system for sci.space posts:  Space Digest.
It mirrors sci.space exactly, and provides simple two-way communication.
TO SUBSCRIBE:
Send the following message in the *body* (not subject) of an
email message:
subscribe space John Q Public
to one of these addresses:
listserv@uga
listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu
listserv@finhutc
listserv@finhuc.hut.fi
space-request@isu.isunet.edu
You'll receive all the posts in "digest" form once a day.  Please
use a listserv if you can, the "space-request" address is handled
manually.
TO POST MESSAGES:
Send your message (with a reasonable Subject line) to:
space@isu.isunet.edu
Questions, comments to space-request@isu.isunet.edu
--
Mark Maimone				phone: +1 (412) 268 - 7698
Carnegie Mellon Computer Science	email: mwm@cmu.edu
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 22
In article <C5LDoD.7pC@news.cso.uiuc.edu> rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu writes:
>allow it to go into lunar orbit without large expenditures of fuel to slow
>down. The idea is that 'natural objects sometimes get captured without
>expending fuel, we'll just find the trajectory that makes it possible". The
>originator of the technique said that NASA wasn't interested, but that Japan
>was because their probe was small and couldn't hold a lot of fuel for
>deceleration.
Actually, Hiten wasn't originally intended to go into lunar orbit at all,
so it indeed didn't have much fuel on hand.  The lunar-orbit mission was
an afterthought, after Hagoromo (a tiny subsatellite deployed by Hiten
during a lunar flyby) had a transmitter failure and its proper insertion
into lunar orbit couldn't be positively confirmed.
It should be noted that the technique does have disadvantages.  It takes
a long time, and you end up with a relatively inconvenient lunar orbit.
If you want something useful like a low circular polar orbit, you do have
to plan to expend a certain amount of fuel, although it is reduced from
what you'd need for the brute-force approach.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 15
In article <1qn4bgINN4s7@mimi.UU.NET> goltz@mimi.UU.NET (James P. Goltz) writes:
>  Would this work?  I can't see the EM radiation impelling very much
>momentum (especially given the mass of the pusher plate), and it seems
>to me you're going to get more momentum transfer throwing the bombs
>out the back of the ship than you get from detonating them once
>they're there.
The Orion concept as actually proposed (as opposed to the way it has been
somewhat misrepresented in some fiction) included wrapping a thick layer
of reaction mass -- probably plastic of some sort -- around each bomb.
The bomb vaporizes the reaction mass, and it's that which transfers
momentum to the pusher plate.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Shuttle oxygen (was Budget Astronaut)
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 11
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
I thought that under emergency conditions,  the STS  can
put down at any good size Airport.  IF it could take a C-5 or a
747, then it can take an orbiter.   You just need a VOR/TAC
I don't know if they need ILS.
pat
ANyone know for sure.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 52
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr16.014506.27923@sol.UVic.CA> rborden@ugly.UVic.CA (Ross  Borden) writes:
|In article <1qjs1j$306@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
|>
|>
|>In the old days,  their used to be Arbitron stats'  that analyzed
|>the readership and posting volumes  by group  and user.
|>
|>They were available from UUNET.   That's how you check the
|>readership of Sci.space,  not some stupid  unscientific attempt
|>to  flood the newsgroup.
|>
|>I have abetter idea.  WHy don't we all reply directly to the
|>origanator  of this post,  and tell him we read sci.space ;-)
|>
|>
|>pat
|
|	Sigh.
|	I try to make a little joke, I try to inject some humour here
|and what happens?  In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn:
|
|	"I say, that was a _joke_, son."
|
|	I thought that the bit about McElwaine, not to mention the two
|smileys, would indicate to even the most humour impaired that I was
|JOKING.
>	Sigh.
>	(And will everyone who pat's suggestion (thanks bunches, pat)
>*please* stop sending me email.)
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>|  I shot a man just to watch him die;    |     Ross Borden                   |
>|  I'm going to Disneyland!               |     rborden@ra.uvic.ca            |
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, I had put a Wink at the end of my suggestion indicating it was
intensely sarcastic.  I can't help it if everyone got all serious.
Ross.
I never saw your original posting.  it dropped on the floor
somewhere.  I just saw the trickle down, thought it was intensely
stupid,  not knowing anything about the joke, mentioned arbitron
and left it with an equally stupid joke.  Bill in his ever increasing
devotion to thoroughness dug up  several  arbitron stats.
I myself think the arbitron stats are  severely methodologically impaired,
but are a good measure of proportion.  I don't think anyone
knows how many people read news anymore.
pat
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 13
Distribution: world
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
> there is no such thing as a stable lunar orbit
Is it right??? That is new stuff for me. So it means that  you just can
not put a sattellite around around the Moon for too long because its
orbit will be unstable??? If so, what is the reason??? Is that because
the combined gravitacional atraction of the Sun,Moon and Earth
that does not provide a stable  orbit around the Moon???
C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV
C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov
Claudio Oliveira Egalon
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Portuguese Launch Complex (was:*Doppelganger*)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 14
Distribution: world
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
> Portugese launch complex were *wonderful
Portuguese launch complex??? Gosh.... Polish are for American in the
same way as Portuguese are for Brazilians (I am from Brazil). There is
a joke about the Portuguese Space Agency that wanted to send a
Portuguese  astronaut to the surface of the Sun (if there is such a thing).
How did they solve all problems of sending a man to the surface of the
Sun??? Simple... their astronauts travelled during the night...
C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV
C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov
Claudio Oliveira Egalon
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Subject: Re: space news from Feb 1 AW&ST
Nntp-Posting-Host: starman.convex.com
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
not necessarily those of CONVEX.
Lines: 10
>Marshall is investigating a small but odd pressure rise in one SRB
>during the Jan 12 Endeavour launch.  It lasted only three seconds and
>the thrust difference between the two SRBs was not enough to cause
>nozzle gimballing.  The SRB casing shows no abnormalities.
Is this the one that had the {wrench|pliers} found inside after
recovery?
Subject: Quotation? Lowest bidder...
From: bioccnt@otago.ac.nz
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Nntp-Posting-Host: thorin.otago.ac.nz
Lines: 12
Can someone please remind me who said a well known quotation?
He was sitting atop a rocket awaiting liftoff and afterwards, in answer to
the question what he had been thinking about, said (approximately) "half a
million components, each has to work perfectly, each supplied by the lowest
bidder....."
Attribution and correction of the quote would be much appreciated.
Clive Trotman
From: semmett@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Steve Emmett)
Subject: Moscow Aviation Institute summer school
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Lines: 103
I have attached a copy of an announcement I picked up during my trip to
Moscow last week.  I have several friends at the Moscow Aviation
Institute who have asked me to post this announcement.  (I have done
some editing, but the contents is unchanged from the original
announcement.)
For those of you not familiar with the Moscow Aviation Institute, it is
the leading Russian school of higher education dedicated to the training
of aircraft and spacecraft designers.  It specializes in airframe
design, powerplant design, control systems, and power systems.
Virtually all of the major former Soviet airframe designers (Tupolev,
Su, Iluchine, Migoyan, etc.) were schooled at MAI.
I had the opportunity to tour the two museums that are maintained at
MAI.  The aircraft include Mig23, Su 27, Yak 38, the cockpit of an
F-111(!), among others.  It was a fascinating and eye opening
experience, expecially given the fact that the museum was, until a year
or so ago, closed to virtually everyone.  I also had the opportunity to
see some of the experiments being conducted with plasma drive engines
for future space craft use.
If you have any questions about the Institute, or the program, I would
be glad to try and answer them.  The institute, and most of it's faculty
have e-mail addresses.  However, it takes about a day or so for the
receiver to get the message.  They are still a bit antiquated - but they
are rapidly changing!
Steve Emmett
semmett@gmuvax2.gmu.edu
ps  please send any questions you have for me via e-mail.  George Mason
university has about a 2 week (!) delay in news feed delivery.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SCHOOL
The aviation school "Poljot" (meaning Flight) is organized by the the
Moscow Aviation Institute, the prominent Russian Center of airspace
education and the foreign trade firm Poljot, well known in various
parts of the world for their quartz and mechanical wrist watches.
The course of studies will last only 50 days, but during this time
you will have the unique opportunity:
- to listen to intensive courses on the main aviation
disciplines, the history and theory of techniques, and design of
airplanes;
- to visit and get acquainted with the world known Russian
aviation firms - TU, MiG, Yak, Il and Su;
- to meet and have discussions with famous aviation
scientists, engineers and pilots;
- to visit the most interesting museums of unique aviation
techniques which were closed for many years to the public;
- to see the International Airspace Show which will take
place in Moscow from 31 August through 3 September 1993;
- to visit famous art museums, historical and architectural
monuments, theatres and concert halls;
- to take part in sport competitions and have a great time
with new friends.
The Director of the school is Mr. Oleg Samelovich, a well known
Russian scientist, professor, general designer and the Chief of the
Airplanes Design Department of the Moscow Aviation Institute.  Mr.
Samelovich is one of the designers of the the Su-24, Su-25, and Su-27
The lectures are given in English, using a multi-media concept.  The
students are provided with all the necessary text books and
literature.  After the full course of studies are completed, the
student will receive a special certificate of graduation.
The cost of studies, including hotel, meals, excursions, theatres,
etc is $3500.
To apply for admission, send your application to:
109147 Moscow Marksistskaja 34
Foreign Trade Firm "Poljot"
274 00 13 (phone)
274 00 22 (FAX)
411989 POLEX SU (telex)
In your application, include your full name, address, date and place
of birth.  In addition, include complete passport information, as well
as a description of your education.
Upon receipt of this information, "Poljot" will immediately forward
to you an official invitation for obtaining a Russian entrance visa
as well as details on payment.
Should you require additional information, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
(signed)	O. Samelovich
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Steve Emmett				 semmett@gmuvax2.gmu.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------
CSI/Physics, George Mason University
From: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU (nathan wallace)
Subject:  ORION space drive
Reply-To: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: beethoven.cs.colostate.edu
Organization: Colorado State University -=- Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 16
An excellent reference for non-technical readers on the ORION system is
"The Starflight Handbook", by Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matloff, ISBN
0-471-61912-4. The relevant chapter is 4: Nuclear Pulse Propulsion.
The book also contains lots of technical references for the more academically
inclined.
Enjoy!
---
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
C/    Nathan F. Wallace                   C/C/           "Reality Is"         C/
C/    e-mail: wallacen@cs.colostate.edu   C/C/    ancient Alphaean proverb    C/
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: japanese moon landing/temporary orbit
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 25
rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu (Ray Swartz (Oh, that guy again)) writes:
>The gravity maneuvering that was used was to exploit 'fuzzy regions'.  These
>are described by the inventor as exploiting the second-order perturbations in a
>three body system.  The probe was launched into this region for the
>earth-moon-sun system, where the perturbations affected it in such a way as to
>allow it to go into lunar orbit without large expenditures of fuel to slow
>down. The idea is that 'natural objects sometimes get captured without
>expending fuel, we'll just find the trajectory that makes it possible". The
>originator of the technique said that NASA wasn't interested, but that Japan
>was because their probe was small and couldn't hold a lot of fuel for
>deceleration.
I should probably re-post this with another title, so that
the guys on the other thread would see that this is a practical
use of "temporary orbits..."
Another possible temporary orbit:
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21
In article <1qnb9tINN7ff@rave.larc.nasa.gov> C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON) writes:
>> there is no such thing as a stable lunar orbit
>
>Is it right??? That is new stuff for me. So it means that  you just can
>not put a sattellite around around the Moon for too long because its
>orbit will be unstable??? If so, what is the reason??? Is that because
>the combined gravitacional atraction of the Sun,Moon and Earth
>that does not provide a stable  orbit around the Moon???
Any lunar satellite needs fuel to do regular orbit corrections, and when
its fuel runs out it will crash within months.  The orbits of the Apollo
motherships changed noticeably during lunar missions lasting only a few
days.  It is *possible* that there are stable orbits here and there --
the Moon's gravitational field is poorly mapped -- but we know of none.
Perturbations from Sun and Earth are relatively minor issues at low
altitudes.  The big problem is that the Moon's own gravitational field
is quite lumpy due to the irregular distribution of mass within the Moon.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: tkelso@afit.af.mil (TS Kelso)
Subject: Two-Line Orbital Element Set:  Space Shuttle
Keywords: Space Shuttle, Orbital Elements, Keplerian
Nntp-Posting-Host: scgraph.afit.af.mil
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology
Lines: 21
The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element sets are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are updated daily (when
possible).  Documentation and tracking software are also available on this
system.  As a service to the satellite user community, the most current
elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below.  The Celestial
BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using
8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
Element sets (also updated daily), shuttle elements, and some documentation
and software are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.afit.af.mil
(129.92.1.66) in the directory pub/space.
STS 56
1 22621U 93 23  A 93105.58333333  .00090711  00000-0  25599-3 0   249
2 22621  57.0029 144.8669 0004136 304.2989 134.3206 15.92851555  1179
1993 023B
1 22623U 93 23  B 93103.37312705  .00041032  00000-0  11888-3 0    86
2 22623  57.0000 155.1150 0004422 293.4650  66.5967 15.92653917   803
--
Dr TS Kelso                           Assistant Professor of Space Operations
tkelso@afit.af.mil                    Air Force Institute of Technology
From: eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)
Subject: Re: Guns for Space
Keywords: Sopa Gun, Space Launcer
Organization: Boeing AI Center, Huntsville, AL
Lines: 22
In reference to the limits of acceleration with guns launching solid
rockets as payloads.  Thiokol provided me with samples and data on
a reinforcement to solid motor grains for high accelerations.  Solid
motor propellants usually have a substantial percentage of
aluminum in the mix.  For example, the Space Shuttle SRBs are 16 percent
Aluminum.  The technique is to use a 'foamed aluminum' structure.
The structure looks like the inverse of a set of bubbles (an I suspect
some bubbling process is used to form it).  In other words, if you made
a bunch of bubbles in molten aluminum, then froze it, this is what
you get.  It forms a strong network of effectively aluminum wires in
all directions.  The remaining solid fuel mix is infiltrated into
the voids, and you get aluminum-reinforced solid propellant.  The
foamed-aluminum makes up about 6 percent of the total propellant,
so there is still aluminum particles in the bulk grain.  The major
improvement is the higher resistance to grain cracking, which is the
principal failure mode for solid propellant.
Dani Eder
--
Dani Eder/Meridian Investment Company/(205)464-2697(w)/232-7467(h)/
Rt.1, Box 188-2, Athens AL 35611/Location: 34deg 37' N 86deg 43' W +100m alt.
From: eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)
Subject: Re: Guns for Space
Keywords: Sopa Gun, Space Launcer
Organization: Boeing AI Center, Huntsville, AL
Lines: 72
Okay, lets get the record straight on the Livermore gas gun.
The project manager is Dr. John Hunter, and he works for the
Laser group at Livermore.  What, you may ask, does gas guns
have to do with lasers? Nothing, really, but the gun is physically
located across the road from the Free Electron Laser building,
and the FEL building has a heavily shielded control room (thick walls)
from which the gun firings are controlled.  So I suspect that the
office he works for is an administrative convenience.
I visited Hunter at the beginning of Feb. and we toured the gun.
At the time I was working on gas gun R&D at Boeing, where I work,
but I am now doing other things (helping to save the space station),
The gun uses a methane-air mixture, which is burned in a chamber
about 200 ft long by 16 inch ID (i.e. it looks like a pipe).
The chamber holds a 1 ton piston which is propelled at several
hundred m/s down the chamber.  On the other side of the piston
is hudrogen gas, initially at room temperature andsome tens
of atmospheres.
The piston compresses and heats the hydrogen ahead of it until
a stainless steel burst diaphragm ruptures, at around 50,000 psi.
The barrel of the gun is about 100 feet long and has a 4 inch
bore.  It is mounted at right angles to the chamber (i.e. they
intersect).  This was done so that in the future, the barrel
could be raised and the gun fired into the air without having to
move the larger and heavier chamber.  The projectile being used
in testing is a 5 kg cylinder of Lexan plastic, 4 in in diameter
and about 50 cm long.
All of the acceleration comes from the expansion of the hydrogen
gas from 50,000 psi downwards until the projectile leaves the
barrel.  The barrel is evacuated, and the end is sealed with a
sheet of plastic film (a little thicker than Saran wrap).  The
plastic is blown off by the small amount of residual air trapped
in the barrel ahead of the projectile.
The gun is fired into a bunker filled with sandbags and plastic
water jugs.  In the early testing fragments of the plastic
projectile were found.  At the higher speeds in later testing,
the projectile vaporizes.
The testing is into a bunker because the Livermore test range is
about 3 miles across, and the projectile would go 100-200 km
if fired for maximum range.  The intent is to move the whole gun
to Vandenberg AFB after the testing is complete, where they can
fire into the Pacific Ocean, and use the tracking radar at VAFB
to follow the projectiles.
The design goal of the gun is to throw a 5 kg projectile at 4
km/s (half of orbital speed).  So far they have reached 2 km/s,
and the gun is currently down for repairs, as on the last test
they blew a seal and damaged some of the hardware (I think it
had to do with the methane-air more detonating than burning, but
I haven't had a chance to talk to Hunter directly on this).
There are people waiting to test scramjet components in this
gun by firing then out of the gun into the air (at Mach 12=
4 km/s), since the most you can get in wind tunnels is Mach 8.
This gun cost about 4 million to develop, and is basically
a proof-of-concept for a bigger gun capable of firing useful-
sized payloads into space.  This would require on the order of
100 kg projectiles, which deliver on the order of 20 kg
useful payload to orbit.
Dani Eder
--
Dani Eder/Meridian Investment Company/(205)464-2697(w)/232-7467(h)/
Rt.1, Box 188-2, Athens AL 35611/Location: 34deg 37' N 86deg 43' W +100m alt.
From: eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)
Subject: Re: Elevator to the top floor
Organization: Boeing AI Center, Huntsville, AL
Lines: 56
Reading from a Amoco Performance Products data sheet, their
ERL-1906 resin with T40 carbon fiber reinforcement has a compressive
strength of 280,000 psi.  It has a density of 0.058 lb/cu in,
therefore the theoretical height for a constant section column
that can just support itself is 4.8 million inches, or 400,000 ft,
or 75 Statute miles.
Now, a real structure will have horizontal bracing (either a truss
type, or guy wires, or both) and will be used below the crush strength.
Let us assume that we will operate at 40% of the theoretical
strength.  This gives a working height of 30 miles for a constant
section column.
A constant section column is not the limit on how high you can
build something if you allow a tapering of the cross section
as you go up.  For example, let us say you have a 280,000 pound
load to support at the top of the tower (for simplicity in
calculation).  This requires 2.5 square inches of column cross
sectional area to support the weight.  The mile of structure
below the payload will itself weigh 9,200 lb, so at 1 mile
below the payload, the total load is now 289,200 lb, a 3.3% increase.
The next mile of structure must be 3.3% thicker in cross section
to support the top mile of tower plus the payload.  Each mile
of structure must increase in area by the same ratio all the way
to the bottom.  We can see from this that there is no theoretical
limit on area, although there will be practical limits based
on how much composites we can afford to by at $40/lb, and how
much load you need to support on the ground (for which you need
a foundation that the bedrock can support.
Let us arbitrarily choose $1 billion as the limit in costruction
cost.  With this we can afford perhaps 10,000,000 lb of composites,
assuming our finished structure costs $100/lb.  The $40/lb figure
is just for materials cost.  Then we have a tower/payload mass
ratio of 35.7:1.  At a 3.3% mass ratio per mile, the tower
height becomes 111 miles.  This is clearly above the significant
atmosphere.  A rocket launched from the top of the tower will still
have to provide orbital velocity, but atmospheric drag and g-losses
will be almost eliminated.  G-losses are the component of
rocket thrust in the vertical direction to counter gravity,
but which do not contribute to horizontal orbital velocity.  Thus
they represent wasted thrust.  Together with drag, rockets starting
from the ground have a 15% velocity penalty to contend with.
This analysis is simplified, in that it does not consider wind
loads.  These will require more structural support over the first
15 miles of height.  Above that, the air pressure drops to a low
enough value for it not to be a big factor.
Dani Eder
--
Dani Eder/Meridian Investment Company/(205)464-2697(w)/232-7467(h)/
Rt.1, Box 188-2, Athens AL 35611/Location: 34deg 37' N 86deg 43' W +100m alt.
From: baez@guitar.ucr.edu (john baez)
Subject: End of the Space Age
Article-I.D.: galaxy.29034
Organization: University of California, Riverside
Lines: 82
Nntp-Posting-Host: guitar.ucr.edu
There is an interesting opinion piece in the business section of today's
LA Times (Thursday April 15, 1993, p. D1).  I thought I'd post it to
stir up some flame wars - I mean reasoned debate.  Let me preface it by
saying that I largely agree that the "Space Age" in the romantic sense
of several decades ago is over, and that projects like the space station
miss the point at this time.  Reading, for example, "What's New" -
the weekly physics update we get here on the net - it's clear that the
romance of the day lies in the ever more fine-grained manipulation of
matter: by which I include biotechnology, condensed matter physics (with
its spinoffs in computer hardware and elsewhere), and the amazing things
people are doing with individual atoms these days.  To a large extent, I
think, the romance some people still have with space is a matter of
nostalgia.  I feel sure that someday we - or more precisely, our "mind
children" - will spread across space (unless we wipe ourselves out); but
I think that *manned* space exploration is not what is exciting about
what we can do *now*.
Anyway, let me quote some of this article, but not all...
SPACE AGE GLORY FADES FROM VIEW
Micheal Schrage (writer, consultant, and research associate at MIT)
At 35, America's Space Age won't have to suffer through the angst of a
midlife crisis.
The reason is that the Space Age is already dead.  The technologies no
longer define our times, and the public has grown weary of the multibillion
-dollar celestial investments that yield minimal psychic or economic
rewards.
Space exploration has mutated from a central focuse of America's science
and technology debate into a peripheral issue.  Speace is not a
meaningful part of the ongoing industrial competitiveness debate, our
technology infrastructure discussions or even our defense conversion
policy.
To be sure, America should continue to invest in satellite technologies
for telecommunications and remote sensing - cheap deep-space probes
would be nice too - but the ideal of space as a meaningful driver of
scientific and industrial innovation is now dead.
.....
Before the change in administrations, it would have been foolish to
write an obituary for the Space Age.  The Bush White House aggressively
supported the space program and proposed spending well over $30 billion
to build space station Freedom alone.
Even as he proposed budget cuts in other science and technology domains,
Office of Management and Budget Director Richard Darman was an outspoken
public champion of big-ticket space expenditures.  The reality that much
of the civilian space program - from the shuttle to the Hubble telescope
to the space station - was poorly conceived and unimpressively
implemented did not seem to matter much.
Political inertia and a nostalgic sense of futurism - not a coherent
vision or cost-effective sensibilities - determined multibillion-dollar
space budgets.
Indeed, with few notable exceptions, such as Voyager, the post-Apollo
era is the story of the gold-plated porkification of space exploration
with programs and promises that delivered less for more and more.
......
While the Clinton Administration has kept on the highly regarded Daniel
Goldin as administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, it seems clear that space exploration is not being
positioned as either a symbolic or substantive centerpiece of America's
technological prowess.  The space station budget has - rightly - been
slashed.  Space is virtually ignored when the Administration champions
its competitiveness agenda.
......
"I wish this had happened 10 years ago instead of starting to happen
now," says Bruce Murray, a Caltech professor who ran NASA's Jet
Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.  "We've put off a lot of things we shouldn't
have.... I would rather see a $10-billion NASA doing well than a
$40-billion one filled with white elephants."
From: Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A7F4E4ADFD021C0B@rs5-annex3.sfu.ca>
X-Xxdate: Fri, 16 Apr 93 06:33:17 GMT
Organization: Simon Fraser University
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d17
Lines: 15
In article <1qn4bgINN4s7@mimi.UU.NET> James P. Goltz, goltz@mimi.UU.NET
writes:
>  Background: The Orion spacedrive was a theoretical concept.
It was more than a theoretical concept; it was seriously pursued by
Freeman Dyson et al many years ago. I don't know how well-known this is,
but a high explosive Orion prototype flew (in the atmosphere) in San
Diego back in 1957 or 1958. I was working at General Atomic at the time,
but I didn't learn about the experiment until almost thirty years later,
when
Ted Taylor visited us and revealed that it had been done. I feel sure
that someone must have film of that experiment, and I'd really like to
see it. Has anyone out there seen it?
Leigh
Subject: help for school
From: mcrandall@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Organization: Wesleyan University
Nntp-Posting-Host: wesleyan.edu
Lines: 14
I am a newbie to the net, and I am trying to get some information for a paper
I am working on to get back into college.  If anyone can send me data on
Solar coronal holes and recurrant aurora  for the past thirty years it would be
a big help.  Or, if you have information on more esoteric things like Telluric
current, surge bafflers power companies use, or other effects sporatic aurora
have on the Earth's magnetic field, I'd be eternally gratefull.  Please send
anything interesting to me at
Marty Crandall-Grela
Van Vleck Observatory
Wesleyan University
Middletown,Ct 06487
or e-mail it to me at mcrandall@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Thank-you in advance,      Marty
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr17.042918.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1993Apr15.051746.29848@news.duc.auburn.edu>, snydefj@eng.auburn.edu (Frank J. Snyder) writes:
>
> I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
>  Sails. I understand that the JPL did an extensive study on the subject
>  back in the late 70's but I am having trouble gathering such information.
>
> Are there any groups out there currently involved in such a project ?
>
> 					Frank Snyder
> 					Auburn University
>
> 					snydefj@eng.auburn.edu
I know someone had long talks about Solar Sails early this year and late last
year..Also about Solar Sailing. Not sure who captured it if possible..
I think it was one of the regulars who had most or all the data?
I think I started the latest round or the late last year round.. But the topic
has been around here, off and on for a year or two..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Russian Email Contacts.
Lines: 15
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Does anyone have any Russian Contacts (Space or other) or contacts in the old
USSR/SU or Eastern Europe?
Post them here so we all can talk to them and ask questions..
I think the cost of email is high, so we would have to  keep the content to
specific topics and such..
Basically if we want to save Russia and such, then we need to make contacts,
contacts are a form of info, so lets get informing.
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
Alive in Nome, Alaska (once called Russian America).
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Subject: Quotation Was:(Re: <None|)
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.
Lines: 12
In article <1993Apr16.155656.1@otago.ac.nz| bioccnt@otago.ac.nz writes:
|
|Can someone please remind me who said a well known quotation?
|
|He was sitting atop a rocket awaiting liftoff and afterwards, in answer to
|the question what he had been thinking about, said (approximately) "half a
|million components, each has to work perfectly, each supplied by the lowest
|bidder....."
|
Sounds similar to something Wally Schirra said.
--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom.alphaCDC.COM) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131
From: collins@well.sf.ca.us (Steve Collins)
Subject: Re: Orbital RepairStation
Nntp-Posting-Host: well.sf.ca.us
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Lines: 29
The difficulties of a high Isp OTV include:
Long transfer times (radiation damage from VanAllen belts for both
the spacecraft and OTV
Arcjets or Xenon thrusters require huge amounts of power so you have
to have either nuclear power source (messy, dangerous and source of
radiation damage) or BIG solar arrays (sensitive to radiation, or heavy)
that make attitude control and docking a big pain.
If you go solar, you have to replace the arrays every trip, with
current technology. Nuclear power sources are strongly restricted
by international treaty.
Refueling (even for very high Isp like xenon) is still required and]
turn out to be a pain.
You either have to develop autonomous rendezvous or long range teleoperation
to do docking or    ( and refueling) .
You still can't do much plane change because the deltaV required is so high!
The Air Force continues to look at doing things this way though. I suppose
they are biding their time till the technology becomes available and
the problems get solved.  Not impossible in principle, but hard to
do and marginally cheaper than one shot rockets, at least today.
Just a few random thoughts on high Isp OTV's. I designed one once...
Steve Collins
From: ktj@beach.cis.ufl.edu (kerry todd johnson)
Subject: army in space
Organization: Univ. of Florida CIS Dept.
Lines: 17
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: beach.cis.ufl.edu
Is anybody out there willing to discuss with me careers in the Army that deal
with space?  After I graduate, I will have a commitment to serve in the Army,
and I would like to spend it in a space-related field.  I saw a post a long
time ago about the Air Force Space Command which made a fleeting reference to
its Army counter-part.  Any more info on that would be appreciated.  I'm
looking for things like: do I branch Intelligence, or Signal, or other?  To
whom do I voice my interest in space?  What qualifications are necessary?
Etc, etc.  BTW, my major is computer science engineering.
Please reply to ktj@reef.cis.ufl.edu
Thanks for ANY info.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be         =
= considered an enemy planet.  --  Jack Handy                                 =
---ktj@reef.cis.ufl.edu---cirop59@elm.circa.ufl.edu---endeavour@circa.ufl.edu--
From: mrw9e@fulton.seas.Virginia.EDU (Michael Robert Williams)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: University of Virginia
Lines: 25
In article <1993Apr17.053333.15696@sfu.ca> Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes:
>In article <1qn4bgINN4s7@mimi.UU.NET> James P. Goltz, goltz@mimi.UU.NET
>writes:
>>  Background: The Orion spacedrive was a theoretical concept.
>
>It was more than a theoretical concept; it was seriously pursued by
>Freeman Dyson et al many years ago. I don't know how well-known this is,
>but a high explosive Orion prototype flew (in the atmosphere) in San
>Diego back in 1957 or 1958. I was working at General Atomic at the time,
>but I didn't learn about the experiment until almost thirty years later,
>when
>Ted Taylor visited us and revealed that it had been done. I feel sure
>that someone must have film of that experiment, and I'd really like to
>see it. Has anyone out there seen it?
>
>Leigh
Nope, I haven't seen the film, but Taylor's biography ("The Curve of
Binding Energy") contains a short section on Orion and this test flight.
Apparently it was quite impressi, and got von Braun very excited.
In Real Life:Mike Williams     | Perpetual Grad Student
e-mail      :mrw9e@virginia.edu|   - It's not just a job, it's an indenture
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you ever have a world of your own, plan ahead- don't eat it." ST:TNG
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Re: Space Debris
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 7
Distribution: world
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
There is a guy in NASA Johnson Space Center  that might answer
your question. I do not have his name right now but if you follow
up I can dig that out for you.
C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov
Claudio Oliveira Egalon
From: u1452@penelope.sdsc.edu (Jeff Bytof - SIO)
Subject: End of the Space Age?
Organization: San Diego Supercomputer Center @ UCSD
Lines: 16
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: penelope.sdsc.edu
We are not at the end of the Space Age, but only at the end of Its
beginning.
That space exploration is no longer a driver for technical innovation,
or a focus of American cultural attention is certainly debatable; however,
technical developments in other quarters will always be examined for
possible applications in the space area and we can look forward to
many innovations that might enhance the capabilities and lower the
cost of future space operations.
The Dream is Alive and Well.
-Jeff Bytof
member, technical staff
Institute for Remote Exploration
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
From: Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
<dxb105.734155421@aries> <1993Apr7.124724.22534@yang.earlham.edu>
<dxb105.734495289@virgo> <1993Apr12.161742.22647@yang.earlham.edu>
Lines: 9
This is turning into 'what's a moonbase good for', and I ought
not to post when I've a hundred some odd posts to go, but I would
think that the real reason to have a moon base is economic.
Since someone with space industry will presumeably have a much
larger GNP than they would _without_ space industry, eventually,
they will simply be able to afford more stuff.
Graydon
From: nether@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Joel C Belog)
Subject: Space Shuttle information wanted
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu
Hello everyone,
I was hoping someone could help me out.  I'm writing a program
for my astronautics class for assent of the shuttle into a low
orbit.  There are two things I'd like to know, First, how much
time elapses between launch and the pitch over. Second, what is
the cross-sectional area of the shuttle, srb's, and ext. tank.
Thanks for any information, post or e-mail.
Joel Belog
nether@wpi.wpi.edu
From: dante@shakala.com (Charlie Prael)
Subject: Re: army in space
Organization: Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
Lines: 23
ktj@beach.cis.ufl.edu (kerry todd johnson) writes:
> Is anybody out there willing to discuss with me careers in the Army that deal
> with space?  After I graduate, I will have a commitment to serve in the Army,
> and I would like to spend it in a space-related field.  I saw a post a long
> time ago about the Air Force Space Command which made a fleeting reference to
> its Army counter-part.  Any more info on that would be appreciated.  I'm
> looking for things like: do I branch Intelligence, or Signal, or other?  To
> whom do I voice my interest in space?  What qualifications are necessary?
> Etc, etc.  BTW, my major is computer science engineering.
Kerry-- I'm guessing a little at this, because it's been a few years
since I saw the info, but you will probably want to look at Air Defense
Artillery as a specialty, or possibly Signals.  The kind of thing you're
looking for is SDI-type assignments, but it'll be pretty prosaic stuff.
Things like hard-kill ATBM missiles, some of the COBRA rigs -- that kind
of thing.
Hope that gives you some ideas on where to look, though.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Prael  - dante@shakala.com
Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
From: wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov
Subject: Re: NASA "Wraps"
Organization: University of Houston
Lines: 86
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: judy.uh.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr10.145502.28866@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes...
>In article <9APR199318394890@judy.uh.edu> wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov writes:
>
>>>BTW, universities do the same thing. They however, have a wrap of
>>>10% to 15% (again, this is over and above any overhead charge).
>
>>Wrong Allen. The max overhead charge is ALL of the charge. There is no
>>seperately budgeted overhead in any shape size form or fashion.
>
>A professor at the University of Virginia told me their wrap was about
>15%. The subcontracts I have let out and worked on for other universities
>are about the same. My employer (a non-profit research institute) does
>the same. This is generally reffered to as the fee.
>
I don't care who told you this it is not generally true. I see EVERY single
line item on a contract and I have to sign it. There is no such thing as
wrap at this university. I also asked around here. Ther is no wrap at
Marquette, University of Wisconsin Madison, Utah State, Weber State or
Embry Riddle U. I am not saying that it doees not happen but in every instance
that I have been able to track down it does not. Also the president of our
University who was Provost at University of West Virgina said that it did
not happen there either and that this figure must be included in the overhead
to be a legitimate charge.
>>How do
>>I know? I write proposals and have won contracts and I know to the dime
>>what the charges are. At UAH for example the overhead is 36.6%.
>
>Sounds like they are adding it to their overhead rate. Go ask your
>costing people how much fee they add to a project.
>
I did they never heard of it but suggest that, like our president did, that
any percentage number like this is included in the overhead.
>>If you have some numbers Allen then show them else quit barking.
>
>I did Dennis; read the article. To repeat: an internal estimate done by
>the Reston costing department says Freedom can be built for about $1.8B
>a year and operated for $1B per year *IF* all the money where spent on
>Freedom. Since we spend about half a billion $$ more per year it looks
>like roughly 25% of the money is wasted. Now if you think I'm making
>this up, you can confirm it in the anonymous editorial published a few
>weeks ago in Space News.
>
No Allen you did not. You merely repeated allegations made by an Employee
of the Overhead capital of NASA. Nothing that Reston does could not be dont
better or cheaper at the Other NASA centers  where the work is going on.
Kinda funny isn't it that someone who talks about a problem like this is
at a place where everything is overhead.
>This Dennis, is why NASA has so many problems: you can't accept that
>anything is wrong unless you can blame it on Congress. Oh, sure, you'll
>say NASA has problems but do you believe it? Remember the WP 02
>overrun? You insisted it was all congresses fault when NASA management
>knew about the overrun for almost a year yet refused to act. Do you
>still blame Congress for the overrun?
>
Why did the Space News artice point out that it was the congressionally
demanded change that caused the problems? Methinks that you are being
selective with the facts again.
>>By your own numbers Allen, at a cost of 500 million per flight the
>>service cost of flying shuttle to SSF is 2 billion for four flights, so how
>>did you get your one billion number?
>
>I have no idea what your trying to say here Dennis.
>
>  Allen
>--
If it takes four flights a year to resupply the station and you have a cost
of 500 million a flight then you pay 2 billion a year. You stated that your
"friend" at Reston said that with the current station they could resupply it
for a billion a year "if the wrap were gone". This merely points out a
blatent contridiction in your numbers that understandably you fail to see.
Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Sorry gang but I have a deadline for a satellite so someone else is going
to have to do Allen's math for him for a while. I will have little chance to
do so.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: army in space
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 10
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
There is the Army Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
They were the precursors to SDIO.  and still exist under
that umbrella.  Army Signal Corp's  and DCA  defense Comm Agency
oops  DISA, they just changed names  do space work.  that's
the point of all those defense comm sats.
But don't worry,  there are lots of jobs that need ditch digging,
somehow you'll end up there ;-)
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: End of the Space Age?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 30
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Oddly, enough,  The smithsonian calls the lindbergh years
the golden age of flight.  I would call it the granite years,
reflecting the primitive nature of it.  It was  romantic,
swashbuckling daredevils,  "those daring young men in their flying
machines".  But in reality, it sucked.  Death was a highly likely
occurence,  and  the environment blew.  Ever see the early navy
pressure suits,  they were modified  diving suits.  You were ready to
star in "plan 9 from outer space".   Radios  and Nav AIds were
a joke,  and engines ran on castor oil.  They  picked and called aviators
"men with iron stomachs",  and it wasn't due to vertigo.
Oddly enough, now we are in the golden age of flight.  I can hop the
shuttle to NY for $90 bucks,  now that's golden.
Mercury gemini, and apollo were romantic,  but let's be honest.
Peeing in bags,  having plastic bags glued to your butt everytime
you needed a bowel movement.  Living for days inside a VW Bug.
Romantic,  but not commercial.   The DC-X  points out a most likely
new golden age.  An age where  fat cigar smoking business men in
loud polyester space suits will fill the skys with strip malls
and used space ship lots.
hhhmmmmm,  maybe i'll  retract that golden age bit.   Maybe it was
better in the old days.  Of course, then we'll have  wally schirra
telling his great grand children, "In my day,  we walked on the moon.
Every day.  Miles.  no buses.  you kids got it soft".
pat
From: aa429@freenet.carleton.ca (Terry Ford)
Subject: A flawed propulsion system: Space Shuttle
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 13
For an essay, I am writing about the space shuttle and a need for a better
propulsion system.  Through research, I have found that it is rather clumsy
(i.e. all the checks/tests before launch), the safety hazards ("sitting
on a hydrogen bomb"), etc..  If you have any beefs about the current
space shuttle program Re: propulsion, please send me your ideas.
Thanks a lot.
--
Terry Ford [aa429@freenet.carleton.ca]
Nepean, Ontario, Canada.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 12
In article <1993Apr17.053333.15696@sfu.ca> Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes:
>... a high explosive Orion prototype flew (in the atmosphere) in San
>Diego back in 1957 or 1958...   I feel sure
>that someone must have film of that experiment, and I'd really like to
>see it. Has anyone out there seen it?
The National Air & Space Museum has both the prototype and the film.
When I was there, some years ago, they had the prototype on display and
the film continuously repeating.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Orbital RepairStation
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21
In article <C5MtyJ.12q@well.sf.ca.us> collins@well.sf.ca.us (Steve Collins) writes:
>The difficulties of a high Isp OTV include...
>If you go solar, you have to replace the arrays every trip, with
>current technology.
You're assuming that "go solar" = "photovoltaic".  Solar dynamic power
(turbo-alternators) doesn't have this problem.  It also has rather less
air drag due to its higher efficiency, which is a non-trivial win for big
solar plants at low altitude.
Now, you might have to replace the *rest* of the electronics fairly often,
unless you invest substantial amounts of mass in shielding.
>Nuclear power sources are strongly restricted
>by international treaty.
References?  Such treaties have been *proposed*, but as far as I know,
none of them has ever been negotiated or signed.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: John Lussmyer <dragon@angus.mi.org>
Subject: Re: DC-X update???
Organization: Mystery Spot BBS
Reply-To: dragon@angus.mi.org
Lines: 12
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
> The first flight will be a low hover that will demonstrate a vertical
> landing.  There will be no payload.  DC-X will never carry any kind
Exactly when will the hover test be done, and will any of the TV
networks carry it.  I really want to see that...
--
John Lussmyer (dragon@angus.mi.org)
Mystery Spot BBS, Royal Oak, MI --------------------------------------------?--
From: Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A7F6002BF6011C1D@rs14-annex3.sfu.ca>
X-Xxdate: Sat, 17 Apr 93 02:42:51 GMT
Organization: Simon Fraser University
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d17
Lines: 11
In article <C5nGxq.663@zoo.toronto.edu> Henry Spencer,
henry@zoo.toronto.edu writes:
>The National Air & Space Museum has both the prototype and the film.
>When I was there, some years ago, they had the prototype on display and
>the film continuously repeating.
Great! I'll visit the National Air and Space Museum at the end of the
month with my wife, who was also working at General Atomic at the time.
Once again netnews has enriched my life.
Leigh
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: NASA "Wraps"
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 91
In article <17APR199316423628@judy.uh.edu> wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov writes:
>I don't care who told you this it is not generally true. I see EVERY single
>line item on a contract and I have to sign it. There is no such thing as
>wrap at this university.
Dennis, I have worked on or written proposals worth tens of millions
of $$. Customers included government (including NASA), for profit and
non-profit companies. All expected a wrap (usually called a fee). Much
of the work involved allocating and costing the work of subcontractors.
The subcontractors where universities, for-profits, non-profits, and
even some of the NASA Centers for the Commercialization of Space. ALL
charged fees as part of the work. Down the street is one of the NASA
commercialization centers; they charge a fee.
Now, I'm sure your a competent engineer Dennis, but you clearly lack
experience in several areas. Your posts show that you don't understand
the importance of integration in large projects. You also show a lack
of understanding of costing efforts as shown by your belief that it
is reasonable to charge incremental costs for everything. This isn't
a flame, jsut a statement.
Your employer DOES charge a fee. You may not see it but you do.
>>Sounds like they are adding it to their overhead rate. Go ask your
>>costing people how much fee they add to a project.
>I did they never heard of it but suggest that, like our president did, that
>any percentage number like this is included in the overhead.
Well there you are Dennis. As I said, they simply include the fee in
their overhead. Many seoparate the fee since the fee structure can
change depending on the customer.
>No Allen you did not. You merely repeated allegations made by an Employee
>of the Overhead capital of NASA.
Integration, Dennis, isn't overhead.
>Nothing that Reston does could not be dont
>better or cheaper at the Other NASA centers  where the work is going on.
Dennis, Reston has been the only NASA agency working to reduce costs. When
WP 02 was hemoraging out a billion $$, the centers you love so much where
doing their best to cover it up and ignore the problem. Reston was the
only place you would find people actually interested in solving the
problems and building a station.
>Kinda funny isn't it that someone who talks about a problem like this is
>at a place where everything is overhead.
When you have a bit more experience Dennis, you will realize that
integration isn't overhead. It is the single most important part
of a successful large scale effort.
>Why did the Space News artice point out that it was the congressionally
>demanded change that caused the problems? Methinks that you are being
>selective with the facts again.
The story you refer to said that some NASA people blamed it on
Congress. Suprise suprise. The fact remains that it is the centers
you support so much who covered up the overheads and wouldn't address
the problems until the press published the story.
Are you saying the Reston managers where wrong to get NASA to address
the overruns? You approve of what the centers did to cover up the overruns?
>If it takes four flights a year to resupply the station and you have a cost
>of 500 million a flight then you pay 2 billion a year. You stated that your
>"friend" at Reston said that with the current station they could resupply it
>for a billion a year "if the wrap were gone". This merely points out a
>blatent contridiction in your numbers that understandably you fail to see.
You should know Dennis that NASA doesn't include transport costs for
resuply. That comes from the Shuttle budget. What they where saying
is that operational costs could be cut in half plus transport.
>Sorry gang but I have a deadline for a satellite so someone else is going
>to have to do Allen's math for him for a while. I will have little chance to
>do so.
I do hope you can find the time to tell us just why it was wrong of
Reston to ask that the problems with WP 02 be addressed.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------60 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org
Subject: Re: Clementine mission name
X-Sender: newtout 0.08 Feb 23 1993
Lines: 27
Mark Prado
>Please go just one step further:
>How has the word "Clementine" been associated with mining?
Old pioneer song from the 1850's or so goes as follows:
"In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
And his daughter, CLEMENTINE"
Chorus:
"Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine.
You are lost and gone forever,
Oh my darling Clementine."
I've also had it explained (but not confirmed from a reliable data
source) that CLEMENTINE is an acronym.  Something like Combined
Lunar Elemental Mapper Experiment on Extended Non Terrestrial
Intercept Near Earth.  Personally, I think that acronym was made up
to fit the name (if it really is an acronym).
------------------------------------------------------------------
Wales Larrison                           Space Technology Investor
--- Maximus 2.01wb
From: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org
Subject: Space Clipper Launch Article
X-Sender: newtout 0.08 Feb 23 1993
Lines: 40
To All -- I thought the net would find this amusing..
From the March 1993 "Aero Vision" (The newsletter for the Employees
of McDonnell Douglas Aerospace at Huntington Beach, California).
SPACE CLIPPERS LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY
"On Monday, March 15 at noon, Quest Aerospace Education, Inc.
launched two DC-Y Space Clippers in the mall near the cafeteria.
The first rocket was launched by Dr. Bill Gaubatz, director and
SSTO program manager, and the second by Air Force Captain Ed
Spalding, who with Staff Sgt. Don Gisburne represents Air Force
Space Command, which was requested by SDIO to assess the DC-X for
potential military operational use.  Both rocket launches were
successful.  The first floated to the ground between the cafeteria
and Building 11, and the second landed on the roof of the
cafeteria.
Quest's Space Clipper is the first flying model rocket of the
McDonnell Douglas DC-X.  The 1/122nd semi-scale model of the
McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper has an estimated maximum altitude
of 300 feet.  The Space Clippers can be used in educational
settings to teach mathematics and science, as well as social
studies and other applications.  The Space Clipper is available
either in the $35 Space Clipper outfit, which includes everything
needed for three launches, or as individual rockets for $12 each.
Both are available through hobby shops or by calling 1-800-858-
7302."
By the way -- this is not an endorsement to buy the product nor is
it an advertisement to buy the product.  I make no claims about the
product.  This is posted for public information only (hey, I found
it amusing...), and is merely a repeat of what was included in the
MDSSC Huntington Beach Newsletter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wales Larrison                         Space Technology Investor
--- Maximus 2.01wb
From: David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org
Subject: LRDPA news
X-Sender: newtout 0.08 Feb 23 1993
Lines: 28
Many of you at this point have seen a copy of the
Lunar Resources Data Purchase Act by now. This bill, also known as the Back to
the Moon bill, would authorize the U.S.
government to purchase lunar science data from private
and non-profit vendors, selected on the basis of competitive bidding, with an
aggregate cap on bid awards of $65 million.
If you have a copy of the bill, and can't or don't want to go through
all of the legalese contained in all Federal legislation,don't both - you have
a free resource to evaluate the bill for you. Your local congressional office,
listed in the phone book,is staffed by people who can forward a copy of the
bill to legal experts. Simply ask them to do so, and to consider supporting
the Lunar Resources Data Purchase Act.
If you do get feedback, negative or positive, from your congressional
office, please forward it to: David Anderman
3136 E. Yorba Linda Blvd., Apt G-14, Fullerton, CA 92631,
or via E-Mail to: David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org.
Another resource is your local chapter of the National Space Society.
Members of the chapter will be happy to work with you to evaluate and support
the Back to the Moon bill. For the address and telephone number of the nearest
chapter to you, please send E-mail, or check the latest issue of Ad Astra, in
a library near you.
Finally, if you have requested, and not received, information about
the Back to the Moon bill, please re-send your request. The database for the
bill was recently corrupted, and some information was lost. The authors of the
bill thank you for your patience.
--- Maximus 2.01wb
From: degroff@netcom.com (21012d)
Subject: Re: Talking to Boeing management about SSTO type stuff from a shareholder perspective.
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Lines: 9
I might suggest giving the management some more mumble time by asking
the very leading question (in two or three parts)
What are your long term expectations of space market, what projects
specifically are they funding by internal funds and at what levels
and what competition do you expect in this  area. (This last point
is always worth hitting upper management with "gently" if you want
them to think and as hard as you can if you have a good case that
there really is competion)
From: degroff@netcom.com (21012d)
Subject: Re: Venus Lander for Venus Conditions.
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Lines: 8
I doubt there are good prospects for  a self armoring system
for venus surface conditions (several hundred degrees, very high
pressure of CO2, possibly sulfuric and nitric acids or oxides
but it is a notion to consider for outer planets rs where you might
pick up ices under less extream upper atmosphere conditions buying
deeper penetration.  A nice creative idea, unlikly but worthy of
thinking about.
From: sugarman@ra.cs.umb.edu (Steven R. Garman)
Subject: WANTED - Optical Shaft Encoders for Telescope
Nntp-Posting-Host: ra.cs.umb.edu
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston
Lines: 23
[Also posted in misc.forsale.wanted,misc.wanted,ne.wanted,ny.wanted,nj.wanted]
WANTED:  Optical Shaft Encoders
Quantity 2
Single-ended
Incremental
Needed to encode the movements of a 16" Cassegrain telescope.  The telescope
is in the observatory of the Univ. of Mass. at Boston.  The project is being
managed by Mr. George Tucker, a graduate student at UMB.  Please call him, or
email/call me, if you have one or two of the specified type of encoder.  Of
course, due to our low funding level we are looking for a price that is
sufficiently lower than that given for new encoders.  :)
George Tucker
617-965-3408
ME:
--
sugarman@cs.umb.edu | 6172876077 univ | 6177313637 home | Standard Disclaimer
Boston Massachusetts USA
From: degroff@netcom.com (21012d)
Subject: Re: Atlas revisited
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Distribution: sci
Lines: 8
I found it very interesting that Atlas depended on pressure to
maintain tank geometry....leads me to the question: ? have any
of the SSTO concepts explored pressurized tankage such that the
launch configuration would be significantly different from the
reentry one?  I have long been facinated by pnumatic structures
as conceived and built by Frei Otto and others, a "ballon" tank
SSTO sounds very clever.
From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Destructive Testing Systems
Lines: 30
In article <93107.144339SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>This is turning into 'what's a moonbase good for', and I ought
>not to post when I've a hundred some odd posts to go, but I would
>think that the real reason to have a moon base is economic.
>
>Since someone with space industry will presumeably have a much
>larger GNP than they would _without_ space industry, eventually,
>they will simply be able to afford more stuff.
If I read you right, you're saying in essence that, with a larger
economy, nations will have more discretionary funds to *waste*
on a lunar facility. That was certainly partially the case with Apollo,
but real Lunar colonies will probably require a continuing military,
scientific, or commercial reason for being rather than just a "we have
the money, why not?" approach.
It's conceivable that Luna will have a military purpose, it's possible
that Luna will have a commercial purpose, but it's most likely that
Luna will only have a scientific purpose for the next several hundred
years at least. Therefore, Lunar bases should be predicated on funding
levels little different from those found for Antarctic bases. Can you
put a 200 person base on the Moon for $30 million a year? Even if you
use grad students?
Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          |    You make it,     | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems |    we break it.     | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             |    Guaranteed!      | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     |                     |
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: army in space
Lines: 13
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Last I had heard because of budget and such the Air Farce is the only "Space
Command" left.. The rest missions were generally given to the Air Farce..
Probably a good reason for me to transfer from the Army Guard to the Air
Guard..
I hate walking with a pack on my back, and how do you put on your application
for a job as a kitchen worker, that you have done a lot of KP (Kitchen
Police)..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: tombaker@world.std.com (Tom A Baker)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Launch Question
Organization: Me, at The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: sci
Lines: 29
In article <15APR199320340428@stdvax> abdkw@stdvax (David Ward) writes:
>In article <C5JLwx.4H9.1@cs.cmu.edu>, ETRAT@ttacs1.ttu.edu (Pack Rat) writes...
>>There has been something bothering me while watching
>>NASA Select for a while.  Well, I should'nt say
>>bothering, maybe wondering would be better.  When
>>they are going to launch they say (sorry but I forget
>>exactly who is saying what, OTC to PLT I think)
>>"Clear caution & warning memory.  Verify no unexpected
>>errors. ...".  I am wondering what an "expected error" might
>>be.  Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but
>
>
>In pure speculation, I would guess cautions based on hazardous
>pre-launch ops would qualify.  Something like "Caution:  SRBs
>have just been armed."
Also in pure speculation:
Parity errors in memory or previously known conditions that were waivered.
"Yes that is an error, but we already knew about it"
Any problem where they decided a backup would handle it.
Any problem in an area that was not criticality 1,2,3..., that is, any
problem in a system they decided they could do without.
I'd be curious as to what the real meaning of the quote is.
tom
From: MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: Into Infinity?(WAS:Re: *Doppelganger* (was Re: Vulcan?)
In-Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu's message of 15 Apr 1993 22:22:19 GMT
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24
Lines: 36
In <1qkn6rINNett@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
> In article <1993Apr15.170048.1@fnalf.fnal.gov>, higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>
> >This was known as *Journey to the Far Side of the Sun* in the United
> >States and as *Doppelganger* in the U.K... Later, they went
> >on to do more live-action SF series: *UFO* and *Space: 1999*.
> >
> >The astronomy was lousy, but the lifting-body spacecraft, VTOL
> >airliners, and mighty Portugese launch complex were *wonderful* to
> >look at.
Exactly. Some of the SPACE:1999 effects remain first-rate even today.
> They recycled a lot of models and theme music for UFO.  Some of the
> concepts even showed up in SPACE: 1999.
>
Later on, the Andersons tried to shed their reputation as creators of some
of the worst pseudo-scientific shows in TV history by flying "Into Infinity."
This was a one-off thing done as part of BBC's "educational SF" series "The
Day After Tomorrow." The Anderson episode dealt with a spaceship capable of
reaching the speed of light ("lightship Altares"), the four-man crew eventually
journeyed into a black hole and ended up on the far side of the galaxy (I
think). I saw this as a 9-year-old back in 1976 and liked it very much, but
then again I was a fan of SPACE:1999 so I guess I was easily satisfied in those
days:-)
---
Does anyone know if "Into Infinity" has been released on video? I have some
SPACE:1999 shows on VHS and know that Thunderbirds etc. also are available in
England.
MARCU$
>
>     Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
>   -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: wdwells@nyx.cs.du.edu (David "Fuzzy" Wells)
Subject: Re: Space Debris
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Lines: 6
>There is a guy in NASA Johnson Space Center  that might answer
>your question. I do not have his name right now but if you follow
>up I can dig that out for you.
Keesler, Loftus, Potter, Stansbery, Kubriek....?
From: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU (nathan wallace)
Subject: ORION test film
Reply-To: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: sor.cs.colostate.edu
Organization: Colorado State University -=- Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 11
Is the film from the "putt-putt" test vehicle which used conventional
explosives as a proof-of-concept test, or another one?
---
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
C/    Nathan F. Wallace                   C/C/           "Reality Is"         C/
C/    e-mail: wallacen@cs.colostate.edu   C/C/    ancient Alphaean proverb    C/
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
From: daviss@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (S.F. Davis)
Subject: Re: japanese moon landing/temporary orbit
Organization: NSPC
Lines: 46
In article <pgf.735012282@srl03.cacs.usl.edu>, pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) writes:
|> rls@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu (Ray Swartz (Oh, that guy again)) writes:
|>
|> >The gravity maneuvering that was used was to exploit 'fuzzy regions'.  These
|> >are described by the inventor as exploiting the second-order perturbations in a
|> >three body system.  The probe was launched into this region for the
|> >earth-moon-sun system, where the perturbations affected it in such a way as to
|> >allow it to go into lunar orbit without large expenditures of fuel to slow
|> >down. The idea is that 'natural objects sometimes get captured without
|> >expending fuel, we'll just find the trajectory that makes it possible". The
|> >originator of the technique said that NASA wasn't interested, but that Japan
|> >was because their probe was small and couldn't hold a lot of fuel for
|> >deceleration.
|>
|>
|> I should probably re-post this with another title, so that
|> the guys on the other thread would see that this is a practical
|> use of "temporary orbits..."
|>
|> Another possible temporary orbit:
|>
|> --
|> Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
|> pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
|>
|>
If you are really interested in these orbits and how they are obtained
you should try and find the following paper:
Hiroshi Yamakawa, Jun'ichiro Kawaguchi, Nobuaki Ishii,
and Hiroki Matsuo, "A Numerical Study of Gravitational Capture
Orbit in the Earth-Moon System," AAS-92-186, AAS/AIAA Spaceflight
Mechanics Meeting, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1992.
The references included in this paper are quite interesting also and
include several that are specific to the HITEN mission itself.
|--------------------------------- ******** -------------------------|
|                                 * _!!!!_ *                         |
| Steven Davis                   * /  \   \ *                        |
| daviss@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov  *  (<o><o>)  *                       |
|                               *  \>_db_</  *  McDonnell Douglas    |
|  - I don't represent           *   |vv|   *   Space Systems Company|
|    anybody but myself. -        *  (__)  *    Houston Division     |
|--------------------------------- ******** -------------------------|
From: jcm@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Launch Question
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA
Distribution: sci
Lines: 23
From article <C5owCB.n3p@world.std.com>, by tombaker@world.std.com (Tom A Baker):
>>In article <C5JLwx.4H9.1@cs.cmu.edu>, ETRAT@ttacs1.ttu.edu (Pack Rat) writes...
>>>"Clear caution & warning memory.  Verify no unexpected
>>>errors. ...".  I am wondering what an "expected error" might
>>>be.  Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but
>
> Parity errors in memory or previously known conditions that were waivered.
>    "Yes that is an error, but we already knew about it"
> I'd be curious as to what the real meaning of the quote is.
>
> tom
My understanding is that the 'expected errors' are basically
known bugs in the warning system software - things are checked
that don't have the right values in yet because they aren't
set till after launch, and suchlike. Rather than fix the code
and possibly introduce new bugs, they just tell the crew
'ok, if you see a warning no. 213 before liftoff, ignore it'.
- Jonathan
From: eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)
Subject: Re: NASP
Distribution: sci
Organization: Boeing AI Center, Huntsville, AL
Lines: 39
I have before me a pertinent report from the United States General
Accounting Office:
National Aero-Space Plane: Restructuring Future Research and Development
Efforts
December 1992
Report number GAO/NSIAD-93-71
In the back it lists the following related reports:
NASP: Key Issues Facing the Program (31 Mar 92) GAO/T-NSIAD-92-26
Aerospace Plane Technology: R&D Efforts in Japan and Australia
(4 Oct 91) GAO/NSIAD-92-5
Aerospace Plane Technology: R&D Efforts in Europe (25 July 91)
GAO/NSIAD-91-194
Aerospace Technology: Technical Data and Information on Foreign
Test Facilities (22 Jun 90) GAO/NSIAD-90-71FS
Investment in Foreign Aerospace Vehicle Research and Technological
Development Efforts (2 Aug 89) GAO/T-NSIAD-89-43
NASP: A Technology Development and Demonstration Program to Build
the X-30 (27 Apr 88) GAO/NSIAD-88-122
On the inside back cover, under "Ordering Information" it says
"The first copy of each GAO report is free.  . . .  Orders
may also be placed by calling (202)275-6241
"
Dani
--
Dani Eder/Meridian Investment Company/(205)464-2697(w)/232-7467(h)/
Rt.1, Box 188-2, Athens AL 35611/Location: 34deg 37' N 86deg 43' W +100m alt.
From: jib@bonnie.jsc.nasa.gov (J. I. Blackshear Jr.)
Subject: DSPSE (was Why Clementine?)
Reply-To: jib@bonnie.jsc.nasa.gov
Organization: Barrios Technology @ NASA/JSC; Houston
Lines: 29
The SDIO has "contracted" with the NRL (Naval Research Laboratory) to fly the Clementine Mission.  BTW we call it DSPSE (Deep Space Project Science Experiment).
The NRL is building the spacecraft, designing the detailed mission and doing the
integration and operations (with help from, JPL & Goddard & prob. some folks I
have left out...don't be mad).
I am on the TAMP (Trajectory Analysis & Mission Planning) team and am responsable
for the IV&V of the traj that Goddard/CSC are designing.
As for why SDIO is doing it, some of the reasons are:
1)  the safety constraints are too tight to try to run the LIDAR in LEO
2)  in LEO we don't get any new radiation data on the sensors, we will get
that data on our 9 passages through the Van Allen (sp?) Belts
3)  since we are going out there...why not piggy-back some general science
4)  the intercept problem is a lot easied over LONG distances and LONG times
I am sure there are some things I have forgotten, and some I haven't been told
but, those are the reasons we all talk about.
--
Jim Blackshear
jib@bonnie.jsc.nasa.gov
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 34
> > Can these questions be answered for a previous
> > instance, such as the Gehrels 3 that was mentioned in an earlier posting?
> Orbital Elements of Comet 1977VII (from Dance files)
> p(au)          3.424346
> e              0.151899
> i              1.0988
> cap_omega(0) 243.5652
> W(0)         231.1607
> epoch       1977.04110
Thanks for the information!
I assume p is the semi-major axis and e the eccentricity.  The peri-
helion and aphelion are then given by p(1-e) and p(1+e), i.e., about
2.90 and 3.95 AU respectively.  For Jupiter, they are 4.95 and 5.45 AU.
If 1977 was after the temporary capture, this means that the comet
ended up in an orbit that comes no closer than 1 AU to Jupiter's --
which I take to be a rough indication of how far from Jupiter it could
get under Jupiter's influence.
> Also, perihelions of Gehrels3 were:
>
> April  1973     83 jupiter radii
> August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
Where 1 Jupiter radius = 71,000 km = 44,000 mi = 0.0005 AU.  So the
1970 figure seems unlikely to actually be anything but a perijove.
Is that the case for the 1973 figure as well?
--
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto		"Remember the Golgafrinchans"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com					-- Pete Granger
This article is in the public domain.
From: bafta@cats.ucsc.edu (Shari L Brooks)
Subject: Re: Into Infinity?(WAS:Re: *Doppelganger* (was Re: Vulcan?)
Organization: University of California - Santa Cruz
Lines: 36
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu
Summary: me too!
Keywords: cheesy science fiction
In article <1993Apr18.171148.6367@abo.fi> MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus
Lindroos INF) writes:
>Later on, the Andersons tried to shed their reputation as creators of some
>of the worst pseudo-scientific shows in TV history by flying "Into Infinity."
>This was a one-off thing done as part of BBC's "educational SF" series "The
>Day After Tomorrow." The Anderson episode dealt with a spaceship capable of
>reaching the speed of light ("lightship Altares"), the four-man crew
>eventually journeyed into a black hole and ended up on the far side of the
>galaxy (I think). I saw this as a 9-year-old back in 1976 and liked it very
>much, but then again I was a fan of SPACE:1999 so I guess I was easily
>satisfied in those days:-)
Wow.  I was beginning to think that I had made that up.  I remember that
movie (it was about 1.5 hours long).  I don't think they ended up anywhere
in the known universe.
I remember they got a message halfway out to Proxima Centauri, that Earth
transmitted a day after they launched, timed to catch up with them at the
halfway point.  I thought it was neat, I think I was all of 10 at the time.
>Does anyone know if "Into Infinity" has been released on video? I have some
>SPACE:1999 shows on VHS and know that Thunderbirds etc. also are available in
>England.
Space:1999 has just come out with 4 episodes released in American stores.
I will look for the Into Infinity show, I never did know that was the
name of it, I thought the show was called "the day after tomorrow", and
that was it.
--
If you blow fire against the wind, take care to not get the smoke in your eyes.
Big & Growly Dragon-monster        |        bafta@cats.ucsc.edu
--------> shari brooks <--------      |    brooks@anarchy.arc.nasa.gov
The above opinions are solely my own.
From: gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
Subject: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: The MacInteresteds of Nashville, Tn.
Lines: 12
With the continuin talk about the "End of the Space Age" and complaints
by government over the large cost, why not try something I read about
that might just work.
Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
--
gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
theporch.raider.net  615/297-7951 The MacInteresteds of Nashville
From: Thomas.Enblom@eos.ericsson.se (Thomas Enblom)
Subject: NAVSTAR positions
Reply-To: Thomas.Enblom@eos.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Telecom AB
Lines: 16
Nntp-Posting-Host: eos8c29.ericsson.se
I've just read Richard Langley's latest "Navstar GPS Constellation Status".
It states that the latest satellite was placed in Orbit Plane Position C-3.
There is already one satellite in that position. I know that it's almost
ten years since that satellite was launched but it's still in operation so
why not use it until it goes off?
Why not instead place the new satellite at B-4 since that position is empty
and by this measure have an almost complete GPS-constellation
(23 out of 24)?
/Thomas
================================================================================
Ericsson Telecom, Stockholm, Sweden
Thomas Enblom, just another employee.
From: uck@netcom.com (Tom Chamberlain)
Subject: Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Lines: 6
Has anyone heard of or Played Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space?
Does anyone know when it is expected to be released...?
Thanx, Tom.
From: wmiler@nyx.cs.du.edu (Wyatt Miler)
Subject: Diaspar Virtual Reality Network Announcement
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Lines: 185
Posted to the Internet by wmiler@nyx.cs.du.edu
000062David42      041493003715
The Lunar Tele-operation Model One (LTM1)
=========================================
By David H. Mitchell
March 23, 1993
INTRODUCTION:
In order to increase public interest in space-based and lunar operations, a
real miniature lunar-like environment is being constructed on which to test
tele-operated models. These models are remotely-controlled by individuals
located world-wide using their personal computers, for EduTainment
purposes.
Not only does this provide a test-bed for simple tele-operation and
tele-presence activities but it also provides for the sharing of
information
on methods of operating in space, including, but not limited to, layout of
a
lunar colony, tele-operating machines for work and play, disseminating
educational information, providing contests and awards for creativity and
achievement and provides a new way for students worldwide to participate in
Twenty-First century remote learning methods.
Because of the nature of the LTM1 project, people of all ages, interests
and
skills can contribute scenery and murals, models and structures,
interfacing
and electronics, software and graphics. In operation LTM1 is an evolving
playground and laboratory that can be used by children, students and
professionals worldwide. Using a personal computer at home or a terminal at
a participating institution a user is able to tele-operate real models at
the
LTM1 base for experimental or recreational purposes. Because a real
facility
exists, ample opportunity is provided for media coverage of the
construction
of the lunar model, its operation and new features to be added as suggested
by the users themselves.
This has broad inherent interest for a wide range of groups:
- tele-operations and virtual reality research
- radio control, model railroad and ham radio operation
- astronomy and space planetariums and science centers
- art and theater
- bbs and online network users
- software and game developers
- manufacturers and retailers of model rockets, cars and trains
- children
- the child in all of us
LTM1 OVERALL DESIGN:
A room 14 feet by 8 feet contains the base lunar layout. The walls are used
for murals of distant moon mountains, star fields and a view of the earth.
The "floor" is the simulated lunar surface. A global call for contributions
is hereby made for material for the lunar surface, and for the design and
creation of scale models of lunar colony elements, scenery, and
machine-lets.
The LTM1 initial design has 3 tele-operated machinelets:
1. An SSTO scale model which will be able to lift off, hover and land;
2. A bulldozerlet which will be able to move about in a quarry area; and
3. A moon-train which will traverse most of the simulated lunar surface.
Each machinelet has a small TV camera utilizing a CCD TV chip mounted on
it. A personal computer digitizes the image (including reducing picture
content and doing data-compression to allow for minimal images to be sent
to the operator for control purposes) and also return control signals.
The first machinelet to be set up will be the moon-train since model trains
with TV cameras built in are almost off-the-shelf items and control
electronics for starting and stopping a train are minimal. The user will
receive an image once every 1 to 4 seconds depending on the speed of their
data link to LTM1.
Next, an SSTO scale model with a CCD TV chip will be suspended from a
servo-motor operated wire frame mounted on the ceiling allowing for the
SSTO
to be controlled by the operator to take off, hover over the entire lunar
landscape and land.
Finally, some tank models will be modified to be CCD TV chip equipped
bulldozerlets. The entire initial LTM1 will allow remote operators
worldwide
to receive minimal images while actually operating models for landing and
takeoff, traveling and doing work. The entire system is based on
commercially
available items and parts that can be easily obtained except for the
interface electronics which is well within the capability of many advanced
ham radio operator and computer hardware/software developers.
By taking a graphically oriented communications program (Dmodem) and adding
a tele-operations screen and controls, the necessary user interface can be
provided in under 80 man hours.
PLAN OF ACTION:
The Diaspar Virtual Reality Network has agreed to sponsor this project by
providing a host computer network and Internet access to that network.
Diaspar is providing the 14 foot by 8 foot facility for actual construction
of the lunar model. Diaspar has, in stock, the electronic tanks that can be
modified and one CCD TV chip. Diaspar also agrees to provide "rail stock"
for the lunar train model. Diaspar will make available the Dmodem graphical
communications package and modify it for control of the machines-lets.
An initial "ground breaking" with miniature shovels will be performed for
a live photo-session and news conference on April 30, 1993. The initial
models will be put in place. A time-lapse record will be started for
historical purposes. It is not expected that this event will be completely
serious or solemn. The lunar colony will be declared open for additional
building, operations and experiments. A photographer will be present and
the photographs taken will be converted to .gif images for distribution
world-wide to major online networks and bbs's. A press release will be
issued
calling for contributions of ideas, time, talent, materials and scale
models
for the simulated lunar colony.
A contest for new designs and techniques for working on the moon will then
be
announced. Universities will be invited to participate, the goal being to
find instructors who wish to have class participation in various aspects of
the lunar colony model. Field trips to LTM1 can be arranged and at that
time
the results of the class work will be added to the model. Contributors will
then be able to tele-operate any contributed machine-lets once they return
to
their campus.
A monthly LTM1 newsletter will be issued both electronically online and via
conventional means to the media. Any major new tele-operated equipment
addition will be marked with an invitation to the television news media.
Having a large, real model space colony will be a very attractive photo
opportunity for the television community. Especially since the "action"
will
be controlled by people all over the world. Science fiction writers will be
invited to issue "challenges" to engineering and human factors students at
universities to build and operate the tele-operated equipment to perform
lunar tasks. Using counter-weight and pulley systems, 1/6 gravity may be
simulated to some extent to try various traction challenges.
The long term goal is creating world-wide interest, education,
experimentation
and remote operation of a lunar colony. LTM1 has the potential of being a
long
term global EduTainment method for space activities and may be the generic
example of how to teach and explore in many other subject areas not limited
to space EduTainment. All of this facilitates the kind of spirit which can
lead to a generation of people who are ready for the leap to the stars!
CONCLUSION:
EduTainment is the blending of education and entertainment. Anyone who has
ever enjoyed seeing miniatures will probably see the potential impact of a
globally available layout for recreation, education and experimentation
purposes. By creating a tele-operated model lunar colony we not only create
world-wide publicity, but also a method of trying new ideas that require
real
(not virtual) skills and open a new method for putting people's minds in
space.
MOONLIGHTERS:
"Illuminating the path of knowledge about space and lunar development."
The following people are already engaged in various parts of this work:
David42, Rob47, Dash, Hyson, Jzer0, Vril, Wyatt, The Dark One, Tiggertoo,
The Mad Hatter, Sir Robin, Jogden.
Come join the discussion any Friday night from 10:30 to midnight PST in
Diaspar Virtual Reality Network. Ideas welcome!
Internet telnet to: 192.215.11.1 or diaspar.com
(voice)  714-376-1776
(2400bd) 714-376-1200
(9600bd) 714-376-1234
Email inquiries to LTM1 project leader Jzer@Hydra.unm.edu
or directly to Jzer0 on Diaspar.
From: urf@icl.se (Urban F)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Nntp-Posting-Host: sw2001
Organization: None. On USENET I speak only for myself.
X-Alt.reply-Address: n.g.u.fredriksson@swe2001.wins.icl.co.uk
Lines: 14
Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes:
> I feel sure
>that someone must have film of that experiment, and I'd really like to
>see it. Has anyone out there seen it?
I've seen a film of it, my memory may be faulty, but as I
remember it the vehicle was slightly over a meter long, with a
thick baseplate 30-40 cm in diameter. I think the narrative said
it was propelled by dynamite sticks. There were four detonations
within about 2 s, the second coming after about 2 m of flight in.
Max altitude seemed to be on the order of 50 m, but that is hard
to judge.
--
Urban Fredriksson  urf@icl.se
From: jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Lines: 26
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
In article <1993Apr19.020359.26996@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>> > Can these questions be answered for a previous
>> > instance, such as the Gehrels 3 that was mentioned in an earlier posting?
>
>> Orbital Elements of Comet 1977VII (from Dance files)
>> p(au)          3.424346
>> e              0.151899
>> i              1.0988
>> cap_omega(0) 243.5652
>> W(0)         231.1607
>> epoch       1977.04110
>
>
>> Also, perihelions of Gehrels3 were:
>>
>> April  1973     83 jupiter radii
>> August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
>
> Where 1 Jupiter radius = 71,000 km = 44,000 mi = 0.0005 AU.  So the
> 1970 figure seems unlikely to actually be anything but a perijove.
> Is that the case for the 1973 figure as well?
> --
Sorry, _perijoves_...I'm not used to talking this language.
John Garland
jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Orbital RepairStation
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 20
In article <C5HCBo.Joy@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>The biggest problem with this is that all orbits are not alike.  It can
>actually be more expensive to reach a satellite from another orbit than
>from the ground.
But with cheaper fuel from space based sources it will be cheaper to
reach more orbits than from the ground.
Also remember, that the presence of a repair/supply facility adds value
to the space around it. If you can put your satellite in an orbit where it
can be reached by a ready source of supply you can make it cheaper and gain
benefit from economies of scale.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------58 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov
Subject: Re: NASA "Wraps"
Organization: University of Houston
Lines: 160
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: judy.uh.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr18.034101.21934@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes...
>In article <17APR199316423628@judy.uh.edu> wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov writes:
>
>>I don't care who told you this it is not generally true. I see EVERY single
>>line item on a contract and I have to sign it. There is no such thing as
>>wrap at this university.
>
>Dennis, I have worked on or written proposals worth tens of millions
>of $$. Customers included government (including NASA), for profit and
>non-profit companies. All expected a wrap (usually called a fee). Much
>of the work involved allocating and costing the work of subcontractors.
>The subcontractors where universities, for-profits, non-profits, and
>even some of the NASA Centers for the Commercialization of Space. ALL
>charged fees as part of the work. Down the street is one of the NASA
>commercialization centers; they charge a fee.
>
You totally forgot the original post that you posted Allen. In that post
you stated that the "wrap" was on top of and in addition to any overhead.
Geez in this post you finally admit that this is not true.
>Now, I'm sure your a competent engineer Dennis, but you clearly lack
>experience in several areas. Your posts show that you don't understand
>the importance of integration in large projects. You also show a lack
>of understanding of costing efforts as shown by your belief that it
>is reasonable to charge incremental costs for everything. This isn't
>a flame, jsut a statement.
Come your little ol buns down here and you will find out who is doing
what and who is working on integration. This is simply an ad hominum
attack and you know it.
>
>Your employer DOES charge a fee. You may not see it but you do.
>
Of course there is a fee. It is for administration. Geez Allen any
organization has costs but there is a heck of a difference in  legitimate
costs, such as libraries and other things that must be there to support
a program and "wrap" as you originally stated it.You stated that wrap
was on top of all of the overhead which a couple of sentences down you
say is not true. Which is it Allen?
>>>Sounds like they are adding it to their overhead rate. Go ask your
>>>costing people how much fee they add to a project.
>
>>I did they never heard of it but suggest that, like our president did, that
>>any percentage number like this is included in the overhead.
>
>Well there you are Dennis. As I said, they simply include the fee in
>their overhead. Many seoparate the fee since the fee structure can
>change depending on the customer.
>
As you have posted on this subject Allen, you state that wrap is over and
above overhead and is a seperate charge. You admit here that this is wrong.
Nasa has a line item budget every year. I have seen it Allen. Get some
numbers from that detailed NASA budget and dig out the wrap numbers and then
howl to high heaven about it. Until you do that you are barking in the wind.
>>No Allen you did not. You merely repeated allegations made by an Employee
>>of the Overhead capital of NASA.
>
>Integration, Dennis, isn't overhead.
>
>>Nothing that Reston does could not be dont
>>better or cheaper at the Other NASA centers  where the work is going on.
>
Integration could be done better at the centers. Apollo integration was
done here at Msfc and that did not turn out so bad. The philosophy of
Reston is totally wrong Allen. There you have a bunch of people who are
completely removed from the work that they are trying to oversee. There
is no way that will ever work. It has never worked in any large scale project
that it was ever tried on. Could you imagine a Reston like set up for
Apollo?
>Dennis, Reston has been the only NASA agency working to reduce costs. When
>WP 02 was hemoraging out a billion $$, the centers you love so much where
>doing their best to cover it up and ignore the problem. Reston was the
>only place you would find people actually interested in solving the
>problems and building a station.
>
Oh you are full of it Allen on this one. I agree that JSC screwed up big.
They should be responsible for that screw up and the people that caused it
replaced. To make a stupid statement like that just shows how deep your
bias goes. Come to MSFC for a couple of weeks and you will find out just
how wrong you really are. Maybe not, people like you believe exactly what
they want to believe no matter  what the facts are contrary to it.
>>Kinda funny isn't it that someone who talks about a problem like this is
>>at a place where everything is overhead.
>
>When you have a bit more experience Dennis, you will realize that
>integration isn't overhead. It is the single most important part
>of a successful large scale effort.
>
I agree that integration is the single most important part of a  successful
large scale effort. What I completly disagree with is seperating that
integration function from  the people that are doing the work. It is called
leadership Allen. That is what made Apollo work. Final responsibility for
the success of Apollo was held by less than 50 people. That is leadership
and responsibility. There is neither when you have any organization set up
as Reston is. You could take the same people and move them to JSC or MSFC
and they could do a much better job. Why did it take a year for Reston to
finally say something about the problem? If they were on site and part of the
process then the problem would have never gotten out of hand in the first place.
There is one heck of a lot I do not know Allen, but one thing I do know is that
for a project to be successful you must have leadership. I remember all of the
turn over at Reston that kept SSF program in shambles for years do you? It is
lack of responsibility and leadership that is the programs problem. Lack of
leadership from the White House, Congress and at Reston. Nasa is only a
symptom of a greater national problem. You are so narrowly focused in your
efforts that you do not see this.
>>Why did the Space News artice point out that it was the congressionally
>>demanded change that caused the problems? Methinks that you are being
>>selective with the facts again.
>
>The story you refer to said that some NASA people blamed it on
>Congress. Suprise suprise. The fact remains that it is the centers
>you support so much who covered up the overheads and wouldn't address
>the problems until the press published the story.
>
>Are you saying the Reston managers where wrong to get NASA to address
>the overruns? You approve of what the centers did to cover up the overruns?
>
No, I am saying that if they were located at JSC it never would have
happened in the first place.
>>If it takes four flights a year to resupply the station and you have a cost
>>of 500 million a flight then you pay 2 billion a year. You stated that your
>>"friend" at Reston said that with the current station they could resupply it
>>for a billion a year "if the wrap were gone". This merely points out a
>>blatent contridiction in your numbers that understandably you fail to see.
>
>You should know Dennis that NASA doesn't include transport costs for
>resuply. That comes from the Shuttle budget. What they where saying
>is that operational costs could be cut in half plus transport.
>
>>Sorry gang but I have a deadline for a satellite so someone else is going
>>to have to do Allen's math for him for a while. I will have little chance to
>>do so.
>
>I do hope you can find the time to tell us just why it was wrong of
>Reston to ask that the problems with WP 02 be addressed.
>
I have the time to reitereate one more timet that if the leadership that is
at reston was on site at JSC the problem never would have happened, totally
ignoring the lack of leadership of congress. This many headed hydra that
has grown up at NASA is the true problem of the Agency and to try to
change the question to suit you and your bias is only indicative of
your position.
Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville
From: nicho@vnet.IBM.COM (Greg Stewart-Nicholls)
Subject: Re: Biosphere II
Reply-To: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
X-X-From: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
<1q1kia$gg8@access.digex.net>
Lines: 18
In <1q1kia$gg8@access.digex.net> Pat writes:
>In article <19930408.043740.516@almaden.ibm.com> nicho@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>>In <1q09ud$ji0@access.digex.net> Pat writes:
>>>Why is everyone being so critical of B2?
>> Because it's bogus science, promoted as 'real' science.
>It seems to me, that it's sorta a large engineering project more
>then a science project.
Bingo.
>B2 is not bench science,  but rather a large scale attempt to
>re-create a series of micro-ecologies.   what's so eveil about this?
Nothing evil at all. There's no actual harm in what they're doing, only
how they represent it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
.sig files are like strings ... every yo-yo's got one.
Greg Nicholls ... nicho@vnet.ibm.com (business) or
nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk (private)
From: nicho@vnet.IBM.COM (Greg Stewart-Nicholls)
Subject: Re: Biosphere II
Reply-To: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
X-X-From: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
<1q77ku$av6@access.digex.net>
Lines: 10
In <1q77ku$av6@access.digex.net> Pat writes:
>The Work is privately funded,  the DATA belongs to SBV.  I don't see
>either george or Fred,  scoriating IBM research division for
>not releasing data.
We publish plenty kiddo,you just have to look.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
.sig files are like strings ... every yo-yo's got one.
Greg Nicholls ... nicho@vnet.ibm.com (business) or
nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk (private)
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Sixty-two thousand (was Re: How many read sci.space?)
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 23
In article <1993Apr15.131954.1@fnalf.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>Reid, alas, gives us no measure of the "power/influence" of readers...
>Sorry, Mark.
I think I can. Largely as a result of efforts by people reading this group
writing letters and making phone calls the following has happened:
1. NASA reprogrammed funds to keep NASP alive in 1991.
2. Efforts to kill DC-X and the SSRT progam where twice twarted
(Feb. and June of last year).
3. Gouldin kept his job in spite of heavy lobbying against him.
This may not be what Mark was thinking of but it shows that the
readers of sci.space DO have power and influence.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------58 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: pvtmakela@hylkn1.Helsinki.FI (M{kel{ Veikko)
Subject: Re: Astronomy Program
Organization: University of Helsinki
Lines: 20
In article <28641@galaxy.ucr.edu> datadec@ucrengr.ucr.edu
(kevin marcus) writes:
>Are there any public domain or shareware astronomy programs which will
>map out the sky at any given time, and allow you to locate planets, nebulae,
>and so forth?  If so, is there any ftp site where I can get one?
There are several star map programs available.  Your
job is to choose that you like.  Try anonymous-FTP
from:
ftp.funet.fi:pub/astro/pc/stars
pc/solar
mac
amiga
atari
regards,
-Veikko-
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
In-Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.uucp's message of Sun, 18 Apr 1993 09:10:51 GMT
Originator: nickh@SNOW.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: snow.fox.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
<1993Apr7.124724.22534@yang.earlham.edu> <dxb105.734495289@virgo>
<1993Apr12.161742.22647@yang.earlham.edu>
<93107.144339SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
<1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp>
Lines: 35
In article <1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes:
In article <93107.144339SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>This is turning into 'what's a moonbase good for', and I ought not
>to post when I've a hundred some odd posts to go, but I would
>think that the real reason to have a moon base is economic.
>
>Since someone with space industry will presumeably have a much
>larger GNP than they would _without_ space industry, eventually,
>they will simply be able to afford more stuff.
If I read you right, you're saying in essence that, with a larger
economy, nations will have more discretionary funds to *waste* on a
lunar facility. That was certainly partially the case with Apollo,
but real Lunar colonies will probably require a continuing
military, scientific, or commercial reason for being rather than
just a "we have the money, why not?" approach.
Ah, but the whole point is that money spent on a lunar base is not
wasted on the moon. It's not like they'd be using $1000 (1000R?) bills
to fuel their moon-dozers. The money to fund a lunar base would be
spent in the country to which the base belonged. It's a way of funding
high-tech research, just like DARPA was a good excuse to fund various
fields of research, under the pretense that it was crucial to the
defense of the country, or like ESPRIT is a good excuse for the EC to
fund research, under the pretense that it's good for pan-European
cooperation.
Now maybe you think that government-funded research is a waste of
money (in fact, I'm pretty sure you do), but it does count as
investment spending, which does boost the economy (and just look at
the size of that multiplier :->).
Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Launch Question
In-Reply-To: jcm@head-cfa.harvard.edu's message of Sun, 18 Apr 1993 22:44:14 GMT
Originator: nickh@SNOW.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: snow.fox.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
<1993Apr18.224414.784@head-cfa.harvard.edu>
Distribution: sci
Lines: 17
In article <1993Apr18.224414.784@head-cfa.harvard.edu> jcm@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) writes:
My understanding is that the 'expected errors' are basically
known bugs in the warning system software - things are checked
that don't have the right values in yet because they aren't
set till after launch, and suchlike. Rather than fix the code
and possibly introduce new bugs, they just tell the crew
'ok, if you see a warning no. 213 before liftoff, ignore it'.
Good grief. And I thought the Shuttle software was known for being
well-engineered. If this is actually the case, every member of the
programming team should be taken out and shot.
(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 in
maturity, I strongly doubt that this is the case).
Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Lines: 17
Gene Wright (gene@theporch.raider.net) wrote:
: Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
: who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
: Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
: to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
I'm an advocate of this idea for funding Space Station work, and I
throw around the $1 billion figure for that "reward."  I suggest that
you increase the Lunar reward to about $3 billion.
This would encourage private industry to invest in space, which
should be one of NASA's primary goals.
-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
"Better.  Faster.  Cheaper." -- Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator
From: pjs@euclid.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter J. Scott)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech
Lines: 19
Distribution: world
Reply-To: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: euclid.jpl.nasa.gov
In article <1993Apr18.014305.28536@sfu.ca>, Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes:
> In article <C5nGxq.663@zoo.toronto.edu> Henry Spencer,
> henry@zoo.toronto.edu writes:
> >The National Air & Space Museum has both the prototype and the film.
> >When I was there, some years ago, they had the prototype on display and
> >the film continuously repeating.
>
> Great! I'll visit the National Air and Space Museum at the end of the
> month with my wife, who was also working at General Atomic at the time.
> Once again netnews has enriched my life.
Sorry to put a damper on your plans, but I was there three weeks ago and
it wasn't there.  Not that I would have known to look for it, of course,
but I combed the space exhibits pretty thoroughly and something like that
would have caught my attention instantly.
--
This is news.  This is your       |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
brain on news.  Any questions?    |    (pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov)
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Vast Bandwidth Over-runs on NASA thread (was Re: NASA "Wraps")
In-Reply-To: wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov's message of 18 Apr 1993 13:56 CDT
Originator: nickh@SNOW.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: snow.fox.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
<17APR199316423628@judy.uh.edu> <1993Apr18.034101.21934@iti.org>
<18APR199313560620@judy.uh.edu>
Lines: 12
In article <18APR199313560620@judy.uh.edu>, Dennis writes about a
zillion lines in response to article <1993Apr18.034101.21934@iti.org>,
in which Allen wrote a zillion lines in response to article
<17APR199316423628@judy.uh.edu>, in which Dennis wrote another zillion
lines in response to Allen.
Hey, can it you guys. Take it to email, or talk.politics.space, or
alt.flame, or alt.music.pop.will.eat.itself.the.poppies.are.on.patrol,
or anywhere, but this is sci.space. This thread lost all scientific
content many moons ago.
Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 17
In article <1quh78INNf45@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov writes:
>> >The National Air & Space Museum has both the prototype and the film.
>> >When I was there, some years ago, they had the prototype on display...
>> Great! I'll visit the National Air and Space Museum at the end of the
>> month...
>
>Sorry to put a damper on your plans, but I was there three weeks ago and
>it wasn't there.  Not that I would have known to look for it, of course,
>but I combed the space exhibits pretty thoroughly and something like that
>would have caught my attention instantly.
It wasn't especially prominent, as I recall.  However, quite possibly it's
no longer on display; NASM, like most museums, has much more stuff than it
can display at once, and does rotate the displays occasionally.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration.  May 7  Crystal City
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt MD USA
Lines: 9
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration confernce
May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the auspices of AIAA.
Does anyone know more about this?  How much, to attend????
Anyone want to go?
pat
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Space Clippers launched
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 14
>  SPACE CLIPPERS LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY
When I first saw this, I thought for a second that it was a headline from
The Star about the pliers found in the SRB recently.
Y'know, sometimes they have wire-cutters built in :-)
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 04/16/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 25
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Magellan, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager
MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
April 16, 1993
1.  The Magellan mission at Venus continues normally, gathering gravity
data which provides measurement of density variations in the upper
mantle which can be correlated to surface topography.  Spacecraft
performance is nominal.
2.  Magellan has completed 7225 orbits of Venus and is now 39 days from
the end of Cycle-4 and the start of the Transition Experiment.
3.  No significant activities are expected next week, as preparations
for aerobraking continue on schedule.
4.  On Monday morning, April 19, the moon will occult Venus and
interrupt the tracking of Magellan for about 68 minutes.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)
Subject: Space class for teachers near Chicago
Organization: Motorola
Distribution: usa
Nntp-Posting-Host: 145.1.146.43
Lines: 59
I am posting this for a friend without internet access. Please inquire
to the phone number and address listed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Space: Teaching's Newest Frontier"
Sponsored by the Planetary Studies Foundation
The Planetary Studies Foundation is sponsoring a one week class for
teachers called "Space: Teaching's Newest Frontier." The class will be
held at the Sheraton Suites in Elk Grove, Illinois from June 14 through
June 18. Participants who complete the program can earn two semester
hours of graduate credit from Aurora College. Please note that while the
class is intended for teachers, it is not restricted to teachers.
The class, which is being cosponsored by the United States Space
Foundation, will teach how to use space exploration as a teaching tool
to get students excited about learning and interested in science.
Classroom topics to be covered by the class include:
> Living in Space
> The Space Shuttle
> The Space Station
> NASA Spinoffs that Benefit Society
> Principles of Astrodynamics/Aeronautics
> The Solar System
There will also be simulated Zero-G training in an underwater space
station simulation, model rocket launches, observing sessions at the
Harper College Observatory, and field trips to the Adler Planetarium and
the Museum of Science and Industry.
Featured speakers include Jerry Brown of the Colorado based United
States Space Foundation and Debbie Brown of the NASA Lewis Research
Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Additional instructors will be provided by
the Planetary Studies Foundation.
The social highlight of the class will be a dinner banquet featuring
Space Shuttle Payload Specialist Byron Lichtenberg, currently President
of Payload Systems, Inc. Lichtenberg was a member of the crew of STS-9
which flew in November 1983. The banquet is scheduled for Thursday, June
17.
The registration fee includes transportation for field trips, materials,
continental breakfasts, lunches, and the special dinner banquet. Guest
tickets for the dinner banquet are also available.  There is an
additional charge to receive the two hours of graduate credit. For any
additional information about the class, contact the Science Learning
Center at (708) 359-7913.
Or write to:
Planetary Studies Foundation
1520 W. Algonquin Rd.
Palatine, IL 60067
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
Schaumburg, IL
From: ghasting@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu (George Hastings)
Subject: Re: Soviet space book
Organization: Virginia's Public Education Network (Richmond)
Lines: 13
I have received my copies of Cosmonautics 1990 and
Cosmonautics 1991, as well as Soviet Space 1990 and Space
Station [MIR] Handbook from Aerospace Ambassadors with no
problem.
I'm getting ready to FAX them some material in Huntsville,
and I'll include a printout of your inquiry.
____________________________________________________________
| George Hastings		ghasting@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu |
| Space Science Teacher		72407.22@compuserve.com      |  If it's not
| Mathematics & Science Center 	STAREACH BBS: 804-343-6533   |   FUN, it's
| 2304 Hartman Street		OFFICE:       804-343-6525   |  probably not
| Richmond, VA 23223		FAX:          804-343-6529   |    SCIENCE!
------------------------------------------------------------
From: ghasting@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu (George Hastings)
Subject: Re: Space on other nets
Organization: Virginia's Public Education Network (Richmond)
Lines: 17
We run "SpaceNews & Views" on our STAREACH BBS, a local
operation running WWIV software with the capability to link to
over 1500 other BBS's in the U.S.A. and Canada through WWIVNet.
Having just started this a couple of months ago, our sub us
currently subscribed by only about ten other boards, but more
are being added.
We get our news articles re on Internet, via ftp from NASA
sites, and from a variety of aerospace related periodicals. We
get a fair amount of questions on space topics from students
who access the system.
____________________________________________________________
| George Hastings		ghasting@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu |
| Space Science Teacher		72407.22@compuserve.com      |  If it's not
| Mathematics & Science Center 	STAREACH BBS: 804-343-6533   |   FUN, it's
| 2304 Hartman Street		OFFICE:       804-343-6525   |  probably not
| Richmond, VA 23223		FAX:          804-343-6529   |    SCIENCE!
------------------------------------------------------------
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr19.130503.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 21
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <6ZV82B2w165w@theporch.raider.net>, gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright) writes:
> With the continuin talk about the "End of the Space Age" and complaints
> by government over the large cost, why not try something I read about
> that might just work.
>
> Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
> who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
> Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
> to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
>
> --
>   gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
> theporch.raider.net  615/297-7951 The MacInteresteds of Nashville
====
If that were true, I'd go for it.. I have a few friends who we could pool our
resources and do it.. Maybe make it a prize kind of liek the "Solar Car Race"
in Australia..
Anybody game for a contest!
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr19.130922.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 28
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1993Apr19.144427.17399@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
> Gene Wright (gene@theporch.raider.net) wrote:
> : Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
> : who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
> : Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
> : to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
>
> I'm an advocate of this idea for funding Space Station work, and I
> throw around the $1 billion figure for that "reward."  I suggest that
> you increase the Lunar reward to about $3 billion.
>
> This would encourage private industry to invest in space, which
> should be one of NASA's primary goals.
>
> -- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
>       kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
>
>      "Better.  Faster.  Cheaper." -- Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator
Also would maybe get the Russians Involved. After all they do have the resources
to do it in part.. But they need the capital and the goal..
I wonder if renting the russians resources would be a disqualification?
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: claice@rintintin.Colorado.EDU (Farmer Ted)
Subject: Re: Space Debris
Nntp-Posting-Host: rintintin.colorado.edu
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 14
> There is this buy at NASA Langley...
YES! Give me his name I would greatly appreciate it.
Rich
"The Earth is a cradle of the mind.  But, we cannot live forever in a cradle"
K.E. Tsiolkovski
Father of Russian Astronautics
From: brody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Adam R. Brody )
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration. May 7 Crystal City
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center
Distribution: na
Lines: 14
prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration confernce
>May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the auspices of AIAA.
>Does anyone know more about this?  How much, to attend????
>Anyone want to go?
>pat
I got something in the mail from AIAA about it.  Cost is $75.
Speakers include John Pike, Hohn Young, and Ian Pryke.
From: daviss@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (S.F. Davis)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration.  May 7  Crystal City
Organization: NSPC
Distribution: na
Lines: 107
In article <1quule$5re@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
|>
|> AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration confernce
|> May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the auspices of AIAA.
|>
|> Does anyone know more about this?  How much, to attend????
|>
|> Anyone want to go?
|>
|> pat
Here are some selected excerpts of the invitation/registration form they
sent me. Retyped without permission, all typo's are mine.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Low-Cost Lunar Access: A one-day conference to explore the means and
benefits of a rejuvenated human lunar program.
Friday, May 7, 1993
Hyatt Regency - Crystal City Hotel
Arlington, VA
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The Low-Cost Lunar Access conference will be a forum for the exchange of
ideas on how to initiate and structure an affordable human lunar program.
Inherent in such low-cost programs is the principle that they be
implemented rapidly and meet their objectives within a short time
frame.
[more deleted]
CONFERENCE PROGRAM (Preliminary)
In the Washington Room:
9:00 - 9:10 a.m.     Opening Remarks
Dr. Alan M. Lovelace
9:10 - 9:30 a.m.     Keynote Address
Mr. Brian Dailey
9:30 - 10:00 a.m.    U.S. Policy Outlook
John Pike, American Federation of Scientists
A discussion of the prospects for the introduction of a new low-cost
lunar initiative in view of the uncertain direction the space
program is taking.
10:00 - 12:00 noon   Morning Plenary Sessions
Presentations on architectures, systems, and operational concepts.
Emphasis will be on mission approaches that produce significant
advancements beyond Apollo yet are judged to be affordable in the
present era of severely constrained budgets
In the Potomac Room
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.    Lunch
Guest Speaker: Mr. John W. Young,
NASA Special Assistant and former astronaut
In the Washington Room
1:30 - 2:00 p.m.     International Policy Outlook
Ian Pryke (invited)
ESA, Washington Office
The prevailing situation with respect to international space
commitments, with insights into preconditions for European
entry into new agreements, as would be required for a cooperative
lunar program.
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.     Afternoon Plenary Sessions
Presentations on scientific objectives, benefits, and applications.
Emphasis will be placed on the scientific and technological value
of a lunar program and its timeliness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a registration form and the fee is US$75.00. The mail address
is
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Dept. No. 0018
Washington, DC 20073-0018
and the FAX No. is:
(202) 646-7508
or it says you can register on-site during the AIAA annual meeting
and on Friday morning, May 7, from 7:30-10:30
Sounds interesting. Too bad I can't go.
|--------------------------------- ******** -------------------------|
|                                 * _!!!!_ *                         |
| Steven Davis                   * /  \   \ *                        |
| daviss@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov  *  (<o><o>)  *                       |
|                               *  \>_db_</  *  McDonnell Douglas    |
|  - I don't represent           *   |vv|   *   Space Systems Company|
|    anybody but myself. -        *  (__)  *    Houston Division     |
|--------------------------------- ******** -------------------------|
From: xrcjd@resolve.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine)
Subject: Space Station radio commercial
Organization: NASA/GSFC Greenbelt Maryland
Lines: 13
A brief political/cultural item.
Radio station WGMS in Washington is a classical music station with
a large audience among high officials (elected and otherwise).
Imagine a radio station that advertises Mercedes Benzes, diamond
jewelry, expensive resorts and (truthfully) Trident submarines.
This morning I heard a commercial for the space station project.
Didn't catch the advertiser.
Guess they're pulling out all the stops.
--
Chuck Divine
From: xrcjd@resolve.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine)
Subject: Science News article on Federal R&D
Organization: NASA/GSFC Greenbelt Maryland
Lines: 8
Just a pointer to the article in the current Science News article
on Federal R&D funding.
Very briefly, all R&D is being shifted to gaining current
competitive advantage from things like military and other work that
does not have as much commercial utility.
--
Chuck Divine
From: schaefer@sal-sun121.usc.edu (Peter Schaefer)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 29
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sal-sun121.usc.edu
In article <1993Apr19.130503.1@aurora.alaska.edu>, nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
|> In article <6ZV82B2w165w@theporch.raider.net>, gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright) writes:
|> > With the continuin talk about the "End of the Space Age" and complaints
|> > by government over the large cost, why not try something I read about
|> > that might just work.
|> >
|> > Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
|> > who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
|> > Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
|> > to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
|> >
|> > --
|> >   gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
|> > theporch.raider.net  615/297-7951 The MacInteresteds of Nashville
|> ====
|> If that were true, I'd go for it.. I have a few friends who we could pool our
|> resources and do it.. Maybe make it a prize kind of liek the "Solar Car Race"
|> in Australia..
|> Anybody game for a contest!
|>
|> ==
|> Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
Oh gee, a billion dollars!  That'd be just about enough to cover the cost of the
feasability study!  Happy, Happy, JOY! JOY!
Peter F. Schaefer
From: fleice_mike@tandem.com (Mike Fleice)
Subject: Last call: S/W wizard position at Tandem (Cupertino CA)
Nntp-Posting-Host: 130.252.132.77
Organization: Tandem Computers Incorporated, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 28
Well, we got some responses and are doing some interviews with interesting
responders. However, just in case the other posting was overlooked by an
incredibly talented person ... Mea Culpa for posting this here for Mike,
but we're looking for someone special:
Tandem Computers is currently looking for a software wizard to help
us architect & implement a fault-tolerant generalized instrumentation
subsystem as part of our proprietary operating system kernel (TNS
Kernel). The TNS Kernel is a proprietary, loosely-coupled parallel,
message-based operating system. The TNS Kernel has wide connectivity
to open standards.
In this key individual contributor role, you will work with other
developers working on various components of the Transaction Management
Facility.
Your background needs to encompass some of the following 4 categories
(3 of 4 would be excellent):
Category 1. Math: Working knowledge of statistics, real analysis, as
used in experimental physics or chemistry, or in engineering.
Category 2. Working knowledge of telemetry issues-- i.e. time series,
autocorrelation, and statistical correlation of data streams.
Category 3. Integration & Test -- Instrumentation of systems under test,
i.e. payloads, flight modules, etc.
Category 4: Software Engineering: programming skills, algorithms, and
systems software techniques.
Please send your resume to Mike Fleice, Tandem Computers 10555
Ridgeview Ct., LOC 100-27, Cupertino, CA 95014-0789; Fax (408) 285-0813;
or e-mail fleice_mike@tandem.com
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration.  May 7  Crystal City
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 31
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1993Apr19.230236.18227@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, daviss@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (S.F. Davis) writes:
> In article <1quule$5re@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
> |>
> |> AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration confernce
> |> May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the auspices of AIAA.
> |>
> |> Does anyone know more about this?  How much, to attend????
> Here are some selected excerpts of the invitation/registration form they
> sent me. Retyped without permission, all typo's are mine.
Thanks for typing that in, Steven.  Sounds like a "fall back and
regroup" strategy session.
I wanted to add that my copy of the brochure arrived with a flattering
cover letter:
"Invitations are being extended to those who have demonstrated a
strong committment to space program development and have been
influential in its advancement.  We sincerely hope you will be able to
attend."
Wow! I wonder which of my contributions to the conquest of space
convinced them to send me this letter?
I hope you decide to go, Pat.  The Net can use some eyes and ears
there...
Bill Higgins          |  If we can put a man on the Moon, why can't
Fermilab              |  we put a man on the Moon? -- Bill Engfer
higgins@fnal.fnal.gov |  If we can put a man on the Moon, why can't
higgins@fnal.Bitnet   |  we put a woman on the Moon? -- Bill Higgins
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: Science News article on Federal R&D
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 24
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <C5r2DK.764@skates.gsfc.nasa.gov>, xrcjd@resolve.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine) writes:
> Just a pointer to the article in the current Science News article
> on Federal R&D funding.
>
> Very briefly, all R&D is being shifted to gaining current
> competitive advantage from things like military and other work that
> does not have as much commercial utility.
> --
> Chuck Divine
Gulp.
[Disclaimer:  This opinion is mine and does not represent the views of
Fermilab, Universities Research Association, the Department of Energy,
or the 49th Ward Regular Science Fiction Organization.]
--
O~~*           /_) ' / /   /_/ '  ,   ,  ' ,_  _           \|/
- ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / /   / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
/       \                          (_) (_)                    / | \
|       |     Bill Higgins   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
\       /     Bitnet:     HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
-   -       Internet:  HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
~         SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS
From: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
Subject: Re: Space Debris
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center
Lines: 10
Distribution: world
Reply-To: C.O.EGALON@LARC.NASA.GOV (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON)
NNTP-Posting-Host: tahiti.larc.nasa.gov
> Keesler, Loftus, Potter, Stansbery, Kubriek....?
I gues it is Keesler. The others do not ring the bell but they might be
involved as well. Sometime ago Keesler was here at Langley teaching
a course on space debris and, if my memory does not fai,l I think there
was even a reference to a book on the subject.
C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov
Claudio Oliveira Egalon
From: zowie@daedalus.stanford.edu (Craig "Powderkeg" DeForest)
Subject: Re: Cold Gas tanks for Sounding Rockets
Organization: Stanford Center for Space Science and Astrophysics
Lines: 29
NNTP-Posting-Host: daedalus.stanford.edu
In-reply-to: rdl1@ukc.ac.uk's message of 16 Apr 93 14:28:07 GMT
In article <3918@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> rdl1@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Lorenz) writes:
>Does anyone know how to size cold gas roll control thruster tanks
>for sounding rockets?
Well, first you work out how much cold gas you need, then make the
tanks big enough.
Our sounding rocket payload, with telemetry, guidance, etc. etc. and a
telescope cluster, weighs around 1100 pounds.  It uses freon jets for
steering and a pulse-width-modulated controller for alignment (ie
during our eight minutes in space, the jets are pretty much
continuously firing on a ~10% duty cycle or so...).  The jets also
need to kill residual angular momentum from the spin stabilization, and
flip the payload around to look at the Sun.
We have two freon tanks, each holding ~5 liters of freon (I'm speaking
only from memory of the last flight).  The ground crew at WSMR choose how
much freon to use based on some black-magic algorithm.  They have
extra tank modules that just bolt into the payload stack.
This should give you an idea of the order of magnitude for cold gas
quantity.  If you really need to know, send me email and I'll try to get you
in touch with our ground crew people.
Cheers,
Craig
--
DON'T DRINK SOAP! DILUTE DILUTE! OK!
From: arthurc@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Arthur Chandler)
Subject: Stereo Pix of planets?
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Lines: 5
Can anyone tell me where I might find stereo images of planetary and
planetary satellite surfaces?  GIFs preferred, but any will do.  I'm
especially interested in stereos of the surfaces of Phobos, Deimos, Mars
and the Moon (in that order).
Thanks.
From: gnb@leo.bby.com.au (Gregory N. Bond)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
In-Reply-To: gene@theporch.raider.net's message of Sun, 18 Apr 1993 19:29:40 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host: leo-gw
Organization: Burdett, Buckeridge & Young, Melbourne, Australia
Lines: 32
In article <6ZV82B2w165w@theporch.raider.net> gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright) writes:
Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a
year.
And with $1B on offer, the problem of "keeping them alive" is highly
likely to involve more than just the lunar environment!
"Oh Dear, my freighter just landed on the roof of ACME's base and they
all died.  How sad.  Gosh, that leaves us as the oldest residents."
"Quick Boss, the slime from YoyoDyne are back, and this time they've
got a tank!  Man the guns!"
One could imagine all sorts of technologies being developed in that
sort of environment.....
Greg.
(I'm kidding, BTW, although the problem of winner-takes-all prizes is
that it encourages all sorts of undesirable behaviour - witness
military procurement programs.  And $1b is probably far too small a
reward to encourage what would be a very expensive and high risk
proposition.)
--
Gregory Bond <gnb@bby.com.au> Burdett Buckeridge & Young Ltd Melbourne Australia
Knox's 386 is slick.            Fox in Sox, on Knox's Box
Knox's box is very quick.       Plays lots of LSL. He's sick!
(Apologies to John "Iron Bar" Mackin.)
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration. May 7 Crystal City
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 18
prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration confernce
>May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the auspices of AIAA.
>Does anyone know more about this?  How much, to attend????
A good summary has been posted (thanks), but I wanted to add another comment.
I remeber reading the comment that General Dynamics was tied into this, in
connection with their proposal for an early manned landing.  Sorry I don't
rember where I heard this, but I'm fairly sure it was somewhere reputable.
Anyone else know anything on this angle?
Hrumph.  They didn't send _me_ anything :(
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Biosphere II
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 22
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <19930419.062802.166@almaden.ibm.com> nicho@vnet.ibm.com writes:
|In <1q77ku$av6@access.digex.net> Pat writes:
|>The Work is privately funded,  the DATA belongs to SBV.  I don't see
|>either george or Fred,  scoriating IBM research division for
|>not releasing data.
|   We publish plenty kiddo,you just have to look.
Never said you didn't publish, merely that there is data you don't
publish,  and that no-one scoriates you for those cases.
IBM research  publishes plenty, it's why you ended up  with 2 Nobel
prizes in the last 10 years,  but that some projects are deemed
company confidential.  ATT Bell Labs,  keeps lots of stuff private,
Like Karamankars algorithm.  Private moeny is entitled to do what
it pleases, within the bounds of Law,  and For all the keepers of the
temple of SCience,  should please shove their pointy little heads
up their Conically shaped Posterior Orifices.
pat
who just read the SA article on Karl Fehrabend(sp???)
From: jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch)
Subject: *** HELP  I NEED SOME ADDRESSES ***
Originator: jmcocker@c00137-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Lines: 21
Hi all,
I'm trying to get mailing addresses for the following
companies.  Specifically, I need addresses for their personnel
offices or like bureau.  The companies are:
- AMROC
- Orbital Sciences Corp. (sp?)
- Spacehab, Inc.  (I know this one is somewhere in
Seattle, WA, or at least part of it is.)
- Space Industries, Inc.  (Somewhere in Houston)
- Space Enterprises Inc.
If anybody could point me in the right direction on this, I
would be most appreciative.  I prefer an email response, but I
will post a summary if sufficient interest exists.
Thanks,
Mitch-------------------------------->jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu
From: tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Lines: 42
In article <1993Apr20.001757.7543@bby.com.au>, gnb@leo.bby.com.au (Gregory N. Bond) writes:
> In article <6ZV82B2w165w@theporch.raider.net> gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright) writes:
>
>>    Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
>>    who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a
>>    year.
>
> And with $1B on offer, the problem of "keeping them alive" is highly
> likely to involve more than just the lunar environment!
>
> "Oh Dear, my freighter just landed on the roof of ACME's base and they
> all died.  How sad.  Gosh, that leaves us as the oldest residents."
>
> "Quick Boss, the slime from YoyoDyne are back, and this time they've
> got a tank!  Man the guns!"
>
> One could imagine all sorts of technologies being developed in that
> sort of environment.....
>
> Greg.
>
> (I'm kidding, BTW, although the problem of winner-takes-all prizes is
> that it encourages all sorts of undesirable behaviour - witness
> military procurement programs.  And $1b is probably far too small a
> reward to encourage what would be a very expensive and high risk
> proposition.)
> -
> Gregory Bond <gnb@bby.com.au> Burdett Buckeridge & Young Ltd Melbourne Australia
Hey!  My dad has an old hangar and Judy has some old rockets in her attic,
let's put on a Lunar program! . . .  Sounds good, but . . .
Let's play a game - What would be a reasonable reward?  What companies would
have a reasonable shot at pulling off such a feat?  Just where in the
budget would the reward come from?  Should there be a time limit?  Would a
straight cash money award be enough or should we throw in say . . .
exclusive mining rights for the first fifty years? You get the idea.
I'd like to play but I don't have a clue to the answers.
Tom Freebairn   | He who refuses to understand math
| will probably never get his checkbook figured out.
From: phoenix.Princeton.EDU!carlosn (Carlos G. Niederstrasser)
Subject: Double sonic booms.
Originator: news@nimaster
Nntp-Posting-Host: luma.princeton.edu
Organization: Princeton University
Lines: 16
Every time you read about a shuttle landing they mention the double sonic
booms.  Having taken various relevant classes, I have several ideas of where
they come from, but none of them are very convincing.  Exactly what causes
them?  Are they a one time pheneomenon, or a constant one like the supersonic
shockwave that is constantly produced by a plane, but you hear only when it
goes over you?
---
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Carlos G. Niederstrasser        |  Only two things are infinite,  |
| Princeton Planetary Society     |      the universe and human     |
|                                 |   stupidity, and I'm not sure   |
|                                 |   about the former. - Einstein  |
| carlosn@phoenix.princeton.edu   |---------------------------------|
| space@phoenix.princeton.edu     |    Ad Astra per Ardua Nostra    |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jhwitten@cs.ruu.nl (Jurriaan Wittenberg)
Subject: Re: Magellan Update - 04/16/93
Organization: Utrecht University, Dept. of Computer Science
Keywords: Magellan, JPL
Lines: 29
In <19APR199320262420@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
(Ron Baalke) writes:
>Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager
>
>                        MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
>                            April 16, 1993
>
>
>2.  Magellan has completed 7225 orbits of Venus and is now 39 days from
>the end of Cycle-4 and the start of the Transition Experiment.
Sorry I think I missed a bit of info on this Transition Experiment. What is it?
>4.  On Monday morning, April 19, the moon will occult Venus and
>interrupt the tracking of Magellan for about 68 minutes.
Will this mean a loss of data or will the Magellan transmit data later on ??
BTW: When will NASA cut off the connection with Magellan?? Not that I am
looking forward to that day but I am just curious. I believe it had something
to do with the funding from the goverment (or rather _NO_ funding :-)
ok that's it for now. See you guys around,
Jurriaan.
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|----=|=-<- - - - - - JHWITTEN@CS.RUU.NL- - - - - - - - - - - - ->-=|=----|
|----=|=-<-Jurriaan Wittenberg- - -Department of ComputerScience->-=|=----|
|____/|\_________Utrecht_________________The Netherlands___________/|\____|
From: jennise@opus.dgi.com (Milady Printcap the goddess of peripherals)
Subject: Looking for a little research help
Organization: Dynamic Graphics Inc.
Lines: 19
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: opus.dgi.com
Hi,
I'm writing a science fiction script and I'm looking for some
answers to questions regarding the Moon and Earth. My starting point
is an impossible situation.  [I checked with a professor at berkeley
and his response was a VERY helpful "can't happen".] If you enjoy
playing with unusual ideas and are willing answer some questions
please contact me via e-mail (jennise@dgi.com).
I get extremely annoyed when screen and tele-plays ignore basic
facts about computers that I'm determined to be as scientifically
accurate as I can.
Sorry for being vague, but I'd like to protect my idea as much as I
can until I'm ready to sell it (hopefully).
Jennise
From: jennise@opus.dgi.com (Milady Printcap the goddess of peripherals)
Subject: Looking for a little research help [ addendum]
Organization: Dynamic Graphics Inc.
Lines: 10
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: opus.dgi.com
Sorry but I forgot this ps.
Right now my sight is getting news about two weeks behind so it's
kind of necessary (to me) that any responses be sent to me directly.
Thanks a lot
Jennise
jennise@dgi.com
From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams)
Subject: Ariane v.56 Mission Data
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Lines: 114
ARIANESPACE FLIGHT 56
(Flight V.56 was originally intended to carry the Hughes HS-601 series
Galaxy IV satellite, but the payload was withdrawn just prior to flight.)
The 56th Ariane launch is now scheduled to place the ASTRA 1C and ARSENE
satellites into an improved geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), with
inclination reduced to 5 degrees and apogee altitude increased by 150 km.
This will be the 28th launch of an Ariane 4 and the first in the 42L
configuration, with 2 liquid strap-on boosters (PAL).  It will be launched
from the newly refurbished Ariane launch complex ELA 2, in Kourou - French
Guiana.
The launch vehicle performance requirement for this mission is 3,147 kg
of which 2,944 kg represents the satellite mass.  The total vehicle mass
at liftoff is 361,778 kg.
Required Orbit Characteristics:
Perigee Altitude ..... 200 km
Apogee Altitude ...... 36,160 km at injection
Inclination ..........   5 degrees
The Ariane 42L lift-off for Flight 56 is scheduled on Thursday,
April 29, 1993, as soon as possible within the following launch
window:
Kourou Time        GMT (04/30/93)      Washington, DC
21:52 - 22:50      00:52 - 01:50       20:52 - 21:50
LAUNCH VEHICLE:
Ariane 42L.  This is a three-stage liquid fueled launcher with two liquid
fueled strap-on boosters.  The first stage (L220) is built by Aerospatiale,
and is powered by 4 liquid fueled Viking V engines.  The second stage (L33)
is built by MBB Erno and is powered by a single Viking IV engine.  Both the
Viking IV and V engines are manufactured by SEP.  The first and second stages
use a biliquid UH25/N2O4 fuel. The third stage (H10) is built by Aerospatiale,
and is powered by a cryogenic H2/O2 fueled HM-7B engine built by SEP. The two
strap-on boosters (PAL) are each powered by a Viking VI engine, also built
by SEP, which use the same biliquid fuel as the first and second stages.
The fully assembled launch vehicle stands 56 meters high on the pad.
It uses the Type 01 Ariane Short payload fairing.
Flight Profile:
+02:21  Liquid strap-on booster jettison
+03:11  First stage separation
+03:18  Second stage ignition
+04:10  Fairing jettison
+05:21  Second stage separation
+05:26  Third stage ignition
+17:30  Third stage shutdown / orbit injection
+19:56  ASTRA 1C separation
+22:36  Cyclade adapter separation
+24:26  ARSENE separation
+28:47  End of Ariane mission 56
PAYLOADS:
ASTRA 1C is the third spacecraft in the fleet of "Societe Europeenne
des Satellites" to broadcast direct TV to homes all over Europe.
Built by Hughes, it will be the second HS-601 launched by Ariane.
Total mass at lift-off .... 2,790 kg
Mass at GEO insertion ..... 1,700 kg
Dry mass .................. 1,180 kg
On-board power ............ 3,300 W (end of life)
Nominal lifetime .......... 15 years
Span of solar panels ...... 21 m
On-Orbit position ......... 19.2 degrees east, over Africa.
Transmission capacity:
34 channels in Ku-band, via 18 transponders.
In-flight operations:
Solar array deployment ............ about 6 days after lift-off
First of 3 apogee motor firings ... about 40 hours after lift-off
at 4th apogee
ARSENE is the first spacecraft built by the European Space Industry
for the benefit of the world amateur radio community.
Total mass at lift-off .... 154 kg
Mass at GEO insertion .....  98 kg
Dry mass ..................  97 kg
On-board power ............ 42 W (end of life)
Nominal lifetime .......... 3 years
Spacecraft dimensions ..... 1.1m x .96m
Orbital parameters ........ 20000/36000 km, 0 inclination, period 17:30.
Transmission capacity:
S-band:  1 transponder at 2.446 ghz
VHF/UHF: 145/435 mhz
LAUNCH COVERAGE:
All Ariane missions are broadcast live via satellite from Kourou.
Coverage begins at 30 minutes before launch and continues until
all payloads have been deployed.  This mission will likely be carried
in the US on Galaxy 6, however it could be Galaxy 7 or another satellite.
(What is the European satellite normally used for Ariane coverage?)
-{ Dean Adams }-
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Stereo Pix of planets?y
Lines: 15
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
In article <1993Apr20.010326.8634@csus.edu>, arthurc@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Arthur Chandler) writes:
> Can anyone tell me where I might find stereo images of planetary and
> planetary satellite surfaces?  GIFs preferred, but any will do.  I'm
> especially interested in stereos of the surfaces of Phobos, Deimos, Mars
> and the Moon (in that order).
>   Thanks.
ames.arc.nasa.gov not sure what subdirectory thou..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
PS: I know it has a GIF area as well as SPACE and other info..
From: nicho@vnet.IBM.COM (Greg Stewart-Nicholls)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Reply-To: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
X-X-From: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
<1993Apr20.001428.724@indyvax.iupui.edu>
Lines: 14
In <1993Apr20.001428.724@indyvax.iupui.edu> tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu writes:
>Let's play a game - What would be a reasonable reward?  What companies would
>have a reasonable shot at pulling off such a feat?  Just where in the
>budget would the reward come from?  Should there be a time limit?  Would a
>straight cash money award be enough or should we throw in say . . .
>exclusive mining rights for the first fifty years? You get the idea.
A cash award is OK. A time limit would be nice. You can't give away
mining rights (assuming there's anything to mine) because you don't own
them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
.sig files are like strings ... every yo-yo's got one.
Greg Nicholls ... nicho@vnet.ibm.com (business) or
nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk (private)
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 24
In article <1qve4kINNpas@sal-sun121.usc.edu> schaefer@sal-sun121.usc.edu (Peter Schaefer) writes:
>|> > Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
>|> > who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
>Oh gee, a billion dollars!  That'd be just about enough to cover the cost of the
>feasability study!  Happy, Happy, JOY! JOY!
Depends. If you assume the existance of a working SSTO like DC, on billion
$$ would be enough to put about a quarter million pounds of stuff on the
moon. If some of that mass went to send equipment to make LOX for the
transfer vehicle, you could send a lot more. Either way, its a lot
more than needed.
This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------57 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Moon Colony Prize Race! $6 billion total?
Lines: 26
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
I think if there is to be a prize and such.. There should be "classes"
such as the following:
Large Corp.
Small Corp/Company (based on reported earnings?)
Large Government (GNP and such)
Small Governemtn (or political clout or GNP?)
Large Organization (Planetary Society? and such?)
Small Organization (Alot of small orgs..)
The organization things would probably have to be non-profit or liek ??
Of course this means the prize might go up. Larger get more or ??
Basically make the prize (total purse) $6 billion, divided amngst the class
winners..
More fair?
There would have to be a seperate organization set up to monitor the events,
umpire and such and watch for safety violations (or maybe not, if peopel want
to risk thier own lives let them do it?).
Any other ideas??
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: rick@trystro.uucp (Richard Nickle)
Subject: Re: How to read sci.space without netnews
Organization: The Trystro System (617) 625-7155 v.32/v.42bis
Lines: 27
In article <C5LJG5.17n.1@cs.cmu.edu> mwm+@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Maimone) writes:
>In article <734975852.F00001@permanet.org> Mark.Prado@p2.f349.n109.z1.permanet.org (Mark Prado) writes:
>>If anyone knows anyone else who would like to get sci.space,
>>but doesn't have an Internet feed (or has a cryptic Internet
>>feed), I would be willing to feed it to them.
>
>	Kudos to Mark for his generous offer, but there already exists a
>large (email-based) forwarding system for sci.space posts:  Space Digest.
>It mirrors sci.space exactly, and provides simple two-way communication.
>
I think Mark was talking about making it available to people who didn't
have email in the first place.
If anybody in the Boston area wants a sci.space feed by honest-to-gosh UUCP
(no weird offline malreaders), let me know.  I'll also hand out logins to
anyone who wants one, especially the Boston Chapter of NSS (which I keep forgetting
to re-attend).
>Questions, comments to space-request@isu.isunet.edu
>--
>Mark Maimone				phone: +1 (412) 268 - 7698
>Carnegie Mellon Computer Science	email: mwm@cmu.edu
--
richard nickle		rick@trystro.uucp	617-625-7155 v.32/v.42bis
think!trystro!rick	somerville massachusetts
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
From: Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
<dxb105.734155421@aries> <1993Apr7.124724.22534@yang.earlham.edu>
<dxb105.734495289@virgo> <1993Apr12.161742.22647@yang.earlham.edu>
<93107.144339SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> <1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp>
Lines: 38
In article <1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp>, gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
says:
>In article <93107.144339SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Graydon
><SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>>This is turning into 'what's a moonbase good for', and I ought
>>not to post when I've a hundred some odd posts to go, but I would
>>think that the real reason to have a moon base is economic.
>>Since someone with space industry will presumeably have a much
>>larger GNP than they would _without_ space industry, eventually,
>>they will simply be able to afford more stuff.
>
>If I read you right, you're saying in essence that, with a larger
>economy, nations will have more discretionary funds to *waste*
>on a lunar facility. That was certainly partially the case with Apollo,
>but real Lunar colonies will probably require a continuing military,
>scientific, or commercial reason for being rather than just a "we have
>the money, why not?" approach.
I was assuming that there won't be a moon base unless it makes a
profit, actually.  If it does, well, that gives a larger GNP which
leads to being able to spend more money on your military, including
gosh-wow space stuff.  (assuming it's profitable, rather than paying
for itself.)
>
>It's conceivable that Luna will have a military purpose, it's possible
>that Luna will have a commercial purpose, but it's most likely that
>Luna will only have a scientific purpose for the next several hundred
>years at least. Therefore, Lunar bases should be predicated on funding
>levels little different from those found for Antarctic bases. Can you
>put a 200 person base on the Moon for $30 million a year? Even if you
>use grad students?
You might be able to _run_ one for that; put it there, hardly.
Why do you think at least a couple centuries before there will
be significant commerical activity on the Moon?
Graydon
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: DC-X update???
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 25
In article <schumach.734984753@convex.convex.com> schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) writes:
>Would the sub-orbital version be suitable as-is (or "as-will-be") for use
>as a reuseable sounding rocket?
DC-X as is today isn't suitable for this. However, the followon SDIO
funds will. A reusable sounding rocket was always SDIO's goal.
>Thank Ghod! I had thought that Spacelifter would definitely be the
>bastard Son of NLS.
So did I. There is a lot going on now and some reports are due soon
which should be very favorable. The insiders have been very bush briefing
the right people and it is now paying off.
However, public support is STILL critical. In politics you need to keep
constant pressure on elected officials.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------57 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: DC-X update???
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 122
In article <ugo62B8w165w@angus.mi.org> dragon@angus.mi.org writes:
>Exactly when will the hover test be done,
Early to mid June.
>and will any of the TV
>networks carry it.  I really want to see that...
If they think the public wants to see it they will carry it. Why not
write them and ask? You can reach them at:
F: NATIONAL NEWS MEDIA
ABC "World News Tonight"                 "Face the Nation"
7 West 66th Street                       CBS News
New York, NY 10023                       2020 M Street, NW
212/887-4040                             Washington, DC 20036
202/457-4321
Associated Press                         "Good Morning America"
50 Rockefeller Plaza                     ABC News
New York, NY 10020                       1965 Broadway
National Desk (212/621-1600)             New York, NY 10023
Foreign Desk (212/621-1663)              212/496-4800
Washington Bureau (202/828-6400)
Larry King Live TV
"CBS Evening News"                       CNN
524 W. 57th Street                       111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
New York, NY 10019                       Washington, DC 20001
212/975-3693                             202/898-7900
"CBS This Morning"                       Larry King Show--Radio
524 W. 57th Street                       Mutual Broadcasting
New York, NY 10019                       1755 So. Jefferson Davis Highway
212/975-2824                             Arlington, VA 22202
703/685-2175
"Christian Science Monitor"
CSM Publishing Society                   "Los Angeles Times"
One Norway Street                        Times-Mirror Square
Boston, MA 02115                         Los Angeles, CA 90053
800/225-7090                             800/528-4637
CNN                                      "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour"
One CNN Center                           P.O. Box 2626
Box 105366                               Washington, DC 20013
Atlanta, GA 30348                        703/998-2870
404/827-1500
"MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour"
CNN                                      WNET-TV
Washington Bureau                        356 W. 58th Street
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW             New York, NY 10019
Washington, DC 20001                     212/560-3113
202/898-7900
"Crossfire"                              NBC News
CNN                                      4001 Nebraska Avenue, NW
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW             Washington, DC 20036
Washington, DC 20001                     202/885-4200
202/898-7951                             202/362-2009 (fax)
"Morning Edition/All Things Considered"
National Public Radio
2025 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202/822-2000
United Press International
1400 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
202/898-8000
"New York Times"                         "U.S. News & World Report"
229 W. 43rd Street                       2400 N Street, NW
New York, NY 10036                       Washington, DC 20037
212/556-1234                             202/955-2000
212/556-7415
"New York Times"                         "USA Today"
Washington Bureau                        1000 Wilson Boulevard
1627 Eye Street, NW, 7th Floor           Arlington, VA 22229
Washington, DC 20006                     703/276-3400
202/862-0300
"Newsweek"                               "Wall Street Journal"
444 Madison Avenue                       200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10022                       New York, NY 10281
212/350-4000                             212/416-2000
"Nightline"                              "Washington Post"
ABC News                                 1150 15th Street, NW
47 W. 66th Street                        Washington, DC 20071
New York, NY 10023                       202/344-6000
212/887-4995
"Nightline"                              "Washington Week In Review"
Ted Koppel                               WETA-TV
ABC News                                 P.O. Box 2626
1717 DeSales, NW                         Washington, DC 20013
Washington, DC 20036                     703/998-2626
202/887-7364
"This Week With David Brinkley"
ABC News
1717 DeSales, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202/887-7777
"Time" magazine
Time Warner, Inc.
Time & Life Building
Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020
212/522-1212
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------57 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss)
Subject: Jemison on Star Trek
Organization: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 7
I saw in the newspaper last night that Dr. Mae Jemison, the first
black woman in space (she's a physician and chemical engineer who flew
on Endeavour last year) will appear as a transporter operator on the
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode that airs the week of May 31.
It's hardly space science, I know, but it's interesting.
Doug Loss
From: ldaddari@polaris.cv.nrao.edu (Larry D'Addario)
Subject: Re: Russian Email Contacts.
In-Reply-To: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu's message of Sat, 17 Apr 1993 12: 52:09 GMT
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Lines: 32
It is usually possible to reach people at IKI (Institute for Space
Research) in Moscow by writing to
IKIMAIL@esoc1.bitnet
This is a machine at ESA in Darmstadt, Germany; IKI has a dedicated
phone line to this machine and someone there logs in regularly to
retrieve mail.
In addition, there are several user accounts belonging to Russian
scientific institutions on
<user>@sovam.com
which is a commercial enterprise based in San Francisco that provides
email services to the former USSR.  For example, fian@sovam.com is the
"PHysics Institute of the Academy of Sciences" (initials transliterated
from Russian, of course).  These connections cost the Russians real
dollars, even for *received* messages, so please don't send anything
voluminous or frivilous.
=====================================================================
Larry R. D'Addario
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Addresses   (INTERNET) LDADDARI@NRAO.EDU
(FAX)      +1/804/296-0324 Charlottesville
+1/304/456-2200 Green Bank
(MAIL)     2015 Ivy Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
(PHONE)    +1/804/296-0245 office, 804/973-4983 home  CHO
+1/304/456-2226 off., -2106 lab, -2256 apt. GB
=====================================================================
From: MAILRP%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de
Subject: message from Space Digest
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 58
Joint Press release ESA/UN No 18-93
Paris, 19 April 1993
UN/ESA joint training course on satellite applications
to be held in Italy, 19-30 April
The United Nations and the European Space Agency (ESA)
are jointly organising a training course on the applications of
satellite data gathered by the European Remote Sensing
Satellite (ERS-1), to be held in Frascati, Italy, from 19 to 30
April. The training course will discuss the applications of
satellite data concerning natural resources, renewable energy
and the environment.
The training course, organised for the benefit of francophone
African experts, will be hosted by ESRIN, the European Space
Agency's establishment in Frascati, which is responsible for
coordination with the users of data from ESA's remote sensing
satellite. Twenty-four experts in the field of remote sensing,
selected from 19 francophone countries from northern, western
and central Africa, and three regional African centres, will
attend the two-week session. The course will focus on remote
sensing techniques and data applications, particularly ERS-1
data.
The ERS-1 satellite, developed by ESA and launched in 1991
with the European Ariane launcher, carries an advanced radar
instrument and is the first in a series of radar remote sensing
missions that will ensure availability of data beyond the year
2000. The aim of the training course is to increase the
potential of experts using the practical applications of radar
remote sensing systems to natural resources, renewable energy
and the environment, with particular emphasis on applications
to geology and mineral prospecting, oceanography and near-
coastal areas, agriculture, forestry and meteorology.
The education and practical training programme was
developed jointly by the United Nations and ESA. The
facilities and the technical support, as well as lecturers and
information documents for the training course, will be
provided by the Agency. Lecturers at the training course will
include high-level experts from other European and African
organisations active in remote sensing applications. Funds for
the training course are being provided by the United Nations
Trust Fund for New and Renewable Sources of Energy; the
primary contributor to that Fund is the Government of Italy.
A similar training course is being planned for Latin American
experts.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Magellan Update - 04/16/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 29
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Magellan, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr20.072706.19981@cs.ruu.nl>, jhwitten@cs.ruu.nl (Jurriaan Wittenberg) writes...
>In <19APR199320262420@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
>(Ron Baalke) writes:
>
>>4.  On Monday morning, April 19, the moon will occult Venus and
>>interrupt the tracking of Magellan for about 68 minutes.
>Will this mean a loss of data or will the Magellan transmit data later on ??
The gravity data is collected in real-time and it not recorded to the tape
recorder.  However, you only need to collect the gravity every 3rd or 4th
orbit, so there is no real data loss if the Moon blocks transmission for
a short while.
>BTW: When will NASA cut off the connection with Magellan?? Not that I am
>looking forward to that day but I am just curious. I believe it had something
>to do with the funding from the goverment (or rather _NO_ funding :-)
The aerobraking starts May 25 and is expected last about 70 days.  If the
funding is provided (8 million dollars) to extend the mission for the
high resolution gravity data, then the mission will last through October 1994.
Otherwise, the mission will end this coming July.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration. May 7 Crystal City
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 25
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <C5rHoC.Fty@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) writes:
> I remeber reading the comment that General Dynamics was tied into this, in
> connection with their proposal for an early manned landing.  Sorry I don't
> rember where I heard this, but I'm fairly sure it was somewhere reputable.
> Anyone else know anything on this angle?
The General Chairman is Paul Bialla, who is some official of General
Dynamics.
The emphasis seems to be on a scaled-down, fast plan to put *people*
on the Moon in an impoverished spaceflight-funding climate. You'd
think it would be a golden opportunity to do lots of precusor work for
modest money using an agressive series of robot spacecraft, but
there's not a hint of this in the brochure.
> Hrumph.  They didn't send _me_ anything :(
You're not hanging out with the Right People, apparently.
Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey         | "I'm gonna keep on writing songs
Fermilab                          | until I write the song
Bitnet:      HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET  | that makes the guys in Detroit
Internet:  HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV  | who draw the cars
SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS  | put tailfins on 'em again."
--John Prine
From: Mehrtens_T@msm.cdx.mot.com
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Nntp-Posting-Host: tom_mac.prds.cdx.mot.com
Organization: Motorola_Codex
Lines: 25
In article <1qkmkiINNep3@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug
Mohney) writes:
>In article <1993Apr15.204210.26022@mksol.dseg.ti.com>,
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron) writes:
>>
>>There are actually only two of us.  I do Henry, Fred, Tommy and Mary.  Oh
yeah,
>>this isn't my real name, I'm a bald headed space baby.
>
>Damn!  So it was YOU who was drinking beer with ROBERT McELWANE in the PARKING
>LOT of the K-MART!
>    Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
>  -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
They just tore down the Kmart near my house (putting in a new suptermarket).  I
heard that there is a beer drinking ghost who still haunts the place!  8-{)
Tom
I liked this one I read a while ago...
"Data sheet: HSN-3000 Nuclear Event Detector. The [NED] senses the gamma
radiation pulse [from a] nuclear weapon." As if we wouldn't notice...
From: ajjb@adam4.bnsc.rl.ac.uk (Andrew Broderick)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Keywords: Solar Sail
Organization: Rutherford Appleton Lab, UK
Lines: 79
In article <1993Apr15.051746.29848@news.duc.auburn.edu> snydefj@eng.auburn.edu writes:
>
>I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
> Sails
I was at an interesting seminar at work (UK's R.A.L. Space Science
Dept.) on this subject, specifically on a small-scale Solar Sail
proposed as a student space project. The guy giving the talk was keen to
generate interest in the project. I'll typein the handout he gave out at
the meeting. Here goes :
The Microlight Solar Sail
-------------------------
1. Introduction
The solar sail is a well-established concept. Harnessing the pressure of
sunlight, a spacecraft would have unlimited range. In principle, such a
vehicle could explore the whole Solar System with zero fuel consumption.
However it is more difficult to design a practical solar sail than most
people realize. The pressure of sunlight is only about one kilogram per
square kilometer. Deploying and controlling the large area of aluminized
fabric which would be necessary to transport a 'conventional' type
spacecraft is a daunting task. This is why, despite the potential of hte
idea, no such craft has actually been launched to date.
2.Design
Recent advances in microelectronics make possible a different concept: a
tiny sail just a few metres in diameter which could be controlled purely
be electronics, with no mechanical parts. Several attitude control
methods are feasible: for example the pressure sunlight exerts on a
panel of solar cells varies according to whether power is being drawn.
The key components of the craft will be a minute CCD camera developed at
Edinburgh University which can act as both attitude sensor and data
gathering device; solar cells providing ~1 watt power for control and
communication; and a directional radio antenna etched onto the surface
of the sail itself. Launched as a piggyback payload, the total cost of
the mission can be limited to a few tens of thousands of dollars.
3.Missions
The craft would be capable of some ambitious missions. For example:
a) It could rendezvous with a nearby asteroid from the Apollo or Amor
groups. Closeup pictures could be transmitted back to Earth at a low bit
rate.
b) It could be steered into a lunar polar orbit. Previously unobserved
areas around the lunar poles could be viewed. By angling the sail to
reflect sunlight downwards, polar craters whose bases never receive
sunlight could be imaged. Bright reflections would confirm that
volatiles such as water ice have become trapped in these
locations.[Immensely valuable information for setting up a manned lunar
base, BTW]
c) It could be sent to rendezvous with a small asteroid or comet
nucleus. Impacting at low speed, a thin wire probe attached to the craft
causes it to rebound while capturing a tiny sample is a sharp-edged
tube, like performing a biopsy. Returning to Earth, the sail acts as an
ideal re-entry parachute: load per unit area 20 gm/m2 ensures that heat
is reradiated so efectively that the sail temperature cannot exceed ~300
deg C. The material sample is recovered, enclosed in a small insulating
container.
Contact: Colin Jack                              Tel. 0865-200447
Oxford Mathematical Designs, 131 High Street, Oxford OX1 4DH, England
--------------------------------
This guy would love to hear from anyone interested in this project or
seeking details or anything, and would be most happy to send you more
information.
Andy
--
-----------------------------------
Andy Jonathan J. Broderick,      | "I have come that they might have |
Rutherford Lab., UK              |  life, and have it to the full"   |
Mail : ajjb@adam2.bnsc.rl.ac.uk  |  - Jesus Christ                   |
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 15
In article <1993Apr20.101044.2291@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
>enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
Actually, there are people who will tell you that it *would* be enough
to do SSTO development, if done privately as a cut-rate operation.  Of
course, they may be over-optimistic.
You can also assume that a working SSTO would have other applications
that would help pay for its development costs.
I'd be inclined to make the prize somewhat larger, but $1G might be enough.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@rockwell.com ("RWTMS2::MUNIZB")
Subject: Space Activities in Tucson, AZ ?
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 7
I would like to find out about space engineering employment and educational
opportunities in the Tucson, Arizona area.  E-mail responses appreciated.
My mail feed is intermittent, so please try one or all of these addresses.
Ben Muniz      w(818)586-3578      MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@beach.rockwell.com
or:  bmuniz@a1tms1.remnet.ab.com  MUNIZB%RWTMS2.decnet@consrt.rockwell.com
From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Destructive Testing Systems
Lines: 63
In article <93110.031905SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Graydon <SAUNDRSG@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>In article <1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp>, gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
>says:
>>It's conceivable that Luna will have a military purpose, it's possible
>>that Luna will have a commercial purpose, but it's most likely that
>>Luna will only have a scientific purpose for the next several hundred
>>years at least. Therefore, Lunar bases should be predicated on funding
>>levels little different from those found for Antarctic bases. Can you
>>put a 200 person base on the Moon for $30 million a year? Even if you
>>use grad students?
>
>You might be able to _run_ one for that; put it there, hardly.
>
>Why do you think at least a couple centuries before there will
>be significant commerical activity on the Moon?
Wishful thinking mostly. It's more likely that the Moon will never
be the site of major commercial activity. As far as we know it has no
materials we can't get cheaper right here on Earth or from asteroids
and comets, aside from the semi-mythic He3 that *might* be useful in low
grade fusion reactors. Exploring it would satisfy a curiosity itch,
and it's position in the gravity well of Earth coupled with it's heat
sink capacity could offer some military utility for "high ground" military
weapons systems, but it holds very minute commercial value. If space
travel becomes cheap enough, it might become a tourist attraction as
Mt. Everest and the Antarctic have become, but that's a very minor
activity in the global scope of things.
Luna has an inconvienent gravity field. It's likely too low to prevent
calcium loss, muscle atrophy, and long term genetic drift. Yet it's
too high to do micro-G manufacturing. Space based colonies and factories
that can be spun to any convienent value of G look much better. Luna
has a modest vacuum and raw solar exposure two weeks a month, but orbital
sites can have better vacuums and continous solar exposure. Luna offers
a source of light element rocks that can serve as raw materials, heatsink,
and shielding. The asteroids and comets offer sources of both light and
heavy elements, and volatile compounds, and many are in less steep gravity
wells so that less delta-v is required to reach them.
We don't use 2/3rds of the Earth now, the seafloors, and we virtually
ignore Antarctica, a whole continent. That's because we don't have to
deal with those conditions in order to make a buck. Luna is a much more
expensive place to visit, or to live and work. I think we'll use the
easier places first. That pushes Lunar development back at least a few
centuries, if not much longer.
Luna's main short term value would be as a place for a farside radio
astronomy observatory, shielded from the noisy Earth. Or as the site
of a laser, particle beam, or linear accelerator weapons system for
defending Earth, or bombarding it as the case may be. The first is
unlikely because of the high cost for such a basic science instrument.
The second is just as unlikely because conventional nukes are good
enough, and the military would really rather see the Earth safe for
conventional warfare again. There's little glory in watching from a
bunker as machines fight each other over continental ranges. Little
ultimate profit either.
Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          |    You make it,     | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems |    we break it.     | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             |    Guaranteed!      | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     |                     |
From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Destructive Testing Systems
Lines: 38
In article <C5qIv3.H0o.1@cs.cmu.edu> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
>In article <1993Apr18.091051.14496@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes:
>   If I read you right, you're saying in essence that, with a larger
>   economy, nations will have more discretionary funds to *waste* on a
>   lunar facility. That was certainly partially the case with Apollo,
>   but real Lunar colonies will probably require a continuing
>   military, scientific, or commercial reason for being rather than
>   just a "we have the money, why not?" approach.
>
>Ah, but the whole point is that money spent on a lunar base is not
>wasted on the moon. It's not like they'd be using $1000 (1000R?) bills
>to fuel their moon-dozers. The money to fund a lunar base would be
>spent in the country to which the base belonged. It's a way of funding
>high-tech research, just like DARPA was a good excuse to fund various
>fields of research, under the pretense that it was crucial to the
>defense of the country, or like ESPRIT is a good excuse for the EC to
>fund research, under the pretense that it's good for pan-European
>cooperation.
>
>Now maybe you think that government-funded research is a waste of
>money (in fact, I'm pretty sure you do), but it does count as
>investment spending, which does boost the economy (and just look at
>the size of that multiplier :->).
Actually I favor government funded research. It *is* a pump prime
for a lot of basic technologies. I also understand the short term
value of high tech welfare programs. But they can't substitute for
long range wealth generation via commercial enterprise. That's what's
needed to maintain a healthy economy *anywhere*, on Earth or Luna.
I don't see that long term potential on Luna due to a bunch of
factors I outline in another post.
Gary
--
Gary Coffman KE4ZV          |    You make it,     | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
Destructive Testing Systems |    we break it.     | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
534 Shannon Way             |    Guaranteed!      | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
Lawrenceville, GA 30244     |                     |
From: flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]")
Subject: First Spacewalk
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 13
At one time there was speculation that the first spacewalk
(Alexei Leonov ?) was a staged fake.
Has any evidence to support or contradict this claim emerged ?
Was this claim perhaps another fevered Cold War hallucination ?
--
* Fred Baube (tm)         *  In times of intellectual ferment,
* baube@optiplan.fi       * advantage to him with the intellect
* #include <disclaimer.h> * most fermented !
* How is Frank Zappa doing ?
* May '68, Paris: It's Retrospective Time !!
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Moonbase race
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 26
From: Gene Wright <gene@theporch.raider.net>
>With the continuin talk about the "End of the Space Age" and complaints
>by government over the large cost, why not try something I read about
>that might just work.
>Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
>who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
>Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
>to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
I'll say!  Imagine that there were a couple groups up there, maybe landing
a few weeks apart.  The year-mark starts coming on for the first group.
Isn't a billion pretty good incentive to take a shot at a potential
winner?  "Yeah, that's a shame that Team A's life support gave out
so close to the deadline.  Thanks for the billion."
On the other hand, if Apollo cost ~25billion, for a few days or weeks
in space, in 1970 dollars, then won't the reward have to be a lot more
than only 1 billion to get any takers?
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Level 5?
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 13
Nick Haines sez;
>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 in
>maturity, I strongly doubt that this [having lots of bugs] is the case).
Level 5?  Out of how many?  What are the different levels?  I've never
heard of this rating system.  Anyone care to clue me in?
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: willner@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA
Lines: 19
In article <C5qvJC.B4B@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry
Spencer) writes:
> The National Air & Space Museum has both the prototype and the film.
>   However, quite possibly it's
> no longer on display; NASM, like most museums, has much more stuff than it
> can display at once, and does rotate the displays occasionally.
The NASM photo archives are open to the public.  All (or almost all)
still pictures in the collection are available for viewing, but I
don't know about films.  At least it might be worth a try.  I'm not
sure if appointments are necessary, but I think not.
Good luck, and let us know what you find.
--
Steve Willner            Phone 617-495-7123         Bitnet:   willner@cfa
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA                 Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu
member, League for Programming Freedom; contact lpf@uunet.uu.net
From: djf@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Marvin Batty)
Subject: Re: Moon Colony Prize Race! $6 billion total?
Nntp-Posting-Host: cc_sysk
Organization: Starfleet, Coventry, UK
Lines: 49
In article <1993Apr20.020259.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>I think if there is to be a prize and such.. There should be "classes"
>such as the following:
>
>Large Corp.
>Small Corp/Company (based on reported earnings?)
>Large Government (GNP and such)
>Small Governemtn (or political clout or GNP?)
>Large Organization (Planetary Society? and such?)
>Small Organization (Alot of small orgs..)
Whatabout, Schools, Universities, Rich Individuals (around 250 people
in the UK have more than 10 million dollars each). I reecieved mail
from people who claimed they might get a person into space for $500
per pound. Send a skinny person into space and split the rest of the money
among the ground crew!
>
>The organization things would probably have to be non-profit or liek ??
>
>Of course this means the prize might go up. Larger get more or ??
>Basically make the prize (total purse) $6 billion, divided amngst the class
>winners..
>More fair?
>
>There would have to be a seperate organization set up to monitor the events,
>umpire and such and watch for safety violations (or maybe not, if peopel want
>to risk thier own lives let them do it?).
>
Agreed. I volunteer for any UK attempts. But one clause: No launch methods
which are clearly dangerous to the environment (ours or someone else's). No
usage of materials from areas of planetary importance.
>Any other ideas??
Yes: We should *do* this rather than talk about it. Lobby people!
The major problem with the space programmes is all talk/paperwork and
no action!
>==
>Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
>
>
--
****************************************************************************
Marvin Batty - djf@uk.ac.cov.cck
"And they shall not find those things, with a sort of rafia like base,
that their fathers put there just the night before. At about 8 O'clock!"
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration. May 7 Crystal City
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 33
higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>(Josh Hopkins) writes:
>> I remeber reading the comment that General Dynamics was tied into this, in
>> connection with their proposal for an early manned landing.
>The General Chairman is Paul Bialla, who is some official of General
>Dynamics.
>The emphasis seems to be on a scaled-down, fast plan to put *people*
>on the Moon in an impoverished spaceflight-funding climate. You'd
>think it would be a golden opportunity to do lots of precusor work for
>modest money using an agressive series of robot spacecraft, but
>there's not a hint of this in the brochure.
It may be that they just didn't mention it, or that they actually haven't
thought about it.  I got the vague impression from their mission proposal
that they weren't taking a very holistic aproach to the whole thing.  They
seemed to want to land people on the Moon by the end of the decade without
explaining why, or what they would do once they got there.  The only application
I remember from the Av Week article was placing a telescope on the Moon.  That's
great, but they don't explain why it can't be done robotically.
>> Hrumph.  They didn't send _me_ anything :(
>You're not hanging out with the Right People, apparently.
But I'm a _member_.  Besides Bill, I hang out with you :)
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Keywords: Solar Sail
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 25
ajjb@adam4.bnsc.rl.ac.uk (Andrew Broderick) writes:
>In article <1993Apr15.051746.29848@news.duc.auburn.edu> snydefj@eng.auburn.edu writes:
>>
>>I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
>> Sails
>I was at an interesting seminar at work (UK's R.A.L. Space Science
>Dept.) on this subject, specifically on a small-scale Solar Sail
>proposed as a student space project. The guy giving the talk was keen to
>generate interest in the project. I'll typein the handout he gave out at
>the meeting. Here goes :
[Stuff deleted]
>However it is more difficult to design a practical solar sail than most
>people realize. The pressure of sunlight is only about one kilogram per
>square kilometer.     ^^^^                                   ^^^^
I'm glad to see that someone is working on this.  However, it would be nice if
he got his units right.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 56
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1993Apr15.051746.29848@news.duc.auburn.edu>, snydefj@eng.auburn.edu (Frank J. Snyder) writes:
> I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
>  Sails. [...]
> Are there any groups out there currently involved in such a project ?
Sure.  Contact the World Space Foundation.  They're listed in the sci.space
Frequently Asked Questions file, which I'll excerpt.
WORLD SPACE FOUNDATION - has been designing and building a solar-sail
spacecraft for longer than any similar group; many JPL employees lend
their talents to this project. WSF also provides partial funding for the
Palomar Sky Survey, an extremely successful search for near-Earth
asteroids. Publishes *Foundation News* and *Foundation Astronautics
Notebook*, each a quarterly 4-8 page newsletter. Contributing Associate,
minimum of $15/year (but more money always welcome to support projects).
World Space Foundation
Post Office Box Y
South Pasadena, California 91301
WSF put together a little paperback anthology of fiction and
nonfiction about solar sails: *Project Solar Sail*.  I think Robert
Staehle, David Brin,  or Arthur Clarke may be listed as editor.
Also there is a nontechnical book on solar sailing by Louis Friedman,
a technical one by a guy whose name escapes me (help me out, Josh),
and I would expect that Greg Matloff and Eugene Mallove have something
to say about the subject in *The Starflight Handbook*, as well as
quite a few references.
Check the following articles in *Journal of the British Interplanetary
Society*:
V36 p. 201-209 (1983)
V36 p. 483-489 (1983)
V37 p. 135-141 (1984)
V37 p. 491-494 (1984)
V38 p. 113-119 (1984)
V38 p. 133-136 (1984)
(Can you guess that Matloff visited Fermilab and gave me a bunch of
reprints? I just found the file.)
And K. Eric Drexler's paper "High Performance Solar Sails and Related
Reflecting Devices," AIAA paper 79-1418, probably in a book called
*Space Manufacturing*, maybe the proceedings of the Second (?)
Conference on Space Manufacturing.  The 1979 one, at any rate.
Submarines, flying boats, robots, talking         Bill Higgins
pictures, radio, television, bouncing radar       Fermilab
vibrations off the moon, rocket ships, and        HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
atom-splitting-- all in our time.  But nobody     HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
has yet been able to figure out a music           SPAN:  43011::HIGGINS
holder for a marching piccolo player.
--Meredith Willson, 1948
From: jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green)
Subject: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 51
Why do spacecraft have to be shut off after funding cuts.  For
example, Why couldn't Magellan just be told to go into a "safe"
mode and stay bobbing about Venus in a low-power-use mode and if
maybe in a few years if funding gets restored after the economy
gets better (hopefully), it could be turned on again.
For that matter, why exactly were the Apollo lunar experiments
"turned off" rather than just "safed".  Was it political (i.e.
as along as they could be used, someone would keep bugging
congress for funds)?  Turning them off keeps them pesky
scientists out of the bureaucrat's hair....
I've heard the argument that an active but "uncontrolled"
spacecraft causes "radio noise."  I find that hard to believe
that this could be a problem in a properly designed "safe" mode.
This safe mode could be a program routine which causes the
spacecraft to go to least fuel using orientation, and once a
(week, month, year, whatever) attempts a signal lock on Earth.
At that time, if funding has been restored, the mission can
continue.  If no signal is recieved, the spacecraft goes back to
the safe mode for another time period. As we would know when the
spacecraft is going to try to contact Earth, we could be
prepared if necessary.
As another a spacecraft could do at the attempted contact is
beam stored data towards Earth.  If someone can receive it,
great, if not, so it's lost and no big deal.
By making the time and signal location generally known, perhaps
someone in the world might be able and willing to intercept the
data even if they're not willing to contact the spacecraft.
I see this as being particularly useful for spacecraft which
could have an otherwise long life and are in or are going to
places which are otherwise unaccessible (Jupiter/Saturn Orbit,
exiting the solar system, etc).
Perhaps those designing future spacecraft (Cassini, Pluto Flyby,
etc) should consider designing in a "pause" mode in case their
spacecraft gets the ax sometime in the future after completion of
the primary mission. Perhaps Mars Observer and Galilleo could
have some kind of routine written in for the post mission
"drift" phase.
So any holes in all this?
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
| "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving	|
| the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the 	|
| Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."    		|
|                  <John F. Kennedy; May 25, 1961> 		|
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: University of Rochester
Lines: 38
In article <1993Apr20.152819.28186@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
> be the site of major commercial activity. As far as we know it has no
> materials we can't get cheaper right here on Earth or from asteroids
> and comets, aside from the semi-mythic He3 that *might* be useful in low
> grade fusion reactors.
I don't know what a "low grade" fusion reactor is, but the major
problem with 3He (aside from the difficulty in making any fusion
reactor work) is that its concentration in lunar regolith is just so
small -- on the order of 5 ppb or so, on average (more in some
fractions, but still very small).  Massive amounts of regolith would
have to be processed.
This thread reminds me of Wingo's claims some time ago about the moon
as a source of titanium for use on earth.  As I recall, Wingo wasn't
content with being assured that titanium (at .5% in the Earth's crust,
average) would not run out, and touted lunar mines, even though the
market price of ilmenite concentrate these days is around $.06/pound.
This prompted me to look up large potential terrestrial sources.
On the moon, titanium occurs in basalts; "high-Ti" basalts (Apollo 11
and 17) have 8-14% titanium dioxide (by weight).  This is nice, but...
terrestrial continental flood basalts are also typically enriched in
titanium.  They very often have 3% TiO2, frequently have 4%, and
sometimes even 5% TiO2 (again, by weight).  These flood basalts are
*enormous* -- millions of cubic kilometers, scattered all over the
world (Siberia, Brazil, the NW United States, Ethiopia, etc.).  If
even 1% of the basalts are 5% TiO2, this is trillions of tons of TiO2
at concentrations only a factor of 2-3 less than in lunar high-Ti
basalts.  It is difficult to see how the disadvantages of the moon
could be overcome by such a small increase the concentration of the
ore (never mind the richer, but less common, terrestrial ores being
mined today).
Paul F. Dietz
dietz@cs.rochester.edu
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 15
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr20.204335.157595@zeus.calpoly.edu>, jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes...
>Why do spacecraft have to be shut off after funding cuts.  For
>example, Why couldn't Magellan just be told to go into a "safe"
>mode and stay bobbing about Venus in a low-power-use mode and if
>maybe in a few years if funding gets restored after the economy
>gets better (hopefully), it could be turned on again.
It can be, but the problem is a political one, not a technical one.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: agae@palm.lle.rochester.edu (Andres C. Gaeris)
Subject: Re: Orion drive in vacuum -- how?
Reply-To: agae@palm.lle.rochester.edu (Andres C. Gaeris)
Organization: UofR Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Lines: 17
Nntp-Posting-Host: palm.lle.rochester.edu
In article <1993Apr20.164655.11048@head-cfa.harvard.edu>, willner@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) writes:
>
> The NASM photo archives are open to the public.  All (or almost all)
> still pictures in the collection are available for viewing, but I
> don't know about films.  At least it might be worth a try.  I'm not
> sure if appointments are necessary, but I think not.
>
Is posible to make copies of these photographs (or any other aerospace
photographs at NASM) if you pay a copyright fee?
===============================================================================
Andres C. Gaeris	   || "Living example of the application of Newton's
Junior laser fusioneer	   ||  Zeroth Law:
agae@lle.rochester.edu	   ||  `Every body in rest wants to remain in bed'"
===============================================================================
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
From: Robert Coe <bob@1776.COM>
Distribution: world
Organization: 1776 Enterprises, Sudbury MA
Lines: 23
jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
> >> Also, perihelions of Gehrels3 were:
> >>
> >> April  1973     83 jupiter radii
> >> August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
> >
> > Where 1 Jupiter radius = 71,000 km = 44,000 mi = 0.0005 AU.  So the
> > 1970 figure seems unlikely to actually be anything but a perijove.
> > Is that the case for the 1973 figure as well?
> > --
> Sorry, _perijoves_...I'm not used to talking this language.
Hmmmm....  The prefix "peri-" is Greek, not Latin, so it's usually used
with the Greek form of the name of the body being orbited.  (That's why
it's "perihelion" rather than "perisol", "perigee" rather than "periterr",
and "pericynthion" rather than "perilune".)  So for Jupiter I'd expect it
to be something like "perizeon".)   :^)
___            _                                           -  Bob
/__) _   /    / ) _   _
(_/__) (_)_(_)  (___(_)_(/_______________________________________ bob@1776.COM
Robert K. Coe ** 14 Churchill St, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 ** 508-443-3265
From: jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green)
Subject: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 9
Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
What would be the benefits and problems with such a combo (other
than the obvious instability in the XSSR now)?
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
| "I know you believe you understand what it is that you        |
| think I said.  But I am not sure that you realize that        |
| what I said is not what I meant."                             |
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
<1993Apr20.152819.28186@ke4zv.uucp>
<1993Apr20.204838.13217@cs.rochester.edu>
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 53
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: dietz@cs.rochester.edu's message of 20 Apr 93 20:48:38 GMT
In article <1993Apr20.204838.13217@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
In article <1993Apr20.152819.28186@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
> be the site of major commercial activity. As far as we know it has no
> materials we can't get cheaper right here on Earth or from asteroids
> and comets, aside from the semi-mythic He3 that *might* be useful in low
> grade fusion reactors.
problem with 3He (aside from the difficulty in making any fusion
reactor work) is that its concentration in lunar regolith is just so
small -- on the order of 5 ppb or so, on average (more in some
This thread reminds me of Wingo's claims some time ago about the moon
as a source of titanium for use on earth.  As I recall, Wingo wasn't
...
even 1% of the basalts are 5% TiO2, this is trillions of tons of TiO2
at concentrations only a factor of 2-3 less than in lunar high-Ti
basalts.  It is difficult to see how the disadvantages of the moon
could be overcome by such a small increase the concentration of the
ore (never mind the richer, but less common, terrestrial ores being
mined today).
Why Paul, it's obvious.
Once chlorine chemistry has been banned on Earth,
as is being advocated by some groups, Ti prices will
sharply increase (we are of course not allowed to
assume any developments in Ti processing).
Lunar Ti will then be eminently competitive for
the trendy jewelry market and certain applications
of National Importance
:-) :-) :-)
(oops, this is sci.space... wrong rules of debate ;-)
Seriously, I'd say there is a flaw in Gary's analysis
in that he assumes an export oriented economy, maybe
the lunatics will just want some native Ti for local
use... as to why Lunar natives are cost effective,
analysis has shown they will be critical in providing
a sheltered manufacturing base, technological innovation,
critical materials and manpower in the war between
the Allies and Central Powers in about two hundred years...
;-)
|  Steinn Sigurdsson	|I saw two shooting stars last night		|
|  Lick Observatory	|I wished on them but they were only satellites	|
| steinly@lick.ucsc.edu |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?		|
| "standard disclaimer"	|I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983	|
From: dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: University of Rochester
Lines: 31
In article <STEINLY.93Apr20145301@topaz.ucsc.edu> steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
> Why Paul, it's obvious.
> Once chlorine chemistry has been banned on Earth,
> as is being advocated by some groups, Ti prices will
> sharply increase (we are of course not allowed to
> assume any developments in Ti processing).
> Lunar Ti will then be eminently competitive for
> the trendy jewelry market and certain applications
> of National Importance
>
> :-) :-) :-)
Well, there already is a sulfate process for TiO2 purification.  The
chlorine process is cleaner, however, and for that reason is achieving
dominance in the marketplace.
Most Ti is used in pigment, btw (as the oxide), where it replaced
white lead pigment some decades ago.  Very little is reduced to the
metal.
> Seriously, I'd say there is a flaw in Gary's analysis
> in that he assumes an export oriented economy, maybe
> the lunatics will just want some native Ti for local
> use...
Which merely evades the issue of why those lunatics are
there at all (and, why their children would want to stay.)
Paul F. Dietz
dietz@cs.rochester.edu
From: pwg25888@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Patrick W. Grady)
Subject: Re: Did any DC-X gifs show up?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 30
fils@iastate.edu (Douglas R Fils) writes:
>In article <1qgiah$h9g@news.cerf.net> diaspar@nic.cerf.net (Diaspar Virtual Reality Network) writes:
>>The rollout was great and I got lots of great shots. I attended
>>the press briefing and got shots of the DC-Y model, too. All
>>in 3D
>>
>>David H. Mitchell
>>
>>
>David,
>	Are you still planing on scanning these and posting them
>somewhere?  Hope Hope Hope.  If you could that would be GREAT.
>Thanks for report of the rollout as well
>take care
>Doug
They did the rollout already??!?  I am going to have to pay more
attention to the news.  Are any of the gifs headed for wuarchive??
Patrick
--
Patrick Grady 		      |How do they manage it, these humans-beginning
pwg25888@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu    |each time so innocently, yet always ending up
pwg25888@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu |with the most blood on their hands?
|Fathertree to bugger, O.S. Card's _Xenocide_
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 42
<STEINLY.93Apr20145301@topaz.ucsc.edu>
<1993Apr20.223807.16712@cs.rochester.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: dietz@cs.rochester.edu's message of 20 Apr 93 22:38:07 GMT
In article <1993Apr20.223807.16712@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
In article <STEINLY.93Apr20145301@topaz.ucsc.edu> steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
> Why Paul, it's obvious.
> Once chlorine chemistry has been banned on Earth,
> as is being advocated by some groups, Ti prices will
> :-) :-) :-)
Well, there already is a sulfate process for TiO2 purification.  The
chlorine process is cleaner, however, and for that reason is achieving
dominance in the marketplace.
Darn, caught by the white hot heat of technological progress again...
Most Ti is used in pigment, btw (as the oxide), where it replaced
white lead pigment some decades ago.  Very little is reduced to the
metal.
Spoilsport. Hence the need for increasing fashion
emphasis on anodise Ti jewelry...
> Seriously, I'd say there is a flaw in Gary's analysis
> in that he assumes an export oriented economy, maybe
> the lunatics will just want some native Ti for local
> use...
Which merely evades the issue of why those lunatics are
there at all (and, why their children would want to stay.)
I did not evade the issue at all. I clearly stated that
this would be from diabolical foresight in establishing
a sheltered industrial base for the upcoming Great War ;-)
Very cost effective if you use the right accounting method :-)
*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			 Lick Observatory     	  *
* steinly@lick.ucsc.edu		       "standard disclaimer"  	  *
* But, oh, love is strange 					  *
* and you have to learn to take the crunchy with the smooth,      *
* I suppose 				              - B.B. 1983 *
From: dong@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Don M. Gibson)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-lo
Nntp-Posting-Host: lexus
Reply-To: dong@oakhill.sps.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector
Lines: 21
In article F23@zoo.toronto.edu, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1993Apr20.101044.2291@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>>This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
>>enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
>
>Actually, there are people who will tell you that it *would* be enough
>to do SSTO development, if done privately as a cut-rate operation.  Of
>course, they may be over-optimistic.
>
>You can also assume that a working SSTO would have other applications
>that would help pay for its development costs.
>
>I'd be inclined to make the prize somewhat larger, but $1G might be enough.
this all sounds like that Indecent Proposal movie.  wouldn't there be
a lot of people that would try this with little hope of working just
to get the dough?  if you have a 1:100 chance and it costs you $10Mil,
then you might pay some stooge a few grand to be your lucky hero.
just send up a few dozen and 1 is bound to survive enough to make YOU
rich.
--DonG
From: enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori)
Subject: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: Canon Information Systems Research Australia
Lines: 38
From the article "What's New" Apr-16-93 in sci.physics.research:
........
WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
1. SPACE BILLBOARDS! IS THIS ONE THE "SPINOFFS" WE WERE PROMISED?
In 1950, science fiction writer Robert Heinlein published "The
Man Who Sold the Moon," which involved a dispute over the sale of
rights to the Moon for use as billboard. NASA has taken the firsteps toward this
hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
side of the booster rockets.  Space Marketing Inc. had arranged
for the ad to promote Arnold's latest movie. Now, Space Marketing
is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
orbit.  NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense. This
may look like environmental vandalism, but Mike Lawson, CEO of
Space Marketing, told us yesterday that the real purpose of the
project is to help the environment! The platform will carry ozone
monitors he explained--advertising is just to help defray costs.
..........
What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
What about light pollution in observations? (I read somewhere else that
it might even be visible during the day, leave alone at night).
Is NASA really supporting this junk?
Are protesting groups being organized in the States?
Really, really depressed.
Enzo
--
Vincenzo Liguori                             | enzo@research.canon.oz.au
Canon Information Systems Research Australia | Phone +61 2 805 2983
PO Box 313 NORTH RYDE NSW 2113               | Fax   +61 2 805 2929
From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
Subject: Re: Astronomy Program
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Lines: 23
In article <28641@galaxy.ucr.edu> datadec@ucrengr.ucr.edu (kevin marcus) writes:
>Are there any public domain or shareware astronomy programs which will
>map out the sky at any given time, and allow you to locate planets, nebulae,
>and so forth?  If so, is there any ftp site where I can get one?
I posted my public-domain MSDOS program "sunlight.zip" to "sci.astro" yesterday.
It easily locates the sun, moon, and planets, and can also be used to
locate other objects if you input their Right Ascesion and Declination.
Use "uudecode" to extract.
--
Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - sheaffer@netcom.com
Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!
"Marxism and feminism are one and that one is Marxism"
- Heidi Hartmann and Amy Bridges,
quoted by Catharine MacKinnon above the first chapter
of her "Toward a Feminist Theory of the State"
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Solar Sail Data
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 24
higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>snydefj@eng.auburn.edu (Frank J. Snyder) writes:
>> I am looking for any information concerning projects involving Solar
>>  Sails. [...]
>> Are there any groups out there currently involved in such a project ?
Bill says ...
>Also there is a nontechnical book on solar sailing by Louis Friedman,
>a technical one by a guy whose name escapes me (help me out, Josh),
I presume the one you refer to is "Space Sailing" by Jerome L. Wright.  He
worked on solar sails while at JPL and as CEO of General Astronautics.  I'll
furnish ordering info upon request.
The Friedman book is called "Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel."
It was available from the Planetary Society a few years ago, I don't know if
it still is.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr20.211638.168730@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
I don't know a whole lot on Proton, but given that it is a multi stage
rocket,  up to 4 stages, it may not really need the Centaur,  plus
it may end up seriously beating on said centaur.
Also, the centaur is not small,  unless the Proton has an oversize
shroud you may not be able to get the centaur in under it.
Dennis,  you know much about this?
pat
From: wdwells@nyx.cs.du.edu (David "Fuzzy" Wells)
Subject: Boom!  Whoosh......
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Lines: 22
And one of my profs is the chief engineer for the project (Dr. Ron
Humble, Univ. Colorado at Colorado Springs).
I love the idea of an inflatable 1-mile long sign.... It will be a
really neat thing to see it explode when a bolt  (or even better, a
Westford Needle!) comes crashing into it at 10 clicks a sec.
<BOOM!>  Whooooooooshhhhhh......  <sputter, sputter>
<okay, PRETEND it would make a sound!>
I hear <insert favorite rumor here> that it will supposedly coincide
with the Atlanta Olympics.
Fuzzy.
===============================================================================
_ __/|       | Lt. David "Fuzzy" Wells |     "I want peace on earth,
\'o.O'       |    HQ AFSPACECOM/CNA    |       goodwill toward men."
=(___)=      |      "We do debris"     |"We're the government. We don't do that
U  ...ack!| wdwells@esprit.uccs.edu | that sort of thing."     -SNEAKERS
===============================================================================
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr20.141137.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 33
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1993Apr20.101044.2291@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
> In article <1qve4kINNpas@sal-sun121.usc.edu> schaefer@sal-sun121.usc.edu (Peter Schaefer) writes:
>
>>|> > Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
>>|> > who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
>
>>Oh gee, a billion dollars!  That'd be just about enough to cover the cost of the
>>feasability study!  Happy, Happy, JOY! JOY!
>
> Depends. If you assume the existance of a working SSTO like DC, on billion
> $$ would be enough to put about a quarter million pounds of stuff on the
> moon. If some of that mass went to send equipment to make LOX for the
> transfer vehicle, you could send a lot more. Either way, its a lot
> more than needed.
>
> This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
> enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
>
>   Allen
>
> --
> +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
> | W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
> +----------------------57 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
Or have different classes of competetors.. and made the total purse $6billion
or $7billion (depending on how many different classes there are, as in auto
racing/motocycle racing and such)..
We shall see how things go..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 11
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Some birds require constant management for survival.  Pointing a sensor at
the sun, even when powered down, may burn it out.  Pointing a
parabolic antenna  at Sol,  from venus orbit  may trash the
foci  elements.
Even if you let teh bird drift,  it may  get hosed by some
cosmic phenomena.
pat
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Jemison on Star Trek
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr20.142747.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 16
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <C5sB3p.IB9@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>, loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss) writes:
>    I saw in the newspaper last night that Dr. Mae Jemison, the first
> black woman in space (she's a physician and chemical engineer who flew
> on Endeavour last year) will appear as a transporter operator on the
> "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode that airs the week of May 31.
> It's hardly space science, I know, but it's interesting.
>
> Doug Loss
Interesting is rigth.. I wonder if they will make a mention of her being an
astronaut in the credits.. I think it might help people connect the future of
space with the present.. And give them an idea that we must go into space..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-lo
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 16
In article <C5szvL.I48@oakhill.sps.mot.com> dong@oakhill.sps.mot.com writes:
>>I'd be inclined to make the prize somewhat larger, but $1G might be enough.
>
>this all sounds like that Indecent Proposal movie.  wouldn't there be
>a lot of people that would try this with little hope of working just
>to get the dough?  if you have a 1:100 chance and it costs you $10Mil,
>then you might pay some stooge a few grand to be your lucky hero.
>just send up a few dozen and 1 is bound to survive enough to make YOU
>rich.
Any prize like this is going to need to be worded carefully enough that
you cannot get it without demonstrating sustained and reliable capability,
rather than a lucky one-shot.  It can be done.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 11
In article <C5sx3y.3z9.1@cs.cmu.edu> 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom) writes:
>On the other hand, if Apollo cost ~25billion, for a few days or weeks
>in space, in 1970 dollars, then won't the reward have to be a lot more
>than only 1 billion to get any takers?
Apollo was done the hard way, in a big hurry, from a very limited
technology base... and on government contracts.  Just doing it privately,
rather than as a government project, cuts costs by a factor of several.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein)
Subject: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: Drexel University, College of Engineering, Philadelphia, PA
Lines: 8
Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
to compute sunrise and sunset times.
I would appreciate any advice.
Joe Wetstein
jpw@coe.drexel.edu
From: todd@phad.la.locus.com (Todd Johnson)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Lines: 28
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
;From the article "What's New" Apr-16-93 in sci.physics.research:
;
;........
;WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
;
;1. SPACE BILLBOARDS! IS THIS ONE THE "SPINOFFS" WE WERE PROMISED?
;What about light pollution in observations? (I read somewhere else that
;it might even be visible during the day, leave alone at night).
;Is NASA really supporting this junk?
;Are protesting groups being organized in the States?
;Really, really depressed.
;
;             Enzo
I wouldn't worry about it.  There's enough space debris up there that
a mile-long inflatable would probably deflate in some very short
period of time (less than a year) while cleaning up LEO somewhat.
Sort of a giant fly-paper in orbit.
Hmm, that could actually be useful.
As for advertising -- sure, why not?  A NASA friend and I spent one
drunken night figuring out just exactly how much gold mylar we'd need
to put the golden arches of a certain American fast food organization
on the face of the Moon.  Fortunately, we sobered up in the morning.
<todd>
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Lunar Colony Race! By 2005 or 2010?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr20.234427.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 27
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Okay here is what I have so far:
Have a group (any size, preferibly small, but?) send a human being to the moon,
set up a habitate and have the human(s) spend one earth year on the moon. Does
that mean no resupply or ??
Need to find atleast $1billion for prize money.
Contest open to different classes of participants.
New Mexico State has semi-challenged University of Alaska (any branch) to put a
team together and to do it..
Any other University/College/Institute of Higher Learning wish to make a
counter challenge or challenge another school? Say it here.
I like the idea of having atleast a russian team.
Some prefer using new technology, others old or ..
The basic idea of the New Moon Race is like the Solar Car Race acrossed
Australia.. Atleast in that basic vein of endevour..
Any other suggestions?
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: jennise@opus.dgi.com (Milady Printcap the goddess of peripherals)
Subject: RE: Looking for a little research help
Organization: Dynamic Graphics Inc.
Lines: 6
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: opus.dgi.com
Found it! Thanks. I got several offers for help. I appreciate it and
will be contacting those people via e-mail.
Thanks again...
jennise
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Old Spacecraft as NAvigation Beacons!
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr21.001555.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 8
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Other idea for old space crafts is as navigation beacons and such..
Why not?? If you can put them on "safe" "pause" mode.. why not have them be
activated by a signal from a space craft (manned?) to act as a naviagtion
beacon, to take a directional plot on??
Wierd or what?
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.
Lines: 5
The Apollo program cost something like $25 billion at a time when
the value of a dollar was worth more than it is now. No one would
take the offer.
--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom.alphaCDC.COM) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131
From: gwh@soda.berkeley.edu (George William Herbert)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: Retro Aerospace
Lines: 14
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu
Summary: Hmm...
Hmm.  $1 billion, lesse... I can probably launch 100 tons to LEO at
$200 million, in five years, which gives about 20 tons to the lunar
surface one-way.  Say five tons of that is a return vehicle and its
fuel, a bigger Mercury or something (might get that as low as two
tons), leaving fifteen tons for a one-man habitat and a year's supplies?
Gee, with that sort of mass margins I can build the systems off
the shelf for about another hundred million tops.  That leaves
about $700 million profit.  I like this idea 8-)  Let's see
if you guys can push someone to make it happen 8-) 8-)
[slightly seriously]
-george william herbert
Retro Aerospace
From: hoover@mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de (Uwe Schuerkamp)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Nntp-Posting-Host: math30.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de
Organization: Math Madhouse Bielefeld, Germany
Lines: 26
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au
(Enzo Liguori) writes:
> hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
This is ok in my opinion as long as the stuff *returns to earth*.
>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
If this turns out to be true, it's time to get seriously active in
terrorism. This is unbelievable! Who do those people think they are,
selling every bit that promises to make money? I guess we really
deserve being wiped out by uv radiation, folks. "Stupidity wins". I
guess that's true, and if only by pure numbers.
Another depressed planetary citizen,
hoover
--
Uwe "Hoover" Schuerkamp 		     hoover@mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de
Clear Skies --- Fight light pollution!
From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos)
Subject: Re: Space Station radio commercial
Organization: Delco Electronics Corp.
Lines: 25
In article <C5r2I1.793@skates.gsfc.nasa.gov> xrcjd@resolve.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine) writes:
>A brief political/cultural item.
>
>Radio station WGMS in Washington is a classical music station with
>a large audience among high officials (elected and otherwise).
>Imagine a radio station that advertises Mercedes Benzes, diamond
>jewelry, expensive resorts and (truthfully) Trident submarines.
>
>This morning I heard a commercial for the space station project.
>Didn't catch the advertiser.
>
>Guess they're pulling out all the stops.
In the Air Force world at least, the crisis escalates when scale
models of the plane in question (i.e. about to be sacrificed) begin to
arrive in key Senators and Congresspersons' offices.
Of course it is assumed that coffee mugs and other decorative junk has
been tried earlier.
Spiros
--
Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                    c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
Software Technology, Delco Electronics       (317) 451-0815
GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904      "I post, therefore I ARMM"
From: dante@shakala.com (Charlie Prael)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
Lines: 10
dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
> Which merely evades the issue of why those lunatics are
> there at all (and, why their children would want to stay.)
Paul-- for the same reason that many other colonies are founded. Why not?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Prael  - dante@shakala.com
Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
From: palmer@cco.caltech.edu (David M. Palmer)
Subject: Re: Boom! Whoosh......
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 39
NNTP-Posting-Host: alumni.caltech.edu
matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca) writes:
>In article <1993Apr21.024423.29182@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> wdwells@nyx.cs.du.edu (David "Fuzzy" Wells) writes:
>>I hear <insert favorite rumor here> that it will supposedly coincide
>>with the Atlanta Olympics.
>Even worse, the city of Atlanta has a proposal before it to rent space on this
>orbiting billboard.  Considering the caliber of people running this city,
>there's no telling what we're going to have leering down at us from orbit.
I would just like to point out that it is much easier to place an
object at orbital altitude than it is to place it with orbital
velocity.  For a target 300 km above the surface of Earth,
you need a delta-v of 2.5 km/s.  Assuming that rockets with specific
impulses of 300 seconds are easy to produce, a rocket with a dry
weight of 50 kg would require only about 65 kg of fuel+oxidizer.
A small dispersal charge embedded in about 20 kg of sand or
birdshot (depending on the nature of the structure) would be
the payload.  I am sure the whole project is well within
the capability of the amateur rocketry community.
It sounds like a good Science Fair project--'Reduction
of Light Pollution Through Applied Ballistics'.
Or, it could be part of the Challenge Prize being discussed
here: $1 billion for the first person to spend 1 year
on the moon, $1 million for the first erradication of
an orbital eyesore/CCD burner.  I wouldpledge $1000
for the first person to bring it down, and I am sure
there are at least 999 other astronomers, nature lovers,
or just plain people of good taste who would do likewise.
Of course, a  Gerald Bull solution might be simpler.
(Either the solution Gerald Bull would apply--the use
of a large caliber gun; or the solution which was applied
to Gerald Bull--the use of a small caliber gun.)
--
David M. Palmer		palmer@alumni.caltech.edu
palmer@tgrs.gsfc.nasa.gov
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Which Gehrels? (was Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?)
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 30
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <1993Apr21.170817.15845@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>
>> > > Also, peri[jove]s of Gehrels3 were:
>
> Thanks again.  One final question.  The name Gehrels wasn't known to
> me before this thread came up, but the May issue of Scientific American
> has an article about the "Inconstant Cosmos", with a photo of Neil
> Gehrels, project scientist for NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
> Same person?
I would guess not.  Dr. Neil Gehrels of CGRO is the son of Dr. Tom
Gehrels of the University of Arizona.  Since he's long had research
interests in asteroids and other solar-system astronomy, Tom is the
one more likely to have discovered  a comet (and thus had his name
attached to it).
Tom Gehrels is a leader in the Spacewatch project, which has recently
increased mankind's discovery rate on near-Earth asteroids (they're
finding a couple every month).  For much more on this interesting guy,
read his autobiography, *On a Glassy Sea*.
"Do you know the asteroids, Mr.Kemp?...    Bill Higgins
Hundreds of thousands of them.  All
wandering around the Sun in strange        Fermilab
orbits.  Some never named, never
charted.  The orphans of the Solar         higgins@fnal.fnal.gov
System, Mr. Kemp."
higgins@fnal.bitnet
"And you want to become a father."
--*Moon Zero Two*                        SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS
From: stephens@geod.emr.ca (Dave Stephenson)
Subject: Re: Old Spacecraft as NAvigation Beacons!
Nntp-Posting-Host: ngis.geod.emr.ca
Organization: Dept. of Energy, Mines, and Resources, Ottawa
Lines: 21
nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>Other idea for old space crafts is as navigation beacons and such..
>Why not?? If you can put them on "safe" "pause" mode.. why not have them be
>activated by a signal from a space craft (manned?) to act as a naviagtion
>beacon, to take a directional plot on??
>Wierd or what?
>==
>Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
There is a whole constellation of custom built navigation beacon satellites
in the process of being phased out right now. The TRANSIT/OSCAR satellites
are being replaced by GPS. Or were you thinking of deep space navigation,
which is best done with doppler/VLBI/ stellar measurements. I do not think
additional radio beacons would help much.
--
Dave Stephenson
Geological Survey of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Internet: stephens@geod.emr.ca
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 10
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <STEINLY.93Apr20160116@topaz.ucsc.edu>, steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
>Very cost effective if you use the right accounting method :-)
Sherzer Methodology!!!!!!
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 13
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <C5tEIK.7z9@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>Apollo was done the hard way, in a big hurry, from a very limited
>technology base... and on government contracts.  Just doing it privately,
>rather than as a government project, cuts costs by a factor of several.
So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
Subject: Life on Mars???
From: schiewer@pa881a.inland.com (Don Schiewer)
Organization: Inland Steel Company, East Chicago, IN
Nntp-Posting-Host: pa881a
Nntp-Posting-User: schiewer
Lines: 9
What is the deal with life on Mars?  I save the "face" and heard
associated theories. (which sound thin to me)
Are we going back to Mars to look at this face agian?
Does anyone buy all the life theories?
--
Don Schiewer   | Internet  schiewer@pa881a.inland.com    | Onward Great
Inland Steel   | UUCP:     !uucp!pa881a.inland!schiewer  | Stream...
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 16
In article <1r46o9INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
>So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
>U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
Why would you want to do that? The goal is to do it cheaper (remember,
this isn't government). Instead of leasing an expensive launch pad,
just use a SSTO and launch from a much cheaper facility.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------56 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Re: Level 5?
In-Reply-To: 18084TM@msu.edu's message of Tue, 20 Apr 1993 21:37:55 GMT
Originator: nickh@SNOW.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: snow.fox.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Distribution: sci
Lines: 50
In article <C5sy4s.4x2.1@cs.cmu.edu> 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom) writes:
Nick Haines sez;
>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 in
>maturity, I strongly doubt that this [having lots of bugs] is the case).
Level 5?  Out of how many?  What are the different levels?  I've never
heard of this rating system.  Anyone care to clue me in?
This is a rating system used by ARPA and other organisations to
measure the maturity of a `software process' i.e. the entire process
by which software gets designed, written, tested, delivered, supported
etc.
See `Managing the Software Process', by Watts S. Humphrey, Addison
Wesley 1989. An excellent software engineering text. The 5 levels of
software process maturity are:
1. Initial
2. Repeatable
3. Defined
4. Managed
5. Optimizing
The levels are approximately characterized as follows:
1. no statistically software process control. Have no statistical
basis for estimating how large software will be, how long it will
take to produce, how expensive it will be, or how reliable it will
be.  Most software production is at this level.
2. stable process with statistical controls, rigorous project
management; having done something once, can do it again. Projects
are planned in detail, and there is software configuration
management and quality assurance.
3. The process is defined and understood, implementation is
consistent. This includes things like software inspection, a
rigorous software testing framework, more configuration management,
and typically a `software engineering process group' within the
project.
4. Statistical information on the software is systematically gathered
and analysed, and the process is controlled on the basis of this
information. Software quality is measured and has goals.
5. Defects are prevented, the process is automated, software contracts
are effective and certified.
Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu
From: mrf4276@egbsun12.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Matthew R. Feulner)
Subject: Re: Lunar Colony Race! By 2005 or 2010?
Nntp-Posting-Host: egbsun12.draper.com
Organization: Draper Laboratory
Lines: 18
In article <1993Apr20.234427.1@aurora.alaska.edu>, nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
|> Okay here is what I have so far:
|>
|> Have a group (any size, preferibly small, but?) send a human being to the moon,
|> set up a habitate and have the human(s) spend one earth year on the moon. Does
|> that mean no resupply or ??
|>
|> Need to find atleast $1billion for prize money.
My first thought is Ross Perot.  After further consideration, I think he'd
be more likely to try to win it...but come in a disappointing third.
Try Bill Gates.  Try Sam Walton's kids.
Matt
matthew_feulner@qmlink.draper.com
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Level 5?
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: sci
Lines: 33
In <C5sy4s.4x2.1@cs.cmu.edu> 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom) writes:
>Nick Haines sez;
>>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 in
>>maturity, I strongly doubt that this [having lots of bugs] is the case).
>Level 5?  Out of how many?  What are the different levels?  I've never
>heard of this rating system.  Anyone care to clue me in?
SEI Level 5 (the highest level -- the SEI stands for Software
Engineering Institute).  I'm not sure, but I believe that this rating
only applies to the flight software.  Also keep in mind that it was
*not* achieved through the use of sophisticated tools, but rather
through a 'brute force and ignorance' attack on the problem during the
Challenger standdown - they simply threw hundreds of people at it and
did the whole process by hand.  I would not consider receiving a 'Warning'
status on systems which are not yet in use would detract much (if
anything) from such a rating -- I'll have to get the latest copy of
the guidelines to make sure (they just issued new ones, I think).
Also keep in mind that the SEI levels are concerned primarily with
control of the software process; the assumption is that a
well controlled process will produce good software.  Also keep in mind
that SEI Level 5 is DAMNED HARD.  Most software in this country is
produced by 'engineering practicies' that only rate an SEI Level 1 (if
that).
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration. May 7 Crystal City
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Distribution: na
Lines: 19
In article <C5rHoC.Fty@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) writes:
>I remeber reading the comment that General Dynamics was tied into this, in
>connection with their proposal for an early manned landing.  Sorry I don't
>rember where I heard this, but I'm fairly sure it was somewhere reputable.
>Anyone else know anything on this angle?
If by that you mean anything on the GD approach, there was an article on
it in a recent Avation Week. I don't remember the exact date but it was
recent.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------56 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 34
In article <C5sJDp.F23@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>>This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
>>enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
>Actually, there are people who will tell you that it *would* be enough
>to do SSTO development, if done privately as a cut-rate operation.  Of
>course, they may be over-optimistic.
In spite of my great respect for the people you speak of, I think their
cost estimates are a bit over-optimistic. If nothing else, a working SSTO
is at least as complex as a large airliner and has a smaller experience
base. It therefore seems that SSTO development should cost at least as
much as a typical airliner development. That puts it in the $3G to $5G
range.
>You can also assume that a working SSTO would have other applications
>that would help pay for its development costs.
True it and the contest would result in a much larger market. But I
don't think it would be enough to attract the investors given the
risks involved.
If you could gurantee the SSTO costs and gurantee that it captures
100% of the available launch market, then I think you could
do it.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------56 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: cook@varmit.mdc.com (Layne Cook)
Subject: Lindbergh and the moon (was:Why not give $1G)
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Lines: 19
Distribution: world
Reply-To: cook@varmit.mdc.com (Layne Cook)
NNTP-Posting-Host: cook.mdc.com
All of this talk about a COMMERCIAL space race (i.e. $1G to the first 1-year
moon base) is intriguing. Similar prizes have influenced aerospace
development before. The $25k Orteig prize helped Lindbergh sell his Spirit of
Saint Louis venture to his financial backers.
If memory serves, the $25k prize would not have been enough to totally
reimburse some of the more expensive transatlantic projects (such as
Fokker's, Nungesser and other multi-engine projects). However Lindbergh
ultimately kept his total costs below that amount.
But I strongly suspect that his Saint Louis backers had the foresight to
realize that much more was at stake than $25,000.
Could it work with the moon? Who are the far-sighted financial backers of
today?
Layne Cook
cook@apt.mdc.com
McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co.
From: Andrew Rogers <rogers@ial3.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Life on Mars???
X-Xxdate: Wed, 21 Apr 93 16:03:51 GMT
Organization: Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Company
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d17
Lines: 9
In article <1993Apr20.120311.1@pa881a.inland.com> Don Schiewer,
schiewer@pa881a.inland.com writes:
>What is the deal with life on Mars?  I save the "face" and heard
>associated theories. (which sound thin to me)
>
>Are we going back to Mars to look at this face agian?
>Does anyone buy all the life theories?
try   alt.alien.visitors
From: matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca)
Subject: Re: Boom!  Whoosh......
Organization: The Dorsai Grey Captains
Lines: 13
NNTP-Posting-Host: oit.gatech.edu
In article <1993Apr21.024423.29182@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> wdwells@nyx.cs.du.edu (David "Fuzzy" Wells) writes:
>I hear <insert favorite rumor here> that it will supposedly coincide
>with the Atlanta Olympics.
Even worse, the city of Atlanta has a proposal before it to rent space on this
orbiting billboard.  Considering the caliber of people running this city,
there's no telling what we're going to have leering down at us from orbit.
--
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew
Internet: matthew@phantom.gatech.edu
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Lunar Colony Race! By 2005 or 2010?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 18
In article <1993Apr21.140804.15028@draper.com> mrf4276@egbsun12.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Matthew R. Feulner) writes:
>|> Need to find atleast $1billion for prize money.
>
>My first thought is Ross Perot.  After further consideration, I think he'd
>be more likely to try to win it...but come in a disappointing third.
>Try Bill Gates.  Try Sam Walton's kids.
When the Lunar Society's $500M estimate of the cost of a lunar colony was
mentioned at Making Orbit, somebody asked Jerry Pournelle "have you talked
to Bill Gates?".  The answer:  "Yes.  He says that if he were going to
sink that much money into it, he'd want to run it -- and he doesn't have
the time."
(Somebody then asked him about Perot.  Answer:  "Having Ross Perot on your
board may be a bigger problem than not having the money.")
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Life on Mars???
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 24
In article <1993Apr20.120311.1@pa881a.inland.com> schiewer@pa881a.inland.com (Don Schiewer) writes:
>What is the deal with life on Mars?  I save the "face" and heard
>associated theories. (which sound thin to me)
The "face" is an accident of light and shadow.  There are many "faces" in
landforms on Earth; none is artificial (well, excluding Mount Rushmore and
the like...).  There is also a smiley face on Mars, and a Kermit The Frog.
The question of life in a more mundane sense -- bacteria or the like -- is
not quite closed, although the odds are against it, and the most that the
more orthodox exobiologists are hoping for now is fossils.
There are currently no particular plans to do any further searches for life.
>Are we going back to Mars to look at this face agian?
Mars Observer, currently approaching Mars, will probably try to get a better
image or two of the "face" at some point.  It's not high priority; nobody
takes it very seriously.  The shadowed half of the face does not look very
face-like, so all it will take is one shot at a different sun angle to ruin
the illusion.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 26
<1993Apr20.204838.13217@cs.rochester.edu>	<STEINLY.93Apr20145301@topaz.ucsc.edu>	<1993Apr20.223807.16712@cs.rochester.edu>,<STEINLY.93Apr20160116@topaz.ucsc.edu>
<1r46j3INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu's message of 21 Apr 1993 19:16:51 GMT
In article <1r46j3INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney) writes:
In article <STEINLY.93Apr20160116@topaz.ucsc.edu>, steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
>Very cost effective if you use the right accounting method :-)
Sherzer Methodology!!!!!!
Hell, yes. I'm not going to let a bunch of seven suits tell
me what the right way to estimate cost effectiveness is, at
least not until they can make their mind up long enough
to leave their scheme stable for a fiscal year or two.
Seriously though. If you were to ask the British government
whether their colonisation efforts in the Americas were cost
effective, what answer do you think you'd get? What if you asked
in 1765, 1815, 1865, 1915 and 1945 respectively? ;-)
*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	*
*  steinly@lick.ucsc.edu		"standard disclaimer"  	*
*  If you ever have to go to Shoeburyness			*
*  Take the A-road, the ok road, that's the best!		*
*  Go motoring on The A13!	- BB 1983			*
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Level 5?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 31
In article <1993Apr21.134436.26140@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 ...
>>Level 5?  Out of how many? ...
>
>... Also keep in mind that it was
>*not* achieved through the use of sophisticated tools, but rather
>through a 'brute force and ignorance' attack on the problem during the
>Challenger standdown - they simply threw hundreds of people at it and
>did the whole process by hand...
I think this is a little inaccurate, based on Feynman's account of the
software-development process *before* the standdown.  Fred is basically
correct:  no sophisticated tools, just a lot of effort and painstaking
care.  But they got this one right *before* Challenger; Feynman cited
the software people as exemplary compared to the engine people.  (He
also noted that the software people were starting to feel management
pressure to cut corners, but hadn't had to give in to it much yet.)
Among other things, the software people worked very hard to get things
right for the major pre-flight simulations, and considered a failure
during those simulations to be nearly as bad as an in-flight failure.
As a result, the number of major-simulation failures could be counted
on one hand, and the number of in-flight failures was zero.
As Fred mentioned elsewhere, this applies only to the flight software.
Software that runs experiments is typically mostly put together by the
experimenters, and gets nowhere near the same level of Tender Loving Care.
(None of the experimenters could afford it.)
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: NAVSTAR positions
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Lines: 7
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
C-3's bird may be flaking out and expecting to die soon.
or C-3  may orbit over  major users areas, and it may be
needed to provide  redundancy on that plane  while b-4  may orbit
over hicksville, and not have muc of a user community.
pat
From: mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (Keith Mancus)
Subject: Re: Lindbergh and the moon (was:Why not give $1G)
Organization: MDSSC
Lines: 32
In article <1r3nuvINNjep@lynx.unm.edu>, cook@varmit.mdc.com (Layne Cook) writes:
> All of this talk about a COMMERCIAL space race (i.e. $1G to the first 1-year
> moon base) is intriguing. Similar prizes have influenced aerospace
> development before. The $25k Orteig prize helped Lindbergh sell his Spirit of
> Saint Louis venture to his financial backers.
> But I strongly suspect that his Saint Louis backers had the foresight to
> realize that much more was at stake than $25,000.
> Could it work with the moon? Who are the far-sighted financial backers of
> today?
The commercial uses of a transportation system between already-settled-
and-civilized areas are obvious.  Spaceflight is NOT in this position.
The correct analogy is not with aviation of the '30's, but the long
transocean voyages of the Age of Discovery.  It didn't require gov't to
fund these as long as something was known about the potential for profit
at the destination.  In practice, some were gov't funded, some were private.
But there was no way that any wise investor would spend a large amount
of money on a very risky investment with no idea of the possible payoff.
I am sure that a thriving spaceflight industry will eventually develop,
and large numbers of people will live and work off-Earth.  But if you ask
me for specific justifications other than the increased resource base, I
can't give them.  We just don't know enough.  The launch rate demanded by
existing space industries is just too low to bring costs down much, and
we are very much in the dark about what the revolutionary new space industries
will be, when they will practical, how much will have to be invested to
start them, etc.
--
Keith Mancus    <mancus@butch.jsc.nasa.gov>                           |
N5WVR           <mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov>                        |
"Black powder and alcohol, when your states and cities fall,          |
when your back's against the wall...." -Leslie Fish                  |
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Life on Mars???
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 24
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <C5uB2s.FD@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes...
>In article <1993Apr20.120311.1@pa881a.inland.com> schiewer@pa881a.inland.com (Don Schiewer) writes:
>There are currently no particular plans to do any further searches for life.
Not quite true.  One of the instruments on Mars Observer will be searching
for potential fossil sites.
>>Are we going back to Mars to look at this face agian?
>
>Mars Observer, currently approaching Mars, will probably try to get a better
>image or two of the "face" at some point.  It's not high priority; nobody
>takes it very seriously.  The shadowed half of the face does not look very
>face-like, so all it will take is one shot at a different sun angle to ruin
>the illusion.
The face and the Viking landing sites will be targeted by the high-resolution
camera on Mars Observer.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)
Subject: Re: First Spacewalk
Organization: Motorola
Distribution: sci
Nntp-Posting-Host: 145.1.146.43
Lines: 14
In article <C5suMG.2rF.1@cs.cmu.edu> flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]") writes:
>At one time there was speculation that the first spacewalk
>(Alexei Leonov ?) was a staged fake.
>
>Has any evidence to support or contradict this claim emerged ?
>
>Was this claim perhaps another fevered Cold War hallucination ?
This claim was made when someone spotted training film footage spliced into
the footage of the actual spacewalk.
Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
Schaumburg, IL
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 17
In article <1993Apr20.204335.157595@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>Why do spacecraft have to be shut off after funding cuts.  For
>example, Why couldn't Magellan just be told to go into a "safe"
>mode and stay bobbing about Venus in a low-power-use mode and if
>maybe in a few years if funding gets restored after the economy
>gets better (hopefully), it could be turned on again.
One consideration to remember is that if you don't turn it off now,
you may not be able to later.  This isn't a case of reaching over and
flipping a switch; much of the spacecraft has to be working correctly
to execute a "turn off" command successfully.  Spacecraft do malfunction
in their old age.  The big concern is not radio clutter from idle
spacecraft, but radio clutter from malfunctioning spacecraft that can
no longer be turned off.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Reply-To: clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones)
Organization: Kendall Square Research Corp
Lines: 20
In-reply-to: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
In article <1r2aii$ivs@access.digex.net>, prb@access (Pat) writes:
>In article <1993Apr20.211638.168730@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>>Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
>
>I don't know a whole lot on Proton, but given that it is a multi stage
>rocket,  up to 4 stages, it may not really need the Centaur,  plus
>it may end up seriously beating on said centaur.
The Proton has been used in 2, 3, and 4 stage versions.  The two stage version
was used for the first 3 launches, while the 3 and 4 stage versions are used
today.  The four stage version is used mostly for escape (and geosynchronous?)
orbits, while the 3 stage version is used for low earth orbits.  Since this is
the version that launched Mir and the Salyuts (and the add-on modules for Mir),
as long as Centaur is smaller than Mir (which I believe it is), it should fit
under the shroud.
I vaguely recall that the Russians are developing a LH2/LOX upper stage for the
Proton.
--
Chris Jones    clj@ksr.com
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Lines: 26
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr21.150545.24058@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
|In article <C5sJDp.F23@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
|
|
|In spite of my great respect for the people you speak of, I think their
|cost estimates are a bit over-optimistic. If nothing else, a working SSTO
|is at least as complex as a large airliner and has a smaller experience
|base. It therefore seems that SSTO development should cost at least as
|much as a typical airliner development. That puts it in the $3G to $5G
|range.
>
Alan,
don't forget,  a HUGE  cost for airliner developement is FAA
certification.  the joke is when the paperwork  exceeds teh weight
of the airplane,  it will fly.
The SR-71, and teh X-15  both highly ambitious  aero-space projects were done
on very narrow engineering budgets.   Partly because they didn't spend much
on paper  pushing.   There is some company in missouri  trying to
get funding to build light commercial transporters  on a low cost basis,
mostly by reducing FAA  certification costs.
pat
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Boom! Whoosh......
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21
In article <1r46ofINNdku@gap.caltech.edu> palmer@cco.caltech.edu (David M. Palmer) writes:
>>orbiting billboard...
>
>I would just like to point out that it is much easier to place an
>object at orbital altitude than it is to place it with orbital
>velocity.  For a target 300 km above the surface of Earth,
>you need a delta-v of 2.5 km/s.  Assuming that rockets with specific
>impulses of 300 seconds are easy to produce, a rocket with a dry
>weight of 50 kg would require only about 65 kg of fuel+oxidizer...
Unfortunately, if you launch this from the US (or are a US citizen),
you will need a launch permit from the Office of Commercial Space
Transportation, and I think it may be difficult to get a permit for
an antisatellite weapon... :-)
The threshold at which OCST licensing kicks in is roughly 100km.
(The rules are actually phrased in more complex ways, but that is
the result.)
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: Inflatable Mile-Long Space Billboards (was Re: Vandalizing the sky.)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
Lines: 70
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: yuggoth.ces.cwru.edu
In-reply-to: enzo@research.canon.oz.au's message of Tue, 20 Apr 1993 22:36:55 GMT
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
>1. SPACE BILLBOARDS! IS THIS ONE THE "SPINOFFS" WE WERE PROMISED?
>In 1950, science fiction writer Robert Heinlein published "The
>Man Who Sold the Moon," which involved a dispute over the sale of
>rights to the Moon for use as billboard. NASA has taken the firsteps toward this
>hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
>side of the booster rockets.  Space Marketing Inc. had arranged
>for the ad to promote Arnold's latest movie.
Well, if you're going to get upset with this, you might as well direct
some of this moral outrage towards Glavcosmos as well.  They pioneered
this capitalist application of booster adverts long before NASA.
(Sign of the times: a Sony logo on a Soyuz launcher...)
>Now, Space Marketing
>is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
>a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
>orbit.
This sounds like something Lowell Wood would think of.  Does anyone
know if he's involved?
>NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
>since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
>(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense. This
>may look like environmental vandalism, but Mike Lawson, CEO of
>Space Marketing, told us yesterday that the real purpose of the
>project is to help the environment! The platform will carry ozone
>monitors he explained--advertising is just to help defray costs.
This may be the purpose for the University of Colorado people.  My
guess is that the purpose for the Livermore people is to learn how to
build large, inflatable space structures.
>..........
>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
If this is true, I think it's a great idea.
Learning how to build to build structures in space in an essential
step towards space development, and given that Freedom appears to be
shrinking towards the vanishing point, I question whether NASA's space
station is going to provide much, if any, knowledge in this area.
(Especially if a design such as Faget's wingless orbiter is chosen...)
If such a project also monitors ozone depletion and demonstrates
creative use of (partial) private sector funding in the process -- so
much the better.
>Is NASA really supporting this junk?
And does anyone have any more details other than what was in the WN
news blip?  How serious is this project?  Is this just in the "wild
idea" stage or does it have real funding?
>Are protesting groups being organized in the States?
Not yet.  Though, if this project goes through, I suppose The Return
of Jeremy Rifkin is inevitable...
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Brian Yamauchi			Case Western Reserve University
yamauchi@alpha.ces.cwru.edu	Department of Computer Engineering and Science
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: keithley@apple.com (Craig Keithley)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-lo
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 80
In article <1993Apr21.150545.24058@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
wrote:
>
> In article <C5sJDp.F23@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
> >>This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
> >>enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
>
> >Actually, there are people who will tell you that it *would* be enough
> >to do SSTO development, if done privately as a cut-rate operation.  Of
> >course, they may be over-optimistic.
>
> In spite of my great respect for the people you speak of, I think their
> cost estimates are a bit over-optimistic. If nothing else, a working SSTO
> is at least as complex as a large airliner and has a smaller experience
> base. It therefore seems that SSTO development should cost at least as
> much as a typical airliner development. That puts it in the $3G to $5G
> range.
>
For the purpose of a contest, I'd bet some things could be cut.  Like fuel
for re-entry, any kind of heat shielding, etc., etc.  Even still, if the
contest participants had to fund DC-1 development, it probably wouldn't be
worth it to develop DC-1 (just for the contest).  Just give me the cheapest
heaviest lift man rated (or at least under 6 or so Gs) booster...  If I
don't have to pay for DC-1 development, great!, I'll use it.
But back to the contest goals, there was a recent article in AW&ST about a
low cost (it's all relative...) manned return to the moon.  A General
Dynamics scheme involving a Titan IV & Shuttle to lift a Centaur upper
stage, LEV, and crew capsule.  The mission consists of delivering two
unmanned payloads to the lunar surface, followed by a manned mission.
Total cost:  US was $10-$13 billion.  Joint ESA(?)/NASA project was $6-$9
billion for the US share.
I didn't find a mention of how long the crew could stay, but I'd bet that
its  around 30 days.  And the total payload delivered was about 30 metric
tonnes.  So if you ignore the scientific payload, hitch a ride in the crew
habitation module (no return trip...), and toss in a few more tonnes for
the additional consumables to last another 11 months, then you *might* be
able to get a year visit out of 15 tonnes (and in case its not obvious,
that's a wild ass guess).  A pretty boring visit, since every trip outdoors
eats up a bit of LOX.  And I'm not certain if a home brewed (or
college-brewed) life support system could last a year.  But let's round
this up to 19.4 tonnes (convient, since the GD plan talks about 9.7 ton
payloads delivered to the lunar surface.  This adds up to two Centaurs, two
LEVs, two Shuttle flights... All to put a single man on the moon for a
year.   Hmmm.  Not really practical.  Anyone got a cheaper/better way of
delivering 15-20 tonnes to the lunar surface within the decade?  Anyone
have a more precise guess about how much a year's supply of consumables and
equipment would weigh?
And I was wondering about the GD LEV.  Is it reusable?  Or is it discarded
to burn up on return to LEO?  If its not discarded, could it be refueled?
Henry: Do you know anything about the GD LEV?  I noted that it uses RL-10
engines.  Aren't they reusable/restartable?  Would a LEV fit in a DC-1?
I've forgotten (if I ever knew) what the cargo bay dimensions are for the
DC-1.
All in all, I'm not certain that the single goal/prize of staying on the
moon for a year is wise and/or useful.  How about:  A prize for the first
non-government sponsered unmanned moon landing, then another for a manned
moon landing, then yet another for a system to extract consumables from
lunar soil, another for a reusable earth/moon shuttle, and so forth.  Find
some way to build civilian moonbase infrastructure...  Having a single goal
might result in a bunch of contestents giving up after one person appeared
to win.  And for those that didn't give up, I find something a little scary
about a half dozen people huddling in rickety little moon shelters.  I'd
like to see as much a reward for co-operation as for competition.
Lastly, about ten or fifteen years back I seem to recall that there was an
English space magazine that had an on-going discussion about moonbases on
the cheap.  I recalled it discussed things like how much heat the human
body produced, how much lunar material it'd need for protection from solar
flares, etc.  Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this magazine.
Does this ring a bell to anyone?
Craig Keithley                    |"I don't remember, I don't recall,
Apple Computer, Inc.              |I got no memory of anything at all"
keithley@apple.com                |Peter Gabriel, Third Album (1980)
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 20
> > > Also, peri[jove]s of Gehrels3 were:
> > >
> > > April  1973     83 jupiter radii
> > > August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
> > Where 1 Jupiter radius = 71,000 km = 44,000 mi = 0.0005 AU. ...
> Sorry, _perijoves_...I'm not used to talking this language.
Thanks again.  One final question.  The name Gehrels wasn't known to
me before this thread came up, but the May issue of Scientific American
has an article about the "Inconstant Cosmos", with a photo of Neil
Gehrels, project scientist for NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
Same person?
--
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	"Information! ... We want information!"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- The Prisoner
This article is in the public domain.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Iapetus/Saturn Eclipse
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 79
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from John Spencer (spencer@lowell.edu):
There will be two eclipses of Iapetus by Saturn and its
rings, in May and July.  Please spread the word!  Here's some
information about the events, and then a couple of messages from Jay
Goguen of JPL appealing for thermal observations of the eclipse to
learn more about the thermal properties of Iapetus.  He might also have
some money available...
John Spencer, 1993/04/21
Iapetus will be eclipsed by the shadows of Saturn's rings and Saturn
itself on 1993/05/01-02 (18:27-13:43 UT) and again on 1993/07/20-21,
(21:16-09:38 UT).  Timing is as follows;
1993 May 1-2
A-ring ingress  18:27
egress   19:30
B-ring ingress  19:51
egress   21:42
C-ring egress   23:00
Saturn ingress  23:59
egress   10:02
B-ring ingress  10:28
egress   12:19
A-ring ingress  12:40
egress   13:43
1993 July 20-21
Saturn ingress  21:16
egress   05:08
A-ring ingress  05:13  (grazing)
egress   09:38
Times could be 30 minutes later according to an alternate ephemeris,
and photometric observations are important for refining Iapetus'
orbit.  Because the Sun's size projected on the rings as seen from
Iapetus is 3100 km it's unlikely that we will learn anything new about
the rings themselves from the observations.  See Soma (1992), Astronomy
and Astrophysics 265, L21-L24 for more details.  Thanks to Andy Odell
of Northern Arizona University for bringing the events to my
attention.
THERMAL OBSERVATIONS?
Jay Goguen (jdg@scn5.Jpl.Nasa.Gov) writes:
To me, the interesting thing to do would be thermal IR of the 20 July
disappearance into the shadow of the planet to measure thermal inertia,
etc.  Unfortunately, the 21:30 UT of this event renders it inaccessible,
except from Russia.  Even from Calar Alto, Saturn is rising through 3
airmasses at 23:00 UT.  Do you know anyone in Russia or Ukraine with
a big telescope and 10 um instrumentation that's looking for something
to do?  I'd be willing to make a personal grant of >$100 for the data.
Jay
and again:
please try to encourage anyone that can observe the iapetus planet
disappearance to do so at thermal wavelengths.  My impression would
be that it's not an easy observation.  Iapetus will be faint and
getting fainter in eclipse, so you'll need a big telescope that's a
good IR telescope and reasonable 10 - 20 um instrumentation.  I don't
think that combination is widely available at the longitudes that are
well placed for observation.  We need SOFIA for this one.  One
possibility would be the IR telescope in India, but it's only a 1.2 m.
jay
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: globus@nas.nasa.gov (Al Globus)
Subject: Space Colony Size Preferences Summary
Organization: Applied Research Office, NASA Ames Research Center
Reply-To: globus@nas.nasa.gov
Distribution: sci.space
Lines: 92
Some time ago I sent the following message:
Every once in a while I design an orbital space colony.  I'm gearing up to
do another one.  I'd some info from you. If you were to move
onto a space colony to live permanently, how big would the colony have
to be for you to view a permanent move as desirable?  Specifically,
How many people do you want to share the colony with?
What physical dimensions does the living are need to have?
Assume 1g living (the colony will rotate).  Assume that you can leave
from time to time for vacations and business trips.  If you're young
enough, assume that you'll raise your children there.
I didn't get a lot of responses, and they were all over the block.
Thanx muchly to all those who responded, it is good food for thought.
Here's the (edited) responses I got:
How many people do you want to share the colony with?
100
What physical dimensions does the living are need to have?
Cylinder 200m diameter x 1 km long
Rui Sousa
ruca@saber-si.pt
=============================================================================
>   How many people do you want to share the colony with?
100,000 - 250,000
>   What physical dimensions does the living are need to have?
100 square kms surface, divided into city, towns, villages and
countryside.  Must have lakes, rivers amd mountains.
=============================================================================
> How many
1000.  1000 people really isn't that large a number;
everyone will know everyone else within the space of a year, and will probably
be sick of everyone else within another year.
>What physical dimensions does the living are need to have?
Hm.  I am not all that great at figuring it out.  But I would maximize the
percentage of colony-space that is accessible to humans.  Esecially if there
were to be children, since they will figure out how to go everywhere anyways.
And everyone, especially me, likes to "go exploring"...I would want to be able
to go for a walk and see something different each time...
=============================================================================
For population, I think I would want a substantial town -- big enough
to have strangers in it.  This helps get away from the small-town
"everybody knows everything" syndrome, which some people like but
I don't.  Call it several thousand people.
For physical dimensions, a somewhat similar criterion:  big enough
to contain surprises, at least until you spent considerable time
getting to know it.  As a more specific rule of thumb, big enough
for there to be places at least an hour away on foot.  Call that
5km, which means a 10km circumference if we're talking a sphere.
Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry
=============================================================================
My desires, for permanent move to a space colony, assuming easy communication
and travel:
Size:  About a small-town size, say 9 sq. km.  'Course, bigger is better :-)
Population:  about 100/sq km or less.  So, ~1000 for 9sqkm.  Less is
better for elbow room, more for interest and sanity, so say max 3000, min 300.
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams | 517-355-2178 (work) \\     Inhale to the Chief!
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu  | 336-9591 (hm)\\  Zonker Harris in 1996!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: n4hy@harder.ccr-p.ida.org (Bob McGwier)
Subject: Re: NAVSTAR positions
Organization: IDA Center for Communications Research
Lines: 11
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: harder.ccr-p.ida.org
In-reply-to: Thomas.Enblom@eos.ericsson.se's message of 19 Apr 93 06:34:55 GMT
You have missed something.  There is a big difference between being in
the SAME PLANE and in exactly the same state (positions and velocities
equal).  IN addition to this, there has always been redundancies proposed.
Bob
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert W. McGwier                  | n4hy@ccr-p.ida.org
Center for Communications Research | Interests: amateur radio, astronomy,golf
Princeton, N.J. 08520              | Asst Scoutmaster Troop 5700, Hightstown
From: abdkw@stdvax (David Ward)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center - Robotics Lab
Lines: 34
In article <20APR199321040621@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes...
>In article <1993Apr20.204335.157595@zeus.calpoly.edu>, jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes...
>>Why do spacecraft have to be shut off after funding cuts.  For
>>example, Why couldn't Magellan just be told to go into a "safe"
>>mode and stay bobbing about Venus in a low-power-use mode and if
>>maybe in a few years if funding gets restored after the economy
>>gets better (hopefully), it could be turned on again.
>
>It can be, but the problem is a political one, not a technical one.
Also remember that every dollar spent keeping one spacecraft in safe mode
(probably a spin-stabilized sun-pointing orientation) is a dollar not
spent on mission analysis for a newer spacecraft.  In order to turn the
spacecraft back on, you either need to insure that the Ops guys will be
available, or you need to retrain a new team.
Having said that, there are some spacecraft that do what you have proposed.
Many of the operational satellites Goddard flies (like the Tiros NOAA
series) require more than one satellite in orbit for an operational set.
Extras which get replaced on-orbit are powered into a "standby" mode for
use in an emergency.  In that case, however, the same ops team is still
required to fly the operational birds; so the standby maintenance is
relatively cheap.
Finally, Pat's explanation (some spacecraft require continuous maintenance
to stay under control) is also right on the mark.  I suggested a spin-
stabilized control mode because it would require little power or
maintenance, but it still might require some momentum dumping from time
to time.
In the end, it *is* a political decision (since the difference is money),
but there is some technical rationale behind the decision.
David W. @ GSFC
From: cchung@sneezy.phy.duke.edu (Charles Chung)
Subject: Re: What if the USSR had reached the Moon first?
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: bashful.phy.duke.edu
In article <1993Apr20.152819.28186@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary
Coffman) writes:
> >Why do you think at least a couple centuries before there will
> >be significant commerical activity on the Moon?
>
> Wishful thinking mostly.
[Lots of stuff about how the commerical moonbase=fantasyland]
Then what do you believe will finally motivate people to leave the
earth?  I'm not trying to flame you.  I just want to know where you
stand.
-Chuck
---
*******************************************************************
Chuck Chung				(919) 660-2539 (O)
Duke University Dept. of Physics	(919) 684-1517 (H)
Durham, N.C.      27706			cchung@phy.duke.edu
"If pro is the opposite of con,
then what is the opposite of progress?"
*******************************************************************
From: dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: Motorola
Nntp-Posting-Host: 145.1.146.43
Lines: 37
In article <1993Apr20.211638.168730@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
>What would be the benefits and problems with such a combo (other
>than the obvious instability in the XSSR now)?
I haven't seen any speculation about it. But, the Salyut KB (Design Bureau)
was planning a new LH/LOX second stage for the Proton which would boost
payload to LEO from about 21000 to 31500 kg. (Geostationary goes from
2600 kg. (Gals launcher version) to 6000 kg.. This scheme was competing
with the Energia-M last year and I haven't heard which won, except now
I recently read that the Central Specialized KB was working on the
successor to the Soyuz booster which must be the Energia-M. So the early
results are Energia-M won, but this is a guess, nothing is very clear in
Russia. I'm sure if Salyut KB gets funds from someone they will continue
their development.
The Centaur for the Altas is about 3 meters dia. and the Proton
is 4 so that's a good fit for their existing upper stage, the Block-D
which sets inside a shround just under 4 meters dia. I don't know about
launch loads, etc.. but since the Centaur survives Titan launches which
are probably worse than the Proton (those Titan SRB's probably shake things
up pretty good) it seems feasible. EXCEPT, the Centaur is a very fragile
thing and may require integration on the pad which is not available now.
Protons are assembled and transported horizontially. Does anyone know
how much stress in the way of a payload a Centaur could support while
bolted to a Proton horizontally and then taken down the rail road track
and erected on the pad?
They would also need LOX and LH facilities added to the Proton pads
(unless the new Proton second stage is actually built), and of course
any Centaur support systems and facilities, no doubt imported from the
US at great cost. These systems may viloate US law so there are political
problems to solve in addition to the instabilities in the CIS you mention.
Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
Schaumburg, IL
From: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU (nathan wallace)
Subject:  Level 5
Reply-To: wallacen@CS.ColoState.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: sor.cs.colostate.edu
Organization: Colorado State University -=- Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 15
According to a Software engineering professor here, what was actually rated
level five was an ibm unit which produced part of the software for the shuttle,
by not means all of it.
Interesting note: 90% of the software development groups surveyed were at
level 1. The ibm shuttle groups was the *only* one at level 5!
---
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
C/    Nathan F. Wallace                   C/C/           "Reality Is"         C/
C/    e-mail: wallacen@cs.colostate.edu   C/C/    ancient Alphaean proverb    C/
C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/C/
From: hdsteven@solitude.Stanford.EDU (H. D. Stevens)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: stanford
Lines: 59
In article <1993Apr21.190156.7769@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>, dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk) writes:
|> In article <1993Apr20.211638.168730@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
|> >Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
|> >What would be the benefits and problems with such a combo (other
|> >than the obvious instability in the XSSR now)?
|>
|>
|> The Centaur for the Altas is about 3 meters dia. and the Proton
|> is 4 so that's a good fit for their existing upper stage, the Block-D
|> which sets inside a shround just under 4 meters dia. I don't know about
|> launch loads, etc.. but since the Centaur survives Titan launches which
|> are probably worse than the Proton (those Titan SRB's probably shake things
|> up pretty good) it seems feasible. EXCEPT, the Centaur is a very fragile
|> thing and may require integration on the pad which is not available now.
|> Protons are assembled and transported horizontially. Does anyone know
|> how much stress in the way of a payload a Centaur could support while
|> bolted to a Proton horizontally and then taken down the rail road track
|> and erected on the pad?
The Centaur that is being built for T4 would be a better bet to integrate
onto the Proton as the T4/Centaur is designed for the Extremely Harsh
envorinment of the T4 launch. It is also closer to 4 m in diameter.
You've hit on the real kicker, however. The Centaur is pressure stabilized.
It cannot hold up its own weight without pressure in the tanks. Additionally,
the pressure difference between the two tanks must be maintained to ~+/- 5 psi.
That is rather tight to be rocking and rolling on the train. The pressure
stabilization is how centaur achieves the performance. On numerous occasions
(when I was there 88-91) the AF wanted to see what it would take to make
a non-pressure stabilized centaur. The answer -- a centaur not worth launching.
The Atlas/Centaur does not require on-pad integration, however the T4/Centaur
does. I believe the on-pad integration is to a great extent due to the
cleanliness requirements and PFL configuration, so maybe something can be
done there........
|>
|> They would also need LOX and LH facilities added to the Proton pads
|> (unless the new Proton second stage is actually built), and of course
|> any Centaur support systems and facilities, no doubt imported from the
|> US at great cost. These systems may viloate US law so there are political
|> problems to solve in addition to the instabilities in the CIS you mention.
The addition of LOX/LH facilities is critical as the centaur tops off as it
lifts off. A LHe facility is also needed. I don't know what the proton uses
for fuel, but since they are derived from ICBM's I would suspect that they
use storable propellants which don't have the ullage problem that cryo's
do. If there is no cryo at the sight at all, the addition of these systems
could be big $$, not to mention the real tech transfer issues involved with
providing centaur GSE to Russia. That issue alone might be enough to kill
this idea.
--
H.D. Stevens
Stanford University			Email:hdsteven@sun-valley.stanford.edu
Aerospace Robotics Laboratory		Phone:	(415) 725-3293  (Lab)
Durand Building					(415) 722-3296  (Bullpen)
Stanford, CA 94305			Fax:	(415) 725-3377
From: jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Article-I.D.: zeus.1993Apr22.003719.101323
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 32
prb@access.digex.com (Pat) Pontificated:
>
>
>Some birds require constant management for survival.  Pointing a sensor at
>the sun, even when powered down, may burn it out.  Pointing a
>parabolic antenna  at Sol,  from venus orbit  may trash the
>foci  elements.
>
What I was getting at in my post is whether or not it might be
possible to put enough brains on board future deep-space probes
for them to automatically avoid such things as looking at the
sun or going into an uncontrolled tumble.
I heard once that the voyagers had a failsafe routine built in
that essentially says "If you never hear from Earth again,
here's what to do."  This was a back up in the event a receiver
burnt out but the probe could still send data (limited, but
still some data).
>Even if you let teh bird drift,  it may  get hosed by some
>cosmic phenomena.
>
Since this would be a shutdown that may never be refunded for
startup, if some type of cosmic BEM took out the probe, it might
not be such a big loss.  Obviously you can't plan for
everything, but the most obvious things can be considered.
/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
| "I know you believe you understand what it is that you        |
| think I said.  But I am not sure that you realize that        |
| what I said is not what I meant."                             |
From: hdsteven@solitude.Stanford.EDU (H. D. Stevens)
Subject: Re: Inflatable Mile-Long Space Billboards (was Re: Vandalizing the sky.)
Organization: stanford
Lines: 38
In article <YAMAUCHI.93Apr21131325@yuggoth.ces.cwru.edu>, yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
|> >NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
|> >since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
|> >(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense. This
|> >may look like environmental vandalism, but Mike Lawson, CEO of
|> >Space Marketing, told us yesterday that the real purpose of the
|> >project is to help the environment! The platform will carry ozone
|> >monitors he explained--advertising is just to help defray costs.
|>
|> This may be the purpose for the University of Colorado people.  My
|> guess is that the purpose for the Livermore people is to learn how to
|> build large, inflatable space structures.
|>
The CU people have been, and continue to be big ozone scientists. So
this is consistent. It is also consistent with the new "Comercial
applications" that NASA and Clinton are pushing so hard.
|>
|> >Is NASA really supporting this junk?
Did anyone catch the rocket that was launched with a movie advert
all over it? I think the rocket people got alot of $$ for painting
up the sides with the movie stuff. What about the Coke/Pepsi thing
a few years back? NASA has been trying to find ways to get other
people into the space funding business for some time. Frankly, I've
thought about trying it too. When the funding gets tight, only the
innovative get funded. One of the things NASA is big on is co-funding.
If a PI can show co-funding for any proposal, that proposal has a SIGNIFICANTLY
higher probability of being funded than a proposal with more merit but no
co-funding. Once again, money talks!
--
H.D. Stevens
Stanford University			Email:hdsteven@sun-valley.stanford.edu
Aerospace Robotics Laboratory		Phone:	(415) 725-3293  (Lab)
Durand Building					(415) 722-3296  (Bullpen)
Stanford, CA 94305			Fax:	(415) 725-3377
From: djf@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Marvin Batty)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Nntp-Posting-Host: cc_sysk
Organization: Starfleet, Coventry, UK
Lines: 30
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>From the article "What's New" Apr-16-93 in sci.physics.research:
>
>........
>WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
>
>1. SPACE BILLBOARDS! IS THIS ONE THE "SPINOFFS" WE WERE PROMISED?
>In 1950, science fiction writer Robert Heinlein published "The
>Man Who Sold the Moon," which involved a dispute over the sale of
>rights to the Moon for use as billboard. NASA has taken the firsteps toward this
> hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
>side of the booster rockets.
Things could be worse. A lot worse! In the mid-eighties the
teen/adult sci-fi comic 2000AD (Fleetway) produced a short story
featuring the award winning character "Judge Dredd". The story
focussed on an advertising agency of the future who use high powered
multi-coloured lasers/search lights pointed at the moon to paint
images on the moon. Needless to say, this use hacked off a load of lovers,
romantics and werewolfs/crazies. The ad guys got chopped, the service
discontinued. A cautionary tale indeed!
Marvin Batty.
--
****************************************************************************
Marvin Batty - djf@uk.ac.cov.cck
"And they shall not find those things, with a sort of rafia like base,
that their fathers put there just the night before. At about 8 O'clock!"
From: swoithe@crackle.uucp (Stan Woithe)
Subject: Re: Mars Observer Update - 04/14/93
Organization: University of Adelaide
Lines: 30
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: crackle.itd.adelaide.edu.au
Keywords: Mars Observer, JPL
Hiya
I'm a VERY amuture astronomer in Adelaide Australia, and today, I heard some
very interesting and exciting news from a local program on TV. As I couldn't
find anything on it on the news server, I have posted this. However, if it is
old information, tell me, and ill sue the TV station for saying they are
'Up to date' ;-)
(Also, my news server could be slow. . so . . .!!!
I only caught the end of the article, so all the information on the topic
is not known to me at the moment.
The news is of a small 'psudo' planet outside the orbit of pluto found in a
Hawiian obsevatory, supposably 'recently' - acording to the report.
It was meant to be about 150miles in diamater, and a faily large distance
from the plutos orbit.  (it had a computer drawing, and the orbit distance
from pluto was about the same as neptune to pluto when they are furthest
apart.  This is all I found out about it. OH it is called Karna. (un-officially
).
CAn anyone give any more information to me on it???
Thanx.
Brendan Woithe
swoithe@crackle.aelmg.adelaide.edu.au
BTW - if this is old news, does anyone know a good lawyer. . . .8)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Vandalizing the sky
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 50
yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>>WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
>>1. SPACE BILLBOARDS! IS THIS ONE THE "SPINOFFS" WE WERE PROMISED?
>>In 1950, science fiction writer Robert Heinlein published "The
>>Man Who Sold the Moon," which involved a dispute over the sale of
>>rights to the Moon for use as billboard. NASA has taken the firsteps toward this
>>hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
>>side of the booster rockets.  Space Marketing Inc. had arranged
>>for the ad to promote Arnold's latest movie.
>Well, if you're going to get upset with this, you might as well direct
>some of this moral outrage towards Glavcosmos as well.  They pioneered
>this capitalist application of booster adverts long before NASA.
In fact, you can all direct your ire at the proper target by ingoring NASA
altogether.  The rocket is a commercial launch vechicle - a Conestoga flying
a COMET payload.  NASA is simply the primary customer.  I believe SDIO has a
small payload as well.  The advertising space was sold by the owners of the
rocket, who can do whatever they darn well please with it.  In addition, these
anonymous "observers" had no reason to be startled.  The deal made Space News
at least twice.
>>Now, Space Marketing
>>is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
>>a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
>>orbit.
>>NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
>>since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
>>(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense.
>>Is NASA really supporting this junk?
>And does anyone have any more details other than what was in the WN
>news blip?  How serious is this project?  Is this just in the "wild
>idea" stage or does it have real funding?
I think its only fair to find that out before everyone starts having a hissy
fit.  The fact that they bothered to use the conditional tense suggests that
it has not yet been approved.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Lindbergh and the moon (was:Why not give $1G)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 42
mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (Keith Mancus) writes:
>cook@varmit.mdc.com (Layne Cook) writes:
>> All of this talk about a COMMERCIAL space race (i.e. $1G to the first 1-year
>> moon base) is intriguing. Similar prizes have influenced aerospace
>>development before. The $25k Orteig prize helped Lindbergh sell his Spirit of
>> Saint Louis venture to his financial backers.
>> But I strongly suspect that his Saint Louis backers had the foresight to
>> realize that much more was at stake than $25,000.
>> Could it work with the moon? Who are the far-sighted financial backers of
>> today?
>  The commercial uses of a transportation system between already-settled-
>and-civilized areas are obvious.  Spaceflight is NOT in this position.
>The correct analogy is not with aviation of the '30's, but the long
>transocean voyages of the Age of Discovery.
Lindbergh's flight took place in '27, not the thirties.
>It didn't require gov't to
>fund these as long as something was known about the potential for profit
>at the destination.  In practice, some were gov't funded, some were private.
Could you give examples of privately funded ones?
>But there was no way that any wise investor would spend a large amount
>of money on a very risky investment with no idea of the possible payoff.
Your logic certainly applies to standard investment strategies.  However, the
concept of a prize for a difficult goal is done for different reasons, I
suspect.  I'm not aware that Mr Orteig received any significant economic
benefit from Lindbergh's flight.  Modern analogies, such as the prize for a
human powered helicopter face similar arguments.  There is little economic
benefit in such a thing.  The advantage comes in the new approaches developed
and the fact that a prize will frequently generate far more work than the
equivalent amount of direct investment would.  A person who puts up $ X billion
for a moon base is much more likely to do it because they want to see it done
than because they expect to make money off the deal.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?
Lines: 20
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
I have a nice quote that I like (or as close as I can remember it).
If I say something that you think is crazy, ask me what I mean before you think
its crazy..
So some of my ideas are a bit odd, off the wall and such, but so was Wilbur and
Orville Wright, and quite a few others.. Sorry if I do not have the big degrees
and such, but I think (I might be wrong, to error is human) I have something
that is in many ways just as important, I have imagination, dreams. And without
dreams all the knowledge is worthless..
Sorry my two cents worth. Or is it two rubles worth?
The basic quote idea is from H. Beam Pipers book "Space Vikings". Its a good
book on how civilization can fall, and how it can be raised to new heights.
Unfortunately H. Beam Piper killed him self just weeks short of having his
first book published, and have his ideas see light.. Such a waste.
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Moonbase race, NASA resources, why?
Lines: 32
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
In article <1r46o9INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu>, sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney) writes:
> In article <C5tEIK.7z9@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>>Apollo was done the hard way, in a big hurry, from a very limited
>>technology base... and on government contracts.  Just doing it privately,
>>rather than as a government project, cuts costs by a factor of several.
>
> So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
> U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
>
>
>
>     Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
>   -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
Why must it be a US Government Space Launch Pad? Directly I mean..
I know of a few that could launch a small package into space.
Not including Ariadne, and the Russian Sites.. I know "Poker Flats" here in
Alaska, thou used to be only sounding rockets for Auroral Borealous(sp and
other northern atmospheric items, is at last I heard being upgraded to be able
to put sattelites into orbit.
Why must people in the US be fixed on using NASAs direct resources (Poker Flats
is runin part by NASA, but also by the Univesity of Alaska, and the Geophysical
Institute). Sounds like typical US cultural centralism and protectionism..
And people wonder why we have the multi-trillion dollar deficite(sp).
Yes, I am working on a spell checker..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: Amruth Laxman <al26+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Surviving Large Accelerations?
Organization: Junior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 16
NNTP-Posting-Host: po5.andrew.cmu.edu
Hi,
I was reading through "The Spaceflight Handbook" and somewhere in
there the author discusses solar sails and the forces acting on them
when and if they try to gain an initial acceleration by passing close to
the sun in a hyperbolic orbit. The magnitude of such accelerations he
estimated to be on the order of 700g. He also says that this is may not
be a big problem for manned craft because humans (and this was published
in 1986) have already withstood accelerations of 45g. All this is very
long-winded but here's my question finally - Are 45g accelerations in
fact humanly tolerable? - with the aid of any mechanical devices of
course. If these are possible, what is used to absorb the acceleration?
Can this be extended to larger accelerations?
Thanks is advance...
-Amruth Laxman
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr21.212202.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Here is a way to get the commericial companies into space and mineral
exploration.
Basically get the eci-freaks to make it so hard to get the minerals on earth..
You think this is crazy. Well in a way it is, but in a way it is reality.
There is a billin the congress to do just that.. Basically to make it so
expensive to mine minerals in the US, unless you can by off the inspectors or
tax collectors.. ascially what I understand from talking to a few miner friends
of mine, that they (the congress) propose to have a tax on the gross income of
the mine, versus the adjusted income, also the state governments have there
normal taxes. So by the time you get done, paying for materials, workers, and
other expenses you can owe more than what you made.
BAsically if you make a 1000.00 and spend 500. ofor expenses, you can owe
600.00 in federal taxes.. Bascially it is driving the miners off the land.. And
the only peopel who benefit are the eco-freaks..
Basically to get back to my beginning statement, is space is the way to go
cause it might just get to expensive to mine on earth because of either the
eco-freaks or the protectionist..
Such fun we have in these interesting times..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: jkatz@access.digex.com (Jordan Katz)
Subject: SSRT Roll-Out Speech
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Lines: 101
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
SSRT ROLLOUT
Speech Delivered by Col. Simon P. Worden,
The Deputy for Technology, SDIO
Mcdonnell Douglas - Huntington Beach
April 3,1993
Most of you, as am I, are "children of the 1960's."  We grew
up in an age of miracles -- Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles,
nuclear energy, computers, flights to the moon.  But these were
miracles of our parent's doing.  For a decade and more the pundits
have told us - "you've lost it!"  The "me" generation is only
living on the accomplishments of the past.
You and I have even begun to believe the pessimists.  We
listen in awe as the past generation tells of its triumphs.  Living
history they are.  We are privileged to hear those who did it tell
of it.  A few weeks ago some of this very team listened in awe as
General Bernie Schriever told of his team's work - and yes struggle
- to build this nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.
What stories can we tell?  Blurry-eyed telescopes?  Thousand
dollar toilet seats?  Even our space launch vehicles hearken only
of that past great time.  They are and seem destined to remain Gen.
Schriever's ICBMs.  I find it hard to swell with pride that the
best new space-lifter idea is to refurbish old Minuteman and
Poseidon ballistic missiles.
Well - The pessimists are wrong.  The legacy is continuing.
This event is proof.  To our technological parents: We've listened
to your stories.  We've caught your enthusiasm and can-do spirit.
And we've learned from your achievements - and your mistakes.  Let
me honor one of you who was part of that history and the impetus
behind this history - Max Hunter.  You are one of the greatest
engineers of the firts great age of space exploration.  Your
insight and discipline built the Thor ICBM - later incorporated
into today's most successful launch vehicle - The Delta.
You told us in the 60's that a new form of launch vehicle - a
single stage reusable rocket - can and should be built.  You
advocated this idea tirelessly.  It was elegantly simple, as are
all great breakthroughs.  You showed us how to build it.  You
convinced us it could be done.  You are working by our side to weld
its components into place.  Most important - you reminded us of a
prime engineering principle - undoubtably one you learned from the
generation before you - the generation that built transcontinental
aviation in the 1920's and 30's - build a little and test a little
and Max, you passed all of this on  to people like Pat Ladner who
started this program for the SDI.
Douglas Aircraft didn't start with a DC-10.  They didn't even
start with a DC-3.  Our grandfathers built a little, tested a
little - even sold a little and made a little money - before they
moved on to the next step.  They didn't take a decade or more
before putting the first "rubber on the road."  Max Hunter - you
didn't take ten years to build Thor, and by God we're not going to
take ten years to show that low cost, single stage, reusable
aerospace transportation is real.
We ended the cold war in a few short years.  It took the  same
team here today but a few years to show through the Strategic
Defense Initiative that the cold war must end.  We - you and us -
launched a series of satellites - The Delta experiments - in about
a year apiece.  This, more than anything else signaled our
commitment to end the impasse between ourselves and the Soviet
Union.  Those who made the decisions on both sides have underscored
the importance of our work in bringing about a new international
relationship.
But it is the same team which is now  putting in place the
framework for an aerospace expansion that is our legacy for the
next generation.  We will make space access routine and affordable.
We built this magnificent flying machine in two years.  This
summer a true rocket ship will take off and land on earth for the
first time.  Then we can and surely will build in the next three
years a reusable sub-orbital rocket.  It will allow us to use space
rapidly, affordably, and efficiently as no other nation can.  And
yes - we'll make a little money off it too!
Then - and only then - we'll spend another three years to
build a fully reusable single stage to orbit system.  The DC-3 of
space will be a reality!  We may even be able to use some of the
rocket propulsion breakthroughs of our former cold war adversaries.
What a wonderful irony if this SDI product and Russian efforts to
counter SDI merge to power mankind's next step to the stars!
To be sure, we must guard against the temptations to leap to
the final answer.  Robert Goddard's first rockets weren't Saturn
V's!  If we succumb  to the temptation to ask  for just a few extra
dollars and a few more years to jump immediately to a full orbital
system - we will fail.  Max Hunter and his colleagues showed the
way.  Three years and a cloud of dust - in our case rocket
exhausts.  There is no short-cut.  If we expect to reshape the
world again - we must do it one brick at a time.  Minds on tasks at
hand!
This project is real.  The torch of American technological
greatness is being passed.  We are Americans.  This machine is
American.  Let's go fly it!
From: jkatz@access.digex.com (Jordan Katz)
Subject: U.S. Space Foundation Speech
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Lines: 94
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Speech by Pete Worden
Delivered Before the U.S. Space Foundation Conference
Colorado Springs, Colorado
April 15, 1993
What a delightful opportunity to cause some trouble.  For
providing me this forum I would sincerely like to thank the U.S.
Space Foundation.  My topic today is the Single Stage Rocket
Technology rocket or SSRT.  By I intend to speak of more.  How to
lower the cost and make rapid progress.  SSRT is to my mind --
and I hope to convince you -- the erupting a new rallying cry for
our generation in space -- Faster, Cheaper, and Better.
Faster, Cheaper, Better and SSRT represent the passing of a
torch from one technical generation to another.  It is a new
thing to be sure -- but it is also a relearning of old things
from past masters.
When we rolled out the SSRT baby two weeks ago, so called
experts told us it violates the laws of physics -- it made no
sense.  For example, Dr. Eberhart Rachtin - former president of
the Aerospace Corp., said of SSRT in the L.A. Times that it,
"defies the best principles of launching payloads into space."
Well Dr. Rachtin -- you've made us mad!  What are these
principles that SSRT defies?
Well I'll tell you.  It violates the principle that you need
a giant program office to build space hardware.  It violates the
"fact" that it takes 20 years to build something new.  And it
violates the truism that you cant do anything significant for
less than many billions of dollars.
It took some of the last generation's experts to teach us
some new/old lessons.  Werhner Von Braun's first rocket was not a
Saturn V.  General Schriever's ICBM's didn't take ten years to
demonstrate.  And the X-1 airplane didn't cost $1 billion.
It took one of the great engineers of the 1950's to remind
us of these truths -- Max Hunter.  Max, to remind you, was a
senior engineer in the Thor IRBM program, and old faster, better,
cheaper success story.  Max has been persistent in a vision of a
single stage reusable space launch system since the 1960's.
Because he knew it had to be done in affordable steps - Build a
little, Test a little.
Next he persuaded us to do a technology demonstration.  We
didn't solicit a bunch of requirements -- they'd just change
every few years anyway.  [ not included in the speech -- The
ALS/NLS has such ephemeral requirements that it would better
known as "Shape Shifter" than "Space Lifter."  We didn't spend a
lot money -- this X-Rocket only cost $60 million.  When's the
last time we even built a new airplane for that?  And it didn't
take a lot of time to build -- McDonnell Douglas completed it in
18 months.  Finally, the government program office consisted of
one very over-worked Air Force Major -- motivated in part by the
threat that he'd get to ride on it in a strapped-on lawn chair if
it ran over cost or schedule.
As I described what SSRT is -- and isn't keep in mind its
only a first step.  There are several more steps -- and steps
that can easily fail -- before the U.S. can field an SSTO.  But
each step should follow the same principles -- a small management
team -- a few years technology demonstration -- and a modest
budget.
Let me show a few details on SSRT and how it might evolve:
(See charts)
I'm embarrassed when my generation is compared with the last
generation -- the giants of the last great space era, the 1950's
and 1960's.  They went to the moon - we built a telescope that
can't see straight.  They soft-landed on Mars - the least we
could do is soft-land on Earth!
But we do have an answer.  We can follow their build a
little, test a little philosophy to produce a truly affordable
and routine access to space.  I know there are nay sayers among
you -- those who say SSRT is a stunt.  It needs more thermal
protection, the engines are wrong, it would be better to land
horizontally, etc, etc.
I say to you -- we'll see you at White Sands in June.  You
bring your view-graphs, and I'll bring my rocketship.  If we do
what we say we can do, then you let us do the next step.  [ not
included in the speech:  If we fail -- you still have your
program offices, staff summary sheets, requirement analyses, and
decade long programs.]
I bet on my generation and Max Hunter's idea -- Any Takers?
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 10
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1r46j3INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
>In article <STEINLY.93Apr20160116@topaz.ucsc.edu>, steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
|
|>Very cost effective if you use the right accounting method :-)
|
>Sherzer Methodology!!!!!!
Let it never be said that an opportunity was missed to put someone down.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 15
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Well thank you dennis for your as usual highly detailed and informative
posting.
The question i have about the proton, is  could it be  handled at
one of KSC's spare pads, without major  malfunction,  or could it be
handled at kourou  or Vandenberg?
Now if it uses storables,  then  how long would it take for the russians
to equip something at cape york?
If  Proton were launched from a western site,  how would it compare to the
T4/centaur?   As i see it, it should lift  very close to the T4.
pat
From: loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss)
Subject: Re: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?
Organization: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 22
In article <1993Apr21.205403.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>
>Unfortunately H. Beam Piper killed him self just weeks short of having his
>first book published, and have his ideas see light.. Such a waste.
>
>
Piper lived in my town (Williamsport, PA) when he killed himself.  It
was in the early '60's.  He had had more than a few books published by
that time, but he was down on his luck financially.  Rumor was that he
was hunting urban pigeons with birdshot for food.  He viewed himself as
a resourceful man, and (IMO) decided to check out gracefully if he
couldn't support himself.  The worst part is that John Campbell, the
long-time editor of Astounding/Analog SF magazine had cut a check for
Piper's most recent story, and said check was in the mail.  If Campbell
had known Piper's straits, I'm sure he would have phoned to say hang on.
Campbell was like that.
I wish it had happened differently.  I always enjoyed Piper's stuff.
Doug Loss
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 28
msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>Thanks again.  One final question.  The name Gehrels wasn't known to
>me before this thread came up, but the May issue of Scientific American
>has an article about the "Inconstant Cosmos", with a photo of Neil
>Gehrels, project scientist for NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
>Same person?
No. I estimate a 99 % probability the Gehrels referred to
is Thomas Gehrels of the Spacewatch project, Kitt Peak observatory.
Maybe in the 24th century they could do gamma ray spectroscopy on
distant asteroids with an orbiting observatory, but here in the
primitive 20th we have to send a probe there to get gamma ray
spectroscopy done.
>Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	"Information! ... We want information!"
>utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- The Prisoner
You have the info on Mayan Television yet?
>This article is in the public domain.
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: The MacInteresteds of Nashville, Tn.
Lines: 8
You forget that Apollo was a Government program and had to start
relatively from scratch. Some people at NASA think that this could work.
One of them replied to me personally after I posted this original message
several days ago. I have heard Jerry Pournelle suggest this idea before.
--
gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
theporch.raider.net  615/297-7951 The MacInteresteds of Nashville
From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 49
hoover@mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de (Uwe Schuerkamp) writes:
>In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au
>(Enzo Liguori) writes:
>> hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
>This is ok in my opinion as long as the stuff *returns to earth*.
>>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>>the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
>If this turns out to be true, it's time to get seriously active in
>terrorism. This is unbelievable! Who do those people think they are,
>selling every bit that promises to make money? I guess we really
>deserve being wiped out by uv radiation, folks. "Stupidity wins". I
>guess that's true, and if only by pure numbers.
>	Another depressed planetary citizen,
>	hoover
This isn't inherently bad.
This isn't really light pollution since it will only
be visible shortly before or after dusk (or during the
day).
(Of course, if night only lasts 2 hours for you, you're probably going
to be inconvienenced. But you're inconvienenced anyway in that case).
Finally: this isn't the Bronze Age, and most of us aren't Indo
European; those people speaking Indo-Eurpoean languages often have
much non-indo-european ancestry and cultural background. So:
please try to remember that there are more human activities than
those practiced by the Warrior Caste, the Farming Caste, and the
Priesthood.
And why act distressed that someone's found a way to do research
that doesn't involve socialism?
It certianly doesn't mean we deserve to die.
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Subject: Re: Boom!  Whoosh......
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.
Lines: 14
In article <1993Apr21.024423.29182@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu+ wdwells@nyx.cs.du.edu (David "Fuzzy" Wells) writes:
+
+I love the idea of an inflatable 1-mile long sign.... It will be a
+really neat thing to see it explode when a bolt  (or even better, a
+Westford Needle!) comes crashing into it at 10 clicks a sec.
+
Pageos and two Echo balloons were inflated with a substance
which expanded in vacuum. Once inflated the substance was no longer
needed since there is nothing to cause the balloon to collapse.
This inflatable structure could suffer multiple holes with no
disastrous deflation.
--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom.alphaCDC.COM) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Subject: Re: First Spacewalk
Distribution: sci
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.
Lines: 13
In article <C5suMG.2rF.1@cs.cmu.edu+ flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]") writes:
+At one time there was speculation that the first spacewalk
+(Alexei Leonov ?) was a staged fake.
+
+Has any evidence to support or contradict this claim emerged ?
+
+Was this claim perhaps another fevered Cold War hallucination ?
I, for one, would be an avid reader of a sci.space.ussr.what.really.
happened.
--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom.alphaCDC.COM) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131
From: dmcaloon@tuba.calpoly.edu (David McAloon)
Subject: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lines: 234
ETHER IMPLODES 2 EARTH CORE, IS GRAVITY!!!
This paper BOTH describes how heavenly bodys can be stationary,
ether sucking structures, AND why we observe "orbital" motion!!
Ether, the theoretical propogation media of electro-magnetic
waves, was concluded not to exist, based on the results of the
Michelson-Moreley experiment conducted a century ago.
I propose that those conclusions are flawed, based on the fact
that the experiment was designed to look for a flow parallel to the
earth's surface, not perpindicular. (Due to the prevailing assumption
that the earth traveled through the ether as a ball through the wind)
The reversal of the that conclusion, a pivotal keystone in the
development of modern scientific thought, could have ramifications
of BIBLICAL proportions through out the WORLD!!
REMEMBER: Einstien said Imagination is greater than knowledge!!
1
I dream like this: ether based reality
The ether is like a fluid out of phase with our reality. Creations
start as a lattice placed into the ether. Given a spin, the lattices
both drag the fluid, like a margarita blender, and ingest it,
converting it, distilling localized mass, time and energy.
(non-spinning lattice = "dark matter")
The earth isn't exactly spinning, around the sun. Picture an image
of a galaxy; we haven't any videos of them spinning. Picture us
being stationary, and the sun's image being dragged across the sky by
the spinning ether field. (Picture an onion, each layer of which is
spinning a little faster than the next. A thread shot at the inner
kernel would be stretched diagonally sideways, its head being in a
faster shell than its tail, until it finally intersected the ground
of the inner kernel, its direction vector being straight down, but
its "foot print" being a line, not a point. [sunrise, sunset])
The moon isn't exactly orbiting us. It is a parasite, (non self
spin sustaining ) being dragged in the earth's ether field, which is
itself in the sun's much more powerful field. Our seasons are the
wobble of earth's axis, like a top slowing down. The "orbit" of the
earth around the sun is all of the stars' images being dragged around
by the sun's ether feild.
The earth, moon and sun are about the same size and "distance"
apart. Its just that the time between them varies greatly, because
the "path" is not the same. The moon's lattice in the ether is like
sticking a fork in a plate of spaghetti and giving the plate a half
turn. The sun's lattice has so much spin that its like the fork has
got the whole plate of noodles wound up. The piece of light going to
the moon can slide down the spaghetti and maybe make a "j" hook at
the end. The piece of light going to the sun has to go around the
whole plate, like a needle in a record, before it gets there.
With a pencil, compass, and rule, draw a diagram of how the moon
can be about as big as "earth's" shadow upon it, and at other times
totally eclipse the sun. Look in the sky. except for your Knowledge,
would you guess that they are about the same size, just because they
look about the same size?
O .     - -                 E     O   O   O   S
E       /     \
M    |      |      OR                M
\ _ _ /
S
The full moon, quarter moon etc. is the difference between rate
of ether spins. What we are looking at is a rotating "turntable view"
of the moon, only half of which is facing the sun. ( I've seen a
half moon within about 120 degrees (of sky) of the sun, during the
day. Try and draw that "earth shadow.") Its only the moon's image
which appears to orbit us. No matter where it is, the light part is
the part facing the sun, and the dark part is the half facing away
from the sun, even when it appears to be behind us.
"Light-Years" between galaxies is a misnomer. The distance is
closer to zero, as time and matter are characteristics of this phase
of reality, which dissipates outward with each layer of the onion.
(defining edge = 0 ether spin) What we are seeing could be
essentially happening now. The "piece" of light may have experienced
many years, but the trip could be very quick, our time.
To time travel or warp space I might consider learning to
de-spin myself. (phase out my mass) Good luck trying to design
a propulsion system to drag around a space-time locality. (its like
trying to move a balloon by shooting a squirt gun from within)
To find out about all of this, I recommend studying history. I'd
look in the book of life. (or holy grail etc.) Brain waves just
might carry decipherable data. I'd start looking on some part of the
spectra said to be unusable, due to all the background noise. (4+
billion humans?) I'd totally isolate myself, record me thinking DOG
backwards, and learn to read what I got. (Microsoft Holy Grail card
for Pentium!)
Next, concluding that my thoughts were recorded on a non time-bound
media, the ether, and that it is I who move forward (in time). I
would try to temporarily locally reverse the flow, (of time, which
I'd start looking for as flowing opposite magnetism, pole to pole.
[Why not?]) perhaps by passing a LARGE, FLAT DC current through a
two foot diameter. coil or choke or something, and seeing what I
could get with my machine's receiver next to it.
If you don't think you'll live to see it, consider this: QUIT
PUTTING THE REPRODUCTIVE KEYS OF OTHER LIFE IN YOUR BODY! All of
life's data could be written on the wind, (ether) not just our
thoughts. DNA could be a little receiver or file access code. By
eating SEEDS, we could be jamming our reception, or receiving plant
instructions. Try eating seed bearing fruit. Maybe those Greek or
biblical guys did live hundreds of years. I'm curios to see what
they did and ate. Don't worry if your hair stops growing. (Maybe we
don't need to eat at all, the cosmos are formed from nothing, and
that is creating matter! I only need enough to bounce around. Where
did the household concept 'immortal' come from? Wheat is a weed, it
is programmed to pull from the soil, reproduce like hell, and then
die)
Warning about writing to the past:
I had a little dream of being in a world, in the near parallel
future, lying along a path of history which we have diverged from.
There were; twelve telepathic, glowing beings, who looked like an
Oscar award and who had always been, a dark one who looked like us,
and then myself. The dark one was in the process of making the
others into gods, (he had to teach them what that meant) by
"advising" them in their past. Basically, he manipulated them into
reproducing, and raising their children on his seed. He said that
the little ones who looked different were a sub-species, meant to
provide service. He carefully combed through history, rewriting it
in his favor, pulling like a weed anything that compromised his
control. He enticed recruits by sending them his visions, saying
that there was immortality at the end of the road for only twelve
souls: kill or be killed. The amount of control he could exert was
finite, though, as at every change he made, a void would appear in
our reality. The universe one day ended 100 meters from us: it
seemed odd, but we couldn't remember how else it should be. Then
some of the twelve were no more. Finally, when he could prune no
more, and reality stopped just beyond his fingertips, he stepped
through his portal to the past, to bask, over and over, in all that
he had created. I made a few more changes, and lost my body,
existing only on the wind.
MORAL: Its very possible to eliminate from your reality the souls
whose will's are not in harmony with yours (Golden Rule - treat
others as you wish to be treated) I.E., you could end up along a
lonely thread of time with murderers or flowery brown-nosers for
playmates. (its not eternal, there's more than one way back)
Accepting rides to the past:
Once here, the one who looks like us sells rides, he can make you a
Prince, or a Queen, or you can live as a god in ancient Greece. Go
ahead, repeat the third grade as often as you like, Adam henry.
I Hope you like inspecting your socks. Careful though, if he likes
your work, but thinks you're getting wise, he can direct you to cross
paths with your old self, and you'll vanish as you rewrite your own
course of history, none the wiser.
As we pass the point along the parallel line where he stepped
back in time, his hierarchy will lose its direction. He can still
make changes while he's here, its just that that is work, and with
every 'adjustment', this becomes less the world he cultivated, which
loosens his grip, and his organization is suddenly one branch less.
But he can't see the change. The basic nature of man is good. He had
to apply his hand to achieve his world. As he now tightens his hand
to retain what he built, the more sand slips through his fingers.
How about public computer access to the I.R.S. ? Its our country,
our money, and they're spending it on us, RIGHT? Imagine this:
Washington marks the next cost at 8, IRS collects 10, gives 5 to
congress, and just absolutely buries 5. Congress borrows 2. The banks
are making, what, a 30% margin (interest) on our government? Big
corporations are ecstatic if they can do a 10% margin. What do the
banks do with it? Hold some on a carrot to the world, sure, but
mostly, bury it. WHY? Food production is 2% GNP?, construction 6% ? 14
hours to build your auto?  The people are spending all of their time
to buy back a tenth of what they produce. Have we been deceived? If
we are more efficient, why is it getting harder to get by? What if
the point is just to keep the people busy making widgets?
In that other reality, I shouted to the twelve, "its chaos!" They
said, "no, its order." He defined chaos as that which is he was not
able to control.
Rain forest: The problem could be that all the water in its canopy
would hide the  location of an indigenous people who have no
language. (telepathic; and 'vanishing' the closest knowledge of death)
(think of the spine as a transceiver, if it is on the ground and
pointed up, you can locate it from above) These people are probably
naive as children, but very, very tough to kill. Also, They should
be able to tell you stories about the dark one that I talk about.
They can hear him. I think that Ham and world band radio old timers
might have a story to tell on this. These people would be on a
different frequency than us as they aren't eating seeds.
Famine relief: When I make my diet almost all whole wheat, I get a
huge belly, lose muscle mass, sleep A LOT, and get sick. When I eat
only fresh fruit, I get more energy, a Hollywood-flat belly, and
need a lot less sleep.
UN. Peace Keeping; There is fighting and killing all over. The
troops go in when there is no bread on the shelf. (its OK to kill
each other, just make sure there is enough to eat.)
Somalia: What is disturbing is energetic, gun carrying, three foot
tall sixteen year-olds, who eat nothing but some roots that they
suck on. It is not so much that their growth is stunted, it is that
they aren't dying at a rate of 50 of 60 years per life.
Women with children, Babes in arms: Historical references to women
and children as a single unit could mean that infants were not cut
from the umbilical cord. (and hence, were not breast fed) I think
that there may be some very interesting results to this, such as
mother-child telepathy, and blue blooded infants. There are examples
of this practice in the aquatic mammal kingdom to investigate.
That guy is the master of illusion, and the ultimate liar. He
tells it first, and then just follows the thread of time in which
the people are willing to buy it. (in which he can make it so) He'll
play a poker face up until he thinks he's cornered, and then he'll
whine, beg and grovel. All it means to him is that you're willing to
live on the ground work that he has laid, that is, that he was
right, and he didn't over play his hand, and he won't need to go
back and try another thread of time. You have ultimate control over
your destiny, just don't live along a path that leads to a reality
in which you don't want to be a part of.
I don't claim to be the first to think these things, its just
that the others could have been 'pruned' from our path. Maybe these
thoughts given to me were laid down on the track of time, after him.
From: pmolloy@microwave.msfc.nasa.gov (G. Patrick Molloy)
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Nntp-Posting-Host: 128.158.30.103
Reply-To: pmolloy@microwave.msfc.nasa.gov (G. Patrick Molloy)
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Lines: 40
In article <1993Apr21.212202.1@aurora.alaska.edu>, nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
writes:
> Here is a way to get the commericial companies into space and mineral
> exploration.
>
> Basically get the eci-freaks to make it so hard to get the minerals on earth..
> You think this is crazy. Well in a way it is, but in a way it is reality.
>
> There is a billin the congress to do just that.. Basically to make it so
> expensive to mine minerals in the US, unless you can by off the inspectors or
> tax collectors.. ascially what I understand from talking to a few miner friends
> of mine, that they (the congress) propose to have a tax on the gross income of
> the mine, versus the adjusted income, also the state governments have there
> normal taxes. So by the time you get done, paying for materials, workers, and
> other expenses you can owe more than what you made.
> BAsically if you make a 1000.00 and spend 500. ofor expenses, you can owe
> 600.00 in federal taxes.. Bascially it is driving the miners off the land.. And
> the only peopel who benefit are the eco-freaks..
>
> Basically to get back to my beginning statement, is space is the way to go
> cause it might just get to expensive to mine on earth because of either the
> eco-freaks or the protectionist..
> Such fun we have in these interesting times..
>
> ==
> Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
The current mining regulations and fees were set in the 1800's!
What the so-called "eco-freaks" want to do is to simply bring those
fees in line with current economic reality.  Currently, mining companies
can get access to minerals on public lands for ridiculously low prices --
something like $50!  The mining lobby has for decades managed to block
any reform of these outdated fees.  In fact, the latest attempt to reform
them was again blocked -- President Clinton "compromised" by taking the
mining fee reforms out of his '94 budget, and plans to draft separate
legislation to fight that battle.
If you want to discuss this further, I suggest you take this to talk.environment.
G. Patrick Molloy
Huntsville, Alabama
From: jscotti@lpl.arizona.edu (Jim Scotti)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, Tucson AZ.
Lines: 33
In article <1993Apr21.170817.15845@sq.sq.com> msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>
>> > > Also, peri[jove]s of Gehrels3 were:
>> > >
>> > > April  1973     83 jupiter radii
>> > > August 1970     ~3 jupiter radii
>
>> > Where 1 Jupiter radius = 71,000 km = 44,000 mi = 0.0005 AU. ...
>
>> Sorry, _perijoves_...I'm not used to talking this language.
>
>Thanks again.  One final question.  The name Gehrels wasn't known to
>me before this thread came up, but the May issue of Scientific American
>has an article about the "Inconstant Cosmos", with a photo of Neil
>Gehrels, project scientist for NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
>Same person?
Neil Gehrels is Prof. Tom Gehrels son.  Tom Gehrels was the discoverer
of P/Gehrels 3 (as well as about 4 other comets - the latest of which
does not bear his name, but rather the name "Spacewatch" since he was
observing with that system when he found the latest comet).
>--
>Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	"Information! ... We want information!"
>utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- The Prisoner
---------------------------------------------
Jim Scotti
{jscotti@lpl.arizona.edu}
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
---------------------------------------------
From: cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu (Joe Cain)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: Florida State University Geology Dept.
Lines: 4
This discussion is better followed in talk.politics.space
Joseph Cain		cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu
cain@fsu.bitnet		scri::cain
(904) 644-4014		FAX (904) 644-4214 or -0098
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race, NASA resources, why?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 33
In article <1993Apr21.210712.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>> So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
>> U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
>
>Why must it be a US Government Space Launch Pad? Directly I mean...
In fact, you probably want to avoid US Government anything for such a
project.  The pricetag is invariably too high, either in money or in
hassles.
The important thing to realize here is that the big cost of getting to
the Moon is getting into low Earth orbit.  Everything else is practically
down in the noise.  The only part of getting to the Moon that poses any
new problems, beyond what you face in low orbit, is the last 10km --
the actual landing -- and that is not immensely difficult.  Of course,
you *can* spend sagadollars (saga- is the metric prefix for beelyuns
and beelyuns) on things other than the launches, but you don't have to.
The major component of any realistic plan to go to the Moon cheaply (for
more than a brief visit, at least) is low-cost transport to Earth orbit.
For what it costs to launch one Shuttle or two Titan IVs, you can develop
a new launch system that will be considerably cheaper.  (Delta Clipper
might be a bit more expensive than this, perhaps, but there are less
ambitious ways of bringing costs down quite a bit.)  Any plan for doing
sustained lunar exploration using existing launch systems is wasting
money in a big way.
Given this, questions like whose launch facilities you use are *not* a
minor detail; they are very important to the cost of the launches, which
dominates the cost of the project.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Surviving Large Accelerations?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 13
In article <EfpX7WS00Uh7QAoP1S@andrew.cmu.edu> Amruth Laxman <al26+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>... here's my question finally - Are 45g accelerations in
>fact humanly tolerable? - with the aid of any mechanical devices of
>course. If these are possible, what is used to absorb the acceleration?
This sounds a bit high to me.  Still higher accelerations have been endured
*very briefly*, during violent deceleration.  If we're talking sustained
acceleration, I think 30-odd gees has been demonstrated using water immersion.
I doubt that any of this generalizes to another order of magnitude.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: nick@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de (   Nikan B Firoozye )
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: Applied Math, University of Bonn, Germany
Lines: 15
A related question (which I haven't given that much serious thought
to): at what lattitude is the average length of the day (averaged
over the whole year) maximized? Is this function a constant=
12 hours? Is it truly symmetric about the equator? Or is
there some discrepancy due to the fact that the orbit is elliptic
(or maybe the difference is enough to change the temperature and
make the seasons in the southern hemisphere more bitter, but
is far too small to make a sizeable difference in daylight
hours)?
I want to know where to move.
-Nick Firoozye
nick@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de
From: rouben@math9.math.umbc.edu (Rouben Rostamian)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County Campus
Lines: 60
NNTP-Posting-Host: math9.math.umbc.edu
In article <1993Apr21.141824.23536@cbis.ece.drexel.edu> jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein) writes:
>
>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
Here is a computation I did a long time ago that computes the length
of the daylight.  You should be able to convert the information here
to sunrise and sunset times.
--
Rouben Rostamian                          Telephone: 410-455-2458
Department of Mathematics and Statistics  e-mail:
University of Maryland Baltimore County   bitnet: rostamian@umbc.bitnet
Baltimore, MD 21228, USA                  internet: rouben@math.umbc.edu
======================================================================
Definitions:
z = the tilt of the axis of the planet away from the normal to its
orbital plane.  In case of the Earth z is about 23.5 degrees, I think.
I do not recall the exact value.  In case of Uranus, z is almost
90 degrees.
u = latitude of the location where the length of the day is measured.
Paris is at about 45 degrees.  North pole is at 90.
a = angular position of the planet around the sun.  As a goes from
0 to 360 degrees, the planet makes a full circle around the sun.
The spring equinox occurs at a=0.
L = daylight fraction = (duration of daylight)/(duration of a full day).
On the equator (u=0) L is always 1/2.  Near the north pole (u=90 degrees)
L is sometimes one and sometimes zero, depending on the time of the year.
Computation:
Define the auxiliary angles p and q by:
sin p = sin a sin z
cos q = h ( tan u tan p ),       (0 < q < 180 degrees)
Conclusion:
L = q / 180   (if q is measured in degrees)
L = q / pi    (if q is measured in radians)
Wait!  But what is h?
The cutoff function h is defined as follows:
h (s) = s    if  |s| < 1
= 1    if   s > 1
= -1   if   s < 1
As an interesting exercise, plot L versus a.   The graph will shows
how the length of the daylight varies with the time of the year.
Experiment with various choices of latitudes and tilt angles.
Compare the behavior of the function at locations above and below
the arctic circle.
--
Rouben Rostamian                          Telephone: 410-455-2458
Department of Mathematics and Statistics  e-mail:
University of Maryland Baltimore County   bitnet: rostamian@umbc.bitnet
Baltimore, MD 21228, USA                  internet: rouben@math.umbc.edu
From: dfegan@lescsse.jsc.nasa.gov (Doug Egan)
Subject: Re: *** HELP I NEED SOME ADDRESSES ***
Organization: LESC
Lines: 19
In <1993Apr20.041300.21721@ncsu.edu> jmcocker@eos.ncsu.edu (Mitch) writes:
>    I'm trying to get mailing addresses for the following
>companies.  Specifically, I need addresses for their personnel
>offices or like bureau.  The companies are:
>	- Space Industries, Inc.  (Somewhere in Houston)
101 Courageous Dr.
Leage City, TX  77573
Phone: (713) 538-6000
Good Luck!
Doug
--
Doug Egan                                  "It's not what you got -
Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Co.       It's what you give."
Houston, TX                                                  -Tesla
***** email:  egan@blkbox.com  *****
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 54
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr22.003719.101323@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>prb@access.digex.com (Pat) Pontificated:
>>
>>
>
>I heard once that the voyagers had a failsafe routine built in
>that essentially says "If you never hear from Earth again,
>here's what to do."  This was a back up in the event a receiver
>burnt out but the probe could still send data (limited, but
>still some data).
>
Voyager  has the unusual  luck to be on a stable trajectory out of the
solar system.   All it's doing is collecting  fields  data,  and routinely
squirting it down.  One of the mariners is also in stable
solar orbit,  and still providing similiar  solar data.
Something  in a planetary orbit,  is subject to much more complex forces.
Comsats, in "stable " geosynch  orbits,  require  almost daily
stationkeeping operations.
For the occasional  deep space bird,  like PFF  after pluto,  sure
it could be left on  "auto-pilot".  but things like  galileo or
magellan,  i'd suspect they need enough  housekeeping that
even untended they'd  end up unusable after a while.
The better question  should be.
Why not transfer  O&M of all birds to a separate agency with continous funding
to support these kind of ongoing science missions.
pat
When ongoing ops are mentioned,  it seems to  always quote  Operations
and Data analysis.  how much would it cost to collect the data
and let it be analyzed  whenever.  kinda like all that landsat data
that sat around for 15 years before someone analyzed it for the ozone hole.
>>Even if you let teh bird drift,  it may  get hosed by some
>>cosmic phenomena.
>>
>Since this would be a shutdown that may never be refunded for
>startup, if some type of cosmic BEM took out the probe, it might
>not be such a big loss.  Obviously you can't plan for
>everything, but the most obvious things can be considered.
>
>
>/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: jgreen@oboe.calpoly.edu :-)~~~\
>| "I know you believe you understand what it is that you        |
>| think I said.  But I am not sure that you realize that        |
>| what I said is not what I meant."                             |
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 7
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Besides this was the same line of horse puckey the mining companies claimed
when they were told to pay for  restoring land  after strip mining.
they still mine coal in the midwest,  but now it doesn't look like
the moon when theyare done.
pat
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Why DC-1 will be the way of the future.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt MD USA
Lines: 20
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
I once read an article on  Computer technology  which stated that
every new computer technology was actually lower and slower then what it
replaced.  Silicon was less  effective then the germanium  products
then available.   GaAs  was less capable then Silicon.  Multi-processors
were slower then  existent single processors.
What the argument was, though was that these new technologies promised either
theoretically future higher performance  or lower cost or higher densities.
I think that the DC-1  may g=fit into this same model.
ELV's can certainly launch more weight  then  a SSRT,  but
an SSRT offers the prospect of  greater cycle times and  lower costs.
This is kind of a speculative posting,  but I thought i'd throw it out as
a hjistorical framework  for those interested in the project.
pat
From: gsh7w@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: University of Virginia
Lines: 13
In article <1r6aqr$dnv@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
#The better question  should be.
#Why not transfer  O&M of all birds to a separate agency with continous funding
#to support these kind of ongoing science missions.
Since we don't have the money to keep them going now, how will
changing them to a seperate agency help anything?
--
-Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia
USPS Mail:     Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA
Internet:      gsh7w@virginia.edu
UUCP:		...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w
From: yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: DC-X: Choice of a New Generation (was Re: SSRT Roll-Out Speech)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
Lines: 27
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: yuggoth.ces.cwru.edu
In-reply-to: jkatz@access.digex.com's message of 21 Apr 1993 22:09:32 -0400
In article <1r4uos$jid@access.digex.net> jkatz@access.digex.com (Jordan Katz) writes:
>		   Speech Delivered by Col. Simon P. Worden,
>			The Deputy for Technology, SDIO
>
>	Most of you, as am I, are "children of the 1960's."  We grew
>up in an age of miracles -- Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles,
>nuclear energy, computers, flights to the moon.  But these were
>miracles of our parent's doing.
>                          Speech by Pete Worden
>          Delivered Before the U.S. Space Foundation Conference
>     I'm embarrassed when my generation is compared with the last
>generation -- the giants of the last great space era, the 1950's
>and 1960's.  They went to the moon - we built a telescope that
>can't see straight.  They soft-landed on Mars - the least we
>could do is soft-land on Earth!
Just out of curiousity, how old is Worden?
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Brian Yamauchi			Case Western Reserve University
yamauchi@alpha.ces.cwru.edu	Department of Computer Engineering and Science
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 16
In article <1993Apr21.212202.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>Here is a way to get the commericial companies into space and mineral
>exploration.
>Basically get the eci-freaks to make it so hard to get the minerals on earth..
If raw materials where to cost enough that getting them from space would
be cost effective then the entire world economy would colapse long
before the space mines could be built.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------55 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: ajjb@adam4.bnsc.rl.ac.uk (Andrew Broderick)
Subject: DC-X & DC-Y
Organization: Rutherford Appleton Lab, UK
Lines: 15
Hi guys,
I've been hearing lots of talk on the net about DC-X and DC-Y,
but none of the many posts actually explain what they are !!! Sorry if
this is a FAQ, but would somebody please explain to me what they are.
Reply by Email please . . . thanks.
Andy
ajjb@adam4.bnsc.rl.ac.uk
--
-----------------------------------
Andy Jonathan J. Broderick,      | "I have come that they might have |
Rutherford Lab., UK              |  life, and have it to the full"   |
Mail : ajjb@adam2.bnsc.rl.ac.uk  |  - Jesus Christ                   |
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: Why DC-1 will be the way of the future.
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Nntp-Posting-Host: prism.engrg.uwo.ca
Lines: 9
Hmmm. I seem to recall that the attraction of solid state record-
players and radios in the 1960s wasn't better performance but lower
per-unit cost than vacuum-tube systems.
Mind you, my father was a vacuum-tube fan in the 60s (Switched
to solid-state in the mid-seventies and then abruptly died; no doubt
there's a lesson in that) and his account could have been biased.
James Nicoll
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
In-Reply-To: todd@phad.la.locus.com's message of Wed, 21 Apr 93 16:28:00 GMT
Originator: nickh@SNOW.FOX.CS.CMU.EDU
Nntp-Posting-Host: snow.fox.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
<1993Apr21.162800.168967@locus.com>
Lines: 33
In article <1993Apr21.162800.168967@locus.com> todd@phad.la.locus.com (Todd Johnson) writes:
As for advertising -- sure, why not?  A NASA friend and I spent one
drunken night figuring out just exactly how much gold mylar we'd need
to put the golden arches of a certain American fast food organization
on the face of the Moon.  Fortunately, we sobered up in the morning.
Hmmm. It actually isn't all that much, is it? Like about 2 million
km^2 (if you think that sounds like a lot, it's only a few tens of m^2
per burger that said organization sold last year). You'd be best off
with a reflective substance that could be sprayed thinly by an
unmanned craft in lunar orbit (or, rather, a large set of such craft).
If you can get a reasonable albedo it would be visible even at new
moon (since the moon itself is quite dark), and _bright_ at full moon.
You might have to abandon the colour, though.
Buy a cheap launch system, design reusable moon -> lunar orbit
unmanned spraying craft, build 50 said craft, establish a lunar base
to extract TiO2 (say: for colour you'd be better off with a sulphur
compound, I suppose) and some sort of propellant, and Bob's your
uncle.  I'll do it for, say, 20 billion dollars (plus changes of
identity for me and all my loved ones). Delivery date 2010.
Can we get the fast-food chain bidding against the fizzy-drink
vendors? Who else might be interested?
Would they buy it, given that it's a _lot_ more expensive, and not
much more impressive, than putting a large set of several-km
inflatable billboards in LEO (or in GEO, visible 24 hours from your
key growth market). I'll do _that_ for only $5bn (and the changes of
identity).
Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu
From: chico@ccsun.unicamp.br (Francisco da Fonseca Rodrigues)
Subject: New planet/Kuiper object found?
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 28
Tonigth a TV journal here in Brasil announced that an object,
beyond Pluto's orbit, was found by an observatory at Hawaii. They
named the object Karla.
The program said the object wasn't a gaseous giant planet, and
should be composed by rocks and ices.
Can someone confirm these information? Could this object be a
new planet or a Kuiper object?
Thanks in advance.
Francisco.
-----------------------=====================================----the stars,----
|    ._,               | Francisco da Fonseca Rodrigues    |       o   o     |
|  ,_| |._/\           |                                   |     o         o |
|  |       |o/^^~-._   | COTUCA-Colegio Tecnico da UNICAMP |   o             |
|/-'    BRASIL      | ~|                                   |  o      o o     |
|\__/|_            /'  | Depto de Processamento de Dados   |  o    o  o  o   |
|      \__  Cps   | .  |                                   |   o  o  o    o  |
|        |   * __/'    | InterNet : chico@ccsun.unicamp.br |     o o      o  |
|        >   /'        |            cotuca@ccvax.unicamp.br|             o   |
|      /'   /'         | Fone/Fax : 55-0192-32-9519        | o         o     |
|     ~~^\/'           | Campinas - SP - Brasil            |    o   o        |
-----------------------=====================================----like dust.----
From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
Subject: Golden & Space ages
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 17
Pat sez;
>Oddly, enough,  The smithsonian calls the lindbergh years
>the golden age of flight.  I would call it the granite years,
>reflecting the primitive nature of it.  It was  romantic,
>swashbuckling daredevils,  "those daring young men in their flying
>machines".  But in reality, it sucked.  Death was a highly likely
>occurence,  and  the environment blew.
Yeah, but a windscreen cut down most of it.  Canopies ended it completely.
Of course, the environment in space continues to suck :-)
-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MAILRP%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de
Subject: message from Space Digest
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 62
Press Release No.19-93
Paris, 22 April 1993
Users of ESA's Olympus satellite report on the outcome of
their experiments
"Today Europe's space telecommunications sector would not
be blossoming as it now does, had OLYMPUS not provided
a testbed for the technologies and services of the 1990s". This
summarises the general conclusions of 135 speakers and 300
participants at the Conference on Olympus Utilisation held in
Seville on 20-22-April 1993. The conference was organised by
the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Spanish Centre for
the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
OLYMPUS has been particularly useful :
-      in bringing satellite telecommunications to thousands of
new users, thanks to satellite terminals with very small
antennas (VSATs). OLYMPUS experiments have tested
data transmission, videoconferencing, business television,
distance teaching and rural telephony, to give but a few
examples.
-      in opening the door to new telecommunications services
which could not be accommodated on the crowded lower-
frequency bands; OLYMPUS was the first satellite over
Europe to offer capacity in the 20/30 GHz band.
-      in establishing two-way data relay links  OLYMPUS
received for the first time in Europe, over several months,
high-volume data from a low-Earth orbiting spacecraft and
then distributed it to various centres in Europe.
When OLYMPUS was launched on 12 July 1989 it was the
world's largest telecommunications satellite; and no other
satellite has yet equalled its versatility in combining four
different payloads in a wide variety of frequency bands.
OLYMPUS users range from individual experimenters to some
of the world's largest businesses. Access to the satellite is
given in order to test new telecommunications techniques or
services; over the past four years some 200 companies and
organisations made use of this opportunity, as well as over
100 members of the EUROSTEP distance-learning
organisation.
As the new technologies and services tested by these
OLYMPUS users enter the commercial market, they then
make use of operational satellites such as those of
EUTELSAT.
OLYMPUS utilisation will continue through 1993 and 1994,
when the spacecraft will run out of fuel as it approaches the
end of its design life.
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Lines: 42
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
In article <1qve4kINNpas@sal-sun121.usc.edu>, schaefer@sal-sun121.usc.edu (Peter Schaefer) writes:
>In article <1993Apr19.130503.1@aurora.alaska.edu>, nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>|> In article <6ZV82B2w165w@theporch.raider.net>, gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright) writes:
>|> > With the continuin talk about the "End of the Space Age" and complaints
>|> > by government over the large cost, why not try something I read about
>|> > that might just work.
>|> >
>|> > Announce that a reward of $1 billion would go to the first corporation
>|> > who successfully keeps at least 1 person alive on the moon for a year.
>|> > Then you'd see some of the inexpensive but not popular technologies begin
>|> > to be developed. THere'd be a different kind of space race then!
>|> >
>|> > --
>|> >   gene@theporch.raider.net (Gene Wright)
>|> > theporch.raider.net  615/297-7951 The MacInteresteds of Nashville
>|> ====
>|> If that were true, I'd go for it.. I have a few friends who we could pool our
>|> resources and do it.. Maybe make it a prize kind of liek the "Solar Car Race"
>|> in Australia..
>|> Anybody game for a contest!
>|>
>|> ==
>|> Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
>
>
>Oh gee, a billion dollars!  That'd be just about enough to cover the cost of the
>feasability study!  Happy, Happy, JOY! JOY!
>
Feasability study??  What a wimp!!  While you are studying, others would be
doing.  Too damn many engineers doing way too little engineering.
"He who sits on his arse sits on his fortune"  - Sir Richard Francis Burton
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |Texans: Vote NO on Robin Hood.  We need
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |solutions, not gestures.
PADI DM-54909                     |
From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: Shuttle oxygen (was Budget Astronaut)
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
In article <1qn044$gq5@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>I thought that under emergency conditions,  the STS  can
>put down at any good size Airport.  IF it could take a C-5 or a
>747, then it can take an orbiter.   You just need a VOR/TAC
>
>I don't know if they need ILS.
DFW was designed with the STS in mind (which really mean very little).  Much of
their early PR material had scenes with a shuttle landing and two or three
others pulled up to gates.  I guess they were trying to stress how advanced the
airport was.
For Dallas types:  Imagine the fit Grapevine and Irving would be having if the
shuttle WAS landing at DFW. (For the rest, they are currently having some power
struggles between the airport and surrounding cities).
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |Texans: Vote NO on Robin Hood.  We need
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |solutions, not gestures.
PADI DM-54909                     |
From: hancock@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov (thomas hancock)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Lines: 40
dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk) writes:
The Centaur is controlled technology..
State Dept will not allow it to be used outside of US. Sorry.
>In article <1993Apr20.211638.168730@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (James Thomas Green) writes:
>>Has anyone looked into the possiblity of a Proton/Centaur combo?
>>What would be the benefits and problems with such a combo (other
>>than the obvious instability in the XSSR now)?
>I haven't seen any speculation about it. But, the Salyut KB (Design Bureau)
>was planning a new LH/LOX second stage for the Proton which would boost
>payload to LEO from about 21000 to 31500 kg. (Geostationary goes from
>2600 kg. (Gals launcher version) to 6000 kg.. This scheme was competing
>with the Energia-M last year and I haven't heard which won, except now
>I recently read that the Central Specialized KB was working on the
>successor to the Soyuz booster which must be the Energia-M. So the early
>results are Energia-M won, but this is a guess, nothing is very clear in
>Russia. I'm sure if Salyut KB gets funds from someone they will continue
>their development.
>The Centaur for the Altas is about 3 meters dia. and the Proton
>is 4 so that's a good fit for their existing upper stage, the Block-D
>which sets inside a shround just under 4 meters dia. I don't know about
>launch loads, etc.. but since the Centaur survives Titan launches which
>are probably worse than the Proton (those Titan SRB's probably shake things
>up pretty good) it seems feasible. EXCEPT, the Centaur is a very fragile
>thing and may require integration on the pad which is not available now.
>Protons are assembled and transported horizontially. Does anyone know
>how much stress in the way of a payload a Centaur could support while
>bolted to a Proton horizontally and then taken down the rail road track
>and erected on the pad?
>They would also need LOX and LH facilities added to the Proton pads
>(unless the new Proton second stage is actually built), and of course
>any Centaur support systems and facilities, no doubt imported from the
>US at great cost. These systems may viloate US law so there are political
>problems to solve in addition to the instabilities in the CIS you mention.
>Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
>Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
>Schaumburg, IL
From: pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 8
The only ether I see here is the stuff you must
have been breathing before you posted...
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Commercial mining activities on the moon
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 27
In article <STEINLY.93Apr21152344@topaz.ucsc.edu> steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
>Seriously though. If you were to ask the British government
>whether their colonisation efforts in the Americas were cost
>effective, what answer do you think you'd get? What if you asked
>in 1765, 1815, 1865, 1915 and 1945 respectively? ;-)
What do you mean? Are you saying they thought the effort was
profitable or that the money was efficiently spent (providing max
value per money spent)?
I think they would answer yes on ballance to both questions. Exceptions
would be places like the US from the French Indian War to the end of
the US Revolution.
But even after the colonies revolted or where given independance the
British engaged in very lucrative trading with the former colonies.
Five years after the American Revolution England was still the largest
US trading partner.
Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lady Astor:   "Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your coffee!"   |
| W. Churchill: "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."             |
+----------------------55 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX-----------------------+
From: kwp@wag.caltech.edu (Kevin W. Plaxco)
Subject: Re: Boom!  Whoosh......
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 22
NNTP-Posting-Host: sgi1.wag.caltech.edu
In article <37147@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM> wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson) writes:
>+
>Pageos and two Echo balloons were inflated with a substance
>which expanded in vacuum.
Called "gas".
>Once inflated the substance was no longer
>needed since there is nothing to cause the balloon to collapse.
>This inflatable structure could suffer multiple holes with no
>disastrous deflation.
The balloons were in sufficiently low orbit that they experienced
some air resistance.  When they were finally punctured, this
preasure (and the internal preasure that was needed to maintain
a spherical shape against this resistance) caused them to
catastrophically deflated.  The large silvered shards
that remained were easily visible for some time before
reentry, though no longer useful as a passive transponder.
The billboard should pop like a dime store balloon.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-long moon residents?
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 22
In <1993Apr20.101044.2291@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>Depends. If you assume the existance of a working SSTO like DC, on billion
>$$ would be enough to put about a quarter million pounds of stuff on the
>moon. If some of that mass went to send equipment to make LOX for the
>transfer vehicle, you could send a lot more. Either way, its a lot
>more than needed.
>This prize isn't big enough to warrent developing a SSTO, but it is
>enough to do it if the vehicle exists.
But Allen, if you can assume the existence of an SSTO there is no need
to have the contest in the first place.  I would think that what we
want to get out of the contest is the development of some of these
'cheaper' ways of doing things; if they already exist, why flush $1G
just to get someone to go to the Moon for a year?
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: djf@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Marvin Batty)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Nntp-Posting-Host: cc_sysk
Organization: Starfleet, Coventry, UK
Lines: 22
In article <1r46o9INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
>In article <C5tEIK.7z9@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>>Apollo was done the hard way, in a big hurry, from a very limited
>>technology base... and on government contracts.  Just doing it privately,
>>rather than as a government project, cuts costs by a factor of several.
>
>So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
>U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
>
Why use a ground launch pad. It is entirely posible to launch from altitude.
This was what the Shuttle was originally intended to do! It might be seriously
cheaper.
Also, what about bio-engineered CO2 absorbing plants instead of many LOX bottles?
Stick 'em in a lunar cave and put an airlock on the door.
--
****************************************************************************
Marvin Batty - djf@uk.ac.cov.cck
"And they shall not find those things, with a sort of rafia like base,
that their fathers put there just the night before. At about 8 O'clock!"
From: pearson@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (N. Shirlene Pearson)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Nntp-Posting-Host: wren
Organization: Applied Research Labs, University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 13
jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein) writes:
>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
Would you mind posting the responses you get?
I am also interested, and there may be others.
Thanks,
N. Shirlene Pearson
pearson@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu
From: Wingert@vnet.IBM.COM (Bret Wingert)
Subject: Re: Level 5?
Organization: IBM, Federal Systems Co. Software Services
IBM, Federal Systems Co. Software Services
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
Lines: 91
In <C5uBn5.tz@zoo.toronto.edu> Henry Spencer writes:
>In article <1993Apr21.134436.26140@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>>>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 ...
>>>Level 5?  Out of how many? ...
>>
>>... Also keep in mind that it was
>>*not* achieved through the use of sophisticated tools, but rather
>>through a 'brute force and ignorance' attack on the problem during the
>>Challenger standdown - they simply threw hundreds of people at it and
>>did the whole process by hand...
>
>I think this is a little inaccurate, based on Feynman's account of the
>software-development process *before* the standdown.  Fred is basically
>correct:  no sophisticated tools, just a lot of effort and painstaking
>care.  But they got this one right *before* Challenger; Feynman cited
>the software people as exemplary compared to the engine people.  (He
>also noted that the software people were starting to feel management
>pressure to cut corners, but hadn't had to give in to it much yet.)
>
>Among other things, the software people worked very hard to get things
>right for the major pre-flight simulations, and considered a failure
>during those simulations to be nearly as bad as an in-flight failure.
>As a result, the number of major-simulation failures could be counted
>on one hand, and the number of in-flight failures was zero.
>
>As Fred mentioned elsewhere, this applies only to the flight software.
>Software that runs experiments is typically mostly put together by the
>experimenters, and gets nowhere near the same level of Tender Loving Care.
>(None of the experimenters could afford it.)
>--
>All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
>                    - Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
>
News-Software: UReply 3.1
X-X-From: Wingert@VNET.IBM.com (Bret Wingert)
<C5uBn5.tz@zoo.toronto.edu>
In <C5uBn5.tz@zoo.toronto.edu> Henry Spencer writes:
>In article <1993Apr21.134436.26140@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>>>(given that I've heard the Shuttle software rated as Level 5 ...
>>>Level 5?  Out of how many? ...
>>
>>... Also keep in mind that it was
>>*not* achieved through the use of sophisticated tools, but rather
>>through a 'brute force and ignorance' attack on the problem during the
>>Challenger standdown - they simply threw hundreds of people at it and
>>did the whole process by hand...
>
>I think this is a little inaccurate, based on Feynman's account of the
>software-development process *before* the standdown.  Fred is basically
>correct:  no sophisticated tools, just a lot of effort and painstaking
>care.  But they got this one right *before* Challenger; Feynman cited
>the software people as exemplary compared to the engine people.  (He
>also noted that the software people were starting to feel management
>pressure to cut corners, but hadn't had to give in to it much yet.)
>
>As Fred mentioned elsewhere, this applies only to the flight software.
>Software that runs experiments is typically mostly put together by the
>experimenters, and gets nowhere near the same level of Tender Loving Care.
========================================================================
A couple of points on this thread.
1. We have been using our processes since way before Challenger.  Challenger
in and of it self did not uncover flaws.
2. What Mr. Spencer says is by and large true.  We have a process that is
not dependent on "sophisticated tools"  (CASE tools?).  However, tools
cannot fix a bad process.  Also, tool support for HAL/S (the Shuttle
Language) is somewhat limited.
3. The Onboard Flight Software project was rated "Level 5" by a NASA team.
This group generates 20-40 KSLOCs of verified code per year for NASA.
4. Feel free to call me if you or your organization is interested in more info
on our software development process.
Bret Wingert
(713)-282-7534
FAX: (713)-282-8077
Bret Wingert
(713)-282-7534
FAX: (713)-282-8077
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 22
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <1993Apr21.204941.15055@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>In article <1r46o9INN14j@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
>
>>So how much would it cost as a private venture, assuming you could talk the
>>U.S. government into leasing you a couple of pads in Florida?
>
>Why would you want to do that? The goal is to do it cheaper (remember,
>this isn't government). Instead of leasing an expensive launch pad,
>just use a SSTO and launch from a much cheaper facility.
Allen, sometimes I think you're OK.  And sometimes you tend to rashly leap into
making statement without thinking them out.
Wanna guess which today?
You'd need to launch HLVs to send up large amounts of stuff.  Do you know
of a private Titan pad?
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?
In-Reply-To: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu's message of Thu, 22 Apr 1993 04:54:03 GMT
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
Lines: 25
On Thu, 22 Apr 1993 04:54:03 GMT, nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu said:
nsmca> So some of my ideas are a bit odd, off the wall and such, but
nsmca> so was Wilbur and Orville Wright, and quite a few others..
This is a common misconception.  There was nothing "off the wall"
about the Wright Brothers.  They were in correspondance with a number
of other experimenters (Octave Chanute, Lillienthal, etc), they flew
models, they had a wind tunnel.  In short, they were quite mainstream
and were not regarded as odd or eccentric by the community.
I suggest you read The Bishop's Boys or the biography by Harry Gates?
Combs?  (I can never remember which it is--the guy that had the FBOs
and owned Learjet for a while).  These are both in print and easily
obtainable.  The Bishop's Boys is in trade paperback, even.
Even better would be the multi-volume set of the Wrights' writings,
but this is out of print, rare, and hideously expensive.
--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
"A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Nntp-Posting-Host: prism.engrg.uwo.ca
Lines: 15
In article <C5w5F8.3LC.1@cs.cmu.edu> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
>
>Would they buy it, given that it's a _lot_ more expensive, and not
>much more impressive, than putting a large set of several-km
>inflatable billboards in LEO (or in GEO, visible 24 hours from your
>key growth market). I'll do _that_ for only $5bn (and the changes of
>identity).
I've heard of sillier things, like a well-known utility company
wanting to buy an 'automated' boiler-cleaning system which uses as many
operators as the old system, and which rumour has it costs three million
more per unit. Automation is more 'efficient' although by what scale they are
not saying...
James Nicoll
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: How many read sci.space?
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 16
In <1993Apr15.204210.26022@mksol.dseg.ti.com> pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron) writes:
>There are actually only two of us.  I do Henry, Fred, Tommy and Mary.  Oh yeah,
>this isn't my real name, I'm a bald headed space baby.
Yes, and I do everyone else.  Why, you may wonder, don't I do 'Fred'?
Well, that would just be too *obvious*, wouldn't it?  Oh yeah, this
isn't my real name, either.  I'm actually Elvis.  Or maybe a lemur; I
sometimes have difficulty telling which is which.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Lines: 3
They must be shipping that good Eau Clair acid to California now.
Tom Freebairn
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Boom! Whoosh......
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Lines: 24
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: queen.eng.umd.edu
In article <C5ut0z.CtG@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1r46ofINNdku@gap.caltech.edu> palmer@cco.caltech.edu (David M. Palmer) writes:
>>>orbiting billboard...
>>
>>I would just like to point out that it is much easier to place an
>>object at orbital altitude than it is to place it with orbital
>>velocity.  For a target 300 km above the surface of Earth,
>>you need a delta-v of 2.5 km/s.
>Unfortunately, if you launch this from the US (or are a US citizen),
>you will need a launch permit from the Office of Commercial Space
>Transportation, and I think it may be difficult to get a permit for
>an antisatellite weapon... :-)
Well Henry, we are often reminded how CANADA is not a part of the United States
(yet).  You could have quite a commercial A-SAT, er sky-cleaning service going
in a few years.
"Toronto SkySweepers:  Clear skies in 48 hours, or your money back."
Discount rates available for astro-researchers.
Software engineering? That's like military intelligence, isn't it?
-- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
From: mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (Keith Mancus)
Subject: Re: Lindbergh and the moon (was:Why not give $1G)
Organization: MDSSC
Lines: 60
jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) writes:
>mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (Keith Mancus) writes:
>>cook@varmit.mdc.com (Layne Cook) writes:
>>> The $25k Orteig prize helped Lindbergh sell his Spirit
>>> of Saint Louis venture to his financial backers. But I strongly suspect
>>> that his Saint Louis backers had the foresight to realize that much more
>>> was at stake than $25,000. Could it work with the moon? Who are the
>>> far-sighted financial backers of today?
>>  The commercial uses of a transportation system between already-settled-
>>and-civilized areas are obvious.  Spaceflight is NOT in this position.
>>The correct analogy is not with aviation of the '30's, but the long
>>transocean voyages of the Age of Discovery.
> Lindbergh's flight took place in '27, not the thirties.
Of course; sorry for the misunderstanding.  I was referring to the fact
that far more aeronautical development took place in the '30's.  For much
of the '20's, the super-abundance of Jennies and OX-5 engines held down the
industry.  By 1926, many of the obsolete WWI aircraft had been retired
and Whirlwind had their power/weight ratio and reliability up to the point
where long-distance flights became practical.  It's important to note that
the Atlantic was flown not once but THREE times in 1927:  Lindbergh,
Chamberlin and Levine, and Byrd's _America_.  "When it's time to railroad,
you railroad."
>>It didn't require gov't to fund these as long as something was known about
>>the potential for profit at the destination.  In practice, some were gov't
>>funded, some were private.
>Could you give examples of privately funded ones?
Not off the top of my head; I'll have to dig out my reference books again.
However, I will say that the most common arrangement in Prince Henry the
Navigator's Portugal was for the prince to put up part of the money and
merchants to put up the rest.  They profits from the voyage would then be
shared.
>>But there was no way that any wise investor would spend a large amount
>>of money on a very risky investment with no idea of the possible payoff.
>A person who puts up $X billion for a moon base is much more likely to do
>it because they want to see it done than because they expect to make money
>off the deal.
The problem is that the amount of prize money required to inspire a
Moon Base is much larger than any but a handful of individuals or corporations
can even consider putting up.  The Kremer Prizes (human powered aircraft),
Orteig's prize, Lord Northcliffe's prize for crossing the Atlantic (won in
1919 by Alcock and Brown) were MUCH smaller.  The technologies required were
within the reach of individual inventors, and the prize amounts were well
within the reach of a large number of wealthy individuals.  I think that only
a gov't could afford to set up a $1B+ prize for any purpose whatsoever.
Note that Burt Rutan suggested that NASP could be built most cheaply by
taking out an ad in AvWeek stating that the first company to build a plane
that could take off and fly the profile would be handed $3B, no questions
asked.
--
Keith Mancus    <mancus@butch.jsc.nasa.gov>                           |
N5WVR           <mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov>                        |
"Black powder and alcohol, when your states and cities fall,          |
when your back's against the wall...." -Leslie Fish                  |
From: keithley@apple.com (Craig Keithley)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race, NASA resources, why?
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 44
In article <C5w5un.Bpq@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry
Spencer) wrote:
>
> The major component of any realistic plan to go to the Moon cheaply (for
> more than a brief visit, at least) is low-cost transport to Earth orbit.
> For what it costs to launch one Shuttle or two Titan IVs, you can develop
> a new launch system that will be considerably cheaper.  (Delta Clipper
> might be a bit more expensive than this, perhaps, but there are less
> ambitious ways of bringing costs down quite a bit.)
Ah, there's the rub.  And a catch-22 to boot.  For the purposes of a
contest, you'll probably not compete if'n you can't afford the ride to get
there.  And although lower priced delivery systems might be doable, without
demand its doubtful that anyone will develop a new system.  Course, if a
low priced system existed, there might be demand...
I wonder if there might be some way of structuring a contest to encourage
low cost payload delivery systems.  The accounting methods would probably
be the hardest to work out.  For example, would you allow Rockwell to
'loan' you the engines?  And so forth...
> Any plan for doing
> sustained lunar exploration using existing launch systems is wasting
> money in a big way.
>
This depends on the how soon the new launch system comes on line.  In other
words, perhaps a great deal of worthwhile technology (life support,
navigation, etc.) could be developed prior to a low cost launch system.
You wouldn't want to use the expensive stuff forever, but I'd hate to see
folks waiting to do anything until a low cost Mac, oops, I mean launch
system comes on line.
I guess I'd simplify this to say that 'waste' is a slippery concept.  If
your goal is manned lunar exploration in the next 5 years, then perhaps its
not 'wasted' money.  If your goal is to explore the moon for under $500
million, then you should put of this exploration for a decade or so.
Craig
Craig Keithley           |"I don't remember, I don't recall,
Apple Computer, Inc.     |I got no memory of anything at all"
keithley@apple.com       |Peter Gabriel, Third Album (1980)
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Why DC-1 will be the way of the future.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 12
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr22.164801.7530@julian.uwo.ca> jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>	Hmmm. I seem to recall that the attraction of solid state record-
>players and radios in the 1960s wasn't better performance but lower
>per-unit cost than vacuum-tube systems.
>
I don't think so at first,  but solid state offered  better reliabity,
id bet,  and any lower costs would be only after the processes really scaled up.
pat
From: dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com (Dennis Newkirk)
Subject: Re: Proton/Centaur?
Organization: Motorola
Nntp-Posting-Host: 145.1.146.43
Lines: 31
In article <1r54to$oh@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>The question i have about the proton, is  could it be  handled at
>one of KSC's spare pads, without major  malfunction,  or could it be
>handled at kourou  or Vandenberg?
Seems like a lot of trouble to go to. Its probably better to
invest in newer launch systems. I don't think a big cost advantage
for using Russian systems will last for very long (maybe a few years).
Lockheed would be the place to ask, since you would probably have to buy
the Proton from them (they market the Proton world wide except Russia).
They should know a lot about the possibilities, I haven't heard them
propose US launches, so I assume they looked into it and found it
unprofitable.
>Now if it uses storables,
Yes...
>then  how long would it take for the russians
>to equip something at cape york?
Comparable to the Zenit I suppose, but since it looks like
nothing will be built there, you might just as well pick any
spot.
The message is: to launch now while its cheap and while Russia and
Kazakstan are still cooperating. Later, the story may be different.
Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
Schaumburg, IL
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Article-I.D.: mksol.1993Apr22.204742.10671
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 62
In <C5tvL2.1In@hermes.hrz.uni-bielefeld.de> hoover@mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de (Uwe Schuerkamp) writes:
>In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au
>(Enzo Liguori) writes:
>> hideous vision of the future.  Observers were
>>startled this spring when a NASA launch vehicle arrived at the
>>pad with "SCHWARZENEGGER" painted in huge block letters on the
>This is ok in my opinion as long as the stuff *returns to earth*.
>>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>>the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
>If this turns out to be true, it's time to get seriously active in
>terrorism. This is unbelievable! Who do those people think they are,
>selling every bit that promises to make money?
Well, I guess I'm left wondering just who all the 'light fascists'
think *they* are.  Yes, I understand the issues.  I don't even
particularly care for the idea.  But am I the only one that finds the
sort of overreaction above just a *little* questionable?  You must
find things like the Moon *really* obnoxious in their pollution.
A few questions for those frothing at the mouth to ask themselves:
1) How long is this thing supposed to stay up?  Sounds like it
would have a *huge* drag area, not a lot of mass, and be in a fairly
low orbit.
2) Just what orbital parameters are we talking about here?
What real impact are we talking about, really?  How many optical
astronomers are *really* going to be impacted?
3) Which is more important; adding a few extra days of
'seeing' for (very few) optical astronomers or getting the data the
sensors are supposed to return along with the data for large
inflatables (and the potential there for an inflatable space station)?
The choice would seem to be one or the other, since the advertising is
being used to help fund this thing.
4) If your answer to 3) above was "the astronomers", then feel
free to come up with some other way to fund the (to my mind) more
important research data that would be gained by this WITHOUT SPENDING
ANY MORE OF MY MONEY TO DO IT.  In other words, put up or shut up.
>I guess we really
>deserve being wiped out by uv radiation, folks. "Stupidity wins". I
>guess that's true, and if only by pure numbers.
Probably so.  I'm just not sure we agree about who the 'stupid' are.
>	Another depressed planetary citizen,
>	hoover
Yeah, me too.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Article-I.D.: mksol.1993Apr22.213815.12288
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 22
In <1993Apr22.130923.115397@zeus.calpoly.edu> dmcaloon@tuba.calpoly.edu (David McAloon) writes:
> ETHER IMPLODES 2 EARTH CORE, IS GRAVITY!!!
If not for the lack of extraneously capitalized words, I'd swear that
McElwaine had changed his name and moved to Cal Poly.  I also find the
choice of newsgroups 'interesting'.  Perhaps someone should tell this
guy that 'sci.astro' doesn't stand for 'astrology'?
It's truly frightening that posts like this are originating at what
are ostensibly centers of higher learning in this country.  Small
wonder that the rest of the world thinks we're all nuts and that we
have the problems that we do.
[In case you haven't gotten it yet, David, I don't think this was
quite appropriate for a posting to 'sci' groups.]
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: Mark.Perew@p201.f208.n103.z1.fidonet.org
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
X-Sender: newtout 0.08 Feb 23 1993
Lines: 15
In a message of <Apr 19 04:55>, jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
>In article <1993Apr19.020359.26996@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
>writes:
MB>                                                             So the
MB> 1970 figure seems unlikely to actually be anything but a perijove.
JG>Sorry, _perijoves_...I'm not used to talking this language.
Couldn't we just say periapsis or apoapsis?
--- msged 2.07
From: dante@shakala.com (Charlie Prael)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
Lines: 20
sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney) writes:
> Allen, sometimes I think you're OK.  And sometimes you tend to rashly leap in
> making statement without thinking them out.
>
> Wanna guess which today?
>
> You'd need to launch HLVs to send up large amounts of stuff.  Do you know
> of a private Titan pad?
Doug-- Actually, if memory serves, the Atlas is an outgrowth of the old
Titan ICBM.  If so, there's probably quite a few old pads, albeit in need
of some serious reconditioning.  Still, Being able to buy the turf and
pad (and bunkers, including prep facility) at Midwest farmland prices
strikes me as pretty damned cheap.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Prael  - dante@shakala.com
Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289
From: tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu
Subject: Death and Taxes (was Why not give $1 billion to...
Article-I.D.: indyvax.1993Apr22.162501.747
Lines: 10
In my first posting on this subject I threw out an idea of how to fund
such a contest without delving to deep into the budget.  I mentioned
granting mineral rights to the winner (my actual wording was, "mining
rights.)  Somebody pointed out, quite correctly, that such rights are
not anybody's to grant (although I imagine it would be a fait accompli
situation for the winner.)  So how about this?  Give the winning group
(I can't see one company or corp doing it) a 10, 20, or 50 year
moratorium on taxes.
Tom Freebairn
From: dan@visix.com (Daniel Appelquist)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Reply-To: dan@visix.com (Daniel Appelquist)
Organization: Visix Software, Reston, Virginia
Lines: 11
dmcaloon@tuba.calpoly.edu (David McAloon) writes:
[Lots of trippy stuff deleted]
Wow...  What is this guy smoking and WHERE can I GET SOME?
Dan
--
Daniel K. Appelquist|QUANTA is the electronically published and distributed
dan@visix.com       |magazine of science fiction  and  fantasy.   For  more
703-758-2712        |information, send  mail to  quanta+@andrew.cmu.edu or,
703-758-0233 (Fax)  |for back issues, ftp export.acs.cmu.edu, id:anonymous.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 04/22/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 84
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from Neal Ausman, Galileo Mission Director
GALILEO
MISSION DIRECTOR STATUS REPORT
POST-LAUNCH
April 16 - 22, 1993
SPACECRAFT
1.  On April 19, cruise science Memory Readouts (MROs) were performed for the
Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EUV), Dust Detector (DDS), and Magnetometer
(MAG) instruments.  Preliminary analysis indicates the data was received
properly.
2.  On April 19, a Command Detector Unit Signal-to-Noise Ratio (CDUSNR) test
and a Radio Frequency Subsystem Automatic Gain Control (RFSAGC) test were
performed using the LGA-1 (Low Gain Antenna #1) over DSS-63 (Madrid 70 meter
antenna) and DSS-61 (Madrid 34 meter antenna), respectively.  Data analysis
is in process.  These tests are periodically performed to provide detailed
information relative to the telecom command hardware integrity.
3.  On April 19, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to
264 hours, its planned value during this mission phase.
4.  On April 21, the first of two suppressed carrier/DSN (Deep Space Network)
advanced receiver characterization tests was performed over DSS-14 (Goldstone
70 meter antenna).  The spacecraft modulation index was varied from 43 degrees
to 90 degrees for a range of ground receiver bandwidth settings.
5.  The AC bus imbalance measurement has not exhibited significant change
(greater than 25 DN) throughout this period but the DC bus imbalance
measurement has.  The AC measurement reads 20 DN (4.5 volts).  The DC
measurement has ranged from 43 DN (4.6 volts) to 138 DN (16.2 volts) and
currently reads 138 DN (16.2 volts).  These measurements are consistent with
the model developed by the AC/DC special anomaly team.
6.  The Spacecraft status as of April 22, 1993, is as follows:
a)  System Power Margin -  68 watts
b)  Spin Configuration - Dual-Spin
c)  Spin Rate/Sensor - 3.15rpm/Star Scanner
d)  Spacecraft Attitude is approximately 21 degrees
off-sun (lagging) and 5 degrees off-earth (leading)
e)  Downlink telemetry rate/antenna- 40bps(coded)/LGA-1
f)  General Thermal Control - all temperatures within
acceptable range
g)  RPM Tank Pressures - all within acceptable range
h)  Orbiter Science- Instruments powered on are the PWS,
EUV, UVS, EPD, MAG, HIC, and DDS
i)  Probe/RRH - powered off, temperatures within
acceptable range
j)  CMD Loss Timer Setting - 264 hours
Time To Initiation - 184 hours
TRAJECTORY
As of noon Thursday, April 22, 1993, the Galileo Spacecraft trajectory
status was as follows:
Distance from Earth         169,747,800 km (1.14 AU)
Distance from Sun           286,967,900 km (1.92 AU)
Heliocentric Speed          91,200 km per hour
Distance from Jupiter       532,735,900 km
Round Trip Light Time       18 minutes, 58 seconds
SPECIAL TOPIC
1.  As of April 22, 1993, a total of 70185 real-time commands have been
transmitted to Galileo since Launch.  Of these, 65077  were initiated in the
sequence design process and 5108 initiated in the real-time command process.
In the past week, one real time command was transmitted: one was initiated in
the sequence design process and none initiated in the real time command
process. The only command activity was a command to reset the command loss
timer.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: jtk@s1.gov (Jordin Kare)
Subject: Re: Inflatable Mile-Long Space Billboards (was Re: Vandalizing the sky.)
Organization: LLNL
Lines: 96
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: s1.gov
yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>>WHAT'S NEW (in my opinion), Friday, 16 April 1993  Washington, DC
>
>>Now, Space Marketing
>>is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
>>a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
>>orbit.
>
>This sounds like something Lowell Wood would think of.  Does anyone
>know if he's involved?
No.  The idea was suggested around here during discussions of possible
near-term commercial space activities.  One of the folks involved in those
discussions, a
spacecraft engineer named Preston Carter, passed the suggestion on to
some entreprenurial types, and Mike Lawson is apparently going ahead with
it.  Preston is now at LLNL, and is working with Space Marketing on
the sensors that might be carried.
>
>>NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
>>since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
>>(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense.
Actually, that sounds unlikely.  I don't know what the launch vehicle
would be, but I would expect it to go on a commercial launcher --
certainly not on the Shuttle -- and the fraction of the cost paid to NASA
for, e.g.,  launch support would probably
cover NASA's incremental costs pretty well.
>>This
>>may look like environmental vandalism, but Mike Lawson, CEO of
>>Space Marketing, told us yesterday that the real purpose of the
>>project is to help the environment! The platform will carry ozone
>>monitors he explained--advertising is just to help defray costs.
>
>This may be the purpose for the University of Colorado people.  My
>guess is that the purpose for the Livermore people is to learn how to
>build large, inflatable space structures.
No, as noted, LLNL is involved in lightweight sensor design, per
Clementine and related programs.  I'm sure folks around here would like to
see a demonstration of a modern inflatable structure, but after all,
the U.S. did the Echo satellites long ago, and an advertising structure
would not be much closer to an inflatable space station than Echo was
(or a parade balloon, for that matter).
>
>>..........
>>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>>the night sky? It is not even April 1 anymore.
While I happen to personally dislike the idea, mostly because I've got
a background in astronomy, it's hardly vandalism -- it would be a short-lived
intrusion on the night sky, doing no permanent damage and actually hurting
only a small subset of astronomers.  On the other hand, it would certainly
draw attention to space.
>
>If this is true, I think it's a great idea.
>
>Learning how to build structures in space in an essential
>step towards space development...
Which, unfortunately, this is not likely to contribute much to.
>If such a project also monitors ozone depletion and demonstrates
>creative use of (partial) private sector funding in the process -- so
>much the better.
>
>>Is NASA really supporting this junk?
As far as I know, it's a purely commercial venture.
>
>And does anyone have any more details other than what was in the WN
>news blip?  How serious is this project?  Is this just in the "wild
>idea" stage or does it have real funding?
I gather it is being very seriously discussed with possible advertisers.
Commercial projects, however, generally don't get "funding" -- they
get "customers" -- whether it will have customers remains to be seen.
>
>>Are protesting groups being organized in the States?
>
>Not yet.  Though, if this project goes through, I suppose The Return
>of Jeremy Rifkin is inevitable...
Nahh.  He's too busy watching for mutant bacteria to notice anything in
the sky :-)
>
>Brian Yamauchi			Case Western Reserve University
>yamauchi@alpha.ces.cwru.edu	Department of Computer Engineering and Science
Jordin Kare	jtk@s1.gov	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
[These are my personal views only and do not represent official statements
or positions of LLNL, the University of California, or the U.S. DOE.]
From: tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Dave Tholen)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
Organization: Institute for Astronomy, Hawaii
Lines: 17
Phil G. Fraering writes:
> Mark Brader writes:
>> Thanks again.  One final question.  The name Gehrels wasn't known to
>> me before this thread came up, but the May issue of Scientific American
>> has an article about the "Inconstant Cosmos", with a photo of Neil
>> Gehrels, project scientist for NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
>> Same person?
> No. I estimate a 99 % probability the Gehrels referred to
> is Thomas Gehrels of the Spacewatch project, Kitt Peak observatory.
You may change that to 100% certainty.  But to clarify, Spacewatch is a
University of Arizona project using a telescope of the Steward Observatory
located on Kitt Peak.  It is not associated with Kitt Peak National
Observatory, other than sharing a mountain.
From: howard@sharps.astro.wisc.edu (Greg Howard)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Astronomy Department
Lines: 10
NNTP-Posting-Host: uwast.astro.wisc.edu
Actually, the "ether" stuff sounded a fair bit like a bizzare,
qualitative corruption of general relativity.  nothing to do with
the old-fashioned, ether, though.  maybe somebody could loan him
a GR text at a low level.
didn't get much further than that, tho.... whew.
greg
From: Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Jeff Cook)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: none
Lines: 51
In-reply-to: enzo@research.canon.oz.au's message of 20 Apr 93 22:36:55 GMT
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>Now, Space Marketing
>is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
>a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
>orbit.  NASA would provide contractual launch services. However,
>since NASA bases its charge on seriously flawed cost estimates
>(WN 26 Mar 93) the taxpayers would bear most of the expense. This
>may look like environmental vandalism, but Mike Lawson, CEO of
>Space Marketing, told us yesterday that the real purpose of the
>project is to help the environment! The platform will carry ozone
>monitors he explained--advertising is just to help defray costs.
How could this possibly be "environmental vandalism" when there is no
"environment" to vandalize up there?
Since the advertising "is just to help defray costs", it's certainly no
surprise that "the taxpayers would bear most of the expense".  Sounds
like a good idea to me, since the taxpayers would bear _all_ of the
expense if they didn't do the advertising.
>What do you think of this revolting and hideous attempt to vandalize
>the night sky?
Great idea, they should have done it long ago.
>What about light pollution in observations? (I read somewhere else that
>it might even be visible during the day, leave alone at night).
I can't believe that a mile-long billboard would have any significant
effect on the overall sky brightness.  Venus is visible during the day,
but nobody complains about that.  Besides, it's in LEO, so it would only
be visible during twilight when the sky is already bright, and even if
it would have some miniscule impact, it would be only for a short time
as it goes zipping across the sky.
>Are protesting groups being organized in the States?
No doubt.  People are always looking for something to protest about, so
it would be no surprise.
>Really, really depressed.
Well, look on the, er, bright side.  Imagine the looks on the faces of
people in primitive tribes out in the middle of nowhere as they look up
and see a can of Budweiser flying across the sky... :-D
--
Jeff Cook                                  Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.com
From: msjohnso@donald.WichitaKS.NCR.COM (Mark Johnson)
Subject: Re: Big amateur rockets
Organization: NCR Corporation Wichita, KS
Lines: 86
pbd@runyon.cim.cdc.com (Paul Dokas) writes:
>I was reading Popular Science this morning and was surprised by an ad in
>the back.  I know that a lot of the ads in the back of PS are fringe
>science or questionablely legal, but this one really grabbed my attention.
>It was from a company name "Personal Missle, Inc." or something like that.
The company was probably "Public Missiles, Inc" of Michigan.
>Anyhow, the ad stated that they'd sell rockets that were up to 20' in length
>and engines of sizes "F" to "M".  They also said that some rockets will
>reach 50,000 feet.
Yup.
>Now, aside from the obvious dangers to any amateur rocketeer using one
>of these beasts, isn't this illegal?  I can't imagine the FAA allowing
>people to shoot rockets up through the flight levels of passenger planes.
>Not to even mention the problem of locating a rocket when it comes down.
Nope, it's not illegal. It is, however, closely regulated. In order to
purchase and use the big rocket motors required, it is necessary to be
one of the following:
a) An employee of a government agency.
b) An employee or student at a university doing research involving rockets.
c) A member or representative of an educational organization involved in
research or other uses of rockets. There are two such organizations:
The Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry.
Members of either organization must demonstrate proficiency in construction
and flight before they are allowed to purchase large motors on their own.
The FAA will issue a waiver of its regulations, upon request, to any
organization which can persuade them it has taken adequate precautions
to avoid conflicts with aircraft. The usual stipulations are:
- Only operation up to a specified ceiling is allowed. Depending on the
location, this ceiling may be from 5000 to 50000 feet AGL.
- The operator of the rocket is responsible for avoiding any aircraft
within the operating radius around the launch site.
- Flight into clouds or beyond visual range in haze is expressly prohibited.
- The FAA will provide a NOTAM informing other users of the airspace that
unmanned rocket operations are taking place at the specified place and time.
Most of the launches that are held (and there are dozens of them every year)
are held in areas where air traffic is relatively light, such as over the
western deserts (the Black Rock Desert north of Reno is particularly popular
since it is 25 x 150 miles of *nothing to hit* on the ground).
The two rocketry associations test and approve motors for their members'
use, to insure safety. Depending on motor size, the launcher setback is
from 50 to 500 or more feet.
By the way, rockets under 1 lb and powered by an "F" motor are exempt from
most Federal regulations on unmanned rockets anyway. See FAR 101, Subpart
C, for details.
As for recovery...although the higher altitude rockets can reach up to
50,000 feet, most of them only get to 2,000 to 5,000 feet. The typical
rocket is 2 to 6 inches in diameter, and carries a 3 to 6 foot parachute,
or multiple parachutes, depending on the payload. Many rockets also carry
either a small transmitter or an audio sounder--particularly at launches
in the eastern US, where there are more obstructions.
Camera, telemetry transmitter, and video payloads are becoming quite common.
>And no, I'm not going to even think of buying one.  I'm not that crazy.
Why not? It's a lot of fun...check out the traffic on rec.models.rockets
for information about the model (3 lb and under) and high power (everything
bigger) rocket hobbies. As with all dangerous activities, the key is to
practice safety. I've been flying consumer rockets ranging up to 4-5 lbs
takeoff weight for 27 years, and still have all my extremities intact.
>-Paul "mine'll do 50,000 feet and carries 50 pounds of dynamite" Dokas
That's another thing. NO EXPLOSIVE WARHEADS OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED ON THESE
ROCKETS. NONE! Please forgive me for shouting, but that's one of the biggest
misconceptions people have about our hobby.
>/*            Just remember, you *WILL* die someday.             */
True. But it will not be related to the rocket hobby, unless I get
hit while crossing a road with a rocket in my hand.
--
Mark Johnson                          USnail: NCR Peripheral Products Division
E-mail:  Mark.Johnson@WichitaKS.NCR.COM       3718 N. Rock Rd.
Voice: (316) 636-8189 [V+ 654-8189]           Wichita, KS  67226
[Non-business email: 76670.1775@compuserve.com]
From: tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Dave Tholen)
Subject: Re: New planet/Kuiper object found?
Organization: University of Hawaii
Distribution: sci
Lines: 18
Francisco da Fonseca Rodrigues writes:
> 	Tonigth a TV journal here in Brasil announced that an object,
> beyond Pluto's orbit, was found by an observatory at Hawaii. They
> named the object Karla.
The name is a working name only; quite unofficial.  The formal designation
is 1993 FW.
> 	The program said the object wasn't a gaseous giant planet, and
> should be composed by rocks and ices.
>
> 	Can someone confirm these information? Could this object be a
> new planet or a Kuiper object?
It's most likely a Kuiper Belt object, with an estimated diameter of
290 km.  The orbit hasn't been determined well enough yet to say much
more about it.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 13
In article <1r6rn3INNn96@mojo.eng.umd.edu> sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu writes:
>You'd need to launch HLVs to send up large amounts of stuff.  Do you know
>of a private Titan pad?
You'd need to launch HLVs to send up large amounts of stuff *if* you assume
no new launcher development.  If you assume new launcher development, with
lower costs as a specific objective, then you probably don't want to
build something HLV-sized anyway.
Nobody who is interested in launching things cheaply will buy Titans.  It
doesn't take many Titan pricetags to pay for a laser launcher or a large
gas gun or a development program for a Big Dumb Booster, all of which
would have far better cost-effectiveness.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race, NASA resources, why?
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 36
In article <keithley-220493104229@kip-37.apple.com> keithley@apple.com (Craig Keithley) writes:
>Ah, there's the rub.  And a catch-22 to boot.  For the purposes of a
>contest, you'll probably not compete if'n you can't afford the ride to get
>there.  And although lower priced delivery systems might be doable, without
>demand its doubtful that anyone will develop a new system...
You're assuming that the low-cost delivery system has to be a separate
project.  But why?  If you are spending hundreds of millions of dollars
in hopes of winning a billion-dollar prize, it is *cheaper* to develop
your own launch system, charging its entire development cost against
your contest entry, than to try to do it with existing launchers.  No
other demand is necessary.
>> Any plan for doing
>> sustained lunar exploration using existing launch systems is wasting
>> money in a big way.
>
>This depends on the how soon the new launch system comes on line.  In other
>words, perhaps a great deal of worthwhile technology (life support,
>navigation, etc.) could be developed prior to a low cost launch system.
>You wouldn't want to use the expensive stuff forever, but I'd hate to see
>folks waiting to do anything until a low cost Mac, oops, I mean launch
>system comes on line.
You're assuming that it's going to take a decade to build a new launch
system.  But why?  The Saturn V took less than six years, depending on
exactly when you date its start.  Pegasus took about three from project
start to first flight.  Before SDIO chickened out on orbital development,
the target date for an orbital DC-Y flight was 1996.  If you really want
speed, consider that the first prototypes of the Thor missile (still in
service as the core of the Delta launcher) shipped to the USAF less
than 18 months after the development go-ahead.
One of the most pernicious myths in this whole business is the belief
that you can't build a launcher without taking ten years and spending
billions of dollars.  It isn't true and never was.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 23
In article <3HgF3B3w165w@shakala.com> dante@shakala.com (Charlie Prael) writes:
>Doug-- Actually, if memory serves, the Atlas is an outgrowth of the old
>Titan ICBM...
Nope, you're confusing separate programs.  Atlas was the first-generation
US ICBM; Titan I was the second-generation one; Titan II, which all the
Titan launchers are based on, was the third-generation heavy ICBM.  There
was essentially nothing in common between these three programs.
(Yes, *three* programs.  Despite the similarity of names, Titan I and
Titan II were completely different missiles.  They didn't even use the
same fuels, never mind the same launch facilities.)
>If so, there's probably quite a few old pads, albeit in need
>of some serious reconditioning.  Still, Being able to buy the turf and
>pad (and bunkers, including prep facility) at Midwest farmland prices
>strikes me as pretty damned cheap.
Sorry, the Titan silos (a) can't handle the Titan launchers with their
large SRBs, (b) can't handle *any* sort of launcher without massive
violations of normal range-safety rules (nobody cares about such things
in the event of a nuclear war, but in peacetime they matter), and (c) were
scrapped years ago.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 14
In article <1r6f3a$2ai@news.umbc.edu> rouben@math9.math.umbc.edu (Rouben Rostamian) writes:
>>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
>
>Here is a computation I did a long time ago that computes the length
>of the daylight.  You should be able to convert the information here
>to sunrise and sunset times.
Sorry, not so -- the changes in sunrise and sunset times are not
quite synchronized.  For example, neither the earliest sunrise nor the
latest sunset comes on the longest day of the year.
You can derive day length from sunrise and sunset times, but not
vice-versa.
From: gnb@leo.bby.com.au (Gregory N. Bond)
Subject: Re: Old Spacecraft as NAvigation Beacons!
In-Reply-To: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu's message of 21 Apr 93 08:15:55 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host: leo-gw
Organization: Burdett, Buckeridge & Young, Melbourne, Australia
Lines: 17
In article <1993Apr21.001555.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
Other idea for old space crafts is as navigation beacons and such..
Why not??
Because to be any use as a nav point you need to know -exactly- where
it is, which means you either nail it to something that doesn't move
or you watch it all the time.  Neither of which is possible on a
deactivated spacecraft.  Then you have to know exactly how far away
from it you are; this may or may not be possible with the hardware on
board.
Apart from which, there is absolutely no need for navigation beacons.
--
Gregory Bond <gnb@bby.com.au> Burdett Buckeridge & Young Ltd Melbourne Australia
Knox's 386 is slick.            Fox in Sox, on Knox's Box
Knox's box is very quick.       Plays lots of LSL. He's sick!
(Apologies to John "Iron Bar" Mackin.)
From: wiml@stein2.u.washington.edu (William Lewis)
Subject: Re: Abyss--breathing fluids
Organization: University of Washington
Lines: 33
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein2.u.washington.edu
loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss) writes:
>Besides the mechanical problems of moving so dense a medium in oan out
>of the lungs (diaphragm fatigue, etc.), is there likely to be a problem
>with the mixture?  I mean, since the lungs never expel all the air in
>them, the inhaled air has to mix pretty quickly with the residual air in
>the lungs to provide a useful partial pressure of oxygen, right?  Would
>this mixing be substantially faster/slower at the pressures we're
>talking about?
There was an interesting article in Scientific American some time ago
about breathing liquid. (It was a few months before _The Abyss_ came out.)
As far as I can remember, they mentioned three things that were difficult
to do at once with a substitute breathing fluid:
- low viscosity --- if it's too difficult to force the fluid in & out
of the lungs, you can't extract enough oxygen to power your own
breathing effort (let alone anything else)
- diffusion rate --- obviously, not all the air in your lungs is
expelled when you breathe out; and the part that isn't expelled
is the part that's nearest the walls of the alveoli. (alveolus?)
So the trip from the blood vessels to the new air has to be done
by diffusion of the gas through the fluid. Apparently oxygen
tends to diffuse more readily than CO2, so even if you can get enough
oxygen in, you might not be able to get enough CO2 out.
- oxygen/CO2 capacity --- you have to be able to dissolve enough
gas per unit volume.
Oh, and of course, your new breathing fluid must not irritate the lungs
or interfere with their healing or anything like that...
--
Wim Lewis, wiml@u.washington.edu
From: nicho@vnet.IBM.COM (Greg Stewart-Nicholls)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Reply-To: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
X-X-From: nicho@vnet.ibm.com
<C5w5zJ.HHq@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Lines: 15
In <C5w5zJ.HHq@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Greg Hennessy writes:
>In article <1r6aqr$dnv@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>#The better question  should be.
>#Why not transfer  O&M of all birds to a separate agency with continous funding
>#to support these kind of ongoing science missions.
>
>Since we don't have the money to keep them going now, how will
>changing them to a seperate agency help anything?
>
How about transferring control to a non-profit organisation that is
able to accept donations to keep craft operational.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Nicholls ...         : Vidi
nicho@vnet.ibm.com or     : Vici
nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk : Veni
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Death and Taxes (was Why not give $1 billion to...
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr23.000021.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 55
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1993Apr22.162501.747@indyvax.iupui.edu>, tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu writes:
> In my first posting on this subject I threw out an idea of how to fund
> such a contest without delving to deep into the budget.  I mentioned
> granting mineral rights to the winner (my actual wording was, "mining
> rights.)  Somebody pointed out, quite correctly, that such rights are
> not anybody's to grant (although I imagine it would be a fait accompli
> situation for the winner.)  So how about this?  Give the winning group
> (I can't see one company or corp doing it) a 10, 20, or 50 year
> moratorium on taxes.
>
> Tom Freebairn
Who says there is no mineral rights to be given? Who says? The UN or the US
Government?
Major question is if you decide to mine the moon or Mars, who will stop you?
The UN can't other than legal tom foolerie.. Can the truly inforce it?
If you go to the moon as declare that you are now a soverign nation, who will
stop you from doing it. Maybe not acknowledge you?
Why can't a small company or corp or organization go an explore the great
beyond of space? what right does earth have to say what is legal and what is
not.. Maybe I am a few years ahead on this.. It is liek the old Catholic Church
stating which was Portugals and what was Spains, and along came the Reformation
and made it all null and void..
What can happen is to find a nation which is acknowledged, and offer your
services as a space miner and then go mine the asteroids/mars/moon or what
ever.. As long as yur sponsor does not get in trouble..
Basically find a country who wants to go into space, but can't for soem reason
or another, but who will give you a "home".. Such as Saudia Arabia or
whatever..
There are nations in the World who are not part of the UN, got to them and
offer your services and such.. I know that sound crazy, but. is it..
Also once you have the means to mine the moon (or whatever) then just do it.
The UN if done right can be made to be so busy with something else, they will
not care..
If your worried about the US, do the same thing..
Why be limited by the short sighted people of earth.. After all they have many
other things to worry about that if someone is mining the Moon or MArs or what
ever..
Basically what I am saying is where is that drive of yeasteryears to go a
little bit farther out, to do jus ta  little bit more, and to tell the crown to
piss off.. If my ancestors thought the way many today think, Id have been born
in Central Europe just north of the Black Sea..
I just read a good book, "Tower of the Gods" Interesting..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr23.001718.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 28
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1r6b7v$ec5@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>  Besides this was the same line of horse puckey the mining companies claimed
> when they were told to pay for  restoring land  after strip mining.
>
> they still mine coal in the midwest,  but now it doesn't look like
> the moon when theyare done.
>
> pat
===
I aint talking the large or even the "mining companies" I am talking the small
miners, the people who have themselves and a few employees (if at all).The
people who go out every year and set up thier sluice box, and such and do
mining the semi-old fashion way.. (okay they use modern methods toa point).
I am talking the guy who coem to Nome evry year, sets up his tent on the beach
(the beach was washed away last year) and sets up his/her sluice box and goes
at it "mining".
I know the large corps, such as Alaska Gold Company, might complain to..
My opinions are what I learn at the local BS table..
My original thing/idea was that the way to get space mining was to allow the
eco-freaks thier way.. As they have done with other mineral development.
You can't in many places can't go to the bathroom in the woods without some
form of regulation covering it..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Billboard/Station/Space Dock?
Lines: 24
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Seems that the Mile-Long Billboard and any other inflateble space
object/station or what ever have the same problems. (other than being a little
bit different than the "normal" space ideas, such as trusses and shuttles)
But also dag and such.. Why not combine the discussion of how and fesibility to
the same topic?
I personnelly liek the idea of a billboard in space. But problem. How do you
service it? fly a shuttle/DC-1 to near it and then dismount and "fly" to it?
Or what?? or havign a special docking section for shuttle/DC-1 docking?
Also what if the billboard springs a leak? Self sealing and such??
Just thinking (okay rambling)..
Also why must the now inflated billboard, not be covered in the inside by a
harder substance (such as a polymer or other agent) and then the now "hard"
billboard would be a now giant docking structure/space dock/station??
Or am I missing something here.. (probably am!?)
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: isaackuo@skippy.berkeley.edu (Isaac Kuo)
Subject: Re: Abyss--breathing fluids
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
Lines: 19
NNTP-Posting-Host: skippy.berkeley.edu
Are breathable liquids possible?
I remember seeing an old Nova or The Nature of Things where this idea was
touched upon (it might have been some other TV show).  If nothing else, I know
such liquids ARE possible because...
They showed a large glass full of this liquid, and put a white mouse (rat?) in
it.  Since the liquid was not dense, the mouse would float, so it was held down
by tongs clutching its tail.  The thing struggled quite a bit, but it was
certainly held down long enough so that it was breathing the liquid.  It never
did slow down in its frantic attempts to swim to the top.
Now, this may not have been the most humane of demonstrations, but it certainly
shows breathable liquids can be made.
--
*Isaac Kuo (isaackuo@math.berkeley.edu)	*       ___
*					* _____/_o_\_____
*	Twinkle, twinkle, little .sig,	*(==(/_______\)==)
*	Keep it less than 5 lines big.	* \==\/     \/==/
From: mt90dac@brunel.ac.uk (Del Cotter)
Subject: Re: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?
Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK
Lines: 26
<1993Apr21.205403.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>So some of my ideas are a bit odd, off the wall and such, but so was Wilbur and
>Orville Wright, and quite a few others.. Sorry if I do not have the big degrees
>and such, but I think (I might be wrong, to error is human) I have something
>that is in many ways just as important, I have imagination, dreams. And without
>dreams all the knowledge is worthless..
Oh, and us with the big degrees don't got imagination, huh?
The alleged dichotomy between imagination and knowledge is one of the most
pernicious fallacys of the New Age.  Michael, thanks for the generous
offer, but we have quite enough dreams of our own, thank you.
You, on the other hand, are letting your own dreams go to waste by
failing to get the maths/thermodynamics/chemistry/(your choices here)
which would give your imagination wings.
Just to show this isn't a flame, I leave you with a quote from _Invasion of
the Body Snatchers_:
"Become one of us; it's not so bad, you know"
--
',' ' ',','  |                                                  |  ',' ' ',','
', ,','    |       Del Cotter       mt90dac@brunel.ac.uk      |    ', ,','
','      |                                                  |      ','
From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: University of Central Florida
Lines: 19
I posted this over in sci.astro, but it didn't make it here.
Thought you all would like my wonderful pithy commentary :-)
What? You guys have never seen the Goodyear blimp polluting
the daytime and nightime skies?
Actually an oribital sign would only be visible near
sunset and sunrise, I believe.  So pollution at night
would be minimal.
If it pays for space travel, go for it.  Those who don't
like spatial billboards can then head for the pristine
environment of Jupiter's moons :-)
---
Thomas Clarke
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central FL
12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826
(407)658-5030, FAX: (407)658-5059, clarke@acme.ucf.edu
From: flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]")
Subject: Vandalizing the sky
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Lines: 12
From: "Phil G. Fraering" <pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu>
>
> Finally: this isn't the Bronze Age, [..]
> please try to remember that there are more human activities than
> those practiced by the Warrior Caste, the Farming Caste, and the
> Priesthood.
Right, the Profiting Caste is blessed by God, and may
freely blare its presence in the evening twilight ..
--
* Fred Baube (tm)
From: agc@bmdhh286.bnr.ca (Alan Carter)
Subject: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
Nntp-Posting-Host: bmdhh286
Organization: BNR-Europe-Limited, Maidenhead, England
Lines: 17
In article <22APR199323003578@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
|> 3.  On April 19, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to
|> 264 hours, its planned value during this mission phase.
This activity is regularly reported in Ron's interesting posts. Could
someone explain what the Command Loss Timer is?
Thanks, Alan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Belle Vue Court    |"They're unfriendly, which    | Home: 0684 564438
32 Belle Vue Terrace | is fortunate, really. They'd | Away: 0628 784351
Great Malvern        | be difficult to like."       | Work: 0628 794137
Worcestershire       |                              |
WR14 4PZ             | Kerr Avon, Blake's Seven     | Temporary: agc@bnr.ca
England              |                              | Permanent: alan@gid.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss)
Subject: Re: Death and Taxes (was Why not give $1 billion to...
Organization: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 55
In article <1993Apr23.000021.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>In article <1993Apr22.162501.747@indyvax.iupui.edu>, tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu writes:
>> [...]  Somebody pointed out, quite correctly, that such rights are
>> not anybody's to grant (although I imagine it would be a fait accompli
>> situation for the winner.)  So how about this?  Give the winning group
>> (I can't see one company or corp doing it) a 10, 20, or 50 year
>> moratorium on taxes.
>>
>> Tom Freebairn
>
>
>Who says there is no mineral rights to be given? Who says? The UN or the US
>Government?
Tom's right about this.  It's only a grantable right if the granter has
the will and the ability to stop anyone from taking it away from you.
Never mind the legal status.
>Major question is if you decide to mine the moon or Mars, who will stop you?
>The UN can't other than legal tom foolerie.. Can the truly inforce it?
Nick's right about this.  It's always easier to obtain forgiveness than
permission.  Not many people remember that Britain's King George III
expressly forbid his american subjects to cross the alleghany/appalachian
mountains.  Said subjects basically said, "Stop us if you can."  He
couldn't.
>If you go to the moon as declare that you are now a soverign nation, who will
>stop you from doing it. Maybe not acknowledge you?
That's how the USA started.  Of course, that's also how the Bolivarian
Republic started (ca. 1800-1820) in central america.  It didn't have
quite the staying power of the USA.  I'm sure there are more examples of
going far away and then ignoring authority, but none jump to mind right
now.
>What can happen is to find a nation which is acknowledged, and offer your
>services as a space miner and then go mine the asteroids/mars/moon or what
>ever.. As long as yur sponsor does not get in trouble..
Or do as some whaling nations do: define whatever activities you want to
carry out as "scientific research" which just coincidentally requires
the recovery of megatonnes of minerals (or whatever), then go at it.
>Basically find a country who wants to go into space, but can't for soem reason
>or another, but who will give you a "home".. Such as Saudia Arabia or
>whatever..
Lute Keyser had just this sort of arrangement with Libya (I think) in
the late '70's for his commercial space launch project (one of the very
earliest).  It was killed by Soviet propaganda about NATO cruise
missiles in Africa, which made Libya renege on the arrangement.
Doug Loss
From: loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss)
Subject: Re: Death and Taxes (was Why not give $1 billion to...
Organization: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 7
In my last post I referred to Michael Adams as "Nick."  Completely my
error; Nick Adams was a film and TV actor from the '50's and early '60's
(remember Johnny Yuma, The Rebel?).  He was from my part of the country,
and Michael's email address of "nmsca[...]" probably helped confuse things
in my mind.  Purely user headspace error on my part.  Sorry.
Doug Loss
From: ven@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Van E. Neie)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: Purdue University Physics Department
Lines: 29
In article <1993Apr22.180630.18313@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu> pearson@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (N. Shirlene Pearson) writes:
>jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein) writes:
>
>
>>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
>
>Would you mind posting the responses you get?
>I am also interested, and there may be others.
>
>Thanks,
>
>N. Shirlene Pearson
>pearson@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu
There is an excellent software program called Astro.calc that does that and
much more.  The latest address I have is
MMI Corporation
PO Box 19907
Baltimore, MD  21211
Phone (301) 366-1222
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Van E. Neie                                      ven@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu
Purdue University                                neie@purccvm.bitnet
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: xrcjd@mudpuppy.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine)
Subject: Space Station Redesign Chief Resigns for Health Reasons
Organization: NASA/GSFC Greenbelt Maryland
Lines: 12
Writer Kathy Sawyer reported in today's Washington Post that Joseph Shea, the
head of the space station redesign has resigned for health reasons.
Shea was hospitalized shortly after his selection in February.  He returned
yesterday to lead the formal presentation to the independent White House panel.
Shea's presentation was rambling and almost inaudible.
Shea's deputy, former astronaut Bryan O'Connor, will take over the effort.
Goldin asserted that the redesign effort is on track.
--
Chuck Divine
From: Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca (Bruce Dunn)
Subject: Re: Clementine mission name
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 22
> Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org writes:
>
> Old pioneer song from the 1850's or so goes as follows:
>
>   "In a cavern, in a canyon,
>    Excavating for a mine,
>    Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
>    And his daughter, CLEMENTINE"
>
> Chorus:
>   "Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
>    Oh my darling Clementine.
>    You are lost and gone forever,
>    Oh my darling Clementine."
Let us hope that the performance of the spacecraft follows the
sentiments of the first verse (miner) rather than the second (lost and gone
forever).
--
Bruce Dunn    Vancouver, Canada   Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Dreams and Degrees (was Re: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?)
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 47
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <C5xp0K.G79@brunel.ac.uk>, mt90dac@brunel.ac.uk (Del Cotter) writes:
> <1993Apr21.205403.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>> Sorry if I do not have the big degrees
>>and such, but I think (I might be wrong, to error is human) I have something
>>that is in many ways just as important, I have imagination, dreams. And without
>>dreams all the knowledge is worthless..
>
> Oh, and us with the big degrees don't got imagination, huh?
>
> The alleged dichotomy between imagination and knowledge is one of the most
> pernicious fallacys of the New Age.  Michael, thanks for the generous
> offer, but we have quite enough dreams of our own, thank you.
Well said.
> You, on the other hand, are letting your own dreams go to waste by
> failing to get the maths/thermodynamics/chemistry/(your choices here)
> which would give your imagination wings.
>
> Just to show this isn't a flame, I leave you with a quote from _Invasion of
> the Body Snatchers_:
>
> "Become one of us; it's not so bad, you know"
Okay, Del, so Michael was being unfair, but you are being unfair back.
He is taking college courses now, I presume he is studying hard, and
his postings reveal that he is *somewhat* hip to the technical issues
of astronautics.  Plus, he is attentively following the erudite
discourse of the Big Brains who post to sci.space; is it not
inevitable that he will get a splendid technical education from
reading the likes of you and me? [1]
Like others involved in sci.space, Mr. Adams shows symptoms of being a
fledgling member of the technoculture, and I think he's soaking it up
fast.  I was a young guy with dreams once, and they led me to get a
technical education to follow them up.  Too bad I wound up in an
assembly-line job stamping out identical neutrinos day after day...
(-:
[1] Though rumors persist that Del and I are both pseudonyms of Fred
McCall.
Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey              | "We'll see you
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory  | at White Sands in June.
Bitnet:           HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET  | You bring your view-graphs,
Internet:       HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV  | and I'll bring my rocketship."
SPAN/Hepnet:           43011::HIGGINS  | --Col. Pete Worden on the DC-X
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 22
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr23.103038.27467@bnr.ca>, agc@bmdhh286.bnr.ca (Alan Carter) writes...
>In article <22APR199323003578@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>|> 3.  On April 19, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to
>|> 264 hours, its planned value during this mission phase.
>
>This activity is regularly reported in Ron's interesting posts. Could
>someone explain what the Command Loss Timer is?
>
The Command Loss Timer is part of the fault protection scheme of the
spacecraft.  If the Command Loss Timer ever countdowns to zero, then the
spacecraft assumes it has lost communications with Earth and will go
through a set of predetermined steps to try to regain contact.  The
Command Loss Timer is set to 264 hours and reset about once a week during
the cruise phase, and is set to a lower value during an encounter phase.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 22
In article <1993Apr21.212202.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>Here is a way to get the commericial companies into space and mineral
>exploration.
>
>Basically get the eco-freaks to make it so hard to get the minerals on earth.
They aren't going to leave a loophole as glaring as space mining.  Quite a
few of those people are, when you come right down to it, basically against
industrial civilization.  They won't stop with shutting down the mines here;
that is only a means to an end for them now.
The worst thing you can say to a true revolutionary is that his revolution
is unnecessary, that the problems can be corrected without radical change.
Telling people that paradise can be attained without the revolution is
treason of the vilest kind.
Trying to harness these people to support spaceflight is like trying to
harness a buffalo to pull your plough.  He's got plenty of muscle, all
right, but the furrow will go where he wants, not where you want.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 15
In article <19930423.010821.639@almaden.ibm.com> nicho@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>>Since we don't have the money to keep them going now, how will
>>changing them to a seperate agency help anything?
>>
>How about transferring control to a non-profit organisation that is
>able to accept donations to keep craft operational.
The problem is, you can't raise adequate amounts of money that way.
The Viking Fund tried.  They did succeed, in a way, but only because
of the political impact of their fundraising.  The actual amount of
money they raised was fairly inconsequential; it would not have kept
the Viking lander going by itself.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 17
In article <1993Apr23.103038.27467@bnr.ca> agc@bmdhh286.bnr.ca (Alan Carter) writes:
>|> ... a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer ...
>
>This activity is regularly reported in Ron's interesting posts. Could
>someone explain what the Command Loss Timer is?
If I'm not mistaken, this is the usual sort of precaution against loss of
communications.  That timer is counting down continuously; if it ever hits
zero, that means Galileo hasn't heard from Earth in a suspiciously long
time and it may be Galileo's fault... so it's time to go into a fallback
mode that minimizes chances of spacecraft damage and maximizes chances
of restoring contact.  I don't know exactly what-all Galileo does in such
a situation, but a common example is to switch receivers, on the theory
that maybe the one you're listening with has died.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: jbreed@doink.b23b.ingr.com (James B. Reed)
Subject: Re: space news from Feb 15 AW&ST
Nntp-Posting-Host: doink
Reply-To: jbreed@ingr.com
Organization: Intergraph Electronics
Lines: 10
In article <C5ros0.uy@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
|> [Pluto's] atmosphere will start to freeze out around 2010, and after about
|> 2005 increasing areas of both Pluto and Charon will be in permanent
|> shadow that will make imaging and geochemical mapping impossible.
Where does the shadow come from?  There's nothing close enough to block
sunlight from hitting them.  I wouldn't expect there to be anything block
our view of them either.  What am I missing?
Jim
From: tffreeba@indyvax.iupui.edu
Subject: Re: Death and Taxes (was Why not give $1 billion...)
Lines: 48
nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu, University of Alaska Fairbanks writes:
[A GOOD DEAL OF HEALTHY IF NOT DEEPLY THOUGHT OUT IDEALISM DELETED
BELOW.]
>Major question is if you decide to mine the moon or Mars, who will stop you?
>[...] Can the truly inforce it? [...]
If their parent company does business (and they will) on the face of the Earth
then they are vulnerable to govt. sanctions.  Yes they can be stopped.
>If you go to the moon as declare that you are now a soverign nation, who will
>stop you from doing it. [...]
For the first 100 - 500 (IMHO) years nobody will have to.  The colonists will
be too dependent on Earth too pull it off.  Eventually they will, history
shows us that.
>Also once you have the means to mine the moon (or whatever) then just do it.
>The UN if done right can be made to be so busy with something else, they will
>not care [...]
What exactly do you mean here?  Terrorism?  Start an international incident
so your dream can come true?  Crack a few eggs to make the omelet?  This
sounds fairly irresponsible.
>Basically what I am saying is where is that drive of yeasteryears to go a
>little bit farther out, to do jus ta  little bit more, and to tell the crown to
>piss off.. If my ancestors thought the way many today think, Id have been born
>in Central Europe just north of the Black Sea..
Again, the tie that binds will be much stronger for space colonists than
any immigrants that have gone before.  Even those intrepid Asian
explorers that crossed the Bering land bridge did not have to carry their
air on their backs.
==
>Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
Keep the dream alive, maybe dream it a little more cogently.
Tom Freebairn   | There once was a man
| Who built a boat
| To sail away in.
| It sank.
|        J.P. Donleavy
_Fairy Tale of New York_ (maybe?)
From: nanderso@Endor.sim.es.com (Norman Anderson)
Subject: COMET...when did/will she launch?
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp.
Lines: 12
COMET (Commercial Experiment Transport) is to launch from Wallops Island
Virginia and orbit Earth for about 30 days. It is scheduled to come down
in the Utah Test & Training Range, west of Salt Lake City, Utah. I saw
a message in this group toward the end of March that it was to launch
on March 27. Does anyone know if it launched on that day, or if not,
when it is scheduled to launch and/or when it will come down.
I would also be interested in what kind(s) of payload(s) are onboard.
Thanks for your help.
Norman Anderson          nanderso@endor.sim.es.com
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 20
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
INteresting question about Galileo.
Galileo's HGA  is stuck.
The HGA was left closed,  because galileo  had a venus flyby.
If the HGA were pointed att he sun,  near venus,  it would
cook the foci elements.
question:  WHy couldn't Galileo's  course manuevers have been
designed such that the HGA  did not ever do a sun point.?
After all,  it would normally be aimed at earth anyway?
or would it be that an emergency situation i.e. spacecraft safing
and seek might have caused an HGA sun point?
pat
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: HST Servicing Mission Scheduled for 11 Days
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 88
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: HST
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                             April 23, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1780)
Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone:  713/483-5111)
RELEASE:  93-76
HUBBLE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION SCHEDULED FOR ELEVEN DAYS
The December flight of Endeavour on Space Shuttle mission STS-61 to
service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been scheduled as an 11 day
mission designed to accommodate a record five spacewalks with the capability
for an additional two, if needed.
The decision to schedule five extravehicular activities, or EVAs, was
reached following extensive evaluations of underwater training, maneuver times
required using the Shuttle's robot arm based on software simulations and actual
EVA tasks on previous missions.
"Basically what we've done by going to five EVAs rather than three is
to repackage our margin so that we have the capability to respond to the
dynamics, or unknowns, of spacewalks," Mission Director Randy Brinkley said.
"It improves the probabilities for mission success while providing added
flexibility and adaptability for reacting to real-time situations."
In laying out the specific tasks to be completed on each of the
spacewalks, officials have determined that changing out the gyros, solar arrays
and the Wide Field/Planetary Camera (WF/PC) and installing the Corrective
Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) are priority objectives
during the mission.
"When we looked at accomplishing all of the tasks, highest through
lowest priority, and recognizing that the major tasks -- gyros, solar arrays,
WF/PC and COSTAR -- would consume most of the time set aside for each
spacewalk, five EVAs were deemed appropriate," said Milt Heflin, Lead Flight
Director for the mission.
While the five spacewalks will be unprecedented, the use of two
alternating spacewalk teams will alleviate placing more stress on the crew than
previous missions requiring two, three or four EVAs.
"We have paid close attention to lessons learned during previous
spacewalks and factored these into our timeline estimates for five EVAs,"
Heflin said.  "In planning for all Space Shuttle missions, it is necessary to
formulate a work schedule that represents as realistic a timeline as possible
to accomplish the mission objectives."
Planning currently calls for at least five water tank training sessions
that include support from the Mission Control Center, called joint integrated
simulations, lasting between 10 and 36 hours.  In addition, many stand alone
underwater training "runs" will practice individual tasks in each spacewalk.
Various refinements to the specific tasks on each spacewalk will be
made based on actual training experience during the months prior to the
mission.  Also, lessons learned from other spacewalks leading up to the flight
will be valuable in assisting the STS-61 crew in its training techniques.
Endeavour's June flight and Discovery's July mission both will include
spacewalks to evaluate some of the unique tools to be used on the HST mission.
The evaluations will help in better understanding the differences between the
actual weightlessness of space and the ground training in the water tanks at
the Johnson Space Center, Houston, and the Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala.
Also, the inflight spacewalking experiences will assist in gaining
further insight into the time required for the various tasks and expand the
experience levels among the astronaut corps, the flight controllers and
trainers.
Designed to be serviced by a Space Shuttle crew, Hubble was built with
grapple fixtures and handholds to assist in the capture and repair procedures.
The telescope was launched aboard Discovery in April 1990.  At that
time the NASA mixed fleet manifest showed the first revisit mission to HST in
1993 to change out science instruments and make any repairs that may have
become necessary.
- end -
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Moonbase race, NASA resources, why?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 9
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
Henry,
didn't the Little Joe  and Big Joe  get built in under a year?
6 months for little Joe,  and 12 Months for Big Joe?
i thought i saw something on that for  a old mercury film.
pat
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA
Lines: 25
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
In article <1993Apr23.001718.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>In article <1r6b7v$ec5@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>>  Besides this was the same line of horse puckey the mining companies claimed
>> when they were told to pay for  restoring land  after strip mining.
>===
>I aint talking the large or even the "mining companies" I am talking the small
>miners, the people who have themselves and a few employees (if at all).The
>people who go out every year and set up thier sluice box, and such and do
>mining the semi-old fashion way.. (okay they use modern methods toa point).
Lot's of these small miners  are no longer miners.  THey are people living
rent free on Federal land,  under the claim of being a miner.  The facts are
many of these people do not sustaint heir income from mining,  do not
often even live their full time,  and do fotentimes do a fair bit
of environmental damage.
These minign statutes were created inthe 1830's-1870's  when the west was
uninhabited  and were designed to bring people into the frontier.  Times change
people change.  DEAL.  you don't have a constitutional right to live off
the same industry forever.  Anyone who claims the have a right to their
job in particular,  is spouting nonsense.   THis has been a long term
federal welfare program,  that has outlived it's usefulness.
pat
From: uphrrmk@gemini.oscs.montana.edu (Jack Coyote)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Reply-To: uphrrmk@gemini.oscs.montana.edu (Jack Coyote)
Organization: Never Had It, Never Will
Lines: 14
In sci.astro, dmcaloon@tuba.calpoly.edu (David McAloon) writes:
[ a nearly perfect parody  -- needed more random CAPS]
Thanks for the chuckle.  (I loved the bit about relevance to people starving
in Somalia!)
To those who've taken this seriously, READ THE NAME! (aloud)
--
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.  Enjoy the buffet!
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Why DC-1 will be the way of the future.
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 22
In <1r6ub0$mgl@access.digex.net> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>In article <1993Apr22.164801.7530@julian.uwo.ca> jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>>	Hmmm. I seem to recall that the attraction of solid state record-
>>players and radios in the 1960s wasn't better performance but lower
>>per-unit cost than vacuum-tube systems.
>>
>I don't think so at first,  but solid state offered  better reliabity,
>id bet,  and any lower costs would be only after the processes really scaled up.
Careful.  Making statements about how solid state is (generally) more
reliable than analog will get you a nasty follow-up from Tommy Mac or
Pat.  Wait a minute; you *are* Pat.  Pleased to see that you're not
suffering from the bugaboos of a small mind.  ;-)
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Lines: 25
In <1993Apr23.103038.27467@bnr.ca> agc@bmdhh286.bnr.ca (Alan Carter) writes:
>In article <22APR199323003578@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>|> 3.  On April 19, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to
>|> 264 hours, its planned value during this mission phase.
>This activity is regularly reported in Ron's interesting posts. Could
>someone explain what the Command Loss Timer is?
The Command Loss Timer is a timer that does just what its name says;
it indicates to the probe that it has lost its data link for receiving
commands.  Upon expiration of the Command Loss Timer, I believe the
probe starts a 'search for Earth' sequence (involving antenna pointing
and attitude changes which consume fuel) to try to reestablish
communications.  No-ops are sent periodically through those periods
when there are no real commands to be sent, just so the probe knows
that we haven't forgotten about it.
Hope that's clear enough to be comprehensible.
--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: New planet/Kuiper object found?
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Distribution: sci
Nntp-Posting-Host: prism.engrg.uwo.ca
Lines: 5
If the  new  Kuiper belt object *is*  called 'Karla', the next
one  should be called 'Smiley'.
James Nicoll
From: gfk39017@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (George F. Krumins)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 31
Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Jeff Cook) writes:
>In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
>>Now, Space Marketing
>>What about light pollution in observations? (I read somewhere else that
>>it might even be visible during the day, leave alone at night).
>I can't believe that a mile-long billboard would have any significant
>effect on the overall sky brightness.  Venus is visible during the day,
>but nobody complains about that.  Besides, it's in LEO, so it would only
When I was at the Texas Star Party a few years ago, the sky was so dark
that Venus did, indeed, cause light pollution until it set.
Even if the billboard were dark it could cause a problem.  Imagine observing an
object and halfway through your run, your object was occulted!
I would guess that most of the people stating positive opinions are not
fanatically serious observers.
It is so typical that the rights of the minority are extinguished by the
wants of the majority, no matter how ridiculous those wants might be.
George Krumins
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  George Krumins                                                              |
|  gfk39017@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu                                                   |
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: SIRTF Mission is Still Alive
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 114
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: SIRTF, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
From the "JPL Universe"
April 23, 1993
SIRTF is still very much in business
By Mark Whalen
In these times of extra-tight NASA budgets, the very
survival of a number of missions has been uncertain. But thanks
to major design refinements implemented in recent months, JPL's
Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) -- a major project
considered to be in trouble a couple of years ago -- is "alive
and well," according to Project Scientist Michael Werner.
A lighter spacecraft, revised orbit and shorter mission have
added up to a less expensive project with "tremendous scientific
power" and a bright future, said Werner.
Designed as a follow-up to the highly successful Infrared
Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and Cosmic Background Explorer
(COBE) missions, SIRTF -- a cryogenically cooled observatory for
infrared astronomy from space -- is scheduled for launch in 2000
or 2001 if plans proceed as scheduled.
IRAS' pioneering work in space-based infrared astronomy 10
years ago allowed astronomers to view the Milky Way as never
before and revealed, among other things, 60,000 galaxies and 25
comets. It provided a sky survey 1,000 times more sensitive than
any previously available from ground-based observations. COBE has
measured the infrared and microwave background radiation on large
angular scales, and revealed new facts about the early universe.
But to illuminate SIRTF's potential, Jim Evans, JPL's
manager of Astrophysics and Fundamental Physics Pre-Projects,
recently said that the project is "1,000 to 1 million times more
capable than IRAS," based on technological advances in infrared
detector arrays.
However, despite the enormous strides in infrared
exploration SIRTF promised, and the fact that it was cited as the
highest priority new initiative for all of astronomy in the 1990s
(by the National Academy of Sciences), it took a "diet or die"
directive from NASA Headquarters last year to keep the project
going, according to Werner.
The project is now known as Atlas SIRTF, based on the key
factor in its new design: The satellite will orbit the sun
instead of the Earth, permitting the use of an Atlas rocket
launch instead of the formerly proposed and heavier Titan. "The
main advantage of the solar orbit is that you can use all of your
launch capability for boosting the payload -- you don't have to
carry up a second rocket to circularize the orbit," Werner said.
The other advantage to a solar orbit, he said, is that "it's in a
better thermal environment, away from the heat of the Earth."
Additional major changes in SIRTF's redesign include
shortening the mission from five to three years and building a
spacecraft that is less than half as heavy as in the original
plan -- Atlas SIRTF will weigh 2,470 kilograms (5,400 pounds)
compared to Titan SIRTF's 5,500 kilograms (12,100 pounds).
All of that adds up to "a less stressful launch
environment," Werner said, and a cost savings of more than $200
million for the launch, in addition to increased savings in the
design of the smaller, less massive spacecraft.
Werner said SIRTF's redesign came as a result of Congress'
telling NASA "you're trying to do too many things. If you want us
to support SIRTF, which is a good project, develop a plan to see
how it fits into (NASA's) overall strategy."
Shortly thereafter, SIRTF was named as NASA's highest
priority "flagship" scientific mission by the interdisciplinary
Space Sciences Advisory Committee, in addition to the blessing
from the National Academy of Sciences.
While the spacecraft and its instruments required descoping
to keep the project alive, SIRTF's major scientific contribution
always promised to come about from its advanced infrared detector
arrays, which will allow images to be developed "tens of
thousands of times faster" than before, according to Evans.
"Up until a couple of years ago," Werner said, "all infrared
astronomy was done with single detectors -- or very small arrays
of individually assembled detectors. Since then, the Department
of Defense has developed a program to produce arrays of tens or
hundreds of thousands of detectors, rather than just a few, and
those are very well suited for use on SIRTF."
Werner noted that in addition to dealing with budget
pressures, Congress is currently watching NASA projects with an
eye out for any "technological spinoff."
"On that question, I think we have some things to say," he
said, "because the detectors we're using are straight off various
military developments. Also, SIRTF will be built by the U.S.
aerospace industry, and it's a real technological and engineering
challenge in addition to being a tremendous scientific project.
"SIRTF will be used by the entire astronomical community,"
Werner added, but the revised three-year mission "puts a premium
on observing time. We have to educate the user community and
develop a program that involves early surveys and quick
turnaround of the data."
Werner said the downsizing of the project required a
reduction in scope and complexity of SIRTF's three instruments --
the infrared spectrograph, infrared array camera and multiband
imaging photometer. However, these reductions will only result in
losses of efficiency rather than capability, he said.
The project hopes to start a "Phase B" activity in 1995,
which will provide a detailed concept for development and design.
Building the hardware would begin about two years later.
Projected cost estimates, Evans said, are $850 million-$950
million.
"I am very optimistic about SIRTF," he said. "It will
provide a tremendous return for the investment."
Werner added that an additional benefit from the project
will be the "enrichment of our intellectual and cultural
environment. People on the street are very interested in
astronomy ... black holes, the possibility of life on other
planets, the origin of the universe ... and those are the kind of
questions SIRTF will help answer."
###
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Stephen Hawking Tours JPL
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 68
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
From the "JPL Universe"
April 23, 1993
Cosmologist Stephen Hawking tours Lab
By Karre Marino
Some 15 years after his first visit to JPL, Prof. Stephen
Hawking, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge
University and author of "A Brief History of Time," returned to
the Lab April 5.
On a tour hosted by JPL Chief Scientist Dr. Moustafa Chahine
and Merle McKenzie, manager of the International Affairs Office,
Hawking visited a variety of facilities, met with Lab Director
Dr. Edward Stone and various project scientists and managers, and
felt "like royalty," he said. Hawking, whose theories attempt to
explain the origin of distant galaxies, black holes and alternate
dimensions, wanted to re-visit JPL, he explained, "because while
I'm most interested in those things in space that are farther
away, I know that here is where the first steps are taken."
Hawking, who was accompanied by his family, two graduate
students and his aides, began the tour in von Karman Auditorium,
as David Evans, deputy assistant Lab director in the Office of
Flight Projects, and Dr. Arden Albee, Mars Observer's project
scientist, briefed him on current and past flight projects.
Voyager was pointed out to him, with special attention paid
to a gold plate with a series of engraved images. Should
extraterrestrial life stumble upon the spacecraft, Evans noted,
they would find a variety of images that would explain something
of Earth. The professor asked if we were still communicating with
the spacecraft, and Evans affirmed that we are.
Using a model of Mars Observer, Albee spent several minutes
describing the project and the spacecraft's features. In answer
to a question from Hawking, Chahine described a proposed
drag-free satellite, but confirmed that at this point, "it's only
a concept." Chahine, who had met Hawking at Caltech about five
years before, described the professor as "a living miracle of the
power of the brain. He's miraculous, and he has such a good sense
of humor."
The next stop, a demonstration on scientific data
visualization in Section 384's Digital Image Animation Lab,
entertained and delighted the group, as everyone donned goggles
to view 3-D images of Mars. Project Scientist Dr. Eric De Jong
showed off the latest data -- a comet that had only recently been
discovered in orbit close to Jupiter. Hawking was curious about
its composition, and as he was shown how images are developed, he
asked several questions on their interpretation.
Norman Haynes, ALD, Office of Telecommunications and Data
Acquisition, briefed the professor on the Space Flight Operations
Facility, and then Hawking spoke with Stone.
The day ended with two technical discussions of particular
interest to the professor. Technical Group Leader Dr. Frank
Estabrook and Senior Research Scientist Hugo Wahlquist described
a three-spacecraft gravity wave experiment, currently under way.
Then planetary astronomer Dr. Richard Terrile explained the
philosophy and plans for extra solar system planetary detection.
The Hawking party, which had been visiting Southern
California for five weeks, was headquartered at Caltech, and
planned to leave for England within a few weeks after the Lab
tour. Upon departing, the Cambridge-based scientist promised
Chahine that he would return to JPL for another visit.
###
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: simon@cyklop.nada.kth.se (Simon Tardell)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Nntp-Posting-Host: cyklop.nada.kth.se
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 14
In <1993Apr21.141824.23536@cbis.ece.drexel.edu> jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein) writes:
>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
>I would appreciate any advice.
I once thought it would be easiest fitting a sine to the times. But not.
This gave  discrepancy of upto six minutes. If you fit a sine series
you'll get a very good fit after just three or four terms though. This
presumably has to do with the eccentricity of the Earths orbit.
--
Simon Tardell, Ff88, simon@nada.kth.se              V}ga v{gra cgs!
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: JPL's VLBI Project Meets with International Space Agencies
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 112
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: VLBI, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
From the "JPL Universe"
April 23, 1993
VLBI project meets with international space agencies
By Ed McNevin
Members of JPL's Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry
(VLBI) project team recently concluded a week-long series of
meetings with officials from Russia and Japan.
The meetings were part of "Space VLBI Week" held at JPL in
early March and were intended to maintain cooperation between
international space agencies participating in the development of
the U.S. Space VLBI Project, a recently approved JPL flight
project set for launch in 1995.
U.S. Space VLBI will utilize two Earth-orbiting spacecraft
-- the Japanese VSOP (VLBI Space Observing Program) satellite
with its 8-meter radio telescope, and a Russian RADIOASTRON
10-meter satellite. Both spacecraft will team up with
ground-based radio telescopes located around the world to create
a radio telescope network that astronomers hope will expand radio
telescope observing power by a factor of 10.
Japan's VSOP satellite will use a limited six-hour orbit to
conduct imaging science, while the Russian RADIOASTRON spacecraft
will exploit a larger, 28-hour Earth orbit to conduct exploratory
radio astronomy. Each satellite will point at a source target for
roughly 24 hours, while approximately 20 ground-based radio
telescopes will simultaneously point at the same source object
while within view on Earth.
According to Dr. Joel Smith, JPL's project manager for the
U.S. Space VLBI, meetings like those held at JPL will permit
Japan and Russia, who have little previous experience in radio
interferometry, to establish working relationships with the radio
astronomy communities that will be vital during the complex
observations required by the Space VLBI project.
"One of our main activities is developing the methodology
for international coordination, because the two spacecraft
simultaneously rely on the corresponding tracking stations while
using the ground-based radio telescopes to observe the same
celestial objects," said Smith.
Three new tracking antennas are being built at DSN
facilities and other three other tracking facilities located in
Japan, Russia and Green Bank, W.Va. This global network of
ground-based radio telescopes will use precision clocks and
high-speed recorders to collect observation data and forward the
information to a correlator located at the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M. The correlator will
combine and process data, then make it available to mission
investigators in Moscow, Tokyo, and JPL via electronic mail.
Smith is optimistic that the massive radio telescope created
by the Space VLBI network will provide radio astronomers with
better resolution than has ever been achieved before by
ground-based radio telescopes, allowing astronomers to take a
closer look at distant objects in space.
"There is a long history of radio astronomy using
ground-based telescopes," said Smith. "What we intend to do is to
extend radio astronomy into Earth orbit. Our goal is to look
deeper into the cores of galactic nuclei, quasars and other
active radio sources to understand what drives those things we
have seen so far with radio astronomy."
Smith noted that if one examines "the active galactic
nuclei, you'll find jets appearing to spew at speeds greater than
light, and at energy levels that are millions of times greater
than you would expect."
He said some astronomers believe that black holes may be
located in the cores of these galaxies, and that they may fuel
the jets. Smith hopes that "by using Space VLBI to look further
into the cores, this theory may be supported or disproved."
Russian space-flight hardware, including transponders and
transmitters, are now being tested in the United States, and
Japanese hardware is scheduled to arrive for testing later this
year. Analysis of this hardware will permit U.S. scientists and
engineers to understand how to modify the high-speed VLBA
Correlator operating at the NRAO in order to accommodate the odd
data patterns that will originate from the more than 20
ground-based radio telescopes involved in Space VLBI.
Smith is particularly pleased that meetings with the
Japanese and Russian space agency officials -- like those held at
JPL in March -- have proceeded smoothly. Yet he knows that the
political uncertainty in Russia could jeopardize that country's
participation in the project.
"Nothing is ever smooth," he said, "but the Russians have
been incredibly open with us. We always anticipated some
likelihood that we will not succeed because of political factors
beyond our control, yet there tends to be a way of keeping these
things going, because scientists on both sides are trying hard,
and people recognize the value of cooperation at this level."
Smith points out that the Japanese space agency has more at
stake than just fulfilling an international commitment to a
science mission.
"The Japanese have been extremely cooperative, since
international cooperation is essential to their science mission,"
he said.
But Smith also noted that Japanese space agency officials
look at the U.S. Space VLBI mission as an opportunity to showcase
the technology involved with VSOP spacecraft, and their highly
regarded Mach V launch vehicle.
Yet regardless of the risks involved in undertaking such an
ambitious project, JPL's Smith is satisfied that planning for the
Space VLBI Project is beyond the significant financial and
political hurdles that otherwise might threaten the project.
"Fortunately, we have the virtue of having two partners, and
if either falls out, we would still have something with the
other. By themselves, both spacecraft are independent,
scientifically exciting missions."
###
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: edm@twisto.compaq.com (Ed McCreary)
Subject: Re: Keeping Spacecraft on after Funding Cuts.
In-Reply-To: nicho@vnet.IBM.COM's message of Fri, 23 Apr 93 09: 06:09 BST
Organization: Compaq Computer Corp
<1r6aqr$dnv@access.digex.net> <C5w5zJ.HHq@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
<19930423.010821.639@almaden.ibm.com>
Lines: 14
>>>>> On Fri, 23 Apr 93 09:06:09 BST, nicho@vnet.IBM.COM (Greg Stewart-Nicholls) said:
GS> How about transferring control to a non-profit organisation that is
GS> able to accept donations to keep craft operational.
I seem to remember NASA considering this for some of the Apollo
equipment left on the moon, but that they decided against it.
Or maybe not...
--
Ed McCreary                                               ,__o
edm@twisto.compaq.com                                   _-\_<,
"If it were not for laughter, there would be no Tao."  (*)/'(*)
From: wawers@lif.de (Theo Wawers)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: Lahmeyer International, Frankfurt
Lines: 15
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL9]
There is a nice little tool in Lucid emacs. It's called "calendar".
On request it shows for given longitude/latitude coordinates times for
sunset and sunrise. The code is written in lisp.
I don't know if you like the idea that an editor is the right program to
calculate these things.
Theo W.
Theo Wawers                                  LAHMEYER INTERNATIONAL GMBH
email : wawers@sunny.lif.de                  Lyonerstr. 22
phone : +49 69 66 77 639                     D-6000 Frankfurt/Main
fax   : +49 69 66 77 571                     Germany
From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)
Subject: Weekly reminder for Frequently Asked Questions list
Supersedes: <reminder_734971619@cs.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 36
Distribution: world
Expires: 7 May 1993 17:25:40 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: mahler.cs.unc.edu
This notice will be posted weekly in sci.space, sci.astro, and
sci.space.shuttle.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for sci.space and sci.astro is
posted approximately monthly. It also covers many questions that come up on
sci.space.shuttle (for shuttle launch dates, see below).
The FAQ is posted with a long expiration date, so a copy may be in your
news spool directory (look at old articles in sci.space). If not, here are
two ways to get a copy without waiting for the next posting:
(1) If your machine is on the Internet, it can be obtained by anonymous
FTP from the SPACE archive at ames.arc.nasa.gov (128.102.18.3) in directory
pub/SPACE/FAQ.
(2) Otherwise, send email to 'archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov'
containing the single line:
help
The archive server will return directions on how to use it. To get an
index of files in the FAQ directory, send email containing the lines:
send space FAQ/Index
send space FAQ/faq1
Use these files as a guide to which other files to retrieve to answer
your questions.
Shuttle launch dates are posted by Ken Hollis periodically in
sci.space.shuttle. A copy of his manifest is now available in the Ames
archive in pub/SPACE/FAQ/manifest and may be requested from the email
archive-server with 'send space FAQ/manifest'. Please get this document
instead of posting requests for information on launches and landings.
Do not post followups to this article; respond to the author.
From: asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov)
Subject: Re: Sunrise/ sunset times
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
Lines: 19
In article <1993Apr21.141824.23536@cbis.ece.drexel.edu> jpw@cbis.ece.drexel.edu (Joseph Wetstein) writes:
>
>Hello. I am looking for a program (or algorithm) that can be used
>to compute sunrise and sunset times.
>
>Joe Wetstein
There is a wonderful book by Jean Meeus called
"Astronomical Algorithms," (1991) which I am fairly sure
contains an algorithm for sunrise and sunset times.
Dan Asimov
Mail Stop T045-1
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
asimov@nas.nasa.gov
(415) 604-4799
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Subject: Re: Level 5?
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lines: 20
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
In article <19930422.121236.246@almaden.ibm.com>, Wingert@vnet.IBM.COM (Bret Wingert) writes:
> 3. The Onboard Flight Software project was rated "Level 5" by a NASA team.
>    This group generates 20-40 KSLOCs of verified code per year for NASA.
Will someone tell an ignorant physicist where the term "Level 5" comes
from? It sounds like the RISKS Digest  equivalent of Large, Extra
Large, Jumbo... Or maybe it's like "Defcon 5..."
I gather it means that Shuttle software was developed with extreme
care to have reliablility and safety, and almost everything else in
the computing world is Level 1, or cheesy dime-store software.  Not
surprising.  But who is it that invents this standard, and how come
everyone but me seems to be familiar with it?
Of course, what Shakespeare        | Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey
ORIGINALLY wrote was "First thing  | Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
we do, let's kill all the EDITORS."| Bitnet:           HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
But for some reason it didn't      | Internet:       HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
survive past the first draft.      | SPAN/Hepnet:           43011::HIGGINS
-- David D. "Laserdave" Levine (davidl@ssd.intel.com)
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Space Station Redesign, JSC Alternative #4
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Lines: 71
I have 19 (2 MB worth!) uuencode'd GIF images contain charts outlining
one of the many alternative Space Station designs being considered in
Crystal City.  Mr. Mark Holderman works down the hall from me, and can
be reached for comment at (713) 483-1317, or via e-mail at
mholderm@jscprofs.nasa.gov.
Mark proposed this design, which he calls "Geode" ("rough on the
outside, but a gem on the inside") or the "ET Strongback with
integrated hab modules and centrifuge."  As you can see from file
geodeA.gif, it uses a Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) in place of much
of the truss which is currently part of Space Station Freedom.  The
white track on the outside of the ET is used by the Station Remonte
Manipulator System (SRMS) and by the Reaction Control System (RCS)
pod.  This allows the RCS pod to move along the track so that thrusting
can occur near the center of gravity (CG) of the Station as the mass
properties of the Station change during assembly.
The inline module design allows the Shuttle to dock more easily because
it can approach closer to the Station's CG and at a structurally strong
part of the Station.  In the current SSF design, docking forces are
limited to 400 pounds, which seriously constrains the design of the
docking system.
The ET would have a hatch installed pre-flight, with little additional
launch mass.  We've always had the ability to put an ET into orbit
(contrary to some rumors which have circulated here), but we've never
had a reason to do it, while we have had some good reasons not to
(performance penalties, control, debris generation, and eventual
de-orbit and impact footprint).  Once on-orbit, we would vent the
residual H2.  The ET insulation (SOFI) either a) erodes on-orbit from
impact with atomic Oxygen, or b) stays where it is, and we deploy a
Kevlar sheath around it to protect it and keep it from contaminating
the local space environment.  Option b) has the advantage of providing
further micrometeor protection.  The ET is incredibly strong (remember,
it supports the whole stack during launch), and could serve as the
nucleus for a much more ambitious design as budget permits.
The white module at the end of ET contains a set of Control Moment
Gyros to be used for attitude control, while the RCS will be used
for gyro desaturation.  The module also contains a de-orbit system
which can be used at the end of the Station's life to perform a
controlled de-orbit (so we don't kill any more kangaroos, like we
did with Skylab).
The centrifuge, which has the same volume as a hab module, could be
used for long-term studies of the effects of lunar or martian gravity
on humans.  The centrifuge will be used as a momentum storage device
for the whole attitude control system.  The centrifuge is mounted on
one of the modules, opposite the ET and the solar panels.
This design uses most of the existing SSF designs for electrical,
data and communication systems, getting leverage from the SSF work
done to date.
Mark proposed this design at Joe Shea's committee in Crystal City,
and he reports that he was warmly received.  However, the rumors
I hear say that a design based on a wingless Space Shuttle Orbiter
seems more likely.
Please note that this text is my interpretation of Mark's design;
you should see his notes in the GIF files.
Instead of posting a 2 MB file to sci.space, I tried to post these for
anon-FTP in ames.arc.nasa.gov, but it was out of storage space.  I'll
let you all know when I get that done.
-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
"...Development of the space station is as inevitable as
the rising of the sun." -- Wernher von Braun
From: jafoust@cco.caltech.edu (Jeff Foust)
Subject: Re: New planet/Kuiper object found?
Organization: Caltech:  Pasadena, California, USA
Lines: 12
Distribution: sci
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu
In a recent article jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>	If the  new  Kuiper belt object *is*  called 'Karla', the next
>one  should be called 'Smiley'.
Unless I'm imaging things, (always a possibility =) 1992 QB1, the Kuiper Belt
object discovered last year, is known as Smiley.
--
Jeff Foust              [49 days!]	"You're from outer space."
Senior, Planetary Science, Caltech	"No, I'm from Iowa.  I only work in
jafoust@cco.caltech.edu			 outer space."
jeff@scn1.jpl.nasa.gov			-- from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Russian Email Contacts.
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Lines: 10
I am coordinating the Space Shuttle Program Office's e-mail traffic to
NPO Energia for our on-going Joint Missions.  I have several e-mail
addresses for NPO Energia folks, but I won't post them on the 'Net for
obvious reasons.  If you need to know, give me a yell.
-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368
"The earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind will not stay in
the cradle forever." -- Konstantin Tsiolkvosky
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 23
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: flb@flb.optiplan.fi's message of Fri, 23 Apr 1993 12:01:38 GMT
In article <C5xr2w.Dnw.1@cs.cmu.edu> flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube[tm]") writes:
From: "Phil G. Fraering" <pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu>
> Finally: this isn't the Bronze Age, [..]
> please try to remember that there are more human activities than
> those practiced by the Warrior Caste, the Farming Caste, and the
> Priesthood.
Right, the Profiting Caste is blessed by God, and may
freely blare its presence in the evening twilight ..
The Priesthood has never quite forgiven
the merchants (aka Profiting Caste [sic])
for their rise to power, has it?
;-)
*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	*
*  steinly@lick.ucsc.edu 		"standard disclaimer"  	*
*  Ya know... you penguin types offend me. ...			*
*  My Gosh... Life is offensive!!   				*
*  Offensensitivity.		- BB 1984			*
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Subject: Re: New planet/Kuiper object found?
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
Lines: 23
Distribution: sci
<1r9de3INNjkv@gap.caltech.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: jafoust@cco.caltech.edu's message of 23 Apr 1993 18:44:19 GMT
In article <1r9de3INNjkv@gap.caltech.edu> jafoust@cco.caltech.edu (Jeff Foust) writes:
In a recent article jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>	If the  new  Kuiper belt object *is*  called 'Karla', the next
>one  should be called 'Smiley'.
Unless I'm imaging things, (always a possibility =) 1992 QB1, the Kuiper Belt
object discovered last year, is known as Smiley.
As it happens the _second_ one is Karla. The first one was
Smiley. All subject to the vagaries of the IAU of course,
but I think they might let this one slide...
*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	          *
*  steinly@lick.ucsc.edu		"standard disclaimer"  	          *
*  "The worst thing you can say to a true revolutionary is that his 	  *
*  revolution is unnecessary, that the problems can be corrected without  *
*  radical change. Telling people that paradise can be attained without   *
*  revolution is treason of the vilest kind."  -- H.S. 1993		  *
Just had to try out my new .sig# on this forum ;-)
From: gfk39017@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (George F. Krumins)
Subject: Re: space news from Feb 15 AW&ST
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 23
jbreed@doink.b23b.ingr.com (James B. Reed) writes:
>In article <C5ros0.uy@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>|> [Pluto's] atmosphere will start to freeze out around 2010, and after about
>|> 2005 increasing areas of both Pluto and Charon will be in permanent
>|> shadow that will make imaging and geochemical mapping impossible.
It's my understanding that the freezing will start to occur because of the
growing distance of Pluto and Charon from the Sun, due to it's
elliptical orbit. It is not due to shadowing effects.
>Where does the shadow come from?  There's nothing close enough to block
>sunlight from hitting them.  I wouldn't expect there to be anything block
>our view of them either.  What am I missing?
Pluto can shadow Charon, and vice-versa.
George Krumins
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  George Krumins                                                              |
|  gfk39017@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu                                                   |
|  Pufferfish Observatory                                                      |
From: thomsonal@cpva.saic.com
Subject: What counntries do space surveillance?
Organization: Science Applications Int'l Corp./San Diego
Lines: 111
Ethnocentric USian that I am, I've assumed that we and the
xUSSR were the only countries with significant capabilities to track
non-cooperative objects in low Earth orbit. Grazing in a couple of
databases recently,  I found that Japan has some optical capabilities
along this line, and also uses a radar designed for other purposes
for orbital debris surveys (it isn't clear whether the radar can
determine orbital elements for the objects it detects). Abstracts of
the articles are appended.
This leads to the more general question: do yet other people than
the US, Russia, and Japan do space surveillance, and if so, how and
why?
Allen Thomson              SAIC                        McLean, VA, USA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACTS
Optical tracking of the experimental geodetic satellite (EGS)
TAKABE, MASAO; ITABE, TOSHIKAZU; ARUGA, TADASHI
Radio Research Laboratory, Review (ISSN 0033-801X), vol. 34,
March 1988, p. 23-34. In Japanese, with abstract in English.
This paper reports the optical tracking results of EGS
(experimental geodetic satellite) which was launched on August 13,
1986, by NASDA. The EGS optical tracking experiment process and an
outline of the Radio Research Laboratory (RRL) optical ground       <----
station are discussed. A star tracking technique for optical
equipment calibration and satellite tracking technique for orbit
prediction improvement are also described. The accuracy of EGS
tracking data obtained by RRL at the request of NASDA is also
discussed. In addition, it is briefly demonstrated that the
position of the Japanese amateur satellite (JAS-1) which was
launched with the EGS, was accurately determined by means of a      <----
satellite tracking video. It is clear from this experiment that     <----
optical observation data (i.e., satellite direction data) are very  <----
useful for satellite orbit determination during initial launch      <----
stages. Furthermore, the results confirm the effectivenes of these  <----
two satellite optical tracking techniques.                          <----
MU radar measurements of orbital debris
SATO, TORU; KAYAMA, HIDETOSHI; FURUSAWA, AKIRA; KIMURA, IWANE
(Kyoto University, Japan)
AIAA, NASA, and DOD, Orbital Debris Conference: Technical Issues and
Future Directions, Baltimore, MD, Apr. 16-19, 1990. 10 p.
RPN: AIAA PAPER 90-1343
Distributions of orbital debris versus height and scattering cross
section are determined from a series of observations made with a high-
power VHF Doppler radar (MU radar) of Japan. An automated data
processing algorithm has been developed to discriminate echoes of
orbiting objects from those of undesired signals such as meteor trail
echoes or lightning atmospherics. Although the results are preliminary,
they showed good agreement with those from NORAD tracking radar      <----
observations using a much higher frequency. It is found that the     <----
collision frequency of a Space Station of 1 km x 1 km size at an
altitude of 500 km with orbiting debris is expected to be as high as
once per two years.
Monitoring of the MU radar antenna pattern by Satellite Ohzora (EXOS-C)
SATO, T.; INOOKA, Y.; FUKAO, S. (Kyoto Univ., Japan); KATO, S.
Kyoto Univ., Uji (Japan). Radio Atmospheric Science Center.
In International Council of Scientific Unions, Middle Atmosphere Program.
Handbook for MAP, Vol. 20 5 p
Publication Date: Jun. 1986
As the first attempt among MST (mesosphere stratosphere
troposphere) type radars, the MU (middle and upper atmosphere) radar
features an active phased array system. Unlike the conventional large
VHF radars, in which output power of a large vacuum tube is distributed
to individual antenna elements, each of 475 solid state power amplifier
feeds each antenna element. This system configuration enables very fast
beam steering as well as various flexible operations by dividing the
antenna into independent subarrays, because phase shift and signal
division/combination are performed at a low signal level using
electronic devices under control of a computer network. The antenna
beam can be switched within 10 microsec to any direction within the
zenith angle of 30 deg. Since a precise phase alignment of each element
is crucial to realize the excellent performance of this system, careful
calibration of the output phase of each power amplifier and antenna
element was carried out. Among various aircraft which may be used for
this purpose artificial satellites have an advantage of being able to
make a long term monitoring with the same system. An antenna pattern
monitoring system for the MU radar was developed using the scientific
satellite OHZORA (EXOS-C). A receiver named MUM (MU radar antenna
Monitor) on board the satellite measures a CW signal of 100 to 400
watts transmitted from the MU radar. The principle of the measurement
and results are discussed.
Equatorial radar system
FUKAO, SHOICHIRO;  TSUDA, TOSHITAKA; SATO, TORU; KATO, SUSUMU
(Kyoto University, Uji, Japan)
(COSPAR, IAGA, SCOSTEP, et al., Plenary Meeting, 27th,
Workshops and Symposium on the Earth's Middle Atmosphere,
Espoo, Finland, July 18-29, 1988) Advances in Space Research
(ISSN 0273-1177), vol. 10, no. 10, 1990, p. 151-154.
A large clear air radar with the sensitivity of an incoherent
scatter radar for observing the whole equatorial atmosphere up to 1000
km altitude is now being designed in Japan. The radar will be built in
Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia (0.03 deg N, 109.29 deg E). The
system is a 47-MHz monostatic Doppler radar with an active phased array
configuration similar to that of the MU radar in Japan, which has been
in successful operation since 1983. It will have a PA product of about
3 x 10 to the 9th W sq m (P = average transmitter power, A = effective
antenna aperture) with a sensitivity of approximately 10 times that of
the MU radar. This system configuration enables pulse-to-pulse beam
steering within 20 deg from the zenith. As is the case of the MU radar,
a variety of operations will be made feasible under the supervision of
the radar controller. A brief description of the system configuration
is presented.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Mars Observer Update - 04/23/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 48
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Mars Observer, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from the Mars Observer Project
MARS OBSERVER STATUS REPORT
April 23, 1993
10:00 AM PDT
Flight Sequence C8 is active, the Spacecraft subsystems and instrument
payload performing well in Array Normal Spin and outer cruise
configuration, with uplink and downlink via the High Gain Antenna; uplink
at 125 bps, downlink at the 2 K Engineering data rate.
As a result of the spacecraft entering Contingency Mode on April 9, all
payload instruments were automatically powered off by on-board fault
protection software.  Gamma Ray Spectrometer Random Access Memory
was successfully reloaded on Monday, April 19.  To prepare for
Magnetometer Calibrations which were rescheduled for execution in Flight
Sequence C9 on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, a reload of Payload
Data System Random Access Memory will take place this morning
beginning at 10:30 AM.
Over this weekend, the Flight Team will send real-time commands to
perform Differential One-Way Ranging to obtain additional data for
analysis by the Navigation Team.  Radio Science Ultra Stable Oscillator
testing will take place on Monday .
The Flight Sequence C9 uplink will occur on Sunday, April 25, with
activation at Midnight, Monday evening April 26.  C9 has been modified to
include Magnetometer Calibrations which could not be performed in C8 due
to Contingency Mode entry on April 9.  These Magnetometer instrument
calibrations will allow the instrument team to better characterize the
spacecraft-generated magnetic field and its effect on their instrument.
This information is critical to Martian magnetic field measurements
which occur during approach and mapping phases. MAG Cals will require
the sequence to command the spacecraft out of Array Normal Spin state
and perform slew and roll maneuvers to provide the MAG team data points
in varying spacecraft attitudes and orientations.
Today, the spacecraft is 22,971,250 km (14,273,673 mi.) from Mars
travelling at a velocity of 2.09 kilometers/second (4,677 mph) with
respect to Mars.  One-way light time is approximately 10 minutes, 38
seconds.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 04/23/93
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Lines: 34
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Keywords: Magellan, JPL
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager
MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
April 23, 1993
1.  The Magellan spacecraft continues to operate normally, gathering
gravity data to plot the density variations of Venus in the
mid-latitudes.  The solar panel offpoint was returned to zero degrees
and spacecraft temperatures dropped 2-3 degrees C.
2.  An end-to-end test of the Delayed Aerobraking Data readout
process was conducted this week in preparation for the Transition
Experiment.  There was some difficulty locking up to the data frames,
and engineers are presently checking whether the problem was in
equipment at the tracking station.
3.  Magellan has completed 7277 orbits of Venus and is now 32 days
from the end of Cycle 4 and the start of the Transition Experiment.
4.  Magellan scientists were participating in the Brown-Vernadsky
Microsymposium at Brown University in Providence, RI, this week.  This
joint meeting of U.S. and Russian Venus researchers has been
continuing for many years.
5.  A three-day simulation of Transition Experiment aerobraking
activities is planned for next week, including Orbit Trim Maneuvers
and Starcal (Star calibration) Orbits.
___    _____     ___
/_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | The aweto from New Zealand
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | is part caterpillar and
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | part vegetable.
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: New planet/Kuiper object found?
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Distribution: sci
Nntp-Posting-Host: prism.engrg.uwo.ca
Lines: 20
In article <STEINLY.93Apr23130246@topaz.ucsc.edu> steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
>In article <1r9de3INNjkv@gap.caltech.edu> jafoust@cco.caltech.edu (Jeff Foust) writes:
>
>   In a recent article jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>   >	If the  new  Kuiper belt object *is*  called 'Karla', the next
>   >one  should be called 'Smiley'.
>
>   Unless I'm imaging things, (always a possibility =) 1992 QB1, the Kuiper Belt
>   object discovered last year, is known as Smiley.
>
>As it happens the _second_ one is Karla. The first one was
>Smiley. All subject to the vagaries of the IAU of course,
>but I think they might let this one slide...
Gee, I feel so ignorant now...
Research, then post.
James Nicoll
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: Re: Space Station Redesign Chief Resigns for Health Reasons
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 30
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <C5xuGL.Jow@skates.gsfc.nasa.gov>, xrcjd@mudpuppy.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles J. Divine) writes...
>Writer Kathy Sawyer reported in today's Washington Post that Joseph Shea, the
>head of the space station redesign has resigned for health reasons.
>
>Shea was hospitalized shortly after his selection in February.  He returned
>yesterday to lead the formal presentation to the independent White House panel.
>Shea's presentation was rambling and almost inaudible.
I missed the presentations given in the morning session (when Shea gave
his "rambling and almost inaudible" presentation), but I did attend
the afternoon session. The meeting was in a small conference room. The
speaker was wired with a mike, and there were microphones on the table for
the panel members to use. Peons (like me) sat in a foyer outside the
conference room, and watched the presentations on closed circuit TV. In
general, the sound system was fair to poor, and some of the other
speakers (like the committee member from the Italian Space Agency)
also were "almost inaudible."
Shea didn't "lead the formal presentation," in the sense of running
or guiding the presentation. He didn't even attend the afternoon
session. Vest ran the show (President of MIT, the chair of the
advisory panel).
>
>Shea's deputy, former astronaut Bryan O'Connor, will take over the effort.
Note that O'Connor has been running the day-to-day
operations of the of the redesign team since Shea got sick (which
was immediately after the panel was formed).
Subject: Re: Surviving Large Accelerations?
From: lpham@eis.calstate.edu (Lan Pham)
Organization: Calif State Univ/Electronic Information Services
Lines: 25
Amruth Laxman <al26+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Hi,
>     I was reading through "The Spaceflight Handbook" and somewhere in
> there the author discusses solar sails and the forces acting on them
> when and if they try to gain an initial acceleration by passing close to
> the sun in a hyperbolic orbit. The magnitude of such accelerations he
> estimated to be on the order of 700g. He also says that this is may not
> be a big problem for manned craft because humans (and this was published
> in 1986) have already withstood accelerations of 45g. All this is very
> long-winded but here's my question finally - Are 45g accelerations in
> fact humanly tolerable? - with the aid of any mechanical devices of
> course. If these are possible, what is used to absorb the acceleration?
> Can this be extended to larger accelerations?
are you sure 45g is the right number? as far as i know, pilots are
blackout in dives that exceed 8g - 9g. 45g seems to be out of human
tolerance. would anybody clarify this please.
lan
>
> Thanks is advance...
> -Amruth Laxman
>
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Re: Eco-Freaks forcing Space Mining.
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr23.123433.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 43
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
In article <1r96hb$kbi@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
> In article <1993Apr23.001718.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu writes:
>>In article <1r6b7v$ec5@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>>>  Besides this was the same line of horse puckey the mining companies claimed
>>> when they were told to pay for  restoring land  after strip mining.
>>===
>>I aint talking the large or even the "mining companies" I am talking the small
>>miners, the people who have themselves and a few employees (if at all).The
>>people who go out every year and set up thier sluice box, and such and do
>>mining the semi-old fashion way.. (okay they use modern methods toa point).
>
>
> Lot's of these small miners  are no longer miners.  THey are people living
> rent free on Federal land,  under the claim of being a miner.  The facts are
> many of these people do not sustaint heir income from mining,  do not
> often even live their full time,  and do fotentimes do a fair bit
> of environmental damage.
>
> These minign statutes were created inthe 1830's-1870's  when the west was
> uninhabited  and were designed to bring people into the frontier.  Times change
> people change.  DEAL.  you don't have a constitutional right to live off
> the same industry forever.  Anyone who claims the have a right to their
> job in particular,  is spouting nonsense.   THis has been a long term
> federal welfare program,  that has outlived it's usefulness.
>
> pat
>
Hum, do you enjoy putting words in my mouth?
Come to Nome and meet some of these miners.. I am not sure how things go down
south in the lower 48 (I used to visit, but), of course to believe the
media/news its going to heck (or just plain crazy).
Well it seems that alot of Unionist types seem to think that having a job is a
right, and not a priviledge. Right to the same job as your forbearers, SEE:
Kennedy's and tel me what you see (and the families they have married into).
There is a reason why many historians and poli-sci types use unionist and
socialist in the same breath.
The miners that I know, are just your average hardworking people who pay there
taxes and earn a living.. But taxes are not the answer. But maybe we could move
this discussion to some more appropriate newsgroup..
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: space news from Feb 15 AW&ST
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 23
In article <1993Apr23.155313.4220@dazixco.ingr.com> jbreed@ingr.com writes:
>|> [Pluto's] atmosphere will start to freeze out around 2010, and after about
>|> 2005 increasing areas of both Pluto and Charon will be in permanent
>|> shadow that will make imaging and geochemical mapping impossible.
>
>Where does the shadow come from?  There's nothing close enough to block
>sunlight from hitting them.  I wouldn't expect there to be anything block
>our view of them either.  What am I missing?
You're assuming that their normal rotation carries all areas of the surface
into sunlight.  Not so.  Even on Earth, each pole gets several weeks without
sunlight in mid-winter.  Pluto and Charon have much more extreme axial
tilt and a much longer orbit.  Pluto's north pole, for example, gets over
a century of darkness followed by over a century of perpetual light.
At the moment, we're in luck -- Pluto and Charon are just past their
equinox, when the Sun was just on the horizon at both poles (of each).
If we get probes there soon, only the immediate vicinity of one pole
(on each) will be in long-term shadow.  This will get steadily worse the
longer we wait.
--
All work is one man's work.             | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- Kipling           |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Space Design Movies?
Article-I.D.: aurora.1993Apr23.124722.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lines: 11
Nntp-Posting-Host: acad3.alaska.edu
Is there a few Grasp pictures of space related items, namely Space Station
Designs, so you can see the "finished" revolt around..
If you don't know what a grasp prograsm is.. Check out some adult entertainment
files and see what I mean.. Or maybe geta few GIF files and create a "slide
shows" (I think Cshow can do this)..
I liek to be able to see a space shuttle design in a AutoCAD program or to see
it revolt around and look at it.
==
Michael Adams, nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu -- I'm not high, just jacked
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
From: thacker@rhea.arc.ab.ca
Organization: Alberta Research Council
Nntp-Posting-Host: rhea.arc.ab.ca
Lines: 13
In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au>, enzo@research.canon.oz.au (Enzo Liguori) writes:
<<<most of message deleted>>>
> What about light pollution in observations? (I read somewhere else that
> it might even be visible during the day, leave alone at night).
> Really, really depressed.
>
>              Enzo
No need to be depressed about this one.  Lights aren't on during the day
so there shouldn't be any daytime light pollution.
From: dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock)
Subject: Re: Space Station Redesign, JSC Alternative #4
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center / Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 102
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
In article <1993Apr23.184732.1105@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes...
{Description of "External Tank" option for SSF redesign deleted}
>Mark proposed this design at Joe Shea's committee in Crystal City,
>and he reports that he was warmly received.  However, the rumors
>I hear say that a design based on a wingless Space Shuttle Orbiter
>seems more likely.
Yo Ken, let's keep on-top of things! Both the "External Tank" and
"Wingless Orbiter" options have been deleted from the SSF redesign
options list. Today's (4/23) edition of the New York Times reports
that O'Connor told the panel that some redesign proposals have
been dropped, such as using the "giant external fuel tanks used
in launching space shuttles," and building a "station around
an existing space shuttle with its wings and tail removed."
Currently, there are three options being considered, as presented
to the advisory panel meeting yesterday (and as reported in
today's Times).
Option "A" - Low Cost Modular Approach
This option is being studied by a team from MSFC. {As an aside,
there are SSF redesign teams at MSFC, JSC, and LaRC supporting
the SRT (Station Redesign Team) in Crystal City. Both LeRC and
Reston folks are also on-site at these locations, helping the respective
teams with their redesign activities.} Key features of this
option are:
-  Uses "Bus-1", a modular bus developed by Lockheed that's
qualified for STS and ELV's. The bus provides propulsion, GN&C
Communications, & Data Management. Lockheed developed this
for the Air Force.
-  A "Power Station Capability" is obtained in 3 Shuttle Flights.
SSF Solar arrays are used to provide 20 kW of power. The vehicle
flies in an "arrow mode" to optimize the microgravity environment.
Shuttle/Spacelab missions would utilize the vehilce as a power
source for 30 day missions.
-  Human tended capability (as opposed to the old SSF sexist term
of man-tended capability) is achieved by the addition of the
US Common module. This is a modified version of the existing
SSF Lab module (docking ports are added for the International
Partners' labs, taking the place of the nodes on SSF). The
Shuttle can be docked to the station for 60 day missions.
The Orbiter would provide crew habitability & EVA capability.
-  International Human Tended. Add the NASDA & ESA modules, and
add another 20 kW of power
-  Permanent Human Presence Capability. Add a 3rd power module,
the U.S. habitation module, and an ACRV (Assured Crew Return
Vehicle).
Option "B" - Space Station Freedom Derived
The Option "B" team is based at LaRC, and is lead by Mike Griffin.
This option looks alot like the existing SSF design, which we
have all come to know and love :)
This option assumes a lightweight external tank is available for
use on all SSF assembly flights (so does option "A"). Also, the
number of flights is computed for a 51.6 inclination orbit,
for both options "A" and "B".
The build-up occurs in six phases:
-  Initial Research Capability reached after 3 flights. Power
is transferred from the vehicle to the Orbiter/Spacelab, when
it visits.
-  Man-Tended Capability (Griffin has not yet adopted non-sexist
language) is achieved after 8 flights. The U.S. Lab is
deployed, and 1 solar power module provides 20 kW of power.
-  Permanent Human Presence Capability occurs after 10 flights, by
keeping one Orbiter on-orbit to use as an ACRV (so sometimes
there would be two Orbiters on-orbit - the ACRV, and the
second one that comes up for Logistics & Re-supply).
-  A "Two Fault Tolerance Capability" is achieved after 14 flights,
with the addition of a 2nd power module, another thermal
control system radiator, and more propulsion modules.
-  After 20 flights, the Internationals are on-board. More power,
the Habitation module, and an ACRV are added to finish the
assembly in 24 flights.
Most of the systems currently on SSF are used as-is in this option,
with the exception of the data management system, which has major
changes.
Option C - Single Core Launch Station.
This is the JSC lead option. Basically, you take a 23 ft diameter
cylinder that's 92 ft long, slap 3 Space Shuttle Main Engines on
the backside, put a nose cone on the top, attached it to a
regular shuttle external tank and a regular set of solid rocket
motors, and launch the can. Some key features are:
- Complete end-to-end ground integration and checkout
- 4 tangentially mounted fixed solar panels
- body mounted radiators (which adds protection against
micrometeroid & orbital debris)
- 2 centerline docking ports (one on each end)
- 7 berthing ports
- a single pressurized volume, approximately 26,000 cubic feet
(twice the volume of skylab).
- 7 floors, center passageway between floors
- 10 kW of housekeeping power
- graceful degradation with failures (8 power channels, 4 thermal
loops, dual environmental control & life support system)
- increased crew time for utilization
- 1 micro-g thru out the core module
From: hathaway@stsci.edu
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Distribution: na
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Lines: 101
>Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
>Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
>
(excerpts from posting on this topic)
>In article <C5t05K.DB6@research.canon.oz.au> enzo@research.canon.oz.au
>(Enzo Liguori) writes:
>
>>Now, Space Marketing
>>is working with University of Colorado and Livermore engineers on
>>a plan to place a mile-long inflatable billboard in low-earth
>>orbit.
>...
>>... the real purpose of the project is to help the environment!
>>The platform will carry ozone monitors
>
>...
>I can't believe that a mile-long billboard would have any significant
>effect on the overall sky brightness.  Venus is visible during the day,
>but nobody complains about that.  Besides, it's in LEO, so it would only
>be visible during twilight when the sky is already bright, and even if
>it would have some miniscule impact, it would be only for a short time
>as it goes zipping across the sky.
>
(I've seen satellites at midnight - they're not only in twilight.) :o)
>...
>
>From the book "Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla" by John J. O'Neill:
>
>"This remarkable conductivity of gases, including the air, at low
>pressures, led Tesla to suggest, in a published statement in 1914, a
>system of lighting on a terrestrial scale in which he proposed to treat
>the whole Earth, with its surrounding atmosphere, as if it were a
>single lamp....
>The whole Earth would be transformed into a giant lamp, with the night
>sky completely illuminated.  ... making the night as bright as day."
>
Now my comments:
I'd like to add that some of the "protests" do not come from a strictly
practical consideration of what pollution levels are acceptable for
research activities by professional astronomers.  Some of what I
would complain about is rooted in aesthetics.  Many readers may
never have known a time where the heavens were pristine - sacred -
unsullied by the actions of humans.  The space between the stars
as profoundly black as an abyss can be.  With full horizons and
a pure sky one could look out upon half of all creation at a time
- none of which had any connection with the petty matters of man.
Any lights were supplied solely by nature; uncorruptable by men.
Whole religions were based on mortal man somehow getting up there
and becoming immortal as the stars, whether by apotheosis or a belief
in an afterlife.
The Space Age changed all that.  The effect of the first Sputniks
and Echo, etc. on this view could only happen once.  To see a light
crossing the night sky and know it was put there by us puny people
is still impressive and the sense of size one gets by assimilating
the scales involved is also awesome - even if the few hundreds or
thousands of miles involved is still dwarfed by the rest of the universe.
But there is still a hunger for the pure beauty of a virgin sky.
Yes, I know aircraft are almost always in sight.  I have to live
in a very populated area (6 miles from an international airport
currently) where light pollution on the ground is ghastly.  The
impact of humans is so extreme here - virtually no place exists
that has not been shaped, sculpted, modified, trashed or whipped
into shape by the hands of man.  In some places the only life
forms larger than bacteria are humans, cockroaches, and squirrels
(or rats).  I visited some friends up in the Appalacian mountains
one weekend, "getting away from it all" (paved roads, indoor plumbing,
malls, ...) and it felt good for a while - then I quickly noticed
the hollow was directly under the main flight path into Dulles - 60-80
miles to the east.  (Their 'security light' didn't help matters
much either.)  But I've heard the artic wilderness gets lots of
high air traffic.  So I know the skies are rarely perfect.
But there is still this desire to see a place that man hasn't
fouled in some way.  (I mean they've been TRYING this forever -
like, concerning Tesla's idea to banish night, - wow!)  I don't watch
commercial television, but I can imagine just how disgusting beer,
truck, or hemmorrhoid ointment advertisements would be if seen up so high.
If ya' gotta make a buck on it (displaying products in heaven), at
least consider the reactions from those for whom the sky is a last
beautiful refuge from the baseness of modern life.
To be open about this though, I have here my listing of the passage
of HST in the evening sky for this weekend - tonight Friday at
8:25 p.m. EDT it will reach an altitude of 20.1 degrees on the
local meridian from Baltimore vicinity.  I'll be trying to see it
if I can - it _is_ my mealticket after all.  So I suppose I could
be called an elitist for supporting this intrusion on the night sky
while complaining about billboards proposed by others.  Be that
as it may, I think my point about a desire for beauty is valid,
even if it can't ever be perfectly achieved.
Regards,
Wm. Hathaway
Baltimore MD
From: dprjdg@inetg1.ARCO.COM (John Grasham)
Subject: Re: Why not give $1 billion to first year-lo
Organization: ARCO Oil and Gas Company
Lines: 44
keithley@apple.com (Craig Keithley) writes:
>
> All in all, I'm not certain that the single goal/prize of staying on the
> moon for a year is wise and/or useful.  How about:  A prize for the
> first
> non-government sponsered unmanned moon landing, then another for a
> manned
> moon landing, then yet another for a system to extract consumables from
> lunar soil, another for a reusable earth/moon shuttle, and so forth.
> Find
> some way to build civilian moonbase infrastructure...  Having a single
> goal
> might result in a bunch of contestents giving up after one person
> appeared
> to win.  And for those that didn't give up, I find something a little
> scary
> about a half dozen people huddling in rickety little moon shelters.  I'd
> like to see as much a reward for co-operation as for competition.
>
> Lastly, about ten or fifteen years back I seem to recall that there was
> an
> English space magazine that had an on-going discussion about moonbases
> on
> the cheap.  I recalled it discussed things like how much heat the human
> body produced, how much lunar material it'd need for protection from
> solar
> flares, etc.  Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this magazine.
> Does this ring a bell to anyone?
>
> Craig Keithley                    |"I don't remember, I don't recall,
> Apple Computer, Inc.              |I got no memory of anything at all"
> keithley@apple.com                |Peter Gabriel, Third Album (1980)
>
I love the idea of progressive developmental prizes, but the assumption
has
been all along that only the U.S. Gummint could fund the prizes.  It
wouldn't and couldn't do such a thing ... BUT ...
An eccentric billionaire COULD offer such a prize or series of prizes.
Anyone know H. Ross Perot or Bill Gates personally?
John G.
From: drchambe@tekig5.pen.tek.com (Dennis Chamberlin)
Subject: Re: PLANETS STILL: IMAGES ORBIT BY ETHER TWIST
Reply-To: drchambe@tekig5.pen.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 31
----- News saved at 23 Apr 93 22:22:40 GMT
In article <1993Apr22.130923.115397@zeus.calpoly.edu> dmcaloon@tuba.calpoly.edu (David McAloon) writes:
>
> ETHER IMPLODES 2 EARTH CORE, IS GRAVITY!!!
>
>  This paper BOTH describes how heavenly bodys can be stationary,
>ether sucking structures, AND why we observe "orbital" motion!!
>  "Light-Years" between galaxies is a misnomer. The distance is
>closer to zero, as time and matter are characteristics of this phase
>of reality, which dissipates outward with each layer of the onion.
>(defining edge = 0 ether spin)
>  To find out about all of this, I recommend studying history.
Well, I'm working on it, but getting a little impatient. So far,
I've made it through Egyptian, Chinese, and Greek cultures, and
up through the Rennaisance. But so far, these insights just don't
seem to be gelling. Perhaps it's in an appendix somewhere.
In its own right, though, the history is kind of fun. Lots of
good yarns in there, with varied and interesting characters. And,
more to come.
From: pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky.
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 16
Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Jeff Cook) writes:
...
>people in primitive tribes out in the middle of nowhere as they look up
>and see a can of Budweiser flying across the sky... :-D
Seen that movie already. Or one just like it.
Come to think of it, they might send someone on
a quest to get rid of the dang thing...
>Jeff Cook                                  Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.com
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
From: pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Re: Dreams and Degrees (was Re: Crazy? or just Imaginitive?)
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 19
higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
...
>Like others involved in sci.space, Mr. Adams shows symptoms of being a
>fledgling member of the technoculture, and I think he's soaking it up
>fast.  I was a young guy with dreams once, and they led me to get a
>technical education to follow them up.  Too bad I wound up in an
>assembly-line job stamping out identical neutrinos day after day...
>(-:
How can you tell they're identical?
You got one of them "Star Drek: The Next Syndication" neutrino
scanners?
--
Phil Fraering         |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
Subject: DC-X/Y/1 question
From: kkobayas@husc8.harvard.edu (Ken Kobayashi)
Keywords: DC-X
Nntp-Posting-Host: husc8.harvard.edu
Lines: 17
I've been following discussions about the Delta Clipper program, and I
have one small question.  As I understand it, the DC-X derived orbital
vehicle (DC-Y & 1) is to reenter the atmosphere sort of sideways, not
completely nose-first.  So why is the DC-Y look symmetric in every drawing
I've seen?  I would think that an asymmetric design, sort of like
wingless Orbiter, may work better, since less shielding is required on the
top side.  Can anybody explain?
- Ken Kobayashi
kkobayas@husc.harvard.edu
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ken Kobayashi              |
kkobayas@husc.harvard.edu        |   "There is no final frontier." - IBM ad
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: DC-Y trajectory simulation
Keywords: SSTO, Delta Clipper
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 91
I've been to three talks in the last month which might be of interest. I've
transcribed some of my notes below.  Since my note taking ability is by no means
infallible, please assume that all factual errors are mine.  Permission is
granted to copy this without restriction.
Note for newbies:  The Delta Clipper project is geared towards producing a
single staget to orbit, reusable launch vehicle.  The DC-X vehicle is a 1/3
scale vehicle designed to test some of the concepts invovled in SSTO.  It is
currently undergoing tests.  The DC-Y vehicle would be a full scale
experimental vehicle capable of reaching orbit.  It has not yet been funded.
On April 6th, Rocky Nelson of MacDonnell Douglas gave a talk entitled
"Optimizing Techniques for Advanced Space Missions" here at the University of
Illinois. Mr Nelson's job involves using software to simulate trajectories and
determine the optimal trajectory within given requirements.  Although he is
not directly involved with the Delta Clipper project, he has spent time with
them recently, using his software for their applications.  He thus used
the DC-Y project for most of his examples.  While I don't think the details
of implicit trajectory simulation are of much interest to the readers (I hope
they aren't - I fell asleep during that part), I think that many of you will
be interested in some of the details gleaned from the examples.
The first example given was the maximization of payload for a polar orbit.  The
main restriction is that acceleration must remain below 3 Gs.  I assume that
this is driven by passenger constraints rather than hardware constraints, but I
did not verify that.  The Delta Clipper Y version has 8 engines - 4 boosters
and 4 sustainers.  The boosters, which have a lower isp, are shut down in
mid-flight.  Thus, one critical question is when to shut them down.  Mr Nelson
showed the following plot of acceleration vs time:
______
3 G         /|   /      |
/ |  /       |          As ASCII graphs go, this is actually fairly
/  | /        |	   good.  The big difference is that the lines
2 G      /   |/         |          made by the  /  should be curves which are
/               |          concave up.  The data is only approximate, as
/                |          the graph wasn't up for very long.
1 G   /                 |
|
|
0 G                     |
^          ^
~100 sec    ~400 sec
As mentioned before, a critical constraint is that G levels must be kept below
3.  Initially, all eight engines are started.  As the vehicle  burns fuel the
accelleration increases.  As it gets close to 3G, the booster engines are
throtled back.  However, they quickly become inefficient at low power, so it
soon makes more sense to cut them off altogether.  This causes the dip in
accelleration at about 100 seconds.  Eventually the remaining sustainer engines
bring the G level back up to about 3 and then hold it there until they cut
out entirely.
The engine cutoff does not acutally occur in orbit.  The trajectory is aimed
for an altitude slightly higher than the 100nm desired and the last vestiges of
air drag slow the vehicle slightly, thus lowering the final altitude to
that desired.
Questions from the audience:  (paraphrased)
Q:  Would it make sense to shut down the booster engines in pairs, rather than
all at once?
A:  Very perceptive.  Worth considering.  They have not yet done the simulation.    Shutting down all four was part of the problem as given.
Q:  So what was the final payload for this trajectory?
A:  Can't tell us.  "Read Aviation Leak."  He also apparently had a good
propulsion example, but was told not to use it.
My question:  Does anyone know if this security is due to SDIO protecting
national security or MD protecting their own interests?
The second example was reentry simulation, from orbit to just before the pitch
up maneuver.  The biggest constraint in this one is aerodynamic heating, and
the parameter they were trying to maximize was crossrange.  He showed graphs
of heating using two different models, to show that both were very similar,
and I think we were supposed to assume that this meant they were very accurate.
The end result was that for a polar orbit landing at KSC, the DC-Y would have
about 30 degrees of crossrange and would start it's reentry profile about
60 degrees south latitude.
I would have asked about the landing maneuvers, but he didn't know about that
aspect of the flight profile.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)
Subject: RIMSAT, US/Russian joint venture
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 121
I've been to three talks in the last month which might be of interest. I've
transcribed some of my notes below.  Since my note taking ability is by no means
infallible, please assume that all factual errors are mine.  Permission is
granted to copy this without restriction.
Michael Sternberg, Cheif of Operations of RIMSAT, was invited to speak at an
informal lunch held by ACDIS here on the campus of the University of Illinois.
ACDIS is an organization on campus that deals with Arms Control, Disarmament and
International Security.  RIMSAT was considered an appropriate topic because the
company is using Russian launchers and satellites.  I think it also helped that
his daughter is a grad student in the International Relations program.
The concept behind RIMSAT apparently began when Matt Neilson (?) went to Tonga
to visit a friend.  While he was there, he somehow ended up visiting the king,
who happened to be a big TV fan.  Matt bought the King a satellite dish, which
the king thought was really nifty.  Since Tonga has a GNP of about $70 million,
His Majesty asked if there was any way to make money off this.  Matt thought
there probably was, so at his suggestion, Tonga applied for 31 geosynchronous
satellite slots.  While this isn't entirely off the wall, it was very unusual,
seeing as Tonga was a tiny kingdom with no space program, and 31 is a lot of
slots.
The whole thing was debated in the appropriate regulatory agency and Carl
Hilliard (who is apparently a respected space lawyer) wrote several opinions
supporting Tonga's case.  Eventually Tonga ended up with 7 slots, ranging from
70 E to 170 E (slots are designated by the longitude over which they reside).
According to Sternberg, four of these, from 130 E to 142 E are the best in the
world because they are excellently placed for communications between Hawaii and
the Pacific Rim.
RIMSAT was formed to use these slots. It was officially formed in Nevis as a tax
haven.  They tried for a few years to raise funds in the west, however, to
fill 7 slots with western satellites launched on western launchers would have
cost approximately $2 billion.  It's not easy to raise that kind of money.
Eventually, they hit upon the idea of using Russian hardware.  They began
negotiating with Glavkosmos for hardware.  Mr Sternberg describes operating in
Moscow in such harsh terms that I don't think I'll visit there for a long time.
Besides a significant lack of creature comforts, he was not happy with the way
that people operate.  For example "everybody can sell you everything."
Everyone can show the proper documents and licenses that indicate they are the
only ones who have the authority to sell what ever you want to by.
Eventually, RIMSAT arranged a deal with Glavkosmos for 6 satellites at a cost
of $150 million.  However, Glavkosmos lost favor after the coup.  Sternberg
says that this is because they were basically a bunch of KGB operatives who
went to trade shows and picked up lots of brochures.  Since Glavkosmos was
out of power, he had to renegotiate the deal with the new authorities.  He
again described life in a Moscow hotel in rather unfavorable terms.  Eventually,
he worked out a deal and on Dec 4, 1992 he met with Koptev, who heads the
Russian space program, to sign the deal.  Koptev insisted on a few concessions
before signing and according to Sternberg he arranged these new rules to
allow himself to form another company to do the exact same thing as RIMSAT.
The next step was to meet with the builders of the hardware, NPO Applied
Mechanics -- NPO PM to use their acronym.  This organization is located in
Siberia (can't figure out how to spell the town, I need an atlas) and has built
about 1500 vehicles since the dawn of the space age.  Sternberg commented that
siberians are very different from Musovites.  They are hard workers, honest
people who team up to get things done, very much like midwesterners.  At this
point there were some comments from the audience that agreed with his opinion on
both siberians and midwesterners :-)
Sternberg had lots of good things to say about NPO PM.  His company is
apparently lookng for $100 million to invest in the firm to become 50% partners.It apparently costs the Russians about $4 million to build a satellite that
would sell for $50 million in the west.  If you want to give them
specifications, they'll build you a satellite.  For the particular satellites
that RIMSAT will be using, costs run about $378,000 per transponder year.  This
compares to $810,000 t/y in the U.S.  They can sell their time for about $1.1
million compared to $2.6 million in the U.S.  RIMSAT will launch their
satellites on Protons.  To get the best prices, they bought in bulk.  They
have the rights to twelve launches, so if any of you need a lift I can give
you their address.  The first launch is scheduled for October and they are
getting one used satellite from the Russians, which is being moved into place
now.
Tidbits:
*  Sternberg says this kind of thing has to be done by entrepreneurs, not big
business because big business is just like what they have over there, except
that "we have better paper, both in the bathroom and in the copier."
*  Russian launches are self insured.  The promise to replace a failed launch
within 9 months.
*  Major investors in RIMSAT include Russell 20/20, which is a huge retirement
fund organization, Cellsat, which is a big telecom business in southeast Asia,
and a fund operated by some of the big names in U.S aerospace which he says is
sort of an insurance policy for them if this really takes off.
*  He downplayed the instabilites in the ex-USSR saying that we are worried
partly because we aren't used to seeing Russia as anything but an unvarying
monolith.  Italy gets a new government "every two weeks" but we don't worry
because we're used to it.  He predicted that once we get used to seeing what
really goes on in Russia we won't worry about their stability as much.
*  Part of the problem with cooperative ventures is the problem of transfering
money.  The central bank has a policy of taking hard currency payments, putting
25% in their coffers and replacing the rest with the "equivalent" value in
rubles.  To get around this, RIMSAT pays their hard currency into an Austrian
bank account.  NPO PM then pays their contractors with foreign currency so that
the only the contractors get swindled by the government.
*  One of the big problems RIMSAT has had is stonewalling by the western
satellite industry.  However, Intelsat recently bought three of the same type
of satellites, which was rather reassuring.
*  The biggest worry most people have about russian satellites is the primitive
technology and shorter lifetime.  The older Gorizont (Horizon) satellites have
a lifetime of about 5 years, while the more modern Express satellites compare
well with western technology and last about 8 years.  While this is much
shorter than 15 years for western satellites, Sternberg downplayed the
difference.  At these prices they can afford to launch new ones.  In addition,
shorter lifetimes mean that they can replace their equipment with newer
technology so they will be able to compete better than older, out of date
hardware.
--
Josh Hopkins                                          jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
"Find a way or make one."
-attributed to Hannibal
From: mike@starburst.umd.edu (Michael F. Santangelo)
Subject: Re: Space Station Redesign, JSC Alternative #4
Organization: University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
Lines: 47
NNTP-Posting-Host: starburst.umd.edu
dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock) writes:
...text of options "A" and "B" deleted...
>Option C - Single Core Launch Station.
>This is the JSC lead option. Basically, you take a 23 ft diameter
>cylinder that's 92 ft long, slap 3 Space Shuttle Main Engines on
>the backside, put a nose cone on the top, attached it to a
>regular shuttle external tank and a regular set of solid rocket
>motors, and launch the can. Some key features are:
>  - Complete end-to-end ground integration and checkout
>  - 4 tangentially mounted fixed solar panels
>  - body mounted radiators (which adds protection against
>    micrometeroid & orbital debris)
>  - 2 centerline docking ports (one on each end)
>  - 7 berthing ports
>  - a single pressurized volume, approximately 26,000 cubic feet
>    (twice the volume of skylab).
>  - 7 floors, center passageway between floors
>  - 10 kW of housekeeping power
Only 10KW?
>  - graceful degradation with failures (8 power channels, 4 thermal
>    loops, dual environmental control & life support system)
>  - increased crew time for utilization
>  - 1 micro-g thru out the core module
Ha!  "North America Modular SPACE STATION construction" :-)
Same apprach, same reasoning: "construction occurs under assembly
line conditions, no random weather problems interupting site-work
on your home - better quality control" -- sounds like first "-"
point above :-)
Somehow I have a strange attraction for this idea (living in
a modular home maybe has altered my mind).  The only thing
that scares me is the part about simply strapping 3 SSME's and
a nosecone on it and "just launching it."  I have this vision
of something going terribly wrong with the launch resulting in the
complete loss of the new modular space station (not just a peice of
it as would be the case with staged in-orbit construction).
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Michael F. Santangelo                 + Internet: mike@cbl.umd.edu      [work]
Dept. Head-Computer & Network Systems +           mike@kavishar.umd.edu [home]
UMCEES / CBL (Solomons Island)        + BITNET:   MIKE@UMUC  [fwd to mike@cbl]
From: phoenix.Princeton.EDU!carlosn (Carlos G. Niederstrasser)
Subject: Re: Jemison on Star Trek
Originator: news@nimaster
Nntp-Posting-Host: chroma.princeton.edu
Organization: Princeton University
Lines: 33
In article <1993Apr20.142747.1@aurora.alaska.edu> nsmca@aurora.alaska.edu
writes:
> In article <C5sB3p.IB9@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>, loss@fs7.ECE.CMU.EDU (Doug Loss)
writes:
> >    I saw in the newspaper last night that Dr. Mae Jemison, the first
> > black woman in space (she's a physician and chemical engineer who flew
> > on Endeavour last year) will appear as a transporter operator on the
> > "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode that airs the week of May 31.
> > It's hardly space science, I know, but it's interesting.
> >
> > Doug Loss
>
>
> Interesting is rigth.. I wonder if they will make a mention of her being an
> astronaut in the credits.. I think it might help people connect the future
of
> space with the present.. And give them an idea that we must go into space..
>
A transporter operator!?!?  That better be one important transport.  Usually
it is a nameless ensign who does the job.  For such a guest appearance I would
have expected a more visible/meaningful role.
---
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Carlos G. Niederstrasser        |  Only two things are infinite,  |
| Princeton Planetary Society     |      the universe and human     |
|                                 |   stupidity, and I'm not sure   |
|                                 |   about the former. - Einstein  |
| carlosn@phoenix.princeton.edu   |---------------------------------|
| space@phoenix.princeton.edu     |    Ad Astra per Ardua Nostra    |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: looper@cco.caltech.edu (Mark D. Looper)
Subject: Re: Command Loss Timer (Re: Galileo Update - 04/22/93)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 23
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu
Keywords: Galileo, JPL
prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
>Galileo's HGA  is stuck.
>The HGA was left closed,  because galileo  had a venus flyby.
>If the HGA were pointed att he sun,  near venus,  it would
>cook the foci elements.
>question:  WHy couldn't Galileo's  course manuevers have been
>designed such that the HGA  did not ever do a sun point.?
The HGA isn't all that reflective in the wavelengths that might "cook the
focal elements", nor is its figure good on those scales--the problem is
that the antenna _itself_ could not be exposed to Venus-level sunlight,
lest like Icarus' wings it melt.  (I think it was glues and such, as well
as electronics, that they were worried about.)  Thus it had to remain
furled and the axis _always_ pointed near the sun, so that the small
sunshade at the tip of the antenna mast would shadow the folded HGA.
(A larger sunshade beneath the antenna shielded the spacecraft bus.)
--Mark Looper
"Hot Rodders--America's first recyclers!"
From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat)
Subject: Gamma Ray Bursters.  WHere  are they.
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt MD USA
Lines: 16
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.net
What  evidence  indicates that Gamma Ray bursters are very far away?
Given the enormous  power,  i was just wondering,  what if they are
quantum  black holes or something  like that  fairly close by?
Why would they have to be at  galactic ranges?
my own pet theory is that it's  Flying saucers  entering
hyperspace :-)
but the reason i am asking is that most everyone assumes  that they
are  colliding nuetron stars  or  spinning black holes,  i just wondered
if any mechanism could exist  and place them  closer in.