Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Received: from andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for ota+space.digests@andrew.cmu.edu ID ; Mon, 11 Jul 88 06:54:07 -0400 (EDT) Received: by andrew.cmu.edu (5.54/3.15) id for ota+space.digests; Mon, 11 Jul 88 06:53:12 EDT Received: by angband.s1.gov id AA10310; Mon, 11 Jul 88 03:26:15 PDT id AA10310; Mon, 11 Jul 88 03:26:15 PDT Date: Mon, 11 Jul 88 03:26:15 PDT From: Ted Anderson Message-Id: <8807111026.AA10310@angband.s1.gov> To: Space@angband.s1.gov Reply-To: Space@angband.s1.gov Subject: SPACE Digest V8 #268 SPACE Digest Volume 8 : Issue 268 Today's Topics: Coming to the National Air & Space Museum Soyuz TM-5 mission to USSR's Mir set to go comments/reply for SPACE_DIGEST comments/reply for SPACE_DIGEST Re: SPACE Digest V8 #244 What's going on here? NSS, Spacepac, and Spacecause USSR's Soyuz TM-5 mission begins ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 Jun 88 15:25:59 GMT From: ulysses!mhuxo!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxh!mhuxu!att!chinet!mcdchg!clyde!wayback!atux01!jlc@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (J. Collymore) Subject: Coming to the National Air & Space Museum I am cross-posting this netnews article from comp.sys.mac. I think that some of you in these newsgroups may also be interested in this. Jim Collymore =============================================================================== ----------------------------------------------------------- Students Give Museum Visitors A Chance To Launch Rockets Washington, DC. May 3, 1988. Millions of visitors to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum soon will be able to test their own abilities to design and launch rockets into space. They'll do it with the help of a computer program created by three college students. The program is the winning entry in the "Race for Space Software Chase," a nationwide software writing contest sponsored by the Smithsonian and Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Undergraduate and graduate students at leading universities across the country were challenged to write computer programs that would let museum visitors actually experience some of the ways computers are used in aviation and space flight. The best entry was promised a place in a new air and space museum gallery that will showcase the vital role that computers play in aerospace technology. The gallery, called "Beyond the Limits" will open in May 1989. Three students from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., captured the grand prize with a program on rocket design. The winning software was designed by Pierce T. Wetter III, a junior electrical engineering major from Simi Valley, Calif.; Mike Meckler, a sophomore physics major from Columbus, Ohio; and Glenn C. Smith, a junior physics major from South Pasadena, Calif. The software will allow museum visitors to see how changing variables such as thrust, weight and fuel type affect a rocket's ability to overcome gravity and leave the earth's atmosphere. Once a visitor arrives at a workable design, the program "launches" the rocket, calculates the maximum altitude it will reach and compares these results with attempts by other visitors. "The museum as a teaching institution hopes to stimulate thought -- on both a scientific and a popular level -- about the challenges and excitement of aerospace technology," said Martin O. Harwit, director of the National Air and Space Museum. "We are happyto exhibit the work of the grand prize winning students in our new computer gallery and to expand our role of educating the public." "Creating highly interactive, graphically sophisticated software is no small accomplishment--one that would have been unheard of for students just a few years ago. Today's computing tools give students both the means and the motivation to solve real-world problems," Dave Barram, Apple's vice president of corporate affairs, said today in announcing the winners at a news conference at the museum. The grand prize includes a summer internship at the museum for one member of the Cal Tech team and 10 Macintosh II computers, donated by Apple to the university. In addition to Cal Tech, four other schools earned honors in the contest: the University of California at Davis for a program that simulates effects of a wind tunnel;Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for software that demonstrates how air crews use computers during reconnaissance flights. Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, which each submitted programs that simulate the results of aircraft design decisions. Each university was awarded two Macintosh II computers. All entries were required to be two-minute, interactive demonstrations that show how computers are used in aerospace engineering. The entries were judged in four categories; content, creativity, ease of use, and use of computer science methodology. The competition was judged by distinguished names in the aerospace and computer industries: Burt Rutan, designer of the aircraft Voyager, which in 1986 flew around the world non-stop without refueling; Paul MacCready, creator of the Gossamer Condor and other human- and solar-powered aircraft; Alan Kay, scientist and Apple Fellow whose ideas and innovation in programming languages were critical to the development of personal computers, including Apple's Macintosh; Robert E. Holzman, manager of computer graphics lab at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which is well-known for its computer animation of the flights of Voyager II and other unmanned flights into deep space; and Paul Ceruzzi, associate curator in the Space Science and Exploration Department. About nine million people visit the museum each year to view 23 exhibition galleries displaying some of the most significant aircraft and spacecraft ever assembled in one place. The museum's new gallery will demonstrate the role computers play in aerospace technology--including design, testing, manufacturing and production, simulation and training, navigation and ground control, on-board control and air and space operations. Apple, the Apple logo and Macintosh are regisitered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Press Releases Headlines & Guide __________________________________________________________________________ Ken Eddings CSNET: eddings@andy.bgsu.edu Department of Philosophy ARPANET: eddings%andy.bgsu.edu@csnet-relay Bowling Green State Univ. ALink: UG0182 attn: Ken Eddings Bowling Green OH 43403 GEnie: K.EDDINGS __________________________________________________________________________ "The prudent mariner never relies solely on any single aid to navigation." -=Old Mariner's Proverb=- __________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 09:47:02 EDT From: Glenn Chapman Subject: Soyuz TM-5 mission to USSR's Mir set to go The Soviets are set to go ahead with the launch today of the Russian/ Bulgarian mission (Soyuz TM-5) to the Mir/Kvant complex. According to their news announcements the vehicle has been checked out and the lift off will take place in the evening, Moscow time, (about noon hour today Eastern Daylight Time). One interesting point is they gave some costs for the typical mission this year. Roughly the booster (A2 class) is about $5 million per launch, while the capsule costs $8 million. The booster cost is consistent with their charge of $10 million for a launch on the A class vehicles for your satellite - just contact Space Commerce Corp. in the USA for the arrangements. By the way talking to a Space Commerce officer I learned that the USSR really is offering room for paying passengers to Mir (they have done this already for the Austrians). Also they are now modifying some of their communications satellites to meet the standard Hughes type specifications. If they cannot sell their boosters for launching Western satellites then they will try and sell both the satellites and the boosters. It will be interesting to see what they are supplying in terms of guarantees for lifetimes or replacements. From the point of view of most countries they do not care whether they by from Western or Soviet suppliers. All that matters is price, delivery time and the service they get from the satellite. US manufacturers beware, you may stop them from selling here but there is a whole world out there that wants satellites of their own. This country must meet their prices or fail in the space business. Well at least the shuttle is going through a count down test today, that is some progress. Glenn Chapman MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 15:37 EST From: Subject: comments/reply for SPACE_DIGEST From SPACE_DIGEST Vol8 No.253: Date: 23 May 88 02:38:06 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!CaptainDave@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: cooling by radiation >So, just what are Lithium batteries, and why would they be prohibited on >a space flight, when I am allowed to take one in my watch and mingle >around thousands of people in public places? Are they radioactive? What >about a leak? I'm no battery expert, but I have a feeling that for powering a satellite there might be a size or weight issue at stake here(I've always thought they[watch batteries] were heavier than they looked), and since the space-faring variety are much bigger that their timepiece counterparts, maybe they just weigh too much. Also, isn't there a warning on th e back of just about any battery to ``avoid extreme heat or fire''??--If the bay is pointed sunward, or the shuttle is on re-entry, I'd say that that might just be heat enough. Flames, comments,etceterizations to Steve Okay (ACS045@GMUVAX.BITNET) "A Joke??--No, a sales campaign!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 15:37 EST From: Subject: comments/reply for SPACE_DIGEST From SPACE_DIGEST Vol8 No.253: Date: 23 May 88 02:38:06 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!CaptainDave@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: cooling by radiation >So, just what are Lithium batteries, and why would they be prohibited on >a space flight, when I am allowed to take one in my watch and mingle >around thousands of people in public places? Are they radioactive? What >about a leak? I'm no battery expert, but I have a feeling that for powering a satellite there might be a size or weight issue at stake here(I've always thought they[watch batteries] were heavier than they looked), and since the space-faring variety are much bigger that their timepiece counterparts, maybe they just weigh too much. Also, isn't there a warning on th e back of just about any battery to ``avoid extreme heat or fire''??--If the bay is pointed sunward, or the shuttle is on re-entry, I'd say that that might just be heat enough. Flames, comments,etceterizations to Steve Okay (ACS045@GMUVAX.BITNET) "A Joke??--No, a sales campaign!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 07 Jun 88 08:25:32 EDT From: Bruce Humphrey Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V8 #244 Having read Space Digest for a couple months now, I have a question for the more technologically literate in the group (please humor an old liberal arts grad): How accurate is the book 'Deep Black', about american photorecon history and capabilities? I was generally impressed by its completeness (excepting any mention of special imaging/sensing capabilities), but as a historian I have some suspicions of anything written by non-experts--particularly self-taught jouurnalistic 'experts'. There is a certain "gosh-wow" attitude by the writer concerning the analytical side, rather than anything worthwhile about the training/accuracy of image analysts. Also, while he makes some deductive speculations about the state of photorecon, they do not always reflect the more expert opinions I've seen on the net. If you have anything specific for me: Bruce Humphrey Bruce@TEMPLEVM ------------------------------ Return-Path: FHD%TAMCBA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1988 21:55 CDT From: H. Alan Montgomery Subject: What's going on here? Somewhere along here I have lost track of what we are trying to do. I thought maybe if I displayed my train of logic someone could show me where the flaw in my thinking is. First off, I am a task oriented person who is not very socially adept. To me when a problem comes up you marshal your forces, get the best people available to attack the problem and then go until the problem is either solved or has become acceptablely uncomfortable. The best people in any field normally come with alot of unwanted baggage and are generally not people you would hang out with for fun. You work with the best whether you like them or not, because they get results. I have noticed in this list and in the SIG on CompuServe and in the various space publications that there is alot of hopelessness out there. The dream of easy access to space in our lifetime seems to be drifting slowly but surely out of our reach. The response to this goal denial is a search for a scapegoat, someone to take the blame for the unacceptable possibility that no one alive right now, today will will get to space in person before they die. To me as a social misfit the concept of a scapegoat seems silly, not only a waste of time, but making the possibility of goal acheivement even more remote. In the Seventies, a great many mistakes were made by the NASA, space activists, and other involved individuals. We cannot change those mistakes. We cannot do anything to make those mistakes go away by attacking the people who made them. Do you think that the people who made the mistakes are feeling great about the mistakes? Do you think the administrators at NASA is saying, "Wow, we sure did make a good choice in making the Shuttle the only access to space"? Come on, get real! We live in an imperfect world, a good choice now sometimes becomes a disasterous choice later. Right now the majority of America's corporations are owned by institutions (mutual funds, pension plans, insurance companies, etc.) who are risk averse. The money which could come from large corporations is just not there. Looking for Boeing or GM or Rockwell to move into space without government support is just wishful thinking. Any manager in today's economic environment who suggested a program which did not pay off in six months is looking to be unemployed. It may turn out that NASA was in league with the tooth fairy to deny us access to space on purpose. I doubt it though. I would believe in stupidity, short sightedness, and just plain ignorance before I would believe malice. So what does all this mean. To me it means that the bickering and witch hunting have got to stop. It means that we have got to start looking to lower the capital risk to getting to space. It means that we cannot depend on THEM (whoever they are) to get us to space. Something has to done to make each step into space profitable. Not twenty years in the future, but six months in the future. It means that we need to keep NASA plugging ahead, so that at least some door is open, some option available. As long as space has a greater than six month payoff, no non-astronaut is going to visit there. If you truely want to go to space, stop bitching about the people who are working toward the same goal you are, no matter how flawed you think they are, because they at least agree with you in principle. Somehow or another the space movement has gotten sidetracked into looking at the causes of our failures and stopped searching for answers to our problems. NASA and the big companies will not search for solutions. If you go to bed at night screaming "I WANT TO GO!!!!", then you best start looking for ways to lower the payoff time for a space venture. Does that mean that we need a cost to orbit of $2/pound? No, it means that an investor can get a positive rate of return within six months. The rate of return does not even have to be above 5%. So the bottom line here is that we need many small moneymakers which add up to a big project, not one big project which just MIGHT be a big moneymaker. You best also stop feeling hopeless and helpless, because both of those emotions cause you to do stupid, self-destructive things. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jun 88 07:45 EDT From: RON PICARD Subject: NSS, Spacepac, and Spacecause Can anyone tell me the different roles Spacepac and Spacecause play and their relationship, if any, to NSS? Ron Picard ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jun 88 11:51:14 EDT From: Glenn Chapman Subject: USSR's Soyuz TM-5 mission begins The USSR' s Soyuz TM-5 mission successfully began yesterday at 18:03 (Moscow Daylight Time - 11:03 EDT). The crew is listed as Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyov (rookie cosmonaut age 40: commander), Viktor Petrovich Savinykh (flight engineer age 48: with 75 days on Soyuz T4/Salyut 6 and 168 days on Soyuz T13/Salyut 7 in June '85 - the Salyut rescue mission) and Alexander Alexandrov (Bulgarian age 36: backup on Soyuz 33 - Apr. '79) (note: there were some errors in my prelaunch posting about the crew, thanks to Jonathan Mcdowell at Harvard for pointing them out). The launch was televised "live" on Soviet and Bulgarian TV (and I think CNN got the same feed but was not able to watch them then). The crew will dock with the Mir/Kvant complex on June 9th, and stay for 8 days on the station. Mission experiments will include space physics, remote sensing, biology and medicine, though few details have been given. One funny point. This was not even a high profile mission on Soviet shortwave broadcasts. Usually a takeoff is the number 1 or 2 event. This time it was 3rd on their broadcasts. One point to note is that most news reports, NBC, CBS, the NY times etc called this the first Soviet manned mission of this year, and did not mention that they were visiting a crew already on board the Mir station (CNN did it correctly). This makes it seem like the Russians are doing little in manned flights, when the opposite is true. I guess they feel if they just hide their heads in the sand the Soviet missions will just go away. Glenn Chapman MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V8 #268 *******************