Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from middletown.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Thu, 29 Sep 88 09:13:54 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: Space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: Space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, Sep 29 88 09:13:26 EDT Subject: SPACE Digest V8 #381 SPACE Digest Volume 8 : Issue 381 Today's Topics: Former astronaut Schmitt in Chicago area space news from Aug 22 AW&ST China launches first weather satellite; ESA launches US satellites. NASA Release marking 30th Anniversary Update on Radio Programs (Forwarded) Space station history article available Grad programs in avionics? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 88 20:45 CDT From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey Subject: Former astronaut Schmitt in Chicago area Original_To: SPACE I just received the following announcement: ==================================================================== The Harper College Department of Physical Sciences cordially invites you to attend a dinner to honor Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt at Sage's in the Radisson Hotel 74 West Algonquin Road Arlington Heights, Illinois on Thursday, October 6, 1988 at 6:30 P.M. Donation $50.00 per person In recognition of Dr. Schmitt's achievements in space exploration and the geological sciences, a dinner has been planned in celebration of the naming of the Meteorite Research Group at William Rainey Harper College in his honor: the Harrison H. Schmitt Meteorite Research Group. The proceeds of this dinner will assist in construction of an observatory at the Harper College campus. For more information, please contact Paul Sipiera at 397-3000, extension 2726 or 2375. Make checks payable to "Astronaut Dinner, Harper College." Tickets will be held at the door. ======================================================================== Harrison "Jack" Schmitt is, of course, the only scientist ever to walk on the Moon. He landed on the Apollo 17 mission (the last lunar visit) in 1972. Later he went on to serve as a Senator from New Mexico. He's still active in space-policy circles. The story is that Harper College, already a center for meteorite research, wants to build an observatory and space center. This dinner will kick off their fundraising campaign. It's a good cause; I'll be there. If you're in the Chicago area, and you've got the afternoon of October 6 free, Dr. Schmitt will also be speaking at 1 PM in room J-143 at Harper College in Palatine. It's a free question-and-answer session about America's future in space. ______meson Bill Higgins _-~ ____________-~______neutrino Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory - - ~-_ / \ ~----- proton Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNALB.BITNET | | \ / SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS - - ~ ------------------------------ Date: 19 Sep 88 03:36:49 GMT From: attcan!utzoo!henry@uunet.uu.net (Henry Spencer) Subject: space news from Aug 22 AW&ST [Aviation Week & Space Technology subscription address is PO Box 1505, Neptune NJ 07754 USA. Rates depend on whether you are an "unqualified" or "qualified" subscriber, which basically means whether you look at the ads for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or out of genuine commercial or military interest. Best write for a "qualification card" and try to get the cheap rate. US rate is $58 qualified, higher for unqualified. It's weekly, it's thicker than Time or Newsweek, and most of it has nothing to do with space, so consider whether the price is worth it to you.] Australia completes develoment and test of its Endeavor UV astronomy package, which fits in two Getaway Special cans; it is now awaiting a shuttle launch slot. First Delta 2 launch slips to early next year due to a variety of minor technical problems. [Another possible issue is that it's rumored that the USAF people at the Cape are not too happy about the northeast launch heading needed to reach the high-inclination Navstar orbit -- it crosses populated areas (Europe) too soon for the range-safety folks' liking.] John Denver, the singer, who has been interested in a shuttle ride for a long time, has asked the Soviets about buying a Soyuz trip to Mir. They quoted him a price of $10M, and said that he had to get permission from the US government. The State Dept. has officially said that it has "no position" on the matter: "We very carefully did not endorse his going, but at the same time we can't prevent US citizens from going to exotic places." [It is reported that the Soviets have raised the price to $12M. Maybe they've listened to some of his music. :-)] Big story on early work on the international "Mission To Earth" project, now a major focus of the 1992 International Space Year. Initial efforts will focus on the greenhouse effect, deforestation, and standardizing data formats so that countries can use each other's data. There is broad political support for it, and various major environmental problems of late have strengthened the case. USAF selects Boeing, General Dynamics, and the Martin Marietta / McDonnell Douglas team as the finalists in the Advanced Launch System effort. All three will do detailed design work in the next two years. There is no longer a requirement for a near-term interim ALS; the late 1990s is now the target date. Boeing's earlier concept -- they will not say whether this is their current best idea -- looked somewhat like a shuttle minus the SRBs, with the winged part being a flyback booster and the "external tank" part being the core that would go on to orbit. General Dynamics is looking at a concept with two side-by-side stages, both firing at liftoff but only one (with fewer engines) going all the way to orbit with a payload on top; the "first" stage engines would be recovered and reused a few times before final use on a "second" stage. MM/MD has three ideas, all using a common core stage: #1 uses solid strap-ons in various numbers, #2 uses liquid strap-ons with the same engine type as the core, #3 uses either one or two flyback boosters. Arianespace signs six very small satellites for piggyback launch on the Ariane 4 that carries Spot 2 up, using a new small-payload platform to fit in the lower part of the payload fairing. Max total mass is 200 kg, max individual mass is 40 kg. The six are amateur-radio satellites, two from U of Surrey and four from Amsat. Target launch date is June 1989, but it could be as early as January if Spot Image invokes a clause in its contract that could be used to give Spot 2 special priority. Rocketdyne engineers are assessing a possible problem with excessive shaft travel in a LOX pump on one of Discovery's main engines. It is within spec but surprisingly large for the brief FRF test. [I believe this is now thought to have been measurement error.] With the exception of the possible small hydrogen leak, suspected to be due to microscopic changes in the shapes of seals at cryogenic temperatures, no other significant problems surfaced after the FRF. Space is, surprisingly, becoming a bit of a political issue in the US election, perhaps because the resumption of shuttle flights will occur not long before the election, and there is heavy space involvement in several key election states. Dukakis and Bentsen visit NASA centers. Dukakis comes out more strongly in favor of "a permanently manned space station" than before. Republican Party platform calls for a manned Mars mission and resumption of lunar exploration (eventually). NASA's inspector general begins investigation into last year's award of $360k to establish an industry association for commercial space firms. This is a large lump by normal NASA educational/nonprofit grant standards, and ex-NASA people are involved. A lot of questions are being asked. Final pre-launch SRB test was run Aug 18, successful at first glance. West German commercial crystal-growth experiment, flown as a secondary payload on a Chinese satellite, is recovered and returned to Germany. Initial results look good. Several articles on recent SDI technology work. NASA studying yet another possible shuttle hazard: noctilucent clouds, high-altitude ice-crystal clouds which are not uncommon at high latitudes in summer. The problem is what happens if a reentering shuttle goes through one: they occur at altitudes where the shuttle is still at near-orbital velocities. Simulations suggest that the shuttle might "skip" on the cloud layer, producing large navigational errors and attitude changes, and it is possible that the crystals might erode the shuttle tiles. Three studies are underway: one aimed at understanding the clouds better (not a lot is known about them, and one major unknown is whether the ice crystals are big enough to get through the shuttle's shock wave without vaporizing), one studying the effects of substantial tile erosion during reentry, and one looking at the operational impact of using only low-latitude reentry tracks. The latter would be a nuisance because for high-inclination missions, reentry windows for low-latitude tracks generally occur in the middle of the crews' sleep period. Another issue is that nobody is *certain* that noctilucent clouds don't occur at low latitudes or in winter. That aside, the clouds are not an issue for STS-26, which will be in a low-inclination orbit. It looks like automated production technology will be a major issue in the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor competition, if NASA's proposed specs for quality and reliability are to be met while staying within cost and performance targets. [This sounds ominously like NASA is pushing a bit too hard.] The definitive ASRM RFP, expected mid-July, has not come out as of mid-August; Congressional funding battles are believed to be the reason. Morton Thiokol has officially withdrawn from ASRM, but NASA still classes them as a potential bidder. There is speculation that MT may try to use lobbying and its Congressional allies to kill ASRM, by proposing a less ambitious souped-up version of the current SRB at lower cost. ASRM will be [sigh] a segmented design, due to the development risks involved in casting million-pound quantities of propellant in one go. [Yet another case of NASA telling the contractors how to do their jobs, instead of setting performance specs and watching how well the jobs are done. And a silly one, too: one-piece big motors have been built and fired successfully. (Under NASA contract, yet.)] The casing will be lighter and the propellant more powerful than the current SRB, with a "saddle" in the thrust profile to eliminate the need to throttle back the main engines during the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure. (NASA engineers would like to see the main engines messed with as little as possible early in flight, when safe aborts in the event of major engine trouble are tricky.) Better production controls will reduce variation in performance between boosters. The proposed government-owned site, at Yellow Creek, Miss., has caused some concern because it is in a remote area that will be unattractive to workers; at least one of the bidders is proposing an alternate site as a hedge against practical or political problems with Yellow Creek. (In particular, Congress is lukewarm about the idea of making the plant government-owned.) Israel Aircraft Industries reserves 1993 Ariane launch slot for the first of two Amos domestic comsats to be built in Israel. The go-ahead for Amos is awaiting a decision from the Israeli government: funding and management are commercial but the Communications Ministry is a crucial customer. -- NASA is into artificial | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology stupidity. - Jerry Pournelle | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 88 16:06:11 GMT From: mtwain.dec.com!klaes@decwrl.dec.com (CUP/ML, MLO5-2/G1 8A, 223-3283) Subject: China launches first weather satellite; ESA launches US satellites. The following is from the Thursday, September 8, 1988 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE: "China launches weather satellite" Beijing - China yesterday [September 7] launched its first experimental weather satellite, THE WIND AND CLOUD NO. 1, the official Xinhua news agency said. The satellite was launched by a LONG MARCH 4 rocket from a space [center] in Taiyuan, north-central China, Xinhua said. It will transmit information on clouds, Earth's surface, marine water color, vegetation growth, ocean surface temperatures, and ice and snow to satellite ground stations worldwide, the news agency said (AP). The following is from the Friday, September 9, 1988 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE: "Europeans launch two US satellites" Kourou, French Guiana - An ARIANE rocket blasted into space yesterday [September 8], lifting into orbit two American satellites destined to upgrade telephone and television service in the United States. Liftoff took place without a hitch from the European Space Agency's [ESA] launch site on the edge of the Guianian jungle, on the northeastern coast of South America. The satellites belong to GTE-Spacenet and Satellite Transponder Leasing Corporation, a division of IBM (AP). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Sep 88 09:17:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Ted Anderson Subject: NASA Release marking 30th Anniversary Peter Yee at NASA Ames has posted a NASA Release marking the October 1st anniversary of NASA. This is release 88-129 by Mary Sandy. It reviews NASA's history and current goals. It runs about 650 lines so instead of including it in the digest I'll make it available to anyone who requests it. Send a note to me or space-request@andrew.cmu.edu and I'll forward you a copy. Ted Anderson ------------------------------ Date: 22 Sep 88 21:22:04 GMT From: yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Update on Radio Programs (Forwarded) 1.) THIS IS AN UPDATE. The October radio programs, the "Space Story & Frontiers" will be aired on NASA Select, Mon. Sep. 26th at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. There may be more changes. This month's shows feature: AN ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Four Weekly Programs, 4 min., 30 sec. each and Frontiers: four 90 second verisions of the Space Story. #1292 Flying High for Thirty Years (Feat. Duncan McIver, Hdqts.) USE: 09/26/88 THRU 10/02/88 #1293 An Inside Look on 30 Years of Manned Space Flight (Feat. Alan Aldrich, Hdqts.) USE: 10/03/88 THRU 10/09/88 #1294 30 Years of Space Science and Applications (Feat. Samuel Keller, Hdqts.) USE: 10/10/88 THRU 10/16/88 #1295 Planning the Next 30 Years (Feat. Alan Ladwig, Hdqts.) USE: 10/17/88 THRU 10/23/88 2.) Broadcast News Service This service provides the news media with astronaut actualities up to 10 days prior to a shuttle mission, and is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. The correct phone number for the Broadcast News Service is (XXX) YYY-ZZZZ. The press kit for STS-26 has the incorrect number on page 3. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Sep 88 08:45:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Ted Anderson X-Andrew-Message-Size: 454+0 Subject: Space station history article available Cc: RASKIN@max.acs.washington.edu, Space-Request I have received a message from RASKIN@MAX.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU which includes the text of an article published in Technology Review on the History of the Space Station. The article was written by Phillip D. Hattis and appeared in the July 1988 issue, pp. 28-40. The text runs about 36Kbytes so I won't include it in the digest but anyone who wants a copy should drop me (or space-request@andrew.cmu.edu) a line and I'll forward it to them. Ted Anderson ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 88 19:16:25 GMT From: nunki.usc.edu!castor.usc.edu!smagnani@oberon.usc.edu (Steven Magnani) Subject: Grad programs in avionics? Hello! I have a friend who will soon be completing her BS in electrical engineering. She is interested in doing graduate work in electronic systems for space vehicles; I believe this is called avionics. However, the programs she's looked at so far seem to be for M.E.'s or Aero/Astro people -- they require lots of study of aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, and the like. Are there any schools that have graduate programs in avionics for electrical engineers? i.e. the control theory and issues involved, without getting too deeply into Aero/Astro or ME considerations? Is it reasonable to expect that there is such a program? Or are space systems so complicated that one must be well versed in the physical design of space vehicles before one can work on the electrical design? Thanks in advance! Steve [Note: followups go to sci.electronics -- change this if appropriate!] Steven J. Magnani "I claim this network for MARS! Earthling, return my space modulator!" With a domain server: smagnani@castor.USC.EDU ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V8 #381 *******************