Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from holmes.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, 16 Mar 89 12:20:01 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 16 Mar 89 12:19:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #294 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 294 Today's Topics: space news from Jan 2 AW&ST Auroras seen in CA Space News Mar 14, 1989 NORTHERN LIGHTS!! Lunar Robot? Re: USSR's Progress 40 performs interesting operations at Mir NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89 star data Re: Babies born in space. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 16 Mar 89 04:10:38 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: space news from Jan 2 AW&ST [The summaries are going to be terser and more selective than usual until I cut the backlog down some.] Tentative restraint-of-trade agreement reached with China on Long March: China will launch at most nine international comsats through 1994 and "maintain prices on par with the world market". All is not rosy, however; Arianespace wants to know why Washington has been dithering for years on similar negotiations with it, and the USSR wants to know why US comsats can be launched on Chinese launchers but not Soviet ones. Titov and Manarov are in good shape after a year in space; they were walking hours after landing. French doctor (participating because Chretien came down on the same Soyuz) says they looked drawn and pale, with problems maintaining upright position, on emergence from the Soyuz, but were walking with assistance three hours later, and appeared nearly normal (walking without assistance, with no special support clothing, although still fatigued) two days later. Whatever the Soviets are doing -- intensive exercise before return is certainly part of it -- it's working. Titov/Manarov/Chretien reentry delayed several hours due to computer problems aboard Soyuz. A new reentry program, intended to compensate for the problems last September, had a bug. A replacement program was entered and reentry was normal, two orbits late. Soviets revise Mars plans (subject to final approval). 1994 mission will include orbiter, balloon, "small meteorological stations" on the surface, and possibly penetrators. One objective will be site selection for a rover mission in 1996. However, the Soviets will be doing something in 1992 after all: a lunar orbiter with remote-sensing equipment, to select sites for future exploration. A possible future mission is sample return from the lunar farside in 1996. USAF awards major design and technology contracts for ALS. Fletcher has resigned, effective "at the pleasure of the president". [No surprise, he was expected to leave.] No word yet on replacement. Considerable turnover in crucial Congressional committees; some worry at NASA, although on the whole the changes are improvements. NASA's ambitious budget proposals will still get a rough time though. Of particular note is considerable feeling in Congress that too much space-station money is being spent on hiring managers and too little on hardware. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 89 06:54:11 GMT From: Portia!hanauma.stanford.edu!joe@labrea.stanford.edu (Joe Dellinger) Subject: Auroras seen in CA There is a very large sunspot group tracking across the Sun these days. I saw it by projecting an image onto a piece of paper using ordinary 7X35 binoculars. I mean this group is BIG. I am told there was quite a good aurora display visible here at Stanford from around 11:45 to Midnight PST Sunday night. The northern sky up to about 30 degrees above the horizon turned bright red and purple. Just a few minutes ago I watched a weak but discernible aurora visible along the Northern Horizon for a few minutes. Then it died away again. It was the wrong color (red-purple) to be city light glare (white-yellow). If you are interested in seeing an Aurora, but live too far south to normally see them, keep your eyes open the next week! You may get your chance! Good luck! Flame: I missed the one last night because I was in my office. I'm on the 5th floor above street level in an office bordering an exterior wall. If I want to see the sky I have to take the elevator to the basement and then climb up a flight of stairs. Stanford seems to have the idea grad students are most productive in a proper cave atmosphere. \ /\ /\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\.-.-.-.-.......___________ \ / \ / \ /Dept of Geophysics, Stanford University \/\/\.-.-....___ \/ \/ \/Joe Dellinger joe@hanauma.stanford.edu apple!hanauma!joe\/\.-._ ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 89 14:52:45 GMT From: cfa!cfa250!mcdowell@husc6.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) Subject: Space News Mar 14, 1989 Jonathan's Space Report Mar 14, 1989 (No. 7) Space Shuttle Mission STS-29 was launched on Mar 13 at 1457 UT from Launch Complex 39-B, Kennedy Space Center. Orbiter OV-103 'Discovery' is carrying out experiments on the effects of free fall on living organisms, and testing components being designed for use on the Space Station. The TDRS-4 Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, owned by Contel, Inc., was launched by IUS rocket yesterday from low earth orbit after it was deployed from the cargo bay of the spaceship Discovery. The TDRS satellite will enter geostationary orbit and replace TDRS-1 as the TDRS EAST satellite. Other events: (Source: NASA Two Line Orbital Elements and SPACEWARN) Kosmos-2005 was launched on Mar 3 by Soyuz rocket from Plesetsk. It is a Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) advanced reconnaissance satellite. The Kosmos-2000 mapping satellite and the Kosmos-2003 spy satellite have completed their missions and landed in Kazakhstan, USSR. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) 1989 Jonathan McDowell, all rights reserved --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 89 16:31:04 GMT From: iris!heberlei@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Todd) Subject: NORTHERN LIGHTS!! I saw the Northern Lights last night from Sacramento (actually Davis). The light was big and pretty darn bright. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera loaded up with film, the light had faded. My father called me from Merced (in the central valley) to tell me about it, and my friend's sister claims to have seen it from Santa Barbara. What surprised me the most was that I didn't see it in the 11:00 news. I haven't seen a paper this morning, so I don't know if they mention it. One of the biggest astronomical events (in my eyes anyways) this year (maybe decade), and our local news crews miss it! Will this solar activity be any danger to the people or equipment in the shuttle? Todd Heberlein heberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu 128.120.57.20 ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 89 19:30:00 GMT From: texbell!merch!cpe!hal6000!trsvax!reyn@bellcore.com Subject: Lunar Robot? There is an article in the March 5th EE Times about a radio astronomy observatory on the moon that will be erected and maintained by a robot vehicle. According to the article: A concept designed by Battelle calls for a six wheeled, 3100 pound vehicle with two arms mounted near the front and a payload bay to carry 600 very low frequency antennae that it would set up as the pbservatory in a crater on the far side of the moon. The vehicle would be powered by four radio-isotope thermoelectric generators with secondary lithium batteries for peak loading. It would navigate over a 5,000 km range with an inertial navigation system with laser triangulation calibration. The vehicle will map the entire area before building the observatory. On- board sensors will help it avoid dangerous objects, and it will be designed to stop and await commands from earth if it encounters objects it does not recognize. The concept calls for speeds of up to 3 km/hour and a capability to negotiate slopes of up to 30 degrees, climb over foot-high obstacles and cross crevasses up to 1-m wide. The vehicle would be expected to operate on the lunar surface for 7 to 10 years. Does anyone out there have any idea on the likelyhood of this coming to pass? ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 89 12:48:34 GMT From: b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!Ralf.Brown%B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU@pt.cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: USSR's Progress 40 performs interesting operations at Mir In article <330@electro.UUCP>, ignac@electro.UUCP (Ignac Kolenko) writes: }also, why can't the u.s. send up a duplicate of Skylab?? like, if they }did it once, why can't they do it again?? imagine, there would be no need }to re-engineer a new space station, since they already had one design that }appeared to work correctly. and according to the above quoted article, }the u.s. would have the largest space station in orbit again!!! :-) Except we'd first have to re-engineer the Saturn V*, which is not too easy, as was discussed in detail here a while ago. Also, I think the addition of the next expansion module to Mir will bring its volume up over the volume of Skylab (if it isn't already). [*] Skylab was a modified upper stage of a Saturn V, outfitted with life support, etc. -- UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=-=-=- Voice: (412) 268-3053 (school) ARPA: ralf@cs.cmu.edu BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/31 Disclaimer? I claimed something? You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd. ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 89 22:45:00 GMT From: arisia!cdp!jordankatz@lll-winken.llnl.gov Subject: NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89 This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week ending March 10, 1989. Early Fri. morning engineers began the 56 hour countdown to launch of the first space shuttle mission of the year. Countdown to liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery began at 12:01am EST, with a call to stations. Monday's liftoff is scheduled for 8:07am. The shuttle will deploy the $100 million Tracking Data Relay Satellite for NASA as well as perform numerous on board experiments. President Bush, in a one page report filed with congress on March 1, has outlined the composition and structure of the National Space Council. The council will have four key responsibilities which include: Overseeing national space policy implementation; Review and recommend policy modifications to the President; Address major space related policy issues between civil and military space issues; Foster cooperation, coordination, technology and information exchange between civil and military sectors to avoid duplication of effort. In addition the council will include 10 cabinet level officials with various jurisdictions related to space activities. These positions include the Nasa Administrator, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, the Chief of Staff to the President, the assistant of National Security Affairs, the director of the CIA, and secretaries of Defense, Commerce and Transportation. There has been mixed reaction to the composition and structure of the national space council on Capital Hill. Advocates of civil space say that the appointment of Mark Albrecht to the position of staff director will skew the council in favor of the military space program. Yet Rep. Bill Nelson said that the fact that Chief of Staff John Sununus' inclusion on the council in combination with Vice President Quayle's participation should create a better environment for space policy decision making. Sally Ride, America's first woman space traveler, in testimony to the the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee called on Congress to support Mission to Planet Earth. The program, which will utilize instruments on the future space station, polar orbiting platforms, and over 1,000 instruments deployed in the oceans and on land all over the world is estimated to cost between $20 to $30 billion dollars over the next 20 years. She stated that as well as understanding the earth system better, the ability to foresee drought, unusual rainfall patterns, and even detect concentration of fish will prove it has economic as well as scientific benefits. Landsats 4 & 5, which were scheduled to be shut off by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to lack of funding has been resusitated by Vice President Quayle. The $9.4 million required to keep the satellites running through FY'89 will come from the agencies that use the data. Quayle, the chairman of the National Space Council declined to say just how much was raised or by whom. Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has asked for proposals from commercial launch providers to launch at least three satellites with the possibility of launching 12 more. In the proposal, the commercial launch servicer will provide the launch vehicle, facilities, personnel, and services associated with launching the missions into their required orbit. Proposals must be submitted by May 8. A meeting in London last week called for a total ban on the use of gasses which destroy the ozone layer by the end of the century. This position was supported by the Unites States and the European Economic Community, but was resisted by the USSR, China and India. The USSR could not accept the recently discovered notion that CFC's are destroying the ozone layer, and wanted better grounded data before moving ahead. China and India felt that they needed to use the gasses in their industry to catch up with the west and resent the west for using this crisis to hold back the economies of the developing world. This has been Jordan Katz reporting for the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week ending March 10, 1989. We would like to invite everyone to call our Dial-a-Shuttle service during the upcoming Discovery mission. Hear the Astronauts and Ground Control 24 hours a day during the mission. Take part in the mission by calling 1-900-909-NASA (that's 1-900-909-NASA). Toll charges are 2.00 for the first minute and $.45 for each additional minute. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Mar 89 09:19:57 EST From: Eric Harnden Subject: star data Fairly recently, some mention was made of interest in obtaining data on star positions in a machine-readable format. I have heard that NSSDC has just installed a CD-ROM pre-mastering workstation. The first CD-ROM developed by them conatins 31 astronomical source catalogs from the archives of the Astronomical Data Center. The ADC documents and distributes more than 500 catalogs of data for stellar and non-stellar objects, and this first release represents the most ofetn-requested and scientifically valuable data sets. Ecah of the catalogs on the CD-ROM is presented in text file format and as Flexible Image Transport System tables. Complete docs are included. The ADC CD-ROM apparently will be distributed to any parties who can access disks mastered in the ISO 9660 format. This requires users of IBM PC/clones to have the Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions Version 2.0. Rudimentary browsing software for FITS tables on MS-DOS machines will be provided by the ADC. Users on Sun and MicroVax cpus should make sure that the OS can handle ISO 9660 format. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 89 01:38:49 GMT From: tektronix!tekig5!robina@uunet.uu.net (Robin Adams) Subject: Re: Babies born in space. In article <8Y42Wly00XokQ3qUUv@andrew.cmu.edu>, jd3l+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jean-Marc Debaud) writes: > I would like to have some informations on the following subject: > > What would be the reactions of an child conceived in space, > who spend its featal time in space, is born in space, live a few > years in space ? > > Could anyone tells me if any studies have been made on the > reaction of the immune system, psychology, agility under 0g > conditions and problems that he/she would have on hearth, > bornwith instinctive reactions... etc.. > The holistic evidence is beginning to point to the fact that 0G is not good for humans (-0G, not Space as a whole). Some mammalian studies (ref: COSMOS Mission Results / Ames / 89-18) have shown a decrease in immune functions (vitality?), a curbing of fast muscle response (agility), and a reduced testes weighting (virility). Most of this does not seem insummountable - Use of hormones, exercise, etc. The good news is that there seems some evidence of enlightment in humans. More than a few astronauts seem to have got quite spiritual (even religious) after spending time in space. However, I'm sure that has much more to do with their changed environmental perspective as a whole than 0G. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #294 *******************