Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from corsica.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 ; Sun, 25 Jun 89 05:16:44 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4Yd-=oS00UkV0Jc05r@andrew.cmu.edu> Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 05:16:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #511 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 511 Today's Topics: RE: SPACE Digest V9 #494 Magellan Status for week of 06/20/89 (Forwarded) Firecrackers Re: Don't mess with NASA? Re: Geomorphology from Space Super strings Two companies chosen for work on Life Science Satellite (Forwarded) Stargazing in Georgia Re: Space Station Computer System Re: UN Re: Space Station computer system Ireland contacts wanted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Jun 89 18:29:00 GMT From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!s.cs.uiuc.edu!carroll@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V9 #494 /* Written 6:28 pm Jun 13, 1989 by john@frog.UUCP in s.cs.uiuc.edu:sci.space */ >>[me, laughing at the concept of trying to run X-windows under Unix in >> only 4Meg of memory] >OK, so what would you have them do? Draw up all their plans with pencilled-in >boxes saying "Here Be Computeres"? [ ... ] > [ comments on how one can't expect state-of-the-art stuff in space ] /* End of text from s.cs.uiuc.edu:sci.space */ Actually, in general I agree with you. But I'm not talking about state of the art when the station is put up - I'm talking about current designs _now_ being used _then_. The memory is the worst of it - I see _no_ excuse for not designing more memory except for the name IBM, which (as we CS-geeks know) has always had a real problem with adequate memory on PC's. Yes, you have to do extra checks on the system above a normal one. But there's this thing called "modularity". You design the system in modules, and allow extra modules. It appears that they tried to do this (since the default seems to be (painful laughter) 1Meg, which is too little to even _boot_ most '386 Unix versions). Why limit it to 4M? If they are using '386 chips, then it's recent enough to know that 4M is too small. In email to me, someone claimed that it was because memory prices were high. I found that bogus - memory prices have been steadily dropping for a long time, and the recent price fixing by the US government for the benefit of Japanese memory-makers is a local bump. Prices are coming back down to "normal" levels as we speak, and as other NIC's in Asia break into the market this trend will continue. It's not like making the memory bigger is a major design change, and designing to specs that are barely adequate today means that the systems will be crippled during actual use. Why not design to over-rated specs now? If memory doesn't get cheaper, than so be it. But if it does, then you win big. I personally would have designed for 64-256M. Sure, no equivalent system has that now, but they will then. They're probably designing a 10Mhz bus too, when there are commercial machines at 25Mhz, and 33Mhz sometime this year. Last year an Intel rep told us that the '386 would top out at around 40-50Mhz. Why not design for that _now_? If it doesn't happen, no problem. You can run at a slower speed. NASA should look to the future, not the past. A key point here is that none of this is very exotic - I have no doubt that such work is being done now in various places. NASA used to overpay to get components _past_ the state of the art, the antithesis of the Big Dumb Booster concept. Now, they're overpaying to get obsolete components, which combines the worst of both approaches. Alan M. Carroll "And there you are carroll@s.cs.uiuc.edu Saying 'We have the Moon, so now the Stars...'" CS Grad / U of Ill @ Urbana ...{ucbvax,pur-ee,convex}!s.cs.uiuc.edu!carroll ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jun 89 22:29:13 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Magellan Status for week of 06/20/89 (Forwarded) MAGELLAN WEEKLY STATUS June 20, 1989 This is a weekly status report. Magellan continues to operate successfully. Momentum wheel desaturations and star calibrations were routinely performed except for Friday. On that day, the star scanner correctly identified the first star crossing of slits 3 and 4 but saw a pulse apparently repeated and correctly rejected that pulse. That set the timing off and the second star crossing was not performed. On Saturday and Sunday, however, star calibrations were routinely accomplished. The spacecraft was rotated 180 degrees about the Medium- Gain Antenna axis. This attitude has significantly cooled both the Rocket Engine Modules (REMs) and the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM). It will be the primary attitude for the next couple of weeks. Ground tests for both thermal problems are currently being initiated and results are expected on the SRM problem within three weeks. On Tuesday, June 13, memory read-outs of both the Command and Data Subsystem and the Attitude and Articulation Control System were performed and the results compared successfully with ground-maintained memory maps. Also on Tuesday, the voice nets between JPL and Denver were restored after being out of service for six days. On Thursday, June 15, the first star calibration not used to update the spacecraft's attitude was performed for the purpose of calibrating star magnitude thresholds for two different stars, Alpha Centauri and Alpha Canis Major. The calibration data, although not used to update the spacecraft's attitude, was assessed on the ground and indicated lower thresholds were needed. Another, similar, calibration was performed successfully on Saturday. SPACECRAFT Distance From Earth (mi) 6,324,124 Velocity Geocentric 5,064 mph Heliocentric 62,493 mph One Way Light Time 33.3 sec ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jun 89 12:46:41 GMT From: mcvax!cernvax!ethz!hoss@uunet.uu.net (Guido Hoss) Subject: Firecrackers Does anyone know the average launch velocity of a typical firecracker? (I need this for a simulation program). Thanks in advance -Guido Hoss ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jun 89 15:03:13 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov Subject: Re: Don't mess with NASA? In article <312@umigw.MIAMI.EDU> dl@ibiza.Miami.Edu (David Lesher) writes: >> Article From: shafer@drynix.dfrf.nasa.gov ># In article <109957@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) writes: ># What use could they have for a Bell HueyCobra (AH-1)? ># ># We have a B-52, fighters, and attack aircraft here at Ames-Dryden. ># Be nice! > NASA Lewis may still have Robert Vesco's {sp} old Lear. Customs > used it for a long time, but I guess the Cocaine Cowboys were > outrunning it or something, because it appeared on the > (internal) govt surplus list. An old prof of mine got it for > zero g project use. It turned into a three-corner trade--Lewis got the Lear, Dryden got the Lewis Gooney-Bird, and Customs got the Dryden AeroCommander. We enjoyed the Gooney-Bird, since it was much nicer than the R4D that it replaced, having soundproofing and cloth upholstery, but it was a little embarassing to climb into our `new' 1941 airplane. -- M F Shafer |Ignore the reply-to address NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility |Use shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov NASA management doesn't know what I'm doing and I don't know what they're doing, and everybody's happy this way. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jun 89 15:09:48 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov Subject: Re: Geomorphology from Space In article <10873@ihlpl.ATT.COM> dbg@ihlpl.ATT.COM (dbg) writes: >>In NASA SP-486, "Geomorphology from Space", pp. 432-433, is a list >>of 15 possible origins of the Carolina Bays, including meteor swarms >> > . > . >>Incidently, this SP is really great. Try to get a copy. >I would very much like to get a copy. Where do I look? You can get any NASA SP that's still in stock from the Government Printing Office. They have offices in major cities and you can also do business with them by mail. The address is: The Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington, D C 20402 I get my NASA pubs through our library, since the Center gets copies automatically, so I've never ordered from the GPO. -- M F Shafer |Ignore the reply-to address NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility |Use shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov NASA management doesn't know what I'm doing and I don't know what they're doing, and everybody's happy this way. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 16:24:22 +0200 From: BOCHANNK%DB0TUI11.BITNET@VMA.CC.CMU.EDU Comment: CROSSNET mail via MAILER@CMUCCVMA Subject: Super strings Date: 20 June 1989, 16:22:31 +0200 From: BOCHANNK at DB0TUI11 To: space+@andrew.cmu.edu Dear space friends! Does anyone have some informations (books, articles, scripts) about the super string theory? Alex BOCHANNK@DB0TUI11.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jun 89 19:35:43 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Two companies chosen for work on Life Science Satellite (Forwarded) Paula Cleggett-Haleim Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 20, 1989 Kari Fluegel Johnson Space Center, Houston RELEASE: 89-101 TWO COMPANIES CHOSEN FOR WORK ON LIFE SCIENCE SATELLITE NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, has selected two companies to continue the study and design of an unmanned, reusable reentry satellite called LifeSat (Life Science Satellite). General Electric, Reentry Systems Department, Philadelphia, and Science Applications International Corp., Torrance, Calif., were chosen for the two parallel $900,000 contracts. The 1-year agreements are tentatively scheduled to start July 3, 1989. LifeSat will carry life science payloads and could significantly expand NASA's capability to investigate the biological effects of microgravity and the unique space radiation environment. This type of investigation can be calculated only in space, preferably in polar orbits. LifeSat will be used primarily in the fields of life sciences and materials processing. LifeSat will fly experiments in a variety of orbits, including those providing high doses of radiation, for up to 60 days, and perhaps longer. It would be placed into Earth orbit by an expendable launch vehicle, reserving the Space Shuttle for activities requiring crew presence. Upon completion of the mission, LifeSat would reenter the atmosphere and soft-land at a designated ground-site where scientists and engineers would have immediate access to the experiments. The request for proposals, released in January, called for the design of a reusable spacecraft that could be processed and readied for reflight in 2 months, allowing for several flights each year. The project is managed by the Flight Projects Office of the New Initiatives Office at the Johnson Space Center. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 16:25:21 EDT From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Stargazing in Georgia >From: cmpbsps@pyr.gatech.edu (Don Barry) >Subject: September Georgia Star Party and SERAL Convention >From 28 September through 1 October, the Astronomical Society of the >Atlantic will host the the Georgia Star Party(tm) at the Rock Eagle >4-H Convention center in the dark skies of the Georgia countryside. ----------------------------------------- It's true! I've been in Georgia on summer nights when many star clusters were visible to the unaided eye, and the Milky Way could be clearly seen against a black background. I don't know about the West, but that degree of visibility is rare further north along the east coast. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jun 89 15:14:24 EDT From: Colin Hunter To: Subject: Re: Space Station Computer System From: Although there has been considerable debate as to the merit of choosing an IBM PS/2 based computer network for Space Station, there appears to be little doubt that IBM will provide the route to be taken by NASA. I am curious to know if affiliated countries and agencies will be forced to use IBM hardware in their modules. For example, will ESA be compelled to join the IBM sheep, or will they be allowed to use a real computer system (Acorn's RISC-based Archimedes series, for example) of their own choosing? ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jun 89 21:54:57 GMT From: concertina!fiddler@sun.com (Steve Hix) Subject: Re: UN In article <614016637.amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU>, Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU writes: > > Just agree not to try to tax me for your part of the defense budget and > don't ask what the 3 or 5 leaved plants in the hydroponics section > are... :-) I can see the need for being able to treat glaucoma, but what do you want to grow poison oak for? ------------------------------ Date: 21 Jun 89 22:10:07 GMT From: eugene@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Eugene Miya) Subject: Re: Space Station computer system In article <1202@uceng.UC.EDU> dmocsny@uceng.UC.EDU (daniel mocsny) writes: >pay phone? Will the space station provide anonymous FTP? Will the >space station astronauts have NET access? Pay phone? No, but there will be designated "private time." Anonymous FTP: definitely no. Very limited disk space obviously. NET access: definitely yes (NASA internal). Another gross generalization from --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?" "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology." {ncar,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!ames!eugene *UNIX* ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1989 10:48-EDT From: Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Ireland contacts wanted I will be moving to Belfast around July 27th and would appreciate it if I could make contact with network people there. I will eventually have a NeXT computer at the office I will be setting up there and would like to get an internet connection of some sort so I can continue to regale|enrage my fellow Space Digest'ers. I know that U. Ulster has net access via JANET. Anyone out there? ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #511 *******************