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 ; Tue, 1 Aug 89 03:17:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 03:17:05 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #574 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 574 Today's Topics: Re: Voice channel beeps. NASA Select Broadcasts Re: Possible evidence for life on Mars. Re: S-Band Beacon on Moon Possible evidence for life on Mars. Re: Impossible Space Goals Anniversaries Information Re: space news from June 19 AW&ST, and Apollo-anniversary editorial Spinoffs sci.space mailing list Shuttle frequencies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22 Jul 89 01:57:30 GMT From: aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!masticol@rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) Subject: Re: Voice channel beeps. Bill Bencze writes: ] What function do the ever present "beeps" serve in the voice ] communication between spacecraft and the ground? These are the ] 1~3 kHz beeps of about a half second in duration which seem to ] occur at random duning the transmissions. Are they electronic ] "Over" signals automatically sent at the end of a transmission or ] some other type of timing signal. They're not random. I believe they're sent when the speaking party's VOX times out (after about a half second of silence). - Steve (masticol@athos.rutgers.edu) ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jul 89 20:14:54 GMT From: pilchuck!ssc!rolls!mtuxo!tee@uunet.uu.net (54317-T.EBERSOLE) Subject: NASA Select Broadcasts In article <28597@ames.arc.nasa.gov>, yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: > The Galileo briefing will begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT in the KSC > News Center auditorium and will be carried on NASA Select > television: Satcom F2R, transponder 13, 72 degrees west > longitude. Two-way question and answer capability will be > available. > I told a friend of mine about the NASA Select broadcasts of Neptune images on Tuesdays at noon. He has looked for them a couple of times and had another friend look a couple of times, with no luck picking up a signal. He has looked at other times to see if he can get anything, also with no luck. Has anyone been able to find NASA Select's broadcasts? Did you need to know anything more than the data in the excerpted paragraph? Is this bird viewable from the east coast with "standard" equipment, i.e., is it a good quality signal or very weak? Thanks for any information. -- Tim Ebersole ...!att!mtuxo!tee or {allegra,ulysses,mtune,...}!mtuxo!tee ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 89 20:56:01 GMT From: dino!ceres!tjl@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Possible evidence for life on Mars. In article <8907201621.AA00301@decwrl.dec.com>, klaes@wrksys.dec.com (CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283) writes: > From the July 20, 1989 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE - > > "Meteorite Revives Hopes There May Be Life on Mars" > > The possibility that life could have evolved on Mars, and perhaps > exists there now, has been given a boost by the discovery of large > amounts of organic material, the basis of all known life forms, in a > meteorite believed to have come from the red planet. > I have been curious about the possibility of life on Mars for awhile. My understanding of current theories on the origin of life on this planet is that life is thought to have originated in tidal pools or near the ocean surface. Both of these places have ample sunlight, rather calm water, yet would have the necessary chemicals for proteins and their precursors to form and combine. My question is that all of the pictures from Mars have been of river channels, river channels which apparently handled immense quantities of water. How would this environment (i.e. the river) compare with the ocean? If the water was flowing fast enough to carve these channels, would there also be areas where the water would be stagnant for a long enough period of time for proteins and the like to form? Have there been areas discovered which resemble a sea or ocean basin, but just have not received as much press? -- Joe "Those who would sacrifice ** I disclaim none of my opinions. liberty for security, ** deserve neither." ** DECnet CERES::TJL B. Franklin ** tjl@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu ------------------------------ Date: 21 Jul 89 23:15:39 GMT From: vsi1!v7fs1!add@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Andrew D. Daniel) Subject: Re: S-Band Beacon on Moon In article <1989Jul17.230138.26746@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1473@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> wjc@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (Bill Chiarchiaro) writes: >>... a radio transmitter that was left on the Moon ... still operating. > >As far as I know, all the Apollo lunar-surface transmitters were shut >down ... to save some trifling amount of money!!! Am I missing something here? How could shutting down something already on the moon save ANY money? I DID hear that NASA recently shut down a listening station that was picking up signals from moon-based instruments to save $2M per year, but that the instruments themselves were still operating. -- Andrew D Daniel, Video Seven, Inc. Angels fear to tread ..ames!vsi1!v7fs1!add where fools login: ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 89 16:21:46 GMT From: wrksys.dec.com!klaes@decwrl.dec.com (CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283) Subject: Possible evidence for life on Mars. From the July 20, 1989 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE - "Meteorite Revives Hopes There May Be Life on Mars" The possibility that life could have evolved on Mars, and perhaps exists there now, has been given a boost by the discovery of large amounts of organic material, the basis of all known life forms, in a meteorite believed to have come from the red planet. ...it is virtually impossible that organic compounds could have contaminated the rock after it reached Earth because the chemicals were found deep within the solid rock and because the meteorite has been handled with extreme care since its discovery on the sterile Antarctic ice.... ...The meteorite was handled under extremely clean conditions. It was collected in a Teflon bag, placed in a pure nitrogen atmosphere...it was treated like a lunar rock.... The evidence that the meteorite came from Mars is twofold, said geologist William Cassidy in an interview yesterday: * Tests show it was formed in volcanic processes about 1.3 billion years ago, which rules out origin from asteroids or comets, which have no volcanic activity, or the Moon, where such processes ended 4.5 billion years ago. * Samples of air trapped in glass melted into the rock during its formation exactly match the composition and elemental isotope ratios of Martian air but not of any other known planet. "Bush Sets Space Agenda Today: Outpost on Moon, Man on Mars" President Bush today will seek to commit the United States to building a manned outpost on the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars, an administration official said yesterday. Bush will not outline a specific proposal but will endorse the concept of a Moon-Mars mission, which was recommended by Vice President Dan Quayle and the National Space Council, which Quayle chairs, said the official. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 89 16:48:05 GMT From: hplabsb!dsmith@hplabs.hp.com (David Smith) Subject: Re: Impossible Space Goals In article <14475@bfmny0.UUCP> tneff@bfmny0.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes: >>>Was the surface of the moon hard or miles of dust for a lander to sink? >> >>There were even two series of Lunar probes launched to specifically >>answer this and related questions. > >Whoa. >Assuming Zond doesn't count, there were two programs where unmanned >spacecraft touched the lunar surface: Ranger and Surveyor. Ranger was a >hard ballistic impact probe which relayed TV pictures on the way down. >The final pictures were taken a few thousand feet above the surface; >nobody really knew what happened when a Ranger hit. Dust or basalt >would have extinguished the craft with equal efficiency. Whoa right back. Ranger was indeed launched to answer this question. Rangers 3-5 had seismometers encased in balsa spheres, attached to retrorockets. These packages were supposed to separate from the main spacecraft, brake to a stop 1100 feet altitude, jettison the retros, then fall from there. After rolling to a stop, they were to transmit readings back. If the balls sank into dust, the signals would reflect that. Rangers 1 and 2 were engineering spacecraft, not intended to hit the moon. Their Agena stages (2nd stage on top of Atlas) failed to fire to get out of parking orbit. Ranger 3 was launched 30,000 miles off course by the Agena, and was only able to to cut the error to 23,000 miles with its course-correction motor. As it passed the moon, it failed to aim its high-gain antenna at the Earth, so its photos weren't received. Ranger 4's sequencer failed. Ranger 5's power failed shortly after trans-lunar injection. After this, the spacecraft were simplified to be camera-only probes, and then Ranger 6 failed to turn on its cameras. Talk about snake-bitten. But at any rate, three Rangers had attempted to get an instrument to survive a moon landing. -- David R. Smith, HP Labs dsmith@hplabs.hp.com (415) 857-7898 ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 89 17:52:22 GMT From: agate!shelby!portia!brooks@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Brooks) Subject: Anniversaries The following is forwarded from a friend of mine without net access. It`s either a set of platitudes or an astute observation, take your pick. Arguably the two most significant dates in Human History both occurred in July. On the 20th, in 1969, a man walked on the Moon. On the 16th, in 1946, a bomb was exploded at Trinity in New Mexico. The first may someday result in humanity freeing itself from the bonds of Earth. The second may someday result in the Earth freeing itself from the bonds of humanity. Most amazing of all, these dates are only 4 days and 23 years apart. Mike Brooks/Stanford Electronics Labs (solid state)/SU ------------------------------ Date: 21 Jul 89 08:41:05 GMT From: uhccux!munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!ditmela!latcs1!sestito@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Sabrina Sestito) Subject: Information Hello, I intend to visit the States in late August until mid September and as such, would like to visit an appropriate NASA establishment such as Cape Kennedy. I would really love to see the launch of either the Shuttle or any space rocket. Can anyone help with any appropriate information and/or any recommendation of good places to visit. Thankyou. Sabrina Sestito ------------------------------ Date: 21 Jul 89 14:19:11 GMT From: bfmny0!tneff@uunet.uu.net (Tom Neff) Subject: Re: space news from June 19 AW&ST, and Apollo-anniversary editorial In article <1989Jul21.031420.1292@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In all the fuss about lunar bases and Mars missions, it is easy to lose >track of one big, unpleasant, nasty fact that has gone from unlikely to >certain in the last 20 years. Unless something changes radically... > >None of us is going. If "us" means everyone reading article <1989Jul21.031420.1292@utzoo.uucp>, this has a fair chance - not 100% (=84%) - of being true. Primarily because the hustling overachievers who WILL be in space in the next 15 years know better than to fritter away their time on Netnews! >Remember the early days of the shuttle program, when weekly launches were >seriously planned, and the shuttle was going to open up space? Remember >"routine access to space"? Well, you and I may remember it, but as far >as NASA is concerned, it's dead, buried, and forgotten ... Look, let's put this in perspective. They fly B-1 bombers *daily*. Has anyone reading this newsgroup ever flown one? "Routine access" is not the same thing as "outdraws Disneyworld." Most *Soviets* won't go, either, yet we blithely grant them the "routine access" label. >Remember when Jerry Pournelle said "we're going if we have to walk!"? >Did you agree? Did you think you meant it? I did. ... No aspersions on Henry whatsoever, but anyone who lets the author of JANISSARIES do his prognosticating for him, deserves the letdown. :-) > ... You can ride the bus, but you have to pay in Swiss francs >and learn Russian first... The UK will be sending a cosmonaut up in 1991 (oooh, where are you Eric Blair!), they are not paying in SFr and although, with 13,000 applicants[!], HMG has the luxury of making an acquaintance with Russian a requirement, I don't believe the Soviets themselves impose it on visitors. and the driver inspects your baggage before >deciding whether to let you on. Also true on Air Canada. :-) The most dangerous fallacy in this editorial is the equation of *conquering space* with *you [the reader] going.* It's pointless to cheerlead a guaranteed non-starter. None of us will go to Mars, unless someone's kid is reading this. But we could put a rover and sample return mission there before your present lawn mower gives out if we wanted to. How about some space activism about THAT. >1961-1969: 8 years of Apollo. | >1969-1989: 20 years of nothing.| Tell it to the boys at Taurus Littrow... to Skylab... Viking... IRAS... Solar Max... Mir... Voyager... HST... Magellan... and please, don't forget to tell Christa. -- "My God, Thiokol, when do you \\ Tom Neff want me to launch -- next April?" \\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jul 89 12:25:41 GMT From: haven!aplcen!aplvax.jhuapl.edu!jwm@purdue.edu (Jim Meritt) Subject: Spinoffs How many lives make it "worth it"? Thousands, perhaps millions, of people owe their lives to something that you can only do with a space program. Fact, not wild speculation. I can aim doubters at the raw data to draw their own conclusions. That that is is that that is. That that is not is that that is not. That that is is not that that is not. That that is not is not that that is. And that includes these opinions, which are solely mine! jwm@aplvax.jhuapl.edu - or - jwm@aplvax.uucp - or - meritt%aplvm.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 10:07:44 -0500 From: Steve Norton Subject: sci.space mailing list Sir, is this the correct address to e-mail in order to be added to the sci.space mailing list? If so, please add me. If not, do you know what the correct address is? My apologies if this is wasting your time. Bolshoi spaceba, tovarisch. sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jul 89 21:36:00 GMT From: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!sfn20715@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Shuttle frequencies Would someone please be kind enough to post or repost a list of the frequencies used by Shuttle/KSC/Remote stations communications during Shuttle flight? Please mail to sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu or post in sci.space or sci.space.shuttle. Bolshoi spaceba, tovarischi. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #574 *******************