Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from beak.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 ; Fri, 22 Sep 89 17:07:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 22 Sep 89 17:06:38 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #62 SPACE Digest Volume 10 : Issue 62 Today's Topics: Re: Voyager Interstellar Trajectory Re: RTGs for use on earth Voyager and Viking images on CD-ROM for $9! Re: Soviet's Soyuz TM-8 successfully docks to Mir space station Re: Linguistic Tidbits NASA and Face Data Mars Mission ship design Re: Economies of Scale in Launchers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 8 Sep 89 23:24:54 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!csri.toronto.edu!wayne@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Wayne Hayes) Subject: Re: Voyager Interstellar Trajectory [I've been having trouble posting, and I don't think this got through. ] There's been alot of talk about Voyager 2's interstellar trajectory. The following is from the July / August 1989 Planetary Report: Voyager's Distance Year Comment from Earth (light yrs) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 Enters Heliosheath 2012 Crosses Heliopause into interstellar medium 8571 Closest approach to Barnard's Star, 4.03 ly 0.42 20319 CA (Closest Approach) to Proxima Centauri, 3.21 ly 1.00 20629 CA to Alpha Centauri, 3.47 1.02 23274 CA to Lalande 21185, 4.65 ly 1.15 26262 Voyager 2 *enters* [sic] the Oort cloud 20,000 A.U (not ly) 28635 Voyager 2 exits Oort cloud 200,000 A.U (long, long time passes) 129084 CA to Ross 154, 5.74 ly 6.39 296036 CA to Sirius, 4.32 ly 14.64 442385 CA to 44 Ophiuchi, 6.72 ly 21.88 957963 CA to DM+27 1311, 6.62 ly 47.38 Now this is just my subjective opinion, but the first set I wouldn't even count as anything remotely interesting, since all those "closest approaches" occur when the spacecraft hasn't even passed the Oort cloud, and is still much closer to our Sun. Even if it was still functioning, it couldn't possibly give us a better view than Earth or Earth-orbit views. Anyway, there it is. -- Don't forget: 600 times the daily oral human intake of Sacharin injected directly into the bloodstream of a lab rat might cause it bladder cancer. Wayne Hayes INTERNET: wayne@csri.toronto.edu CompuServe: 72401,3525 ------------------------------ Date: 9 Sep 89 20:19:47 GMT From: calvin!johns@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu (John Sahr) Subject: Re: RTGs for use on earth In article <6134@lynx.UUCP> neal@lynx.UUCP (Neal Woodall) writes: >In Brazil there was a similar incident last year. A radiation machine was >stoler from a hospital, and wound up in a junk yard. The owner and his >nephew busted the machine open while stripping it for scrap, and discovered >this pretty glowing powder (uh oh!). Since they were all ignorant of most >science (about zero education), they actually had a party where all of their >friends came over an rubbed the glowing powder over their bodies! A few It is a little unfair to blame these people for not knowing about highly radioactive materials. It is, after all, rather outside their usual experience. The only reason this didn't happen in the States is that the irradiator would probably have been correctly disposed of. (probably) -john (my opinions alone)-- John Sahr, Dept. of Electrical Eng., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 johns@{alfven,calvin}.ee.cornell.edu, {rochester,cmcl2}!cornell!calvin!johns --When the dust settles, each B2 bomber will fund NSF for more than a year-- ------------------------------ Date: 9 Sep 89 22:36:42 GMT From: uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!adm!nlm-mcs!sandro@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Michael D'Alessandro) Subject: Voyager and Viking images on CD-ROM for $9! TITLE: New CD-ROM Holds Images from Voyager, Viking Missions Here's good news for astronomy buffs and galaxy gazers. Meridien Data, maker of CD-ROM premastering systems, is offering a disc that holds hundreds of images sent back to Earth by the Voyager and Viking planetary probes. The $9 disc contains images that can be viewed on either an IBM PC or a Macintosh. However, the CD does not include recently photographed images of Neptune, which Voyager 2 passed on its way out of the solar system. The public-domain images on the disc are from Voyager and Viking missions during the past 10 to 15 years, said Meridien spokesperson Lou Hoffman. That includes images of Mars (from the Viking probes of the late 1970s), Jupiter, Saturn, and hundreds of other shots taken by the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager/Viking CD is called the GRIPS (Government Raster Image Processing Software and Data) disc. Several government agencies, including NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, contributed information for the disc. Some of the images on the disc require up to 1.2 megabytes of storage space, Hoffman said, but those aren't even close to being the largest sent back from space. Some of the Voyager images have been as large as 20 to 30 megabytes. The GRIPS disc holds one set of data files that is shared by both PC and Macintosh platforms. The disc adheres to the ISO 9660 file format; Meridien claims it's the first CD-ROM of that format that both PC and Mac users can access. No documentation comes with the GRIPS CD, and Meridien admits it's not easy to locate a specific image from among the hundreds on the platter. "There's a front-end index on the disc, but it's difficult to use at this point," Hoffman said. The company is working on a way to make the disc more "user friendly," he added. Meridien says the first pressing, of 1000 discs, is going fast and that a second pressing of another 1000 could start in about two weeks. "Response has been greater than we expected," Hoffman told Microbytes Daily. In fact, the company is considering marketing a series of CD-ROM discs with images from Voyager missions. --- Jeffrey Bertolucci Contact: Meridien Data, 5615 Scotts Valley Dr, Scotts Valley, CA 95066; (408) 438-3100; fax (408) 438-6816 s is*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** -- Michael D'Alessandro The National Library of Medicine Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications Educational Technology Branch Internet: sandro@mcs.nlm.nih.gov ------------------------------ Date: 9 Sep 89 18:39:16 GMT From: mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!halley!vomlehn@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (David M VomLehn) Subject: Re: Soviet's Soyuz TM-8 successfully docks to Mir space station In article <8909080429.AA29169@ll-vlsi.arpa> glenn@VLSI.LL.MIT.EDU (Glenn Chapman) writes: >It was stated on shortwave that this crew might set a new record for >man tended space experiments with the two expansion modules being added. >... The other is planed for Feb. '90 and contains a >special docking port which they expect to use with the Buran shuttle in 1991. I think I remember some kind of treaty or agreement being signed shortly before or after the Apollo-Soyuz mission in the 70's which specified a common docking port for US and Soviet spacecraft. This was to allow for the possibility of space rescues, I think. Two questions: 1) Is my memory correct? 2) Is the Buran docking port incompatible with this standard and, if so, what reasons have been given for the change? ---- David M. VomLehn work: (512) 244-8156 ...utexas!halley!vomlehn home: (512) 445-5834 ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 21:31:38 GMT From: concertina!fiddler@sun.com (Steve Hix) Subject: Re: Linguistic Tidbits In article <1724@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu>, mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) writes: > From article <192@cfa.HARVARD.EDU>, by willner@cfa.HARVARD.EDU (Steve Willner): > [Farthest and closest points to the primary in an orbit...] > > The generic terms are apoapsis and periapsis. The plural, in case you > > want to speak of both, is "apsides." (Pronounced with three syllables: > > aps'-uh-deez.) > > Steve points out that we should use Greek roots: > > By the way, the apsides of lunar orbit are the "aposelene" and > > "periselene;" I've seen it fairly often (for such discussions, at least) as perilune and apolune. > I thought it was "pericynthion" and "apocynthion"? I've seen *this* applied to Venus (modulo correct spelling, perhaps as "pericynthian"?). Dictionary says it should attach to the moon, but "periaphroditial" gets to be a mouthful... :} > How about the rest of the solar system? I think that it's > Mercury: perihermes aphermes > Venus: ? > Mars: periares apoares > Jupiter: perizenon? > Saturn: perikronon? ------------ "...I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization." - Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Sep 89 09:28:08 GMT From: oliveb!amdahl!drivax!macleod@apple.com (MacLeod) Subject: NASA and Face Data George William Herbert writes: :In article <754@hutto.UUCP> henry@hutto.UUCP (Henry Melton) writes: :>Book Review: :> The Monuments of Mars :> A City on the Edge of Forever :> by Richard C. Hoagland :> $14.95 North Atlantic Books ISBN 0-938190-78-4 :> :>This is a flawed book. It is one of those irritating cases when the :>author _delivers_ in the first few chapters, and then _blows_ it in the :>later chapters when he doesn't know when to quit. : :>My recommendation to NASA: Dedicate some imaging time of the Mars :>Orbiter to these interesting landforms. A very few high resolution :>frames would go a long way. : :***Warning: Bloody Upset Person Posting*** :NASA already has better photos of the area. Many were taken with :different sun angles. They basically show the face to be :nonsymmetrical...oh well, there goes the neat idea. :NASA _HAS NOT_ publicized this! Have you seen such images (not photographs)? If not, perhaps they only told this to >their< true believers who acccept anything the priesthood asserts. :After Hoagland published, NASA looked into it. They enhanced, and looked at :other images, and the result was that they disproved it. They quietly told :all the other astronomy and space science people. Why quietly? Damage control? What will be your response if the next Mars probe has "transmission problems" every time it's in the general area of the Face? :Result of NASA's failure to publish this (negative proof) data: Public :believes in face. There are the intransigent on each side of the issue, and a large group in the middle. I think the real "public" out there is unaware of the Face's existence, or non-existence. :I sat in on meeting two years ago, organized by UCB SPACE club. Hoagland and :some astronomy types duked it out. :Astronomy types dismissed the theory, and attacked H. as pseudoscientific. :Now, this may be true, but some of us in the audience hadn't seen the :background that disproved the theory. Result: Scientists come out looking like:bufoons. How does this follow? Why were the scientists unable to provide contrary proof? I don't think that three low-res images prove much of anything, and I'm dubious about Hoaglund's 3D modeling exercise, but it hardly seems like there is enough evidence for any decision whatever. But that will not stop the fanatics on both sides from crowing about their respective positions. :The lack of publication of this data has been one of the worst failures in :modern science. And it's all attributable to the scientists. Come now. How so? Are there no political circumstances involved - like interest in funding for future Mars probes? Or in squelching planetary missions in favor of the space station? Or moon bases? :Moral: Publicize Negative Findings! ***upset dying down*** Well, Carl Sagan was paid dollars50,000 to not find anything; I guess we can pack up and go home. If a planetary scientist like Sagan doesn't find formations like the Face and the City worth more study, what does he consider interesting? Sagan is an entertainer and political advocate and probably a designated leaker for those who do know what's going on - whatever that is. I have a bad feeling that we aren't aware of the whole story, but that may be my own paranoia speaking. Michael Sloan MacLeod (amdahl!drivax!macleod) ------------------------------ Date: 8 Sep 89 02:39:38 GMT From: datapg!com50!questar!al@uunet.uu.net (Al Viall) Subject: Mars Mission ship design Setting aside long discussions on logistics of a Mission to Mars (cross your fingers NOW), I would really like varied input on what you might think the ship for a Mars Mission would look like and how it would operate.(you may now uncross your fingers)<---heh!! Let's us possibly assume that the world powers could get together long enough for such an undertaking, since we all know that such a project will take much more than just one entity to do this. Such a ship would most likely be designed to incorporate some sort of artificial gravity for the two-year journey there and two-years back. But details, lets hear details.......... -- | Albert Viall | EMAIL:al@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG | | ARPA: al@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG | FIDONET: 1:242/2 | | "Uhh, Excuse me while I take a moment to adjust my tribble." | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 7 Sep 89 14:57:31 GMT From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!wasatch!uplherc!esunix!bambam!bpendlet@ucsd.edu (Bob Pendleton) Subject: Re: Economies of Scale in Launchers From article <1989Sep5.214844.29532@utzoo.uucp>, by henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer): > In article <131@bambam.UUCP> bpendlet@bambam.UUCP (Bob Pendleton) writes: >>> Are we confusing high thrust with efficiency? >> >>Could be. I don't claim to be an expert... >>As I remember it, I don't have the articles with me, The effective >>back pressure is lower for a high molecular weight exhaust. > > I had cause to review this recently for the talk I gave on Earth-to-orbit > propulsion at the BIS party at the Worldcon. I think it more likely that I missunderstood both what I read and what I was told. Can anyone tell me if there is a relationship between mass flow rate and optimal nozzle skirt length? A relationship that is independent of back pressure. Bob P. P.S. So, Henry, when are you going to post the text of your talk at the BIS bash in Boston? -- Bob Pendleton, speaking only for myself. UUCP Address: decwrl!esunix!bpendlet or utah-cs!esunix!bpendlet Reality is stanger than most people can imagine ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V10 #62 *******************