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/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Thu, 1 Mar 90 01:42:22 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 1 Mar 90 01:41:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #90 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 90 Today's Topics: Comet Austin Update - 02/27/90 RE: SPACE Digest V11 #85 RE: SPACE Digest V11 #80 Payload Status for 02/28/90 (Forwarded) Marty Kress to head newly organized Legislative Affairs Office (Forwarded) Giotto Update - 02/27/90 Re: Cheap DSN? Re:NASA Headline News for 02/20/90 (Forwarded) Aviation Week Videos Re: Power Sources ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Feb 90 18:58:53 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Comet Austin Update - 02/27/90 Comet Austin Update February 27, 1990 A newly discoved comet, Comet Austin, is streaking towards the sun and could become the brightest comet in more than a decade. Discovered by New Zealand amateur astronomer Rodney Austin last December 6th, the comet is so bright at 230 million miles from the sun that astronomers feel it may top Halley and Kohoutek. The comet is currently almost impossible to see except by experienced observers who are familiar with sky charts. Current predictions put Comet Austin's brightest magnitude, zero, at its closest approach to the sun or perihelion on April 9. It will then decrease in brightness as it streaks near Earth and then away -- 1.4 to 1.8 from May 9 to 19th. Around May 25 the comet will make its closes approach to Earth at 23 million miles. NASA is expecting to launch two orbiting observatories in time to gather data on Comet Austin. The Hubble Space Telescope now scheduled for launch on April 12 is expected to interrupt its initial testing to take some snapshots of the comet. ASTRO-1, to be launched May 9 on the space shuttle, will make at least four observations. Best viewing of Comet Austin should be around April 25, just above the east-northeast horizon before dawn. Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Lab M/S 301-355 | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 4800 Oak Grove Dr. | Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 08:17 EST From: Chuck Rothauser Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V11 #85 I am bringing some school children (ages 18 - 20 !) to KSC this summer - does anyone have a list of scheduled Space Shuttle launches during that time period? Thank you........ Chuck Rothauser United Technologies Research Center ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 18:28 EST From: Platypi go 'Quack!' Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V11 #80 Does anyone know the coordenats for the center of the Galaxy? Including right acclination. Tahnks Trotta@uncg.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 90 22:57:43 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Payload Status for 02/28/90 (Forwarded) Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 02-28-90 - STS-31R HST (at VPF) - Yesterday the CTV was connected to MILA, HST protective cover was removed, and AD/LS closeouts were performed. Today the CTV will be electrically tested with MILA and HST cleaning will be performed. - STS-32R SYNCOM/LDEF (at SAEF-2) LDEF deintegration continues. - STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at O&C) - Yesterday payload envelope clearance checks and ACTS cover installation were completed. Today velcro patch installation and MLI closeout will continue. - STS-40 SLS-1 (at O&C) - The systems test was active yesterday and will continue today. Experiment functional checks will also continue today. - STS-42 iml (at O&C) - Racks 4, 8, 9, and 11 staging operations were worked yesterday. Racks 8 and 11 staging will continue today. - STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C) - Forward and aft orthogrid hardpoint installations were worked yesterday and will continue today. - STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C) - PPCU checkout will continue today. - HST M&R ORUC cable system installation will start today. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 90 23:01:53 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Marty Kress to head newly organized Legislative Affairs Office (Forwarded) Jeff Vincent 3:00 p.m. EST Headquarters, Washington, D.C. February 28, 1990 RELEASE: 90-33 MARTY KRESS TO HEAD NEWLY ORGANIZED LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS OFFICE NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly today announced the establishment, effective March 18, 1990, of the Office of Legislative Affairs and the appointment of Martin P. Kress as the Acting Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs. The newly named office will report directly to the NASA Administrator and be responsible for legislative matters and the coordination of budgetary and policy matters with Congress. "The elevation of this organization reflects the significance of its work and the importance of maintaining excellent communications with Capitol Hill," Truly said. "Marty Kress brings to this job both a wealth of direct experience in congressional affairs and a solid knowledge of the civil space program. He will be a real asset to NASA, and I'm delighted that he will be joining us." Kress is currently a senior professional staff member of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space, a position he has held since 1984. His 11 years of Senate staff experience also include assignments with the Subcommittee on Business, Trade and Tourism and the Committee on the Budget. Earlier, Kress worked as a staffer for the Massachusetts League of Cities and Towns and for the Massachusetts Office of Federal-State Relations. Kress received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1970, and a master's degree in public admini- stration from Northeastern University in 1974. He also has done work toward a Ph.D. at Georgetown University. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and now lives in Vienna, Va. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 90 18:57:44 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Giotto Update - 02/27/90 Giotto Update February 27, 1990 The European Space Agency (ESA) which had restablished contact with the Giotto spacecraft last Tuesday (Februray 20), is preparing to check out Giotto's systems prior to an encounter with the comet Grigg-Skjerrerup in July 1992. ESA have been sending commands through the JPL Deep Space Network's 70-meter antenna at Madrid, Spain. Yesterday, ESA commanded the spacecraft to perform a successful maneuver to reduce the spacecraft's temperature. Telemetry data was also received from the High Gain Antenna aboard Giotto. Giotto had encountered Halley's Comet in March 1986 has been dormant since that time. Giotto will pass within 13,650 miles of Earth on July 22 to take advantage of a gravity assist boost to redirect it toward Grigg-Skjellerup for the encounter in July 1992. Giotto's narrow angle charged couple device camera will take color images of the comet's nucleus and inner coma. Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Lab M/S 301-355 | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 4800 Oak Grove Dr. | Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 90 17:52:21 GMT From: pgf@athena.mit.edu (Peter G. Ford) Subject: Re: Cheap DSN? In article <20022612475708@wishep.physics.wisc.edu> GOTT@wishep.physics.wisc.edu writes: >Greetings. >Where is the major cost of the US's DSN? (Deep Space Network) About 50-50 salaries versus hardware, software, telecommunications, materials, etc. > Could we build a better one using a helluva lot of generic satellite > reciever dishes, You don't make a good low-noise receiver by stringing cheap ones together. > a helluva a lot of not-top-of-the-line PC's Sure, if you're not worried when they fall apart just as Galileo needs its final trajectory correction. > and a helluva lot of very good software written by cheap programmers? > (read: Grad. students) I've got nothing against code written by graduate students, but it is often better known for flair than reliability, which is the most important factor in DSN software. >Why do I want another DSN? To support MIT's "many many little probes" >approach to exploring the solar system, to do radio astronomy, Little space probes have weak transmitters and small antennae. Little ground stations simply won't hear them. It's a matter of signal-to-noise ratios. That goes double for radio astronomy. > backup comm. links to manned missions, base stations for teleoperation, > whatever. Earth-orbiting missions don't need, or use, the DSN. They have their own ground stations. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 09:37:18 CST From: lfa@vielle.cray.com (Lou Adornato) Subject: Re:NASA Headline News for 02/20/90 (Forwarded) >The commander and pilot for the STS-36 mission for Space Shuttle >Atlantis took off in a shuttle training aircraft at 3:30AM today >-- simulating emergency and darkness training. The flight ended >at sunrise. Anyone know what a "shuttle training aircraft" is (and where I can get one of my own?) Lou Adornato | Statements herein do not represent the opinions or attitudes Cray Research | of Cray Research, Inc. or its subsidiaries. lfa@cray.com | (...yet) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Feb 90 15:16 EST From: Mark C. Widzinski Subject: Aviation Week Videos I came across a flyer from AW&ST advertising a series of video tapes. Some of the title sound interesting: "SR-71 Blackbird: Secret Vigil", "Space Shuttle: The Recovery", X-Planes", Future Flight: Tomottow's Airliner", etc. Has anyone seen these videos? They're all $50 which is a little much to blow on a low quality flick. Any critiques or comments would be welcome. Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Widzinski (widzinski@sapsucker.scrc.symbolics.com) 617-221-1348 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Feb 90 11:22:53 GMT From: ubc-cs!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a752@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Bruce Dunn) Subject: Re: Power Sources > kcarroll writes: > > Msg-ID: <1990Feb26.155936.22759@utzoo.uucp> > Posted: 26 Feb 90 15:59:36 GMT > > Org. : U of Toronto Zoology > Person: Kieran A. Carroll > [stuff deleted]... > the mass of the reactants. Nuclear reactors are starting to look better > all the time... > -- > > Kieran A. Carroll @ U of Toronto Aerospace Institute > uunet!attcan!utzoo!kcarroll kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu Some information on nuclear power for space purposes: For some time, SDI has been working on a nuclear reactor called SP-100. The design power level is 100 KW electric, and a number of reactor types were investigated. The "final" design, according to a 1989 reference, was a "Fast-spectrum, liquid metal cooled reactor coupled with an out-of-core thermoelectric conversion system". The reactor was designed to have a 7 year full power life. The primary power is outputted at 200 V DC. The total reactor system weighs 3000 kg, exclusive (I think) of any radiation shielding which might be needed near the reactor. The reactor is shaped like a conical badminton shuttlecock, with the reactor at the tip, and the "feathers" being radiator panels. The reactor is designed to be attached to other structures through the "base" of the shuttlecock, placing the reactor core as far away as possible. The thermal flux at the "user interface" is stated to be 0.14 W/cm^2, and the 10 year radiation fluence to be < 10^13 neutrons/cm^2 or < 5 x 10^5 rads. The reactor is thus a completely self contained source of 100 KW of electricity. The only requirement is that it be placed where it can radiate or otherwise get rid of several hundred KW of heat while it is running. Needless to say, it is not healthy being near it because of the radiation hazard. - Bruce ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #90 *******************