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 ; Fri, 2 Mar 90 01:57:27 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 2 Mar 90 01:57:00 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #98 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 98 Today's Topics: SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT Re: Fun Space Fact #1: Launcher Development Costs Re: Challenger Last Words Re: Spacecraft on Venus Re: Geosync DSN (was Re: Cheap DSN?) Re: Aviation Week Videos Re: Re:NASA Headline News for 02/20/90 (Forwarded) Ephemeris for Comet Austin Re: Power Sources Comet Austin orbit Space-based Positioning News from AW&ST ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 Feb 90 05:25:01 GMT From: agate!usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (William Baxter) Subject: SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT To: aws@vax3.UUCP (Allen W. Sherzer) Subject: SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT Newsgroups: sci.space Organization: UCB Math Dept Cc: The House Budget Subcommittee Deadline: March 6th call or write your congressperson if he or she is on the Budget Comittee (see list below for name, district, and phone). The proposed FY '91 budget contains more funding for development of the Advanced Launch System and the National Aerospace Plane (163 million NASA, 243 million DoD) than for ELV services (131 million NASA). Point out to your congressman that this contradicts the stated policy of NASA and the administration to "encourage, to the maximum extent feasible, a domestic commercial launch industry by contracting for necessary ELV launch services from the private sector," (Budget, p. 53) and ask him to oppose NASA spending on development which will compete with privately developed space transportation vehicles. Tell your congressman that HR2674 will lend the force of law to this policy, and that he should become a cosponsor. All phone numbers are in area code 202 Democrats: Beilenson (CA) 23rd district Beverley Hills 225-5911 Berman (CA) 26th district, Van Nuys 225-4695 Boxer (CA) 6th district, Barton County 225-5161 Bryant (TX) 5th district, Dallas 225-2231 Durbin (IL) 20th district, Springfield 225-5271 Dwyer (NJ) 6th district, Edison 225-6301 Espy (MS) 2nd district, Vicksburg 225-5876 Guarini (NJ) 14th district, Jersey City 225-2765 Huckaby (LA) 5th district, Monroe 225-2376 Jenkins (GA) 9th district, Dalton 225-5211 Kaptur (OH) 9th district, Toledo 225-4146 Kildee (MI) 7th district, Flint 225-3611 Leath (TX) 11th district, Waco 225-6105 Oberstar (MN) 8th district, Duluth 225-6211 Panetta (CA) Chairman 16th district Monterey 225-2861 Russo (IL) 3rd district, Oak Lawn 225-5736 Sabo (MN) 5th district, Minneapolis 225-4755 Schumer (NY) 10th district, Flatbush 225-6616 Slattery (KS) 2nd district, Topeka 225-6601 Wise (WV) 3rd district, Charleston 225-2711 Republicans: Armey (TX) 26th district, Arlington 225-7772 Bentley (MD) 2nd district, Towson 225-3061 Buechner (MO) 2nd district, Kirkwood 225-2561 Frenzel (MN) (ranking Republican) 3rd district, Bloomington 225-2871 Gallo (NJ) 11th district, Parsippani 225-5035 Goodling (PA) 19th district, York 225-5836 Gradison (OH) 2nd district, Cincinnati 225-3164 Houghton (NY) 34th district, Corning 225-3161 Kasich (OH) 12th district, Columbus 225-5355 McCrery (LA) 4th district, Shereveport 225-2777 Rogers (KY) 5th district, Somerset 225-4601 Schuette (MI) 10th district, Midland 225-3561 Smith (OR) 2nd district, Medford 225-6730 Thomas (CA) 20th district Bakersfield 225-2915 William Baxter ARPA: web@{garnet,brahms,math}.Berkeley.EDU UUCP: {sun,dual,decwrl,decvax,hplabs,...}!ucbvax!garnet!web ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 90 18:43:01 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!nickw@uunet.uu.net (Nick Watkins) Subject: Re: Fun Space Fact #1: Launcher Development Costs In article <9002261820.AA26142@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@aristotle-gw.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) writes: >Well, Kutyna may have known as well, but in a talk which I attended at >Caltech (which was later worked into an article, "Mr. Feynman Goes to >Washington"), Feynman said that the day after he decided to join the >commission, he went to JPL for an intensive meeting, and almost the first >thing in the notes he took was the suggestion that the accident was due >to O-ring failure in the SRB. That page of his notes was reproduced in >the article, wish I could remember where the darn thing was published. Well, "Physics Today" for one place. What I meant, and should have said, was the effect of cold weather on the O rings, rather than just the fact that the O rings were to blame. My impression, and flame away if I didn't read carefully enough, was that Kutyna was the first to suggest to him that the cold weather had contributed to the O ring failure. The long version of "Mr Feynman goes to Washington" is the latter part of "What do you care what other people think" and well worth reading, imho. Nick -- Dr. Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND JANET: nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: nickw%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 90 01:03:24 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) Subject: Re: Challenger Last Words A while ago (perhaps as early as the early 70s) the US Navy did a study of pilot's last words, before crashing or ejecting. The most common remark was "Oh, shit." The US Air Force confirmed this in a later study. CVR (cockpit voice recorder) transcripts published in NTSB accident reports also confirm this. I've also heard that the FAA confirms this. I think I know what Dick said. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA ------------------------------ Date: 26 Feb 90 22:25:18 GMT From: vsi1!v7fs1!mvp@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Van Pelt) Subject: Re: Spacecraft on Venus In article <1990Feb21.164544.9750@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >The real problem is not alloys, but building the most ferociously >capable heat-pump system you ever saw, to pump heat out faster than it >can leak in. Better, you could build a probe designed to operate at Venus surface temperature. (At 800 degrees? Right. It would probably be easier to build the heat pump.) Semiconductors are out; maybe some kind of vacuum tube system. Wasn't there something called a Thermionically Integrated Macro-Module, sort of the vacuum-tube equivalent of an integrated circuit? No filaments; you heat the whole thing up to where the cathodes emit by themselves. Sounds like a natural for Venus. :-) -- Mike Van Pelt Windows + Icons + Mouse Headland Technology/Video 7 + Pointer == WIMP. ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 90 18:49:51 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!nickw@uunet.uu.net (Nick Watkins) Subject: Re: Geosync DSN (was Re: Cheap DSN?) In article <2937@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> baalke@mars.UUCP (Ron Baalke) writes: >BIG guidable antenna arrays are not feasible for earth orbit. A 70 meter >antenna on the earth weighs 8 million pounds. The cost of placing such >an antenna into orbit would be astronomcal. And this is before the antenna How big is the array on Magnum (SIGINT satellite)? Published reports have suggested that it is of the order you mention. It is steerable, and indeed the costs of putting it into GEO *are* astronomical, but apparently it has been done, twice. Nick -- Dr. Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND JANET: nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: nickw%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 90 04:00:27 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) Subject: Re: Aviation Week Videos I've seen seven or eight of these videos (Dryden has a subscription and these can be checked out--I'm way too cheap to buy them). They're kind of bland. Not nearly as much aerial photograph as I would have liked. They have commercials in the middle. $50 and commercials! Talk about a lot of nerve. The Flight Deck video was pretty good, though. The World Aerobatic Teams video had some good footage and interviews. (I may not be the best reviewer in the world--I thought Top Gun was excellent, but would have been better if they'd left out the dopy love stuff and put in more airplanes. :-) -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 90 20:39:20 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) Subject: Re: Re:NASA Headline News for 02/20/90 (Forwarded) There are two shuttle training aircraft (STAs). They're modified Gulfstreams (IIs, I think). They're best described as airborne simulators. Modifications were made to the flight control system and to the control surfaces so that the aircraft flies like the Shuttle when that mode is selected. They come to Edwards and practice approaches before each mission. They usually do this on a Saturday, since they can use the Shuttle navaids with out interfering with the normal Edwards traffic. Also, there's a lot less traffic. An STA flies approaches just before the landing too, so that anything special, like winds aloft or turbulence, can be relayed to the Shuttle crew. They're also used to ferry the crew back to JSC. Where can you get one? First get a Gulfstream and then get a lot of money. If you just want to see what Shuttle approach looks like, find someone with an F-104. If you want to "fly" the approach, maybe the Calspan variable-stability Learjet. I know you can do it in the USAF/Calspan TIFS (Total In-Flight Simulator) because we've done a couple of programs on it. All it takes is money. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 90 01:13:04 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@decwrl.dec.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Ephemeris for Comet Austin Comet Austin Ephemeris Right Angular Ascension Declination Elongation Magnitude h m deg m deg Feb 28 1 00.1 -26 01 44 6.8 Mar 10 1 25.2 -10 21 31 4.9 20 1 38.2 -0 24 25 3.6 30 1 48.2 +11 44 20 1.8 Apr 9 1 43.0 +25 25 20 0.1 19 1 07.6 +34 18 25 0.5 29 0 17.6 +36 02 36 1.5 May 9 23 13.7 +32 39 54 1.9 19 21 29.9 +19 48 86 1.9 The comet's right ascension and declination are in 2000.0 coordinates. Angular elongations from the Sun are given as well as the predicted visual magnitudes. 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: 28 Feb 90 16:50:49 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Power Sources In article <1216@mindlink.UUCP> a752@mindlink.UUCP (Bruce Dunn) writes: > Some information on nuclear power for space purposes: For some time, SDI >has been working on a nuclear reactor called SP-100... >...The total reactor system weighs 3000 kg... a completely >self contained source of 100 KW of electricity... The only real problem with SP-100 is that the odds of it being actually built are looking poorer all the time. The full-scale *ground* test of the entire system fell off the end of the budget last year; a space test isn't even in the plans any more. It would be a useful thing, but the standard problem comes up: nobody wants to commit to using it without being sure it's going to be available, and availability is looking doubtful because it has no firm customers. -- "The N in NFS stands for Not, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology or Need, or perhaps Nightmare"| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 90 03:20:46 GMT From: snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!tholen@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (David Tholen) Subject: Comet Austin orbit Some of you have asked for the latest orbital elements for Comet Austin. The elements below appeared on IAU Circular 4972, dated 1990 February 27. Time of perihelion passage: 1990 April 9.9761 ET Perihelion distance: 0.349957 AU Eccentricity: 1.000380 Inclination: 58.9596 deg Longitude of ascending node: 75.2132 deg Argument of perihelion: 61.5546 deg Epoch of osculation: 1990 April 19.0 ET The inclination, ascending node, and argument of perihelion are all referred to the mean ecliptic and equinox of 1950. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Mar 90 09:59:14 AST To: CANSPACE%UNB.CA@vma.cc.cmu.edu, "Space Digest" From: LANG%UNB.CA@vma.cc.cmu.edu Subject: Space-based Positioning News from AW&ST FAA to Authorize GPS as Stand-alone Alernative for IFR ------------------------------------------------------ The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has taken its first step toward authorizing the use of Loran C and the Global Positioning System as stand-alone alternatives to the long-used VOR/DME for Instrument Flight Rules operations. The agency has requested airspace user comments by 22 May via an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. Glonass Satellites Believed to Use Rubidium Clocks -------------------------------------------------- A comparison of the accuracy and stability of atomic clocks used on board the Soviet Union's Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass) spacecraft with those in the GPS satellites will be reported by Peter Daly in Las Vegas at the IEEE PLANS '90 conference, scheduled for 20-23 March. Daly, a University of Leeds, U.K., professor who has been monitoring Glonass signals for several years, believes the Soviets are using rubidium atomic oscillators. He will report that the performance of recently launched Glonass satellites is comparable to that of the more accurate cesium clocks carried on Block I GPS spacecraft launched in 1983-84. (Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology, 12 February 1990) ======================================================================== Richard B. Langley BITnet: LANG@UNB.CA or SE@UNB.CA Geodetic Research Laboratory Phone: (506) 453-5142 Dept. of Surveying Engineering Telex: 014-46202 University of New Brunswick FAX: (506) 453-4943 Fredericton, N.B., Canada E3B 5A3 ======================================================================== ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #98 *******************