Message-ID: <gaEGnKu00VcJM4uE4T@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
Date: Fri,  4 May 90 03:18:47 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #356

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 356

Today's Topics:
		      Re: Status of Projects...
     Mirrors in space (was Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage)
		     Re: Manned mission to Venus
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Date: 4 May 90 04:04:59 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Status of Projects...

In article <DLBRES10.90May3113449@pc.usl.edu> dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Fraering Philip) writes:
>Does anyone have any information on the status of the following projects:

Yes, but you won't like it. :-)

>1. Nasa's Shuttle-2

Paper project, no specific plans for hardware construction.

>2. MMI's Space Van

Paper project unless funding can be found.

>3. Advanced Launch System

Progressively disappearing from view.  What used to be a two-phase project,
for an interim launcher operational ASAP and a cheaper one in the long term,
first abandoned the interim launcher and then dropped the long-term one too.
It's now a technology-development program which is doing engine work but
has no specific intent to build a complete launcher.

>4. SSX

Paper project that is getting a small amount of SDI money for further
studies.  That is the *best* news in the list, unfortunately.

>5. Phoenix

Paper project unless funding can be found.

>6. Anything else that would launch to space cheaply.

Paper projects, the lot. :-(

The fundamental problem with all these projects is, *where's the market?*.
By and large, they are expensive ventures that will pay off only if large
new markets open up with the advent of cheap launchers.  Many people think
this would happen.  Proving it to venture capitalists is impossible, most
especially if you want several hundred million dollars' worth of proof.
The existing launcher customers are mostly more or less happy with the
existing launchers.
-- 
If OSI is the answer, what is |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

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Date: 4 May 90 05:42:49 GMT
From: samsung!munnari.oz.au!uluru5!danielce@think.com  (Daniel Ake CAROSONE)
Subject: Mirrors in space (was Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage)

All this talk of putting a big mirror in space leads one to think, like
sci-fi authors since time immemorial (or at least since anny time that
matters) of other uses for the beast, once it is up there.

Consider:
   There was mention made of some satellites being simultaneously in the
beam from the mirror and from the sun. What about powering satellites
in shadow for a while, or at least keeping it warm, if such a thing should
become necessary. Or shine it on the greenhouse in a space-station?
   It is a mirror, but it does not have to reflec only sunlight. Lasers for
telemetry or comms or whatever could be bounced off it to provide a
long baseline for triangulation, without having to wait for the
Earth to move far enough in it's orbit. Or maybe radar.
   Then, what about using it to shine light on the night-side of Earth?
"Coke is it" in morse code from the heavens? 
Club Med hiring time for the extra sun-tans?
Just how big would this mirror appear to an earth-bound observer? Could 
it put out enough light to be used for search and rescue, or something
requiring diffuse but noticeable light? Bet that would really piss the 
astronomers off! Might even inspire a new religion, remember one that
seems to have been sparked off by bright lights in the sky?
   
The mind boggles...

"Tongue-tied and twisted,
  Just an Earth-bound misfit, I" - Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd.

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Date: 4 May 90 06:00:10 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uluru5!danielce@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Daniel Ake CAROSONE)
Subject: Re: Manned mission to Venus

In article <3332@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca>, msdos@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) writes:
> I would like to start a new discussion about a manned mission to Venus.

> And for those that doubt about my seriousness, I am glad to tell that I
> will be the first to volunteer to go there... After all our technology
> can enable us to make life bearable even at 900 F and 90 athmospheres

You and 3/4 of the readership of this group! if not more.
Personally, I would volunteer to go on any such mission, even if
the chances of survival beyond a few days in LEO were nil. Why else
was I created young and adventurous, instead of old and cautious? :-)

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End of SPACE Digest V11 #356
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