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 ; Wed, 23 May 90 02:29:29 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 23 May 90 02:28:59 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #443 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 443 Today's Topics: Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY! Re: wooden ships MIR problems, another question. Name That Neutrino (was Re: Naming Stars) Re: Cape York Space Port ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22 May 90 15:17:18 GMT From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucsd.edu (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY! But as has been pointed out here and on the space-tech list, fuel costs are a _very_ small fraction of the spacecraft launch costs. Philip Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 22 May 90 13:14:41 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!watdragon!watyew!jdnicoll@ucsd.edu (Brian or James) Subject: Re: wooden ships In article <1990May22.041549.6888@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1990May21.155840.6288@cs.wayne.edu> pbh@pandora.cs.wayne.edu (Patrick B. Haggood) writes: >>Besides, Magellan didn;t have to throw his boat away after the trip (yeah, >>I know he died, I'm trying to make a point!) :-) > >It wasn't uncommon for wooden ships to last only one major voyage, or for >that matter for an expedition to come back with fewer ships than it started >with, because of things like shipworm. And, of course, a prime example of ship attrition was Christopher Columbus' abortive trip to Asia. He didn't just use up his ships; he was a pioneer in the field of expendible crewmember usage ['I have invented a new form of ablative armour. I call it 'other people'']. At least the modern voyages of exploration are by people who believe in adapting to their environment. The British, for example, took a very long time to realise that clothing that was proper for England was not suited for use in the Arctic [Actually, I can say from experience that the clothes kids wore in England 1961 to 1964 is not really suited to *English* weather, either]. Gross managerial incompetence is not an invention of NASA's. I don't even think they're in the running for the top ten in the 'Most poorly run program of exploration' contest. JDN ------------------------------ Date: 22 May 90 21:57:26 GMT From: usc!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali!milton!maven!games@ucsd.edu Subject: MIR problems, another question. I must be missing something in regards to the MIR crisis. Did not the russians send up a SPACE BYCICLE recently? with some kind of tether for testing it? Why do they need a ladder when they can just hop on the bike and fly to where the repairs are needed? What gives... John Stevens-Schlick ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 May 90 06:40 CST From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey Subject: Name That Neutrino (was Re: Naming Stars) Original_To: SPACE,BERMAN,NAGY,DEVL::LONGO,DEVL::TJOHNSON A flood of replies greeted Jason Edward Floyd's [jfloyd@cscwam.umd.edu] reasonable question in Space Digest: > I have heard that it is possible to name a star or galaxy. Is this >true? If so how does one go about doing it? In a very informative followup, Michael P. Collin [mikec@phx.mcd.mot.com] explained: > There is at least one organization, the International Star Registry, which >will, for a fee, provide anyone with a very authentic looking certificate >assigning your name to a designated star... If you question them carefully, or >check the small print in their agreement, you'll learn that their registry of >star names is not referenced by anyone in the world's astronomical community. >In other words, for their price, you get a fancy piece of paper. Nothing more. This reminded me of a scheme I've been brooding over for some time. The flaw in the ISR scam is that the stars involved *already have names*, and have been the objects of study by astronomers for many years. Hence nobody will pay any attention to the names ISR gives to stars. Now, here at Fermilab, we have a facility which can manufacture elementary particles and point them in certain directions. In particular, we have one of the few neutrino-production facilities in the world. We could offer to produce a NEW neutrino, one WHICH HAS NEVER EXISTED BEFORE, give it a name you suggest, and CATAPULT IT OFF INTO THE DISTANT COSMOS at the SPEED OF LIGHT! This is an object that HAS NEVER BEFORE HAD A NAME! All for a modest fee. Think of it. Your neutrino, a living remembrance of you or your sweetie, speeding through the void indefinitely. Stars BURN OUT and DIE... but your neutrino is GUARANTEED TO LAST AS LONG AS THE UNIVERSE-- or your money back! [See Technical Note below.] Along with the certificate proving that your neutrino has been manufactured, named, and launched, we can tell you its destination: coordinates on the sky, and perhaps the nearest known object to that location. We need a program that figures out the right ascension and declination of the Neutrino beam line as the Earth turns (if anybody cares, it's 22 degrees east of North, at Batavia, Illinois, 41 51 13 N, 88 18 41 W, and tangent to the ground, 745 feet above sea level). Couple this with a database of astronomical catalogue objects, and the program can print out a message like: Your neutrino, NAME_HERE, will pass within DISTANCE light-years of the GALAXY_OR_QUASAR known as OBSCURE_CATALOGUE_DESIGNATION in the year DISTANT_FUTURE_YEAR. I think this idea is much neater than getting a crummy old star named after you. Definitely worth millions. The catch is that all the necessary equipment belongs to the U.S. federal government. I've never asked them whether my Intergalactic Neutrino Registry business could use it, or what it would cost. I fear they'd put too much red tape in my way. It might be a good way for the Department of Energy to raise supplemental funding, too. After all, they rent out Fermilab's cornfields to farmers. But are they farsighted enough to see the brilliance of my proposal? [Technical Note: There is a finite chance the neutrino will get absorbed by intergalactic matter, but it's rather small, and our business can well afford paying such refunds. If the universe is closed, all our neutrinos will be absorbed just a few minutes (how long?? good physics exam exercise) before the Big Crunch. But I'm willing to bet that most customers won't bother to collect on our claim in the final minutes of the universe-- they'll probably be busy with other matters. If the universe is open or flat, we have no worries. One other danger: It's conceivable that neutrinos might someday be discovered to decay or oscillate into some other kind of particle. But in the fine print, we can put language that'll void the gurantee if that happens.] ______meson Bill Higgins _-~ ____________-~______neutrino Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory - - ~-_ / \ ~----- proton Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNALB.BITNET | | \ / SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS - - ~ Internet: HIGGINS@FNALB.FNAL.GOV ------------------------------ Date: 22 May 90 16:18:03 GMT From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucsd.edu (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Cape York Space Port Sonetimes I wonder where we'd be in space if the major launch contractors has spent as much of their own money on launcher R & D as they have on lobbying for a favorable political enviornment (i.e. guaranteed contracts, closed markets) for their converted ICBM launchers. Phil dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #443 *******************