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, 25 May 90 03:24:38 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 25 May 90 03:23:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #449 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 449 Today's Topics: NASA Headline News for 05/24/90 (Forwarded) Re: Terraforming Venus (was: Manned mission to Venus) Ulysses propulsion Skywatch, a new use for SDI? Re: SPACE Digest V11 #444 Re: Endangered squirrels Re: Consort 3 Launch Successful Re: NASA Headline News for 05/22/90 (Forwarded) NASA Image data Re: Splitting sci.space HST vibration problems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 May 90 23:14:00 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 05/24/90 (Forwarded) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, May 24, 1990 Audio Service: 202/755-1788 ----------------------------------------------------------------- This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, May 24... Activities are picking up at Kennedy Space Center. A decision to confirm the launch date for the STS-35/Astro-1 mission is expected this afternoon. At this time, the night launch for STS- 35/Astro-1 is scheduled for May 30. All repair work has been completed on the orbiter Columbia and close out of the Astro payload will occur today. A date for the Delta 2/ROSAT launch will be determined either late today or early tomorrow. The decision hinges on the date selected for the STS-35 liftoff. * * * * * * * * Aerospace Daily reports a RAND Corporation study says the proposed Shuttle-C unmanned heavy-lift launch vehicle is "too expensive for routine transporattion" and has questioned its need under any level of U.S. space activities, except "in the case of unique operational benefits". The critical report was prepared with U.S. Air Force funding. * * * * * * * * Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission controllers say the Galileo spacecraft continues to operate in a stable and healthy manner. During its present cruise phase the spacecraft continues data gathering on interplanetyary fields, particles and ultraviolet phenomena. The spacecraft is now 96 million miles from Earth, and 98 million miles from the Sun. It has completed 382 million miles of its 2.4 billion miles path to Jupiter. * * * * * * * * Reuters reports that 13 Japanese companies have formed a consortium to produce launch vehicles and compete in the international satellite-launching business. The effort is led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. * * * * * * * * ----------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the broadcast schedule for NASA Select TV. All times are EDT. Thursday, May 24..... 11:30 A.M. NASA Update will be transmitted 12:00 P.M. The Hubble Space Telescope first test pictures. 12:50 P.M. HST: Exploring the Depths of the universe. 1:00 P.M. The Eagle Has Landed: The Flight of Apollo 11 1:30 P.M. Apollo 11 Crew Interview Friday, May 25....... 9:00 A.M.-8:00 P.M. 5201 Validation Testing All events and times are subject to change without notice. These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 P.M. EDT. This is a service of the Internal Communications Branch, NASA HQ. Contact: JSTANHOPE on NASAmail or at FTS 453-8425. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Select TV: Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band 72 Degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 17 May 90 00:42:48 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!physics.utoronto.ca!neufeld@ucsd.edu (Christopher Neufeld) Subject: Re: Terraforming Venus (was: Manned mission to Venus) In article <3419@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca> msdos@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) writes: >The only thing I would like to >add to the discussion here is that it is extremely dangerous to try to >send comets on this planet (of Love... :-) ), for many of this stuff can >reach the Earth, and the kinetic energy contained brought in by such a >meteorite when it crashes at 12 to 100 km per second is sufficient to >vaporize it hundreds of times (remember what happened in Siberia in 1908, >was there really some kind of cooling down?). Hitting the Earth is a non-issue. Course corrections would be made with full knowledge of the positions of all the planets, and it would not be possible to hit the Earth by accident. Another thing to remember when planning celestial pot shots is that the planets don't all orbit in the same plane. A course which intercepts Venus' orbit has no reason to intercept the Earth's orbit. It might, but it's more likely that it wouldn't. Despite the pictures in books, space is not two dimensional. In fact, one could argue that by removing one comet from circulation, we would be lessening the chance that the Earth would be hit. One question about intercepting and deflecting comets: how does the force from the vapour jets outgassing compare to the force which a human thrust unit could impart on the comet? Might it be necessary to shroud the comet in a reflective sheet to prevent the outgassing from swamping the steering thrust? Maybe it would be possible to put a rigid cover on the comet with a hole at one end as a reaction jet, and use a heater to drive the steam. -- Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student | "Spock, comment?" neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca | "Very bad poetry cneufeld@pro-generic.cts.com Ad astra! | captain." "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" | ------------------------------ Date: 24 May 90 15:22:11 GMT From: attcan!utgpu!utzoo!henry@uunet.uu.net (Henry Spencer) Subject: Ulysses propulsion In article <265AC2CE.9E0@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes: >On a related note, would any of the Soviet boosters be powerful enough >to send Ulysses up out of the ecliptic without help from Jupiter? An Energia might do it, if you stack on a few more upper stages. It's a really ugly propulsion problem, though, the sort of thing where you'd really like to use solar sails or ion rockets. (A severely out-of- ecliptic orbit is one reason why Halley-rendezvous proposals specified exotic propulsion.) -- Life is too short to spend | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology debugging Intel parts. -Van J.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 20 May 90 03:50:14 GMT From: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!physics.utoronto.ca!neufeld@rutgers.edu (Christopher Neufeld) Subject: Skywatch, a new use for SDI? A few days ago I saw a two paragraph newspaper article which claimed that Dan Quayle had expressed an interest in setting up an official asteroid watch in hopes of detecting and possibly deflecting rocks which might hit the Earth. What surprised me in the article, though, was the claim that the SDI machinery might be used for this purpose, since it seemed that there would be little use for it in its initial intended purpose. Was this just something the editor of the Toronto newspaper made up, or did Quayle actually say something to this effect? Is there anything in the SDI arsenal which could be of any real use in an asteroid detection and deflection scenario? The detectors which would pick up missile launches would seem to me to be quite useless for spotting an inbound asteroid from the orbit of Mars. The beam weapons would be completely ineffective at any useful range, and the kinetic weapons would not transfer nearly enough momentum to a body which was large enough to be considered dangerous, even if aiming were possible. While on the subject, what do people think will become of this skywatch? Will it die a quiet death, or will something be set up to perform the functions mentioned by Dan Quayle? -- Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student | He's the kind of person neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca | who'd follow you into a cneufeld@pro-generic.cts.com Ad astra! | revolving door and come "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" | out first. ------------------------------ Date: 24 May 90 13:32:16 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!watdragon!watyew!jdnicoll@ucsd.edu (Brian or James) Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V11 #444 I'll grant Mr. Arlen point one [the squirrels are there, the observatory is not], and points 2a, 2b, and 2c [The squirrels can find each other, procreate, and have a small population]. Point 2d is shakier; did Mr. Arlen read the little tree rat's minds to see if they are 'happy'? and point 2e is pointless, since I would be hard pressed to find anything not capable of being regarded as a product of 'NATURE' [Nuclear reactors are just another energy source being exploited by a tool using species]. Point 3 should read '>some< squirrels thrive as a result of human presence.' Some species of squirrels do not. Point 4, while validly pointing out that squirrels can be a pain in civilised surroundings, also describes small children. I would argue that the contribution the squirrels make to human existence is highly dependent on the observer. Some folks actually like tree rats. In any case, they give cats something to do with their spare time. Point 1, section 2 I would agree with. Point 2, section 2 is very arguable [aren't there *any* Sierra Club types reading this news group?], and also misses the point of the discussion. Not building the observatory is hardly artificial welfare, and the question was 'Will the Red Squirrel species survive the building of an observatory?' not 'Should we pull funding from astronomy to help spread the Crimson Tree Vampire in the hopes scientific progress will be undermined and the human race plunged back into the dark ages?' Point three, section 2 seems to regard the 'forces of nature' as a hostile and foolish organisation. Point 4, section 2 [given a much larger population of healthy squirrels] I wouldn't argue with, since squirrels can be quite tasty, properly prepared. You'll want to learn how to recognise diseased or parasite ridden squirrels, though. The really silly thing is that personally, I loath squirrels. They have always struck me as pretentious rats with toupees. I just thought Mr. Arlen's arguments flawed. JDN ------------------------------ Date: 21 May 90 22:31:45 GMT From: att!tsdiag!davet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Dave Tiller N2KAU) Subject: Re: Endangered squirrels In article <95813@philabs.Philips.Com> rfc@briar.philips.com.UUCP (Robert Casey) writes: >I see squirrels (grey ones) all around in surburban NYC. They don't seem to >mind the presence of homo sapiens. Are the red ones on this mountian very >different from the grey squirrels I see lots of? I would guess, as long as >you don't knock down too many trees, that the squirrels wouldn't be much >bothered. > >But I'm no squirrel expert. The squirrels in Virginia run like hell when they see a homo sapien - we tend to shoot them and eat them, see? :-) They know they're food. As for the ones on the mountain where the telescopes are going, I'd guess they'd be naturally wary of people, as are most wild animals that don't regularly frequent the same bars and nightclubs as people. -- David E. Tiller davet@tsdiag.ccur.com | Concurrent Computer Corp. FAX: 201-870-5952 Ph: (201) 870-4119 (w) | 2 Crescent Place, M/S 117 UUCP: ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!davet | Oceanport NJ, 07757 ICBM: 40 16' 52" N 73 59' 00" W | N2KAU @ NN2Z ------------------------------ Date: 24 May 90 21:44:23 GMT From: convex!ewright@uunet.uu.net (Edward V. Wright) Subject: Re: Consort 3 Launch Successful alvitar@xavax.com (Phillip Harbison) writes: >The following is a summary of information carried in newspaper >articles by The Huntsville Times, The Huntsville News, and the AP wire. >Deke Slayton, a former Mercury astronaut, is the president and founder > of SSI. Not true! Deke Slayton did not join SSI until after the Percheron rocket, built for SSI by GCH Inc., exploded during a static engine test and SSI decided to switch to solid-fueled rockets. Also, I believe that the official name of the company is now SSI of America. ------------------------------ Date: 23 May 90 17:58:28 GMT From: vsi1!hsv3!mvp@apple.com (Mike Van Pelt) Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 05/22/90 (Forwarded) In article <49976@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: >Significant milestones have been met by the Hubble Space Telescope. ... >It appears after traveling from darkness to light, the sudden >heating of the solar panels causes them to slightly vibrate. Yep. They should have used a nuke. (hemi-demi-semi- :-) -- "It was more dangerous to drive Mike Van Pelt away from Three Mile Island than Headland Technology/Video 7 to stay there." -- Dr. Bruce Ames. ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 90 07:46:40 -0500 From: richard@pemrac.space.swri.edu (Richard Murphy) Subject: NASA Image data Concerning the query about image data availability. Not only does the NSSDC maintain archives of data, but NASA publishes CD-ROMs with quite a big chuck of the Voyager imagery. The Jupiter and Saturn sets are available now and Uranus will be when the stock is restored. Neptune disks are supposed to be out in July. The NSSDC e-mail address is: request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov or SPAN : ncf::request +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Murphy Division 15 richard@pemrac.space.swri.edu Southwest Research Institute ...convex!pemrac!richard 6220 Culebra Rd. swri::richard (SPAN) San Antonio, TX 78228-0510 "It's not what you know, it's what you think you know." -- Steve Martin +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 90 20:22:52 EDT From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Re: Splitting sci.space >From: mcsun!ukc!inmos!conor%wren.inmos.co.uk@uunet.uu.net (Conor O'Neill) >Subject: Splitting sci.space >While I hate arguments which tend to occur concerning newsgroup splitting, >yet again I arrive to find hundreds of articles in sci.space. >Could we perhaps have a discussion on splitting sci.space into a few >smaller groups. A *very provisional* suggestion might be: >I was not reading sci.space when sci.space.shuttle was split off. >Did this cause any controversy? >Conor O'Neill, Software Group, INMOS Ltd., UK. >UK: conor@inmos.co.uk US: conor@inmos.com Please have mercy on us Internet folks. Right now, there's *one* space gateway to Usenet, which Todd Masco and CMU are kind enough to manage. We lose anything that's split off - for instance, we don't get sci.space.shuttle. Unless someone wants to gate each new group separately? :-) (Remember, cutting off Internet may cut off a lot of NASA people. How are they going to read your brilliant ideas and implement them? :-) (I wouldn't object to splitting off sci.space.flames. It could even be further divided into sci.space.flames.religion, sci.space.flames.ecology, sci.space.flames.nasa, sci.space.flames.humans-are-rotten, and sci.space.flames.personal-attacks. :-) John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 24 May 90 05:16:45 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: HST vibration problems In article <423@mtndew.UUCP> friedl@mtndew.UUCP (Steve Friedl) writes: >> heating of the solar panels causes them to slightly vibrate. >> Controllers say it can be easily fixed. > >Does this mean "really fixed" or "compensated for by software" ? For a guess, the latter. -- Life is too short to spend | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology debugging Intel parts. -Van J.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #449 *******************