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, 15 Jun 1990 01:30:27 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 15 Jun 1990 01:29:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #526 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 526 Today's Topics: Re: Public Perception Of Space (was Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity) NASA 91 Appropriation Re: Satellite Pictures Re: Mount Graham KH-12 Re: Doing something/political reality Re: Space Sail Race Re: Weather Satellite Photos Re: NASA signs agreement with consortium of minority universities (Forwarded) Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Jun 90 05:01:59 GMT From: bfmny0!tneff@uunet.uu.net (Tom Neff) Subject: Re: Public Perception Of Space (was Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity) >>Mostly that's because the press presents it that way. The media get the >>same info you enjoy reading (or more), but then they feel they have to >>make the information understandable to an eighth grader (the approximate >>reading level newspapers are pitched to). The result is easy to read but >>with a near-zero information content. In practice this tends not to be true unless one's reading is restricted to USA TODAY captions, but read on. >True. But it's also probably accurate to say that most members of the press >have an understanding of science corresponding to eighth grade level, if that. >They studied journalism in college, not physics. This is probably true for journalists as a class, counting the vast majority who have nothing to do with science reporting. But standards for science reporting in major media are higher. And good reporters know whom to ask for the answers they don't have. >>To be fair, newspapers and electronic media are giving the public what >>they want. Nobody cares if a new galaxy is discovered or high-resolution >>photos of the Jovian moons are obtained. People certainly do enjoy seeing pictures of planets and galaxies and so forth. That's why the papers and magazines print them -- it sells copies. No, people don't want to wade through spectroscopic results from someone's binary star research, but why should they? >These things *are* reported, but they sound like this: > >"Scientists report the discovery of a new galaxy in the Milky Way. It is >the largest object of its type ever found. The new galaxy is more than >six billion miles away." (End of report) Not true in practice! I scan and archive a LOT of space news from the major media. There are some inaccuracies but generally the standards are very good. We are talking about veteran professionals on most of these beats! Just out of curiosity I scanned my 1990 archive for "galaxy" and/or "discover", to see what is REALLY printed. The resulting collection of extracts was uniformly intelligent and generally accurate. (I decided not to include them in this article to save space and also out of copyright cowardice.) >To say this has "near zero information content" is kind. CNN in fact has >a weekly series, "Science and Technology Today", consisting of a rundown >of the week's stories in these areas. But it tends to be superficial ... CNN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TODAY is a poor example of science "reporting," because they carry the terrible burden of having to produce a half-hour EVERY week (regardless of whether anything major is happening), and doing it on a very limited budget. The "solution" is a common one -- use canned tapes from corporate PR packages, and/or find something marginally interesting within a half-day's drive of Atlanta, so one van and crew can do the piece without overtime. So we get all these eye-glazing segments on what some chip maker is up to, or what a wonderful science fair they had in Bugton, Georgia. (All of CNN is prone to this approach, not just S&TT.) -- "UNIX should be used :: Tom Neff or as an adjective." -- AT&T :: ...uunet!bfmny0!tneff (UUCP only) ------------------------------ Date: 13 Jun 90 19:40:44 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!samsung!umich!umeecs!itivax!vax3.iti.org!aws@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Allen W. Sherzer) Subject: NASA 91 Appropriation I just received a copy of the markup for the NASA 91 appropriation. This is out of the subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies. In a nutshell, anything related to Moon Mars is gone. Anything related to Mission to Planet Earth just got a whole lot bigger. Some highlights: SEI Programs Program Request Recomendation Delta ALS and Heavy Lift studies 53M 3M -50M Lunar Observer 15M 0 -15M SEI Exploration Mission Studies 37M 0 -37M Pathfinder 179M 22M -157M Civil Space Tech. Initiative 102M 57M -45M Mission to Planet Earth Programs Program Request Recomendation Delta EOS Instruments 103M 108M +5M Ozone Mapping Earth Probes 25M 35M +10M EOS SAR Program ??? ??? +10M Overall, the NASA R&D request of 7,074,000,000 was cut by 615,375,000. Allen ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Allen W. Sherzer | Death to all extremists! | | aws@iti.org | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jun 90 20:40:31 GMT From: kr0u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin William Ryan) Subject: Re: Satellite Pictures >There are several NOAA pictures in GIF format which are updated every >week or so and can be obtained using anonymous FTP at VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU >directory: phil.515 Great photos. Unfortunately they are all of the West Coast - I'm in Pittsburgh. Anyone have any weather sat photos of the east/northeast region? kwr ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jun 90 19:33:55 GMT From: uoft02.utoledo.edu!fax0112@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Subject: Re: Mount Graham I would like to point out that there used to be logging and hunting on the mountain which would have led to the destruction fo the squirrels. Part of the agreement that allowed the observatory was that logging and hunting would be forbidden. It seems to me that the observatory has helped the plight of the little fellas if anything. Rober Dempsey Ritter Observatory ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 11:41:45 EDT From: Rick Papaj Subject: KH-12 This might very well have been discussed before, but I just saw a repeat episode of NOVA on PBS in which the KH-12 satellite was discussed, and I am intrigued. Does anyone have a clue to the number deployed, resolution, etc.? Rick Papaj (papaj@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu) ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jun 90 19:18:45 GMT From: philmtl!philabs!ttidca!sorgatz@uunet.uu.net ( Avatar) Subject: Re: Doing something/political reality In article <544.2673B35C@ofa123.fidonet.org> David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org (David Anderman) writes: +Avatar, at this point I believe that the principal reason that the +politicians in this country have been unwilling to move forward on space +development is due to space activists preaching to one another via +computer networks rather than informing their elected officials about +space policy issues..... My dear Mr. Anderman- I couldn't agree with you *LESS*! ;-) No, I'm not kidding, I'm quite serious in stating for the record that we are sheerly dreaming in our attempts to communicate the serious need-for-space to the politicians. 1) They are (mostly) lawyers, they do not have the slightest sense of adventure or scientific curiousity. They are very-lightly braindead in their pre-frontals! Their major concern is the proliferation of the zero-sum game here on planet earth. That is the status-quo, and it is their job to defend it. 2) The very idea of a high-frontier colony (like L5 perhaps) scares the the hell out of such people since such a group, once self sufficient, would have very little need for planet-bound thinking..i.e. there's always the chance that the spacers might ignore their politically- bent blather, declare autonomy, etc. 3) The entire possibility of an ever-expanding abundance in materials, knowledge and capability is an anathema to the collect-and-divide mentality. If they can't make an *exclusive* buck off something then it's not something they'll support. In short Old Man, the preaching of space doctrine to politicians is quite like trying to teach a pig to sing..it annoys the pig and it wastes your time. We should simply bypass the bastards, form a rational public corporation and do it! Screw the "budget crunches", to bloody-hell with the need for NASA's "executive leadership", abandon all the traditional rituals associated with such ventures..LET'S DO IT! -Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY +-------------------------+ Citicorp(+)TTI *----------> panic trap; type = N+1 * 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 +-------------------------+ {csun,philabs,psivax,pyramid,quad1,rdlvax,retix}!ttidca!sorgatz ** (OPINIONS EXPRESSED DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF CITICORP OR IT'S MANAGEMENT!) ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jun 90 06:26:03 GMT From: usc!snorkelwacker!ai-lab!kingdon@ucsd.edu (Jim Kingdon) Subject: Re: Space Sail Race I saw a lecture a week or two ago by an MIT researcher who (over a weekend) drafted a proposal for the race; all the following information is from that lecture (sorry, I don't remember his name). He does not include much allowance for instruments or sensors. As he put it "Why do second-class science?" when the real goal of the thing is to demonstrate the working of a solar sail. The keep it small and cheap attitude as opposed to the throw a whole bunch of things onto one spacecraft (e.g. Galileo) one. The race is being run by some U.S. government committee to commemerate the anniversery of Columbus's landing in the Americas. I don't have more information, but a few calls running around information and various government offices could locate it, I imagine. Their request for proposals specified a 500 kg payload. This would allow room for stuff like the camera, etc. But the MIT team's design sketch (no one yet has a completed design) is much smaller--30 kg. This would allow launch on a Pegasus or other small booster, or as a secondary payload on a large booster (the former is preferable from the point of view of avoiding red tape). ins_atge@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Thomas G Edwards) writes: 'Sailing' out of an Earth Orbit sounds like a fairly difficult maneuver. Well, the calculations have been done; it involves spiralling outward. You have to start at about 1000 miles, or else air drag is stronger than the propulsion from the sun. The orbit for going from "near earth" (after having escaped) to Mars has also been computed; it is an unsolved problem to combine the two. The MIT proposal estimates 500 days from launch to a moon flyby, and 250 days from the moon to Mars. There also is probably a good deal of guidance control mechanisms. This is very complicated for a square sail type design, because you need to have additional pieces of sail at the corners and/or move the payload relative to the sail. For a heliogyro (such as the MIT design) you merely need to be able to twist each of the thin strips of sail once per revolution. Many designs use electric motors for this; the MIT design uses a piezoelectric film--run an electric current through this film and presto!, it bends so as to twist the strip. For more information on this stuff, there is a book out on solar sails that the lecturer recommended. I don't remember the title, but perhaps "The book on solar sails" is enough to unambiguously identify it. The real problem is getting the thing funded; this race has generated a lot of press releases but (as of yet) does not appear to have attracted funding. Meanwhile, the World Space Foundation has spent $0.5M over the past 5 or 10 years working on solar sails. The MIT design sketch is currently priced at $15 million. The other problem is getting something launched by 1992, another reason to favor small and simple projects which don't require things like the development of new (thinner) plastic films (MIT uses existing films). ------------------------------ Date: 13 Jun 90 05:51:39 GMT From: ogicse!intelhf!reed!odlin@uunet.uu.net (Iain Odlin) Subject: Re: Weather Satellite Photos In article <1990Jun11.043317.22791@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <7444@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> jokim@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (John H. Kim) writes: >>I'm interested in weekly (or daily) satellite photos of ocean >>surface temperatures. I recently visited Scripps Institute >>of Oceanography and they had a small display about it at the >>aquarium. Something about satellite NOAA 6. >> >>Does anyone know if these pictures are free to the public, >>where/how you can get it, or if you can get it if you have >>a satellite dish (and enough computer power)? > >US weather-satellite pictures are free to anyone who feels like receiving >them; there are a good many amateurs doing so. Unfortunately, to do this >you need special electronics -- it's not in the commercial comsat frequency >bands -- and there's a fair bit of hardware involved. For the low-orbit >birds (I forget where NOAA 6 is), you also need tracking programs and >a computer-controlled antenna. At last!!! The opportunity to amend something Henry Spencer has said! :-) With a ham radio and a personal computer, you can nab all the satellite photos and NOAA charts your heart desires from the airwaves. You don't need any special equipment, because the satellite pictures are rebroadcast by the NOAA on normal radio frequencies. About five years ago, 'Rainbow,' the magazine for TRS-80 Colour Computer users, included a program to do just this, where the sound from the radio was fed into the computer via the cassette tape port. For years, I was nab- bing satellite photos and weather maps from all over the world. I even got several from Australia (A neat trick from the state of Washington!)! Now I don't have access to the Colour Computer and I haven't done this for a few years, but the idea is still the same. You can even capture broadcast UPI wirephoto pictures this way as well. If anyone is interested, I would be willing to try and find my files of relevant information on the subject and mail photocopies to folk. -- ----------------------------------Iain Odlin----------------------------------- 4326 SE Woodstock Blvd, Suite 378, Portland OR, 97206 odlin@reed -or- {ogicse,tektronix}!reed!odlin Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Jun 90 20:23:29 GMT From: convex!ewright@uunet.uu.net (Edward V. Wright) Subject: Re: NASA signs agreement with consortium of minority universities (Forwarded) greg@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Greg Retzlaff) writes: >The new NASA. Creating a bureaucratic nightmare to associate itself >with 3rd rate universities in a typical government bullshit technology >techtransfer thingie. Oh for the mid-60's NASA again, the can-do >organization. Mir is now up to 85 tons. I am pretty sure that a single >Saturn V could have put that in orbit in one launch, Yeah, and for less than the cost of a single Space Shuttle flight. But at that price, how would we ever sustain the current NASA budget? You've got to see the "big picture." >and I bet that the old NASA could have dummied together a station >of that size in less than a year. Sigh. Dummy, hell, NASA already *had* one. It was called the backup Skylab. But what happened to NASA is probably inevitable in any government organization. The seeds of its demise were there from the beginning. When the administration first proposed cutting back the number of Apollo flights, one of the top officials at NASA supported the idea, saying that if we continued to launch lunar missions "sooner or later, somebody's going to get killed." (Gee, that sounds an awful lot like the Rogers Commission. :-() ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #526 *******************