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 ; Thu, 25 Oct 1990 15:32:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 25 Oct 1990 15:32:05 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #488 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 488 Today's Topics: Some interesting SSME specifications. Magellan Update - 10/24/90 Pioneer 11 article Re: Galileo Update - 10/19/90 Re: Pioneer 11 article Re: Launch cost per pound Re: Launch cost per pound Re: Theories needed on life Magellan Update - 10/23/90 Re: SPACE Digest V11 #430 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: 9 Oct 90 16:41:51 GMT From: hpfcso!hpldola!hp-lsd!frisbee!matt@hplabs.hpl.hp.com (Matt Taylor) Subject: Some interesting SSME specifications. One of our mechanical engineers used to be on the SSME team at Rocketdyne and has a lot of PR memos which he brings in from time to time. Although somewhat dated (1977 he says), I thought it to be of enough interest to post. (All grammar/spelling mistakes are mine). [ On a related note, wasn't there supposed to be a beefed up version of the current SSME due to be incorporated into the shuttle sometime soon? ] ============================================================ DID YOU KNOW??? The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine operates at greater temperature extremes than any mechanical system in common use today. The fuel, liquified hydrogen at -423 F, is the second coldest liquid on earth. When the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are combusted, the temperature in the main combustion chamber is 6000 F, higher than the boiling point of iron. * * * * * Even though the complete Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine weighs one-seventh as much as one railroad diesel engine, the SSME high pressure fuel pump delivers as much horsepower as 28 diesel locomotives while the high pressure oxidizer pump delivers enough power for 11 more. * * * * * The energy released by the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines at full power level, in units of watts, is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams. * * * * * If water were pumped at the rate fuel is pumped by the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines, an average family- size swimming pool could be emptied in 25 seconds. This pump develops a pressure equal to that experienced by a sub- marine if it were three miles deep. * * * * * The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine fuel turbopump weighs approximately the same as the V-8 engine of a modern automobile but develops 310 times the brake horsepower. * * * * * The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine fuel turbopump develops as much torque as 18 V-8 automobile engines. * * * * * If one Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine could be scaled down so that it weighed less than three pounds, it could develop enough thrust to lift a grown man. * * * * * The combine full power level horsepower of the high pressure fuel and oxidizer pumps of only two of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines that will propel the Space Shut- tle is more than adequate to operate a 91,700 ton-Nimitz class aircraft carrier at cruising speed. * * * * * The fuel and oxidizer pumps of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines at full power level could propel the battleship Iowa and have enough power left over to cruise an additional 12 Ethan Allen class submarines. The engines are designed to supply this power for almost four hours without overhaul if enough propellant were supplied. * * * * * One Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine generates suffi- cient thrust to maintain the flight of two and one-half 747s, the aircraft being used for Shuttle captive tests and scheduled for use in ferry operations. * * * * * The combustion of the propellants of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines operating at full power releases energy at a rate greater than that produced by the combined foreign nuclear power plants in nine countries. * * * * * The power developed by the combustions or propellants in the Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine operating at full power is almost five times the rate of that to be generated by seven nuclear plants being activated in the United States in 1977. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Matt Taylor @ Maximum Storage, Inc. A haven for WORMs. Colorado Springs, CO. 719-531-6888 {cbosgd,handel,hao,hplabs}!hp-lsd!frisbee!matt ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 90 18:55:45 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@decwrl.dec.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update - 10/24/90 MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT October 24, 1990 The Magellan spacecraft continues to map Venus and has completed its 287th mapping orbit. The 7 STARCALS (star calibrations) and 2 DESATS (desaturations of the reaction wheels) of the past 24 hours were performed with nominal attitude updates. Two star rejections were noted. A temperature sensor on the thermal blanket covering one of the propulsion modules has failed. The signal-to-noise ratio of the high rate telemetry at X-band is 3.5 db. The Sun-earth-Magellan angle is now 2.5 degrees. Mapping sequence M0297 was successfully sent to the spacecraft and is presently executing. This sequence will automatically stop mapping on Monday, October 29, if no further commands are uploaded. The present mapping sequence switched from track 2 to track 4 of tape recorder A. This appears to have greatly improved the rate of zero-filled data frames. A software change in the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data processor has been devised and tested which will alleviate the problem of zero-filled frames. Fifteen new image swaths were processed yesterday, bringing to 180 the number of full resolution image swaths. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 22 Oct 90 17:48:49 GMT From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ucsd.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Pioneer 11 article Space News -- Week of Oct. 22. - Oct. 28 "Pioneer Mission May Be Near End" "NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft, the first satellite to visit Saturn, is suffering serious communications problems three billion miles from Earth that threaten to end its historic 17- year mission." The paper says that until Oct. 18, ground controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory had been unable to send any commands to the craft for two weeks. The report says a successful command last week switched the spacecraft from science mode to engineering mode, enabling it to send more useful data to its Earth-bound controllers. The story quotes NASA Ames Research Center Pioneer project chief Richard Fimmell as saying "if this condition can't be cleaned up, the mission is over as far as science is concerned." ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 22 Oct 90 22:31:34 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!has@uunet.uu.net (H.A.Shaw) Subject: Re: Galileo Update - 10/19/90 In article <1990Oct19.183442.24448@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: > GALILEO STATUS REPORT > October 19, 1990 > A NO-OP command was sent on October 15 to reset the Command Loss Timer >to 264 hours, the planned value for this mission phase. * * * >All actions were successfully completed and a NO-OP command was sent to reset >the Command Loss Timer to 216 hours, the planned value for this mission phase. I have to design the comms. for a scientific package on the MARS-94 mission. I have been told that in the up and down link it is possible for things to get lost and even for packets to be reversed in time order (although I assume a single data frame, or packet, is atomic). Is the Command Loss Timer a timestamp to get around this, and if it is how is it done? I have to post because I have posting rights at UKC, but not direct mail. (seems the wrong way around to me!!) Please reply by mail and I will see if I can get special permission to mail back if need be. As ever thanks for any help (BTW: thanks to everyone who has mailed me over the past few weeks with regard to various questions. I can't reply directly, but I just want to say thanks. It great that the system works, and you really can "talk" to people who actually know!). Email: has@ukc.ac.uk | Howard Allan Shaw. | The Unit for Space Science. Phone: +44 227 764000 Extn: 3785 | Room 165, Physics Laboratory, | The University, | Canterbury, England. CT2 7NZ ------------------------------ Date: 22 Oct 90 18:52:18 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!rex!rouge!dlbres10@CS.YALE.EDU (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Pioneer 11 article In article <1990Oct22.174849.8934@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: .The story quotes NASA Ames Research Center Pioneer project chief .Richard Fimmell as saying "if this condition can't be cleaned up, .the mission is over as far as science is concerned." I thought there were plans to use the probe as a dumb radiosonde to test for the presence of gravitational sources like Planet X, etc... by tracking the telemetry. Even if nothing else works, it can still go -beep- -beep- -beep-, right? Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 23 Oct 90 21:02:11 GMT From: hub.ucsb.edu!ucsbuxa!3001crad@ucsd.edu (Charles Frank Radley) Subject: Re: Launch cost per pound ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Oct 90 07:33:04 EST From: ksr!ksr.com!clj@uunet.uu.net To: uunet!hub.ucsb.edu!3001crad%ucsbuxa@uunet.uu.net (Charles Frank Radley) Subject: Re: Launch cost per pound Reply-To: clj@ksr.com Date: Tue, 23 Oct 90 10:21:42 -0400 From: Chris Jones From: uunet!hub.ucsb.edu!3001crad%ucsbuxa (Charles Frank Radley) Date: Mon, 22 Oct 90 15:40:17 PDT [R]ight now the problem about any US company or person doing business K with the Soviet launcher people is that it is simply illegal.......... K State Department regulations based on the Munitions Control Act K prohibit US techn{logy transfer to the Soviets, and all requests K by the Soviets to fly US hardware have been denied; with one K exception, Payload Systems flew a small experiment on Mir, and the K Commerce Department approved an Export License much to the annoyance of K the State Department, who will make sure that it will not happen again. K The Chinese, on the other hand, are allowed to fly Western payloads. K You figure that one out and explain it to me. K +Clearly, things have to change. I hope things are moving in the right +direction. I expect that the US is not the only source of paying +customers or Kthe Soviet Union, so they may get to turn their launchers +into a money-making Kbusiness without us. If they continue to move toward +a market economy, it Kseems they will have to price their services +"sensibly", and if that cost turns Kout to be a bargain compared to other +sources, it would be a shame for Kcustomers to be denied the opportunity +to use them (and it would raise Kinteresting questions about how market-+driven our rocket manufacturing Kcompanies are). +Chris Jones clj@ksr.com {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj /g/3001/crad/ - Change is overdue. The Soviets have asked how many students do they have to shoot before they receive Most Favored Nation trading status. I guess it requires the Soviet military to agree to dismantle the Strategic Deterrent, I wish they would bloody well hurry up and stop prolonging their agony. I predict that once Westerners are allowed to use Soviet rockets, which are proven, cheap and reliable (one Zenit explosion worries me less than one Shuttle explosion !) it will dramatically change the shape of the world's space business..........for the better. ------------------------------ Date: 23 Oct 90 21:56:52 GMT From: wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@eddie.mit.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Theories needed on life In article <6458@uceng.UC.EDU> dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes: >But the human form is not especially adapted for maximum mechanical >performance in any environment that I know. Humans seem to succeed >because they are so adaptable... As John W. Campbell pointed out a number of years ago, this is actually selling Homo Sapiens a bit short. Human physical performance in fact is very impressive, when considered in areas where it doesn't massively compromise our versatility. We can't run as fast as a cheetah, but fast sprinting is all a cheetah can do. Endurance, on the other hand, does not require massive specialization... and humans can and did (as of a few years ago, still do) hunt things like antelope by chasing them until they drop from exhaustion. -- The type syntax for C is essentially | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology unparsable. --Rob Pike | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 90 16:00:00 GMT From: sunc.osc.edu!malgudi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update - 10/23/90 MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT October 23, 1990 The Magellan spacecraft has completed 280 mapping orbits of Venus. The spacecraft and radar systems are performing well. The slight solar panel oscillation is continuing and may be jiggling the tape recorder but the condition does not pose a risk to the mission. Star calibrations and momentum wheel desaturations were performed without difficulty. The Deep Space Network continues to receive S-band telemetry through its 70 meter stations even though loss of the signal was predicted for last Saturday because of the approach of Superior Conjunction, with the sun nearly between the planets. The weekly radar mapping command sequence and parameter files were uploaded to carry the mission through superior conjunction. A total of 165 mapping orbits have been processed. As of Monday, October 22, more than 98 percent of the orbits mapped had been successfully transmitted back to Earth. The Altimetry/Radiometry team at MIT had processed 140 orbits of altimetry data. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Oct 90 19:50:11 EST From: DREAD Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V11 #430 ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #488 *******************