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 ; Tue, 13 Nov 1990 03:08:38 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <4bDubZq00VcJM8Vk5M@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 03:08:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #543 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 543 Today's Topics: Superior USSR space program triumphs again! Re: LNLL Inflatable Stations Galileo Update - 11/09/90 Re: Synchronous rotation Voyager Update - 11/09/90 Re: Call for new news group : sci.space.seds 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 9 Nov 90 14:51:20 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!ccserver!zmapj36@uunet.uu.net (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Organization: UKSEDS Subject: Superior USSR space program triumphs again! References: <1990Nov6.192118.6012@cc.ic.ac.uk> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu Right! Now that your reading- decide for your self.... ====================================================================== The Soyuz TM-9 Mission Ends. by Neville Kidger The troubled mission of Soviet cosmonauts Anatoli Solovyov and Aleksandr Balandin ended with a safe landing in Kazakhstan at 7:35 GMT on August 9th. Despite fears in the Soviet and western press the Soyuz TM-9 landed without incident after the cosmonauts had conducted an EVA on July 17th to secure two of three loose thermal blankets which had become partially detached during the spacecraft's launch on February 11th. The third blanket was left floating loose after it was found to have been too badly damaged to secure. The loose blankets had been considered a potential hazard during the spacecraft's preparations for re-entry and were secured for this reason. In addition the cosmonauts ensured that the unintended prolonged exposure to space vacuum and radiation had not adversely sffected the explosive bolts which are used to separate the Soyuz descent module from the engine section after retrofire. However, at the close of the July 17th EVA the cosmonauts encountered difficulties in securing the hatch of the Kvant-2 module through which they had exited into open space. The men were forced to depressurise Kvant-2's second, scientific, section and enter it before they were able to repressurise and end the EVA after a Soviet record duration of seven hours. Soviet reporters made no secret that the cosmonaut's lives were threatened during the return to Kvant-2 due to the build up of carbon dioxide in their suits. While the men were able to replenish their oxygen supply they were unable to exchange canisters of lithium hydroxide in the life-support system of their EVA suits. The lithium hydroxide removes the exhaled carbon dioxide from the suit's atmospheres. During a second EVA,on July 26th, Solovyov and Balandin were able to secure the hatch of the Kvant-2 module after determining that a hinge had buckled. At the time of writing the blame for the incident was being laid on the cosmonauts for breaching the regulations governing the opening of the hatch - at least by the deputy designer of the Salyut design beureau where the module was designed and constructed. The charge is that Solovyov and Balandin did not wait for the internal pressure of the Kvant-2 airlock to reach zero before opening the hatch. This lead the hatch to being forced open into the space vacuum. Despite the fact that the cosmonauts managed to secure the hatch during their second EVA, yet another EVA will need to be conducted by Mir's current crew of Gennadi Manakov and Gennadi Strekalov. This pair will replace a hinge on the hatch door to enable it to be used as intended. One Soviet commentator has compared the current state of the hatch to that of a boarded-up door ! The expedition of Solovyov and Balandinwas notable for another couple of reasons as well as their Soyuz TM-9 EVAs and subsequent problems. The men were the first to witness the birth, in space, of Japanese quails from their eggs in a Czechoslovak-made incubator contained in the Kvant-2 module. Unfortunately, the chicks grew weak and unable to feed them- selves in their weightless environment, and the descision was made to put them to sleep. The other major aspect of the cosmonaut's activities in orbit related to their attempts to secure a profit from their work in space. At the time of their launch, the cosmonauts were said to be ready to recoup the cost of the mission (80 million Roubles) and even earn a further 25 million Roubles from their Earth observations and materials processing work on the Kristall module which was to be launched in April. But the Kristall launch was delayed to May 31st and then the docking was further delayed to June 10th because of thruster problems. The late start tousing the large module's five processing units to produce semi-conductor crystals and biotechnical materials meant that the estimate of profit which could be expected to be made from the flight was reduced to 13 million Roubles. The head of the Soviet space agency Glavkosmos has said, however, that the profits are "hypothetical". He revealed that money still had to be transferred into the account of Glavkosmos and the amount to be recouped was based upon the selling price of the Earth photographs that the men had taken ($1,000 each) and in the value of crystals processed in space (R500,000 each). The current crew of Manakov and Strekalov are to continue the processing and observations and Glavkosmos expects their flight to recoup about the same amount as the previous one. The Soviets have revealed that the amount of money allocated for 1990's manned space programmes is 220 million Roubles and one Soviet commentator has called for a serious explanation of the amount. But from the next launch to Mir of a manned crew - planned for December 2nd this year - part of the costs of each flight will be recouped by the paying presence of a foreign cosmonaut. The first to go will be a reporter-cosmonaut from a Japanese TV station TBS. He or she will accompany two cosmonauts to Mir and will return with Manakov and Strekalov after an eight-day mission. The reporter will make TV and radio broadcasts from the complex during the approximately six days aboard. The two candidates are a 40-year old male who used to smoke 80 cigarettes a day and a 25-year old camerawoman. Next up, in May 1991 should be Britain'sJuno mission, but the continuing quest to find sponsors for the mission may mean that Tim Mace or Helen Sharman may have to wait for their flight or even find it cancelled. The following year should see missions including cosmonaut representatives from Austria, France [for the third time ed.], West Germany and Spain. ================================================================== Comments and postings wellcomed...to SEDS@cc.ic.ac.uk -- /------ ------- -----\ /------ | ====================== | | | | \ | | M. Sean Bennett | \-----\ |---- | | \-----\ | UKSEDS TECH.OFF. | | | | / | | Janet:SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK | ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 9 Nov 90 14:49:29 GMT From: att!emory!emcard!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Coffman) Organization: Gannett Technologies Group Subject: Re: LNLL Inflatable Stations References: <1221@iceman.jcu.oz>, <9011081333.AA24041@iti.org> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu In article <9011081333.AA24041@iti.org> aws@ITI.ORG ("Allen W. Sherzer") writes: >Space debris would need to go through the external shield, the outer kevlar >envelope and the inner kevlar envelope before it could put people in danger. >Also remember that since the station is inflatable the envelopes will absorb >shock before puncturing, like a tire on your car. At the expected relative velocities of the blimp and space debris, the impact would vaporize the fabric not bounce off. Gary ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 9 Nov 90 23:24:37 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Subject: Galileo Update - 11/09/90 Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu GALILEO STATUS REPORT November 9, 1990 As of noon (PST) Thursday, November 8, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft is 15,401,300 miles from the Earth and traveling at a heliocentric speed of 58,380 miles per hour; distance to the Sun is 104,470,860 miles (1.11 AU). The spacecraft is spinning at 2.89 rpm with a spacecraft attitude sun point angle of 4.9 degrees. Round trip light time is 2 minutes, 50 seconds. A special NO-OP command was successfully sent on November 2 using the 26-meter antenna in Spain to demonstrate command capability in the event contingency backup 26-meter commanding is required during the Earth Flyby. Another NO-OP command was sent on November 5, as planned, to reset the Command Loss Timer to 216 hours, the planned value for this mission phase. A MAG (Magnetometer) instrument cruise science Memory Readout (MRO) was successfully performed on November 5; a planned EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer) MRO on November 8 was lost. Commands were sent on November 5 to enable the thruster firing all clear algorithm allowing the PPR (Photopolarimiter Radiometer) and PLS (Plasma) instruments to be in a state to collect data when powered on later in the sequence, i.e., PPR covers open and PLS high voltages on. Commands were also sent on November 5 to load a series of Delayed-Action Commands (DACs) scheduled for execution on November 7 and November 13. The commands will be used to cycle the RCT/NIMS (Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) heaters off/on and RTG Boom Heaters on/off. Powering off the RCT/NIMS is required to preclude possible radiative induced overheating of the SSI (Solid State Imaging) detector during scan platform high cone slews associated with UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer) data collection. Turning on the RTG Boom heaters is required to minimize heat flow into the RPM (Retro Propulsion Module) tanks. Proper command execution was verified for the November 7 set of DACs. Two more delta DOR (Differential One-way Ranging) activities were completed on November 6. Both delta DORs were successful. The 70 meter Goldstone/Australia pass was the first activity where link performance allowed simultaneous transmission of spacecraft telemetry data along with DOR tone modulation. A total of 19 of the planned 27 delta DOR activities are complete; 15 were successful. The PWS (Plasma Wave), PLS and EPD (Energetic Particles Detector) instruments were powered-on November 8. Telemetry received shortly after PLS and EPD power turn on differed from predicted levels. Status of both instruments has been assessed by the Principal Investigators and is not considered to be a concern. The PLS temperatures were observed to exceed predicted levels. Consequently, non-interactive commands were sent to improve ground visibility into the state of PLS detectors. Subsequent data analysis indicated no concern for the PLS. The PLS temperatures are on a downward trend approaching predicted steady state levels. One of the EPD LEMMS detectors exhibited higher than expected noise counts at its lowest threshold setting. A non-interactive command was sent to increase the threshold setting to collect important detector status information. The cause of the increased noise counts is under investigation. Preliminary results indicate no concern for the health of the detector. For some selected periods the spacecraft's telemetry downlink data rate was commanded to 7.68 kbps via the stored sequence. This was the first time since Venus flyby that this data rate has been used and successfully processed by the ground data system. The AC bus imbalance measurement remained relatively stable. The AC measurement fluctuated about 2DN and is stable near 48.6 volts. The DC measurement fluctuated about 100 DN (11 volts) during a period of no spacecraft activity and is near 5 volts. All other power-related and spacecraft telemetry measurements are normal. The Project reviewed and approved the final cruise plan sequence products for VE-12 (Venus-Earth 12) on November 5. This sequence controls spacecraft events from December 17, 1990 to February 18, 1991. The Project also reviewed and approved the final sequence and command generation products for the VE-11 Earth encounter sequence; Earth closest approach is on December 8. The Project reviewed and approved the TCM-7 (Trajectory Course Maneuver-7) design. This maneuver will be executed on November 13, and will use the axial and lateral thrusters. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 9 Nov 90 20:30:34 GMT From: puppsr5!marty@princeton.edu (Marty Ryba) Organization: Dept. of Physics, Princeton U. Subject: Re: Synchronous rotation References: <7712.273a7b89@uwovax.uwo.ca>, <1990Nov9.190858.11889@ns.network.com> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu In article <1990Nov9.190858.11889@ns.network.com>, logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan) writes: |> 17001_1511@uwovax.uwo.ca Phil Stooke writes: |> >This produces stresses and movements in the crust |> >which involve some energy dissipation. Therefore energy is slowly being |> >lost from the system, and that manifests itself as a gradual slowing of the |> >rotation period, until syncronous rotation is reached. |> |> Okay -- so where does the angular momentum go? It has to be conserved. |> Into the orbit. Not very noticeable, since the relative period change is decreased by a factor of roughly (radius of moon/radius of orbit)^2 -- Marty Ryba | slave physics grad student Princeton University | They don't care if I exist, Pulsars Unlimited | let alone what my opinions are! marty@pulsar.princeton.edu | Asbestos gloves always on when reading mail ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 10 Nov 90 00:10:52 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Subject: Voyager Update - 11/09/90 Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu Voyager Status Report November 9, 1990 Voyager 1 The Voyager 1 spacecraft collected routine UVS (Utraviolet Spectrometer) data on source SS CYGNI. On October 29, one frame of high-rate PWS (Plasma Wave) was recorded. On November 1, there was a slew to a position pointing toward Voyager 2 to observe interstellar hydrogen levels between the two spacecraft. On October 30 a DTR (Digital Tape Recorder) Maintenance sequence was executed. The X Band TWT (Traveling Wave Tube) was also commanded to the high power mode and the Bay 1 heater was turned off in preparation for Playback #4. On October 31 Playback # 4, containing PWS data, was executed; DSN (Deep Space Network) performance for the playback was nominal. Following the playback, the X Band TWT was returned to the low power mode and Bay 1 heater turned on. A TLC (Tracking Loop Capacitor) test was also performed by the Goldstone 34 meter station. On November 1, real-time commands to reset the CCS (Computer Command Subsystem) Status Telemetry, change the FDS (Flight Data Subsystem) data mode, load the AACS (Attitude and Articulation Control Subsyste) and CCS Memory readout mini-sequence for execution on November 2, load the AACS software fix (Gyro Drift Turn), Reset the Command Loss Timer, perform a CCSTIM (CCS Timing) Test, perform a CCSCAL (CCS Calibration) Test, and return the FDS to its original mode, were transmitted to the spacecraft. Many problems were experienced while attempting to command which caused all but the first command to be delayed, and some to be transmitted out of the planned order. The second element of the CCS Status Telemetry Reset command was aborted at the first attempt and was not retransmitted as it was redundant. Delays from one hour and twenty five minutes to four hours and forty seven minutes were experienced in the command file transmission. All transmitted commands were eventually successfully received by the spacecraft and executed; CCS checksum verification was received. The CCSTIM and CCSCAL tests were executed and analysis indicates there has been no change in the time offset between the FDS frame start and the CCS timing chain in each CCS processor nor in the CCS instruction cycle timing when compared with the sequence timing derived from the FDS oscillator. Voyager 2 The Voyager 2 spacecraft collected UVS background in the anti-Voyager 1 direction. On November 1, the scan platform was slewed to point towards Voyager 1 to observe interstellar hydrogen levels between the two spacecraft. Background levels will be removed by subtracting out the data from when the spacecraft were pointed away from each other. On October 30, one frame of high-rate PWS data was recorded. CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 11/9/90 P R O P E L L A N T S T A T U S P O W E R Consumption One Week Propellant Remaining Output Margin Spacecraft (Gm) (Kg) Watts Watts Voyager 1 5 36.3 + 2.0 367 55 Voyager 2 6 39.3 + 2.0 370 61 ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 8 Nov 90 14:52:16 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!ccserver!zmapj36@uunet.uu.net (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Organization: Imperial College Computer Centre Subject: Re: Call for new news group : sci.space.seds References: <1990Nov6.193929.6072@cc.ic.ac.uk> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu This is just to set the record straight - I should not have used the word 'congress'. SEDS was also formed to educate people about space and inspire them to achieve. I have also been told that I'm using the wrong news group! Is it too much to ask for a news group called HELP! >chukle< OK all kidding asside I have got no +ve response so I withdraw the sujestion. I hope to have some persons posting a complete history of SEDS to this newsgroup. I'm also trying to fix my signature file! -- /------ ------- -----\ /------ | ====================== | | | | \ | | M. Sean Bennett | \-----\ |---- | | \-----\ | UKSEDS TECH.OFF. | | | | / | | Janet:SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK | ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #543 *******************