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, 4 Dec 1990 01:23:58 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 4 Dec 1990 01:23:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #619 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 619 Today's Topics: Re: Zero-G Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? NASA Headline News for 11/30/90 (Forwarded) One Small Step for a Space Activist... Vol. 1 No. 11 SAT/TRACS Re: Pity The Much Abused Shuttle Keplerian Elements for STS-35 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: Sat, 1 Dec 90 12:38:37 EST From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Re: Zero-G >From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) >Subject: Re: Zero-G >In article <9011211901.AA12029@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov> roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes: >>>Soviet crews have stayed in orbit for over a year. They have demonstrated >>>that with advanced exercise machinery and lots of exercise it is possbile >>>to return to the Earth after a year in a 0g environment and completely >>>recover. >> >>"Recover" is the key word. Apparently nobody stays up there that long and >>remains what could objectively be called "healthy"... >Depends on what you mean by "healthy". Bear in mind that the Soviet >one-year cosmonauts were in considerably *better* shape than the earlier >six-month ones; the worst of the scare stories are obsolete, thanks to >changes in procedures (and possibly diet and drugs). >The price for all this, unfortunately, is a *lot* of time spent exercising. >Eliminating, or greatly reducing, that would definitely be an improvement. >"I'm not sure it's possible | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology >to explain how X works." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry That's pretty much what I've heard since I posted that - drugs are experimental, while exercise has been proven to have an effect, so the predictions and calculations must be made with the assumption that exercise or pseudogravity will be the only methods employed. The current model assumes that everyone on Freedom will spend at least two hours every day exercising, and that must be counted as part of the work time (unless NASA is willing to relax certain restrictions it has heretofore imposed :-). Paying hundreds of dollars per person-hour for exercise-bike riding must be a nuisance to NASA as an employer. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 1 Dec 90 03:05:27 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!samsung!emory!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Gary Coffman) Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? In article <7633@eos.arc.nasa.gov> millard@eos.UUCP (Millard Edgerton) writes: >If the engines(mains) are not restartable, HOW DO THEY FIRE TO DE-ORBIT? > >THINK ABOUT IT! The OMS engines are used for deorbit burn. Gary ------------------------------ Date: 1 Dec 90 18:12:36 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 11/30/90 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Friday, November 30, 1990 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Friday, November 30, 1990 Preparations at the Kennedy Space Center for this Sunday's launch of Columbia for the STS-35 Astro-1 mission continue to go extremely well. Commander Vance Brand and his six fellow crew members arrived at KSC last night at 11:25. Brand had a few brief words for the press on hand for the crew's arrival, and reiterated the crew's commitment to the mission and their optimism for a successful return of science data. Meanwhile on launch pad 39-B, Columbia's aft compartment has been closed out, and orbiter flight software has been loaded onboard. Activities today include the loading of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen reactants for the orbiter fuel cells. Main fuel tanking operations are currently scheduled to begin tomorrow at 5:08 pm. The current forecast for launch period weather, Sunday morning from 1:28 to 3:58 am, calls for scattered clouds at various levels with winds from the east/northeast at 10 to 16 knots. There is a 30 percent probability of violating a launch commit criteria at the beginning of the launch period, decreasing to 15 percent by the close of the period. Forecasts for Monday and Tuesday currently predict a 20 percent probability of violating a launch commit criteria. In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, main engines number 2026 and 2030 have been installed in positions 1 and 2 on Discovery. Engine number 2029 will be installed in position 3 today. Seven seals, out of a total of 12, have been replaced in Discovery's freon cooling loop system. NASA employees are invited and encouraged to see a special screening of the multimedia presentation which highlighted the 75th anniversary celebration of NACA/NASA this past Wednesday at the National Air and Space Museum. The presentation is 13 minutes long and consists of slides and video tape which traces the history of the committee. The show concludes with IMAX photography. Employees may attend one of three showings next Wednesday scheduled for 8:30, 9:00 and 9:30 am in the NASM Langley IMAX theater. (Please enter through the Independence Ave. side and show your NASA badge.) The Gamma Ray Observatory spacecraft begins its final functional test program today. The comprehensive test procedure will last for 10 days, and will check the craft's attitude control, electrical, propulsion and thermal systems and the four instruments. GRO is currently in the KSC Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility and is set to be moved to the Vertical Processing Facility on Feb. 4. A payload press viewing is scheduled for Jan. 29. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Friday, 11/30/90 1:00 pm Astro Observatory program (videotape replay of an educational affairs program which aired earlier this week). Saturday, 12/1/90 10:00 am **STS-35 Countdown Status Briefing from Kennedy Space Center. 12:30 pm **STS-35 Prelaunch Press Briefing from KSC. 9:00 pm **Continuous mission coverage of the STS-35 Astro-1 mission aboard Columbia begins. All events and times may change without notice. This report is filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST. It is a service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters. Contact: CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425. NASA Select TV: Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 90 13:49:21 -0500 From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: One Small Step for a Space Activist... Vol. 1 No. 11 One Small Step for a Space Activist... by Allen Sherzer & Tim Kyger Wrap up of the 101ST Congress The gavel has just sounded ending the 101st Congress. Many important things happened during the last two years, and this Congress will go down in the annals of space history as pivotal -- not for the amount of money allocated (and just why should THAT be an important criterion anyway?) but for the generation of policies to make better use of the funds the government does spend on space. Let's look at the major space actions of the 101st Congress: 1. Passage of Title II of the FY 1991 NASA Authorization act. For the first time, a few space activists (some of them NSS members, some not) wrote, got introduced, and then got enacted a piece of legislation! Not only was this the first time this has ever been done, it is an important bill, with the potential of making a major contribution to the health of the US launch industry. To be sure, it has some flaws and loopholes (see below) but we can probably get them fixed in the 102nd Congress next year. Kudos should go to: Mark Voelker (Tucson); Ron Nickel (Burke, VA); William Baxter (Berkeley); Jim Bowrey (San Diego); Dr. Andy Cutler (Tucson); and any and all of you who have made phone calls, written letters, visited representatives, or talked to people about HR 2674. Glenn Renyolds, Chair of the NSS Legislative Committee, deserves a special thanks for being the only person in the NSS "leadership" willing to support Title II by DOING SOMETHING to help get it passed (Mr. Renyolds used his influence with Rep Roe to move Title II at a very critical time). Thanks should also go to the staffers who helped move Title II (Tim won't sign off on this without it). Catherine Rawlings, although not a 'space nut' realized the importance of this and worked long and hard to see it through. Bill Gordon and Dr. William Smith of the House Science Committee staff along with Louis Whitsett and Steve Palmer of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee provided valuable help getting it through the Senate and Conference. Finally, none of this would have happened without Congressman Ron Packard. His legislative acumen, ability to get things done, and the respect with which he is held by both parties where critical in moving Title II to completion. We've probably missed someone who deserves thanks, if so we apologize. 2. Resurrection of the Space Council. We now have a Space Council interested in accomplishing real goals in space. They have spent time generating policy, finding cheaper ways to the moon and Mars (the Synthesis Group), and generating ideas on how best to organize NASA (the Augustine Commission). We now have a strong voice at the highest levels of government. 3. Goals have been set for the US space program. For the first time in twenty years, the Administration has set formal goals for what the U.S. is to accomplish in space: to settle the Solar System via a permanent Lunar base and a trip to Mars. In addition, we are seeing bold and innovative plans from other government labs (LLNL) and the private sector (Martin Marrietta). 4. The Patents in Space Act has been passed. This law will extend US patent protection to inventions developed on US platforms off Earth. Not only does this help open the way to space industry, it also helps to open Congress as well. This bill didn't go through the usual space and NASA committees. It made other parts of Congress think about space in a way different from what they normally do. Congresscritters outside the normal space committees are realizing that space is important and deserving of attention. 5. The Omnibus Commercial Space Act. This bill presents lots of ideas on how to open up space markets. Its main goal is to stimulate thought and it seems to be doing just that. This bill also shows that there is strong interest in the Space Authorization committees of Congress toward providing the incentives needed for commercial space. Things are coming together. We now have a solid base of support in the House and Administration, although work is needed on the Senate side. The passage of Title II has shown that we at the grassroots CAN make it happen. Legislative Roundup Space Transportation Services Purchase Act (HR 2674) As stated above, the Title II version of HR 2674 passed the House and Senate. It was close for a while, with the Senate wanting to remove it. The House members of the conference however stuck with it and said there would be no authorization bill without Title II. There are, however, some important loopholes in the bill as passed. Suborbital flights, for example, are exempted from the provisions of Title II. This may hurt startups since suborbital launchers are an easy way to start out. More important, however, is the exemption for payloads relating to national security of foreign policy. This exempts all DoD flights and some NASA flights as well. Next year let's close these loopholes. The Great Exploration The DoE Appropriation has also passed the House and Senate. The conference put ALL the IR&D money back in (good job to those who wrote in support of this). This will free the way to continuation of the LLNL Great Exploration program. They won't get much to start with but it will keep the program alive. Allen Sherzer: (313) 769-4108 (work) (313) 973-0941 (home) aws@iti.org (net) Tim Kyger: (202) 225-2415 (work) (703) 548-1664 (home) ------------------------------ Date: 30 Nov 90 16:44:00 GMT From: sgi!cdp!pssc@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU Subject: SAT/TRACS TO: SCI.SPACE Conference FROM: Bert Cowlan VIA: EcoNet I would be grateful if anyone has information about SAT/TRACS, a recently announced satellite system proposal that is being offered by Energetics Satellite Corp. and Unisys. My concern is with the planned 165-foot inflatable antenna referenced in their press release, an antenna to be built, along with the proposed 8 birds, by Intraspace Corporation of Salt Lake City, Utah. Technical details would be welcome as well as information about whether this represents a new technology or already exists, perhaps in the military satellite world. Many thanks. I can be reached as follows: 295 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y., 10017 Tel: 212-685-2522 Fax: 212-685-2953 Telex: 314633 (EDCOMTECH NYK) MCI Mail: 306-6360 EcoNet: PSSC ------------------------------ Date: 30 Nov 90 13:10:04 GMT From: hpcc05!col!hpldola!hp-lsd!oldcolo!burger@hplabs.hpl.hp.com (Keith Hamburger) Subject: Re: Pity The Much Abused Shuttle A much better approach to all of those items of need, the ones rejected by the initiator of this thread and the ones that he advocates would be a fully reusable mainstage (SSTO), interchangable payload compartments (inc. crew cabs, laboratories, unmanned, military, etc.), low cost and VERY quick turnaround. A great deal of on orbit manuevering would also be in order. Of these the shuttle has none. ------------------------------ Date: 2 Dec 90 22:28:06 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!nuchat!buster!lescsse!gamorris@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Gary A. Morris) Subject: Keplerian Elements for STS-35 Here are the Keplerian elements for STS-35. These were generated from a state vector taken after several orbits. --GaryM Keplerian Element Set STS-35 1 00035U 90336.79098368 .00031000 00000-0 22174-3 0 128 2 00035 28.4663 1.3798 0008796 274.8693 151.1556 15.72186065 90 Satellite: STS-35 Epoch time: 90336.79098368 Element set: JSC-012 Inclination: 28.4663 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-35 RA of node: 1.3798 deg Keplerian Elements Eccentricity: .0008796 from NASA Tracking Ephemeris Arg of perigee: 274.8693 deg Mean anomaly: 151.1556 deg Mean motion: 15.72186065 rev/day W5RRR Decay rate: 3.10E-04 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 9 -- Gary Morris Internet: lobster!lescsse!gamorris@menudo.uh.edu Lockheed (LESC), A22 UUCP: lobster!lescsse!gamorris Space Station Freedom NASAmail: gmorris/jsc/nasa Houston, Texas Internet: gmorris@nasamail.nasa.gov ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #619 *******************