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, 7 Dec 1990 02:26:34 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 7 Dec 1990 02:25:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #632 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 632 Today's Topics: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? Galileo Earth flyby news conference (Forwarded) Walter T. Murphy named Director of Engineering Development [KSC] (Forwarded) Re: Another Russian first Lunar element distribution Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? Astro-1 Status for 12/05/90 [1840] (Forwarded) Re: Booster news from 19 November AW&ST Re: HST images Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data WUPPE Status for 12/03/90 [0900 CST] (Forwarded) NASA Prediction Bulletins: Space Shuttle Re: Another Russian first 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: 3 Dec 90 17:13:36 GMT From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu!v071pzp4@apple.com (Craig L Cole) Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? In article <7089.275a4245@abo.fi>, mlindroos@abo.fi writes... >As for the problem with the main engines (we've been told here that they are >not restartable), would it be possible to use the extra fuel for the OMS >engines instead...? (my guess is it won't be, anyway). This was my suggestion to the NASA Outreach program - the OMS are capable of burns long enough to propel the shuttle toward the Moon, but I had no idea how much fuel would be required. I suggested adding additional OMS tanks to the rear of the shuttle a la Extended Duration Orbiter kit, or mounting tanks to the outside of the shuttle back by the OMS fuel connections. These tanks could be lofted by an expendable. Along with a lunar module, etc. This way, none of it actaully has to fit in the cargo bay. >BTW, do you think the shuttle would survive the atmospheric re-entry: a >spacecraft returning from the moon is after all moving at higher velocities (11 >km/s?) when it hits the upper atmosphere than the shuttle was designed for >(6-7 km/s). Or would it be possible to avoid the problem by first performing an >aerobraking maneuver, the re-enter and land? The soviet Zond 5-8 lunar probes >used this technique in the late sixties. I may be mistaken, but back in the Apollo days, they skipped the capsule across the atmosphere before actaully deorbiting to slow it down a bit. Craig Cole V071PZP4@UBVMS.BITNET V071PZP4@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 22:58:59 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Galileo Earth flyby news conference (Forwarded) [Ron Baalke seems to be having troubles with mars.jpl.nasa.gov, so I am posting Galileo and other reports that he normally handles. -PEY] Paula Cleggett-Haleim Headquarters, Washington, D.C. December 5, 1990 (Phone: 202/453-1547) Robert MacMillin Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (Phone: 818/354-5011) N90-97 NOTE TO EDITORS: GALILEO EARTH FLYBY NEWS CONFERENCE Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will hold a news conference at 4:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 8, to discuss the Galileo spacecraft's flyby of Earth, report on the spacecraft and misison status, and outline ongoing scientific observations of the Earth. Galileo will fly by the Earth as part of its gravity- assisted path to Jupiter on Dec. 8. It will be closest to Earth (about 590 nautical miles) at 3:35 p.m. EST. Press conference participants will include Project Manager William J. O'Neil, Mission Director Neal E. Ausman Jr., Project Scientist Torrence V. Johnson, and Science and Mission Design Manager Clayne M. Yeats. The conference will be carried live on NASA Select television, Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band. ------------------------------ Date: 6 Dec 90 03:51:14 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Walter T. Murphy named Director of Engineering Development [KSC] (Forwarded) Bruce Buckingham 407/867-2468 Dec. 5, 1990 KSC RELEASE NO. 195 - 90 WALTER T. MURPHY NAMED DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT Walter T. Murphy has been named Director of Engineering Development at Kennedy Space Center. Murphy joined the NASA team at Cape Canaveral as a data systems specialist in June 1963. Two years later, he transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston (now Johnson Space Center), where he served as a mathematician and electronics engineer. He rejoined the KSC team in 1973 as the lead software systems engineer on the launch processing systems task group for the Space Shuttle program. Soon afterwards, he became chief of the Software Systems Branch in the Design Engineering Directorate and was a leader in launch processing system software development. For five years beginning in 1977, he was chief of the Guidance, Digital and Software Division in the Shuttle Engineering Directorate, with responsibility for checkout of the initial Space Shuttle avionics systems. From 1984 to 1986, he served as Associate Director of Shuttle Engineering, managing all Shuttle engineering activities at the Vandenberg Launch Site in Calif. Since 1986, he has served as Deputy Director of Engineering Development. In his new assignment as Director of Engineering Development, Murphy replaces Jim Phillips who recently retired. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 03:00:07 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!sfn20715@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Steve "il-Manhous" Norton) Subject: Re: Another Russian first yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes: ... >First Jupiter probe -- Pioneer 10 >First Saturn probe -- Pioneer 11 >First Uranus probe -- Voyager 2 >First Neptune probe -- Voyager 2 How about : First billion dollars wasted on broken telescopes -- Hubble First spacecraft explosion to kill all on board due to ground problems (faulty management) -- Challenger First spacecraft launch delayed more than six months -- Columbia Any more? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 1990 14:27 IST From: Moshe Solow To: Please unsubscribe me. Thank you Moshe Solow CUCMS@HUJIVM1 ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 22:16:38 GMT From: sun-barr!newstop!exodus!concertina.Eng.Sun.COM!fiddler@apple.com (Steve Hix) Subject: Lunar element distribution Anyone know off the top of their head, roughly, what are the relative percentages of, say, the twenty most-common elements of the lunar regolith? This is, obviously, of only idle interest (for now). :} -- ------------ The only drawback with morning is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day. ------------ ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 17:29:01 GMT From: sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@apple.com (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle? In article <3550@orbit.cts.com> rambler@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Dan Meyer) writes: >What about 1/2 the cargo bay for fuel, and half the cargo bay for an LEM ? As people have pointed out repeatedly, it is far better to take the fuel and the LEM *out* of the cargo bay and send *them* to the Moon without taking a shuttle orbiter along for the ride. The parts of the orbiter that are actually useful on a lunar trip can be packaged much more compactly into something resembling the Apollo CSM, and the result will be much more useful payload delivered to the Moon. A shuttle orbiter is mostly dead weight on such a trip, and hauling that much useless mass to the Moon and back is *EXPENSIVE*. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 6 Dec 90 03:53:38 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/05/90 [1840] (Forwarded) Astro 1 Mission Report #22 6:40 p.m. CST, December 5, 1990 3/17:52 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Minor orbiter problems caused a brief pause in the anticipated activities of the Shuttle Columbia's Astro crew during the last period, but they managed to continue gathering good science for most of the day with the Shuttle's ultraviolet observatory. Columbia experienced a minor thruster problem which interrupted normal payload observations. Managers at Spacelab Mission Operations Control in Huntsville, Alabama instructed the crew to close the telescopes' doors in order to prevent any contamination of the instruments' sensitive optics. Meanwhile, Payload Specialist Sam Durrance and Mission Specialist Jeff Hoffman used this time to continue to perform target acquisitions using the Instrument Pointing System and gathered engineering data. The Shuttle crew was able to conduct a series of "hot fire" tests to correct the situation. At 3/13:36 MET, the shuttle was able to resume scheduled observations and gather target data. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 13:02:15 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!primerd!ENI!ENS!J.COOK@ucsd.edu Subject: Re: Booster news from 19 November AW&ST Regarding booster news: Don't know if this is old news or what, but I attended the "Soviet Space" exhibit at the Museum of Science here in Boston a few months back. One of the items on display was an experimental engine designed to run florine and ammonia (I think it was ammonia). The writeup said it did not become an engine to be used on a regular rocket, but they did learn a lot from the research. They didn't say what they learned. Flourine and ammonia? Whew! Tricky stuff. Jim Cook "Just my misinformation. Prime has all it needs." ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 90 15:45:46 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!cc.ic.ac.uk!zmapj36@uunet.uu.net (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Subject: Re: HST images Hello! Some images can be found on ames.arc.nasa.gov in /pub/SPACE listed as i1.gif,i2.gif, etc. ENJOY! ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 17:19:45 GMT From: xanth!xanth.cs.odu.edu!bianco@mcnc.org (David "Quasar" Bianco) Subject: Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet In article otto@tukki.jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela) writes: All right. Now, does anyone have WORKING tools to convert FITS to pbm, GIF or some other more common format for computer users ? I understand there are some problems with FITS (poor documentation of format extensions) ? As I think I've mentioned before, the PBM+ graphics conversion package handles many different types of images, including FITS, pbm, ppm, tiff, gif, and sun raster format. I'm not sure where to get the general sources, but I know that Amiga specific ones are on pc.usl.edu (130.70.40.3). We've got it installed here on our Sun network also, so I know it runs on at least two popular systems. David Bianco ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 14:03:13 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!news.funet.fi!tukki.jyu.fi!jyu.fi!otto@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Otto J. Makela) Subject: Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data In article <2513@cod.NOSC.MIL> zimmer@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas L. Zimmerman) writes: [Me: How to convert FITS to something more common to non-astronomers ?] The Portable Greymap tools of PBM+ have a conversion tool to go from FITS to portable grey map (pgm). A variety of tools in the package can then be used to create an output file in a format you find more palitable. I have not tried this yet, just remembered that my favorite public software package has yet another use. PBM+ is a very popular package and can probably be found on a large number of ftp sites. This was pointed out to me by several people. We already had pbm+ installed, so all I did was hauled the 5M data image file w0bs0102t_cvt.c0h (which was the 1st on the list, NGC1850) from the NASA site. No good. The data is 3-axis (whatever that means) and pbm+ can only handle 2-axis data. The readme file at the image site did not specify if all these images are in this format, but my guess is so. Since it took about 4 hours to get this one image to Finland, I'm not about to try all of them... any ideas ? -- /* * * Otto J. Makela * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ /* Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (CCITT, Bell 24/12/300) */ /* Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE */ /* * * Computers Rule 01001111 01001011 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 23:50:35 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: WUPPE Status for 12/03/90 [0900 CST] (Forwarded) WUPPE STATUS REPORT 9 A.M. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3 Working through the night, Wisconsin scientists and engineers were able to solve some of the onboard computer problems of the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE). As a result, the WUPPE science team can begin the procedures necessary to bring the Wisconsin telescope back into the Astro science program. Although one of the computers that controls the instrument is still down, the backup computer is fully operational and able to direct the telescope as needed. the next steps for WUPPE include acquiring a star, a focus and alignment exercise and, somewhat later, an aperture mapping procedure. After successful completion of these steps, the WUPPE instrument will be ready to begin taking data from selected Astro science targets. The WUPPE team hopes to begin its scheduled focus and alignment exercise at about 10 a.m. CST. That procedure will take about 45 minutes. The WUPPE team will use the variable star EZ Canis Majoris to focus and align the telescope. The aperture mapping procedures will use the Orion Nebula as a bright background to shine through the seven apertures of the WUPPE telescope and allow its onboard computer to know their exact location. The apertures differ in shape and size, some being smaller than the cross section of a human hair. The telescope's apertures are situated on a rotating ceramic wheel and are used to take different types of readings of the various celestial objects on the WUPPE target list. Although the time frame for this procedure is not yet firm, it is hoped that aperture mapping can begin at about 1 p.m. CST. WUPPE aperture mapping will take about 45 minutes to complete. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 23:22:42 GMT From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird!tkelso@lll-winken.llnl.gov (TS Kelso) Subject: NASA Prediction Bulletins: Space Shuttle The most current orbital elements from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are updated several times weekly. Documentation and tracking software are also available on this system. As a service to the satellite user community, the most current elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below. The Celestial BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity. STS 35 1 20980U 90106 A 90338.78402777 .00035780 00000-0 25599-3 0 87 2 20980 28.4673 346.8878 0009170 307.4417 262.4250 15.72167379 401 -- Dr TS Kelso Assistant Professor of Space Operations tkelso@blackbird.afit.af.mil Air Force Institute of Technology ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 12:05:37 GMT From: julius.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a752@apple.com (Bruce Dunn) Subject: Re: Another Russian first > john@newave.UUCP writes: > > Person: John A. Weeks III > > For the most part, everything that is done in space can be listed as a first > or biggest or other type of record. On one of the early shuttle flights (probably the second) the pilot joked that (if I remember correctly) that he was the first grandfather to fly a used spaceship on his birthday. :-) -- Bruce Dunn Vancouver, Canada a752@mindlink.UUCP ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #632 *******************