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 ; Sun, 16 Dec 1990 15:45:22 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Sun, 16 Dec 1990 15:44:37 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #669 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 669 Today's Topics: Magellan Update - 12/03/90 Re: Where is GALILEO? Re: space news from Nov 5 AW&ST Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [0718 CST] (Forwarded) Re: Thanks from "star gazer...maybe"..Bob and 8 year old Re: 10th planet? Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1730 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1900 CST] (Forwarded) Re: Where is GALILEO? 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: 11 Dec 90 04:00:15 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update - 12/03/90 MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT December 3, 1990 The Magellan spacecraft, presently performing nominally, experienced an incorrect attitude update on Saturday, December 1, which degraded the radar mapping data of several orbits and affected the X-band communications. Early Saturday morning, the star tracker accepted a spurious interrupt and incurred an incorrect attitude update of 0.136 degrees. The on-board drift bias was also corrupted so that the attitude knowledge degraded with time, and eventually was off by about 0.4 degree. This off-point made it impossible to achieve a reliable X-band lock and radar data for several orbits was lost. S-band telemetry was maintained, and the spacecraft was never in danger. Spacecraft controllers were initially confident that a successful star calibration would correct the attitude error, but another spurious interrupt further degraded the off-point to 1.1 degrees. Attitude corrections were computed on the ground and uplinked to the spacecraft on Saturday evening in two stages. At 8:22 PM PST the orbit #946 STARCAL (star calibration) was successful on both stars. On subsequent orbits the drift bias value was updated, and by Sunday morning the attitude update limit was reset to it normal value of 0.07 degree. The net result was degraded radar data for 2-1/2 orbits and lost radar data for 3-1/2 orbits. The Magellan flight team will examine ways to accelerate the recovery process in the event of incorrect attitude updates. Of the 450 orbits completed by November 30, 438 orbits of valid data have been received at earth (97.3%). The causes of data losses are as follows: o Power outage at Madrid DSN station (10/1) 1.2 orbits o Incorrect attitude update (10/1) 1.5 orbits o DSN delay is setting polarization after TWTA swap following spurious shutoff 0.3 orbits o Frequency timing outage Canberra (11/13) 1.4 orbits o Loss of Signal #3 (11/15) 3.0 orbits o Power outage at Canberra (11/21) 0.2 orbits o Tweak Commanding anomaly (11/23) 4.0 orbits o Miscellaneous DSN lockup delays, etc. 0.4 orbits TOTAL TO DATE: 12.0 ORBITS ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 15:23:17 GMT From: pilchuck!seahcx!phred!petej@uunet.uu.net (Pete Jarvis) Subject: Re: Where is GALILEO? In article <1990Dec10.174316.27194@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> sal9e@amsun13.apma.Virginia.EDU (Stephen A. Lowe) writes: >I thought that the Galileo spacecraft was supposed to fly >by Earth this past weekend? What happened? Did I get >the date wrong? What's the scoop? It did. It flew within 590 miles. Was only in the vicinity for half an hour. Peter Jarvis....... ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 22:19:08 GMT From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5!szabo@uunet.uu.net (Nick Szabo) Subject: Re: space news from Nov 5 AW&ST In article <1990Dec11.055832.24321@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >OSC and Hercules get the 1990 National Air and Space Museum Trophy for >Pegasus. Congratulations! Pegasus is indeed the most important space development of 1990, IMHO. >... >Orbital Sciences posts its first after-tax profit, with five Pegasus launches >sold to date (all to DARPA). The Pegasus program is still operating at a loss, since it is in the R&D phase. Most of the profits come from the Space Data Division, which operates satellite tracking systems for NASA, DoD, and other organizations. When doing cutting-edge R&D in the real world (as opposed to begging before Congress) it helps to have a diversified product line and customer base. A major weakness of SSI, Amroc, and other stalling private space companies is * they are 1-product companies * their designs are not compatable with current satellites, but they do not have the resources to develop their own satellites * they have not put priority on strategic partners (OSC works with Martin Marietta and Hercules on their two largest projects). IMHO, Amroc can still succeed if they do the following: * Build a rocket with a payload fairing exactly the size of Ariane or Delta (so that currently building satellites can be launched) * Find a strategic partner to do integration and launch (they are doing this now) * Develop and market a second, related product (for example, a small military missile using their patented fuels). OSC tows the fine line between government contracts (most of its revenue still comes from NASA and DoD) and cutting-edge projects with potentially large public and private markets. Unlike the larger aerospace companies, they are not afraid to trade short-term profits on government contracts for longer-term market potential. -- Nick Szabo szabo@sequent.com "We live and we learn, or we don't live long" -- Robert A. Heinlein The above opinions are my own and not related to those of any organization I may be affiliated with. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Dec 90 13:43:23 GMT From: uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU!gsh7w@mcnc.org (Greg Hennessy) Subject: Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded) In the NASA PR that Peter Yee posted: # She used the slinky # to illustrate that the length and frequency of light waves is # directly proportionate to the amount of energy producing them. Well, I don't really mind the idea of the classroom in space (even if it was very noisy) but I really hate telling students that the lenght of the light waves is proportional to its energy. -- -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 19:36:15 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [0718 CST] (Forwarded) Astro 1 Mission Report #39 7:18 a.m. CST, December 9, 1990 7/06:23 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Air-to-ground communications took a different twist last night as Astro Mission Manager Jack Jones (call sign KC41WU) and Payload Specialist Ron Parise (WA4SIR) chatted informally by ham radio. "At approximately 9:22 [CST] last night, at the Marshall Space Flight Center amateur 'radio shack,' I made contact with Ron Parise on board Columbia and talked with him for a moment or two," reported Jones. "That's the first time ever a mission manager has done that." The two were communicating via the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), being operated aboard its third Shuttle mission. Both Parise and Jones are licensed ham radio operators. "We discussed how well things are going, how proud we are of what they're doing -- really a wonderful job -- and we're looking forward to congratulating them after they get home," Jones said. As a secondary Shuttle payload, SAREX is being operated by Parise during his pre- and post-sleep activities each day. Automated SAREX operation is also provided with a "robot," which is activated and deactivated by the crew at about 12-hour intervals. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 90 13:31:10 GMT From: hpfcso!james_s@hplabs.hpl.hp.com (James Sorensen) Subject: Re: Thanks from "star gazer...maybe"..Bob and 8 year old >Boom...Mars !!! wow...almost on top of us...never did figure out what >that very small cluster of stars near it were...(I see them allot) The small cluster of stars next to Mars is the Pleides. It consists of lots of start of which 7 are visible. I call it the mini dipper. James Sorensen ------------------------------ Date: 6 Dec 90 21:30:15 GMT From: mnetor!utzoo!henry@uunet.uu.net (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: 10th planet? In article dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Fraering Philip) writes: >There is more than one model for Planet X's orbit that shows it to >be perpendicular to the ecliptic and as eccentric as Pluto's... > >Which means that sometimes it is interacting with the outer planets, >and sometimes not. The problem with such models is, what is the evidence that planet X exists at all? A much simpler model is that it doesn't. With the outer-planet perturbation evidence gone, there is no need to invoke bizarre orbits to explain why planet X doesn't perturb the outer planets! -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 8 Dec 90 20:15:47 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1730 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #18 5:30 p.m. CST, Dec. 7, 1990 5/16:40 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL A "lesson from space" and a steady succession of astronomical observations were highlights of the sixth day of the Astro-1 mission, during the period from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CST). The lesson was provided by four of Columbia's crewmembers, who devoted part of their off-duty time this morning to an educational effort known as "Space Classroom: Assignment the Stars." Payload Specialist Sam Durrance and Mission Specialist Jeff Hoffman gave a presentation about the electromagnetic spectrum and its relationship to the high-energy astronomy mission. Seeing and hearing the lesson were students in classrooms at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Later, the students also had the opportunity to ask questions over an air-to-ground circuit, and receive answers from Payload Specialist Ron Parise and Mission Specialist Bob Parker. Observations with Astro-1's four specialized telescopes continued throughout the lesson, as well as during the rest of this period. New procedures which had been worked out Thursday continued to work well for bringing the three ultraviolet telescopes into the track and observe modes by a combination of ground commands and crew involvement aboard Columbia. The smoothness of operations today prompted Dr. Arthur Davidsen of Johns Hopkins University to say, "We're now operating at an efficiency level as good as where we had hoped to be pre-mission, with everything working as well as expected." Davidsen is principal investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, one of the three Astro-1 ultraviolet instruments. The observing schedule during this period was a busy one, highlighted by target acquisitions which included the well-known spiral galaxy M31 in Andromeda, the Supernova 1987A, and, at the end of this period, Jupiter and its moons. Use of available observation time was consistently high during the period, with 100 per cent of the available time used in the case of the Jupiter opportunity. The latter was the first observation during the mission of an object within the solar system, and one aimed at learning more about the interaction between the giant red planet and its moons. The three ultraviolet telescopes and the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope were performing without any significant anomalies during this period. ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 19:59:31 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1900 CST] (Forwarded) Astro 1 Mission Report #41 07:00 p.m. CST, December 9, 1990 7/18:11 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Bob O'Connell, co-investigator for the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, was excited and enthusiastic in reporting his team's successful findings from observations of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, Abell 426. This large cluster, which is composed of about 500 galaxies, measures one trillion times the mass of our Sun. This mass, which is in the form of gas with temperatures of over 100 million degrees, spews out huge quantities of X-rays. The data from these X-Rays shows gas radiating from the center of this cluster and "cooling" as it draws inward. Scientists hope to account for the measurement of this material and its origins based upon Astro-1 observations. To date, UIT has acquired over 75 astronomical targets. Over 900 exposures have been made of objects such as the elliptical galaxy in the Fornax, NGC 1399, the edge-on galaxy NGC891 and the impressive Supernova 1987A. The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope aboard Columbia records wide-view photographic images of ultraviolet light of star clusters, galaxies and other stellar objects. UIT images will be recorded directly onto a very sensitive astronomical film for later development after Columbia lands. UIT has enough film to make 2,000 exposures during this mission. The telescope was developed by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 00:39:25 GMT From: snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!news@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Steve Groom) Subject: Re: Where is GALILEO? In article <1990Dec10.174316.27194@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> sal9e@amsun13.apma.Virginia.EDU (Stephen A. Lowe) writes: >I thought that the Galileo spacecraft was supposed to fly >by Earth this past weekend? What happened? Did I get >the date wrong? What's the scoop? It went by as planned, within about 5 miles of the aim point. (100 miles would still have been OK.) It was a couple of seconds early, I think. Things are quite busy around here with Magellan, so this "encounter" didn't get all the attention that the Voyager encounters have received. Besides, everyone pretty much knew what they were going to see - not like finding Elvis on Neptune :-) . The current shuttle mission has also grabbed some attention. You'll probably see the Galileo stuff start to trickle out within a week or so, but they'll be working on the data for years. They're planning to correlate and compare the Galileo data with that from several other instruments (e.g. weather satellites) which collected data at almost the same time. -- Steve Groom, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA stevo@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov {ames,usc}!elroy!stevo ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #669 *******************