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, 18 Dec 1990 01:29:06 -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, 18 Dec 1990 01:28:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #676 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 676 Today's Topics: BBXRT Status for 12/09/90 [1430 CST] (Forwarded) Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST [l/m 7/5] Reminders for Old Farts Galileo Update #2 - 12/07/90 Re: Galileo Update - 12/11/90 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 Dec 90 23:54:19 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: BBXRT Status for 12/09/90 [1430 CST] (Forwarded) BBXRT Status Report 8 2:30 p.m. CST Dec. 9, 1990 Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL A pleasant surprise discovered last night by the BBXRT team is that the instrument is more immune to scatter solar light than previously thought. "What is really exciting is we didn't think we could look that close to the Sun and now that we can we're really picking up all the high priority targets," said Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Serlemitsos of Goddard Space Flight Center. For example, at about 7 a.m. CST this morning, BBXRT obtained CEN-X3, a famous pulsar in the Virgo galaxy. "We really wanted to observe it, but thought because it was too close to the Sun we couldn't, " Serlemitsos said. "But we just did." BBXRT was developed at GSFC in Greenbelt, MD. Personnel in the Payload Operations Control Center at GSFC monitor the BBXRT operations and analyze data transmitted from the telescope to the ground. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 04:41:10 GMT From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5!szabo@uunet.uu.net (Nick Szabo) Subject: Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST In article <1990Dec07.153442.14503@chinet.chi.il.us> price@chinet.chi.il.us (Doug Price) writes: > >I do not dispute that a lot of good science can be done for a lot cheaper >for a few more years using robots. This zero-sum, "zap his budget so I can >get my budget" stuff has got to go. The planetary explorers got a good lesson in this from the tin-can folks when our exploration funding was nearly destroyed by the Shuttle in the early 80's. I'm glad to see the discoverers are finally fighting back. What goes around comes around, astronaut fans. We are entering a new era where the funding proportions for "manned" stunts and real exploration and industry will be reversed, leading to a new Space Age, with an immense gain in knowledge of the solar system's every corner, and the blossoming of space industry. I eagerly await the death of Fred, Colombus, Hermes, and the other punch-card era throwbacks so that we can move forward more quickly into this new age of knowledge and commerce. -- 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: 9 Dec 90 11:59:55 GMT From: data.nas.nasa.gov!amelia!eugene@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) Subject: [l/m 7/5] Reminders for Old Farts Hints for old users (subtle reminders) You'll know these. Minimize cross references, [Do you REALLY NEED to?] Edit "Subject:" lines especially if you are taking a tangent. Send mail instead, avoid posting follow ups. [1 mail message worth 100 posts.] Internet mail readers: send requests to add/drop to SPACE-REQUEST not SPACE. Read all available articles before posting a follow-up. [Check all references.] Cut down attributed articles. Summarize! Put a return address in the body (signature) of your message (mail or article), state institution, etc. don't assume mail works. Use absolute dates. Post in a timely way. Don't post what everyone will get on TV anyway. Some editors and window systems do character count line wrapping: please keep lines under 80 characters for those using ASCII terms (use ). ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 04:40:56 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Galileo Update #2 - 12/07/90 GALILEO STATUS REPORT December 7, 1990 As of noon (PST) Thursday, December 6, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft is 1,066,990 miles from the Earth and traveling at a heliocentric speed of 66,485 miles per hour; distance to the Sun is 92,611,910 miles (0.99 AU). Round trip light time is 0 minute, 14 seconds. A NO-OP command was sent on November 30 to reset the Command Loss Timer to 96 hours. The Command Loss Timer was subsequently reset from 96 hours to 72 hours on December 3. NO-OP commands to reset the timer were sent, as planned, on December 3, 4, and 5. A star vector update was successfully performed on November 30. This updated star information will be used for the forthcoming sequence activities. Commands were sent on December 1 to reduce the telemetry downlink data rate from 115.2 kbps to 7.68 kbps. The lower data rate was selected to guarantee high quality data return consistent with RF link performance. On December 3, commands were sent to restore the downlink telemetry rate to 115.2 kbps consistent with link performance and the on-board sequence expected data rate. The Relay Radio Hardware (RRH) oscillators were successfully powered on November 30 in preparation for the Probe checkout on December 4. Several engineering electrical heaters were configured on November 30 and December 4 to assure adequate power margin to support the Probe checkout. The Probe checkout was successfully performed on December 4. All power consumption and thermal profiles were near predicted levels. Preliminary analysis indicates probe operation was normal and no unexpected probe events were observed; an initial assessment concludes the Probe health is excellent. A brief real-time data outage, due to a ground communication intermittent problem, occurred just prior to the initial pump down of the Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) thereby precluding real time evaluation of Argon gas buildup since the first flight probe checkout in October 1989. The data lost during the outage was subsequently retrieved from tapes and provided to the probe personnel; analysis is in process. Commands were sent on December 5 to change the on-board automatic fault protection response to select Low Gain Antenna 2 (LGA-2). These commands configure the fault protection to a state consistent with the planned antenna switch from LGA-1 to LGA-2 on December 8. The spacecraft's downlink telemetry data rate was increased to 134.4 kbps via the stored sequence on December 5. This data rate is the spacecraft's maximum designed data rate and this was the first in-flight use of this rate; the data was successfully received and processed by the Ground Data System (GDS). The VE-11 (Venus-Earth 11) Earth 1 encounter sequence memory was successfully transmitted and received by the spacecraft in two parts, Part A on December 5 and Part B on December 6. The VE-11 sequence will go active on December 7 and control spacecraft events to December 17. Commands were sent on December 5 to turn on the PLS (Plasma) instrument's high voltage in preparation for data collection during the Earth 1 encounter. Several Delayed Action Command (DACs) were also sent on December 5 for execution on December 8. These commands will power off the PLS instrument and turn on its electrical replacement heater shortly prior to closest approach. This action assures the PLS instrument remains within safe thermal limits established by the Principal Investigator. The AC and DC bus imbalance measurements were relatively stable. The AC measurement fluctuated about 3 DN and is reading near 46 volts. The DC measurement varied about 3 DN and is reading about 2 volts, possibly indicative of a return side leakage path to chassis between 80-150 ohms. All other power-related measurements and spacecraft telemetry are normal. The Project reviewed and approved the final sequence and command products for VE-12 on December 3. The VE-12 sequence controls spacecraft activities from December 17 to February 18, 1991. This sequence contains 9 SITURN events, 17 Sun acquisitions, 3 RPM (Retro Propulsion Module) flushing activities, the LGA-2 to LGA-1 antenna switch, 5 windows for the CDS (Command Data Subsystem) memory tests, attitude control calibration events, radio science tests, UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer) observations, several cruise science memory readout activities, 4 maneuver windows for TCM-9A (Trajectory Correcition Maneuver) on December 18, 19, 20, and 21. The Flight Control and Support Office (FCSO) and the Engineering Office have completed analysis of prime and backup data sources to determine the completeness of data received at JPL during the Probe checkout on December 4. The FCSO reported that the small amount of data which was missing at JPL was recovered from data recorded at the tracking stations. The Probe Engineering Team (PET) was able to confirm successful completion of the Probe checkout using the data already at JPL. An S-Band array test with the two 34 meter antennas at Goldstone was completed this week by the DSN (Deep Space Network). The test was apparently not successful in realizing signal level gains through arraying. Final conclusions, causes for the unsuccessful attempt, and plans for possible la ter tests will be reported later after post test analysis is complete. The test was conducted to investigate the possibility of using S-Band arraying to reduce the Project's requirements for 70 meter station support during the Earth 2 operations in 1992. Data collection from last week's NIMS (Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) and SSI (Solid State Imaging) photo calibration activity was unsuccessful due to a sequence design input data error which resulted in both instruments being pointed off the Photo Calibration Target (PCT) mounted on the science boom. Although, the lack of this calibration data has no effect on the health and safety of the NIMS/SSI and does not effect the Earth 1 encounter sequence, its loss will, however, result in later than planned detailed NIMS/SSI data reduction. Investigation into the cause of this sequence design input error is in process. Preliminary analysis suggest a possible misinterpretation of the reference point from which the clock angle is measured. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ Date: 12 Dec 90 06:04:48 GMT From: uokmax!rwmurphr@apple.com (Robert W Murphree) Subject: Re: Galileo Update - 12/11/90 Dear Ron Baalke or someone else in the know::i: i Has the high gain radio communication antenae deployed properly and is it in good good shape? Some of us have been waiting a year to see if it has. The mission depends on a high data rate for real time transmission of video data from 5 AUPlease send me E-mail or reply to Sci.space sci.astro. Thanks in advance. Robert W. Murphree rwmurphr.uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (internet) i ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #676 *******************