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 02:15:50 -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 02:15:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #679 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 679 Today's Topics: Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded) Re: ASTRO status at 4/16:00 MET Re: Another Russian first UIT Status for 12/07/90 [1600 CST] (Forwarded) Re: Black Holes Astro-1 Status for 12/10/90 [0430 CST] (Forwarded) Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space) Re: Shuttle Status for 12/06/90 (Forwarded) Re: ASTRO status at 4/16:00 MET Ulysses Update - 12/10/90 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 23:47:06 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST In article <20657@crg5.UUCP> szabo@crg5.UUCP (Nick Szabo) writes: >... 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... Not if the Planetary Society has its way, since one of their big priorities is the biggest and most short-sighted manned stunt in the history of space travel: the one-shot international manned Mars mission. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 19:30:31 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #20 12:00 noon CST, Dec. 8, 1990 6/11:10 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL During this period (4 a.m. to 12 noon CST), the Astro-1 observatory continued to gather useful scientific data in joint observation of a number of celestial targets. The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo Polarimeter telescope observed Zeta Tauri, a hot Be star and sixth brightest in the constellation Taurus, early on in this timeframe. Afterward, the Alpha Orionis star (sometimes called "Betelguese") was observed by the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) and the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT). The UIT was the prime observer of NGC891, with the other two ultraviolet instruments joining in on target NGC 891, an edge-on galaxy possessing a radio emission "halo." Toward the end of this timeframe, the Astro-1 crew acquired HD 62452, a dwarf star in the Gum Nebula. This target served as another "beacon" in the study of polarization of the dust in the interstellar medium, and WUPPE was the primary instrument for observation. Just prior to noon, the crew turned to Alpha Camelopardalis, a supergiant star in the constellation Camelopardalis ("the Giraffe"). Because of its strong polarization features, WUPPE was again the primary observing instrument. Data gathering was going well for the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) also. During this time period, the BBXRT successfully acquired such targets as Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant in the constellation Casiopeia; Zeta Orionis, a bright, massive star in the constellation Orion; and "the most exciting of all," said a BBXRT investigation team member, a newly discovered pulsar, with a 12-second interval between powerful pulses of X-rays. It is named after the "Ginga," a Japanese satellite which first sighted the celestial object about two weeks ago. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 90 16:49:26 GMT From: idacrd!mac@princeton.edu (Robert McGwier) Subject: Re: ASTRO status at 4/16:00 MET From article <1990Dec6.230645.27668@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, by gsh7w@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy): > Well, the last 24 hours has brought good news, extremely bad news, and > now decent news. The good news was that during shift nine, the first > Just another example of when you should NOT send a man to do a robot's job. From the exercises fouling up the stability to lint from uniforms clogging air intakes, to residue from the huge thrusters (which are only necessary because it is a huge plane carrying men and the HEAVY life support equipment) the evidence is overwhelming that good science in astronomy done from orbit and human presence don't mix. The entire astro concept made no sense after they spent umpty dumpty million dollars and then refused to fly it but once. If they fly it again, its cost MIGHT come close to being justified. While I am on a roll, there is a statement of profound significance in the scientists remarks concerning 3C273 "I've waited 13 and a half years . . . ." We bellyache constantly in the US about the constant advances by the Japanese and Germans and then do not give adequate support to doing basic science and basic technology research. It is pitiful. Bob -- ____________________________________________________________________________ My opinions are my own no matter | Robert W. McGwier, N4HY who I work for! ;-) | CCR, AMSAT, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 19:17:41 GMT From: agate!shelby!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!aoab314@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Srinivas Bettadpur) Subject: Re: Another Russian first In article <139.27610BFB@nss.FIDONET.ORG> freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG (Bev Freed) writes: >As for first passengers -- Sultan Salman Abdul Azziz Al Sa'ud is >a good candidate for that category. The first Saudi astronaut (on An even better, and earlier candidate would be the Indian cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, who went up with the Soyuz T11 in 1984, for 7 days and 22 hrs. We used to refer to it as a "joy-ride", although the guy did do some experiments on using Yoga to handle space-sickness, and muscle atrophy due to weightlessness. It was rather neat, though, to have one of our countrymen go up in space. It did do a lot to promote interest among students to go into the space sciences, and the government did step up the activities after the event (though there haven't been many spectacular successes since then). Srinivas Bettadpur ------------------------------ Date: 8 Dec 90 20:14:31 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: UIT Status for 12/07/90 [1600 CST] (Forwarded) UIT Status Report #05 4 p.m. CST Dec. 7, 1990 Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL Principal Investigator Ted Stecher and other members of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope Team worked even harder than usual, with ground command of their instrument added to their normal duties. But, "I'd even say that commanding from the ground is fun," said UIT member Barbara Pfarr. Targets observed today by UIT included the cluster of galaxies Abell 2597, Supernova 1987A, and the Andromeda galaxy (M31). UIT was developed at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Dec 90 20:05:14 GMT From: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucdn!gilla@rutgers.edu (Arnold G. Gill) Subject: Re: Black Holes In article <27686@cs.yale.edu>, yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu (Norman Yarvin) says: > >I have heard this explanation many times, and find it hard to understand >using a simple-minded or 'intuitive' view of relativity. Granted that if >the star's escape velocity exceeds the speed of light, then a photon >starting from the star's surface can't make it out. But it seems to me that >if one can propel some piece of matter any distance away from the black >hole, then one can lift fuel up to that distance; using this fuel one can >lift the next piece of matter even farther away from the center; and thus by >degrees something could escape entirely from the black hole. No, that won't work, as Henry has posted already. Think of it in terms of orbits around a massive body, in this case a black hole. Until you reach escape velocity, you will always be describing some type of orbit around the black hole. When you are outside the black hole (but nearby), the orbits are not too different from your normal orbits, but they are squashed a bit, so that only certain orbits actually lead away from the black hole. Most of the rest intersect the "surface" -- the event horizon. The closer you come to the "surface", the more orbits end up intersecting it. When you reach the event horizon, all orbits intersect the "surface" and the number of orbits that could leave the black hole decreases to zero. Inside the event horizon, no orbits exist that cross the event horizon (because that is, in part, how the event horizon is defined). In fact, depending on the model used, all orbits inside the black hole hit the singularity in some finite local time. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Arnold Gill | - If I hadn't wanted it heard, | | Queen's University at Kingston | I wouldn't have said it. | | InterNet: gilla@qucdn.queensu.ca | - Astrophysician in training | -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 20:08:13 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/10/90 [0430 CST] (Forwarded) Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #25 4:30 a.m. CST Dec. 10, 1990 8/03:40 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL All four telescopes -- the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), the Wisconsin Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), and the Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) -- continued to unveil images of planets, stars, and galaxies. All four telescopes operated without problem throughout the night. The Hopkins Telescope and the Goddard Space Flight Center's UIT gathered 45 minutes of spectographic data and images of Jupiter, beginning approximately 8:15 last night. All three ultraviolet telescopes -- HUT, UIT, and WUPPE -- performed joint observations on the elliptical, radio-bright galaxy NGC 1316 at 9:30 p.m.; Omega Centauri, 16,500 light years away, at approximately 10:50 p.m.; U Geminorum in the constellation Gemini at 11:30 p.m.; NGC 2146, a galaxy apparently capturing matter around itself to create new stars, at 12:40 a.m.; a large, spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major, M81, at 2:30 a.m.; and AlphaOrionis, an M-type supergiant better known as Betelgeuse, at approximately 3:45 a.m. The BBXRT gathered scientific data on each of its scheduled targets, including OJ286, an energetic radio source acquired twice during the night; PHL 8462, a radio-loud quasar; QX301-2, a massive X-ray binary star sytem; VV Puppis, a cataclysmic binary system made up of a small white dwarf and a star similar to our Sun; and M81. ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 19:03:34 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!know!news.cs.indiana.edu!maytag!watmath!watdragon!watyew!jdnicoll@ucsd.edu (Brian or James) Subject: Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space) I dimly recall a Donald Kingsbury article on a high thrust nuclear rocket called (I think) 'Jumbo' or 'Dumbo'. Mid 70s, but it was in Analog Magazine, whose articles on high tech occasionally sacrifice accuracy and careful evaluation in favour of enthusiasm. The Analog is in my magazine collection, which means I can specify its location only to within a few feet :( and I don't feel like sorting through a dozen boxes. Anyone have anything concrete on this? James Nicoll ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 01:07:38 GMT From: sun-barr!newstop!texsun!csccat!adept!alan@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Alan Ruffer) Subject: Re: Shuttle Status for 12/06/90 (Forwarded) In article <1990Dec7.162727.1977@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1990Dec7.073019.7551@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve "il-Manhous" Norton) writes: >>So here's the $6e6 question for the day: What's going to happen to Astro >>when it gets back to Florida? (Aside from some scientists cursing and >>screaming at the IPS electronics for a while :-) ) ... > >After the cursing and screaming stops, it goes into storage in hopes that >there might someday be an Astro-2 mission after all. Lets hope that a little bacwards engineering occurs to determine what exactly the problem IS with the IPS and star trackers and what can be done to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. Also there needs to be some detailed study of the DDUs that failed and some re-engineering there to prevent any future occurance of this problem. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Alan R. Ruffer UUCP: {csccat,chinacat!holston}!adept!alan | | Route 1, Box 1745 Voice: (318) 527-8316 (Home) | | Sulphur, LA 70663 BBS: (318) 527-6667, 19200(PEP)/9600(V.32)/2400/1200 | | | | "A witty saying proves nothing." -- Voltaire | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 10 Dec 90 22:26:50 GMT From: sdcc6!beowulf!rose@ucsd.edu (Dan Rose) Subject: Re: ASTRO status at 4/16:00 MET mac@idacrd.UUCP (Robert McGwier) writes: >Just another example of when you should NOT send a man to do a robot's job. >From the exercises fouling up the stability to lint from uniforms clogging >air intakes, to residue from the huge thrusters (which are only necessary >because it is a huge plane carrying men and the HEAVY life support equipment) >the evidence is overwhelming that good science in astronomy done from >orbit and human presence don't mix. The entire astro concept made no sense >after they spent umpty dumpty million dollars and then refused to fly >it but once. If they fly it again, its cost MIGHT come close to being >justified. Well, all I know about ASTRO is what I read here and in the papers, but wouldn't the mission have been a total waste without the astronauts helping out with the star tracking duties? I thought this was evidence *for* human presence, not against it. (I realize that the lint might not have been there, but something else might have gone wrong, as with HST, Magellan, etc.) -- Dan Rose {ucbvax,decvax,akgua,dcdwest}!sdcsvax!beowulf!rose.uucp UC San Diego rose%cs@ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 11 Dec 90 20:04:03 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ucsd.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Ulysses Update - 12/10/90 ULYSSES STATUS REPORT December 10, 1990 As of 9 AM (PST), Monday, December 10, the Ulysses spacecraft is 37,695,997 miles (60,665,827 km) from Earth, and 399,892,460 miles (643,564,532 km) from Jupiter. The spacecraft is traveling at 77,765 mph (125,006 kph) relavtive to the Sun, and 30,805 mph (49,576 kph) relative to the Earth. On December 4, the X-band downlink was switched off to maintain a safe thermal environment. On December 5, the KEP (Energetic Particles and Interstellar Neutral Gas experiment) EPAC RAM load took place. Five hours of playback data were lost due to a ground station failure. On December 6, a routine slew maneuver was carried out. Also on this day, as a part of the continuing investigation into the nutation-like motion, the axial boom stepper motor was switched on for a period of 3 minutes, 3 times with an interval of 1 hour between each switch-on. No noticeable reduction in nutation was observed from this series of tests. On December 7, the GLG (Solar Wind Ion Composition experiment) PAPS was increased to 22.87 KV. This was followed by a further test of the axial boom stepper motor. The motor was activated for a period of 2 hours. The nutation-like motion reduced from 1.3 degrees half cone to 0.85 degrees half cone. However, within a short period, the motion had built up to a half cone angle of 1.1 degrees. In the period from the December 7 to December 10, there has been no degradation of the nutation angle. In fact, avery small increase has been observed. The 3rd meeting of the Nutation Investigation Team will take place on December 11 to discuss future strategy. On December 10, the X-band downlink was switched on. Data acquired via this downlink are being processed successfully. It is now expected that the thermal environment will permit the X-band downlink to remain on. On December 12, a matrix re-configuration of the BAM (Solar Wind Plasma experiment) will occur. Some further nutation investigation operations may be carried out. These will arise from decisions taken by the 3rd meeting of the Nutation Investigation Team. Thermal re-configurations will be carried out as necessary. The performance of the DSN (Deep Space Network) was nominal except for a long duration outage at the Australia station due to antenna mechanical failure. Five hours of playback data were lost. It has also been noted that when data are being acquired from the Spain station, the frequency of data dropouts between the station and JPL is higher than from other stations. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| | | | | __ \ /| | | | Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| M/S 301-355 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ Pasadena, CA 91109 | ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #679 *******************