Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from hogtown.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, 5 Feb 91 01:29:36 -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, 5 Feb 91 01:29:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #109 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 109 Today's Topics: Expendable vs Shuttle 1991 Princeton Space Forum (revision 2) Re: Satellite Imagery of Iraq/Kuwait Re: Why man rate? Re: Humanity's Launch Window Magellan Update #2 - 01/30/91 Re: Hacking Spacecraft & ESA Publications Re: Expendable vs Shuttle Problems with International Collaboration (was Re: Space Station...) Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Jan 91 11:05 EST From: "Scott P Leslie" Subject: Expendable vs Shuttle Could someone list figures on the types of failures that the proposed expendable launchers have had. It would seem that they don't just explode like the Challenger, but rather veer off course or have some other failure that is escapable. If this is true, this would put the fatal failure rate for expendable launchers way below that of the shuttle. Scott P. Leslie (UNCSPL@UNC.BITNET) ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 19:28:43 GMT From: phoenix!mcconley@princeton.edu (Marc Wayne Mcconley) Subject: 1991 Princeton Space Forum (revision 2) MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND Top Space Experts to Explore America's Future in Space at Public Forum Princeton, NJ - On February 11, 1991, seven of the nation's leading authorities on space will participate in an innovative public forum entitled "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" to discuss the policy options now being considered by the Bush administration for America's space program. The forum will foster interaction among these experts and the public and will provide a non-technical perspective on strategies for the exploration and settlement of the solar system. Participants include the current Deputy Administrator of NASA, and an entrepreneur whose private company launches commercial payloads into orbit. (A complete list of speakers appears below.) "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" begins at 7:30 pm on Monday, February 11, 1991, in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall, Princeton University. Admission is $6 to individuals not affiliated with Princeton University. To order tickets send a check or money order, payable to Princeton Planetary Society, for $6 per ticket to: Princeton Planetary Society, 315 West College, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544. Ticket orders MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 4, 1991. For more information, contact Audrey Robinson at 609-258-7947. There will be a banquet prior to the forum, at 5:00 pm on February 11 in the Senior Room of the Nassau Inn at Palmer Square, on Nassau Street in Princeton. Tickets to the banquet are $35/plate. Banquet ticket orders may be sent with forum ticket orders to the above address ONLY. AFTER FEBRUARY 4, tickets may be purchased through the Richardson Auditorium Box Office by phone (609-258-5000) with VISA or MasterCard only. The Box Office adds a $1 service charge to the price of each ticket for phone orders. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Box Office with cash, check, or credit card. The Box Office is open from 4 to 6 pm, Monday through Friday, and beginning at 4 pm on the day of the forum. The forum is sponsored by the Princeton Planetary Society, a student-run chapter of the National Space Society. "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" is the Third Annual Princeton Space Forum. The first two forums each attracted 500 people and widespread media coverage. -- Marc W. McConley Vice President / President-Elect, Princeton Planetary Society Reply-To: mcconley@phoenix.Princeton.EDU || (609) 258-7674 ===================================================================== The following is a complete list of speakers: JOHN BAHCALL is Professor of Natural Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and President of the American Astronomical Society. Bahcall works on galaxy models, dark matter, neutron stars, quasars, and solar neutrinos, and he published a book on "Solar Neutrinos" in 1989. JAMES C BENNETT is currently the Corporate Vice President of American Rocket Company, a private launch company, which developed the unique, non-explosive hybrid rocket engine. Bennett co-founded the company with the late George Koopman in 1985. He was also a co-founder of Space Enterprise Consultants, the first consulting firm devoted entirely to commercial space development, and of Arc Technologies, Inc., an early private space-launch venture. He is a member of the Legislative Committee of the National Space Society. GREGG EASTERBROOK is a Contributing Editor for "Newsweek." In an exclusive report in "Newsweek's" August 17, 1987, issue, Easterbrook explained how interagency rivalries, aerospace-industry lobbying, and domestic political considerations continue to plague America's space program. He had earlier predicted in a 1980 article that the space shuttle program was fraught with dangers. Easterbrook also seves as a Contributing Editor at both "The Atlantic" and "The Washington Monthly" magazines. LORI GARVER is Executive Director of the National Space Society. Garver is a founder of Spacecause, a national pro-space lobbying group. She currently serves as a co-chair of the education committee for the International Astronautical Federation and is a member of the Board of Directors of Women in Aerospace. She will moderate the panel discussion during the forum. STEPHANIE LEE-MILLER is the director of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation in the US Department of Transportation. In this capacity, she serves as the Secretary's Representative to the National Space Council and the chief federal regulatory official for the growing commercial space transportation industry. Lee-Miller is a member of Women in Aerospace, a professional organization created to honor outstanding women in the space field. J R THOMPSON, JR became Deputy Administrator of NASA in 1989, following 33 months as head of the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL. Druing that period, the Marshall Center oversaw the redesign and testing of the Space Shuttle's critical solid rocket boosters. Before becoming director at Marshall, Thompson served 3 years as deputy director for technical operations at Princeton's Plasma Physics Laboratory. In 1986 he served as the vice chairman of the NASA task force inquiring into the cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. Previously, Thompson spent 20 years with NASA at Marshall in various positions, where he was responsible for the development and operation of the most advanced liquid propulsion rocket engine ever created. Thompson will deliver the keynote address at the forum. ROBERT G TORRICELLI (D-NJ, 9th district) is serving his fifth term in the House of Representatives. He is chairman of the Transportation, Aviation, and Materials Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Torricelli sponsored the legislation enacted to build a new orbiter following the destruction of the Challenger and also wrote legislation to promote multinational cooperation in the exploration of Mars. ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 08:06:39 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!uniwa!vax7!tgumleyle@uunet.uu.net (Liam Gumley) Subject: Re: Satellite Imagery of Iraq/Kuwait In article <2332.27A5DF8A@ofa123.fidonet.org>, Mark.Perew@ofa123.fidonet.org (Mark Perew) writes: > As I recall when Chernobyl had its little "event" the media was > displaying LandSat-style imagery within a couple of days of the > "event". However, we are now 13 days into Operation Desert Storm > and I haven't seen any visible spectrum or IR imagery from the > Persian Gulf area. I guess this sort of imagery would be available from Meteosat, as is already seen on CNN etc. But the viewing geometry is not exactly optimum. Someone with a ground station for NOAA HRPT polar orbiter data might be able to pick up AVHRR imagery of the region from India or Pakistan. I attended a conference in September 1990 where a represenative from SPOT gave a talk. One of the first questions was - have you supplied imagery to the Iraqis - the answer was that a decision was made to restrict the sale of imagery of the Gulf region to Iraqi buyers. I guess SPOT would be the only imagery useful (apart from Landsat TM) for showing details on the surface at the scale of meters. Cheers, Liam. -- tgumleyle@cc.curtin.edu.au #Liam E. Gumley, Department of Applied Physics, Curtin University of Technology# #Perth, Western Australia. >>>All opinions expressed are exclusively mine.<<<# ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 00:13:54 GMT From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5!szabo@uunet.uu.net (Nick Szabo) Subject: Re: Why man rate? In article <56668@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v071pzp4@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >In article <1991Jan28.195828.2944@isis.cs.du.edu>, gaserre@isis.cs.du.edu (Glenn A. Serre) writes... >>In article <1991Jan25.200639.16712@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov> cornutt@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov (David Cornutt) writes: > >>3) The Titan II was man-rated, and the Titan IV is a Titan II that's been >>modded. > >Not that I have anything against Titans, but why was it man-rated? Gemini. -- Nick Szabo szabo@sequent.com Embrace Change... Keep the Values... Hold Dear the Laughter... ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 19:15:59 GMT From: agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!hellgate.utah.edu!caen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Humanity's Launch Window In article Nick (szabo@crg5.UUCP) writes: >The only thing the Japanese really have over us is efficiency -- >they manage to get some things done on quite a bit smaller budget >and less time than the U.S. -- "quick is beautiful." But some >"off the beaten path" U.S. projects (Pegasus, AMSAT) also demonstrate >this capability. In overall aerospace and science they are still behind >the U.S. We could learn some things from them about manufacturing >automation, though. We could learn a lot about manufacturing. And also about turning basic science into workable engineering. Remember, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Chinese were ahead of us in the basic technologies of the blast furnace and the 'drilling rig' (they didn't drill, they used a percussion bit, but so did everyone else until Hughes invented the rotary bit in _this_ century). They also built the first working models of both lighter than air (some lanterns) and heavier than air (kites) flying vehicles. And these models eventually inspired, *in Europe* (and in America), the balloon and the glider. Which evolved into the forms of flight we use today. One could say that the Japanese aren't pulling their weight in basic science, but some malnourished Bengali peasant might look at the Superconducting Supercollider and say that the Americans aren't doing enough to turn basic science into useful technology. And turning basic science into useful technology might actually be the more difficult task. (BTW, the on-line spelling-checker says that Bengali is a correct spelling, but I suspect that there is an h in there somewhere). (Nah, Phil's just pulling our leg, everyone knows those inscrutable orientals aren't creative but can only steal ideas, something to do with what happens to the brain when you have soup for breakfast since birth.) Seriously, though, anyone who thinks that asians are inscrutable should look up Department of State, United States, in a periodicals index and go on from there. Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 21:41:22 GMT From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ucsd.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update #2 - 01/30/91 MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT January 30, 1991 The spacecraft and the radar system continue to perform nominally 138 days after mapping started on September 15, with 901 mapping orbits and about 50% of the surface area of Venus captured in images. In spite of the DMS-A (Data Management Subsystem) deterioration and intermittent problems at the DSN (Deep Space Network) stations, about 95% of the radar mapping data collected by the spacecraft has been successfully captured on Earth. The spacecraft completed its period of apoapsis Earth occultations and returns to full mapping passes on January 26. Spacecraft temperatures continue to warm due to changing solar geometry. An extra reaction wheel desaturation was required on January 23, when momentum buildup exceeded the preset limits before an adjustment to the preload could take effect. On Wednesday, January 23, the Radar System Engineering Team (RSET) reported an unexpected spike in the radiometer data of orbit 1319, indicating a brightness temperature 125 degrees Celsius higher than normal for the Venus surface. The spike was also found on orbit 1318. Scientists and spacecraft engineers are analyzing the data to determine if the high readings were caused by the spacecraft position relative to the sun or actual surface features on Venus. The Image Data Processing Team produced the following new data products: o Six Altimeter Data Records o One Basic Radiometer Data Record o Nine Polar Image Data Records o Two Compressed Basic Image Data Records o Two Full Resolution Mosaicked Image Data Records (F-MIDRs) Eighteen additional F-MIDRs were nearly finished and are expected to be completed this week. The "Magellan at Venus" report on January 23 featured Dr. Ellen Stofan, who discussed the arachnoid features on Venus. Ellen will host today's show on January 30. The 10 x 12 foot crater farm mosaic recently on display in the lobby of Building 180 at JPL has been sent to the Maryland Museum of Science in Baltimore. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | It's 10PM, do you know /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | where your spacecraft is? |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | We do! ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 91 18:25:01 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!samsung!umich!umeecs!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!quest!orbit!pnet51!schaper@ucsd.edu (S Schaper) Subject: Re: Hacking Spacecraft & ESA Publications Hmm, maybe someone could get SPOT photos of Iraq and Kuwait. :-) ? ************************************************************************** Zeitgeist Busters! UUCP: {crash tcnet}!orbit!pnet51!schaper INET: schaper@pnet51.orb.mn.org Aslan is on the move! **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jan 91 13:41:38 -0500 From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: Re: Expendable vs Shuttle Newsgroups: sci.space Cc: In article <1991Jan30.173856.7511@zoo.toronto.edu> Henry Spencer writes: >Actually, the Challenger breakup (it wasn't an explosion) would have been >survivable had the astronauts been in a tough little capsule with parachutes >rather than in a big fragile orbiter with wings. Especially when you realize that the capsule has a nice little rocket to carry the crew to safety. Allen -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Allen Sherzer |A MESSAGE FROM THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF KUWAIT: | |aws@iti.org | "If rape is inevitable, enjoy it!" | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jan 91 02:36:24 GMT From: rochester!sol!yamauchi@louie.udel.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Subject: Problems with International Collaboration (was Re: Space Station...) In article <1991Jan21.200107.3138@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: In article <3196@polari.UUCP> crad@polari.UUCP (Charles Radley) writes: >...political discussions presented at length by LLNL. In particular I >found their political statements about the undesirability of >international collaboration as extraordinarily parochial and totally >at variance to todays global realities... I think their stance on this is realistic, but not for the reasons they advance. As long as the US insists that its international "partners" are not allowed to contribute anything vital to these "cooperative" projects -- e.g., both ESA and JSA contributing laboratory modules to Fred, because they weren't allowed to contribute anything crucial like the logistics module -- then international "collaboration" is mostly a frill, and an expensive and troublesome one. It is also expensive and troublesome for the "partners", since the US is such an unreliable and difficult boss. In my opinion, the main problems with international collaboration are neither "foreign untrustworthiness" or "U.S. unreliability", but rather (1) international politics and (2) "wrong moves". The first problem is that projects would no longer be hostage to the domestic politics in just one country, but to the domestic politics in many countries, plus the exponential number of foreign relations between the members of the collaboration. Imagine the U.S. starts a major space exploration initiative in cooperation the U.S.S.R., and then the tanks start rolling through the streets in Lithuania. So much for the political support for that program. The second problem is that while the national space programs of individual nations may make mistakes, usually they won't all make the same mistake at the same time. If NASA makes a seriously wrong move, it can set the U.S. space program back years -- but if some mythical World Space Agency makes a wrong move it could set the entire world's space program back years. I wonder whether it would have been better for NASA, ESA, and NASDA to work on three separate space stations. Of course (1) and (2) are also good arguments for a strong private space exploration and development program... -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Department of Computer Science _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #109 *******************