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 ; Fri, 8 Feb 91 02:37:17 -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, 8 Feb 91 02:37:13 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #135 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 135 Today's Topics: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/01/91 Re: Why man rate? NASA Headline News for 02/04/91 (Forwarded) Re: Solar Impact Mission. MOL expiration date ASTRA (was: Re: Solar Impact Mission. ) Re: Request for Feedback on Proposed Lunar Analog Robotics Contest Space event in California 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 4 Feb 91 04:23:30 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Ron Baalke) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Subject: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/01/91 Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu PIONEER VENUS STATUS REPORT February 1, 1991 The Project will request a "short loop" configuration at the DSS's (Deep Space Stations) prior to critical commanding of the Pioneer Venus spacecraft. This was done to avoid the frequent CPA (Command Processor Assembly) failures which have affected the commanding. On January 24, the spin period was adjusted from 12.95 seconds to 13.15 seconds. During 70 meter supports, the bit rate will be raised to 2048 bps. Long eclipse season #20 begins on February 12 and will last through February 20. Pioneer Venus-1 (sometimes referred at Pioneer 12) was launched on a Atlas-Centaur rocket on May 20, 1978 and arrived into orbit around Venus on December 4, 1978. In July 1980, controllers stopped using hydrazine to hold the spacecraft's perigee steady. In 1986, Pioneer Venus made ultraviolet observations of Halley's Comet. In August, 1990, as Magellan was making its burn for Venus orbit insertion, Pioneer Venus attempted to observe the burn, but was unsucessful. In Januray 1991, the Approach Phase of Venus entry began. This phase will last until May 1992 and will see the periapsis drop from about 1000 km to 200 km. In the spring of this year, the radar mapper, which has been off since 1981, will be turned back on to map the southern region of Venus. In June 1992, the Entry Phase will begin and the remaining hydrazine aboard the spacecraft will be used for 90 days to delay the entry into Venus. Burnup of Pioneer Venus is expected to happen in September 1992. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| 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! ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 2 Feb 91 04:51:59 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!umich!dgsi!gregc@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Greg Cronau) Organization: Cimage Corp, Ann Arbor, MI Subject: Re: Why man rate? References: <1991Jan25.200639.16712@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov>, <1991Jan28.195828.2944@isis.cs.du.edu>, <56668@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu 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? Did >they ever expect to launch capsules? > >Craig Cole >V071PZP4@UBVMS.BITNET >V071PZP4@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU ???? Uh, yeah, like say Gemini 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,etc. for instance. gregc@cimage.com ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 5 Feb 91 01:28:48 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/04/91 (Forwarded) Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Monday, February 4, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Monday, February 4, 1991 NASA Administrator Richard Truly, Deputy Administrator J.R. Thompson, and Comptroller Thomas Campbell will brief the press on the Fiscal Year 1992 NASA Budget request today at 2:30 pm in the NASA Headquarters auditorium. A summary of the budget request will be distributed at the beginning of the press conference. The briefing will be televised live on NASA Select TV. The Office of Space Flight will also distribute a new manifest following the briefing. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Over the weekend, technicians at the Kennedy Space Center installed the final of three replacement thrusters on Discovery. The thrusters have been tested and leak checked. The only anomaly found was a non-working heater on one of the thrusters. Troubleshooting on that heater and its circuit are currently underway. Technicians also replaced three filters in the waste water dump system. The filters were found to be in various stages of natural deterioration. The flight readiness review for Discovery's March Department of Defense mission is now set for Feb. 21 at KSC. Work on Atlantis continues on schedule to meet that orbiter's planned April launch for the STS-37 Gamma Ray Observatory deploy mission. The forward reaction control system was installed over the weekend, as was the right orbital maneuvering system pod. The electrical and mechanical systems flight readiness test on main engine #2 is now scheduled for Wednesday. Engine #2 had a malfunctioning computer controller which was replaced last week. The crew equipment interface test is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9. The STS-37 flight crew will fly in from Houston for that test. Atlantis' external tank is being mated to the solid rocket booster stack in the Vehicle Assembly Building today. Workers in the VAB continue to install thermal protection in the area of Columbia's main gear doors while that orbiter awaits Discovery's spot in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Orbiting Venus, 142 million miles distant, Magellan and its radar system continue to perform normally. All recent star calibrations and momentum wheel desaturations have been successful. The temperature of Magellan's battery #1 went above its alarm limit of 20 degrees Celsius several times during the past few days. A reset command was sent to the spacecraft to change the heater limitations, and that successfully brought the temperature down to the desired range. At present, only the B-side tape recorder is being used to store mapping data until the data is transmitted to Earth stations. A spacecraft analysis team is still investigating the problem on the A-side recorder. Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits the Jet Propulsion Laboratory today. Mrs. Thatcher will be briefed on the accomplishments of the Voyager I and II missions and shown the Deep Space Network control facility. Project managers from the Magellan, Galileo and Ulysses projects will also brief her on the current status and discoveries of these missions. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Monday, 2/4/91 2:30 pm **NASA FY 1992 Budget press briefing from NASA Headquarters. Tuesday, 2/5/91 12:00 pm NASA Productions will be transmitted. All events and times may change without notice. This report is filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST. It is a service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters. Contact: CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425. NASA Select TV: Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 4 Feb 91 17:28:46 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Subject: Re: Solar Impact Mission. References: , <1991Feb4.111437.9283@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu In article <1991Feb4.111437.9283@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> neufeld@physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) writes: >>Why isnt it possible to cancel the orbital velocity via a close flyby >>of mercury... > Two reasons I can think of off-hand. First, you've already done a lot >of the work if you've dropped your orbit to that of Mercury. It costs >less in delta-v to go to Jupiter than it does to go to Mercury... However, you can reduce that somewhat by doing what Mariner 10 did: use a Venus gravity assist. Chris's second point, though, remains valid: you can't do a very tight turn around Mercury, because its gravitational field is not very strong even just above its surface. For really tight turns, what you want is a waverider design that can fly at high hypersonic speeds in an atmosphere. Then you can do a right-angle turn or even a 180 around any planet with a substantial atmosphere, e.g. Venus. Aerodynamic forces do a much better job of holding you down during the turn than gravity. This also lets you use Mars rather than Jupiter for outer-planets missions, which is nice because Jupiter's Van Allen belts are a major hassle for Jupiter gravity assists. -- "Maybe we should tell the truth?" | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology "Surely we aren't that desperate yet." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 91 19:28:53 GMT From: world!ksr!clj%ksr.com@uunet.uu.net (Chris Jones) Subject: MOL expiration date In article <1991Feb4.173634.3835@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo (Henry Spencer) writes: > MOL was cancelled long after Apollo got the go-ahead; I believe the >first lunar landing was imminent when MOL died. (Don't remember exact dates.) MOL was cancelled in June 1969, when the first moon landing was, indeed, pretty darn imminent. -- Chris Jones clj@ksr.com {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: Tue, 5 Feb 91 13:47 CDT From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey Subject: ASTRA (was: Re: Solar Impact Mission. ) To: SPACE+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU, theslim@engin.umich.edu Original_To: SPACE,gov%"pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov", edu%"theslim@engin.umich.edu" In reply to a question by Eric Michael Slimko (theslim@engin.umich.edu), Peter Scott (pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov) wrote: >>Anyone in netland doing any research with high >> velocity waveriders? >Doubt that he's on the net, but Duncan Lunan was big on this when >he gave a seminar on the topic here a few years ago. He was with >an organization that was planning scale tests, off the coast of >Scotland I believe. Wonder what happened to them? My mailing list is starting to rust, but a couple years ago I had this address for Lunan's pals, ASTRA: ASSOCIATION IN SCOTLAND TO RESEARCH INTO ASTRONOMICS Phone: 41-339-2558 ASTRA c/o Campbell, 16 Oakfield Avenue, Hillhead, Glasgow G12 8JE, United Kingdom Don't know who Campbell might be. ASTRA was pretty inexpensive to join, as I recall-- in 1988 it was five pounds per year. Or do they say "poonds?" You get a modest newsletter. I believe ASTRA has recently joined the National Space Society as a chapter. Yes, they have done low-speed tests of waverider models. One of their members was an aerodynamics boffin named Nonweiler who worked out waverider principles. ASTRA is a bunch of space advocates who have met for years around Glasgow. In particular, they've brainstormed interesting scenarios for long-term space development and the growth of a solar-system-wide economy (I think that's what they mean by "astronomics.") Lunan discusses them in some of his books. Now, it seems to me that *some* member of ASTRA must read this newsgroup over on JANET somewhere. Speak up! Bill Higgins Engineer of Hijacked Train: "Is this a holdup?" Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Masked Gunman: Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNALB.BITNET (Hesitates, looks at partner, looks at engineer again) SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS "It's a science experiment!" Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 6 Feb 91 00:15:47 GMT From: deccrl!news.crl.dec.com!shlump.nac.dec.com!sousa.enet.dec.com!sndpit.enet.dec.com!smith@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Willie Smith) Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Subject: Re: Request for Feedback on Proposed Lunar Analog Robotics Contest Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu In article <1991Feb5.202021.2886@mcs.anl.gov>, winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) writes... > >I have been reading this thread with some interest. And have wondered about >the remote-controlled "categories". The origional note mentioned the use >of cellular phones and ham radio to communicate with the robots. Since we >all know that radio works and we COULD use it if we wanted to pay for it, >why not allow (or create a category) that would allow a looooooooonnggg wire >to be used instead? Not a bad idea! I figure that by the end of this year, my costs for radio gear ought to be about half of the total vehicle costs. I personally don't want to deal with tethers, but to each his own. >Hmmm If there was SOME standardization in the format used, the sponsor of >the event could also provide an error generator that could inject errors into >the communication system (like interrupt video signals, pop bit errors into >the standard serial communications formats etc...). > >This might even up the competition a little bit as well. Not really, as the AX.25 data that runs over ham radio packet links is error corrected - either you get all the data error-free or the link goes down and you get nothing. I suppose you could mess up the video, but that's going to be about the same effect, either it's usable and the Waldo team wipes the floor with you all :+) or it's not and no-one gets any work done.... Willie Smith smith@sndpit.enet.dec.com smith%sndpit.enet.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com {Usenet!Backbone}!decwrl!sndpit.enet.dec.com!smith ------------------------------ Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 0;andrew.cmu.edu;Network-Mail Date: 5 Feb 91 17:27:10 GMT From: wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!David.Anderman@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (David Anderman) Organization: Universal Electronics Inc. Subject: Space event in California Sender: space-request@andrew.cmu.edu To: space@andrew.cmu.edu On Saturday, February 16th, at 9am, the southern California chapters of the National Space Society and the California Space Development Conference will sponsor a special workshop on space activism. The event will be held at the McDonnell-Douglas Oceanus Facility, located at 5301 Oceanus Drive, Huntington Beach, and is open to the general public. Admission is $7. Attendees at the event will learn how to promote space development through the National Space Society chapter system. Also scheduled during the workshop are a tour of the full-scale space station mockup at the facility and a talk by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on space activism within Congress. For more information about this event, please contact your local NSS chapter: OASIS (Los Angeles) 213/374-1381 San Diego L5 619/295-3690 Riverside/San Bernardino 714/689-3306 Orange County 714/842-9878 Ventura County 805/647-8592 -- David Anderman Internet: David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:David.Anderman@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #135 *******************