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 ; Thu, 14 Feb 91 18:38:43 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <4bilxvq00WBwQ0gU5w@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 18:38:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #146 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 146 Today's Topics: Mir sweepstakes When will there be 'TAU'? (was Re: The edge of the solar system) space news from Dec 24 AW&ST Apollo lunar surface photography Outer space (was: Re: Fire in Space) NASA Headline News for 02/11/91 (Forwarded) Space Shuttle Endeavor...Need Info. URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SAVE MIR SWEEPSTAKES!!!!!!! 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: 7 Feb 91 05:44:00 GMT From: swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!f2700.n206.z1.fidonet.org!William.Wright@ucsd.edu (William Wright) Subject: Mir sweepstakes I'm sorry to report that a District Attorney in Texas (I'm not sure whether it was a county, or the state itself) has arrested the two organizers of the Mir sweepstakes. The charge is "felony". This means 2-10 yrs in prison + a maximum fine of $10,000. Reportedly, the authorities consider toe sweepstakes to be gambling, pure and simple. Evidently accepting "free" entries via mail was not enough to satisfy the authorities. Reportedly, the authorities offered to drop the charges if Space Travel Services would refund the entries to date, but Space Travel Services refused. -- William Wright Internet: William.Wright@f2700.n206.z1.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:William.Wright@f2700.n206.z1.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 91 13:40:27 GMT From: mcsun!unido!mpirbn!p515dfi@uunet.uu.net (Daniel Fischer) Subject: When will there be 'TAU'? (was Re: The edge of the solar system) In article <9102040110.AA17921@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov> roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes: >>I have seen several articles about a planned NASA mission: the TAU probe >>(TAU stands for Thousand Astronomical Units). A very high tech device, ... >>Paul Blase - via FidoNet node 1:129/104 >Sounds interesting. It would be powered by a nuclear reactor, of course. And that's exactly the reason why TAU won't become reality until at least well into the 21st century. During a NASA press conference in Aug 1989 JPL director Lew Allen was asked about what had become of 'TAU', and he replied that the idea was still somewhere in the files, but that one would first have to wait for a suitable space reactor (I think he mentioned the SP-100 type). Question: would Topaz-2, which the U.S. is buying from the USSR, help here? ------------------------------ Date: 10 Feb 91 22:35:46 GMT From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: space news from Dec 24 AW&ST [Yes, I'm behind again... However, I get a bit of a boost this time because AW&ST doesn't publish during the holidays, so this is the last 1990 issue. This is AW&ST's "Vista" issue, mostly an overview of the year, so news is thin.] The cover is a very nice, sharp, clear full-color photo of the space station. The operational one -- Mir, not Fred. OSC flies first Starbird rocket for SDI. Starbird is a multi-stage solid- fuel sounding rocket that flies a trajectory simulating a ballistic missile. Launch was tracked by ground facilities and the LACE satellite. US military weather satellite launched Dec 1 ended up in a different orbit than the one that was intended,, but the spacecraft is operational and is expected to be useful. The USAF is assessing the effects. More debris was observed around the satellite than usual, but it does not seem to have affected the bird. Battle brewing over the space station's paperwork empire in Reston. Lots of people have been unhappy about taking station management away from the field centers, and now the Augustine report urges managing multicenter projects from a headquarters at or near a "primary center". Lenoir says that if they had meant "kill Reston", they would have said so... but scuttlebutt has it that they did in fact plan to say so, until NASA brass begged them to hold off pending completion of redesign, and that Reston will die as a symbol of reform once that has been done. NASA steals Japan's Christmas: NASDA's Christmas cards featured the Japanese Spacelab mission set for 1991, which NASA has now postponed to late 1992. NASDA is, um, annoyed. Marginally space-related: article on "super-super-black" aircraft programs in the US includes nearly a full page which starts out "let's consider the following details as comprising a theoretical possibility of a hypersonic US-developed aircraft which could be cruising the skies tonight..." and goes on to describe, with illustrations, its appearance, performance, propulsion, weapons, and even how its surface tiles *smell*. Theoretical, they say... Article reviewing the space station's history comments that it is now being pulled in opposite directions, with Congress pushing materials and the Augustine panel (whose views are likely to prevail in the White House) putting priority on life sciences. So far, it looks like NASA will try to compromise by doing both... which may not succeed. The article suggests that reviving Space Industries' Industrial Space Facility for the materials people would make a lot more sense, and would take a lot of heat off NASA. Article urging more attention to Earth observation in shuttle missions, with astronauts given more chance to spend time observing and describing what they see, rather than just snapping the occasional photo. Also suggested is giving the public-affairs people in Mission Control more role in providing commentary: ground control often swivels the orbiter's cameras by remote control for Earth observation, but there is seldom any voice indication of what's being seen, and in fact the public-affairs console doesn't even have a good-quality atlas for reference. When Lenoir worked in ground support during Skylab, one of his jobs was to write a daily report on the astronauts' Earth observations, but now that he's the boss, he "...would have little to write about from most shuttle missions". Pictures of a smaller version of Energia now under development. It uses only two strap-ons and a thinner and shorter core using a single engine. Name is Energia-M. First flight perhaps 1993. Payload is 40 tons, rather less than Energia's 100 but double what Proton can do. -- "Read the OSI protocol specifications? | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology I can't even *lift* them!" | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 91 12:40:07 GMT From: world!ksr!clj%ksr.com@uunet.uu.net (Chris Jones) Subject: Apollo lunar surface photography In article <1991Feb10.022219.2255@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo (Henry Spencer) writes: > >(As a side note, if you're looking at a still photograph from Apollo 11 >on the surface, the astronaut is 99.9% certain to be Aldrin, because >Armstrong had the camera most of the time. I believe they've turned >up one still which is, based on context, Armstrong.) (It took another >mission or two before they figured out that it was a good idea to mark >the spacesuits so you could tell the two astronauts apart easily.) The first mission with the red "racing stripe" on the commander's helmet was Apollo 13 (not that it got any use on that flight). This was done since the surface video camera on Apollo 12 failed shortly after the astronauts got out of the LM (it got pointed at the sun, I believe, and was useless from then on). Looking at the stills after the flight, it couldn't always be determined which astronaut took the shot and which was in it. Apollo 11 hadn't had this problem since the whole EVA was televised, and it was easy to correlate the stills with the video. One of my favorite shots from the lunar landings is of the LM lift-off, taken by a remotely operated camera on the last couple of flights. The camera was controlled from the ground, and in order to keep the ascent stage in view, it was necessary to command the camera to track upwards. The commands had to be sent somewhat before liftoff due to the 1.3 second earth-moon signal travel time. -- Chris Jones clj@ksr.com {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 91 14:10:23 GMT From: eru!hagbard!sunic!lth.se!newsuser@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Magnus Olsson) Subject: Outer space (was: Re: Fire in Space) In article <1991Feb5.041210.2882@cimage.com> gregc@dgsi.UUCP (Greg Cronau/10000) writes: >Well, by "space" I assume you mean "outer space" as opposed to the >space we walk around in all day. :-) I thought `outer space' was defined as the space beyond the moon's orbit. Is this definition still used, or has it become obsolete? For practical purposes it seems pretty useless, since the thingies we send into space seem to be divided into three classes: Low Earth Orbit, geosynchronous orbit, and interplantary. Magnus Olsson | \e+ /_ Dept. of Theoretical Physics | \ Z / q University of Lund, Sweden | >----< Internet: magnus@thep.lu.se | / \===== g Bitnet: THEPMO@SELDC52 | /e- \q ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 91 00:52:17 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/11/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Monday, February 11, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Monday, February 11, 1991 Discovery was rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building this weekend and mated to its external tank last night. Electrical connections between the tank and orbiter will get underway today. Rollout to the launch pad is expected to take place by this Friday. The terminal countdown demonstration test for the STS-39 mission is scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 19 and 20. The STS-39 flight readiness review is set for next Thursday and Friday, Feb. 21 and 22, at Kennedy Space Center. Columbia was rolled from the VAB into Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 this past Saturday. Activity on OV- 102 this week, will include opening of the payload bay doors so technicians can gain access to the Astro-1 and Broad Band X-ray Telescope payloads. Deservicing of the payloads is expected to begin later this week. Members of the STS-37 crew were at KSC this past Saturday for the Atlantis crew equipment interface test. Atlantis' external tank and solid rocket boosters are nearly closed out in the VAB. Rollover of Atlantis should occur next week. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Gamma Ray Observatory was moved the one-mile distance from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to the Vertical Processing Facility late last week. Activity on the GRO spacecraft this week includes a spacecraft functional check. Next week, the integrated electrical tests are scheduled, beginning with the Interface Verification Test on Feb. 19. This test verifies GRO compatibility with Atlantis. The spacecraft end-to-end test follows the next week, Feb. 21. The end-to-end test verifies a working communications link between the GRO and the Payload Operations Control Center at Goddard Space Flight Center. The payload will be moved to the launch pad about Mar. 6. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) has another opportunity this evening and tomorrow morning for release of barium and lithium cannisters. The opportunity tonight begins at 10:15 pm EST and ends at 2:15 am tomorrow. Should weather be favorable for this evening's release and local conditions permit, residents along the East Coast can view the release in the southwest approximately one-third the way up from the horizon. Residents in the West and Southwest can view the release in the east-southeast at the same approximate elevation. The next opportunity occurs Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The CRRES program is a joint NASA and Air Force investigation. Marshall Space Flight Center is managing the NASA portion. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Monday, 2/11/91 1:00 pm NASA Radio Program will be transmitted. Tuesday, 2/12/91 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. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 91 01:08:44 GMT From: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Russell J. Soots) Subject: Space Shuttle Endeavor...Need Info. I need as much information as possible about the new space shuttle Endeavor. Similarities and differences with the current shuttles, first scheduled launch and mission, cost, details of its construction (esp. beginning date), etc. Pleae e-mail any relevant info to me ASAP. I must have the information by Feb. 14th. Thanks in advance! 'happy' RJS -- ******************************************************************************* RUSSELL J. SOOTS - North Carolina State Univesity - SED+BCH, minor GN happy@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu_______________________North Carolina Teaching Fellow ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: 10 Feb 91 23:40:17 GMT From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!jetson.uh.edu!cheehh@apple.com (Alvin Carley) Subject: URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SAVE MIR SWEEPSTAKES!!!!!!! *** NEWS FLASH *** NEWS FLASH *** NEWS FLASH *** ANNOUNCING the formation of a LEGAL DEFENSE FUND to defray the costs of legal defense of David Mayer and James Davidson, the President and Senior VP of Space Travel Services Corp. of Houston, Texas. BACKGROUND: Space Travel Services is an entrepreneurial space firm founded in 1990 to provide average citizens with the chance to fly into space. To that end, they initiated a nationwide contest whose winner would fly into space and visit the Soviet space station Mir. People could enter by dialing a 900 number (costing $2.99) or by mail (for free). In December, the Assistant District Attorney of Harris County announced that he was concerned that this contest might be a violation of the Texas state lottery laws, and began a series of legal discussions and negotiations with the officers of Space Travel Services. WHAT HAPPENED ON WEDNESDAY, 2/6/91: This past Wednesday a.m., without warning, the Ass't DA obtained a warrant and had Dave Mayer and Jim Davidson arrested and thrown in the Harris County jail. They were handcuffed at their offices, driven to within two blocks of the jail, held in a police car for over an hour, and then paraded before a coincidentally-available horde of media as their business was termed "evil" by the Ass't DA. They were accused of "promoting gambling" as well as running a lottery, and their corporate checkbook was taken. They spent the rest of the day in jail, and were only released early Thursday morning. THE CRISIS: Dave and Jim have a criminal attorney hard at work defending them against these ridiculous and obviously politically-motivated charges. But lawyers cost money, and remember... they no longer control their own company's funds! To continue their defense, they need to raise $20k within the next week, and more after that. ERGO, WE HAVE CREATED.... the SPACE TRAVEL LEGAL FUND: A certified public accountant is receiving, tallying, and channeling contributions directly to Dave & Jim's lawyers. *** PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THEIR LEGAL DEFENSE DIRECTLY TO: SPACE TRAVEL LEGAL FUND c/o James R. Thomas, CPA 1414 South Friendswood Drive Suite 306 Friendswood, TX 77546 *** PLEASE SEND AT LEAST $10 TODAY, AND MORE IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN. *** PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES ABOUT THIS URGENT CRISIS, AND ASK THEM TO CONTRIBUTE AS WELL. *** ALSO, PLEASE POST THIS MESSAGE ON ANY BBS's, CONFERENCES, and/or COMPUTER NETWORKS YOU BELONG TO >>> AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!! <<< Note: The Space Travel Legal Fund is a special project of the Space Frontier Foundation in cooperation with the Houston Space Society (both non-profit corporations). All contributions received will be used towards this project, and no funds will be transferred to Space Travel Services Corp. or any employee, officer, or stockholder thereof. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SEND ALL RESPONSES MEANT FOR ME TO -> COSC12XV@JETSON.UH.EDU Ad Astra (without Asst' DAs), Alvin Carley ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #146 *******************