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, 21 Feb 91 02:39:06 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 02:39:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #184 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 184 Today's Topics: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/18/91 Re: Martian mystery? NASA Headline News for 02/14/91 (Forwarded) Re: nuclear rockets Re: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/18/91 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: 18 Feb 91 16:34:48 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@decwrl.dec.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/18/91 Pioneer Venus Update February 18, 1991 The Pioneer project has declared the Pioneer Venus spacecraft over as of 3:45 PM (PST) on February 15, and normal support for the spacecraft has resumed. The spacecraft is configured to the High Gain Antenna and the prime receiver. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | Is it mind over matter, ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | or matter over mind? /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | Never mind. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | It doesn't matter. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 91 23:53:16 GMT From: kr0u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin William Ryan) Subject: Re: Martian mystery? AIIEEEE!! The Return Of The Mars Face!! There is a formation on Mars, showing in two photos of overlapping areas, which looks a lot like a face or a ceremonial mask. There has been a great deal of (rather poorly reasoned, IMHO) speculation about this being an artificial structure placed there by aliens, Atlanteans, or Elvis, depending on who you talk to. The funniest thing I've seen so far was the Weekly World News of Feb. 19th, where they show some airbrushed shots of the 'Mars face', claiming that "Scientists have photographed the lips moving!!" Since there are three different photos on the cover of WWN, only two shots ever taken of the face from the Viking orbiters, and since there is _nothing_ orbiting Mars at the moment that could be sending back photos, this represents one of the more amusing WWN claims. Of course, they also have had an articles about the Soviet Phobos (sp?) probe "photographing the entrance to heaven", the ever popular "Boy with two brains", and others along the line of "Sasquatch seen in downtown New York posing as a broker." The generally accepted explanation is that it's an odd rock formation that happens to look like a face in certain lighting conditions. Whether it looks like face from other angles is hard to say. Oddly enough, though, nobody is making any fuss about the formation on Mars that looks like a profile view of Kermit the frog... I have the original images (at 1MB each), as well as raw and cleaned versions of the face as found in the two photos. (I do image processing for a living, so I have access to a fair number of tools for this sort of thing.) If there's a solid request and I can find the time I might post the 128x128 versions to the net. Some people have claimed to have extracted a 3D profile of the damn thing. I have looked into it, but I don't have any stereo reconstruction code readily available. (I'm not going to bother to write it for this, either!) The only other method I have easily available (assuming that the intensity of the image was directly related to the angle of that part of the image to the sun) would only work on the second image, which unfortunately has a big camera flaw right in the middle of it. It's rocks. Some people think it's important. And some people think Elvis is now an accountant in New Jersey... kwr Internet: kr0u+@andrew.cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 19 Feb 91 04:24:44 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/14/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Thursday, February 14, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, February 14, 1991 Discovery will be rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-A just after midnight tonight. Activities today on Discovery include final closeout of electrical connections between the orbiter and external tank. Critical elements of the shuttle interface test have been accomplished successfully. The terminal countdown demonstration test is scheduled for Feb. 19 and 20, next week. The STS-39 mission flight readiness review is scheduled for the last week in Feb. at Kennedy Space Center. Work on Atlantis is progressing very well towards that vehicle's planned rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Tests of the orbital maneuvering system and shuttle main engines continue. Other concurrent tests involve the air data system and the microwave landing system. Rollover of Atlantis to the VAB is now set for the first week of March. Technicians working on Columbia expect to be able to remove the Astro-1 payload from the orbiter payload bay today. Columbia's payload bay doors were opened yesterday. Once the Astro-1 and Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) have been removed, they will be taken to the Operations and Checkout Building. The BBXRT then will be transported back to Goddard Space Flight Center. The Astro-1 telescopes will be demated from the Instrument Pointing System and transported back to their university sponsors. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Gamma Ray Observatory is in the Vertical Processing Facility, and began a two-day functional test yesterday which is expected to conclude today. Integrated electrical tests are scheduled to begin next Tuesday, Feb. 19. Those tests will verify GRO's electrical compatibility with Atlantis. The GRO end-to-end system test will follow the compatibility test and is expected to begin about Feb. 21. The end-to-end test verifies communications between the spacecraft and the Payload Operations Control Center at Goddard Space Flight Center. Gamma Ray Observatory is currently scheduled to be transported to Launch Pad 39-B around March 5. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite - E (TDRS-E), currently set for deployment on Discovery's STS-43 July mission, is being prepared for possible shipment to KSC by mid-March. An Air Force C-5 will be used to transport the communications satellite from TRW's plant in Redondo Beach to the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. Because of uncertainty associated with Air Force transport availability, Goddard has requested that TRW investigate alternative methods of transportation. The Magellan spacecraft is performing normally. Earlier this week, Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers sent a command sequence to the spacecraft which shortened alternate radar mapping passes by 10 minutes. This will permit an early turn of the spacecraft toward Earth, putting most of the spacecraft in the shade of the high- gain antenna, and thereby reducing temperatures. In its current planetary geometry, Magellan is in direct sunlight all of the time. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Thursday, 2/14/91 11:30 am NASA Update will be transmitted. 12:00 pm Discovery Lecture Series program "Miracles by Design", a repeat of Wednesday's telecast from the University of Alabama-Huntsville. 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: 20 Feb 91 15:54:44 GMT From: bonnie.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!watyew!jdnicoll@uunet.uu.net (James Davis Nicoll) Subject: Re: nuclear rockets In article <620@newave.UUCP> john@newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III) writes: > >The Pluto missile had a few startling side effects. It left a trail of >radiation that severly contaminated its path. It also left any animal or >person in its path deaf. Finally, with unlimited range, it was possible >that one could get loose and not be stopped, eventually killing all life >on Earth. Sounds like fun... Warning: Very Tangental Trivia Question follows I have these really dim memories of watching a movie back in the 60s about something that acted like that; lots of scenes consisting of Norman Rockwell families together, followed by the screen going white. The good guy dies of radiation poisoning doing something that stops the runaway. Anyone have any idea what the film was called. James Nicoll ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 91 10:03:21 GMT From: mcsun!unido!mpirbn!p515dfi@uunet.uu.net (Daniel Fischer) Subject: Re: Pioneer Venus Update - 02/18/91 In article <1991Feb18.163448.24597@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: > > The Pioneer project has declared the Pioneer Venus spacecraft over... I guess you mean, the spacecraft EMERGENCY is over - or is 'spacecraft over' a new way NASA puts it that a S/C is dead...? No, can't be: they would define an acronym for it. :-) ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #184 *******************