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 ; Wed, 27 Mar 91 02:38:07 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <4bw4jLG00WBw42AU4U@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 02:37:59 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #307 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 307 Today's Topics: Voyager Update - 03/21/91 NASA Headline News - 03/21/91 (Forwarded) Re: Space Profits Re: He3 on Moon? MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 20 MARCH Vacuum tubes 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: 22 Mar 91 07:28:01 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) Subject: Voyager Update - 03/21/91 VOYAGER STATUS REPORT March 21, 1991 Voyager 1 The Voyager 1 spacecraft collected routine science and engineering data during the past week. UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer) data was collected from sources WD 1629+782 and SS Cygni. On March 12, one frame of high-rate PWS (Plasma Wave) data was recorded. On March 13, a Dummy CC was transmitted to the spacecraft to reset the Command Loss Timer; the command was received by the spacecraft. Also on March 13, the Voyager Project requested that the DSN (Deep Space Network) terminate the 34 meter Canberra track (4 hours 50 minutes) early for an arrayed antenna emergency support for Voyager 2. A TLC (Tracking Loop Capacitor) test was performed on March 14; the results were nominal. The Magnetometer instrument on Voyager 2 is reading 0.7 gamma for the magnetic field strength, and on Voyager 1 the magnetometer instrument is reading an average of around 1.3 gamma before background subtraction. Voyager 2 The Voyager 2 spacecraft also collected routine science and engineering data. UVS data were taken on CH Cygni and BD+28 4211. Glimpses into the data indicate the instrument is doing well although there were several periods of poor quality data on March 8, 10, and 13. On March 12, a science calibration for the PLS/MAG/LECP (Plasma/Magnetometer/Low Energy Charged Particles) instruments was completed along with one frame of high-rate PWS being recorded. On March 13, a quarterly playback of PWS data was scheduled. DSS 43 (Deep Space Station 43, 34 meter antenna in Canberra) was unable to support due to a red power supply for the line driver frequency oscillator. The bay 1 heater was turned off and the X band went to high power in preparation of going to playback (7.2K). In an attempt to acquire the signal an array was made with both 34 meter antennas in Canberra. The antenna array was brought on line, but the array output was insufficient. The playback was not received and will have to be rescheduled at a later time. On March 14, gyroscopes B and C were turned on and the gyro fault test was enabled. No gyro swap occurred. PWS observed unusually strong interference signals at the turn on of the gyroscopes. Also on March 14, the Plasma instrument on Voyager 2 recorded the average solar wind speed of 351 kps, a velocity average of 394 kps and measured a particle density of about .015 per cm3. CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 03/21/91 P R O P E L L A N T S T A T U S P O W E R Consumption One Week Propellant Remaining Output Margin Spacecraft (Gm) (Kg) Watts Watts Voyager 1 6 36.2 + 2.0 366 55 Voyager 2 6 39.1 + 2.0 369 47 ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | Change is constant. /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: 22 Mar 91 07:37:17 GMT From: mips!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@apple.com (Ron Baalke) Subject: NASA Headline News - 03/21/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Thursday, March 21, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, March 21, 1991 Preparations at the Kennedy Space Center for the next shuttle mission are moving right along. The terminal countdown demonstration test with Atlantis' flight crew and ground launch control team went extremely well yesterday. The Gamma Ray Observatory is undergoing a shuttle systems interface test today. KSC's launch readiness review began today and concludes tomorrow. Atlantis will be loaded with its hypergolic fuels over the weekend. Next Tuesday and Wednesday, flight management will hold the STS-37 flight readiness review. Discovery is scheduled to be rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building Monday, March 25. The STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences mission is also moving steadily along toward its planned May launch on Columbia. Orbiter and payload technicians plan to install the Spacelab habitable module into Columbia's payload bay this weekend. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NASA today submitted a restructured Space Station Freedom plan to the Congress. The new plan, which was outlined in a press briefing by Associate Administrator for Space Flight Bill Lenoir, calls for assembly of Freedom beginning in mid-1996, with a man-tended capability in late 1997. The new plan calls for a four-person, permanently-manned capability in 2000. According to Lenoir, the restructuring includes many changes which will simplify the technical and operational aspects of the station. In a letter to the NASA Congressional committees, Administrator Truly says the new plan will pave the way for a sustained U.S. leadership role in space through the next century. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magellan and its radar system also continue to perform well. All of the star calibrations and momentum wheel desaturations performed recently have been successfully executed. Magellan began its 1,260th mapping orbit yesterday. Ninety-four percent of the data has been returned to Earth, which represents about 65 percent of the total Venus surface area. Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers today are uplinking the final computer program files which will restore the articulation and attitude control system (AACS) B-side memory. This process not only will restore full redundancy to the AACS memories, but includes fault detection which will quickly isolate the memory in the event of a future chip failure. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Galileo today is executing a trajectory correction maneuver to help shape its flight path for the asteroid Gaspra encounter on October 29. Otherwise, the spacecraft continues with routine housekeeping activities and readouts of data from science instruments. Currently Galileo is about 36 million miles from Earth and 110 million miles from the Sun, traveling at a heliocentric speed of 68,700 miles per hour. Round-trip communication time is now 6 minutes, 24 seconds. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees W Long., Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. Thursday, 3/21/91 1:00 pm Taped replay of House Subcommittee on VA-HUD & Independent Agencies hearing on the recommendations of the Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program. Committee chairman Norman Augustine and vice chair Laurel Wilkening were witnesses. 4:00 pm STS-37 landing simulation from Dryden Flight Research Facility. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | Change is constant. /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 91 17:36:32 GMT From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucsd.edu (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Space Profits In article <268.27E5EBFE@nss.FIDONET.ORG> Paul.Blase@nss.FIDONET.ORG (Paul Blase) writes: [note: he is responding to Nick Szabo's post about standards...] >I suppose that you've never heard of gasoline, Ethernet, VME bus, Airline >traffic control procedures, the telephone system, fax machines, or the IBM >PC? All of these are more-or-less international standards. Industry WILL ... If the IBM PC is one of your standards, perhaps we're better off building custom machinery. :-) Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu And, no, I wasn't writing this post from my TRS-80 Model 4P. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 91 19:50:12 GMT From: sgeels@athena.mit.edu (Scott A Geels) Subject: Re: He3 on Moon? The following is a data dump on the 3He energy possibility. If you are still trying to calculate the Lunar 3He quantity, I suggest you stop reading. Most of this data is from a presentation by Gerald L. Kulcinski (Director of the Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin) and from some of my own research. The total 3He fluence on the Lunar surface is ~500 million tonnes over the last 4 billion years. The Lunar He is broken down into 18 ppm 4He and 8.4 ppb 3He in the soil, for a total of 1,042,000 tonnes of 3He to a depth of 0.5 m. These numbers have been verified with Apollo data (available upon request). One kg of 3He can theoretically produce 10 MW-yr of energy in a D-3He fusion reaction. This means that 20 tonnes of 3He could supply one U.S.-year of electricity. This 3He could be processed in the following way: 1) Mine the regolith and heat the soil to ~700-900 C, releasing the volatile gases in the soil (H, H2O, N2, CO2, CH4, CO, He ...- some of which could be used for a lunar base) 2) Cool down to 50 K, condensing and separating out all volatiles except He 3) Isotope separation to remove 3He from 4He 4) Cool 3He to superfluid cryogen for storage and transfer Now for some of the problems: 1) To process the 20t of 3He, 2.4 BILLION tonnes of lunar regolith must be processed per year. This regolith must be heated to ~900 C, which will take an enormous amount of energy even with a highly efficient process. 2) There must be an extremely large isotope separation plant to remove the relatively useless and much more abundant 4He. About 42000t of He must be separated to obtain the 20t of 3He. 3) Superfluid He will be very difficult to store both on the moon and on the return to Earth trip. 4) D-3He fusion is not feasible at this point in time. It actually may be more feasible to obtain 3He from the atmospheres of some of the gas giants, where is is estimated that 3He concentration may approach 45 ppm. This would also avoid the many problems with separating He from regolith. Scott Geels Martin Marietta Astronautics Group Reply to: sgeels%fred.den.mmc.com@everest.den.mmc.com (or post) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 16:58:05 MST From: oler%HG.ULeth.CA@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU (CARY OLER) Subject: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 20 MARCH X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" -- MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT -- MARCH 19, 1991 Flare Event Summary Potential Impact Assessment -------- MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY Region 6555 spawned a major class M7.0/1F flare at 06:16 UT on 20 March. The event began at 05:26 UT, peaked at 06:16 UT and ended at 06:18 UT on 20 March. The event occurred at a location of S25E50. There were no radio signatures observed with this event. No sweeps were observed either. Region 6555 appears quite formidable in white and H-alpha light. It is an impressive region to see, and contains a very large penumbral area with large spots encompassed within the penumbra. POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT This major class M7.0/1F flare will not have a terrestrial impact. It was radio-quiet and was rather weak as far as major flares go. Region 6555 has the potential to produce major flaring. Minor M-class flaring will certainly be observed from this region over the coming week, probably intermixed with occassional isolated major flares. Region 6545 has decayed to the point now where major flaring is not likely to be observed. Minor M-class flaring could continue, but major flaring is no longer a real threat from this region. A bulletin will be released near 06:00 UT on 21 March to reflect the decreased flare probabilities and update the warnings. ** End of Alert ** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:17:37 EST From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Vacuum tubes >Date: 19 Mar 91 23:53:04 GMT >From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Henry Spencer) >Subject: Re: railguns and electro-magnetic launchers >>... Has anyone ever attempted to >>launch a payload out of a EM launcher that is at all complicated, in the >>sense of having telemetry, etc... ? >Nobody's done this with an EM launcher. However, it has been done many >times with old-fashioned chemical guns, starting with radar proximity >fuzes in WW2 and progressing to upper-atmosphere research instruments in >the 1960s with Project HARP. >(The proximity fuzes were particularly impressive because the electronics >in them used *vacuum tubes*...) >"[Some people] positively *wish* to | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology >believe ill of the modern world."-R.Peto| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry I believe most of the modern devices (i.e. the antitank projectiles that are shot out of cannons, and the bombs that go *through* a concrete wall or floor, sense the open space beyond, and *then* detonate) are solid state. While it would be difficult to judge, I suspect that vacuum tube technology is ultimately more resistant to high-G shocks - solid state systems are dependent on a fairly brittle crystalline structure, while vacuum tubes just have to maintain metal elements in a certain configuration with respect to one another. Of course, these would not be off-the-shelf items... :-) Vacuum tubes have a lot of other features that make their use in space attractive. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #307 *******************