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, 14 Jun 91 02:41:29 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 14 Jun 91 02:41:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #639 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 639 Today's Topics: Re: The Un-Plan * SpaceNews 27-May-91 * Re: The Un-Plan 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: 26 May 91 03:22:03 GMT From: usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@apple.com (Steinn Sigurdsson) Subject: Re: The Un-Plan You forgot to include insurance costs of aerobraking n kilotons of material over populated areas, and political costs of persuading some rather paranoid nations that skimming 10 kT through the atmosphere over their capital/missile silos by a private (US?) capitalist institution! I think you'd better forget about aerobraking any large quantities of material in the Earth's atmosphere for quite a few decades, I think the people on the ground would not appreciate you cost- benfit calculations :-( ------------------------------ Date: 24 May 91 19:29:01 GMT From: agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!ocpt!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (John Magliacane) Subject: * SpaceNews 27-May-91 * Subject: * SpaceNews 27-May-91 * SB NEWS @ AMSAT < KD2BD $SPC0527 * SpaceNews 27-May-91 * Bulletin ID: $SPC0527 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MAY 27, 1991 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * NOAA-12 NEWS * ================ NOAA-12 is currently transmitting APT images on a frequency of 137.50 MHz, the same as NOAA-10, with AOS about 45 minutes later. Several satellite users have noted that so far, NOAA-12 was transmitting visible light images only, without any infrared images. Reports received so far indicate the spacecraft is transmitting high-quality images. * MIR NEWS * ============ The Soviet/British Juno flight on Soyuz TM-12 successfully docked with the Mir space station on 20-May-91 at about 17:25 Moscow Time (9:25 EDT). On board were cosmonauts Anatoli Artsebarski and Sergei Krikalev, plus Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut. This mission was delayed from its original launch date of May 12th. They were greeted by Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov, who were launched on Soyuz TM-11 on 02-Dec-90. Afanasyev and Manarov will be brought Sharman down on May 26th. Artsebarski and Krikalev will be staying on board Mir for the next 6 months. They will be doing several space walks, including one to repair the antenna damage that caused the Progress M-7 to have problems docking at the March 19th attempt. In addition, Radio Moscow stated the two would be installing a new solar panel set to be delivered by their space shuttle. [Information via Glenn Chapman] * ASTRO MISSION TO REFLY * ========================== NASA announced that a second Astro mission will fly aboard the Space Shuttle. The success of the earlier mission and the demonstrated ability of the instruments to acquire high-quality scientific data are among the major reasons for reflight of the Astro payload. Astro-2, like Astro-1 which flew in December of 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, will be dedicated to a single scientific discipline - astrophysics. The following three instruments will fly on Astro-2 and observe energetic objects in space in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum: The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), developed at Johns Hopkins University, performs spectroscopy, breaking light into its constituent colors, allowing scientists to analyze the chemical composition and temperature of the objects HUT observes. The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, produces images of especially hot components of nebulae, stars and galaxies. These images help to explain the physical structure of such objects. The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photopolarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), developed at the University of Wisconsin, measures a subtle characteristic of light, its polarization. These measurements probe the orientation and detailed physics of the distant regions in which the light originates. During the Astro-1 mission, new results were obtained at wavelengths observable only from space. Astronomers gained insights into the properties of diffuse dust found between stars as well as details of the formation of new stars in distant galaxies. They also learned that the predicted decay of certain sub-atomic interstellar particles did not occur, at least not at the expected level. [Information via NASA] * HAPPY BIRTHDAY! * =================== SpaceNews wishes a belated (24-May-91) Happy Birthday to U.S. astronaut and Amateur Radio operator Dr. Ron Parise, WA4SIR! * SPACENEWS SURVEY * ==================== Are you reading SpaceNews on a dial-up bulletin board system (BBS)? If so, then please send a note giving the BBS name, telephone number and location to any one of the addresses listed below. The results of this survey will be published in a future edition of SpaceNews. Thanks to all those who have already responded! * FEEDBACK WELCOMED * ===================== Feedback regarding SpaceNews may be directed to the editor using any one of the following paths: UUCP : ...!rutgers.edu!ka2qhd!kd2bd PACKET : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Electronics Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. /EX -- John A. Magliacane FAX : (908) 747-7107 Electronics Technology Department AMPR : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA Brookdale Community College UUCP : ...!rutgers!ka2qhd!kd2bd Lincroft, NJ 07738 USA VOICE: (908) 842-1900 ext 607 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 May 91 08:11:05 PDT From: jim@pnet01.cts.com (Jim Bowery) To: crash!space+@andrew.cmu.edu Subject: Re: The Un-Plan Nick Szabo writes: > I am _extremely_ hestitant to do write such a plan, because people > take long-range "plans" far too seriously. There are _so many_ > possibilities that need to be explored, and we do _not_ know which > ones are the best. The best ones we probably haven't even thought of > yet. Focusing on one narrow plan will be extremely destructive towards > progress towards the eventual goal (which for this plan is space settlement). Thank you for prefacing your "plan" with this comment, Nick. It adds an air of reality to your whole post. > (3) Converting several DoD, DOE and NASA labs into Department of > Commerce labs, charged to meet international challenges with the > most efficient and advanced of technologies, whether they be > earth based or space-based. This provides an economic backbone > to support government budgets and a market for future space industries. This is a bad idea. Just in case people start yammering about MITI, the actual numbers for U.S. vs Japanese, public vs private technology R&D funding is: R&D Funding Sources Public Private Unite States 67% 33% Japan 22% 78% Examples of successesful, low cost, R&D efforts that "meet international challenges" with the financial risk taken by the private sector: Wright Bros., the automobile, the telephone, Spirit of St. Louis, lasers, the transistor, Seymour Cray/supercomputer (1604 - Cray-3), railroads, microcomputers, the light bulb, radio, television, electrical generators, communications satellites, .... and just about every other technology that has kept the United States in a position of "international competitiveness", including most of the ones claimed by government labs and as NASA spin-offs. The private sector can't, however, claim credit for nuclear reactors. Particularly not the Tokamak. The government has served technology advance best when it: 1) Procured advanced technology goods and/or services from the private sector in a commercially reasonable manner. That means someone in the government actually had a USE for the good and/or service, the FINANCING came from the private sector and the PURCHASE ORDER came from the government. 2) Supported education and scientific (unpatentable) research. 3) Found ways to encourage, rather than discourage, private sector risk-investment. 4) Engaged in "infrastructure building" itself only when the technology had already reached maturity in the commercial market. 5) is actually in a war with an enemy that really might threaten the U.S. (Like the Civil War, WW I and WW II. The Cold War/Viet Nam did more to destroy our "international competitiveness" than to help it.) > * Our sample size of earth-crossing and Jupiter-crossing asteroids and > comets is increased 1,000-fold, so that we find several small objects > that can be captured into earth orbit for less than 500 m/s impulse > delta-V. Another bad idea on 2 counts: 1) Ever read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"? Even "small" objects that hit the earth from space are exceedingly destructive. If they break the objects up into "bite sized" chunks of box-car size or so before they get anywhere near Earth, I'll consider not assassinating them. Box-cars would only cause H-Bomb devistation if they hit the Earth. That's acceptable compared to wiping out a continent or so. Keep in mind that even an impact on the Moon or Mars of an asteroid would create enough flux, for a few minutes, to ignite flammable material in the Earth's biosphere. BTW, one theory of mass-extinction I've thought of is that Tycho (which is about the right age) is the source of the iridium we've found scattered all over the Earth, and that's the crater we've been looking for. I haven't published this idea... that is until now. :-) 2) Delta-V isn't the overriding consideration -- round-trip mission time is. As with airlines, costs are dominated by amortization rates on the flight equipment. The correlation between low delta-V and low round-trip time isn't good. As with other trans-lunar missions, nuclear propulsion is very attractive in asteroidal resource utilization. > * By concentrating on neglected paradigms, private industry produces > the following breakthrough space industries: & > * technology advances: You missed fusion. I predict that within 10 years of the termination of the DoE fusion program, we will have privately financed, ANEUTRONIC, compact fusion PROPULSION from the likes of Bussard or Koloc, lifting people, animals, cars, trucks, houses, spoons, etc., into space. This would be a rather important advance. Currently, they can't get financing because Wall St. investors just can't believe the government and all those ivy league physicists would waste ALL their fusion money on a bad idea. (Dear pro-nuke dweebs -- don't whine about how the "environmentalists" would stop it just because it was nuclear. There really are serious problems with atmospheric fission propulsion and Cooper/SDIO should be taken out and shot for doing it.) With Fred and SSC coming under attack, Tokomak is a reasonable next target. Anyone wanna help bury this dead albatross? > * Solar Power Satellites, built from asteroid materials. I am SSI Senior Associate 401. One of my best friends is editor of Space Power Journal (started by Peter Glaser). Due to the probability of our achieving economical fusion in the near future, I seriously doubt SPS will ever be important. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Bowery 619/295-3164 The Coalition for PO Box 1981 Science and La Jolla, CA 92038 Commerce ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #639 *******************