Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 05:00:04 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #148 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 29 Aug 92 Volume 15 : Issue 148 Today's Topics: Another Shuttle Tank Reuse Idea, From NASA Interplanetary launch capability of the Delta II? Is Galileo's antenna still brok? Launch Loops - quick summary (was Re: BuckyStalks) Looking for gyro compass Mars Observer Launch to be Rescheduled Martian Chronology (2 msgs) Single Stage to Orbit - How does it work? (3 msgs) Size,Mass,and velocity.... Solar Sailers Soviet rovers on Mars Space Calendar Ulysses Update - 08/28/92 Von Karman Stamp With telepresence, who needs people in Earth orbit? (2 msgs) Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 Aug 92 20:11:08 GMT From: "John F. Woods" Subject: Another Shuttle Tank Reuse Idea, From NASA Newsgroups: sci.space This month's NASA Tech Briefs has an article on an idea to create a 12-person lunar habitat from a used Shuttle external tank. Once the tank is placed in orbit (instead of being thrown away, as usual), the hydrogen tank inside would be removed, leaving the oxygen tank and intertank structures, to which would be added living quarters, instrumentation, an airlock, and small thrusters and fuel tanks. It would then be towed to the moon by some unspecified vehicle, and would land on its own. Once it was down, a crew would come down and finish construction, including adding a layer of regolith getween the tank and the micrometeor shield for protection. Those interested in seeing the idle doodlings of some engineers with too much free time on their hands :-) can apparently order copies of NASA TM-4212 [N91-14251], "Single Launch Lunar Habitat Derived From NSTS External Tank", from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161, (703) 487-4650; prepayment of some unspecified fee is required... ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 17:32:56 GMT From: Jeff Bytof Subject: Interplanetary launch capability of the Delta II? Newsgroups: sci.space What would be a good formula be to compute payload to Earth escape+Vinf using a Delta II launch vehicle? I believe the vehicle can put 11 Klb in a 100 nm reference orbit. (The Delta I can put up 5.5 Klb) What would a typical solid fuel upper stage weigh? Given the delta-V a solid upper stage could give me, how could I then compute the payload capacity left after burnout? My objective is to design a Venus orbiter, launching with no bigger than a Delta II. Has anything interplanetary ever been launched with a Delta II before? Jeff Bytof rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 19:10:53 CDT From: evert@CPSnet2.cps.edu (Mike Evert) Subject: Is Galileo's antenna still brok? How's that antenna doing? The last few Galileo updates that I've seen posted here had nothing to say on the subject. Did they fix it or give up on it? Is there hope? -- +----------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Mike Evert | "You are helplessly hypnotized. You | | Internet: evert@CPSnet2.cps.edu | will believe everything I tell you. | | Delphi: LordMike@delphi.com | This quoted message does not exist." | +----------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 19:31:05 GMT From: "Robert G. Munck" Subject: Launch Loops - quick summary (was Re: BuckyStalks) Newsgroups: sci.space In article <9208241705.AA00945@news.cis.ohio-state.edu>, Marc.Ringuette@daisy.learning.cs.cmu.edu writes: > ... imagine balancing a pie plate > on top of the arc of water, so that it is supported by deflecting the water > downwards slightly. The plate is suspended there, higher than you might > have thought possible, by the force from the continuing deflection of the > stream of water. My understanding is that most or all of the support comes from the fact that the (eastbound part of the) loop is moving faster than orbital velocity. Therefore it wants to move higher, but is held down by the weight of the stations and payloads. The westbound part doesn't have this problem because it is moving .9 km/s slower than the eastbound due to the Earth's rotation. Or maybe it has the problem, but less, and is held down by anchors into the earth. > - the ribbon undergoes no stress whatsoever; it is just a passive holder > of kinetic energy. I don't think that's true. You're mixing up the Space Fountain with the Loftstrom Loop. The Space Fountain would be a loop going straight up and down, turning around entirely in the station at either end. The top station would just turn it around, absorbing energy, and the bottom station would turn it around and accelerate it. I suppose you could have "guy wires" running at an angle from the top station to ground anchors to stabilize everything. Also, the loop would be unconnected objects, so you could have multiple downward streams balancing each other. > 6. My preferred version: the hula hoop > ====================================== > the loop go all the way around the earth, in low orbit. ... > 60 stations spaced around the equator, each of them fastened by cables to > the ground. The ribbon moves in a shape somewhere between a 60-sided > polygon and a circle. Actually, the hoop doesn't have to be as high as what we call low orbit. Just getting it above most of the atmosphere, say 80 km, would do the job. Also, I've come to favor EIGHTEEN hoops at a given altitude, connected in groups of three by triangular braces at intervals and three such groups going each way. This eliminates a great deal of instability and provides redundancy. Finally, I'd suggest hoops at several altitudes, say every 80 km up to 240 km. That way the spokes don't have to be as strong. -- Bob Munck ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 13:06:05 GMT From: Constantin D Orogo Subject: Looking for gyro compass Newsgroups: sci.space Hello, sci.space netters! Anybody out there have information on where I can buy a cheap gyro compass? Thanks in advance. -Constantine Orogo, cdost+@pitt.edu ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 23:34:13 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Mars Observer Launch to be Rescheduled Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro Donald L. Savage Headquarters, Washington, D.C. August 28, 1992 (Phone: 202/453-8400) George Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Phone: 407/867-2468) Frank O'Donnell Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (Phone: 818/354-5011) LAUNCH ADVISORY MARS OBSERVER LAUNCH TO BE RESCHEDULED The launch of Mars Observer aboard a Titan III rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., originally scheduled for Sept. 16, is being postponed. During an inspection of the payload contained within the Titan nose fairing atop the rocket, particulate contamination was observed on the surface of the Mars Observer spacecraft. A precautionary decision has been made to remove the payload from the Titan and return it to a spacecraft facility on Kennedy Space Center for cleaning. The contamination may have been introduced into the fairing when a dry nitrogen purge was placed on the spacecraft as part of securing for Hurricane Andrew. The countdown dress rehearshal scheduled for today will also be postponed at this time. A new launch date cannot be determined until it is known how long it will take to clean the spacecraft. However, a launch before the end of September is expected. The planetary launch window extends through Oct. 13. - end - ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 16:35:58 GMT From: George Hastings Subject: Martian Chronology Newsgroups: sci.space wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM writes: > In article <1992Aug24.163033.21556@pixel.kodak.com+ dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes: > +In article +|Has a Martian calender been worked up for the benefit of future > +|colonists? > +|UUCP: {ucsd nosc}!crash!pnet01!kfree INET: kfree@pnet01.cts.com > > Maybe not the seasons, but the day would be very important. Navigation > will probably be done with artificial satellites (GPS-like) rather > than the stars. > > I once entertained putting together a Nautical Alamanac for Mars > for the year 1986 (My best guess for a manned mission) for navigational > purposes. It would have been simpler to put everything in terms of > Martian days than to keep everything in Earth days. > + > -- > Bruce Watson (wats@scicom) Tumbra, Zorkovick; Sparkula zoom krackadomando. The project scientists for VIKING planned mission events according to the Martian Calendar. Actually they had to use a DUAL calendar system, since they were on Earth, and operating on Mars. Earth timelines referred to DAYS, and Mars timelines referred to SOLS, the equivalent of a Martian day, or 24 Earth-hours, 30+ Earth-minutes I don't know if they broke each SOL down into 24 hrs subdivided into 60 minute segments divided into 60 second segments, but I would surmise that they used decimal based subdivisions of SOLS. -- ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 17:42:15 GMT From: "Greg Fruth (JIAFS" Subject: Martian Chronology Newsgroups: sci.space One proposal for a Martian time scheme can be found in AAS paper 87-269, "Metric Time for Mars" by Bruce A. Mackenzie. This paper may be found in _The Case for Mars III_. In it, the author presents a possible time convention for human settlers on Mars, which I shall summarize: unit equivalent Mars units equivalent Earth time use ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mars day 1 day = 25 hora 24 h 39 m 35.238 s ~ day 1 day = 1000 millidays 1.0275 Earth days Mars hour 25 hora = 1 day 0.9864 hours ~ hour or 'hora' 1 hora = 4 centidays 59.184 minutes 1 hora = 40 millidays centiday 100 centidays = 1 day 14.796 minutes ~ quarter of or 'quarter' 4 centidays = 1 hora an hour milliday 1000 millidays = 1 day 1.4796 minutes ~ minute or 'mil' 40 millidays = 1 hora 10 millidays = 1 centiday beat 100 beats = 1 milliday 0.88775 seconds ~ second (as in heartbeat) I do not necessarily espouse this proposal; I just thought I'd mention it. -- Greg Fruth jetson@vab02.larc.nasa.gov ___ ___ ____ __ ____ ___ __ / \| | /\ | \ | /\ |\ | | \ | |\ | | / \ \ / \___ |___| /__\ |__/ |__ /__\ | \ | | \ |__ | \ | | | | \_/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 09:06:40 GMT From: Phew Subject: Single Stage to Orbit - How does it work? Newsgroups: sci.space This is probably a FAQ, but I couldn't find it, so here goes... My basic understanding of rockets (developed back when I couldn't reach the top of the fridge :-) ), was that they were broken up into stages so that they would be able to get into orbit with a useful payload, instad of wasting all the propellant on boosting the tanks and engines. All the mentions to Single Stage To Orbit now make me wonder what is different. My understanding was that a kilogram of fuel didn't have enough chemical energy to get itself into orbit, let alone anything else, but lacking the chemistry I can't verify this. I realize that there are many other possible solutions, such as better fuels and fuel combustion, nuclear engines, ramjets which convert to closed rockets etc. What method/s have been adopted for the SSTO now under development, or on other similar projects? "Take pity on an innocent engineer" :-) Patrick Hew 1st Year Science/ Engineering University of Western Australia ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 16:53:29 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Single Stage to Orbit - How does it work? Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Aug28.090640.29092@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au> phew@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au (Phew) writes: >All the mentions to Single Stage To Orbit now make me wonder what >is different. My understanding was that a kilogram of fuel didn't >have enough chemical energy to get itself into orbit... It doesn't have to. Most of the fuel comes nowhere near getting into orbit; its energy is used up putting more (kinetic) energy into the last little bit of fuel, so that *it* can reach orbit. Staging is not magic; it's just a way of reducing the weight of tanks and engines carried into orbit. If your engines are good enough and your tanks are light enough, you don't need to stage. Getting into orbit with one stage is not impossible, and the numbers say it is not ridiculously impractical, although it is difficult. Atlas, burning LOX and kerosene, can put 2000kg or so into orbit with one and a half stages (it drops two of its three engines halfway up). All the orbital Mercury missions were launched that way. (Nowadays Atlas generally doesn't fly without a Centaur upper stage, but that wasn't part of the original configuration.) The first 1.5-stage-to- orbit mission, Project Score, was launched on an Atlas in 1958. People have been discussing SSTO spacecraft for a long time. Ed Heinemann, Douglas Aircraft's weight-reduction genius, thought he could put a single-stage expendable launcher into orbit (with very little payload) circa 1950, although he never got the chance to try. The possibility of making the Shuttle SSTO was studied very seriously. This concept lost out on the fundamental problem of SSTO: most of the mass carried into orbit will be structure, engines, etc., so any serious weight growth in those items could wipe out the payload entirely... and there is always weight growth. Circa 1970, for a program that politically had to succeed, the risk was felt to be unacceptable. Two things are different about the current SSTO program: we now have better lightweight materials, and this program is willing to take some risks. The estimates say it can be done; it's high time we found out. >I realize that there are many other possible solutions, such as better >fuels and fuel combustion, nuclear engines, ramjets which convert >to closed rockets etc. What method/s have been adopted for the SSTO... Basically, none of the above. As currently planned, SSTO will use very ordinary engine technology, except that it will probably use either a "plug nozzle" (which puts the entire base area of the rocket to work as the nozzle) or telescoping nozzles that can be made longer in flight. Both of these basically just optimizes the nozzle design to match changing outside pressure; neither has flown, although both look workable. Last I heard, the feeling was that telescoping nozzles looked less risky. It will burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen; no exotic propellants or nuclear engines. It will make no attempt to use airbreathing propulsion, which involves a whole slew of nasty problems in its own right. If what you want is to get into space, rockets are better. It *will* make use of some of the very lightweight materials developed for the X-30. They probably aren't necessary, but they help. -- There is nothing wrong with making | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 17:15:51 GMT From: Tom Nugent Subject: Single Stage to Orbit - How does it work? Newsgroups: sci.space phew@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au (Phew) writes: >This is probably a FAQ, but I couldn't find it, so here goes... >My basic understanding of rockets (developed back when I couldn't >reach the top of the fridge :-) ), was that they were broken up into >stages so that they would be able to get into orbit with a useful >payload, instad of wasting all the propellant on boosting the tanks >and engines. >All the mentions to Single Stage To Orbit now make me wonder what >is different. My understanding was that a kilogram of fuel didn't >have enough chemical energy to get itself into orbit, let alone >anything else, but lacking the chemistry I can't verify this. > What method/s have been adopted for the SSTO >now under development, or on other similar projects? From what I understand, 5 years ago you could not get into space without stages. However, with various materials developments, at least some of which came from the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) program, it is now possible. First of all, the tanks which hold the fuel are now lighter because of the advanced materials. (Actually, so is alot of the craft.) Therefore, with the same amount of fuel, you have less required mass, and can actually think about having a payload. The second point I'm not so sure on: some advanced materials also allow the fuel to burn hotter and therefore more efficiently. I imagine Allen will make any corrections to the above. -- Tom Nugent voice:(217)328-0994 e-mail:tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 17:08:04 GMT From: Tom Nugent Subject: Size,Mass,and velocity.... Newsgroups: sci.space Frederick.A.Ringwald@dartmouth.edu (Frederick A. Ringwald) writes: > isn't the net supposed to be a research tool? Um, well, I honestly don't know. What is the net intended for? I got the impression that it was for the discussion of the various topics (dependent on the newsgroup), and perhaps for the dissemination of specialzed knowledge that one particular reader might know to share with others. I should point out that in my previous post, I was tired at the time. I didn't mean to complain about bandwidth, more on the various requests that come up where people ask for information that they should easily be able to find themselves. Maybe. I apologize for any waste of bandwidth I create myself. -- Tom Nugent voice:(217)328-0994 e-mail:tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 12:27:31 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: Solar Sailers Also note that the CIS is flying a solar sail deployment experiment near MIR very soon. It will use centrifugal deployment techniques and is not a flight test. After the test it will be gotten rid of by letting it reenter. Check recent AW&ST for details. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 16:47:24 EDT From: Jerry Davis Subject: Soviet rovers on Mars >Date: 24 Aug 92 23:37:54 GMT >From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey >(I'm not familiar with their instrument load). Phobos 2 and one of the >Soviet Mars landers carried tiny rovers, too. Or do we only count >spacecraft that succeeded? ^^^^ ? Tiny? I'm not sure about Phobos 2, but 2 weeks ago I saw a Soviet Mars rover at the Air Force Museum, Wright Patterson AFB and it was pretty big. Probably at least as large as a 12 - 16 hp riding lawnmower with 6 wheels and lots more mass. They also had a Soyuz return capsule. I would hate to spend a year in micro-gravity and then ride back in that rascal. It didn't look very comfortable. It is a big improvement over the Vostok return capsule however. I never knew that the hatch was blown at 22,000 ft and the cosmonaut jumped out. Sheeeesh. Jerry ------------------------------ Date: 29 Aug 92 05:53:10 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Space Calendar Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.astro Here's the latest Space Calendar. If you see any updates to the calendar, then let me know and I'll add them in. Note that launch dates are subject to change. The following people made contributions to this month's calendar: o Khee Chan - Updates to Ulysses Conjunction #2 and #3 dates. o Andre Knoefel - Maximum time & solar longitudes for all the meteor showers. o Steven Pietrobon - Update to AUSROC II launch date. ========================= SPACE CALENDAR August 28, 1992 ========================= * indicates change from last month's calendar August 1992 27-31 - SEDS International Conference, Washington D.C. 28-05 - World Space Congress, Washington D.C. September 1992 *?? - Mars Observer Titan III Launch ?? - Hispasat 1A Ariane Launch ?? - LEAP-3 OSC Aries Launch *01 - Ulysses, 2nd Conjunction 05 - 15th Anniversary, Voyager 1 Launch (Jupiter & Saturn Flyby Mission) 08 - 25th Anniversary, Surveyor 5 Launch (Moon Soft Lander) 08 - Geotail, 1st Moon Flyby *10 - Consort 5 Starfire Launch 11 - STS-47, Endeavour, SpaceLab Japan (SL-J) 14 - Magellan, Orbit Trim Maneuver, Cycle 4 Begins 24 - Comet 1 Conestoga Launch 24 - SCD-1 Pegasus Launch *29 - DFS-3/Kopernikus Delta 2 Launch October 1992 ?? - Galaxy 7 Ariane Launch ?? - UFO Atlas Launch 01 - Mars Observer, 1st Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-1) 04 - 35th Anniversary, Sputnik Launch (1st Satellite ever) 05 - Progress Launch (Soviet) *09 - Galileo, Trajectory Correction Maneuver 15 (TCM-15) *10 - Draconid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 197.0 degrees) 12 - SETI Scanning Begins *12 - 500th Anniversary, Columbus Discovers America 15 - STS-52, Columbia, Laser Geodynamics Satellite (LAGEOS-II) 15 - Freja Long March Launch (Sweden/China) *20 - AUSROC II Launch *21 - Orionid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 208.4 degrees) November 1992 ?? - Superbird A Ariane Launch ?? - Geotail, 2nd Moon Flyby *03 - Southern Taurid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 220.7 degrees) 05 - STS-53, Discovery, Department of Defense (DOD) 07 - 25th Anniversary, Surveyor 6 Launch (Moon Soft Lander) *13 - Northern Taurid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 230.7 degrees) *13 - Galileo, Trajectory Correction Maneuver 16 (TCM-16) *17 - Leonid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 235.7 degrees) December 1992 ?? - Pioneer Venus Burnup ?? - Galaxy 4 Ariane Launch 08 - Galileo, Earth Flyby 08 - Asteroid 4179 Toutatis, Near Earth Flyby (.025 AU) 10 - Lunar Eclipse *14 - Geminid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 262.0 degrees) 14 - 30th Anniversary, Mariner 2 Venus Flyby (1st Flyby of Another Planet) 19 - 20 years since man has been to the Moon (Apollo 17) *22 - Ursid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 10:00 UT, Solar Longitude 258.7 deg.) 25 - Isaac Newton's 350th birthday (or January 4) January 1993 ?? - Eutelsat II F-5 Ariane Launch 03 - Mars Observer, High Gain Antenna Deployment *03-4 Quadrantid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 10:00 UT, Solar Lon 283.13 deg.) 07 - Mars Observer, 2nd Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-2) 07 - 25th Anniversary, Surveyor 7 Launch (Moon Soft Lander) *12 - STS-54, Endeavour, TDRS-F February 1993 ?? - Hispasat 2 Ariane Launch 01 - 35th Anniversary, Explorer 1 Launch (1st U.S. Satellite) 06 - Astro-D Launch (US/Japan) 07 - Mars Observer, 3rd Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-3) 15 - Advanced Photovoltaic Electronics Experiment (APEX) Pegasus Launch 18 - Jules Verne's 165th Birthday *18 - STS-55, Columbia, Spacelab Germany (SL-D2) 19 - Copernicus' 520th Birthday March 1993 ?? - SPOT-C Launch ?? - Radcal Scout Launch *01 - Ulysses, 3rd Opposition *11 - STS-56, Endeavour, Atmospheric Lab for Applications and Science (ATLAS-2) April 1993 06 - 20th Anniversary, Pioneer 11 Launch (Jupiter & Saturn Flyby Mission) *22 - Lyrid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 02:00 UT, Solar Longitude 32.1 degrees) *23 - Pi-Puppid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 33.3 degrees) *28 - STS-57, Atlantis, European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA-1R) May 1993 04 - Galileo Enters Asteroid Belt Again 15 - Magellan, End of Mission? June 1993 04 - Lunar Eclipse 14 - Sakigake, 2nd Earth Flyby (Japan) 22 - 15th Anniversary of Charon Discovery (Pluto's Moon) by Christy July 1993 *01 - STS-51, Discovery, Advanced Communications Technology Satellite(ACTS) 29 - NASA's 35th Birthday August 1993 *?? - Seastar Pegasus Launch *?? - ISTP Wind Delta-2 Launch *?? - ETS-VI Launch *?? - GEOS-J Launch *?? - Landsat 6 Launch *04 - Mars Observer, 4th Trajectory Correction Manuever (TCM-4) *08 - 15th Anniversary, Pioneer Venus Orbitor 2 Launch *12 - Perseid Meteor Shower (Max: 04:00 UT, S.L. 139.6 deg and 15:00 UT, S.L. 140.1 deg.) *19 - Mars Observer, Mars Orbit Insertion *25 - STS-58, Columbia, Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-2) *28 - Galileo, Asteroid Ida Flyby ###### ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: 29 Aug 92 01:03:51 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Ulysses Update - 08/28/92 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro Forwarded from: PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 ULYSSES MISSION STATUS August 28, 1992 Spacecraft and science operations continue to be carried out as planned. A routine Earth-pointing maneuver was performed on Wednesday, Aug. 26, with another maneuver scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29. The spacecraft reached maximum distance from Earth -- 938 million kilometers or 583 million miles -- on Wednesday, Aug. 26, and will now begin to close that gap. Presently Ulysses is still at about the maximum distance, traveling at a heliocentric velocity of about 30,000 kilometers per hour (19,000 miles per hour). The craft is beginning to move slowly away from the ecliptic plane and is about 9 degrees south relative to the sun. A reduction in the number of ranging passes continued during this reporting period to improve the spacecraft signal. The 34-meter (111-foot) ground stations are in use to support flight operations, with at least one 70-meter (230-foot) station pass per week to support ranging. ##### ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 03:17:03 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Von Karman Stamp Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro A new stamp will be issued on August 31, 1992, in commemoration of Theodore Von Karman. Von Karman is attributed to being the founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab. He taught at Caltech in the 1920's until 1942, and led a group of Caltech graduates in rocket tests during the 1930's in a isolated region about 3 miles north of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. This test site later became JPL. The stamp's first day of issue will be during the opening ceremony at the World Space Congress in Washington, D.C. The stamp will also be released in a rare second day issue at JPL on September 1, 1992. This ceremony will be held, appropriately enough, in the Von Karman Auditorium at 10AM PDT. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 08:46:45 GMT From: Phew Subject: With telepresence, who needs people in Earth orbit? Newsgroups: sci.space phew@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au (Phew) writes: >"This is a very interesting phenomenon. I think we should stay to study >it ... unless there is jeopardy." - HAL 2010 to Dr Chandra ( :-) ) >I fully accept that there is no competent AI now, but then again, >graphic user interfaces were unheard of a decade ago... :-) I must apologize for this error (thanks to Steve Hix for pointing this out). Graphic User Interfaces must have existed in concept for many years before their release. But I think that this error makes my main point even more telling. The technology for the future human presence in space - whether or not it is robotic or human - exists in concept now. The choice to be made (within this debate) is whether this technology will have *only* robotic presence in space. Depending solely on telepresence in space would limit human intervention to any reasonable "real time" sense to about the Moon or so... unless a way of getting around the speed of light can be found (For my view on FTL communication, see up :-) :-) :-) ). As soon as we abandon "real time" telepresence, we either depend entirely on robots, or on humans. Surely a combination of the two would be better? Patrick Hew 1st Year Science/ Engineering University of Western Australia ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 92 12:34:32 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: With telepresence, who needs people in Earth orbit? Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Aug28.084645.28803@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au> phew@mullet.gu.uwa.edu.au (Phew) writes: >Depending solely on telepresence in space would limit human intervention to >any reasonable "real time" sense to about the Moon or so... Using only telepresence is limited not only to distance but also to scale. The available bandwidth is limited and telepresence in any realistic sense will use up a lot of it. Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they | | aws@iti.org | put a man on the Moon?" | +----------------------238 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 148 ------------------------------