Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 05:17:18 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #427 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Mon, 16 Nov 92 Volume 15 : Issue 427 Today's Topics: Commercial Space News #18 [Part 2] COSTAR Hubble's mirror (2 msgs) Lunar "colony" reality check, part 2 Mars Simulation in Antarctica New engines for NLS/ possible for shuttle? Shuttle replacement (2 msgs) Space suit research? (2 msgs) The First International Conference On Optical SETI Weekly reminder for Frequently Asked Questions list Where are shuttle research publications? 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: 14 Nov 92 11:52:37 From: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org Subject: Commercial Space News #18 [Part 2] Newsgroups: sci.space Glavkosmos have claimed these sanctions are more driven by commercial considerations by the US, with Kumaramangalam claiming "U.S. objections to the sale of cryogenic engines for Indian rockets by Russia was purely due to commercial considerations". This imbroglio has caused some real mudslinging and trading of accusations and insults, and it is my opinion this issue has been handled badly by the US State Department and the Russian government. Also in response, the Indian government has been searching for alternative sources of supply for US-provided components which were used by ISRO in the Indian space activities. Apparently, India has approached several countries including China and France to provide equivalent components. However, during a recent visit to France by Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, the government of France stated they would not approve any export licenses for space technology for India. Specifically, the French Government insisted India sign the MTCR before any space technology could be legally exported. Once these trade restrictions are lifted (and they are only for a 2 year period), Indian space technology will find a ready market for some of their ingenious low-cost methods of applying space technology. Capturing 1 percent of the worldwide space activities budget (which my my estimate is about $45,000 M, not including Chinese or Russian activities), would be about $450 M a year in annual sales, which is substantially above the Indian national space budget. Looking just at the commercial market however (which I estimate at about $8,000 M), would represent about $80 M per year, and is probably achievable by the Indian industry and would substantially boost Indian space activities.] FINAL NOTES - Commentary As I stated in the preface, this column seems to be largely influenced by changes occurring as ex-Soviet space systems are put into the market. I've been seeing a lot of activities with ex- Soviet space systems, but only now have the potential of significant impacts on the commercial space marketplace started to surface. These ex-Soviet systems can have a significant impact on the commercial market place as ex-Soviet capabilities are being sold at fire sale prices. Some near term offerings that are appearing seem to just be selling off surplus government-developed assets at minimal costs to obtain hard currency cash flow, offering of ex- government systems at VERY low prices to keep "national assets" in existence, and trying to find commercial sponsors for ex-government operations. These are not necessarily positive influences on the market. While the use of some of ex-Soviet space systems may offer a quick boost to some near-term space activities by allowing a quick expansion of cheap capabilities, these same systems can have a long- term negative impact on commercial space ventures. This is particularly dangerous if government-subsidized CIS space ventures are not tested in the furnaces of the financial and business market places and they are used to drive commercially-funded Western ventures out of the market. Conversely, ex-Soviet space hardware and expertise can offer substantial benefits to commercial space activities. The application of new techniques, new capabilities, and a hoard of expertise and technologies can substantially benefit commercial activities by expanding markets and opening up new applications for commerce. Furthermore, in my opinion, the commercial space markets offer the best means to transition programs from the crumbling base of CIS state sponsorship to a sound financial and market base. This transition will not go easily or without problems, but commercial sponsorship of ex-Soviet systems can provide an expanded base of sustainable expertise and techniques that can be used to grow the industry. What we have to guard against is the propping up of unprofitable ventures for short-term political gain at the expensive of long-term commercial opportunities. Yes, it is probably prudent to provide Western government support to ease this transition -- but it must be done always with the eventual goal of realistic market pricing and self-sufficency, which is a far cry from carving out a new "quota" for Russian launches and systems. But that's enough flame on this topic. This issue turned out to be rather longer than I expected. I hope the net will indulge me on this, but the backlog of data and other activities only seems to get worse each month. I'm trying to decrease my cycle time in turning out issues by being more systematic about turning data into column articles, so that's helping a little bit with the data deluge. I'm also turning out a small limited press run of hardcopy versions of these columns. And as always, I hope you folks find this stuff useful and interesting -- Any and all comments are welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Wales Larrison Space Technology Investor "Keine Antwort is P.O. Box 2452 auch eine Antwort." Seal Beach, CA 90740-1452 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 00:57:30 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: COSTAR Newsgroups: sci.space In article roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) writes: >Also, I'm not sure where WF/PC is located relative to the other instruments. WF/PC and the fine guidance sensors are arranged around the light path -- with pickoff mirrors directing part of the image into them -- just ahead of the four big instruments. Essentially, there's a ring of equipment around the light path, divided into four quadrants, three for the FGSs and one for the WF/PC. -- MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 17:02:47 GMT From: Greg Hennessy Subject: Hubble's mirror Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space Henry Spencer writes: #This is rapidly becoming a contender for Technological Myth Of The Decade. Err, correcting Dr. Jefferys on something to do with HST is best done very carefully. Dr. Jefferys is the PI on the Fine Guidance Sensors of HST, and has forgotten more about HST then most people have learned in their lives. -- -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 01:39:53 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Hubble's mirror Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space In article <1992Nov15.170247.18454@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> gsh7w@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy) writes: >#This is rapidly becoming a contender for Technological Myth Of The Decade. > >Err, correcting Dr. Jefferys on something to do with HST is best done >very carefully. Dr. Jefferys is the PI on the Fine Guidance Sensors... To the best of my knowledge, the only statement in my posting which is not a solidly-established fact -- verifiable by reference to the Allen panel's report -- is my opinion that P-E management, having ignored two indications of trouble (actually three, if you count the fact that the reflective null corrector unexpectedly required extra spacing washers), would have disregarded the results of other simple tests too, unless they were absolutely unmistakable (i.e. an end-to-end imaging test). If I am in error -- certainly possible -- I'd appreciate hearing about it, preferably with enough detail so I can verify it. -- MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 11:48:05 GMT From: Nick Szabo Subject: Lunar "colony" reality check, part 2 Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary Lunar "colony" reality check, part 2: * The claim that solar energy will be so cheap on the moon as to be an advantage, is absurd. A lunar site spends a half-month long stretch every month out of sunlight. Solar cells are not economical for most uses on earth and would cost far more to transport on the moon. Making them on the moon is even more absurd, see following comments on industrial capabilities. * Lower launch costs benefit all large space operations, from DBS to comet mining. Lunar bases do require a much larger and more improbable fall in launch costs than dozens of other space development activities which would actually make money. * In addition to hydrocarbons or polymers, urea is a good bulk way to supply lunar operations with essential volatiles from earth. However, these schemes require huge ongoing launches from earth. They require large-scale, messy, difficult to maintain chemical plants designed for 1/6 g, as does the cracking of oxygen from lunar regolith. * The industrial environment on the moon is vastly inferior to that on earth, and to that in space where there is microgravity, high-grade metal regolith and abundant volatiles. The energy and thermal environment of the moon, as well as the lack of cheap volatiles, makes it an extremely poor place for chemical and industrial operations. * Just as with Shuttle, astronauts will not be able to fix most broken equipment. Most disabling breaks, no matter to how small a part, will require an entire replacement unit to be shipped from earth. Since the astronaut's very lives will depend on recycling equipment, large numbers of spares will have to be shipped on the first trip. * Redesigning equipment for 1/6 g will cost _more_ than redesigning it for 0 g, because the latter has been done for a much wider array of equipment on satellites & stations. * Unlike the intrepid Biosphereans, lunar astronauts will not be able to cheat and come back to civilization to find good medical care. In a lunabago will be found little more than a part-time doctor and a first-aid kit. * There are no "resources" on the moon that could not be provided at lower cost from asteroids or comets, and the most important materials like volatiles and high-grade metal regolith are available only from the planetesimals. * Transport costs to the moon are six orders of magnitude greater than transport costs to the North Slope. Not only Ed's toilet paper but also the recycling equipment, spares, and volatiles (if brought from earth) will make the cost of supporting astronauts at least six orders of magnitude more expensive than the cost of hosting a worker at the North Slope. It should be noted that no families have permanently relocated to the North Slope; even the industrial workers themselves commute by airplane rather than live without their families for years on end. * Submarines get to surface every month or more, and can come back to port for food & sex. Nobody has a "submarine colony", even though it would be far less expensive and more functional than a lunar "colony". * If scientific knowledge is an "economic resource", then what happened to NASA's planetary science budget? Why can't they even find money for a lunar polar orbiter, which costs many orders of magnitude less than even a minimal lunar base? Why not let scientists decide where to spend the science budget? (Hint: lunar base isn't even _on_ their long list of priorities). * Microgravity manufacturing, large platforms and other space industries could export $10's of billions per year to earth by using a large supply of cheap volatiles and high-grade metal regolith, available in abundance from planetesimals but absent on the moon. With low thrust in microgravity, the power needed to move this material to earth orbit is orders of magnitude less than needed to get useless lunar material out of the moon's gravity well. Our obsession with the Death Valley in front of us continues to blind our eyes to the fertile valleys beyond, and the space colonization movement remains mired in failure. -- Nick Szabo szabo@techboook.com ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 18:56:53 GMT From: Pat Subject: Mars Simulation in Antarctica Newsgroups: sci.space In article Lawrence Curcio writes: >Is this rover the same robot we at CMU call, AMBLER? Big red sucker? >Legs arranged like eggbeaters? NO. AMBLER and DANTES have entirely different missions. AMbler was a test bed to prove a concept in walking and to clear 1 meter ruts and climb steep slopes. ambler while impressive is only as impressive as his power cord. dante i believe is self powered and designed for the erebus mission. hes got some on board chemical analyzers and will collect samples from the volcano. i saw both of them recently. dantes is very finished and ready to go. i am sure the CMU guys can provide full specs. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 19:55:25 GMT From: Pat Subject: New engines for NLS/ possible for shuttle? Newsgroups: sci.space saw something that for the NLS proposal, they want to use something called the Space transportation Main Engine, which will have 1/10th the parts count and three times the thrust of SSME's. has anyone looked to see if these could replace the SSMEs??? i imagine they would drastically reduce the service costs of the shuttle and improve reliability. Are they compatible or are the design frames way different? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 02:55:37 GMT From: "Matt J. Martin" Subject: Shuttle replacement Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space In article kentm@aix.rpi.edu (Michael V. Kent) writes: > >NASA will not set a date to end Shuttle missions until a replacement system >is online, but current thinking is that the Shuttle will fly through 2005. >The flight rate will remain at about 8 flights per year, maybe slightly >lower. However with a reduced flight rate the per mission cost goes up. A >Rockwell consultant stated that the orbiters will likely last far beyond >their design lifetime of 100 flights each. > >There are currently two major ideas for the replacement. > >... > >The Shuttle is a very versatile, albeit expensive, system. It can launch >satellites, retrieve them, ferry a crew and experiments to a space station, >serve as a space station, serve as an orbital repair facility, and serve >as a technology testbed. In order to replace it you need to replace all >of these functions with newer (hopefully better and less expensive) systems. > >Since designing a new vehicle to perform all of these functions will create >a vehicle with nearly the same qualities as the Shuttle, this path should >be avoided as unlikely to reduce costs enough to justify its development >cost. Gains can be more cheaply made by improving the current system >instead of building a new one. However, each individual function can be >performed at reduced cost, and newer systems should be designed to do just >that. When all of the fuctions of the Shuttle have been off-loaded from >it to other systems, the Shuttle will have been replaced. But not until then. > What about the SSTO DC-Y? It's my understanding that the DC-1 should be able to do just about everything that the shuttle can do (with the possible exeption of carry the SpaceLab). And a lot cheapter to boot. ########################################################################## ## / ## Progress Before Peace! ## / ## ## // ## Matt J. Martin, Technosociology and Space Politics ## // ## ## ///// ######################################################## ///// ## ## // ## Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN ## // ## ## / ## myempire@mentor.cc.purdue.edu ## / ## ########################################################################## ------------------------------ Date: 16 Nov 92 03:40:41 GMT From: "Michael V. Kent" Subject: Shuttle replacement Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space In article <69532@cup.portal.com> BrianT@cup.portal.com (Brian Stuart Thorn) writes: >I think it was a terrible mistake to offload all those payloads >from the Shuttle in 1986-88. Of our unmanned boosters, only Delta seems to >be operating reliably. It is my opinion that NASA should have continued >using Shuttle for as many payloads as possible, while diverting as much >booster development money as possible into NLS or some other unmanned >launch system. [Description of Titan IV problems deleted] >Titan IV has flown 6 times since June, '89. STS has flown 22 missions in >that time frame. Of course, STS is more expensive. But its already paid >for, and all that money for Titan IV (not including Martin's Titan III >program) has bought us little. [more deleted] >It seems to me >that in 1992, Space Shuttle is offering one of the best returns on >investment in the space community! I agree wholeheartedly with that last statement, but I still believe that removing commercial and non-Shuttle-unique payloads from the Shuttle was a good idea. As I explained in my previous post, the Shuttle is a very unique and versatile vehicle. It has tremendous capabilities no other vehicle can touch, but it can only fly eight times a year. In that situation, using it to do things that can easily be done on other vehicles (e.g. launching spy or commercial satellites) is a waste of a valuable resource. The Shuttle should be used exclusively for missions like the Hubble revisit, the Intelsat satellite rescue, Tethered Satellite System, International Microgravity Lab, Wake Shield Facility, etc. There are no shortage of payloads to fly. NASA has no flight opportunities and less than a half dozen payload opportunities between now and the start of Space Station operations. According to the mission control status briefings, the astronauts were working 12 to 16 hour days. Payload volume may not have been the active constraint for STS-52. Mike -- Michael Kent kentm@rpi.edu McDonnell Douglas Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Tute Screwed Aero Class of '92 Apple II Forever !! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 18:30:26 EST From: John Roberts Subject: Space suit research? -From: prb@access.digex.com (Pat) -Subject: Re: Space suit research? -Date: 15 Nov 92 05:31:27 GMT -Organization: UDSI -In article roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) writes: ->Thanks for the confirmation. 8.4 psi sounds plausible - 10.2 seemed a little ->high, since they always depressurize somewhat in preparation for an EVA. -What's the big push for a earth normal type atmosphere? -apollo, etc, ran fine on low pressure pure O2, does better pressure -greatly improve cooling. (1) Henry says it does. (2) It "stands to reason" - five times as many molecules to conduct the heat. -or are there long term bio effects???? There *may* be. For example, one of the Apollo astronauts, after a busy day on the moon, had bleeding under his fingernails - thought to be mainly a result of the low pressure. Little indications like that made NASA uneasy. :-) John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 16 Nov 92 00:53:16 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Space suit research? Newsgroups: sci.space In article prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes: >What's the big push for a earth normal type atmosphere? >apollo, etc, ran fine on low pressure pure O2, does better pressure >greatly improve cooling. or are there long term bio effects???? The cooling issue is a serious one. Apollo didn't have that concern -- since doing an EVA required depressurizing the entire cabin, air-cooled equipment could not be used at all. This was okay, more or less, for Apollo, but simply isn't appropriate for a laboratory environment: air cooling is by *far* the easiest way to cool electronics, and the cost of the hardware goes way up without it. And yes, there is some concern about possible long-term biological effects, although there is little firm knowledge. -- MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 16 Nov 92 03:49:26 GMT From: Stuart A Kingsley Subject: The First International Conference On Optical SETI Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space From the author of the January 1992 six-part EJASA (THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC) article (Vol. 3, No. 6A-6F) on Optical SETI (OSETI). You are encouraged to remail this material to anyone you know with interests in SETI or to print it out and pin it up on your astronomical society, company, faculty, or school notice board. The following material, which has been slightly modified, was featured in the October 1992 issue of EJASA (Vol. 4, No. 3): OE/LASE '93 THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI) IN THE OPTICAL SPECTRUM SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1867 Location: Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA. Conference Chairman: Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics. Co-chair: Dr. Monte Ross, Laser Data Technology, Inc. SESSION 1 - INTRODUCTION AND CONVENTIONAL MICROWAVE SETI Session Chairman - Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics. Thursday, January 21, 1993 Afternoon 1:30 to 6:00 pm "Let there be light" (Keynote Address) Arthur C. Clarke Chancellor - International Space University, Sri Lanka. (30 minutes) Recorded video address from his home in Sri Lanka, followed by a live question and answer period via telephone. (1867-01) "The NASA search for evidence of extraterrestrial technologies" (Keynote Paper) David Brocker (30 minutes) Project Manager, HRMS SETI Office NASA Ames Research Center (1867-02) "Strategies for SETI target selection" Dr. David W. Latham and Dr. David R. Soderblom (20 minutes) Dr. David W. Latham Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Dr. David R. Soderblom Associate Astronomer Space Telescope Science Institute (1867-03) "High-resolution microwave all-sky survey" Dr. Michael J. Klein and Dr. Samuel Gulkis (20 minutes) Dr. Michael J. Klein HRMS Program Manager Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dr. Samuel Gulkis Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1867-04) "SETI - a waste of time!" (Invited Paper) Professor Frank Tipler (30 minutes) Physics Department Tulane University (1867-05) "Using modern analytical philosophy (MAP) to sweep the MOP clean: Non-optical reflections upon untapped data, bad arguments and the nonexistence of Von Neumann interstellar probes." Clive Goodall (30 minutes) Department of Philosophy The Ohio State University (1867-06) "The decoding problem: do we need to search for extra terrestrial intelligence to Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?" Professor Neil W. Tennant (30 minutes) Department of Philosophy The Ohio State University (1867-07) Evening Reception for the authors from this conference and the Free-Space Laser Communications V conference. SESSION 2 - OPTICAL SETI I Session Chairman - Dr. Monte Ross, Laser Data Technology, Inc. Friday, January 22, 1993 Morning 8:30 to 11:30 am "Fundamental factors affecting the optimum frequency range for SETI" (Invited Paper) Dr. Bernard M. Oliver (30 minutes) Deputy Chief, NASA SETI Office NASA Ames Research Center (1867-08) "The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the optical spectrum and professional optical SETI: a review" Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley (30 minutes) President Fiberdyne Optoelectronics (1867-09) "An economic rationale for extraterrestrials using lasers for SETI" Dr. Monte Ross (20 minutes) President Laser Data Technology, Inc. (1867-10) "Infrared SETI" Professor Charles H. Townes (30 minutes) Department of Physics Space Sciences Laboratory University of California, Berkeley (1867-11) "Use of lasers for interstellar beacons, communications and travel" Dr. John Rather (20 minutes) NASA Headquarters (1867-12) "Optical SETI from the southern hemisphere" Dr. Guillermo A. Lemarchand, Dr. Gregory M. Beskin, Dr. Fernando R. Colomb, and Dr. Mariano Mendez (20 minutes) Dr. Guillermo A. Lemarchand Visiting Fellow Center for Radiophysics and Space Research Cornell University Dr. Gregory M. Beskin Special Astrophysical Observatory Soviet Academy of Science Dr. Fernando Raul Colomb Director Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia Dr. Mariano Mendez Researcher Observatorio Astronomico de La Plata (1867-13) SESSION 3 - OPTICAL SETI II Session Chairman - Dr. James R. Lesh, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Friday, January 22, 1993 Afternoon 1:00 to 2:00 pm "Application of one measure of search merit to optical SETI" Dr. D. Kent Cullers (20 minutes) Signal Detection Sub-System Manager SETI Project NASA Ames Research Center (1867-14) "Large M-ary pulse position modulation and photon buckets for effective interstellar communications" Dr. Monte Ross (20 minutes) President Laser Data Technology, Inc. (1867-15) "Amateur optical SETI"* Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley (20 minutes) President Fiberdyne Optoelectronics (1867-16) Workshop/Panel Discussion 4.00 - 6.00 pm Moderator - Professor Charles H. Townes, University of California, Berkeley. General Discussion Roundtable * The last conference paper will give preliminary details of the design of the world's first Amateur Optical SETI Observatory, presently under construction in the author's back-yard. --------------- To receive a copy of the Advance Technical Program from SPIE which also provides information about registration, accommodation and costs to attend this conference (see details below), contact Rosa Cays (rosa@mom.spie.org) or Terry Montonye (terry@mom.spie.org) at: SPIE P.O. Box 10 Bellingham WA 98227-0010 Tel: (206) 676-3290 Fax: (206) 647-1445 The manuscript due date is December 21. It will be possible to accept a couple of late papers on Microwave and Optical SETI. For more information, the conference organizer Stuart Kingsley can be contacted at: Fiberdyne Optoelectronics 545 Northview Drive Columbus Ohio 43209 Tel: (614) 258-7402 Fax: (614) 258-7459 OSETI Bulletin Board System (BBS): (614) 258-1710 Internet: skingsle@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu CompuServe: 72376,3545 OE/LASE '93 includes symposia over the period 16-23 January 1993 on the following subjects: Free-Space Laser Communications V (January 20-21, 1993). The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum (January 21-22, 1993). Laser Engineering (January 17-22, 1993). Optoelectronic Processing and Interconnects (January 17-23, 1993). Biomedical Optics '93 (January 16-22, 1993). There are also educational short courses (January 17-22, 1993) and two technical exhibitions, the Medical Exhibition (January 16-17, 1993), and the Laser and Sensor Exhibition (January 19-21, 1993). Registration Member Working Non- Group Member Full Conference* $355 $380 $415 Author (full conf.) $290 $310 $340 One day $165 $175 $190 Author (one day) $140 $150 $165 Students (no lunch) $ 60 $N/A $ 70 *Rate for a three-day conference. **There is no separate registration rate for the SETI conference. Attendees for the SETI conference will have to pay for two days. If you can spare the time, attendees are recommended to take in the Wednesday morning and afternoon, and Thursday morning sessions of the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference, as this technology is very relevant to Optical SETI. The cost for the full conference period (three days) is little more than for the two day OSETI conference alone. SPIE Proceedings Volume 1867 $ 35 These proceedings will also include a copy of Dr. Lesh's large review paper on NASA's optical communications activities, which is to be presented at the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference. Accommodation Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel (OE/LASE '93 Conference Center) 5711 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045, USA Tel: (310) 410-4000 Fax: (310) 410-6250 Rates: Single or double (government) $81 Single or double $89 - $109 Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel 5855 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045, USA Tel: (310) 641-5700 Fax: (310) 337-5358 Rates: Single or double (government) $80 Single or double $85 - $105 ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 19:04:18 GMT From: Jon Leech Subject: Weekly reminder for Frequently Asked Questions list Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.space.shuttle This notice will be posted weekly in sci.space, sci.astro, and sci.space.shuttle. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for sci.space and sci.astro is posted approximately monthly. It also covers many questions that come up on sci.space.shuttle (for shuttle launch dates, see below). The FAQ is posted with a long expiration date, so a copy may be in your news spool directory (look at old articles in sci.space). If not, here are two ways to get a copy without waiting for the next posting: (1) If your machine is on the Internet, it can be obtained by anonymous FTP from the SPACE archive at ames.arc.nasa.gov (128.102.18.3) in directory pub/SPACE/FAQ. (2) Otherwise, send email to 'archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov' containing the single line: help The archive server will return directions on how to use it. To get an index of files in the FAQ directory, send email containing the lines: send space FAQ/Index send space FAQ/faq1 Use these files as a guide to which other files to retrieve to answer your questions. Shuttle launch dates are posted by Ken Hollis periodically in sci.space.shuttle. A copy of his manifest is now available in the Ames archive in pub/SPACE/FAQ/manifest and may be requested from the email archive-server with 'send space FAQ/manifest'. Please get this document instead of posting requests for information on launches and landings. Do not post followups to this article; respond to the author. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Nov 92 21:07:53 GMT From: Claudio Egalon Subject: Where are shuttle research publications? Newsgroups: sci.space I do not know any specific journal that publishes only Shuttle Research but I do remember of having seen an issue of Science describing the research done during the Spacelab-1 mission (do not remember the issue number but, for sure, it was published after the mission). It was a very comprehensive article and I recall that some of the authors were Bob Parker and Owen Garriott (crewmembers of the Spacelab mission). May be another way of finding out research articles of experiments performed during a Shuttle mission, would be to try to get one of these NASA booklets that are published just before a mission or even the NASA Press Kit of the mission itself. These publications include the name of the PI's and the experiments that are going to fly. By knowing at least the name of the PI you can later on make a literature search using the name of the PI and then get the article about the experiment that flew in the Shuttle. Another way to find out about that would be to contact anyone at University of Alabama in Huntsville. They have a lot of people there that fly experiments in the Shuttle and, for sure, they must have articles published in scientific, archival journals. Claudio Egalon ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 427 ------------------------------