Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 05:00:09 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #287 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Mon, 8 Mar 93 Volume 16 : Issue 287 Today's Topics: Aurora Update Charon Gaspra Animation (2 msgs) International Space Plasma Summer School Spot the anon poster! The courage of anonymity (2 msgs) Wireless Power notes (1 of 3) Without a Plan 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: 7 Mar 1993 14:58:13 -0500 From: Pat Subject: Aurora Update Newsgroups: sci.space In article v134junv@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Donald A Martin) writes: |------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | "This program. code-named AURORA, has been confirmed by a retired |Air Force official, who said, ' USAF has had this type of aircraft on the |drawing board for many years now.'" Probably true. | |- Designed and built at Lockheed Skunkworks in Burbank Ca. Reasonable. |- Top Speed: 3,800 m.p.h. Possible, if it uses a scram jet, or other advanced engine cycle. |- cruise range: 5,750 miles aPossible. |- operational altitude: 100,000 to 150,000 ft 100,000 I can see, 150, would have to be some sort of ballistic shot. there's not a lot of air up there, and usually recon aircraft don't have the spare horsepower to build up for ballistic flight plans. I'd want to know more on this. |- funding in 1985: $2.3 billion 2.3 billion/year, over a 10 year program with funding variation of 50%, i can see. Any sort of use of exotic fuels is going to demand an entire support army. aerial refueling things like that, it'd have to be all custom gear and need all sorts of new people. |- 25 operational from tonapah Base Area 30 in Nevada Grossly exagerated. I don't think there were ever more then 12 SR-71s operational, samething with U-2s. Operational losses, needs for training aircraft, will produce 30-40 over the program life, but if this thing is what it's cracked up to be, you wouldn't need more then 2-3 in say 4 bases worldwide. why stick 25 in nevada. from nevada, you get to spy on panama and nicaragua, but we overfly them with TR-1's and RF-14s and dare them to do anything. Or you could kinda make the poles, but BFD, there's nothing there. Look at the old U-2 ops bases, or SR-71 bases. Scotland, turkey, pakistan, Nevada, Japan, Korea, Norway? The places you want to see are not in the western hemisphere. |- personnel: 2 or 3 seated in tandem Don't they mean in a row? |- body shape: double-delta design, with conformal wings and fuselage blending |- low Radar Cross Section - approximately .1 to .2 square meters Possible. meets, a lot of criteria for high speed and stealth. | | "According to another retired DOD official, ' With the SR-71 Blackbird, |they [the soviets] knew we were there, but they can't touch us. With the |Aurora, they won't even know we're there" Of course, given that we knew by 1981, that they were economically washed up, does it matter. ANd given we signed a diplomatic agreement (TREATY)\\ to not overfly their air-space, why should we spend N billion dollars to do so. In time of war, the agreement is off. In peace-time, it's an act of war, and we already had pretty damn good satellite recon. good enough to knwo the big picture. | | -- Taken from "Stealth Technology - The Art of Black Magic" by Joseph | J. Jones, 1989 TAB Books |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |I don't vouch for the authenticity ........ I just pass it as I see it I'd have to read the book, but some of it sounds a little hokey. pat ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1993 16:31:45 GMT From: CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON Subject: Charon Newsgroups: sci.space That is the faster, cheaper and quicker approach. A recent Aviation Week and Space Technology had a cover article about the Pluto/Charon fly-by and I guess that a recent Space News also had an article about that. C.O.Egalon@larc.nasa.gov ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 16:26:03 GMT From: Tero Sand Subject: Gaspra Animation Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary In article <6MAR199305441830@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: > ============================== > GASPRA ANIMATION > March 5, 1993 > ============================== > > A Gaspra animation is now available at the Ames Space Archives. This >animation is courtesy of Jeff Alu. The animation was formed from 11 images >taken by the Galileo spaecraft shortly before its closest approach to the >asteroid in October 1991. The animation is in FLI format. Using anonymous >ftp, the animation can be obtained from: Where can FLI-viewers be obtained? Do they work on CGA? Tero Sand -- EMail: cust_ts@cc.helsinki.fi or custts@cc.helsinki.fi "I feel most ministers who claim they've heard God's voice are eating too much pizza before they go to bed at night, and it's really an intestinal disorder, not a revelation." - Reverend Jerry Falwell ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1993 20:20 UT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Gaspra Animation Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary In article <1993Mar7.162603.20188@klaava.Helsinki.FI>, cust_ts@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Tero Sand) writes... >In article <6MAR199305441830@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: >> A Gaspra animation is now available at the Ames Space Archives. This >>animation is courtesy of Jeff Alu. The animation was formed from 11 images >>taken by the Galileo spaecraft shortly before its closest approach to the >>asteroid in October 1991. The animation is in FLI format. > >Where can FLI-viewers be obtained? Do they work on CGA? For an IBM PC, there is a fli player availabe at ames.arc.nasa.gov in the pub/SPACE/SOFTWARE directory called play79.txt. I don't know if it will work with CGA - I'm surprised anybody is still using CGA. There is also an fli player for UNIX called xanim available at export.lsc.mit.edu. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | It's kind of fun to do /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | the impossible. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | Walt Disney ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 01:43:38 GMT From: Bo Thide' Subject: International Space Plasma Summer School Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.aeronautics,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.physics FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT ------------------ International Summer School on Space Plasma Physics Organised by Radiophysical Research Institute, NIRFI, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia and Swedish Institute of Space Physics, IRFU, Uppsala, Sweden to be held Onboard the Cruise Ship "Turgenyev" on the Volga River, 1-10 June, 1993 The purpose of the school is to give an introduction to the problems of linear and non-linear space plasma physics and plasma astrophysics, ionospheric modification, the use of the ionosphere as a space plasma laboratory, as well as to discuss current topics in astrophysics and ionospheric, solar, and stellar plasma physics. List of lecturers and lectures o Prof C E Alissandrakis, Greece, Emissions from Solar Flares. o Prof A O Benz, Switzerland, Plasma Diagnostic of the Solar Corona using Decametric Radio Waves. o Prof A A Boyarchuk, Russia, Symbiotic Stars. o Prof T Chang , USA, Electromagnetic Tornadoes in Space--Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating of Ionospheric Ions; Lower hybrid collapse, caviton turbulence, and charged particle energization. o Dr F C Drago, Italy, Radio Emission of Active Regions of the Sun and Stars. o Prof G Dulk, USA, Radio Methods For Investigating the Solar Wind Between Sun and Earth. o Prof Lev Erukhimov, Russia, Space Plasma Laboratories. o Dr J Foster, USA, Scattering in the Ionosphere. o Dr C Hanuise, France, Coherent Scattering in the Ionosphere. o Prof M Hayakawa, Japan, Terrestrial Electromagnetic Noise Environment. o Prof A Hewish, UK, Mapping Interplanetary Weather Patterns. o Prof Yu Kravtsov, Russia, Polarisation and Wave Propagation Effects in Inhomogeneous Plasma. o Prof J Kuijpers, Holland, Magnetic Flares In Accretion Disks. o Dr Y Leblanc, France, Jupiter's Radio Emissions and Parameters the Plasma. o Prof M Nambu, Japan, Plasma Maser Effects. o Prof V Petviashvili, Russia, Vortexes in Space. o Prof V Radhakrishnan, India, Pulsars-The Strangest Radiators in the Sky. o Prof H O Rucker, Austria, Planetary Radio Emissions. o Dr R Schlickeiser, Germany, The Theory of Cosmic Ray Transport and Acceleration and Astrophysical Applications. o Dr K Stasiewicz, Sweden, Auroral Kilometric Radiation. o Dr A V Stepanov, Ukraine, On the Penetration of Fast Particle Beams into Solar and Stellar Atmospheres. o Dr B Thide, Sweden, Controlled Generation of Radio Emission in the Near-Earth Plasma by Wave Injection from the Ground. o Prof V Trakhtengertz, Russia, Alfven Masers. o Dr Yu M Yampolsky, Ukraine, Artificial Ionospheric Turbulence Investigations Using the Phased Array UTR-2. o Dr V Zaytsev, Russia, Solar plasma. o Prof V V Zheleznyakov, Russia, Cyclotron Resonance in Astrophysics. General and topical lectures will be mixed with seminars and poster sessions. The lecture notes and reports of new results will be published in "Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics". You should plan to arrive in Moscow early on May 30. People from NIRFI will be there to meet you and take you from the Moscow (Sheremetyevo) airport to the railway station and the night train to Nizhniy Novgorod where you will arrive on the following morning (May 31); the train fare is included in the registration fee. In Nizhniy Novgorod you will immediatley check in on the ship which will be our ``floating hotel'' from then on. We will start with an excursion to Vasilsursk, about 100 km down the Volga (easterly direction from N Novgorod) to visit the NIRFI radio obsevratory facility. If you are late, there will be a possibility to catch up by going on a Meteor river boat from Nizhniy Novgorod to Vasilsursk (4-5 hours, depending on route) where you will be able join the rest of the group. After this excursion (a day or two), the ship will head back to Nizhniy Novgorod where you will have a last chance to board the boat if you are really late. The ship will then take us up the Volga and we will stop in Tver (ex Kalinin) and Dubna on the 6th/7th of June so you can leave the school early and go to Moscow by train. The rest of us will return to Nizhniy Novgorod on June 11 where we will catch the night train to Moscow. We will arrive in Moscow early the following morning (June 12) allowing you to catch a plane home the same day. Since the transportation between Moscow and the Sheremetyevo airport often takes a long time, make sure to book a late flight out of Moscow on June 12. The total cost for full board an lodging on the ship for the school is estimated at between US$300 and US$500, depending on type of cabin (first class single, first class double, second class single, second class double). Transportation from Moscow to Nizhniy Novgorod and back will be provided free of charge. Applications for attendance must be submitted before 15 March, 1993 to Bo Thide Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Division S-75591 Uppsala, Sweden Fax: [+46] 18-403100 E-mail: bt@irfu.se -- ^ Bo Thide'----------------------------------------------Science Director |I| Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-755 91 Uppsala, Sweden |R| Phone: (+46) 18-303671. Fax: (+46) 18-403100. IP: 130.238.30.23 /|F|\ INTERNET: bt@irfu.se UUCP: ...!mcvax!sunic!irfu!bt ~~U~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------sm5dfw- ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 93 14:24:48 GMT From: Graham Toal Subject: Spot the anon poster! Newsgroups: sci.crypt,sci.astro,sci.space,comp.org.eff.talk,alt.usage.english Posted to sci.astro, sci.space, comp.org.eff.talk, sci.crypt and alt.usage.english. I've redirected followups to poster, which means send me mail; if you really want to post a reply I suggest sci.crypt as the group with the most relevance to traffic analysis, though I'm not entirely happy with that choice. Since there isn't anything better though, I'd recommend mail. I'll summarize once I've analyzed the suggestions... Certainly please don't follow up this article in sci.astro/space or comp.org.eff.talk. ====================================================================== Anyone want to help play a new game? 'Spot the anon poster'! Encouraged by the trivially easy identfication of an8729, I thought I'd enlist your help in finding an8785 who started the flamefest in sci.space and migrated to comp.org.eff.talk. He has a distinctive style, but I don't think the poster frequents any of the groups I read under his real name, so I've nothing to compare against. Does anybody recognise this man... I've noted below the most common features of an8785's postings. Although a lot of these are common to all of us, in combination they are a fingerprint that should identify the poster. [alt.usage.english folks: the comments about grammar, punctuation etc aren't criticisms; I'm pointing out where there are in general choices of how to write something, and which choice this person has made. Don't post saying 'there's nothing wrong with that'. You're probably right - it may be something *other people* consistently get wrong and he gets right...] Btw, some signs - such as short lines - may be a deliberate stylistic deception to fool us (especially since he changes average line length between postings). By and large, the poster's spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation show him to be reasonably well educated, though not nearly as much so as he thinks. His use of sentence structure (reflected in how he abuses commas to link clauses) is deplorable, and his deliberate pretention in choice of vocabulary is most noticable. Further, he talks almost exclusively in cliche and metaphor... (By the way, I infer that the poster is male from his studious use of non-sexist language...) I think if anyone recognises this style after having it pointed out, it should be trivial to compare this definitively with other postings by any suggested author. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EFF has to choose its battles carefully, since it ^^^^^^^ EFF has, not EFF have - poster isn't British. doesn't have the resources to fight *all* ^^^^^ uses * for emphasis (a lot) battles *all* the time. Mr. Godwin has said that ^^^^^^^^ Two spaces after sentences One space after abbreviations Incorrect "." after Mr he is reviewing the situation and will report back on his thoughts. Why should we assume that the search and siezure ^^^^^^^ can't spell seizure were "unwarranted"? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Double quotes for "quotations" (that aren't really) Question-mark outside quotes, in contrast to full stops. Remember, we are about to see a shocking loss ^^^^^^^^^ common grammatical form: "word, sentence..." for the SS in the Steve Jackson case. How many times before has an entity sued and won against the SS? Now that we've seen that pseudonymous postings are not an unmitigated evil by demonstrating their accountability and responsibility, we need to go further and to *promote* pseudonymous postings as a positive good. The reason that they are to be encouraged is that the pseudonymous article distance the ego of the poster ^^^ sometimes slips despite apparent proof-reading Note this one is a disagreement in number. This happens again below. from the content of the message. That is, defense of ^^^^^^^^ US, not brit (or canadian?) the posting is divorced from defense of the self and conversely, advocacy of a position is separated from simple self-promotion. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ not very good at writing long sentences where semicolons would be appropriate. Note the way an independent clause is just tacked on the end with a comma. He does this a lot. Look in a text of fallacies. A good number are fallacies of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sign of poster's age. (or possibly education - if he isn't from 'the old school', he's possibly from a jesuit or catholic school. Or maybe some second-rate private school.) ad hominem (personal attacks). These kinds of attacks ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ condescending would be blunted in blind and double-blind arguments because (1) by not directly identifying the originator ^^^^^ Note the style of enumerated arguments. of a post, less of his or her personal feelings are "on the line" and (2) by revealing less personal and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ inappropriate quotation marks irrelevant information the opponent has less of a toehold ^^^^^^^ toe-hold. by which she or he might launch personal attacks. ^^^^^^^^^^^ Note, uses "she or he", not "he or she". Presumably balancing the 'his or her' above. (Lots of signs of an obsessive personality in these posts) This does not mean arguments would become less passionate, but the passion is redirected from a defense of a self-image to the defense of a *position.* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ full-stops consistently *inside* punctuation, whether emphasis or quotation. Thus the exhortation by *emotional pressure* or by "pinpointing an enemy", which is by far and away the ^^^^^^^ commas consistently outside punctuation the key ingredients of propaganda, is short-circuited. Note the use of a parenthetically elucidating clause between commas. The fog of personal special pleading and posturing is blown away, leaving the stark contours of argument. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Just *loves* pretentious metaphor. Moreover, appeals based mainly on submission to badges ^^^^^^^^^^ again, starts lots of sentences with Single Word and Comma. of authority, such as the posting site or the reputation or power of the poster is muted. This removes another constraint to Usenet readers using evidence of their own ^^^^^^^^ Anally careful about proper capitalization sense coupled with conclusions derived from independent ^^^^ Another disagreement in number. thought with facts that can be gleaned from good postings. True, a lot of sludge will be channeled by Anonymous. But ^^^^^^^^^ again, proof of US/Canadian spelling of far more importance will the occasional Copernican theory (still censored in some areas until the early 19th C.) be able ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ sometimes uses parenthetical digressions. to surface without intimidation or retribution. Anonymous postings demand a lot from the readership in requiring skill to prune and select from a broader array of responses; responses that may be incorrect, in poor taste or ^^^^ only one space after semicolon too. just plain dumb. This burden of selection and analysis will certainly increase as anonymous postings become the norm. For those who are unable or afraid to boldly take this step into ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Watches Trek (but doesn't everyone?) the future of a free society, you can still use the N key or the kill file to prepackage your Usenet information stream. ^^^^^^^^^ says 'kill file', not 'killfile'. Probably not a born&bred computer person. But for the rest of us, this difficult and frustrating process of learning effective strategies of analysis and resolution is identical with education in our free society, a society that is slowly ^^^^ idiosyncratic 'identical with', not 'identical to' transcending national boundaries at the speed of light. morgan@engr.uky.edu (Wes Morgan) complains that the double-blind anonymous replies might in general be good -- but why ^^^^ em-dashes represented by two hyphens plus space on either side. (Many people use either one dash, or no space - perhaps he's a TeX user) ought one be *required* to respond anonymously? You *don't* need to: just include ^^^^^ One space after colon. identifying indicia *within* the ^^^^^^^ more pretentious latin body of the response. Your choice. It's been six weeks now since I posted the original "Challenger" article to sci.space and sci.astro as a contribution to the on-going thread reminiscing on the ^^^^^^^^ on-going hyphenated, but toehold isn't. (both of which are wrong btw) tragedy. I am still surprised at the intensity of negative reaction that several posters had to the article and by association to the concept of anonymous posting. While the usual reader of those newsgroups may be far more comfortable with the inhuman aspects of space flight -- ^^^^^^^^^ knows lots of impressive words, but more that once choses wrong one in casual talk. (Should be 'impersonal') metric tons of fuel, pseudoinverse trajectory calculation, torrs of Oxygen, kilos of payload -- I believe that the phenomenon of crewed space flight is far more interesting at the sharp human edge, the sharp edge that cuts a thin bead of ^^^^ adjectivial phrase tacked on the end of a sentence with a comma. (pretentiously metaphoric at that) blood into the skin. Looking at political issues of funding and priorities as well as the social consequences of space exploration, many of us ^^^^^^^^^^ believe that the human angle is far more important, but fluid ^^^^^^^ feels qualified to speak on others' behalfs. and ill-defined, than the technical problems of space travel. This protean quality of the human issue makes for many of us ^^^^^^^ uses pretentious Greek too. Age probably over 30 -- unlikely over 40 (from the 'she or he' thing...). a more interesting challenge to understand and integrate into the whole picture than the relatively more deterministic mechanical issues. Sci.space and sci.astro need many more blunt posts centered on the human theme, even if strong medicine to many readers. ^^^^ misses out verbs ('it is' in this case) a lot. Next line also has an understood 'go' after 'postings in general' As far as anonymous postings in general, the threats of personal violence that the Challenger post unearthed, for me, more than confirmed my decision to use it. The contrary ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ despite apparent education, totally incapable of stringing more than two lines together to form a coherent sentence. arguments that legitimate science will be swamped with anonymous bacchanals is simply not happening, even though ^^^^^^^^^^ choice of vocabulary most distinctive over 20,000 people now have used the Finnish anon service. ^^^^^^ note the comma in large numbers. The newsgroups have approximately the same mix of surplusage, ^^^^^^^^^^^ personal coinage? truth and tripe as they always have had. The imminent death of the sci. and comp. groups seems a bit presumptuous. I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to hide behind your affiliations. For me, a poster who, although anonymously, slowly built a strong argument through a series of well-written anonymous posts and politely responded to counterexamples and the other stuff of a good debate, would capture my respect far more than Dick Reputable, Ph.D.@bigfoo.com making a simple pronouncement on ^^^^^ Note ends *all* abbrevations with "."... the whole matter that his net-flacks are expected to parrot. [aside: I wonder if he means himself when he says 'well-written'? -- and in a sentence like that! *ROFL*] Yes, it takes more effort to get your mind around anonymous posts than attributed ones: we get out of the habit of ^^^^^^^ consistently uses single space after colon evaluating arguments without the guiding badges and trappings of authority accompanying them. Those posters who have forgotten how to legitimately persuade and, through time and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ dares to split the classic infinitive! (see also 'to boldly take') accreting rank, have relied upon the prestige of their posting site may well have reason to fear the new order of things. But the content of the argument ought to be important for all posters, not just the ones who do not have a Keogh plan or a doctorate. Certainly most scientists agree ^^^^^^ gives some indication of background? (I've no idea what a Keogh plan is) that the necessity of experimentation, systematic observation, and falsifiability supporting a scientific truth applies equally to the member of the Academy as well as the ^^^^^^^ does he mean some particular Academy (thus pinning down his background) or 'academia'? first-year lab assistant. The concept of anonymous posting is the next great step in washing away the detritus that impedes our search for truths. ^^^^^^^^ more pretentious latin Yes, it has a great capacity to annoy and anger, but it has ^^^^^ The old single-word introduction. Distinctive writing trait. an even greater capacity to engage the truth for those with courage enough to learn to use it universally and well. =================================================================== I think that should be enough. Any suggestions? Graham ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 93 13:35:31 GMT From: Rich Kulawiec Subject: The courage of anonymity Newsgroups: news.admin.policy,alt.privacy,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space In article <1993Mar7.004339.4397@fuug.fi> an8785@anon.penet.fi writes: >I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to >hide behind your affiliations. This is ludicrous. If you do not have the courage of your own convictions, and are not willing to back those convictions up by using your own name, why should anyone pay the slightest attention to you? (I certainly won't.) Either you have the guts to back up what you say, or you don't; and if you don't, then you should probably just be quiet. ---Rsk ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 14:17:04 -0500 From: Nicholas Kramer Subject: The courage of anonymity Newsgroups: alt.privacy,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,news.admin.policy Excerpts from: The courage of anonymity by 8 February 1993@anon.pen > I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to > hide behind your affiliations. Only if you have impressive affiliations to list (and you list 'em). If you want courage, post your message without a long list of affiliations and credentials. Nick ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1993 11:14:05 GMT From: Stefan Hartmann Subject: Wireless Power notes (1 of 3) Newsgroups: sci.space higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes: >Dr. Gay Canough (canough@bingvaxa.cc.binghamton.edu) has asked me to >post these notes to sci.space for her. Please respond to her, not to >me, if you have questions. >The notes are long, so I'm breaking them into three parts. And I >suppose it would be a good idea to cross-post to sci.energy, no? >The pilot system will supply power to a village which is >across the water from a generating station and to which it >is very expensive to string wires. The system will have to >work in the harsh weather conditions, which includes snow, >100 mph winds, and temperature extremes. It will use >magnetrons (2.45 GHz) such as found in microwave ovens, >because they are cheap and well developed. The distance will >be a few miles, power received will be 50 to 100 kW. Each >magnetron puts out 1 kW. They chose to use many magnetrons, >so that if one breaks, it won't be a total loss of power, >but only a small amount. The overall efficiency will be >around 25%. This is not the maximum efficiency possible, but >higher efficiency would be too expensive for a pilot plant. >The antenna will be a phased array with an effective >aperture of 35 m in diameter. The maximum power density will >be about 20 mW/square cm. [This is the same power density as >Bill Brown's power beaming demo, or 100 times less than your >typical microwave oven.] The receiver will employ the Bill Hi, but what will happen, if a human accidently gets into this field of transmitted energy ? Will he be blown up ? What about the safety ? What, if the transmitter will be directed not to the receiver, but accidently to another area, where people live ? 25 % efficiency..... hmm what a waste of primary energy, which of course is generated from burning carbon or atomic power plants... Better proposal: Join the FREE Energy Research group. We will dicuss the rebuilding of the Methernitha Testatika free energy machine, where I'll soon upload all informations I have to a FTP site. Join this group to be one of the first guys to get a working zero-point- energy taping machine.. Best regards, Stefan Hartmann, c/o Gatz & Hartmann email to: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de -- ************************************************************* * Stefan Hartmann * * EMAIL: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de * * Phone : ++ 49 30 375 55 68 FAX : ++ 49 30 344 92 79 * ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1993 15:21:36 -0500 From: Pat Subject: Without a Plan Newsgroups: sci.space Dennis, does anice job of hitting the problems with space research on the nose. As i see it, Research in space will only be fundable and viable for the masses as an economic venture or a political goal. Columbus discovered the new world, while looking for a cheaper route to asia for spice and gold. The american colonies were mostly funded as cheap places to store prisoners or places for political refugees to hide out. Certainly explorers like the french and lewis and clark went for mapping or to seek exploitable resources. But polar explorers went mostly as symbols of national pride. Certainly we as a nation are willing to put money into R&D and science missions. The planetary science program does get a fair bit of money in real terms, and the payoff from astronomy work is unlikely in the next century. However manned space to-date is a cadillac program. it's been done for reasons of Glory, and not much economics. Until manned space can find an economic route, it will remain a lab bench process. Genetic technologies were lab bench ideas until the 70's when it turned out there was big money prospects in them. Now Genetic technologies are multi-billion dollar investments. NASA has lost sight of it's mission. it has been pursuing GLory at the expense of Economy. We don't need in the critical sense, a manned lab, what we need are low cost technologies to provide that lab. Then the market will provide the lab. Diving has been around for centuries, but the developement of key technologies allowed it to flourish. Cheap, light, effective air compressors/pumps. Strong light glass for visors. Water-proof suits and neoprene wet suits. oxygen re-breathers. Strong light air tanks. high performance fins. cheap, accurate pressure and depth gauges. Scads of underwater tools, Advanced breathing mixs. Effective diving tables for dive medicine. There have always been riches in the sea, but they weren't reachable until the technology improved. caisson disease killed hundreds. Off shore platforms used to be limited to ~100 ft for numerous reasons, now drilling in 1 mile of water is practical. What the space program has never done, is deliver one of two things. Either Cheap technologies or A worthwhile goal. I am a sport diver. i don't do it for pay, i do it for fun, just as i used to fly for fun. I do it because it's affordable, on a upper middle class income. The people who opened the american colonies didn't come here because it was fun, they came because they could marginally afford it, and they had a goal. FREEDOM. Canadian oil men work in hellish areas, for the money. The space program has not been able to either provide cheaper technologies or worthwhile places to go. If NASA were to work on : Hard Suit/ Skin suit technologies, that would be a plus. Cheap ELVs or SSTO's, that would be good. Closed cycle life support Native materials exploitation programs. All these areas have been given frankly lip service. in favor of Glory programs. Until they make a goal, Cheap access to space, it will remain a minor program. pat ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 287 ------------------------------