Space Digest Sat, 7 Aug 93 Volume 16 : Issue 998 Today's Topics: Astronaut Biographies black holes Exploding Heads Future War? Ideas! Happy Birthday, NASA Mar's Observer's First Photo Mars Observer's First Photo (3 msgs) Mars Observer Update - 08/02/93 new nasa wind tunnels Renaming Mars Observer (was Mars Observer Update - 08/02/93) Titan IV Failure 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: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 00:35:11 GMT From: "Gerald G. Marfoe" Subject: Astronaut Biographies Newsgroups: sci.space In article hs1@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu, signer@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu () writes: > > I am looking for detailed biographical information for all NASA > astronauts in all programs. Anyone know how I can get this information? > > > Thanks! > -Scott > Try the NASA Spacelink BBS. You can telnet to it - type "telnet spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov" and follow the instructions. The astronaut biographies are in one of the menus. They may be a bit dated though - last time I looked, they hadn't been updated since June 1992. --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gerald G. Marfoe |"Mirabile visu. Mirabilia/Et itur ad astra InterNet: gmarfoe@eng.auburn.edu |... Suus cuique mos. Suum cuique.../ ggmar@ducvax.auburn.edu |Memento, terrigena./Memento, vita brevis." |- "Afer Ventus", Enya, "Shepherd Moons" ------------------------------ Date: 7 Aug 1993 03:00:32 GMT From: "David B. Lapadula" Subject: black holes Newsgroups: sci.space BEAUFAIT@cebaf.gov wrote: : The event horizon of a black hole is not some magical boundry. It is the point : from which a BALI : STIC partical would have to be traveling ftl to escape. : If the partical were acelerated by an adjasent gravity well it could be pulled : out of the previous boundry. Actualy what would happen is that the gravity : well of a nearby object would change the shape of the event horizon.IMHO The event horizon IS where you have to travel faster than light (ftl) to escape, whether you are a particle or a wave. Hence, ignoring unproven items such as tachyons, nothing escapes a black hole. (You can circle the black hole at the event horizon, but not escape it. Since light is also bent as you travel around, given enough magnification, as you circled at the EH you would see in front of you your behind! And if you looked in back of you, you'd see the back of your head!) The shape of an EH cannot be changed by another object. (Aside from 2 black holes merging and creating a larger one, or the current BH gaining mass and extending its reach.) Think of it as the start of an infinitely deep well - even if you could create a bulge in the side it is STILL infinitely deep. Besides, anything that might affect the continuum would be close enough to be drawn into the BH itself. Actually, it MIGHT be drawn in. Anyways, due to time dilation, as you approach the EH the outside universe would appear to speed up when, in actuality, it is you who are slowing down. (Assuming a stationary BH, 'natch.) So forget about it. For all practical purposes, the EH is where you wave bye bye to the universe. Dave Lapadula ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 06:41:34 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Exploding Heads Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Aug6.210635.7195@mksol.dseg.ti.com> pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com writes: >DCI is more of a long term disorder, it takes hours... The various lung >expansion injuries and arterial gas emboli are more likely to do a quick kill. Actually, the biggest problem (probably) is the obvious one: anoxia. Pressure-related injuries of any kind aren't all that quick; skin is tough stuff and holds pressure moderately well. But you would run out of oxygen much more quickly than in any Earth-surface accident. On Earth, there is several *minutes* worth of oxygen in your lungs, if you can suppress the breathing reflex by minimizing CO2 buildup (which is what hyperventilation does -- it doesn't add extra oxygen), but trying to hold your breath in vacuum is likely to cause the lung injuries Dillon mentions. And if you avoid lung injury by not holding your breath, not only do you lose the air in your lungs, but you will be losing oxygen out of the blood steadily through your lungs. Both the period of consciousness and the time before serious damage sets in will be considerably shorter than the Earth-surface equivalents. -- Altruism is a fine motive, but if you | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology want results, greed works much better. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ From: Richard Hyde Subject: Future War? Ideas! Newsgroups: sci.space Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8] References: Distribution: sci Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 01:16:11 GMT Lines: 24 Sender: news@CRABAPPLE.SRV.CS.CMU.EDU Source-Info: Sender is really isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk wrote: : > Weapons of choice for maximum nastiness are biowar and gragu : > (grey-goo: omnivourous nanotechnology.) Biowar would require that : And I for one would heartily back the automatic death penalty for : anyone taking part or authorizing, or assisting in the construction : of such a gross abuse of nanotechnology. I would word it such that : the guilty parties identities would be advertised world wide and that : a large bounty would be paid by the United Nations (or other) for the : confirmed death of each one of them. Too little, too late. We had better have a crash program to develop nano-vaccines (nano-antibodies?) as a first priority for the technology. If "gragu" can be made, it will, and legislating the death penalty for suicide has always been a useless idea. -r -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Richard Hyde | RaH@netcom.com | This space intentionally left blank | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 7 Aug 93 01:37:56 GMT From: "S.H." Subject: Happy Birthday, NASA Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.space >In article <19930805.073316.15@almaden.ibm.com> jmichael@vnet.IBM.COM writes: > A simple montage camera I designed has an array of pinholes arranged on >a box. Sheet film goes in the box. Uncover each pinhole to expose each >part of the film. Making pinhole cameras is excellent therapy :-) > >========================================================================= >>-Jim Michael Standard disclaimers Ask me about my vow of silence. May I see the schematics of you Montage camera ? Where have you tested you camera ? What kind of film have you used ? S.H. | " IBM is sold." | " Who bought it ? " ------------------------------ Date: 7 Aug 93 06:40:25 GMT From: "S.H." Subject: Mar's Observer's First Photo Newsgroups: sci.space Donald L. Savage Headquarters, Washington, D.C. August 5, 1993 (Phone: 202/358-1727) NOTE TO EDITORS: N93-43 FIRST PHOTOGRAPH OF MARS FROM MARS OBSERVER AVAILABLE NASA's Mars Observer spacecraft returned its first image of Mars taken last week when the spacecraft was 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) from the red planet. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ? The photograph was taken using the Mars Observer Camera's (MOC) high resolution narrow-angle telescope as a technical check-out of the camera, the data management system and other systems on board the spacecraft and on Earth, including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the MOC operations facility at Malin Space Science Systems, Inc., San Diego. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ??? Mars Observer will orbit Mars on Aug. 24 and global mapping operations will begin Dec. 16. The B & W photograph is available by calling NASA's Broadcast and Imaging Branch at 202/358-1900. Photo number is 93-H-398. - end - ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | When given a choice between /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | two exciting things, choose |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | the one you haven't tried. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ????,???? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 01:04:33 GMT From: "Stephen M. Linscott" Subject: Mars Observer's First Photo Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary In article <6AUG199317574752@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: > >In article <1993Aug6.101452.1@ulkyvx.louisville.edu>, jsmill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu writes... >>> It won't be available for FTP until somebody gets a copy and scans it in. >>> NASA's PR people are still in the dark ages when it comes to electronic >>> availability of such things. >>> -- >>Not always true. As I recall, Ron Baalke has on occation provided >>images for ftp shortly after an announcement. I assume that he scans >>itimself, which, therefore depends on his free time. But I've >>gotten a few images while waiting for the mail to arrive. >> > Ron replies: >I can't speak for the other NASA centers, but the Public Information Office >at JPL purchased a color scanner last year specifically to scan in the >public released photos and convert them to GIF images. The Mars Observer >image is now available at the JPL ftp site (see my previous post). >I don't do the actual scanning, but I may prod the PIO people every >once in a while. Ron - Thanks for replying to the whining and sarcasm in your usual professional manner. I appreciate the information you post. - Steve - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 06:44:17 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Mars Observer's First Photo Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary In article <1993Aug6.211203.16999@ee.ubc.ca> davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes: >>Has any thought been given to doing a direct (digital) VICAR=>GIF >>conversion and skipping the Print-Scan process? > >You missed the point. The original images are held back for a year until >the science teams have a chance to complete their work and make their >submissions to archival journals. The "publicly released" photos are >intended only for use by the media and their resolution is intentionally >degraded... Dave missed the point (partially). :-) If all they want to do is degrade resolution, dynamic range, etc., that is easy to do digitally, without the cumbersome kludge of printing the image out and re-scanning it. -- Altruism is a fine motive, but if you | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology want results, greed works much better. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 07:33:31 GMT From: Dave Michelson Subject: Mars Observer's First Photo Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: > >>>Has any thought been given to doing a direct (digital) VICAR=>GIF >>>conversion and skipping the Print-Scan process? >> >>You missed the point. The original images are held back for a year until >>the science teams have a chance to complete their work and make their >>submissions to archival journals. The "publicly released" photos are >>intended only for use by the media and their resolution is intentionally >>degraded... > >Dave missed the point (partially). :-) If all they want to do is degrade >resolution, dynamic range, etc., that is easy to do digitally, without >the cumbersome kludge of printing the image out and re-scanning it. Well, it wouldn't be the first time :-) I suspect that NASA simply has a policy that no original data, filtered or otherwise, can be distributed. Scanned images of photos from press releases would be an obvious exception since NASA has no control over the photos once they're distributed anyway. Once again, someone in the know would be able to confirm or refute this. Actually, this brings up an interesting point. What form does the media want imagery to be provided in? With the increasing use of workstations in newspaper and magazine publishing, it might not be too long before they start asking for the imagery to be provided in digital form... -- Dave Michelson -- davem@ee.ubc.ca -- University of British Columbia ------------------------------ Date: 7 Aug 1993 01:41:26 GMT From: Chris DuPuis Subject: Mars Observer Update - 08/02/93 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes: >In article <1993Aug06.195048.145385@zeus.calpoly.edu> jgreen@trumpet.calpoly.edu (Innocent Bystander) writes: >>> >>>Anyone have any bright ideas for an appropriate name? Maybe it's not >>>too late.... :-) >>> >> >>Barsoom? >Umm, excuse my ignorance, but what is the significance of "Barsoom"? Barsoom is the name that Martians use for their planet, according to the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I think he wrote sometime in the '20s. He's also the creator of Tarzan. -- Christopher DuPuis godot@ugcs.caltech.edu ------------------------------ Date: 06 Aug 93 22:22 PDT From: tom@igc.apc.org Subject: new nasa wind tunnels Newsgroups: sci.space anyone know anything about the new wind tunnels nasa is planning to build? they may be for commercial transport design. size? mach no? reynolds no? tom ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 93 21:40:09 PST From: jhardin@splat.com (John Hardin at home) Subject: Renaming Mars Observer (was Mars Observer Update - 08/02/93) Dave Michelson sez: } I suppose Mars Observer could have been named after an astronomer who had } made important early observations but I don't think that names like } "Schroter" or "Schiaparelli" would capture the public's imagination. } } Anyone have any bright ideas for an appropriate name? Maybe it's not } too late.... :-) } } -- } Dave Michelson -- davem@ee.ubc.ca -- University of British Columbia } Percival Lowell (sp? - all my books are packed) is another obvious choice. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- John Hardin jhardin@splat.com 76076.22@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 93 18:36:51 GMT From: Bruce Watson Subject: Titan IV Failure Newsgroups: sci.space In article <23pi7k$1la@access.digex.net| prb@access.digex.net (Pat) writes: | | A correspondent tells me the T4, was carrying a triple satellitte |payload, the three birds were supposed to work in tandem. | |What are the odds this was supposed to be some sort of |Interferometry package? Optical? radio? | NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System), Radio Interferometric. The first triple NOSS dates back to 1983. -- Bruce Watson (wats@scicom.alphacdc.com) ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 998 ------------------------------