Number: 3094 Name: ESS NEWSLETTER Address: L.K.SLOAN Date: 930517 Approximate # of bytes: 12582 Number of Accesses: 10 Library: 8 Description: The Experimental Spacecraft Society Newsletter has articles on ESS goals and projects, current status of JDI-0, and a bibliography on spacecraft design. A membership form is also included. Keywords: ESS, Experimental Spacecraft Society, Newsletter --------------------------------- File: ESS NEWSLETTER File Ready. 7 Bit Text. Press to skip, ownload, or uit. ?d ** Turn on Capture File ** Press ?4 The Amateur Space Program Newsletter Produced by the Experimental Spacecraft Society Vol. 1 no.1 Spring 1993 ESS is still alive and kicking! The question is whether it can stay alive on the strength of its members rather than on one leader. Groups have fallen apart due to losing the one person who did all the important work. The ESS leadership will have to delegate a good deal of the work. We have lost a leader (well, sort of). Dr. G.E. (Gay) Canough is now taking on more work through her company (ETM) and will take on 2 major ESS activities. She will be handling ESS mail and the group's financial matters. Since no one else is giving orders, I will be the acting director until elections can be held. Currently ESS has $500 in its account and is still legally incorporated in Illinois. Our future will depend on our members so communications between us must remain open. In order to do this we are developing regional groups that can meet more often and get specific tasks accomplished. We have also done a phone survey to establish a list of dedicated members willing to work and/or contribute. So far the responses have been encouraging despite the hard economic climate. From both this survey and other input I've received I am developing a number of ideas and proposals for ESS. This includes a paper design and blueprint for JDI-0 (which could be useful for JDI-1). This will deal a lot with what parts we have, what we don't have, and what's needed. Such a design should be a prerequisite to future missions so that we can sell the idea to other amateur groups, launch companies, and new members. We will need cooperation in order to bring all the information together and make it work. There are very few people actually working on hardware. I would like to increase the number of people actually working on a project. I'm proposing to put the names of everyone who worked on it on or with the payload as an incentive for participation in the project. Currently the following people are working on JDI-0; Derek Lassen - Batteries Andy Reynolds - 2 meter antenna & HAM system. Jeff Root - Project integrator & design Other activities include; Dean Oberg - Launch Opportunities study Linda Sloan - Newsletter, plans & policy Gay Canough - checking account & mail The launch opportunities study assigned to Dean Oberg is finally here and will, I'm sure, be a major topic of discussion. Also a hot topic will be the current status of the PRS HARV rocket which I heard about at the PRS Symposium on Feb.20 in Van Nuys. I also went to the CALSEDS meeting on Feb. 13 in Pasadena and found information for Dean's study. We are also planning to have the ESS annual meeting at the ISDC in Huntsville during the Memorial Day weekend. Jeff has us tentatively scheduled for Friday night after dinner at 8:30. We will have flyers out at the conference with more details. This newsletter will accept information from any amateur space group as it will be a vehicle for communicating between groups. You will also find here a bibliography and an essay on ESS goals and projects. If anyone wishes to send material to the newsletter please send it to me, Linda Sloan, at 17701 S. Avalon Blvd. #407, Carson CA 90746. For email submissions send to CIS id 705406,240, via Internet at 70406.240@compuserve.com, or GEnie L.K.SLOAN. The GEnie Space & Science RT is where we meet for discussions and information exchange. ESS Projects and Goals Though some may think that considering projects beyond JDI-0 is too preliminary at this time, I would disagree. Of course JDI-0 is only preliminary to JDI-1 which should be an orbital payload. We need to think about what we could be doing and how we are going to get from here to there. Within a year after ESS was formed there were at least 2 proposals that extended beyond Earth orbit. An outline of the 2 proposals plus another I've heard about elsewhere is given below. The one thing these missions have in common (possibly except the asteroid mission), and according to my knowledge is that no space agency or group has plans to carry out these missions. Yet these missions could provide valuable data about resources in near-Earth space. Future Missions In order to better sell and execute the missions at least a preliminary design study should be done on each proposed mission. This study would include a parts list and an estimate on how much it would cost in addition to general mission requirements. Both member input and a literature search would be an ideal feedback loop before actually beginning work on the project. I'm not trying to add paperwork but am just making sure our projects are designed well enough to work out there. The 3 long-term missions I am looking at include a near-Earth asteroid penetrator mission, a dust measurement mission to the L4 or L5 points, and a camera probe attempt to view the Earth-Sun trojan points. The asteroid penetrator mission is one I've proposed before. Once launched it travels to one of the near-Earth asteroids and gets fired into the asteroid by a small charge. On board would be a Ham frequency transmitter that, hopefully, could be monitored by well-equipped Hams or at least by the Deep Space Exploration Society's antenna at Table Mountain in Colorado. Though other experiments could be included, this alone could be an interesting tracking experiment. It also could be repeated for other asteroids. Andy Reynold's idea of a dust measurement mission could fly to the L4 or L5 points to measure the particle density. All that's needed, according to his one short write-up, is aluminum plate, a communication antenna, solar cells, and accelerometers. The Earth-Sun trojan points are still unexplored and even unseen due to the nearness of the Sun to Earth observers. If a camera probe could be delivered to an orbit just below that of the Earth then the camera could be pointed away from the Sun yet could view the Earth's orbit for the trojan points. Discovering what may be in those points could be invaluable as asteroids are known to populate other trojan points in our solar system. Reality Check While the above missions are relatively do-able, we need to begin with JDI-0 to get the experience of building and launching spacecraft. The launch opportunities study will give us the contacts we need to develop relationships with rocket builders of all types including those aiming as high as we want to go. JDI-0 Project Summary This is a basic video camera in a box payload currently configured for the Pacific Rocket Society's HARV amateur class rocket. The design and equipment list is complete though not all of the components are in hand yet. The rocket is expected to take the payload to at least 85,000 ft.. PRS is expecting to launch in September of this year. The payload will consist of; a micro video camera, ATV card, batteries, parachute recovery system, aluminum tube casing, altimeter, and an antenna. At present we don't have enough funds for getting all the equipment needed for this project. We are looking into both fundraising and recruiting new members. Corporate donations are also accepted. We are using amateur radio technology in the form of an ATV card and antenna system as a part of the payload to transmit data and telemetry. PRS has requested that we provide a recovery system which will be parachutes and possibly a drogue chute. Also requested is the rocket's nosecone which will shield our payload. We will welcome anyone who would like to assist us in this project. You may contact us at 17701 S. Avalon Blvd. #407, Carson CA 90746 or at ESS c/o ETM P.O. Box 67, Endicott, NY 13760. We have online discussions on GEnie in the Space and Science RT. Other online access includes Compuserve id 70406,240, via Internet address 70406.240@ compuserve.com, and GEnie address L.K.Sloan. Spacecraft Design Bibliography "Handbook of Engineering Fundamentals" edited by Eshbach, published by John Wiley and Sons. The term handbook might be a bit misleading; we refer to it (affectionately?) as "Eshbrick." It's a 1500 page book which covers just about every engineering topic there is. It also includes conversion tables, math theory, tables of standard structural sizes (from I-beams to bolts), etc. (JMD) "Space Vehicle Design," published as part of the AIAA educational series, is by Griffin and French. It covers building a vehicle from the systems engineer viewpoint--propulsion, astrodynamics, attitude determination and control, reentry, thermal control, structure, power, communications, etc. About $50-75, depending on whether you're an AIAA member.450 pages. (JMD) "Space Mission Analysis and Design," edited by Wertz and Larson and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, covers the mission design process. If Space Vehicle Design shows how to build the vehicle, this book shows how to figure out what vehicle to build. 800 pages, softcover, same price range. (JMD) "An Introduction to Mathematics and Methods of Astrodynamics," by Battin, is also part of the AIAA educational series. 800 pages, it's quite an intro. Covers everything from classic two-body orbit problems to patched-conic interplanetary trajectories. Heavy on the math, but then astrodynamics is, by definition, heavy on math. (JMD) "Fundamentals of Astrodynamics," by Bates, Mueller, and White, is much lighter, at 400 pages and softcover. Dover Publications, Inc. I like this one better; it was written specifically for undergrad work. Covers the same stuff, broken down specifically into suborbital, orbital, lunar, inter- planetary, and perturbations. (JMD) "Interplanetary Spacecraft" edited by Bill Yenne, is a good general description of spacecraft systems, subsystems, and some instrumentation. Published by Exeter books, it is an oversize, almost a coffee table, book of 127 pages. It covers overall design, engine, computer, antenna, electrical, and scientific subsystems with trajectory and communications in separate sections. It also profiles a number of NASA's space probes such as Voyager and Pioneer. Excellent intro for non-techs. (LKS) "The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook" by Martin R. Davidoff. Published by the American Radio Relay League in 1985, it covers the basics of tracking amateur satellites and includes info on other types of satellites. Tracking basics, ground station antennas, receiving & transmitting, orbits, satellite radio links, and satellite systems are chapter titles. A few pages cover building satellites and managing the project. Though short, the section looks very informative and useful. 207 pages. Available from AMSAT for $23.00. (LKS) Experimental Spacecraft Society Membership Form Name: _____________________________ Address:________________________________ ________________________________________ Phone: hm _____________ wk ______________ Computer type_____________________________ Email # ________________ _______________ ESS prefers to send news and reports via computer networks, so please include this information. GEnie is currently our main communications channel. Fax # ________________________ Areas of interest: _____________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Areas of expertise: _____________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Are you a member of: _ AMSAT _ BIS _ DSES _ ARRL _ NSF _ Pacific Rocket Society _ NSS _ FAS _ Nat'l Assoc. of Rocketry _ SSI _ SME _ Tripoli Rocketry Society _ AIAA _ AAS _ Federation Aeronautique Internat'l _ WSF _ USSF Other ________________________ Membership level: __ Armchair ($10) __ Just Doer ($50) __ Benefactor ($100) __ Donor ($250) __ Membership class upgrade: From ____________ class to ____________ class Amount enclosed: $_________ Make check payable to Experimental Spacecraft Society. Mail to Experimental Spacecraft Society c/o ETM, P.O. Box 67, Endicott, NY 13760