Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from holmes.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Mon, 27 Mar 89 05:16:52 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Mon, 27 Mar 89 05:16:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #316 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 316 Today's Topics: Re: Rockoon's (was Sanger) Re: volatiles on the Moon Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication? Re: Soviet space and life science Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Were remote manipulators ever called Waldoes? Re: Were remote manipulators ever called Waldoes? Sources of hydrogen? Re: Primordial Hydrocarbons Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Astrology Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: PHOBOS INFO (was NSS Hotline Update for 3/17/89) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Mar 89 22:58:41 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Rockoon's (was Sanger) In article <45000028@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> daniel@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >He also said that realistically, the Sanger developement was in its >early stages. The Sanger craft will probably not fly before 2050. I trust this date is an error or misunderstanding. It would be laughably obsolete, probably in an unpredictable way, by then. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 89 00:35:35 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: volatiles on the Moon In article <1208@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM> johnson@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Wayne D. T. Johnson) writes: >Wouldn't the light being reflected from the moon show spectrum signatures from >the various elements located in the moon, or at least the surface? ... Nobody expects volatiles to be sitting within a few light wavelengths of the surface, which is all this will tell us about. What we need are more penetrating forms of radiation, like gamma rays. For practical reasons, these have to be sensed from close up. Hence the importance attached to a lunar polar orbiter with a gamma-ray spectrometer. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 09:20:21 GMT From: oliveb!pyramid!ncc!apss!nmm@apple.com (Neil McCulloch) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? In article <1098@Portia.Stanford.EDU>, bugboy@Portia.Stanford.EDU (Michael Frank) writes: > I'm wathing an interview with the discoverers right now on MacNeil-Lehrer. > You know, it just sounds too good to be true. Maybe these guys are pulling > an elaborate April Fools' joke. Either that, or it's going to be > bigger than the high-temperature superconductors. Guaranteed Nobel prizes. Yes sounds very much like an April Fools' joke. Especially since there's an international connection. But darn it, if it is, it's not fair since April Fools' jokes should be confined to the first of April on pain of death! However, I am reminded of when I first read in the New Scientist of the plutonium release from Windscale decades ago, complete with diagrams of leukemia rates and so on. It was so dramatic and being in their April 1 issue, I didn't believe it. It was only several years later that I realised it was a true report based on fact. Or was it... neil ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 19:18:17 GMT From: vsi1!v7fs1!mvp@apple.com (Mike Van Pelt) Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication? In article <1989Mar24.084857.22929@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes: >Nuclear proliferation may have just become a lot easier. I am >moderately surprised that it wasn't classified. Maybe it will be >now? :-) Maybe that's why they announced their discovery in such a (for a scientific discovery) funny way. With a short-notice press conference and media coverage, the secret is out. The newspaper article I looked at seemed to imply that some of the skepticism of the scientific community was based on the unorthodox method of the announcement. (Plus the sheer effrontery of a couple of _chemists_ claiming to fuse hydrogen in an electrolytic cell!) -- The powers not delegated to the United States by the | Mike Van Pelt Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are | Video 7 reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.| ..ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp U. S. Constitution, Ammendment 10. (Bill of Rights) | ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 21:19:33 GMT From: jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) Subject: Re: Soviet space and life science From article <2981@eos.UUCP>, by eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya): > [...] > And don't expect them to tell you anything if they themselves don't > learn anything either. Exactly. But a negative result on an experiment is just as valuable as a positive one. The Soviets are somewhat reticent to discuss expensive failures however. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 19:32:32 GMT From: att!mtuxo!tee@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (54317-T.EBERSOLE) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? In article <290@vlsi.ll.mit.edu>, glenn@vlsi.ll.mit.edu (Glenn Chapman) writes: > > A very astounding breakthrough just may have been made in nuclear > fusion. According to both the Financial Times (Mar 23, pg. 1, 26, and 22) -----Stuff deleted---- > The process they are using consists of the following. Consider an > electrochemical cell (like a battery) with a platinum electrode, a heated > palladium electrode in a bath of heavy water (deuterium oxide). Flow current I read somewhere not very authoritative (I can't remember, but I don't read autoritative magazines much) that "cold," or muon-catalyzed, fusion would be expected to occur at about 900 C or so. I can hardly wait for real news on how this "Pd-Pt catalyzed" fusion can be sustained with essentially no rise in temperature. Any speculations available? My trusty dictionary indicates Palladium is used as a catalyst in hydrogenation processes, so there is some justification for why it might be useful in a process involving Deuterium. However, this reaction is not all that interesting to me since it produces nasty fast neutrons. I know there are reactions which eject fast-moving ions (electrons, etc.) with no gamma rays or neutrons; I seem to recall these involve carbon as one of the "reactants." Anyone know what these particular fusion reactions are, or have a reference I could look this up in? Perhaps this fusion-catalyzing process will turn out to be more general once it's understood. (I like to leap before I look.) I'd even accept a process which had to occcur at 100 C, if it was clean in a non-gamma ray, non-neutron producing sort of way. If I had any choice in the matter. =============== -- Tim Ebersole ...!att!mtuxo!tee or {allegra,ulysses,mtune,...}!mtuxo!tee ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 17:08:36 GMT From: mailrus!uflorida!haven!aplcen!aplcomm!stdb.jhuapl.edu!jwm@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jim Meritt) Subject: Re: Were remote manipulators ever called Waldoes? In article HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes: }Here's what I think may have happened: } }1. Heinlein writes a popular story in *Astounding Science Fiction* in which }remotely controlled hands are called "waldoes." I do not believe that they were named at all in the book. Waldo was the name of the more than a little odd individual (with MS?) who lived in orbit and was REAL weak that invented/used them both locally and as teleoperators onto earth. I believe "Waldo and Magic, Inc." was the name of the book... Disclaimer: "It's mine! All mine!!!" - D. Duck ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 20:05:07 GMT From: kanefsky@UMN-CS.CS.UMN.EDU (Steve Kanefsky) Subject: Re: Were remote manipulators ever called Waldoes? In article <3459@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu> jwm@aplvax.UUCP (Jim Meritt) writes: >In article HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes: >>1. Heinlein writes a popular story in *Astounding Science Fiction* in which >>remotely controlled hands are called "waldoes." >I do not believe that they were named at all in the book. Waldo was the >name of the more than a little odd individual (with MS?) who lived in >orbit and was REAL weak that invented/used them both locally and as >teleoperators onto earth. >I believe "Waldo and Magic, Inc." was the name of the book... Actually, there were two novelettes contained in the one book. One was _Waldo_, and the other was _Magic,_Inc._ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Kanefsky CSci Department, University of Minnesota Twin Cities kanefsky@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 23 Mar 89 14:36:00 GMT From: texbell!merch!cpe!hal6000!trsvax!reyn@bellcore.com Subject: Sources of hydrogen? On a recent NOVA, (The world is full of oil), they featured an atronomer (sorry, I don't remember his name) who suspects that a large amount of the Earth's hydrocarbons are of non-organic origin. To support his theory, a test well was drilled in Sweden, with no conclusive results. The program mentioned that non-organic Methane was found, but that it was not in "large quantities". I have no idea what their idea of large is, but that any Methane was found at all leads me to the following queries... If Methane does exist "deep within the Earth", would it be at all resonable to assume that this might be the case for the Moon also? If the answer to part one is maybe, would Methane recovered from deep wells on the Moon be a more viable option for obtaining Lunar Hydrogen than extracting the Hydrogen deposited in Lunar soil by the Solar wind? If the answers to part one and two are both maybe, what would be the logical way to proceed with prospecting likely Lunar sites? ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 16:48:22 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ethan@husc6.harvard.edu (Ethan Tecumseh Vishniac) Subject: Re: Primordial Hydrocarbons In article <291@v7fs1.UUCP>, mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) writes: > In article <986@calvin.EE.CORNELL.EDU> johns@calvin.ee.cornell.edu.UUCP (John Sahr) writes: > 347DODT@CMUVM.BITNET (ERIC WALLIS) writes: > <>Volatiles in the moon? Unlikely, as a geology major I can say that > <>volatiles(if you mean hydrocarbons such as gas) would require the burying > <>and heating of dead plants and animals... unlikely on a lifeless body. I'm not sure what compounds are beings discussed here. However, the solar system is full of "organic" compounds in places where no life has been found, or is likely to exist. Carbon is a very common atom in the universe and its compounds occur under a wide variety of conditions. Carbon chains have even been detected in interstellar space. In any case, methane, ammonia and all sorts of other gunk are found on the outer planets and most of their moons. > oconnor%sungod@steinmetz.UUCP writes: >An article by mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) says: >] There is, however, a rather large fly in the ointment. There are two >] places on this planet you can get platinum-group metals in quantity. >] [...] One of them is the Soviet Union. The other is South Africa. > >There's a third large source : auto junkyards. TONS of platinum anyway. >I don't know if palladium is in catalytic converters or not. Just platinum, I'm pretty sure. As for quantity, though, I think it is somewhat less than "TONS". There's a verrrry thin layer of platinum flashed over a ceramic. >My Rubber Bible says palladium can be found in North America, Australia, >and Ethiopia as well as USSR and SA. It says Ontario is a "considerable" >source of Platinum and Palladium. The Sudbury nickel deposit in Ontario is, I think, the biggest source outside of SU & SA. Interestingly enough, it's an old impact site of a nickel-iron asteroid. These have a good bit of platinum group metals mixed in with the nickel and iron. One good earth-orbit-intersecting asteriod could probably supply all our needs for the next millinium. Of course, the way things are going in THAT department, we'd have to by asteroid platinum and palladium from the Soviet Union, too. -- "I hate trolls. Maybe I could metamorph it into | Mike Van Pelt something else -- like a ravenous, two-headed, | Video 7 fire-breathing dragon." -- Willow. | ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ Date: 24 Mar 89 03:56:07 GMT From: phoenix!mbkennel@princeton.edu (Matthew B. Kennel) Subject: Re: PHOBOS INFO (was NSS Hotline Update for 3/17/89) In article <72854@ti-csl.csc.ti.com> DMeyer@m2.csc.ti.com (Dane Meyer) writes: >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >The Soviet space probe Phobos, which is in orbit about Mars, is drawing > >closer to its destination the moon Phobos. On April 1 the spacecraft will > >pass within 150 feet of the lopsided moon and deploy two landers. One > >lander will harpoon itself into the surface while the other hops around on > >the surface. > > ...150 *feet*!!??!! I had no idea it planned to skim that close. I'm used >to figures measured in *miles*! Ok, so here's a question for ya: How do the >landers decelerate, and/or what is their speed relative to Phobos? I don't know what the speed is, but apparently they're doing laser-ranging and real-time on-board orbital adjustments. They're also using a laser to burn up parts of the surface and analyze the absoprtion properties of the gas. Yup, they're not "catching up" with US experimental space science, they've blown us away. The hottest US technology of 1975 that's launched in 1990 (galileo) can't compare to 1989 Russian "3-5 years behind US" technology that's flying in '90. > >Ken Scofield Hewlett Packard, Corvallis, Oregon > ARPA: kas@hp-pcd.hp.com > UUCP: {convex rice rudgers ames}!hp-pcd!hpcvic!kas Matt Kennel mbkennel@phoenix.princeton.edu ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #316 *******************