Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from corsica.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 ; Wed, 28 Jun 89 00:20:22 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 00:20:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #516 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 516 Today's Topics: Commercial launch services symposium held (Forwarded) Re: Satellite Images - at home! Re: Don't mess with NASA? Re: Satellite Images - at home! Re: Satellite Images - at home! Re: HST update - from the horse's mouth Magellan Status for 06/26/89 (Forwarded) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Jun 89 01:05:05 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Commercial launch services symposium held (Forwarded) Jim Cast Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 23, 1989 RELEASE: 89-102 COMMERCIAL LAUNCH SERVICES SYMPOSIUM HELD On June 19, NASA hosted a commercial launch services symposium in Washington, D.C., in an effort to better understand specific industry concerns about the agency's procurement practices and procedures relating to commercial launch services. Two-thirds of the potential domestic commercial launch services companies accepted NASA's invitation to address government-wide officials on current developments in the fledgling commercial expendable launch vehicle (ELV) industry itself; on policies and procedures considered to be objectionable in recent NASA commercial ELV solicitations; on ways to streamline or tailor individual solicitation requirements to specific needs while adequately safeguarding the government's interests; and on identifying specific legislation needed to procure ELV services on terms and conditions more suitable to the industry. During the all-day session, presenting companies included: Space Services, Inc.; McDonnell Douglas Astronautics; Conatec; Martin Marietta Aerospace, CTI; E'Prime Aerospace; LTV; General Dynamics, Space Systems Division; and American Rocket Company. During the next symposium, yet to be scheduled, the government will respond to the myriad comments and suggestions received during the June 19 session. Reference points for industry comments were NASA's first two commercial ELV procurement actions: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites commercial launches, awarded to General Dynamics in 1988; and NASA's latest competition, last May, for commercial medium performance class launch services for up to 15 missions. Proposals received under the latter solicitation are presently being evaluated. As a matter of policy, NASA is purchasing future ELV launch services directly from commercial operators, whenever possible, to support its scientific and applications mission that are not assigned to fly on the Space Shuttle. Missions that do not require the unique capabilties of the Shuttle are being placed on ELVs so that a mixed fleet of shuttles and ELVs will be available to assure access to space for NASA programs. BACKGROUND INFORMATION COMMERCIAL LAUNCH SERVICES SYMPOSIUM "If you contract with me to deliver a piece of furniture from coast to coast, it's not necessary for you to design and micro-oversee my transportation system for me. My job is to get that piece of furniture to its exact destination safely and on time. If I don't do a good job, I won't be in business very long. That same simplicity should guide your future commercial launch services procurements!" (Anonymous entreprenuerial launch service spokesman.) "It is important to note that launch services requirements posed by NASA differ significantly from what could be called "routine," non-NASA commercial launches such as a communications satellite. NASA spacecraft are vital and represent a national resource. They are usually one-of-a-kind, complex machines that represent not only a large investment from our Treasury, but a large investment from the best of our national scientific and engineering community. Indeed some spacecraft investigators have their entire career riding on your vehicle." (Anonymous NASA program manager.) And so the discussion continued on June 19, 1989. Over the past few months there has been increasing communications between private industry and NASA regarding to commercial launch service procurement policies and practices. In an attempt to better understand industry's viewpoint, NASA sponsored a Launch Service Procurement Symposium in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 1989, and invited the expendable launch vehicle (ELV) industry to publically express not only their general concerns with NASA's procurement practices but also identify specific provisions and regulations they perceived as most onerous and provide the Agency with recommended solutions and/or modified provisions. During the all-day session, representatives from eight of the potential 12 domestic launch vehicle companies interested in providing commercial launch services accepted NASA's invitation to present their company's perspective on NASA's current ELV launch service procurement strategy. The full spectrum of potential commercial ELV manufacturers were equally represented. All of the established firms participated including Martin Marietta Aerospace, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, LTV Corporation and General A number of new entrants into the industry also participated including E'Prime Aerospace, American Rocket Company, Space Services Inc. and Conatec. Presentations and recommendations were as varied as the nature of each company's product line and perspective. Given the wide experience diversity within the ELV industry, ranging from firms who have extensive years of flight experience to firms who are in the design phase, it has proven a challenging task for NASA to structure solicitations which give every domestic launch service company a full opportunity to compete. To futher complicate the process, NASA has been working to develop a procurement strategy for commercial launch services that not only allows all potential domestic firms to compete, but also balances requisite agency oversight, federal procurement laws, national space policy objectives and commercially reasonable practices. The fact that NASA has indeed taken positive steps toward balancing this often conflicting set of objectives while learning to procure launch services rather than launch vehicles was acknowledged throughout the day. NASA's effort to bring together the diverse group of interested parties in government and industry was a success, since some 100 representatives of the ELV industry, NASA field center and headquarters program and procurement offices, the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Transportation, the OMB and congressional staffers participated in the symposium. In support of the mixed fleet strategy, NASA is purchasing requisite ELV launch services directly from commercial operators, whenever possible, to support scientific and applications missions that do not require the Space Shuttle's unique capabilities. The NASA mixed fleet strategy has evolved in concert with national policy directives to utilize both the Space Shuttle and ELV's to assure access to space for civilian government missions. NASA was responsible for awarding the first U.S. Government commercial launch service contract in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite spacecraft in May 1988. NASA's second competitive solicitation for medium performance, launch services, to support three firm and potentially 12 additional NASA scientific missions, was released in May and served as the catalyst for industry desires that NASA procure services in a "commercially reasonable manner". One industry representative stated at the symposium, "NASA should treat a launch vehicle failure as a source of learning", likewise, industry should treat NASA's second attempt at procuring launch services as learning rather than a failure. The process to procure commercially is indeed an evolutionary rather than an overnight occurrence. The June 19 symposium was not a one time event, but a step toward opening communication lines between NASA and industry to work together to develop a system that balances the concerns and needs of both. A follow-up symposium will be held later this summer where NASA's procurement policies, plans and practices will be clarified in response to concerns raised by industry. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jun 89 16:08:06 GMT From: ames.arc.nasa.gov!mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick) Subject: Re: Satellite Images - at home! In article <53*kerry@ccu.umanitoba.ca> kerry@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Kerry Stevenson) writes: >Recently, I read a book about amateur radio which told me all about radio, and >mentioned briefly the concept of listening in on signals transmitted from >various type of earth orbiting satellites. Although this in itself is not too >difficult, the book mentioned that some individuals have managed to capture >video signals, from weather satellites for example, and using their home >computer systems have actually printed out images. Also, a recent article in >Spaceflight detailed the impressive setup owned by a Briton, who had managed >to print out oceanic images from the Soviet Okean satellite. This topic is >of some interest to me and I have the following questions: > >- Is this a common activity, or is it done by just a few deranged people? >- What types of satellites are popular for capturing images? >- What equipment (other than computing hardware) is required? >- Are there legalities involved? e.g. are SPOT images encoded? >- Most importantly, are there any referenes, official or otherwise which > can be used to find out more detail? > >Thanx in advance, >Kerry S. Yes, alot of amateurs do their own weather satellite monitoring. Many of the satellites were designed to be accessable to users with small setups, so for instance, someone in a small village in India would be able to pick up the images. Hams have been picking up satellite pictures for 20 years or more, at one time using surplus fax machines. Unfortunately, from what I understand, the it is very difficult to receive the "direct" signals from the birds. That is, a satellite will send a picture using a low power transmitter to a specific receiving station. The station will then add in the country boarders and any other extra information and send the picture back up to the satellite, which then relays it on a high power signal down to the normal users. So for most cases, you won't be receiving the "live" data, but that which had already been processed. If you pick up any ham radio magazine, you'll probably find some ads for weather satellite gear. *** mike (still looking for a publisher) smithwick *** "Los Angeles : Where neon goes to die" [disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas] ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jun 89 20:41:50 GMT From: jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@rutgers.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Don't mess with NASA? In article <32650@apple.Apple.COM> leech@Apple.COM (Jonathan Patrick Leech) writes: >>EMBARASSING!! EMBARASSING!!! There is such class to crawling into >>a DC-3 at an airport that there is not even any word for such mega- >>class. The only thing better than a DC-3 is TWO DC-3s. > > Are you sure you're not really Henry "Version 7" Spencer posting >under an alias? He definitely isn't. I consider the DC-3 a charming historical relic, period. If you want class when climbing into an aircraft, it has to have afterburners. (Alas, I haven't had a chance at this yet...) -- NASA is to spaceflight as the | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology US government is to freedom. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 89 21:00:03 GMT From: mcvax!fmr@uunet.uu.net (Frank Rahmani) Subject: Re: Satellite Images - at home! > mentioned briefly the concept of listening in on signals transmitted from > various type of earth orbiting satellites. > - Is this a common activity, or is it done by just a few deranged people? I just don't like the way you pose your question. Of course its no 'common activity' but why do you call people doing it deranged?? > - What equipment (other than computing hardware) is required? Something to receive the signal (antenna and receiver, perhaps downconverter) some kind of signal converter between receiver and computer and of course computer software. > - Are there legalities involved? e.g. are SPOT images encoded? Depends on which satellite you want to receive > - Most importantly, are there any referenes, official or otherwise which > can be used to find out more detail? There was a posting very recently on the net (schematics and software) that used an average Atari computer to receive satpics. fmr@cwi.nl -- It is better never to have been born. But who among us has such luck? Maintainer's Motto: If we can't fix it, it ain't broke. These opinions are solely mine and in no way reflect those of my employer. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 89 07:48:46 GMT From: uc!nic.MR.NET!srcsip!tcnet!nis!datapg!ann!tomg@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Thomas S. Greenwalt) Subject: Re: Satellite Images - at home! In article <53*kerry@ccu.umanitoba.ca> kerry@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Kerry Stevenson) writes: >- Is this a common activity, or is it done by just a few deranged people? >- What types of satellites are popular for capturing images? >- What equipment (other than computing hardware) is required? >- Are there legalities involved? e.g. are SPOT images encoded? >- Most importantly, are there any referenes, official or otherwise which > can be used to find out more detail? > There was an Amateur Scientist article in Scientific American around 1974 that had plans for building such a device. It would create a black and white photo from the signal sent by the NOAA-2 on the frequency 137.5 megahertz. I have no idea if this satellite is still transmitting. The operator would record the signal and play it back to a imaging device that basicly was a rotating drum with light sensitive paper wrapped around it and a lamp to expose the paper. Really a very simple device. -- Thomas S. Greenwalt {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!ann!tomg A.N.N. Systems +1 612-866-1344 tomg@ann.MN.ORG tomg@ann!uunet ------------------ Patience is a Vice, Tolerance is a Virtue ------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 89 20:36:44 GMT From: stsci!sims@noao.edu (Jim Sims) Subject: Re: HST update - from the horse's mouth > Does this mean that after something goes wrong, the orbit decays, and we > launch a shuttle to fix it, we can't reboost it to the original high > orbit? > well, it's gets more complicated - first of all, you have to pay fuel to make the rendeveous, not to mention a _very_ narrow launch window each day you want to try to go snag it. Then, the solar panel sprobably won't stand the reboost in the deployed position, so you lose them. And now, you back to where you started on the original deployment mission, except you've spent all that extra fuel to get here, are at a lower altitude than before, _and_ have a mandatory EVA if you want to reboost (to replace the solar panels). ugly. THIS is just ONE good reason we need a space station - drop by _anytime_ & fix the sucker.. -- Jim Sims Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, MD UUCP: {arizona,decvax,hao,ihnp4}!noao!stsci!sims ARPA: sims@stsci.edu SPAM: STOSC::SIMS ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 89 23:53:54 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Magellan Status for 06/26/89 (Forwarded) MAGELLAN WEEKLY STATUS June 26, 1989 This is a weekly status report. The Magellan spacecraft went through successful momentum wheel desaturations on a daily basis. Of the seven star scans to update the attitude from Friday June 16 to Thursday June 22, four were fully successful on both stars and three were partially successful, rejecting one of two stars in each case. On each of three days the star scanner detected a spurious pulse from one of the two stars. The flight software correctly rejected the pulse, but also rejected the measurement because the timing was then off. Only a two-axis attitude update was obtained in each case. The problem appears to be related to spacecraft attitude, since these events occurred after the turn to alternate medium-gain antenna attitude June 12. A second star calibration was performed Saturday to get acceptable magnitude thresholds for two new stars, Alpha Centauri and Sirius. The selected magnitudes were acceptable, but Sirius may be too bright and too blue to be a reliable guide star, and data analysis is continuing. The good news concerning star scans is that the on-board bias estimation process was enabled last Monday and after two consecutive good scans the following two days, the process was verified as functioning perfectly. It is so stable, mission operators said, that they could miss every other star scan, or even several in a row, and not lose track of Magellan's attitude. Further adjustments are being considered to make the flight system even more immune to interruption by spurious pulses. The spacecraft's current attitude is keeping the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) and the Rocket Engine Modules (REMs) cool. But they are expected to warm up again when the High-Gain antenna is again turned toward Earth on day 181. Tests are in progress at Morton Thiokol on SRM fuel samples to determine the actual upper temperature limits and tests results are expected by July 7. Also, Martin Marietta in Denver is working with JPL on tests to determine upper temperature limits of the flight REMs. The final command sequence of Cruise 5 was completed and sent to the systems verification lab for testing. An error was found in the flight software and corrected with a one-word patch and the sequence was uploaded last Saturday. SPACECRAFT Distance From Earth (mi) 7,039,205 Velocity Geocentric 5,393 mph Heliocentric 63,381 mph One Way Light Time 37.8 sec ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #516 *******************