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 ; Tue, 25 Jul 89 00:22:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 00:21:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #552 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 552 Today's Topics: space news from June 26 AW&ST Payload Status for 07/14/89 (Forwarded) Questions about Apollo 11 Re: Moonwalk Re: Questions about Apollo 11 Re: Procurement and future computers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Jul 89 03:36:56 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: space news from June 26 AW&ST Asiasat is in trouble -- the Bush administration's embargo on shipment of high technology to China prevents its Hughes-built satellite from being launched on Long March next April. Asiasat is lobbying for an exception. Partial restoration of Aerospace Plane funds is now likely, although it is likely that there will be some reduction and some resulting schedule slip. Interior Dept.'s Bureau of Land Management is evaluating Geostar for tracking its aircraft. BLM aircraft do much flying at low altitudes in wild areas, and crew safety is a major concern. Existing schemes involving frequent manual position reporting are very cumbersome. Six aircraft and two helicopters have been equipped with Geostar hardware for a two-year trial, and so far it is working very well. Locstar [I think this is the European side of Geostar] chooses Matra to build two satellites for European location and messaging services. Insat, the Indian comsat scheduled for launch June 29, is badly damaged when a 75-lb hoist hook falls 30 ft onto it. Although the satellite was loaded with fuel, there was no explosion and nobody was hurt. The USAF, India, and McDonnell Douglas (the launch contractor) are assessing the damage, but several months of repairs will probably be needed and it is possible that the satellite may be a writeoff. The launcher will probably be used for the British BSB broadcast satellite, which is also in line for a Delta launch. Ariane 5 development program will probably slip several months and perhaps longer, because a US-built solid-fuel-mixing machine destined for Kourou is being diverted to US solid-rocket manufacturer Hercules to replace a mixer damaged in an accident early this year. The mixer was to reach Kourou in early fall to be incorporated into the Ariane 5 SRB manufacturing plant, along with another mixer to arrive late in the year. Worse, the second mixer may be delayed because the first one needs to be reworked to fit Hercules's needs, and manpower is short. The Europeans are Not Pleased, and are urging the US to deliver the mixers as originally scheduled, saying that Hercules has others. "This could go down as another black day in European-US space relations, and it comes at a time when Europe already is questioning the reliability of the US as a partner..." Story on NASA Lewis work on slush hydrogen as fuel for the Aerospace Plane. Slush is the prime candidate for NASP fuel, as it is both denser than liquid hydrogen and a better coolant. Work so far indicates that there are no impossible roadblocks, just a lot of technology development needed. Major problems are efficient production of slush, measurement of solid- liquid ratio for tank-capacity gauges and fuel-flow meters, and the choice of tank-pressurization gas (hydrogen will tend to condense out, melting the slush and interfering with pressurization, while helium is costly and needs heavy, bulky pressure tanks; a mixed scheme, using a layer of helium to separate hydrogen gas from the slush, is being investigated). William Lenoir, ex-astronaut now in charge of the space station, urges accelerating start of station assembly to get things moving. The idea has not yet been studied in depth. Lenoir says the station is likely to shrink a bit if funding continues tight, and he's not sure that the 20 shuttle flights allotted to station construction are enough, but identifying such problems and sorting them out is currently his first priority. He says the idea of switching to solar-dynamic power has been rejected: the technology has not been as thoroughly proven as he'd like, there was a distinct risk of schedule slips, and it would cost more in a time of tight funding. It is still an option for a later upgrade. Senate authorizing committee gives NASA full funding for CRAF and Cassini, on condition that NASA establish a firm cost-control plan, to include cancellation of CRAF if cost limits are exceeded. NASA astronaut David Griggs, scheduled to fly a shuttle mission late this year [not sure which one], dies in a flying accident in Arkansas. Photo of a model of a Tupolev proposal for a hypersonic transport, on show at the Paris air show. [Interestingly enough, the aft fuselage has a flat top with no central fin -- meant to carry a spaceplane on top??] Pratt&Whitney propulsion people working on the Aerospace Plane say that most everyone agrees that some rocket propulsion will be needed for the final boost into orbit, and that all three airframe contractors include one in their designs. General Dynamics starts preparing an Atlas-Centaur for launch from the Cape, carrying a Navy comsat. This will be the last expendable launch under NASA authority. The satellite is the one that was scheduled to go up two years ago when the Centaur's hydrogen tank was destroyed in a pad accident. NASA prepares for antinuclear protestors to object to the Galileo launch carrying isotope power units. The "Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice" is claiming "...it only takes one Challenger-type explosion and launch or one Chernobyl accident in space to destroy life on our fragile planet...", and that solar power would be a practical substitute. (Both false -- such isotope generators have reentered and disintegrated before without significant ill effect, and solar power is unworkable for outer-solar-system missions, especially in Jupiter's high-radiation environment.) A more moderate group, the "Committee to Bridge the Gap", although it opposes space nuclear power in general and believes there are some risks in the Galileo launch, has given Galileo its blessing on the grounds that the benefits outweigh the minor risks. NASA says the worst case would be a reentry during one of Galileo's Earth flybys; this would be more likely to disperse the plutonium-238 in the isotope packs than a launch accident. The CtBtG expresses some doubts about the numbers in the safety assessments, although it says NASA has done a good job on the test program for the generators. The White House must approve the launch of the generators before Galileo can go up. Voyager discovers a large dark spot on Neptune, which (on reexamination of older pictures) has been there since at least January. The spot is comparable to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, in proportion to the planet. -- 1961-1969: 8 years of Apollo. | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology 1969-1989: 20 years of nothing.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jul 89 06:34:28 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Payload Status for 07/14/89 (Forwarded) Payload Status Report Kennedy Space Center Friday, July 14, 1989 George H. Diller Galileo/IUS-19 Final prelaunch assembly of the Galileo spacecraft continues in the SAEF-2 planetary spacecraft checkout facility. The low gain antenna has been installed and checked out. Final thermal blanket installation continues and is scheduled for completion at the end of this week. The installation of micrometeorite shielding is also nearing completion. The sun gate, acquisition sensor, and star scanner have been installed and testing on those instruments is finished. Testing has also been completed on the attitude control sensors. The magnetometer has been installed, connected, and calibrated. Deployment tests of the science boom and the pair of RTG booms is complete. A decision has been made to reschedule the installation of the radio relay antenna to later at the Vertical Processing Facility. Some additional thermal blanket work is necessary in the area of the antenna. This system is used by the Galileo orbiter to receive data from the probe after its deployment. Earlier this week a test was performed between Galileo and the MILA tracking station at KSC. The exercise attempted to determine whether the power and the pair of radio frequencies used by MILA could cause spurious commands to be introduced into the spacecraft computer. Such a concern arose on Magellan during the launch countdown. While a low level of radio noise in the spacecraft receiver was detected, the test determined that inadvertant commands to Galileo's computer is unlikely. Checkout of the Inertial Upper Stage booster continues on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The first and second stage have been mated, and this week the booster was attached to the aft airborne support equipment. Electrical testing is now underway. Mating with the forward ASE is scheduled for Monday and will also be followed by a series of electrical tests. The IUS will be moved to the Vertical Processing Facility on July 23 and Galileo's arrival will follow on July 24. Preparations will then begin for IUS/Galileo mating. SSBUV Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet experiment (SSBUV) will provide direct in-orbit data for calibration of ultraviolet readings provided by NOAA-9, NOAA 11, and the Ultraviolet Atmospheric Research Satellite. Its primary use relates to the long term studies of atmospheric ozone depletion. This will be the first of ten flights for the instrument scheduled between now and the end of 1995. The payload consists of two GAS-type canisters which are mounted on an adapter beam in the orbiter. One canister contains the instrument and operates with a motorized door assembly while the other canister contains the support systems. SSBUV is currently in Hangar AE on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and is ready to be transported to the orbiter processing facility. On Tuesday, July 18, it is scheduled to be mounted on the right payload bay wall of Atlantis. On Wednesday, July 19, an interface verification test (IVT) will be conducted. AC-68/FltSatCom F-8 Checkout of the Atlas Centaur on Pad B at Launch Complex 36 is going well. Testing of the Atlas stage and Centaur stage propulsion systems is underway. The installation of the vernier engine thrusters used in launch vehicle guidance has been completed. The nose fairing has been moved to the ESA-60 explosive safe area where it will be prepared for its eventual encapsulation of the FltSatCom satellite late in August. The spacecraft remains scheduled to arrive at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 31 and will be taken to the Hangar AM spacecraft checkout facility for final assembly and testing. Ground facilities and ground support equipment continues under test at the launch pad and in the Complex 36 blockhouse. There have been no signifcant problems. The Terminal Countdown Demonstration test - a practice countdown, propellant tanking, and launch team certification - is scheduled for August 9. The launch of AC-68 remains targeted for September 8. ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jul 89 20:11:43 GMT From: dsacg1!bcd-dyn!dbp@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (dbp) Subject: Questions about Apollo 11 I watched the CBS special about Apollo 11 last night. (Thanks to whoever posted the notice; I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.) Can anybody answer two questions? There is lots of footage looking backward as a stage separates and falls away. The cameras that took these shots were mounted in other stages that were eventually discarded as well. How were the pictures from those cameras retrieved? Was there a downlink so the separation could be monitored in Houston as it happened? Was it recorded in the CM and seen only after splashdown? This one I've wondered about for 20 years. There is the famous view of the moon's surface as the Eagle was landing. I suppose the pictures were looking out through the LEM's window. Just at landing, something that looks like a hand holding a needle-like object appears in the upper right-hand side of the picture and comes down across the window. What was that? What did it do? Doug Pape (dbp@bcd-dyn!dsacg) Battelle Memorial Institute Columbus, Ohio 614 424-5667 ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jul 89 12:31:02 GMT From: cwjcc!mailrus!shogun!msiskin@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Marc Siskin) Subject: Re: Moonwalk In article <2280@orion.cf.uci.edu> dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu (Doug Krause) writes: > >Also, how did the camera that was left behind on the Moon track the >top of the Eagle taking off? and how did they get THAT reel of film >back? > >Douglas Krause CA Prop i: Ban Gummie Bears(tm)! >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >University of California, Irvine ARPANET: dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu >Welcome to Irvine, Yuppieland USA BITNET: DJKrause@ucivmsa I am not sure how long the Apollo astronauts were on the moon, but I do know that teh shot of the LM launching was not from Apollo 11 but from a later flight. It wasn't filmed either but was a live video shot from the Lunar Rover's camera. It was exciting watching the liftoff live (so to speak) when it occured. Marc Siskin Child of the Space Age Any opinions expressed are my own. The University of Michigan doesn't pay me enough to have opinions for them. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 89 18:09:21 GMT From: att!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!druhi!tml@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Tim Larison) Subject: Re: Questions about Apollo 11 In article <1188@bcd-dyn.UUCP>, dbp@bcd-dyn.UUCP (dbp) writes: > > > I watched the CBS special about Apollo 11 last night. > (Thanks to whoever posted the notice; I wouldn't have known > about it otherwise.) Can anybody answer two questions? > > (first question deleted) > > This one I've wondered about for 20 years. There is the famous view > of the moon's surface as the Eagle was landing. I suppose the > pictures were looking out through the LEM's window. Just at landing, > something that looks like a hand holding a needle-like object appears in > the upper right-hand side of the picture and comes down across the window. > What was that? What did it do? > I believe that is the shadow of the antenna on top of the LEM on the lunar surface. The needle like object is the antenna, and the "hand" is the base of the antenna. I found the CBS special very good, though they did take dramatic license in one case. When the top of the LEM blasted off from the moon, they showed a television feed of the LEM leaving the lunar surface. As I remember, there were no live shots of this on Apollo 11; only on a later Apollo moon landing did they leave a tv camera behind to record the takeoff from the lunar surface. But CBS took that footage and made it appear that we were watching Apollo 11 take off. Tim Larison att!druhi!tml ------------------------------ Date: 6 Jul 89 17:58:46 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!wasatch!uplherc!esunix!bpendlet@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Pendleton) Subject: Re: Procurement and future computers From article <8907052107.AA11153@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov>, by roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts): > >>From: Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU >>If you want a sophisticated machine for 1998, and you REALLY MUST roll >>your own, then do something real instead of spending many millions for >>a museum piece. I'd suggest you look at: > >> - minimum resolution on screen of 300 dpi (400 would be nicer) >> with ~32 bits per pixel to handle color, intensity and >> transparency. > How would you allocate the bit fields? Many display designers regard 24 bits > (8 each of RGB) as being fully satisfactory for both color and intensity. > Does "transparency" in this context mean priority of overlapping objects or > frames? The extra 8 bits can be used for a number of different things. Overlay planes, for things like menus and cursors, underlay planes, for backgrounds, window priority, how you interpret the rest of the bits in the pixel... 8 bits really isn't enough. I'd like 16 bits just for window IDs. Anyway, for many applications 24 bits of color just isn't good enough 9 bits of RGB is needed. For a true 3D display you also need something like a z buffer. 16 bits of z isn't always "good enough." I've met people who will not be happy until they can get a 32 bit floating point z buffer. And of course, if you want stereo you need double buffering. Lets see, that's 27 bits of color, times 2 for stereo, plus 16 for window bits plus 24 for z is 94 bits per pixel. It doesn't look that hard to come up with a frame buffer design that uses more than 100 bits per pixel. A 24 bit true color frame buffer might impress computer people, like me. But it doesn't cut it with artists. Or with scientist who are trying to simulate reality. Bob P. -- - Bob Pendleton, speaking only for myself. - UUCP Address: decwrl!esunix!bpendlet or utah-cs!esunix!bpendlet - - Reality is stranger than most can imagine. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #552 *******************