Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Wed, 14 Feb 90 01:30:48 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <8ZqDg0m00VcJ4PRk4Y@andrew.cmu.edu> Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 14 Feb 90 01:30:25 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #41 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 41 Today's Topics: Re: Space Station Costs inter stellar travel Re: SSX and Propellants Re: Galileo Update - 02/06/90 (Forwarded) Re: Recreation in Space Metric ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Feb 90 04:54:32 GMT From: shlump.nac.dec.com!shodha.dec.com!thewav!pflueger@decwrl.dec.com (Free speech is a sound investment) Subject: Re: Space Station Costs [Following along on the thread about the cost of LLNL's space station (and lunar base)] What about LLNL's idea? Is it plausible? Cost effective? Didn't the VP meet with those folks awhile back? What was the outcome? Should we develop the idea in paralell (sp?) and let the best proposal win?? =Jp=[Who supports the idea based upon what I've seen] +------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ Jim Pflueger [@thewav.enet.dec.com] | "History teaches that grave threats to Digital Equipment Corp. (CWO) | liberty often come in times of urgency, 3390 Harbor Blvd. | when constitutional rights seem too Costa Mesa, Ca. 92626 {Go Donks!} | extravagant to endure..." +(714)850-7745 ______________________+__Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal_+ ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 90 20:42:28 GMT From: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Patrick Brewer) Subject: inter stellar travel I just started reading this news group recently. I have noticed a lot of talk about interstellar travel. When we speak of .01 to .7 C I see this as speeds for maybe space probes. I know a few years back there was discusion about particles that might travel faster than the speed of light. How have results of that thinking turned out? To have useful interstellar travel by people we would need speeds in the range of light years per day or more. At the speed of light it would take a little over 4 years to reach the nearest star. What are the chances that it would have a planet that man could live on. (I find perfectly reasonable to assume that most stars have planets that make up a star system (? like "solar system").) To go out and find a planet that could be colonized we might be going 100's of light years away! Any one know how many stars there within 100 lightyears of us? I would like to think that after a few million years of evolution and technological advancement that humans would have bases in many parts of the galaxy. For such expansion, humans must beable to break the light barrier. ( When I was younger I liked to day dream about inter-galactic travel. Knowing the distances involved I imagined ships capable of speeds measured in 1000's of lightyears per second! Just think, 25 sec.'s to your favorite constelation! I also got bored one night and calculated the number of cubic cm's in the visible universe! If the calculation is right it is some number times 10 to the 98 power.) Guess I should stop here. This is not sci.realistic.sci-fi! ps Is there a sci-fi news group? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NOBLE One Patrick W. Brewer noble@shumv1.ncsu.edu An experienced politician is a dangerous thing! ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 90 09:45:55 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!uniwa!vax6!tsmithlm@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: SSX and Propellants What? ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 90 16:37:25 GMT From: pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Galileo Update - 02/06/90 (Forwarded) In article <1508.25d82bc5@csc.anu.oz> dxb105@csc.anu.oz writes: >> ... G is only known to about five digits!) > >There's even a theory (``fifth force'') that gravity has short-range (~100m?) >components, so that the value of G measured in a laboratory might be ~1% >different from the value relevant for interplanetary work. I haven't heard much >of these measurements recently, did the theory die? It's lost ground because some fairly careful experiments got negative results. This does leave the question of why some earlier efforts got positive ones, but it weakens the case considerably. Gravitation, unfortunately, is so weak that it is extremely difficult to experiment with. Especially so when the effects one is looking for are thought to be visible *only* at short range, which precludes tests based on the extremely precise astronomical data. -- "The N in NFS stands for Not, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology or Need, or perhaps Nightmare"| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 90 20:04:12 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!soleast!turner@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (James Turner) Subject: Re: Recreation in Space henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <476@sixhub.UUCP> davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >> Let me give you a hint... if I were going to be on a multiyear >>mission, I would want female astronauts. >I dimly recall seeing an account from one of the Skylab astronauts which >commented on this. :-) He said that NASA told them they had a mass >budget of 60-odd kg for recreation, and "after management rejected our >unanimous first suggestion", this was used on games, tapes, etc. >-- >SVR4: every feature you ever | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology >wanted, and plenty you didn't.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu Actually, I suspect that if the additional 60kg had represented the entire weight of a Recreational Coupling Mate/Demate Facility (RCMDF), they would have given the OK. Unfortunately, you have to factor in N times the RCMDF's weight in O2, food, water, and other life-support trivia. Home, Home on LaGrange, Where the space debris always collects. We have reached, so it seems, Two of man's greatest dreams. Solar power, and zero-g sex. -- ******************************************************************************* * James M. Turner * Great moments in Aviation #4: * * System Engineer, Northeast Region * Controller Ray Darr breaks the all time * * Solbourne Computer, Inc. * record when he simultaneously vectors * * turner@Soleast.Solbourne.COM * 94 targets through the New York TCA. * * (617) 273-3313 * He is relieved from his shift when he * * GEnie: SF * orders a seagull to squawk 1200 * ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 90 20:36:35 GMT From: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Patrick Brewer) Subject: Metric On the subject of metrics: This is the USA. You should realize that WE (the US) really are Imperialistic and expect the rest of the world to praise us twice daily! The average American sees no reason to change. As long as the things we deal with in a normal day are measured in American Standard (AS) then we don't need to learn metric. Now I my self feel that I can handle each as well as the other. If you asked me too show you how long a cm is with my fingers I would come as close to correct, as I would if you asked me how long an inch is. There was a posting about a label with the instructions ' place 153mm from the bottom of windscreen ' (notice the loose quotes). 153mm = 15.3 cm = about the length of my hand from wrist to finger tip. My problem with the statement is what is a windscreen (I assume it is like a windshield) and from the bottom? above or below the bottom? I like the statement that it is still possible that the rest of the world could convert to American Standard. :-) After all what language are we speaking?!? :-) There is a little truth to that first paragraph. :*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NOBLE One Patrick W. Brewer noble@shumv1.ncsu.edu An experienced politician is a dangerous thing! ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #41 *******************