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 ; Mon, 5 Mar 90 01:45:28 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <8ZwUfai00VcJQCLE5Q@andrew.cmu.edu> Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Mon, 5 Mar 90 01:44:55 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #112 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 112 Today's Topics: More info on Pegasus Atlantis has landed * SpaceNews 05Mar90 * Re: Spacecraft on Venus Re: New private home satellite network Re: long-term Venus landers * SpaceNews 26Feb90 * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Mar 90 01:36:49 GMT From: psuvm!k02@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu Subject: More info on Pegasus I'm interested in gathering more information on the Pegasus Launch vehicle. This week the Wall Street Journal had an article mentioning the delay of Pegasus' first launch. The article seemed to suggest that the proposed stock offering by Orbital Sciences Corp. may have had something to do with the delay. The article also called Pegasus the first new launch vehicle in the U.S. inventory since the Shuttle. Is this true? Any comments on the stock-delay situation? What are the odds that the launch on April 4 will be a success? Also, what is the payload size of Pegasus, and how high can it propel its payload? Will Pegasus ever carry commercial satelites? Is Pegasus something to get excited about? Thanks in advance for any information, comments or criticisms. / / / /___ / / _ (_ __ / \ __ /\ (_ __ (__/ (_)_/ (_/ (_ / \ (_(_/(_)_/ (_(_(_ ------------------------------ Date: 4 Mar 90 18:49:03 GMT From: skipper!shafer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) Subject: Atlantis has landed The shuttle Atlantis landed at Edwards AFB at ~10:08 PST today, Sunday. It landed on runway 23, which is a lakebed runway, with headwinds of 22 kt. (I'm not sure if that was steady or gusting. It didn't feel like steady, but I may have been somewhat in the lee of the building.) It came in from the North. There's a few insubstantial clouds around and the sun angle wasn't entirely favorable. Most of us picked it up just before the HAC (heading alignment circle) when it was still overhead. Just after it rolled into the HAC it obligingly generated a contrail so that everyone could see it. I thought the rollout was shorter than normal, perhaps due to the headwind and the lakebed runway, but that may have been an illusion caused by it being pointed more directly at me than is usual. The STA (shuttle training aircraft) flew over Atlantis near the end of the rollout (it wasn't flying chase, it had done approaches to test the wind) and then flew over Dryden. Numerous comments, none favorable, comparing this to the SR-71 flyby two weeks ago were made by the employees. Calls for afterburner were ignored. :-) The wishes of the military for secrecy were respected and it's Sunday, so the crowd was very small. There were some Distinguished Visitors (including the astronauts' family and friends) on the roof and employees on the ramp. I'd say about 100 on the roof and about 100 on the ramp, but these are just guesses. The SR-71 was on display, as were the other research aircraft. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 90 03:26:10 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!ge-dab!tarpit!peora!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (John Magliacane) Subject: * SpaceNews 05Mar90 * Bulletin ID: SPC0305 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MARCH 5, 1990 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, NJ, and is distributed weekly around the world on UseNet and Amateur Packet Radio. It is available for UNLIMITED worldwide distribution. * SHUTTLE NEWS * ================ Phil (KA9Q) heard UHF air-to-ground communications during the launch of shuttle ATLANTIS on mission STS-36. Phil copied a total of four very brief transmissions, all on a frequency of 259.7 MHz. The first transmission was heard at his home in New Jersey at about 02:59:30 AM EST shortly after launch. The last transmission heard at 02:59:30 EST clearly reported "APU shutdown on time". * UoSAT-OSCAR-15 * ================== Experiments are under way using a large (150ft) antenna at Stanford (SRI-USA) to attempt to detect very low level signals leaking from the UoSAT-4 on-board uplink receiver local oscillators. If the spacecraft power systems are still functioning, then these signals should always be present since the receivers cannot be switched off. However, these leakage signals are deliberately minimised during the design of the satellite and so they are very weak (-60 dBm = one thousand, millionth of a watt or the equivalent to looking for a single xmas tree light in Australia!). The experiments at Stanford are therefore very demanding: it will only be possible to detect the signals from the background noise using sophisticated off-line FFT signal processing, and a one second error in antenna tracking time may miss the satellite altogether! de G3YJO [Story via OSCAR-11] * BURAN NEWS * ============== The reusable Soviet space shuttle "BURAN", lying idle since its maiden flight a year ago is to undertake its next mission in 1991. The Soviet Union's chief rocket designer, Yuri Semyonov, told Soviet television recently, that Buran is scheduled to make an unmanned flight in the first half of 1991. A manned mission is expected to follow a year later. Long range plans call for Buran to dock with the orbiting station Mir, with the possibility of cosmonauts moving between the two to simulate a rescue operation. * DX CORNER * ============= SpaceNews is available for unlimited, worldwide distribution. I'd like to personally thank ALL those who take the time to re-distribute SpaceNews on Amateur Packet Radio, telephone BBSs, and other networks. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by many people around the world. Here is an example of one of the many mail messages I receive from those who read and enjoy receiving SpaceNews in distant places. From Amateur Packet Radio, the following message was recently received from Germany: Msg# TSP Size To @ BBS From Date Time Bid 6307 PN 779 KD2BD DL3BCH 900227 0747 Subject: to bbs: @NN2Z Hello John. I've just received 2 issues of SpaceNews - amazingly! One of the only interesting bulletins in my BBS, hihi. It was delivered by Mario HB9RZJ@HB9AC. Please continue if possible. Mni tnx de Dieter DL3BCH @ DB0BQ (by the way: especially interested in Voyager) === (Mario, could you please continue to supply the DB0BQ PBBS with SpaceNews? Thanks! de John, KD2BD) * FEEDBACK WELCOMED * ===================== Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any of the following paths: UUCP : ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd PACKET : KD2BD @ NN2Z (Neptune, New Jersey, USA) MAIL : John A. Magliacane Department of Electronics Technology Brookdale Community College Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738-1599 U.S.A. <<< Stay on course......Say YES to Morse! >>> -- AMPR : KD2BD @ NN2Z (Neptune, NJ) UUCP : ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd "For every problem, there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Mar 90 20:24:14 EST From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Re: Spacecraft on Venus >From: vsi1!v7fs1!mvp@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Van Pelt) >Subject: Re: Spacecraft on Venus >Better, you could build a probe designed to operate at Venus surface >temperature. (At 800 degrees? Right. It would probably be easier to >build the heat pump.) Semiconductors are out; maybe some kind of >vacuum tube system. Wasn't there something called a Thermionically >Integrated Macro-Module, sort of the vacuum-tube equivalent of an >integrated circuit? No filaments; you heat the whole thing up to where >the cathodes emit by themselves. Sounds like a natural for Venus. :-) I mentioned the possibility of using high-temperature electronics such as vacuum tubes, but there would really be no need for such a technology to be used for more than a small fraction of the total complexity of the onboard electronics. It is expected that in the near future it will be possible to build a computer with a significant fraction of the speed and capacity of a Cray, which takes up no more than a few cubic inches, and generates only a few watts. If such a computer can be thermally insulated from the environment, dissipation of this small power output by active cooling should not be too difficult. Unless corrosion turns out to be a problem, it should be possible to build a "thermos" (with an inner layer of vacuum for insulation) out of steel and/or ceramics, which will easily withstand the pressure of the atmosphere. There *is* an incentive to develop high-temperature electronics for applications other than Venus probes. Other applications include atmospheric-entry probes and probes to pass very near to the sun - both for solar exploration, and for use of the sun for gravity-assist to shoot probes out of the solar system. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov "On February 28, the US Supreme Court ruled that US agents in foreign countries may conduct searches without warrants, because foreigners are not protected by US law. In a separate case, it was ruled that if the police should happen to arrest a US citizen in his home, they are free to search the premises without a warrant. These decisions are seen as a major step in the ongoing battle against the Constitution - er - I mean against crime." - Outstanding parking tickets, anyone? ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 90 01:32:03 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: New private home satellite network Home disk TV will have to provide incremental value to be a success. I've seen estimates that anywhere from 10-20% of the potential viewers get no signal at all or porr signal. Most of these are not served by cable and probably won't be. These people would probably all be potential customers for a dish. At the prices quoted, $25-30/month, I would only be interested if it provided all of the current services I get now, since the cost of two systems is only interesting to a true TV junkie. I admit it, I watch less than 2 hours of TV per week, and most of that is news or science. For people who watch 4-5 hours of TV per day, a source like this would be important, of course. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc "Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 90 01:35:29 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: long-term Venus landers In article <9003011743.AA24164@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@ARISTOTLE-GW.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter Scott) writes: | Check out the current _Discover_ (no flames, please, I haven't seen this | work written up elsewhere yet) for an article on micro-vacuum tube | technology, component size on the order of 1 micrometer. WHy flames? _Discover_ is an important source, used correctly. It provides an overview of a number of processes and technologies for casual background, and a source of topics for additional reading or other study. My favorite source of articles which fill the "I wish I knew a little about that" void. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc "Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 90 03:22:12 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!ge-dab!tarpit!peora!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (John Magliacane) Subject: * SpaceNews 26Feb90 * Bulletin ID: SPC0226 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY FEBRUARY 26, 1990 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, NJ, and is distributed weekly around the world on UseNet and Amateur Packet Radio. It is available for UNLIMITED distribution. * SAREX-2 TESTING CONTINUES * ============================= Last week, the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment #2 (SAREX-2) packet radio station underwent extensive testing at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL according AMSAT Area Coordinator Ed Stluka (W4QAU). This testing was being perfomed in conjuction with the training of STS-35 Payload Specialist Ron Parise (WA4SIR) in the use of the ASTRO-1 experiment which will be primary payload on that shuttle mission. The primary payload, ASTRO-1, will be used to conduct a number of astronomical experiments. During the several days of testing this week, radio amateurs in the Huntsville area were invited to connect to WA4SIR and to receive a QSO number. This special packet radio station flying on STS-35 on May 9, 1990 will give each radio amateur who connects to WA4SIR a QSO number confirming their contact. When the connecting station sends their QSL card in with this contact number, they will receive back a beautiful QSL card commemorating this HAM IN SPACE shuttle flight. The SAREX-2 packet radio station consist of a Motorola 2M FM H/T with 5 watts ouput, a Heathkit HK-21 TNC-2, and a GRiD laptop computer that has a 40 MB hard disk drive to store the calls of all the stations connecting to WA4SIR during the nine day mission. The specially written software which will be running the SAREX-2 packet station is designed to allow for completely unattended operation and logging of the calls of all connecting stations. It will also prevent duplicate QSO numbers being sent! Although no digipeating will be allowed through SAREX-2, connecting to this packet station will be like any terrestrial packet contact. Just use your TNC along with your 2m tranceiver, and everything else is the same. After you have connected and received your QSL number from WA4SIR, on subsequent orbits you can watch for the SAREX-2 message beacons being sent periodically. The message beacons will contain information about the flight of STS-35 and other interesting items. Look for more information about the SAREX-2 mission in AMSAT News Service (ANS) bulletins and on AMSAT HF/VHF nets in the next couple of months. For more specific information about the ASTRO-1 payload, contact the SPACELINK BBS at (205) 895-0028. [Story via AMSAT-NA News Service] * MICROSAT OBJECT NUMBERS * =========================== The following are the corrected Object and Catalog numbers which apply to all MICROSAT/UoSAT element sets after orbit #260: SATELLITE INT'L OBJECT CATALOG NAME NUMBER NUMBER UO-14 90-05B 20437 UO-15 90-05C 20438 AO-16 90-05D 20439 DO-17 90-05E 20440 WO-18 90-05F 20441 LU-19 90-05G 20442 * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= Here's an actual computer status information message received from OSCAR-11: **UOSAT 2 COMPUTER STATUS INFORMATION** FAD1 Operating System v2.0b Today's date is 24 /2 /90 (Saturday) Universal Time is 1 :46 :27 Auto Mode is selected SPIN PERIOD IS - 278 Z MAG firings = 0 + SPIN firings = 33 - SPIN firings = 20 RAM Wash Pointer at D299 WOD commenced 24 /2 /90 at 0 :0 :10 with channels 10 ,11 ,19 ,29 , Last cmd was 109 TO 0 WITH DATA 0 Attitude control initiated, mode 1 Data collection in progress Digitalker active * FEEDBACK WELCOMED * ===================== Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any of the following paths: UUCP : ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd PACKET : KD2BD @ NN2Z (Neptune, New Jersey) MAIL : John A. Magliacane Department of Electronics Technology Brookdale Community College Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738-1599 U.S.A. <<< Stay on course......Say YES to Morse! >>> -- AMPR : KD2BD @ NN2Z (Neptune, NJ) UUCP : ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd "For every problem, there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #112 *******************