Message-ID: <QaLCLai00VcJM1LU5r@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
Date: Fri, 25 May 90 03:59:39 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #451

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 451

Today's Topics:
		       Re: Endangered squirrels
			  Re: archaic units
Re: DOD/NASA announce National Aero-Space Plane contractor team (Forwarded)
			     Spaceflight
		    Re: APPLICANTS FOR ASTRONAUTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 24 May 90 14:46:07 GMT
From: philmtl!philabs!briar!rfc@uunet.uu.net  (Robert Casey)
Subject: Re: Endangered squirrels

Are these red squirrels the *only* squirrels on this mountian?

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Date: 24 May 90 21:35:42 GMT
From: convex!ewright@uunet.uu.net  (Edward V. Wright)
Subject: Re: archaic units

In article <1990May19.214927.14745@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>I'm not sure about new programs in general, but the official units for
>the space station are imperial units, because of fears that astronauts
>might forget how long a centimeter is in a crisis.

That's interesting.  I remember that the astronauts on the Moon always
gave distances in meters and speed in klicks, etc.  Has the crisis
in American education affected the space program? -:)

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Date: 25 May 90 04:03:54 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: DOD/NASA announce National Aero-Space Plane contractor team (Forwarded)

In article <9404@pt.cs.cmu.edu> vac@sam.cs.cmu.edu (Vincent Cate) writes:
>Are there sound economic reasons for building a single-stage-to-orbit
>launcher or was this just a political decision?

Yes. :-)  There are some arguments in favor of a single stage:  it avoids
assorted practical problems like staging, and in particular eliminates the
need to recover lower stages from inconveniently-long distances downrange.
On the other hand, SSTO was definitely a political decision for the
Aerospace Plane in particular.

>Can you use the same
>engine as both a jet and a rocket by just adding your own oxygen when 
>you want it to be a rocket?

Yes, but.  In general, optimization for one mode of operation gives you
a very different engine from optimization for the other.  Whether you can
build something that really works well both ways is an open question.
Actually, this applies even to jets, because the sort of engine you need
for takeoff is very different from the sort you need at Mach 8.

>Can a "plane" get going so fast on jets that 
>it is really almost into space? (I find this hard to believe)

There is no theoretical problem.  There are many practical problems.
How well the Aerospace Plane can deal with them is, at the moment,
still classified.
-- 
Life is too short to spend    |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
debugging Intel parts. -Van J.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

------------------------------

Date: 25 May 90 04:28:59 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Spaceflight

This month's issue of Spaceflight (one of the BIS publications) is one of
the best ads yet for this excellent magazine.  A large assortment of news
on spaceflight in Europe, the USSR, etc.  Some details of the Austrian Mir
mission, now set for Nov 1991.  Two pages on the Cape York project,
including drawings and photographs of the Zenit launcher that will be used.
An interview with the Assistant Deputy Administrator of NASA, talking about
nasty things like funding instability.  (He observes that Endeavour, unlike
almost any other NASA project, is ahead of schedule and under budget!  He
says the reason is very simple:  it was funded all at once, in a lump sum,
so NASA knows where it stands financially for the entire project, and can
confidently plan several years ahead.)  Full-page color painting of an
extended-duration orbiter docked to the space station.  Page after page of
HST coverage, including a page and a half on in-orbit servicing and the
plans to replace various components and instruments over the next decade.
Three pages on the SIRTF infrared-telescope project.  Three on the imminent
Astro-1 shuttle mission.  A feature article on Endeavour construction,
with color photos.

It's been some time since I've been this impressed with an issue of a
space periodical.

For information on membership in the BIS:

	British Interplanetary Society Ltd.
	27/29 South Lambeth Road
	London SW8 1SZ
	UK
-- 
Life is too short to spend    |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
debugging Intel parts. -Van J.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

------------------------------

Date: 23 May 90 18:16:32 GMT
From: hpfcso!hpfcdj!tom@hplabs.hp.com  (Tom Myers)
Subject: Re: APPLICANTS FOR ASTRONAUTS

>  In reading the March issue of Spaceflight, for the recently selected group 

I would like to read this. Can you tell more about the publication so I can
locate a copy?

Thanx,

TRM

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End of SPACE Digest V11 #451
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