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Date: Fri, 12 Oct 1990 03:01:15 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #450

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 450

Today's Topics:
		      Re: Launch cost per pound
		      Galileo Update - 10/11/90

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Date: 9 Oct 90 14:15:24 GMT
From: edsews!teemc!fmeed1!cage@uunet.uu.net  (Russ Cage)
Subject: Re: Launch cost per pound

In article <0093DE36.2F98A6C0@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) writes:
>Ok. How do I get licensed to be a certified Soviet-booster clone? You think
>we could buy the blueprints to everything and get someone like GM Heavy
>Equipment to build 10 launchers a year?

I seem to recall that the Soviets are licensing the design for the
kerosene/oxygen engine powering the Energia strap-ons.  Go for it.

>Now, who wants to loan me $2 billion dollars for startup costs? ;-)

Show me a business plan and I'll call up the venture capitalists.
-- 
Russ Cage	Ford Powertrain Engineering Development Department
Work:  itivax.iti.org!cfctech!fmeed1!cage   (Business only, NO CHATTY MAIL PLS)
Home:  russ@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us  (Everything else)
I speak for the companies I own, not for the ones I don't.

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

Date: 11 Oct 90 23:42:01 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ucsd.edu  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 10/11/90


                              GALILEO
                       MISSION STATUS REPORT
                          October 11, 1990
 
     As of noon (PDT) Thursday, October 11, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft is
32,399,810 miles from the Earth and traveling at a heliocentric speed of
53,010 miles per hour; distance to the Sun is 113,033,200 miles (1.22 AU).
The spacecraft is spinning at 3.15 rpm with a sun point angle of 5.6 degrees.
Round trip light time is 5 minutes, 52 seconds.
 
     Sometime between the end of the DSN (Deep Space Network) track on
October 4 and the start of track on October 5, the eighth despun CDS (Command
Data Subsystem) Critical Controller A POR (Power on Reset) telemetry indication
was observed.  The signature was the same as that observed in the previous
seven occurrences.  Due to the weekend, recovery actions to reset the telemetry
indication were completed the following Monday, October 8. Recovery actions
were successfully completed and a NO-OP command was sent to reset the Command
Loss Timer to 264 hours, the planned value for this mission phase.
 
     Two delta DOR (Differential One-way Ranging) activities were successfully
completed on October 8 and 10, one prior to and one after TCM-6 (Trajectory
Course Maneuver 6) on October 9.  These two activities were both North/South
passes using the 70 meter antennas in Goldstone and Australia; and were
the fifth and sixth of 17 planned prior to Earth closest approach.  Delta
DOR is an additional navigation data source in addition to doppler and ranging
data.  When the delta DOR signal is modulating the downlink carrier, spacecraft
telemetry data from the TMU (Telemetry Modulation Unit) is interrupted; no
spacecraft telemetry is transmitted during this interruption.
 
     Another USO (Ultra Stable Oscillator) test was conducted on October 8.
This test provides continuing trend information characterizing the performance
of the ultra-stable RF downlink frequency source.
 
     Cruise Science Memory Readouts (MROs) were successfully performed for
the EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer), DDS (Dust Detector) and MAG
(Magnetometer) instruments on October 8.
 
     The TCM-6 maneuver sequence memory load was successfully transmitted and
received by the spacecraft on October 8. The maneuver was executed, as planned,
on October 9.  The first burn segment was completed without incident using
the axial (z) thrusters.  A preliminary navigation assessment indicates a small
overburn of about 0.8 percent compared with the nearly 2 percent overburn for
TCM-5.  The TCM-6 maneuver was the first axial burn design incorporating the
performance results observed in TCM-1 and TCM-5.  The second burn segment using
the lateral (L) thrusters was also completed successfully without incident.
Due to Earth look angle considerations, it is not possible to reliably assess
the total affect of lateral burn.  Subsequent orbit determination data will
provide an assessment of the total maneuver.
 
     Spacecraft performance during the maneuver was excellent. All RPM (Retro
Propulsion Module) pressures and temperatures were near expected levels; the
thruster temperature profiles were similar to those of previous burns.  The
L2B thruster temperature was inferred from the cluster temperature sensor
readings.  No unexpected cluster temperatures were observed.  After the axial
burn segment, the sequence allowed time for a spin rate correction and
pointing error correction; neither correction was necessary since the attitude
excursions were small (less than 4 mrad) for both burn segments.
 
     Commands were sent on October 11 to reconfigure the CDS spun hardware via
critical controller commands to enable the telemetry data rate (1200 bps)
switch planned for October 16. This series of commands also configured the
CDS to route 40 bps uncoded data to the TMU low rate channel for downlink
transmission.
 
     Commands to update the star vectors were sent on October 8.  This updated
star information will be used for the forthcoming activities later in the VE-5
(Venus-Earth 5) stored sequence.
 
     The 19th RPM flushing activity was successfully performed on October 11.
All thrusters were flushed during this activity except the P-thrusters which
were last used for the October 4 sunpoint activity.  Detailed thruster
temperature profiles are not available due to operation at 40 bps.  Successful
flushing was inferred from other spacecraft telemetry measurements/events
including AACS (Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem) performance and
thruster counts.
 
     The AC/DC bus imbalance measurements exhibited some activity.  The AC
measurement increased 15DN during a period of no spacecraft activity, about 12
hours prior to TCM-6 and then dropped about 12DN several hours after TCM-6,
and is stable near 48.6 volts.  The DC measurement began acting erratically
about 30 hours after TCM-6 with fluctuations up to 65DN and is near 19.8
volts. All other power-related and subsystem telemetry measurements are
normal.
 
     The Project reviewed and approved the TCM-6 maneuver sequence on
October 5.  The Project also reviewed and approved the Final sequence and
command generation product for the VE-9 sequence on October 9.  This sequence
controls the spacecraft activities from October 22 to December 7 and includes
the PLS (Plasma) instrument shade retraction, Probe checkout, and the
playback of Venus data activities.
 
     The Preliminary GDS (Ground Data System) Test Plan for Earth 1 support
was distributed for final review.  End-to-end GDS testing is scheduled to start
on October 26th in conjunction with Mission Readiness Tests (MRT) by the DSN.
Galileo MRTs with the 34 meter HEF (High Effiecency) antennas have been
successfully completed at Goldstone and Spain.  Normal ranging operations using
3db suppression rather than 9 db are now possible due to the improved signal
levels.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #450
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