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 ; Tue, 16 Oct 1990 01:26:30 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 16 Oct 1990 01:25:55 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #460 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 460 Today's Topics: space news from Aug 27 AW&ST Re: Motorola Cellular phone Comsats Re: Man-rated SRBs (was Re: Junk the shuttle?) Re: Teleoperations Jobs In Space Re: disposal of N-waste into sun Re: Psych. effects of moonwalking Antartic Ozone depletion Magellan Update - 10/15/90 Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Oct 90 04:23:00 GMT From: snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: space news from Aug 27 AW&ST ISAS discloses that the Astro-C, aka Ginga, X-ray astronomy satellite is losing altitude more quickly than expected, and has been since around the start of the year. Intense solar activity is blamed. At this rate it will reenter within a year. It was launched in 1987 for a nominally one-year mission, but is still active. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp) decides to launch its BS-3A tvsat without insurance. Launch is set for late August on an H-1. Reasons for the decision were undisclosed, but satellite insurance is expensive and NHK has been criticized lately for financial losses. NRC panel report says that the second phase of EOS should use several smaller spacecraft instead of one large platform. The first-phase platform really does benefit from having all its instruments studying the same area from the same angle at the same time, the panel says, but similar arguments offered for the second one have little merit. Space station makes progress, now only 7% overweight and 8% overpower, but the ranking Republican (Bill Green) on the relevant House Appropriations subcommittee has come out against the entire project, increasing House opposition. First AW&ST report of Magellan's silent periods. [As usual, I will skip detailed coverage because it's old news and was covered well here at the time.] However, the first radar pictures, taken before the troubles, look very good. Spacecraft now in safe mode pending troubleshooting. Speaking of safe modes, Hubble safed itself again Aug 19, for no obvious reason. This may be an occasional side effect of the way the solar arrays flap when going from darkness to sunlight; corrective software is in the works for that. Columbia hydrogen leaks tentatively attributed to tiny glass beads causing scratches on metal surfaces in the tank-attach fitting. The beads were found after cleaning of the fitting. Such beads are used in polishing and similar work, and parts of the plant that made the fittings use them. Soviets plan extensive EVA on Mir to move solar arrays from Kristall to Kvant 1, minimizing shadowing of arrays by each other, and to repair the damaged hatch. Internal wiring work will also be done for the solar-array move. Two EVAs will be done late this year, one for the hatch and one for preparations for the array move (assuming the first fixes the hatch). The actual move will occur early next year. Progress M-4, which docked to Mir Aug 17, carried parts for the wiring work. Progress M-4 is expected to be undocked in late Sept, and will do maneuvers simulating those that will be used for the cargo-return capsule option of Progress M. M-6 will be the first actual use of the capsule, late this year. Soviets say they now have adequate data on free-fall effects for periods of up to a year, and do not immediately plan any more very long stays. Mir crews will be up a mere six months each for the next couple of years. [For those who aren't aware of it, the US record is three months.] Mir crews in the near future will include a lot of guest cosmonauts, who will go up with a new crew and back down with the old one. This December the Japanese TV reporter will fly. Next summer's crew has the British Juno cosmonaut pencilled in, despite Juno's funding problems. The late-1991 crew will have the Austrian cosmonaut, and the mid-1992 crew the next French cosmonaut. All are paying customers. Soviets consider adding a new thruster package on an arm attached to Kvant 1. Mir could use better roll control now that heavy add-on modules are sticking out in two directions, with two more planned for late next year. Soviets use slightly modified pre-reentry procedures for Soyuz TM-9, separating both the forward orbital module and the aft service module simultaneously after retrofire. Simultaneous separation was used on early Soyuzes, and the return to it was aimed at avoiding any possible problem with the Soyuz's damaged thermal blankets. The cosmonauts report that the capsule handled perfectly on reentry. Long story on Japan's first shuttle astronaut, Mamoru Mark Mohri, now in training for the Spacelab J mission late next year. Two more Japanese shuttle astronauts are set to fly on International Microgravity Lab missions in 1993 and 1995. NASDA values these missions particularly for the flight experience they will contribute to design of the Japanese space-station module. The Japanese astronauts say they already have one problem to report with the Spacelab J hardware: it is too heavily automated, leaving little possibility of manual troubleshooting in case of difficulties. "All we can do is shut it down." They also say that NASA's post-Challenger safety-documentation requirements are excessive and are interfering with mission planning. [Lots more details on the experiments to be flown.] Details of ISAS's next two major scientific satellites: Solar A, for launch late next year, with the first solar imaging equipment to beat the capabilities of Skylab's solar telescope [from 1973], and Geotail, a solar-wind probe with very long antennas, a joint ISAS-NASA project for launch on Delta in mid-1992. [Details on experiments.] Descriptions of the Japan's next two astronomy satellites, Astro-D (1993) and Muses-B (1995). Astro-D will carry an X-ray telescope with much better sensitivity and spectral resolution than existing ones. Muses-B will be a radio observatory for VLBI work together with ground-based receivers. Both will be launched from Kagoshima, Astro-D on the last M-3S-2 and Muses-B on the first M-5. Both missions are international collaborations, with NASA supplying the X-ray telescope for Astro-D and various nations planning radio observations in conjunction with Muses-B. Both also present design challenges, with Astro-D's telescope having to telescope [!] to fit under the M-3S-2 payload fairing, and Muses-B's 10m dish presenting problems in both antenna deployment and precise attitude control of a flexible spacecraft. Story on Japanese studies, both government and commercial, for autonomous space stations, lunar bases, and advanced concepts for both launch and in-space propulsion. One project of note is work on electric propulsion for deep-space missions, notably the Jupiter probes specifically mentioned in Japan's new government space policy. -- "...the i860 is a wonderful source | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology of thesis topics." --Preston Briggs | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 13:30:52 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!inmos!conor%wren.inmos.co.uk@uunet.uu.net (Conor O'Neill) Subject: Re: Motorola Cellular phone Comsats In article <1990Oct9.164923.6761@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1050400039@cdp> kdonow@cdp.UUCP writes: >>Aren't the Motorola sats going to be launched by Pegasus? > >The original plan was that the initial constellation would be launched >in clumps by Delta or Atlas, with Pegasus used to launch individual >replacement satellites. I'm sure the Pegasus consortium is bidding real >hard to get them all going up on Pegasus, since it would be a wonderful >way to get mass production going, but whether Motorola et al will buy >that is another question. When I first heard of this "project", I assumed that it was another of the hundreds of projects which are proposed by somebody, hyped for a while, then quietly die. From what Henry says, this one actually seems more concrete than most. All I know is that they propose to provide world-wide cellular-phone-type communications, using a series of 70 or so low orbit satellites. Could anyone in the know (preferably from Motorola) please give a better run-down on the details. --- Conor O'Neill, Software Group, INMOS Ltd., UK. UK: conor@inmos.co.uk US: conor@inmos.com "It's state-of-the-art" "But it doesn't work!" "That is the state-of-the-art". ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 14:37:27 GMT From: usc!wuarchive!emory!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary@ucsd.edu (Gary Coffman) Subject: Re: Man-rated SRBs (was Re: Junk the shuttle?) In article <1990Oct13.032904.29626@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article Mike.McManus@FtCollins.NCR.com (Mike McManus) writes: >>... What is the problem with SRBs? Safety? >>Reliability? How do these issues compare against liquid fueled engines? > >Just about the only things *right* about them are that they have high >thrust for their size, and they are a bit cheaper to develop than >liquids. Guess what the clincher was for the shuttle? There are also a lot less things to go wrong in solids. There are no turbo pumps, no complex valves and plumbing, no cryogenic liquids to handle, no complex electronic control system to fail, just light and go. Admittedly the shuttle's SRBs are poorly designed, but in general, solids are the most reliable rockets we know how to build. Gary ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 14:57:22 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!emory!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary@ucsd.edu (Gary Coffman) Subject: Re: Teleoperations In article <901012104549.29e01053@MARK.TSD.ARLUT.UTEXAS.EDU> MOSELEY@MARK.TSD.ARLUT.UTEXAS.EDU (Austin) writes: > > Holes in the ground don't just appear magically. Robots don't tip over >because Merlin dreams in his Ice Cave. Arguements of this type are specious at >best, but usually end up sounding like mystic warnings of unforseeable, >unexplainable occurrences, which really have no place in a technological >discussion. As anyone who has ever left the paved sidewalks and manicured lawns of academia can tell you, a perfectly solid looking rock can turn under your foot and dump you on your butt if you don't react very quickly. With a 30 minute time lag you won't even know your robot fell until long after the event. If you limit your robot's movements to perfectly understood terrain, you aren't exploring. I have even fallen on a well used path on my farm when a rock that I had stepped on every day for years unexpectedly turned under my weight. No amount of computer simulation could have predicted that fall or allowed me to make corrections for it 30 minutes in advance. Gary ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 21:44:00 GMT From: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!gwg33762@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu Subject: Jobs In Space Looking for information concerning _any_ summer '91 employment opportunities for Undergraduate Aerospace students. I will be considering just about any oppor- tunity (yes, I can see myself in Antartica). Any help will be greatly appreciated. Snail mail to: Garret Gengler 202 E. Peabody URH 339 Scott Champaign, IL 61820 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Garret Gengler | I'll get there (Caaan't get theeere from heeere!) | | g-gengler@uiuc.edu | - another way. (Caaan't get theeere from heeere!) | |---------------------| I'll get there another way. (Can't get ... !!!!) | | Let's go Penguins! | --- R.E.M. | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | University of Illinois | (Though I'm no rocket scientist) | | Dept. of Aerospace Engineering | Mario Lemieux - get well soon! | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 08:39:58 GMT From: eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!reading!minster!george@bloom-beacon.mit.edu Subject: Re: disposal of N-waste into sun In article <1452@blenheim.nsc.com> alan@spitfire.nsc.com (Alan Hepburn) writes: >In article <1361.27121f15@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: >> >>Do the arithmetic on dissolving the "high grade" waste in a suitable >>solvent and then dispersing it over a few square miles of ocean. I >>think you will find it disappears into the background. It is high >>grade only because the ecohysterics have insisted on concentrating >>it into minimum volume. >> >>dan herrick > > >Picture this: a supertanker modified slightly so that the nuclear >waste starts out in the bow tank, being diluted 100:1 with sea water. >This mix is then pumped to the next tank where it is diluted 100:1 with >sea water. And so on till the last tank, which is pumped into the open >ocean. You would be unable to detect other than background radiation >in the resulting water. > What!!! Diluting nuclear waste doesn't make it disappear as you suggest above...it merely spreads it out. I have serious doubts to the accuracy of your last comment - only in mathematics can you say A + delta A approximates A. George Bolt. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Oct 90 15:41:33 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!nickw@uunet.uu.net (Nick Watkins) Subject: Re: Psych. effects of moonwalking From article <9010101215.aa21768@kundry.ux.King.AC.UK>, by ME_S420@titan.king.ac.UK (NAME "Chris Welch"): > Perhaps someone out there has the hard information to settle a little dispute > for me. A friend has asserted that "All the astronauts who walked on the Moon > either became intensely religious, alcoholic, or both". "Intensely religious" is a little arbitrary but the 2 obvious examples are Jim Irwin (founded High Flight evangelical organisation), and to a lesser extent Charlie Duke (Born again Christian). I'm basing this on book "For All Mankind", which seems more useful for this sort of thing than technical stuff ... :-). Only one who I ever saw reported to have had alcohol problems was Buzz Aldrin, these are now behind him. > I have heard this asserted before and have always dismissed it as being an > urban myth. I know that one or two astronauts may have been affected to a > certain extent, but that's all. Seems you are right. > (Interestingly enough, when the selection for the UK Juno mission was being > done the candidates were actually screened to see if they expected to get > 'cosmic/religous perspective' on the trip. Any who showed a tendency in this > direction were scrubbed.) Tells us more about those in charge of Juno than about the profound spiritual impact of spaceflight, I'd have thought. This impact, irrespective of religious beliefs, is described by just about *all* astronauts/cosmonauts. Nick -- Dr. Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND JANET: nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: nickw%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Oct 90 18:14 CST From: RDBROWN%UALR.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu Subject: Antartic Ozone depletion X-Envelope-To: space+@andrew.cmu.edu In response to message forwarded by (Peter E. Yee)... > Preliminary data indicate that depletion of stratospheric >ozone over Antarctica is matching levels observed in 1987 and >1989, the lowest ozone years recorded, NASA scientists said. In a serious vein, does the ozone depletion over the Antartic continent ever become so great that some degree of ultraviolet spectroscopy or other research becomes possible? At what concentration of ozone does the atmosphere become opaque to ultraviolet wavelengths? Robert Brown RDBROWN@UALR.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 16 Oct 90 03:56:26 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke@ucsd.edu (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update - 10/15/90 Magellan Mission Status October 15, 1990 At 9:46AM (PDT) this morining, the Magellan spacecraft started it 222nd mapping orbit. Good radar data has been received from all but 4 orbits. All spacecraft systems are performing nominally. 20 of 22 star calibrations performed over the weekend were successful, with attitude updates ranging from .003 degrees to .29 degrees. One star calibration was partially successful, and one failed due to a star rejection. All desaturations were nominal. The angle between the Sun, Earth and Magellan is down to 4.6 degrees. The predicted limit of the S-Band communications through the High Gain Antenna is 3.4 degrees, which is expected to be reached on October 20. Commands to correct the solar array drive drift has been sent to the spacecraft on October 12, but the drift problem has continued. The cause is being investigated. Radar systems continue to perform normally. 32 standard image swaths were processed by the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) processor, bring to 60 the total number of image swaths processed. The double exposure artifact in the orbit 391 image was found to be a minor fixable flaw in the Experiment Data Record. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #460 *******************