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 ; Fri, 7 Dec 1990 01:50:56 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 7 Dec 1990 01:50:13 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #630 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 630 Today's Topics: Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 * Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space Re: Another Russian first Re: Another Russian first Re: Another Russian first Re: Booster news from 19 November AW&ST WUPPE Status for 12/04/90 [AM] (Forwarded) Soyuz TM-11 has docked with Soviet Mir station 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: 3 Dec 90 18:35:22 GMT From: qualcom.qualcomm.com!fpa@ucsd.edu (Franklin Antonio) Subject: Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 * In article <378@ka2qhd.UUCP> kd2bd@ka2qhd.UUCP (John Magliacane) writes: >* MINI-TUTORIAL * >================= >The first person to investigate elliptical orbits thoroughly was the >mathematician and astronomer Kepler. He formulated a set of rules for >elliptical orbits and was able to demonstrate that all planets followed >such orbits in their motions around the sun. Over 100 years later, orbital >elements defined by Kepler are still being used by astronomers and satellite >trackers worldwide. Actually, it was a __long__ time ago. Kepler published his work on elliptical motion in "seu Physica coelestis tradita commetariis de motibus stellae Martis" in 1609! This contained the first two laws: orbits are ellipses, and equal area = equal time. In 1619, he published "De Harmonice Mundi", containing the third law, which relates distance to orbit period. In 1620, his mother was arrested for witchcraft. So, the basic work was done 371 years ago! This is one of the humbling things about celestial mechanics. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to figure this out, yet Kepler did it 371 years ago. Obviously, he didn't have computers. Most people don't realize that he didn't even have the benefit of a telescope. The telescope was invented around 1609; Galileo pulblished in 1610. The observations that Kepler used to develop his theory were made by Tycho Brahe, many years earlier. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 19:09:00 GMT From: unmvax!ariel.unm.edu!ghostwheel.unm.edu!john@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (John Prentice) Subject: Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space In article <7042@ge-dab.ge.com> coleman@sunny.dab.ge.com (Richard Coleman) writes: > >I don't think it was a bad idea. Hasn't Senator Garn been >a big supporter of the space program. If we could send every >senator up on the shuttle just once, I bet that the funding for >the space program would get a BIG boost. >-- > Especially if we could arrange to leave them up there! John Prentice john@unmfys.unm.edu ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 03:25:32 GMT From: gauss.rutgers.edu!math.rutgers.edu!cromar@rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) Subject: Re: Another Russian first In article <4402@lib.tmc.edu> drg@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu (David Gutierrez) writes: ; In article techno@lime.in-berlin.de (Frank G. ; Dahncke) writes: ; > Now the USSR even has had the first paying passenger in a spacecraft. ; > Actually, I would have expected this feat to be performed by the US. ; ; Consider Jake Garn. ; ; David Gutierrez ; drg@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu Actually, WE (the taxpayers) paid for that one. It's a shame that money earmarked for space exploration wasn't spent on something more worthwhile than Senator Garn's ego. -Scott Cromar cromar@math.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 16:03:12 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!aoab314@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Srinivas Bettadpur) Subject: Re: Another Russian first >... >>First Jupiter probe -- Pioneer 10 >>First Saturn probe -- Pioneer 11 >>First Uranus probe -- Voyager 2 >>First Neptune probe -- Voyager 2 > >How about : > First billion dollars wasted on broken telescopes -- Hubble > First spacecraft explosion to kill all on board due > to ground problems (faulty management) -- Challenger > First spacecraft launch delayed more than six months -- Columbia A string of similar articles, each containing a list of what went right or wrong on either side reminds me of a joke I heard on one of the broadcasts of the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown". The labor and management are arguing through a strike by the former, and neither side is willing to yield an inch. Murphy is chosen as the arbiter and she tries hard to get the two talking, but fails. Finally she says "I know what is this is all about, gentlemen. Drop your pants, I will go get a ruler, and we can decide who wins !!" (or words to that effect). I wonder if this string of articles will balloon into a complete catalog of all the disasters/triumphs each side has had. It ought to be a nice history lesson. Srinivas Bettadpur ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 14:29:21 GMT From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu!v071pzp4@ucsd.edu (Craig L Cole) Subject: Re: Another Russian first In article <1990Dec4.030007.23891@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve "il-Manhous" Norton) writes... > >How about : > First billion dollars wasted on broken telescopes -- Hubble Wasted? Hardly. Its doing better than ground-based scopes as is. When its fixed it 1993, it'll be up to full form. > First spacecraft explosion to kill all on board due > to ground problems (faulty management) -- Challenger Management? The Soviets just got lucky -- they've launched 3 men in two-man capsules (no pressure suits, etc.) just for the sake of getting three men in orbit. > First spacecraft launch delayed more than six months -- Columbia Bad example -- this isn't typical, not even of the shuttle :-). Craig Cole V071PZP4@UBVMS V071PZP4@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 90 21:43:30 GMT From: world!ksr!clj%ksr.com@uunet.uu.net (Chris Jones) Subject: Re: Booster news from 19 November AW&ST In article <1190@ksr.com>, I wrote: > >The RD-170 engines on the Energia (the engines of the strap-ons) > (it's also >the engine on the first stage of the Tsyklon launcher) Oops. That's the first stage of the Zenit launcher. -- Chris Jones clj@ksr.com {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 00:42:59 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: WUPPE Status for 12/04/90 [AM] (Forwarded) UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON WUPPE STATUS REPORT NO. 5 A.M., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1990 The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) acquired its third object, a magnetic white dwarf star, at approximately 7 p.m. Monday (December 3). The WUPPE science team was able to obtain about 4 minutes of observation time on the star known as G70D8247. White dwarfs are small stars, about the size of the Earth, but that have masses approximating those of our sun. Some astronomers have likened white dwarfs to stellar diamonds, because as they evolve they produce large amounts of carbon at their cores. And since they are so massive, gravity exerts anormous pressure, similar to subterranean pressures of Earth that produce diamonds. In the presence of oxygen, such conditions produce diamonds. The white dwarf observed by WUPPE has a magnetic field about 100 million times stronger than the Earth's. Only about 1 to 5 percent of white dwarfs have strong magnetic fields. The strong magnetic field is of interest to WUPPE because light emitted in the prescence of a strong magnetic fields polarizes light, a condition where the photons that make up the light waves, instead of having random mations (up, down, back, forth and diagonally), all move in the same direction. The WUPPE instrument continues to perform well. Despite the loss of one of its onboard computers, the WUPPE science team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is extremely pleased with quality of the data being collected by the telescope now orbiting the Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. ------------------------------ From: glennc@cs.sfu.ca Date: 4 Dec 90 18:33 -0800 To: SVAF524%UTXVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu, biro%css.dec@decwrl.dec.com, isg@bfmny0.bfm.com, klaes%wrksys.dec@decwrl.dec.com, lepage%vostok.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com, space-editors-new@andrew.cmu.edu, yaron@astro.as.utexas.edu Subject: Soyuz TM-11 has docked with Soviet Mir station The Soyuz TM-11 has successfully docked to the Soviet's Mir space station on Tuesday according to Radio Moscow. On board are Soviet cosmonauts Musa Manarov, Vikor Afanasyev, and Japanese journalist Toyehiro Akiyama. Akiyama has been doing broadcasts from the Soyuz TM-11 even before it docked. On Mir he received messages from both the Gorbechov and the Japanese Prime minister (from Radio Moscow and NHK Japan) Japan Today carried the launch last night, Dec. 3rd on PBS stations or the CBC News cable channel (this is an English translation of the standard NHK news). It may carry the docking on Dec. 4th or 5th. Glenn Chapman School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser Univ. Burnaby, B.C. Canada glennc@cs.sfu.ca or glennc%cs.sfu.ca@uunet.uu.net ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #630 *******************