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 ; Sat, 8 Dec 1990 02:36:16 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Sat, 8 Dec 1990 02:35:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #641 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 641 Today's Topics: Instrument Pointing System Status for 12/02/90 (Forwarded) Re: Fueling Columbia Astro-1 Status for 12/04/90 [2130 CST] (Forwarded) Solar System Stability (was Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 *) NASA's Manned/Unmanned Track Record (Re: Another Russian first) HUT Status for 12/03/90 [1130 CST] (Forwarded) Good Bye (Quite possibly my last posting from this site) Re: Another Russian first BBXRT Status for 12/04/90 [1430 CST] (Forwarded) 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: 5 Dec 90 00:24:45 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Instrument Pointing System Status for 12/02/90 (Forwarded) STS-35/Astro-1 IPS Status Report Mission Control Center, Houston 9:30 p.m. CST, Sunday, Dec. 2, 1990 Flight controllers were in the final stages this evening of verifying a software patch that will set the stage for automated target acquisition with the Instrument Pointing System. That device, which goes by the acronym IPS, houses several of the primary astronomical instruments being trained toward deep space on this science flight. The IPS uses star trackers and gyroscopes in its automatic mode in order to lock on to pre-programmed stars. During the initial attempts to calibrate the system and begin taking science data in the automatic mode, controllers found that one of the IPS star trackers would not recognize and lock on to dimmer stars, as it had been programmed. The software patch therefore became necessary in order to direct the device to lock onto brighter--or higher magnitude--stars. Meanwhile, the Orbiter Columbia itself continues to perform flawlessly, with no systems problems currently being tracked by flight controllers in Houston. The vehicle is in a 190 by 188 nautical mile orbit inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator. The Columbia completes one orbit of the Earth every 1 hour and 31 minutes. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 22:25:38 GMT From: swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!wciu!abode!eric@ucsd.edu (Eric C. Bennett) Subject: Re: Fueling Columbia In article LANGFORD@crc.crc.vcu.edu writes: >My girlfriend asked a good question the other day, while we were waiting to >watch the shuttle launch on TV: Did they fill up Columbia's tanks before >the federal gas tax went up 5 cents/gallon at 1-Dec-1990 00:00? Think how >much they would save! :-) :-) Well, if the tax applies to liquid hydrogen I think the Shuttle program is going to have to pay a lot more for launches! :) Eric 1 -- Eric C. Bennett uucp: {elroy|cit-vax}!wciu!abode!eric El Monte, Ca Internet: eric@abode.wciu.edu If you can read this you aren't looking through the hubble space telescope! ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 18:09:17 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/04/90 [2130 CST] (Forwarded) Astro 1 Shift Summary #09 9:30 p.m. CST, December 4, 1990 2/20:40 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center Observations of significant astronomical targets were coming with increasing regularity during the afternoon and early evening hours of Tuesday, the third day in the Astro-1 mission. "We have an observatory that's really coming alive now," said Astro-1 Mission Scientist Dr. Ted Gull approximately midway through this period. "I can smile now." A key milestone resulting in this type of comment from mission management and science team members was the marked improvement during this period in the Astro-1 payload's capability to execute automatic stellar acquisitions. The improvement in acquisition procedures came thanks to persistent efforts by members of the Astro-1 ground support teams, who sent up to Columbia a series of successively more refined calibrations to the payload's sensitive star-tracker optics. At 4:00 p.m. (CST), crewmembers Sam Durrance and Jeff Hoffman reported that the improved star-tracker geometry enabled them to perform one automatic target acquisition followed immediately by another, with no intervening recalibration. Alternate Payload Specialist Ken Nordsieck, in the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Facility, noted that the achievement resulted in the second of the two observations being "about as nominal an observation as we've done." That comment applied to the three ultraviolet instruments mounted on Spacelab's Instrument Pointing System (IPS). Pointing stability was still below specifications and, because control of Spacelab, the IPS and the experiments is still being done on a single computer terminal, acquisitions continued to require longer times than expected. However, both problems were expected to improve, increasing the quality and quantity of ultraviolet science data. There was also major progress for the separately pointed and controlled fourth instrument aboard Columbia, the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT). By around 5 p.m., Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Serlemitsos reported that a successful alignment had been completed between the X-ray telescope and its mounting mechanism, the Two-Axis Pointing System. That accomplishment marked a significant victory over previous drift problems, appearing to clear the way for the BBXRT team to press on with their science observation program. During this period, the X-ray telescope took science data during observations of the Crab Nebula (NGC 1952 in the New General Catalogue) and the binary star system Cygnus X-3. Several key observations were made during this period with the three ultraviolet telescopes, among them: o The globular cluster M92, which is a cluster of some 100,000 stars about 25,000 light years distant from Earth. The cluster contains numerous very hot, old stars which produce ultraviolet radiation. o The star Theta Muscae, a Wolf-Rayet star which exhibits a very strong stellar wind. o And the well-known supernova remnant Cygnus Loop. The supernova which was the source of this remnant exploded some 50,000 years ago. ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 23:33:38 GMT From: dweasel!loren@lll-winken.llnl.gov (Loren Petrich) Subject: Solar System Stability (was Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 *) Concerning solar system stability, it must be conceded that this is not a completely solved problem. Perturbation theory techniques are the traditional way to evaluate this problem. However, use of them depends on dropping higher-order terms, and there is the problem of how much these contribute to the final results. In particular, if there is a near-commensurability in some of the orbit periods, then that will magnify the effect of whatever terms in which it causes a near-cancellation of the rate of change. Example: if there are two objects, 1 and 2, of which object 1 has a mean angular velocity twice that of object 2, then terms containing expressions like: l1 - 2*l2 where l1 and l2 are the mean longitudes of the two objects, will change slowly and may even produce big oscillations in l1 and l2. Since most perturbation-theory analyses ultimately involve averaging over orbit positions, resonance terms like the example mentioned above are a serious difficulty, unless they can be identified. Even in that case, one may approach the limits of analytical tractability, and have to resort to numerical integration, which can be done directly on the coordinates of the objects. I note that orbit elements can be thought of as "coordinates" in this context, though their equations of motion are more complicated than the equations of motion for positions and velocities. Direct integration of the positions and velocities also has the advantage of keeping all the terms, as it were, as opposed to doing integration for the orbit elements with a truncated perturbation series, due to the missing-term problem. However, integrating orbit elements can cover a much longer time range for a truncated perturbation series, because the orbit-variation timescale is usually much greater than the orbit periods. Actual results? It appears that some of the objects in the Solar System move chaotically. Saturn's satellite Hyperion is known to tumble chaotically, for instance. And numerically integrating Pluto's orbit reveals it to change chaotically. There is even evidence for chaos in the motions of the four big planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. However, the "size" of the region of chaos is still uncertain. If it turns out to be small, then the motions of the planets are predictable within that region, and it may even be that the Solar System is stable over timescales of billions of years despite the weak chaos in the motions of the planets. More research on this question will certainly be needed. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster: loren@sunlight.llnl.gov Since this nodename is not widely known, you may have to try: loren%sunlight.llnl.gov@star.stanford.edu ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 04:35:49 GMT From: rochester!sol!yamauchi@rutgers.edu (Brian Yamauchi) Subject: NASA's Manned/Unmanned Track Record (Re: Another Russian first) In article <1990Dec4.030007.23891@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve "il-Manhous" Norton) writes: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes: ... >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 b First spacecraft explosion to kill all on board due to ground problems (faulty management) -- Challenger First spacecraft launch delayed more than six months -- Columbia So here's an interesting question: Why are NASA's unmanned missions so successful while NASA's (recent) manned missions have suffered from so many setbacks? It's not that manned missions are harder -- the Soviets seem to have the opposite problem (unmanned failures despite manned successes). It's not just funding politics -- unmanned missions suffer from the same Congressional squabbles as manned missions -- and usually end up with less money. Is it just the complexity of the shuttle? Is it because JPL is run by Caltech instead of NASA? But Pioneer and Viking were both coordinated by Ames... So, is the problem with JSC/MSFC/KSC? With the bureaucracy in general? And if so, have JPL and Ames managed to stay free of the bureaucracy or do they get work accomplished in spite of it? -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 23:54:27 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: HUT Status for 12/03/90 [1130 CST] (Forwarded) HUT Status Report 12/3/90 11:30 a.m. CDT The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope team received "first light" data from the telescope at 11:30 a.m. The first spectrum was produced from ultraviolet emissions in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The observation was important for three reasons: 1: HUT's first light was the first science calibration observation made by any of Astro-1's instruments. 2: Because HUT must "look" through this atmosphere to observe objects, this spectrum must be subtracted from any spectra collected for stars, galaxies, etc. 3: HUT team scientists will analyze the spectrum and compare it to earlier observations or the Earth's air glow, or upper atmosphere, to determine the effect the Sun has on the Earth's atmosphere. This spectrum was the highest quality observation ever made in the far ultraviolet for Earth's atmosphere. ------------------------------ Date: 6 Dec 90 02:09:41 GMT From: agate!linus!philabs!briar!rfc@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Robert Casey) Subject: Good Bye (Quite possibly my last posting from this site) I'm afraid that this may be my last posting. Philips is having layoffs, and I might get canned. I liked having access to these newsgroups, and would like to regain access at some other site. If anyone knows of anyone looking for a person who knows about HDTV, NTSC, video, digital signal processing, high speed digital logic design, have them call me at 201-261-4066. Also, point any and all headhunters my way. I have 11 patents. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 90 23:09:56 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!cci632!ritcsh!ultb!ritvax.isc.rit.edu!swd0170@ucsd.edu (DAVIS, SW) Subject: Re: Another Russian first 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. >Are there any other spaceflight "firsts" that the USA has achived exept >for the first man on the moon ? > > Curious, > > Techno > >-- >| techno@zelator.in-berlin.de ||| Please do not e-mail from outside Germany ! | >| techno@lime.in-berlin.de / | \ Hardcore ST user ! ====================== | >| Nothing that's real is ever for free, you just have to pay for it sometime. | >| (Al Stewart) | Most definitely! We are the first (and still the only) to send probes to the outer planets of Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,and Neptune. We had the first space station (Skylab),and of course the first shuttle launch. Scott ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 05:21:01 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: BBXRT Status for 12/04/90 [1430 CST] (Forwarded) BBXRT Status Report #03 2:30 p.m. CST Dec. 4, 1990 Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL The BBXRT and its Two-Axis Pointing System (TAPS) were co-aligned at 5:30 a.m. CST today and shortly after BBXRT locked on its first x-ray target, the bright star Capella. "With the kind of observations we have planned we should do tremendous science," reported Goddard's Dr. Peter Serlemitsos, principal investigator. This morning's observation gives scientists the temperature and the element abundances of Capella. Serlemitsos described the BBXRT's resolution as excellent and added that the 300 seconds of data collected so far has revealed information not seen in previous observations. BBXRT team members are currently working to fine tune the TAPS and expect to be pointing routinely to their sources by this evening. BBXRT and TAPS were developed and are operated from Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #641 *******************