Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from hogtown.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, 25 Jan 91 09:58:58 -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, 25 Jan 91 09:58:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #069 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 69 Today's Topics: Re: Humanity's Launch Window Re: THE BLUE PLANET Some far away places Re: Fwd: NASA Plans To Redesign Space Station Re: 2 dimensional objects Re: SPACE Digest V13 #041 * SpaceNews 21-Jan-91 * Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 17 Jan 91 22:40:37 GMT From: hpfcso!hpfcdc!ajs@hplabs.hpl.hp.com (Alan Silverstein) Subject: Re: Humanity's Launch Window Thank you for your feedback, here and by mail. > In an actual article, I would expect more concrete examples of the > benefits designed to mute space expansion critics... Good point. On the other hand, I don't want to water down the emotional impact of the article. I'll see what I can work into it. >> Our precious Earth is crowded. Our raw materials are being consumed. >> *Our launch window will close*. > This needs expansion, and justification; Club of Rome, etc. Again, it's a matter of judgement and something I don't want to water down with footnotes. :-) But I'll see what I can do. > Maybe. I think the more likely scenario is that another culture, > perhaps Japanese will cross the threshold. I say this because we seem > too pre-occupied with militarism and the Europeans with happenings east > of them to have a PLAN for space. I have also heard the same by mail. Well, call me a pessimist, but I'm concerned that we're all interconnected and if the US can't make it happen, no one can. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 91 02:42:59 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@apple.com (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: THE BLUE PLANET In article <1440@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de> p515dfi@mpirbn.UUCP (Daniel Fischer) writes: >a flat screen ('5 stories high' or so go the ads), the other one working inside >a planetarium dome - which one of these is the actual 'IMAX' system? Is the >generic term for the planetarium-based version OMNIMAX? Imax is the flat screen, Omnimax is the dome. Both are products of the Imax Corporation here in Toronto. > do both versions >use exactly the same footage ... I expect they work from the same originals, but the actual film used for projection is different. The Omnimax format is predistorted in a seriously peculiar way so that it comes out right when run through their strange projection lenses and viewed on the dome. -- If the Space Shuttle was the answer, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology what was the question? | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 91 17:23:56 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!quiche!msdos@ucsd.edu (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) Subject: Some far away places Ten thousand times a hundred thousand dusty years ago, Where now extends the Plain of Gold did once my river flow. It stroked the stones and spoke in tongues ans splashed against my face Till ages rolled - the Sun shone cold on this unholy place. So many stars bedeck my skies, when once there were but few, But oh, to know again the clouds that hid them from my view. My ochred cliffs and rusted sands stand regal and serene, But oh, my wan and wasted world, I miss your blue and green. But it's just the weight of waiting, not a deathwatch o'er a friend. Tomorrow has a starting as does yesterday an end. For the water of my river and the air that was my wind, Though bound in rocks and wintry wastes, I pray may flow again. My ochred cliffs and rusted sands stand regal and serene, but oh, my wan and wasted world, I miss your blue and green. Mark S. (1991) ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 91 04:57:41 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!Wales.Larrison@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Wales Larrison) Subject: Re: Fwd: NASA Plans To Redesign Space Station Jonathan Leech writes >If adopted, this would help vindicate Oliver Harwood's modular >tetrahedral station approach. Having the temerity to propose it got him >kicked out of Rockwell in the mid-80s. I've heard different opinions expressed by members of Rockwell management. It should be noted that Ollie Harwood retired under full retirement pay from Rockwell - if he was really "kicked out" he would have grounds for a really good law suit, and there are lots of local shark lawyers who would love to hear from him regarding a "wrongful discharge" lawsuit. Back in about 1985-86 I had an office near Ollie, and talked to him a lot about his designs. (I've since moved on...) He is a very good and innovative designer, and I saw the NASA, Aerospace Corp, Rockwell and an independent design review of his design. It was very interesting and some parts of it were very innovative - and some were used in the LOSING Rockwell Space Station proposal for Work Package 4 (?? the truss and structural work package - won by McDonnell Douglas). Unfortunately, some of his ideas weren't any better than the standard way of doing a Space Station design (using modules in a rectangular layout rather than a tetrahetral array)- and while his design was different - it didn't meet the system requirements any better. Overall, his design was worse in meeting the total expressed system requirements - for GN&C, ACS and microgravity environments, his tetrahedral design was much worse, according to the design reviews. Many aspects of his design were adopted, but after Rockwell lost the competition for that work package, they were not picked up by the winning MDSSC design team. (Interestingly enough, Ollie was from MDSSC originally....). And it didn't help that Ollie did a few things that didn't enamour Rockwell management of him - like designing stuff on company time, then publishing it in the press without company permission (during a closely contested competitive procurement, when management is very sensitive...), calling the potential customer an "idiot" in writing and in public forums, and testifying to Congress that both Rockwell and NASA management were "morons". Heck, if I was Rockwell management I would have fired him. I consider Rockwell very (almost amazingly) tolerant of what he did. -- Wales Larrison Internet: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 91 23:39:03 GMT From: uokmax!jabishop@apple.com (Jonathan A Bishop) Subject: Re: 2 dimensional objects vortex@vpnet.chi.il.us (Jason J. Levit) writes: >In article <1991Jan19.000511.18161@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop) writes: >>vortex@vpnet.chi.il.us (Jason J. Levit) writes: >> What do you mean by 4 dimensional? Three of space and one of time or >>four of space? Either way, our universe may have more dimensions of space >>than we can perceive, so two dimensional creatures in a four dimensional >>(or higher) universe are just as plausible as three dimensional creatures. > 3 of space, 1 of time. These guys were claming that these creatures > didn't have any height. I find that very hard to believe! We don't KNOW that the universe only has three dimensions of space; theories have been proposed suggesting that there are actually 11 (!). We just can't perceive that. So, a five dimensional creature might not believe that three dimensional creatures could exist: "These guys were claiming that these creatures didn't have any (insert noun describing size in 4th and 5th dimensions). I find that very hard to believe!" -- jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu "Ground Control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong. Can you hear me, Major Tom?" -- David Bowie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 91 21:38:41 EST From: Tommy Mac <18084TM%MSU.BITNET@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU> Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V13 #041 Next Colony After THe Moon on Ganymeade? Are you nuts? No offense guys, but I think your missing some pretty important steps. Maybe you'd rather use ganymeade because of it's interesting location, but it's too far away and there's not much (unique) that's there. There are people in ohio that own property that's described in the dumbest ways because it was in ohio that the surveyors starting out across this huge land began experimenting with different standards before they settled down the the township system we see in most of the midwest and all of the west. I mention this because that arbitrary action on the part of the surveyors changed things for people they could not even imagine, hundreds of years later, in stupid but significant ways. It's bound to happen as we move into space, and you might find some interesting twists by thinking about the steps leading up to the second colony and what could change. Anyway, I think a second colony (assuming the first is on the moon) could more easily and practically be built in: Solar orbit at 1 A.U : Energy harvesting or Apollo Asteroid Mining Station Solar orbit at any A.U.: Energy , Materials if between 3+6 A.U (Asteroids) Earth orbit : Stopover, cheap tourism, convenience stores L-5 : Alternative to Earth Orbit Thinking about it some more; Since the asteroids have the same stuff in them that the moons of Jupiter have, and since asteroids have more sunlight and less gravity, I wouldn't think a colony would get established there unless the rest of the resources in the solar system were getting expensive enough to warrant the longer trip and harder time once you get to the Jupiter System. And once you decided to go, the Trojan Asteroids would be easier to use anyway. a base on Ganymeade would either be some obscure religious or social group, or part of a huge space-faring infrastructure, I would guess. Sorry if I sound like I don't like ganymeade, but it's 900,000 miles away. Tommy Mac Acknowledge-To: <18084TM@MSU> ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 91 02:19:13 GMT From: ka2qhd!kd2bd@rutgers.edu (John Magliacane) Subject: * SpaceNews 21-Jan-91 * SB SPACE @ ALLBBS < KD2BD $SPC0121 * SpaceNews 21-Jan-91 * Bulletin ID: $SPC0121 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 21, 1991 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * U2MIR NEWS * ============== ZL2AXJ contacted U2MIR on 15-Jan-91 at 18:10 UTC on 145.550 MHz. U2MIR was heard contacting a station in VK on a following pass. According to ZL2AXJ, U2MIR acknowleged callsigns and did not exchange signal reports. Apparently a callsign exchange is all that is required for QSL purposes. * RS SATELLITES * ================= In what is considered a major suprise to AMSAT-DL officials, RS-12/13 will be launched before RS-14/RUDAK-2. According to the latest information coming to AMSAT-DL officials from the USSR, RS-12/13 will be launched on January 20, 1991. Then about one week later RS-14/RUDAK-2 will be launched! RS-12/13 has been in storage for over a year awaiting an opportunity to be placed into orbit. RS-14/RUDAK-2 has also been delayed over a year. AMSAT-DL officials can only explain these delays from the standpoint of economic pressures and efforts to minimize launch costs. [Information via ANS and DB2OS] * SALYUT-7 NEWS * ================= The decaying Soviet space station Salyut-7 has been causing false alarms to troops fighting the war in the middle east. Salyut-7 is rapidly decaying and is expected to fall to Earth shortly. Salyut-7 will be visible to people living on the east coast of the US shortly after local sunset. * FLASHING SATELLITES * ======================= The Solar Mesosphere Explorer and PegSat satellites can be seen under ideal viewing conditions shortly before sunrise or after sunset. These satellites appear to "flash" with a period of two cycles per second. SME was launched with OSCAR-9 in 1981. OSCAR-9 decayed in the Earth's atmosphere on 13-Oct-89. NASA "two-line" Keplerian orbital data for these objects follows: SME 1 12887U 81100 A 91 10.17428589 .00149731 00000-0 83283-3 0 534 2 12887 97.5951 78.2554 0002064 137.2187 222.8947 15.79052268513576 PegSat 1 20546U 90 28 A 91 10.39518899 .00014614 00000-0 83807-3 0 3909 2 20546 94.1399 325.5229 0139030 306.5241 52.3247 15.04646247 41196 * THOUGHT OF PEACE * ==================== Give us O God the vision which can see thy love in the world in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen. - First prayer from space - Apollo 8 - December 24, 1968 - * STS-37 NEWS * =============== US Space Shuttle mission STS-37, currently scheduled for launch at 14:14 UTC on 08-Apr-91, will be carrying an ALL amateur radio crew. Crew members for STS-37 include: Commander : Steve Nagel, N5RAW Pilot : Ken Cameron, KB5AWP Mission Specialist 1 : Linda Godwin, N5RAX Mission Specialist 2 : Jerry Ross, (awaiting call) Mission Specialist 3 : Jay Apt, N5QWL 2-meter FM voice, SSTV, and robot packet operations are planned during the five day mission. An orbital inclination of 28 degrees will limit the area of SAREX coverage to those areas close to the equator, as was the case with STS-35. * TNX QSL! * ============ A special thanks to all those who sent QSLs and letters to SpaceNews: FC1HUJ : Raynier Di Lenarda, Antibes, France ON1CFI : Jan Moeyersons, Tisselt, Belgium N5QWC : Gary Morris, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA N6UCJ : P.J. Mead, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA SM7BHM : Ewe, Hakansson, Kristianstad, Sweden ...and e-mail messages: KA1UKM, VE2MAA, ZL2AXJ, KD5RI, W5YI, N7PDF, N8LZE * FEEDBACK WELCOMED * ===================== Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any of the following paths: INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com PACKET : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA UUCP : ...uunet!rutgers!ka2qhd!kd2bd MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Electronics Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. /EX -- John A. Magliacane FAX : (908) 747-7107 Electronics Technology Department AMPR : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA Brookdale Community College UUCP : ...!rutgers!ka2qhd!kd2bd Lincroft, NJ 07738 USA VOICE: (908) 842-1900 ext 607 ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #069 *******************