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 ; Sat, 2 Mar 91 02:03:07 -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, 2 Mar 91 02:03:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #222 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 222 Today's Topics: Re: Gaia Commercial Space news (2 of 8) Commercial Space news (1 of 8) Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n) 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: Fri, 1 Mar 91 21:30:00 EST From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. To: 18084tm@msu.bitnet, space@andrew.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Gaia >Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 22:44:15 EST >From: Tommy Mac <18084TM%MSU.BITNET@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU> >Re: Gaia Hypothesis Some excerpts from your posting (extensively quoted to try to establish a common thread)... >About Gaia: It all started when two people, whose names I can't remember, were >discovering the amazing importance of micro-organisms in the atmosphere. The >negative feedback is an important issue, and in fact, is also an important >current question. >But here's my understanding of current Gaia theory. ... >The next important question is : What is an individual? > a cell? a cell colony? a species? a biome? a biosphere? all of them? >This is the basic analogy that the Gaia Hypothesis wants to resolve. >Some have proposed that we are Gaia's nuerons, since we can foresee changes, >unlike any other species has been able to do. >I propose that we are also Gaia's sex organs, since we can leave the biosphere, >unlike any other species can do. >The originator of the Hypothesis (Sorry I can't remember the guy's name) also >pointed out that birth, in mammals, is usually triggered by the drain that the >fetus causes on the resources that the mother has to offer. > Maybe our current resource crises are the labor pains...... >If you continue thinking of analogies (cells excrete their wastes, while our >civilization would be better off with polluting industrial processes in space) >you will not only find many of them, but you might begin to see the almost >unarguable position of the Gaia Hypothesis. The only reasons not to accept it >at face value are: (as far as I can tell) ... >Maybe my vision of the Hypothesis is too romantic. But hey, who cares? By all >the defenitions of life that I know, Gaia fits. As I mentioned before, I think the Gaia hypothesis has been valuable in directing attention to the regulatory mechanisms of the ecosystem - some of the imformation thus obtained is being used, for instance, in trying to predict the long-term results of a trend toward global warming. There are many other questions which have perhaps not yet been fully addressed, such as: - Why aren't all plants poisonous? - How has the earth been protected from the potential evolution of an extremely efficient predator, or a germ that kills everything? There are apparently deep and complex mechanisms at work which tend to keep the ecosystem functioning well. I can see how some of these might work, particularly on a local scale, but the overall global operation is obviously much more complex. I suspect at least some of it is genetically "programmed" into all living things, dating from some point very early in the development of life. These are the types of questions that the Gaia researchers can investigate, with the potential of great benefit if they learn how such things work. On the other hand, there is a tendency to delve deep into philosophy, in an effort to establish that our fantastically complex biosphere can be usefully modeled by a comparatively simple single organism. Much of your posting reflects this trend - postulate that Gaia is an organism, preferably an animal, not too different from a human being, then say "an animal has such and such a part, Gaia is an animal, so it must also have this part - where is it?" This is undoubtedly fun, like trying to see faces in cloud patterns, but what does it get you? An analogy is an attempt to model a complex thing with a simpler thing, in the hope that one's greater understanding of the simple thing will inspire greater knowledge of the complex thing. I feel fairly confident that if Gaia is an animal or plant, then it is very much unlike any animal or plant we know, so in this case the attempted analogy will provide us with very little information about the complex system. One sees attempts at this type of analogy in introductory biology texts, trying to compare a human being and a single cell - one part is like the brain, one part is like the liver, and so on. The problem is that the organizational structure is very different at the two levels - functions are grouped differently, so the comparison is of very little benefit. I feel that this is probably also the case with a comparison of the multicellular organisms we know and the biosphere as a whole. So while a study of any level of life can be profitable, it has to be studied at its own level - simplistic analogies are of very limited use. If it's philosophy you want, why not say that life is nothing more or less than a particular type of organization, and that like a virus, it infests inanimate matter and forces upon it further organization, obtaining the energy to do this from the trend toward entropy that was already present? Then you can go on to point out that the tooth enamel of an animal, though in no sense alive, is nevertheless part of the animal, and that automobiles are part of Gaia, because they were produced under the direction of living creatures. Isaac Asimov wrote a story which came close to this school of thought - the planets were "Petri dishes" in a universe which was a vast laboratory, created for the purpose of studying life. What part of Gaia is its appendix? :-) >Tommy Mac >18084tm@msu.bitnet John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 91 02:56:30 GMT From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!Wales.Larrison@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Wales Larrison) Subject: Commercial Space news (2 of 8) (Commentary continued on Presidential Commercial Space Policy) From my readings of the document, probably the three most interesting provisions in this are: -"retain only the government rights as needed" - this has been a sticky point in several past commercial space ventures, which have centered around "Who owns the rights to commercially-applicable technology developed under government contracts?" This policy would indicate that the government is being encouraged to allow a firm to commercialize technologies developed under government contracts, without giving the government the right of first refusal. This should certainly help encourage companies to enter into new commercial space ventures with government-developed technologies. - "Make unused or excess space assets and services available for commercial use". Ohhh, this is going to cause a lot of discussion. Lockheed has already stated their wish to use surplus Polaris /Posiden submarine-launched missile motors to compete in the small ELV market. Other competitors (OSC for one) have expressed their opinions this would seriously damage their competitive position, since they have had to develop their own systems from scratch. This policy would encourage the government to release such surplus motors, which also have to be judged as whether it is harmful to the market, overall. Since the government is 90% of the market, how they allocate their unused or surplus assets willy be of significant impact to the market, and there will be a lot more discussion of this, and probably a case-by-case analysis. Already this is of significant impact in the small ELV program. - "Act as 'anchor tenants' for commercial space ventures". Again, since the government is 90% of the market, this provision makes since. This was one of the key issues with the ISF venture that was proposed a couple of years ago. This general guideline should allow the government to accept a long-term contractual commitment (given the usual funding and contractual hassles of course), that would allow a commercial venture to make some longer term plans and get the needed long term investment. In general, this Presidential policy is a good thing - but there are still a lot of terms and conditions needed to be worked out to implement it, and the Congressional side still has to approve the money for any actual government/commercial ventures (which, in general, they have been willing to do).] -- Wales Larrison Internet: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 91 02:55:11 GMT From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!Wales.Larrison@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Wales Larrison) Subject: Commercial Space news (1 of 8) This is the third in an irregular series on news from the commercial space business. The commentaries are my own thoughts on these developments. Posted in eight messages (My apologies - message length restrictions at my up-load point). Contents - 1- PRESIDENT BUSH APPROVES SET OF COMMERCIAL SPACE POLICIES 3- NASA MAY SET ASIDE UP TO 1/2 OF SPACE STATION FOR COMMERCIAL PROJECTS 4- PERMANENT RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION TAX CREDIT TO BE REINSTATED? 4- ARIANESPACE RESCHEDULES LAUNCHES DUE TO ENGINE TEST FAILURE 5- EER ENTERS LAUNCH SERVICES MARKET WITH CONESTOGA, COMET TEAM 5- GENERAL DYNAMICS GETS FIRST 'LAUNCH OPERATORS LICENSE' 6- ASIAN BIDS FOCUS COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE MARKET EFFORTS 7- UPDATED COMMERCIAL LAUNCH MANIFEST RELEASED BY OCST Articles - ------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESIDENT BUSH APPROVES SET OF COMMERCIAL SPACE POLICIES On Feb 8th, President Bush approved a new set of guidelines to encourage government agencies to buy and use commercial space services. These guidelines included specific mention of 5 areas of commercial space activities - satellite communications, space transportation, remote sensing, the processing of materials in space, and support facilities and services. The new policy, which combines several previous policies and extends their applications, encourages government organizations to use commercially available space products and services "to the fullest extent feasible", where they are "cost effective". Technologies development by the government are to be transferred to the private sector "in as timely a manner as possible and in ways that protect its commercial value," the guidelines said. The policy encourages federal agencies to: - undertake cooperative research and development with the private sector or state and local governments. - retain only rights to new technology generated in the course of a government contract, as necessary to meet government needs and mission requirements. - avoid regulating domestic space activities "in a manner that precludes or deters commercial private sector activities, consistent with national security and domestic legal requirements." - Make unused or excess space assets and services available for commercial use, as long as the long-term economic impact of such transfers is taken into account. - Work to establish an international trading environment that encourages market-oriented competition. - Act as "anchor tenants" for commercial space ventures. [Commentary: I'd originally been planning not to include this, but I've gotten several question specifically asking about the impact of this upon commercial space ventures. This policy does not have the force of law - and as policy, only provides general guidelines to government organization. What is important about this is it shows the government is trying to provide a common, unified approach to encourage commercial space activities. Most of the provisions in the policy are not new, but this Presidential Directive pulls the pieces together in a single set of unified, general guidelines. (continued) s -- Wales Larrison Internet: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 91 12:01:47 GMT From: eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!amelia!eugene@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Eugene N. Miya) Subject: Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n) Many space activies center around large Government or International Bureaucracies. In this country that means NASA. If you have basic information requests: (e.g., general PR info, research grants, data, limited tours, and ESPECIALLY SUMMER EMPLOYMENT (typically resumes should be ready by Jan. 1), etc.), consider contacting the nearest NASA Center to answer your questions. EMail typically will not get you any where, computers are used by investigators, not PR people. The typical volume of mail per Center is a multiple of 10,000 letters a day. Seek the Public Information Office at one of the below, this is their job: NASA Headquarters (NASA HQ) Washington DC 20546 NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Moffett Field, CA 94035 [Mountain View, CA, near San Francisco Bay, you know Silicon Valley 8-) ] NASA Ames Research Center Dryden Flight Research Facility [DFRF] P. O. Box 273 Edwards, CA 93523 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Greenbelt, MD 20771 [Outside of Washington DC] NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC) 21000 Brookpark Rd. Cleveland, OH 44135 NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC) Houston, TX 77058 NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC) Titusville, FL 32899 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville, AL 35812 NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Hampton, VA 23665 [Near Newport News, VA] Not a NASA Center, but close enough: Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL/CIT] California Institute of Technology 4800 Oak Grove Dr. Pasadena, CA 91109 There are other small facilities, but the above major Centers are set up to handle public information requests. They can send you tons of information. Manager, Technology Utilization Office, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility, Post Office Box 8757, Baltimore, Maryland 21240. Specific requests for software must go thru COSMIC at the Univ. of Georgia, NASA's contracted software redistribution service. You can reach them at cosmic@uga.bitnet. If this gives you problems, tell me. NOTE: Foreign nationals requesting information must go through their Embassies in Washington DC. These are facilities of the US Government and are regarded with some degree of economic sensitivity. Centers cannot directly return information without high Center approval. Allow at least 1 month for clearance. This includes COSMIC. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (O) 202/488-4158 955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024 Arianespace Headquarters Boulevard de l'Europe B.P. 177 91006 Evry Cedex France ARIANESPACE, INC. (O) 202/728-9075 1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 875, Washington, DC 20006 SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION (FAX) 703/648-1813 (O) 703/620-2200 1857 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091 National Space Development Agency (NASDA), 4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, Japan SOYUZKARTA 45 Vologradsij Pr., Moscow 109125, USSR SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services) 504 Pluto Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (O) 719/578-5490 69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower, Houston, TX 77002 (O) 713/227-9000 Additionally information is frequent asked about: Space camp: Alabama Space and Rocket Center 1 Tranquility Base Huntsville, AL 35805 205-837-3400 U.S. SPACE CAMP 6225 Vectorspace Blvd Titusville FL 32780 (407)267-3184 (registration and mailing list are handled through Huntsville -- both camps are described in the same brochure) There is talk of a space camp to be located next to NASA Ames. Watch that space. "It's not a message. I think it's a warning." -- Ripley ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #222 *******************