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 ; Tue, 26 Mar 91 11:34:05 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 11:33:58 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #298 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 298 Today's Topics: Magellan Update - 03/13/91 Shuttle Status for 03/13/91 (Forwarded) Re: Space Shuttle STS-37 Press Kit (long) Re: railguns and electro-magnetic launchers Refuting Jules Verne? Re: railguns and electro-magnetic launchers SOLAR TERRESTRIAL BULLETIN - WARNING UPDATES - 17 MARCH MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 18 MARCH 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: 14 Mar 91 05:45:00 GMT From: agate!linus!philabs!ttidca!quad1!bohica!mcws!p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org!Ron.Baalke@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Ron Baalke) Subject: Magellan Update - 03/13/91 From: baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) Path: wciu!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Magellan Update - 03/13/91 Message-ID: <1991Mar13.214510.1900@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 21:45:10 GMT MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT March 13, 1991 The Magellan spacecraft is performing nominally. Again, all but one of the STARCALS (star calibrations) yesterday were successful. The Project continues to experience difficulty with X-band downlink communications. The communications problems were compounded by DSN (Deep Space Network) hardware problems at the 34 meter tracking station in Madrid this morning. Fortunately the other 34 meter station was able to provide coverage of the X and S-band downlink, so no data was lost. The AACS (Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem) Memory B readout tests were successfully completed yesterday and spacecraft controllers are continuing the process of loading Memory B today. The upload of command sequence M1072, with its associated radar control parameter and mapping quaternion files was completed late yesterday and is executing properly. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | Change is constant. /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | -- : Ron Baalke - via FidoNet node 1:102/851 (818)352-2993 : ARPA/INTERNET: Ron.Baalke@p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org : UUCP: ...!{elroy!bohica,elroy!wciu,cit-vax!wciu}!mcws!851.0!Ron.Baalke : Compu$erve: >internet:Ron.Baalke@p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 91 02:38:00 GMT From: agate!linus!philabs!ttidca!quad1!bohica!mcws!p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org!Ron.Baalke@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Ron Baalke) Subject: Shuttle Status for 03/13/91 (Forwarded) From: baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) Path: wciu!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov!baalke Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: Shuttle Status for 03/13/91 (Forwarded) Message-ID: <1991Mar13.183823.25819@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 18:38:23 GMT KSC SHUTTLE STATUS - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1991 --- 10:30 a.m. _________________________________________________________________ STS-37/GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY - ATLANTIS (OV 104) - VAB HB 3 LAUNCH -- EARLY APRIL WORK IN PROGRESS: * Orbiter Interface verification tests * Tile step and gap operations near nose cone * SRB battery checks * Vehicle frequency response test * Preparations for rollout to pad 39-B * Platform retractions in VAB * GRO integration into Payload Changeout Room at pad B (arrived at pad at 4:00 a.m. today) WORK COMPLETED: * Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen monoball electrical connections * Leak checks of main propulsion system * Hydraulic circulation and sample tests * Removal of debris shields * SRB APU checks WORK SCHEDULED: * Rollout to pad 39-B targeted for 12:01 a.m. Friday * Following rollout to pad: - APU hot fire (Friday) - Payload installation into orbiter payload bay (Sunday) - Helium Signature test (Monday) - Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (T-0 on Wednesday) STS-39/DoD - DISCOVERY (OV 103) - VAB HB 1 LAUNCH -- LATE APRIL, EARLY MAY WORK IN PROGRESS: * Lifting orbiter to transfer aisle WORK COMPLETED: * Installation of aft access doors * Sling lift and build up and orbiter demate operations WORK SCHEDULED: * VAB orbiter hydraulic operations * Replace flight nose wheel tire with rollover wheel tire in VAB transfer aisle * Rollover to Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. * Replace ET door hinge mechanism with one from Endeavour once in the Orbiter Processing Facility STS-40/SPACELAB LIFE SCIENCES 1 - COLUMBIA (OV 102) - OPF BAY 1 LAUNCH - MAY WORK IN PROGRESS: * Water Spray boiler servicing * Auxiliary power unit leak and functional tests * Mid-body operations * Thruster inspections WORK COMPLETED: * External tank umbilical door drive mechanism removed and shipped to Rockwell plant in California Saturday (due back at KSC end of March) * Freon loop reservicing operations * APU number 2 fuel line connections * APU lube hot oil flush WORK SCHEDULED: * OMS/FRCS functional and deservicing operations * Solid rocket booster stacking operations in VAB following STS-37 rollout operations ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |___ M/S 301-355 | Change is constant. /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | -- : Ron Baalke - via FidoNet node 1:102/851 (818)352-2993 : ARPA/INTERNET: Ron.Baalke@p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org : UUCP: ...!{elroy!bohica,elroy!wciu,cit-vax!wciu}!mcws!851.0!Ron.Baalke : Compu$erve: >internet:Ron.Baalke@p0.f851.n102.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 91 03:32:19 GMT From: chrisn@arizona.edu (Chris Niswander) Subject: Re: Space Shuttle STS-37 Press Kit (long) In article <1991Mar20.022521.10757@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>, baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: > NASA > SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-37 > PRESS KIT > [lots of stuff deleted] > Freedom; and the Radiation Monitoring Equipment-III (RME- > III), a monitor of the amount of radiation penetrating the > Shuttle's crew compartment during the flight. Ya know, somehow I wouldn't have expected them to monitor that _only on special occasions_... :-O chrisn@cs.arizona.edu (Chris Niswander / PO Box 857 / Oracle AZ 85623) Poets are the only true logicians. Sappho had more logic in her little finger than Plato had in his whole body. This is because, unlike logicians, poets don't bother to try to kid themselves (and others) that they are being logical. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 91 22:49:47 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!ariel.unm.edu!triton.unm.edu!prentice@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (John Prentice) Subject: Re: railguns and electro-magnetic launchers In article <1991Mar17.032453.16923@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1991Mar15.103927.19905@leland.Stanford.EDU> gooch@leland.Stanford.EDU (Carl Gooch) writes: >>Especially when you think about the peak heating and peak aero loads >>for a projectile thrown from the surface with enough energy to reach >>orbit. Simply put, it would burn up before it got there. > >Nope, not true. You simply have to design for a second or two in a very >nasty environment. People have seriously proposed it. > I thought the real problem was surviving the initial acceleration, not the heating and aero loads once out of the launcher. In any case, the people I know who are designing electromagnetic launchers seem to still regard these as major difficulties. Has anyone ever attempted to launch a payload out of a EM launcher that is at all complicated, in the sense of having telemetry, etc... ? John ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 91 23:44:34 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!spool.mu.edu!news.nd.edu!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!purccvm!jewelllw@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Subject: Refuting Jules Verne? Does anyone know of a solid (read not UFO-logy) work done on the physics of Jules Verne's man-launching cannon? I'm interested in the "g"s that the original crew would have experienced and just how far off the target the old boy was. I've guessed that the required initial thrust would have been way too much for a human to survive? ======================================================================== "I thought you had this helicopter blessed this morning!" from "Air America" a documentary released in 1990. ======================================================================== Larry W. Jewell JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 91 03:24:53 GMT From: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@rutgers.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: railguns and electro-magnetic launchers In article <1991Mar15.103927.19905@leland.Stanford.EDU> gooch@leland.Stanford.EDU (Carl Gooch) writes: >Especially when you think about the peak heating and peak aero loads >for a projectile thrown from the surface with enough energy to reach >orbit. Simply put, it would burn up before it got there. Nope, not true. You simply have to design for a second or two in a very nasty environment. People have seriously proposed it. Actually, a more fundamental problem is that anything launched to less than escape velocity from Earth's surface ends up in an orbit that intersects the surface. It needs at least a *bit* of apogee kick anyway. -- "But this *is* the simplified version | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology for the general public." -S. Harris | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 01:36:08 MST From: oler%HG.ULeth.CA@vma.cc.cmu.edu (CARY OLER) Subject: SOLAR TERRESTRIAL BULLETIN - WARNING UPDATES - 17 MARCH X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ SOLAR TERRESTRIAL BULLETIN 17 March, 1991 Terrestrial Geophysical Warning Updates /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ UPDATED WARNING INFORMATION An interplanetary shock has failed to arrive as was originally anticipated for 15 and 16 March. A slight increase in geomagnetic activity has been observed over the past several hours, but no significant shocks or other anomalies have been observed. The flare-related shock appears to have missed the earth altogether. Given the amount of uncertainty regarding potential geomagnetic impacts from the recent major flaring, the decision has been made to maintain the POTENTIAL GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING through to at least 19 March. The potential for a flare-induced increase in geomagnetic activity is presently considered to be fairly small, but is high enough to warrant continuation of the warning. High latitude minor geomagnetic storming is expected over the next three days at least. Whether conditions will intensify to encompass the middle latitudes is still an open question. We see no reason to expect major geomagnetic storming at the present time. The following warnings remain in effect: - POTENTIAL GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING (for 17, 18 and 19 March) - POTENTIAL SATELLITE PROTON EVENT WARNING - POTENTIAL PCA (POLAR CAP ABSORPTION) EVENT WARNING If conditions change radically, an additional bulletin will be posted. Degradation of HF signal propagation over the high and polar latitude signal paths is expected to begin at any time. Some middle and lower latitude signal degradation is expected for 18 and possibly 19 March. ** End of Bulletin ** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:09:09 MST From: oler%HG.ULeth.CA@vma.cc.cmu.edu (CARY OLER) Subject: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 18 MARCH X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" -- MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT -- MARCH 18, 1991 Flare Event Summary Potential Impact Assessment -------- MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY A major solar flare began at 17:03 UT, peaked at 17:34 UT and ended at 17:49 UT on 18 March. The flare, located at S10W24, was rated a class M5.2/1B and originated from Region 6545. This is the longest duration flare from this region in quite some time. Region 6545 is showing signs of decay in both spot complexity and magnetic complexity, although it is still quite capable of producing major flaring. POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT This latest event is not expected to produce a terrestrial impact. No protons are expected from this event. This event was not associated with any Type II or IV sweeps and was relatively small in optical size. Another major flare could occur within Region 6545 over the next 24 to 72 hours. The Potential Satellite Proton Event Warning and the Potential PCA Activity Warning remain in effect. Major flaring may also be possible from Region 6555, which appears to be a fairly complex spot group. More will be known as this region continues to rotate into better view from the east limb. ** End of Alert ** ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #298 *******************