Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from 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, 29 Mar 91 06:18:26 -0500 (EST) Received: from po2.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Fri, 29 Mar 91 06:17:59 -0500 (EST) Received: from po5.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Fri, 29 Mar 91 02:20:08 -0500 (EST) Received: from hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Fri, 29 Mar 91 02:19:40 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <4bwie5u00WBwM1kU4w@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 29 Mar 91 02:19:34 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #320 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 320 Today's Topics: MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM INFORMATION UPDATE #1 - 25 MARCH Re: Japan Moon Probes article Payload Summary for 03/25/91 (Forwarded) Small Comets (was: Re: NASA Headline News...) MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 25 MARCH Re: Inter-probe communication 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: Sun, 24 Mar 91 23:56:08 MST From: oler%HG.ULeth.CA@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU (CARY OLER) Subject: MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM INFORMATION UPDATE #1 - 25 MARCH X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ INFORMATIONAL MAGNETIC STORM UPDATE /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 06:30 UT, 25 March ------------- STORM UPDATE INFORMATION: The geomagnetic storm continues in progress as of 06:30 UT on 25 March. The middle-latitude magnetic A-index has been adjusted to correspond with the storm start-time, and is now rated at 84. This represents a moderate to high intensity major geomagnetic storm. Severe middle latitude geomagnetic storming was observed between 20:30 UT and 21:30 UT on 24 March, and again between 02:30 UT and 05:00 UT on 25 March. Major storm levels have been observed since 20:00 UT on 24 March. Storming is expected to continue for the next 6 to 12 hours. We should be just about finished the main phase of the storm. Post-storm activity will likely include sporadic isolated substorming. Localized magnetic activity could be fairly intense until things stabilize later this UT day. Widespread low-latitude auroral activity is being reported throughout most of the southeast U.S. tonight, despite the phase of the moon. Auroral activity will continue throughout most of the night for North American observers. Storm detensification is expected to occur later this UT day. This is expected to be the last night for low-latitude auroral activity for North American observers. However, future major flaring could cause a recurrence of low-latitude auroral activity this coming week. Watch for future major solar flare alerts and terrestrial impact assessments. Very intense ionospheric absorption during the afternoon hours over North American middle and northerly middle latitudes produced a heavy HF radio blackout on all HF bands. Practically no communications were possible until after sunset, when ionization detensified. Near blackout conditions were reported at several southern hemisphere locations as well (ex. Australia). The satellite proton and PCA events have decayed over the past 24 hours. A major solar flare, which occurred at 00:24 UT on 25 March may further enhance the proton levels. If this occurs, the Polar Cap Absorption (PCA) event will likely continue for another 48 hours. If no protons are received, the PCA will likely end later this UT day. This flare has a modest probability for producing a minor geomagnetic and auroral storm. More will be known when additional data arrives regarding this event. For more information, consult the Major Solar Flare Alert for 00:24 UT on 25 March. Another informational update will be posted near 21:00 UT on 25 March. Alerts and warnings will be updated and/or cancelled then. The following alerts are IN PROGRESS: - MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM ALERT - LOW LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY ALERT - GEOMAGNETICALLY INDUCED CURRENT (GIC) ALERT - SATELLITE PROTON EVENT ALERT - POLAR CAP ABSORPTION EVENT ALERT - POLAR RADIO SIGNAL BLACKOUT ALERT The following warnings remain in progress: - POTENTIAL MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - POTENTIAL PROTON FLARE ALERT /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 91 17:45:26 GMT From: wuarchive!rex!rouge!dlbres10@decwrl.dec.com (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Japan Moon Probes article In article <196@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (will) writes: >Absolutly, I agree. After all, any country that can destroy America >can go to any moon of their choice. In case you hav'nt herd, America >surrendered to Japan in Kuwait. That was the main purpose of Foreign >Minister Taro Nakayama to Washington, to remind the President that the >U.S. in now owned by Japan and that Washington D.C. has been moved to >Tokyo Japan. 1. If the Japanese were running the U.S., they'd do a better job. :-) 2. More likely, the U.S., if it surrendered to anyone, surrendered to Kuwait. I was under the impression that the Japanese position on the whole thing was "He can't drink his oil, he has to sell it to someone..." 3. I've also heard the Japanese critisizing the U.S. for causing the war by its great oil consumption, and because the U.S. does not conserve. Although we get a lot less of our oil from the Persian Gulf in the first place, they miss the point: all the U.S. has to do is to deceide to stop hindering local production. Given the current state of the U.S. oil industry, _and_ the U.S. nuclear industry (and as someone who has gone through a lot because of the near collapse of the former), I think a lot more U.S. energy policy issues are being deceided in Riyadh than in Tokyo. I would like to point out that a lot of the Japan bashing, such as you said your article could be interpreted as (in your response? please clarify what you meant there...), serves mainly to divert interest away from the much more dangerous influences of the much less democratic Middle Eastern 'allies' of the U.S., with whom, by the way, IMHO, the U.S. shares one hell of a lot less 'common values' than with, say Japan. 3.(short form): U.S. bashing in Japan, and Japan bashing in the U.S., isn't constrctuve or accurate, and it probrably helps hide _real_ 'foreign entanglements.' 4. You should be much more careful than you have in putting accross your views. Were this a full moon, I'd have turned into a werewolf and really flamed you. :-) 5. I doubt the Japanese have destroyed America. If America is found to be dead one day, the coroner will probrably rule it a suicide. :-( Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu And I don't know the _exact_ quote, but Malcolm X once said something to the effect (and this is the spirit of what he wrote): "America's biggest problem is its tendancy towards self-destruction." ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 91 20:46:51 GMT From: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Payload Summary for 03/25/91 (Forwarded) PAYLOAD TEST AND ACTIVITY SHEET Kennedy Space Center, Florida March 25, 1991 George Diller 407/867-2468 FTS 823-2468 GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY STS-37/Atlantis HISTORICAL ACTIVITY Arrival of Spacecraft at PHSF: 2/6/90 First functional test begins: 2/26 Install High Gain Antenna: 11/8 Final functional test complete: 12/4/90 Spacecraft Fueling complete: 1/11/91 Install Flight Batteries: 1/15 First Joint Integrated Simulation (JIS): 1/16 Airborne Electrical Support Equipment (AESE) arrives: 1/24 Astronaut payload sharp edge inspection: 1/29 Install orbiter Airborne Electrical Support Equipment (AESE): 2/1 Transfer GRO to Vertical Processing Facility: 2/7 Installation into west test cell: 2/9 VPF Standalone Functional Test: 2/12-13 Interface Verification Test (IVT) of AESE: 2/17 IVT of GRO (orbiter interfaces simulated): 2/23 End-to-End (ETE) communications test (MILA/GSFC/TDRS): 2/25 Payload Readiness Review: 2/25 MILA RF communications test: 3/4 Transfer payload to canister: 3/11 Roll to Pad 39-B/Transfer to PCR: 3/13 Initial GRO Battery Charging: 3/13 Payload installation into Atlantis: 3/17 Astronaut payload bay sharp edge inspection: 3/19 Interface Verification Test (IVT): 3/21 ACTIVITY FORECAST * Denotes Change GRO end-to-end test: 3/25 Battery reconditioning: 3/25-30 Final JIS-Nominal Day 3 deploy: 3/27 GRO closeouts for flight: 4/1 Close payload bay doors: 4/2 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 15:37:27 PST From: greer%utdssa.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" Subject: Small Comets (was: Re: NASA Headline News...) In SPACE Digest V13 #290, zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Fraering Philip) writes: >In article <1991Mar18.233833.19729@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes: >>NASA has terminated the operation of the Dynamics Explorer-1 >>(DE-1) spacecraft. The spacecraft, which acquired the first global >>images of the aurora, was launched on August 3, 1981. >Wasn't this the spacecraft whose data touched off (or helped touch off) >the mini-comet controversy? Dark pixels in the images from the DE-1 UV-imager were interpreted by some as being due to water vapor clouds, which were in turn postulated to come from small (12 meter diameter) comets (not mini-comets, another theory). The most likely explanation of the dark pixels, which occur in the data at the rate of about 1 per 800 pixels, is that they were simply instrument artifacts. Consider, for example, that the size of the darkened pixel areas (actually single pixel events) does not change with Earth image size as the spacecraft goes from 1100km to 23300km in its highly elliptical orbit. However, since the spacecraft cannot be retrieved (without considerable expense) the instrument artifact hypothesis can't be directly proven. On the other hand, the small comet hypothesis, which seems so attractive on first hearing (else it never would have been published), crumbles upon examination like the fluffy snowballs it puports to reveal. Nevertheless, the "controversy" does exist and persists almost soley on the strength of the reputation of the small comets' main proponent. >Speaking of which, I ask again: has there been any new evidence for or >against the theory, such as Galileo was possibly (I'm not sure) supposed >to gather? The European Viking (pron. veeking) satellite with UV-imager produced no supporting evidence for the small comet hypothesis. The word on the grapevine is that Galileo also produced no supporting evidence. >Phil Fraering >dlbres110@pc.usl.edu _____________ Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER "I am not making this up." -- Lou Frank in _The Big Splash_ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 00:04:21 MST From: oler%HG.ULeth.CA@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU (CARY OLER) Subject: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 25 MARCH X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" -- MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT -- MARCH 25, 1991 Flare Event Summary MODERATE IMPACTS POSSIBLE -------- MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY Another major X-class flare erupted from Region 6555 early this UT day. The flare was not well covered by optical flare patrols. Beginning and end times are uncertain. From the data received so far, the event began sometime before 23:27 UT on 24 March, peaked near 00:19 UT and ended sometime after 01:03 UT on 25 March. The flare was rated a class X1.1/1B event (although the optical rating is not yet definite) and was located at S26E01. The integrated x-ray flux was not particularly intense, but was "moderate" nonetheless (rated at 0.110 Joules / meter^2). Radio coverage of this event was difficult, in part due to the intense magnetic storming which was in progress at the time of this event. However, there was an unconfirmed report of a Type IV event. This is not official yet. Region 6555 is now located at S24W11 and is maintaining a very potent configuration. It has high magnetic gradients, high amounts of shear and is a Beta-Gamma-Delta magnetic configuration. This region is expected to continue to produce potentially significant major solar flares. It is very capable of producing strong terrestrial impacts if a particularly intense flare occurs. POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT This latest flare has a good possibility for producing a potentially minor geomagnetic storm. The flare probably won't be capable of producing a storm as intense as the class X9.4/3B flare of 22 March (which we are experiencing now), but a disturbance is possible. The probabilty is rated at near 50% for a minor geomagnetic storm. Models suggest an estimated magnetic planetary A-index of about 44 on 27 March if this flare produces a terrestrial impact. However, it should be noted that predicting geomagnetic activity from major flares is a very difficult process with fairly high failure rates, particularly with borderline flares as this one is. If protons become enhanced within the next six hours, a terrestrial impact will be more likely. Until this is known, the probability for terrestrial impacts will remain at about 50%. If terrestrial impacts do materialize, they will likely begin near the middle to latter part of the UT day on 26 March, with possible storm periods (mostly over the higher latitudes) on 27 March. Solar protons have decayed substantially from yesterdays values. Current proton levels are at near 250 pfu at greater than 10 MeV. The greater than 100 MeV protons have decayed to values near 4 pfu. The PCA absorption is currently running near 1.4 dB's, which is significantly reduced over yesterdays values. The PCA is expected to end within the next 24 hours, unless protons become enhanced from the recent major flare. The satellite proton event will likely endure for the next 48 hours, barring any further major flaring. Major flaring is expected to continue out of Region 6555. A high risk exists for potential major proton flaring from this region. It is in a sensitive position for producing terrestrial impacts and will remain in that position for the next three to four days. Watch for possible future flare alerts. For geomagnetic information, consult the recent Geomagnetic Storm Informational Update #1 (06:00 UT, 25 March). Radio propagation information is also included therein together with the forecast conditions. ** End of Alert ** ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 91 16:30:32 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Inter-probe communication In article <1991Mar24.232326.14442@unicorn.cc.wwu.edu> n8742883@unicorn.cc.wwu.edu (Perry Pederson) writes: >... If something >'went wrong' and a probe lost communications from Earth, could one >spacecraft be given commands from Earth to redirect its radio dish and >relay/forward commands to another probe that couldn't receive commands >from Earth? In general, this wouldn't be a useful thing to try. The probes have, relatively speaking, very small antennas and very low-power transmitters. They maintain communication with Earth successfully only because the Earth stations have very large antennas, very sensitive receivers, and quite powerful transmitters. Inter-probe communication is viable only at (astronomically speaking) extremely short range. This tactic would be practical only if the two were already operating together, e.g. a Mars orbiter relaying communications to a Mars lander, and it probably would be useful only if the relaying would go through different equipment on the troubled probe than direct signals would. -- "[Some people] positively *wish* to | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology believe ill of the modern world."-R.Peto| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #320 *******************