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 ; Sun, 31 Mar 91 02:01:58 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <0bxMZUy00WBw0UKU5G@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Sun, 31 Mar 91 02:01:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #332 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 332 Today's Topics: NASA Headline News for 03/28/91 (Forwarded) Re: Discovery Re: Minicomets Re: "Follies" Re: I want to go to orbit... Re: More cost/lb. follies Re: Commercial Space News (2 of 12) 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: 28 Mar 91 18:22:20 GMT From: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 03/28/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Thursday, March 28, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, March 28, 1991 Work at the Kennedy Space Center, to prepare Atlantis for its targeted launch on April 5, continues on schedule. The spacesuits have been installed into Atlantis' airlock. Aft closeouts on the orbiter are still underway. Other activity today includes hypergolic fuel system pressurization and continuation of ordnance operations. Discovery is hard-mated to its external tank in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The vehicle is powered up and currently undergoing electrical interface tests. It will be rolled out to launch pad 39-A on Monday, April 1, at 4:00 am. The Spacelab-Columbia electrical interface verification tests have not started yet due to some minor cabling problems which were encountered during electrical hook-up procedures. The interface tests are scheduled to begin this afternoon. The pressurized tunnel will be installed between Columbia's airlock and the Spacelab Life Sciences habitable module on Tuesday, April 2. Kennedy Space Center management has scheduled operational activities this week and early next week to allow most of the center's staff to have Easter Sunday off. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The 39th annual National Science Teachers Association convention got underway yesterday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. NASA has committed a large number of resources to support this important meeting. There are daily tours of the Johnson Space Center for teacher groups. The LASER Mobile Teacher Resource Center is stationed outside the convention center and open throughout the rest of the week. More than 60 NASA scientists, engineers and technicians representing the agency's field centers are on hand, and staffing exhibits to demonstrate and discuss their work. NASA is also presenting special sessions on a large number of the agency's scientific and education programs, including the SEEDs project, the Hubble Telescope, and the International Space Year. NASA astronaut Mae Jemison is also a guest speaker at the NSTA 39th Annual Banquet. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dr. Ed Weiler, Hubble Space Telescope program scientist, will discuss the scientific findings and show images taken from the Hubble telescope during an educational video conference to be transmitted on Tuesday, April 2, from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. The conference is expected to be seen by more than 30,000 educators throughout the nation. The program will be a 90-minute interactive conference which will include phoned-in questions from teachers at various sites. It will be transmitted on the Westar IV satellite, channel 19. Teachers interested in registering for the video conference should call 405/744-7015. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Following the rollout of Discovery to Pad B on Monday, NASA and the U.S. Army will collaborate on a series of Army "Be All You Can Be" promotion photographs to be used later this year by the service. The Army's Golden Knights, a precision parajump team, will fly down in front of Pad B from 8,000 feet, landing in the parking lot in front of the pad. The team will be photographed from both the air and the ground. The Golden Knights will be forming a variety of shapes to frame and highlight the Discovery and Pad-B as they descend through the 8,000-foot drop. The activity is expected to begin at 11:00 am, assuming no change in Discovery's rollout schedule. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In yet another example of NASA collaborative educational assistance, Kennedy biologist, Dennis Chamberland, recently assisted with a Melbourne school project. The elementary school was trying to grow tomato plants but was having problems getting healthy plants. The teacher, who was supervising the 3rd graders trying to grow the plants, called NASA. NASA put her in touch with Chamberland, who then contacted colleagues he has been working with at the Disney Epcot Center. NASA and Disney then assisted the Melbourne class and provided enough guidance so that the plants are now reported to be growing and quite healthy. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees W Long., Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. Thursday, 3/28/91 12:00 pm Starfinder Program - "Energy Transfer." 12:15 pm 29th AAS Goddard Symposium, "Humans & Machines in Space," Session 1: "The Vision" (recorded 3/14/91). All events and times may change without notice. This report is filed daily, Monday through Friday, by 12:00 pm, Eastern. It is a service of NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs. Contact: CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 14:17:15 EST From: John Roberts Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement. Subject: Re: Discovery >From: yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) >Subject: NASA Headline News for 03/28/91 (Forwarded) >Discovery is hard-mated to its external tank in the Vehicle Assembly >Building. The vehicle is powered up and currently undergoing >electrical interface tests. It will be rolled out to launch pad 39-A ---- >on Monday, April 1, at 4:00 am. > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * >Following the rollout of Discovery to Pad B on Monday, NASA and the ----- >U.S. Army will collaborate on a series of Army "Be All You Can Be" >promotion photographs to be used later this year by the service. The >Army's Golden Knights, a precision parajump team, will fly down >in front of Pad B from 8,000 feet, landing in the parking lot in front >of the pad. The team will be photographed from both the air and the >ground. The Golden Knights will be forming a variety of shapes to >frame and highlight the Discovery and Pad-B as they descend through >the 8,000-foot drop. The activity is expected to begin at 11:00 am, >assuming no change in Discovery's rollout schedule. Looks like Discovery is really going places! (I hope they figure out where by Monday...) :-) :-) :-) Actually, that sounds pretty spectacular. I hope they make it into television commercials. Also hope nobody lands on the razor wire. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov "...providing your late night with a dose of the gleeful mindless violence you need when you need it most..." [Nickelodeon Channel commercial proclaiming the advent of a new midnight "Looney Tunes" program] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 09:41:38 PST From: greer%utdssa.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" Subject: Re: Minicomets In SPACE Digest V13 #309, zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5!szabo@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Nick Szabo) writes: >Some questions about minicomets: >* If I understand the theory correctly, it predicts that c. 1 minicomet/hr > is hitting earth's moon? To jibe with the DE-A UV-imager dark pixel rate of 1 per 800 pixels, small comets must be hitting the Earth at about 20 per minute. This works out to a rate of about 1/minute hitting the Moon. >* This frequency corresponds to what size range (eg 1-10 meters diameter)? When the satellite is near its perigee of 1100km the size has to be 10-15 meters to account for the pixel darkening. On the other hand when it's near its apogee of 23,300km, the small comets must be about 250 meters in diameter. >* Using the theory, how many minicomets have been captured into earth > orbit? 0 >* Do we have any way of detecting these comets (radar, optical, infrared, > etc.)? Instrumentation which has proven successful in the field of UFO detection would be your best bet. > thanks in advance, My pleasure. >-- >Nick Szabo szabo@sequent.com >"If you want oil, drill lots of wells" -- J. Paul Getty >The above opinions are my own and not related to those of any >organization I may be affiliated with. _____________ 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 "Facts are stupid...uh...stubborn things." -- RRR ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 91 20:53:27 GMT From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: "Follies" I'd like to call a truce on the subject of chemical launchers. Earlier this month I tried to 'bail out' of the argument but I did so in a highly personal and offensive manner. To everyone, and esp. to Nick, I would like to apologize. And for the record, I don't even know how to use a kill file (especially in gnus!). This decision followed yet another several hundred words exchanged with Nick over e-mail over the past two weeks. Well, on with the flamefest: In article <21412@crg5.UUCP> szabo@crg5.UUCP (Nick Szabo) writes: >There is room for incremental improvement of chemical rockets -- >by _private industry_. Only private industry can judge the true >limits of lauch costs. Let government work on those technologies >that can provide the large, curve-changing breakthroughs. This sounds like a good statement to start a peace treaty on the whole thing. To wit, how do we know that any more massive gov't projects to lower costs won't end up like the shuttle and simply be a lot of money spent with nothing to show for it... Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 91 16:24:10 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!str-va!cabp10@uunet.uu.net (Theora Jones, In Person!) Subject: Re: I want to go to orbit... In article <1991Mar25.174621.3905@cs.mcgill.ca> msdos@cs.mcgill.ca (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) writes: > What are the steps in order to build a reliable space-shuttle like >spaceship in order to send myself to orbit for the summer holidays? > Well, first, you have to understand that the terms 'space shuttle' and 'reliable' are inherently mutually exclusive. second you have to get this into your head. Space shuttles are horribly complex things, the computer systems are positively frightening! not to worry though, a good HP calculator manual from rom 1976 or earlier should tell you everything you need to know. Assuming you only want to go once, forget heat tiles. Go ablative. it worked for apollo. (a good shield is layers of cork painted white, with a rubber based paint) as for life support systems, a good vindaloo before hand and a diving (DRY) suit should do. oh, and by the way. watch for the police. this is strictly illegal, unless you happen to be NASA, when it's only technically illegal. (for explanation of HP calculator comment see sci.space.shuttle discussion along the thred Re: new (!!!??!!?!) Space Shuttle Computers, slaging off core memories and space shuttle computers in general! ) Theora. PS> remember, if you start building now, you might beat STS37 into orbit! PPS> if you start building in 15 years time, you >might< just beat freedom into orbit too! -- sig (made it through the ethernet alive!) ================================================================================ Theora Jones Strathclyde University, SCOTLAND || " I can fly higher than an CABP10@uk.ac.strath.vaxa (somewhere on JANET) || Eagle, with you as the CABP10%vaxa.strath.ac.uk (elsewhere, hopefully) || wind beneath my wings " CABP10%vaxa.strath.ac.uk@ukacrl (just might work)|| 8:-) 1990 WE SUPPORTED DESERT STORM ! KUWAIT IS NOW FREE ! || "Lets be MAWS!" ================================================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 11:12:54 -0600 From: pyron@skvax1.csc.ti.com (Corporate reorgs are like 120mm JHPs, a little too much) To: "space+@andrew.cmu.edu"@skvax1.csc.ti.com Cc: PYRON@skvax1.csc.ti.com Subject: Re: More cost/lb. follies A trip to "L5" (whatever that turns out to be) will likely be either one-way or very long term. After all, if you are taking a family that far in the near term (given that we have no reason to go to LEO today), it isn't going to be flying to Grandma's, this is getting on the boat and sailing to the New World! Now travel to LEO is a different question. Here, we are looking at total package costs (spacefare, hotel, meals) in the same range as an Around-the-World trip on the QE II. First class. Last time I looked, the number was pretty stiff, but for your exotic travel, more dollars than sense crowd, this might be appealling. So the family migrating to space has one economic decision to make, the couple making an excursion to Hotel LEO (however that is spelled in Japanese) will have different priorities. But both will require an significant drop in prices to happen. Dillon Pyron | The opinions are mine, the facts TI/DSEG VAX Systems Support | probably belong to the company. pyron@skvax1.ti.com | (214)462-3556 | "Leopold! Leopold!! Leopold!!!" | _The Marriage of Bugs_ ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 91 15:10:47 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!usenet@ucsd.edu (Doug McDonald) Subject: Re: Commercial Space News (2 of 12) In article <2832.27EF7198@ofa123.fidonet.org> Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org (Wales Larrison) writes: >LOCKHEED RUMORED TO HAVE WON IRIDIUM SATELLITE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT > Rumor has it Motorola Inc is expected to award Lockheed Space >Systems Division the contract to be the major manufacturer of the >satellite buses for the 77-satellite Iridium small-satellite >constellation. > The hardest part of Iridium has >always been setting up an international consortium or organization >to fund and operate the constellation. "Lockheed" and "Motorola" are US companies. The biggest market for this thing would be in North America. >Particularly, since each >country The United States and Canada, perhaps Mexico too. >has to set aside the required compatible frequencies for the >cellular services, true >and also pressure the international >Telecommunications Union at the World Administration Radio >Conference conferences to set aside these frequencies as well. Whay bother? Just turn off the satellites off except over North America. If it is a succees here, we can turn them on elsewhere and charge a bundle for their service. Nobody but us has the ability to make such a thing.Why do we need to bother with some silly consortium to slow the thing down and sap the profits?? Doug McDonald ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #332 *******************