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 ; Thu, 4 Apr 91 01:31:55 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 4 Apr 91 01:31:43 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #351 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 351 Today's Topics: Re: Solar Eclipse Re: Solar Eclipse Re: Nova: The Dark Side of the Moon Hot spot, volcanic-like features identified on Venus (Forwarded) NASA Headline News for 04/02/91 (Forwarded) Re: JPL spacecraft Re: Japan Moon Probes article 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: 3 Apr 91 15:13:28 GMT From: mcsun!corton!inria!seti!xombul.inria.fr!collet@uunet.uu.net (P. Collet) Subject: Re: Solar Eclipse >In reply to: Steve Robiner >>Is it truly more dangerous to look at an eclipse than looking at the >>normal sun? It can't possibly be any brighter. The only danger I can >>see is that while viewing the relatively dark eclipsed sun, the moon >>moves out of the way, and one's dialated eye is caught off gaurd and >>exposed to the sun's full brightness. Is there any other danger >>beyond that? Wouldn't very good quality sunglasses do ? Such as RAY BANS with G15 lenses that are supposed to cut off all UVs by 100% ? Any other tips ? Pete. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ ,---.----------------. | ``You know you have a distributed ( / ) / / / ) P. Collet | system when the crash of a computer / / / / / / / | you've never heard of stops you from (_/ . ( ( ( ( ( ( / Tel: +33 (1) | getting any work done.'' \___________________/ 39.63.52.94 | Leslie Lamport, in spirit. e-mail : collet@corto.inria.fr |_____________________________________ I.N.R.I.A. BP.105 78153 Rocquencourt CEDEX France Fax: +33 (1) 39.63.53.30 _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 91 07:05:59 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!caen!ldoering@ucsd.edu (Laurence Doering) Subject: Re: Solar Eclipse In article <31530@usc> robiner@mizar.usc.edu (Steve Robiner) writes: > >Can someone out there who has seen (well, maybe not directly) a total >solar eclispe describe to me what it and the sky look like at the time? > Well, when I was 10, I saw the solar eclipse of March 1970 in southern Virginia. The main things I remember that haven't been mentioned: About 10 minutes before totality, birds began behaving as if it were evening twilight (flying to their nests, singing evening songs, etc.) I don't remember noticing any real dimming of the sun until 20 seconds or so before totality, when the color of the sunlight changed to orange and then dimmed rapidly. The solar corona was about as bright as the full moon, so the sky wasn't totally dark during totality. I remember my father pointing out Mercury. I don't recall seeing any colors in the corona - just diffuse white. Rapidly moving bands of shadow were visible on the ground just before and after totality. Unfortunately, we were in a cornfield in flat terrain (near Norfolk, Virginia) so we couldn't see the lunar shadow approaching. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 91 17:56:46 GMT From: agate!stanford.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Nova: The Dark Side of the Moon In article <28296@rouge.usl.edu> dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Fraering Philip) writes: >If noone does, I have a technical question about the Soyuz. >From what I saw on the program, the Soyuz doesn't use the >same attitude control system the Apollo CSMs did (the 4 >thrusters per point, 4 point or whatever it is called). >What sort of system does it use? Is it efficient? I always >thought the one on the CSM looked like an optimum configuration... The Apollo SM thruster configuration, a variation of which was also used on the LM, is about the simplest and tidiest approach. But there are a variety of configurations that can be used. You missed the *other* thruster system in the CSM, the CM's reentry attitude-control system, using thrusters recessed into the CM. If you're not worried about slight changes in velocity as a result of attitude-control firings, half a dozen thrusters in two clusters will do. That's what the S-IVB's attitude control system, which stabilized Apollo during unpowered flight before final separation from the last booster stage, used. (If you're wondering where the S-IVB's thrusters were, look for two large bumps on opposite sides of the stage near its base.) >Another good question would be: how hard would it have been to >have moved their original two-man lunar mission to the Proton >rocket, using multiple launches? How many Protons would it have >taken? The real problem, probably, would have been breaking the lunar hardware -- notably the rocket stages -- down into Proton-sized lumps. A secondary issue would have been on-orbit assembly of multiple pieces; the Soviets had rather limited experience with rendezvous and docking at the time. I forget what the N1's payload was supposed to be, but half a dozen Proton payloads would be a reasonable guess. >Is the Soyuz as good a spacecraft as it was made out to be >on the program? Don't know, I haven't seen the program. :-) (I don't own a television set.) Soyuz had some serious teething problems, as witness poor Komarov, and is still reportedly a bit crude in spots, but it does work pretty well now. -- "The stories one hears about putting up | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 are all true." -D. Harrison| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 91 17:33:47 GMT From: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Hot spot, volcanic-like features identified on Venus (Forwarded) [Ron seems to off-line due to a system change, so I'm taking the liberty of posting this for him. We will be making the Magellan CD-ROM available for anonymous ftp from the SPACE archives on ames.arc.nasa.gov (just as soon as we get it!) -PEY] Paula Cleggett-Haleim Headquarters, Washington, D.C. March 29, 1991 (Phone: 202/453-1547) Jim Doyle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (Phone: 818/354-5011) RELEASE: 91-48 HOT SPOT, VOLCANIC-LIKE FEATURES IDENTIFIED ON VENUS The planet Venus may be venting interior heat through giant hot spots called coronae, a form of volcanism, a Magellan scientist said at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.. "Coronae may be hot spots, the surface expression of hot material rising from the interior of the planet," said Dr. Ellen Stofan, a geologist on the Magellan project. She said coronae are among the several types of circular features associated with volcanism that have been identified on Venus. Others include large volcanoes and spider web-shaped features called arachnoids. Coronae are circular or oval features as much as a mile or more high surrounded by a ring of ridges and troughs. They range in size from about 100 miles to more than 600 miles in diameter and are seen in many low-lying plains regions on Venus. Arachnoids are circular volcanic structures surrounded by complex fractures. They may form by volcanism in a region where the surface is pulling apart or extending, Stofan said. "Coronae, arachnoids and volcanoes are ways in which Venus transfers heat from its interior out to the surface," she said. "On Earth, this loss or transfer of heat is dominated by plate tectonics. It is too early to determine if Venus also has plate tectonics, but hot spots do seem to be important to Venus' heat loss." "High-resolution Magellan data have revealed many exciting new aspects of coronae," she said. The Magellan spacecraft has mapped with imaging radar more than 67 percent of Venus since last Sept. 15. The first 243-day mapping cycle ends May 15. Project management also announced that the first CD-ROM, or compact disc read- only-memory, containing Magellan mosaics of radar images was released to the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) for public distribution. One CD-ROM can hold about 600 megabytes of information or about 270,000 pages of text. The information can be easily accessed with a computer using a CD-ROM reader similar to audio CD-players. Magellan CD-ROMs containing 10 Magellan mosaics each, or 560 individual images, are produced by JPL and Dr. Raymond Arvidson of Washington University, St. Louis. "Distribution of data to the public by CD-ROM will revolutionize the way science is done," said Project Scientist Dr. Steve Saunders. "CD-ROM technology provides an excellent way to store, distribute and access large volumes of data. "I can see a time in the near future when students all over the country can be using this kind of data in classwork and projects," he said. The first Magellan CD-ROM may be obtained through the NSSDC, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 601.4, Greenbelt, Md. 20771. Several more CD-ROMs will be delivered to the NSSDC in the coming months, Saunders said. All Magellan mosaics will eventually be placed on CD-ROMs and delivered to the NSSDC for distribution to the public. Black and White photographs to illustrate this story are available to media representatives by calling NASA Headquarters Audio/Visual Branch at 202/453-8373. Photo numbers are 91-H-181 to -184. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 91 17:38:11 GMT From: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 04/02/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Tuesday, April 2, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, April 2, 1991 . . . The countdown process at the Kennedy Space Center for the STS-37 Atlantis mission began on time this morning at 5:30. The flight crew, commander Steven Nagel, pilot Kenneth Cameron, and mission specialists Jerry Ross, Jerome Apt and Linda Godwin, arrives from Johnson Space Center this afternoon at 3:30 pm. Crew activity today is very light with only briefings scheduled. Tomorrow morning, Nagel and Cameron are set to fly the Shuttle Training Aircraft on a series of Shuttle Landing Facility approaches. Work on Atlantis is nearly completed with final payload bay door closeout this morning. The weather predictions for launch day, Friday, have improved and now call for only a probability of 30 percent violation of launch constraints. Saturday's forecast calls for a 50 percent probability of violation. Just up the coast from Atlantis, Discovery and its mobile launch platform are being connected to the 39-B launch complex electrical and instrumentation systems. Pad connections will continue throughout the day. Tomorrow, Discovery's payload doors are set to be opened for the re-installation of the STS-39 Department of Defense payloads, which had been temporarily stored in the Pad 39-B payload changeout room. KSC launch processing flow directors indicate that Discovery is still on a schedule which will support a late-April launch. Columbia is still in the Orbiter Processing Facility being prepared for its scheduled May flight on the STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences nine-day mission. The tunnel extension was installed yesterday. The rest of the tunnel assembly will be installed between the orbiter and the habitable Spacelab module tomorrow. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Eight members of the U.S. Army's precision parachute jump team, the Golden Knights, performed this morning at the Kennedy Space Center as part of a national promotion tour for Army recruiting. The team was scheduled to jump yesterday, but scrubbed because of high winds. The Golden Knights jumped out of a small fixed wing plane at 8,000 feet and "flew" their parasails down to the grassy area directly in front of Launch Pad 39-B. The team was photographed from both the air and the ground, the team photographer was several feet behind during the jump. The Golden Knights formed a variety of shapes to frame and highlight the Discovery and Pad-B as they descended through the 8,000-foot drop. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Lennard Fisk recently named Robert Rhome as Director of the Microgravity Science and Applications Division. Rhome was most recently the Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Station in the Office of Space Science and Applications. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dr. Ed Weiler, Hubble Space Telescope program scientist, will discuss the challenges encountered by the Hubble team and show some of the scientific images taken by the telescope during an educational video conference this afternoon. Today's video conference is the last in a series of four educational video conferences conducted annually by NASA's Educational Affairs Division. The show will be transmitted on the Westar IV satellite, channel 19, from 2:30 to 4:00 pm EST. More than 30,000 educators in 50 states are expected to participate in this program. These video conferences are 90-minute interactive programs and are produced to provide teachers with current material and ideas on NASA programs, demonstrate aerospace activities for classroom use, and announce new programs, products and activities available to classroom teachers. The 1991-92 series of educational video conferences will be announced later this year. 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. Tuesday, 4/2/91 2:30 pm Support for Hubble Education Video Conference (full video only available on Westar IV, channel 19). 3:40 pm Arrival of STS-37 crew live from Kennedy Space Center. 6:00 pm Hubble Education Video Conference, complete program repeats (includes all segments shown on NASA Select and Westar IV satellites earlier). Wednesday, 4/3/91 9:00 am Launch Countdown Status briefing live from KSC. 1:15 pm Magellan-at-Venus status report live from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Thursday, 4/4/91 9:00 am Launch Countdown Status briefing live from KSC. 9:15 am Gamma Ray Observatory Briefing live from KSC. 10:00 am Gamma Ray Observatory Science Briefing live from KSC. 11:00 am STS-37 Pre-Launch Status briefing live from KSC. 1:00 pm Commercial Payloads briefing live from KSC. 3:00 pm Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment briefing live from KSC. 3:15 pm EVA Development Flight Exp. briefing live from KSC. 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: 3 Apr 91 17:36:43 GMT From: maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu!wtr064@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: JPL spacecraft In article <21413@crg5.UUCP>, szabo@crg5.UUCP (Nick Szabo) writes: > > Not only that, but JPL has been _first_ to every planet, and their > Explorer probe also discovered the Van Allen belts (without which discovery, > we would have had some toasted astronauts). > The Explorer-I experiment was built in Iowa by Dr. Van Allen (under contract from JPL?) and several of his graduate students, hence the name 'Van Allen' belts. The audio tapes, on which the data is stored, are still in storage here... Willy ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 91 17:01:00 GMT From: agate!stanford.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!rpi!uupsi!pbs.org!pstinson@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU Subject: Re: Japan Moon Probes article In article <1991Mar27.075243.26762@agora.rain.com>, trifid@agora.rain.com (Roadster Racewerks) writes: > > If our manufacturers cannot be bothered with quality control of a very minimal > nature, in a non-technical application, in a *luxury* item, well I think that > speaks volumes as to why Japan (or whoever) is beating us all over the economic > map... > > And you can't blame it on outsiders. > You might be able to blame it on corporate greed and a slavish devotion to the "almighty bottom line". As a case in point take Hughes Galaxy's recent attempt to file a breach of contract suit against NASA because the shuttle is no longer permitted to launch comsats. This situation came about because of the CHALLENGER disaster in which SEVEN PEOPLE DIED. In the aftermath of this, it was decided not to risk future crews on missions such as comsat launches that could be done better by unmanned launch vehicles. Indeed, Hughes Galaxy eventually orbited the comsats bumped from the shuttle manifest when it later secured space aboard Ariane rockets. The birds are in orbit now and making money for Hughes, but since it cost more to orbit them under the Ariane contract than they had expected to pay with the shuttle, their profit is not as large as originally forcast and this make them sad. :-( Solution sue the pants off NASA ;-} Great galaxy! Some aerospace firms (which shall go unnamed) have been overcharging the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Air Force, not to mention NASA and the whole U.S. Government in general, for years. Yet they are still not satisfied. Profits most be astronomical or heads must roll. This mentality breeds petty bickering and wastes time in unnecessary legal proceedings. When we can't pull together and move forward after suffering a calamity on the scale of CHALLENGER, no wonder we are loosing our leadership role to the Japanese and just about everyone else. (May a severe geomagnetic storm fry the circuitry of every Hughes bird now in orbit. :-) ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #351 *******************