Date: Wed, 5 Aug 92 05:04:29 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #073 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Wed, 5 Aug 92 Volume 15 : Issue 073 Today's Topics: Another TSS update ask a NASA person...? Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive HST splitup Methods for meteor avoidance (Flies On Meat) What is FRED? Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 5 Aug 92 05:04:39 GMT From: John Roberts Subject: Another TSS update Newsgroups: sci.space I got most of the post-midnight press conference on videotape. It's too much to type in at 1 AM. Maybe in the morning I can post some of the highlights (and of course we can hope for official releases from the NASA people). Basically, it got stuck several times, and didn't deploy as far as planned for the first day. It's thought that the main problem at the moment is that high tension in the earlier maneuvers has caused some of the loops of tether on the reel to slip down beneath the outer layer of loops, causing them to have much higher friction in deployment. There's considerable hope that getting a "running start" and deploying faster than originally planned will get them past the points where it sticks. There's still some hope for a deployment of the originally planned length, but consumables on the satellite are a concern. The mission has been extended one day to increase the amount they can accomplish. Currently the satellite is in a stable mode 870 feet from the Shuttle, with minimum power consumption. All the scientific instruments appear to be working correctly. The Shuttle team that works with the tether has gone to bed, and they plan to get up in seven hours and continue work. Sounds like they ought to call in some experts from the weedeater manufacturers. :-) John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 92 04:47:00 GMT From: seds%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov Subject: ask a NASA person...? Newsgroups: sci.space In article <2217@tymix.Tymnet.COM>, jdresser@altair.tymnet.com (Jay Dresser) writes... > >I have a listing of Internet BBS's that lists Spacelink >(spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov) as having an "Ask-a-NASA-person" service, >where I could ask a question of a genuine NASA guru. But after >TELNETing to it and wading through their menus, I see no evidence of >such a thing. Is this for real, or should I just ask the question >here? > > >-- Jay Dresser, jdresser@Tymnet.com Jay at the end of your session it asks if you want to leave a question with NASA. That is the time to post your question. It would be interesting for some of the questions that are debated here to be put to the NASA MSFC folks. The times that I have asked questions, I have recieved either good information or mailings with things like the Saturn I manufacturing plans! All in All Spacelink is a great resource. Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 92 05:16:50 GMT From: John Roberts Subject: Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive Newsgroups: sci.space -From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) -Subject: Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive -Date: 4 Aug 92 22:26:30 GMT -In article <9208041334.AA12553@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov> roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes: ->... One can imagine something like ->the "non-interference rule", where contact with Earth is *illegal*. That ->would require a coherent interstellar culture in the local region. -The hard part is making it stick for many millions of years, and be -sufficiently airtight that there are no leaks whatever. (Despite all -the true-believer hoopla over UFOs, there is not one case of an -unquestionably extraterrestrial artifact being found.) Moreover, -bear in mind that until recently -- at most a few million years ago -- -this planet had no intelligent life, and was ripe for colonization or -other exploitation even if such a rule existed and was 100% enforced. Good point. I like your "failure of extrapolation" - that basically says that we don't know enough to come up with a good explanation for the Fermi Paradox. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 92 05:20:39 GMT From: John Roberts Subject: HST splitup Newsgroups: sci.space -From: gsh7w@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy) -Subject: Re: Soyuz as ACRV -Date: 4 Aug 92 15:25:36 GMT -Organization: University of Virginia -#No need to split it up. The Air Force has a Titan IV fairing which is fully -#compatible with the Shuttle. -There is a need to split it up. Having seven different instruments on -HST caused a lot of compromises. Launching three smaller missions -instead of one all singing all dancing one would have been cheaper, -more reliable, and returned more data. Then we'd have to build three COSTAR devices, and make three visits to replace the solar panels. :-) John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 92 05:03:01 GMT From: Andrew - Palfreyman Subject: Methods for meteor avoidance (Flies On Meat) Newsgroups: sci.space If we lived in afuture time, this scenario would need neither forethought nor complex long-distance monitoring or planning. Think of swatting a piece of meat covered in flies; they rise up before the blow lands. So, we all jump into our personal space vehicles and tool about for a day or two until the dust has settled. - Andrew Palfreyman ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 92 05:11:51 GMT From: John Roberts Subject: What is FRED? Newsgroups: sci.space -From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) -Subject: Re: What is FRED?? -Date: 4 Aug 92 22:34:02 GMT -In article <1992Aug4.215355.8158@den.mmc.com> zwork@starfighter.den.mmc.com (Michael Corvin) writes: ->What program does "fred" refer to? I've seen it mentioned quite ->a bit but have never come across what it actually is... -It's a cynical nickname for Space Station Freedom, coined when the thing -shrunk yet again a couple of years ago. Actually, somebody on sci.space suggested "Fred" even before Reagan announced the name "Freedom". John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 073 ------------------------------