Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 05:00:04 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #120 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Tue, 18 Aug 92 Volume 15 : Issue 120 Today's Topics: Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms Beanstalks in Nevada Sky (was Re: Tethers) CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP Early Warning of missiles and meteors Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and... (2 msgs) GEO coverage, aurorae (was Re: SPS fouling astronomy) He3 Power Source Home made rockets (3 msgs) Meteor Soaks Daytona What is DCX 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: 17 Aug 92 08:06:47 GMT From: Larry Wall Subject: Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,alt.hackers In article mark@deluge.mmm.ucar.edu (Mark Bradford) writes: : Archive-name: space-acronyms : : A&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics : AAO: Anglo-Australian Observatory : AAS: American Astronomical Society and so on... After looking cross-eyed at these acronyms a few too many times, I decided to automate the process, in the spirit of "travesty". Here are the results of running a little program you'll find at the end of the article on the aforementioned acronum list. You can run the program as many times as you like, and it'll spit out a different list each time. Enjoy. Larry Wall lwall@netlabs.com A&A: Array and Away AAO: Abort-Air Organization AAS: Astrophysical Air Special AAVSO: Adaptation ASTRO of Venus Spatiales Orbiter ACE: Astronautical Composition Explorer ACRV: Advisory Committee Rescue Voltage (or) Airborne Commercial Replacement Vehicle ADFRF: Astronomical-Disk Format Reduction FAQ (was DDCU) (NTT) AGN: Altitude Giotto New AGU: Astrophysical Gravity United AIAA: Assembly Interchange of Air and Astrophysical AIPS: Atmosphere InterGalactic Propulsion SpaceLab AJ: Arm Jet ALEXIS: Astronautics of Letter Extended X-ray Information Schmidt ALPO: Auxiliary of Launch and Processing Opinion ALS: Analysis Looking Simulator ANSI: Aeronautics Noise Snapshot Imaging AOA: Application Observatories Altimeter (Southern abort plan) AOCS: Axial and Occultation Corporation Star APM: Asteroid Pressure Monster (a.k.a. Coordinated) APU: Astronomy Power Union ARC: Atmospheric Remnant Control (NICMOS) ARTEMIS: Abort Royal TEthered MISsile ASA: Advanced States of the Astronomical ASI: Atmosphere Swedish Inertial ASRM: Augmentation Survey Review Monomethyl ATDRS: Air Tube and Data Ray Small ATLAS: American Launch for AIPS and SLS ATM: Arm Tracking Molecular ATO: Ames Tololo Orbiter (SAMPEX abort plan) AU: Altitude Unusual AURA: Ames of Ultraviolet for Rodents in Astronautical AW&ST: American Week and Studies Tololo (a.k.a. AcronymsLaunch) AXAF: AeroSpace X-ray ASTRO Force Ap.J: Aviation Japanese BATSE: Boundary Altimeter The Source Etude (on Corrective) BBXRT: Boundary-By X-Return Transform (ASTRO package) BEM: Burst-Explorer Mobility BH: British Hydrogen BIMA: Backscatter In Molecular Astronaut BNSC: By Notices Stage Compact BTW: Black Transfer WFPCII C&T: Computer & Thermal CCAFS: Consolidated Coupled Analysis Force Society CCD: Cosmic-Control Data CCDS: Compact for the Cretaceous DC of SSF CD-ROM: Commercial Dextrous Reaction-Opinion Mapping CFA: Cretaceous Fourier Assembly CFC: CompactFlybyCoordinated CFF: Canaveral Fred Facility CFHT: Canada-Fast-Heliospheric Transform CGRO: (Auxiliary Halley) Circumstellar Guide Rest Orbiter CHARA: Cassegrain for Henry Application Robotic Administration CIRRIS: Coordinated Institute Rest Intelligence for SSF CIT: CGRO Interface Tank CM: Cosmic Mean (Adaptation spacecraft) CMCC: Cosmic My Circular Commercial (ESO) CNES: Carrier National d'Energetic Smithsonian CNO: Cosmic-Noise-Observatory CNSR: ChloroFluoroCarbon N2 Source Russell COBE: COmet Bug Energy COMPTEL: COMPton TELevision (on C&T) COSTAR: Cloud Object SuperSonic Technology Adaptation Rodents CRAF: Circumstellar Robotic / Angular Freedom CRRES: Complex Readiness / Reaction Engine Seen CSM: Comet and Spaziale Meter (Administration spacecraft) CSTC: Carbon Scintillation Telescope Centre (UGC) CTIO: Compton Tended Infrared Opinion DCX: Duration Communications eXavier DDCU: Delta-to-Derived Composition Upper DFRF: Device Fred Return France (now ADFRF) DMSP: DFRF Monster Strategic Propulsion DOD: Dryden Orbit Disturbance (sometimes DodDerived) DOE: Duration Oceanic Excursion DOT: Deep Ozone Technology DSCS: DC SNR Committee Shuttle DSN: Defense State Network DSP: Disturbance Stellar Physics (USAF/NRO) EAFB: ExtraTerrestrial Administration Flight Black ECS: Expendable Cage Satellite EDO: European Dark Organization EGRET: Energetic Greenwich Remote Effects Test (on CGRO) EJASA: Exposure Jet of the Attitude Star of the Acronym ELV: Eyed LEM Vehicle EMU: Energetic Manned Union EOS: Extreme Oceanic Science ERS: Exposure Rodent Science (as in ERS-1) ESA: Expendable Speed Astronomy ESO: European Spectroscopic Observer ET: (Seen) Effects Transform ETLA: Exploration Transport Little Australian ETR: Extreme Thermal Radio EUV: Earth UpperVLBA EUVE: Electronic UniversitiesVehicle Effects EVA: ExposureVariable Astronomie FAQ: France Application Quasi FAST: For Association SeenTES explorer FFT: Fine Fading Test FGS: Flying Green Servicer (on HLV) FHST: Frequently High Space Telescope (on Hertzsprung) FIR: Frequency ImageRemote FITS: Fourier Intelligence Tertiary Schmidt FOC: Far Optical C (on Hermes) FOS: Flyer Observatory Spectrograph (on Henry) FRR: FGS-Red Relay FTP: Frequently Transient Phenomenon FTS: Full Timing Systeme FUSE: Frequently Universal Suit Effects FWHM: Flexible Week at Hydrogen Missile FYI: Far Year InfraRed GAS: Green-Asked Sciences GBT: General Bug Transport GCVS: German Canada of Venus Size GDS: Gravity Development Spot GEM: Giant Explorers Mapping GEO: Guide Extraterrestrial Organization GHRS: Global Head Research Society (on HV) GIF: Goddard Initiative Flyby GLOMR: Greenwich Lunar-Oceanic Magellan Rescue GMC: Green Multicolor Computer GMRT: Great Medium-wave Ratio Television GMT: Graphics Mission Test (also called USMP) GOES: Gaseous Optical Energy Science GOX: Get OXygen GPC: Guide Pointing Corporation GPS: Graphics Program Sample GRO: Gravity Radiation Optics (now (Astro Hopkins) Center German Rest Only) GRS: Geostationary Readiness Supernova GSC: Great Southern Corporation (for HRI) GSFC: Global Solar Fourier Committee (NSF) GTO: Gaseous Tertiary Oxygen HAO: Heavy Attitude Observers HD: Half Dwarf catalog entry HEAO: Head Extravehicular Astrophysics Optical HF: Henry Fading HGA: Heavy Geostationary Air HLC: Humble List Commercial HLV: Hermes Little Vandenberg HMC: Hydrogen Management Catalog (on German) HR: HST-Radiation (diagram) HRI: Hawaii Revised InfraRed (on Release) HSP: Hydrazine Special Planets (on HGA) HST: Heavy STS Transportation HUT: HST United Time (Arthur package) HV: Hawaii Very HeRA: Heavy Remnant Astronautical IAPPP: Image Assured/Purpose Polar Principal IAU: Interactive Angular Unit IAUC: IAU Coupled ICE: Intergalactic Composition Exposure IDA: Infrared Derived-sky Aircraft IDL: Initiative Development Looking IGM: InfraredGraphics Men IGY: Imaging Green Yale IMHO: Interface Museum Head Organization IOTA: Institute Of Time Astrophysics IPS: IAU Positioning Syndrome IR: InteractiveRadioisotope IRAF: Intelligence Review and Attached France IRAS: IntelligenceReturn Antenna Shuttle ISAS: Illinois of SuperNova and Aperture Station (Japan) ISM: InstituteSupport Maneuvering ISO: Intergalactic System Orbit ISPM: Image Site Pressurized Mapping (now Ultra) ISY: Image Standards Yale IUE: Inertial Unpressurized Excursion IUS: Infrared Ultraviolet Simulator JEM: Jet Excursion Mechanism (for SPAN) JGR: Joint of Giant Relay JILA: Jet Inertial for Livermore Astronaut JPL: Japanese Photovoltaic LEM JSC: Japan Service Cutoff (NIST) KAO: Kitt Anglo Observing KPNO: Kuiper Photometer Neutrino Observation KSC: Kitt Scintillation Converter (N2) KTB: CGRO-Timing Burst (from Generator) LANL: Little Abort NASA LH2 LDEF: Lewis Dryden EVA Flyby LEM: Looking Enclosure Museum (a.k.a. LM) (Anomalous spacecraft) LEO: List Experiment Object LEST: Liquid Experiment-based Station Timing LFSA: Landing of Frequency Spacecraft Atmospheric (!) LGA: Little Gamma Apollo LGM: Landing Graphics Mean LH: Little HST (also Low or Large) LLNL: Low-Lift Nitrogen LHX LM: Launch Message (a.k.a. LEM) (Acronyms spacecraft) LMC: Lift Meter Composition LN2: Long Neutron2 (NRO) LOX: Langley OXygen LRB: Lewis Research Budget LSR: Lunar Sensors of Readiness LTP: Large Tube Planetary LaRC: Liquid Resources Computer (NTT) LeRC: Little Rendezvous Complex (NICMOS) MB: Minor Berthing MCC: Manned Canaveral Corporation MECO: Monomethyl European CameraObservers MMH: MainMesosphere Henry MMT: Missile Mars Transient MMU: Mirror Magellanic Union MNRAS: Meteorological Nucleus of the Release Applications State MOC: Multiple Oceanic Corporation (on Manipulator Observatories) MOL: Maker Object Landing MOLA: Multiple Oceanic Letter Acronym (on Main OXygen) MOMV: Missile Optical Maker Vandenberg MOTV: Modulated Oriented Transport Vehicle MPC: Multiple Pressurized Computer MRSR: Monomethyl Rescue and S/C Rocket MRSRM: My Retrievable and Support Rocket Mesosphere MSFC: (Guidance C.) Museum SuperSonic Fourier Clipper (NASA) MTC: Mars Telescope Center NACA: Now Around Carrying on Anomalous (became NASA) NASA: New Assembly and Servicer Acronym NASDA: NASP Shuttle Dextrous Acronym (JPL) NASM: Nitrogen Assembly and SuperNova Memory NASP: Nuclear AssemblySyndrome Program NBS: National Base of Society (now NASP) NDV: NASP Derived Vertical NERVA: Neutron Emission for Radar Vertical Atlantic NGC: N2 Goddard Communications NICMOS: Nuclear Investigator Catalog / Manipulator Observing Suit (HGA upgrade) NIMS: NRO-InterStellar Missile Spread (on Global) NIR: National InteractiveRover NIST: New Infrared for System and Trackers (was NASM) NLDP: Nuclear Liquid Disk Photometry NOAA: NBS Occultation and Atmosphere Advisory NOAO: Near Orbital Anomaly Opinion NRAO: Near Rocket Astrophysics Organization NRO: Neutron Rendezvous Observation NS: Noise Servicer NSF: Nucleus Seen Fine NSO: Neutron Solid Object NSSDC: National Spread Sensors Delta Cutoff NTR: Now Total Research(ry) NTT: Nuclear Telescope Timing OAO: Orbital Auroral Organization OCST: Optical of Carrier Swedish Telerobotic OMB: Observers of Mirror and Bank OMS: Over Medium Society OPF: Office Pressure Full ORFEUS: Ozone and Remnant Flyby and Energetic Unidentified Spectrometer OSC: Orbiting Spread Center OSCAR: Office Standards Capability Applications Retrievable OSSA: Orbiting of Southern Submillimeter and Aeronautics OSSE: Oxygen Spectroscopic Source Engine (on CGRO) OTA: Orbiter Tended Aeronautics (on HLC) OTHB: Orbiting Transfer Hydrazine Base OTV: Observatories Telescope Vehicle OV: Oriented VHF PAM-D: Principal Advisory Monster, DOT-class PAM: Power Acronyms Mission PI: Pioneer Illinois PLSS: Permanently Livermore Society System PM: Pulsar Management PMC: Photometer Maker Coordinated PMIRR: Pioneer Manned InteramericanRadar Relay (on Molecular Orbital) PMT: PortableMulticolor Test PSF: Payload Society Flight PSR: PermanentlyStarRay PV: Photometry PVO: Peak Voltage Opinion QSO: Quasi-Science Observation RCI: Rat Cometary Initiative (for SAO mission) RCS: Revised Cassegrain Simulator REM: Return Engine Mapper (for SSME mission) RF: Radioisotope Flyby RFI: Rover Function Interstellar RIACS: Remnant Interamerican for Anomalous Crew Solid RMS: Revised My Suit RNGC: Rodents Notices Gain CFA ROSAT: ROdents SATellite ROUS: Radio Orbiting Union Space (I don't believe they exist) RSN: Red Sciences Nucleus RTG: Revised Thermal GMT RTLS: Rodent Timing LH2 Sands (SuperSonic abort plan) S/C: SpectroscopicCometary SAA: Sudden Administration Airborne SAGA: Shuttle And GIF Agency (for HEAO) SAMPEX: Synthetic Assist and Multi Processing EXercise SAO: Stars Axial Ozone SAR: Solar Asteroid Return SARA: Spectroscopic pour Aviation Real American SAREX: Star Astrophysics Robotic Environmental SAS: Single Astronomical Sensors SAT: Spectrometer Attitude Test SCA: Shortwave Cassegrain Auxiliary SCT: Spatiales-Computer The SDI: Sudden DoD Italiano SDIO: Shuttle Development Image Observation SEI: Signal Explorer Interamerican SEST: Supersonic-Energy Spectrograph Terre SETI: Shuttle for EngineTransient Interference SID: SSF Image Development SIR: Solar Ionospheric Radioisotope SIRTF: Satellite (formerly Strategic) InternationalRatio Timing Field SL: ShuttleLift SLAR: Shuttle-Livermore Astronaut Radiation SLC: Studies Little Cretaceous SLS: Smithsonian(lab) Little SSF SMC: Systeme Maximum Committee SME: Standard Monster Energy SMEX: Sample EXtraterrestrial SMM: Strategic Management Mechanism SN: SupersonicNitrogen (e.g., SNR1987Assembly) SNR: SyntheticN2 Resolution SNU: Service NIST Unusual SOFIA: Smithsonian Object Flyer Interface Analysis SOHO: SOlid Holley Orbiter SPAN: Supernova Planets and Aircraft Noise SPDM: Swedish Processing Disk Mobility SPOT: Synthetic Processing pour l'Organization de la Technology SPS: SLS Polar Support SRB: Swedish Replacement Broad SRM: Standards Replacement Medium SSF: Solar State Format (er, Facility) SSI: Synthetic Sciences Interface SSME: Stars Sciences Maximum Eyed SSPF: Society Science Power Frequency SSRMS: Swedish SN1987A Robotic Museum Signal SST: SolarSpread Timing SSTO: Space Speed Transatlantic Object STIS: Spread Tended Interference Seen (to replace France and Gaseous) STS: Science Tracking Special (or) SSF Transportation SuperSonic STScI: Sudden Telerobotic Support Investigator SWAS: Search White Australian Schmidt SWF: ShuttleWide Function TAL: Thousand Asked Letter (SWAS abort plan) TAU: Tertiary Acronym USAF (mission) TCS: Tethered Command Service TDRS: Three and Device Range Spectrometer TDRSS: Thermal and Defense Rescue Star Swedish TES: Tended Exercise Survey (on Missile Orbit) TIROS: Thermal InternationalRadioisotope Observatories Simulator TLA: Technology Langley Attitude TOMS: Tracking Over Man Support TPS: Tethered Processing Seen TSS: Trackers Star Standard UARS: Unpressurized Airborne Radiance Star UBM: Upper Background Mapper UDMH: Unidentified DCManeuvering Hermes UFO: Universal Fading Optics UGC: Unsymmetrical Green Capability UHF: Upper Head Foundation UIT: Ultra Indiana Transform (Arthur package) UKST: Ultraviolet Kennedy Stars Television USAF: Unusual Standard Assured Flying USMP: Unpressurized Space Man Planets UT: Ultra Thermal (a.k.a. Geosynchronous, Units, or Zoroastrian Technology) UTC: Center UTC Time (a.k.a. Uppsala) UV: UnusualVery UVS: UnitedVLBI Servicer VAB: Voltage Altimeter Bank (formerly Venus Altitude Backscatter) VAFB: Vehicle Anomalous Facility BEM VEEGA: Variable-Extreme-Enclosure Giant ASTRO (Gaseous flight path) VHF: VLT Hole Facility VLA: Venus Laboratory Assembly VLBA: Variable Laser By Auxiliary VLBI: Variable Looking Bug Image VLF: Vehicle Large Function VLT: Vertical Liquid Transient VMS: Vehicle Meteorological Support VOIR: Vertical Observer Intelligence Resolution (superseded by VLBI) VPF: Vandenberg Pressurized Flight VRM: Very Relay Monster (now called Meteorological) WD: Width Development WFPC: Western Flying / Professional Compton (on HD) WFPCII: Radioisotope for WFPCII WIYN: Western / Initiative / Year / NIST telescope WSMR: Wisconsin Stellar Magnetospheric Relay WTR: Width The Rocket WUPPE: Wide Ultraviolet PolarPayload Extended (ASRM package) XMM: X-ray Multicolor Management XUV: eXavier UnpressurizedVariable YSO: Young Scintillation Ozone What? Oh, yes, the program. Here it is. It's called "alt", which is, of course, "tla" spelled backwards. #!/usr/bin/perl $THRESHOLD = 2; srand; while (<>) { next unless /^([A-Z]\S+): */; $key = $1; $acro{$key} = $'; @words = split(/\W+/,$'); unshift(@words,$key); $off = 0; foreach $word (@words) { next unless $word =~ /^[A-Z]/; *w = $&; vec($w{$word}, $off++ % 6, 1) = 1; } } foreach $letter (A .. Z) { *w = $letter; @w = keys %w; if (@w < $THRESHOLD) { @d = `egrep '^$letter' /usr/dict/words`; chop @d; push(@w, @d); } } foreach $key (sort keys %acro) { $off = 0; $acro = $acro{$key}; $acro =~ s/((([A-Z])[A-Z]*)[a-z]*)/ &pick($3, $2, $1, ++$off) || $& /eg; print "$key: $acro"; } sub pick { local($letter, $prefix, $oldword, $off) = @_; $i = 0; if (length($prefix) > 1 && index($key,$prefix) < 0) { if ($prefix eq $oldword) { $prefix = ''; } else { $prefix = $letter; } } if (length($prefix) > 1) { local(*w) = substr($prefix,0,1); do { $word = $w[rand @w]; } until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ /^$prefix/i || ++$i > 30; $word =~ s/^$prefix/$prefix/i; $word; } elsif (length($prefix) == 1) { local(*w) = $prefix; do { $word = $w[rand @w]; } until $word ne $oldword && vec($w{$word}, $off, 1) || ++$i > 10; $word = "\u\L$word" if $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/; $word; } else { local(*w) = substr($oldword,0,1); do { $word = $w[rand @w]; } until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/ == 0 || ++$i > 30; $word; } } ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 16:45:29 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: Beanstalks in Nevada Sky (was Re: Tethers) I would suggest you look into Lofstrom Loops and other active, surface based structures. Theoretically you can build a tower 100km high with this technology. Should be something on it in the FAQ's. It's been discussed over and over again all the way back to Space Digest V1 in 80-81. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:07:54 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP > Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.college,talk.religion.misc,talk.origins,sci.ma th,sci.chem,sci.misc,sci.bio.technology,sci.physics,sci.space > Your cross posting is really excessive. Unless you can tie your discussion more closely to the exploration and colonization of space, or at least something vaguely related thereto, I would recommend not posting it to Space Digest (where it ends up via sci.space) ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 92 13:03:01 GMT From: dearnsha@wizard.worldbank.org Subject: Early Warning of missiles and meteors Newsgroups: sci.space In article <6202@ucru2.ucr.edu> judson@watnxt2.ucr.edu (Michael Judson) writes: >A friend and I were having a discussion as to whether or not the early >warning system used in detecting missiles can actually detect meteors >that pass through the Earth's atmosphere. >This was brought up because of the tidal waves that occurred in Florida >which meteorologists theorized may have been a meteor. My friend asked >why didn't early warning pcik it up, and I argued that early warning >could not pick it up. If it could, then why did the meteorologist have >to theorize about the meteor and instead not have solid proof from SAC? > >-- >I was contemplating Socrates' immortal words: "I drank what?" > >judson@watserv.ucr.edu > If I'm not mistaken, when a meteor enters the atmosphere it causes localized ionisation of the atmosphere... I suspect that most Over-The-Horizon-Radars (OTHR) that uses ionspheric propagation would detect these events. I'm assuming that these equipment are senseitive enough to detect and process a very weak echo from some point on land many kilometers away, so they should be able to detect a body entering the atmosphere. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:22:16 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and... > This is a questionable number. CIS is now quoting commercial launches > on Proton for $65 million, not including payload, and the US and others > are complaining that that is a below cost figure and unfair trading > practice. The US wants them to charge $85 million like Arianne.> I had been under the impression they were charging much less than this, ie a truely subsidized cost. I think it is questionable to call this an unfair price. Considering where they are on the learning curve, this sounds even a bit high. If there is anyone on line from Boeing commercial aircraft, I'm sure they could give us the expected cost of a rocket of which n copies have been produced on an assembly line. Boeing has that calculation down to a science. (Not that others don't, but then Boeing seems to be the only major producer of US commercial jet liners these days, so they must be doing something better than the rest). I would suggest using the total production to date of Ariane and the cost of $85M as one point on the curve of cost vs total production to date. I would not be surprised to see the $65M figure come out considerably higher than it should since it is being produced by a non-commercial (until recently) organization. Add to this what a dollar can buy in the USSR at the present and I find myself surprised at how much they are charging. They must be learning capitalism quickly, ie how to take enourmous profits at the front end... But underpriced? That's a crock of mercantilist bull****. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 1992 15:17:35 GMT From: George William Herbert Subject: Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and... Newsgroups: sci.space In article amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk writes: >> This is a questionable number. CIS is now quoting commercial launches >> on Proton for $65 million, not including payload, and the US and >[...] >I had been under the impression they were charging much less than >this, ie a truely subsidized cost. > >I think it is questionable to call this an unfair price. Considering >where they are on the learning curve, this sounds even a bit high. [...] The hard part of pricing a Proton is in pricing a russian engineer or machinist. At current market prices for those people, the $10 million cash I was given as a Proton price 6 months ago makes sense. If they start getting paid at what they're worth, $40 million makes sense. If they were paid at US levels, it would be over a hundred million, but that's not likely ... >I would suggest using the total production to date of Ariane and the >cost of $85M as one point on the curve of cost vs total production to >date. BTW, few Arianne's have been sold at that price recently. The most recent cost data I could find for launches over the last 30 months or so indicates pricing from $98 million to $115 million. That may be due to increasing popularity of the 44L version (heavier lift) but some of it's due to inflation. They're trying to optimize pricing by launching pairs of comsats on 44L versions. It's interesting to note that a design goal of the Arianne 5 is a 20% lower cost per launch. [Source: 3 seperate engineers in Ariannespace, one of whom is a launch coordinator, one who's doing systems on the Arianne 5 and one who's working on the Kouru facilities.] -george william herbert gwh@soda.berkeley.edu gwh@lurnix.com herbert@uchu.isu92.ac.jp until 28 aug ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 92 11:25:02 GMT From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey Subject: GEO coverage, aurorae (was Re: SPS fouling astronomy) Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Aug15.224819.15041@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>, Frederick.A.Ringwald@dartmouth.edu (Frederick A. Ringwald) writes: > Trees could block objects near the horizon, but come to think of it, > you'd have to be above latitude 82 degrees, which is more northerly > even than Point Barrow, to get completely away from the > Con-Ed-stellation. GEO is about 6.6 Earth radii away, and > arctan(6.6) = 81.4 degrees (My thanks to Mike McCall from Rutgers > for pointing this out.); atmospheric refraction will give > another 34'. This is the reason the youthful Arthur C. Clarke recommended three geosynchronous comsats. Two don't *quite* cover the world. > And I never saw the aurora from Alaska; I saw it from Arizona. > (The famous 1989 March display: no kidding!) I was in Texas that night (at a conference where I met Dennis Wingo), and *could* have seen it, but nobody told me. :-( The Tevatron tripped mysteriously, but we haven't been able to pin that on the magnetic storm-- the Tevatron trips mysteriously all the time. There was a swell display visible from Chicago in March 1991, though. Nearly busted my dialing finger phoning everybody north of fortieth parallel... Kalamazoo still hasn't forgiven me for waking them up on a cloudy night. Bill Higgins | "[Theatregoers], if they did not | happen to like the production, Fermi National | had either to sit all through it Accelerator Laboratory | or else go home. They probably | would have rejoiced at the ease | of our Tele-Theaters, where we Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV | can switch from one play to | another in five seconds, until we SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS | find the one that suits us best." | --Hugo Gernsback predicts Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET | Channel-Flipping in | *Ralph 124C41+* (1912) ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 92 13:42:45 GMT From: Russ Brown Subject: He3 Power Source Newsgroups: sci.space In article <133269@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> roberts@phoenix.ocf.llnl.gov (Don Roberts) writes: >eatlv@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (thomas.vandoren) writes: > >>About 2 weeks ago I saw a series of 5 minute modern videos of great interest. >>One of them was about a proposal to use Helium3 mined from the moon as a power >>source on Earth. [...] >> >>Does anyone have more info, opinions on that proposal? [...] >> >>How hypothetical is this and is it practical? >> >>Lee > >At present it's *very* hypothetical, and *highly* impractical. The way to >use He3 for power generation is via nuclear fusion [1]: > >D + He3 -> He4(3.6MeV) + p(14.7MeV) > >However, the reaction rate parameter (related to the fusion reaction cross >section and the relative speed of the reactants) is by far the highest for >the deuterium-tritium reaction: > >D + T -> He4(3.5MeV) + n(14.1MeV) > >Using D-T fusion, the major magnetic fusion experiments, in England and >the U.S., could presently only produce between 0.3 and 0.7 of the input >power needed to sustain the experiment [In fact these machines study D-D >fusion, which generates far less fusion power but only produces about half >as many neutrons, at lower energy. D-T experiments are planned at each >facility within the next few years]. > >D-He3 fusion, while more environmentally benign (*much* lower neutron >production, leading to less activation, structural fatigue, etc.) requires >temperatures about ten times as great to attain similar reaction rates. >Even then, it would probably require higher plasma densities, further >complicating matters. In other words, we haven't licked the "simple" >problem yet (D-T) fusion, so don't hold your breath waiting for the tough >one (D-He3). > >I think the lunar "environment" is safe from marauding bands of >strip-miners. For the time being... > In addition to the physics/engineering problems, the logistics of remotely operated, fueled, and maintained mining of about 20 million kg of lunar rock to fuel a 1 GWe reactor would be considerable. The processing of this amount of material to recover the He-3 would also be a challenge. If deuterium-helium-3 were now achievable, the difficulties of a lunar mining venture might still be more than enough to make it impractical. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 92 06:11:54 GMT From: "Steve J. Quest" Subject: Home made rockets Newsgroups: sci.space roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes: > Just so long as nobody tries to "improve" the design by adding more match > heads or strengthening the containment. Match phosphor has a reputation as > a powerful and unstable propellant/explosive. John, I just thought I should point out that it is not phosphor, or more exactly phosphorus that is found in a match head (save for the strike anywhere type). Match heads are a mixture of potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide. It is bound with gum arabic or tragecanth. When you strike a match against the red stripe on a match book, you are providing friction and an oxidizer to the stripe, which is made of red phosphorus. The phosphorus burns, produces great localized heat, and lights the match head. Strike anywhere matches have a mixture of red phosphorus and "match head composition" at the very tip. Just a clarification comment...sq ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 92 06:23:14 GMT From: "Steve J. Quest" Subject: Home made rockets Newsgroups: sci.space roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes: > Sounds like you were really a top-notch rocket designer. Probably not > one amateur rocket designer in a thousand could do as well as you did. So > what was reasonably safe for you could still be very dangerous for others. > I learned early not to hand a big Fresnel lens to a random person outdoors - > the usual instinctive reaction is to try to look at the sun through it! > John, My first reaction when I got a big Fresnel lens was to burn things. I did this with my friends, all of whom were not nearly as adept as myself in the area of science. Needless to say, they DID look through it, but not at the sun. Also, they did NOT place their hands at the focal point. I have concluded that people are not nearly as stupid as we intellectuals believe. By the way, I liked to burn ants. I was god, bringing fire down from the skies. They tried to run, but so long as they remained upon the surface of the ant hill, they were targets, and victims of my beams of destruction. Demented little sucker, wasn't I? I remember that I could burn ants for hours.......sq ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 92 06:34:13 GMT From: "Steve J. Quest" Subject: Home made rockets Newsgroups: sci.space gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes: > The book "Rocketry for Amateurs" has range designs, rocket designs, > fuel recipies, and intensive safety precaution information for the > amateur rocketeer. You don't have to limit yourself to Estes models. > If you don't take the proper precautions, you're as dangerous as > someone randomly firing a high power rifle in a shopping mall. In > *that* case, you deserve to be arrested. Carmel candy rocket fuel > is *extremely* dangerous to handle. Unless you have remote controlled > fuel processing equipment, I'd recomend that you change to zinc/sulphur > or some other mixture that doesn't require melting the fuel. Forget > about black powder. Another name for a black powder rocket is *pipe > bomb*. > Gary, Black powder is the fuel that Estes uses- so you can't say that it is all THAT dangerous! All one has to remember is that black powder is an explosive when finely divided. Therefore, to make a rocket fuel, it has to be compressed very tightly. A method I have used was to rig up a 1 ton bottle jack in a steel frame to compress fuels I could reload Estes engines about 3 times using this method. Of course, this was well before I began using castable fuels, which have all the inherent dangers that have been previously mentioned. As when making candy, a thermometer is "very handy" when making solid cast fuels.....sq ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 11:09:12 EDT From: robert@whiplash.er.usgs.gov (Robert Holder) Subject: Meteor Soaks Daytona hi. I am a unix administrator here at the US Geological Survey's Center for Coastal Geology. When the big wave hit daytona, one of our nearshore geologists visited the site and his guess is that there was a large underwater sinkhole which suddenly collapsed near the coast, causing the single wave. I'm going from memory here: he might have said "rockslide" instead of sinkhole. If there is any interest, I can ask him again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~robert holder~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ unix beast wrassler us geological survey ~ ~ robert@whiplash.er.usgs.gov st petersburg florida usa ~ ~ FREEDOM HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN EXPENSIVE THING dr m l king ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~namaste~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 92 13:33:22 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: What is DCX Newsgroups: sci.space In article evert@CPSnet2.cps.edu (Mike Evert) writes: >What is DCX? A previous acronyms posting tells me that is the Delta Clipper. >What is it designed to do and how far along is it to being operational? DCX is a vehicle being developed by McDonnell Douglas under the SDIO Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) program. The goal is to build a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) spacecraft which is fully reusable and will reduce the cost of access to LEO by one to two orders of magnitude. DCX is a 1/3 scale prototype designed to prove some of the concepts and was to be follwoed by the DCY which was a full scale orbital prototype. Alas, SDIO is not going to fund DCY and we are working to find a new home (perhaps in the Air Force) to continue development. Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they | | aws@iti.org | put a man on the Moon?" | +----------------------249 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 120 ------------------------------