Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 05:12:20 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #020 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Fri, 8 Jan 93 Volume 16 : Issue 020 Today's Topics: A request from Massachusetts Amatuer Astronomers DC-1 and the $23M NASA Toilet Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - January 1993 Should NASA operate shuttles (was Re: Shuttle a research tool) Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating) 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: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 14:57:37 GMT From: Howard Handy Subject: A request from Massachusetts Amatuer Astronomers Newsgroups: sci.space Hello all Amatuer and Professionals reading this, As the recently elected Vice President of The Amherst Area Amatuer Astronomers Association (5A's). I am looking for professional and amatuers who have a knowledge of or expertise of some subject You would like to share in a presentation to our club. We regularly invite folks to give talks, and they are well recieved and appreciated by the club body. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month at Bassett Planetarium on the Campus of Amherst College at 8pm. This is in Massachusetts. So obviously only local people need respond unless you are vacationing or just want to visit...All are welcome. So I am looking forward to hearing all you astronomy affectionados who would like to share some aspect of your knowledge you find fascinating or educational. I find there are some thousands of topics related to our experience of the sky and want to extend everyone's appreciation of it, So who wants to help me out?? Thanks in advance, Dark Skies, Howard Handy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 23:29:13 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: DC-1 and the $23M NASA Toilet Newsgroups: sci.space In <1993Jan7.113005.6724@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: >The GAO report concluded that the 'extended duration toilet' costs about >ten times more than it needed to because of NASA procurement practices. Not only did it cost ten times more than it needed to, it cost ten times more than it was budgeted for. Seems the contractor kept tacking on features, and no one at NASA thought to say, "no." This despite the fact that NASA probably has more beancounters than a Big Eight accounting firm. >That is why the program is coming in at such a low cost. that is also why >SSTO supporters worked so hard to find a new home which would execute >the contract in a streamlined manner. Worked? I certainly hop you didn't mean to put this in the past tense. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 21:54:13 GMT From: Larry Klaes Subject: Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - January 1993 Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,sci.skeptic THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC Volume 4, Number 6 - January 1993 ########################### TABLE OF CONTENTS ########################### * ASA Membership and Article Submission Information * Conference Preview: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum - Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley * A Visit to China ########################### ASA MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION The Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic (EJASA) is published monthly by the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic, Incorporated. The ASA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of amateur and professional astronomy and space exploration, as well as the social and educational needs of its members. ASA membership application is open to all with an interest in astronomy and space exploration. Members receive the Journal of the ASA (hardcopy sent through United States Mail - Not a duplicate of this Electronic Journal) and the Astronomical League's REFLECTOR magazine. Members may also purchase discount subscriptions to ASTRONOMY and SKY & TELESCOPE magazines. For information on membership, you may contact the Society at any of the following addresses: Astronomical Society of the Atlantic (ASA) c/o Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Georgia State University (GSU) Atlanta, Georgia 30303 U.S.A. asa@chara.gsu.edu ASA BBS: (404) 564-9623, 300/1200/2400 Baud. or telephone the Society Recording at (404) 264-0451 to leave your address and/or receive the latest Society news. ASA Officers and Council - President - Don Barry Vice President - Nils Turner Secretary - Ingrid Siegert-Tanghe Treasurer - Mike Burkhead Directors - Bill Bagnuolo, Eric Greene, Tano Scigliano Council - Bill Bagnuolo, Bill Black, Mike Burkhead, Frank Guyton, Larry Klaes, Ken Poshedly, Jim Rouse, Tano Scigliano, John Stauter, Wess Stuckey, Harry Taylor, Gary Thompson, Cindy Weaver, Bob Vickers ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS Article submissions to the EJASA on astronomy and space exploration are most welcome. Please send your on-line articles in ASCII format to Larry Klaes, EJASA Editor, at the following net addresses or the above Society addresses: klaes@verga.enet.dec.com or - ...!decwrl!verga.enet.dec.com!klaes or - klaes%verga.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com or - klaes%verga.enet.dec.com@uunet.uu.net You may also use the above addresses for EJASA back issue requests, letters to the editor, and ASA membership information. When sending your article submissions, please be certain to include either a network or regular mail address where you can be reached, a telephone number, and a brief biographical sketch. Back issues of the EJASA are also available from anonymous FTP at chara.gsu.edu (131.96.5.29) DISCLAIMER Submissions are welcome for consideration. Articles submitted, unless otherwise stated, become the property of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic, Incorporated. Though the articles will not be used for profit, they are subject to editing, abridgment, and other changes. Copying or reprinting of the EJASA, in part or in whole, is encouraged, provided clear attribution is made to the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic, the Electronic Journal, and the author(s). Opinions expressed in the EJASA are those of the authors' and not necessarily those of the ASA. This Journal is Copyright (c) 1993 by the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic, Incorporated. CONFERENCE PREVIEW THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI) IN THE OPTICAL SPECTRUM by Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley Fiberdyne Optoelectronics, Columbus, Ohio From the author of the January 1992 six-part EJASA (THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC) article (Vol. 3, No. 6A-6F) on Optical SETI (OSETI). The author would like to acknowledge that this Electronic Journal has been instrumental in the organization of this conference, for without last January's publication, this author would not have been invited by SPIE to put this conference together. You are encouraged to remail this material to anyone you know with interests in SETI or to print it out and pin it up on your astronomical society, company, faculty, or school notice board. Some of the following material was featured in the October 1992 issue of EJASA (Vol. 4, No. 3) and the December 1992 issue of SPIE's OE REPORTS: Almost three years ago I began "lobbying" the scientific community to reconsider the optical approach to the electromagnetic search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), first described by Nobel laureate Charles Townes (1964 - masers/lasers) in 1961. Unfortunately, many of the strongest proponents for electromagnetic SETI have become dogmatic and will not countenance open discussion of alternatives to microwave SETI, believing that the issue of the relative efficiencies of microwave and optical SETI was settled years ago in favor of microwaves. Optical SETI has received very poor press ever since the skewed ETI laser transmitter assumptions in the Project Cyclops report, two decades ago. This NASA design study report described a microwave array consisting of up to nine hundred 100-meter diameter dishes which if fully built would have occupied an area 6.4 kilometers in diameter and cost, in 1970s currency, some ten billion dollars. This grand project was never fun- ded but the report itself has had a profound effect on SETI thinking. In the comparison table that appeared on page 50 of that report, the optical system modeled described an interstellar laser communication system that employed a 1.06 micron Nd:YAG laser, and a 22.5 cm diameter transmitting telescope. There were various reasons for limiting the aperture of the ETI transmitter. One reason arose out of unnecessarily constraining both parts of the system to operate on a planetary surface, within an atmosphere, and thus be limited by the atmospheric coherence cell size. Another reason was to avoid the production of beams that were smaller than the zones of life around nearby targeted stars. However, the net effect was to cripple the potential very high Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) of the optical transmitters. It would be far better to build larger transmitting telescopes and defocus them when targeting nearby stars, if, in the unlikely event, the ETI civilization did not possess the technical prowess to aim narrow beams into nearby stars. In this way, the long-range EIRP would not be unnecessarily degraded. The modeled "toy" ETI uplink telescopes put the onus on the young and technically immature receiving civilization (humanity) to build very large and expensive telescopes to receive weak signals from mature ETI civilizations, instead of the converse. It was this part of an otherwise excellent report that so distorted its conclusions concerning the efficacy and relative cost (to us) of the optical approach to SETI. If we allow for transmitting and receiving apertures to be 10 meters in diameter or larger, it can be shown for transmitter powers comparable to those for microwave systems that relatively small diffraction- limited laser systems are capable of supporting far higher signal-to- noise ratios and data rates than the much larger microwave systems. The extremely high gains of optical antennas more than make up for the additional quantum noise and stellar background radiation noise. The lack of (currently) easily identifiable "magic optical frequencies", equivalent to the microwave waterhole between 1.420 and 1.662 GHz, save for the major CO2 transition at 10.6 microns, is not a reason to conclude that ETIs would not use lasers to signal Earth. Indeed, the effectiveness of pulsed laser signals is so high that there is less need to be concerned about the exact laser frequency. Indeed, from the viewpoint of communications with extraterrestrial intelligences (CETI), which is not presently being proposed, terrene SDI lasers of the late Twentieth Century are certainly capable of "reaching out and touching ETIs" across one thousand or more light years. The problem today is that we do not know where to point our lasers and we lack the means to provide precise forward predictive targeting of extrasolar planets. Even more basic to this problem is that direct visual observations of other planets around nearby star systems await the technological developments of the next century. In the meantime, we must take the passive and perhaps safer approach of listening for ETI signals. Let it be noted here that the word "optical" is used in a manner familiar to optoelectronics (photonics) engineers and scientists, as an umbrella term. It is a superset of both "visible" and "infrared." The word "optical" is not to be taken as being synonymous with the word "visible", since the former (for communication engineers) covers all electromagnetic frequencies from the far-infrared to the ultra-violet. Last year, OE REPORTS had an interview with Dr. Monte Ross of Laser Data Technology Inc., in which he described his thoughts about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the optical spectrum. At that time, I was unaware of Dr. Ross's work. Last January, I had just published electronically on Internet a very long paper on the subject in this Electronic Journal. This was the six-part article in THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC (EJASA, Vol. 3, No. 6A-6F). As a result of my electronic paper, during the summer I was asked by Dr. David L. Begley of Ball Aerospace Systems Group to organize a special session on Optical SETI (OSETI) for SPIE as part of the OE/LASE '93 symposium. David Begley is the previous chairman of the Free-Space Laser Communications conferences. The Optical SETI event was originally planned to be a single session in SPIE's Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference, chaired by Dr. Stephen Mecherle of TRW, Inc. Even though summer was a difficult time to start organizing a conference, I was able to get so many papers at short notice that the single session was extended into a dedicated conference with three sessions and a separate published proceedings. The latter will be available as SPIE Volume 1867 after the conference and will constitute the first publication on this subject. The conference will be held on January 21-22, 1993 at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel and immediately follows the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference. The Optical SETI conference cochair will be Monte Ross. This event is effectively, though unofficially, the First International Conference on Optical SETI. This SETI event will be of particular interest to laser communi- cations scientists and engineers. It presents the opportunity to help resolve the dichotomy within NASA that while lasers are fine for GEO to GEO, GEO to LEO, deep space, and interstellar communications, ETIs would not use such technology to signal emerging technical civilizations (us). The first session will bring the laser communications community up to speed on microwave (conventional) SETI and general SETI related matters. The second and third sessions are specifically devoted to optical SETI topics. Many shades of opinion are included. We are fortunate in being able to have Arthur C. Clarke kick off this conference from his home in Sri Lanka. This will be a videotaped address. These days, Clarke's health precludes extensive traveling. We are also investigating the possibility that NASA Select TV could cover the entire conference on a live or tape-delayed basis. If you cannot attend this conference but would like to see it transmitted by NASA Select, write to SPIE and NASA Headquarters requesting this coverage. The more people lobby for this, the more likely is the cooperation of the concerned parties. For those with a TVRO (TeleVision Receive Only) satellite dish, NASA Select TV is available on Satcom F2R (72 W), Transponder 13. Among the 16 papers scheduled: Dr. David Brocker, who heads NASA's High Resolution Microwave Survey, will give the keynote paper on NASA's search for evidence of extraterrestrial technologies (Dr. Peter Backus will now be presenting this paper). Drs. David Latham and David Soderblom will discuss the strategies for the SETI star targeting survey and Drs. Michael Klein and Samuel Gulkis from JPL will describe the high-resolution all-sky survey. The "Grand Old Man" of SETI, Dr. Bernard M. Oliver, who is extremely critical of the optical approach, will demonstrate for the first time to the laser communi- cations community why ETIs would not use lasers for SETI interstellar communications. Professor Frank Tipler, a strong critic of SETI, will explain why both microwave and optical SETI is a waste of time, since he thinks that we are the first civilization in the Milky Way galaxy. Philosopher Clive Goodall will rebut Frank Tipler's arguments, and Noted philosopher Professor Neil Tennant will present his view of why there could be major problems in actually decoding the message on an ETI signal. This may be the first time that philosophers have presented papers at a "technical" meeting on SETI, particularly one organized by SPIE. Dr. Guillermo Lemarchand will describe both radio and optical SETI activities in Argentina and give an account of the MANIA optical SETI project devised by the late Professor Shvartsman of the former Soviet Union. Drs. John Rather and Monte Ross (conference co-chairman) will give accounts of their approaches to interstellar laser communi- cations, while this author will present a review paper and describe the amateur approach to optical SETI. There will be a discussion at the end of the conference, moderated by Charles Townes, who earlier will talk about his CO2 optical SETI laser work, and the CO2 OSETI observations being conducted by Dr. Albert Betz on Mount Wilson. Note that as with previous SETI publications, the latest book by SETI pioneer Professor Frank Drake and Dava Sobel IS ANYONE OUT THERE? hardly mentions the optical approach. This conference intends to redress that omission. This "controversial" OSETI conference should be a "fun" event but you do not need to be a laser communications engineer or SETI scientist to attend - you only need a curiosity about "our" place in the grand scheme of things. With large telescopes, Optical SETI is the one branch of visible astronomy, save for solar astronomy, that can be done during the day under a clear blue sky! Last October, we saw the celebration of the Quincentennial of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas and the official start of NASA's Microwave Observing Project (MOP), recently renamed the High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). Numerous articles on SETI have appeared in recent magazine publications, including the September 1992 issue of LIFE, the October issue of ASTRONOMY, and the November/December issue of SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE. See also recent issues of TIME and NEWSWEEK. The November issue of SKY & TELESCOPE has a long article about microwave SETI and mentions the optical approach. This is probably the first published popular account of modern OSETI in the printed media. See the bibliography at the end of this article. I have also begun the construction of what I believe to be the world's first amateur optical SETI (AMOSETI) Observatory. This will be based around the Meade 10-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and is one of the most advanced on the market today for use under computer and CCD control. In the last paper of the conference, I will be reporting on the amateur approach to Optical SETI and any work done to date on my observatory system. In many respects, the approach adopted by the author for AMOSETI is similar to that employed by Shvartsman and Beskin in the MANIA project, i.e., looking for very short pulses rather than CW beacon signals. It is possible that AMOSETI will lead to a renaissance in amateur astronomy, where light pollution - the bane of astronomers - has no effect on ETI detection sensitivity! At this time during the sharp decline in the industrial-military complex, can there be a more ennobling way for defense conversion - to turn laser swords into SETI or CETI plowshares and help discover that we are not alone within the Milky Way galaxy? Monte and I look forward to seeing you at this conference at the rebirth of a new branch of science. About the Author - Stuart A. Kingsley is a fiber optic consultant and Director of the world's first Amateur Optical SETI Observatory. He received a B.Sc. Honors and Ph.D. in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from The City University, London (1972) and University College London (1984), respectively (England). He worked at Battelle Columbus Division as Principal Research Scientist and then as Senior Research Scientist from 1981 to 1987. He has been involved in producing a variety of fiber- optic sensors, including fiber-optic rotation sensors. He invented the fiber-optic line-stretcher and fiber-optic line-squeezer phase modulators that are now important components in fiber-optic sensor systems. He shared a 1984 Rank Prize in Optoelectronics for pioneering work on fiber-optic sensing. Stuart's other professional interests include the possible health effects of electromagnetic pollution and adverse effects from fluor- escent lighting/VDT flicker. He is the author of 38 papers in fiber- optics, mainly related to coherent systems and distributed fiber-optic sensing, and several patents mainly in the area of coherent fiber-optic systems. He is a member of the IEE, a British Chartered Engineer, a senior member of IEEE and a member of Eta Kappa Nu Association. He is also a member of The Planetary Society, the Columbus Astronomical Society, and a former member of the Astronomical Society of Haringey (ASH) in London. CONFERENCE PROGRAM OE/LASE '93 THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI) IN THE OPTICAL SPECTRUM SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1867 Location: Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Conference Chairman: Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics. Co-chair: Dr. Monte Ross, Laser Data Technology, Inc. Room: Pacific A SESSION 1 - INTRODUCTION AND CONVENTIONAL MICROWAVE SETI Session Chairman - Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics. Thursday, January 21, 1993 Afternoon 1:20 to 5:00 pm 1:20 pm Opening Remarks Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics 1.30 pm "Let there be light" (Videotaped Keynote Address) Arthur C. Clarke Chancellor - International Space University, Sri Lanka. (1867-01) 2:00 pm "The NASA search for evidence of extraterrestrial technologies" (Keynote Paper) David Brocker Project Manager, HRMS SETI Office NASA Ames Research Center (1867-02) 2:30 pm "Strategies for SETI target selection" Dr. David W. Latham and Dr. David R. Soderblom Dr. David W. Latham Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Dr. David R. Soderblom Associate Astronomer Space Telescope Science Institute (1867-03) 2:50 pm "High-resolution microwave all-sky survey" Dr. Michael J. Klein and Dr. Samuel Gulkis Dr. Michael J. Klein HRMS Program Manager Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dr. Samuel Gulkis Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1867-04) 3:10 to 3:30 pm Coffee Break 3:30 pm "SETI - a waste of time!" (Invited Paper) Professor Frank Tipler Physics Department Tulane University (1867-05) 4:00 pm "Using modern analytical philosophy (MAP) to sweep the MOP clean: Non-optical reflections upon untapped data, bad arguments and the nonexistence of Von Neumann interstellar probes." Clive Goodall Department of Philosophy The Ohio State University (1867-06) 4:30 pm "The decoding problem: do we need to search for extra terrestrial intelligence to Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?" Professor Neil W. Tennant Department of Philosophy The Ohio State University (1867-07) 5:00 pm Combined reception for the authors from this conference and the Free-Space Laser Communications V conference. SESSION 2 - OPTICAL SETI I Session Chairman - Dr. Monte Ross, Laser Data Technology, Inc. Friday, January 22, 1993 Morning 8:30 to 11:45 am ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | Special Event | | | | 8:30 am | | Technical attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a | | 15-minute question/answer period with Arthur C. Clarke | | (in Sri Lanka) via phone hook-up. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8:45 am "Fundamental factors affecting the optimum frequency range for SETI" (Invited Paper) Dr. Bernard M. Oliver Deputy Chief, NASA SETI Office NASA Ames Research Center (1867-08) 9:15 am "The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the optical spectrum and professional optical SETI: a review" Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley President Fiberdyne Optoelectronics (1867-09) 9:45 pm "An economic rationale for extraterrestrials using lasers for SETI" Dr. Monte Ross President Laser Data Technology, Inc. (1867-10) 10:05 to 10:35 am Coffee Break 10:35 am "Infrared SETI" Professor Charles H. Townes Department of Physics Space Sciences Laboratory University of California, Berkeley (1867-11) 11:05 am "Use of lasers for interstellar beacons, communications and travel" Dr. John Rather NASA Headquarters (1867-12) 11:25 am "Optical SETI from the southern hemisphere" Dr. Guillermo A. Lemarchand, Dr. Gregory M. Beskin, Dr. Fernando R. Colomb, and Dr. Mariano Mendez Dr. Guillermo A. Lemarchand Visiting Fellow Center for Radiophysics and Space Research Cornell University Dr. Gregory M. Beskin Special Astrophysical Observatory Soviet Academy of Science Dr. Fernando Raul Colomb Director Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia Dr. Mariano Mendez Researcher Observatorio Astronomico de La Plata (1867-13) 11:45 am to 1:00 pm Lunch SESSION 3 - OPTICAL SETI II Session Chairman - Dr. James R. Lesh, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Friday, January 22, 1993 Afternoon 1:00 to 2:00 pm 1:00 pm "Application of one measure of search merit to optical SETI" Dr. D. Kent Cullers Signal Detection Sub-System Manager SETI Project NASA Ames Research Center (1867-14) 1:20 pm "Large M-ary pulse position modulation and photon buckets for effective interstellar communications" Dr. Monte Ross President Laser Data Technology, Inc. (1867-15) 1:40 pm "Amateur optical SETI"* Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley President Fiberdyne Optoelectronics (1867-16) "Recent progress in deep-space optical communication (Proceedings Only) Dr. James R. Lesh Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1867-17) Workshop/Panel Discussion 2.30 - 4.30 pm Moderator - Professor Charles H. Townes, 1964 Nobel Prize Laureate, University of California, Berkeley. Closing Remarks 4.30 pm Stuart A. Kingsley, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics Monte Ross, Laser Data Technology, Inc. * The last conference paper will give preliminary details of the design of the world's first Amateur Optical SETI Observatory, presently under construction in the author's backyard. --------------- To receive a copy of the Advance Technical Program from SPIE which also provides information about registration, accommodation and costs to attend this conference (see details below), contact Rosa Cays (rosa@mom.spie.org) or Terry Montonye (terry@mom.spie.org) at: SPIE P.O. Box 10 Bellingham WA 98227-0010 Tel: (206) 676-3290 Fax: (206) 647-1445 For more information, the conference organizer Stuart Kingsley can be contacted at: Fiberdyne Optoelectronics 545 Northview Drive Columbus Ohio 43209 Tel: (614) 258-7402 Fax: (614) 258-7459 OSETI Bulletin Board System (BBS): (614) 258-1710 Internet: skingsle@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu CompuServe: 72376,3545 OE/LASE '93 includes symposia over the period 16-23 January 1993 on the following subjects: Free-Space Laser Communications V (January 20-21, 1993). The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum (January 21-22, 1993). Laser Engineering (January 17-22, 1993). Optoelectronic Processing and Interconnects (January 17-23, 1993). Biomedical Optics '93 (January 16-22, 1993). There are also educational short courses (January 17-22, 1993) and two technical exhibitions, the Medical Exhibition (January 16-17, 1993), and the Laser and Sensor Exhibition (January 19-21, 1993). Registration Member Working Non- Group Member Full Conference* $355 $380 $415 Author (full conf.) $290 $310 $340 One day $165 $175 $190 Author (one day) $140 $150 $165 Students (no lunch) $ 60 $N/A $ 70 *Rate for a three-day conference. **There is no separate registration rate for the SETI conference. Attendees for the SETI conference will have to pay for two days. If you can spare the time, attendees are recommended to take in the Wednesday morning and afternoon, and Thursday morning sessions of the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference, as this technology is very relevant to Optical SETI. The cost for the full conference period (three days) is little more than for the two day OSETI conference alone. SPIE Proceedings Volume 1867 $ 35 These proceedings will also include a copy of Dr. Lesh's large review paper on NASA's optical communications activities, which is to be presented at the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V conference. Accommodation Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel (OE/LASE '93 Conference Center) 5711 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045, USA Tel: (310) 410-4000 Fax: (310) 410-6250 Rates: Single or double (government) $81 Single or double $89 - $109 Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel 5855 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045, USA Tel: (310) 641-5700 Fax: (310) 337-5358 Rates: Single or double (government) $80 Single or double $85 - $105 Bibliography - EJASA, Volume 3, Number 6, Parts 6A-6F, January 1992. EJASA, Volume 4, Number 3, October 1992. SKY & TELESCOPE, November 1992, pp. 513. LASER FOCUS WORLD, November 1992, p. 5. PHOTONICS SPECTRA, December 1992, p. 10. OE REPORTS, December 1992, pp. 1 and 3. COLUMBUS MONTHLY, January 1993, pp. 77-78, 80. A VISIT TO CHINA From November 2 to 7, 1992, ASA member Paul J. Wiita of GSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy attended the "Workshop on Accretion and Jets" at the Huazhong (Central China) Normal University in Wuhan, on the mighty Yangtze (Yellow) River. Over thirty-five Chinese astronomers from about one dozen universities and observatories attended, along with one Japanese and three American participants. Twelve invited and twenty-six contributed oral papers were presented. Wiita gave two invited lectures on "Observations and Theoretical Models for Microvariablity in Active Galactic Nuclei", which were very well received. When Professor Hanawa from Nagoya University had to leave early, Paul was asked to give an additional talk on "The Propagation of Radio Jets through Galactic Halos and the Intracluster Medium", which had to be prepared from memory. This meeting was originally scheduled for June 6 to 11 of 1989, but the confrontation in Tianamen Square in the capital city of Beijing caused it to be postponed. At the time, most Chinese seemed to feel free to discuss politics in private, but were still wary of public conversations. Nevertheless, Paul's introductory remarks indicating that he hoped all astronomers - including the exiled leading astrophysicist Fang Lizhi - would be able to participate in the next meeting in Wuhan drew strong applause. The hospitality was extraordinary, with Professor Yang Lantian and the other hosts providing all facilities, including sumptuous banquets every lunch and dinner (not to mention massive breakfasts). A tour of local attractions, including the huge East Lake with its many parks, towers, and gardens and the 57-meter (180-foot) tall Yellow Crane Pagoda was arranged for the participants. After the meeting, Wiita and a few other lecturers went on a trip to the ancient capital Xi'an (where the famous terra-cotta army of the First Emperor is displayed), as well as to Beijing, and a visit to the incomparable Great Wall. All of the foreign participants were impressed with the economic strides China has made over the past fifteen years. The standard of living of the average person is clearly quite adequate. The shops are full of a very wide range of goods, including VCRs, eight-millimeter camcorders, and, most importantly, telescopes. THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC January 1993 - Vol. 4, No. 6 Copyright (c) 1993 - ASA ------------------------------ Date: 7 Jan 93 22:07:39 GMT From: Francois Yergeau Subject: Should NASA operate shuttles (was Re: Shuttle a research tool) Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Jan7.180422.3473@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: >In article <1993Jan7.161638.6125@cerberus.ulaval.ca> yergeau@phy.ulaval.ca (Francois Yergeau) writes: > >>>Commercial launch services cost the government 30% to 50% less then when >>>government buys and operates the system itself. It is therefore very clear >>>that doing otherwise would be very beneficial. > >>This has never been demonstrated for manned spaceflight, but may very >>well be. > >So what is so special about human space flight? The market, for one thing. Spin off shuttle to the private sector, and you're likely to get at most one provider, and one buyer (NASA). Not my idea of a free, competitive market where cost savings could be realized. By contrast, the commercial launch market has many buyers and a few more or less subsidized sellers, so there's competition, incentive to invest, etc. >Do you actually believe that Shuttle is the best that can be done? No! Where did you get this idea? >>But didn't I read not long ago that MacDD would not operate DC? Who would? > >I understand that American Airlines has indicated some interest. Why >not them? Why not, indeed. Do I get 26000 frequent flyer miles for each orbit? :) -- Francois Yergeau (yergeau@phy.ulaval.ca) | De gustibus et coloribus Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Laser | non disputandum Departement de Physique | -proverbe scolastique Universite Laval, Ste-Foy, QC, Canada | ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 23:35:26 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating) Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.aeronautics (Dillon Pyron) writes: > BTW, the STS [Space Transporation System/the Shuttle] > is the safest transportation system we have, based on fatalities > per passenger mile. But who would pay $1 billion apiece for a 747? Nope. The safest is the Goodyear blimp. (Which is also cheaper than the Space Shuttle. :-) ------------------------------ id AA08611; Thu, 7 Jan 93 10:34:34 -0500 Received: from ASTRO.dnet.ge.com by aitgw.ge.com (5.65/GE Gateway 1.8T) id AA10324; Thu, 7 Jan 93 10:34:46 -0500 Message-Id: <9301071534.AA10324@aitgw.ge.com> Received: from ASTRO.dnet.ge.com by AITGW.dnet.ge.com (utk-mail11d v1.5) with MAIL-11; Thu, 7 Jan 93 10:34:47 EST Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 10:34:47 EST From: Bob Mills 609-490-3211 X-To: aitgw::"space@isu.isunet.edu", Subject: Logo on Delta rocket To: space@isu.isunet.edu soc1070@CRABAPPLE.SRV.CS.CMU.EDU (Tim Harincar) writes > >What about the big RCA logo on the Delta rockets (as seen in "the >Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology")? I hope RCA had to pay >for that. > I'm not 100% sure, but I think it worked something like this: 1. Customer (RCA Americom) contracts with satellite vendor (RCA Astro Electronics) to build satellite, and with rocket vendor (McDonnell-Douglas) to build a rocket. NASA may have been an intermediary in the second transaction. 2) In keeping with tradition, rocket builder paints logos of major participants (RCA & McD-D) on rocket. Since customer and satellite builder have same parent company, several quarts of paint are saved, lowering launch weight and increasing performance. 3) Since rocket builder doesn't own a launch site, someone (customer or rocket builder) contracts with launch site owner for pad & services. Launch site owner is either NASA or the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I don't know which, but somehow both are involved. 4) Everyone involved cooperates in launching rocket & payload from launch site. 5) Customer pays for everything. When Mars Observer was launched, the following logos were on the payload fairing: NASA (top billing goes to the customer), JPL, GE, and OSC. On the rocket body, Martin-Marietta takes top billing (word TITAN is at least 20 feet high), while names of 8 subcontractors (can't read them from AW&ST picture) were painted near the bottom. -- Bob Mills Mills@Astro.Dnet.GE.com -- Not speaking for Astro or its previous, current, or future owners. ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 020 ------------------------------