Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 05:04:16 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #059 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Mon, 18 Jan 93 Volume 16 : Issue 059 Today's Topics: Air Force Space Command best food for space? DC-1 and the $23M NASA Toilet Hewlett Packard conin space Organic heat shielding. (2 msgs) Oxygen in Biosphere 2 teaching star trek 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: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 03:25:20 GMT From: Samuel Bryant Subject: Air Force Space Command Newsgroups: sci.space Bill Gawne, gawne@stsci.edu writes: >While the Air Force may wish to claim space command as their own, it is >in fact a joint service command staffed by folks from all DoD services. >The USAF is the majority player at space command, but that's all. Sorry Bill, but Air Force Space Command is 100% Air Force!! (and has about 30,000 personnel including civilians) US Space Command is the one you mean, and it is comprised of personnel from the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Canadian Air Force. It only has a couple of hundred people and its role is to understand the warfighters needs and ensure those needs are met with adequate space support. The commander in chief for US Space Command directs his component commands to get what he needs on orbit. CINC Space's component commands are: Air Force Space Command, a MAJCOM with 30,000 personnel Army Space Command, 400 personnel Navy Space Command, 750 personnel So when people speak of Space Command they _are_ referring to Air Force since they mean the command that does the work -- launching, and controlling satellites on orbit. The Air Force is the National Executive Agent for spacelift and is responsible for all DoD launches. They buy the satellites, boosters, and man the launch bases and ranges at Cape Canaveral AFS, FL and Vandenberg AFB, CA. Not to mention the 49 remote tracking stations around the world. Yes, those are Air Force - Not Navy, Not Army, and Not US Space Command. If we go to war, CINC Space (Commander In Chief for US Space Command) takes operational control of all space activities he needs to support the warfighter. But the work is still done by Air Force Space Command personnel on Air Force Bases and remote stations. I used the pronoun HE on purpose. CINC Space is the leader of a combatant command and will be a Fighter Pilot. CINC Space is also CINC NORAD, Commander in Chief for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. CINC Space is also, the Commander of Air Force Space Command. Yes, the man is triple hatted and two of his positions require Fighter Pilot backgrounds (not my idea). So, as long as women can't be fighter pilots, don't ever look for them as CINC Space or CINC NORAD. >If you want to work there you have to go thru one of the existing service >academies or a ROTC program. Then HOPE that someday all your wishes come >true and you're assigned there. But you're more likely to find yourself >on the ground tracking stuff in space, than in space yourself. No, not true because of your top level error that Air Force Space Command is a joint command. You would have to go through the Air Force Academy, an Air Force ROTC program, the Officer's Training School, OR:: Direct commission as a Doctor, Nurse, or Lawyer You are correct in assuming the difficulty in becoming an actual astronaut. There just are many positions available. But as I said earlier, Air Force Space Command has about 30,000 personnel which includes civilians. There are lots of opportunities to work on something exciting and inovative. >US Space Command is considered a "combatant command", similar to the >much more well known US Central Command (CENTCOM was the headquarters >of Desert Shield/Storm, the made for TV war.) The Space Commander is (?) >a 4 star billet, and I've heard it alternates between Air Force and Navy >officers. Perhaps somebody who works for Space Command can confirm or >refute this. Yes, US Space Command is a combatant command, but his "combatants" are in his component commands, Air Force, Army, and Navy. Air Force General (4 stars) Charles Horner is CINC Space (Commander in Chief for US Space Command), his deputy is a Navy Admiral (3 stars) and the positions will never rotate. Air Force will always be CINC Space. There is no law or regulation preventing a rotating CINC but if the Navy ever asked, they would have to give up CINC Pacific Fleet to an Air Force General in return. No, they never even ask.......... General Horner is triple hatted; CINC Space - Commander in Chief for US Space Command CINC NORAD - Commander in Chief North American Aerospace Defense Command Commander - Air Force Space Command BTW, his deputy at NORAD is a Canadian and those positions never rotate either. Sorry to rag on you so much Bill, but I'm very proud of my command and a little sensitive when people make bold statements which are incorrect. During peacetime, Air Force Space Command is _SPACE_COMMAND_ We do launch, We do satellites, We command and control space! Captain Samuel Bryant HQ Air Force Space Command sbryant@spacecom.af.mil or astroman@cscns.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1993 10:03:00 From: Eric Cotton Subject: best food for space? Newsgroups: sci.space Put your food into a "Chef" like home-brew container think how they put icing on the cake!!! Use a 1,2, or 3 liter bottle neck to serve as your spout. If you're really gung-ho, purchasaa icing spreader!! Lotsa luck...Eric One un-related ? When you type ,,, does your ccomputer type in a lot of junk like ckeck maarrrks and extra letters???? If so, Plls reeplly!! See what I mean!! Eric Cotton * Origin: *AmeriComm*, 214/373-7314. Dallas'Info Source. (1:124/6507) ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 93 06:58:05 GMT From: Dave Michelson Subject: DC-1 and the $23M NASA Toilet Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Jan15.060020.22460@fulcrum.oz.au> steve@fulcrum.oz.au (Steve Taylor) writes: >I think the zero gravity toilet scene was on an orbital shuttle, not the >main ship. The zero-G toilet was on the earth-moon shuttle "Aries". --- Dave Michelson University of British Columbia davem@ee.ubc.ca Antenna Laboratory ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 1993 09:06:14 GMT From: stevep@hpscit.sc.hp.com Subject: Hewlett Packard conin space Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space |> Is there anyone from HP on the net? I think I've seen network address |> with "hp" in them. Is this Hewlett Packard? |> |> Tony Ryan, Homn. Sec., Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1, Ireland. Sure is. I've not heard of any specific HP into Space stuff. There was the HP handheld calculator that was used on some (I think) Apollo missions. -- ======================================================================= !! Steve Pearce Hewlett-Packard !! !! SSG/CSY Pinewood, UK !! ======================================================================= ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 93 05:27:09 GMT From: Josh 'K' Hopkins Subject: Organic heat shielding. Newsgroups: sci.space prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes: >gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes: >> >>are a preferred solution. Honeycomb composite structures are another good >>solution, but remain very expensive to fabricate. >Too the best of my understanding, the chinese use Bamboo heat shields >on their rocket capsules. The bamboo carbonizes, and becomes an almost >perfect insulator. A friend of mine watched a thermite lance get halted >by a piece of plywood. the carbon just sucked up the heat. Actually, I think they use(d) oak. They may also use bamboo, but it sounds like you may have it confused. I believe oak's an ablative material, at least in the form they use it in. Personally, I'd like to know just how well osage would hold up. I don't know its thermal properties, but it's mighty stubborn stuff. >any low cost vehicle plans ever look at these? Well, obviously the chinese have (which is of course, a perfectly good and perfectly useless answer). I don't know just how well the stuff works but it sounds like it might be worth looking into. Space colonies could grow their own heat shields. -- Josh Hopkins jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu Q: How do you tell a novice from an expert. A: A novice hesitates before doing something stupid. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 93 07:07:06 GMT From: Dave Michelson Subject: Organic heat shielding. Newsgroups: sci.space As a point of interest, the original plan for the Saturn S-IVB stage was to use balsa wood for insulating the LH2 tank. (The details are discussed in Stages to Saturn, an often quoted source in this group :-) Only after determining that they would need far more balsa than the world could every hope to supply (!) did they switch to a synthetic material... --- Dave Michelson University of British Columbia davem@ee.ubc.ca Antenna Laboratory ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 1993 04:28:04 GMT From: Pat Subject: Oxygen in Biosphere 2 Newsgroups: sci.space I imagine O2 is being consumed into CO2, by the animals including crew and that due to low light levels or insufficient plant areas and low ocean algae productivity, the CO2 is floating around, also some carbonates may be being created in the ocean. I believe i saw something where CO2 levels rose dramatically enough in early days, that a CO2 scrubber had to be put into B2. so i imagine those calcium tabs have a lot of the missing O2. Taber can ytou comment on this? and did you guys consider setting up a small sabatier reactor to recycle the CO2, or was this against operating principles, I imagine a Laser printer sized solar driven sabatier reactor should be able to produce ~1 CF of O2 every hour. not a lot, but enough to balance the problem. certainly easier then continuing to get calcium resupply missions. After all Mars doesn't have a lot of general sales stores :-) Besides, the sabatier reaction will be vital for mars exploration, so might as well get some R&D experience on small solar sabatier reactors. Course, zubrins proposal is for nuclear driven reactors, but we could get by on solar for a weight penalty. pat ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 93 08:17:02 GMT From: Bill HEELAN Subject: teaching star trek Newsgroups: sci.space From article <1993Jan17.134606.5044@wkuvx1.bitnet>, by cabanc@wkuvx1.bitnet: > [...] Any way I am doing research into using Star Trek as a teaching > tool for students. [...] Choose your examples carefully! I'm sure all TNG fans remember when Geordi informed us that the surface of a planet was at -293 C. :-) - Bill ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 059 ------------------------------