Date: Thu, 3 Jun 93 05:35:10 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #665 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Thu, 3 Jun 93 Volume 16 : Issue 665 Today's Topics: Diffs to sci.space/sci.astro Frequently Asked Questions NASA To Commercialize Remote-Control Technology Shuttle simulation Some numbers for Ken (2 msgs) 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: 2 Jun 1993 23:24:28 -0400 From: Jon Leech Subject: Diffs to sci.space/sci.astro Frequently Asked Questions Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.answers,news.answers Archive-name: space/diff In starting to reorganize and shrink the FAQ, the old section 7 (mnemonics) has been removed (now kept on ames.arc.nasa.gov, with a pointer to the file in the FAQ). The old section 6 (constants and equations) has been folded into section 4 (calculations and data formats). Following sections have been renumbered. Many areas have been slightly rephrased in order to move towards a consistent syntax for naming FTPable files. These diffs are not listed below as they don't affect the meaning of the text. DIFFS SINCE LAST FAQ POSTING (IN POSTING ORDER) (These are hand-edited context diffs; do not attempt to use them to patch old copies of the FAQ). =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.intro *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25744 Wed Jun 2 23:16:51 1993 --- FAQ.intro Wed Jun 2 23:16:40 1993 *************** *** 16,24 **** your KILL file for this group (if you're not reading this with a newsreader that can kill articles by subject, you're out of luck). ! The FAQ volume is excessive right now and will hopefully be trimmed down ! by rewriting and condensing over time. The FAQ postings are available in ! the Ames SPACE archive in FAQ/faq<#>. Good summaries will be accepted in place of the answers given here. The point of this is to circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old --- 16,26 ---- your KILL file for this group (if you're not reading this with a newsreader that can kill articles by subject, you're out of luck). ! The FAQ volume is excessive right now and will gradually being trimmed ! down by rewriting, condensing, and moving static information to archive ! servers. The FAQ postings are available from the Ames SPACE archive in ! ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/faq*, along with more information expanding ! on topics in the FAQ. Good summaries will be accepted in place of the answers given here. The point of this is to circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.net *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25749 Wed Jun 2 23:16:53 1993 --- FAQ.net Wed Jun 2 23:16:41 1993 =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.data *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25754 Wed Jun 2 23:16:54 1993 --- FAQ.data Wed Jun 2 23:16:39 1993 *************** *** 8,25 **** A wide variety of images, data, catalogs, information releases, and other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net. A few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access, while the remainder support some form of file transfer. Many sites are listed as ! providing 'anonymous FTP'. This refers to the File Transfer Protocol on ! the Internet. Sites not connected to the Internet cannot use FTP ! directly, but there are a few automated FTP servers which operates via ! email. Send mail containing only the word HELP to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com ! or bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu, and the servers will send you instructions ! on how to make requests. ! The sources with the broadest selection of material are the NASA Ames ! SPACE archive and the National Space Science Data Center. Don't even ask for images to be posted to the net. The data volume is huge and nobody wants to spend the time on it. --- 8,37 ---- A wide variety of images, data, catalogs, information releases, and other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net. + The sources with the broadest selection of material are the NASA Ames + SPACE archive and the National Space Science Data Center (described + below). + A few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access, while the remainder support some form of file transfer. Many sites are listed as ! providing 'anonymous FTP' (or files referred to as 'FTPable'). This ! refers to the File Transfer Protocol on the Internet. Sites not ! connected to the Internet cannot use FTP directly, but there are a few ! automated FTP servers which operate via email. Send mail containing only ! the word HELP to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com or bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu, ! and the servers will send you instructions on how to make requests. ! Shorthand for a specific file or directory at an anonymous FTP site is ! sitename:filename (e.g. ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). The FAQ ! is phasing out the specification of IP addresses and referring to FTP ! sites only by fully qualified machine name. + An ever-increasing amount of space-related data may be searched and + retrieved interactively using gopher, WAIS, World Wide Web, and other + Internet clients that may be far more convenient than FTP. A description + of these applications is beyond the scope of this FAQ; see the Usenet + groups comp.infosystems.{gopher,wais,www} for more information. + Don't even ask for images to be posted to the net. The data volume is huge and nobody wants to spend the time on it. *************** *** 29,43 **** The possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly large, and I won't attempt to cover common formats (GIF, etc.) here. To read PDS and VICAR (and many other) formats on Unix systems running X, ! use XV 2.11, available by anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu ! (18.24.0.12) in contrib/xv-2.11.tar.Z and the other standard X11 FTP ! sites. The FAQ for the Usenet group alt.binaries.pictures discusses image formats and how to get image viewing software. A copy of this document ! is available by anonymous FTP from the Usenet FAQ archives at ! pit-manager.mit.edu (18.72.1.58), in directory ! pub/usenet/alt.binaries.pictures. ONLINE ARCHIVES --- 41,54 ---- The possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly large, and I won't attempt to cover common formats (GIF, etc.) here. To read PDS and VICAR (and many other) formats on Unix systems running X, ! use XV 3.00, available by anonymous FTP from ! export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xv-3.00.tar.Z, as well as the other standard ! X11 FTP sites. The FAQ for the Usenet group alt.binaries.pictures discusses image formats and how to get image viewing software. A copy of this document ! is available from the Usenet FAQ archives in ! rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/alt.binaries.pictures. ONLINE ARCHIVES *************** *** 254,278 **** subset containing position and magnitude only is available by FTP (see "Astronomy Programs" below). ! nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) has a large collection of astronomical programs for many types of computers, databases of stars and deep sky ! objects, and general astronomy information in directory /pub/astro. This ! site is mainly for European users, but overseas connections are ! possible. ! The Ames archives contain a database of 8,436 galaxies including name, ! RA, declination, magnitude, and radial velocity in MISC/galaxy.dat. ! Supplied by Wayne Hayes (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca). ! iris1.ucis.dal.ca (129.173.18.107) has a number of GIFs from Voyager, ! Hubble, and other sources available by anonymous FTP in pub/gif (most of ! this data is also in SPACE/GIF on the Ames server). Please restrict ! access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time. ! pomona.claremont.edu has the Yale Bright Star catalog for anonymous FTP ! in directory [.YALE_BSC]. Contact James Dishaw ! (jdishaw@hmcvax.claremont.edu). The Hubble Guide Star catalog is available on CD-ROM for the Mac and PC for $49.95 US (catalog # ST101). --- 262,287 ---- subset containing position and magnitude only is available by FTP (see "Astronomy Programs" below). ! nic.funet.fi:pub/astro contains a large collection of astronomical programs for many types of computers, databases of stars and deep sky ! objects, and general astronomy information. This site is mainly for ! European users, but overseas connections are possible. ! ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/MISC/galaxy.dat is a database of 8,436 ! galaxies including name, RA, declination, magnitude, and radial ! velocity, supplied by Wayne Hayes (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca). ! ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/constell.* contains constellation ! boundary data in a form suitable for the construction of star charts and ! atlases. ! Directory iris1.ucis.dal.ca:pub/gif has a number of GIFs from Voyager, ! Hubble, and other sources (most of this data is also in pub/SPACE/GIF on ! the Ames server). Please restrict access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time. + Directory pomona.claremont.edu:[.YALE_BSC] contains the the Yale Bright + Star catalog. Contact James Dishaw (jdishaw@hmcvax.claremont.edu). + The Hubble Guide Star catalog is available on CD-ROM for the Mac and PC for $49.95 US (catalog # ST101). *************** *** 282,292 **** Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time FAX: (415) 337-5205 ! For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn has a ! service to distribute astronomical data to interested amateurs at cost. ! About 30-40 catalogs are available for DM 6..8/disk. Several floppy disk ! formats are available. Because of the expense of receiving email on his ! system, he asks that you contact him by physical mail: Jost Jahn Neustaedter Strasse 11 --- 291,302 ---- Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time FAX: (415) 337-5205 ! For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn ! (j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de) has a mail service to distribute astronomical ! data to interested amateurs at cost. About 30-40 catalogs are available ! for DM 6..8/disk. Several floppy disk formats are available. He also has ! a FAX service with current news on the observable sky. Email him if ! interested in these services, or write: Jost Jahn Neustaedter Strasse 11 *************** *** 293,298 **** --- 303,309 ---- W-3123 Bodenteich GERMANY Phone: FRG-5824-3197 + FAX: (49)-581-14824 ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS *************** *** 317,355 **** Volume 12: starchart2 starchart program, update to version 3.2.1 Volume 13: jupmoons plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl] Volume 13: lunisolar lunisolar (not sure what this does) - Volume 14: ephem-4.21 astronomical ephemeris, v4.21 Volume 14: n3emo-orbit patch to orbit 3.7 Volume 18: planet planet generation simulator ! Elwood Downey (e_downey@tasha.cca.cr.rockwell.com), the author of ! "ephem", has offered to mail copies to people who can't find it on one ! of the archives. ! XSAT, an X Window System based satellite tracking program, is ! available by anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12) in ! contrib/xsat1.0.tar.Z. Contact Dave Curry (davy@ecn.purdue.edu) ! for more information. ! Xsky, a computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, is available for ! anonymous FTP on arizona.edu in the directory [.SOFTWARE.UNIX.XSKY] as ! xsky.tarz. Contact Terry R. Friedrichsen (terry@venus.sunquest.com) for ! more information. ! The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is available via ! anonymous FTP from kauri.vuw.ac.nz (130.195.11.3) in directory ! pub/astrophys. This is intended for specialists in this field, and they ! would appreciate people from outside New Zealand confining their FTP ! access to the astrophys directory, as they pay a significant amount for ! Internet access. Contents are relatively sparse at present due to the ! youth of the archive - contributions are encouraged. Contact the archive ! administrator, Timothy Banks (bankst@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) for more ! information. ! The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is available by anonymous FTP from ! idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.57.82). This is a central repository for ! general purpose astronomy procedures written in IDL, a commercial image ! processing, plotting, and programming language. Contact Wayne Landsman ! (landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov) for more information. ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS --- 328,369 ---- Volume 12: starchart2 starchart program, update to version 3.2.1 Volume 13: jupmoons plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl] Volume 13: lunisolar lunisolar (not sure what this does) Volume 14: n3emo-orbit patch to orbit 3.7 Volume 18: planet planet generation simulator ! Xephem is an interactive astronomical ephemeris program for X11R4/Motif ! 1.1 (or later) X Windows systems. It computes lots of information about ! the planets and any solar system objects for which orbital elements are ! available. A sample database of some 16000+ objects is included in the ! release kit. It's available by anonymous FTP from ! export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xephem/xephem_2.4e.tar.Z and has been ! submitted to comp.sources.x. Contact Elwood Downey ! (e_downey@tasha.cca.cr.rockwell.com). Ephem is the forefather of xephem ! designed for simple 24x80 character displays. It's FTPable from ! export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/ephem_4.28.tar.Z. ! XSAT, an X Window System based satellite tracking program, is available ! from export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xsat1.0.tar.Z. Contact Dave Curry ! (davy@ecn.purdue.edu) for more information. ! Xsky 2.0.1, a computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, is ! available from arizona.edu:[.software.unix.xsky]xsky2-0-1.tarz. Contact ! Terry R. Friedrichsen (terry@venus.sunquest.com) for more information. ! The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is available in directory ! kauri.vuw.ac.nz:pub/astrophys. This is intended for specialists in this ! field, and they would appreciate people from outside New Zealand ! confining their FTP access to the astrophys directory, as they pay a ! significant amount for Internet access. Contents are relatively sparse ! at present due to the youth of the archive - contributions are ! encouraged. Contact the archive administrator, Timothy Banks ! (bankst@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) for more information. ! The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is FTPable from ! idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov:README (to start with). This is a central ! repository for general purpose astronomy procedures written in IDL, a ! commercial image processing, plotting, and programming language. Contact ! Wayne Landsman (landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov) for more information. ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.math *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25759 Wed Jun 2 23:16:56 1993 --- FAQ.math Wed Jun 2 23:16:41 1993 *************** *** 52,57 **** --- 236,247 ---- More net references: + "Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac" (revised edition), + Kenneth Seidelmann, University Science Books, 1992. ISBN 0-935702-68-7. + $65 in hardcover. + + Deep math for all the algorthms and tables in the AA. + Van Flandern & Pullinen, _Low-Precision Formulae for Planetary Positions_, Astrophysical J. Supp Series, 41:391-411, 1979. Look in an astronomy or physics library for this; also said to be available from =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.references *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25764 Wed Jun 2 23:16:58 1993 --- FAQ.references Wed Jun 2 23:16:43 1993 --- 655,668 ---- "Geophysical Geodesy" by K. Lambeck "Tides of the planet Earth" by P. Melchior ! ! ASTRONOMICAL MNEMONICS ! ! A listing of astronomical mnemonics is FTPable from ! ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/MISC/mnemonics (this was formerly a separate ! section of the FAQ). ! ! NOTE: the remaining FAQ sections do not appear in sci.astro, as they cover ! material of relevance only to sci.space. ! ! NEXT: FAQ #6/13 - Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.addresses *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25769 Wed Jun 2 23:16:59 1993 --- FAQ.addresses Wed Jun 2 23:16:37 1993 *************** *** 169,174 **** --- 169,178 ---- Washington, DC 20006 (202)-728-9075 + EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE COMPANY (EOSAT) + 7500 Forbes Boulevard + Lanham, MD + EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) 955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W. Washington, D.C. 20024 *************** *** 177,182 **** --- 181,187 ---- NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NASDA) 4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, JAPAN + asuzuki@rd.tksc.nasda.go.jp (Public Relations Office) SOYUZKARTA 45 Vologradsij Pr. *************** *** 213,222 **** (202)-488-3483 SPACE INDUSTRIES, INC. ! 101 Courageous Dr. ! Leage City, TX 77573 (713) 538-6000 SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION 1857 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091 --- 218,229 ---- (202)-488-3483 SPACE INDUSTRIES, INC. ! 101 Courageous Dr. 711 W. Bay Area Blvd. #320 ! Leage City, TX 77573 Webster, TX 77598 (713) 538-6000 + I'm not certain which of these two addresses is correct. + SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION 1857 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091 =================================================================== diff -t -c -r1.20 FAQ.groups *** /tmp/,RCSt1a25794 Wed Jun 2 23:17:07 1993 --- FAQ.groups Wed Jun 2 23:16:40 1993 *************** *** 247,257 **** Aerospace Daily (McGraw-Hill) Very good coverage of aerospace and space issues. Approx. $1400/yr. ! Air & Space / Smithsonian (bimonthly magazine) Box 53261 Boulder, CO 80332-3261 $18/year US, $24/year international ESA - The European Space Agency publishes a variety of periodicals, generally available free of charge. A document describing them in more detail is in the Ames SPACE archive in --- 247,276 ---- Aerospace Daily (McGraw-Hill) Very good coverage of aerospace and space issues. Approx. $1400/yr. ! Air & Space / Smithsonian (bimonthly magazine) - A glossy magazine, ! generally light reading; the emphasis is much more on aviation than ! on space. Contains information about all events at the National Air ! & Space Museum. ! Box 53261 Boulder, CO 80332-3261 $18/year US, $24/year international + Aviation Week & Space Technology - weekly aerospace trade, emphasis on + aeronautics but usually has several space-related articles. Rates + depend on whether you're "qualified" or not, which basically means + whether you look at the ads for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or + out of genuine commercial or military interest. Best write for a + "qualification card" and try to get the cheap rate. + + 1221 Ave. of the Americas, + New York NY 10020 + (800)-525-5003 (International (609)426-7070) + $82/year US (qualified) + About $50 if you qualify for the unadvertised student subscription + rate - I (Jon Leech) got this rate by begging and pleading to a + McGraw-Hill representative at the SIGGRAPH '92 conference. + ESA - The European Space Agency publishes a variety of periodicals, generally available free of charge. A document describing them in more detail is in the Ames SPACE archive in ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jun 1993 21:45:16 GMT From: Chuck McManis Subject: NASA To Commercialize Remote-Control Technology Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary,comp.robotics In article <1JUN199315540199@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> (Ron Baalke) writes: > Possible terrestrial applications for teleoperations include >nuclear or toxic waste site cleanup, decommissioning of hazardous >facilities, special emergency medical operations, construction and >building planning, and remotely operated highway maintenance. It would be a public service if someone could produce a robot that can work in high radiation environments. A good test for such a robot would be to go under the Chernobyl reactor vessel and begin cleaning up the remains of the melted core. After the accident the _only_ thing that would continue operating in the high radiation environment were humans and many of them are now dead. Further the current Russian government is faced with the prospect of building a "sarcophagus"(sp?) to replace the current structure with a building lifetime of several thousand years. Since no one has ever been able to design such a building the alternative is transporting the remains of the reactor and the tonnes of radioactive dust to a buried facility (an understood technology) Using people to do this is possible, but costly. So, in order to make this a bit more tenable for the group, I offer the following suggested research topics: a) High radiation electronics - computing in radiation rich environments. b) Teleoperation in high noise environments. c) Robotics designed to sustain massive failures and continue operating (good for robotic space probes as well.) -- --Chuck McManis Mr. NIS+ Sunsoft uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: Internet: cmcmanis@Eng.Sun.COM These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you. ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jun 93 23:51:05 GMT From: Steve Powell Subject: Shuttle simulation Newsgroups: sci.space E-mail on Int Keywords: simulation,shuttle,education,hypercard,computer Fran O'Rourke's multi-age class is doing a 24 hr. Shuttle Simulaiont this Friday: blast off at 10 AM. 6 astronauts, 10 Mission Control, and 10 News Corps will be kept busy with experiments on shuttle every half hour, Video Conf. with NASA-Ames, Simulated (and animated) space walks to repair a satellite, and 32 Macs to be used for communications, hypercard stacks, Gravitation, Art , etc. The wall between the library and the computer lab will come down for this next week. THAT's a big deal--merging computers witht he real world (sort of real world on Friday!). We'd love your notes, questions, fun facts etc. that you could E-mail to this address (stev@eskimo.com). We'l be using Orbitarack to keep track of the Shuttle. A month or so ago several of you wer kid kind enough to provide me with shuttle elements. Thanks in advance. Steve Powell, parent volunteer ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 01:14:38 GMT From: "Phil G. Fraering" Subject: Some numbers for Ken Newsgroups: sci.space khayash@nml1sun.hsc.usc.edu (Ken Hayashida) writes: >aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: >>Well to help Ken out I dug out my spreadsheets and plugged in some new >>DC numbers which recently came my way. I will present two models which >>show expected vs worse case. The worse case is in essence the best case >>times two. Both models assume a production run of four DC-1's and a total >>launch rate of 200 flights per year for the fleet. DDT&E is amortized > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *snip!* >Number 3, your estimates of DC-1 flight rates seem awfully high. >200 flights per year comes to 4 flights per week. I can't imagine >any government needing a flight rate that high. 1. The Soviet Union had a flight rate of ~ 90 launches in one year sometime in the mid-80's. 2. If costs are reduced, the market will expand. (I think this is something economically trivial; should I go find a Price Theory textbook and provide a reference?) >Can anyone out there tell me if the entire world sends 200 rockets into >orbit per year? They probably would if it didn't cost so much. Which is the whole point. -- +-----------------------+---------------------------------------+ |Phil Fraering | "...drag them, kicking and screaming, | |pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu | into the Century of the Fruitbat." | +-----------------------+-Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_---------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 01:11:10 GMT From: Gary Coffman Subject: Some numbers for Ken Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Jun2.170008.24760@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: > >Well to help Ken out I dug out my spreadsheets and plugged in some new >DC numbers which recently came my way. I will present two models which >show expected vs worse case. The worse case is in essence the best case >times two. Both models assume a production run of four DC-1's and a total >launch rate of 200 flights per year for the fleet. DDT&E is amortized >over ten years at an interest rate of 8%/year. The numbers are: > >DDT&E Launch Cost Total Cost Payload $/LB to LEO > $5B $6M $9.63M 24,000 LB $401 >$10B $12M $19.26M 20,000 LB $963 Now work it again with a realistic flight rate, say 8 flights a year. What? $10,000 a pound. My My Shuttle was $400 a pound too when it was flying paper flights. Gary -- Gary Coffman KE4ZV | You make it, | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary Destructive Testing Systems | we break it. | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary 534 Shannon Way | Guaranteed! | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | | ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 665 ------------------------------