Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from corsica.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Wed, 26 Jul 89 03:18:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 03:17:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #556 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 556 Today's Topics: Re: Apollo 12 (And Surveyor 3) Decaying Lunar Orbits Re: Magellan Status for 07/11/89 (Forwarded) Apollo-11 lunar experiment still useful after 20 years (Forwarded) Re: Apollo-11 lunar experiment still useful after 20 years (Forwarded) TF-104 Reminders for Old Farts News of the Week (well, Month) -19 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 Jul 89 21:38:09 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!leem@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Lee Mellinger) Subject: Re: Apollo 12 (And Surveyor 3) In article <15258@ut-emx.UUCP> pjm@ut-emx.UUCP writes: :In article <5366@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>, leem@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV :(Lee Mellinger) writes: : :> The scoop housing was presented to Dr. William Pickering on his retirement as :> Director of JPL in 1976. (...) : :Isn't he Sir William Pickering? I believe his knighthood came through his :New Zealand citizenship; he initially came from there for graduate(?) studies :at CALTECH. : : Phillip MacQueen McDonald Observatory, Not unless he got it in the last couple of years. You may be confusing him with another Dr. Pickering, an astronomer whom I know was knighted. Lee "I'm the NRA" |Lee F. Mellinger Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA |4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 818/393-0516 FTS 977-0516 |{ames!cit-vax,}!elroy!jpl-devvax!leem leem@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jul 89 04:15:37 GMT From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!hutto!henry@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Henry Melton) Subject: Decaying Lunar Orbits I have seen a couple of references lately in the Apollo shows that the returning upper portion of the LEM was abandoned in lunar orbit and then later decayed to crash on the Lunar surface. How fast is this orbital decay, considering that there is no atmosphere to speak of? Is there some other mechanism that can cause such a fast decay? -- Henry Melton ...!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!hutto!henry 1-512-8463241 Rt.1 Box 274E Hutto,TX 78634 ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jul 89 22:29:18 GMT From: bfmny0!tneff@uunet.uu.net (Tom Neff) Subject: Re: Magellan Status for 07/11/89 (Forwarded) In article <28584@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: > MAGELLAN WEEKLY STATUS ... > > High temperature readings on the Solid Rocket Motor and the >Rocket Engine Modules in some attitudes have been a problem. The >operations team said Morton Thiokol made tests with a sample of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >the Solid Rocket Motor core, and believes the temperature limit ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >can be raised from 34 C (93.2 F), to 70 C (158 F). ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Just when you thought it was safe to make a midcourse correction... (sound of slashing, roaring chainsaw) HE LIVES!! MORTON LIVES!!! ----- TUESDAY THE 28TH, PART II: MORTON TAKES MAGELLAN ...Coming soon to an Accident Review Board near you... -- "My God, Thiokol, when do you \\ Tom Neff want me to launch -- next April?" \\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 89 21:45:09 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Apollo-11 lunar experiment still useful after 20 years (Forwarded) Paula Cleggett-Haleim Headquarters, Washington, D.C. July 17, 1989 Mary A. Hardin Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. RELEASE: 89-119 APOLLO-11 LUNAR EXPERIMENT STILL USEFUL AFTER 20 YEARS An experiment placed on the lunar surface 20 years ago by the Apollo 11 astronauts continues to be used to study the Earth- moon system by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and other scientific centers around the world. Scientists, who analyzed the data from the Laser Ranging Retro-reflector Experiment, have observed, among other things, that the moon is moving away from the Earth, tectonic plates of the Earth are slowly drifting and the length of a day varies. The Laser Ranging Retro-reflector was designed to reflect pulses of laser light fired from the Earth. The idea was to determine the round-trip travel time of a laser pulse from the Earth to the moon and back again, thereby calculating the distance between the two bodies to unprecedented accuracy. Unlike the other scientific experiments left on the moon, this reflector requires no power and is still functioning perfectly after 20 years. The laser reflector consists of 100 fused silica half cubes, called corner cubes, mounted in an 18-inch square aluminum panel. Each corner cube is 1.5 inches in diameter. Corner cubes reflect a beam of light directly back toward the point of origin. It is this fact that makes them so useful in Earth surveying. The McDonald Observatory, Ft. Davis, Texas; the Lure Observatory atop the extinct Haleakala volcano on the island of Maui, Hawaii; and a third observatory in southern France near Grasse, regularly send a laser beam through an optical telescope and try to hit one of the reflectors. The reflectors are too small to be seen from Earth, so even when the beam is correctly aligned in the telescope, actually hitting a lunar reflector is quite challenging. At the moon's surface, the beam is roughly a mile wide and scientists liken the task of properly aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime 2 miles away. Once the laser beam hits a reflector, scientists at the observatories use sensitive filtering and amplification equipment to detect the return signal. The reflected light is too weak to be seen with the human eye, but under good conditions, one photon -- the fundamental particle of light -- will be received every few seconds. Three more reflectors have since been left on the moon, including two by later Apollo missions and one by the unmanned Soviet Lunakhod 2 lander. Each of the reflectors rest on the lunar surface in such a way that its flat face points toward the Earth. Continuing improvements in lasers and electronics over the years have led to measurements accurate to approximately 1 inch. Scientists know the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the moon is 239,000 miles, implying that the modern lunar ranges have relative accuracies of better than one part in 10 billion. This level of accuracy represents one of the most precise distance measurements ever made and is equivalent to determining the distance between Los Angeles and New York to one fiftieth of an inch. During the last 20 years, scientists have used the orbit of the moon and the lunar ranging sites to study events on Earth. Lunar ranging has contributed to several scientific advances: * Lunar ranging has helped determine the precise positions of the observatories that send the laser beams. Using these positions, scientists can tell that the tectonic plates of the Earth's crust are slowly drifting and the observatory on Maui is seen to be moving away from the one in Texas. * The atmosphere, tides and the core of the Earth cause changes in the length of an Earth day -- the variations are about one thousandth of a second over the course of a year. * The familiar ocean tides raised on the Earth by the moon have a direct influence on the moon's orbit. Laser ranging has shown that the moon is receding from the Earth at about 1.5 inches every year. * Lunar ranging, together with laser ranging to artificial Earth satellites, has revealed a small but constant change in the shape of the Earth. The land masses are gradually changing after being compressed by the great weight of the glaciers in the last Ice Age. * Predictions of Einstein's Theory of Relativity have been confirmed using laser ranging. * Small-scale variations in the moon's rotation have been measured. They result from irregularities in the lunar gravity field, from changes in the moon's shape due to tides raised in the moon's solid body by the Earth and possibly from the effects of a fluid lunar core. * The combined mass of the Earth and moon has been determined to one part in 100 million. * Lunar ranging has yielded an enormous improvement in knowledge of the moon's orbit, enough to permit accurate analyses of solar eclipses as far back as 1400 B.C. The usefulness of continued improvements in range determinations to further advance understanding of the Earth-moon system and the need for monitoring details of the Earth's rotation will keep the lunar reflectors in service for years to come. Lunar ranging analysis at JPL is undertaken by Drs. Jean Dickey, James G. Williams and X X Newhall and is sponsored by the Geodynamics Branch of NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications. Additional analysis is accomplished at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Cambridge, Mass.; at the University of Texas, Austin; and in France and China. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jul 89 00:44:16 GMT From: bfmny0!tneff@uunet.uu.net (Tom Neff) Subject: Re: Apollo-11 lunar experiment still useful after 20 years (Forwarded) In article <28736@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: >APOLLO-11 LUNAR EXPERIMENT STILL USEFUL AFTER 20 YEARS ... > The McDonald Observatory, Ft. Davis, Texas; the Lure >Observatory atop the extinct Haleakala volcano on the island of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Maui, Hawaii; and a third observatory in southern France near >Grasse, regularly send a laser beam through an optical telescope >and try to hit one of the reflectors. ... Sorry, NASA - Haleakala is not extinct! It is dormant, having last erupted in 1790. That's not very long ago on an Earth scale. Geologists keep watch to see if they can detect continued activity. Let's hope for NASA's sake their search goes unfulfilled. :-) (I've been up to the Lure Observatory - it's a fantastic setting, about 10,000 ft MSL. A near moonscape, but dotted with rare indigenous silverswords. Anyone vacationing in Maui should take in a Haleakala sunrise; if you do so, the Lure domes (together with USAF tracking station) are just a short hike up to the summit.) -- "My God, Thiokol, when do you \\ Tom Neff want me to launch -- next April?" \\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff ------------------------------ Date: 7 Jul 89 20:24:42 GMT From: dinl!holroyd@handies.ucar.edu (kevin w. holroyd) Subject: TF-104 >In article shafer@drynix.dfrf.nasa.gov writes: >Greenamyer's F-104 was the structural test article--I'm not sure I'd >like to fly in something used to test structural fatigue life! >There's another TF-104, in a museum in Texas that also has a MiG-15 >and an F-86. One of our test pilots flies all three for them. All three of these airplanes participated in an air show at Centennial last year. One day after the show was over, I was working with a student doing touch and goes. I heard the Starfighter call for clearance to taxi on ground freq. Suitably warned, I timed our pattern so we would be on upwind (we were on the parallel runway) when the TF-104 took off. What a sight. It was up and out of there and very quickly, and soon was only a smoke trail in the distance. And I'm sure he was throttled back since we were under a TCA. -- ******************************************************************************* Kevin W. Holroyd * CFI Aspen Flying Club * Got tired of last .signature file Denver CO. * ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Jul 89 04:00:16 PDT From: Eugene Miya Subject: Reminders for Old Farts Hints for old users (subtle reminders) You'll know these. Minimize cross references, [Do you REALLY NEED to?] Edit "Subject:" lines especially if you are taking a tangent. Send mail instead, avoid posting follow ups. [1 mail message worth 100 posts.] Read all available articles before posting a follow-up. [Check all references.] Cut down attributed articles. Summarize! Put a return address in the body (signature) of your message (mail or article), state institution, etc. don't assume mail works. Use absolute dates. Post in a timely way. Don't post what everyone will get on TV anyway. Some editors and window systems do character count line wrapping: please keep lines under 80 characters for those using ASCII terms (use ). ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jul 89 22:40:04 GMT From: frooz!cfa250!mcdowell@husc6.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) Subject: News of the Week (well, Month) -19 Jonathan's Space Report Jul 12, 1989 (no. 19) Finally I have access again, so here goes on a catchup.. --------------------------------------------------------------------- OV-102 Columbia due to be rolled out to the pad tomorrow for mission STS-28. The first Titan 4 launch on Jun 15 was a success. Its payload was a new generation missile early warning satellite. The upper stage was an IUS, the same stage used by the Shuttle to launch TDRS and Magellan. The last Ariane 3 went into orbit on Jul 11. It carried ESA's Olympus experimental communications satellite, formerly known as L-SAT. Ariane 4 will now be the standard Ariane variant. The first Resurs-F remote sensing satellite was recovered on Jun 17 after 23 days in orbit; a second Resurs-F satellite went into space on Jun 27. On Jul 5, another similar remote sensing satellite, also operated by the Priroda center, was launched and given the name Kosmos-2029; the distinction between the satellites given the new Resurs-F name and similar satellites which are still given the Kosmos code name is not clear yet. Another Soviet program was further declassified with the launch on Jul 4 of Nadezhda, a civilian navigation satellite. The Nadezhda satellite carries Doppler-type navigation equipment and a COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue system. Satellites of this class have been launched for over a decade with Kosmos codenames; it appears that the various civilian subprograms are being separated from the Kosmos program and declassified. Two recent launches by Proton to geostationary orbit: Raduga-1 on Jun 21 and Gorizont on Jul 5. Previous Raduga satellites have been named simply 'Raduga' rather than 'Raduga-1', so this may imply that a 'Raduga-2' model will be introduced soon. Kosmos-2026 launched Jun 7, a Soviet navy navigation satellite. The 38th Molniya-3 launched Jun 8, a Soviet comms relay satellite. Kosmos-2027 launched Jun 14, probably a radar calibration target or some other kind of military support satellite. Kosmos-2028 launched Jun 16, a GRU recon satellite replacing Kosmos-2018 which landed on Jun 19. .----------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617)495-7144 | | Center for Astrophysics | uucp: husc6!harvard!cfa200!mcdowell | | 60 Garden Street | bitnet : mcdowell@cfa.bitnet | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | span : cfa::mcdowell | | | telex : 92148 SATELLITE CAM | | | FAX : (617)495-7356 | '----------------------------------------------------------------' ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #556 *******************