Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Tue, 10 Apr 90 02:14:35 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 02:14:11 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #242 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 242 Today's Topics: * SpaceNews 09-Apr-90 * JSC newsletter summary, 23 March 90 REMOVE APSEY FROM SPACE MAIL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 8 Apr 90 00:42:01 GMT From: pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!ge-dab!tarpit!peora!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (John Magliacane) Subject: * SpaceNews 09-Apr-90 * Bulletin ID: SPC0409 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 9, 1990 SpaceNews is published and distributed weekly around the world on USENET and Amateur Packet Radio. It is available for unlimited distribution. * COMET AUSTIN * ================ The April issue of Astronomy Magazine has an article on observing Comet Austin, packed with info, charts, event predictions, etc. The following table was given in the article. It gives, for each week during the best period, the estimated magnitude, best time to look, altitude (in degrees) from the horizon and direction at twilight, and some comments. I have added more comments gleaned from the text. All are oriented to viewing from the northern hemisphere, specifically from the US. Week of Mag. Phase Time Alt. Dir. Notes ------- --- ----- ------- ---- ---- ------------------------------ Mar 25 3 New Evening 7 W Twilight interferes Apr 1 2 First Evening 6 WNW 5 deg above Mercury 4/1 Apr 8 1 Full Evening 4 NW Brightest, but near sun 13 deg to right of Mercury 4/8 Apr 15 1 Last Morning 11 NE Improves rapidly 1.5 deg SW of Beta Andr 4/19 Apr 22 2 New Morning 19 NE Excellent south of M31 5 deg 4/25 tail might cross M31 4/19-4/22 rises 3am 4/25, tail rises 2:30 Apr 29 3 First Morning 28 ENE Good early in week May 6 3 Full Morning 38 ENE Moon hurts visibility May 13 3 Last Morning 51 E Better late in week May 20 3 New Morning 56 SSE Excellent May 27 4 First Early Morn. 38 S Good after midnight Crosses M17 morning of 5/31 Jun 3 5 Full Midnight 24 S Moon overwhelms comet Jun 10 6 Last Late eve. 19 S Better late in week 5 deg S of Antares 6/11-12 [From: James R. B. Davies via UUCP] * STS-31 NEWS * =============== Liftoff of the tenth flight of Discovery is scheduled for 9:21 AM EDT (1321 Z) on April 12 from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., launch pad 39-B, into a 330 by 310 nautical mile, 28.5 degree orbit. Nominal mission duration is expected to be 5 days 1 hour 15 minutes. Deorbit is planned on orbit 75, with landing scheduled for 10:36 AM EDT (1436 Z) on April 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Launch Complex: 39B Orbiter: Discovery (OV-103) Altitude: 330 nm circular Inclination: 28.45 Duration: 5 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes Landing Date/Time: April 17, 1990, 10:36 a.m. EDT Primary Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Abort Landing Sites: Return to Launch Site -- KSC Abort Once Around - Edwards AFB, Calif. Crew: Loren J. Shriver - Commander Charles F. Bolden Jr - Pilot Steven A. Hawley - MS-2 Bruce McCandless II - MS-1 and EV1 Kathryn D. Sullivan - MS-3 and EV2 Cargo Bay Payloads: Hubble Space Telescope IMAX Cargo Bay Camera Middeck Payloads: Ascent Particle Monitor (APM) Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) Ion Arc (Student Experiment) Protein Crystal Growth (PCG-III) ================================================================= RELATIVE EVENT MET VELOCITY MACH ALTITUDE (d:h:m:s) (fps) (ft) ================================================================= Launch 00/00:00:00 Begin Roll Maneuver 00/00:00:09 160 .14 605 End Roll Maneuver 00/00:00:15 313 .28 2,173 SSME Throttle Down to 67% 00/00:00:28 656 .58 7,771 Max. Dyn. Pressure (Max Q) 00/00:00:51 1,155 1.07 25,972 SSME Throttle Up to 104% 00/00:00:59 1,321 1.26 33,823 SRB Staging 00/00:02:06 4,145 3.77 159,670 Negative Return 00/00:04:06 7,153 7.15 341,470 Main Engine Cutoff (MECO) 00/00:08:33 24,768 23.18 361,988 Zero Thrust 00/00:08:39 24,783 22.65 366,065 ET Separation 00/00:08:51 OMS 2 Burn 00/00:42:38 HST Deploy (orbit 19) 01/05:23:00 Deorbit Burn (orbit 75) 05/00:03:00 Landing (orbit 76) 05/01:15:00 Apogee, Perigee at MECO: 325 x 27 nm Apogee, Perigee post-OMS 2: 330 x 310 nm Apogee, Perigee post deploy: 332 x 331 nm [From: NASA] * WELCOME ABOARD! * =================== Interested in learning more about the Amateur Radio Service? For information on licensing requirements and operating privileges, write: The American Radio Relay League 225 Main Street Newington, Connecticut 06111 U.S.A. * FEEDBACK WELCOMED * ===================== Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any of the following paths: UUCP : ...uunet!masscomp!ocpt!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd AX.25 : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA MAIL : John A. Magliacane Department of Electronics Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. -- AMPR : KD2BD @ NN2Z (Neptune, NJ) UUCP : ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!kd2bd "For every problem, there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken ------------------------------ Date: 10 Apr 90 01:57:34 GMT From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!nuchat!steve@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Steve Nuchia) Subject: JSC newsletter summary, 23 March 90 [rec.aviation folks: I added you at the last minute for the Guppy material under "Quarter-scale model" below. Followups to sci.space by default.] _Space_News_Roundup_ is the weekly JSC employee newsletter. I posted a summary once before and never heard anything about it. I'd like to get a feel for whether or not this stuff is at all worth the thousands of dollars it costs the net :-) and my typing time. Thanks. ------ Ozone loss over Arctic documented "NASA-coordinated" stufy released in March says chemical processes that lead to ozone depletion in the Antarctic are present in the Arctic as well. Losses up to 17% in the winter of 88-89 are indicated. "An `ozone hole' similar to the one that appears annually over the South Pole is unlikely to occur in the north because of the different weather patterns there." Data were gathered on 28 flights of NASA ER-2 and DC-8 research aircraft operating out of Stavanger, Norway in January '89. Findings to be published in the April _Geophysical_Research_Letters_. ------ Countdown test success clears way for launch [STS-31, HST mission] Terminal Countdown Demonstrattion test for STS-31 completed successfully. "A significant leak was detected between main engine number 2's low-pressure fuel turbopump and Discovery's main propulsion system Tuesday. The 12-inch diameter joint utilizes a Teflon-coated metal seal, which was to be replaced after launch crews finished loading hypergolic propellants into Discovery's on-board storage tanks [...] An analysis of the data from the helium signature leak check is continuing todetermine is that is the only leak." [Rehash of the HST capabilities for those just waking up.] ------ Quarter-scale shuttle model arrives JSC to run payload tests on original structural test article "JSC is now a permanent home to a one-fourth structural scale model orbiter designed and built by Rockwell in 1974." ... was the first structural dynamic test article of the shuttle... used 74-78 to investigate how well launch and landing loads could be predicted. In storage at Rockwell in Downey, CA since 78. Will live in the building 49 Vibration and Acoustic Test Facility, where it will be used by the Structures and Mechanics Division "to predict more accurately the forces payloads will experience during launch and landing." Predictions had been checked with measured flight data, "But the actual measurements have sometimes shown that the predicted forces were greater than those actually experienced. We're trying to remove conservatism from our predictions." [quoting Dave Hamilton, chief of Loads and Structural Dynamics.] The model weighs is 1/4 scale in length, but its weight (3000 pounds) is 1/64 scale. "Most important, however, `it matches the dynamic characteristics of the orbiter." A matching set of SRB and ET models will arrive at JSC in April. "Modal testing" of the orbiter alone to being in June, testing of the whole stack in 91. [Agh -- this was burried in the article! They're retiring the Super Guppy!] Photo of the model being disgorged from the Super Guppy at Ellington Field. [The former Ellington AFB has finally renamed, and is now a city-run general aviation field. Using "field" has class, a rare commodity when dealing with the city of Houston.] "[The] model arrived at JSC via the final delivery by NASA's Super Guppy, the Agency's 25-foot diameter cargo aircraft derived from a YC-97J tanker vehicle." "The Super Guppy's trip was the final chapter in a story that has continued for two decades. The cargo aircraft has delivered models of Apollo command and service modules; lunar modules; Skylab; and a host of other hardware to the Vibration and Acoustics Test Facility over the years, said Bill Adams, test manager for the area." "And it made the current deliver far more cost-efficient and easier than it could have been," added Hamilton. "It was ideal. Without it, it would have been a very wide load to ship cross-country, and we might have had to take off the wings. That would've been a major job and a very big impac on us." The plane's final flight will be from Ellington Field back to El Paso, where it will be retired. [Where do they get these people? No mention of the status of the rest of NASA's cargo fleet, the impact the retirement will have on future missions, replacement plans, nothing. Sheesh. Anybody know the scoop?] ------ Spherical Spin-Back With help from area sailmakers, JSC engineers turn Kevlar into inflatable Moon base prototype [JSC is located on Clear Lake, which connects to Galveston Bay, a major recreational body of water. The Clear Lake area is one of the biggest sailing areas in the Houston area. For those who might not know, sails are not flat, and considerable skill with fabric is involved in their manufacture.] Photo of people standing around an inflated ball ~2 meters diameter. Drawings of inflation sequence for 10 meter 3-deck ball and conceptual 6-sphere moon base. "JSC engineers in the Advanced Programs Office know that you can find great things in your own backyard -- they took a look around the marinas of Clear Lake and found the makings of an inflatable Moon base prototype." "The model lunar habitat -- a 7-foot diameter, slightly chunky sphere -- doesn't look spectacular, but it didn't cost much and has helped answer a lot of early questions," said project engineer Mike Roberts. "It's made of Kevlar and was built by U.K. Sailmakers of Clear Lake, a natural choice because Kevlar, a past space program spin-off, is now commonly used in making sails" "It was a kind of reverse spin-off, or maybe a spin-back," said John Frassanito, a consultant on the project. The prototype is the first large inflatable Kevlar spherical chamber. The Air Force has a Kevlar "inflatable emergency depth chamber" [???] but it isn't spherical, "a shape that presented challenges." "We'd gotten to a point where we felt like we needed a real demonstration -- something physical to show, something besides viewgraphs. This was a great low-cost way to do it." [Roberts] The project cost about $11,000. First prototype was ready in March 89, had problems with leaks at the seams and wrinkles, which cause weakened areas. It popped before it reached its 8.6 psi design pressure. "It really changed our ideas ... the pressures exerted at 8.6 psi are extreme" [presumably he is talking about the stress on a large structure at that pressure.] "By October, a second version, using reinforcing tape to smooth wrinkled areas and redesigned seams, was complete. This time, the structure held." "Fully inflated, the exterior of it was as hard as a floor," Roberts said. "People have an inherent trust of metal, but that's not so with inflatables. An we built the prototype to show the strength is can have." It will be shown at the ESA Space Habitability conference and the JSC annual engineering fair. A third version "may be in the works" [???] perhaps larger and trying out different shapes and reinforcements. "There is still a lot to learn". "We got to use off-the-shelf material and that saved a lot of time and money. It is a great way to do your preliminary engineering work. It's an inexpensive way to get hands-on experience. It's good to make your mistakes on the cheap stuff." [Roberts. Why do I get the feeling this guy is going to need a new job soon? That kind of heresy isn't going to be very popular around there. Disposable prototypes indeed. Who does he think he's working for, anyway?] -- Steve Nuchia South Coast Computing Services (713) 964-2462 "The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon." -- Robert M. Pirsig ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Apr 90 11:51 EST From: APSEY%RCSMPB@gmr.com Subject: REMOVE APSEY FROM SPACE MAIL Please remove me from your mailing list as we are receiving SPACE DIGEST from one local source. Thank you. Jim Apsey ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #242 *******************