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, 1 May 90 01:56:44 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Tue, 1 May 90 01:56:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #337 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 337 Today's Topics: QSO's (was Three unconnected thoughts) Re: French art in orbit? One Small Step for a Space Activist Re: French art in orbit? Re: Space Station Distribution Frequency Re: Sex in space The Feasibility of Interstellar Flight-AIAA Dinner Meeting Topic ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 Apr 90 17:55:29 GMT From: frooz!cfa.HARVARD.EDU@husc6.harvard.edu (Steve Willner, OIR) Subject: QSO's (was Three unconnected thoughts) From article <4348@nmtsun.nmt.edu>, by nraoaoc@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Daniel Briggs): > know off the top of my head exactly which QSO has the red shift record in > the optical, but I am sure that it is well over z=3. (In fact, I wouldn't > be surprised if the various detections past z=4 have optical counterparts.) If a QSO has a redshift, you can be sure that it has an optical counterpart. The redshifts are all measured from optical spectra. There are several detections past z=4. > If the QSO doesn't happen to lie in a particularly awkward direction, we > can see it fairly easily. The problem is *finding* it. What radio does for > you is put out a banner that there is something intersting at a particular > point in the sky. This is generally correct, and all of the early discoveries of QSO's were by radio detections. However, many of the recent discoveries of high-redshift QSO's have been entirely optical. The procedure is to take CCD frames in several different wavelengths and measure the colors of every stellar object detected. Anything with unusual colors is a QSO candidate, and spectra determine which of the candidates are really QSO's. > You'll have to plug in your favorite cosmological constants, but I'm sure > that it will correspond to a lookback time a lot closer to 14 Gyr that 2 Gyr. Greater redshift implies greater distance, of course, but the change in distance keeps getting smaller as the redshift increases. Infinite redshift is reached at a finite distance, "the edge of the observable Universe." Any objects beyond that distance would be receding from us faster than the speed of light and therefore unobservable. Objects with redshifts above 1 are already nearly all the way to the maximum distance. This distance is something over 10^10 light-years, depending on the exact cosmological parameters one favors. HST cannot, therefore, extend the raw distance record very far. (This is exactly equivalent, in fact, to saying that the SSC will not extend the speed record for particles by much. Existing accelerators already push particles nearly to the speed of light, and they can't go faster. The SSC will extend the _energy_ record.) HST may very well extend the _redshift_ record; it's just that redshift does not translate linearly to distance. What HST can also do is see intrinsically fainter - and better understood - objects at larger distances than are now possible. For example, it may be possible to see clusters of galaxies around distant QSO's or to see galaxies in early stages of formation. The former would give confidence that the redshift really indicates distance for the QSO's; the latter would be extremely exciting because nobody yet has a clue as to how or when galaxies formed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 Bitnet: willner@cfa Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 90 09:38:58 PDT From: greer%utdssa.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" Subject: Re: French art in orbit? French art in orbit? In SPACE Digest V11 #321, sun.udel.edu!salamon@vax1.udel.edu (Andrew Salamon) writes: >I recently heard that someone from France was planning/is planning to launch >a sattelite that consists of mylar balloons strung in a circle. Something >large enough to be seen from the ground. >How old is this news? What became of the idea? Were the perpetrators shot >or just imprisoned? >Thanks. >(there should probably be a smiley on that last question, guess slipped.) In 1987, or at least sometime before 1988, the government of France ran a contest to see whom (among the citoyens of France) could come up with the best idea for a space based monument to the French Revolution (of 1789). The winning concept, a large ring of mylar balloons, was to have been launched into low Earth orbit, at midnight on 1/1/89 I guess, where it would have orbited for two or three years before falling back into the atmosphere. I think it was to have had a diameter of about 500m, which would give it a visual diameter about half that of the Moon. After much protest from astronomers, who said the satellite would be bright enough not only to mess up their research, but also to destroy their more delicate photosensors, the project was scrapped. My memory on this is admittedly fuzzy, but nobody else answered the question, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a shot. _____________ Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER While the Bill of Rights burns, Congress fiddles. -- anonymous ------------------------------ Date: 1 May 90 00:54:07 GMT From: ox.com!itivax!vax3.iti.org!aws@CS.YALE.EDU (Allen W. Sherzer) Subject: One Small Step for a Space Activist One Small Step for a Space Activist... by Allen Sherzer Tim Kyger Own a Piece of the Rock Some of you may have read about a TV pilot called "Plymouth". In case you haven't, "Plymouth" is a proposed TV movie and pilot about a town which is moved to a company's mining facility on the moon. The company is having trouble turning a profit on its mining operations because they can't get anybody to make a commitment to stay long enough. The people of Plymouth (in a nutshell) agree to go. A neat twist is that the show takes place in 1989 to show what would be happening if we hadn't abandoned space after Apollo. If properly done this show represents a good opportunity to capture the public imagination. Just as "Top Gun" stimulated interest in the Navy and as "LA Law" has increased law school applications, "Plymouth" could interest people in space. By reaching a mass audience "Plymouth" can generate more interest in the colonization of space then we could ever do on our own. Properly done, however, doesn't mean great special effects or total technical accuracy. In fact, technical accuracy could be one of the least important aspects of the show. What will matter is the shows human aspects. People didn't watch "Hill Street Blues" because the procedures were 100% correct, they tuned in because they liked and cared about the characters. If the viewers like and empathize with the characters of "Plymouth" the show can do well. In the meantime, they will see what might have been and what still could be. But (you knew there had to be one of these didn't you?) just because we are not producing the show doesn't mean space activists have nothing to do. "Plymouth" has great potential and our help is needed so it can achieve that potential. We need to watch the show and get our friends to watch as well. If the show looks good, write to both the network AND the sponsor(s). Getting people to watch can be hard and new shows don't get much chance to gain audience before they are canned; our help will be needed. Legislative Roundup Space Transportation Services Purchase Act (HR 2674) A compromise version of HR 2674 has been added as Title II to the FY91 NASA authorization bill (HR 4196). A lot of the intent of HR 2674 is in Title II, but it is flawed in other respects. For example, the language requiring NASA to use commercial procurement practices has been softened (relative to HR2674) which will make Title II far less effective in promoting commercial space. Efforts are currently underway to strengthen the language of Title II. If these efforts fail, an amendment might be offered to restore to Title II the original language of HR 2674. The bill is VERT TENTATIVELY scheduled to be voted on by the full House Science Committee on April 25. Although that is before you will read this, the vote could well slip again. [The vote has slipped again, currently there is no scheduled date for a vote] There is still time for us to have an effect. We must ask Representative Roe (D-NJ) to support the inclusion of Title II in the authorization bill sent to the full House. Things you should do are: 1. Call or write Representative Roe 202-225-5751. Ask him to support Title II of HR 4196 (NASA authorization bill). 2. Call or write Senator Gore 202-224-4944 and ask him to include the original language of HR 2674 in the Senate FY91 NASA authorization bill. Title II affects only NASA operations and not DoD (the House Science Committee has no juristiction over DoD). DoD is a large user of space transportation services and they must be bound by a similar requirements if we are to see beneficial effects for the US commercial launch industry. We need HR 2674 to be included as part of the DoD authorization bill. Things you should do are: 1. Call or write Representative Aspen 202-225-3031. Ask him to look at HR 2674 and support including HR 2674 as part of the DoD authorization bill. 2. Call or write Senator Nunn 202-224-3521. Ask him to look at HR 2674 and support including HR 2674 as part of the DoD authorization bill. Space Patents (HR 2946 and S 459) This act will extend US patent protection to products developed in space. This will allow companies who develop new products and processes in space to secure US patents for them. The House Science Committee recently reported favorably to the full House on this bill and it is now expected to pass. On the Senate side the bill recently went to markup in the full Commerce Science and Transportation with no changes. Finally, if you need help on any of this contact: Allen Sherzer (313) 769-4108 (work) (313) 973-0941 (home) aws@iti.org (Internet) Tim Kyger (202) 225-2415 (work) (703) 548-1664 (home) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Allen W. Sherzer | Real men write self modifying code. | | aws@iti.org | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 90 16:13:44 GMT From: convex!ewright@uunet.uu.net (Edward V. Wright) Subject: Re: French art in orbit? msdos@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) writes: >I don't remember the name of the 2 satellites that were lauched in the 60's, >but I know they were deisgned to reflect radio waves and their mission was >a failure due to the rapid deflation provoked by micrometoeritic impacts. Echo. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 90 15:59:37 CDT From: pyron@skvax1.csc.ti.com (If Clayton's an Aggie, I'm not!) Subject: Re: Space Station Distribution Frequency Both DC and AC have their own unique shock hazards. DC has something called (by them what knows) shock & lock, which is caused by involuntary muscle contraction. AC, on the other hand, can cause cardiac fibrilation at low freqs, and intracranial cooking at the higher side. Additionally, I am told that a phenomenom called HF creep exists where current will actually pass over some insulating materials. Something about dielectric strength, but I'm just a computer jock. But, on the other hand, I would expect the station's power system to be safe enough for a two-year old, quite unlike most American houses. :-( Dillon Pyron | The opinions are mine, the facts TI/DSEG VAX Systems Support | probably belong to the company. pyron@skvax1.ti.com | (214)575-3087 | Commercial diver, not exactly what | they mean by "wet work" ------------------------------ Date: 1 May 90 02:40:38 GMT From: mcgill-vision!mcgill-vision!fdg@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Frank P. DiGiuseppe) Subject: Re: Sex in space In article <1990Apr30.160047.29207@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <21753@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> ccmay@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Chris May) writes: >>... a friend and I are interested in knowing whether anyone has >>had sexual intercourse while in orbit... > >Nobody has admitted to it. :-) I consider it rather unlikely: workloads >are heavy, privacy is nonexistent, and the sponsoring agencies are prudish. >(For example, there are married couples among the US astronauts, but they >do *not* fly together.) It's just possible that it might have been tried >on the US shuttle as a highly-unauthorized private venture. :-) Henry, you wouldn't, by any chance, happen to know the names of the married couples in the astronaut corps, would you?? ;-) Just curious... ;-> >-- >If OSI is the answer, what is | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology >the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank P. DiGiuseppe McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines fdg@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu Computer Vision and Robotics Lab, Dept. EE, McGill University, Montreal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 90 15:56:50 GMT From: eagle!news@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Steve Podleski (Sverdrup)) Subject: The Feasibility of Interstellar Flight-AIAA Dinner Meeting Topic Northern Ohio AIAA Meeting Announcement The Feasibility of Interstellar Flight by Dr. Robert L. Forward Going to the stars is difficult, but not impossible. Dr. Forward, one of the nations's leading researchers in interstellar flight, will describe for us the various proposed techniques for traversing the interstellar gulf. The best technique appears to be the use of beamed power. Examples will be given for microwave beam pushed ultralight flyby probes of the nearer stars and a round-trip crewed mission to Epsilon Eridani using multistage laser pushed light sails. Dr. Forward is an aerospace consultant and writer formely with the Hughes Aircraft Company Research Laboratories. He has 18 patents and over 75 professional publications on antimatter propulsion, solar sails, interstellar flight, gravitational radiation, gravitational sensors, and low-noise electronics. His thesis involved the construction and operation of the first resonant bar detector for gravitational radiation. (The bar is now in the Smithsonian Museum.) He also built and operated the first laser interferometer gravitional radiation antenna. He has invented a number of novel space propulsion concepts and missions, and was the first to propose the use of lasers for propulsion. In addition to his professional publications, he is editor of the "Mirror Matter Newsletter", now in its 16th issue; has co-authored a Wiley Science book, "Mirror Matter: Pioneering Antimatter Physics"; and has published three hard-science fiction novels and over 70 popular science articles. Date: Thursday, May 17, 1990 Time: 5:30 Reception 6:30 Dinner 7:30 Program Location: DEB Cafeteria NASA Lewis Research Center Reservations by noon Thursday May 15, 1990 Gary Harloff (826-6683) Pay at door Cost $10.00 7.00 Students ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #337 *******************