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 ; Thu, 3 May 90 01:56:16 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 3 May 90 01:55:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #347 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 347 Today's Topics: Jonathan's Space Report, May 1 Re: Niven's inertialess drive (was Re: Dyson spheres, heat flow) Re: Off-the-shelf hardware for launchers NASA names Taylor Chief Scientist for Freedom Space Station (Forwarded) Re: >>... Hermes will be mostly aluminum, for example, not Re: French art in orbit? Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage Re: Fermi paradox Re: Hubble Telescope Re: NASA Headline News for 05/02/90 (Forwarded) Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage Payload Status for 05/02/90 (Forwarded) Re: Fermi paradox Re: >>... Hermes will be mostly aluminum, for example, not ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 May 90 19:01:36 GMT From: frooz!cfa250!mcdowell@husc6.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) Subject: Jonathan's Space Report, May 1 Jonathan's Space Report May 1 1990 (no.37) ---------------------------------------------------- The Hubble Space Telescope is in its Orbital Verification phase. The High Gain Antenna #2 has been disentangled from its power cable. Discovery landed at Edwards on Apr 29. Columbia rolled out to Complex 39A on Apr 22. Its cargo is the Astro-1 Spacelab payload and the BBXRT x-ray telescope. Launch is due for May 16. Anatoli Solov'yov (Komandir) and Aleksandr Balandin (Bortinzhener) continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex. The Soyuz TM-9 transport and the Progress M-3 freighter are currently at the station. Solov'yov and Balandin have been in space for 78 days. Progress M-4 is being prepared for launch. Kosmos-2074, a Soviet Navy navigation satellite, was launched on Apr 20. A Soviet Molniya-1 comsat was launched on Apr 26. (c) 1990 Jonathan McDowell ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 06:32:18 GMT From: uokmax!spcoltri@apple.com (Steven P Coltrin) Subject: Re: Niven's inertialess drive (was Re: Dyson spheres, heat flow) In article clive@ixi.co.uk (Clive D.W. Feather) writes: >But in "Flatlander" an Outsider ship accelerates Beowulf and Elephant to 0.9c >in a matter of minutes. This can't be a simple reaction drive; it has to act >on the occupants as well as the ship, or they'd be squashed. > The Outsiders likely just have unghodly gravity generators and are able to compensate. I'm not nearly sure, but I think one of the Louis Wu stories mentions grav. generators needed to compensate for thruster acceleration. --SPC ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 17:45:06 GMT From: pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: Off-the-shelf hardware for launchers Probrably so. The second space-van design was, if my memory serves me, mostly off the shelf. Phil Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 20:14:10 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA names Taylor Chief Scientist for Freedom Space Station (Forwarded) Mark Hess Headquarters, Washington, D.C. May 2, 1990 (Phone: 202/453-4164) RELEASE: 90-61 NASA NAMES TAYLOR CHIEF SCIENTIST FOR FREEDOM SPACE STATION William W. L. Taylor of TRW, Redondo Beach, Calif., has been named Chief Scientist for the Space Station Freedom program, Richard H. Kohrs, Director, Space Station Freedom announced today. In this position, Taylor will be the principal advocate for the space science community in the space station program. Taylor has been with TRW since 1978, most recently as Assistant Department Manager of the Physical Sciences Department of the Applied Technology Division. He is the Principal Investigator of the Waves in Space Plasmas investigation and the High Voltage Drainage investigation carried aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility recently returned to Earth by the Space Shuttle after almost 6 years in space. Taylor also is the U.S. Science Coordinator for ACTIVE, an international experiment on the propagation of low frequency radio waves, and a co-investigator on the Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators investigation. He is working with TRW on the proposed Neutral Environment With Plasma Interaction Monitoring System for the Freedom space station. Prior to joining TRW, Taylor worked with NASA where he was Program Scientist for Spacelab 1. Taylor is the third person named to the 2-year chief scientist post for the Freedom program and the first to come from industry. Previous appointees were Dr. David Black, formerly of the Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., and now Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, and Dr. John-David Bartoe with the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. Taylor holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Redlands and a master of science and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 06:46:16 GMT From: hplabsb!dsmith@hplabs.hp.com (David Smith) Subject: Re: >>... Hermes will be mostly aluminum, for example, not In article <312.263D2EBF@ofa123.FIDONET.ORG> Mark.Perew@ofa123.FIDONET.ORG (Mark Perew) writes: >I heard somewhere that Dyna-soar would have been made out of >titanium. According to that source a titanium vehicle would not >need the tiles used by the shuttle. Right, but because it would come down differently. The Shuttle does a belly-buster into the atmosphere. Dyna-Soar was to dip in at a shallow angle, and glide back out to let the heat radiate away. It would have made several dips into and out of the atmosphere before getting slowed down enough to come on in. It wasn't called Dyna(mic) Soar(ing) for nothing. -- David R. Smith, HP Labs dsmith@hplabs.hp.com (415) 857-7898 ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 12:12:31 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!andy@uunet.uu.net (Andy Clews) Subject: Re: French art in orbit? From article <101874@convex.convex.com>, by ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright): : 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. PAGEOS too, I think? Survived in orbit for some years but I think it eventually broke up as a result of decay caused by solar radiation. -- Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, England JANET: andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: andy%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac ------------------------------ Date: 3 May 90 03:04:26 GMT From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!percy!gary@uunet.uu.net (Gary Wells) Subject: Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage Being a true beliver in KISS, why not just deploy a BIG net from the shuttle. This could be done routinely (on any mission where the cargo bay is returning empty), so that over time a large area what be 'swept'. Most misson seems to have a few orbits after the prime mission is accomplished. The crew could just 'throw the net out' and go about their secondary tasks. Last thing before heading home, they reel it in. If nothing else, NASA makes a few bucks by selling the resulting scrap metal. I wonder why they aren't going around picking up the dead satellites, anyway. What great additions to the Air & Space Muesums. What a wealth of knowledge about the long term effects of space on materials. And if we happened to pick up a couple that didn't belong to us, who's to know :-) I realize a lot of the objects are higher than the shuttle goes, but obviously, a lot aren't. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still working on _natural_ intelligence. gary@percy (...!tektronix!percy!gary) ------------------------------ Date: 1 May 90 22:35:54 GMT From: jfcl.dec.com!imokay.dec.com!borsom@decvax.dec.com (Doug Borsom) Subject: Re: Fermi paradox In article <1990Apr28.154138.4086@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> neufeld@physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) writes: > No, I think you can say that the probability that there is exactly >one life-bearing planet in the universe is no more than 1/e. What if r=0? Is the fact that life occurred on earth sufficient to prove r > 0 for the purposes of your calculations? While I strongly suspect that we are not alone, I believe Phil Nelson is correct in asserting that we simply haven't enough data to know. "Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler." A. Einstein ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 11:21:48 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!erci18@uunet.uu.net (A J Cunningham) Subject: Re: Hubble Telescope In article <299.263BF427@ofa123.FIDONET.ORG> Russ.Tillman@ofa123.FIDONET.ORG (Russ Tillman) writes: >I remember back in the 70's, that while enroute to >Jupiter, Pioneer took a picture of both the earth and the moon in the same >frame. A picture like that get's people thinking! My copy attributes the picture to Voyager and says it's the only one of its kind. I can't imagine why Pioneer or Mariner or Viking couldn't have done it. Can anyone say definitely which it is? Definitely a picture that makes you say "Wow!" Tony -- Tony Cunningham, Edinburgh University Computing Service. erci18@castle.ed.ac.uk Yuppies think I'm a wino 'cos I seem to have no class, Girls think I'm perverted 'cos I watch them as they pass. ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 19:59:38 GMT From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!jarthur!jokim@ucsd.edu (John H. Kim) Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 05/02/90 (Forwarded) In article <48517@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: > >The 747 carrier aircraft with Discovery firmly attached is ^^^^^^ Does this mean a shuttle was once "loosely" attached and almost fell off? :-) -- John H. Kim | (This space to be filled when I jokim@jarthur.claremont.edu | think of something very clever uunet!jarthur!jokim | to use as a disclaimer) ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 17:41:15 GMT From: sdd.hp.com!samsung!rex!rouge!dlbres10@ucsd.edu (Fraering Philip) Subject: Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage Lately there has been some discussion of space debris on the space-tech mailing list. I think to subscribe: space-tech-request@cs.cmu.edu Philip Fraering dlbres10@pc.usl.edu ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 20:03:50 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Payload Status for 05/02/90 (Forwarded) Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 05-02-90. - STS-31R HST (at VPF) - Post launch GSE removal continues. - STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at Pad-A) - GSE PR work-off is active today. - STS-40 SLS-1 (at O&C) - Experiment train interface testing and ECS systems checks are continuing. - STS-42 IML-1 (at O&C) - Module pyrell foam replacement, floor staging, and rack staging were worked Monday and will continue today. - STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C) - Keel installation was worked Tuesday. Coldplate installations are scheduled for today. - STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C) - EMP deintegration continues. - STS-47 Spacelab-J (at O&C) - No activity is scheduled for today. - STS-55 SL-D2 (at O&C) - Rack 12 staging continues. The micro-G environment transfer test was completed Tuesday. - HST M&R (at O&C) - ORUC interface testing continues today. ------------------------------ Date: 1 May 90 22:32:58 GMT From: clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!physics.utoronto.ca!neufeld@uunet.uu.net (Christopher Neufeld) Subject: Re: Fermi paradox In article <2108@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes: > >Your betting scheme should depend on your prior probabilities. The calculation >assumes something about "uninformativeness" which is, unfortunately, totally >self-inconsistent. The nature of the assumptions are the same whether it is >the existence of life or the existence of intellingent bipedal mammalian >life using electronic computer, with the most commonly used "international" >language having a 26-letter alphabet with upper and lower case, etc. This >is clearly not so. > Absolutely right. I wasn't thinking clearly. I ignored what is often called the "anthropic principle". Sorry about that. -- Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student | "Spock, comment?" neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca | "Very bad poetry cneufeld@pro-generic.cts.com Ad astra! | captain." "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" | ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 90 16:36:19 GMT From: convex!ewright@uunet.uu.net (Edward V. Wright) Subject: Re: >>... Hermes will be mostly aluminum, for example, not Mark.Perew@ofa123.FIDONET.ORG (Mark Perew) writes: >I heard somewhere that Dyna-soar would have been made out of >titanium. According to that source a titanium vehicle would not >need the tiles used by the shuttle. The reason the shuttle uses >tiles is that titanium is so blasted hard to work with that it >was "expected" to be cheaper to develop the tile technology than >to use known processes using titanium. > >Can someone shed some light on the veracity of these comments? I don't recall whether the X-20 airframe was going to be titanium or aluminum, but the thermal protection system was to be sheets (rather than tiles) of ablative material that would be replaced between flights. There have been proposals for shuttle-like vehicles that use a refractory ("hot-metal") thermal protection systems -- Third Millenium's Space Van, for example -- but the alloys used are considerably more exotic than titanium. This type of TPS works best for vehicles that are small and light. It was considered for the Shuttle, until DoD requirements forced NASA to double the size of the orbiter to carry a 65,000-lb payload. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #347 *******************