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 ; Fri, 22 Jun 1990 01:29:04 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <0aUOm1C00VcJMYxk5z@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Fri, 22 Jun 1990 01:28:34 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #554 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 554 Today's Topics: Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket contest Re: SPACE Digest V11 #551 HST crazy idea model rockets to the moon/orbit Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket contest Taste and Smell in Space Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 Jun 90 06:55:10 GMT From: thorin!homer!leech@mcnc.org (Jonathan Leech) Subject: Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket contest In article <9680@pt.cs.cmu.edu> vac@sam.cs.cmu.edu (Vincent Cate) writes: >by with a small portable dish. After it has gone up 100 miles we could >follow it with one or more of the very large SETI dishes (like 90+ foot >diameter). We do, of course, need to talk some SETI people into this >but I think that could be done. What are "SETI dishes"? If you're talking about the DSN antennae at Goldstone, the VLA, or something else used for real science, I don't think you could use them without holding a gun to somebody's head. -- Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu) __@/ ``Are there any more questions, besides the ones from the liberal communists?'' - George Uribe, natl. director of "Students For America" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 11:30 EDT From: THBLERSCH%VASSAR.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V11 #551 Sender: THBLERSCH%VAXSAR.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu Reply-To: THBLERSCH%VASSAR.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu X-Envelope-To: space+@andrew.cmu.edu In regards to the Aim For the Moon discussion: 1) Any model rocket weighing more than 16 ounces or having more than 4 ounces of propellant ceases to be a model and falls under FAA jurisdiction. In other words, if you want to launch a rocket to the moon, at the very least you'll need to file some sort of flight plan. 2) The reliability of a multi-stage model rocket falls by the square of the number of stages. Thus, an eight stage rocket has only 1/64 the re- liability of a single stage rocket, and a 12 stage only 1/144. (Source: _Handbook of Model Rocketry_ by G. Harry Stein.) 3) I've designed and built a rocket that I *estimated* (using a com- puter program in _Handbook of Model Rocketry_) would go supersonic. It didn't, mainly because it didn't survive the upwards leg (whether this was because of aerodynamic stresses, poor design, or poor workmanship I couldn't tell you.) It might be possible to fly a supersonic model rocket, but it would be *very* difficult and almost certainly couldn't be paper and balsa. (BTW, any model rocket using metal as a structural part is also subject to FAA regulation, I think.) I don't believe that anyone is going to get a rocket made from model rocket technology to the moon by launching from down here. But if you buy one of the "Getaway Specials" on the shuttle.... -Tom "The Terminator" Blersch "I'll be back." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Munchies for the BITNET Gremlins -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jun 90 23:50:05 GMT From: hpda!hpcupt1!hpindwa!bobj@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Bob Joslin) Subject: HST crazy idea With all the concerns about the HST terminator wobble problems... Here's a crazy idea that you netters could bat around. How about sending up a huge shield that could be placed in orbit between the telescope and the Sun? Of course, since this would block sun light to the solar panels, I guess some kind of cable would need to run to some detached solar panels. This should work if the wobble problem is due to the solar radiation or solar wind, no? Would the telescope get too cold? Just an idea. Bob ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 15:29:12 EST From: WHITEMAN%IPFWVM.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu Subject: model rockets to the moon/orbit SUBJECT: RE: AIM FOR THE MOON - MODEL ROCKET CONTEST >>MCKIOU@CBNEWSE.ATT.COM (KEVIN.W.MCKIOU) WRITES: >>SOMEBODY WANT TO VOLUNTEER TO GET THE FAA CLEARANCE? :-) EWRIGHT@UUNET.UU.NET (EDWARD V. WRIGHT) WRITES: >THE FAA IS NOT IN CHARGE OF THIS. YOU NEED A LICENSE FROM THE >DEPT. OF TRANSPORATION'S OFFICE OF COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORATION. >THE REGULATIONS ARE VERY COMPLEX, YOU WILL NEED A LAWYER, AND THE >COST OF THE LICENSE WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY EXCEED THE $5000 BUDGET >FOR THIS PROJECT. WHY LAUNCH IN THE US; INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES CAN DO WONDERS FOR THE RULES... HOW 'BOUT OFFSHORE. WHILE I'M AT IT MAY I SUGGEST ORBITING A HANDHELD CB RADIO TUNED TO CH19 WITH THE XMIT SWITCH DUCT TAPED DOWN AND A "BAG-O-LAUGHS". >:-) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Jun 90 08:08:44 GMT From: eru!luth!sunic!tut!kaakkuri!kp74615@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Karri Tapani Palovuori) Subject: Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket contest In article <1990Jun20.193437.767@mdivax1.uucp> mdivax1!moss (Barry Moss) writes: > >Hmmm.... Let's see. Escape velocity is about 7 miles/sec = 25,000 m.p.h. >Now while this space rocket wouldn't reach top velocity until the final stage >burned, it seams to me that the friction associated with Mach 10+ in the >upper atmosphere would turn this rocket into a crispy critter. Wrong! (This is a very common mistake). The escape velocity is not the velocity needed to escape! A rocket that would climb 1 m/s would eventually reach the moon (yes, it would take some time). Isn't this quite natural? The escape velocity is the _theoretical_ (starting) velocity that would be needed for a bullet to escape the gravity field generated by earth (solar system, galaxy - there's many different 'escape velocities'). It is also the speed gained by an object which is accelerated by corresponding gravity field from infinitely far away. >Barry Moss Karri ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 14:13:49 EDT From: Les Eastman Subject: Taste and Smell in Space "Chemical & Engineering News" has a column where they reprint articles that have typos or otherwise misrepresent the facts, usually chemical related. The June 18th issue contained the following article: [Name deleted] found in an advertisement for a new book the statement, "As- tronauts lose their taste and smell in space because in the absence of gravity molecules cannot be volatile so there is no way for them to get into the nose deeply enough to register as odors." Now, I realize the reasoning for this phenomena is false, but is the phenomena itself real - do astronauts lose their sense of taste and smell in space? I've never heard this mentioned anywhere before and I cannot believe it is true. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #554 *******************