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, 6 Dec 1990 03:30:43 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 6 Dec 1990 03:29:51 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #628 SPACE Digest Volume 12 : Issue 628 Today's Topics: PRESS RELEASES Two questions: Lunar shuttle missions, pseudo-gravity Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space Re: Another Russian first ASTRO-1 and WUPPE update - Dec. 4, 1990 (Forwarded) UIT Status for 12/04/90 [1630 CST] (Forwarded) Re: Fueling Columbia 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: 5 Dec 90 00:48:56 GMT From: uvaarpa!murdoch!news@mcnc.org Subject: PRESS RELEASES GALILEO MISSION STATUS December 4, 1990 The Galileo spacecraft is just over 2 million miles and 4 days from its Earth gravity assist. It is approaching Earth from outside Earth's orbit, and will cross behind our planet and fly over its sunward side in order to gain energy from the Earth. This energy is needed to raise Galileo's orbit, first to the Asteroid Belt and, in a second gravity assist, finally to meet Jupiter in 1995. Spacecraft speed in its orbit around the Sun is 65,800 mph, still increasing gradually as Galileo comes closer to Earth's orbit and to the Sun. On December 8, the Earth gravity assist will occur during the half-hour surrounding 12:35 p.m. PST, the time of closest approach. This boosts Galileo's orbital speed by about 11,500 mph. Spacecraft health and mission performance continue to be excellent. Over the last two weeks Galileo played back the Venus science data, stored on tape since last February, carried out a variety of science instrument calibrations and engineering operations, and successfully completed the last and smallest of the trim maneuvers scheduled before the Earth gravity assist. The spacecraft is now well within the trajectory window for the required gravity assist. It will attain a closest-approach altitude of about 590 miles at 12:35 p.m. PST on Saturday, December 8. A press conference to discuss the gravity assist and other Galileo activities near Earth is scheduled for December 8 at 1:30 p.m. PST at JPL (and via the NASA SELECT satellite link). Posted: Tue, Dec 4, 1990 5:20 PM EST Msg: GJJA-1657-4946 From: PAO.POST To: PAO Subj: Change of Shift Summary 8 Posted: Tue, Dec 4, 1990 5:11 PM EST Msg: CJJA-1524-2738/20 From: (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,SN:MSFC,FN:PUBINFO) To: (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,UN:P), (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,UN:PAO.LOOP), JRUFF/GSFCMAIL Subj: CHANGE OF SHIFT SUMMARY 08 Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #08 12:00 noon CST, Dec. 4, 1990 2/11:10 MET Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL During this period (4 a.m. to 12 noon CST), the Astro-1 crew and the science investigation teams within the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center had the most successful time yet during this mission. The three star trackers of the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) for the first time were up and running together, and except for some "fine tuning" the IPS as ready and able to perform its functions as planned. The closeness with which the IPS came in acquiring a stellar object was noted when, at approximately 4:40 a.m., the crew announced that the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) had nearly acquired the scheduled target but that the image -- while sharp -- was wandering. The "fine tuning" would eventually eliminate problems like this, according to Mission Scientist Dr. Ted Gull of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. After that occurrence, mission and science management made a decision for the crew to temporarily pass on several scheduled targets in an attempt to acquire an unscheduled one: Capella, a star which -- by virtue of its rich, bright ultraviolet spectrum -- made it an excellent star to focus and co-align the HUT and Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE). The HUT performed a successful acquisition in the initial stages of the procedure, and the news was greeted with cheers and applause in the Payload Operations Control Room. Meanwhile, the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) team had welcome news in besting the good news from yesterday. Prior to this time period, the BBXRT had briefly detected X-rays, called "first light" by the science team, from the Crab Nebula during alignment of its star tracker; today the team witnessed "first light" by a known source -- Capella -- for a long observation. Ultimately, however, the focus and alignment was not completed with Capella, and the crew moved on to attempt acquisition of the SS Cygna, a double star. And although the HUT did not acquire the binary, the procedure produced nonetheless some low-level useful data. The IPS performance was described by a crew member as "steady as a rock." Except for minor adjustments, the IPS appeared ready to perform as needed. Toward the end of this time period, the crew was able to acquire and obtain good data from a supernova remnant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, our nearest neighboring galaxy. A source of high ultraviolet radiation, it was keenly observed by the HUT and Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) science teams. Both teams expressed satisfaction with the information received, although they wished they had had a bit more time than the short observation period of four minutes which resulted from a lengthier than expected start-up of the procedure. Posted: Tue, Dec 4, 1990 5:21 PM EST Msg: HJJA-1657-4947 From: PAO.POST To: PAO Subj: BBXRT Report 3 BBXRT Status Report #03 2:30 p.m. CST Dec. 4, 1990 Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL The BBXRT and its Two-Axis Pointing System (TAPS) were co-aligned at 5:30 a.m. CST today and shortly after BBXRT locked on its first x-ray target, the bright star Capella. "With the kind of observations we have planned we should do tremendous science," reported Goddard's Dr. Peter Serlemitsos, principal investigator. This morning's observation gives scientists the temperature and the element abundances of Capella. Serlemitsos described the BBXRT's resolution as excellent and added that the 300 seconds of data collected so far has revealed information not seen in previous observations. BBXRT team members are currently working to fine tune the TAPS and expect to be pointing routinely to their sources by this evening. BBXRT and TAPS were developed and are operated from Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. ### Command? -- -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 14:41 EST From: MJENKIN@opie.bgsu.edu Subject: Two questions: Lunar shuttle missions, pseudo-gravity 1. With regard to the discussion of lunar shuttle missions... is it feasible to carry a CSM/LM -type combination up in the shuttle bay, using the shuttle in place of the lower stages of the Saturn? (I don t mean Apollo craft specifically; I'm not sure they'd fit anyhow.) 2. Pseudogravity: Could someone give me an equation to calculate a rate of spin for an object, given the dimensions of the object and the desired "gravity," necessary to simulate that gravity? And how noticeable would the Coriolis "force" be? Mark F. Jenkins Bowling Green State University ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 90 19:34:38 GMT From: zimmer@cod.nosc.mil (Thomas L. Zimmerman) Subject: Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data > All right. Now, does anyone have WORKING tools to convert FITS to pbm, > GIF or some other more common format for computer users ? > I understand there are some problems with FITS (poor documentation of > format extensions) ? The Portable Greymap tools of PBM+ have a conversion tool to go from FITS to portable grey map (pgm). A variety of tools in the package can then be used to create an output file in a format you find more palitable. I have not tried this yet, just remembered that my favorite public software package has yet another use. PBM+ is a very popular package and can probably be found on a large number of ftp sites. Lee -- Lee Zimmerman, Naval Ocean Systems Center, Code 421, San Diego, CA, 92152 {arpa,mil}net: zimmer@nosc.mil uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!nosc!zimmer ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 01:14:55 GMT From: van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bigsur!bcars53!mussar@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (G. Mussar) Subject: Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet In article otto@tukki.jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela) writes: >All right. Now, does anyone have WORKING tools to convert FITS to pbm, >GIF or some other more common format for computer users ? >I understand there are some problems with FITS (poor documentation of >format extensions) ? PBMPLUS claims to handle FITS format. I've never had anything to try it on. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Mussar |Bitnet: mussar@bnr.ca | Phone: (613) 763-4937 BNR Ltd. | UUCP: ..uunet!bnrgate!bcars53!mussar | FAX: (613) 763-2626 ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 21:27:29 GMT From: gauss.rutgers.edu!math.rutgers.edu!cromar@rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) Subject: Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space In article <7042@ge-dab.ge.com> coleman@sundae9.DAB.GE.COM (Richard Coleman) writes: ; |> Actually, WE (the taxpayers) paid for that one. It's a shame that ; |> money earmarked for space exploration wasn't spent on something more ; |> worthwhile than Senator Garn's ego. ; ; I don't think it was a bad idea. Hasn't Senator Garn been ; a big supporter of the space program. If we could send every ; senator up on the shuttle just once, I bet that the funding for ; the space program would get a BIG boost. ; -- ; ; Richard Coleman ; G.E. Simulation & Control Systems ; coleman@sunny.dab.ge.com Funding would need a big boost to send all those senators up there. But it might be worth it. I have some old O rings... But seriously, it would be a sad commentary on our political system if we had to resort to bribery to get funding for worthwhile projects. (Garn's trip had to be the ultimate junket.) And, to be frank, I don't want to have my tax dollars wasted on buying votes. We taxpayers already pay for their salaries and perks. -Scott Cromar cromar@math.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 90 17:41:34 GMT From: lib!mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu!drg@tmc.edu (David Gutierrez) Subject: Re: Another Russian first In article techno@lime.in-berlin.de (Frank G. Dahncke) writes: > Now the USSR even has had the first paying passenger in a spacecraft. > Actually, I would have expected this feat to be performed by the US. Consider Jake Garn. David Gutierrez drg@mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu "Only fools are positive." - Moe Howard ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 19:25:48 GMT From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!larry!roberts@ucsd.edu (Tim Roberts) Subject: ASTRO-1 and WUPPE update - Dec. 4, 1990 (Forwarded) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 08:54:09 CST From: Karen Bjorkman (Cloud-Gazer Extraordinaire) Subject: WUPPE update Well, tonight's shift was a pretty frustrating one. We got zero science in twelve hours of trying. The IPS simply is not pointing well enough for us to even acquire and hold a star. They are "working the problem", but progress is very slow. Meanwhile basically 1/4 of our time is gone, and we have nothing so far. Sure hope things improve soon.... As for WUPPE, things are going pretty well. Except for the lack of our (best) DEP, our instrument is working very well. Our spectrometer seems to be a bit more sensitive than we expected. All the WUPPE functions are working beautifully - but we haven't been able to do our fine focus because of the IPS problems (even though we spent the last 6 hours trying). Guess that's the upshot of where we are today. Now to sleep. This is WUPPE mission control out at MET 2 days, 8 hours. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy P. P. Roberts Tat tvam asi, Svatekatu! (That thou art, boy!) Roberts%wisp.DecNet@vms.macc.wisc.edu or WISP::Roberts (608) 255-2108 (home) (608) 262-6879 (work) ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 90 05:58:46 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: UIT Status for 12/04/90 [1630 CST] (Forwarded) UIT STATUS REPORT #02 4:30 p.m. CST Dec. 4, 1990 Spacelab Mission Operations Control Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL UIT received its first photographs with good image stabilization at 11:13 p.m. CST Monday. The targets in the same exposures were the very distant, exceptionally bright quasar 1700 + 64 and the much closer cluster of galaxies Abell 2246, thereby capturing two objects in the same image. UIT's next observations were N132-D, a supernova remnant in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, about 160,000 light years from Earth, followed by the globular star cluster M92 at 2:30 p.m. CST. The images taken from that observation will allow scientists to determine the population and ages of white dwarf stars. Later this afternoon, UIT is scheduled to observe Alpha Orionis, described by Goddard's Theodore P. Stecher, principal investigator, as a bright red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. UIT was developed at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 90 19:14:56 GMT From: unmvax!ariel.unm.edu!nmsu!charon!bwebber@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Bill Webber) Subject: Re: Fueling Columbia In article LANGFORD@crc.crc.vcu.edu writes: >My girlfriend asked a good question the other day, while we were waiting to >watch the shuttle launch on TV: Did they fill up Columbia's tanks before >the federal gas tax went up 5 cents/gallon at 1-Dec-1990 00:00? Think how >much they would save! :-) :-) > >I though about it, and I don't think so. I don't think that they can keep the >thing fueled on the pad for that long (>24 hours). Am I right? > >(Please, I know this is silly -- the gas tax is not for non-highway fuel >(i.e., farm use, space, etc.). :-) :-) > > Bob Langford, langford@crc.crc.vcu.edu Aw, c'mon, Bob. You do know that the shuttle uses liquid hydrogen and oxygen, not gasoline, right? I assume thats what the smileys were for, I hope. :) ******************************** K_MacArthur@unhh.unh.edu (not bwebber) "Character is who you are in the dark." John Worfin ******************************** ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V12 #628 *******************