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 ; Mon, 7 Jan 1991 02:52:40 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <0bW2Wa-00VcJ8A2k4H@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Mon, 7 Jan 1991 02:52:08 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #020 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 20 Today's Topics: Re: Recent Newsstand Magazine Articles Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n) Re: You can help clear cloud over MIR SWEERSTAKES. Re: You can help clear cloud over MIR SWEERSTAKES. Re: Recent Newsstand Magazine Articles Remote Sensing Images Re: Could weather sat snap umbra 11-7-91? Satellite releases planned in study of auroral displays (Forwarded) Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 2 Jan 91 03:47:18 GMT From: uvaarpa!murdoch!faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU!lhb6v@mcnc.org (Laura Hayes Burchard) Subject: Re: Recent Newsstand Magazine Articles In article <1991Jan2.015229.2177@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1991Jan1.195102.7391@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> lhb6v@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Laura Hayes Burchard) writes: >>"... a NASA investigator has confirmed suspicions that the >>astronauts were conscious of their fate, and that among the last words >>from the craft were those of one astronaut saying to another, "Give me >>your hand." >I would class this as somewhat improbable, given that the recorder was not >battery powered and hence lost power immediately when the breakup began. Like I said; just because it's leaked doesn't mean it's true, and major disasters due tend to be breeding grounds for rumor. One of my history of Apollo books notes that the Apollo 1 fire led to rumors far more gruesome than the reality. On the other hand, NASA's behavior before and after Challenger doesn't lead one to much comforting faith in the verity of their pronouncements (no insult meant to you personally, Henry) and considerable cynicism about their ability to cover their asses. >Such a request also strikes me as seriously out of character for the sort >of people who become astronauts. Yes, even Christa McAuliffe. >Much more likely is the suggestion that Smith's "uh-oh" was really more >along the lines of "oh shit", apparently the most common "last words" in >such situations. Don't know enough about astronauts to psychoanalyze them. I would find it unlikely in the case of a crew working to survive, but not totally impossible in the case of a crew waiting. I'll agree that it sounds a trifle romanticized. As for the "uh-oh"; that I'll believe, from the evidence of air crash investigators. -- Laura Burchard lhb6v@virginia.edu lhb6v@virginia.bitnet October 3: After 45 bitter years of separation, East and West Germany unite to form a single nation, chastened by the past, hopeful for the future. October 4: Germany invades Poland. --Dave Barry's Year in Review 1990 ------------------------------ Date: 1 Jan 91 12:01:48 GMT From: eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!amelia!eugene@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Eugene N. Miya) Subject: Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n) Many space activies center around large Government or International Bureaucracies. In this country that means NASA. If you have basic information requests: (e.g., general PR info, research grants, data, limited tours, and ESPECIALLY SUMMER EMPLOYMENT (typically resumes should be ready by Jan. 1), etc.), consider contacting the nearest NASA Center to answer your questions. EMail typically will not get you any where, computers are used by investigators, not PR people. The typical volume of mail per Center is a multiple of 10,000 letters a day. Seek the Public Information Office at one of the below, this is their job: NASA Headquarters (NASA HQ) Washington DC 20546 NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Moffett Field, CA 94035 [Mountain View, CA, near San Francisco Bay, you know Silicon Valley 8-) ] NASA Ames Research Center Dryden Flight Research Facility [DFRF] P. O. Box 273 Edwards, CA 93523 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Greenbelt, MD 20771 [Outside of Washington DC] NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC) 21000 Brookpark Rd. Cleveland, OH 44135 NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC) Houston, TX 77058 NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC) Titusville, FL 32899 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville, AL 35812 NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Hampton, VA 23665 [Near Newport News, VA] Not a NASA Center, but close enough: Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL/CIT] California Institute of Technology 4800 Oak Grove Dr. Pasadena, CA 91109 There are other small facilities, but the above major Centers are set up to handle public information requests. They can send you tons of information. Specific requests for software must go thru COSMIC at the Univ. of Georgia, NASA's contracted software redistribution service. You can reach them at cosmic@uga.bitnet. If this gives you problems, tell me. NOTE: Foreign nationals requesting information must go through their Embassies in Washington DC. These are facilities of the US Government and are regarded with some degree of economic sensitivity. Centers cannot directly return information without high Center approval. Allow at least 1 month for clearance. This includes COSMIC. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (O) 202/488-4158 955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024 Arianespace Headquarters Boulevard de l'Europe B.P. 177 91006 Evry Cedex France ARIANESPACE, INC. (O) 202/728-9075 1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 875, Washington, DC 20006 SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION (FAX) 703/648-1813 (O) 703/620-2200 1857 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091 National Space Development Agency (NASDA), 4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, Japan SOYUZKARTA 45 Vologradsij Pr., Moscow 109125, USSR SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services) 504 Pluto Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (O) 719/578-5490 69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower, Houston, TX 77002 (O) 713/227-9000 Additionally information is frequent asked about: Space camp: Alabama Space and Rocket Center 1 Tranquility Base Huntsville, AL 35805 205-837-3400 U.S. SPACE CAMP 6225 Vectorspace Blvd Titusville FL 32780 (407)267-3184 (registration and mailing list are handled through Huntsville -- both camps are described in the same brochure) There is talk of a space camp to be located next to NASA Ames. Watch that space. "It's not a message. I think it's a warning." -- Ripley ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jan 91 05:24:34 GMT From: agate!shelby!neon!Neon!jmc@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (John McCarthy) Subject: Re: You can help clear cloud over MIR SWEERSTAKES. My opinion is that the Attorney General of Texas should ask the promoters of the MIR sweepstakes to show financial competence to carry out the obligation they are assuming. For example, they could put $10 million in escrow and show a contract with the Soviets to do the job. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the money put up by the sweepstakes players will be dissipated by the promoters paying themselves high salaries as administrators and their saying after a few years, "Sorry folks, not enough money was put up." Does anyone object to people gambling for the prize of a ride in space if the existence of winners is adequately guaranteed? ------------------------------ Date: 1 Jan 91 23:40:43 GMT From: unixhub!shelby!neon!news@lll-winken.llnl.gov (Andy Freeman) Subject: Re: You can help clear cloud over MIR SWEERSTAKES. In article <15403@ogicse.ogi.edu> borasky@ogicse.ogi.edu (M. Edward Borasky) writes: >Let me get this straight -- someone is selling tickets to a drawing? >The winner gets a trip into space, and the sponsor of the lottery gets >the difference between what the trip cost and the total ticket revenues? >And the local DA thinks this is a ripoff and is bringing action against >the lottery? > >Well, Buster, I DO think it's a ripoff! This lottery is surely evil. It gives people a chance at something they can't otherwise afford, and the people who are running it will make a buck. Space should be reserved for those who can pay full price up front. -andy ps - If you think the lottery organizers are making too much money, start your own lottery and drive the profit down. You will, of course, donate your profits to charity or extra prizes. What? You're not willing to dirty your hands? Then stop trying to protect me from something I want and am willing to pay for. If you don't want it, don't buy. -- UUCP: {arpa gateways, sun, decwrl, uunet, rutgers}!neon.stanford.edu!andy ARPA: andy@neon.stanford.edu BELLNET: (415) 723-3088 ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jan 91 01:52:29 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Recent Newsstand Magazine Articles In article <1991Jan1.195102.7391@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> lhb6v@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Laura Hayes Burchard) writes: >"... a NASA investigator has confirmed suspicions that the >astronauts were conscious of their fate, and that among the last words >from the craft were those of one astronaut saying to another, "Give me >your hand." I would class this as somewhat improbable, given that the recorder was not battery powered and hence lost power immediately when the breakup began. Such a request also strikes me as seriously out of character for the sort of people who become astronauts. Yes, even Christa McAuliffe. Much more likely is the suggestion that Smith's "uh-oh" was really more along the lines of "oh shit", apparently the most common "last words" in such situations. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 91 11:59:35 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!axion!uzi-9mm.fulcrum.bt.co.uk!igb@uunet.uu.net (Ian G Batten) Subject: Remote Sensing Images I'd like to buy remote sensing images of parts of the UK. Can anyone suggest a good source of satellite and high-flying aircraft pictures in various wavebands? I have an address for the National Remote Sensing Centre at the RAE, but I've not had an answer back yet. Are there commercial outlets for NASA stuff? ESA? ian ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 91 21:29:02 GMT From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@ucsd.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Could weather sat snap umbra 11-7-91? In article <1991Jan3.162116.21912@informix.com> cortesi@informix.com (David Cortesi) writes: >There are these fine weather satellites looking down on the west >coast and pacific. Would it be possible for one of them to take >pictures of the umbra, a 300 kilometer oval of shadow, as it >sweeps over Baja or Mexico on that day? I suspect that the answer is no. The trouble is that the Clarke-orbit metsats typically spend about half an hour doing a raster scan of the Earth for each image. They're not built for stop-motion photography, even motion as slow as this. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 3 Jan 91 21:40:25 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: Satellite releases planned in study of auroral displays (Forwarded) Brian Dunbar Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 3, 1991 (Phone: 202/453-1547) 4 p.m. EST Jerry Berg Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. (Phone: 205/544-0034) RELEASE: 91-2 SATELLITE RELEASES PLANNED IN STUDY OF AURORAL DISPLAYS In January 1991, NASA will conduct experiments from an orbiting satellite to test the possibility of creating an artificial aurora. The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) will release clouds of barium and lithium vapor in the Earth's magnetosphere, the region above the atmosphere. The CRRES program is a joint NASA-U.S. Air Force effort to study the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere and to monitor the effects of the space radiation environment on sophisticated electronics. Through the CRRES program's artificial cloud- release experiments, scientists seek to understand the processes which cause auroras by using artificial charged-particle clouds to induce them. The releases, which have no adverse environmental effects, will result in clouds of artificially injected charged particles, temporarily and locally changing the structure of the charged particles and the magnetic fields where they occur. Illuminated by the sun, these clouds will show up as bright patches in the night sky. Project officials estimate the patches will be about the size of a full moon and nearly as bright. The releases should be visible from the entire continental United States, most of Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, and much of South America. During some of the release opportunities, the clouds may be visible low in the western skies from western Africa and Europe, several hours before dawn. Two previous releases from the CRRES satellite have been made. They occurred in September over the South Pacific Ocean. The magnetosphere is the region where the Earth's magnetic field forms a "bubble" in the solar wind, trapping energetic electrons and ions. These charged particles are locked into spiral orbits around the lines of magnetic force, spinning like a rock whirled around on a string. These particles also bounce back and forth along the field lines from one end to the other, coming close to the Earth at each end but turning around or "reflecting" just above the atmosphere. "Sometimes, though, these charged particles act like they're jumping the tracks," said Dr. David L. Reasoner, CRRES Project Scientist at the Marshall center. "They leave their stable paths and go racing up into the high, thin atmosphere. There they smash into the atoms and molecules of air, causing them to glow, almost like a big TV screen. "We call this glow the aurora," Reasoner continued. "At times the particles leak out of the magnetic field trap in a slow drizzle and make only weak, barely visible auroras. At other times they pour out like a heavy downpour, making very bright auroras or an auroral storm." Scientists are not sure why these particles behave in strange, unpredictable ways. "The ever-changing nature of the aurora stands as brilliant evidence of these uncontrolled processes," said Reasoner. "They're not only responsible for visible effects -- that is, the aurora. They also cause disruptions in high-frequency communications, occasionally produce damaging currents in terrestrial power systems and create magnetic storms which affect sensitive instruments on Earth and in space," he added. A total of seven releases are planned, three in which lithium will produce a red glow and four of barium, which will glow green and purple. The opportunities for the releases occur on the nights of Jan. 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24 and 25. Exact times for the releases will be announced - after being determined by scientists monitoring the state of the magnetosphere by means of instruments on the CRRES satellite. "In essence, we are attempting to duplicate nature on a small scale by artificially triggering a natural process in a controlled experiment," said Reasoner. The effects will be studied with an extensive network of cameras and other instruments both on the ground and in specially instrumented aircraft scattered throughout the United States, the Caribbean and South America and staffed by scientists from universities, both U.S. and foreign, government laboratories and industry. The actual releases will be over South America at altitudes between 3,000 and 21,000 miles. For viewers in the United States and Canada, the releases will be in the southern sky at elevations between 10 and 50 degrees above the horizon. Since the moon will be down or near new phase for the releases (a requirement for the highly sensitive scientific cameras), observers in locations with clear skies and away from city lights should have excellent viewing conditions. The lithium releases are expected to be visible for about 5 minutes, and the barium releases for about 15 minutes. The satellite originally was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., last July 25 aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket. CRRES is a joint program of NASA, through its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Department of Defense's Space Test Program. CRRES is operated and controlled from the Consolidated Space Test Center located in Sunnyvale, Calif. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #020 *******************