Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 5247;andrew.cmu.edu;Todd L. Masco Received: from hogtown.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 ; Sun, 20 Jan 91 02:02:30 -0500 (EST) Received: from hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Sun, 20 Jan 91 02:02:25 -0500 (EST) Received: from BatMail.robin.v2.10.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu.pmax.30 via MS.5.6.hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu.pmax_30; Sun, 20 Jan 91 02:02:23 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Date: Sun, 20 Jan 91 02:02:23 -0500 (EST) From: "Todd L. Masco" Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu Date: Sun, 20 Jan 91 01:56:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #061 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 61 Today's Topics: NASA selects scientists for SETI Microwave Observing Project (Forwarded) NASA Headline News for 01/15/91 (Forwarded) Drat! Dealing with ice "creep" (was: Humankind's Second Off-world Colony) 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: 18 Jan 91 18:24:59 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA selects scientists for SETI Microwave Observing Project (Forward\ ed) Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 15, 1991 (Phone: 202/453-1549) Diane Stanley Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif. (Phone: 415/604-3934) RELEASE: 91-7 NASA SELECTS SCIENTISTS FOR SETI MICROWAVE OBSERVING PROJECT NASA has selected 9 scientists from around the country to participate as team members and interdisciplinary scientists in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Microwave Observing Project, scheduled to begin in 1992. The SETI Microwave Observing Project consists of two elements, a Targeted Search element and a Sky Survey element. The Targeted Search will use the largest available antennas around the world and search over the frequency range from 1 to 3 gigahertz (GHz), seeking a variety of patterns in the frequency/time domain that could be indicative of an artificially generated signal. The Targeted Search will perform the most sensitive search ever conducted of nearby (less than 80 light- years distant) solar-type stars. In a complementary search strategy, the Sky Survey will use the 34-meter antennas at NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) sites in the northern and southern hemispheres to scan the entire sky over the frequency range from 1 to 10 GHz. Because of the tremendous increase in the area of the sky covered, a signal will have to be stronger to be detected by the Sky Survey. But this element could detect signals coming from the vicinity of distant sun-like stars or from directions that might be overlooked if the search were limited to nearby solar-type stars. The SETI observations will formally commence on Columbus Day 1992, with the Sky Survey system deployed at the Goldstone, Calif., DSN complex and the Targeted Search System mounted on the large radio telescope at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The selected investigators were chosen on the basis of a proposal to strengthen and/or enhance the SETI observations planned by NASA. The designs for the SETI-specific hardware that will be utilized to make these searches are already quite mature, but the investigators will assist in finalizing the system designs and in the development of prototype systems. The selected investigators will form the core of the project science team that will help refine the SETI search procedures, optimize the list of targeted solar-type stars, and formulate methods to extract the greatest amount of traditional radio astronomical data during the course of the scheduled SETI observations. The science team will be led by Project Scientist Dr. Jill C. Tarter at Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., and by Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Sam Gulkis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The overall Microwave Observing Project is being managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, which also bears responsibility for the Targeted Search portion of the Project. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working with Ames and has responsibility for the Sky Survey portion of the search. The SETI Microwave Observing Project is part of NASA's Exobiology Program and is managed by the Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. The selected SETI Microwave Observing Project principal investigators, their current affiliations and the title of their research proposals follow: Dr. Peter B. Boyce American Astronomical Society Washington, DC "SETI Interdisciplinary Investigations; Search Strategy, Verification and Education" Dr. James M. Cordes Cornell University Ithaca, NY "Interstellar Scattering Implications for SETI Detection Samples" Dr. Michael M. Davis Arecibo Observatory (NAIC) Arecibo, Puerto Rico "Research Facility Team Membership for the SETI Targeted Search" Dr. Dayton L. Jones Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, CA "Interdisciplinary Proposal for Radio Astronomy Investigations with the SETI Microwave Observing Project" Dr. David W. Latham Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, MA "Target Selection and Characterization: A Team Member Investigation Proposal for the Targeted Search Project of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Microwave Project" Dr. David R. Soderblom Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, MD "An Enhanced Target Selection Strategy for the SETI Microwave Observing Project" Dr. Kenneth C. Turner Innovative Systems Centreville, VA "Special Targets in the SETI Microwave Observing Project" Professor Paul G. Steffes Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence/Microwave Observing Project: Sky Survey Team Member Proposal" Dr. Woodruff T. Sullivan University of Washington Seattle, WA "MOP Search Strategies and Interpretations" ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 91 18:07:01 GMT From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) Subject: NASA Headline News for 01/15/91 (Forwarded) Headline News Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters Tuesday, January 15, 1991 Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788 This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, January 15, 1991 The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite again last night deployed a barium cannister. The release occurred at 11:11 pm EST. There are four opportunities again tonight and tomorrow morning for release of a lithium cannister. Those times are 11:00 pm, 11:30 pm tonight, midnight and 12:30 am tomorrow. Washington-area weather is expected to be cloudy, so viewing conditions may preclude area residents from seeing the artificial aurora, which would appear about 40 degrees above the horizon in the Southeast. Marshall Space Flight Center's CRRES operations number is 205/544-5356. An updated release schedule is available at that number. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NASA and university astronomers announced yesterday, at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Philadelphia, that for the first time, they have mapped the distribution of nitrogen throughout our galaxy. The new observations were made by the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer aboard the Cosmic Background Explorer. This all-sky survey, along with additional maps of carbon and dust, provides quantitative information that may enable scientists to better understand the heating and cooling processes that take place throughout the Milky Way. These new data show that carbon and nitrogen atoms, key building blocks of life, are extremely widespread in the thin gas that fills the space between the stars. Carbon and nitrogen atoms are created inside stars by nuclear reactions, then released back into space by stellar winds or the explosions which often accompany the end of a star's life. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Workers at the Kennedy Space Center continue on schedule in their ground processing activities of Discovery, scheduled to roll over from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the end of the month. On Atlantis, main propulsion system leak checks are continuing. Tests were conducted last night of the auxiliary power units. Work on Columbia's protective tile system continues in the VAB, while that orbiter awaits Discovery's berth in the OPF. Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV. All times are Eastern. **indicates a live program. Tuesday, 1/15/91 12:00 pm NASA Productions Wednesday, 1/16/91 12:30 pm Hubble Space Telescope "Investigations of Massive Stars" (two new images taken by HST Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph), video captions and images only, no audio. Thursday, 1/17/91 11:30 am NASA Update will be transmitted. 12:30 pm "First UIT Images" (the first images released by the STS-35 Astro-1 Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope); "The White Storm on Saturn" (video made from HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera images of Saturn's white storm); video captions and images only, no audio. Wednesday, 1/23/91 9:30 am **STS-39 Flight Director briefing from JSC. 11:00 am **STS-39 Department of Defense payload briefing from JSC. 2:00 pm **STS-39 crew briefing from JSC. All events and times may change without notice. This report is filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST. It is a service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters. Contact: CREDMOND on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425. NASA Select TV: Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jan 91 03:52:43 GMT From: swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123!Wales.Larrison@u\ csd.edu (Wales Larrison) Subject: Drat! Henry Spencer replies: >> Magellan, from my recollection, was never planned to use a >>Shuttle-Centaur. The use of the TOS stage was allowed when they >>removed the requirement to circularize the orbit at Venus ... > >??? Wales, I think you need to check the references on this. >Magellan has never used a TOS; it went up on an IUS. And a quick >look through the files confirms my recollection: Magellan was >originally slated to be the first NASA customer for Centaur G (as >opposed to the bigger G-prime planned for Ulysses and Galileo). And >Magellan, as opposed to its predecessor VOIR, has always planned an >elliptical orbit. Darn it! Henry, you're right. Re thinking my post, the Magellan did use the IUS. The first use of the TOS is for the ACTS in 1992. My apologies to the net - I just remembered seeing the picture of that IUS first stage coasting out of the payload bay, and thought it was a TOS. In my defense, however, the IUS and TOS both use the same first stage motor, though. >>[Ulysses] The Delta-VEGA maneuver used was a god- >>send to them. > >Again, ??? Unless I am badly mistaken, Ulysses is going direct to >Jupiter, no delta-VEGA involved. Only Galileo gets to bat around >the inner system for a while first. > Hmmm - you may also be right on this. I can't find confirming or denying data. Considering my batting average on this posting, you're probably right. Although that's a whole lot of energy to get out of that IUS. My remembrance of all this is from about 5 years ago when my company was hot and heavy into the upper stage business - and I was doing some of the preliminary mission and market planning. I remember that there were lots of performance issues with the Ulysses (then called the International Solar Polar Mission), and we were looking at a Delta-VEGA maneuver trajectory for it as well because of the high energy requirements. I know they were talking about lightening up the spacecraft, and even playing games with elliptical shuttle parking orbits to get more performance - so maybe the IUS had enough poop to do the mission. Unfortunately, my firm got out of the upper stage business in about 1985, and my upper stage technical and market files got tossed when I took a leave to finish off my MBA in 1986. (Sigh... where are the files when you need them...) -------------------------------------------------------------------- A much chagrined Wales Larrison Space Technology Investor -- Wales Larrison Internet: Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org Compuserve: >internet:Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jan 91 19:58:21 GMT From: julius.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!caen!math.lsa.umich.edu!sharkey!\ cfctech!teemc!fmeed1!cage@apple.com (Russ Cage) Subject: Dealing with ice "creep" (was: Humankind's Second Off-world Colony) In article <58235840@bfmny0.BFM.COM> tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) writes: >Oh yes, but if what you specifically want is to study the ice, you'll >probably have to tackle the heat problem sooner or later. Or not. There is always the final fix: to avoid sinking, be buoyant. If your base is buoyant and stable against tipping, it would not matter if you melted out a sea around yourself. Considering the ease of making balloons for habitats, and the density of air-space compared to water and ice, this problem seems easily solved. An outer balloon full of water/ice could be a radiation shield. (Will 30 feet of water do for Ganymede?) -- Russ Cage Ford Powertrain Engineering Development Department Work: itivax.iti.org!cfctech!fmeed1!cage (CHATTY MAIL NOT ANSWERED HERE) Home: russ@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us (All non-business mail) Member: HASA, "S" division. ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #061 *******************