Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 05:04:56 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #247 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Fri, 25 Sep 92 Volume 15 : Issue 247 Today's Topics: Alan Bean Clinto and Space Funding Clinton and Space Funding (3 msgs) Clintonomics and Space (non) Funding Galileo Update - 09/24/92 Help ! Hubble is looking at pluto again followup Lunar landing in 2002 Mars Observer Update - 09/24/92 (1 Day to Launch) Model ion engine Space Engineering Symposium 1992 tidbits what use is Freedom? Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Sep 92 04:08:00 GMT From: wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov Subject: Alan Bean Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Sep24.123959.1807@syma.sussex.ac.uk>, andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andy Clews) writes... >Does anyone know if a book exists of [reproductions of] former Apollo 12 >astronaut Alan Bean's space-oriented paintings, especially the ones he's >painted depicting lunar scenes? And, are prints of his paintings available >from any source (I assume the originals are not for sale :-) > >If you can help, please email me with as much detail as possible. > >Thanks to all for listening. > > > >-- >Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, England >JANET: andy@uk.ac.sussex.syma OTHER NETWORKS: andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk Andy and everyone else, there is a store here in Huntsville That sells limited edition prints of Allan's works. Drop me a line for more info. Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 16:17:59 GMT From: clements@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Clinto and Space Funding Newsgroups: sci.space Someone said: >Contrary to popular belief, the majority of R and D money for the armed >forced goes into communications, advanced IC technologies, computer >technology, and various other non-lethal activities. Sure some money does >go into weapons research, but they are they ARMED FORCES aren't they. The problem then is that the military fight tooth and nail to keep these developments *out* of the public arena until they have something better. Look at the mess with encrypting GPS etc. etc. >Now >don't get me wrong, I have no problem with reducing defense R and D spending >as long as the money goes into other R and D activities and people don't >lose their jobs. Like it or not, the two main technology drivers for the >last 5 decades (In the USA perhaps) >have been first the military and then the space program. Japan and Germany have relatively little military spending, and as a result of this they can spend more on government support of civilian R & D programs. >Do you really think that it is a coincidence that >the military and space budget cuts coincide with the Japenese gaining a >technological edge? Come on... They've had an edge for a *lot* longer than that! >Please don't spout off about cutting defense spending >until there are valid places for the money to go. This idea of cutting >first and then trying to figure out what to do with the money later does >nothing for the country except increase unemployment and sacrifice our >technological edge. Military spending can help in really long term technology, as they can do more 'blue sky' research than a company which needs to justify its spending to shareholders. However, the military will then try to protect any technological advantage by stopping anyone else knowing the details of the technology or, preferably, knowing that it exists at all (eg. Black programs).Goverment backed civil R&D, on the contrary, can be just as 'blue sky', can be more usefully directed (no money needs to be spent on killing people) and can be readily disseminated to a larger community of people. This leads to more effective developments, more diverse applications (as more people are thinking about it) and greater confidance in the overall economy, since the money is seen to be spent. This is what MITI does in Japan, and look how successful they have been. This is where that military money can and should be spent. However, the typical Reagan/bushist freemarketeers are completely against this government intervention in the marketplace, and, it seems from here, bury any attempt at a US Industrial policy. The frequent cries that 'goivernment intervention doesn't work' are plainly wrong. Look at Japan. Look at the EEC even, where technological programmes seem to be coming together. Of the US Presidential condidates only Clinton seems likely to get this sort of scheme moving. This will help not only the general US economy, but will also help space (a better economy means more money for *all* programs). Its also something the UK government would do well to try. -- ================================================================================ Dave Clements, Oxford University Astrophysics Department ================================================================================ clements @ uk.ac.ox.vax | Umberto Eco is the *real* Comte de dlc @ uk.ac.ox.astro | Saint Germain... ================================================================================ ------------------------------ Date: 25 Sep 92 03:47:36 GMT From: Tom Nugent Subject: Clinton and Space Funding Newsgroups: sci.space >> unemployment increase. Do you really think that it is a >coincidence that >> the military and space budget cuts coincide with the Japenese >gaining a >> technological edge? >Huh? Seems to me the Japenese gained their technological edge >in many fields because we were spending so much money via >big governemnt (often defense-related) programs. Perhaps >if RCA, GM, Motorolla, Intel, etc. didn't have to pay so much >in taxes to support gigantic governemnt defense contracts (and >to pay for defending countries that aren't doing near as much >to defend themselves) we'd regain our edge. On that last comment: if you are talking about the US defending Japan and them not paying much themselves, that is not the case. From what I understand, Japan is among the top 5 defense spenders in the world. That's big money, especially for a country that (except for the tiny bit they just allowed to go with the UN) doesn't have forces outside its borders. "The future is a race between education and catastrophe." - H.G. Wells -- Tom Nugent voice:(217)328-0994 e-mail:tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous ------------------------------ Date: 25 Sep 92 04:02:00 GMT From: wingo%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov Subject: Clinton and Space Funding Newsgroups: sci.space In article , amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk writes... >> technological edge? Please don't spout off about cutting defense >spending >> until there are valid places for the money to go. This idea of >cutting >> first and then trying to figure out what to do with the money later >does >> nothing for the country except increase unemployment and sacrifice >our >> technological edge. >> > > >Ah... Might I propose that the best possible place to put it is in >the wallet of the person who earned it in the first place? If we cut the defense budget to zero we would still have a 100 billion dollar deficit (assuming a 400 billion deficit like this year). In addition there would be about 5.5 million more unemployed a great fraction of which are high tech oriented. Add to this the unemployment and welfare benefits, which at a conservative number of 10,000 a year comes to another fifty billion dollars added to the deficit. The shocks of all of this loss to the economy of 350 billion dollars per year (400 billion - 50 billion benefits) is about 8 percent of a 4 trillion dollar GDP. Can anyone say domino effect? We currently live in a fantasy world where we borrow money from other countries to pay our own internal debts. This is creating instability worldwide. Let us hope that someone out there has the guts to do what is necessary to cut social programs enough to get us out of the mess. Why not cut space? Because space is the ONLY venture that is producing a viable future and not a Clinton Gore fantasy future where all problems will be solved by taxing the 4% of Americans that make over $200,000 dollars per year. If we had just kept domestic spending growth 10% under what it has been in the last 25 years we would have a surplus budget right now. No we had to try to solve all of the worlds problems at one time. Remember the "If we can send a man to the moon why can't we...." catch phrase? This was and still is the rallying cry of shallow thinkers who think that we can make a heaven on earth. We are reaping the harvest of this in our current budget crisis. Making wealth is the only way out of the mess. The only way to make more wealth is to exploit the resources of the solar system for our benefit on earth. Simple equation (No Space=No Future for the Human Race). That would make a neat bumper sticker. Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 17:11:50 GMT From: Richard Treitel Subject: Clinton and Space Funding Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,sci.astro,sci.space In article <1992Sep23.214254.3010@digibd.com>, rhealey@dellr4.digibd.com (Rob Healey) writes: |> What we REALLY need to do is convince investors that starting |> a colony on the moon in our time is as good of an idea as |> starting a colony in the new world was back in the 17th century. I can't resist noting that a major economic motivation for starting colonies in the New World back then was the cultivation of a highly addictive drug, which is *still* connected with millions of deaths annually in Old and New worlds. I can just see it ... a crackhouse on the Moon ... maybe Lunar dust will turn out to have other effects on astronauts besides abrading their suits. - Richard {:-) ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 15:47:35 GMT From: clements@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Clintonomics and Space (non) Funding Newsgroups: sci.space In article , 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom) writes: > > If this goof gets elected after all but promising to raise taxes $1.5E11 > BEFORE the election, think of the things he'll do once he's in. Brrr... > And what is Bush going to do if he gets back in now he's sold his soul to the Fundamentalists like Pat Robertson???? This is about a *lot* more than space funding which, quite frankly, is a side issue for *all* of these politicians. -- ================================================================================ Dave Clements, Oxford University Astrophysics Department ================================================================================ clements @ uk.ac.ox.vax | Umberto Eco is the *real* Comte de dlc @ uk.ac.ox.astro | Saint Germain... ================================================================================ ------------------------------ Date: 25 Sep 92 07:53:10 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Galileo Update - 09/24/92 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary Forwarded from Neal Ausman, Galileo Mission Director GALILEO MISSION DIRECTOR STATUS REPORT POST-LAUNCH September 18 - 24, 1992 SPACECRAFT 1. On September 18, an Ultra-Stable Oscillator (USO) test was performed to verify the health status of the USO and collect gravitational red shift experiment data; long term trend analysis is continuing. 2. On September 21, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to 264 hours, its planned value for this mission phase. 3. On September 24, real-time commands were sent to enable mission critical CDS (Command Data Subsystem) latching relays and to disable the CDS master enable. These actions prevent Spin Bearing Assembly (SBA) debris-induced potential mission catastrophic failures by setting the mission critical relays to their ultimate desired state and protects the master enable function. 4. The AC/DC bus imbalance measurements exhibited some change. The AC measurement remained unchanged and reads 14 DN (3.3 volts). The DC measurement has ranged from 123 DN (14.4 volts) to 131 DN (15.3 volts) and now reads 129 DN (15.1 volts). These measurement variations are consistent with the model developed by the AC/DC special anomaly team. 5. The Spacecraft status as of September 24, 1992, is as follows: a) System Power Margin - 68 watts b) Spin Configuration - Dual-Spin c) Spin Rate/Sensor - 3.15 rpm/Star Scanner d) Spacecraft Attitude is approximately 7 degrees off-sun (leading) and 22 degrees off-earth (lagging) e) Downlink telemetry rate/antenna-40 bps (coded)/LGA-1 f) General Thermal Control - all temperatures within acceptable range g) RPM Tank Pressures - all within acceptable range h) Orbiter Science- UVS, EUV, DDS, MAG, EPD, and HIC are powered on i) Probe/RRH - powered off, temperatures within acceptable range j) CMD Loss Timer Setting - 264 hours Time To Initiation - 257 hours UPLINK GENERATION/COMMAND REVIEW AND APPROVAL: 1. The Dual Drive Actuator (DDA) pulse mini-sequence No. 4 memory load was approved for generation by the Project on September 21, 1992. This mini-sequence covers spacecraft activities associated with the DDA 10-pulse hammer test from October 12 to October 15. TRAJECTORY As of noon Thursday, September 24, 1992, the Galileo Spacecraft trajectory status was as follows: Distance from Earth 49,768,800 miles (.54 AU) Distance from Sun 133,617,100 miles (1.44 AU) Heliocentric Speed 58,200 miles per hour Distance from Jupiter 631,824,900 miles Round Trip Light Time 9 minutes, 2 seconds SPECIAL TOPIC 1. As of September 24, 1992, a total of 8230 real-time commands have been transmitted to Galileo since Launch. Of these, 3281 were pre-planned in the sequence design and 4949 were not. In the past week, 24 real time commands were transmitted; one was pre-planned in the sequence design and 23 were not. In addition, 5677 mini-sequence commands have been transmitted since March 1991; 3519 were pre-planned and 2158 were not. In the past week, no mini-sequence commands were transmitted. Major command activities this week included commands to reset the command loss timer, enable CDS latching relays and disable the CDS master critical enable. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Quiet people aren't the /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | only ones who don't say |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | much. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:23:54 EST From: PHARABOD@FRCPN11.IN2P3.FR Subject: Help ! There is a terrifying article in the last issue of the French "Sciences et Avenir" - a really serious popularization review. They say that, on September 28, 2000, the Toutatis asteroid (diameter 1 kilometer) may hit the earth. They say that normally the distance would be the same as the Earth-Moon distance, but that there is a rather big uncertainty. They assure that their info comes from Nasa experts. This is the main article in this issue. J. Pharabod ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 23:42:10 GMT From: Dave Tholen Subject: Hubble is looking at pluto again followup Newsgroups: sci.space Phil G. Fraering writes: >\The Hubble Space Telesope took some more images of Pluto and Charon >/yesterday using its Wide Field/Planetary Camera. The pair is about 25 >\arseconds from a nearby star. The images were received and are >/currently being analyzed. > >Well? What did they see? Pluto, Charon, and a star! Expecting something else, perhaps? No, the image wasn't taken to resolve the disk of Pluto, so there's nothing to report about that. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1992 00:55:36 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: Lunar landing in 2002 Newsgroups: sci.space In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >There is some hope for action on it if Bush gets reelected. Nothing is going >to happen on it for quite a while if Clinton replaces him. Or if DC-Y is built and works. Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they | | aws@iti.org | put a man on the Moon?" | +----------------------212 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 25 Sep 92 06:12:14 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Mars Observer Update - 09/24/92 (1 Day to Launch) Newsgroups: sci.space Fowarded from Glenn Cunningham, Mars Observer Deputy Project Manager MARS OBSERVER DAILY ACTIVITIES STATUS REPORT FROM THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER/CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION Launch Minus 1 Day Date of report: 9-24-92 Time of report: 4:13 PM EDT The Launch - 1 Day Mission Director's Readiness Review has concluded with all participating agencies, except the Range, giving their approval for proceeding with the launch of Mars Observer. The Range is awaiting results of the Titan destruct system initiator failure analysis. Titan is still several hours behind their timeline. The failed Wideband Instrumentation System battery was found to have a pin- hole leak been cells which is thought not be a generic problem. Installation of the new battery was held up for Range approval. Ordinance installation took longer than expected. A new set of destruct system initiators has been obtained and tested. TOS (Transfer Orbit Stage) has discovered that they inadvertently used two cadmium plated connector dust caps. These were dispositioned "use as is" at the L-1 review this morning. As a result of the delays at the pad, the spacecraft has not been powered on yet, and the MOC (Mars Observer Camera) and MOLA (Mars Observer Laser Altimeter) covers have not been removed. The power on event may occur within the hour. This delay is not an impact to the spacecraft countdown schedule. The cover removal may be delayed until the time that the spacecraft enable plugs are installed tomorrow morning, so as not to hold the crew here too late today. The Mission Operations System reports that they have discovered a flight rule violation in the C1 sequence which requires a modification before loading on Saturday. A search for other violations in the C1 sequence that may have been introduced by changes in flight rules is underway. Also, the Project Data Base catalog was garbled last night by a possible hardware problem in a file server. An investigation is underway with a potential change to a backup server being considered. These issues are launch constraints until they are resolved. The weather predicts for lightning and precipitation for tomorrow look good. The toxic cloud movement constraint predict for tomorrow has not yet been received. This is launch minus 20 hours 14 minutes and counting........ ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Quiet people aren't the /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | only ones who don't say |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | much. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 00:27:19 GMT From: Ben Bailey Subject: Model ion engine Newsgroups: sci.space A fellow I use to know used a transformer from a oil furnace to generate the high voltages. What's the output voltage from a rapid start transformer used in flourescent bulbs? Also, geiger mueller tubes need high voltages. These use to be generated using the equivalent of a bistable multi vibrator and a transformer (rated for high output voltage). I had one of the capacitors start to die, increasing the frequency of the multivibrator to the point it blew up my digital fluke when I was analyzing the circuit voltages. Nowdays, a 555 ic chip would create the required frequencies for use with the transformer. Ben -- Ben Bailey ben@bailey.uucp -- bailey!ben@uunet.uu.net 12210 Shady Forest Dr. ben@bailey.tscs.com Riverview, Fl. 33569 -- The main thing is to keep the main 813-677-5021 thing the main thing. Mainly. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Sep 92 08:15:05 GMT From: etssp@levels.unisa.edu.au Subject: Space Engineering Symposium 1992 tidbits Newsgroups: sci.space I have just attended the Space Engineering Symposium that was held in Canberra, Australia. Here are some highlights that I think might be of interest. There was a talk given by Mike Ahern (a former Queensland premier) of Space Transpotation Systems on the Cape York Spaceport Project. This project is still ongoing. They are looking for "white knuckle" money of $A20M to start the project. Once they have this money, they have been promised additional money from other sources to complete the project. Total cost is $A815M with $A560M for the launch compex and $A255M for the new township of Bradfield. The Enviromental Inpact Statement is estimated to cost $A6.5M. If the money doesn't come soon, STS will have to abandon the project. There are also other proposals, e.g., from Cubic Corp. (which I know nothing about). They still plan to launch Zenit's, starting in 1997 with four launches per year on average. New details on the Southern Launch Vehicle were given. This is a four stage rocket to be launched from refurbished facilities in Woomera into polar orbit. The launch site is to be the unused platform that was built for Blue Streak in the late fifties (the used platform was used by ELDO for the ill-fated Europa launch vehicle). The SLV is 21.0 m high and 2.36 m in diameter and can carry up to 750 kg to a polar orbit (upgradable to 1500 kg). The first stage is a 54 tonne Castor 120, second stage is a 3.5 tonne Star 63D, the third stage is also a Star 63D, and the fourth stage uses 150 kg of monopropellant hydrazine. Payload volume is 1.4 x 4.0 m or 1.7 m x 2.9 m. The companies involved in the design are British Aerospace Australia, Hawker De Havilland, and Auspace. The formation of the Australian Space Council reporting directly to the minister of the Department of Industry, Trade, and Technology was announced. The aims of the ASC are: Earth Observation Program - To earn a "seat at the table" by having a substantial (30%) involvement in the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer to be flown by ESA and an Australian instrument to follow. Communications - Support of the three Space Industry Development Centres, systems for geosynchronous satellites, mobile (both geosynchronous and low- earth orbit), and navigation and position fixing. Launch Services - Cape York (?), SLV, and 3rd generation launcher technology (meaning scramjet and hypersonics) Science - to be not less than 10% of overall budget. An update of the Endeavour Ultraviolet Telescope that was flown on STS-42 was given. If you may remember, the door on the GAS can containing the telescope failed to open during the mission. The reason for this was that the temperature of the GAS cans compromising Endeavour (and of the other GAS cans as well) greatly exceeded the expected temperature. Shuttle temperatures of 71 degress C and greater were experienced in the shuttle payload bay. To prevent Endeavour from destroying itself from the high temperatures it automatically shut itself down once an internal temperature of 60 degress C was reached within the telescope. It was found that during the outgassing period at T+32 hours and before the temperatures became too high, that the door had indeed opened and closed after 1 hour during the out-gassing period. The temperatures were so high that rubber seals in Endeavour had vulcanised! Goddard Space Flight Center manages the GAS program and had thought that STS-42 would be a "benign" mission which turned out to be the hotest shuttle mission to date, with yellowing of thermal blankets and bubbling of thermal tape! Apparantly, the Johnson Space Center and the Kennedy Space Center had changed the mission profile during a change in launch date without telling the GSFC. Other GAS cans that failed from the heat were the "Brine Shrimp/Air Bubbles in Microgravity" experiment where the shrimp were fried, the "Visual Photometric Experiment" from the US Air Force where the door failed to open due to a relay failure, and another experiment that also had a relay failure. Endeavour survived the heat and it is hoped that NASA will refly Endeavour next year. the door had -- Steven S. Pietrobon, Australian Space Centre for Signal Processing Signal Processing Research Institute, University of South Australia The Levels, SA 5095, Australia. steven@sal.levels.unisa.edu.au ------------------------------ Date: 25 Sep 92 03:34:29 GMT From: Tom Nugent Subject: what use is Freedom? Newsgroups: sci.space szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo) writes: >_Now_ it's asked! The question that comes to my mind is, >why wasn't this asked in early 80's when NASA was first pushing >for it (and when people like me lobby for it, I take part of the >blame). Why do we pursue this technology as a religious sacrament >instead pursuing that which is useful to people? The human So you originally lobbied for the space station, but now you've changed your mind and quit on it. You didn't carry through. You are almost sounding like the NASA people you put down so much - just because the thing isn't everything it was intended to be, you want to redesign, keep studying the problem instead of goin out there, bending metal, and getting something up! Stopping Freedom now would be a catastrophe. Something instead of nothing is not always better, but in this case it is. See all my previous posts regarding the reasons to continue with SSF. "The future is a race between education and catastrophe." - H.G. Wells -- Tom Nugent voice:(217)328-0994 e-mail:tjn32113@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "To be average scares the hell out of me." -- Anonymous ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 247 ------------------------------