Date: Sat, 24 Oct 92 05:26:39 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #341 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 24 Oct 92 Volume 15 : Issue 341 Today's Topics: Dan Quayle on Mars DCX Status? (2 msgs) Mars Observer Update #2 - 10/23/92 re HRMS for ETI 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: Fri, 23 Oct 1992 21:49:05 GMT From: Jeff Bytof Subject: Dan Quayle on Mars Newsgroups: sci.space >Don't get me wrong, this isn't a defense of Quayle, who has demonstrated >multiple times that he is unable to communicate. I take it on faith that even though Quayle may occasionally garble his message, he is still quite informed and intelligent. In the case of his Mars comments, I think he was boiling a long dissertation down for public consumption. ----------------------- rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 92 05:54:35 GMT From: "Simon E. Booth" Subject: DCX Status? Newsgroups: sci.space Interesting info on the DCY/DC-1 launch facilities. No need for the massive VAB like the one at KSC. And with the miles of support roads (or railway tracks in the case of the exUSSR's Baikonour Cosmodrome)eliminated. I get the feeling that the launch pads could be more generic than existing pads-KSC's 39A and B are only for the shuttle, Pad 41 (I think) is only for Titan III's, etc. Overall, the SSTO concept is most facinating. Simon ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 92 05:43:47 GMT From: "Simon E. Booth" Subject: DCX Status? Newsgroups: sci.space Reply to Mary Shafer's message about the DC-X: (stuff deleted) My appologies for my lack of info on the DCX vehicle. I just assumed that since it was referred to as a space vehicle that it woul go into space. I had no idea the project was canceled. Simon ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1992 12:57:06 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Mars Observer Update #2 - 10/23/92 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary Forwarded from: PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 MARS OBSERVER MISSION STATUS October 23, 1992 The Mars Observer spacecraft is on the correct cruise trajectory to Mars and all spacecraft subsystems are performing well. Instrument payload and payload data checkouts are continuing as planned. The Magnetometer and Gamma Ray Spectrometer have been successfully checked out. Testing of the Mars Balloon Relay instrument took place on Sunday, Oct. 18, with excellent results. The Mars Observer Camera underwent a focusing test on Oct. 20, with similar results. Two other instruments, the Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer and Thermal Emission Spectrometer, also completed initial checkouts, and the Laser Altimeter was checked out yesterday during a three-hour test. The first part of this payload flight sequence will be completed tomorrow, Oct. 24. Data from the Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS) was successfully played back on the third attempt on Oct. 7, 1992. The Deep Space Network reported that most of the TOS telemetry -- about one hour and 16 minutes -- was recovered and recorded on the ground. A preliminary review from the TOS program staff indicates that the rocket motor and electrical systems performed well. A more comprehensive evaluation is currently under way. The spacecraft is scheduled to perform its second trajectory correction maneuver, TCM-2, on Jan. 8, 1993. Today the spacecraft is about 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) from Earth, traveling at a speed of about 7,000 miles per hour (11,000 kilometers per hour) relative to Earth. Its velocity relative to the sun is about 73,000 miles per hour (115,000 kilometers per hour). ##### ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | If God had wanted us to /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | have elections, he would |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | have given us candidates. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Oct 92 13:45:01 MAL From: Anton Sebastian Subject: re HRMS for ETI Surely NASA must have some estimates of the probability of success of it's HRMS.I've read of estimates ranging from almost certain to impossible of finding other intelligent life in the universe.Just cause the universe is so huge it doesnt mean that life exists elsewhere.The Anthropic Principle speculates along those lines.Could someone enlighten me on NASA's estimates before they decided to undertake this project - both for the Targeted Search and the Sky Survey. Some details of the calculation taking into account astrophysics, evolution of solar systems, biological science, evolution of life etc. will be helpful. Thanks. UTMJB MALAYSIA ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 341 ------------------------------