Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 05:04:15 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #348 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Tue, 27 Oct 92 Volume 15 : Issue 348 Today's Topics: A career in the Space Program - or Forget It!? active planetary probes; should someone update the FAQ (2 msgs) Clinton's bad posting etiquette Comet Collision (4 msgs) Dyson Sphere Gore Blames George Bush for Big Bang melting Vesta nasa shake up rumor? pocket satellite receivers (was Re: how much is the 95LX) (2 msgs) Putting volatiles on the moon re HRMS for ETI (2 msgs) Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth? (2 msgs) Voyager Family Portrait 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: Tue, 27 Oct 1992 00:58:27 GMT From: Jack Romachek Subject: A career in the Space Program - or Forget It!? Newsgroups: sci.space I have been trying to get a job at a NASA center for the past two years, in particular JPL. I have very good connections there, but there appears to be no hope soon of gaining employment. It is very frustrating and discouraging. New layoffs in the SoCal aerospace industry are announced almost every other day, so I get the bleak picture of thousands of unemployed engineers with $2000/month house payments milling around the southland in search of work. In a very recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a 34-year-old engineer is going to be laid off from General Dynamics Space Systems Division this Dec. He was standing in line with 3000 other people waiting to be interviewed for 800 jobs at a local large Hotel. His aim was to get in "hotel sales". I heard another story about an unemployed G.D. engineer who made $80,000 a year who was learning COBOL so as to be more marketable as a business programmer. Stories like this are not encouraging to the hopeful youth of america yearning for a spot in the Space Program. Should I try some new approach to job hunting in aerospace, or should I totally concentrate on my other interest which is molecular biology? ----------------------- romachek@golem.ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 92 22:17:42 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: active planetary probes; should someone update the FAQ Newsgroups: sci.space In article nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes: >Notice that it doesn't mention Ulysses at all... Somewhat of an omission, although Ulysses is a *planetary* probe only by courtesy. It made a very interesting Jupiter flyby recently, but its mission is solar astrophysics and related topics. >... or Giotto, which I believe is still active... It's in hibernation after its second comet encounter, and will probably not be revived again -- it's too low on fuel to do much more, and its next Earth gravity-assist opportunity isn't until the end of the decade. >... I think that those two complete a roster of 10 probes in solar >orbits (or escape trajectories) from which we still receive signals. >Can anyone name any others? Well, the Pioneer Venus orbiter should have rated mention unless the FAQ was updated very recently, since it only just died. Pioneer 6 is still alive, and I think one or two of its later siblings are too, in near-Earth heliocentric orbits. >The FAQ also mentions the following plans for possible future >launches: > >Mercury Observer : possibly 1997 launch I would say that it's vanishingly unlikely that there will ever be another Observer-series mission. >Mars Rover Sample Return: possible launches 1996 (orbiter), 2001 (rover) No chance. There is interest in more modest unmanned Mars missions, but the big-ticket sample-return mission is only marginally feasible without on-orbit assembly (something the unmanned people have a paranoid fear of) and looks way too expensive for realistic near-future budgets. >Fire and Ice: possible launch 2001, gravity assist Jupiter, to sun & > Pluto (reach Pluto 2016) No longer at all likely, although fast-track non-Jupiter Pluto missions are being talked about. >Cassini... Still pretty much on track although it's been cut a little bit. -- MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1992 07:14:08 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: active planetary probes; should someone update the FAQ Newsgroups: sci.space In article , nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes... [List of active spacecraft from FAQ deleted] >Notice that it [FAQ] doesn't mention Ulysses at all (which I understand is >the `Solar Polar' mission), or Giotto, which I believe is still >active. I think that those two complete a roster of 10 probes in solar >orbits (or escape trajectories) from which we still receive signals. >Can anyone name any others? Can anyone tell me whether the Pioneers >are still alive (or give me launch dates)? Can anyone correct any of >these dates? > Sounds like the FAQ needs to be updated to include Ulysses, Giotto, Hiten and Pioneers 6-8. Geotail may even qualify since it made a couple of lunar flybys recently. As of a couple of weeks ago, the list would of included Pioneer Venus. >The FAQ also mentions the following plans for possible future >launches: > >Mercury Observer : possibly 1997 launch >Mars Rover Sample Return: possible launches 1996 (orbiter), 2001 (rover) >Fire and Ice: possible launch 2001, gravity assist Jupiter, to sun & > Pluto (reach Pluto 2016) >Cassini: launch October 97, gravity assists from Venus (21.04.98, > 20.06.99), Earth (16.08.99), Jupiter (30.12.00), arrive Saturn > 25.06.04, atmosphere probe of Titan, tour of system (35 flybys > of Titan etc). > A good portion of the future missions section of the FAQ was based on a posting that I made three years ago. Some of the information is obsolete, and I've been meaning to get it updated. The approved missions are the Soviet Mars '94 and '96 missions and the Cassini mission. Proposed missions include MESUR, NEAR, Pluto Fast Flyby, and Rosetta. I'll provide more details when I update the FAQ files. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| 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: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 23:47:15 GMT From: Josh 'K' Hopkins Subject: Clinton's bad posting etiquette Newsgroups: sci.space loeb@ai.mit.edu (Eric Loeb) writes: [on the subject of Clinton positions incorrectly posted] We did finally get an apology for bad posting etiquette, even if it wasn't the most polite I've ever seen (could be that the people mentioned deserved it though). Anyway, I just wanted to pull out this sentance. It probably wasn't meant the way it sounds, but it would explain a lot about the human/robots debate :-) >This is an official project of the MIT Artificial >Intelligence Laboratory, so there are naturally a great many bugs to >be expected. -- Josh Hopkins jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "We can lick gravity, but the paperwork's a bit tougher." Wernher von Braun ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 92 17:59:08 GMT From: Faust Subject: Comet Collision Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary In article <1992Oct26.150328.22285@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes: >In sci.space, article <92300.101858RFLOOD@ESOC.BITNET> writes: >> I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that NASA >> "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work) had >> tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it was due >> to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising it! > >When I heard this from my office mate, I was thrilled! Just picture >it: mankind is doomed, and only the space program can save us! THIS >is why I joined NASA! I quickly went downstairs to our coffee shop in >building 1 (run by a blind guy named Tom) and got change so I could >pick up a Houston Post. On the front page, above the fold, is a story >from Reuter News Service with a "Wilson da Silva" by-line. > >"A huge comet is on course to collide with Earth in the year 2116, and >could kill off most forms of life with an explosion more powerful than >a million atom bombs, [astronomer Duncan Steel of the Anglo-Australian >Observatory] told a space conference Sunday." -- Houston Post, 10/26/92 > >The date given in the Post is 2116, while the date given in the "SKY >TV" notice and the date my office mate gave me were both 2016. No >NASA people involved in the discovery. > Yes. The TV reports I saw were pretty garbled affairs, with very little in the way of hard information or any attribution of sources. Still, I should've known better than to rely on TV news for accurate reporting on astronomical/science matters (or anything else for that matter). After posting my original response, I went away to the library and did a little research (i.e. I looked at today's Guardian and last week's New Scientist) and found two reports concerning the collision. While both of them agree largely with the Reuters report, there seems to have been some confusion over the date of the hypothetical collision. Both the reports I have read state that the target date for the collision is the 14th August 2126. > >Of course, the million-nukes and plunge-into-Dark-Ages part of the >story was front page, but the technical details were on the >continuation on A-6. Reading the details, it becomes clear that there >are no calculations which prove there WILL be a collision, just >speculation that there MIGHT be a collision on August 14, 2116, >when Smith-Tuttle's orbit intersects that of the Earth. The two reports that I have read propose that the odds against the comet colliding with the Earth are 400 to 1. Still, when facing the complete extinction of the race (nay the entire biosphere most probably) they're still fairly worrying. > >Drat. I was hoping for the "Comet" movie scenario and a real shot >in the arm for the space program. A 2016 collision would be a >real challenge; 2116 is far enough away that Congress won't feel >the need for immediate action. > Yeah! It could have been "METEOR!!!", but for real. Life imitates art once again. Square jawned NASA heroes confront the awesome nemesis that threatens the very survival of the Earth and of the Human Race. Steeling themselves, they prepare to confront the most deadly part of their task: running the gauntlet of Congressmen hell bent on reducing the taxes spent on this 'High Frontier' nonsense. If the Comet had been due in 2016 could it have played a part in the current Presidential election campaign, which I believe is taking place in your fair nation? How would the three candidates have responded I wonder? Would the Christian Fundies start claiming it as God's Judgement on the human race? First AIDS...now the Comet! ******** *** ** ** ******* ******** "Quantum Mechanics: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** even I don't fully ****** ******* ** ** ******* ** understand it." ** ** ** ** ** ** ** - Ian Sales ** ** ** ****** ******** ** csh019@cch.cov.ac.uk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 22:19:45 GMT From: "John P. Mechalas" Subject: Comet Collision Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary In article csh019@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Faust) writes: > > Here are the two reports I managed to uncover concerning the Comet > Collision: > > "COLLISION SCENARIO SAYS WORLD TO END IN 134 YEARS" > > -- Tim Radford, Guardian Science Editor > > "A huge comet, due to pass close to the Sun in December, could > on its next trip - 134 years from now - collide with the Earth > with catastrophic consequences, an Australian astronomer warned > yesterday." [stuff deleted] I saw a lot of stuff on this, too. And it brings up an interesting point. There have been a lot of scientists in recent years discussing the possibilities of comets and/or meteors striking the Earth. My question: How hard would it be to deflect an incoming object with, say, a nuclear explosive? This theory is one I have heard postulated many times, and have wondered how easy or hard such a task would be. The orbit mechanics aspects could be worked out, I am sure...given enough time. Plus, the greater the distance, the smaller an orbital perturbation would be needed to alter the orbit. But how much warning would we have in such an instance? -- John Mechalas "I'm not an actor, but mechalas@gn.ecn.purdue.edu I play one on TV." Aero Engineering, Purdue University #include disclaimer.h ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 22:49:52 GMT From: Dave Tholen Subject: Comet Collision Newsgroups: sci.space In article <92300.101858RFLOOD@ESOC.BITNET> writes: > I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that > NASA "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work) > had tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it > was due to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising > it ! P/Swift-Tuttle has something like a 1/10,000 chance of hitting the Earth during it's next perihelion passage in 2126 ("the mother of all Perseid meteor showers"). All depends on how the non-gravitational forces (read outgassing) adjust the time of its perihelion passage. July 26 would be a particularly bad day for the comet to reach perihelion, but it's currently within the range of possibilities. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 22:42:55 GMT From: Nate Smith Subject: Comet Collision Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary In article black@breeze.rsre.mod.uk (John Black) writes: > >In "New Scientist", a reputable science weekly in the UK, the collision date >is down as 14th August 2126. The period is about 130 years according to the >article. It says the chances of a collision are 1 in 400. > > John Black. this is the date i heard. here is another example of the media blowing up a story and siezing on key words to raise interest at the expense of giving us useful information. 2016? that would get viewer interest, but 2126 is further away than the national debt....:-) - nate ------------------------------ Date: 27 Oct 92 04:21:53 GMT From: John Roberts Subject: Dyson Sphere Newsgroups: sci.space -From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) -Subject: Re: Dyson sphere -Date: 24 Oct 92 02:20:25 GMT -In article <6188@ucsbcsl.ucsb.edu> 3001crad@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Charles Frank Radley) writes: ->Does a Dyson sphere spin or rotate? -Depends on the level of technology used to build it. Dyson's original -concept -- a cloud of smaller habitats individually in orbit -- obviously -did. The problem with a solid sphere is, what *holds it up*? Even if -you spin it, that only supports the equator -- what keeps the poles from -falling inward? Of course there's photon pressure, which is greater than what would be available at an equal distance from the sun without the Dyson sphere. It's not enough to hold up anything really massive, but you could at least make a thin shell, perhaps holding up localized regions of greater density. The mass per unit area supported should be independent of the radius of the sphere. By the way, in my attempted calculations last week for a sphere with a diffuse partially reflecting inner surface, I came up with the wrong formula for the usable photon pressure against the inner surface. I'll try to fix the equations next week. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 17:50:46 GMT From: Jeff Bytof Subject: Gore Blames George Bush for Big Bang Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space >The Clinton/Gore Campaign is like a man trying to bed a beautiful virgin. They >promise anything that they think can woo her to bed. What usually happens is >that after the conquest the virgin is discarded as trash. Let this not happen >to our nation. >Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville I agree whole-heartedly with this example. It especially fits the facts on Clinton as presented in the PBS/Frontline biography aired recently (one of the most helpful media pieces I've seen in helping to decide who to cast my vote for - better than the debates). I hope that there's still time enough for the Clinton/Perot smoke screen to dissipate. ---------------------- rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 23:19:16 GMT From: Bruce Scott Subject: melting Vesta Newsgroups: sci.space The moon would have been largely melted during the collision episode which formed it, assuming this scenario is correct. I have not seen collision scenarios discussed vis-a-vis the asteroids, but it at least seems reasonable to concoct one to explain the Vesta/Ceres problem. One needs a proof-of-principle run from a simulation. Maybe Benz et al, who did the smooth particle hydrodynamics calculations for the Moon/Earth and Mercury collision scenarios could get interested. Gruss, The deadliest bullshit is Bruce D. Scott odorless and transparent bds@spl6n1.aug.ipp-garching.mpg.de -- W Gibson Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik -- The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service. internet: bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 18:39:09 -0600 From: pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) Subject: nasa shake up rumor? Quoth Josh 'k' Hopkins regarding NASA SHAKE UP RUMOR? on 10-22-92: J'> Goldin is apparently opening J'>competion for replacements to outsiders, which has some worried that N J'>be taken over by DoD and DoE types. >To feed the rumor mill still further, rumor has it that Richard Truly is >preparing, once Al Gore takes over for Dan Quayle, to take a White House >position directing NASA. This may have something to do with the present >shakeup. >Justice served, if you ask me. Why is Truly good? Are you one of the people who actually enjoys aspace program that for ten billion dollars a year does nothing but inflate the price of entering space beyond the reach of private individuals and "proving" that the cheaper programs we had before, like Apollo, are impossible? If Clinton/Gore does this, in ten years we won't have a space program, just more of these Space Shuttle rides, 1/2 billion for half a dozen entertainee/astronauts. And I hope the US remains the third world nation it so obviously wants to be, wallowing in the mud while the Europeans, Russians and Japanese, who spent 1/10 the money we did on ASRM to make Gore happy on liquid air cycle engines instead, go on to the stars. --- > ~ WinQwk 2.0 a#299 ~ "I can feel it, Dave; my mind. It's going. Stop, Dave." -- Buddy, in four years, you're going to _want_ an insanity defense. Or you'll qualify for one, being one of the happy demented who think the Space Scuttle program counts as real space exploration, not remembering that you voted for the party that has said that they'll shut down all alternative programs. -- Phil Fraering pgf@srl0x.cacs.usl.edu where the x is a number from 1-5. Phone: 318/365-5418 SnailMail: 2408 Blue Haven Dr., New Iberia, La. 70560 --------------------- Disclaimer: Some reasonably forseeable events may exceed this message's capability to protect from severe injury, death, widespread disaster, astronomically significant volumes of space approaching a state of markedly increaced entropy, or taxes. The world will end tomorrow. NASA scientists note that this was the way the system was designed to operate. - From the Nov. Focus in Sky and Telescope, on a hypothetical NASA press release on something hitting the Earth... ------------------------------ Date: 27 Oct 92 03:46:46 GMT From: Burn Hockey Subject: pocket satellite receivers (was Re: how much is the 95LX) Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48,comp.sys.palmtops,sci.space : There is a GPS receiver for the 95, it probably also uses the serial : port and would work with other serial devices. : Can someone point me to information on this GPS receiver please? Burn Hockey burn@geog.canterbury.ac.nz ------------------------------ Date: 27 Oct 92 04:46:08 GMT From: Anthony J Stieber Subject: pocket satellite receivers (was Re: how much is the 95LX) Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48,comp.sys.palmtops,sci.space In article burn@geog.canterbury.ac.nz (Burn Hockey) writes: >: There is a GPS receiver for the 95, it probably also uses the serial >: port and would work with other serial devices. >: >Can someone point me to information on this GPS receiver please? Sure. Since there doesn't seem to be much interest in this elsewhere, I'm setting followups to comp.sys.palmtops. GESSA USA: 615-988-8900, 615-988-6619 fax CH: +41 (22) 3427806, 3427805 fax This is from a posting in comp.sys.handhelds in July, I don't know anything else. I'm sure there are other GPS receivers with serial ports with varying degrees of portability. -- <-:(= Anthony Stieber anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 21:40:50 GMT From: Dave Jones Subject: Putting volatiles on the moon Newsgroups: sci.space Donald Lindsay (lindsay+@cs.cmu.edu) wrote: > > I haven't followed all the let's-mine-comets discussions, so maybe > this one's been done to death already, but: > > Why not get rid of earth-crossing objects by deliberately crashing > them into the Moon? > I'd hate to try that and be off by 2.5e5 miles.... > There may be residual volatiles on the Moon, or there may not be. But > the chances sure would go up if we dumped a six-mile ball of ice > there. > Assuming the debris didn't just splash up into orbit.... Large impacts at 40 mi/sec don't always do what you want. -- ||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY | ------------------------------ From: Nick Haines Subject: re HRMS for ETI Newsgroups: sci.space Originator: nickh@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: Usenet News System Nntp-Posting-Host: voila.venari.cs.cmu.edu Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University References: Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 23:03:45 GMT Lines: 31 Source-Info: Sender is really isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU In article steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes: In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: [...] Yah, the Fermi paradox is undeniably the more interesting issue right now, especially as opinion is converging on planetary systems being common and plenty of planets per. There is of course the question of evolution of intelligence, but I think the dominant factor is lifetime of _communicating_ civilization - interestingly our single number statistic puts the lifetime of order 100 yrs which implies one per galaxy at any one time :-( But then the inevitable problem is that with that many samples one of them should make it to many mean lifetimes and take over and we recover the paradox. Curioser and curioser. I think the P(life evolving) is the least known, or even guessable, factor in the Drake eqn. From my reading on that, the evolution of a complex self-reproducing system such as earth life looks very unlikely. A good introductory book to the current thinking about the complex process involved is: A.G.Cairns-Smith, `Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story', Cambridge University Press, Canto imprint, 1990, ISBN 0 521 39828 2. My guess for P(life evolving | suitable planet) is 1e-12. Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 92 16:39:21 From: Steinn Sigurdsson Subject: re HRMS for ETI Newsgroups: sci.space In article nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes: In article steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes: In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: [...] Yah, the Fermi paradox is undeniably the more interesting issue right now, especially as opinion is converging on planetary systems being common and plenty of planets per. There is of course the question of evolution of intelligence, but I think the dominant factor is lifetime of _communicating_ civilization - interestingly our single number statistic puts I think the P(life evolving) is the least known, or even guessable, factor in the Drake eqn. From my reading on that, the evolution of a complex self-reproducing system such as earth life looks very unlikely. A good introductory book to the current thinking about the complex process involved is: ...ref deleted... My guess for P(life evolving | suitable planet) is 1e-12. Well, I disagree, I'd put it at 0.1-1.0 (formally I'd actually put it at 0.5 if really pressed) but then we have very poor sampling on that. Maybe further discussion on that line should move out of sci.space | Steinn Sigurdsson |I saw two shooting stars last night | | Lick Observatory |I wished on them but they were only satellites | | steinly@lick.ucsc.edu |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware? | | "standard disclaimer" |I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983 | ------------------------------ Date: 27 Oct 92 02:06:29 GMT From: "J. D. McDonald" Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth? Newsgroups: sci.space In article steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes: >Speed relative to Earth is 50 km/s Lord Almighty! 1/6 the speed of light!!!!!! ??????? Doug McDonald ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 92 23:56:11 From: Brian Yamauchi Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth? Newsgroups: sci.space In article steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes: >In article <1992Oct26.184231.1@cc.helsinki.fi> tavaila@cc.helsinki.fi writes: >The current best solution has it missing the Earth in July 2126, >but a 15 day delay places it on collision on August 14th. >As a matter of interest, the best orbit fit for its return once >it was realised which returning comet it was off by 17 days. >Swift-Tuttle is >virtually certain to hit the Earth at some point during the next >few million years >As is we can't even rendezvous with >the thing, would be nice to put a transceiver on it for future >reference ;-) Maybe this would be a good justification for reviving CRAF -- complete with penetrator. :-) Of course, it's too late for Swift-Tuttle, but surely we can find another Earth-crossing comet which is posing an imminent threat to all life on the planet... -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi Case Western Reserve University yamauchi@alpha.ces.cwru.edu Department of Computer Engineering and Science _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Oct 92 22:07:15 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Voyager Family Portrait Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Oct25.153622.15780@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes: >>on one of the walls of Von Karman Auditorium across from Voyager 3. > >Voyager 3? A third probe whose mission got cancelled after it was built? >What would its mission have been? There was a fairly complete Voyager spare built, I believe -- the last time NASA did that -- and there was some discussion of the possibility of putting it into a Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto (I think) trajectory if neither of the "flight" Voyagers had a launch failure. It was never an approved mission; remember that Voyager was originally "Mariner Jupiter-Saturn" -- nothing beyond Saturn was part of the Voyager primary mission. -- MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 348 ------------------------------