Date: Sat, 5 Dec 92 18:12:36 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #510 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 5 Dec 92 Volume 15 : Issue 510 Today's Topics: DC costs and markets NSSDC Data on CD-ROM Rush Limbaugh says problems with HST are a DoD hoax! (3 msgs) STS-48 and "SDI": Oberg vs. Hoagland US weather satellite question (2 msgs) 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: Sat, 5 Dec 1992 17:58:53 GMT From: Bruce Dunn Subject: DC costs and markets Newsgroups: sci.space Regarding the DC series Henry Spencer writes: > > Add it all up and we're looking at maybe $100k per flight, dominated by > maintenance manpower. A hundred test flights is no problem; a thousand > would be affordable in an airliner-like development budget. And from another posting regarding Shuttle reliability after Challenger: > I know what my private consulting statistician :-) (she lives with me) > would > say: "not enough data points". The post-Challenger upgrades undoubtedly > have improved the situation some: there are situations which would > formerly > have been unsurvivable that the system can now cope with. But we are far > from having any useful estimate of overall reliability. The shuttle just > has not flown enough times. An advantage of the DC approach to launching payloads which has not received much attention to date is that it potentially can fly often enough to generate some really believable data on failure rates. A couple of hundred flights without a failure whould indicate that the reliability of the DC is likely to be better than that of expendible launchers. This would then be a strong selling point for the DC in attempting to attract commercial customers from their traditional launch systems. -- Bruce Dunn Vancouver, Canada Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1992 14:22:49 GMT From: "Peter G. Ford" Subject: NSSDC Data on CD-ROM Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1992Dec5.033643.16554@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ryan Korniloff) writes: >Black and white!? Well, I understand that Voyager's cameras took 3 pictures >to make a complete color image - in a green, then red, then blue (was it >yellow??) filter. Then, on the ground, the images were processed to make >the color image. Can this be done with IMDISP or any other image >displaying software? I was really excited with the prospect of purchasing >CD-ROMs of the images. Now I'm not so sure it would be worth it for me. >Is it the same for Magellan? And what about the Mars Observer in the >future? Are those images going to be in B/W? The major reason for copying raw Voyager and Magellan data to CD-ROM has been to preserve them for scientific study. Since there are many possible ways to present the data, NASA has decided to concentrate on archiving the raw images first. Ron Baalke will be able to tell you whether IMDISP can combine Voyager frames. I suspect that it can, but some distortion will result when the target has moved in the frame from one filter to another. Magellan images represent radar backscatter efficiency--they have nothing whatever in common with what we perceive as color. Any use of color in images published by the Magellan project serves some other scientific or aesthetic purpose. The altimetry and radiometry global image disk (volume MG_3001) contains a variety of software and color palettes for viewing all Magellan images on MS-DOS, MacOS, and UNIX/X11 systems, but the colors will be subjective. Immediately a raw planetary image is "enhanced", reasonable people will differ on the validity of the techniques used--just read the recent flames on the use of false color, exaggerated topography, etc. in this newsgroup. In those cases, images that were generated for legitimate scientific purposes, and whose exaggerations were fully understood by their intended audiences, were released to the public. Many of these are available from NASA sponsored archives such as the National Space Science Data Center, the JPL Public Information Office, and on-line archives such as "ames.arc.nasa.gov". The CD-ROMs are different--they are as absolutely accurate as we can make them--but "some assembly is required". Peter Ford Magellan Project and NASA Planetary Data System ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 92 18:15:33 GMT From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos Subject: Rush Limbaugh says problems with HST are a DoD hoax! Newsgroups: sci.space In article <19674@ksr.com> jfw@ksr.com (John F. Woods) writes: >rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ryan Korniloff) writes: >>The popular American radio personality Rush Limbaugh stated today that the >>problems with HSTs mirror are a Department of Defense hoax. > >This has to be the funniest article I have read on USENET in years. But not the funniest thing Rush has said over the last couple of years. I usually listen to him on Saturdays (best of...) while mowing my lawn or doing housework... He's pretty funny if not taken seriously, but I have a feeling that I'm a minority among his listeners. For the most part he's an egotistic jerk. But just like on Usenet, many times, egotistic jerks provide the biggest entertainment of all. Spiros -- Spiros Triantafyllopoulos c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com Software Technology, Delco Electronics (317) 451-0815 GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904 [A Different Kind of Disclaimer] ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 92 15:56:36 GMT From: Matthew Kaiser <52kaiser@sol.cs.wmich.edu> Subject: Rush Limbaugh says problems with HST are a DoD hoax! Newsgroups: sci.space didn't anyone hear about the Aurora plane the AirForce has? Aviation Week and Space Technology say it could be a Sanger like space plane matthew 52kaiser@sol.cs.wmich.eud ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 92 18:01:37 GMT From: "Richard A. Schumacher" Subject: Rush Limbaugh says problems with HST are a DoD hoax! Newsgroups: sci.space To be fair, one of the first things anyone wants to do with a new radio source is to look for an optical counterpart. But who knows whether Limbaugh understands the difference between optical and radio? The rumor is still ridiculous. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1992 12:41:34 GMT From: Alec Habig Subject: STS-48 and "SDI": Oberg vs. Hoagland Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,sci.astro,sci.space,alt.alien.visitors In article <1992Dec5.090008.4007@netcom.com> jeffp@netcom.com (Jeff) writes: >In article <1992Dec4.215702.5218@news.cs.brandeis.edu> corbisier@binah.cc.brandeis.edu writes: >>James Oberg will _of course_ have an explanation. He is a member of >>PSICOP and works with Philip Klass, THE well-known skeptic "nothing- >>is-real" other famous member of PSICOP. I've been seeing more and >>more things from Oberg lately, and I *never* see this connection >>mentioned, only his NASA ties. > >THANKYOU, BARB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >I love it when Oberg is on the TV or radio, and he says: > >"So the UFO people say that the government has known about UFO's for >over 40 years, and has managed to keep a secret all this time. Now >how likely do you think that is?" > >It's not what he says, but HOW he says it that registered "FALSE" in >my intuitive lie detector... > >I trust more of what "Uncle Mitty" has to say, since he most likely >stole it from sources that know what they are talking about. I dunno... I read the article in question, and Oberg seemed to do a careful job of analyzing the situation and coming up with very reasonable explanations for what was a very hyped up topic. If there are points to his discussion that you have problems with, well, talk about those points - dimissing the whole thing because you don't really like the guy seems pretty weak. Alec PS - If being known as a guy who is good at explaining weird things without resorting to weird explanations is somehow a bad thing, then this is a bit of bad reputation I'd like to have! The guys at PSICOP have been known to go overboard sometimes, but in general their analysis is worth listening to. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 92 17:08:38 GMT From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos Subject: US weather satellite question Newsgroups: sci.space Hi folks, I have a relatively simple question... A year or two back I remember that the US was down to its last weather satelite and that there was no modern replacement in sight. Is that an accurate statement? Having a long commute over potentially screwed up roads I watch the weather channel religiously during winter driving season. Their forecasts seem to be getting worse and worse, at least in the area where I am (Indianapolis, IN). Could the lack of funding and/or satelites be affecting this or it's simply that still after all these years weather is hard to predict? I have noticed that the forecast quality seems to have worsened considerably in the last two years; Having heard the thing about the sat's made me wonder if there's any relationship. Any details on the sattelites used in weather forecasting will be appreciated. Thanks, Spiros -- Spiros Triantafyllopoulos c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com Software Technology, Delco Electronics (317) 451-0815 GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904 [A Different Kind of Disclaimer] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Dec 92 12:02:25 EST From: John Roberts Subject: US weather satellite question -From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) -Subject: US weather satellite question -Date: 4 Dec 92 17:08:38 GMT -Organization: Delco Electronics Corp. -I have a relatively simple question... A year or two back I remember -that the US was down to its last weather satelite and that there was -no modern replacement in sight. Is that an accurate statement? -Having a long commute over potentially screwed up roads I watch the -weather channel religiously during winter driving season. Their forecasts -seem to be getting worse and worse, at least in the area where I am -(Indianapolis, IN). Could the lack of funding and/or satelites be -affecting this or it's simply that still after all these years weather -is hard to predict? -Spiros Triantafyllopoulos c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com -Software Technology, Delco Electronics (317) 451-0815 -GM Hughes Electronics, Kokomo, IN 46904 [A Different Kind of Disclaimer] The main reason is that a technical difficulty has shown up in the new generation of weather satellites. I believe the problem is that the primary mirror is prone to warping in the sunlight. I don't know what the schedule for fixing the satellites is. (The problem was discovered before launch.) The US loaned a weather satellite to Europe some years ago (by shifting its position to cover Europe), and Europe is returning the favor by loaning one of theirs to the US. I believe that with the current configuration, the west coast and the Pacific Ocean are not getting adequate coverage, and since the weather in these regions generally moves east over the rest of the country, that could effect all US weather predictions. As you mention, accurate weather prediction is still extremely difficult, particularly for snow. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 510 ------------------------------