Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 11:02:00 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #153 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Fri, 12 Feb 93 Volume 16 : Issue 153 Today's Topics: An 'agitator' replies (was: Clinton's Promises...) Automatic Refueling/Liquid Feul Safe! Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle Cooling re-entry vehicles. Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 [Part 2] Fred is dead again. Getting people into Space Program! hilarious Just Hit 'N' ??? man-rating Polar Orbit Polar Orbits Sabatier Reactors. Solar Sail power Supporting private space activities Tethers for electricity generation Tethers for electricity generation, bouy/mars.. Wood Pulp/Ice/Landing Strips.. Znamya "flash" track 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: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:08:16 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: An 'agitator' replies (was: Clinton's Promises...) Newsgroups: sci.space In <1l21mnINNdio@phantom.gatech.edu> matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca) writes: >I'd be surprised if that was the case. Physiological reactions to >weightlessness will occur at the same rate, I am sure, but learned >reactions and skills such as how to physically move about and how to >perform basic functions should be picked up much faster than the first >time around. None of which has much relevence if you spend your time being sick as dog due to spacesickness (or using those learned reactions and skills to care for fellow crewmembers who are sick as dogs). ------------------------------ Date: 8 Feb 93 00:09:50 GMT From: nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu Subject: Automatic Refueling/Liquid Feul Safe! Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Feb7.200108.29441@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>, fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary) writes: > In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >>>... they will be using hydrazine thrusters. BTW, these thrusters are the >>>single heviest items to be returned to Earth. They must be returned intact >>>since it would be too dangerous to re-fuel them in orbit. > >>The Soviets/Russians have only been doing such refuelling for ten years, >>after all... > > And the Soviets have had an unmanned resupply craft, launched on a > cheap, Atlas-class launcher, available for such refullings. As > far as I know, NASA has no plans to develop such a craft, and as > a cargo/fuel transport the Shuttle isn't exactly cost-effective... > By the way, how do they plan to get around the no-liquid-fuel-payload > requirement imposed on the Shuttle after the Challenger accident? > > Frank Crary > CU Boulder Why not ship the feul up by auto, in a form that is volitle or less so.. Propane is less volitle to a point, or have the feul suspended in a medium that makes it less suseptible to explosion/fire... But that is also easy to seperate once it gets there. I do like the automatic thing.. Michael Adams Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel nsmca@acad2.alaska.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:35:38 GMT From: Go Sunatori Subject: Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle Newsgroups: sci.materials,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle = manufacturer: - Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. Space Systems Division Aerospace Ceramic Systems Orgn. 70-05, Bldg. 174 1111, Lockheed Way Sunnyvale, CA 94089-3504 tel: +1 408-742-0832 fax: +1 408-742-0799 = Refractory Composite Insulation - LI900: Lockheed Insulation/ 9 pound per cubic foot - LI2200: Lockheed Insulation/22 pound per cubic foot - FRCI-12: Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation = HTP (High Thermal Performance) - HTP-12-22 Yours/Bien a vous, __________________ Go Simon Sunatori, P.Eng. +------------------------------------+------------------------------------+ | X.400: C=CA; A=Telecom.Canada; P=BNR; S=Sunatori; G=Go; DD.ID=1342639 | | Envoy: [ID=1342639 Go Sunatori]BNR | Bell-Northern Research Ltd. | | Internet: sunatori@bnr.ca | Department 5C22, Mailstop Code 029 | | Tel (office): ESN 393-5117 | P.O. Box 3511, Station C | | Tel (office): +1 613-763-5117 | 3500, Carling Avenue | | Tel (residence): +1 819-595-9210 | Ottawa (Ontario) | | Fax (office): +1 613-763-2404 | CANADA K1Y 4H7 | +------------------------------------+------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:12:48 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: Cooling re-entry vehicles. Newsgroups: sci.space In henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >>Gary Hudson is proposing a similar system for his Skyrocket >>and Frequent Flyer (at least the leading edges) except that >>he has the ice inside the metal skin. >Actually, he talked a little bit about this at Making Orbit. He said that >the much greater heat loads of a winged reentry are a bit much for such >a system to handle all by itself, at first glance, but there are tricks >you can play (he didn't elaborate). My take on this was that freezing the water was one of the tricks he alluded to. The water-cooled heat-shield concepts I've seen in the past used water in the liquid phase, but freezing would add a significant heat of fusion. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 93 20:52:00 GMT From: Larry Klaes Subject: Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 [Part 2] Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,alt.sci.planetary,soc.culture.soviet revealed to be a world more like the fire and brimstone vision of Hell from Christianity. Instead of invoking fear, however, there was now even greater curiosity and will to learn why a planet so similar to Earth in many fundamental ways could also be so radically different at the same time. Bibliography - Burgess, Eric, VENUS: AN ERRANT TWIN, Columbia University Press, New York, 1985 Burrows, William E., EXPLORING SPACE: VOYAGES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND BEYOND, Random House, Inc., New York, 1990 Davies, Merton E., and Bruce C. Murray, THE VIEW FROM SPACE: PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE PLANETS, Columbia University Press, New York, 1971 Gatland, Kenneth, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY, Salamander Books, New York, 1989 Gatland, Kenneth, ROBOT EXPLORERS, Blandford Press Ltd., London, Macmillan Company, New York, 1972 Hart, Douglas, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOVIET SPACECRAFT, Exeter Books, New York, 1987 Johnson, Nicholas L., HANDBOOK OF SOVIET LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION, American Astronautical Society, Univelt, Inc., San Diego, California, 1979 Newlan, Irl, FIRST TO VENUS: THE STORY OF MARINER 2, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1963 Nicks, Oran W., FAR TRAVELERS: THE EXPLORING MACHINES, NASA SP-480, Washington, D.C., 1985 Sagan, Carl, and Jonathan Norton Leonard, PLANETS, Life Science Library, Time, Inc., New York, 1966 Shelton, William, SOVIET SPACE EXPLORATION: THE FIRST DECADE, Washington Square Press, Inc., New York, 1968 Smith, Arthur, PLANETARY EXPLORATION: THIRTY YEARS OF UNMANNED SPACE PROBES, Patrick Stephens, Ltd., Wellingborough, Northamp- tonshire, England, 1988 Stoiko, Michael, SOVIET ROCKETRY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1970 VOYAGE THROUGH THE UNIVERSE: THE NEAR PLANETS, By the Editors of Time-Life Books, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, 1990 Wilson, Andrew, JANE'S SOLAR SYSTEM LOG, Jane's Publishing, Inc., New York, 1987 About the Author - Larry Klaes, EJASA Editor, is the recipient of the ASA's 1990 Meritorious Service Award for his work as Editor of the EJASA since its founding in August of 1989. Larry also teaches a course on Basic Astronomy at the Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education Program in Massachusetts. Larry is the author of the following EJASA articles: "The One Dream Man: Robert H. Goddard, Rocket Pioneer" - August 1989 "Stopping Space and Light Pollution" - September 1989 "The Rocky Soviet Road to Mars" - October 1989 "Astronomy and the Family" - May 1991 THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC February 1993 - Vol. 4, No. 7 Copyright (c) 1993 - ASA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:31:58 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: Fred is dead again. Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space In henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >Latest news: Clinton has denied any plan to terminate Fred, although >he has not ruled out cutting it back. Of course, Henry. No one comes right out and kills a project anymore. Instead, they "support it as a research program." Just like SDI and NASP. ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 93 23:49:53 GMT From: nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu Subject: Getting people into Space Program! Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Feb7.140043.12015@ke4zv.uucp>, gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes: > In article <1993Feb3.152851.1@acad3.alaska.edu> nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu writes: >>It seems that we are putting more in to our Space Program more than is >>necesary.. >> >>Why can't we put some "common people" into orbit.. Why must it be PHds and >>such. It sure would get more voters involved, after all why must I as a voter >>spend money on a project for the direct benefit for some technocrat? Why not >>have a national lottery for a one time position on the Shuttle or some other >>mission into space.. Common people do not get excited about abstract things, >>but get excited about tangible things.. If I was working for a NASA contractor, >>I might get excited more about space. But if Im a autoworker, what does space >>benefit me/and my job, none directly... > > No, but offering it as an expensive Disneyworld ride to some lottery > winner doesn't benefit society either. And attempting to do so will > only make space exploration seem more of a bad joke to the lay public > than it does now. The big complaint now is that we are "throwing away > all that money in space." Making it a sideshow ride would just emphasize > the apparant lack of merit of the program in the common mind. > >>We need to get the space program down to the common person so that they can >>understand where it is going and what benefits there is to it.. > > *We* don't understand where it's going or what benefits it may ultimately > have. We have ideas, but we are at the stage of the mapmaker who draws > "Here there be dragons" on empty spaces in his maps. What you're asking > is similar to asking Lewis and Clark to take some tourists along to take > a look at America. Space is not even at the point of Seward's Folly right > now. It's fodder for explorers and researchers, but not yet for settlers > or tourists. Any large scale benefits for society at large, aside from some > remote sensing and communications, is decades away at best, centuries is > probably a more likely time scale. > > Much as I'd like it to be true, I don't expect to see Japanese tourist > hotels in space in my lifetime. Or colonies on the Moon or Mars, or > large scale industrial activity for that matter. I *believe* all of > that will happen eventually, but it's going to be a slow step by step > process for which we are just now beginning to lay the faintest hint > of infrastructure. We're floating coracles in a pond, ocean liners > are a long way off. > > Gary > -- > Gary Coffman KE4ZV | You make it, | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary > Destructive Testing Systems | we break it. | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary > 534 Shannon Way | Guaranteed! | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary > Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | | Well Gary your answer to what space is, is a classic example of why people are loosing interest in space.. Such is life and fun.. The US will just become a second class power.. Michael Adams Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel nsmca@acad2.alaska.edu ------------------------------ Date: 8 Feb 93 00:44:41 GMT From: Tom A Baker Subject: hilarious Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.privacy In article <6FEB199317111584@pavo.concordia.ca> jt_rask@pavo.concordia.ca (RASKU, JASON T.) writes: >Is there anything that can be done to prevent anon postings in groups that >there is no reason to post anonomously? I CAN see some people who don't >have access to a group posting anonomously but I'm sure that consideration >can be made for them. Is there ANY way that a UNIVERSAL kill file can be >created in order to keep people from posting GARBAGE anonomusly? There is >NO reason to not post publicly if you are posting something you feel is of >worth unless you CAN'T post any other way. What does the rest of the net >think of this? I direct your attention to the last line of the article in question... >Please report any problems, innapropriate use, etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi I'm sending mine within the next five minutes. >In article <1993Feb6.183234.7579@fuug.fi>, an8785@anon.penet.fi (Tesuji) writes... >>The response the Challenger transcript has gotten >>has been hilarious. >> >>If you guys can't joke about bone cancer, >>childhood leukemia, and facing certain >>horrifying death, then you guys don't have >>the perspective to call yourself adults. >> >>Get a life. Get *seven*. Ha ha. In a sci.space discussion on this subject, I'd probably call this flaming, and while it is probably inappropriate, the best thing to do is ignore it. BUT .. if there is any chance at all of anonymous servers being shut down, or of anonymous posts being killed out of discussion, then I'd push people into voicing their complaints to the anonymous administrator, as I said. Anonymous sources have had their uses for a long time. If some government employee (and I won't say which government) has some dirt they'd like to expose, but doesn't want to lose their job ... that is the appropriate channel. tombaker ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:07:21 GMT From: MAYTAG CHRISTOPHER P Subject: Just Hit 'N' ??? Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,comp.org.eff.talk In article <1993Feb7.132730.1@stsci.edu> hathaway@stsci.edu writes: >> ... if you don't like it, hit N. >> > >I must have seen this advice dozens of times on the net. Unfortunately >it doesn't work. At least on my machine. >When I hit "N", all I get is: > >%CLI-W-ABVERB, ambiguous command verb - supply more characters > >"NE" gets the same thing. >However, "NEX" or "NEXT" goes to the following message. >Is this what all this free advice (worth every penny) on 'just hit "n"' means? >If so, be advised (for Free) that it ain't necessarily so. Try again. > >Wm. Hathaway Most people use nn, rn, trn...and N works for us. (if you don't like this message, just hit 'N'...) -- / christopher maytag / cis:76500,1205 genie:c.maytag / VOTE FREEDOM- / / boulder, co. / --------------------------- / VOTE / / 303.440.9452 / maytag@cs.colorado.edu / LIBERTARIAN / ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:53:03 GMT From: Tom A Baker Subject: man-rating Newsgroups: sci.space >>> Just what is "man-rating" ? What sort of extras does the rocket need to >>> be man rated? In addition to the other posts, I'll add that NASA used to have the requirement in the 1960's that man-rating required two successful unmanned launches. So I remember. tombaker ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:31:06 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Polar Orbit Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Feb7.052440.14028@ee.ubc.ca> davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes: > "But it's most economical to do it from a pad close to the pole. And the > people who can do things for the lowest cost are going to come out on top > in this business." > ... >Once again, I admit that *my* calculations don't show much of an advantage >to launching into polar orbit from a polar latitude either... Notice that he doesn't say there's a *big* advantage, just that there's an advantage. Remember that if you care about exact orbital position of individual satellites, e.g. for maintaining proper spacing in a low-orbit comsat constellation, every extra kilogram you can get into orbit means more stationkeeping fuel and longer satellite life. Arianespace makes a considerable point of this in advertising Kourou as the preferred launch site for Clarke orbit -- most existing comsats *can* go up from the Cape instead, but at the price of a bit less fuel and slightly shorter life. I admit that I too would like to see numbers, but I'm inclined to give Tennyson the benefit of the doubt -- I don't know him personally, but some of my friends do, and they've got considerable respect for him. -- C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology effect since OS/360. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:13:00 GMT From: Dave Michelson Subject: Polar Orbits Newsgroups: sci.space I've received quite a bit of E-mail on this subject... My original query was, "What am I missing? My calculations *don't* show that there is much of an advantage". Most of the correspondence was "technical" in nature, if a little hand-wavy, and simply confirmed that the intuition of others mirror my own. This response was the most interesting of the bunch. I still suspect that Tennyson was misquoted. But the whole tenor of Canadian Space Technoloogies argument that Churchill should be reactivated is based on this "fact"... .In article <1993Feb7.052440.14028@ee.ubc.ca>, you write (quoting an article .written by someone else): [from The Financial Post Magazine, Dec 1992 - dm] .> Most small satellites [of the type used in systems like Iridium and such] .> will orbit around the poles of the earth. "Theoretically, you can send a .> satellite into polar orbit from anywhere on the globe," says Rod Tennyson, .> director of the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies. .> "But it's most economical to do it from a pad close to the pole. And the .> people who can do things for the lowest cost are going to come out on top .> in this business." .Dave, .Tennyson is wrong, of course, if this statement has to stand on its own. I .suspect this is a self-serving partial falsehood designed to promote his .own project with the people who must fund it if it is to proceed. That is .just a guess, however; this is the only reference I have heard to this... .It is this kind of self-delusion which will lose for science the .credibility which has taken almost four centuries to establish. If my guess .is correct, I find it deplorable. Churchill is not the most economical .place to do anything! .(I'm really a coward at heart; I should post this! If you like, you may .paraphrase it and post it as being from "a (completely unqualified) source .who wished to remain anonymous") :-)) If Tennyson was misquoted, I'm going to write a letter to the Financial Post echoing the comments of my correspondent. Misleading the business community about "investment opportunities" like this -- and the article was certainly very clear that CST was actively looking for investors -- is indeed deplorable. --- Dave Michelson University of British Columbia davem@ee.ubc.ca Antenna Laboratory ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:36:12 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Sabatier Reactors. Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Feb7.200108.29441@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary) writes: >>>... they will be using hydrazine thrusters. BTW, these thrusters are the >>>single heviest items to be returned to Earth. They must be returned intact >>>since it would be too dangerous to re-fuel them in orbit. > >By the way, how do they plan to get around the no-liquid-fuel-payload >requirement imposed on the Shuttle after the Challenger accident? There is no such requirement; spacecraft with large amounts of liquid fuel in their tanks have flown a number of times. The recent extended- duration mission even had LH2/LOX tanks in the cargo bay. It was only Centaur that was banned from the cargo bay. -- C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology effect since OS/360. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 93 20:28:09 GMT From: Zach K Subject: Solar Sail power Newsgroups: sci.space Given all the talk on solar sails I thought a few quick calculations would be in order. L*A F= ---------- 4*pi*c*R^2 A= Area of sail im m^2 R= 1.5E11 m L= 4E26 w So F(A) = 4.72E-6N/m^2 Nead a realy big sail to get much force, But it might be usefull for some things, --Zach Zachary Kessin zkessin@cs.brandeis.edu real.world: I don't think the news server gets that group! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:51:22 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Supporting private space activities Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1l3taiINN8c1@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> jfc@athena.mit.edu (John F Carr) writes: >>(By contrast, the first Saturn V >>rolled out to the pad in weather so bad that they had to stop for 20 >>minutes or so because the visibility was too poor for safe driving.) > >That must be pretty severe weather, to stop a several-thousand-ton vehicle >that travels about 1 mph along a smooth, well known road with no obstacles. You try driving 1 mph along a smooth, well known road with no obstacles, blindfolded! Now try doing it with the added constraint that there are a bunch of baby ducks running along beside you and in front of you, and you're not allowed to squash any of them... they'll *usually* get out of your way... I, or whichever account I was remembering, may have had the details slightly wrong in any case. It was the second Saturn V, and "Moonport" cites communications difficulties as the major factor in the decision to stop until the storm abated some. -- C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology effect since OS/360. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 02:23:27 GMT From: Josh Hopkins Subject: Tethers for electricity generation Newsgroups: sci.space nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu writes: >Maybe use the cable to power a orbital packet to check out the atmosphere. >Kindof like a sonar bouy from space.. The shuttle then drags the bouy >thru the atmosphere and collects samples and such.. Wierd maybe.. >Teh cable would power the bouy.. or maybe power the shuttle especially whne the >shuttle is ina place to not use soalr power? It should be noted that the shuttle doesn't use solar power. >Othe rpossibel use is at Mars >whenthe solar power is weaker than earth? Unfortuantely, much to the consternation of planetary scientists, Mars does not appear to have a magnetic field. Since the magnetic field is necessary for power generation the tether wouldn't be useful. -- Josh Hopkins jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu Q: Why did the chicken cross the mobius strip? A: To get to the other... er, uh... ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 93 23:59:36 GMT From: nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu Subject: Tethers for electricity generation, bouy/mars.. Newsgroups: sci.space In article , zkessin@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Zach K) writes: > gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman) writes: > >>In article <1l26t0INNlqu@news.cerf.net> davsmith@nic.cerf.net (David Smith) writes: >>>In article <1993Feb3.154718.14078@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes: >>>>In article <1993Feb1.201605.1@acad3.alaska.edu> nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu writes: >>> > [...] >>> What about a coaxial cable? I should think a current would be generated in >>>the sheath but the center conductor would be shielded? Or am I forgetting >>>my physics here? > >>Coaxial cables generally aren't magnetic shields. If you could magnetically >>shield the inner, say by using an outer that's superconductive and operating >>below critical field strength, then that approach should work. (A super- >>conductor in a magnetic field below a certain critical strength doesn't >>let the magnetic field penetrate it's surface. At critical strength, the >>magnetic field penetrates, and the superconductor is no longer superconductive. >>That's a catastropic failure mode.) > > This sounds good, you could use the inner conductor could be used to > complete the circut. Thus you have an applied voltage. > However I think using this as a power source is kinda stupid. Solar is > the way to go in space in my mind, this would be better for holding an > orbit. > > (ps this was used in David Brin's story _Tank Farm Dynamo_) > --Zach > Zachary Kessin / Define the Universe, Give 3 > ZKessin@cs.brandeis.edu / examples. > (617)736-5848 / Repeal Ohm's Law Maybe use the cable to power a orbital packet to check out the atmosphere. Kindof like a sonar bouy from space.. The shuttle then drags the bouy thru the atmosphere and collects samples and such.. Wierd maybe.. Teh cable would power the bouy.. or maybe power the shuttle especially whne the shuttle is ina place to not use soalr power? Othe rpossibel use is at Mars whenthe solar power is weaker than earth? Michael Adams Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel nsmca@acad2.alaska.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:43:13 GMT From: nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu Subject: Wood Pulp/Ice/Landing Strips.. Newsgroups: sci.space Anyone who has followed arctic/antarctic explorationknows about using ICe as a landing strip.. Here in Alaska it was and in some places still used.. Namely Little Diomede island has no landing strip until Feb/Mar when the shore ice freezes.. Using wood pulp for a additive for a landing strip/material is soemthing I had heard rumors of, but not sure where until someone mentioned landing strips, ice and wood pulp.. I have heard of other uses for the mixture, just not sure where... Michael Adams Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel nsmca@acad2.alaska.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 01:33:07 GMT From: apryan@vax1.tcd.ie Subject: Znamya "flash" track Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space The info I have on Znamya is that the mirror was used for only 6 minutes and then jetissoned (via TV news reported relayed to me by one of our members). Our Chairman, David Moore BSc FRAS, spoke to Leo Enright, BBC Ireland correspondent (who has been at JPL for every major planet flyby) who said the "5 mile wide" track crossed Toulouse, France, to Lyons, France into Switzerland and on into Belorussia. I think he said it lit up streets in those areas. Here in Dublin, a Doctor reported an extremely bright flash in the sky at the correct time. Whether it was Znamya or not is unclear. Mir continues to be visible in skies over UK and Ireland (with or without Znamya, or even Progress!) until Feb. 17. If you don't have satellite software you can get the latest prediction on when to look by calling Astronomy Ireland's telephone hotlines (numbers are given after my name below). The time is the very first thing on the hotline so it should only cost a few pence (unless you listen to the full message about everything else to see in the sky during the next week - comet, Jupiter Moon and Red Spot times, Grazing lunar occultation, sunspot/aurora, Syris Major on Mars...). Please pass this fone number on to any local clubs/societies you know. -Tony Ryan, Hon. Sec., Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1. newslines (48p/36p per min): 0891-88-1950 (UK/NI) 1550-111-442 (Eire) ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 153 ------------------------------