Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Wed, 27 Jun 1990 02:51:15 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <8aW5R8G00VcJI3SU4g@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Wed, 27 Jun 1990 02:50:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #576 SPACE Digest Volume 11 : Issue 576 Today's Topics: ESA-brief summary of activity Re: (none) ESA gravity sattalite ATTENTION URGENT MAYDAY!!!! Re: Hubble Space Telescope Update - 06/21/90 Re: Prize for Rocket to the Moon. Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Jun 90 17:59:46 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!mvax.cc.ic.ac.uk!sund!zmapj36@uunet.uu.net (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Subject: ESA-brief summary of activity IN BRIEF-(taken from the ESA bulletin No.62 May 1990) ESA/USSR Cooperative Agreement ============================== An agreement on cooperation in the exploration and use of sapce for peaceful purposes between the Goverment of the Soviet Union and ESA was signed on 25 April at ESA Headquarters in Paris, by the Soviet Union's Ambassador, His Excellency Iakov Riabov, and the Agency's Director General, Prof. Reimar Lust. The Agreement is for an initial period of ten years and covers a wide range of space activities, including: exploration of the Solar System, space astronomy and astrophysics, Earth observation and meteorology and life sciences. Working groups will be esablished for each of these disciplines, to investigate and recommend potential cooperative projects. ESA has a long history of scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union, the formal basis of which has until now been an Exchange of Letters between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and ESRO (one of ESA's forerunners), largely concerned with the exchange of scientific information. One of the most spectacular of past cooperative ventures was the encounter with Halley's Comet in 1986 by ESA's Giotto, two Soviet spacecraft, Vega-1 and -2, as well as two Japanese spacecraft. Amongst other joint projects, ESA experiments were flown aboard the Soviet space biology missions, Biokosmos-8 and -9 in 1987 and 1989. In February this year an International Workshop was held in Graz, Austria, to discuss the scientific aspects of cooperation between ESA's Cluster project and the Soviet Regatta mission. ****** Hipparcos Survives Solar Eclipse ================================ Soon after Hipparcos became trapped in its highly elliptical orbit, the operations team realised that a critical test of the satellite's power system would occur around mid-March, when the satellite would have to endure extended periods of solar eclipse. For three weeks the solar arrays were in shadow for a much longer period each day than the 72 minutes foreseen in the nominal circular orbit. During these eclipses, the spacecraft had to rely soley on battery power. Prior to the maximum eclipse period, about 105 minutes on 16 March, contingency plans were put into action at ESOC to shut down elements of the payload to limit the drain on the batteries. The satellite survived this critical event with a power margin of barely five minutes and scientific measurments were able to proceed without interruption. The fourth ground station, the NASA Goldstone station in Mohave desert in California, is now on line, increasing the amont of scientific data that can be retrieved from the satellite. ****** Giotto Reactivated ================== On 19 Febuary 1990 a faintly whispered radio signal was received at the Madrid tracking station of NASA's Deep Space Network. The signal was from Giotto, the ESA probe that has been hibernating in deep space since its spectacular encounter with Halley's comet in March 1986. Preperations have been underway since May 1988 at the Agency's Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, to reactivate the spacecraft. Beginning on 19 February, a series of telecommands was transmitted to Giotto via the Madrid tracking station, using a 70m antenna and a 100000 W transmitter, many thousand times the power of a TV broadcasting station. The first faint reply was received when Giotto was about a hundred million km from Earth The mission control team at ESOC then performed a series of complex manoeuvers to point Giotto's high-gain antenna towards the Earth in order to increase the strength of the signals, so that a complete check-out of the spacecraft could be performed. The first of a series of manoeuvres to target Giotto for its new mission, an encounter with comet Grigg-Skjellerup, was performed in mid-March. Giotto was then 75 million km from Earth. The temperature of the spacecraft was found to be too high, because of damage to the thermal insulation and thermal surfaces during the Halley encounter. However, as Giotto moves further from the Sun, the spacecraft should cool down, and checking-out of the scientific instruments can begin, from end-April onwards. (NOW) In the meantime periodic orbit control manoeuvres are being performed. On 2 July 1990 Giotto will pass within 23000 km of Earth, and the Earth's gravitational field will be used as a 'slingshot' force to propel the spacecraft on towards its new target. ****** /------ ------- -----\ /------ = ======================= | | | | \ | | M. Sean Bennett | \-----\ |---- | | \-----\ | UKSEDS TECH.OFF. | | | | / | | Janet:SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK | ------/ ------- -----/ ------/ | Bitnet- | | SEDS%CC.IC.AC.UK@uk.ac | = ======================= | /------ ------- -----\ /------ | ====================== | | | | \ | | M. Sean Bennett | \-----\ |---- | | \-----\ | UKSEDS TECH.OFF. | | | | / | | Janet:SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK | ------/ ------- -----/ ------/ | Bitnet- | | SEDS%CC.IC.AC.UK@uk.ac | | ====================== | ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 90 14:26:56 GMT From: att!tsdiag!davet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Dave Tiller N2KAU) Subject: Re: (none) In article <10554.8023.forumexp@mts.rpi.edu> Greg_d._Moore@mts.rpi.edu (Commander Krugannal) writes: - Hmm, bright orange lights and noises. Ever been in a swamp at - night and see those things of mystical magical origin that lead - travellers to their deaths. They're called willo-wisps. Oh wait, - you mean they have a natural cause? Gas? wow! what a concept. - - BTW, speaking of stuff like this, can anyone offer a good - explanation for spontaneous human combustion? - Yeah, I can. Like the will-o-wisps, gas! :-) -- David E. Tiller davet@tsdiag.ccur.com | Concurrent Computer Corp. FAX: 201-870-5952 Ph: (201) 870-4119 (w) | 2 Crescent Place, M/S 117 UUCP: ucbvax!rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!davet | Oceanport NJ, 07757 ICBM: 40 16' 52" N 73 59' 00" W | N2KAU @ NN2Z ------------------------------ Date: 22 Jun 90 14:58:17 GMT From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!mvax.cc.ic.ac.uk!sunc!zmapj36@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Subject: ESA gravity sattalite Aristoteles data Reductions Or how to reconstitute the Earth's gravity field. Knowledge of the Earth's gravity field is of importance in a number of scientific research areas such as geophysics (plate tectonics, earthquake areas) and oceanography. This gravity field, known to have an average approximate value of g=9.8 m/s^s, has a different value on each point of the Earth's Surface. Local gravity field values are known in a few well-surveyed areas to an accuracy of 5 mgals, ie about 5 millionths of g, a critical figure for the research topics under disscussion. The Aristoteles space mission is designed to determine the Earth's gravity field so that the mean error will be 5 mgals all over the Earth on a resoloution scale of 100 x 100 km thus achieving a significant progress over today's status, which would not be possible by ground-based measurements. From Martin Sean Bennett - Contact me on SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK : JANET SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK@UK.AC : BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 90 17:37:15 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!mvax.cc.ic.ac.uk!sund!zmapj36@uunet.uu.net (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry) Subject: ATTENTION URGENT MAYDAY!!!! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Would ANYONE at York University (Ontario,Canada) please forward this TO:JULIA HUNTER (British Citizen) Who is currently attending the International Space University. I Thank you,your country thanks you, etc., etc. I mean YOU,yes you do it now - make that phone call>>>> /------ ------- -----\ /------ | ====================== | | | | \ | | M. Sean Bennett | \-----\ |---- | | \-----\ | UKSEDS TECH.OFF. | | | | / | | Janet:SEDS@CC.IC.AC.UK | ------/ ------- -----/ ------/ | Bitnet- | | SEDS%CC.IC.AC.UK@uk.ac | | ====================== | ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 90 12:21:01 GMT From: ksr!clj@uunet.uu.net (Chris Jones) Subject: Re: Hubble Space Telescope Update - 06/21/90 In article <1971@cod.NOSC.MIL>, misner@cod (John Misner) writes: >As the original orbit avoided the South Atlantic Anomaly in the first few >orbits by means of the night launch, I presume that precession of the orbit >brings the HST through the SAA for every orbit for a range and then misses >the SAA for every orbit in a range. You're confusing the planned night launch of Astro-1 (currently postponed until at least mid-August) with HST. Since the UV instruments collect better data when the sun isn't visible, and since the SAA also interferes to some extent with the instruments, a nighttime launc was preferred to maximize the time the shuttle was in the dark in the northern hemisphere. If you remember those maps of orbital tracks, something in LEO basically overflies every part of its ground track at least once a day, so there's really no way to avoid the SAA short of having a higher altitude orbit (in which case, you're in the Val Allen belts themselves until you're way up there), or, I think, by having a lower inclination orbit (like equatorial). ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 90 17:02:12 GMT From: sam.cs.cmu.edu!vac@pt.cs.cmu.edu (Vincent Cate) Subject: Re: Prize for Rocket to the Moon. Ronald G Minnich writes: > 4) the ballon launch sounds good. what about other ways of getting a > boost from fuel you are not carrying i.e. some type of catapault? > A good steam or air catapault might be worth that N engine? Very well could be. I read a story on the net about some guys at a nuclear plant sending 55 gallon drums out of sight for 30 seconds using a steam release tower. A related idea is called "piston launching". You put the rocket in a tube so that the exhaust gas is contained and pushes the rocket more. Fins need to spring out after leaving the tube. You are sort of firing the rocket out of a cannon and this gives you more velocity for a given amount of propellant. > 5) Can anybody drop a complete list of vendors and clubs and magazines > in the G and up rocket field on this list? Sounds like there are > people out there flying some nice big rockets, and I have never > gone beyond D! I am including a list below (this is a repost for rec.models.rockets but with enough corrections that it seems worthwhile). > Count me in on the pledges and help in the fall. > Also I am willing to try to go for the prize. I am thinking it would > be a good thing to get local kids interested in. Great! -- Vince vac@cs.cmu.edu Below is a list of current model rocket and high power manufacturers and organizations. This list is updated a little from the list posted by rjungcla@cbnewsd.att.com (R. M. Jungclas) to rec.models.rockets. My updates were to Aerotech, Vulcan, NAR, and Belleville Hobby. Send corrections/comments to vac@cs.cmu.edu and rjungcla@ihlpb.att.com Who Comments ---------------------------------------- ------------------ AAA Model Aviation Fuels Large Model Rocket Kits Large Scale Rocketry Division High Power Kits 122 Summer Ave. Distributor - engines Clarks Summit, PA 18411 Distributor - parts Ace Rocket Manufacturing High Power kits/parts 545 N. Orange Grove Ave. San Fernado, California 91340 ACS-Reaction Labs Composite Engines RT 4, Box 274 (H-J) Markwell LN Taylorsville, Ky 40071 Aerotech, Inc Composite engines 1955 South Palm St, Suite 15 (D-N) Las Vegas, NV 89104 Few high power kits (702) 641-2301 or 2302 Apogee Components Inc. Competition parts 11111 Greenbier Road Minnetonka, MN 55343 (612) 545-4635 Belleville Hobby Distributor - Estes, 1827 North Charles Street AeroTech, FSI Belleville, IL. 62221 30% off retail (618) 234-5989 $1.50 catalog Centuri Engineering OUT OF BUSINESS 9/81 Phoenix, AZ Competiton Model Rockets OUT OF BUSINESS 12/87 Alexandria, Virginia Cox Manufacturing, Inc. RTF Model rockets models 1506 East Warner Ave (resuming March/April 1990) Santa Ana, California 92705 Eagle Aerospace Systems High Power rockets P. 0. Box 2573 Evertt, Washington 98203-0573 Estes Industries, Inc. Model rocket kits & engines P.O. Box 227 (largest & most visible) 1285 H Street 1/2A through D engines Penrose, CO 81240 Flight Systems Incorporated Large model rockets 9300 East 68th Street D-F blackpower engines Raytown, Missouri 64133 Catalog $2.00 High Sierra Rocketry Distributor 1800 Severn Drive Reno, NV 89503 (702) 747-6996 High Technology Flight Electronic payloads 1450 Jeffery Computer flight dymanics Ypsilanti, Michigan 48198 (313) 482-2670 LOC/Precison High Power Kits 1042 Iroquois Catalog $1.50 Macedonia, Ohio 44056 Model Aerospace Research Systems(MARS) 817 Eta St. #605 National City, CA 92050 Model Rectifier Corporation Model rocket kits & engines 2500 Woodbridge Ave. (started 1987) Edison, New Jersey 08817 National Association of Rocketry (NAR) Model Rocket Association 1311 Edgewood Dr. -contests/engine certification Atloona, WI 54720 -insurance model rockets only (715) 834-8074 -American Spacemodeling (MR) North Coast Rocketry High Power / Competition Kits P.O. Box 24468 Engine Distributor Mayfield Heights, Ohio 44124 Catalog $3.00 (205) 883-6020 Pine Cap Associates Model rocket kits P. 0. Box 5279 Catalog $1.00 7112 Knottypine Ave. Distributor? Winter Park, Florida 32793 Space Dynamics High Power Rockets 1491 Bibiana Way Catalog $2 Upland, California 91786 Tiffany Hobbies High Power Kits. P. O. Box 467 Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 Tripoli Rocketry Association Inc. High Power Rocket Association P.O. Box 87669 -engine certification San Diego, CA 92138-7669 -Tripolitian magazine U. S. Rockets High Power Rockets P.O. Box 1242 (slow delivery!) Claremont, California 91711 Catalog $2 Vulcan Systems, Inc Composite Engines P.O. Box 6099 Colorado Springs, CO 80934 G to K (719) 633-9889 ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V11 #576 *******************