Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V08/V8_338.TXT

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Date: Sat, 27 Aug 88 01:04:59 PDT
From: Ted Anderson <[e-mail]>
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Subject: SPACE Digest V8 #338

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 8 : Issue 338

Today's Topics:
        First meeting of Greater Detroit Space Society
   International NSS mebers get together at New Orleans SF Worldcon
         Advanced Space Systems with beer at Worldcon
               space editorial
              Change of Address
               orbital elements
             space news from Aug 8 AW&ST
                  red-shift
        Re: SETI: Why don't we hear anything?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Tue, 23 Aug 88 08:36 EDT
From: RON PICARD <[e-mail]>
Subject:  First meeting of Greater Detroit Space Society


                              News Release

The Greater Detroit Space Society, a local chapter of the National Space
Society, takes great pride in announcing an open meeting on Saturday,
September 10th at 1:00 p.m. at the Southfield Public Library.  We will have a
guest speaker from the NASA Lewis Research Center in Ohio.  He will be
speaking on the Space Shuttle, the proposed Space Station, and spinoffs from
the Space Program.  There will be a question and answer period following the
presentation, along with refreshments.  This meeting is open to anyone
interested in Space.  There will be a $1.00 charge at the door to help defray
the cost of the room and the speaker.  This dollar will be subtracted from
the cost of dues for anyone wishing to join the Society.  Greater Detroit
Space Society dues are: $5.00 for students and senior citizens; $10.00 for
adults; and $15.00 for families.  We are a non-profit educational
organization whose goals are to promote the exploration and development of
Space.  The Southfield Public Library is located in the Southfield Civic
Center at Evergreen and Civic Center Drive (10 1/2 Mile Road).  Because
seating is limited, we recommend that people wishing to attend, reserve their
seats by calling 554-3759.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 13:31:03 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: International NSS mebers get together at New Orleans SF Worldcon

     To help promote chapters outside the United States the post of
International Chapters Coordinator is being re-created with myself, Glenn
Chapman, accepting that position.  Together with my spouse, Ann Carlsen, we
are a truly international team, we currently work in the USA, but I am
Canadian, while she was born in Norway, lived in England as a child, and is
now a naturalized Canadian.  We usually attend the annual world science
fiction convention.  In addition I always listen to several international
short wave broadcasts each evening.  Our address is

     7 Parker Rd.,
     Bedford, MA 01730 USA
     Phone [phone]

     my ARPA net address is [e-mail]

We hope to hear from all those interested in international chapters.

     We especially wish communications from any international members which
will be attending the SF Worldcon in New Orleans from Sept 1-7.  Ann and I
are planning an informal get together/party for international members on
Friday Sept 2, tentatively at 9:00 pm, in our room at the Marriott.  We
invite those members to come visit us there.  I really want to hear exactly
what you wish the NSS to do for international people.  We expect also to have
Elisa Wynn (Chapters coordinator) and Aleta Jackson (NSS Chapters
Administrator) coming by later in the evening to the party so you can get a
chance to talk over issues directly with them.

     We both feel strongly if the human race is to expand into the universe it
will need the help of many people living in many lands.  Thus we will work
towards making the NSS an effective means for chapters in all nations to both
keep their members informed about what is going on in space exploration and
help educate both their citizens and their government officials about the
advantages of creating space faring civilizations.  Remember no one country's
name is mentioned in the name of the society, just the generic term national.
Also no earth border's extend into the cosmos.  Space is for all mankind.

     Again please contact me if you have any issues concerning the
international members of the National Space Society.

                                             Glenn Chapman
                                             MIT Lincoln Lab
                                             [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 24 Aug 88 21:39 CDT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Advanced Space Systems with beer at Worldcon
Original_To:  SPACE

    Members of the British Interplanetary Society will present an

                   ADVANCED SPACE SYSTEMS SEMINAR
                        and Technical Gabfest

                      Friday, 2 September 1988
               at the World Science Fiction Convention
                     New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Exact time (nineish?) and location to be announced at the Convention

If you attend this informal gathering, be prepared for intensive
tech-talk.  It is a successor to a "advanced propulsion seminar"  Dani
Eder held in his room at the Austin NASFiC last year.  If we have half
that much fun this year the effort will be worth it.

Two improvements this year: Snacks and a sponsoring organization. I'll
do a grocery run, purchasing a modest supply of beer, soda, and
munchies with Higgins cash. I shall trust in the generous nature of
BISers, space techies, and science fiction fen to donate a little at
the party.  Sponsorship by the British Interplanetary Society isn't
official, but I've discovered that quite a few members show up at
Worldcon, and it's high time North American members started to
socialize together.   The BIS is one of the world's oldest spaceflight
societies (1933) as well as one of the most forward-looking (Moonship
design published 1939, Daedalus starship design 1978).

                          Keynote Speaker:
                     Dani Eder, Boeing Aerospace
           "Is the Time Right for Private Space Programs?"

Look for announcements of the party, er, seminar time and room number
around the Mariott and Sheraton.  I'd appreciate hearing from you over
the net if you think you might come-- it'd give me some idea how much
food to buy.   See you in New Orleans!

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 17 Aug 88 09:43:27 MDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: space editorial


I just caught up in my reading pile to Science magazine, July 22, 1988
issue.  Everyone ought take a look at the editorial on Space Science on
page 397.

| David Birnbaum, programmer/consultant      |  [e-mail]           |

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 18 Aug 88 06:52:45 PDT
From: Ted Anderson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Change of Address

The Internet portion of the Space Digest will be changing homes.  Although
the time frame for this transition is not yet clear, I have set up the
new distribution list and people should begin trying to get used to them.
The new address for submissions is '[e-mail]' and the address
for request is '[e-mail]'.  The old addresses (at
angband.s1.gov and mc.lcs.mit.edu) will continue to work for now.
    Ted Anderson

------------------------------

Date: 19 Aug 88 13:10:22 GMT
From: bbn.com![e-mail]  (Martin Grossman)
Subject: orbital elements

I'm looking for a third source of orbital elements (the 3 line format).

Both first choice (rec.ham-radio) and second choice (DR TS KELSO's BBS)
have been unavailable for a few weeks.

I going on a cruise and would like to make printouts for various nights
and lat/long locations (aprox will have to do).

1) Does anyone know of a good third source?
2) Does anyone know of a good source of lat/longs for following area's
    Miami beach
    San Juan
    St Thomas


Please email or post to either group.

PS Leaving on 9/2/88

[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 22 Aug 88 01:45:20 GMT
From: att!chinet!mcdchg!clyde!watmath!water!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Aug 8 AW&ST

Space-station editorial saying some of the things I said a few months ago.
The current space station is headed for a crash.  "...in the nearly five
years since receiving [Reagan's] mandate, NASA has been running a management
exercise instead of a station program."  The station is already very costly
and won't be operational until 1995-6... and only the naivest optimist
would expect it to come in on budget or on time.  Worse, there is little
support for it outside its own bureaucracy and contractors; even potential
customers are lukewarm because of the delay, cost, and uncertainty.  The
budgets that NASA estimates will be required [never mind the ones that
will *actually* be required] are beyond anything Congress would ever approve,
in the current financial climate.  Finally, the current station is totally
dependent on the shuttle, a weak reed if there ever was one.  "The US and
its partner nations need a space station, but realities require a more
evolutionary, cost-effective, lower-risk facility which can be orbited
earlier and which depends less on the shuttle for assembly."  AW&ST says
the thing to do now is a rapid redefinition to provide a more sensible
plan in time for FY91 budgeting.  "NASA should be ordered to place a
manned core facility into orbit by 1995 and pursue that goal with the
same vigor it applied to the Apollo lunar landing program."  Shuttle-C
development should start immediately.  The manned core should be launched
by Shuttle-C and should be based on Spacelab modules and ISF technology.
Extensive, although not continuous, manned operation could be had without
the cost of a rescue vehicle if Rockwell's idea for docking a shuttle to
the station for 60 days at a time were adopted.  The rest of the facility
should use free-flying platforms, designed for manned servicing but unmanned
operation.  This would separate incompatible customers and allow gradual
deployment, as well as providing opportunities for commercial involvement.
The OMV should be expanded into a taxi/tug suitable for going between the
core station and the platforms.

[On the whole, I go along with this.  The current station is simply too
expensive and too far in the future to survive.  NASA has been having great
trouble keeping the program alive even today.  As funding requirements rise
and problems appear, there's no way it can survive.  NASA is, I think, right
to say that a lot of the skeptics would eventually become supporters once
they see how useful the station can be -- but that's not going to happen
until the thing is at least partly operational!  And unless major changes
are made, that's not going to happen.  What's needed is an evolutionary
approach with smaller up-front costs and shorter up-front delays.  My own
gut reaction, actually, is that even Shuttle-C shouldn't be necessary for
that.  Forget the gold-plating.  It should be possible to fit a Spacelab
long module, fitted out as living quarters, and the necessary power and
life support into one shuttle payload.  This is with *no* scientific
payload, mind you.  It goes up and stays up, with the shuttle orbiter
attached to it just in case, for a month or two.  If something goes badly
wrong, the whole thing just comes back down.  If things are going okay,
a second shuttle goes up to meet it, carrying the OMV and another Spacelab
long module, containing the beginnings of the "working" facilities.  The two
modules are docked.  The first orbiter goes down; the second one stays
there for the moment.  We still have no major scientific payload aboard;
these two launches are pure infrastructure.  A third shuttle takes up
an ISF as a co-orbiting platform, and on-orbit servicing can then be
checked out and science work can start.  At this point, we *have* a minimal
space station in orbit.  Getting all this done within limited stay times
will take some careful planning and possibly a deliberate "surge" effort
by the shuttle people, but it shouldn't be impossibly hard.  After that,
evolution can proceed.  Get the Europeans to build a rescue vehicle --
they're interested in returnable capsules anyway -- and the Japanese to
build a proper logistics module combined with a reboost system.  Then
one shuttle flight can take those two up and start permanent manned
operations.  It shouldn't take tens of billions, it shouldn't take dozens
of shuttle launches, and dammit, it shouldn't take until 1995 to do!  Not
if a real Apollo-style effort is made, with adequate support from Congress
(not a trivial assumption, that...).  What we eventually get probably won't
be as simple, cheap, or prompt as this... but it definitely won't be NASA's
current gold-plated rabbit hutch.]

ESA may save some hardware from the ELA-1 launch complex (to be decommissioned
because it is old and can't handle Ariane 4) for use on ELA-3, the coming
Ariane 5 complex.  [Actually, if I were ESA I would be worried about putting
all my eggs in one basket named ELA-2.  All it takes is one big launch
accident and Ariane is grounded for quite a while, for lack of a launch pad.]

House and Senate subcommittees agree to cut NASA FY89 budget request by
$810M, including $67M out of the space station's $967M.  However, a large
chunk of the station money is embargoed until the next president can make
some decisions about the program.  Other NASA projects, notably AXAF, got
bigger cuts.

NASA and USAF still at odds over KSC range safety, including how many people
should be allowed to watch and from where.

Bush commits to deployment of SDI, development of a space station, and
development of a heavylift launcher.  Specifics lacking, of course...

US Navy follows Aussat's lead in picking Hughes's new 3-axis-stabilized
comsat as its next generation.  Navy deal is for one satellite and options
on nine more, plus expendable launches for some of them.

Flight readiness firing delayed due to sluggish operation of a bleed valve;
the Aug 4 FRF attempt was scrubbed at T-7, less than a second before SSME
ignition, when the valve closed too slowly.

NASA decides to do an on-pad repair on the RCS leak.  A hole will be cut in
the aft end of the cargo bay to provide access to the trouble area.

The hydrogen leak discovered during the wet-countdown demonstration is
somewhere in the pad umbilical; attempts to cure it by replacing suspect
parts have not worked so far.  Hydrogen concentration is being monitored
and it is hoped that it won't get high enough to interfere with the FRF.

Big article on X-30 technology efforts.  The X-30 will be about the size
of a 727, by current estimates, with empty weight comparable to that of
an F-15.  The decision to build and test three X-30s (one for ground test,
the other two for flight) will be made in 1990.  [Assuming it survives;
I believe Dukakis is opposed to it.]

Big article on the elaborate nondestructive-testing procedures the USAF is
using on Titan SRBs to avoid a repetition of the early-1986 fireworks.

NAS/NRC report criticizes NASA's weather forecasting at KSC, saying that
weather hazards are "poorly observed and predicted".  There isn't even a
definition of what information is needed for shuttle launches.  For example,
no attempt has been made to set a limit on the size of raindrops in clouds
(which could be a hazard to shuttle tiles), much less to measure it or
incorporate the information in launch decisions.  Other important parameters
are similarly neglected.  Weather observation at emergency landing sites
is crude to nonexistent.  Recommendations are:  quantification of weather
hazards and incorporation of the results into launch criteria; better
instrumentation for measuring conditions, with an attempt to measure the
important parameters directly rather than inferring them indirectly from
things that are easier to measure; clear support and adequate budgeting
for NASA's weather office; and a forecasting-research center at KSC to
promote improvement of the technology.
--
Intel CPUs are not defective,  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
they just act that way.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 15 Aug 88 21:43:28 GMT
From: haven!uflorida!novavax!ankh![e-mail]  (Marc Dantonio)
Subject: red-shift

Dean
Why would the red-shift value be outdated? It would not be changing?
What did you mean?
Marc



--
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 UUCP     : ...!{gatech!uflorida!novavax, hoptoad, umbio}!ankh!Marc.Dantonio
 internet : [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 16 Aug 88 06:10:54 GMT
From: ndsuvax![e-mail]  (Peter Kinsella)
Subject: Re: SETI: Why don't we hear anything?

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mike Van Pelt) writes:

> There's lots of talk about making self-replicating explorers to
> go through all the galaxy collecting data and eventually returning it
> to Earth -- Suppose a sufficiently xenophobic civilization decided
> to use the technique for eliminated threats/rivals?  You can postulate
> that they get along fine with each other, but are horrified at the
> idea of "others".

> Presumably it wouldn't be all that
> difficult for an advanced civilization to build probes that would be
> more than a match for any civilization that had only a few years
> before mastered the use of radio, on which the probes would home in.

     Why would would the get along fine with each other but be afraid of a
a little puny underdeveloped planet. If we assume that the galaxy is as
expansive as most people claim. And if we assume that the Race is
suffiently developed to send probes to wipe out other planets, wouldn't
they also be advanced enough to harvest resources from uninhabited worlds.
Wouldn't the later also be more economically efficent, especially if the
world be taken over detonates atomic weapons in its self defense.

------------------------------

End of SPACE Digest V8 #338
*******************