Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V08/V8_366.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V8 #366

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 8 : Issue 366

Today's Topics:
       Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.
     Re: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.
     Re: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.
        Information about Soviet Space program
                 Starsailing
                Excellent book
          Books on the Soviet space program.
       Books and magazines on the Soviet space program.
     Re: Books and magazines on the Soviet space program.

                Re: plutonium
         Re: The sun as a trashcan (was : Plutonium)
         Re: Are we ready for terraforming???
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 9 Sep 88 18:20:45 GMT
From: mtwain.dec.com![e-mail]  (CUP/ML, MLO5-2/G1 8A, 223-3283)
Subject: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.


        The Soviet news agency TASS today announced that communications
    with the Mars probe PHOBOS 1 have been lost due to human error.
    The wrong code was sent up to PHOBOS 1, and it appears there is no
    possibility of getting signals back from the probe.  This is sadly
    reminiscent of the code error sent to the VIKING 1 lander in 1982
    which accidentally shut it down permanently.

        A communication session with PHOBOS 1 on September 2 failed when
    the spacecraft was 17 million kilometers from Earth.  PHOBOS 2
    is functioning smoothly and it is currently 19 million kilometers
    from Earth along a trajectory closed to the predicted one.

        If anyone has more information on this unfortunate incident
    and what extra tasks PHOBOS 2 will now have to perform as a result,
    please post it here.  Thank you.

        Larry

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

Date: 10 Sep 88 21:34:14 GMT
From: oliveb!intelca!mipos3![e-mail]  (Martin Harriman ~)
Subject: Re: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.

(This is probably only of interest if you don't have a newspaper, since
I get all my incredibly technical understanding of this from that obscure
source.)

The major Phobos problem is said to be that the spacecraft pointing was
screwed up, so it has lost some or all of its power (and thus will soon
be dead as a doornail, just like Jacob Marley).

This is distinct from the "commit messy internal suicide" option available
in most probes.  The probes I've heard about (through that source of
all great technical knowledge, the newspaper) have a fair amount of
internal redundancy, and can be reconfigured on signals from the ground
(or on the absence of signals:  see Voyager 2 and the radio from hell).
Of course, this means that ground control can also go *oops, I didna really
mean that* and cause the probe to turn into high speed modern
interplanetary sculpture.  Oh, well--but, on the balance, the stories I've
seen would indicate that the reconfigurability is a Very Good Thing, and
that we've gained much more (for instance:  better data compression and
transmission) than we've lost.

(This seems painfully obvious and basic, but I thought it might be worth
posting, since some apparently haven't figured it out.)

  --Martin
    [e-mail]

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

Date: 14 Sep 88 20:24:08 GMT
From: ftp![e-mail]  (Benjamin Levy)
Subject: Re: Soviet Mars probe PHOBOS 1 communications lost enroute.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Patrick White) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Martin Harriman ~) writes:
>> The major Phobos problem is said to be that the spacecraft pointing was
>> screwed up, so it has lost some or all of its power (and thus will soon
>> be dead as a doornail, just like Jacob Marley).
>
>    This seems like a stupid question, but why not just tell it to point the
> right way.. and if they can't because it can't hear them, then can they
> "bounce" a signal off another satellite/probe in the general vicinity?
> -- Pat White

    There was an article in the Boston Globe which described the
problem.  Apparently someone accidently told the probe to turn its
antenna away from Earth, which prevents us from talking to it.  When
it turned away from the Earth, it also moved its solar panels so they
no longer face the sun.  Also it was using a particular star for
navigating, which it lost sight of when it turned way from the Earth.
In other words everything that could go wrong, without actually
damaging the probe, did go wrong.

    The probe is currently spinning randomly with its batteries slowly
fading.  So the only thing that will save the probe is if it
accidently turns its antenna towards the Earth, while someone is
transmitting the appropriate commands to fix the situation.
--
   ---Ben Levy    FTP Software Inc.    <[e-mail]>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Member of the International Amoeba Society:
                            "United We Stand, Divided We Multiply"

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

Date: 12 Sep 88 18:07:43 GMT
From: linus![e-mail]  (Ralph Marshall)
Subject: Information about Soviet Space program


    I have a request for the net.space.historians.  I am
starting a historical research project covering the history
of the Soviet Union's space exploration.  I am hoping to end up with
an audio-visual presentation that would be interesting for
high-school and college age students as well as adults who
are unfamiliar with foreign space efforts.  I am posting this
because I am looking for any pointers to sources of material,
especially places where I can get good still photographs, film
clips, and audio tapes (I am willing to invest a few bucks in
this, but not thousands).  Any advice is welcome.  I have
written to the Soviet Embassy asking their public relations
people to send me stuff, but I'm sort of stuck for where
to look next.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph Marshall ([e-mail], or ...att!linus!marsh)

Disclaimer:  Often wrong but never in doubt...  All of these opinions
are mine, so don't gripe to my employer if you don't like them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 10 Sep 88 08:52:54 GMT
From: mcvax!enea!erix![e-mail]  (Howard Gayle)
Subject: Starsailing

From the Books Received section of Science, 8 July 1988, p. 236:
Starsailing.  Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel.
Louis Friedman, Wiley, New York, 1988, 146 pp., paper $9.95.

Howard Gayle
TN/ETX/TX/UMG
Ericsson Telecom AB
S-126 25 Stockholm
Sweden
[e-mail]
{mcvax, uunet}!enea!ericsson.se!howard
Phone: [phone]
FAX  : [phone]
Telex: 14910 ERIC S

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

Date: 12 Sep 88 05:18:52 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Stack Overflow)
Subject: Excellent book

There is an excellent book I have not seen mentioned in this group:
  Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience
  edited by Ben R. Finney and Eric M. Jones
  Univ. of California Press, 1985
I bought it about a year ago so it may still be in print.

This is a collection of papers derived from a conference.  The papers have
been cleaned up, some new material published elsewhere has been added, and in
some cases rebuttals and comments added.  The book is an interdisciplinary
look at what going to the stars might mean, accessable to the Scientific
American type reader.  There are some technical papers in the front to set the
stage: e.g., what resources are there, what are the problems of interstellar
travel?  There is a section on demography and economics.  Well, what about
this genetic drift bugaboo, what IS a minimum colony size?  (Smaller than you
would think.)  How would one plan the first few generations' economy and
provide for their needs considering massive resupply will be impractical?
Deciding what to pack is a non-trivial problem for a generation ship.  There
are sections discussing other societies (such as the Polynesians) who have
culturally adapted to massive migration.  There is even a section on what
migration might mean to the future evolution of our species.  Going to the
stars is not just a matter of engineering, it will be a profound cultural
enterprise.  Reading this book gives some idea of the issues involved, and in
doing so makes it all that much more real.  I recommend this book highly.
                        Allan

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

Date: 14 Sep 88 16:29:31 GMT
From: mtwain.dec.com![e-mail]  (CUP/ML, MLO5-2/G1 8A, 223-3283)
Subject: Books on the Soviet space program.


        Per Ralph Marshall's request for sources of information on the
    Soviet space program, here are some books which come to mind, and
    which I also own.  I am writing on them from memory, since they are
    at home and I have no access to them at the moment.  I believe they
    are still available to order through any good bookstore:

        THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY, one volume, first printed
    in 1980.  It is an excellent source of material, photographs, and
    diagrams of every major space effort up to the present (the book is
    periodically updated).  It contains quite a bit on the Soviet
    programs, including new material never before published outside of
    classified documents.

        RED STAR IN ORBIT by James Oberg, 1981.  Oberg is an expert
    on the Soviet space program, and he provides a number of disclosures
    on Soviet space flights which have been hidden for years to the
    West.  There is also an excellent bibliography which will lead
    you to numerous other works on Soviet space flights.  An updated
    version of sorts on several space incidents can be found in Oberg's
    1988 book, UNCOVERING SOVIET DISASTERS.  These two books do expose the
    myths about a "secret" manned program in which ten cosmonauts
    supposedly died in space accidents before Yuri Gagarin's flight in
    VOSTOK 1 in 1961; in reality, there were eight or nine deaths of
    cosmonauts in training accidents on the ground which were only recently
    reported due to the reforms of glastnost.

        SPACE LOG, A Jane's Information Book, 1987.  This book details
    thirty years of unmanned planetary probes, with excellent technical
    information and diagrams of the Soviet probes, many of which have had
    little disclosure before.  A companion book, PLANETARY ENCOUNTERS,
    covers much of the same territory.

        A HISTORY OF ROCKETRY AND SPACE TRAVEL by Werhner Von Braun,
    1985.  This book has been updated three times since its first printing
    in 1966, the latest written by another author since Von Braun's death
    in 1977 (I have the 1969 version, thus my inability to mention the
    new author).  Like the Space Encyclopedia first mentioned, it
    gives you an all-around view of the Soviet program in relation to the
    other international space programs.

        These books are accessible to the age and education group you
    desire, and will hopefully lead you to even more sources.  If I think
    of or find any more, I will post them in this newsgroup.  Good luck,
    and thanks for bringing space education to the general public!  We need
    more of it to make people aware just how important space exploration
    is to our future.

        Larry

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

Date: 14 Sep 88 16:55:50 GMT
From: mtwain.dec.com![e-mail]  (CUP/ML, MLO5-2/G1 8A, 223-3283)
Subject: Books and magazines on the Soviet space program.


        In regards to my list of books on the Soviet space program, I
    would like to make one correction and addition:  The Jane's book on
    planetary probes which I referred to as SPACE LOG is actually entitled
    SOLAR SYSTEM LOG.  There is also a 1985 Jane's book on manned space
    flights entitled MANNED SPACE LOG, which gives the technical details
    on Soviet and American manned space flights.

        While I do not know of any periodicals which deal specifically
    with the Soviet space program (Are there any?), I can refer you to
    three magazines which do carry technical information on current
    developments in this area:  AVIATION WEEK AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY, FINAL
    FRONTIER, and SKY AND TELESCOPE, all of which should be available at
    any good library.

        Larry

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

Date: 14 Sep 88 22:00:39 GMT
From: cfa!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: Re: Books and magazines on the Soviet space program.

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (CUP/ML, MLO5-2/G1 8A, 223-3283):
(List of books on Sov space)

For more detailed info, try Nicholas Johnson's "Soviet Space Programs
1980-85", an AAAS Science and Technology series publication at about
$50, or Marcia Smith's 'Soviet Space Programs 1976-80', a US
Congressional Research Service document available from US Govt Printing
Office in DC.  The latter is probably the 'primary' reference (short of
reading Pravda and analysing NORAD's orbital elements) and an updated
version is being published.  Phillip Clark in London is writing a
definitive book on the Soviet program which hopefully will emerge soon.
The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and Spaceflight News,
both British publications, carry regular articles; there is also a
privately published 'fanzine' called Zenit, also from England, which
deals exclusively with current news in the Soviet program.

Jonathan McDowell

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

Resent-Message-Id: <EX=[e-mail]>
Resent-Date: Wed, 14 Sep 88 08:53:13 -0400 (EDT)
Resent-From: Ted Anderson <[e-mail]>
Resent-To: Space <[e-mail]>
Return-Path: <@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU:[e-mail]>
Date: 6 September 1988 11:50:12 CDT
From: U15305@uicvm   (Tom Kirke 996-4961)
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject:

Peter Nelson in V8 #350 mentioned a book "Heavens on Earth".
The complete listing for this book is:

          Holloway, Mark 1917-
          Heavens on Earth: Utopian Communities in America 1680-1880
          New York  Dover Pub (1966) <2nd ed rev>
          HX653 .H66 1966

Tom Kirke

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

Date: 1 Sep 88 22:45:02 GMT
From: tikal!sigma!uw-nsr!uw-warp!gtisqr![e-mail]  (Rick Groeneveld)
Subject: Re: plutonium

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Michael V. Stein) writes:
> Plutonium is far too valuable of an energy source to go throw it away.
> Even if we could, which as Mr. Plait later explains is probabally
> impossible, it would be one of the most stupid ideas ever implemented
> by anyone on this planet - or probably any other planet for that
> matter.

    When considering the current use of plutonium, it
    doesn't sound so stupid after all. :->

                    H. Groeneveld

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

Date: 2 Sep 88 01:46:21 GMT
From: bungia!meccts!meccsd![e-mail]  (Michael V. Stein)
Subject: Re: The sun as a trashcan (was : Plutonium)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bob Pendleton) writes:
>...If we do decide to dump the stuff in space (and what ever ocean we
>launch over), I hope we are smart enough to dump it on the moon or in
>orbits that don't go too near the sun. At least then we can retrieve
>it after we realize what we've done.

RIGHT!!

>The US government has paid for many studies of the "proper" way to
>dispose of high level nuclear waste. The same technique has been
>proposed many times. Simply put, bury it deep in large blocks of
>basalt, where large is roughly the size of your average mountain.

You have the scale a bit high.  The high level wastes for a 1000
Megawatt nuclear plant operating for one year will occupy no more
than 2 cubic meters.  (A volume that will fit nicely under a kitchen
table.)  In comparison a 1000 megawatt coal plant produces about 10
tons of waste - per _minute_.

>Back
>filled with ceramics and crushed basalt the decay heat of the waste
>should fuse the surrounding material into an extremely hard nodule.
>
>To the best of my knowledge this has not been tested. Nor has it ever
>been seriously considered as a waste disposal technique by the federal
>government, it seems it costs too much.

Nuclear waste disposal will be paid by a tax that is applied to all
electricty generated from nuclear power plants.  The reason that it
hasn't happened already is simply that there is no urgent need for a
repository right now.

>I'll bet it costs less than
>launching the waste into space.

You are damn right it will cost less.  It will also be several billion times
safer.

--
Michael V. Stein - Minnesota Educational Computing Corp. - Technical Services
{bungia,uiucdcs,umn-cs}!meccts!mvs  or  [e-mail]

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

Date: 1 Sep 88 17:30:41 GMT
From: hp-pcd!hpcvlx![e-mail]  (Bill Turner)
Subject: Re: Are we ready for terraforming???

> On the serious side though, I believe that it is incredibly sad that mankinds
> first attempts at terraforming will be on the Earth just to keep it
> habitable.  I feel that we will have to eventually implement some type of
> global scheme to clean up the earth and the longer we wait, the more
> drastic it will be.

If you wish to look at it this way, we HAVE been terraforming Earth for quite
a while now.  Whether for good or not, you must admit that the environment has
been effected substantially by our activities.  And what is terraforming, other
than changing the environment?

--Bill Turner

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

End of SPACE Digest V8 #366
*******************