Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_2/V9_294.TXT

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Date: Thu, 16 Mar 89 12:19:53 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #294

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 294

Today's Topics:
             space news from Jan 2 AW&ST
              Auroras seen in CA
               Space News Mar 14, 1989
              NORTHERN LIGHTS!!
                 Lunar Robot?
    Re: USSR's Progress 40 performs interesting operations at Mir
              NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89
                  star data
              Re: Babies born in space.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 89 04:10:38 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Jan 2 AW&ST

[The summaries are going to be terser and more selective than usual
until I cut the backlog down some.]

Tentative restraint-of-trade agreement reached with China on Long March:
China will launch at most nine international comsats through 1994 and
"maintain prices on par with the world market".  All is not rosy, however;
Arianespace wants to know why Washington has been dithering for years on
similar negotiations with it, and the USSR wants to know why US comsats
can be launched on Chinese launchers but not Soviet ones.

Titov and Manarov are in good shape after a year in space; they were
walking hours after landing.  French doctor (participating because
Chretien came down on the same Soyuz) says they looked drawn and pale,
with problems maintaining upright position, on emergence from the Soyuz,
but were walking with assistance three hours later, and appeared nearly
normal (walking without assistance, with no special support clothing,
although still fatigued) two days later.  Whatever the Soviets are
doing -- intensive exercise before return is certainly part of it --
it's working.

Titov/Manarov/Chretien reentry delayed several hours due to computer
problems aboard Soyuz.  A new reentry program, intended to compensate
for the problems last September, had a bug.  A replacement program
was entered and reentry was normal, two orbits late.

Soviets revise Mars plans (subject to final approval).  1994 mission
will include orbiter, balloon, "small meteorological stations" on
the surface, and possibly penetrators.  One objective will be site
selection for a rover mission in 1996.

However, the Soviets will be doing something in 1992 after all:  a
lunar orbiter with remote-sensing equipment, to select sites for
future exploration.  A possible future mission is sample return from
the lunar farside in 1996.

USAF awards major design and technology contracts for ALS.

Fletcher has resigned, effective "at the pleasure of the president".
[No surprise, he was expected to leave.]  No word yet on replacement.

Considerable turnover in crucial Congressional committees; some worry
at NASA, although on the whole the changes are improvements.  NASA's
ambitious budget proposals will still get a rough time though.  Of
particular note is considerable feeling in Congress that too much
space-station money is being spent on hiring managers and too little
on hardware.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 14 Mar 89 06:54:11 GMT
From: Portia!hanauma.stanford.edu![e-mail]  (Joe Dellinger)
Subject: Auroras seen in CA


    There is a very large sunspot group tracking across the Sun
these days. I saw it by projecting an image onto a piece of paper using
ordinary 7X35 binoculars. I mean this group is BIG.

    I am told there was quite a good aurora display visible here
at Stanford from around 11:45 to Midnight PST Sunday night. The northern
sky up to about 30 degrees above the horizon turned bright red and purple.
Just a few minutes ago I watched a weak but discernible aurora visible
along the Northern Horizon for a few minutes. Then it died away again.
It was the wrong color (red-purple) to be city light glare (white-yellow).

    If you are interested in seeing an Aurora, but live too far south
to normally see them, keep your eyes open the next week! You may get
your chance! Good luck!

Flame:
    I missed the one last night because I was in my office. I'm
on the 5th floor above street level in an office bordering an exterior
wall. If I want to see the sky I have to take the elevator to the basement
and then climb up a flight of stairs. Stanford seems to have the idea
grad students are most productive in a proper cave atmosphere.
\    /\    /\    /\/\/\/\/\/\/\.-.-.-.-.......___________
 \  /  \  /  \  /Dept of Geophysics, Stanford University \/\/\.-.-....___
  \/    \/    \/Joe Dellinger [e-mail]  apple!hanauma!joe\/\.-._

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

Date: 14 Mar 89 14:52:45 GMT
From: cfa!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: Space News Mar 14, 1989


Jonathan's Space Report

Mar 14, 1989 (No. 7)

Space Shuttle Mission STS-29 was launched on Mar 13 at 1457 UT from Launch
Complex 39-B, Kennedy Space Center. Orbiter OV-103 'Discovery' is
carrying out experiments on the effects of free fall on living
organisms, and testing components being designed for use on the Space
Station.

The TDRS-4 Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, owned by Contel, Inc., was
launched by IUS rocket yesterday from low earth orbit after it was
deployed from the cargo bay of the spaceship Discovery. The TDRS
satellite will enter geostationary orbit and replace TDRS-1 as the
TDRS EAST satellite.

Other events: (Source: NASA Two Line Orbital Elements and SPACEWARN)

Kosmos-2005 was launched on Mar 3 by Soyuz rocket from Plesetsk.  It
is a Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) advanced reconnaissance satellite.

The Kosmos-2000 mapping satellite and the Kosmos-2003 spy satellite have
completed their missions and landed in Kazakhstan, USSR.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 1989 Jonathan McDowell, all rights reserved
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 14 Mar 89 16:31:04 GMT
From: iris![e-mail]  (Todd)
Subject: NORTHERN LIGHTS!!


I saw the Northern Lights last night from Sacramento (actually Davis).
The light was big and pretty darn bright.  Unfortunately, by the time
I got my camera loaded up with film, the light had faded.  My father
called me from Merced (in the central valley) to tell me about it, and
my friend's sister claims to have seen it from Santa Barbara.

What surprised me the most was that I didn't see it in the 11:00 news.
I haven't seen a paper this morning, so I don't know if they mention
it.  One of the biggest astronomical events (in my eyes anyways) this
year (maybe decade), and our local news crews miss it!

Will this solar activity be any danger to the people or equipment in
the shuttle?


Todd Heberlein
[e-mail]    128.120.57.20

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

Date: 9 Mar 89 19:30:00 GMT
From: texbell!merch!cpe!hal6000!trsvax![e-mail]
Subject: Lunar Robot?


There is an article in the March 5th EE Times about a radio astronomy
observatory on the moon that will be erected and maintained by a robot
vehicle.

According to the article:
  A concept designed by Battelle calls for a six wheeled, 3100 pound vehicle
  with two arms mounted near the front and a payload bay to carry 600
  very low frequency antennae that it would set up as the pbservatory in a
  crater on the far side of the moon.
  The vehicle would be powered by four radio-isotope thermoelectric generators
  with secondary lithium batteries for peak loading.  It would navigate over
  a 5,000 km range with an inertial navigation system with laser triangulation
  calibration.
  The vehicle will map the entire area before building the observatory. On-
  board sensors will help it avoid dangerous objects, and it will be designed
  to stop and await commands from earth if it encounters objects it does not
  recognize.
  The concept calls for speeds of up to 3 km/hour and a capability to
  negotiate slopes of up to 30 degrees, climb over foot-high obstacles and
  cross crevasses up to 1-m wide.
  The vehicle would be expected to operate on the lunar surface for 7 to 10
  years.

Does anyone out there have any idea on the likelyhood of this coming to pass?

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

Date: 9 Mar 89 12:48:34 GMT
From: b.gp.cs.cmu.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re: USSR's Progress 40 performs interesting operations at Mir

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ignac Kolenko) writes:
}also, why can't the u.s. send up a duplicate of Skylab?? like, if they
}did it once, why can't they do it again?? imagine, there would be no need
}to re-engineer a new space station, since they already had one design that
}appeared to work correctly. and according to the above quoted article,
}the u.s. would have the largest space station in orbit again!!! :-)

Except we'd first have to re-engineer the Saturn V*, which is not too easy,
as was discussed in detail here a while ago.  Also, I think the addition of
the next expansion module to Mir will bring its volume up over the volume of
Skylab (if it isn't already).

[*] Skylab was a modified upper stage of a Saturn V, outfitted with life
support, etc.
--
UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=-=-=- Voice: [phone] (school)
ARPA: [e-mail]  BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA  FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/31
            Disclaimer? I claimed something?
    You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.

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

Date: 10 Mar 89 22:45:00 GMT
From: arisia!cdp![e-mail]
Subject: NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89


This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week
ending March 10, 1989.

Early Fri. morning engineers began the 56 hour countdown to
launch of the first space shuttle mission of the year.  Countdown
to liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery began at 12:01am EST,
with a call to stations.  Monday's liftoff is scheduled for 8:07am. The
shuttle will deploy the $100 million Tracking Data Relay Satellite for
NASA as well as perform numerous on board experiments.

President Bush, in a one page report filed with congress on March
1, has outlined the composition and structure of the National Space
Council.  The council will have four key responsibilities which
include: Overseeing national space policy implementation; Review
and recommend policy modifications to the President; Address major
space related policy issues between civil and military space
issues; Foster cooperation, coordination, technology and
information exchange between civil and military sectors to avoid
duplication of effort.

In addition the council will include 10 cabinet level officials with
various jurisdictions related to space activities.  These positions
include the Nasa Administrator, Director of the Office of Management &
Budget, the Chief of Staff to the President, the assistant of National
Security Affairs, the director of the CIA, and secretaries of Defense,
Commerce and Transportation.

There has been mixed reaction to the composition and structure of
the national space council on Capital Hill. Advocates of civil
space say that the appointment of Mark Albrecht to the position of
staff director will skew the council in favor of the military space
program.  Yet Rep. Bill Nelson said that the fact that Chief of Staff
John Sununus' inclusion on the council in combination with Vice
President Quayle's participation should create a better environment for
space policy decision making.

Sally Ride, America's first woman space traveler, in testimony to the
the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
called on Congress to support Mission to Planet Earth.
The program, which will utilize instruments on the future space
station, polar orbiting platforms, and over 1,000 instruments
deployed in the oceans and on land all over the world is estimated
to cost between $20 to $30 billion dollars over the next 20 years.
She stated that as well as understanding the earth system better,
the ability to foresee drought, unusual rainfall patterns, and even
detect concentration of fish will prove it has economic as well as
scientific benefits.

Landsats 4 & 5, which were scheduled to be shut off by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to lack of funding has
been resusitated  by Vice President Quayle.  The $9.4 million required
to keep the satellites running through FY'89 will come from the agencies
that use the data.  Quayle, the chairman of the National Space Council
declined to say just how much was raised or by whom.

Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has asked for proposals from
commercial launch providers to launch at least three satellites
with the possibility of launching 12 more.  In the proposal, the
commercial launch servicer will provide the launch vehicle,
facilities, personnel, and services associated with launching the
missions into their required orbit.  Proposals must be submitted
by May 8.

A meeting in London last week called for a total ban on the use of
gasses which destroy the ozone layer by the end of the century.
This position was supported by the Unites States and the European
Economic Community, but was resisted by the USSR, China and India.
The USSR could not accept the recently discovered notion that CFC's
are destroying the ozone layer, and wanted better grounded data
before moving ahead.  China and India felt that they needed to use
the gasses in their industry to catch up with the west and resent
the west for using this crisis to hold back the economies of the
developing world.

This has been Jordan Katz reporting for the National Space Society's
Space Hotline for the week ending March 10, 1989.

We would like to invite everyone to call our Dial-a-Shuttle service
during the upcoming Discovery mission.  Hear the Astronauts and Ground
Control 24 hours a day during the mission.  Take part in the
mission by calling 1-900-909-NASA (that's 1-900-909-NASA).  Toll charges
are 2.00 for the first minute and $.45 for each additional
minute.

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

Date:         Sat, 11 Mar 89 09:19:57 EST
From: Eric Harnden <[e-mail]>
Subject:      star data

     Fairly recently, some mention was made of interest in obtaining data
on star positions in a machine-readable format. I have heard that NSSDC
has just installed a CD-ROM pre-mastering workstation. The first CD-ROM
developed by them conatins 31 astronomical source catalogs from the
archives of the Astronomical Data Center. The ADC documents and distributes
more than 500 catalogs of data for stellar and non-stellar objects, and this
first release represents the most ofetn-requested and scientifically
valuable data sets. Ecah of the catalogs on the CD-ROM is presented in text
file format and as Flexible Image Transport System tables. Complete docs
are included. The ADC CD-ROM apparently will be distributed to any parties
who can access disks mastered in the ISO 9660 format. This requires users
of IBM PC/clones to have the Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions Version 2.0.
Rudimentary browsing software for FITS tables on MS-DOS machines will be
provided by the ADC. Users on Sun and MicroVax cpus should make sure that
the OS can handle ISO 9660 format.

Eric Harnden (Ronin)
<EHARNDEN@AUVM>
The American University Physics Dept.
[phone]

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

Date: 11 Mar 89 01:38:49 GMT
From: tektronix!tekig5![e-mail]  (Robin Adams)
Subject: Re: Babies born in space.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Jean-Marc Debaud) writes:
> I would like to have some informations on the following subject:
>
> What would be the reactions of an child conceived in space,
> who spend its featal time in space, is born in space, live a few
> years in space ?
>
> Could anyone tells me if any studies have been made on the
> reaction of the immune system, psychology, agility under 0g
> conditions and problems that he/she would have on hearth,
> bornwith instinctive reactions... etc..
>
The holistic evidence is beginning to point to the fact that 0G is not good
for humans (-0G, not Space as a whole). Some mammalian studies (ref: COSMOS
Mission Results / Ames / 89-18) have shown a decrease in immune functions
(vitality?), a curbing of fast muscle response (agility), and a reduced testes
weighting (virility). Most of this does not seem insummountable - Use of
hormones, exercise, etc.

The good news is that there seems some evidence of enlightment in humans. More
than a few astronauts seem to have got quite spiritual (even religious) after
spending time in space. However, I'm sure that has much more to do with their
changed environmental perspective as a whole than 0G.

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #294
*******************