Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_5/V9_505.TXT

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Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 03:16:55 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #505

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 505

Today's Topics:
   Re: NASA, Amroc agree to critical chemical exchange (Forwarded)
        More on the SS computers and NuBUS/MCA
             SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT
              help name my missing book?
     Re: Apollo 11 anniversary. Re: I'm getting too old for this
          Re: Space Station computer system
              Re: Don't mess with NASA?
           Re: longitude/latitude receiver
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 16 Jun 89 22:42:54 GMT
From: agate![e-mail]  (William Baxter)
Subject: Re: NASA, Amroc agree to critical chemical exchange (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]>, yee@trident (Peter E. Yee) forwards:
>Jim Cast
>Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                      June 14, 1989
>
>RELEASE:  89-92
>
>     NASA also is purchasing its ELV launch services needs
>directly from commercial operators, whenever possible, to support
>its scientific and applications missions that are not assigned to
>fly on the Space Shuttle.  Missions that do not require the
>unique capabilities of the Space Shuttle are being placed on ELVs
>in support of NASA's policy to use a mixed fleet of Shuttles and
>ELVs to assure access to space for its programs.

Two questions for NASA fans:

How many companies offer commercial launch services?  How many launches
has NASA purchased on a commercial basis?  (launch services, not launch
vehicles)

William Baxter

ARPA: web@{garnet,brahms,math}.Berkeley.EDU
UUCP: {sun,dual,decwrl,decvax,hplabs,...}!ucbvax!garnet!web

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

Date: Sat, 17 Jun 89 00:33 EDT
From: John Taylor <[e-mail]>
Subject: More on the SS computers and NuBUS/MCA

>>Why PS/2's? Why the Micro Channel bus in particular? If they want to
>>use PC's, why not the (vastly superior) Apple Mac? Oh well... :(

>From: IN%"vsi1!daver!lynx![e-mail]  (Neal Woodall)"
>You are joking, right? While I am no fan of the IBM PC's and PS's, calling
>the Mac a "superior" machine is kind of like saying that an amoeba is
>superior to a bacteria.

    I don't get the signifigance; the Mac is faster, easier to use, and has
a better bus.

>What is it that you think makes the Mac so superior to the IBM? OK, so the
>Motorola 68030 is a better processor than the 80386 (IMHO)...that doesn't
>make the Mac a "superior" machine....

    No, not on the basis of the processor alone, although the memory
segmenting of the Intel chips is an obstacle not found in the Motorola
chips.

>The only thing that makes the Mac any good at all is the Mac human interface,
>this will probably not be of any consequence for the space station software.

    No? I think it would make things vastly easier. In additon, all the
Mac's "Human Interface" routines are in ROM which speeds execution and
simplifies programming, reduces RAM requirements, etc.

>are NOT PS 2's, but rather are a new design based on Intel 80386 chips and
>the micro channel bus.

    Why Intel chips? I don't understand the constant use of these things;
the MC68030 is easier to program and is _signifigantly_ cheaper.

>Perhaps the designers will have enough common sense
>to put a few DMA channels on the thing.....

    Micro Channel has DMA...

>One thing I am kind of hazy on: what are the relative merits of the micro
>channel vs. the NuBus?

    This is a large part of my complaint. NuBUS is a much faster bus than
Micro Channel (37 MB/s vs 27 MB/s if I recall correctly); in addition, MCA
stops the bus during the aforementioned DMA read/write (therefore active
cards have to temporarily stop comm. operations), MCA has no "backplane" (so
the processor, memory, and cards are all on the.. uh ... frontplane ...),
and MCA has a narrower bandwidth than NuBUS. In addition, NuBUS bus
expanders are readily available, the standard expansion being to 14
slots. Oh yes, and NuBUS is a developed, "mature" bus, unlike MCA.
    A very extensive war was fought in the pages of "Control Engineering"
 this subject about 6 months to a year back; it's interesting reading...

    I hope this qualifies as "Space-Related"...

-------------
John Taylor -- State University of New York at Buffalo
Bitnet  : v131q5cg@ubvmsc
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Reply-To: mordor!rutgers!pnet01.cts.com![e-mail]
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 13:23:58 PDT
From: mordor!rutgers!pnet01.cts.com![e-mail] (Jim Bowery)
To: hplabs!hp-sde!hp-sdd!crash![e-mail]
Subject: SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT

SPACE ACTIVIST ALERT

TARGET:  Rep. Bill Nelson
         Phone: [phone]

OBJECTIVE:  Hold hearings on HR2674 -- The Commercial Space Transportation
Service Purchase Act of 1989 -- as soon as possible.

ACTION:  Dial Congressman Nelson's office at 202/225-3671, ask for
Jim Sutherland, his administrative aid.  Tell Mr. Sutherland that you
and other space activists are looking to Congressman Nelson to
hold hearings on HR2674 -- The Commercial Space Transportation Service
Purchase Act of 1989 -- as soon as possible.  Mention the benefits to Florida's
economy and prestige of its launch facilities becoming the primary space port
for commercial launches in the continental United States.  Encourage Rep.
Nelson to give higher priority to funding Shuttle missions involving its
unique, manned, capabilities -- such as scientific research using SpaceLab
and SpaceHab.  Mention the fact that more scientific research into microgravity
materials processing of gallium arsenide will lead to a more competative
place for the US in the world supercomputer market and that such research
has been lagging due to a lack of launch slots for SpaceLab and SpaceHab
missions.  Refer to Seymour Cray's new company, Cray Computer, and the fact
that it is basing its next generation supercomputer on gallium arsenide,
but must use small scale integration due to the poor quality of gallium
arsenide produced in 1G.

BACKGROUND:  The Commercial Space Transportation Service Purchase Act of
1989 provides a more robust market for commercial space transportation
service vendors by directing most government launches to the commercial
vendor with the lowest bid.  Exemptions are made for payloads which require
the Shuttle's unique capabilities, missions which must, for national
security reasons, be launched by the government and current payloads
already scheduled to launch on the Shuttle.  HR2674 was introduced this
week by the Hon. Ron Packard with cosponsors spanning the entire political
spectrum, including the Hon. George Brown and the Hon. Ron Dellums.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Bowery    Phone: [phone]
PO Box 1981                  Join the Mark Hopkins Society!
La Jolla, CA 92038   (A member of the Mark Hopkins family of organizations.)

UUCP: {cbosgd, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!pnet01!jim
ARPA: crash!pnet01![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 16 Jun 89 18:19:57 GMT
From: zephyr!tektronix!tekig5![e-mail]  (Bob Beville)
Subject: help name my missing book?


    for posting in sci.astro and sci.space... have I got the
    correct newsgroups?...
    Hi, I loaned this years ago and they/it has gotten away:

    A stiff-cover paperback by an Army Air Corps officer that
    *properly* instructed  amateur rocket enthusiasts in the
    construction and launching of small solid fuel rockets...

    It contained:
    A treatment about the thrill of the hobby...  A sermon about
    accidents and safety...  The characteristics and requirements
    of a solid fuel propellant... some drugstore/hardware recipe/
    formulae for (several) solid fuels... Construction drawings &
    details for cardboard tube fusalages, nose cones and fins...
    how to build a engine test stand-bunker... how to build a
    launch bunker... how to build the launch igniter... how to
    supervise a launch... how to determine altitude achieved by
    rocket using protractors and trig tables... trig tables...

    It was written so us kids of the 'zip-gun' generation would
    stop blinding ourselves or blowing our hands off. (do you know
    how far a cherry bomb in a 1-1/2 inch pipe will throw a D-cell
    battery?   have you ever taken strike-anywhere matches....?)

    I date it pre- '47 because the author was A-A-Corps...
    Words like: amateur, rocket, handbook were in the title.
    So.... what was the name and author of my @#$%^&* book?

    THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR AN email REPLY...

    best regards, [e-mail]
    Bob Beville, Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR 97077

   "UNKIND-1 to GLOWWORM-7-9-4...  break off your mission at t-minus-
   ten and evacuate the launch area....  copy?....." ssssssssssttttt!

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

Date: 16 Jun 89 14:37:47 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Andy Clews)
Subject: Re: Apollo 11 anniversary. Re: I'm getting too old for this

> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Who remembers 8USER.PAR?) writes:
>I recently interviewed a potential summer hire who was very excited about
>the upcoming 20th anniversary of Apollo 11.  Seems it's also her 20th birthday!

Would this person's name be "Module" by any chance? I remember hearing
on the TV News at around the time of Apollo 11, that someone in the
States had named her newly-born daughter "Module". Wonder what she's
doing now. Might even have little space probes of her own :-)

--
Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, ENGLAND
JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]
Voice: [phone] ext.2129

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

Date: 17 Jun 89 02:42:48 GMT
From: uccba!uceng![e-mail]  (daniel mocsny)
Subject: Re: Space Station computer system

> > >> they're talking about thirty to forty IBM PS/2 model 80's

That's a big purchase.  Did NASA get IBM to throw in on-site service
at no extra charge? And can an astronaut-technician take the cover off
a hard drive on an EVA without voiding the warranty? (After all, LEO
is a heck of a lot cleaner than the room where they build them thar
things.) Will the astronauts be able to dial an 800 telephone support
number from their desks, or will they have to go upstairs and use the
pay phone? Will the space station provide anonymous FTP? Will the
space station astronauts have NET access?

Is this what the VARS call a "vertical market?"

Dan Mocsny
[e-mail]

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

Date: 17 Jun 89 21:44:07 GMT
From: umigw!ibiza![e-mail]  (David Lesher)
Subject: Re: Don't mess with NASA?

> Article <[e-mail]> From: [e-mail]

# In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Hix) writes:
#    What use could they have for a Bell HueyCobra (AH-1<mumble>)?
#
# We have a B-52, fighters, and attack aircraft here at Ames-Dryden.
# Be nice!
NASA Lewis may still have Robert Vesco's {sp} old Lear. Customs
used it for a long time, but I guess the Cocaine Cowboys were
outrunning it or something, because it appeared on the
(internal) govt surplus list. An old prof of mine got it for
zero g project use.
--
David Lesher [e-mail]

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

Date: 17 Jun 89 17:24:15 GMT
From: vsi1!daver!wombat![e-mail]  (George Scolaro)
Subject: Re: longitude/latitude receiver

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William D. Eaton) writes:
>I need to know about equipment that will determine longitude and
>latitude.  I have seen a demo on tv of a system that used a receiver
>and (I presume) a constellation of satellites.  I'd like to know:
>
-- Stuff deleted --

One company that has such a device is listed below. The unit makes use
of GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites. There are currently
7 operational and turned on satellites. Last weekend another GPS satellite
was launched, it will probably take a month or so before they put it
on line (testing and stuff right now, I assume).

The address of the company that I bought a handheld unit is:

Magellan Systems Corp.
260 East Huntington Drive,
Monrovia, CA, 91016
[phone], FAX [phone]

The unit has an RMS error of 30 metres in 2D. It operates on 6 AA batteries
or external power. It is basically water proof in construction and primarily
intended for boating use. It cost $2800 incl tax. Magellan recommends $3000
but your mileage will vary with the place you buy it from. The unit has just
come out on the market (I think I was one of the 1st to get a retail unit
since I had it on order for over a month, with continual calls to Magellan).
It has a 16x2 LCD panel with rubber membrane buttons for entering information
etc. The unit works very well and I am impressed on the ease of use. Magellan
did an excellent job on the user interface. The antenna is built in, the
whole unit is 8.75 in x 3.5 in x 2.13 in and weighs 29 oz with batteries.
Some of the other specs are:

- Time to first fix 3.5 minutes (2D) typical, in continuous operation.
- Time to subsequent fix 30 seconds (2D) typical.
- Memory: 50 user stored waypoints, 9 automatic way points.
- Time displayed to second.
- Can determine 2D fix with 3 satellites in view, or 3D fix (2D+altitude)
  with 4 satellites in view.
- Has an almanac that is updated from the satellites to determine satellite
  availability and status for any time up to 6 months in the future and at
  any user entered place on the earth. This is handy until full gps coverage
  occurs.
- Speed accurate to around 0.2 knots.
- Can be configured for nautical units, statute or metric.
- Handheld, no external connections, ie you can't hook it to a computer.

With the current satellite availability you get around 6 hours+ of coverage
per day. My prime reason for purchasing the unit was for going out 'bush'
in australia (my home country). I like going 4wding and oz is big enough,
with few enough roads that you can get lost in a big way (past experience).
And since it is such a flat country it is very hard to use natural formations
for navigating, even though there are excellent military maps available. The
GPS unit will certainly revolutionize trips to the back of beyond!

Well thats some of the features etc. I am very impressed with the unit.
Magellan certainly deserves to be successful in the personal gps market
place. I am pretty sure that they are the first to have a commercial gps
unit that is handheld at such a low price.

P.S. I have no affiliation with Magellan, just a real happy customer....
P.P.S I posted a while ago asking if anyone on the net knew the approx
schedule for future GPS launches, I still have no reply (hint for more
info)!
--
George Scolaro
george@wombat
(try {pyramid|sun|vsi1|killer} !daver!wombat!george)

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #505
*******************