Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_5/V9_511.TXT

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Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 05:16:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #511

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 511

Today's Topics:
               RE: SPACE Digest V9 #494
       Magellan Status for week of 06/20/89 (Forwarded)
                 Firecrackers
              Re: Don't mess with NASA?
             Re: Geomorphology from Space
                Super strings
 Two companies chosen for work on Life Science Satellite (Forwarded)
            Stargazing in Georgia
          Re: Space Station Computer System
                Re: UN
          Re: Space Station computer system
               Ireland contacts wanted
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 18 Jun 89 18:29:00 GMT
From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!s.cs.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V9 #494


/* Written  6:28 pm  Jun 13, 1989 by [e-mail] in s.cs.uiuc.edu:sci.space */
>>[me, laughing at the concept of trying to run X-windows under Unix in
>> only 4Meg of memory]
>OK, so what would you have them do?  Draw up all their plans with pencilled-in
>boxes saying "Here Be Computeres"? [ ... ]
> [ comments on how one can't expect state-of-the-art stuff in space ]
/* End of text from s.cs.uiuc.edu:sci.space */

Actually, in general I agree with you. But I'm not talking about state of
the art when the station is put up - I'm talking about current designs _now_
being used _then_. The memory is the worst of it - I see _no_ excuse for
not designing more memory except for the name IBM, which (as we CS-geeks know)
has always had a real problem with adequate memory on PC's. Yes, you have
to do extra checks on the system above a normal one. But there's this thing
called "modularity". You design the system in modules, and allow extra modules.
It appears that they tried to do this (since the default seems to be
(painful laughter) 1Meg, which is too little to even _boot_ most '386 Unix
versions). Why limit it to 4M? If they are using '386 chips, then it's recent
enough to know that 4M is too small. In email to me, someone claimed that
it was because memory prices were high. I found that bogus - memory prices
have been steadily dropping for a long time, and the recent price fixing by
the US government for the benefit of Japanese memory-makers is a local bump.
Prices are coming back down to "normal" levels as we speak, and as other NIC's
in Asia break into the market this trend will continue.

It's not like making the memory bigger is a major design change, and designing
to specs that are barely adequate today means that the systems will be crippled
during actual use. Why not design to over-rated specs now? If memory doesn't
get cheaper, than so be it. But if it does, then you win big. I personally
would have designed for 64-256M. Sure, no equivalent system has that now,
but they will then. They're probably designing a 10Mhz bus too, when there
are commercial machines at 25Mhz, and 33Mhz sometime this year. Last year
an Intel rep told us that the '386 would top out at around 40-50Mhz. Why
not design for that _now_? If it doesn't happen, no problem. You can run at
a slower speed. NASA should look to the future, not the past.

A key point here is that none of this is very exotic - I have no doubt that
such work is being done now in various places. NASA used to overpay to get
components _past_ the state of the art, the antithesis of the Big Dumb Booster
concept. Now, they're overpaying to get obsolete components, which combines
the worst of both approaches.

Alan M. Carroll                "And there you are
[e-mail]           Saying 'We have the Moon, so now the Stars...'"
CS Grad / U of Ill @ Urbana    ...{ucbvax,pur-ee,convex}!s.cs.uiuc.edu!carroll

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

Date: 20 Jun 89 22:29:13 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Magellan Status for week of 06/20/89 (Forwarded)


                     MAGELLAN WEEKLY STATUS
                          June 20, 1989


     This is a weekly status report. Magellan continues to
operate successfully. Momentum wheel desaturations and star
calibrations were routinely performed except for Friday. On that
day, the star scanner correctly identified the first star
crossing of slits 3 and 4 but saw a pulse apparently repeated and
correctly rejected that pulse. That set the timing off and the
second star crossing was not performed. On Saturday and Sunday,
however, star calibrations were routinely accomplished.

     The spacecraft was rotated 180 degrees about the Medium-
Gain Antenna axis. This attitude has significantly cooled both
the Rocket Engine Modules (REMs) and the Solid Rocket Motor
(SRM). It will be the primary attitude for the next couple of
weeks. Ground tests for both thermal problems are currently
being initiated and results are expected on the SRM problem
within three weeks.

     On Tuesday, June 13, memory read-outs of both the Command
and Data Subsystem and the Attitude and Articulation Control
System were performed and the results compared successfully with
ground-maintained memory maps.

     Also on Tuesday, the voice nets between JPL and Denver were
restored after being out of service for six days.

     On Thursday, June 15, the first star calibration not used to
update the spacecraft's attitude was performed for the purpose
of calibrating star magnitude thresholds for two different stars,
Alpha Centauri and Alpha Canis Major. The calibration data,
although not used to update the spacecraft's attitude, was
assessed on the ground and indicated lower thresholds were
needed. Another, similar, calibration was performed successfully
on Saturday.



     SPACECRAFT
     Distance From Earth (mi)                    6,324,124

     Velocity Geocentric                         5,064 mph
              Heliocentric                      62,493 mph

     One Way Light Time                           33.3 sec

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

Date: 18 Jun 89 12:46:41 GMT
From: mcvax!cernvax!ethz![e-mail]  (Guido Hoss)
Subject: Firecrackers


Does anyone know the average launch velocity of a typical firecracker?
(I need this for a simulation program).

Thanks in advance
-Guido Hoss

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

Date: 19 Jun 89 15:03:13 GMT
From: skipper![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Don't mess with NASA?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Lesher) writes:

>> 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.

It turned into a three-corner trade--Lewis got the Lear, Dryden got
the Lewis Gooney-Bird, and Customs got the Dryden AeroCommander.

We enjoyed the Gooney-Bird, since it was much nicer than the R4D that
it replaced, having soundproofing and cloth upholstery, but it was
a little embarassing to climb into our `new' 1941 airplane.
--

M F Shafer                                |Ignore the reply-to address
NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility |Use [e-mail]

NASA management doesn't know what I'm doing and I don't know what they're
doing, and everybody's happy this way.

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

Date: 19 Jun 89 15:09:48 GMT
From: skipper![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Geomorphology from Space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (dbg) writes:

>>In NASA SP-486, "Geomorphology from Space", pp. 432-433, is a list
>>of 15 possible origins of the Carolina Bays, including meteor swarms
>>
>  .
>   .
>>Incidently, this SP is really great.  Try to get a copy.

>I would very much like to get a copy.  Where do I look?

You can get any NASA SP that's still in stock from the Government
Printing Office.  They have offices in major cities and you can
also do business with them by mail.  The address is:
     The Superintendent of Documents
     U S Government Printing Office
     Washington, D C  20402

I get my NASA pubs through our library, since the Center gets copies
automatically, so I've never ordered from the GPO.

--

M F Shafer                                |Ignore the reply-to address
NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility |Use [e-mail]

NASA management doesn't know what I'm doing and I don't know what they're
doing, and everybody's happy this way.

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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 16:24:22 +0200
From: [e-mail]
Comment: CROSSNET mail via MAILER@CMUCCVMA
Subject: Super strings

Date: 20 June 1989, 16:22:31 +0200
From: BOCHANNK at DB0TUI11
To:   [e-mail]

Dear space friends!

Does anyone have some informations (books, articles, scripts) about the
super string theory?

Alex
[e-mail]

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

Date: 20 Jun 89 19:35:43 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Two companies chosen for work on Life Science Satellite (Forwarded)

Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                      June 20, 1989

Kari Fluegel
Johnson Space Center, Houston

RELEASE:  89-101

TWO COMPANIES CHOSEN FOR WORK ON LIFE SCIENCE SATELLITE

     NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, has selected two
companies to continue the study and design of an unmanned,
reusable reentry satellite called LifeSat (Life Science
Satellite).

     General Electric, Reentry Systems Department, Philadelphia,
and Science Applications International Corp., Torrance, Calif.,
were chosen for the two parallel $900,000 contracts.  The 1-year
agreements are tentatively scheduled to start July 3, 1989.

     LifeSat will carry life science payloads and could
significantly expand NASA's capability to investigate the
biological effects of microgravity and the unique space radiation
environment.  This type of investigation can be calculated only
in space, preferably in polar orbits.  LifeSat will be used
primarily in the fields of life sciences and materials
processing.

     LifeSat will fly experiments in a variety of orbits,
including those providing high doses of radiation, for up to 60
days, and perhaps longer.  It would be placed into Earth orbit by
an expendable launch vehicle, reserving the Space Shuttle for
activities requiring crew presence.  Upon completion of the
mission, LifeSat would reenter the atmosphere and soft-land at a
designated ground-site where scientists and engineers would have
immediate access to the experiments.

     The request for proposals, released in January, called for
the design of a reusable spacecraft that could be processed and
readied for reflight in 2 months, allowing for several flights
each year.

     The project is managed by the Flight Projects Office of the
New Initiatives Office at the Johnson Space Center.

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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 16:25:21 EDT
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
Subject: Stargazing in Georgia


>From: [e-mail]  (Don Barry)
>Subject: September Georgia Star Party and SERAL Convention

>From 28 September through 1 October, the Astronomical Society of the
>Atlantic will host the the Georgia Star Party(tm) at the Rock Eagle
>4-H Convention center in the dark skies of the Georgia countryside.
                          -----------------------------------------

It's true! I've been in Georgia on summer nights when many star clusters were
visible to the unaided eye, and the Milky Way could be clearly seen against
a black background. I don't know about the West, but that degree of visibility
is rare further north along the east coast.

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

Date: 20 Jun 89 15:14:24 EDT
From: Colin Hunter <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Space Station Computer System

From:

Although there has been considerable debate as to the merit of choosing an
IBM PS/2 based computer network for Space Station, there appears to be little
doubt that IBM will provide the route to be taken by NASA.  I am curious to
know if affiliated countries and agencies will be forced to use IBM hardware
in their modules.  For example, will ESA be compelled to join the IBM sheep,
or will they be allowed to use a real computer system (Acorn's RISC-based
Archimedes series, for example) of their own choosing?

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

Date: 19 Jun 89 21:54:57 GMT
From: concertina![e-mail]  (Steve Hix)
Subject: Re: UN

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
>
> Just agree not to try to tax me for your part of the defense budget and
> don't ask what the 3 or 5 leaved plants in the hydroponics section
> are... :-)

I can see the need for being able to treat glaucoma, but what do you
want to grow poison oak for?

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

Date: 21 Jun 89 22:10:07 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Eugene Miya)
Subject: Re: Space Station computer system

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (daniel mocsny) writes:
>pay phone? Will the space station provide anonymous FTP? Will the
>space station astronauts have NET access?

Pay phone? No, but there will be designated "private time."
Anonymous FTP: definitely no.  Very limited disk space obviously.
NET access: definitely yes (NASA internal).

Another gross generalization from

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, [e-mail]
  resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:
  "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
  "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology."
  {ncar,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!ames!eugene
                  *UNIX*

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1989 10:48-EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Ireland contacts wanted

I will be moving to Belfast around July 27th and would appreciate it if
I could make contact with network people there. I will eventually have
a NeXT computer at the office I will be setting up there and would like
to get an internet connection of some sort so I can continue to
regale|enrage my fellow Space Digest'ers.

I know that U. Ulster has net access via JANET. Anyone out there?

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #511
*******************