Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_5/V9_574.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #574

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 574

Today's Topics:
               Re: Voice channel beeps.
            NASA Select Broadcasts
           Re: Possible evidence for life on Mars.
              Re: S-Band Beacon on Moon
         Possible evidence for life on Mars.
              Re: Impossible Space Goals
                Anniversaries
                 Information
 Re: space news from June 19 AW&ST, and Apollo-anniversary editorial
                   Spinoffs
            sci.space mailing list
             Shuttle frequencies
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 22 Jul 89 01:57:30 GMT
From: aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu![e-mail]  (Steve Masticola)
Subject: Re: Voice channel beeps.

Bill Bencze writes:

] What function do the ever present "beeps" serve in the voice
] communication between spacecraft and the ground? These are the
] 1~3 kHz beeps of about a half second in duration which seem to
] occur at random duning the transmissions.  Are they electronic
] "Over" signals automatically sent at the end of a transmission or
] some other type of timing signal.

They're not random. I believe they're sent when the speaking party's
VOX times out (after about a half second of silence).

- Steve ([e-mail])

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

Date: 19 Jul 89 20:14:54 GMT
From: pilchuck!ssc!rolls!mtuxo![e-mail]  (54317-T.EBERSOLE)
Subject: NASA Select Broadcasts

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Peter E. Yee) writes:
>      The Galileo briefing will begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT in the KSC
> News Center auditorium and will be carried on NASA Select
> television: Satcom F2R, transponder 13, 72 degrees west
> longitude.  Two-way question and answer capability will be
> available.
>
I told a friend of mine about the NASA Select broadcasts of Neptune
images on Tuesdays at noon. He has looked for them a couple of times
and had another friend look a couple of times, with no luck picking
up a signal. He has looked at other times to see if he can get anything,
also with no luck. Has anyone been able to find NASA Select's broadcasts?
Did you need to know anything more than the data in the excerpted paragraph?
Is this bird viewable from the east coast with "standard" equipment, i.e.,
is it a good quality signal or very weak?

Thanks for any information.


--
Tim Ebersole ...!att!mtuxo!tee
                 or {allegra,ulysses,mtune,...}!mtuxo!tee

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

Date: 20 Jul 89 20:56:01 GMT
From: dino!ceres![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Possible evidence for life on Mars.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283) writes:
>          From the July 20, 1989 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE -
>
>          "Meteorite Revives Hopes There May Be Life on Mars"
>
>          The possibility that life could have evolved on Mars, and perhaps
>     exists there now, has been given a boost by the discovery of large
>     amounts of organic material, the basis of all known life forms, in a
>     meteorite believed to have come from the red planet.
>

 I have been curious about the possibility of life on Mars
for awhile.  My understanding of current theories on the
origin of life on this planet is that life is thought to
have originated in tidal pools or near the ocean surface.
Both of these places have ample sunlight, rather calm water,
yet would have the necessary chemicals for proteins and
their precursors to form and combine.

My question is that all of the pictures from Mars have been
of river channels, river channels which apparently handled
immense quantities of water.  How would this environment
(i.e. the river) compare with the ocean?  If the water was
flowing fast enough to carve these channels, would there
also be areas where the water would be stagnant for a long
enough period of time for proteins and the like to form?
Have there been areas discovered which resemble a sea or
ocean basin, but just have not received as much press?


-- Joe

"Those who would sacrifice **  I disclaim none of my opinions.
liberty for security,      **
deserve neither."          **    DECnet CERES::TJL
 B. Franklin               **           [e-mail]

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

Date: 21 Jul 89 23:15:39 GMT
From: vsi1!v7fs1![e-mail]  (Andrew D. Daniel)
Subject: Re: S-Band Beacon on Moon

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bill Chiarchiaro) writes:
>>... a radio transmitter that was left on the Moon ... still operating.
>
>As far as I know, all the Apollo lunar-surface transmitters were shut
>down ... to save some trifling amount of money!!!

Am I missing something here?
How could shutting down something already on the moon save ANY money?

I DID hear that NASA recently shut down a listening station that was picking
up signals from moon-based instruments to save $2M per year, but that
the instruments themselves were still operating.



--

Andrew D Daniel, Video Seven, Inc.           Angels fear to tread
..ames!vsi1!v7fs1!add                        where fools login:

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

Date: 20 Jul 89 16:21:46 GMT
From: wrksys.dec.com![e-mail]  (CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283)
Subject: Possible evidence for life on Mars.


         From the July 20, 1989 edition of THE BOSTON GLOBE -

         "Meteorite Revives Hopes There May Be Life on Mars"

         The possibility that life could have evolved on Mars, and perhaps
    exists there now, has been given a boost by the discovery of large
    amounts of organic material, the basis of all known life forms, in a
    meteorite believed to have come from the red planet.

         ...it is virtually impossible that organic compounds could have
    contaminated the rock after it reached Earth because the chemicals
    were found deep within the solid rock and because the meteorite has
    been handled with extreme care since its discovery on the sterile
    Antarctic ice....

         ...The meteorite was handled under extremely clean conditions.
    It was collected in a Teflon bag, placed in a pure nitrogen
    atmosphere...it was treated like a lunar rock....

         The evidence that the meteorite came from Mars is twofold, said
    geologist William Cassidy in an interview yesterday:

         * Tests show it was formed in volcanic processes about 1.3 billion
    years ago, which rules out origin from asteroids or comets, which have
    no volcanic activity, or the Moon, where such processes ended 4.5
    billion years ago.

         * Samples of air trapped in glass melted into the rock during its
    formation exactly match the composition and elemental isotope ratios
    of Martian air but not of any other known planet.

         "Bush Sets Space Agenda Today: Outpost on Moon, Man on Mars"

         President Bush today will seek to commit the United States to
    building a manned outpost on the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars,
    an administration official said yesterday.  Bush will not outline a
    specific proposal but will endorse the concept of a Moon-Mars mission,
    which was recommended by Vice President Dan Quayle and the National
    Space Council, which Quayle chairs, said the official.

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

Date: 20 Jul 89 16:48:05 GMT
From: hplabsb![e-mail]  (David Smith)
Subject: Re: Impossible Space Goals

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>>>Was the surface of the moon hard or miles of dust for a lander to sink?
>>
>>There were even two series of Lunar probes launched to specifically
>>answer this and related questions.
>
>Whoa.
>Assuming Zond doesn't count, there were two programs where unmanned
>spacecraft touched the lunar surface: Ranger and Surveyor.  Ranger was a
>hard ballistic impact probe which relayed TV pictures on the way down.
>The final pictures were taken a few thousand feet above the surface;
>nobody really knew what happened when a Ranger hit.  Dust or basalt
>would have extinguished the craft with equal efficiency.

Whoa right back.  Ranger was indeed launched to answer this question.
Rangers 3-5 had seismometers encased in balsa spheres, attached to
retrorockets.  These packages were supposed to separate from the main
spacecraft, brake to a stop 1100 feet altitude, jettison the retros,
then fall from there.  After rolling to a stop, they were to transmit
readings back.  If the balls sank into dust, the signals would reflect
that.

Rangers 1 and 2 were engineering spacecraft, not intended to hit the moon.
Their Agena stages (2nd stage on top of Atlas) failed to fire to get out
of parking orbit.  Ranger 3 was launched 30,000 miles off course by the
Agena, and was only able to to cut the error to 23,000 miles with its
course-correction motor.  As it passed the moon, it failed to aim its
high-gain antenna at the Earth, so its photos weren't received.  Ranger
4's sequencer failed.  Ranger 5's power failed shortly after trans-lunar
injection.  After this, the spacecraft were simplified to be camera-only
probes, and then Ranger 6 failed to turn on its cameras.  Talk about
snake-bitten.  But at any rate, three Rangers had attempted to get an
instrument to survive a moon landing.
--

            David R. Smith, HP Labs
            [e-mail]
            [phone]

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

Date: 20 Jul 89 17:52:22 GMT
From: agate!shelby!portia![e-mail]  (Michael Brooks)
Subject: Anniversaries

The following is forwarded from a friend of mine without net access.
It`s either a set of platitudes or an astute observation, take your
pick.

Arguably the two most significant dates in Human History both occurred
in July.  On the 20th, in 1969, a man walked on the Moon.  On the
16th, in 1946, a bomb was exploded at Trinity in New Mexico.  The first
may someday result in humanity freeing itself from the bonds of Earth.
The second may someday result in the Earth freeing itself from the bonds
of humanity.

Most amazing of all, these dates are only 4 days and 23 years apart.


Mike Brooks/Stanford Electronics Labs (solid state)/SU

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

Date: 21 Jul 89 08:41:05 GMT
From: uhccux!munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!ditmela!latcs1![e-mail]  (Sabrina Sestito)
Subject: Information

Hello,

    I intend to visit the States in late August until mid September
and as such, would like to visit an appropriate NASA establishment such
as Cape Kennedy.  I would really love to see the launch of either the
Shuttle or any space rocket.  Can anyone help with any appropriate
information and/or any recommendation of good places to visit.
Thankyou.

                            Sabrina Sestito

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

Date: 21 Jul 89 14:19:11 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: Re: space news from June 19 AW&ST, and Apollo-anniversary editorial

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In all the fuss about lunar bases and Mars missions, it is easy to lose
>track of one big, unpleasant, nasty fact that has gone from unlikely to
>certain in the last 20 years.  Unless something changes radically...
>
>None of us is going.

If "us" means everyone reading article <[e-mail]>,
this has a fair chance - not 100% (=84%) - of being true.

Primarily because the hustling overachievers who WILL be in space in the
next 15 years know better than to fritter away their time on Netnews!

>Remember the early days of the shuttle program, when weekly launches were
>seriously planned, and the shuttle was going to open up space?  Remember
>"routine access to space"?  Well, you and I may remember it, but as far
>as NASA is concerned, it's dead, buried, and forgotten ...

Look, let's put this in perspective.  They fly B-1 bombers *daily*.  Has
anyone reading this newsgroup ever flown one?  "Routine access" is not
the same thing as "outdraws Disneyworld."  Most *Soviets* won't go,
either, yet we blithely grant them the "routine access" label.

>Remember when Jerry Pournelle said "we're going if we have to walk!"?
>Did you agree?  Did you think you meant it?  I did.  ...

No aspersions on Henry whatsoever, but anyone who lets the author of
JANISSARIES do his prognosticating for him, deserves the letdown. :-)

>            ... You can ride the bus, but you have to pay in Swiss francs
>and learn Russian first...

The UK will be sending a cosmonaut up in 1991 (oooh, where are you Eric
Blair!), they are not paying in SFr and although, with 13,000
applicants[!], HMG has the luxury of making an acquaintance with Russian
a requirement, I don't believe the Soviets themselves impose it on
visitors.

                and the driver inspects your baggage before
>deciding whether to let you on.

Also true on Air Canada. :-)

The most dangerous fallacy in this editorial is the equation of
*conquering space* with *you [the reader] going.*  It's pointless to
cheerlead a guaranteed non-starter.  None of us will go to Mars, unless
someone's kid is reading this.  But we could put a rover and sample
return mission there before your present lawn mower gives out if we
wanted to.  How about some space activism about THAT.

>1961-1969: 8 years of Apollo.  |
>1969-1989: 20 years of nothing.|

Tell it to the boys at Taurus Littrow... to Skylab... Viking... IRAS...
Solar Max... Mir... Voyager...  HST... Magellan... and please, don't
forget to tell Christa.

--
"My God, Thiokol, when do you     \\    Tom Neff
want me to launch -- next April?"  \\    uunet!bfmny0!tneff

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

Date: 20 Jul 89 12:25:41 GMT
From: haven!aplcen!aplvax.jhuapl.edu![e-mail]  (Jim Meritt)
Subject: Spinoffs


How many lives make it "worth it"?

Thousands, perhaps millions, of people owe their lives to something that
you can only do with a space program.

Fact, not wild speculation.  I can aim doubters at the raw data to draw
their own conclusions.


That that is is that that is. That that is not is that that is not.
That that is is not that that is not.  That that is not is not that that is.
And that includes these opinions, which are solely mine!
[e-mail]  - or - [e-mail]  - or - meritt%aplvm.BITNET

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

Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 10:07:44 -0500
From: Steve Norton <[e-mail]>
Subject: sci.space mailing list

Sir, is this the correct address to e-mail in order to be added to the
sci.space mailing list?  If so, please add me.  If not, do you know what the
correct address is?  My apologies if this is wasting your time.
Bolshoi spaceba, tovarisch.

[e-mail]

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

Date: 19 Jul 89 21:36:00 GMT
From: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Shuttle frequencies


Would someone please be kind enough to post or repost a list of the frequencies
used by Shuttle/KSC/Remote stations communications during Shuttle flight?
Please mail to [e-mail] or post in sci.space or
sci.space.shuttle.  Bolshoi spaceba, tovarischi.

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #574
*******************