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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #23

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 10 : Issue 23

Today's Topics:
  Speculations on the Soviet Progress M-1 and new planetary program
        USSR's Soyuz TM-8 flight to Mir begins
           Re: Voyager/NASA Spacelink BBS ?
      Re: Where the hell are electric-ion thrusters????
      Re: Where the hell are electric-ion thrusters????
              Re: solar orbiting probes
        Re: Voyager Pictures moved to another machine
            Corporate Space Administration
               Magnum snoopsat
             Re: Galileo Mission
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Sep 89 23:50:16 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Speculations on the Soviet Progress M-1 and new planetary program

     There are several interesting things about Progress M-1,
which launched on Aug 23 and docked with the Mir space station on
Aug. 25, were reported in the Aug. 26 edition of Provda as
translated by Jonathan McDowell of the Smithsonian Observatory.
First, as expected the new craft is using the Soyuz TM docking system,
as compared to the older T version used in Progresses 25-41. It also
appears that the vehicle docked to the front (ball section) by the
report, rather than the rear as expected (though the translation is
a bit uncertain there). Lastly the vehicle is stated to have solar
panels and be capable of autonomous flight. This certainly makes the
craft heavier. Yet consider the flight path it is taking, docking
with Mir at a 350x390 Km (218x243 mi) orbit, rather than the normal
300 km (187 mi) one. This would take about 20% more energy. Obviously
the task of the higher rendezvous is to reduce the orbit of the Mir/Kvant
complex in preparation for the upcoming manned flight. This suggests
at the least that the craft carries considerably more fuel for its
engines. All of this suggests that either a Proton or a Zenit has been
employed. Probably this new Progress is close in appearance to the
heavy Soyuz that the Russians flew in the '60's  connected with the
their lunar program.
     The Russians announced several changes in their planetary program.
First the 1994 Mars mission is being simplified, so that the two spacecraft
consist of the orbiter (based on the Phobos bus), one balloon rover
(done together with the French) and several small surface stations.
The large landing probe has been replaced with a smaller one (similar
to earth base reentry vehicles). Launch will be in 1994 though full
commitment has not yet been made. Improvements to the Phobos bus include
creating a separate control system computer (the older one had a combined
system with the data collection), a fully autonomous attitude recover
system (part of the problem on Phobos 1/2 was the lack of this), backup
batteries and an omnidirectional radio antenna. In addition several
new probes are about to be approved. First a 1996 Phobos lander mission,
possibly with a sample return capsule. Secondly a 1998 Venus mission
with 6-8 surface penetrators of 50 Kg (110 lb) each. A 2002-2003 Mercury
orbiter which may contain either surface penetrators or a lander.
It would use a Venus gravity assist to get in Mercury's orbit. All
of these would use the improved Phobos bus. In the manned area it
appears the Mars exploration mission for 2015 is considered too risky
at the moment. (AW&ST Aug. 28).
     Interesting times are back in the Soviet program.  Let us see
what they do in the next few months.

                                              Glenn Chapman
                                              MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: Tue, 5 Sep 89 23:51:41 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: USSR's Soyuz TM-8 flight to Mir begins

     The USSR's Soyuz TM-8 mission began today (Sept. 5) with a launch
from the Baikonur cosmodrome at about 5:00 am Moscow time.  The flight crew
for was two experienced cosmonauts, Alexander Viktorenko (Soyuz TM-3
to 6 days to Mir July '87) and Alexander Serebrov (Soyuz T-7/Salyut 7
for 8 days in Aug. '82 and Soyuz T-8/Salyut 7 for 2 days Apr. '83 due to
docking problems). The primary and backup Soyuz TM-8 crew
arrived on Aug. 24th at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in preparation. Docking with
the Mir/Kvant space station is scheduled for Thur. Sept. 7th.
The crew will be spending 6 months in orbit, returning on Feb. 19. They
will be replaced by another crew.  Again two large expansion modules
(massing 10-20 Tonnes, with a volume of about 50 cubic meters)
will be added during this time - one in October, the other in February.
However, no mention has been made about the repair of the power system
on the station, which began to show problems in April. Mir has been
unmanned for the past 119 days, since Soyuz TM-7 left on Apr. 27.
Note though that the ground control has been maintained because on
Aug. 22 they announced a new series of observations taken by the Kvant
astrophysics module X-ray telescope of a neutron star.
     The Mir space station has accumulated 2156 mandays of occupation
to date, by far the most of any space station.  It should be noted the
how scale of missions are different for the Soviets.  This new flight
was noted as not attempting to set any records, suggesting also that
it was an average mission.  Average station crews now intend to spend
6 months in orbit, more than twice the longest US mission.  It is clear
who is occupying the orbital frontier, and will continue to do so until
things change here.

                                                 Glenn Chapman
                                                 MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: 29 Aug 89 11:12:56 GMT
From: anagld![e-mail]  (Ray Smith)
Subject: Re: Voyager/NASA Spacelink BBS ?

[e-mail] (Douglas Welch) writes:
>Does anyone know of a system run by NASA called Spacelink.  It was
>mentioned during the "Neptune All Night" broadcast Thrusday/Friday on PBS.

Here is the number and the introductory text from Spacelink.

First the number: [phone] 300/1200/2400 8N1

And now the introduction:

NASA SPACELINK BACKGROUND

NASA Spacelink runs on a Data General ECLIPSE MV-7800 minicomputer at the
NASA George C.  Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  NASA
Spacelink software was developed and donated to NASA by the Data General
Corporation.  The system has a main memory of 14 megabytes (14 million
characters), and disk storage space for 708 megabytes.  It runs at 300,
1200 or 2400 baud.  Data word format is 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop
bit.  The system was made public in February, 1988.

Initial support for NASA Spacelink was provided by the Educational Affairs
Division at NASA Headquarters.  The NASA Spacelink data base is maintained
by the Public Services and Education Branch of the Marshall Space Flight
Center Public Affairs Office.  Operational support is provided by the
Information Systems Office at the Marshall Center.  Information on NASA
scientific projects and educational programs is provided to NASA Spacelink
by education specialists at NASA Headquarters and the NASA field centers.

While NASA understands that people from a wide variety of backgrounds will
use NASA Spacelink, the system is specifically designed for teachers.
Unlike bulletin board systems, NASA Spacelink does not provide for
interaction between callers.  However, it allows teachers and other
callers to leave questions and comments for NASA.

END OF INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
        Ray Smith         | UUCP: {uunet,aplcen,netsys,sundc}!anagld!rcsmith
     Analytics, Inc.      | ARPA: [e-mail] or
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 9891 Broken Land Parkway |
    Columbia, MD 21046    | Voice: [phone]         Fax: [phone]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
            Sept. 11 is the start of POW/MIA Remembrance Week.

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

Date: 29 Aug 89 18:05:35 GMT
From: crdgw1!crdos1![e-mail]  (Wm E Davidsen Jr)
Subject: Re: Where the hell are electric-ion thrusters????

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Neal Woodall) writes:

|  Is this the real reason? Why the hell cannot our country do with two fewer
|  B2 bombers, and give that money to JPL for probes, including a full
|  program of electric-ion engine probes to various parts of the solar system?
|  All of the JPL people on TV the other night were saying that this is the
|  last Neptune mission in their lifetimes (even some of the younger ones said
|  this).....if we had an working electric-ion system, we could send probes
|  to all points in our system! Hell, a manned Mars mission would be fast
|  with an ion thruster!

  I'm not sure that an ion thruster would have enough thrust for a manned Mars
mission, but consider how small the solar system gets with constant
acceleration... 3 billion miles at .01ft/s/s in 651 days would get
another look at the far planets pretty quickly. Not a bad deal to Mars,
either, assuming a slowdown for orbit and a distance of 250 million
miles (I had to assume something), I get about 266 days.

  If we could convince the politicians that this was a good idea it
could happen before the end of the century, based on what I read about
the state of the technology. And if it could be launched by a cheap
rocket instead of the shuttle the cost would be pin money. The probes
would be cheap enough to send out a bunch and live with a failure rate
of (name it).
 ___________________________________________________________________
|                                                                   |
|   I'm off on vacation, expect replies Sep 18 or 25 depending on   |
|   weather in Utah.                                                |
|___________________________________________________________________|

--
bill davidsen    ([e-mail] -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
"The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called
'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see
that the world is flat!" - anon

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

Date: 30 Aug 89 03:48:51 GMT
From: b.gp.cs.cmu.edu![e-mail]  (Ralf Brown)
Subject: Re: Where the hell are electric-ion thrusters????

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Terry Hancock) writes:
}    It uses electrostatically accelerated mercury (cesium would
}by bad news, by the way, it's both very reactive, and radioactive),

This didn't seem right, so I looked it up in the Handbook of Chemistry and
Physics.  Naturally-occurring cesium is essentially 100% Cs-133, which is
stable, though all other isotopes are radioactive (most with halflives on the
order of minutes to days, so any that might have been in naturally-occurring
cesium is long gone).
--
{backbone}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf   ARPA: [e-mail]   FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/46
BITnet: RALF%CS.CMU.EDU@CMUCCVMA   AT&Tnet: [phone] (school)   FAX: ask
DISCLAIMER? | "Let me write down the natural numbers and then stop."
What's that?|   -- Alan Demers (in Upson's Familiar Quotations)

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

Date: 30 Aug 89 03:51:21 GMT
From: agate!bionet!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: solar orbiting probes

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ignac Kolenko) writes:
>... has anyone launched
>a probe that purposely ended up in solar orbit to study the sun?? ...

Yes.  The "middle" Pioneers, 5 (I think) through 9, were deliberately
modest missions launched into solar orbit.  Among other things, their
data provided some limited degree of solar-storm forecasting for the
Apollo missions.

>...any benefit to doing so rather than keeping the probe in orbit
>around the earth (ie: solar max mission)??

Yes.  Near-Earth satellites see what the Sun is doing from one angle only,
and sense the solar wind etc. at one point in the Sun's huge atmosphere.
There is a lot to be said for studying it from several positions at once.

>by the way, what's the oldest probe/satellite that we still have contact
>with?? anything from the 60's still communicating??

Yes.  If I recall correctly, Pioneer 6 is still active, and it was launched
in 1965.  In fact, several of that series are still active.
--
V7 /bin/mail source: 554 lines.|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989 X.400 specs: 2200+ pages. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Aug 89 03:15:51 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Adam Glass)
Subject: Re: Voyager Pictures moved to another machine

[e-mail] (Tim Nelson) writes:
> O.K. it is nice that you are moving the pictures, but are they available
> anywhere to those of us who do not have access to FTP?

Wait a sec. Let's concentrate on getting the graphics into a format
that everyone will be able to read. To self-second my previous message,
I think we (you, if you have the pics on your machine) should convert
them to raw data. Read my previous message for more details. I won't
repeat myself more than I already have.

Adam  (the new sig is up and running!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?"  ->  "If there are, we'll all be dead!" ->
"No more rhymes now, I mean it!"  ->  "Anybody want a peanut?" -tPB
I live a much simpler life than you other net.hozers. You see, I don't have to
put a disclaimer in. If I say anything THEY don't like, they'll just shoot me.
Don't trust the "mit-amt" mail address. DO Try: [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Aug 89 18:14:24 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Dan Pezely)
Subject: Corporate Space Administration


It's time to go to work!

As I promised a few weeks ago, I will be starting an organization whose
goal will be to unite all of the space contractors and other space
organizations into one corporate space administration.

Now is the time to design the general structure of this organization.

I will be doing research on the exact nature of the organization to
determine if we should become a non-profit organization or not.  If
anyone is a business advisor and wishes to help, then please contact me
about this.

The one definite action of this organization will be to either form a
second for-profit corporation, which will be the administration, or to
make the administration evolve out of this organization.  Should the
first option be used, this organization will curl up and die so as to not
interfere with the operation of the new space agency.

At the present time, this organization has no official name.  My
original postings referred to it as the Space Quest Foundation, and then,
later postings referred to it as the Corporate Space Administration.  I
have received many suggestions--mostly serious.  More suggestions would
be appreciated.

In addition to the name of this organization, which is very important,
the names, addresses, and contacts of OTHER organizations are needed.  I
have gone through various aerospace journals to obtain a list of the
space contractors and many start-up space companies.  If you know of any
non-Fortune 1000 space companies, then please let me know.

As far as overall goals go, how does having a single, non-NASA space
agency with its own launch vehicles, space station, permanent station
crew, and administration sound?  And, if we push for manufacturing/
construction to begin in the year 2000, then we will wont waste precious
time.

It takes dreams to find goals, and it takes goals to make things happen.
The time to daydream is over folks!

- Daniel
--
Daniel Pezely <[e-mail]>           Home: 728 Bent Lane, Newark, DE 19711
Computer Science Dept, 102 Smith Hall, U of Del, Newark, DE 19716 * 302/451-6339

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

Date: 30 Aug 89 06:09:25 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (David Palmer)
Subject: Magnum snoopsat

I have heard of a US spy satellite (electronic signal gathering) called Magnum.
What I have heard, from not-necessarily-reliable sources is:

    1) 100 meter dish!
    2) Geosynchronous orbit (presumably at the longitude of Moscow)
    3) Sends data to the spy nest at Pine Gap, Australia.

My questions are:
    0) Really?
    1) Is it really 100 meters in diameter?
    2) What wavelengths can it handle?
    3) How do they deploy such a monster?
    4) How much would another one cost?  (Put it out way beyond GEO,
        it's not much of an additional boost, and do vvvlbi
        (very-very-very-long baseline interferometry), image pulsars,
        resolve the inner 50 feet of the galaxy, etc.)

        David Palmer
        [e-mail]
        ...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
    "Direct quotes don't have to be exact, or even accurate.  Truth is as
    irrelevant to a newspaper as it is to a court of law"
    - Judge Alarcon, 9th circuit court of appeals (paraphrased)

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

Date: 29 Aug 89 22:24:39 GMT
From: vsi1!daver!lynx![e-mail]  (Neal Woodall)
Subject: Re: Galileo Mission

In article <1050400001@cdp> [e-mail] writes:

>The Christic Institute supports the exploration of the outer
>planets, but urges NASA to postpone the Galileo mission until the
>spacecraft is sterilized and its plutonium generators are
>replaced by a safer alternative energy source.

I was under the impression that there is a fairly narrow launch window for
the Galileo probe, and if this one is missed, a favorable window will not
open up for several more years. Also, the RTG's which supply the power to
the spacecraft are already putting out less power than the mission has
budgeted for.....this due to the fact that the RTG's are already several
years old because of launch delays in the past. The Pu that is in the RTGs
is not the long-lived Pu237 that is a neutron emitter, but is Pu238 which
has a MUCH shorter half-life....any new delays could cripple plans for
the next launch window.

What "safer alternate energy source" does Christic have in mind? The RTG's
are designed to survive catastrophic destruction of the launch vehicle, so
they are about as safe as they are going to get.

As far as the sterilization idea goes....I agree that it is possible that
earth microbes could remain alive long enough to reach Jupiter....it is
a potential problem....very remote, but potential. Maybe JPL should look
into some sterilization procedures, but in any case the launch should
go on as planned.

I have been reading the Christic stuff in this group for many months now...
they almost had me convinced that they were being rational with their
research about Central America and covert acton coverups....now I am having
second thoughts about their sanity.





Neal

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #23
*******************