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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #105

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 105

Today's Topics:
               News of the Week, Sep 28
           Re: Edgar Rice Quayle on himself
         NASA Headline News for 09/28/89 (Forwarded)
        Neptune (and other planets') Pictures
Concorde, NASP, shuttles, education (Re: Space Station Strangles NASP)
          Re: Risk of NOT launching Galileo
             Re: Concorde, NASP, shuttles
            Re: Edgar Rice Quayle on Mars.
               Re: Soviet Probe to Mars
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 28 Sep 89 20:16:51 GMT
From: frooz!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: News of the Week, Sep 28

OK, I'm back!
------------------------------------------
Jonathan's Space Report

Sep 28, 1989 (no.26)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The Soyuz TM-8/Mir/Progress M complex continues in orbit, crewed by
Aleksandr Viktorenko and Aleksandr Serebrov.  The station's orbit was
altered on Sep 13 using the engine of Progress M.  Progress M does not
carry a recoverable capsule as has been reported elsewhere; recoveries
will begin with the 6th Progress M mission. Modul' D is scheduled for
launch Oct. 16

Atlantis/STS-34/Galileo is scheduled for launch on Oct 12.

A classified payload was launched on Sep 6 by Titan II from Vandenberg.
It is probably a US Navy WhiteCloud ocean surveillance cluster.

The Resurs-F remote sensing satellite launched Sep 6 carries a
West German materials processing experiment.

Six small satellites successfully spaced Sep 14.  Kosmos-2038 to
Kosmos-2043 are probably communications relays used by the Soviet Navy.
The Tsiklon vehicle is slowly replacing the Kosmos launch vehicle for a
number of missions, and this 6-up launch is one of a series thought
to be replacing a series of octuple launches on the Kosmos vehicle.

Kosmos-2044 was launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Sep 15.  It is an
international biological research satellite, whose payload includes US
experiments.

Kosmos-2045 up on Sep 22, no details yet.

FLTSATCOM F-8 launched by Atlas Centaur on Sep 25 from Canaveral.  The
US Navy UHF geostatioanry communications relay was finally launched
after a 2 year delay; the previous launch vehicle was damaged in a pad
accident.  Atlas Centaur launches will from now on be carried out by
General Dynamics rather than NASA.  The last major NASA expendable
vehicle launch is the COBE satellite set for no earlier than Nov 9 on a
Delta.

A Molniya communications satellite was launched from Plesetsk on Sep 27.
The Aktivniy-IK magnetospheric research satellite was due for launch
soon afterwards.

Kosmos-2031 reentered on Sep 15 after 59 days in orbit; despite its
unusual inclination and orbit it was probably a variant of the standard
4th generation spy satellite rather than a new model.

(c) 1989 Jonathan McDowell

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

Date: 27 Sep 89 18:54:39 GMT
From: hp-pcd!hpcvlx![e-mail]  (Greg Goebel)
Subject: Re: Edgar Rice Quayle on himself

> Would some one please tell me where the "Edgar Rice" came from.  Please
> pardon my ignorance, I haven't been around long.
>
> Gregory E. Gilbert
> Academic Consultant

Great Barsoom!  Did ERB die out with my generation?  (I was never a big
fan myself -- by the time I knew about him I was too old to stand to read
the stuff.)

    +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
    | Greg Goebel                                                         |
    | Hewlett-Packard CWO / 1000 NE Circle Boulevard / Corvallis OR 97330 |
    | [phone]                                                      |
    | INTERNET: gvg@hp-pcd                                                |
    | HP DESK:  GREG GOEBEL / HP3900 / 20                                 |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 17:08:23 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 09/28/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                           NASA Headline News
Thursday, Sept. 28, 1989                       Audio:202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, September 28....


The New York Times quotes NASA officials as saying, "the space
agency, long known for its technical expertise, has become so
dependent on private contractors that it may be losing its
ability to manage its operations, maintain safety and control
costs."  The Times story says a report to the Office of
Management and Budget by Deputy Administrator J. R. Thompson and
the NASA Inspector General also expressed concern over the
erosion of the agency's civil service capability.  The report
also discussed "false certification of components, overpricing of
parts and excessive profits" by contractors.  The assessment was
obtained by the newpaper under provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act.


Workers are continuing their investigation into the accidental
dousing of the Columbia at the Orbiter Processing Facility at
Kennedy Space Center last Sunday when a fire extinguisher system
was accidentally triggered.  Columbia was being readied for the
STS-32 mission in mid-December.  Processing for the December
flight has resumed.


Meanwhile, work continues on launch preparations for the
Atlantis.  A launch readiness review is scheduled for next
Tuesday and Wednesday.  The earliest possible launch window opens
at 1:29 P.M., Eastern time, October 12.


A circuit court judge in Richmond, Virginia has ruled against a
state attorney general's request to shut down the Avtex Fibers
plant in Front Royal.  The facility is the sole supplier of high
quality rayon yarn used in NASA and DoD solid rocket motors.  The
court did tell the plant that is must immediately stop
discharging any toxic waste water into the Shenandoah River.


And Friday evening, Spaceport USA at the Kennedy Space Center
will be the site of the premiere performance of "Return to
Flight", a musical composition commissioned by the NASA arts
program.  The gala affair will be attended by NASA officials and
community digitaries from central Florida.  NASA Select
television will carry the concert beginning at 7:00 P.M., Eastern
time.


                 *               *              *



_________________________________________________________________
Here's the broadcast schedule for public affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.


Friday, September 29....

    7:00 P.M.     Premiere concert of "Return to Flight" at KSC's
                  Spaceport USA.  Some cable TV firms will carry.


Monday, October 2.....

     12:00 noon   Administrator Truly speaks to NASA centers on
                  quality month.

      1:00 P.M.   A 30-minute Voyager/Neptune video summary
                  prepared by JPL will transmitted.

Thursday, October 5....

      11:30 A.M.  NASA Update will be transmitted.

       1:30 P.M.  News briefing on Cosmic Background Explorer
                  mission.


All events and times are subject to change without notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------
These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12 noon,
Eastern time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A service of the Internal Communications Branch (LPC), NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 02:54:29 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!reed![e-mail]  (Iain Odlin)
Subject: Neptune (and other planets') Pictures


  Gentlefolk:

    I have recently been working with some Neptune pictures and have a hunger
    for more Voyager/Viking/etc images to munch on.

    The following are the files I have (in the names they had when I got
    them):

      Neptune: 7best, cloud, triton, and whole.
      Plus the two 'faces' on Mars.

    I would very much like to receive any other images that exist in net.land,
    especially Voyager images.

  Thank you,
  -Iain Odlin
--
----------------------------------Iain Odlin----------------------------------
                  Box 1428, Reed College, Portland OR, 97202
                odlin@reed -or- {ogccse, tektronix}!reed!odlin
                    "Creatures of the night: SHUT UP!!!"

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 22:24:27 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu![e-mail]  (Robert Dorsett)
Subject: Concorde, NASP, shuttles, education (Re: Space Station Strangles NASP)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Rehrauer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Larry Smith) writes:
>What are we talking about here, a Chevy for getting to space or a whizzier
>Concorde for trans-oceanic flights?  My understanding is that the Concorde
>is middling profitable on its small number of routes.

Only after the immense development cost was written off.  It's been making a
tidy little profit for the last couple of years.


>Why do you expect
>a "space-plane", used in the same manner as the Concorde, to be a better
>/ more_lucrative venture?

Er, I may be confused, here (and I often am), but my understanding is that
the National Aerospace Plane is intended to be a two-man hypersonic transport,
with marginal payload.  Right?  Or are you referring to the proposed Boeing/
Lockheed/McDonnell-Douglas SST?  What you're *describing* sounds suspiciously
like HOTOL.


>If there isn't a Concorde route to <your_choice_
>of_destination> today, why not?  Wouldn't the answers apply to the same
>questions asked re: the NASP?

Not really.  Concorde is restricted due to where it can fly: the routes
it makes money on are over-water--most countries do not care for supersonic
overflights.  A space-plane could likely get away with flying over inhabited
areas, without the penalty of a discernable sonic boom.

Then again, if we're really talking about the SST, the advantage in that--all
along--has been that an American SST would be much larger than Concorde
(which is a really puny little airplane, little larger than a Caravelle), in-
corporate new technologies, and learn from all the mistakes of Concorde.
Moreover, a major motivator is the incredible boom in Pacific Rim traffic over
the past ten years--which is projected to outstrip our capability of servicing
it within a few years.


>If they "see the potential" and it's so sure-fire golden, why then they'll
>either a) build it, or b) keep their near-sighted eyes on next month's
>bottom line and let the [ Japanese | French | Russians | other ambitious
>nation ] build it.  I'm not convinced the role of Washington should be to
>chivvy said aerospace companies into taking a long-term view by lavishing
>taxpayer money on them.  At least, not for this program.

Personally, I'd rather see taxpayer money wasted on the NASP or SST than
the Shuttle. (just thought I'd throw that in to piss off a lot of people :-)).


>budget on more Galileos and Voyagers and Vikings and Magellans, and the other
>half on pushing ("paying for") excellent ("better" isn't good enough with
>things in their current state) science & mathematics programs in our schools.

Wasting more money on education won't help things.  First we've got to fire
the current crop of administrators and teachers--and nobody's suggested that;
all we hear are proposals to deify the worthless slobs.  In my experience,
3/4 of my teachers were marginal, and perhaps 1 in 10 should never be
permitted around children.  This ignores the basic problems of curriculum (and
keep in mind that I went to good schools!).  A number of states have, in fact,
increased the funds allocated to education.  But all they've accomplished has
been to increase the size of the "educationist" bureaucracy, and lowered the
quality of education (by most independent standards).

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 16:26:08 GMT
From: frooz![e-mail]  (Steve Willner)
Subject: Re: Risk of NOT launching Galileo

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Tom Neff):
> This and another followup suggest we'll learn things from Jupiter's
> weather that we can't learn by studying our own.  Granted.  But this was
> not quite the issue.

The original issue was whether it is too risky to launch Galileo because
of the chance that plutonium might be released.  The response is that
there are considerably larger risks in NOT launching Galileo.

> Will we learn materially more about OUR OWN
> weather from studying Jupiter than we can from studying Earth?

This is a different question entirely.  It is the appropriate question
if one is asked to choose EITHER Galileo OR Earth observations.  That
was not the issue originally being addressed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Willner            Phone [phone]         Bitnet:   willner@cfa
60 Garden St.            FTS:      830-7123           UUCP:   willner@cfa
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA                 Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 Sep 89 01:01:13 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Eugene Miya)
Subject: Re: Concorde, NASP, shuttles

It's not clear to me that SSTs will ever be economical forms of transport.
Significant advances in propulsion systems are required.
At least in the near future.  I would not say the two US SST proposals
significantly differed from the slightly smaller Concorde in size.
They were in the same size class.  New Pacific markets might make
a difference, but Garrett Hardin, the biologist, wrote a letter to Science
noting that a 2 hour flight to Tokyo would only put a person there "in the
middle of the night."  "Economic markets can't be a serious consideration,"
but I am certainly aware of the companies who do much Concorde business.
But then who in the US wants to do business in Japan? 8)  Okay, Korea, or
China, etc. (Big eh?)

Today Brian Toon gave a seminar on the ozone hole and SSTs were once again
raised as a concern.

But then some of this is my opinion.

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
                  Live free or die.

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 04:01:13 GMT
From: cbmvax![e-mail]  (Fred Mitchell - QA)
Subject: Re: Edgar Rice Quayle on Mars.

The merest thought that we have to rely on the likes of Quayle to foward
the ever-ambitious and challenging Space Program is a very sad thought
indeed. Kinda like relying on a monkey to type up Shakespeare. :-(

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

Date: 28 Sep 89 04:33:30 GMT
From: ibmpa![e-mail]  (nick szabo)
Subject: Re: Soviet Probe to Mars

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer)
writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Pik
e) writes:
>>...  According to CTV, among the last photos to get out showed
>>SOMETHING coming at it!! ...
>>If anybody out there knows what I'm talking about, please let me know
>>what is supposed to have REALLY happened...
>
>A slightly garbled report.  The facts are:
>[...]
>4. At least one of the pictures taken shortly before this showed what
>       might have been an object nearby.  If it was real, it might
>       have been either (a) debris in Phobos's orbit, or (b) Phobos 2's
>       own jettisoned propulsion module.
>[...]

Are the Soviets publishing these pics?  We've got a bunch of
eager image processors who are getting tired of the same old Mars Face (which
looks more like a rhesus monkey than a human, BTW).   Comparing "cleaned-up"
final Phobos pictures with spacecraft blueprints might tell us if it was really
a part fallen off the spacecraft or something else.


"Do not put off until tommorrow what can be enjoyed today."
                        Josh Billings

--
--------------------------------------------
Nick Szabo
uunet!ibmsupt!szabonj
These opinions are not related to Big Blue's

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #105
*******************