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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #136

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 136

Today's Topics:
         NEWS UPDATE:  SSI LUNAR POLAR PROBE
                Galileo Update
              Ecosystemic Contamination
    Re:  Happy Birthday, Robert Goddard and Konstantin Tsilkovsky.
        Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself
          Re: AuAustralian Launch pPad     ?
Re: NASA seeks Space Station Assured Crew Return Vehicle proposals (Forwarded)
              re: Galileo Mission Design
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 9 Oct 89 21:46:49 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Eric William Tilenius)
Subject: NEWS UPDATE:  SSI LUNAR POLAR PROBE


           SPACE STUDIES INSTITUTE -- LUNAR POLAR PROBE UPDATE
           ===================================================

The Space Studies Institute, a non-profit organization located in Princeton,
New Jersey, is dedicated to opening the High Frontier by using resources
found in space - rather than bringing materials with us from Earth.

As part of their mission, they fund unique scientific research designed
to utilize space resources.

One of their major current projects is the development of a small,
dedicated lunar orbiting probe.  This probe, called the Lunar Polar
Probe (or Lunar Polar Prospector - either way, I'll refer to it as LPP),
will provide a chemical map of the entire moon and discover whether
frozen water and other volatiles exist at the lunar poles.

Frozen water would be tremendously valuable in the construction of
a lunar base and in space manufacturing - and the search for this water
has been recommended by both the President's National Commission on Space
and the Ride Report.

What makes LPP unique is that it is a privately initiated and funded project.
The goal is to launch it early in the 1990's - well ahead of NASA's
Lunar Observer spacecraft, which will be a more sophisticated craft, but
which may not launch until the end of next decade.

SSI has recently issued an RFP (Request for Proposal) for spacecraft
manufacturers - bids are being submitted and considered.

As part of the spacecraft, SSI has sought to use a Gamma Ray Spectrometer
developed by NASA for use on Apollo missions.  The GRS is not being used
by NASA at present, and there are no current NASA plans for its use.

Three Congressmen - Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA),
and Thomas McMillen (D-MD) - wrote a letter to NASA on SSI's behalf asking
that NASA give the Gamma Ray Spectrometer to SSI for use on LPP.

              * NEW NEWS! * NEW NEWS! * NEW NEWS! *

About a week ago, the Congressmen received a letter back from NASA saying
that NASA could see no reason in principal why the GRS could not be given
to SSI.  The letter, while bureaucratic in tone, was very positive about
the possibilities of giving the GRS to SSI.  NASA agreed to appoint someone
to study how the instrument could be hooked up to best benefit SSI.

During a Congressional hearing with NASA Administrator Richard Truly,
one of the Congressmen (I believe it was either Rohrabacher or Torricelli,
or perhaps both) confronted Truly with the matter and asked why the
letter was so bureaucratic and if the device could really be made
available to SSI.

The original letter was written by someone in charge of Congressional
relations, not Truly's office.  As a result of the encounter at
the hearing, Admiral Truly has taken a personal interest in SSI's LPP
project and has decreed that no letter be sent out about it without
first being cleared by his office.

Thus, chances look very good that the GRS WILL be made available to SSI
in the near future.  SSI and the Congressmen are working to make sure
this does not slip under a stack of studies and ensure that SSI gets
an okay shortly so it can proceed with its plans for LPP.

On the whole, however, while much remains to be done, it looks like SSI
WILL have access to this device as part of its Lunar Polar Probe.

The Space Studies Institute's Lunar Polar Probe is well on the road to
becoming the FIRST privately-financed "planetary" science mission!

                  -- INTERESTED?  MORE INFORMATION? --

This information is not an official Space Studies Institute release - I
happen to know these facts because my group, the Princeton Planetary
Society, works closely with SSI on many matters.  I can vouch for its
accuracy, but if you quote it, please quote ME, not SSI, as the wording
has not been approved by them.

If you would like more information about LPP, SSI, or if you would like
to become a member of the Space Studies Institute to further their crucial
work in opening the High Frontier, here's the necessary info:

            Space Studies Institute
            P.O. Box 82
            Princeton, NJ  08542
Telephone:  [phone]

Membership is $25/year and includes a subscription to the bi-monthly
newsletter SSI Update.  You also get an SSI decal and membership card.

For $35, you can receive a 1 year membership AND a copy of the new edition
of Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill's classic, THE HIGH FRONTIER.  (Dr. O'Neill is
President and Founder of Space Studies Institute.)

- ERIC -

Eric W. Tilenius     | Princeton Planetary Soc. | [e-mail]
523 Laughlin Hall    | 315 West College         | [e-mail]
Princeton University | Princeton University     | rutgers!pucc.bitnet!ewtileni
Princeton, NJ 08544  | Princeton, NJ  08544     | princeton!pucc!ewtileni
609-734-7677         | 609-734-7677             | DELPHI:  TILENIUS

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

Date: 10 Oct 89 00:10:29 GMT
From: gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update


                    GALILEO DAILY REPORT
                         9 OCTOBER 1989

NOTE:  This report covers the activities of 6-9 October


                             General

Spacecraft

     The RTGs were installed on 7 and 8 October.  Spacecraft
Launch Conditioning was subsequently performed and completed
successfully.
     Final spacecraft closeouts have been performed.  The
spacecraft is now in a complete ready state for launch; the
discrete from the IUS at L-20 min. is the only remaining
prelaunch command to be sent.

STS

     IUS:  The only scheduled operation was the open circuit
voltage checks on the flight batteries.  This was completed
successfully on 7 October.
     The PLBD (payload bay doors) were closed at approximately
12:45 p.m. on 9 October.

                             Details

Spacecraft

     At 0200 hours on 7 October, JPL performed the final
preparations for RTG installations at Launch Complex 39B.
During the removal of the end-blocks (used for testing the
cooling loop when the RTGs are not installed) from the ACS
(Airborne Cooling System), a JPL technician alertly detected a
foreign object in the supply side to the RTG cooling line.
Approximately 40 psi of nitrogen pressure was used in an
unsuccessful attempt to clear the line.  The pressure was
subsequently reduced to approximately 20 psi and hemostats were
used to remove the debris which was later identified as a piece
of foam porous pad.  The foam pads are used to temporarily seal
the lines from contamination any time a joint of the system
plumbing is broken.  This is the same type of material
previously reported as the cause of the earlier RTG cooling loop
problem (see Report #78).
     Meetings were held between JPL and Lockheed
engineers/managers.  It was decided to perform a boroscope
examination of the sharp bends of the cooling system immediate
interface to the RTG.  Test results showed the bends to be
clean.  Based on these results and the fact that approximately
equal nitrogen flow was obtained through each RTG branch with a
nitrogen flow, it was decided to proceed with the installation
of the RTGs without any additional action.
     The RTGs were delivered to the base of the launch pad at
approximately 6:30 p.m. 7 October.  The first RTG was hoisted to
the PCR (Payload Changeout Room) but operations were then
interrupted for approximately 1 1/2 hours by lightning storms.
The -x RTG was then installed without any problems except during
the mating of the PRD (pressure release devices) to the RTGs;
the screw lengths were too long and two additional washers had
to be installed on each of the two screws.  The second RTG was
then hoisted and installed without any problems; washers were
also installed on the PRD screws.  The operation was completed
at approximately 2:30 a.m. on 8 October.
     At 0400 hours on 8 October, during the process of applying
the planned short to the -x RTG by an external S.E. box, it was
discovered that the meter went to approximately 25 volts instead
of near zero.  The spare shorting box was then used and the
appropriate reading obtained.  The problem was later found to be
in the meter.  The process for applying RTG power to the
spacecraft continued without any further problems.
     At the conclusion of powering the spacecraft from the RTGs,
at approximately 0610 hours on 8 October, the conditioning of
the spacecraft for launch commenced.  Launch conditioning was
completed at approximtely 6:00 p.m. on 8 October.  Memory
compares of the spacecraft memory contents to the memory load
have been completed and it has been reported as being successful
at approximately 0300 hours on 9 October.
     The PRD safe pins have been removed on 9 October and the
carry-on umbilicals disconnected.  The spacecraft portion of the
carry-on umbilical connectors have been capped and the related
thermal blanket installed.
     The PGHM and RTG installation platforms have been placed in
a configuration that allowed the orbiter PLBD (payload bay
doors) to be closed; the PLBDs were closed at approximately
12:30 p.m. on 9 October.


               Schedule Discussion and Assessment

     Launch is still scheduled for 12 October at 1:29 p.m. EDT.

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 21:40:36 GMT
From: munnari.oz.au!csc![e-mail]  (David Bofinger, Theoretical Physics, RSPhysS ANU)
Subject: Ecosystemic Contamination

I'm cross-posting this to sci.bio, partly to get this line of the conversation
out of sci.space, and partly in the hope an expert can help out.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Joe
Dellinger) writes:
> Well, I would tend to agree with you, but there are precedents to
> the contrary. South America is a much larger continent than North
> America,

I suppose in biomass terms this is probably true.

> so you would expect it to be able to "hold its own"
> evolutionarily against invaders... and yet when the isthmus of Panama
> formed (quite recently geologically speaking) the North American mammals
> almost _immediately_ spread South and _totally wiped out_ all the native
> South American mammals.

I think the point was that South America was isolated. North America had a
(tenuous) link to the _real_ powerhouse of terrestrial evolution- Afro-Eurasia.
It wasn't North American mammals that colonised South America: it was Asian
ones, via the Bering strait.
______________________________________________________________________________
David Bofinger    ACSNet:    [e-mail] [@munnari.oz.au] (Australia)
                Snail:    Dept. of Theoretical Physics, RSPhysS, ANU, ACT, 2601
Annex space now. Canada wants us to, and Tom Neff can't stop us.

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 15:40:12 GMT
From: sei![e-mail]  (Robert Firth)
Subject: Re:  Happy Birthday, Robert Goddard and Konstantin Tsilkovsky.

In Space Digest #124, Larry Klaes sends
>On October 4, 1857, Konstantin Tsilkovsky,
>the Soviet founder of modern rocketry, was born exactly one hundred
>years to the day when SPUTNIK 1 was launched.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (abrams) writes:
>Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology lists
>Tsiolkovskii's birthday as September 17, 1857 and Asimov even mentions
>that 100 year anniversary launching being late.  I'm not saying Larry

My (Russian produced) digest of Tsiolkovsky's writings ('Man in the Cosmos')
has the 4 October date.

Note, however, that Soviet Russian publications generally rectify
historical dates, so this would correspond to 22 September in the
old calendar.

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

Date: 10 Oct 89 00:18:53 GMT
From: jarthur![e-mail]  (D. Keith Bennet)
Subject: Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself


   I have seen at least two articals by whom I believe are the same person,
  and figure I should put my $.02.
   Stop talking about specifics for a moment, and think about the following
concept: There is an ENTIRe planet out there, don't you think that people
should be able to make money out of an ENTIRE planet?
   I figure that the human race should die now if they can't pull off that
simple feat.
   But to specifics...  In rebuttal to a number of proposed uses of the moon
 (mass drivers, solar furnace) I saw an entire article which asked "why why
why"  Please use your  brain.  How do we get a mass driver on the moon?  We
build it there.  A solar furnace?  launch it into orbit, possibly
from the moon.  I forget the exact ratio, but it takes a LOT less fuel to
launch from the moon than the Earth - shallower gravity well.
   As for asteroids.  I liek them - we should study them.  Perhaps build /
mine on them.  I am curious about the term "swarm" tho - even in the belt,
they aren't that close.  But they pale in comparison to the moon.
    As ofr the rest of the solar system?  I would love to go visit them.  But
we will never make it if everyone asks "what exactly will we get out of it?"
and complains when we can't answer.  what do you expect?  It is UNKNOWN, aka
 we DON'T know, and wish to find out.
    As for mapping teh moon, there was some article I vaguely remember from the
not-so-distant past saying that the Soviets were going to launch some far side
probes to map the far side, most of which has not been looked at since the
60's!  Ido not call that very accurate.
    "Trump in Space" would be a headline I would love.
disclaimer - as far as I know, I represent no one but myself.  And even then
I have a lousy memory.
y

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 23:16:25 GMT
From: vsi1!ubvax![e-mail]  (Scott Scheiman)
Subject: Re: AuAustralian Launch pPad     ?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
|In article <246900030@peg> [e-mail] writes:
|>.... What has been the story , environmentally, in the
|>US, and what sort of effects could we expect in Australia?
|
|Think of it as an ongoing construction project.  The environmental effects
|of the rockets themselves are negligible unless the launch rate really
|starts to get fierce.  Environmental effects, if any, come mostly from
|people and vehicles running around constantly, and buildings and pads
|being built and modified.
|
|In case you weren't aware of it, KSC is a wildlife sanctuary, with huge
|populations of birds and swamp animals (including alligators).  They don't
|seem to mind the activity.

...not to mention, lots of tourists!          :-)

--
"Ribbit!"         Scott Scheiman   [phone]        Ungermann-Bass, Inc.
  ` /\/@\/@\/\           [e-mail]          2560 Mission College Blvd.
   _\ \ -  / /_         ...uunet!ubvax!scott            Santa Clara, CA 95054

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 06:53:12 GMT
From: jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: NASA seeks Space Station Assured Crew Return Vehicle proposals (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Peter E. Yee) writes:
>... Apollo
>missions were flown on lunar "free return" trajectories where the
>spacecraft could circle the Moon and return to Earth
>automatically...

Somebody in the PR department has gotten overenthusiastic here.  Some
of the early Apollo missions used free-return trajectories, but the later
ones did not.  Apollo 13, for example, had to do an LM engine burn to get
into a free-return trajectory after the explosion.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon 9 Oct 89 13:23:59-PDT
From: Brian Keller <[e-mail]>
Subject: re: Galileo Mission Design

The article on Galileo mission design is in the August Aerospace America
issue, p. 20 (not Sept as I said before).
                                          BSK
-------

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #136
*******************