Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V10_1/V10_144.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1991-07-08 | 16KB

Return-path: <[e-mail]>
X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/[e-mail] (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests)
          ID </afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/Mailbox/EZEAlFq00VcJI8bk5n>;
          Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:06:42 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:06:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #144

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 144

Today's Topics:
          NASA Prediction Bulletins:  Space Shuttle
     Module expansion of Mir delayed due to electronics failures
        Re: HMI/AI in aeronautics ans space conference
          HMI/AI in aeronatics and space conference
         NASA astronaut selection procedures
      Re: Geyser-like plume discovered on Neptune's moon Triton
           random notes about AMROC attempt
             Re: The Moon vs. My Backyard
        Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 20 Oct 89 20:54:20 GMT
From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird![e-mail]  (TS Kelso)
Subject: NASA Prediction Bulletins:  Space Shuttle


The most current orbital elements from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are
carried on the Celestial RCP/M, [phone], and are updated several times
weekly.  Documentation and tracking software are also available on this
system.  As a service to the satellite user community, the most current
elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below.  The Celestial
RCP/M may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data
bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.

STS-34
1 20297U 89 84  A 89293.77450672 -.00138432  00000-0 -56943-3 0   116
2 20297  34.3195 134.3257 0026119 213.4539 146.5504 15.84885491   309

--
Dr TS Kelso                           Asst Professor of Space Operations
[e-mail]          Air Force Institute of Technology

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

Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 11:56:22 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Module expansion of Mir delayed due to electronics failures

     The USSR had been expected to launch an expansion module to the
Mir/Kvant space station on Oct. 16th. On Oct. 11 TASS (their news service)
carried a report that this launch had been delayed due to problems with the
electronics on the section (the air lock or D module - a 20 Tonne edition to
Mir).  The problems were due to the electronics chips in the scientific
instruments on the module, not in the control system of the section itself.
The final tests showed these failures just as the module was being prepared
for the launch (typically it would be rolled out about a day or two before
launch).  Interestingly the Soviet published statements compared the
failures of these instruments unfavorably with the long term survival
of the Voyager probes. It noted that these problems would have occurred
in orbit if the module had been launched on the original schedule last spring
(ie. the integrated circuits suffered a high infant mortality failure as
it is called in the electronics field).  This air lock system is now set
for a mid November launch, while the T module (technology one) is set for
February '90.  The crew will maintain their original time table of coming
down on Feb. 19, '90.
     Cosmonauts Alexander Viktorenko and Alexander Serebrov on Oct. 10th
had spent 35 days on this mission, 33 of them aboard the Mir/Kvant.  This
period exceeds the total cumulative time of the most active unretired
US astronauts (John Young at 34 days and Paul Weitz's Skylab 2 & STS-9
total of 33 days - other more experienced ones have left the service).  As
of Oct. 19th Serebrov had a total of 55 day in orbit (including 8 from
Soyuz T-7/Salyut 7 in Aug. '82 and 2 from Soyuz T-8 in Apr. '83) while
Viktorenko has accumulated 51 days (adding to his 6 on Soyuz TM-3/Mir
in July '87).  Current research onboard Mir is divided between using the Kvant
telescope for stellar observations, and earth observation pictures.
    Let us see if the Russians can overcome these problems and get on to
the next stage in Mir's operations.

                                                 Glenn Chapman
                                                 MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: 6 Oct 89 15:27:06 GMT
From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!aiai!aiai.uucp![e-mail]  (Roberto Desimone)
Subject: Re: HMI/AI in aeronautics ans space conference

Note that papers and enquiries for the:

    3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HUMAN MACHINE INTERACTION
            AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN AERONAUTICS AND SPACE

        ODYSSUD   Toulouse - Blagnac, France,  26 - 28 September 1990

should be sent to:

    G.Picchi                        Telephone: [phone]
        CERT                            Telex:     521596F
        B.P. 4025                       Fax:       [phone]
        31055 Toulouse Cedex
        France


NOT to  R. Desimone at AIAI, Edinburgh. Unfortunately, I forgot to
remove my .signature file. Sorry for the confusion.

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

Date: 6 Oct 89 15:16:31 GMT
From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!aiai!aiai.uucp![e-mail]  (Roberto Desimone)
Subject: HMI/AI in aeronatics and space conference


                            3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
                             HUMAN MACHINE INTERACTION
                            AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
                             IN AERONAUTICS AND SPACE

                                    ODYSSUD
                               Toulouse - Blagnac
                                     France

                              26 - 28 September 1990

Conference Objectives

This conference is aimed at promoting an international cooperation between
representatives of industry, academia and government, with particular
reference to Aeronautics and Space applications.

As with the two previous conferences held in Toulouse, France in 1986 and
1988, the objectives are:

- Examine-of-the-art Human Machine Interaction and AI research,

- Highlight the achievements over the past two years,

- Evaluate these aplications which are now operational and in commercial
  service.

Topics

A) Fundamental Topics:
      -Knowledge Representation,
      -Knowledge Acquisition, Machine Learning,
      -Reasoning Modeling and Explanation,
      -Planning, Schedulinbg,
      -Real-Time Reasoning
      -Human Factors,
      -Interface Languages.
B) Application Domains:
      - Specification and Design,
      - Production Management,
      - Maintenance, Diagnosis and Control,
      - Operator Assistance,
      - Mission Planning and Monitoring,
      - Education and Training

Tutorials

Half-day tutorials on the basic concepts of AI and HMI will be held before
the conference providing that a minimum of 10 participants register for each
tutorial.

Two tutorials are proposed:

      1. Introduction to AI and to Operatorn Assistant Systems,

      2. Cognitive Engineering

Any suggestions for additional subjects will be welcomed and if suitable will
be included.


Important Dates

Deadline for submitted papers:  November 15, 1989

Notification of acceptance and mailing of recommendations to authors:
                                February 1, 1990

Full papers due: June 15, 1990

Papers submitted must be written in English.

Fees - 3,000 FF for conference and 1,200 FF for each tutorial.


Please send papers and enquiries to the Conference Secretariat at

    G.Picchi            Telephone: [phone]
    CERT                Telex:     521596F
    B.P. 4025            Fax:       [phone]
    31055 Toulouse Cedex
    France
Roberto Desimone          JANET: [e-mail]
KB Planning Group (KBPG)            ARPA: [e-mail]
AI Applications Institute,
Edinburgh EH1 1HN, Scotland        Tel: [phone]   Fax: [phone]

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

Date: Mon,  9 Oct 89 21:32:15 PST
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: NASA astronaut selection procedures
X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"[e-mail]"

skipper![e-mail]  (Mary Shafer) writes:

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

Date: 10 Oct 89 06:25:04 GMT
From: bungia!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: Geyser-like plume discovered on Neptune's moon Triton

Speaking of contamination of Pristine planets and moons in the solar system,
now we can add smokestack industries on Triton to the massive strip-mining on
Miranda...:-)

UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, chinet, killer}!orbit!pnet51!schaper
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 8 Oct 89 21:55:48 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!percy!parsely!bucket!loop![e-mail]  (Keith Lofstrom)
Subject: random notes about AMROC attempt

Some random notes about AMROC:

I attended the previews and press conferences for the September 28 SET-1
(single engine test) launch attempt (it was THE social event of the SEASON!),
and had a chance to talk with AMROC engineers.  A few observations about
the visit, and subsequent events:

1)  The rocket DID NOT EXPLODE, which is one of AMROC's main claims.
The rocket collapsed because the flames from the unfortunately stationary
rocket weakened the outside of the fiber-wound composite case.  At least
they demonstrated something important, even with a failure.

2)  AMROC chose the hybrid technology for safety reasons;  construction
and handling is simplified.  The polybutadiene rubber propellant is
simple to work with and environmentally benign (one of the reporters
there made a big deal of that) and probably won't be changed.  They
may change from LOX to nitrous oxide.  I'm not sure I heard this right -
perhaps N2O5 - the person I talked to said it would be liquid at room
temperature, and use a smaller tank.

3)  AMROC has made over 150 firings with 35 engines at Edwards, and they have
a tendency to re-use hardware.  I don't know whether the failing valve had
been tried before or not.  If any other parts didn't get crisped this time,
they may get used on SET-2.

4)  The LOX is pressurized with catalytically heated helium - this saves
tankage weight (the helium is heated to 800 degrees F, and the LOX is
pressurized to 400 PSI, pardon my FPS).  Sheila Smith, the engineer who
thought this one up, wonders why nobody tried this before.

5)  AMROC ran the electronics on a shake table, but mechanical stuff has
only been tested in static tests at Edwards.  I guess they figure the
best way to test it is to fly it.

6)  At present, the AMROC flight controller is built by Interferometrics,
around a ruggedized PC(!).   Mac fiends despair not; the launch controllers are
MAC IIs with E Machine displays.   The final flight sequence control starts
with a carriage return - and various test functions are chosen with the mouse!

7)  AMROC was having some telemetry problems before the first attempt (silly
readings from sensors, etc).  Usual finger pointing between EEs and MEs.
The problems went away.

8)  The FIRST launch delay (from the 20th to the 27th) was caused by a two
day delay for a valve change.  They had to reschedule one week to avoid a
conflict with an MX launch scheduled later.

9)  They need a good digital designer.  I'd take the job myself if I wanted
to live in SoCal.

- -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -
Other random notes:

One of the crews that made it to watch the first attempt was the programming
team from Xanadu Hypertext (hi guys), in a rented Green Tortoise temporarily
equipped with Macs and Sun workstations.  They programmed all the way down
from SF, and all the way back.

- -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -  - -
Wild, unfounded speculation:

I wonder if AMROC is using NiCads?  Given the long time the rocket sat on the
pad, perhaps the batteries gave out while the valve motor was running.  That
could explain the previous valve problems, and the sensor problems.  NiCads
have a nasty tendency to give no indications of discharge until they quit;
unless they are cycled to full discharge, they won't recharge all the way.
Hmmm...

--
Keith Lofstrom    keithl@loop    tektronix!psueea!qiclab!loop!keithl
Launch Loop, P.O. Box 1538, Portland, Oregon 97207   (503)-628-3645

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 20:07:16 GMT
From: telesoft![e-mail]  (Roger Arnold @prodigal)
Subject: Re: The Moon vs. My Backyard

Nick Szabo has posted some provocative articles, challenging, among
other things, the viability of using lunar material as a source of
oxygen for spacecraft fuel.

If one is proposing that access to lunar oxygen as a spacecraft fuel
provides a adequate rationale a lunar base, I agree that it's nonsense.
Nick was quite correct when he suggested that the most efficient way
to obtain cheaper oxygen for fueling deep space craft was to reduce
the cost of earth to orbit transportation.  There's room for an order
of magnitude improvement just from expendables optimized for economy,
rather than military performance.  There's room for another order of
magnitude if we could develop a reusable booster and orbiter system
that had true aircraft style "refuel and fly" capability.  But the
cost of development for the latter would be high, at best, and it
probably can't be done under a government program.  But cheap, mass
produced expendables are certainly possible; just ask the Russians.

On the other hand, if one starts from the proposition that there is
GOING to be a lunar base (for reasons of politics, national prestige,
or whatever), then it makes eminent sense to include in the plans a
capability for lunar oxygen production.  Having oxygen available on
the lunar surface for fueling a lunar shuttle makes a dramatic
difference in the overall project logistics.  There's no real
question about the technical feasibility of a lunar oxygen plant, if
you don't place overly stringent demands on retention and recycling
of imported material.  E.g., if you only require that every pound of
imported material generate 50 pounds of oxygen before being lost to
inefficiencies in the recycling system, then the problem is fairly
easy.  What's debatable is whether you can make the system totally
independent of a supply stream of replacement material from earth.

At least, that's my understanding of the issue.

- Roger Arnold                ucsd!telesoft!roger

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 01:57:27 GMT
From: vsi1!v7fs1![e-mail]  (Mike Van Pelt)
Subject: Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>  Wasn't it the Christics who persecuted Galileo hundreds of years ago anyway?

I think you'll find that the so-called "Christic Institute" has little
to do with Christianity in general or the Catholic church in
particular.  It's just yet another one of those groups of mindless
tree-huggers with a nutzoid-left political agenda.  I assume from
the name that they put some kind of theological gloss over the
tired old slogans from the 60's.
--
Mike Van Pelt                 "There are just two religions on this planet.
Headland Technology            There's the one that says that God is God,
(Was: Video Seven)             and the one that says that Man is God."
...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp                           -- Frank Peretti

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #144
*******************