Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V10_1/V10_147.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #147

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 147

Today's Topics:
         NASA Headline News for 10/11/89 (Forwarded)
       Re: Time Urgent: Galileo plutonium debate on CNN
               Re: Human contamination
          Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?
      Re: Plutonium in space (was Risk of NOT launching Galileo)
       Re: NASA Headline News for 10/02/89 (Forwarded)
          Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?
     Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!
          Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?
            Re: More whining about Galileo
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11 Oct 89 18:00:16 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 10/11/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, Oct. 11, 1989                     Audio:  202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, October 11th......

A faulty controller on Atlantis's Main Engine No. 2 has forced
NASA officials to postpone tomorrow's scheduled launch of the
space shuttle...and it's cargo, the Galielo/Jupiter space probe.
The problem with the controller surfaced during routine
pre-launch tests...when in several instances a computer bolted to
the No. 2 Main Engine generated faulty data and technicians were
unable to duplicate the problem.  NASA officials decided to
change out the controller...and the work was begun last night.
Robert Crippen, who heads the shuttle launch management team,
said this morning the changeout work will probably impact the
launch date by about a week, although he said "we're trying to
improve on that."  He said a new launch date probably won't be
announced for a couple of days.

The decision to postpone the launch came just an hour after a
U.S. District Court Judge last night had given the go-ahead for
the mission.  Judge Oliver Gasch's decision was on a request from
three anti-nuclear and environmental groups who sought to have
the launch stopped on the grounds that plutonium in Galileo's
power supply posed an imminent health risk if an accident should
occur.  In his ruling, the judge said, "the public interest
weighs heavily against granting a delay.  The galileo mission is
an important part of NASA's solar system exploration program and
will greatly increase our country's knowledge of space."

The Associated Press reports that a spokesman for one of the
groups who oppose the launch, said last night after the judges
ruling, that protesters plan to follow through with their
intention to block the launch by putting people on the launch
pad.









                           **********









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

Thursday, Oct. 12.....

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

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: 11 Oct 89 18:19:50 GMT
From: vsi1!v7fs1![e-mail]  (Mike Van Pelt)
Subject: Re: Time Urgent: Galileo plutonium debate on CNN

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>>The safety of the Galileo Jupiter probe launch will be debated on the [CNN]...
>>Tim Kyger, a staffer for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), will be speaking in
>>favor of a Galileo launch.  Opposing him will be Larry Sankin of the Christic
>>Institute, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit.

>Was anyone from NSS or The Planetary Society contacted about appearing
>on this show?  It seems a shame to let the luddites get all of the
>free publicity this thing is generating.

Tim Kyger is (or at least was) involved in NSS.  Better than that, he
was heavily involved in the (defunct, alas) L-5 Society.  I don't know
if he'll be promoting NSS's current position or not, but I'm confident
that he'll be promoting the position that the NSS *should* have.

I haven't heard from him since he moved to Washington to join Rep.
Rohrabacher's staff.  (I wish I had cable... I'd love to see this.  Tim
is going to take that brainless pinhead apart.)

--
Mike Van Pelt                 "There are only 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

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 12:23:56 GMT
From: eplrx7![e-mail]  (leipold)
Subject: Re: Human contamination

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Michael Gemar) writes:
>...I am rather
>dismayed at the level of understanding of evolution displayed in this
>newsgroup.  In response to the above point, evolution in the vast,
>overwhelming number of cases documented, occurs at the level of the
>*individual*, and *not* the species.  This is because the mechanism of
>evolution works through increased "fitness" or reproductive success of
>individuals - *not* through the (rather abstract entities called) species.
>   ...[for a good, extreme, discussion] see Richard Dawkin's popular book,
>_The Selfish Gene_.)

But Dawkins argues that the unit of selection is the _gene_, not the
individual.  This earns him scorn and derision from people like Stephen
Jay Gould, whose arguments against Dawkins tend to be metaphysical
rather than factual.  Anyway, it was Dawkins who brought us (in that same
book) the new meme about 'memes'.

Oops, this is sci.space...
--
"As long as you've lit one candle,                         Walt Leipold
you're allowed to curse the darkness."       ([e-mail])
--
--
The UUCP Mailer

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 14:30:49 GMT
From: usc!ginosko!aplcen!stdb.jhuapl.edu![e-mail]  (Jim Meritt)
Subject: Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Ethan Smith) writes:
}
}Shortly after a judge ruled that the proposed launch was "safe" and
}could not be stopped by environmentalists, NASA announced that the main
}computer was defective and would be replaced.

This is another examples of Mark's truth.  i.e. none.
That isn't the defective component.

}In a worst case accident if Galileo renders Florida uninhabitable,

I give.  How would you manage that?  After the hydrogen totally burns off
you will find the RTG, grind it up and carefully distribute the material?

BTW:  The worse-case accident of the entire flight would get florida
sheerely by luck - I believe that it'll be CPA elsewhere at Max V.


Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily
represent those opinions of this or any other organization.  The facts,
however, simply are and do not "belong" to anyone.
[e-mail]  - or - [e-mail]  - or - meritt%aplvm.BITNET

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 10:35:27 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Nick Watkins)
Subject: Re: Plutonium in space (was Risk of NOT launching Galileo)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve) writes:
>>... little known fact is that the military sat
>>whch was on challenger was nuclear powered.
>
>Uh, if you're talking about the bird that was in Challenger's payload bay
>on January 28 1986, somebody has misinformed you.  It wasn't nuclear
>powered and it wasn't military.  It was the second Tracking and Data Relay
>Satellite, an entirely unclassified solar-array-powered NASA comsat.

TDRSS' military role in relaying Lacrosse data is well known. TDRSS
may be unclassified, the same does not seem to be true of its ground
station, see net postings from someone working at White Sands a while back.
 Meanwhile there have been suggestions that it carries a SIGINT package, see
Burrows' "Deep Black" and an article by Duncan Campbell in the "New Statesman"
last year (he reported that 51L was carrying a SIGINT package, I assume TDRSS
was the likely place). Campbell may be a loose cannon, Burrows seems pretty
good. Should be easy to fit, if true, as satellite comes from TRW.
 It is also interesting to note the very high launch priority TDRSS has, but
that may simply be because it is so useful to NASA :-)

 Meanwhile there have been reports that some large US military satellites
carry RTG's. I have no idea if these are true but the LES 8/9 comsats
did carry RTG's, presumably because of their role in emergency wartime
communications, see  "SIOP" by Pringle & Arkin.

 I find it hard to believe that DoD planners like solar cells.
Does anybody know if Milstar will carry them or RTG's? I accept that
TDRSS has large solar arrays and is in an invulnerable (at present)
orbit so I see no reason why it should have been nuclear powered.

Nick
--
Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical
& Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND
JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]

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

Date:     Wed, 11 Oct 89 11:33 CDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: NASA Headline News for 10/02/89 (Forwarded)

On 6 Oct 89 psivax![e-mail]  (Torkil Hammer) sent:
>Subject: Re: Titius Series / Quantum orbits?
>
>The age of our planet is about 5 billion years, which does not allow
>for much change in orbit size.

And on 9 Oct 89 trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee) sent:
>Subject: NASA Headline News for 10/02/89 (Forwarded)
>
>A news briefing on the Cosmic Background Explorer mission
>scheduled for launch in early November will be held Thursday at
>1:30 P.M., Eastern time, at NASA Headquarters.  COBE will study
>the origin and dynamics of the universe...including the theory
>that the universe began about 15 million years ago with a
>cataclysmic explosion...the so-called Big Bang.   The briefing
>will be televised on NASA Select TV.

     My question is how old (approx.) is the universe. 15 million years seems
to be too short a time frame and if, as Torkil Hammer says, the Earth is
5 billion years old then there must have been a mistake made by NASA Headline
News. Could someone clarify this for me? Thanks.

T. Mixon

SouthWest Texas State University

"If something defies description, let it." Readers Digest

<My opinions are strictly my own. As if anyone else would claim them!>

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 16:18:43 GMT
From: gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!stda.jhuapl.edu![e-mail]  (Jim Meritt)
Subject: Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?


Question:  If all of earth were carefully vaporized and distributed
throughout Jupiter, how would an observer be able to tell the difference
from 1au or so?

That thing is BIG!!!

Question 2: How fast could a biological contaminant, even assuming it
was in perfect condition, actually get around the planet?  Is
"contaminate Jupiter" a bit of an exaguration that at best should
be "mess up a tiny neighborhood"?


"In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain"
                    - Pliny the Elder
These were the opinions of :
[e-mail]  - or - [e-mail]  - or - meritt%aplvm.BITNET

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

Date: 10 Oct 89 14:47:04 GMT
From: rti!tijc02![e-mail]  (John Leroy )
Subject: Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Mark A. Haun):
>
> I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has built any sort of
> fluxgate magnetometer, anyone who has seen a construction article
> for one, or anybody with suggestions/ideas/etc. on the feasibility
> of this project.
>

See "Absolute Measurements in Electricity and Magnetism" published by
Dover Books for the theory and math behind the magnetometer described
in Sky and Telescope this month.  Anybody got a good reference for the
fluxgate magnetometer?


--

        -John LeRoy

Packet Radio:     WA4VLV @ WX4S
Compuserve: 74136,401
UUCP:   rti!tijc02!jkl141
Phone: [phone]

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 16:05:44 GMT
From: rochester![e-mail]  (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: Re: Will NASA Contaminate Jupiter?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Ethan Smith) writes:
>
>Shortly after a judge ruled that the proposed launch was "safe" and
>could not be stopped by environmentalists, NASA announced that the main
>computer was defective and would be replaced.

Note that this was an SSME controller, not the "main computer".  The
worst case scenario I have heard involving this is that the engine
shuts off prematurely and the shuttle has to abort the mission.

>Obviously the judge was unaware of the defective computer, but even
>if he had known of it he would probably still have ruled that the
>launch was "safe."

>the government
>enjoys federal immunity and in most such cases is "safe" from prosecution.

Give me a break.  The judge ruled in favor of Galileo because the NASA
experts knew what they were talking about and the Christic Luddites
didn't.

>In a worst case accident if Galileo renders Florida uninhabitable,

Are you serious?  How do you possibly intend to "render Florida
uninhabitable" with a couple RTGs?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Brian Yamauchi                University of Rochester
[e-mail]        Computer Science Department
_______________________________________________________________________________

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 12:53:25 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!gdr![e-mail]  (J I L Gold)
Subject: Re: More whining about Galileo


 I've been keeping an eye on this Galileo business, but I was reduced
 to tears this morning when I woke up to the radio news telling me
 that Morgan Fairchild and Lindsay Wagner (two really clued-in people,
 you realise) were yakking self-righteously about forcibly preventing
 the launch of the probe. Even more depressing was the fact that the
 Christics came under the banner of "enviromentalists". The sad thing
 about this is that Greenpeace etc are trying to PREVENT people with
 vested interests getting away with murder: the only vested interest
 here is the Christics' twisted sense of morality. It's not as if
 anyone will gain (or lose less) financially out of the mission. Far
 from it! So to jump on the Green bandwagon is the ultimate corruption
 of enviromentalism.
  One can argue safety statistics for hours. I accept myself that there
 is risk in the launch. But there is never gain without risk, and mor-
 ally speaking, if Galileo is not launched we will have lost more than
 we have gained. That doesn't mean to say that human lives are less
 important than the mission. It means that if the Christics have their
 way then these lives and everyone else's to boot are devalued by the
 amount we might otherwise have gained. The launch of Galileo is done
 ON BEHALF of humanity, not despite it.

    J.Gold (Mr Argumentative)
    University of Bath
    England
    UK
    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #147
*******************