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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #158

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 158

Today's Topics:
             space news from Sept 4 AW&ST
               Re: MICROSAT LAUNCH DATE
         NASA Headline News for 10/13/89 (Forwarded)
        SPACE STATION FUNDING VOTE - PHONE TREE ALERT!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 23 Oct 89 03:44:01 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Sept 4 AW&ST

[Yes, I'm running a bit behind again...]

National Space Council is deep in the process of preparing a recommendation
to Bush on how to proceed with the Moon/Mars strategy he proposed.

Lots more Voyager pictures.  Closest encounter with Neptune was 3 miles high
and 21 miles to the right of the intended point, and arrival was one second
behind schedule.  The science crew originally wanted to fly closer, to get
a closer Triton encounter, but the engineering crew got nervous about
Neptune's little-known atmosphere and insisted on a 3000-mile minimum.

Triton has shrunk :-) -- pre-encounter estimates gave its diameter as
perhaps 2500 mi, now revised to 1690.  The surface is brighter than
expected.  A thin atmosphere was seen.

The back look at Neptune's rings shows clearly that the three major
rings are indeed continuous, if perhaps lumpy, and there is also a broad
sheath of diffuse material.  Dust impacts started 2 hours before ring-
plane crossing (much earlier than expected) and continued 2 hours after.
The 20-30 minutes bracketing the crossing had impacts comparable to the
level seen at Saturn, about 300 (very small) particles per second.

NASA acknowledges help from USAF during Neptune encounter -- the USAF
had planned to briefly shut down the Navstar network in late August,
but agreed to keep it running because the Deep Space Network uses it
for coordinating timekeeping.

Voyager officials are discussing using Voyager's imaging system once
more, for a series of shots of the planets from outside the ecliptic.
This would be done in March or April, when the planets are in good
positions for it.

The Voyager Interstellar Mission begins in October.  This will involve
daily tracking and data collection from field and particle instruments.
The imaging system and related equipment will be shut down in 1990 to
eliminate their power consumption.

Galileo final checkout begins, including handling tests with dummy RTGs
to verify installation procedures.

Second launch attempt for Japan's GMS-4 Clarke-orbit metsat set for
Sept 6.  The H-1 booster got as far as main engine start on Aug 8 and
then shut down when a valve in the vernier-engine system malfunctioned.
[The long postponement is because tracking and communications resources
are committed to Voyager for the rest of August.]

Japan announces plans for a new small solid launcher, the M-5, for science
missions.

First sort-of-completely-private US satellite launch, as a commercial
Delta carries Marcopolo 1, a British broadcast satellite, up Aug 27 from
the Cape.  This was the launch that was originally going to carry Insat,
whose launch has slipped to next year due to the need to replace its
C-band antenna, totalled when a crane hook hit it.  The only government
presence in the launch was USAF crews handling tracking and range safety.
Amusingly, McDonnell-Douglas found it had to buy fuel from Japan at $30/gal,
because the old engine variant used on this launch wants a fuel mix that
is no longer made in the US.  The launch is noteworthy in that Hughes,
the satellite builder, covers all risks of launch failure, with the contract
stipulating payment only for an operational satellite in orbit.  (This is
increasingly standard procedure, and Hughes has signed similar contracts
with other customers since.)

Formal report on the Insat damage is complete.  Basically, it was a freak
accident.  One of the two cables on the hook came out of its groove, and
lowering the hook in that condition caused the two cables to saw across
each other and break.  The problem occurred near the top of the launch
tower, and the technicians operating the crane could not see it because
of the debris shield attached to the hook.

Soviet Union to resume manned activity on Mir.  The first add-on module
will fly in October [this has slipped due to malfunctioning electronics
in the module]; it will be a service unit containing more gyros, a
water-decomposition oxygen system, a shower, and a large airlock with
a manned maneuvering unit for EVAs.  A second module, slated for launch
in Jan-Feb, will be a "technological unit".  The second module is reported
to be equipped with a docking port for Buran, tentatively scheduled to be
used on Buran's next flight in 1991.  The flight will be unmanned at
launch, but there is some possibility that Mir crewmen might go along
on the return trip.

[Pico-editorial:  Remember all the news media that were hinting that
the Soviet space program was being drastically cut back, when Mir went
unmanned?  How many of them have even bothered to report that a new crew
has now gone up?]

Hipparcos is definitively stuck in transfer orbit, and ESA is working on
salvaging what it can.  The apogee motor is definitely not going to fire.
Lifetime is estimated at 6-18 months, as against the 30 originally planned.
As much as possible of Hipparcos's star-mapping mission will be performed.
The limiting factor will probably be Van-Allen-belt damage to the solar
arrays; the extent of the problem is not yet confidently known, although
there is some optimism because little degradation has been seen so far.
Hipparcos was not insured, although Matra (the builder) has lost half its
profit under the terms of the contract.  ESA has asked for a quote on a
Hipparcos 2; initial guesses are $150M including bird, launch, and support.

TVSat 2, the other cargo on Hipparcos's launch, is in Clarke orbit and
about to begin operations.

Picture of Amroc's first launcher in position at Vandenberg.

Timetable for the SP-100 space reactor has slipped several years due to
recent funding shortages.  Ground demo of the reactor, originally 1991,
is now 1994.  Ground demo of the complete system, originally 1994, is now
in limbo.

Letter from Thomas J Frieling, suggesting what JFK's commitment to Apollo
would sound like if George Bush were delivering it today:  "I believe
this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal sometime in the
near future, or maybe the more distant future, of landing a man on the
Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.  No single space project in
this period, and I'm not sure how long a period we're talking about here,
will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important
for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult
or expensive to accomplish, although I don't know exatly how expensive
since I'm not asking Congress to actually fund these missions."  Frieling
concludes:  "Is this leadership, or what?".

[The 22 July issue of Flight International had a very interesting map:
possible NASP test routes, for gradually increasing speeds.  The slowest
one goes from Edwards to KSC and back:  cruising on the way out, making
a tight turn around KSC, accelerating until about the Texas border, and
gliding back to Edwards.  The next one swings northwest after the KSC
turn, accelerating until about Montana, making a 90-degree turn just
after shutdown and gliding back to Edwards.  The next cruises from
Edwards to Loring AFB in Maine, turns around Loring and accelerates
west until about the Washington border, and glides back to Edwards in
a big semicircle swinging out over the Pacific.  The last one accelerates
east from Edwards to about Bermuda and then starts a left turn.  If the
engine fails at that point, it glides in a semicircle to land at Loring.
If the engine keeps running, it makes a wider semicircle to make landfall
in Canada, shuts the engine down around Lake Superior, and glides back
to Edwards.  The objective is to keep the thing over land, or at least
within glide range, as much as possible.  "We'd hate to lose it at sea."]

[The 29 July Flight has a couple of interesting items.  First, an
editorial on the 40th anniversary of jet airliners (the de Havilland
Comet, the first, flew 27 July 1949), which has a lot to say about
spaceflight.  "The lack of confidence in technology stretches into space,
where good ideas are the only things guaranteed to fly.  The British
have orphaned Hotol, the Europeans have emasculated Hermes, the
Americans seem uncertain whether they should have either a Space Station
or the shuttle to service it...  Even President Bush, with his bold
announcement of a permanent American presence in space, of a renewed
interest in the Moon and a mission to Mars, seems to hold no truck with
this as a vehicle of technical or social progress.  Rather, the space
effort's renewal seems to be driven by a need to be seen to be doing
something, not the need to be doing something itself.  That forms a
shaky platform for a programme, even before the politicians focus
their inevitable hostility on it.  This is not a culture of progress,
but a culture of fear of being left behind by others' progress.  Such
a culture has an aura of doom about it...  To look back 40 years with
pride to the first flight of the Comet is not just to indulge in
irrelevant nostalgia.  It is to look back to the start of a great
industrial revolution which, almost staggeringly, has matured within
the lifespans of most of those who gave birth to it.  Most of all, it
is to look back and wonder whether we have really progressed in moving
from the 1949 of 'Can do' to the 1989 of 'Why do?'."

Second, more mundanely -- why didn't this show up in AW&ST?!? -- is a
report that first flight of Japan's H-2 booster will slip a year from
the planned date in early 1992.  The main engine is having trouble
with valves and with cracks in turbopump blades, and some component
redesign will be needed.]  [Sounds like their decision to use the same
engine cycle as the Shuttle is giving them some of the same problems...]
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 14 Oct 89 01:16:23 GMT
From: pacbell!hoptoad!peora!tsdiag!ka2qhd![e-mail]  (Thomas A Moulton RATS Clifton NJ)
Subject: Re: MICROSAT LAUNCH DATE



I think that an additional avenue to persue is to follow the normal
channels for comments/suggestions/etc for the small segment of the
ARRL located in Newington, CT

We all have Section Managers, Vice-Directors, and Directory who are
[supposed to be] very interested in the concerns of the ARRL.
(ARRL == It's Members) They might find your comments interesting if
you are a non-member, but they carry weight if you Are a member.

The directors make recommendations to the executive board and ALL the
employees are under the direction of the Exec board (I think it's really
called Exec Committee)

It is a shame that the cut was needed, but sometimes a direct attact doesn't
work as well as "proper channels", yea I know sounds like a line of crap,
but as long as you are sending letters, it can't hurt!

Good Luck
73, Tom
--
Life is too short to be mad about things.
Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY          Packet: w2vy@kd6th  Voice: 145.190 (r)
[phone]                   uucp: rutgers!petsd!tsdiag!ka2qhd!w2vy

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

Date: 15 Oct 89 04:15:26 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 10/13/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, Oct. 13, 1989                        Audio:  202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Friday, October 13....


Technicians at Kennedy Space Center have removed a suspect main
engine controller from the orbiter Atlantis and are expected to
have the replacement installed later this afternoon. Testing of
the controller will begin this evening and should be completed by
noon Saturday.  Once test results are known, mission managers
will meet to set a new launch date.  Launch could come as early
as Tuesday.


Scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center say the ozone hole over
the South Pole will match the size of the hole in 1987.
Satellite measurements show that ozone density over Antarctica
has dropped about 45 percent since early August.
The depletion of ozone was confirmed by a spectromenter on the
Nimbus-7 satellite.


Future technologies, ranging from new life-support systems to
nuclear surface power, have been singled out by NASA as necessary
before there can be manned missions back to the moon and to Mars.
The projects were identified at the Internatonal Astronautical
Federation Meeting in Malaga, Spain by Doug O'Handley, of NASA's
Office of Exploration.  Most will be necessary before a return to
the moon.


Aerospace Daily reports that the European Space Agency's
Hipparcos star-mapper satellite has sent back extremely accurate
data despite it's less than satisfactory orbit.  Hipparcos has
remained in an ellipical orbit because its apogee kick motor
failed to place the spacecraft in a geostationary orbit.  The
data is five times more accurate than anything available from
ground telescopes.


And problems continue at the Avtex Fiber plant in Front Royal,
Virginia.  The facility produces high quality yarn used in the
fabrication of solid fuel rocket motors used by NASA and DoD.
State officials still want to close the plant, charging continued
pollution of the Shenandoah River.  The plant will lay off nearly
two-thirds of its workers soon, but will continue production of
the special yarn.


             *            *          *            *




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

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

Sunday, Oct. 15.....

     9:00 A.M.      Launch countdown status report

     Noon           STS-34 crew arrival at KSC

Monday, Oct. 16.....

     9:00 A.M.      Launch countdown status report

     1:00 P.M.      Pre-launch press conference

Tuesday, Oct. 17....

     7:30 A.M.      Launch day coverage begins.  The launch
                    window is open for 24-minutes beginning
                    at 12:57 P.M.

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: 15 Oct 89 20:54:23 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Eric William Tilenius)
Subject: SPACE STATION FUNDING VOTE - PHONE TREE ALERT!


          URGENT ALERT!!   CALL MONDAY OR TUESDAY!!

The Senate has voted $1.85 billion for Space Station Freedom, but the
House has only given the Station $1.65 billion.

The Conference Committees will be voting on TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY of this
week to decide whether the $200 million will go to the Station or not.

PLEASE CALL THE FOLLOWING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:

    Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ):  202-224-4744
    Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD):  202-224-4654
    Senator Jake Garn (R-UT):         202-224-5444
    Congressman Bob Traxler (D-MI):   202-225-2806

Say that you URGE THE SENATOR (or Congressman) TO PUSH FOR THE FULL
SENATE FUNDING LEVEL OF $1.85 BILLION FOR SPACE STATION FREEDOM.

Pass this message on to your friends and fellow space activists!

- 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             | COMPUSERVE:  70346,16

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #158
*******************