Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V10_2/V10_214.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #214

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 214

Today's Topics:
       Payload Status Summary for 11/03/89 (Forwarded)
         NASA Headline News for 11/02/89 (Forwarded)
       Re: Space Hotel   or   Donald Trump has missed the boat.
            Re: Moon Colonies / Ant Tanks?
              NASA Art Director
            Re: Moon Colonies / Ant Tanks?
               Gravity inside the Earth
       NASA's "thought" process (was RE: Fragile Space Shuttle)
      If There Were No Shuttle (was Re: galileo and me)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 6 Nov 89 13:03:35 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status Summary for 11/03/89 (Forwarded)


                                    Payload Status Report
                                    Friday, November 3, 1989


          George H. Diller


          STS-31/Hubble Space Telescope

               The Hubble Space Telescope was powered up for the first time
          in the KSC Vertical Processing Facility at 12:15 a.m. on
          Saturday, Oct. 28.  Testing continued until midnight when the
          telescope was powered down for the remainder of the weekend.
          Only minor electrical and communications problems were
          encountered during the first full day of tests.

               On Monday, Oct. 30, at 10:30 a.m., the HST was powered up
          once again.   It is scheduled for power through third shift on
          Saturday morning when it will be powered down for the weekend.
          Five science instruments are undergoing functional testing
          through January.  There have been no significant anomalies in the
          testing this week.



          Delta/COBE

               On SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the changeout of the
          second stage fuel shut off valve has been completed.  The COBE
          spacecraft will be erected atop the Delta launch vehicle on
          Saturday, Nov. 4.  The countdown dress rehearsal is scheduled for
          Wednesday, Nov. 8.

               Launch is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Nov. 17, at the
          opening of a launch window which extends from 6:24 to 6:54 a.m.
          Pacific time.

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

Date: 6 Nov 89 13:10:03 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 11/02/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, November 2, 1989                    Audio: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, November 2....


Work continues at launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center
preparing the orbiter Discovery for its DoD mission later this
month.  Since hypergolic fuels are being loaded today the pad is
clear of all but necessary personnel.  A nitrogen tetroxide pump
that broke down earlier today is being replaced.  Fuel loading is
expected to resume by mid-day.

Meanwhile, a number of thermal tile on the Atlantis' elevon have
been damaged.  The elevon will undergo a structural inspection
and the damaged tiles will be replaced.  Atlantis flies again in
February.


The Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the Magellan spacecraft
continues to operate in a satisfactory manner despite several
recent failed star calibrations as it continues its long looping
trajectory towards Venus.  Magellan is presently 81 million miles
from Earth and traveling at a velocity of 66,000 miles per hour
relative to the Earth.  One way light time to Magellan is just
over seven minutes.


Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, a medical researcher for the
Veteran's Administration, has been designated prime Payload
Specialist for the Spacelab Life Sciences-1 mission now scheduled
for August 1990.  She replaces Dr. Robert Phillips who had to
step down because he could not meet medical standards for the
flight.  Twenty bioscience investigations conducted on the
mission will help answer questions about the way humans adapt to
microgravity and readapt to earth's gravity.


Nasa's budget appropriation...$12.4 billion...along with that of
the Veteran's Administration, H-U-D and other independent
government agencies is awaiting the signature of the President.
Following a voice vote and no debate on an amendment in the House
of Representatives, Tuesday, the bill was sent to the White
House.



             *             *           *           *







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


Thursday, November 9.....

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


Looking ahead....NASA Select TV will carry the launch of the
Cosmic Background Explorer satellite from Vandenberg Air Force
Base.  Launch is expected about November 17.  And NASA Select TV
will carry the launch and landing only of the STS-33 DoD mission
scheduled for later this month.


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: 6 Nov 89 18:20:30 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!orca!pooter![e-mail]  (Kendall Auel;685-2425;61-028;;pooter)
Subject: Re: Space Hotel   or   Donald Trump has missed the boat.

I saw part of the same news piece.  The details I remember are that
the hotel will rotate at about 3 rpm to give the rooms a bit of
gravity.  The lobby will be in the center, and weightless, with
one "flight instructor" to every seven guests.  Also, there will be
some private quarters in the weightless area for guests who may want to
try sleeping :-) :-) in the weightless environment.

The model on display was quite large, and had two main sections.  The first
was a large wheel-like structure with cylindrical rooms attached along
the perimeter.  The second section was stationary, and had an enormous
solar array and communication dishes attached to it, as well as the lobby.

These guys were serious about the moon base, too, although I don't know
how they're going to make concrete without water.  Maybe they expect
to find some at the poles, but it still seems a bit too valuable to
waste on concrete.  Is there a type of concrete that needs no water?

Kendall Auel   [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Nov 89 21:58:43 GMT
From: attcan!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moon Colonies / Ant Tanks?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (daniel mocsny) writes:
>... The masses don't
>move until either (1) things get so bad where they are that any
>move seems like a probable improvement, or (2) the economic
>rewards of moving become clearly apparent and irresistible.
>So whether the economic motive is a carrot and/or a stick, it
>is still economic.

Don't forget non-economic motives.  Several of the earliest colonies in
North America were founded for religious reasons, and the economics be
damned.

>... Traveling into space and setting up shop
>there is phenomenally expensive compared to living on earth.

Have you ever looked at how much colonization movements on *Earth* cost?
The Plymouth Rock colony was up to its eyeballs in debt for a generation
after it was founded; just crossing the Atlantic was staggeringly expensive
in those days.  In a later and richer time, the Mormons merely spent their
entire life savings to move west to Utah.  Space transportation is still
more expensive right now, but only mildly optimistic projections of what
could be done -- soon -- to reduce its cost suffice to bring it down to
the Mayflower range.

>The
>difference is inherent and should remain approximately the same
>despite technological advance, e.g., any technological advance that
>makes life on the Moon cheaper should make life on the Earth cheaper
>by a comparable factor.

Please justify this.  The big cost of living on the Moon is the transport
costs to get there, which have no equivalent on Earth.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Nov 89 15:32:55 GMT
From: shlump.nac.dec.com!pragma.enet.dec.com![e-mail]  (Dave Griffin)
Subject: NASA Art Director


Can someone out there with a NASA directory give me the name (and mailstop,
if possible) of either the Director of Art for NASA or the person who would
handle public relations for that department.

I am interested in getting reproductions of certain NASA-sponsored paintings
and I've been told that NASA HQ should be able to put me in contact with the
various artists I'm interested in. Rather than send my letter into the void,
I was hoping I could attach a name to it.

Many thanks,

- dave

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

Date: 6 Nov 89 22:08:01 GMT
From: attcan!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Moon Colonies / Ant Tanks?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (daniel mocsny) writes:
>... While the European pioneers were entering a rather
>hostile environment, they certainly did not face any fundamental
>environmental obstacles compared to living in Europe...

The Donner Party would be interested to hear that.  (They starved.)

So would any number of other failed European pioneering expeditions and
colonies.

As I've commented in the past, for an unprotected human, the survival time
in a -40C Saskatchewan blizzard is not much longer than on the surface of
the Moon.  I grew up there.  Schoolkids safely cope with that environment.

>Going to the Moon, on the other hand, will be incomparably harder.
>The profound lack of resources, especially air and liquid water...

There is plenty of oxygen -- about the only component of air that really
matters -- in lunar rock.  There *is* a shortage of water, but humans
have handled that before.
--
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, 6 Nov 89 10:13 EST
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Gravity inside the Earth

Dan Mocsny writes:
>If you dig down into the earth, part of the earth's mass is now above
>your head, gravitationally attracting you back upstairs. [...]
>I believe
>that you can show with some calculus that the net gravitational
>force you feel a distance X away from the earth's center, with X<r,
>where r=1 earth radius, is the same gravitational force you would
>feel if you were standing on the surface of planet of radius X.
>I.e., gravitationally speaking, the resultant force from all the
>earth atoms at a depth X or less is zero.

        Should be "at a depth X or more", i.e. outside of X.

        In a deep well inside a planet, the attraction of the mass above
you (i.e. with distance from the Earth's centre greater than your's)
cancels itself out.  Simply put, inside a shell of matter, you are unable
to determine that that shell of matter exists gravitationally (assuming
things like constant density, etc).  Inside the Earth, gravity varies
approximately linearly, from 0 at the centre to g on the surface.
Density variations and non-sphericity of the Earth account for the
approximately.

 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|  Arnold Gill                          |
|  Queen's University at Kingston       |
|  BITNET:    gill@qucdnast             |
|  INTERNET:  [e-mail]  |
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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

Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 10:02:56 CST
From: [e-mail] (When in fear, or in doubt, run around, scream and shout)
Subject: NASA's "thought" process (was RE: Fragile Space Shuttle)

The problem with NASA's operation of the shuttle is that they are too oriented
on "mission".  Each "mission" is totally unique and requires specially training
and preparation.

When I was in college, I worked "extra board" on the SP.  When shuttle crews
are picked by someone getting a 4am wakeup call ("Mr Pyron, you're called for
the ENHOY, Extra 8313 South, Hearn to Houston, departs Hearn 6:31 am") then we
will have an operation space transport system.  Or do like the airlines.  I
have a friend who knows when he will be in Honolulu for the rest of this year!

I grew up in the military, but I think it's time to drop that posturing and
move to some thinking that works toward overall results instead of item
oriented scheduling.

Dillon Pyron                         | The opinions are mine, the facts
TI/DSEG VAX Systems Support          | probably belong to the company.
[e-mail]                  |
[phone]                        | Professional assasination
                                     | The highest form of public service

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

Date: 6 Nov 89 15:57:56 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: If There Were No Shuttle (was Re: galileo and me)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Dietz) writes:
>I think the only thing Congress can be faulted on is not cutting the
>shuttle program off completely back in the 70's.

This raises an intriguing question: Where would we be today if the
shuttle had in fact been killed, say during the Ford administration
when there was still a decent chance?  NASA apologists would like
to at least imply that we'd be in some Dark Age with the Soviets
controlling space.  Cynics would say that's exactly where we are
anyway. :-)  What would have been affected, exactly?

    - Viking, Mariner, Voyager - no problem