Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_1/V11_148.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #148

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 148

Today's Topics:
              RE: SPACE Digest V11 #145
    NASA to debut first mobile teacher resource center (Forwarded)
          AIAA solicits your Moon/Mars ideas
                 NSS?
            Re: Artificial Gravity
              SR-71, Shuttle Cryogenics
      Bowery IS the Problem (was Funding IS The Problem)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 09:17 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V11 #145


HELP! How and where can I find sat/photos of the mid-east (particulary
Iraq.)??????????

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

Date: 15 Mar 90 04:33:06 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA to debut first mobile teacher resource center (Forwarded)

Terri Sindelar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
                                                  March 14, 1990


N90-15
EDITOR'S NOTE:  NASA TO DEBUT FIRST MOBILE TEACHER RESOURCE CENTER

     News media are invited to a public ceremony, Friday, March 16
beginning at 10 a.m., where NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly
will launch a new education project at the Spingarn Complex, 26th
St. and Benning Rd.

     The event will debut the first of what NASA hopes will become
a small fleet of tractor-trailer mounted mobile teacher resource
centers.  Also participating will be D.C. School Superintendent
Dr. Andrew Jenkins, NASA Deputy Administrator J. R. Thompson and
Director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Jack Lee.

     After the ceremony, 14 D.C. teachers will experience hands-on
activities in the 22-ton mobile education center.  A NASA educator
and 2 technicians will be on-hand to assist teachers.

     The mobile teacher resource center is part of a larger NASA
education initiative, project LASER, "Learning About Science,
Engineering and Research."  Friday afternoon, about 100 D.C.
teachers will tour LASER.

     LASER is outfitted with six work stations, each serving two
teachers concurrently.  Each work station is equipped with a
computer providing access to "NASA Spacelink," an electronic
information system with a broad range of information and
educational materials of value to teachers of grades K-12.  The
work station also includes a videotape recorder and monitoring
system so teachers can copy from a large library of NASA
educational videotapes.  In a separate common-use work station is
a large library of lesson plans, activities and slides.  The
trailer contains photocopy and photographic equipment that will
allow teahers to copy these materials for later use in the
classroom.

     This pilot program has been developed by NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., with corporate
sponsorship.

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

Date:     Tue, 13 Mar 90 16:53 CST
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  AIAA solicits your Moon/Mars ideas
Original_To:  SPACE


Well, gang, here's something to provoke thought. Below is the text of
an announcement on page 47 ot the March 1990 issue of *Aerospace
America*, the magazine of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics.   This group is the principal professional organization
for aerospace engineers.

============================================
                       WE WANT **YOUR** IDEAS
              on Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars

NASA has asked the AIAA to solicit and evaluate innovative *technical*
features of the greatest venture in human history.

If you or your organization have a technical concept that you think
might be useful in exploring the Moon and/or Mars, send a summary *not
exceeding one double-spaced page, plus a maximum of one illustration*,
to:

Ms. Joanne Padron   Workshop Program Manager    AIAA Headquarters
[The ad does not mention the address, but it is 370 L'Enfant
Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20024.]

CATEGORIES OF INTEREST ARE:
1) Overall mission architecture
2) Transportation technologies and systems
3) Life-support technologies and systems for space and lunar/Mars
surfaces
4) Infrastructure technologies (communications, information sensing
and processing, automation and/or robotics, electric power generation,
space platforms, spacecraft servicing, lunar/Mars mining and material
processing, etc.)

The deadline for submission of your ideas is April 15 1990.

You will be asked to submit additional material if your concept is
selected for more detailed evaluation.  Concepts not accepted will be
returned.

The AIAA will *not* reimburse any cost associated with the submittal,
assessment, or implementation of your idea, and does not guarantee any
NASA action on it.  The AIAA will *not* be responsible for protecting
proprietary or classified information-- do *not* send any such
material.
==============================================

Have fun.  And let the Net know what you submitted, okay?

     O~~*           /_) ' / /   /_/ '  ,   ,  ' ,_  _           \|/
   - ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / /   / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
 /       \                          (_) (_)                    / | \
 |       |                      Bill Higgins
 \       /                      Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
   -   -                        Bitnet:                [e-mail]
     ~                          Internet:             [e-mail]
                                SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet:         43011::HIGGINS

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

Date: 13 Mar 90 15:01:43 GMT
From: hpfcso!hplisa![e-mail]  (-Ken Colasuonno)
Subject: NSS?

I would like to join NSS.  Anybody out there got the necessary information?

Please email.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Greg Goebel                             NET:     gvg@hpislx                |
| Hewlett-Packard                         HP DESK: GREG GOEBEL / HP0900 / EM |
| MSO Marketing                           PHONE:   Telnet/303 679-3424       |
| POB 301 / MS-CU312 / Loveland CO 80539  FAX:     Telnet/303 679-5957       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 14 Mar 90 16:09:20 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!uflorida!mephisto!prism!fsu!gw.scri.fsu.edu![e-mail]  (Eric Pepke)
Subject: Re: Artificial Gravity

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
> Gyroscopic effects only occur when the delta-vee is out of the plane
> of rotation!  So long as course corrections are in-plane, you can handle
> it with coordinated thrusters.

Obviously.

> So how do you change the plane of rotation?  Flywheels.

That's an interesting idea, but you've still got mechanical problems to
solve.  There will be forces on the linkages between the systems that
contain the flywheels and the system that contains the hoop.  Even if you
had, say, two hoops rotating in opposite directions so that the net
angular momentum was zero, there would be stresses in the part connecting
the hoops.  If you try to change the angular momentum with flywheels
within the hoop itself, you get wobble, which rather defeats the purpose
of having a rotating hoop in the first place.

On the other hand, one might be able to do general direction changes
simply by treating the rotating hoop and the nonrotating part as separate
systems, and putting thrusters on each.

-EMP

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

Date: 14 Mar 90 13:24:00 PDT
From: "SSD::COBBHS" <[e-mail]>
Subject: SR-71, Shuttle Cryogenics
To: "space" <[e-mail]>



Lou Adornato ([e-mail]) writes:

> >From NASA Headline News, 03/08/90...
> >Workers are closing off a high pressure leak, residual liquid
> >oxygen and liquid hydrogen reactants are being offloaded and...

>I'm surprised that these aren't vented out between the deorbit burn and
>re-entry.  I'd certainly feel a lot better knowing that there weren't several
>(hundred?) Kg of either of these on board during re-entry and landing,
>especially if they weren't needed.

NASA was probably talking about the PRSD tanks (Power Reactant Storage and
Distribution system).  These store hydrogen and oxygen for the shuttle's
electrical system.  Missions are planned very carefully to ensure that
cryo reactants _are_ left in the tanks at touchdown.  The residuals are
something like 20kg LH2 and 200kg LOX (very rough numbers).

The shuttle gets its electrical power from fuel cells, which work by
electrolysis-in-reverse: feed them hydrogen and oxygen, and pull power
from the electrodes.  This reaction also generates water, which is
collected and stored.  Some water is used in reconstituting food and
drinks for the astronauts.  Some is boiled into vacuum to provide cooling
for the shuttle cabin air and electronics.  The rest is dumped overboard
about twice a day.  Under the right lighting conditions (shuttle in
sunlight, observer in darkness), a water dump seen from the ground is
spectacular.

"Water dump," of course, has become astronaut slang for "taking a leak." :-)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Peter Kapner) writes:
> Interesting notion.  What does everyone think?  *Is* there a mach 4 bird
> hidden deep in some hanger just waiting to come out and reconnoiter at
> 100,000 feet?

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the speculations in the "Visions"
issue of _Av Leak_, published around Christmas 1989.  A few of the
reporters mention rumors about an aircraft named "Aurora," said to be
capable of Mach 5.  They say that _something_ with a hypersonic shape has
been seen over Nevada, flying subsonically with some sort of pulsed
engine.

The January issue about the end of the SR-71 mentioned in passing that a
replacement aircraft would not be operational for a few years yet.

As an Air Force officer, "I can neither confirm nor deny these
speculations."

Cheers!  --Stu  (COBBHS @ AFSC-SSD.AF.MIL)

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 16:30:38 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Bowery IS the Problem (was Funding IS The Problem)

> [e-mail] (Jim Bowery) via a
                 gate![e-mail]  (William Baxter)

> I find it quite predictable that Fred McCall . . .
> refuses to acknowlege the fact that both the bureaucracies who
> issue the RFPs and the contractors not only have an interest in
> maximizing their cashflows,

Please show me where I said that, Mr. Bowery.  We quite frankly hear
enough idiocy from you that is attributable to you.  I, for one,
object to your spewing it over by claiming that *I* said it.

> but also engage in intense lobbying

Oh, golly, the evil contractors talk to Congress to try to get
Congress to buy things they want to sell.  How HORRIBLE of them.
And poor little weak minded CongressCritters obviously *must* be
protected from this scourge, since according to Mr. Bowery they
apparently aren't capable of resisting such blandishments as a
contractor coming in and explaining why they think their system is
better.

> (of questionable ethics and legality) of Congress toward that end.

Right.  Let's here it for SuperJim.  Only *HE* is brave and true
enough to be able to detect these heinous crimes taking place under
our very noses!  Only *HE* will speak up to save us!  Only *he* is
honest and true and acts from altruism, while all others are
obviously dishonest evildoers bent on only furthering themselves!
Oh, SAVE US, Jim!

Yeah, right.

> He is, after all, the person who coincidentally materialized to
> denounce my posting of "Fun Space Fact #1: Launcher Development Costs"

Good word, that, Mr. Bowery.  COINCIDENTALLY.  I don't suppose it
occurred to you that I "materialized" to 'denounce' your posting
because I've watched the things you post for years and just got
tired of watching such foolishness going by without commenting on it.

> just as all my subsequent messages to the space news/digest started
> "disappearing" without an explanation or bounce-back even though all
> my other network communications have been going through without any
> problem whatsoever. (Yes, I've made "-request"s for an explanation
> to no avail.)

Gee, I had a period of time in there after I started posting when I
stopped getting the Space Digest for a while.  I wonder if maybe Jim
might have . . . naaaa, that's SILLY.

Maybe someone just put you in their kill file.  I wish I could, but
I get Space as the digest.

> I'd like some net experts to send me email if they can come up
> with plausible benign explanations for this state of affairs.
> Present circumstances create the appearance of a possible federal
> crime.

Is that supposed to be some kind of accussation, Mr. Bowery?  If so,
please make it explicitly.  Otherwise, please stop running your
mouth just to listen to the sounds that you make.

[And I suggest that you check with a competent attorney before you
make the decision on which of those to do.  Some of us are here
speaking for ourselves rather than having been elected or appointed
to some position, and the laws about libel aren't the same as they
are when you choose to shoot your mouth off and slander various
officials.]

> There is a lot in common between this government subsidized "net"
> and the government funded space operations of NASA:  By providing
> subsidy for this communications network, bureaucrats and their
> apologists can inhibit private alternatives from being capitalized
> and patronized,

Gee, Jim, I don't know how to break it to you but there *are*
private nets.  They charge you for usage and everything.

> thus keeping this potentially powerful means of communication as
> a forum for pork-barrel politics (as advocated by Fred McCall of
> TEXAS (JSC/SSC) Instruments and the National Space Society)

First of all, Mr. Bowery, you are a liar.  That covers your claims
about what I have "advocated" with regard to this net, which is
absolutely nothing other than keeping your abusive garbage in check.

And secondly, I really wish I was as important in the scheme of
things as you seem to think I am.  But, as would be clear to anyone
of even below average intelligence from my signature, I'm here
speaking as an individual.

Thirdly, I'm not sure what your point is with capitalizing "TEXAS"
and then putting the initials of a couple of NASA centers in
parentheses behind it (and it just occurred to me after all this
time of wondering that that was what you were referring to - if it
is).  To my knowledge we don't do any more business with NASA than
any other company our size, and certainly a lot less than some who
specialize in aerospace.  Shall we list all the things that happen
to be in the same state with you and then try to draw some equally
silly insinuation from it?

In point of fact, I don't think there's a NASA center within 500
miles of where I'm sitting.  Texas is just a little large, Mr.
Bowery.

And finally, I don't know how to tell you this, Mr. Bowery, but
*YOU* aren't the center of the universe you seem to think you are,
either.  Perhaps you need to find some unbiased third party to read
over postings like your last one and then tell you honestly what it makes
you sound like.

You're just not important enough to rate all the attention you think
you're getting from all these people, Jim.  I suspect that most
folks just feel like I do and wish you'd restrict your postings to
the non-invective sort.

> while filtering out opposing views.

On the contrary, YOU seem to be the one who wants to "filter out
opposing views", just as you're trying to do here via personal attack
and innuendo.

Everyone remember the part of my note to Mr Hopkins with regard to
how all one had to do to make that 'enemies list' is to disagree with
SuperJim?  The one that he criticized the grammar of?  You've now
seen it in action.

I think it's time to curb your dog, Mr. Hopkins.  He's starting to
foam at the mouth, and while I can't speak for everyone else, I find
that I, for one, am tired of being drooled on.

> As one of the coauthors of the original Plato network "notes" program
> who has worked with CDC, AT&T, Knight-Ridder and others on the
> establishment of entirely private communications services in competition
> with "the net", I can speak with from direct experience in saying that
> as long as the government persists its subsidies (most of the "private"
> companies providing support are getting most of their revenue from
> the government), there will be no genuine, open and viable competition
> in network communications services for free expression of opinion on
> public policy and those who are paid to implement it with our tax dollars.

Ah, *NOW* I see the problem.  All these mean folks won't recognize
little Jimmy's greatness and let *him* run things!  That explains
all the attacks on NSS, and now on the net, too.

If you want to 'discuss', Mr. Bowery, I wish you would *start*.  If
you just want to rave, flame, and defame, you're wasting an awful
lot of peoples' time and resources.

[And I'd like to apologize to everyone else for my doing the same
here, but sometimes enough is just too bloody much.]

> Typical RESEARCH grant:
> $
> Typical DEVELOPMENT contract:
> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Typical worth of Jim Bowery's remarks:
.

==============================================================================
| Fred McCall  ([e-mail]) | My boss doesn't agree with anything  |
| Military Computer Systems           | I say, so I don't think the company  |
| Defense Systems & Electronics Group | does, either.  That must mean I'm    |
| Texas Instruments, Inc.             | stuck with any opinions stated here. |
==============================================================================

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #148
*******************