Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_1/V11_182.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #182

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 182

Today's Topics:
            Re: CHALLENGER CENTER
         Re: Orbital Sciences Public Offering
       Re: NASA Headline News for 03/15/90 (Forwarded)
         Re: Orbital Sciences Public Offering
       Re: NASA Headline News for 03/15/90 (Forwarded)
         Re: Freedom finding related to LDEF?
       Re: Shuttle escape systems, was Challenger's Last Words
              Re: Sandia Railgun
             Re: Giotto Update - 03/14/90
            Nina and Columbus 500
       Re: Shuttle Escapes and jumping from the space station.
               Re: Railgun ...
           Payload Status RACK Question...
               Re: Railgun ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sender: "Jack_Bacon.WBST897ai"@Xerox.COM
Date: 23 Mar 90 06:41:14 PST (Friday)
Subject: Re: CHALLENGER CENTER
From: "Jack_Bacon.WBST897ai"@Xerox.COM
Cc: "Jack_Bacon.WBST897ai"@Xerox.COM

With regard to Mark Malone's question about the Challenger Center:

My wife and I have been members for two years, and believe it to be VERY
worthwhile.  The center is the ONLY Challenger Memorial activity endorsed
by ALL of the crew's families.

As a member, you get a few token yearly communications, plus the occasional
OUTSTANDING offer (a week-long VIP stay/conference at Johnson, special
guest privileges at JPL for planetary encounters, Dinner with the President
& a few senators, etc...) at rediculously low prices.

At the first National Teacher's Conference put on by the center, we met
most of the Teacher-in-space finalists from all the states  (The Space
Ambassadors program is strongly coupled with the Center), met 8 astronauts,
and got several VIP tours & lectures at Johnson, plus a steamer-trunk full
of classroom materials & resources, all for around $250.

The center stresses cooperative learning & teamwork in mission-simulation
exercises for entire classes of students, currently targeting elementary &
Junior High levels.  None of the activities to be accomplished in a typical
"mission" can be done by an individual: they all require cooperation and
teamwork.  Each of the installations will have a different mission scenario
(Moon Base, Halley comet rendezvous, etc...) with a mission control and a
mission lab area.

Just like NASA simulations, the instructors can juice up the exercise to
match the skill levels of individual teams, so that everyone is challenged.

They're still growing, too.  The Houston center is finished, and the new
headquarters building is going up now in Washington.  Besides the many
dedicated Challenger Center facilities, I also understand that there are
plans to coordinate lots of TV and EMAIL links to "satellite" centers at
area museums & schools, too.

These folks are legit, sincere, and deserving of all of our support.  Give
'em the bucks.

-Jack

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 22:27:26 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sunybcs!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester![e-mail]  (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Orbital Sciences Public Offering

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Allen W. Sherzer) writes
(about the OSC offering):

>Do you know when the offering will be?
>
>If you are willing to take a little risk, buying before the first test
>may be a good idea. If it works, the price will likely rise fast.

Actually, maybe not.  Public offerings tend to go out at inflated
prices; there's an irrational urge with some people to "get in on the
ground floor", especially if the company has been hyped (remember,
say, Encore Computer, or Genentech?).  It's generally a good idea to
wait a while for disillusionment to set in.  In the case of OSC, I
(weakly) suspect the initial price will be more than a rational
assessment of the risk would justify.  You may feel differently.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 05:19:21 GMT
From: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 03/15/90 (Forwarded)

Aha, you conspiracy buffs, just what we need, some nut placing a seal in the
orbiter's nose-wheel bay!        :-)

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

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 21:24:37 GMT
From: ox.com!itivax!vax3![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Orbital Sciences Public Offering

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Dietz) writes:
>There's an article about OSC in today's Wall Street Journal
>(page 1, left column).  OSC will be completing a public offering
>in the near future.  My stockbroker says the price is $13/share,
>but the stock is not yet trading.  I've asked him to get me a
>prospectus.  I probably won't buy until after a successful test,
>though.

Do you know when the offering will be?

If you are willing to take a little risk, buying before the first test
may be a good idea. If it works, the price will likely rise fast.

    Allen

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Allen W. Sherzer         |         If guns are outlawed,                  |
|   [e-mail]            |         how will we shoot the liberals?        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 05:19:21 GMT
From: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 03/15/90 (Forwarded)

Aha, you conspiracy buffs, just what we need, some nut placing a seal in the
orbiter's nose-wheel bay!        :-)

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

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 20:08:21 GMT
From: hp-pcd!hpcvia![e-mail]  (ken_scofield)
Subject: Re: Freedom finding related to LDEF?


>>Is the chief problem with a "full-time spacewalker" the radiation
>>exposure?
>
>No, that's relatively minor, and the station itself doesn't give that much
>more shielding.  EVA as currently practised is a major hassle, with a lot
>of overhead effort involved, and is considered relatively dangerous (less
>redundancy than working inside in shirtsleeves).
>--
>Never recompute what you      |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
>can precompute.               | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

  Last night on the program "Beyond 2000" (DISCOVERY Channel) they did a spot
  on a new hardshell diving suit for deep water diving.  This articulated
  shell allowed a diver to descend vastly farther than normal SCUBA equipment,
  and all the while the interior pressure is maintained at 1 atm.   Thus, there
  is no compression/decompression time wasted.  It (allegedly) takes only a
  few minutes to enter/exit the suit.

  Reportedly, NASA is very interested in the suit, and is looking into building
  a space-worthy version in the next few years.  However, they want a hybrid
  version which still uses some "soft" components as in the current designs.
  The primary advantages are:  No "acclimation" time is required -- just put
  the suit on and head out the door.  Better micrometeorite protection -- and
  better radiation protection (as compared to soft suits).

  While EVA's to repair the space station are certainly troublesome enough to
  want to minimize their necessity, it seems that a suit such as this could
  lessen the impact, no?

             *
            / \
       |---/---\---|            Ken Scofield    C-9355  SSI #453890085
       |   Gone    |            Hewlett-Packard, ICO
       | Divin' or |            1020 NE Circle Blvd.
       |  Jumpin'  |            Corvallis, OR  97330
       |-----------|            Phone:  [phone]
            ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!kas
                        [e-mail]

Cute Disclaimer:  Nobody ever listened to me before, so why start now?

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 05:19:27 GMT
From: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: Shuttle escape systems, was Challenger's Last Words

I think I remember reading that the shuttle floats like it flies - like a
brick. If they did ditch, they would have to get out _fast_.

 The SRB's did _not_ steer straight in the Challenger accident, if the exhaust
plumes on that memorable picture mean what they seem to mean.

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

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 02:56:44 GMT
From: brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!hutto![e-mail]  (Henry Melton)
Subject: Re: Sandia Railgun


Every can of soup you launch with the coilgun will have to have
something on it to adjust the orbit once outside the atmosphere.
Otherwise it will come right back into the atmosphere, no matter what
its apogee is.  So if we are launching things at 50000g's, the thrusters
and associated electronics will have to take it.

Unless we have someone up there in orbit with a catcher's mit.


--
Henry Melton ...!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!hutto!henry
1-512-8463241 Rt.1 Box 274E Hutto,TX 78634

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

Date: Fri, 23 Mar 90 14:59:46 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Daniel Fischer)
Subject: Re: Giotto Update - 03/14/90
Cc: [e-mail],
        [e-mail]

           The Giotto Extended Mission Update <14 Mar 1990> says:
> Giotto is currently going through a checkout of its science instruments
> which is expected to last one month.
The European Space Operations Center (Darmstadt, W.Germany) denies that! They
have told me today that the section of the spacecraft that houses most of the
scientific instruments is still too hot to begin with this checkout (it was
baked by the sun during the recent perihelion passage of Giotto). Thus, at this
time there are only routine checks of other onboard systems under way, and the
actual science checkout will not start before the end of April. A second
trajectory correction, BTW, was successfull on March 19th: the Hydrazine
thrusters are still working flawlessly. Thus the S/C itself seems to be fine -
whether there will be a 'Giotto Extended Mission' (GEM) seems to depend on the
fate of the scientific payload alone, above all the status of the camera.
 [Based upon the 'Giotto Hotline' {Germany-6151-886-609}, ESA Press Release
  #7 of 15 March 1990 <are those avail. online?> + personal comm. ESOC/PIO]

Daniel Fischer [[e-mail]] on behalf of the newsletter SKYWEEK

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 10:31:50 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!reading!minster![e-mail]
Subject: Nina and Columbus 500

Last night's UK TV `Channel 4 news' carried a report of an
entry for a proposed (unmanned :-)) solar sailing expedition
to Mars in 1992 called `Columbus 500' ("In fourteen hundred
and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue"). The design
for a spacecraft called "Nina", after one of Columbus's
ships, was suggested by a group of British inventors. JPL has
reportedly judged it to be the most promising of the design
proposals submitted. The German company Messerschmitt has
apparently expressed interest in building the craft.

The innovative feature is the shape of Nina's solar sail. It
is a circular fan which wraps up into a toroid, thus solving
the problem of how such a sail can be compactly stored and
cleanly deployed by a spacecraft. The inventor claims that
this geometry is original, and had been prompted by his
interest in, and experience with, Origami.

Does any one have any further information? Where will the
group find a launch vehicle? Funding? What instruments will
the space probe carry? What research has been carried out into
the (formidable?) problems of controlling a solar sail `in
flight'?

--------------------------------------------------------------
John A. Murdie            [phone]
Dept. of Comp. Sci.        ukc!minster!john
University of York
England

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 22:56:42 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!dali!milton!maven![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shuttle Escapes and jumping from the space station.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Christopher Neufeld) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Hogg) writes:
>>However, a ``reasonably well protected human'' needn't wear a spacecraft.
>>Station crew-escape systems have been proposed which amount to a
>>spacesuit, a retrorocket pack, a heatshield, and a parachute.  The
>>advantages of such a system include simplicity and light weight.
>>Unfortunately, an astronaut needing an escape system is quite likely
>>to be ill or injured, and a stripped-down suit-shield-chute package
>>is not an ideal ambulance.  It still sounds worth developing.
>>
>    You mean this is a real idea??? I saw this described in the SF novel
> _Orbital Decay_ by Allen Steele and brushed it off as a fabrication by
> the author.
>    You might be able to convince me to sit on top of a tank of fuel and
> oxidizer, but you'd have a much harder time getting me to jump out of
> the space station with the intention of soft-landing on the ground!


As a Skydiver, I have jumped from some very hish places with the intention
of "SOFT LANDING" on the ground.  Going to the space station to jump sounds
like the ultimate skydive.  I'll bet that once such a system is devoloped and
tested, there might even be a market for it.

        John.

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 22:16:04 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!mntgfx![e-mail]  (Mike Butts)
Subject: Re: Railgun ...

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (William Lewis):
> quantities of matter into polar orbit.  Of course,  the only
> reason to launch something into a polar orbit is for surveillance
> applications...  Looks like Cheney and the .mil bunch aren't ready

Ahem...another use for polar orbits is store-and-forward message systems.  The
batch of amateur radio microsats that went up in January are little more than
PCs with solarcells and radios, in sun-synchronous polar orbits.  You can post
a message from anywhere in the world with a cheap briefcase-sized packet node
and be assured of its delivery to another node anywhere else within 24 hours.

Not to mention the many non-military applications of surveillance (Landsat,
SPOT, etc.)
--
Michael Butts, Research Engineer          KC7IT          503-626-1302(fax:1282)
Mentor Graphics Corporation, 8500 SW Creekside Place, Beaverton, Oregon   97005
!{ogicse,sequent,tessi,apollo}!mntgfx!mbutts              [e-mail]
Any opinions are my own, and aren't necessarily shared by Mentor Graphics Corp.

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

Date: 24 Mar 90 02:30:53 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali!milton!maven![e-mail]
Subject: Payload Status RACK Question...

I like reading the payload status reports, and I have a fair idea of
what is actually going on, however what are the RACK's that are
constantly mentioned...  I have a feeling that these are the pallets that
actually go into the shuttle bay, but I havent a clue as to what the numbers
associated with them really mean, is there some kind of map?

Other things that I read seem to indicate that this guess is way off base
however.

    Hopefully someone can clue me in.


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My boss dosn't know what I do.

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

Date: 23 Mar 90 15:22:16 GMT
From: rochester![e-mail]  (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Railgun ...

[e-mail] (Paul A. Houle) wrote:

>       Another story in last week's Av Leak was about a coil gun
>proposed to be based in Hawaii;  the goal is to toss kilogram
>quantities of matter into polar orbit.  Of course,  the only
>reason to launch something into a polar orbit is for surveillance
>applications...

The proposed EML in Hawaii wouldn't launch into polar orbits, I
believe, but rather into somewhat less highly inclined orbits.  The
purpose would be to park large numbers of "Brilliant Pebbles" in
orbits that pass over the Soviet Union, where they could be used for
boost-phase intercept.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #182
*******************