Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_2/V11_208.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #208

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 208

Today's Topics:
        Re: For All Mankind - Great Movie!!!!!
             Re: Comparative Costs to LEO
        Re: For All Mankind - Great Movie!!!!!
        One Small Step For a Space Activist...
             Re: HST Image Status
   Re: "Brilliant Pebbles" vs. "Smart Rocks" (was Re: Railgun ...)
        Re: United Space Federation: a Skinhead front?
              von Braun question
                  KSC Tours?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 29 Mar 90 16:21:03 GMT
From: hpfcso!hpfinote![e-mail]  (Doug Josephson)
Subject: Re: For All Mankind - Great Movie!!!!!

>Actually, The shot of the first stage dropping, and the interstage
>ring dropping are from the cameras mounted on the bottom of the
>second stage; which are dumped later for recover.  The "second stage"
>you see igniting is not a shot you can get from there; they mixed in
>shots of the third stage igniting from the camera mounted in the
>second-third interstage; the combination is neat, but misleading.

You're absolutely right.  I went to see it again last night ( :^) ) and that
shot definitely is of the third stage single J2 engine only.  Do you know how
they got the film back from these shots?  It would seem that recovery would be
somewhat difficult (comparable to film drops from satellites, etc.) and that
the film would have to be well protected.

Doug Josephson  [e-mail]  [phone]  Fort Collins, CO

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

Date: 30 Mar 90 15:02:32 GMT
From: idacrd![e-mail]  (Robert McGwier)
Subject: Re: Comparative Costs to LEO

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Wales Larrison):
> sources and assumptions to show you this is the real world. EDITORIAL
> COMMENT:  I'm tired of seeing people buy the propaganda that the Space
> Shuttle "is by far the most expensive means of space transportation".
> It isn't.

Misleading numbers left out.


If the world wanted to put stuff in a 250km high, 28 to 58 degree inclination
orbit, your numbers would be meaningful.  Since BY FAR, most of the
LEO shots are polar, your numbers have about as much relevance  to
space shots to LEO as the cost of a screen door in a submarine.  250km
is not a very useful orbit for anyone but spooks.  You forgot to factor
in the cost of the extra ascent stage needed to get to a useful orbit.
The shuttles altitude limitations, and the complete abandonment of
the Vandenburg launch site, have rendered the shuttle not very useful
as a LEO launcher.


Bob

--
____________________________________________________________________________
    My opinions are my own no matter    |    Robert W. McGwier, N4HY
    who I work for! ;-)            |    CCR, AMSAT, etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 1 Apr 90 01:35:29 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: For All Mankind - Great Movie!!!!!

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Doug Josephson) writes:
>... Do you know how
>they got the film back from these shots?  It would seem that recovery would be
>somewhat difficult (comparable to film drops from satellites, etc.) and that
>the film would have to be well protected.

The early development Saturns carried camera pods, containing camera and
support equipment (including, sometimes, fiber-optic bundles to get views
of areas that couldn't be seen directly from a convenient location),
separation hardware, heat shielding if appropriate, parachute, floatation
gear, radio beacon, etc.  They got fished out of the ocean exactly as if
they'd come down from orbit.
--
Apollo @ 8yrs: one small step.|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
Space station @ 8yrs:        .| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 1 Apr 90 18:28:16 GMT
From: ox.com!itivax!vax3![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: One Small Step For a Space Activist...


               One Small Step for a Space Activist...

                             by
                        Allen Sherzer
                          Tim Kyger

         Things Your Mother Didn't Tell You About the NASA Budget

For the first time since Apollo's heyday NASA will probably be getting
more than 1% of the federal budget. Most this budget increase is due to
continuation of existing programs, but there are some new starts in this
proposed budget as well (like $230 million for the Human Exploration
Initiative). Some of these programs are good news, but others, as currently
envisioned, have the potential to be very harmful.

One piece of good news is Lunar Observer. This new start is scheduled to
launch in '96 and is the first US lunar exploration since Apollo 17 in
December '72. Lunar Observer will probably use the backup Mars Observer
spacecraft with some Mars-specific instruments taken out.

Lunar Observer represents one of the first indications that President Bush
is serious about returning to the moon. The use of lunar resources is
critical to the construction of a spacefairng civilization so this probe
deserves strong support.

One of the potentially NASA harmful new starts is the Mission to Planet Earth.
This effort is part of the Global Change Initiative which spans several
federal agencies. Mission to Planet Earth will consist of:

1. Earth Observation System (EOS) polar orbiting platforms
2. Several Explorer class satellites
3. Platforms in geostationary orbit

Research on potential global change is important work which needs to be done.
However, Mission to Planet Earth may use up a large part of the overall NASA
budget (EOS alone will cost $30 billion between 1990 and 2005). This will
take money away from planetary science and the construction of space
infrastructure. Perhaps this initiative would be better executed by NOAA. NOAA
has the expertise and experience to better gather and evaluate this data.
NOAA could use private sector launch services to launch the satellites. This
would promote administration and congressional policy on privatization of
launch services and would support rather then hinder space infrastructure
development. NASA should look up, not down.

Members of Congress don't know what our objectives are. They think all we
want is more money spent on space no matter what it is used for. By pointing
out the differences between these two efforts we can show our representatives
that we are after the attainment of a specific goal and not just more money.

                       Legislative Roundup

                       A Note on Sources

Several people have asked where the information for this column comes
from. The answer in a nutshell is various congressional staffers. We
contact House and Senate staffers every month for the bills we follow. We
ask them about the bills current status and what they would like people
at the grass roots to do to aid passage. What you read is what they tell us.
The whole process is made easier because one of the authors (Tim Kyger) is
a space staffer for Congressman Rohrabacher of California.

                          Campaign 90

Election day will be here soon. The early phases of most campaign are already
six months past, but there are still good opportunities for space activists
to influence their representatives. Not many volunteers sign on this early
and the ones who do can get good access to the Congressperson and his or her
staffers. Do your representatives have a good track record on space? If so,
sign up to work for them; in this day of restricted campaign financing free
labor can be worth a lot more than money. If your representative has a bad
record, go work for the opponents. Either way, make sure the candidate and
staffers know their support for space is why you are there.

         Space Transportation Services Purchase Act (HR 2674)

Current plans are for a scaled down version of this bill to be written.
This will hit the main points of the bill and be offered as an amendment
to the FY '91 NASA Authorization bill. This is not a substitution to the main
bill which is still held up in committee but a potential quick way to get
the main parts of the bill into law.

Congressman Ron Packard and Catherine Rawlings met with Charlie Loyde of
General Dynamics recently. GD has invested $400 million to develop commercial
launch services; they see it as a big opportunity for the future. Mr. Loyde
said that this "quick fix" amendment was OK as far as it goes, but that it
is no substitute for enacting HR 2674 into law as a separate bill.

Things you should do are:

1. There is a big need for Democratic cosponsors. If your representative is
   a Democrat, it is twice as important for you to take action.

2.  Write or call your representative and ask him/her to:
   A.  Cosponsor HR 2674.
   B.  Speak to Congressman Nelson (D FL) about sending the bill to markup.

3.  Ask to meet with your representative on this issue

4.  If you are from Florida, call Congressman Nelson's office ([phone])
    and ask him to send HR 2674 to markup. If you know somebody from Florida,
    get them to call.

                  NASA Budget for FY 91

There have been four hearings on the NASA budget in the house Science
Committee and. The proposed FY '91 NASA budget is well liked both by the House
and Senate authorization committees, but right now the entire federal budget
process is on hold. Things you should do are:

1. Write your representative and senator to:
   A. Urge him or her to move forward on the budget process
   B. Urge full funding of Function 250

Function 250 is budget the line item for most of NASA, the NSF, and parts of
other federal agencies.

                   Space Patents (HR 2946 and S 459)

This act will extend US patent protection to things developed in space.
This will allow companies who develop new products and processes in space
to secure US patents for them.

Finally, if you need help on any of this contact:

Allen Sherzer
[phone] (work) [phone] (home) [e-mail] (Internet)

Tim Kyger
[phone] (work) [phone] (home)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Allen W. Sherzer         |         If guns are outlawed,                  |
|   [e-mail]            |         how will we shoot the liberals?        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 2 Apr 90 19:59:30 GMT
From: venus![e-mail]
Subject: Re: HST Image Status

I'm sure I'm not the only one with questions about this, but can anyone
elaborate a little bit on the specific format that this HST image of
Jupiter appears as?  i.e. How is the image decompressed and how is it read.
I am interested in writing a simple translator program for an IBM pc to
put this image on my screen.

Thanks.

-Chris

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

Date: 30 Mar 90 08:56:02 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!memex![e-mail]  (Peter Ilieve)
Subject: Re: "Brilliant Pebbles" vs. "Smart Rocks" (was Re: Railgun ...)

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Mike Pelletier) writes:
>
>Whence this silly nomenclature "Brilliant Pebbles"?  Whatever happened
>to the succinct, professional sounding "Smart Rocks"?

Although "Smart Rocks" may have had nomenclature on their side they are
now obsolete as they are too big and too dumb. Hence smaller, smarter
"Rocks" -- "Brilliant Pebbles".

Perhaps we should suggest that Teller has a public competition for the
next revision :-)

    Peter Ilieve        [e-mail]

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

Date: 1 Apr 90 02:36:34 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!wuarchive!rex![e-mail]  (Michael Rawdon)
Subject: Re: United Space Federation: a Skinhead front?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>   I have seen some posters around Cornell for an organization
>called the "United Space Federation".  Nowhere on these posters does
>it say what the organization is or does.  However, I did notice some
>interesting requirements for memebership:

>"(officers)...must attend at least two drills per month."

>"...must believe in and support the United Space Federation's mission,
> charter and take the oath of service."

>"...must provide color hair, color eyes, height, weight, skin tone (B,
>W, OTHER), age, sex, color photograph..."

>"...must sign a nondisclosure statement and take a legal and moral
>oath not to compromise or release information belonging to or about
>the UNITED SPACE FEDERATION its programs, members, officers, clients
>..."

>   Clients?  Drills?  Does anybody know anything about this charming
>organization?  Who is backing it?  What are they trying to do?  When
>was the last time an organization asked you for your "skin tone"?

This sounds like some Heinlein story (better yet, it sounds like a sixth
season episode of the AVENGERS!).  Ah, don't you just love people living
in a fantasy world?
--
Michael Rawdon                   |      You can mend the wires
Tulane University                |      You can feed the soul a part
New Orleans, Louisiana           |      You can touch your light
[e-mail]         |      You can bring your soul alive!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These opinions my own, and are not intended to represent any sort of
objective truth, nor the opinions of any other individual or group.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 2 Apr 90 17:53:15 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!pequod.cso.uiuc.edu![e-mail]  (Jeffrey Schavland)
Subject: von Braun question

While reading a few old Time magazine articles on Wernher von Braun, I came
across a few lines of a song written about him by "satirist" Tom Lehrer.

    Once the rockets are up
    Who cares where they come down
    That's not my department
    Says Wernher von Braun

Can anyone post or send me the complete lyrics to this song.  Thank you.
--
Jeffrey A. Schavland    |  [e-mail]
University of Illinois  |  [e-mail]
at Urbana-Champaign     |  [e-mail]

"If Communism goes, I've still got the U.S. House of Representatives."
    -Robert Novak

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

Date: 3 Apr 90 00:34:24 GMT
From: csusac!sactoh0![e-mail]  (Mark A. Haun)
Subject: KSC Tours?

I am planning a one week trip to Florida for this coming October
and got to thinking about tours of the Kennedy Space Center.  I
was wondering if there are any tours available (that may require
arrangement ahead of time, small groups only, etc.) of some of
the more restricted areas such as the Vehicle Assembly Building,
etc.  It would sure be great to be able to see those areas, but is
the general public allowed to view them?

Thanks,


--
Mark A. Haun / 3445 Del Mesa Ct. / Sacramento, CA 95821 / Phone: [phone]
UUCP: {ames | apple | sun}!pacbell!sactoh0!mahaun | Amateur Radio KJ6PC
INTERNET: pacbell!sactoh0![e-mail]
Amateur Pkt Radio: kj6pc@wa6nwe.#nocal.ca.usa -or- [44.2.0.56] on 144.93 Mhz

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #208
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