Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_3/V11_325.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #325

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 325

Today's Topics:
     Re: Three unconnected thoughts on STS-31 and the HST
              Re: Decompression and 2001
          Re: Shuttle C or Z alternate uses
                  Re: Radar
           Jonathan's Space Report, Apr 27
         NASA Headline News for 04/25/90 (Forwarded)
             voyager images on cd
          Re: Radar (was Re: Drake Equation
            Re: Rename the Earth?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 Apr 90 00:19:50 GMT
From: unmvax!nmtsun![e-mail]  (Daniel Briggs)
Subject: Re: Three unconnected thoughts on STS-31 and the HST

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jeffrey P. Bakke) writes:
)In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Daniel Fischer) writes:
)>Now that HST is where it belongs - that was the most dramatic launch ever, with
)>the exception of STS-26 perhaps - I cannot resist posting some thoughts...:
)>   b) Where did the '14 billion light year' myth originate? I must have heard it
)>about 20 times yesterday on TV & radio that "til now we could only see for
)>two billion light years, but now we can see 7 times farther with the HST" -
)>every few months the media celebrate a new quasar at 15+ billion light years,
)>and nobody realizes this contradiction. I've found the 'factor of 7' nonsense
)>even in NASA press kits and brochures -  w h y  must they tell everybody this??
)
)Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but the 2 billion light years represents
)the distance that we can 'see' with our current scopes.  This means using
)visible light to identify objects.  When hear of 15+billion light year
)objects being detected, more than likely it was found by radio telescopes
)which operate on wavelengths other than those of visible light.  Radio
)waves are not affected nearly as much by the cloud cover and ozone layer
)of the earth.

You're got the right idea that it is easier *in general* to see with radio
than with optical.  In this example, though, Daniel is quite right.  I don't
know off the top of my head exactly which QSO has the red shift record in
the optical, but I am sure that it is well over z=3.  (In fact, I wouldn't
be surprised if the various detections past z=4 have optical counterparts.)
If the QSO doesn't happen to lie in a particularly awkward direction, we
can see it fairly easily.  The problem is *finding* it.  What radio does for
you is put out a banner that there is something intersting at a particular
point in the sky.  If you point a large optical telescope at that point and
integrate for a while, it's likely that you will find an optical counterpart.
You'll have to plug in your favorite cosmological constants, but I'm sure
that it will correspond to a lookback time a lot closer to 14 Gyr that 2 Gyr.

-----
This is a shared guest account, please send replies to
[e-mail] (Internet)
Dan Briggs / NRAO / P.O. Box O / Socorro, NM / 87801  (U.S. Snail)

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

Date: 27 Apr 90 01:52:53 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!quiche!calvin![e-mail]  (Mark SOKOLOWSKI)
Subject: Re: Decompression and 2001

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Nick Watkins) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Tilque) writes:
>>By a not so amazing coincidence, this was also a Clarke story.  It was
>>written back in the 50's, I think.  Unfortunately, I can't remember the
>>name but the plot goes like this:
>
>"Take a deep breath " is title, have a feeling it's in
>"The other side of the Sky" but could easily be wrong.
>
>Nick
>.
>
>--
>Dr. Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical
>& Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND
>JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]

To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Apollo 13, STS-1, Vostok 1 anniversaries
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Cc:
Bcc:


I don't have precise references, but I can tell you that the 3 astronauts
were burned alive in a fire fueled by pure oxygen (at 0.3 athmospheres).
It started under one of the seats, probably triggered by a short-circuit.
There are many 'probably' in all statements since objects not even
supposed to be combustible (like some metallic alloys etc...)
greatly participated in the 2000 degrees C inferno that lasted at least
one minute.
    In 1986, during the media rush around the Challanger explosion,
I have watched a TV program which gave some contreversial info:
Contrary to NASA's initial statements, it seems that the 3 guys suffered
before dying, their (atrocious) screams being still recorded on some
mytery tapes well hidden...

Mark
-----

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

Date: 27 Apr 90 20:50:41 GMT
From: ox.com!itivax!vax3.iti.org![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: Shuttle C or Z alternate uses

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>Not necessarily; indeed, Shuttle-C would be a useful thing to have for
>launching the station.  However, Congress historically has not been
>sympathetic to NASA's interest in doing more than one big project at
>a time.

Actually, Congress (at least the authorizaiton committee) wants NASA to
build Shuttle-C. NASA however, won't put money into it which is why no
work has started.

   Allen

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Allen W. Sherzer         |   Real men write self modifying code.          |
|   [e-mail]            |                                                |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 26 Apr 90 17:24:41 GMT
From: hplabsb![e-mail]  (David Smith)
Subject: Re: Radar

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] ("V70C::HUNTRESS") writes:
>In fact, one of our (Otis) site perpetual stories was that a glove
>released accidentally by a cosmonaut has been in orbit for many years, and
>that we track it several times per day.  Any opinions as to the truth to this
>rumor?

During Ed White's spacewalk from Gemini 4 in 1965, a spare glove floated
out of the spacecraft.  That's where the legend was born, but the glove's
orbit must have decayed long ago.  LDEF was retrieved at a higher altitude
than the glove started out, and it only had a month or two to go.
--
    David R. Smith, HP Labs
    [e-mail]
    [phone]

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

Date: 27 Apr 90 14:34:43 GMT
From: frooz!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: Jonathan's Space Report, Apr 27

Jonathan's Space Report

Apr 27, 1990 (no.36)
----------------------------------------------------

The Hubble Space Telescope was released into orbit
by the orbiter Discovery at 19:38 UTC on Apr 25.
Deployment was 1 orbit late because of solar panel
problems. McCandless and Sullivan began EVA preps
and waited in the airlock, which was depressurized
to 5 psi, but the EVA was cancelled when the final
attempt to command the starboard array open was
successful. Discovery was launched on Apr 24 from
Complex 39B. The aperture door is due to be opened
today. Crew of Discovery: Loren Shriver (Commander),
Charles Bolden (Pilot), Dr. Steven Hawley, Dr. Kathy
Sullivan, and Bruce McCandless (Mission Specialists).

Columbia rolled out to Complex 39A on Apr 22. Its cargo
is the Astro-1 Spacelab payload and the BBXRT x-ray
telescope. Launch is due for May 16.

Anatoli Solov'yov (Komandir) and Aleksandr Balandin (Bortinzhener)
continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex. The Soyuz TM-9 transport
and the Progress M-3 freighter are currently at the station.
Solov'yov and Balandin have been in space for 74 days.

Kosmos-2072 was launched on Apr 13.  It is an advanced recon satellite
using digital data return via relay satellites.  The previous such
satellite, Kosmos-2049, is still in operation.

Kosmos-2073 was launched on Apr 17. A Vostok-class recon satellite,
it will fly in polar orbit for 2 weeks.


(c) 1990 Jonathan McDowell
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 '----------------------------------------------------------------'

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

Date: 27 Apr 90 18:36:11 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 04/25/90 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, April 25, 1990             Audio Service: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, April 25......


All systems performed well following the spectacular launch of
the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope
yesterday morning at Kennedy Space Center at 8:34 EDT.  The two
solid rocket boosters propelling the Shuttle into orbit have been
retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean and are now on return to KSC.

Three hours into the flight, mission specialist Steve Hawley
powered up the orbiter's Remote Manipulator System and checked
out its movement.  Last night's activities to reduce the amount
of time the HST will be on internal power prior to solar array
deployment may not be necessary as it has been determined the
battery power is more than adequate to support deploy operations.

Meanwhile, the operators at the Space Telescope Control Center
say the telescope is responding well as they take the controls on
schedule to complete the 65 major orbital verification sequences
required before the telescope's aperature door can open.

The checkout passed with flying colors.  The orbital verification
team has loaded the Pointing and Safemode Electronic Assembly
computer, checked out the fixed star trackers and loaded the
computer reference points.

Now beginning with sequence 19, which prepares the space
telescope for release of its power umbilical cord, the remaining
series of sequences will deploy and activate the telescope's
solar arrays.

Operations today continue to center around the deployment of the
Hubble Space Telescope.  The process began this morning at 6:55
and the actual release is scheduled to begin at 1:56 this
afternoon.  At this time, the robot arm will attach to the
telescope, then lift the telescope out of the payload bay for
release into orbit.
                            ********

The Magellan spacecraft is reported doing well today as it
travels 103 million miles from Earth and 24.5 million miles away
from Venus.  The speed will continue to increase as Magellan is
pulled by the sun's gravity toward its rendezvous with Venus.  By
late July, it will be travelling more the 86,000 miles per
hour.  All star calibrations during the past week were
successful.
                            ********










-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are EDT.

Coverage of the STS-31 mission will continue through landing
scheduled Sunday, April 29 at 9:49 A.M. EDT.

The following is a list of mission highlights scheduled for
television coverage.


Today....

         1:54 P.M.      Telescope Deploy operations begin.

         3:16 P.M.      Replay of telescope deploy/release.

         5:00 P.M.      Change of shift briefing.

         6:00 P.M.      Replay of Day 2 activities.



All events and times are subject to change without notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00
Noon, EDT.  Additional reports will be provided during mission
operations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A service of the Internal Communications Branch, NASA HQ.

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

Date: 26 Apr 90 23:30:32 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123![e-mail]  (UUCP)
Subject: voyager images on cd

From: [e-mail]

Organization: SLIS, U. Western Ont. Canada
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: sci.space,comp.graphics

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
>
> I am interrested in obtaining the images from the Voyager Neptune flyby from
> last summer. Could somebody please let me know how I go about obtaining
> these?
> Also, does anybody know the format of the data files? I have a 386 AT with a
> VGA card and am wondering what sort of viewer I will need to write.

the images are available on CD and the IMDISP software works with VGA,
unfortunately it does not support super-vga or extended modes. I have
the address at home of where to write for the discs, the images are
also availave thru SPAN - email me if you still need the address, if
enough interest will post. Also, if anyone has modified or new version
of IMDISP with support for ATI VGA wonder pls let me know.
cheers


--
UUCP
...!{dhw68k,zardoz,lawnet,conexch}!ofa123!UUCP                             [e-mail]
714 544-0934 2400/1200/300

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

Date: 27 Apr 90 13:58:10 GMT
From: logicon.com!trantor.harris-atd.com!x102c![e-mail]  (Badger BA 64810)
Subject: Re: Radar (was Re: Drake Equation

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Tilque) writes:
[...]
>
>Remember, radar operates under an inverse 4th power function.
>
That's because radar goes out (r^2) and back (r^2)!  But we're talking
radar detectors here, so only a r^2 law should apply, *nicht wahr*?

----
Bernard A. Badger Jr.    407/984-6385 |"Get a LIFE!" --- J.H. Conway (Just joking! :-)
[e-mail]         |Buddy, can you paradigm?
[e-mail] |'s/./&&/g' Tom sed expansively.

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

Date: 26 Apr 90 14:41:48 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!acorn!ixi![e-mail]  (Mike Moore)
Subject: Re: Rename the Earth?

Mare Tranquilitatis??  I thought Sea of Tranquility was Mare Serenitatiis:-)
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Usual disclaimer.....  etc                        | [e-mail]
True Intelligence is not knowing all the answers, |
it's knowing the right questions.                 |

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #325
*******************