Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_404.TXT

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Date: Wed, 16 May 90 01:27:37 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #404

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 404

Today's Topics:
               Orbiting Weapons Systems
            Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90
     On retrieving the BibTeX style for astron. journals
              Re:  SPACE Digest V11 #387
     Hubble Space Telescope Update - 05/15/90 (Forwarded)
                Re: Apollo 12
                Space Shuttle
            Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90
                Re: Apollo 12
             Re:  Galileo Update
               Re: Sex in space
              Re:  SPACE Digest V11 #387
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 15 May 90 14:55:54 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!watdragon!watyew![e-mail]  (Brian or James)
Subject: Orbiting Weapons Systems


 I'd like to point out to an earlier poster that weapons systems
do occasionally get deployed before they get to the functioning state;
look at the torpedos the US used in WW II. If you don't think you'll
have cause to use it, who cares if it works? [Insert one half smilie
here]
 There are a few good reasons why no one violates the treaty against
putting up orbiting nukes [Treaty: an agreement good until inconvinient
for one or the other of the signatories]. One is that LEO warheads
are *very* soft targets, since orbiting a North Dakota cornfield is
very expensive [I believe that if ND ever left the Union, it would be
the third most heavily armed nuclear power]. This really encourages
pre-emptive strikes, as the orbital component is unlikely to survive a
first exchange. This isn't a stable situation, and sterotyping to the
contrary, most military folks are not champing at the bit to turn the
human race into crispy critters [In simulations, it's hard to get
military players to go nuclear, while academics tend to abort to one
minute urban renewal at the drop of a hat]. Now, warheads in a remote orbit
make a arguably defendable Nth strike weapon: Nuke us and our Trans Jovian
Retaliation Force will fry you in six years :), but right now, noone can
deploy Interplanetary Ballistic Missiles in quantity [Gee, I wonder if
accidents like the single keystroke error that killed Fobos could happen :]
 It can also be a pain if warheads deorbit *without* detonating: 'The
government of Iran reports that despite exhuastive searching, the
nuclear weapon that allegedly landed in Iran after an unauthorised
reentry last week, continues to remain officially missing. In other news,
the Iranian-Iraqi peace talks were unilaterally broken off by the Iranians.'
                                JDN

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

Date: 16 May 90 02:22:18 GMT
From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!uflorida!kluge!serss0![e-mail]  (Ralph P Carpenter)
Subject: Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Lance Michel) writes:
>But why would either Voyager use ANY propellant?  I thought they were
>finished making course corrections.

    The spacecrafts are re-oriented to allow their instruments to
point at various objects of interest.

>Also, why would one Voyager use 42Gms and the other use only 6?

    Voyager 1 apparently had more things to look at during this
particular period than did Voyager 2.
--
|  Ralph P Carpenter      | InterNet: [e-mail]     | Blake's 7:  |
|  Sr Programmer/Analyst  |           [e-mail] |   The       |
|  Florida Atlantic Univ  | Ci$: 74015,644     GEnie: Ralpho |  Motion     |
|     at Boca Raton       | SoBell: 407/367-2616             |  Picture    |

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

Date: 15 May 90 11:10:22 GMT
From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!hp4nl!nikhefh![e-mail]  (Sake Hogeveen)
Subject: On retrieving the BibTeX style for astron. journals


A BibTeX style for Astronomical Journals employing the Author-year
system of citation is available from the Bitnet fileserver
[e-mail] or [e-mail].

The style files are in the ASTRON FILELIST.

If you are not on Bitnet, you may retrieve the files by sending the
fileserver mail, containing the right commands.

To get a listing of the contents of ASTRON FILELIST, send the server
a mail containing the line:

    GET ASTRON FILELIST

This file will tell you which files you need (also UUencoded ZOO archive
available).

To retrieve files, also issue a GET command, replacing the dot before
a file extension by a space, e.g.:

    GET READ ME

to get the READ.ME file (it's an IBM, folks).

Good luck,

Sake J. Hogeveen
____________________________________________________________________
Astronomical Institute `Anton Pannekoek', Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bitnet: [e-mail]          Internet: [e-mail]
UUCP: [e-mail]

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

Date: 16 May 90 02:58:33 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!b-tech!kitenet![e-mail]  (Russ Cage)
Subject: Re:  SPACE Digest V11 #387

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>I must agree with Mark S.' assessment of the situation, as must any reas-
>oning person.

Any reasoning person must also conclude, from the difficulty of
obtaining resources such as metals and solar energy on the surface
of this planet, that the resources of space are easier to use once
you can get to them.

>We are as far from being able to mine the asteroid belt as we are from
>finding Oz at the end of the yellow brick road. They are both farfetched
>fantasies.

You mean, I can expect to meet Glinda soon?!

Geosynchronous comsats were fantasy in 1940, when Arthur C. Clarke
invented the concept.  Today they are a multi-billion dollar business.

I have seen several designs for asteroid mining systems, using 60's
and 70's technology.  The only problem is moving them the first 100
miles up and 5 miles/second forward; the first step is a killer.

Of course, as long as people who believe that "Space travel is utter
bilge" (Britain's Astronomer Royal, 1956), "The atomic bomb will never
work, and I speak as an expert on explosives" (an American general
just before Alamagordo), etc. are in control of the money, they
will get exactly what they believe is possible, ie. nothing.

Small minds get small results.

>[...] in-
>stead of a planet of warring nations still fighting each other over moronic
>thousand-year-old territorial claims [....]

Good reason to give people proof that there's more than this one
rock to live on.  It'll divert their attention to building instead
of fighting, since they'll have to build to live up there.

>And all of this develop-
>ment shouldn't take more than another two or three thousand years.

Seems like the technical route is much more feasible.  After all,
we went to the moon in 8 years from the word "go".
--
              Oversimplification doesn't solve problems, it just
[phone]          changes them into less tractable problems.
Russ Cage, Robust Software Inc.            [e-mail]

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

Date: 15 May 90 17:43:37 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Hubble Space Telescope Update - 05/15/90 (Forwarded)

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL -- MAY 14

"Hubble Space Telescope Picture Delayed Again"
By Rob Stein

"The Hubble Space Telescope, distracted by an unexpected bright
'rogue star,' failed to complete its first focusing test, again
delaying the observatory's historic first picture, officials said
Monday."

UPI cites comments from NASA astronomer Edward Weiler saying even
with problems, the telescope checkout procedures are progressing
well and that the myriad of instruments and spacecraft systems
are performing well with some tests even ahead of schedule.

Stein relates how the most recent problem came up over the
weekend and that engineers concluded a star in the area the
telescope was viewing was brighter than expected and caused the
telescope to mistakenly point towards it -- preventing the
spacecraft to point at the intended stars.

UPI states the focusing process will have to be completed twice
successfully and then followed by a set of tests on the
telescope's fine guidance system before the observatory can take
its first picture.

The wire concludes with a quote from Weiler, "I think everybody's
got a lot of confidence that given some time, we're going to get
this thing to meet (specifications), it's just taking a little
longer."
       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____| |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 15 May 90 16:14:59 GMT
From: pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!IDA.ORG!pbs![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Apollo 12

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
> In general, the Apollo launch windows were about a month apart, since it
> was the position of the Moon that mostly dictated the windows.  Second-
> order effects meant that some windows were better than others, though.
> I don't know what the situation was for Apollo 12, but I doubt very much
> that the second lunar landing would be pushing the window so hard that
> it would have to slip several months waiting for another good one.
> --
There was the added constraint that the Apollo 12 LM wanted to come down within
walking distance of the Surveyor 3 landing site in the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus
Procelorum.)
  It is fittingly ironic they would launch from Earth in the
middle of a storm. :)

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

Date:       Tue, 15 May 90 15:14:41 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject:    Space Shuttle

Recently a friend watched a landing of the shuttle on NASA
SELECT, he noticed that immedeatly after the craft stopped
a couple of trucks pulled up and connected three large hoses
(opprox one foot diameter) to the shuttle, he asked me the purpose
of these hoses.
  I guessed they were to drain the remaining propellants and
supply air conditioning, can anyone tell me for sure?
                      Thanx
("everything politicians touch, turns to crap" :Ringo Starr's first
                                                and only law of politics

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

Date: 16 May 90 01:57:37 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!texbell!nuchat![e-mail]  (Steve Nuchia)
Subject: Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Lance Michel) writes:
>But why would either Voyager use ANY propellant?  I thought they were finished

To keep its antennae pointed at home.
--
Steve Nuchia          South Coast Computing Services      [phone]
"To learn which questions are unanswerable, and _not_to_answer_them;
this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness."
        Ursula LeGuin, _The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness_

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

Date: Tue, 15 May 90 07:43:53 CDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Apollo 12

> zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!milano!peyote![e-mail]  (Bob Mosley III)

> ...now, to the meat of the matter. The sources I cite are past issues of
> Air Force, Aviation Week & Space Technology, and a commentary from Art
> Bozlee. All sources stated that according to some NASA officials
> (including a memo from the late Chris Craft) that while Conrad did in
> fact "give the go-ahead", there was pressure being applied from the
> Oval Orafice that would have curcumvented a no-go by Conrad.

Well, you didn't give the issues of Air Force or Aviation Week &
Space Technology, but I did make a point of asking Art Bozlee about
your contention on Saturday (12 May) , explaining that he was being
cited as a contributing source to your claims and telling him that if
he disagreed I would be quoting him in my response to you.

Well, his response was "No, Nixon had nothing to do with it.  It was
entirely Conrad's decision."  I also made a point of specifically
asking about political pressure or the possibility of it and your
conjecture as to motivations in the White House and for the launch
under those conditions, and he gave your theory no credence at all.

[He also said that now that I'd got him thinking about it again, he
might sit down and write an article about Apollo 12, because the
events and such of the mission were pretty interesting.]

> Again, the pressure to add insult to injury to the Reds effectively
> nullified concerns about the weather for that particular flight.

Not according to Art Bozlee, it didn't.


==============================================================================
| Fred McCall  ([e-mail]) | "Insisting on perfect safety is for  |
| Advanced Systems Division           |  people who don't have the balls to  |
| Defense Systems & Electronics Group |  live in the real world."            |
| Texas Instruments, Inc.             |                     -- Mary Shafer   |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
|  I speak for me.  I don't speak for others, and they don't speak for me.   |
==============================================================================

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

Date: 15 May 90 14:21:00 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (SERRE GLENN)
Subject: Re:  Galileo Update

The subject line says it all. ("What is a SITURN?")

Sorry if this has already been asked, but I missed it.

Thanks in advance.

Glenn Serre
[e-mail]

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

Date: 15 May 90 15:02:39 GMT
From: slxsys!dircon![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Sex in space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Trashy) writes:
>
>The latest figure I heard for "space shuttle sex" is that
>it has been done at least seven times.  Apparently it is a difficult
>process.  You need a third person to steady you.
>
>Barry Schwartz              [e-mail]


Ermm, I thought only one woman has successfully entered into space
aboard the shuttle...was this figure a multiple orgasm count -- surely
NASA hasn't been trying gay sex?

--
Julian Hayward

[e-mail]    - OR -    [e-mail]

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

Date: 15 May 90 16:49:51 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs.toronto.edu!omicron.cs.fsu.edu!fsucs.cs.fsu.edu![e-mail]  (Jim Groh)
Subject: Re:  SPACE Digest V11 #387

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:


stuff deleted......



>>
>Before we can capture and mine asteroids for metals, and build "space colonies,"
>we must learn to keep men alive and HEALTHY in space for more than seven days at
>a time, must develop REAL spacecraft that are not just bullets with men in their
>noses, develop human psyches that will not become deranged by close confinement
>with other humans for more than 30 days at a time, develop equipment that can

....somebody better notify the soviets....




>ment shouldn't take more than another two or three thousand years. Now, con-
>sidering that at our present rate of destruction of the planet Earth, we have
>perhaps between 50 and 100 years left to exist, well..., you get the idea.

... better contact my mortician....



>Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, wrestling, boxing,
>lacrosse, and gladiatoring are all CHEAPER than conquering space, and in
>fact are the DIRECT CAUSE of the u.s.' failure to do so. So, batter up...
              ^^^^^^^^^^^

... so that is WHY the Hulkster had a nervous breakdown !!!....


Goodness, lighten up, instead of pissing and moaning, get involved.  Homo Sapiens are
a very adaptable speci (sp ??).  Lets work to change this, instead of casting flaming
stones, use the rocks for a foundation of a BETTER world.  ;-)
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+   Jim Groh            +  Worlds Oldest Gradual Student             +
+   Florida State Univ. +  "A man is judged by the quality of        +
+   [e-mail] +      his enemies.....    "                 +
+   voice 904-644-8721  +                                            +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #404
*******************