Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_423.TXT

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Date: Sat, 19 May 90 01:27:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #423

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 423

Today's Topics:
               Re: EXOSAT observations
         Re: Hubble Space Telescope Update - 05/17/90
            Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90
              Re: SPACE Digest V11 #422
           Please rate the space magazines
               Re: Oxygen prebreathing
              Re: SPACE Digest V11 #422
                 Re: Magellan
               Re: Sex in space
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Fri, 18 May 90 06:17 CST
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: EXOSAT observations
Original_To:  SPACE

Greg Anders (munnari.oz.au!bruce!monu1!vaxc![e-mail]) was looking
for information on Exosat data.  I can't get through to him directly, so I'm
posting this response to Space Digest.

Greg:

First, the bad news.  You can't get time on Exosat.  It burned up on 6 May
1986, after a three-year lifetime.

Now, the good news.   ESA still has a program to make data, analysis, and
calibration support available to interested users, and the Space Science
Department at ESTEC is the right group to get in touch with.  If I were you I
would write:

         Dr. Nicholas White
         Exosat Project Scientist
         Space Science Department
         ESTEC
         Kelplerlaan 1
         2200 AG Noordwijk
         The Netherlands

I have e-mail addresses and phone numbers for Exosat people.  Contact me
directly for them.

A summary article called "Exosat-- End of Orbital Operations" by White and B.G.
Taylor appeared in *ESA Bulletin* for November 1986.  I don't have the page
number.  (When you xerox an A4-size magazine onto Yankee 8.5" x 11" paper,
unfortunately, you lose the page numbers. Sorry.)  This general article does
mention observations of "one complete 2-day orbital cycle of the eclipsing RS
CVn binary AR Lac."  I imagine there have been lots of more tecnical
publications in astronomy conferences and such; you seem to have been reading
one such.  If ESA has published any technical stuff from Exosat, you could find
out about it by contacting  the Distribution Office, ESA Publications Division,
ESTEC, same address.

(Exosat was in an eccentric orbit with a period of 90 hours and an apogee of
190,000 km, so it could sometimes take *long* observations.)

Hope this information helps.  If you have any trouble, let me know and I'll try
to give you some more help.

                      ______meson   Bill Higgins
                   _-~
     ____________-~______neutrino   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
   -   -         ~-_
 /       \          ~----- proton   Bitnet: [e-mail]
 |       |
 \       /                          SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS
   -   -
     ~                              Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date:       Fri, 18 May 90 11:49:10 EST
From: [e-mail]


  We at DND (Can) use a vast quantity of "Gaffers tape",
but we call it "Gun Tape" (Very popular stuff, even under
lock and key we can't keep it from disappearing). I have
no idea why it's called that and no-one can tell me.
  I would certainly want it my tool box on board a space-
craft, but even mare importantly a tube of Krazy Glue
(better known around here as C.A.[cyano-acrylate]).

Martin Baxter
Royal Military College
Kingston Ont.


"There is nothing built by man that cannot be fixed
armed only with a pair of vice-grips and an electric
arc welder" unknown


END

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

Date: 18 May 90 06:33:15 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!axion!tsa![e-mail]  (Dominic Dunlop)
Subject: Re: Hubble Space Telescope Update - 05/17/90

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ron Baalke)
writes:
>                    Hubble Space Telescope Update
>                           May 17, 1990
>...
>Engineers were able to bring the telescope to within .0000747
>of an inch of being focused...

Or 1.90 micrometers, to three significant figures.  I heard that space
shuttles are still built in inches, and presume, given its age, that
the HST was as well.  Is such still the case for new U.S. space
programs?  I have the greatest difficulty believing that any scientist
anywhere still uses imperial measurements.  Perhaps JPL converts the
figures for public consumption.  Or perhaps I'm narrow minded...
--
Dominic Dunlop

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

Date: 18 May 90 16:20:52 GMT
From: mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!venera.isi.edu![e-mail]  (Craig Milo Rogers)
Subject: Re: Voyager Update - 05/08/90

>>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.

    The sad part is, often these observations are not received
on Earth due to insufficient Deep Space Network resources.  Who
establishes the DSN schedule amd bumps low-priority observations?
Any comments from JPL?

                    Craig Milo Rogers

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

Date: 18 May 90 20:09:10 GMT
From: hao.hao.ucar.edu![e-mail]  (Derek Buzasi)
Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V11 #422

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Thomas Hoey) writes:
#In reference to Erik K. Sorgatz recent attack on the Vatican I find it
#silly that he does not take his argument to another list, how about
#Fraud in science? His first postings on this issue bothered me but I
#did not find that they warranted a reply. Today however when I see that
#Mr.Sorgatz is connected with Citicorp TTI I am responding. As a stock
#holder and former Officer of Citicorp I do not understand what Mr.Sorgatz
#is trying to accomplish on this subject, and I intend to write to the
#board of directors on this matter. Since there is no disclaimer under
#his postings I am sure Citicorp public relations will not be ammused
#by his ramblings...

Please don't start something like this. If you have a problem or disagreement
with Mr. Sorgatz, please take it up with him -- either on the net or
through e-mail. All you will accomplish by writing Citicorp is to cause
everyone on the net to become even more paranoid about disclaimers,
and to provide more lawyer-food.

You don't have a disclaimer either, does this mean that Carnegie Mellon
(from whence your posting originates) is in official agreement with you?
Of course it doesn't, and we both know that. Disclaimers are best understood
by everyone to exist for all postings not directly claiming to speak
for someone else.

--
******************************************************************************
Derek Buzasi                     *    "History is made at night.
High Altitude Observatory        *     Character is what you are in the dark."
[e-mail]                 *             -- Lord John Whorfin

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

Date:     Fri, 18 May 90 05:55 CST
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Please rate the space magazines
Original_To:  SPACE


I'd like to get some discussion going on the quality of space-oriented
magazines.  I include a list below to jog your thoughts.  Feel free to add any
I've omitted.  Some questions that are worth answering:

    --Where do you get most of your information about space?  What do you
    subscribe to, and why?  I get many of the magazines listed below, but
    others I skim in the library, and photocopy articles of particular
    interest.

    --How does *Space News* compare with *Aviation Week*?  Is it a better place
    to invest fifty to seventy dollars a year?

    --What are the strengths and weaknesses of the popular space magazines?
    Which is the best, if you subscribe to only one?  Which combination is
    optimal?

    --Some of you are hard-core techie-types who can name every bolt on the
    Shuttle.  Some of you have only a mild interest in space.  Some are
    professional engineers.  Some have little technical background.  A magazine
    that meets one reader's needs will be too difficult or too simple for
    another reader.  So mention where you're coming from.

    --Which magazines would be good for your little sister?  For your favorite
    techie?  For an accountant?

NEWSMAGAZINES:
Aviation Week and Space Technology
Space News

POPULAR MAGAZINES:
Ad Astra [with membership in National Space Society]
[Smithsonian] Air and Space
Countdown
Final Frontier
Planetary Report [with membership in the Planetary Society]
Spaceflight

PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL MAGAZINES:
Acta Astronautica
Aerospace America
Aerospace Engineering
ESA Bulletin
ESA Journal
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Journal of Power and Propulsion
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
Space Calendar
Space Power
World Spaceflight News

MAGAZINES WHICH COVER SPACE AS PART OF THEIR BEAT:
Sky and Telescope
Astronomy
IEEE Spectrum
Scientific American
Science News
[I omit magazines with rather sporadic coverage, such as *Popular Mechanics*,
*Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists*, *Physics Today*, etc.]

NSS CHAPTER AND REGIONAL NEWSLETTERS:
Moon Miner's Manifesto
Spacelines
Spacefaring Gazette
& many more

                        ///        Bill Higgins
   E                   ///
  |8D:O:          occc))))<))      Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
   E                 ///
                    ///            Bitnet: [e-mail]

Bumper sticker seen on a Soyuz:    SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS

 MY OTHER SPACESHIP IS A BURAN     Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 17 May 90 02:11:03 GMT
From: ubc-cs!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink![e-mail]  (Bruce Dunn)
Subject: Re: Oxygen prebreathing

> [e-mail] writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
> (John Roberts) writes:
> >... there has been mention of the risks from
> >bubbles formed out of dissolved nitrogen and other gases. Oxygen bubbling
> >never seems to be mentioned. Is that because the oxygen is chemically bound
> >to the hemoglobin in the blood? ...
>
> Virtually all of the oxygen in blood is indeed chemically bound; the blood's
> ability to carry oxygen by just dissolving it is tiny by comparison.  I am
> not sure why oxygen bubbles aren't an issue, on thinking about it, but the
> obvious contributing factors are that microscopic oxygen bubbles would very
> quickly react with surrounding materials (not good, but better than having
> them stay bubbles!) and that nitrogen is very soluble in body fats.
>
> [e-mail]


     I suspect that the reason that oxygen does not cause trouble is that it is
being actively used by the body.  Blood will have had oxygen removed from its
hemoglobin by metabolism, and any dissolved oxygen which tends to come out of
solution upon the lowering of pressure will simply go onto the depleted
hemoglobin rather than forming bubbles.
--
Bruce Dunn   Vancouver, Canada    [e-mail]

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

Date:         Fri, 18 May 90 12:26:41 EDT
From: Thomas Hoey <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re: SPACE Digest V11 #422

In reference to Erik K. Sorgatz recent attack on the Vatican I find it
silly that he does not take his argument to another list, how about
Fraud in science? His first postings on this issue bothered me but I
did not find that they warranted a reply. Today however when I see that
Mr.Sorgatz is connected with Citicorp TTI I am responding. As a stock
holder and former Officer of Citicorp I do not understand what Mr.Sorgatz
is trying to accomplish on this subject, and I intend to write to the
board of directors on this matter. Since there is no disclaimer under
his postings I am sure Citicorp public relations will not be ammused
by his ramblings...

On a lighter side recent postings about telescopes have mentioned building
one, well I have had the privilige of building one under the guidance of
John Dobson himself. It is a 10" reflector and it took about a week to
complete, the hardest part was polishing the mirror,which took about 4
hours of continous work. The feeling you get when you stick the just
polished mirror (unsilvered) in its tube and see it working is breathtaking
now I am waiting to get the mirror back from the aluminizers so I can peer
into the Universe (:with the popes permission :) total cost was $310. If
anyone wants John Dobson's phone and address drop me a line.

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

Date: 18 May 90 16:16:19 GMT
From: att!cbnewsd![e-mail]  (lewis.h.mammel..jr)
Subject: Re: Magellan

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (John Kallen) writes:
> ..but he didn't die of scurvy or any nutritional or environmental
> problem. He died of a severe case of spear through body. I gather the
> Phillipine natives weren't too thrilled with his presence.

During one of the Mercury flights a TV commentator ( Chet Huntley ? )
mentioned that the capsule was passing over the Philippines,
"where Magellan was killed by cannibals."  A few minutes later
he was responding, rather unenthusiastically, to a caller or callers
who complained that he wasn't killed by cannibals. His attitude
seemed to be "OK so they weren't actually CANNIBALS, big deal."

Some years later, I read a fascinating account ( with beautiful
pictures, of course ) in National Geographic of the Magellan Expedition,
and came to understand that Magellan's death came under circumstances
very far indeed from being "killed by cannibals." In fact, the king
who repulsed Magellan's attempt to subjugate his people is remembered
as a hero to this day.

Lew Mammel, Jr.

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

Date: 18 May 90 13:33:40 GMT
From: sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news!scslwide!socslgw![e-mail]  (OSAWA Ei-ichi)
Subject: Re: Sex in space

>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pravin Maheshwari) writes:
>   In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>   >In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chris May) writes:
>   >>... a friend and I are interested in knowing whether anyone has
>   >>had sexual intercourse while in orbit...
>   >
>   Wasn't there some discussion a few months ago about some NASA experiments!

Have you ever thought that some countries including USSR are able to
send human kind, both women and men, to space?   They might have done
it much more than you estimate, or expect :-)
--
________________________________________
  Ei-ichi Osawa
  Sony Computer Science Laboratory Inc.
  Takanawa Muse Bldg 3F
  3-14-13 Higashi-gotanda
  Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141
  JAPAN

  CSNET: [e-mail]
  Phone: [phone]

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #423
*******************