Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_439.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #439

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 439

Today's Topics:
        Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY!
              Magellan Update - 05/22/90
    Re: Terraforming Venus (was: Manned mission to Venus)
               Re: Australian spaceport
             Splitting sci.space
              Dial-A-Shuttle and STS-35
              APPLICANTS FOR ASTRONAUTS
             Re: Manned mission to Venus
           Payload Status for 05/21/90 (Forwarded)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 17 May 90 19:12:30 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!dali!ogicse!emory!hubcap!ncrcae!ncrlnk!ncrwic!encad!ensub![e-mail]  (Mark Johnson)
Subject: Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY!

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Fraering Philip) writes:
>
>1. Incomprehensibility of space:
>
>The problems with the SSME's are not due to the fact that they were liquid
>hydrogen fuelled, but that our favorite bureaucracy has made them much
>more complex and advanced than an engine should be (see all the recent
>postings about the Six Blind Men and the Shuttle RFP...:-)
>
>In fact, the most unsafe part of the shuttle was and is the SRB's. Without
>their vibration loads, the SSME's would be much more reusable than they are
>now. The shuttle would have exploded or crashed if it were fuelled with
> hydrogen, methane, gasoline, or old tires when the flame from the SRB
>joint was held against the External Tank. Most designs for shuttle
>replacements I have seen use Liquid Hydrogen but no solids (for safety as
>well as economic reasons.)

Sounds reasonable...the whole rationale for liquid hydrogen was and is that
it is the only fuel available to get sufficient mass to orbit in a reasonable
size vehicle.  That is, it's the only fuel combination with enough Isp
(specific impulse) to get the required end velocity without a god-awful
mass ratio (equation V = Isp * g * ln (mass ratio) ). Replacing the solids
with a like mass of hydrogen/oxygen would in fact INCREASE velocity, or
allow it to be traded off for more mass to orbit.

Unfortunately for the existing system, the other thing that had to be done
to get to the required Isp was to run the engines at an outrageously high
chamber pressure (about 3500 psi--anybody know the exact figure) compared
to any existing motors. I don't remember any US engine chamber pressure
figures, but the old (and still used, I think) Soviet RD-104, the Vostok and
Soyuz booster, used a whole raft of little motors burning kerosene with
chamber pressure of about 1150 psi. MUCH easier to build equipment to maintain
this kind of pressure than shuttle type levels.

We COULD build the often-discussed 'Big Dumb Booster' with old technology
motors, which could be built extremely reliable now, but it would require
much more fuel expenditure per pound of payload to orbit. Perhaps the other
cost reductions would make the whole thing worthwhile.
--
Mark Johnson      WB9QLR/0      NCR Peripheral Products Division
[e-mail]    3718 N. Rock Rd.
[phone]    NAR #14025    Wichita, KS  67226

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

Date: 22 May 90 15:13:08 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 05/22/90


                            MAGELLAN
                      MISSION STATUS REPORT
                          May 22, 1990

     The Magellan project is in the midst of conducting a Cruise Radar
Mapping Test.  The test consists of 3 parts: Radar Turn-on Test, Radar
Functional Test, and Radar "Mapping" Test.

     The Radar Turn-on Test was conducted on Monday, May 14, when each
component of the Radar was first switched ON and OFF sequentially
followed by the entire Radar System being powered ON and then OFF.  The
radar was inhibited from radiating during this test.  Analysis of the data
has shown that the test was totally successful and the Radar Team gave the
"Go" for the Functional Test.

     The Radar Functional Test was conducted on Wednesday, May 16.  In this
test the Radar was powered ON in cruise configuration and commanded to radiate
for eight minutes.  The spacecraft then played the data back at 115.2
Kbits/second (so that the 34 meter antenna station in Goldstone, California
(DSS 12) and the 34 meter antenna station in Australia (DSS-42) could ship
the data to JPL in real-time for analysis).  Both Deep Space Network (DSN)
stations acquired both playbacks in less than 1 minute.  Additionally a star
calibration (STARCAL) was performed between the two parts of the playback
yielding an update of 0.008 degrees.  Again, analysis of the data has shown
that the test was totally successful.

     The Radar "Mapping" Test will be conducted on from May 21 through May 25,
with the Magellan spacecraft performing some 27 simulated orbits. The
spacecraft will function as if it is in orbit turning to mapping attitude;
the radar radiating ("mapping"); turning to Earth for playback; playing back
the data; performing Star Calibrations and momentum wheel desaturations;
playing back the remaining data and readying itself for the next orbit.  All
teams will be in place and the data will flow through the DSN, Space Flight
Operations Center (SFOC), the Magellan High Rate system, the image processing
lab and finally to the Data Management and Archive Team (DMAT).  This test is
planned to provide all the Project's teams with a real-time training exercise
as part of an End-to-End test.
       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____| |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 22 May 90 15:48:10 GMT
From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Terraforming Venus (was: Manned mission to Venus)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Robert Rubinoff) writes:



>   I've got an idea!  Let's ship it back here and use it to veneraform Earth!

Actually, the venusians are trying to veneraform earth; why do you
think the first clean air act mandated the use of sulfur-rich coal?

(more Co2, more SO2...)

Given these facts, do you think they'd let you terraform Venus?

  ++       ++
  ++         ++
        ++    +
        ++    +
  ++         ++
  ++       ++

Philip Fraering
[e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 22 May 90 11:15:30 EDT
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
Subject: Re: Australian spaceport


>From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!metro!cluster!nuts!cc![e-mail]
>> The way you build up experience is to build a spaceport and start using
>> it, which is what Australia is doing! :-)  Most technicians and the like
>> will have to be trained almost from scratch anyway, since there are no
>> Western technicians with Soviet booster experience.  Australia has enough
>> of an aerospace industry -- the space side of it isn't large but isn't
>> quite zero -- to supply a lot of the people needed.  It might be desirable
>> to have experienced US or European people in the top-level jobs for the
>> early stages, though.
>    The are enough of us down here with more enthusiasm than you give us
>credit for. Give us a text book and a day or two and coffee aside, we'll have
>it down pat!
>Luke.

There's plenty of technical ability in Australia. To start, they could hire the
people who built those outlandish vehicles for Australia's cultural treasure,
the "Road Warrior" movies. :-) :-) :-)
(There was one on TV last night.)
                John Roberts
                [e-mail]

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

Date: 22 May 90 15:21:30 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!inmos![e-mail]  (Conor O'Neill)
Subject: Splitting sci.space


While I hate arguments which tend to occur concerning newsgroup splitting,
yet again I arrive to find hundreds of articles in sci.space.
We run a seven day expire here, and we have 272 articles spooled,
in 150 subjects.

Could we perhaps have a discussion on splitting sci.space into a few
smaller groups. A *very provisional* suggestion might be:

sci.space.nasa      -- Peter Yee's and Ron Baalke's postings, etc.
                       (Also HST, Voyager, Magellan, Gallileo, etc)
sci.space.manned    -- Non shuttle manned discussions (Mars, etc)
sci.space.seti      -- Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
                       (maybe should be talk.space.seti until proved (:-))
sci.space.henry     -- the definitive question-and-answer group (:-)
sci.space.misc      -- anything else

Maybe sci.space.misc should be left just as sci.space.

I was not reading sci.space when sci.space.shuttle was split off.
Did this cause any controversy?

I have cross posted this to news.groups, with all followups directed
there too. I have not cross posted to news.announce.newgroups because
I would not want to run the vote myself. Once (if ever) we have established
a consensus, then someone with more net experience could run a vote.

---
Conor O'Neill, Software Group, INMOS Ltd., UK.
UK: [e-mail]        US: [e-mail]
"It's state-of-the-art" "But it doesn't work!" "That is the state-of-the-art".

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

Date:     Tue, 22 May 90 10:11 CDT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Dial-A-Shuttle and STS-35
Original_To:  SPACE


Dial-A-Shuttle service:  900-909-NASA

You can eavesdrop on the crew of Columbia during the STS-35 mission
with the National Space Society's Dial-A-Shuttle service. Callers will
hear a concise, informative report on the mission and live astronaut
communications with Mission Control in Houston and the Payload
Operations Control Center in Huntsville.  Dial-A-Shuttle will carry,
live, mission events such as launch, landing, Space Classroom
sessions, and press conferences.

Dial-A-Shuttle runs from 4 hours preceding liftoff until the mission
lands.  The service is available for every unclassified Shuttle
mission. Toll charge for the service is $2.00 for the first minute and
45 cents for each minute thereafter.  I believe the service is not
available outside the USA (correct me if I'm wrong).

The STS-35 mission's major payload is the so-called ASTRO observatory.
This collection of five telescopes works with ultraviolet light and
X-rays.  It will give astronomers a comprehensive view of phenomena
that are invisible to ground-based observatories.

Three ultraviolet telescopes are mounted in the center of Columbia's
payload bay.  Two X-ray telescopes are mounted on another platform in
the rear of the payload bay.

The largest of the three ultraviolet telescopes is the Hopkins
Ultraviolet Telescope, or HUT, which was developed by Johns Hopkins
University. Its 90-centimeter mirror feeds light into a sensitive
spectrograph.  The HUT can determine the chemical composition and
energy states of such targets as stars, active galaxies, and quasars.
It does this by measuring their spectra in the far-ultraviolet and
extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths.  It will also probe the gas and dust
lying between the stars.

The second instrument on this platform is the Ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope, or UIT, developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
This is the only telescope on board that will take photographs.
Ultraviolet light gathered by its 36-centimeter mirror will be
recorded on film. One of eleven filters  can be placed in the path of
the light, to show the appearance of the target object in one of the
invisible colors of the ultraviolet region.  After Columbia lands, the
film will be developed and analyzed.

The University of Wisconsin has built the third telescope, known as
the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment, or WUPPE.
This 50-centimeter instrument measures  POLARIZATION, or the direction
in which light is vibrating.  It will study astronomical objects with
intense magnetic fields, which can produce polarized light.  It will
also study interstellar dust grains, which can polarize starlight
scattering from them.

All three ultraviolet instruments are mounted together on the
Instrument Pointing System, or IPS.  They point in the same direction,
so all three can observe a target simultaneously.

The three telescopes complement each other:   The Hopkins Ultraviolet
Telescope takes a spectrum. The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope takes a
picture. The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment
measures polarization.  These three kinds of data will lead to a deep
understanding of the target object.  Columbia's crew is controlling
the three telescopes from the flight deck.

Complementing the ultraviolet instruments is the BBXRT, the Broad Band
X-ray Telescope, in the aft payload bay. The BBXRT, developed at the
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has two identical 20-centimeter
X-ray telescopes which measure the energy of X-ray photons.  They will
determine the spectrum of cosmic X-ray sources such as quasars and
active galaxies.  Since the Broad Band X-ray Telescope is mounted on
its own Two-Axis Pointing System (TAPS), it can be pointed
independently of the ultraviolet telescopes, but will often be used in
conjunction with them to study the same targets.

                        ///        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: 22 May 90 17:16:18 GMT
From: m2c!wpi![e-mail]  (Matthew J Rosenwasser)
Subject: APPLICANTS FOR ASTRONAUTS

In reading the March issue of Spaceflight, for the recently selected group
of astronauts, there were only 1,300 applicants.  If memory serves me
correctly, applications for Group 1 astronauts were at about 30,000.  Can it
be possible that the numbers of people applying for astronauts is decreasing?
I find it hard to believe, but hope to believe it.  Does anyone know more
than what is presented here?

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

Date: 22 May 90 18:33:32 GMT
From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!IDA.ORG!pbs![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Manned mission to Venus

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mark SOKOLOWSKI) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>Maybe the average person does not care about Moon colonies now because they ARE
>>just imaginary.  But a real colony on the Moon that has grown large enough to
>>be visible from Earth will have a profound impact on humanity.  Imagine looking
>>up at the Moon some evening and noticing the glow of manmade lights and other
>>indirect signs of human activity up there.  It is sometimes said "Out of sight
>>... out of mind."  No activity on any of the other planets in the solar system
>>will be noticible to the unaided eye and perhaps the man in the street would
>> care less what happens way out there, but big active moon colonies would be
>> hard to ignore and will have a definite cultural impact we underestimate now.
>
> It depends. This kind of thing is already achieved by Mir which I was able
> to see many times each month just by looking up a few minutes after dusk
> every clear evening, not talking about the tens of other large satellites
> having a lower but still proeminant visibility. Does it really make a
> big cultural impact????
> -------
Active colonies changing the face of the moon will be at least several orders
of magnitude more noticible than the rapid overflights of Mir.  Just about
anyone can find the moon in the sky.  How many people really know when or where
to look for Mir?  Watching tiny Mir fly overhead is not the same thing at all.

One final thought related to names.  The day is coming when this corner of the
cosmos will be known as Terraluna, in much the same way as we now speak of
Budapest which used to be two separate cities.

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

Date: 22 May 90 23:39:43 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 05/21/90 (Forwarded)


  Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 05-21-90.

  - STS-31R HST (at VPF) -

  Post launch GSE removal continues.


  - STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at Pad-A) -

  The BBXRT T-O retest was completed Friday.  No payload activities
  are scheduled for today

  - STS-40 SLS-1 (at 0&C) -

  Power up IPR troubleshooting and MVAK training will be performed
  today.


  - STS-41 Ulysses (at ESA 60) -

  PAM-S spin balance operations will continue today at ESA 60.  At
  the VPF, VPHD preps continue.


  - STS-42 IML-1 (at O&C) -

  Module pyrell foam replacement, floor staging, and rack staging
  continues.


  - STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C) -

  VAS and coldplate installations will occur today.

  - STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C) -

  No activities are scheduled for today.


  - STS-47 Spacelab-J (at O&C) -

  No work is scheduled for today.


  - STS-55 SL-D2 (at O&C) -

  Rack 12 staging will continue today.

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #439
*******************