Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_463.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #463

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 463

Today's Topics:
               Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
             Re: Manned mission to Venus
               Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
               Giotto Update - 05/29/90
              Magellan Update - 05/29/90
               Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
       One Small Step for a Space Activist  Vol 1 No. 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 29 May 90 15:59:39 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!samsung!emory!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!IDA.ORG!pbs![e-mail]
Subject: Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS

In article <1050400017@cdp>, [e-mail] writes:
> HAWAII TO BE SACRIFICED TO STAR WARS!
>
> The State of Hawaii is proposing to construct a Star Wars Rocket
> Launch Facility in the Ka'u District of Hawaii Island (southern end of
> the Big Island).  An Environmental Impact Statement is due to be
> completed in the latter part of 1990.
>
How far away from this site is that active volcano?  Won't lava flows be a
problem?

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

Date: 29 May 90 23:04:45 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (9240 Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Manned mission to Venus

Yes, Mark, the soviet landers were able to survive on Mars, none of
them longer for two days. (Sure you still want to go?)

Have you noticed that besides the joint Venus / Halley mission, after Glasnost
their next plans are in 2005? And that budget problems may give it the ax?

Noone wants spectacle in a country with long lines for bread.

Philip Fraering
[e-mail]

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

Date: 29 May 90 15:45:09 GMT
From: mephisto!prism![e-mail]  (Daniel McGurl)
Subject: Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS

In article <1050400017@cdp> [e-mail] writes:
>HAWAII TO BE SACRIFICED TO STAR WARS!
(is this message a joke?  If so, I missed the smiley here)
>
>The State of Hawaii is proposing to construct a Star Wars Rocket
>Launch Facility in the Ka'u District of Hawaii Island (southern end of
>the Big Island).  An Environmental Impact Statement is due to be
>completed in the latter part of 1990.

Ah, but we already know the results of this unreleased study?  Or is the
following information just guesswork?

>
>SOLID ROCKET MOTOR EXHAUST HAZARDS
>
>The State plans to use three different rockets at the proposed

Ah, the state of Hawaii wants it's own nuclear defense system?  They
must be fairly paranoid :-)

>rocket launch facility, all would use solid rocket motors (SRM).  SRMs
>release large amounts of both aluminum and hydrogen chloride (forms
>hydrochloric acid) into the atmosphere.  For example, the Delta rocket
>releases approximately 10 tons of aluminum (as 20 tons of aluminum
>oxide) and about 10 tons of hydrogen chloride into the environment
>during each launch.

Great!  I tell you what, I'll take the aluminum and HCL dispersed over
the ocean, and you can live with the nuclear warheads exploding on your
doorstep.

>A recent study, reported in the British medical journal "LANCET",
>Jan. 14, 1989, found a direct relationship between aluminum in the water
>supply and Alzheimer's disease.  The report concludes "The results of
>the present survey provide evidence of a causal relation between
>aluminum and Alzheimer's disease."  In other words, the more aluminum
>that was present in the drinking water, the more cases of Alzheimer's
>disease that occurred.

Oh, and I take it that the aluminum released by these rockets would all
go into the drinking water.  It would be nice if you posted meaningfull
statistics instead of hype. If your worried about drinking aluminum, then
it's probably more effective to stop drinking out of aluminum cans...

>HYDROGEN CHLORIDE is a severe pulmonary and skin irritant.  Direct
>contact produces serious corneal and skin burns.  Chronic contact may
>cause nasal ulceration, dental erosion and dermatitis. Hydrogen chloride
>is mutagenic (HAZARDLINE).

Well, I don't know about you, but I have no intention of being anywhere
close to launching rockets.  Consider how many thousands of people go to
watch shuttle launches?  If the health hazard was that great, do you think
that NASA would allow people that close to the site?

>MAJOR FLUIDS AND GASES USED FOR LAUNCHING
>DIMETHYLHYDRAZINE (UDMH)
>HYDRAZINE
>NITROGEN DIOXIDE

The big so what here... Everyone knows that these substances can be
nasty, but not more so than any regular launch...

>BERYLLIUM-POWERED STAR WARS ROCKETS
>Star Wars payloads will include a new weapons system called Space
>Based Interceptors (SBI).  Morton Thiokol is building a solid-fueled
>first stage, which uses beryllium hydride fuel, to be used for SBIs.
>Beryllium replaces the aluminum in the fuel, reducing fuel weight by
>about 45%.

Fascinating!  Henry, why haven't you  mentioned this in your postings?
Such a wonderful increase in booster effeciency.  I'm just impressed that
Thiokol has already been awarded a contract to build rockets that would
go against the ABM treaty... Hrmmm. Must have missed the news where we
decided to ignore the treaty...

>ENDANGERED SPECIES
Oh no, more dangerous launch stuff.

>SEA TURTLES
>MAMMALS
>ENDANGERED BIRDS

Perhaps your not aware that one of out major launching fields (KSC) is also
a huge wildlife refuge.  As I recall it has a thriving Manatae (sp?) population
while the animal population has been declining from boating accidents.  There
are also many other endangered species in the area.

>WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
>Contact you congressional representatives and ask them to
>cut funding for Star Wars.

That's right folks, let's cut funding of those production systems... Please,
>Jay Hanson                              808-322-7268
>78-6622 Alii Drive,
>Kailua-Kona, HI  96740


--
Daniel Sean McGurl                  "He is always decieving you into believing
Office of Computing Services and     that he's only hunting for mice."
Information and Computer Science Major at:
Georgia Institute of Technology                     ARPA: [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 May 90 16:02:29 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Giotto Update - 05/29/90


                             Giotto Update
                             May 29, 1990

The European Space Agency (ESA) will decide this week whether to send the
Giotto spacecraft on a second mission to get a closeup of a comet
Grigg-Skjellerup.  The spacecraft was reactivated last February to determine
its capabilities for another mission and found its camera to be severely
damaged but most of the other experiment systems are functional.  The health
of the camera will be a major factor in the decision on whether to continue
with a extended mission for Giotto.  ESA scientists would like to send the
craft to look at comet Grigg Skjellerup in June 1992 and to do so would
require a course correction maneuver this summer to utilize an Earth flyby in
July, 1990.
       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____/ |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 30 May 90 02:30:38 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 05/29/90


                   Magellan Status Report
                         May 29, 1990

     The Magellan spacecraft is now 106,287,907 miles from Earth,
11,000,297 miles from Venus, and traveling at a heliocentric velocity
of 74,455 mph.  The spacecraft is has completed a 27 orbit simulated Cruise
Mapping Test.

                 Part 3  Orbits #13 through #20

     This section covers Orbits #13 of the Cruise Mapping Test which began
at 5:38:58 AM PDT on Wednesday, May 23, through Orbit #20 which ended at
8:18:58 AM on Thursday, May 24.

     The Magellan spacecraft continues to perform nominally during all
simulated orbits.  Each star calibration of the 8 orbits discussed during
the reporting period were successful with an average per orbit update of
0.017 degrees.  Momentum wheel desaturations were performed on Orbit #15
and Orbit #18.  The red alarm for the solar panel's Sun loss sensor was
disabled for the rest of the Cruise Mapping Test as planned, and the solar
panels continue to unwind during each mapping pass.  No new red alarms have
occurred.

     The Radar Team reports that the Radar system is performing nominally
and no alarms have been seen.  Out of 13 acquisitions, 13 met the 1 minute
criteria.  In all cases where the one minute acquisition was met, good radar
data was assumed at the Maximum Likelihood Convolutional Decoder (MCD)
in-lock time to better indicate actual Deep Space Network (DSN) performance.
The DSN is not committed to a one-minute acquisition in the one-way mode.
The first acquisition was significantly delayed due to an unexpectedly large
temperature induced frequency offset.  Incorporation of this effect should
allow one-way acquisitions in the one to three minute range.

         Total scheduled Two-Way High-Rate Telemetry Data = 1938 minutes
         Total Two-Way High-Rate Telemetry Data Lost = 37 minutes
         Good Two-Way Data Capture Rate = 98.1%


                 Part 4  Orbits #21 through #27

     This section covers Orbits #21 of the Cruise Mapping Test which began at
8:18:58 AM PDT on Thursday, May 24, through Orbit #27 which ended at 7:38:58 AM
on Friday, May 25.

     The spacecraft continues to perform flawlessly during all simulated
orbits.  Each star calibration of the 7 orbits discussed during the reporting
period were successful with an average per orbit update of 0.020 degrees.
Momentum Wheel Desaturations were performed on Orbits #21, 24, 27.  The cruise
23-2 sequence was successfully uploaded during Orbit #22, the first such
upload without verifying the DSN's signal acquisition prior to transmission.
Thus, the upload verified the capability to uplink the new sequence while
the spacecraft is on Earth point, and to continue mapping without interruption.
After Orbit #25, the C23-1 sequence was cancelled as planned.  Orbit #26
executed a successful radiometer calibration and Orbit #27 validated by
execution the apoapsis occultation mapping strategy.  No red alarms have
occurred.

     The Radar Team reports that the Radar system is performing nominally and
no alarms have been seen.  Out of 13 acquisitions, 13 met the 1 minute
criteria.  In all cases where the one minute acquisition was met, good radar
data was assumed at the MCD in-lock time to better indicate actual DSN
performance.  The first acquisition was delayed due to an incorrect calculation
of the necessary frequency offset to predictions.

         Total scheduled Two-Way High-Rate Telemetry Data = 2679 minutes
         Total Two-Way High-Rate Telemetry Data Lost = 65 minutes
         Good Two-Way Data Capture Rate = 97.6%

       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____/ |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 29 May 90 19:53:44 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (David Conrad)
Subject: Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail]:
> In article <1050400017@cdp>, [e-mail] writes:
>> HAWAII TO BE SACRIFICED TO STAR WARS!
>>
>> The State of Hawaii is proposing to construct a Star Wars Rocket
>> Launch Facility in the Ka'u District of Hawaii Island (southern end of
>> the Big Island).
> How far away from this site is that active volcano?  Won't lava flows be a
> problem?

I had heard that a commerical spaceport was being discussed for Ka Lae
(South Point).  If this is the same site as is being discussed above,
it is about 35-40 miles or so from Kilauea Volcano.  While I would
assume that is far enough away to be safe from the Kilauea generated
lava flows, Mauna Loa, which is the volcano which made Ka Lae, is
still active and I think the last lava flow on that side of the island
was around 1950 or so.  Additionally, the area is quite often subject
to low grade earthquakes (I was in a 5.5 quake in January).

-drc

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

Date: 29 May 90 22:29:36 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!umich!ox.com!itivax!vax3.iti.org![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: One Small Step for a Space Activist  Vol 1 No. 5


           One Small Step for a Space Activist...
                             by
                        Allen Sherzer
                          Tim Kyger

                I Think They Mean It This Time!

Every week, the president meets with the congressional leadership to talk
about legislative issues. The May 1  meeting, however, was different; in
addition to the usual participants the leadership of the NASA authorization and
appropriation subcommittees attended. Unlike previous meetings, the only item
on the agenda was space. This "Space Summit" is the first time in 15 years a
meeting like this has been called.

The summit was not a decision making meeting but rather an open exchange of
views on the future of the US space program. President Bush reiterated his
support for bases on Luna and Mars and restated his belief that NASA will
need support from other public and private agencies to achieve this goal.
Members of Congress (with the notable exception of a few very powerful
members) also expressed support. The attendees also expressed the need for
greater continuity in NASA goals and programs. Hopefully, this will help to
get stable multi-year funding for some of these projects. Finally, some ways
of paying for the President's space goals were discussed.

This is good news for the space movement. Some of our ideas and goals are being
accepted at the highest levels of government. Grassroots activism can make it
possible if chapters write to and meet with their Representatives on a regular
basis. We must also use our public education efforts to make space an issue
people care about and ask about.

The ball is in our court. If we work to make what each of us believes in
happen (whatever that is), it will.

                       Legislative Roundup

         Space Transportation Services Purchase Act (HR 2674)

The vote on the FY'91 NASA authorization bill (HR 4196) by the full House
Science Committee has not yet happened, at this writing, and it may or
may not have happened by the time you read this. Chairman Roe faces his first
primary challenge in years, and naturally enough, his attention is focused on
re-election rather than markup. There is therefore time to exert pressure on
Mr. Roe. As we said last month, a compromise version of HR 2674 has been
added as Title II to this bill. Activists need to work to support Title II of
the House FY'91 NASA bill AND get the Senate to pass their own authorization
bill with the Title II language in it.

Last month, many people wrote to Congressman Roe in support of Title II. The
House staff people working to support Title II were very appreciative of this
and send their thanks. Keep up the good work and keep the letters coming.

[As of today (May 29), a date for markup has not been set. It will not come
before June 5 because of the recess. Many letters have been sent to Roe but
more are needed to show there is wide support. If you support HR 2674, there
is an urgent need to WRITE to Roe for his support of Title II.]

Things you should do are:

1. WRITE Representative Roe (he hates phone calls). Ask him to support Title II
   of HR 4196 (NASA authorization bill). Congressman Roe's address is:
      Robert A Roe
      2243 RHOB
      Washington DC 20515

2. Call or write Senator Gore 202-224-4944 and ask him to include the original
   language of HR 2674 in the Senate FY'91 NASA authorization bill and to make
   passage of a Senate NASA authorization bill a priority. Senator Gore's
   address is:
        Senator Albert Gore
        393 RSOB
        Washington, DC 20510

3. Send a letter to Congressmen Walker, Packard, and Brown. They have worked
   hard to see make this bill happen. Let them know we appreciate their work.
   Their addresses are:
      Bob Walker             Ron Packard             George Brown
      2445 RHOB              434 CHOB                2188 RHOB
      Washington DC 20515    Washington DC 20515     Washington DC 20515

                       Space Exploration Initiative

The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) is the President's Luna and Mars
exploration and initial settlement program (SEI was the Human Exploration
Initiative but the name has changed). The Administration is a big supporter
of the SEI; the President's budget contained almost $500 million to support
planning for a lunar and Mars base but it looks likely that this money will be
taken out of the SEI to free $$ for the Mission to Planet Earth.

The SEI program does not currently have the support needed to make it happen.
In particular, there are two members of Congress in a position to kill the SEI
all by themselves. Senator Barbra Mikulski (D-MD) and Congressman Bob Traxler
(D-MI) head the Appropriation Subcommittees from which the SEI will be funded.
Without their support, nothing will happen. We need to show them that there is
wide support among Americans for the exploration and development of space and
extraterrestrial resources via private enterprise.

Things you should do are:

1. Call, write, and VISIT your Representatives in Congress. Make sure they
   know you support the return to the Moon and Mars base.

2. Get your chapters involved in public education.
   - Make people aware of the benefits they get from space.
   - Make them aware that our space goals are not being pursued in Congress
   - Get people to think of space as a political issue; get them to demand
     support from their Representatives.

3. Call or write Senator Mikulski and Congressman Traxler. Let them know
   you support the GOALS of the President's Space Exploration Initiative. If
   you live in either of these Representative's home states, it is especially
   important that you both write and visit them to express your opinion.

4. Write the Vice President and Space Council. They are doing a good job and
   we need to say 'thanks'. They can be reached at:
       Dan Quale
       National Space Council
       Executive Office of the President
       Washington DC 20500

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

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #463
*******************