Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_467.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #467

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 467

Today's Topics:
         NASA Headline News for 05/30/90 (Forwarded)
      SEI Outreach Program press conference (Forwarded)
                Re: Radiation
             Re: Shuttle centaur
           Sodium Cloud around Jupiter (?)
        Ka'u Spaceport (was Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS)
             Re: Problems of missing mass
        Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY!
           Re: Hawaii and Launching rockets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 30 May 90 17:48:28 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 05/30/90 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 30, 1990              Audio Service:  202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, May 30.......

Kennedy Space Center mission managers have postponed the launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia.  Both the orbiter and the Astro-1
payload are in good health at launch pad 39-A.  The launch has
been delayed due to a leak in the vicinity of the orbiter's 17-
inch disconnect area that was encountered during tanking
yesterday afternoon.  After loading about 5 percent of the liquid
hydrogen in the external tank, the launch team found a higher
than allowable amount of gaseous hydrogen in the Columbia's aft
compartment.

After a preliminary evaluation of the situation, managers decided
to scrub last night's launch attempt.  Engineers and management
continue to analyze the data.  The tank is now being drained of
propellants.  The launch managers will not select a new launch
target date until the problem is fully identified and a course of
action has been established.

                            ********

Meanwhile, the launch of the Roentgen Satellite aboard a Delta II
booster is scheduled for June 1 at 5:35 P.M. EDT.  A prelaunch
news conference will be held tomorrow at 1:00 P.M. at the Kennedy
Space Center.  The ROSAT all-sky survey will take 6 months to
complete using the imaging telescopes to measure positions of X-
ray and extreme ultraviolet sources in the universe.

                            ********

Operators have successfully completed turning on the Hubble Space
Telescope's initial systems.  The orbital verification procedures
and goals continue to be met.  The Hubble engineers have
increased the amount of time they can lock onto a star with the
fine guidance sensor.  This represents major progress at this
stage in the orbital verfification period.

                            ********

A new Advanced Life Support Division has been established at the
Ames Research Center in California.  Scientists will explore how
astronauts can grow food, live and work on the moon and safely
explore Mars.  The goal is to plan for life support requirements
of a permanent lunar base and an astronaut mission to Mars.  The
unique human habitats built in space may provide technologies
useful in solving some of the critical environmental issues we
face on Earth today.

                            ********








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



Thursday, May 31......

        11:00 A.M.          Delta/ROSAT prelaunch briefing
                            at KSC.

         1:00 P.M.          NASA Update will be transmitted.

Friday, June 1.........

         4:30-8:30 P.M.     Delta II/ROSAT launch coverage
                            at KSC.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
All events and times are subject to change without notice.  These
reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 Noon,
EDT.  This is a service of the Internal Communications Branch,
NASA HQ.  Contact: JSTANHOPE on NASAmail or at 202/453-8425.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band 72 Degrees
West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 30 May 90 17:51:32 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: SEI Outreach Program press conference (Forwarded)

Vera Hirschberg
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                       May 30, 1990
(Phone:  [phone])


N90-38  NOTE TO EDITORS

SEI OUTREACH PROGRAM PRESS CONFERENCE


     A press conference to announce the Outreach Program for the
Space Exploration Initiative will be held at 3:30 p.m. EDT,
Thursday, May 31, at the NASA Headquarters 6th-floor auditorium,
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.  Participants include
Richard H. Truly, NASA Administrator; Arnold D. Aldrich,
Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, Exploration and
Technology; and Mark Craig, Special Assistant for Exploration.

     The conference will be carried live on NASA Select
television, Satcom F-2R, transponder 13, 72 degrees W. longitude,
with 2-way question and answer capability.

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

Date: 30 May 90 23:09:25 GMT
From: csusac!csuchico.edu![e-mail]  (Ralph Reid)
Subject: Re: Radiation

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Harold Peter White) writes:
>
>There was a discussion a while back talking about low Earth orbit (LEO) and
>high Earth orbit (HEO). Do space agencies have `hard' facts to say `Lets
>stay out of the radiation belts because ...' or have they stayed away
>mostly because they don't really need to go there since its probably going
>to be a trouble area? . . .
>. . . Any suggested refences?


An Amateur Radio satellite (perhaps it is OSCAR 11?) is currently in
a low orbit because the kick motor which was supposed to push it into
its proper orbit after it left the launch vehicle failed.  As I
understand the story, radiation continued to damage the main memory
of the onboard computer.  To compensate for this problem, the control
program was modified to fit into the smaller space, until there was
no undamaged memory left to work with.  The satellite now operates in
only one communication mode, and only when the batteries have been
sufficiently charged.  Because the computer can no longer be operated,
no telemetery is transmitted by the satellite.  More information
might be available from AMSAT (the amateur radio satellite
organization in the United States).  I have been told by a HAM radio
operator who is active in the amateur satellite program that the
latest satellite which has been sent up contains radiation hardened
chips.  The kick motor on this satellite did function properly, so
it should not suffer the same fate.  However, I do not know if it
could survive higher radiation levels.

Ralph.
[e-mail]

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

Date: 30 May 90 15:33:15 GMT
From: attcan!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Shuttle centaur

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pat Bahn) writes:
>Why kill teh shuttle centaur?  Granted, an IUS is safer, works and is
>man rated, but it is ineffecient.   why not fly the centaur unfueled,
>and then rendevous with a tanker  so you get best of both...

In-space refuelling is officially Too Difficult for some reason.  Also,
there were not very many customers for Shuttle-Centaur and they did not
have much political clout within NASA during the post-Challenger shakeup.
Groups which have political muscle have gotten some of the more hysterical
safety restrictions lifted -- for example, the limits on payload weight
have been eased somewhat -- but Shuttle-Centaur simply didn't have
enough support.
--
As a user I'll take speed over|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
features any day. -A.Tanenbaum| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 May 90 21:15:43 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!jarthur![e-mail]  (John H. Kim)
Subject: Sodium Cloud around Jupiter (?)

What's this I heard on CNN yesterday about a couple astronomers
using ground based scopes finding a very large Sodium cloud around
Jupiter?  I think the report said the Na was from Io.
--
John H. Kim                 | (This space to be filled when I
[e-mail] | think of something very clever
uunet!jarthur!jokim         | to use as a disclaimer)

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

Date: 30 May 90 05:20:40 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: Ka'u Spaceport (was Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS)

The pollution release from a launch itself might be negligible in
comparison with what Kilauea puts out, but the overall environmental
impact of building a launch center in Ka'u would be fairly extensive.
Da Big Island could use the jobs and the non-tourist rate base, that's
for sure, but there are a lot of negatives on the project.

In no particular order -

 * Water

 * Power (do you build a nuke?  Can you spare a decade trying?)

 * Distance (and over the rough Pacific)

 * Native relations (does Pele approve?  don't laugh)

 * Seismic action (eruptions are local but quakes hit everywhere)

 * Weather (what does "vog" do to your delicate hardware?)

 * Static (magma friction builds huge ground charges then ZAP!)

 * Light pollution (do you hurt the Mauna Kea observatories?)

--
You are sunlight and I, moon     |
Joined by the gods of fortune    |
Midnight and high noon           |
Sharing the sky                  |  Tom Neff
We have been blessed, you and I  |  [e-mail]

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

Date:       Wed, 30 May 90 20:28:30 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject:    Re: Problems of missing mass

   I  believe  the missing mass in the universe is currently attributed  to
large, invisible,  fire-breathing  cockroaches.  Sorry,  I  don't  have the
reference handy  ;-)

John Coughlin    Net: [e-mail]   Vox: 613-541-6439   Fax: [phone]

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

Date: 30 May 90 17:13:18 GMT
From: pyuxp!pyuxe!nvuxr![e-mail]  (David Lewis)
Subject: Re: Venus and Mars and Asteroids O MY!

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Fraering Philip) writes:
> But as has been pointed out here and on the space-tech list, fuel costs are
> a _very_ small fraction of the spacecraft launch costs.

Yeah, but I don't think I need to remind everyone (so why am I?) that
more fuel => more mass to lift => still more fuel => still more mass.
Buying the fuel's not a problem, but lifting it is.

(how 'bout a big ground storage tank, a big motha of a pipe and one
intense pump... :-))

--
David G Lewis                    ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej
    (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center)
            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

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

Subject: Re: Hawaii and Launching rockets
Date: Wed, 30 May 90 11:10:53 MESZ
From: Joseph C. Pistritto <[e-mail]>
Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9]

> Date: 29 May 90 20:54:39 GMT
> From: [e-mail]  (David Conrad)
> Subject: Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
Okay, I'm going to pick up the bloody gauntlet again, and try to pound some
facts (and maybe sense) into a few ecology types...  I've got nothing really
against protecting the environment mind you, but lets do it with facts, not
conjectures and 'pop science', shall we...  And They're Off!!!...

>
> >From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Daniel McGurl):
> > In article <1050400017@cdp> [e-mail] writes:

> >>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?
>
> What makes you think the arguments that <[e-mail]> puts forth
> are 'guesswork'?  Is the goverment the only one who can do research
> and determine what the impact on the environment is?

Okay, then let's see some report citations.  Were these reports peer
reviewed, or even published?  If there are some scientific studies,
I'd like to see some citatations.  If its in-progress work, then
let's hold off till its in some rational (and hopefully peer-reviewed)
form, before making decisions and writing Congressman.  They do have
a few problems to work on over in Washington, without half-baked ideas
being thrust on them by eco-mass-marketing...

> >>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,
>
> Oh, please.  Weather patterns can blow from Ka Lae towards the Puna
> district of Hawaii where a good number of people live or towards the
> resort town of Kailua-Kona where a good number of other people live.
Let's get some data here.  Weather patterns around Kennedy can blow in
all sorts of directions, but there are some pretty hard statistics
behind the environmental assessments done there.

> >and you can live with the nuclear warheads exploding on your
> > doorstep.
>
> I guess you believe star wars will work and it will reduce the
> likelihood of 'nuclear warheads exploding on your doorstep'.  Sad.
Uh, this argument doesn't seem to make any sense here.  Where precisely
are these nuclear weapons coming from, Russia, or are they part of the
'Star Wars' system you are referring to?  If from Russia, then I'll
clue all you Hawaiians in, you're already a high value target out
there.  (Ever hear of Pearl Harbor?, notice the Navy is still nearby?)
Hawaii is still quite strategic, even without Star Wars nearby.
>
> > Well, I don't know about you, but I have no intention of being anywhere
> > close to launching rockets.
>
> Then why are you flaming someone who is attempting to stop having
> rockets launched close to where they live?  Or is this just another
> case of 'not in my backyard, but great if its in yours'?
Hawaii has unique characteristics that make it especially suitable for
space launches, among them, that it is surrounded by water, so launches
in a variety of directions can be made within range safety constraints,
and proximity to the equator, (compared with other possible US launch sites).

> >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?
>
> How close is the launch site to residences and which way do the
> weather patterns blow?
Well, viewers can be as little as 3 miles away during a shuttle launch,
(which uses solids, but not Hydrazine).  The shuttle's APU's run on hydrazine
during ascent, but that's a small volume of effluent compared to the rocket
plumes from the solids.  I seem to remember the solids produce large quantities
of pollutants though, and no one seems worried at 3 miles.  Actual residences
(Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, etc. etc.), are a minimum of about 12-15 miles
from the Shuttle pads.  Wind patterns are fairly unpredictable in Florida,
particularly around thunderstorms.  (Note, although KSC is located on Merritt
Island, which is offshore, it's only a very short distance (1-200 meters) offshore.

Rockets are also launched from Vandenburg in CA, and there are towns less than 20
miles away (I think around 10 or so).  There's also a train that runs quite close
to the launch pads at Vandenburg.  So close, that the trains are stopped for range
safety reasons during launches.

Note: Range Safety is a *BIG* issue with NASA and the USAF.  They've pretty
seriously considered the issues here, (a particularly detailed study was done
for the Galileo launch, for instance).  Most of the questions you bring up are
probably 'known quantities'.
>
> >>ENDANGERED SPECIES
> > Oh no, more dangerous launch stuff.
>
> Yeah, who cares about endangered species.  Many people in Hawaii are
> rather sensitive when it comes to endangered species and the ecology
> in general.
Well good then.  You'll be happy to know that adjacent to (more like in
the midst of) KSC, there's a very substantial wetland/wildlife preserve,
as well as extensive fruit orchards.  All seem to be doing rather well,
thank you.  When you take the bus tour of KSC (the one of the Shuttle Launch
Pads), they point out a pair of Bald Eagles that are nesting about 1.5
miles from one of the two active Shuttle pads. (They've apparently been
there since the days of Apollo, at least).  Maybe you're endangered species
are more sensitive, (or more endangered), but I doubt it.  After all, they're
not thinkig of REPLACING the entire island with launch facilities, you know.

>
> >>WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
> >>Contact you congressional representatives and ask them to
> >>cut funding for Star Wars.
Well, thanks, another pressure group is born.  Try getting your facts
straight (or at least having some), before pressurizing Congress, eh?
THIS REALLY STEAMS ME ABOUT THESE ENVIRONMENTAL/DISARMAMENT/PEACEandLOVE
GROUPS!.  We get incessant claims, counterclaims, etc. with no facts,
or just ridiculous extrapolations mentioned.  THESE PEOPLE KNOW, that
Congressman, of all people, have no technical background, and are
absolutely defenseless in the face of this pseudo-science.  The
Jeremy Rifkins of the Universe use this fact to ruthlessly pressurize
the body politic to their own ends.

Environmentalists take note!  Being associated with this sort of
tactic totally destroys the credibility of the groups, and the cause
you are hoping to help.  There are many technically competent people
who are also sympathetic to environmental arguments.  But we expect
those who seek to convince us to adhere to the same standards of
intellectual and scientific honesty we use among ourselves.  Nothing
less is acceptable, or more to the point, effective.  We are, perhaps
more so than most folks, aware that:
        "You can prove anything if you make up your data!"
Ask any engineer, he's probably seen it done several times...

> The State government, on the other hand, seems to
> have ignored the people of the big island (after all, they make up
> only 10% of the voting population) and have given a go-ahead to star
> wars oriented launches.
Well, last time I checked, 10% wasn't a majority.  If we didn't do
everything that 10% of the population objected to, we'd be doing
damn little, perhaps even nothing.

In a democracy, we all get to make our points, and then the majority
wins.  It helps you make your point if you start out with facts,
not conjectures...
>
> -drc

And there, I've done it again.  Wasted umpteen Kilobits of net
bandwidth and a lot of people's time responding to another in a
series of eco/disarmament diatribes...  I suppose I was just feeling
onery...
                                        -jcp-

--
Joseph C. Pistritto (cgch![e-mail], [e-mail])
 Ciba Geigy AG, R1241.1.01, Postfach CH4002, Basel, Switzerland
 Tel: [phone] (work) [phone] (home)   GMT+2hrs!

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #467
*******************