Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_4/V11_496.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #496

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 496

Today's Topics:
            Re: Habitable Planets For Man
              Re: Endeavour Construction
                Space software
              Re: Endeavour Construction
              Re: NASA Select TV
                   question
          Scientific American Special Issue
      Re: mars vs. venus, which is easier to terraform?

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
             [e-mail]

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

Date: 5 Jun 90 16:53:26 GMT
From: optilink![e-mail]  (Clayton Cramer)
Subject: Re: Habitable Planets For Man

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Brian or James) writes:
>
>     Anyone out there know if this book is still in print
> [I can hear people falling over laughing already]. The author was Stephan
> Dole [I think], but the only copy I ever saw was in the Engineering, Math
> and Science library at UW, and *sniff* they take such a dim view of selling
> their books [And, of course, people who steal from libraries should have their
> thumbs crushed]. First printing was in the early sixties, I'm pretty
> sure.
>                             JDN

_Habitable_Planets_for_Man_ was a study done by Stephen Dole of Rand
Corp.  There is also a book called _Planets_for_Man_ written by
Dole and Issac Asimov, a few years later.  The collaboration, not
surprisingly, is much more readable, and where Dole's work alone is
a very sketchy work, Asimov & Dole's collaboration expands on Dole's
study, including a great deal of biological and biochemical aspects
of habitability not covered by Dole alone.

--
Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer
Pipe bomb: appropriate technology for living lightly on Mother Earth. :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer?  You must be kidding!  No company would hold opinions like mine!

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

Date: 5 Jun 90 21:57:05 GMT
From: skipper!neon![e-mail]  (Mary Shafer )
Subject: Re: Endeavour Construction


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Conor
O'Neill) writes:

|> Surely a fixed price contract means that for every $1.00 saved from
|> the firm, fixed price, Rockwell would be able to keep 100 cents?
|>
|> Or is `fixed price' a NASA-ism or US-Government-ism?

Fixed-price means that NASA will pay a certain, fixed, price for an item.
The price is established and can't be changed, even if the contractor is
going to loose its shirt.  On the other hand, if the contractor can make
a huge profit (by discovering a new process, for example) that's OK.

Then there's cost-plus-fixed-fee, where the contractor makes a fixed
fee over a variable cost of production.  This reduces both the risk
and the size of reward.

Fixed-price is common for routine items, cost-plus-fixed-fee is more
common for new or experimental items.


Mary Shafer  [e-mail]  ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
           NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
                     Of course I don't speak for NASA

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

Date: 5 Jun 90 23:43:45 GMT
From: sdcc6!sdcc12![e-mail]  (don bowmen)
Subject: Space software


    I am about to do some coding for a project that will rde on
the shuttle.  What I am looking for are references to any space
hardening teckniques.  I have already done the software for a
passenger on SPOT III but I feel that it could have been better.
    DONB

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

Date: 5 Jun 90 11:33:27 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!inmos![e-mail]  (Conor O'Neill)
Subject: Re: Endeavour Construction

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Wales Larrison) writes:
>Besides getting the mult-year funding for Endeavour, NASA also has
>tried something a little bit different with it.  Since NASA has not
>requested a new, risky development program for the replacement
>Shuttle orbiter, they and Rockwell agreed to a firm, fixed price
>contract for the replacement vehicle.  However, it was written into
>the contract that for every $1.00 saved from the firm, fixed price,
>Rockwell would be able to keep 20 cents.  Needless to say, Rockwell
>isreally pushing themselves to produce the vehicle under budget....


Surely a fixed price contract means that for every $1.00 saved from
the firm, fixed price, Rockwell would be able to keep 100 cents?

Or is `fixed price' a NASA-ism or US-Government-ism?







---
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: 5 Jun 90 21:00:32 GMT
From: sun-barr!newstop!east!pyrite![e-mail]  (Steve Golson)
Subject: Re: NASA Select TV

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Young) writes:
>   I have seen quite a few  articles lately that mention NASA Select TV.
>Is that available to general cable subscribers or only via satalite?  ...

I have watched the last few shuttle launches on CSPAN-II. They carry
NASA Select beginning ~1/2 hour before launch, and ending ~1 hour after.

Steve Golson -- Trilobyte Systems -- Carlisle MA -- [e-mail]
       (consultant for, but not employed by, Sun Microsystems)
"As the people here grow colder, I turn to my computer..." -- Kate Bush

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

Date: Mon,  4 Jun 90 18:22 CDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: question
Original_To:  JNET%"[e-mail]"
X-Envelope-To: [e-mail]


I would like to know why there is a limit on how far out the shuttle can go.
With all the talk of going to the moon and and setting up a base it seems
like this would be best performed by sending up a booster that the shuttle
could ride to the moon.  With its cargo bay, it has the best capability of
releasing and transporting modules.  It may seem simple question to some but
I see no reason why it can't be done.  If you could enlighten me, I would
greatly appreciate it.

                                                                Joel Gustavus
                                                                Texas A&M
                                                Future Aerospace Engineer

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

Date:         Tue, 05 Jun 90 08:50:41 EST
From: Morven Wilson <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Scientific American Special Issue

"Scientific American" has a special edition on the newstands now (at least
up here in Canada ... :-) ) entitled "Exploring Space".  It's a compendium
of earlier articles suitably updated by their authors, and titles include
the following:
  COBE, Neptune, Shuttle Glow, SN 1987A, Soviets in Space, Engineering
Voyager 2 Encounter at Uranus, Climate of Mars, Helioseismology, Volcanoes
and Clouds of Venus, Infra Red Sky, Radar Images of Earth from Space, Moons
of Saturn, Jupiter and Saturn, and SETI.

   ... well worth the $3 or $4 invested!

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

Date: 5 Jun 90 15:37:35 GMT
From: thorin!homer![e-mail]  (Jonathan Leech)
Subject: Re: mars vs. venus, which is easier to terraform?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Russ Cage) writes:
>>how would you proceed?
>Set up the Halon plants and start pumping.

    Where's your halogen source?
--
    Jon Leech ([e-mail])    __@/
    "A compact set can be controlled by a finite police force no
     matter how dumb." H. Weyl ca. 1938

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End of SPACE Digest V11 #496
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