Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_5/V11_513.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #513

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 513

Today's Topics:
             Re: Ersatz Free Fall
               hey Aerospace engineers
            How about a hst group
              Voyager Update - 06/08/90
            GPS News from CANSPACE
            Orbital Sciences Stock
              Re: NASA Select TV
               RE: Hawaii and Star Wars
       Re: Interview with Aerospace Engineer Requested

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: 10 Jun 90 00:45:36 GMT
From: agate!shelby!lindy![e-mail]  (David Gaba M.D.)
Subject: Re: Ersatz Free Fall

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Zeke Hoskin) writes:
>
>     Just in case I don't make it into orbit someday, I'd
>like to try a substitute experience I heard of.  Basically,
>it's a vertical wind tunnel with the airspeed somewhere
>between the extremes of human terminal velocity. You pay
>your money and get to jump in and ride the updraft for a
>few minutes.

My brother-in-law tried one of these and when the air flow was
abruptly changed he got dumped on his head, straining his neck.
After some months of intermittent neck and arm pain he got
a proper evaluation showing that while there were no broken
verterbrae he did have compression of one of his nerve roots and
that his vertbral alignment was potentially unstable in case of
a motor vehicle or sports (or just work) accident.  He therefore
had to have an anterior cervical laminectomy (i.e. surgery) and
has not been back to his intensely athletic self ever since.

I would advise not seeking out one of these facilities.  I
don't know the statistics, but I wouldn't be surprised if
properly trained skydivers have a lower injury rate.

If you are really into an experience of "ersatz weightlessness"
you might try scuba diving (injury possible here too of
course).  Not only do you get to experience some elements of
weightlessness, you get to see an incredible new environment.

There is diving around Vancouver -- in fact we dropped by a
dive store on Granville Island when we were there.

D. Gaba, Asst. Prof. of Anesthesia, Stanford

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

Date: 8 Jun 90 19:24:15 GMT
From: psuvm![e-mail]  (Malzor)
Subject: hey Aerospace engineers

Hi I'm an Aerospace student at Penn State university and as a requirement
of a technical writing course, I need to have an interview with a pro
in this field.  I wanna ask if anyone in the lower NY area, or Philadelphia,
NE PA area can help me out. . .

please respond to Mark at MXP122.psuvm.psu.edu


Thank you

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

Date: 9 Jun 90 23:48:36 GMT
From: pcssc![e-mail]  (Dave Armbrust)
Subject: How about a hst group

How about forming a new group for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Pros:
  1) It would allow a place to post articles rather then cross
     post to sci.astro and sci.space.
  2) It would allow a place for all netreaders interested in HST
     to read articles.
  3) Those not interested in HST could skip this group.  There may
     be a few of these type of readers out there!

Cons:
  1) The trafic on HST could drop in the future (Gee I hope not)!
     We do not need a new group with little or no trafic.
  2) Those readers interested in sci.space and/or sci.astro and
     Hubble would need to read this new group also.

Name:
   sci.astro.hst or sci.astro.hubble
   sci.space.hst or sci.space.hubble

Question:
   Should I enter a call for discussion or forget the whole idea?

I am sure I have missed some of the pros and cons or there are other
naming possibilities.   Do you (yea YOU) have any ideas or thoughts
that you would like to share?

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Armbrust               |     uunet!pcssc!dma
PC Software Systems         |     Phone: [phone]
2121 Cornell Street         |
Sarasota, FL 34237          |

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

Date: 9 Jun 90 07:04:39 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Voyager Update - 06/08/90


                    Voyager Mission Status Report
                            June 8, 1990

                              Voyager 1

     The Voyager 1 spacecraft continues to collect routine cruise science data.
One frame of high-rate Plasma Wave (PWS) data was recorded on May 19 and
May 29.  High-rate Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) observations of Markarian
335 and HD 212571 were conducted on May 25 and May 29, respectively.  In
each case, there was no station coverage to receive the data, so the 7 hours
and 12 minutes of the first observation and 7 hours and 10 minutes of the
second were lost.

     Also on May 29 a pre refresh checksum and memory read-out sequence was
executed on the Computer Command Subsystem (CCS) B memory in preparation for
the CCS B memory refresh.  On May 30 real-time commands were transmitted to
initiate the CCS B memory refresh and to reset the CCS status telemetry
execution of the refresh sequence, and the status telemetry reset was
performed as expected.  CCS checksum and memory read-out verification of the
refresh sequence were received.


                              Voyager 2

     The Voyager 2 spacecraft also continues to collect routine cruise science
data.  Nine PWS frames were played back on May 24 and better than 99% of the
data were recovered.  On May 29, one frame of high-rate PWS data was recorded.
High-rate UVS observations of Markarian 509 were conducted on May 28 and
May 30, but, due to limited 70 meter station availability, only about 19%
of the total data were acquired and that was degraded due to rain over the
tracking station in Australia.

     On May 29 an Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) patch
was linked and verified by AACS memory read-out.  The last Plasma Subsystem
Calibration (PLSCAL) was also performed in its old format on May 29.  The
Plasma instrument responded well to the 15 calibration commands and the data
quality was good.

     Real-time commands to enable the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) transfer
and perform a Computer Command Subsystem Calibration (CCSCAL) were
transmitted to the spacecraft on May 30.  All commands were successfully
received by the spacecraft and checksum verification was received.  The
CCSCAL indicated that there has been no change in the instruction cycle
timing derived from the CCS oscillator when compared with the sequence
timing derived from the FDS oscillator.


                  CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 6/08/90

    P R O P E L L A N T    S T A T U S          P O W E R

                     Consumption
             One Week    Propellant Remaining     Output     Margin
  Spacecraft  (Gm)                (Kg)            Watts      Watts

   Voyager 1    5             36.4 + 2.0          370         59
   Voyager 2   10             39.5 + 2.0          374         66

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

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

Date:        Sat, 09 Jun 90 13:07:56 ADT
From: [e-mail]
Subject:     GPS News from CANSPACE

INMARSAT PROPOSES TO TRANSMIT GPS AND GLONASS COMPATIBLE SIGNALS
----------------------------------------------------------------

According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, support is growing for
Inmarsat's proposal to outfit its third generation spacecraft to
transmit navigation signals compatible with the Navstar GPS signals.
GPS users would have access to two Inmarsat signals in addition to those
from the GPS satellites.  This ability would provide sufficient
satellite signals to permit use of Receiver Autonomous Integrity
Monitoring, a technique for GPS users to independently determine if a
GPS signal is out of tolerance (see March/April 1990 issue of GPS World
magazine for more information on RAIM).  In addition to providing a
capability for integrity monitoring, the Inmarsat signals could enhance
positioning accuracy and remove the brief outages that will exist at
some locations when GPS signals alone are used.  The Inmarsat signals
could include information on the independent assessment of the health of
GPS satellites from a civilian tracking network.  This information could
be included in the 50 bit per second GPS navigation message.  The
Inmarsat signals would be generated on the ground and relayed through
the satellites, unlike the GPS signals which are generated within the
spacecraft itself.

Inmarsat is also considering the transmission of GLONASS-like signals.

Should Inmarsat decide to go ahead with these plans, the signals would
not be available until about mid-1995, when three of the new Inmarsat-3
satellites should be in orbit.

(Source:  AW&ST, 14 May 1990)

================================================================================
 Richard B. Langley                            BITnet: [e-mail] or [e-mail]
 Geodetic Research Laboratory                  Phone:  [phone]
 Dept. of Surveying Engineering                Telex:  014-46202
 University of New Brunswick                   FAX:    [phone]
 Fredericton, N.B., Canada  E3B 5A3
================================================================================

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

Date: 9 Jun 90 18:07:59 GMT
From: usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!chamber![e-mail]  (David Palmer)
Subject: Orbital Sciences Stock

Orbital Sciences Corp (OrbSci on NASDAQ) has gone up from 13 1/2 to 17 3/8
in the past three days.  It had been hovering around 13 1/2 for several
weeks since its initial public offering.

OrbSci  is the company that makes the Pegasus air-launched satellite launcher
that recently flew successfully.

Is there some new development causing this, or is it just that people decided
it was a good stock?

--
        David Palmer
        [e-mail]
        ...rutgers!cit-vax!gap.cco.caltech.edu!palmer
    I have the power to cloud men's minds -- or at least my own.

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

Date: 9 Jun 90 06:46:47 GMT
From: pcssc![e-mail]  (Dave Armbrust)
Subject: Re: NASA Select TV

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Vincent Cate) writes:
>>2) Is there any posibility of NASA select moving to a clearer transponder.
>>
>>BTW I get F2 11 (a home shopping) clearly.
>
>
>I got an end-of-the-line special price from Radio Shack of $999
>(just a couple weeks ago).  It has a 9 foot dish and a 60 degree LNB.
>During programs the reception has been fine, if not perfect.
>
>I am in Pittsburgh.  With a 30 degree LNB down in Florida you ought to get
>much better reception than I do.

I am using the same system that Vincent has.  (Radio Shacks $999 close out)
The only thing I have done is added the 30 degree LNB to try to upgrade the
picture quality of F2/13, it helped, but far from a perfect picture.

Reception fine it Pittsburgh but poor in Sarasota, FL.  Sounds like a
strange foot print to me!  Does any one have a foot print map and
can verify this?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Armbrust               |     uunet!pcssc!dma
PC Software Systems         |     Phone: [phone]
2121 Cornell Street         |
Sarasota, FL 34237          |

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

Date:         Sat, 09 Jun 90 15:52:12 EDT
From: Kenneth Ng <[e-mail]>
Subject:      RE: Hawaii and Star Wars


:SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 460
:Date: 28 May 90 21:54:00 GMT
:From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!arisia!cdp![e-mail]
:Subject: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
:The State plans to use three different rockets at the proposed
: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.

The following are excerpts from the "Handbook on Toxicity of
Inorganic Compounds", edited by Hans G. Seiler and Helmut Sigel.
Unfortunately its not in the library right now so I'm relying on
sections that had been previously photocopied.  To summarize,
aluminum is an extremely common element already in nature, and
while some toxic effects have been noticed, by and large aluminum
is not considered toxic.

page 13: "Of the 10 most abundant elements on the earth's crust, the
second (Si), third (Al), and tenth (Ti) are nonessential and also not
especially toxic.

Page 32: Inorgnanic compounds are present in food and water as a result
of their natural occurrence in the earth's crust.  Those compounds
which are most abundant are the ones with the least potential for
toxicity.  Mammals during the course of evolution have developed
mechanisms to withstand the major toxic effects of teh more common
inorganic toxins.  For example, aluminum is the most common metal
and the third most common element in the earth's crust, yet
aluminum toxicity is extremely uncommon except in special instances
of patients treated with hemodialysis for chronic renal failure.
Other, less abundant metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic pose
more serious toxicity problems as they are released into the
environment as a consequence of industrial development.


On the toxic side:
Page 32: Iatrogenic toxicity involving gastrointestinal absorption
is a major problem in patients with chronic renal failure being
treated with aluminum containing phosphate binders.  Original
reference: Lancet, 29 (1983) M. R. Wills and J. Savory.


: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.

Do they have a model for a mechanism by which this will work?  Is the
compound aluminum oxide (SRM exhaust) or some other compound that is
less stable?  Also, is it aluminum itself that is the cause, or is
it due to toxicity and essentiality dependencies on florine, silicon,
or phosphorus?

I'm glad you cited a specific article, it makes it much easier to
track down.  Most of the time its "Recent reports indicate" where
"recent" is sometime within the past 10 years published somewhere on
the planet Earth.

<long list of other compounds deleted>
And don't forget that our annual production of hydrogen cynaide
could kill 6 trillion deaths "if dispersed properly", ammonia would
kill 8 trillion, phosgene 18 trillion, chlorine 400 trillion.
Reference: The War Against the Atom, by Samuel McCracken.


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

I called to express my interest in continuing research and development
in this field.

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

Date: 8 Jun 90 23:46:48 GMT
From: hpda!hpcupt1!hprnd![e-mail]  (Greg Dolkas)
Subject: Re: Interview with Aerospace Engineer Requested

> for me since I don't want Venus to be terraformed. By the way, aren't
> we venusforming the Earth?????

A VERY good point.  The contest is whether we will be able to x-form some
other world before we destroy this one.  That's a race I'd rather not be in.

Greg.

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #513
*******************