Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V11_5/V11_571.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #571

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 571

Today's Topics:
              NASA Prediction Bulletins
             Re: Satellite Images on Mac
           Re: Solar sail race, and other entries.
      Re: Handicaped in Space (was: NASA Headline News)
           Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket con
               Re: 10 psi overpressure
       Spontaneous Combustion (was re:  SPACE Digest V11 #563)
          Re: ESA-brief summary of activity
         Re: Phobos survey in the New Yorker
        Re: More on NASA 91 Appropriation Vote
           Re: Comet Levy tail velocity postscript
                  Re: (none)

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:          26-JUN-90 19:35:00 EDT
From: Steven R. Heleski <[e-mail]>
Subject:       NASA Prediction Bulletins

>Alouette 1
>1 00424U 62B-A  1 90143.97482870  .00000248  00000-0  28755-3 0  3260
>2 00424  80.4630 309.9464 0023488 337.6047  22.4082 13.67348077379387

The above text is a part of a mail message containing NASA Predictions
I known the list contains names of Satellites.

What do the numbers mean?

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/                                  |                                          \
| Steven Heleski                   |     _      _____   _   _                 |
| Larwence Technological University|    | |    |_   _| | | | |  Where         |
| 21000 West Ten Mile Road         |    | |      | |   | | | |    THEORY      |
| Southfield, MI 48075             |    | |__    | |   | |_| |     meets      |
|                                  |    |____|.  |_| . |_____|.   PRACTICE.   |
|    FAX: [phone] x3005      |                                          |
| BITNET: [e-mail]     |                                          |
\__________________________________|__________________________________________/

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 14:55:48 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Kevin William Ryan)
Subject: Re: Satellite Images on Mac


   Some corrections to the posting on Macs and GIF weather shots:

>The other name format looks like:
>
>    Nyyymmdd.GIF
>
>    N (unknown)
>    yyy 3 digits of year
>    mm month
>    dd date

    The actual breakdown of this should be:

    Nxyymmdd

    Nx - NOAA satellite N0AA-9, NOAA-10, NOAA-11.  So far I've only seen N9.
    yy - Year.
    mm - Month.
    dd - Day.

    Also, GIF files can be viewed directly on the Mac using the QuickGIF
or GIFFER display programs, which can convert to PICT or TIFF format if
needed.  See sumex-aim.stanford.edu for public-domain QuickGIF and
GIFFER.  I highly recommend NCSA Image (ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu) for
manipulating images to improve
contrast and such, although you will have to use one of the GIF programs
to convert to PICT format first.

                                               kwr

Internet: [e-mail]

Disclaimer: I only represent myself.

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 18:07:36 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Solar sail race, and other entries.

About magnetic sailing: that's not quite how it works. It interacts with
the _solar wind_, which has an embedded magnetic field, but not
quite in the way stated in the other article.

Apparently some sort of momentum transfer takes place between the 'sail'
and the plasma (read: very low resistance conductor) in the solar wind.

Philip Fraering
dlbres10@ Wait a minute: I'm getting too much mail as it is...

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 07:33:14 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: Re: Handicaped in Space (was: NASA Headline News)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Robiner) writes:
>Has NASA or anyone else ever thought of using amputees or other
>naturally handicaped persons with no legs as astronauts for extended
>stays in space.
>
>It seems to me they'd be the ideal choice for the job.  While other
>astronauts are handicaped in space *with* legs,

This is an unsupported assertion.  While SF writers (none of whom have
been there) like to talk about the "handicap" of legs in space, one need
only look at the film footage of Skylab, Shuttle and Mir astronauts to
see that the legs are used quite a bit, with no apparent inconvenience.

The fact that legs may need specific medical care to stay healthy in
space is worth noting, but renders them no more of a "handicap" than the
heart, intestines, eyes and ears, all of which need attention in
microgravity.  If we had to figure out how STUMPS fare in orbit, which
I suppose we will some day, the answer might be even worse.

>                                                 persons without these
>appendages who are normally handicaped on Earth would be free and easily
>mobile in space.

They might also be a liability during launch or recovery emergencies,
when that nasty 1G world reasserts its primacy.  I have no reason to
doubt that legless persons will work alongside their legged colleagues
in space someday, and work well; I see no reason to prefer them.
--
"We plan absentee ownership.  I'll stick to       `o'   Tom Neff
 building ships." -- George Steinbrenner, 1973    o"o   [e-mail]

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

Date: 22 Jun 90 13:08:00 GMT
From: primerd!ENI!ENS![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Aim For The Moon - model rocket con


One question:

Where does one obtain rockets of this size?  I am only familiar with Estes
from my model rocket days, whose engines only went up to "D" size.  I know
there was at least one other manufacturer (Centuri?), but never obtained
any other catalogs and had thought they had all fallen on hard times?

So, out of curiosity, any names and addresses out there?

Thanks,
Jim Cook
[e-mail]
Prime Computer, 500 Old Conn. Path, Framingham, Mass.  01701
"Just my misinformation, Prime has all it needs."

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

Date: 26 Jun 90 16:28:47 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: 10 psi overpressure

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Doug Mohney) writes:
>>... there has never been a polar shuttle launch, and
>>never will be unless the USAF does a remarkable about-face.
>
>I'm going back to AvWeek. One of the DoD missions flew a weird flight path to
>put it in a reasonable orbit to drop off a spy-sat. The path took it close over
>the East Coast and the launch, if I remember correctly, was at night.

There have been several high-inclination launches that have gone more or
less up the US east coast, close enough offshore to be widely visible.
The launch tracks have remained clear of populated areas, though, and
although the orbits were at fairly high inclinations, they were not
"polar" in the usual sense of the word.

The Office of Mismanagement and Beancounting years ago suggested doing
true polar launches northward from the Cape, to avoid the extra cost of
building the Vandenberg shuttle pad.  (This was when the USAF was still
big on using the shuttle.)  That idea was rejected, to put it mildly.

>>NASA point-blank refuses to put destruct charges aboard the orbiter.
>
>I seem to recall that the charges went in by the SSMEs ...

References, please?  The Rogers Commission report, among other sources,
is quite explicit that there are no destruct charges on the orbiter and
never have been.
--
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: 26 Jun 90 15:09:36 GMT
From: philmtl!philabs!ttidca![e-mail]  (Dick Jackson)
Subject: Spontaneous Combustion (was re:  SPACE Digest V11 #563)

Re: spontaneous combustion of people

>
>                             IT DOESN'T EXIST!!!
>
>                                                  Marc Arlen
>                                                  AZM@NIHCU

A case of "s.c." was investigated and reported in the New Scientist. A
man had been discovered mostly burned away in the family room/living room
of his house. Amazing -- the poor chap just simply burst into flames!

Here is the boring explanation: he was overweight and fell asleep or had
a heart attack in front of an open fire. An ember set fire to his clothes
which started to burn his carcass. The fuel for the resulting almost
complete burn up was the guy's own body fat.

I have seen a steak cooked over a so-called "safari" grill where the
initial fire is started by newspapers in the bottom but is continued by
the fall of fat from the meat.

It is of course possible that he was a telescope designer who was
burned by aliens just as he was on the point of explaining Fermi's
paradox -- just to bring this back to sci.space.

Dick Jackson

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

Date: 26 Jun 90 08:00:07 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!rwthinf![e-mail]  (Dieter Kreuer)
Subject: Re: ESA-brief summary of activity

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (M.S.Bennett  Supvs= Prof Pendry) writes:

>                                      ******
>
>                                Giotto Reactivated
>                                ==================
>
>
> On 2 July 1990 Giotto will pass within 23000 km of Earth, and the  Earth's
> gravitational field will be  used  as  a  'slingshot'  force  to  propel  the
> spacecraft on towards its new target.
>

A friend of mine uses to watch geostationary satellites with a C8 and has
written a program for determining equatorial coordinates when geocentric
elements for the satellite are provided. He uses stars as a guide to direct
the scope to the desired position and switches off the drive when the
satellite crosses the field of view.
Is the Giotto probe also visible with an 8 inch as it passes Earth, though
it has no large solar panels? How fast will it move (angular velocity)?
Can anybody provide geocentric elements or even a table of guide stars
for 50.8 deg N, 6.5 deg E (if the event does not take place by daylight)?
URGENTLY, this net can be quite slow sometimes!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Dieter Kreuer, Lehrstuhl Informatik IV, RWTH Aachen, Ahornstr. 55,
    D-5100 Aachen; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 27 Jun 90 01:16:31 GMT
From: thorin!pooh![e-mail]  (Jonathan Leech)
Subject: Re: Phobos survey in the New Yorker

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] () writes:
>>    You encounter space stories in the oddest places.
>>
>>    I was waiting for my physical therapist to become free today and
>>idly paged through the June 11 New Yorker.  Much of the issue is a
>>lengthy article by Henry Cooper ...
>
>I guess "oddity" is in the eye of the beholder.

    So sue me.    The current theatre production schedule in NYC may be
of interest to residents, but you can see why I might consider reading
this magazine a waste of time from a glance through a typical issue.
I didn't see *you* recommending the article.
--
    Jon Leech ([e-mail])    __@/
    ``There ain't hardly nothin' cuter nor a sleepin' baby tad
      lessen it's a pork chop'' - Churchy La Femme

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 12:29:30 GMT
From: usc!samsung!umich!ox.com!itivax!vax3.iti.org![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: More on NASA 91 Appropriation Vote

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William Baxter) writes:

>>2. Why did it happen? [zero out SEI]
>>In a nutshell, because Bob Traxler (D-MI) and Richard Malow (chief staffer
>>on the appropriation subcommittee that funds NASA) didn't want it to happen.

>We can all write to Bob Traxler and thank him for not allowing NASA to
>begin another large, ill-defined project

Before posting statements like this perhaps you should read what the
spending was requested for. The major intent of SEI funding for the next
three to four years is to make the project well defined. As such, this is
not startup funding, but funding to study the best ways to go about it. These
studies are to be evaluated by people outside NASA including groups like SSI
and individuals like Dr. Andy Cutler (famous NASA cheerleader :-) ).

In other words, the goal is well defined, the tactics are not. In the next
three years (if all goes well) we will have well defined tactics and then
can decide.

>He [Rep. Traxler] has taken an important step toward reform of NASA.

If you feel that way, please write him and say so. However, your letter will
be interperted as a letter opposed to any manned space at all.

  Allen

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Allen W. Sherzer         |          Death to all extremists!              |
|   [e-mail]            |                                                |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 15:04:03 GMT
From: grumbly![e-mail]  (rb duc)
Subject: Re: Comet Levy tail velocity postscript

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ronald Florence) writes:
->[e-mail] (Tim Roberts) writes:
->
-> > The following is a uuencoded and compressed postscript file of
-> > the tail velocity of Comet Levy towards the earth, where 1 = the
-> > tail velocity entirely away from earth. This may prove useful for
-> > those interested in spectral shifts of ionic emissions.
->
-> [followed by 178K of uuencoded compressed postscript]
->
->Those of us who pay long distance charges for every byte of news, and
->especially those who do not own Postscript printers, would appreciate
->if you would announce the availability of material like this, and then
->make it available for FTP, anonymous uucp, or mail distribution rather
->than posting it to every machine on Usenet.
->
->I'm sure the material is interesting.  I only question the posting of
->a 178K file which many readers cannot view or print.
->--
->
->Ronald Florence            {yale,uunet}!hsi!mlfarm!ron
==========================
I second the motion


--
\\\
 - -   Richard Ducoty                                ..uunet!grumbly!root
 _]    Capitola, California                            [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Jun 90 12:23:35 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!stc!root44!hrc63!mrcu![e-mail]  (Paul Johnson)
Subject: Re: (none)

>> From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!arisia!cdp![e-mail]
>
>> Some soils in Hawaii contain as much as 31.7% aluminum.

>And it's a common food ingredient - check some labels.  But you object
>to a few tons being dumped in the air near Hawaii?

Reality check: if Hawaian soils contain almost 1/3 pure aluminium,
then those Hawaians are very wealthy :-)  Aluminium in bulk is expensive
stuff.

......
>I suggest you re-evaluate the reliablity of your sources.

and then think about what you are saying.
--
Paul Johnson                               UUCP: <world>!mcvax!ukc!gec-mrc!paj
--------------------------------!-------------------------|-------------------
GEC-Marconi Research is not     | Telex: 995016 GECRES G  | Tel: [phone]
responsible for my opinions.    | Inet: [e-mail]-mrc | Fax: [phone]

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #571
*******************