Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_5/V12_517.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #517

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 517

Today's Topics:
           Payload Status for 10/30/90 (Forwarded)
        Re: A great idea on how to fund NASA!
                   Re: X-15
           Re: Mars Rover Update - 10/26/90
              Re: LLNL Proposal
             mars transit system
             ESA Press Conference on HST
             Re: Antenna heating
              Galileo Update - 10/31/90
              Magellan Update - 10/30/90

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: 30 Oct 90 23:17:22 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 10/30/90 (Forwarded)


    Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 10-30-90


    - STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at Pad-B)

    Contingency support for the LH2 tanking test will be
    provided today.

    - STS-39 AFP-675/IBSS/STP-01 (at CCAFS)

    CITE preps continue.

    - STS-40 SLS-1 (at O&C)

    Power on experiment and subsystem checks will be
    performed today along with MVAK training.

    - STS-37 GRO (at PHSF)

    Functional testing continues.

    - STS-42 IML-1 (at O&C)

    Module and experiment staging will continue today.

    - STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C)

    Experiment and pallet staging continue.

    - STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C)

    Power on active thermal control systems checks will
    begin today.

    - STS-47 Spacelab-J (at O&C)

    Rack and floor staging continues.

    - STS-67 LITE-1 (at O&C)

    No work is scheduled for today.

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 05:58:58 GMT
From: usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!milo.mcs.anl.gov!midway!quads.uchicago.edu![e-mail]  (Lucius Chiaraviglio)
Subject: Re: A great idea on how to fund NASA!

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Becker)
writes:
>[e-mail] (david.e.wexelblat) writes:
[About objections to vacuum-containing marbles (-: space-balls :-)]
>>I didn't see a smiley on that followup, so:  Hey -- have you ever heard
>>of a light-bulb?
>
>Your average incandescent bulb holds slighlty pressurized inert gas.  Glass
>that thin could never keep O2 out of vacuum.  The pressure is to keep
>the O2 out and the filament burning.

    That's not what I last heard about the composition of light bulbs.
The way I heard it was that they contain nitrogen or inert gas (can't remember
which) at approximately 1/2 atmosphere (I assume this figure is for when they
are cold).  Light bulbs do implode sometimes (I have had this happen two or
three times when water condensing on a pipe overhead dripped on them -- badly
refitted bathroom in my previous apartment) -- most of the glass bounces out
of the bulb, but some of it stays in sometimes.  Incidentally, this is not a
safe phenomenon to be around -- the fragments of glass are reasonably sharp
(they include some rather thin slivers) and fly at a sufficient velocity to
travel a couple of meters to get into someone's eye.  However, space-balls
could be made to have thick walls of some material that would tend to break
into chunks -- I think marble would actually work for this, but I don't know
if that can be melted and resolidified without decomposition as was suggested
for the space-balls.

    At any rate, glass does not have to be very thick to keep air from
rushing into vacuum, although as the imploding light bulbs demonstrated it
would be nice for safety insurance if it was thicker.  The reason for the gas
in light bulbs is not primarily to reduce the load on the glass, but to reduce
the rate at which the filament(s) burn out.  The original Edison light bulbs
did have vacuum inside, but atoms boiled off the filament rapidly, so that
bulb life was too short for people's liking.  Adding an inert gas slowed the
rate of filament thinning by atoms boiling off.

    Halogen light bulbs do indeed contain high-pressure gas (I assume for
the same purpose as in standard incandescent light bulbs, but allowing the
filament to run even hotter while retaining an acceptable lifetime).
Consumer's Reports warn that these can EXPLODE, so they should be used in
fixtures which provide sufficient shielding.

    Followups redirected to sci.physics (I think that is the most
appropriate newsgroup for this, but am not 100% sure).

--
|   Lucius Chiaraviglio    |    Internet:  [e-mail]

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 06:13:59 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: X-15

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chris Jones) writes:
>>If you're thinking of the Dyna-Soar, which I believe was the X-25 (I can't
>>remember what the X-20 was offhand)...
>
>The Dyna-Soar was not called X-25.  It was the X-20 (or X-20A)...

Correct; my mistake.
--
"I don't *want* to be normal!"         | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
"Not to worry."                        |  [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 11:56:44 GMT
From: m2c!wpi.WPI.EDU![e-mail]  (A Soldier Of God)
Subject: Re: Mars Rover Update - 10/26/90


What are the dimensions, costs and other vital stats of JPL's mars rover. Is
there any help being given to people workingt on Microsat technology rovers
like the ones that appeared in a recent issue of aerospace america. Is the
strategy to use one BIG and vulnerable rover or literally hundreds of
semi-redundant micro rovers?

I am doing a policy paper as a school project and am very interested in the
role microsat technology will play in future policy.

_______________________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 31 Oct 90 13:31:27 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LLNL Proposal
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]>:
>>that the shuttle, which is so expensive in the first place, is so
>>unsafe.

>Perhaps in relation to commercial airliners, for instance, but what about
>in relation to other launchers? I would welcome reliable statistics on
>Soviet launchers, but in the continuing absence of such, I can say I have
>seen no solid indication that the Shuttle is not the safest orbital launcher
>in existence.

Let's look at the reliability of the Shuttle. The postpriori figures indicate
the loss of a Shuttle every thirty missions or so. GAO says there is about
a 2% chance of loss every launch. I believe NASA claims about a 1.2% chance
per flight. This averages out to about 2% per flight.

If you look at the reliability of either Titan or Delta over the same period,
you find they also loose a launcher about 2% of the time. So in this sense
reliability seems to be about the same. Of course, the Shuttle is 'man rated'
but experience seems to show that man rating only quadruples the cost and
doesn't affect safety.

   Allen
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer      |         What should man do but dare?            |
|   [e-mail]         |             - Sir Gawain                        |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 19:24:35 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Adam R. Brody)
Subject: mars transit system

There is a good article in the Oct/Nov 1990 issue of Air & space Smithsonian
about Buzz Aldrin's concept for a Mars Transit System.  It would consist
of "taxis" and cyclers for transportation between earth orbit and mars orbit
and Mars orbit to Mars.  I have seen similar designs elsewhere but this is
a very accessible for those who haven't.  It is worth the read.

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 23:43:13 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: ESA Press Conference on HST

ESA Press Conference
---------------------

     The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has now been operational for
approximately six months; the Faint Object Camera (FOC), together with
the telescope's solar panels represents the European Space Agency's (ESA)
contribution to an international cooperative project between NASA and
ESA.  The FOC was designed to detect extremely faint or distant objects,
allowing astronomers to see if quasars are embedded in distant galaxies
and to search for planets orbiting stars.

     Astronomers are now working with the first scientific data beamed back
by the HST, revealing fascinating images of planet Pluto, an exploding
star, supernova 1987A and a double star called R-aquarii.

     ESA will present the latest results of its Faint Object Camera at a
press conference to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990 at 1500 (UTC), at
the ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.

     Following opening remarks by Professor Roger Bonnet, Director of the
ESA Science Programme, a panel of specialists will give short explanations
of the current status and then take part in a discussion.  The panel includes:

     o Dr. Peter Jakobsen, HST Project Scientist
     o Dr. Robin Laurance, HST Project Manager
     o Dr. Duccio Macchetto, Head of Science Programme Division, Space
       Telescope Science Institute
     o Dr. Piero Benvenuti, Head, Space Telescope European Coordinating
       Facility
     o Dr. Brian Taylor, Head of Astrophysics, Space Science Dept.

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

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 16:06:04 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!mpirbn![e-mail]  (Susanne Huettemeister)
Subject: Re: Antenna heating

Reply-To: [e-mail] (Susanne Huettemeister)
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn

In article
<[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Daniel Briggs) writes:
> ...   [ Details about antenna incident deleted ]    I
>have heard a few similar horror stories from other antennas, but I
>would be hard pressed to back them up with references.

I can help you with at least one reference.

At the European Southern Observatory at La Silla (Chile) there's a single
radiotelescope among some 15 optical instruments. It's called SEST
(Swedish European Submillimeter Telescope), has a diameter of 15m
(as I'm German I refuse to translate to ft!) and works currently at
3mm and 1.3mm wavelength. Its design is virtually identical to the 3
IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer Telescopes and includes a highly
reflective surface.

During the installation and testing phase (2-3 years ago) someone pointed
the telescope close to the sun ... Guess what happened? They got a
nice little fire up in the receiver cabin (the receivers where damaged
somewhat, though not fatally) and the La Silla fire brigade got its first
alarm in some 20 years of existence of the observatory.

People working up there with SEST now insist that the incident never
was *that* critical, but during a stay there as a visiting astronomer a few
weeks ago I got the firm impression that they are a lot more nervous about the
sun damaging the telescope than about any other possible source of trouble.
The software now prevents you from pointing anywhere closer than 50 degrees
to the sun (thus excluding a pretty large fraction of the sky). If the
software fails (or the instrument just keeps moving once you've told it
to track a source in the sky) there are two more safeguards involving
the mechanical drive - PLUS an alarm that ( I was told) "is loud
enough to raise the dead" (fortunately, during my stay I didn't hear it).

There's even some talk about changing the surface properties, which in a way
would be a shame: by night you can see the moon or even the Milky Way
reflected in the mirror, which looks just great. Well, you never get a
thing for free ... :-)

Susanne   [e-mail]

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 18:56:00 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 10/31/90


                          Galileo Status Report
                            October 31, 1990

     Galileo spacecraft health continues to be excellent.  Two more delta DOR
(Differential One-way Ranging) navigation activities were performed on
October 29 using Goldstone 34 meter/Spain 70 meter and Goldstone 34 meter/
Australia 70 meter antenna pairs.  A NO-OP command was also sent to reset the
Command Loss Timer to 216 hours.  In addition to those engineering activities,
a Magnetometer science memory readout was successfully performed. The Plasma
Science instrument's protective sun shade will be retracted tomorrow.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 31 Oct 90 18:53:55 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 10/30/90


                        MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                          October 30, 1990

     The Magellan spacecraft is performing nominally in its Superior
Conjunction mode, with one STARCAL (star calibration) and two DESATS
(desaturations of the reaction wheels) each day.  No spacecraft command
activity is planned for today.

     Engineering telemetry margins are 3.3 db below predict at S-band and 2.5
db below predict at X-band.  The Sun-Earth-Magellan angle is now 1.1 degrees.
The radar sensor is in standby mode.  The earliest date that mapping will resume
is November 7.

     Although mapping has been suspended, the processing of image strips
continues, with 10 standard image swaths produced in the past 24 hours. A
special mosaicked image containing part of Maxwell Montes and Cleopatra Crater,
an area rising about 11 kilometers or 36,000 ft. above the mean radius of
Venus, was produced by the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Data Processing Team
and displayed for the flight team yesterday.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #517
*******************