Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_5/V12_532.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #532

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 532

Today's Topics:
                Hello!
Re: LLNL Astronaut Delivery (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station)
Re: LLNL Astronaut Delivery (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station)
              Magellan Update - 11/05/90
             Pioneer 10 Update - 11/02/90
             Pioneer 11 Update - 11/02/90
       Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station to be Cheap
              Skylab [was Re: Apollo 6]
       Re: HLV Designs (was Re: you Can't Expect A Spa)
           Pioneer Venus Update - 11/02/90
              Ulysses Update - 11/05/90
       Re: NASA Headline News for 11/02/90 (Forwarded)
           Re: Ulysses speeding up rel. to the sun
 Titan IV Cost (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station to be Cheap)

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: Mon Nov 05 20:48 EST 1990
From: [e-mail] (cskuo)
Subject: Hello!

Hello,
    I am a new user of internet. My system is UNIX. I know
that there is the news group sci.astro where there is a lot
of information about astronomy. How can I join it? Can anyone
tell me about the detail?
    Thank you very much!

Chein-Shiu

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

Date: 6 Nov 90 03:04:36 GMT
From: sumax!polari![e-mail]  (Charles Radley)
Subject: Re: LLNL Astronaut Delivery (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station)



+I'm not sure that contingency EVA requires a "re-usable manned
+spacecraft with long stay EVA capability (including robot arm)".  As
+long as the Earth Station maintains integrity, the astronauts should
+be able to run EVAs out of it.  Of course, if it doesn't, then they
+*are* in deep trouble.
-
Again,  am talking about BEFORE the Earth station is online, I am
trying to cover the contingecy of the Earth Station failing to
automatically inflate, and EVA or robotics are required to complete
the assembly......

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

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 90 11:58:42 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LLNL Astronaut Delivery (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]>:
>On the other hand, Charles Radley does raise an important point here.
>How *is* LLNL planning to get astronauts up to the station?

Put a capsule on a Delta.

>Are they planning to use the shuttle or develop their own spacecraft?

They plan to develop their own. For $200M they could buy a ACRV or
a Soyuz for $50M. We have built lots of capsules in the last 30 years
so I don't think it needs to be that expensive.

>It
>probably wouldn't be too risky to rely on the shuttle for one or two
>launches, where it really *is* useful (i.e. launching astronauts).

Not too risky, but far too expensive.

        Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Allen W. Sherzer| I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation |
|   [e-mail]  | programs, spare parts for 25 years. Who cares if it      |
|                | works or not?  - Dick Jones, VP OCP Security Concepts    |

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 19:06:34 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 11/05/90


                         MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                            November 5, 1990

     The Magellan spacecraft continues quietly in its Superior Conjunction
phase.  Engineering telemetry at both S and X-band has been maintained and all
systems are nominal.  The three STARCALS (star calibrations) and six DESATS
(desaturations of the reaction wheels) during the weekend were performed
successfully.

     No spacecraft command activity is planned for today.  However, the first
Go/No Go meeting to decide on the resumption of mapping is scheduled for 1 PM
PST today.  Barring any unexpected problems, the command sequence to begin
mapping will be sent to the spacecraft tomorrow and will start execution on
Wednesday morning, November 7.

     The radar sensor remains in good health and in standby condition.  Four
new full resolution image strips were processed on November 2, but the quality
of portions corresponding to the spacecraft tape recorder track A2 is severely
degraded.

     The Image Data Processing Team produced check prints and photo
enlargements of the thirteen full res mosaics, called engineering F-MIDRs.
Digital processing of seven additional F-MIDRs requested by the science team
was also completed.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 23:37:00 GMT
From: att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Pioneer 10 Update - 11/02/90


                        Pioneer 10 Status Report
                          November 2, 1990

     On October 26, the 70 meter antenna at Goldstone had difficulty
acquiring telemetry from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, reason unknown.  Telemetry
lock was eventually achieved with a 27 minute outage.  The propellant tank
pressure telemetry point began to toggle between 198.0 and 188.8 psi on
October 15.  This is only a 1 data number range.  At this time the pressure
reading is still toggling but remains at 188.8 psi for the majority of the
data samples.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 23:38:37 GMT
From: att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Pioneer 11 Update - 11/02/90


                          Pioneer 11 Status Report
                              November 2, 1990

   The Pioneer 11 spacecraft is still operating with Receiver A on the Medium
Gain Antenna (MGA).  The uplink margin for the MGA has been established to
be somewhere between 150 and 191 kw.  Receiver B on the High Gain Antenna
(HGA) still has not responded to commands at 350 kw.  Commands were addressed
to both decoders but the command was unsuccessful.

     On October 29, a CONSCAN procedure was transmitted over the 70 meter
antenna in Spain at 350 kw.  This used the MGA to determine the spacecraft's
attitude.  However, it appears that due to the low signal strength, large
errors are introduced when the CONSCAN Signal Processor determines the
pointing amplitude and phase, making the telemetered data unusable.

     On October 31, the spacecraft was commanded back to Format A.  No
science data was collected from October 6 through October 31.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 90 11:48:13 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station to be Cheap
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]> you write:
>Actually, the question that bothers me most about both the NASA and the
>LLNL station is "Why so big?"

I won't speak for Freedom. The reason for LLNL are to meet design
requirements. LLNL provides artificial gravity and so needs to be big
enough to provide it. At the same time, the incrimental cost of more space
is so cheap, why not?

>Since we (the U.S.) seem to have little, if any,
>usable experience in launching, assembling, operating, and maintaining space
>stations, it seems to me that we would want to start small and build up
>incrementally.

Agreed. If other viable alternatives are out there, I would be glad to push
for them. LLNL seems to be the best thought out way to get us permanently
up there. In addition, the LLNL Lunar base would begin to provide cheap
fuel at LEO. This will be needed to establish a real infastructure.

  Allen

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Allen W. Sherzer| I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation |
|   [e-mail]  | programs, spare parts for 25 years. Who cares if it      |
|                | works or not?  - Dick Jones, VP OCP Security Concepts    |

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 14:26:53 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Nick Watkins)
Subject: Skylab [was Re: Apollo 6]

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Abe Lockman):
> about skylab.  It says the skylab was an S-IVB with the ATM
> (Converted MOL)  and it was launched on an S-2.
ATM is Apollo Telescope mount. MOL was USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory,
nothing to do with Skylab as such. ATM *was* originally designed as a
converted LM, I don't know whether the real one used any LM hardware
(plans to use an LM ascent stage as a control cabin were dropped).
>     So did they short stack an Saturn 5, just 1st and 2nd
> stages, and then use teh skylab to top the stack?
Yes. Needed a new shroud to cover Skylab.

Nick
--
Dr. Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical
& Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND
JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Nov 90 02:59:24 GMT
From: sumax!polari![e-mail]  (Charles Radley)
Subject: Re: HLV Designs (was Re: you Can't Expect A Spa)



Memo #58733
From: ghudson
Date: Sun,  4 Nov 90 21:46:39 EST
To: cradley
Message-Id: <memo.58733>
In-Reply-To: <memo.58531>
Subject:  Reply to your comments

Thanks for your mail.  I don't much care for heavy-lift
vehicles since "lift" is not our problem: access to space
is.  We must learn to walk before we run: only a smaller
vehicle like Phoenix can do this economically.

I also like to remind people that the Berlin airlift was
conducted with aircraft which had about the same cargo lift
capacity as the Phoenix...

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 23:40:48 GMT
From: att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Pioneer Venus Update - 11/02/90


                       Pioneer Venus Status Report
                           November 2, 1990

     The first simultaneous track of the Pioneer Venus spacecraft with the
Magellan spacecraft was supported on October 25 using the 34 meter and 70
meter antennas in Goldstone, California.  Telemetry data was received,
however, there was some difficulty with commanding due to the proximity to
the Sun.  At the present time, 100 kw or more is required to successfully
command the Pioneer Venus spacecraft.  This situation will continue to
improve after the minimum SEP angle (0.87 degrees) is reached on November 2.

     The Goldstone 34 meter antennas failed to acquire receiver lock on
October 30.  70 meter support in Australia was taken from Pioneer 11 on
October 31 so that the high power transmitter could be used to uplink to the
spacecraft at 100 kw and avoid an automatic receiver switch from occurring.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 6 Nov 90 01:38:14 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Ulysses Update - 11/05/90


                           ULYSSES MISSION STATUS
                              November 5, 1990

     Today, the Ulysses spacecraft is about 18 million miles from Earth,
and traveling at a heliocentric velocity of about 88,000 miles per
hour.

     With the completion of the spacecraft's second
trajectory correction maneuver last week, instrument switch-ons
and tests are the chief scheduled events for the Ulysses mission
in the days ahead.  In the trajectory maneuver, on Friday, November 2,
the spacecraft fired its thrusters for 1 hour, 43 minutes to adjust the
aim point for its flyby of Jupiter in February 1992.

     On Sunday, November 4, the spacecraft's 7.5-meter
(24.3-foot) axial boom -- which serves as an antenna for
Ulysses's Unified Radio and Plasma-Wave experiment -- was
deployed.  Following that deployment, flight controllers noticed
a slight wobble in the spacecraft as it rotated on its spin axis.
Small wobbles are expected to result when onboard equipment is
activated, and generally are minimized by a system called a
nutation damper.  Nevertheless flight controllers were
investigating the condition and possible corrective actions.  The
motion -- totaling 0.4 degree -- does not affect spacecraft
operation or radio communication.

     Today, plans call for the Solar Wind Ion-Composition
Spectrometer to be turned on.  On Thursday and Friday, November
8-9, tests of the spacecraft's tape recorder will be conducted.
On Friday, November 9, the Solar X-ray and Cosmic Gamma Ray
experiment will be turned on.  Instrument tests will continue
Saturday, November 10, followed by relatively quiet monitoring
Sunday and Monday, November 11-12.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 12:47:07 GMT
From: ksr![e-mail]  (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 11/02/90 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]>, yee@trident (Peter E.
Yee) posts something probably written by someone else:
>
>This is NASA Headline News for Friday, November 2, 1990
>
>KSC showed to reporters the first of Endeavor's main engines to

Yikes!  Now NASA can't spell the name of the new orbiter!  Choosing as a
namesake a ship with a non-American spelling continues to look like a mistake.
--
Chris Jones    [e-mail]    {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 12:52:58 GMT
From: ksr![e-mail]  (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: Ulysses speeding up rel. to the sun

In article <[e-mail]>, sw@cbnewsl (Stuart Warmink) writes:
>
>I assumed that velocity w.r.t. to Sun meant *away* from the Sun.

No, I think it means as measured from the Sun's frame of reference.  Earth has
a velocity w.r.t. the Sun of about 66000 mph.  Ulysses' speed w.r.t. the Sun
immediately after launch did look like that velocity added to 30000mph plus,
which is what you would have expected the result to be.  I still have seen no
explanation of how Ulysses gained velocity in the period after the boost, but
I'm almost certain it didn't, and that there was an error in one of the
velocity reports.
--
Chris Jones    [e-mail]    {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj

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

Date: 5 Nov 90 15:52:10 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (SERRE GLENN)
Subject: Titan IV Cost (was Re: You Can't Expect a Space Station to be Cheap)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Charles Radley) writes:
>200 M gives you Titan-III.    Titan-IV is $ 300-400 M.    Shuttle
>estimates depend on launch rates, highest I have seen is $ 600 M.
$112M gives you a Commercial Titan launch (Titan III).  Titan IV with no
upper stage is about $150M ("Technology Review" says so, at least :-).
Titan IV with Centaur is ~$250M.  Titan IV with payload is $300+.



--Glenn Serre
[e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #532
*******************