Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_6/V12_628.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #628

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 628

Today's Topics:
                PRESS RELEASES
    Two questions:  Lunar shuttle missions, pseudo-gravity
           Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data
          Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet
           Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space
              Re: Another Russian first
     ASTRO-1 and WUPPE update - Dec. 4, 1990 (Forwarded)
        UIT Status for 12/04/90 [1630 CST] (Forwarded)
             Re: Fueling Columbia

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 Dec 90 00:48:56 GMT
From: uvaarpa!murdoch![e-mail]
Subject: PRESS RELEASES


                     GALILEO MISSION STATUS
                        December 4, 1990

     The Galileo spacecraft is just over 2 million miles and 4
days from its Earth gravity assist.  It is approaching Earth from
outside Earth's orbit, and will cross behind our planet and fly
over its sunward side in order to gain energy from the Earth.
This energy is needed to raise Galileo's orbit, first to the
Asteroid Belt and, in a second gravity assist, finally to meet
Jupiter in 1995.

     Spacecraft speed in its orbit around the Sun is 65,800 mph,
still increasing gradually as Galileo comes closer to Earth's
orbit and to the Sun.  On December 8, the Earth gravity assist
will occur during the half-hour surrounding 12:35 p.m. PST, the
time of closest approach.  This boosts Galileo's orbital speed by
about 11,500 mph.

     Spacecraft health and mission performance continue to be
excellent.  Over the last two weeks Galileo played back the Venus
science data, stored on tape since last February, carried out a
variety of science instrument calibrations and engineering
operations, and successfully completed the last and smallest of
the trim maneuvers scheduled before the Earth gravity assist.

     The spacecraft is now well within the trajectory
window for the required gravity assist.  It will attain a
closest-approach altitude of about 590 miles at 12:35 p.m.
PST on Saturday, December 8.  A press conference to discuss
the gravity assist and other Galileo activities near Earth
is scheduled for December 8 at 1:30 p.m. PST at JPL (and via
the NASA SELECT satellite link).

Posted: Tue, Dec  4, 1990   5:20 PM EST              Msg: GJJA-1657-4946
From:   PAO.POST
To:     PAO
Subj:   Change of Shift Summary 8

Posted: Tue, Dec  4, 1990   5:11 PM EST              Msg: CJJA-1524-2738/20
From:   (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,SN:MSFC,FN:PUBINFO)
To:     (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,UN:P),
        (C:USA,PUB:TELEMAIL,PVT:NASAMAIL,O:NASA,UN:PAO.LOOP),
        JRUFF/GSFCMAIL
Subj:   CHANGE OF SHIFT SUMMARY 08





         Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #08
         12:00 noon CST, Dec. 4, 1990
         2/11:10 MET
         Spacelab Mission Operations Control
         Marshall Space Flight Center,
         Huntsville, AL


         During this period (4 a.m. to 12 noon CST), the Astro-1 crew
         and the science investigation teams within the Spacelab
         Mission Operations Control Center had the most successful
         time yet during this mission.  The three star trackers of the
         Instrument Pointing System (IPS) for the first time were up
         and running together, and except for some "fine tuning" the
         IPS as ready and able to perform its functions as planned.

         The closeness with which the IPS came in acquiring a stellar
         object was noted when, at approximately 4:40 a.m., the crew
         announced that the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) had
         nearly acquired the scheduled target but that the image --
         while sharp -- was wandering.  The "fine tuning" would
         eventually eliminate problems like this, according to Mission
         Scientist Dr. Ted Gull of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

         After that occurrence, mission and science management made a
         decision for the crew to temporarily pass on several
         scheduled targets in an attempt to acquire an unscheduled
         one:  Capella, a star which -- by virtue of its rich, bright
         ultraviolet spectrum -- made it an excellent star to focus
         and co-align the HUT and Wisconsin Ultraviolet
         Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE).  The HUT performed a
         successful acquisition in the initial stages of the
         procedure, and the news was greeted with cheers and applause
         in the Payload Operations Control Room.

         Meanwhile, the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) team had
         welcome news in besting the good news from yesterday.  Prior
         to this time period, the BBXRT had briefly detected X-rays,
         called "first light" by the science team, from the Crab
         Nebula during alignment of its star tracker; today the team
         witnessed "first light" by a known source -- Capella -- for a
         long observation.

         Ultimately, however, the focus and alignment was not
         completed with Capella, and the crew moved on to attempt
         acquisition of the SS Cygna, a double star.  And although the
         HUT did not acquire the binary, the procedure produced
         nonetheless some low-level useful data.  The IPS performance
         was described by a crew member as "steady as a rock."  Except
         for minor adjustments, the IPS appeared ready to perform as
         needed.

         Toward the end of this time period, the crew was able to
         acquire and obtain good data from a supernova remnant located
         in the Large Magellanic Cloud, our nearest neighboring
         galaxy.  A source of high ultraviolet radiation, it was
         keenly observed by the HUT and Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
         (UIT) science teams.  Both teams expressed satisfaction with
         the information received, although they wished they had had a
         bit more time than the short observation period of four
         minutes which resulted from a lengthier than expected
         start-up of the procedure.


Posted: Tue, Dec  4, 1990   5:21 PM EST              Msg: HJJA-1657-4947
From:   PAO.POST
To:     PAO
Subj:   BBXRT Report 3

         BBXRT Status Report #03
         2:30 p.m. CST Dec. 4, 1990
         Spacelab Mission Operations Control
         Marshall Space Flight Center,
         Huntsville, AL


         The BBXRT and its Two-Axis Pointing System (TAPS) were
         co-aligned at 5:30 a.m.  CST today and shortly after BBXRT
         locked on its first x-ray target, the bright star Capella.

         "With the kind of observations we have planned we should do
         tremendous science," reported Goddard's Dr. Peter
         Serlemitsos, principal investigator.

         This morning's observation gives scientists the temperature
         and the element abundances of Capella.

         Serlemitsos described the BBXRT's resolution as excellent and
         added that the 300 seconds of data collected so far has
         revealed information not seen in previous observations.

         BBXRT team members are currently working to fine tune the
         TAPS and expect to be pointing routinely to their sources by
         this evening.

         BBXRT and TAPS were developed and are operated from Goddard
         Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.

                                      ###




Command?

--
-Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia
 USPS Mail:     Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA
 Internet:      [e-mail]
 UUCP:        ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w

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

Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 14:41 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Two questions:  Lunar shuttle missions, pseudo-gravity


1.  With regard to the discussion of lunar shuttle missions... is it
feasible to carry a CSM/LM -type combination up in the shuttle bay,
using the shuttle in place of the lower stages of the Saturn?  (I don
t mean Apollo craft specifically; I'm not sure they'd fit anyhow.)

2.  Pseudogravity:  Could someone give me an equation to calculate a
rate of spin for an object, given the dimensions of the object and
the desired "gravity," necessary to simulate that gravity?  And how
noticeable would the Coriolis "force" be?

Mark F. Jenkins
Bowling Green State University

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

Date: 3 Dec 90 19:34:38 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Thomas L. Zimmerman)
Subject: Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data

> All right.  Now, does anyone have WORKING tools to convert FITS to pbm,
> GIF or some other more common format for computer users ?
> I understand there are some problems with FITS (poor documentation of
> format extensions) ?

The Portable Greymap tools of PBM+ have a conversion tool to go from
FITS to portable grey map (pgm). A variety of tools in the package
can then be used to create an output file in a format you find more
palitable. I have not tried this yet, just remembered that my favorite
public software package has yet another use.  PBM+ is a very popular
package and can probably be found on a large number of ftp sites.

Lee

--
Lee Zimmerman, Naval Ocean Systems Center, Code 421, San Diego, CA, 92152
{arpa,mil}net: [e-mail]
uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!nosc!zimmer

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 01:14:55 GMT
From: van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bigsur!bcars53![e-mail]  (G. Mussar)
Subject: Re: HST images via anonFTP and SPAN/HEPnet

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Otto J. Makela) writes:
>All right.  Now, does anyone have WORKING tools to convert FITS to pbm,
>GIF or some other more common format for computer users ?
>I understand there are some problems with FITS (poor documentation of
>format extensions) ?

PBMPLUS claims to handle FITS format. I've never had anything to try it on.

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Mussar  |Bitnet:  [e-mail]                  |  Phone: [phone]
BNR Ltd.     |  UUCP:  ..uunet!bnrgate!bcars53!mussar |  FAX:   [phone]

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 21:27:29 GMT
From: gauss.rutgers.edu!math.rutgers.edu![e-mail]  (Scott Cromar)
Subject: Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Richard Coleman) writes:

; |> Actually, WE (the taxpayers) paid for that one.  It's a shame that
; |> money earmarked for space exploration wasn't spent on something more
; |> worthwhile than Senator Garn's ego.
;
; I don't think it was a bad idea.  Hasn't Senator Garn been
; a big supporter of the space program.  If we could send every
; senator up on the shuttle just once, I bet that the funding for
; the space program would get a BIG boost.
; --
;
;      Richard Coleman
;      G.E. Simulation & Control Systems
;      [e-mail]


Funding would need a big boost to send all those senators up there.
But it might be worth it.  I have some old O rings...

But seriously, it would be a sad commentary on our political system if
we had to resort to bribery to get funding for worthwhile projects.
(Garn's trip had to be the ultimate junket.)  And, to be frank, I
don't want to have my tax dollars wasted on buying votes.  We
taxpayers already pay for their salaries and perks.

-Scott Cromar
[e-mail]

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

Date: 3 Dec 90 17:41:34 GMT
From: lib!mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu![e-mail]  (David Gutierrez)
Subject: Re: Another Russian first

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Frank G.
Dahncke) writes:
> Now the USSR even has had the first paying passenger in a spacecraft.
> Actually, I would have expected this feat to be performed by the US.

Consider Jake Garn.

David Gutierrez
[e-mail]

"Only fools are positive." - Moe Howard

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 19:25:48 GMT
From: usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!larry![e-mail]  (Tim Roberts)
Subject: ASTRO-1 and WUPPE update - Dec. 4, 1990 (Forwarded)

Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 08:54:09 CST
From: Karen Bjorkman (Cloud-Gazer Extraordinaire)
Subject: WUPPE update

Well, tonight's shift was a pretty frustrating one.  We got zero
science in twelve hours of trying. The IPS simply is not pointing
well enough for us to even acquire and hold a star.  They are
"working the problem", but progress is very slow.  Meanwhile
basically 1/4 of our time is gone, and we have nothing so far.
Sure hope things improve soon....

As for WUPPE, things are going pretty well.  Except for the lack
of our (best) DEP, our instrument is working very well.  Our
spectrometer seems to be a bit more sensitive than we expected.
All the WUPPE functions are working beautifully - but we haven't
been able to do our fine focus because of the IPS problems (even
though we spent the last 6 hours trying).

Guess that's the upshot of where we are today.  Now to sleep.
This is WUPPE mission control out at MET 2 days, 8 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy P. P. Roberts   Tat tvam asi, Svatekatu!   (That thou art, boy!)

[e-mail]  or  WISP::Roberts

[phone] (home)   [phone]  (work)

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

Date: 5 Dec 90 05:58:46 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: UIT Status for 12/04/90 [1630 CST] (Forwarded)


      UIT STATUS REPORT #02
      4:30 p.m. CST Dec. 4, 1990
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center,
      Huntsville, AL


      UIT received its first photographs with good image stabilization at
      11:13 p.m. CST Monday.  The targets in the same exposures were the
      very distant, exceptionally bright quasar 1700 + 64 and the much
      closer cluster of galaxies Abell 2246, thereby capturing two objects
      in the same image.

      UIT's next observations were N132-D, a supernova remnant in the
      nearby Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, about 160,000 light years from
      Earth, followed by the globular star cluster M92 at 2:30 p.m. CST.
      The images taken from that observation will allow scientists to
      determine the population and ages of white dwarf stars.

      Later this afternoon, UIT is scheduled to observe Alpha Orionis,
      described by Goddard's Theodore P. Stecher, principal investigator,
      as a bright red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion.

      UIT was developed at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 19:14:56 GMT
From: unmvax!ariel.unm.edu!nmsu!charon![e-mail]  (Bill Webber)
Subject: Re: Fueling Columbia

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>My girlfriend asked a good question the other day, while we were waiting to
>watch the shuttle launch on TV:  Did they fill up Columbia's tanks before
>the federal gas tax went up 5 cents/gallon at 1-Dec-1990 00:00?  Think how
>much they would save!   :-)  :-)
>
>I though about it, and I don't think so.  I don't think that they can keep the
>thing fueled on the pad for that long (>24 hours).  Am I right?
>
>(Please, I know this is silly -- the gas tax is not for non-highway fuel
>(i.e., farm use, space, etc.).            :-)   :-)
>
>     Bob Langford, [e-mail]

    Aw, c'mon, Bob.   You do know that the shuttle uses liquid hydrogen and
oxygen, not gasoline, right?  I assume thats what the smileys were for,
I hope. :)

********************************
[e-mail]  (not bwebber)

"Character is who you are in the dark."  John Worfin
********************************

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #628
*******************