Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_6/V12_663.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #663

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 663

Today's Topics:
              Galileo Update - 12/04/90
      Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1252 CST] (Forwarded)
Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space)
           Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST
             Re: Magellan article
              Magellan Update - 12/11/90
            Re: Where is GALILEO?
               Re: 10th planet?
           Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data
Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space)
              Re: Another Russian first
          WUPPE Status for 12/09/90 [AM] (Forwarded)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11 Dec 90 04:12:34 GMT
From: julius.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 12/04/90


                         GALILEO STATUS REPORT
                           December 4, 1990

     The Galileo spacecraft health continues to be excellent.  Yesterday, the
Command Loss Timer was successfully reset to 3 days, its planned value for this
mission phase.  Also yesterday, selected engineering electrical heaters were
properly configured to provide adequate power margin for the Probe checkout
activity.  Today, the second in-flight Probe checkout will be performed. The
first checkout was performed in late October 1989 several days after launch and
was successful.  Tomorrow, the VE-11 (Venus-Earth 11) Earth 1 Encounter sequence
will be sent to the spacecraft.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 19:57:48 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1252 CST] (Forwarded)


         Astro 1 Mission Report #42
         12:52 p.m. CST, December 9, 1990
         7/12:02 MET
         Spacelab Mission Operations Control
         Marshall Space Flight Center

         Astro Deputy Mission Scientist Gene Urban reported at this
         morning's press briefing that efficiency of the "ground-to-space
         and man-in-the-loop control operation" had risen quite rapidly.
         The observations reported included both ultraviolet and X-ray
         targets.  "We are doing exactly what we expected and hoped when
         we started these new observations," Urban stated.

         Greg Madejski,  of the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope team, reported
         that they had collected some "fantastic" X-ray data.  "When I
         came in for my shift, I got a little birthday gift from my
         friends, a spectrum of an object that is really, really wonderful
         to observe," he said.  Madejski explained that the spectrum
         indicated that Parkes 2155-304, an active galaxy known as a
         BL-Lac object, probably contains a jet of very energetic, hot
         material directed toward us.  Other X-ray observations included
         Seyfert II objects which provided indirect evidence of an
         accretion disk surrounding a very massive black hole and clear
         spectra of the binary X-ray source (or pulsar) Centaurus X-3,
         which continued to be observed even after the orbiter entered the
         South Atlantic Anomaly.  "We are really excited," concluded
         Madejski.  "Our instrument is performing even better than we
         expected."

         Mario Magalhaes, Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter
         Experiment project scientist, was equally enthusiastic.  "When
         you design and build an instrument, you plan for a certain
         performance level; then actually it is 95, 90 percent of what you
         expected--if you've designed your instrument well.  WUPPE has
         been a little more sensitive, in fact, than we expected it to
         be."  He reported that overnight the team had observed 100
         percent of the time it was supposed to observe.  Accomplished
         during the preceding hours were an important calibration
         procedure, a study of interstellar dust in the Milky Way galaxy,
         a white dwarf star, a quasar, and the Seyfert galaxy also
         observed by the X-ray team.  The latter, NGC 1068, was described
         by Magalhaes as the most highly polarized object that the
         Wisconsin telescope has measured thus far.  "Im really amazed.
         It's an impressive amount of data that's been collected, thanks
         again to this collective work of the people on the ground...and
         finally to that very special and important link which is the
         Payload Specialist.  All is going very, very well for WUPPE and
         for science."

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 21:22:52 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian or James) writes:
>    I dimly recall a Donald Kingsbury article on a high thrust
>nuclear rocket called (I think) 'Jumbo' or 'Dumbo'...
>... Anyone have anything concrete on this?

Dumbo.  See Kingsbury's "Notes on Nuclear Rockets".  Basically, Dumbo
was a somewhat more radical concept than NERVA, and lost out to it when
funding got tight.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 04:18:06 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5![e-mail]  (Nick Szabo)
Subject: Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Nick Szabo) writes:
>>... What goes around comes around, astronaut fans.  We are entering
>>a new era where the funding proportions for "manned" stunts and real
>>exploration and industry will be reversed, leading to a new Space Age...
>
>Not if the Planetary Society has its way, since one of their big priorities
>is the biggest and most short-sighted manned stunt in the history of space
>travel:  the one-shot international manned Mars mission.

Obvious observation #1:
    There is no way anybody is going to fund a $400 billion Mars mission
    when NASA can't even launch a lousy space station and the Soviet
    empire is crumbling.  But talking about it makes for dramatic political
    rhetoric (and gives Dan Quayle something harmless to do :-)

Obvious observation #2:
    The Planetary Society is dominated by the people who did Voyager, Viking,
    etc. that explored most of the solar system using the crumbs falling
    off of Apollo.

Straightforward deduction:
    What a better way to get more crumbs than promote a Mars mission?
    NASA or LLNL (take your pick, LLNL hasn't gotten around to launching
    SDI either) take another 10 years to underestimate cost, misdesign and
    remisdesign a hopeless chemical Mars mission.  Meanwhile, JPL gets to
    design and launch a new generation of probes, first to Mars, then
    everywhere else when folks start realizing what a failure the manned
    program is.  A higher-tech repeat of Apollo, with the manned part
    cancelled before it leaves the CAD.  With instruments orders of
    magnitude better than those on Voyager, we gather an unprecedently huge
    amount of data for a starving generation of planetary scientists.

It's a perfect strategy, and hopefully the death of Fred will alleviate
the need for this kind of politics.  But until then, IMHO the Planetary
Society is a group of geniuses trying to get the best they can out of
a bloated, scientifically illiterate bureaucracy, and doing a pretty
good job considering the odds.



--
Nick Szabo            [e-mail]
"We live and we learn, or we don't live long" -- Robert A. Heinlein
The above opinions are my own and not related to those of any
organization I may be affiliated with.

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 14:02:26 GMT
From: prism![e-mail]  (Michael Begley)
Subject: Re: Magellan article

>Included in the Post report was evidence of volcanism
>reported at the meeting.  This included unexpected smooth
>areas on the Venus surface, vast expanses without craters.
>Rapid volcanic resurfacing could hold the answer to the
>riddle that craters are not being found in the process of being
>resurfaced.

I would have thought that the surface would not show craters simply due to
erasion from weather.  Wouldn't thousands of years of winds tend to smooth
and fill the smaller craters?  Would a denser atmosphere than Earth result
in faster erosion?  Is the principal cause of erosion on Earth attributed
to water and rain only?


--
Michael Begley
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 21:43:29 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 12/11/90


                        MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                          December 11, 1990

     The Magellan spacecraft is in good health and performing nominally.  All
seven STARCALS (star calibrations) since yesterday were successful with
attitude updates averaging less than 0.015 degree.  There were no commands
sent to the spacecraft yesterday, but later today the M0346 mapping command
sequence will be sent.  This 4-day command sequence is the last sequence
containing full length mapping passes as we go into the occulted mapping
phase of the mission.

     From December 14 until January 28, part of the playback phase of each
orbit will be occulted by Venus.  To adjust for the shorter playback time
available, the length of the mapping passes are shortened.  During the first
eight days of occulted mapping, the pass is shortened by 6.5 minutes.  At
the peak of apoapsis occultation the mapping passes will be shortened by
about 9 minutes.

     The so-called "occultation gap" will be split between the northern and
southern extremes of the image swaths.  The total area which will be lost is
about 1% of the Venus surface.  The gaps is expected to be filled-in between
August 15 and September 28 1991, during the Extended Mission Cycle 2.

     The radar sensor continues its excellent performance, but the tape
recorder tracks A1 and A3 are exhibiting an exponential rate of deterioration.
Various corrective actions are being studied.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 19:25:54 GMT
From: mintaka!spdcc!ima!dirtydog![e-mail]  (Stephen Uitti)
Subject: Re: Where is GALILEO?

...and besides, I have this idea that Galileo is gonna feel
lonely, and will be back to visit again...

Stephen.
[e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 21:35:01 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!ptolemy![e-mail]  (Richard S. Brice)
Subject: Re: 10th planet?

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
> The chances of a tenth outer planet are not too bad, although evidence for
> it is slim to nonexistent.  (A very careful reassessment of observations
> of the orbit of Neptune by some folks at JPL concluded that there are no
> unexplained perturbations.)  Precise ranging of the Pioneers and Voyagers
> have already put tight bounds on it, however:  it has to be small, a long
> way out, well away from the ecliptic, or some combination.

Are their strong reasons for believing that planets could not have
been formed (or captured) in orbits well away from the ecliptic?
If not, are there good ways of searching for such planets that are both
far out and well away from the ecliptic?

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 21:30:47 GMT
From: lib!mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu![e-mail]  (Cyndi Smith)
Subject: Re: HST images, conversion of FITS data

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Thomas L. Zimmerman)
writes:
> 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.

Anyone know if/where this is available for Macintosh?
Thanks.

Cyndi Smith
[e-mail]
My opinions are MINE, I tell you, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE!

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 17:25:02 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!sialis!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: Who killed Nuclear Rockets? (was Re: The Next Ten Years In Space)

4
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UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, chinet, killer}!orbit!pnet51!schaper
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 9 Dec 90 23:51:27 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Another Russian first

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>   Skylab 1 got delivered to the Australians in pieces.  Skylab 2 is in the
>   NASM.  (Yes, there was a second one.)
>
>I always thought that one was a mock-up -- are you saying it could
>have been an operational station? ...

Yes.  Originally, briefly, there were plans to fly both.  Then Skylab 2 got
demoted to being a backup.  Apart from perishables, some bits and pieces that
got cannibalized for the shuttle program, component aging, and tourist wear
and tear, the one in the NASM is still flight-ready.  The NASM people were
quite proud, in the beginning, that apart from perishable supplies their
Skylab was *precisely* as it would have been flown.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 9 Dec 90 23:49:46 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: WUPPE Status for 12/09/90 [AM] (Forwarded)


         WUPPE Status Report No. 15
         AM, Sunday, Dec. 9, 1990
         Spacelab Operations Control Center
         Marshall Space Flight Center
         Huntsville, AL


         The University of Wisconsin telescope aboard the Space Shuttle
         columbia acquired three high-priority targets for the WUPPE science
         team last night.

         Those targets included HD 25443, a very hot star seen at great
         distance  through much interstellar matter; HD 37903, a B main
         sequence star used by WUPPE as an interstellar medium probe; and
         G70D8247, a magnetic white dwarf.

         HD 25443, observed for 38 minutes, was a critical WUPPE observation.
         Because it is known from optical observations to be highly polarized,
         it can be used by the WUPPE science team to calibrate the data taken
         from all the WUPPE observations of the Astro 1 mission.  As a result,
         researchers can have far more confidence in the precision of the
         polarization measurements made by the Wisconsin telescope.

         HD 37903 is a very bright star and was used by WUPPE to shine through
         interstellar gas and dust.  It was observed for 38 minutes.
         Measurements of this star, in combination with measurements of other
         stars, will help astronomers map the polarization that occurs at the
         shorter ultraviolet wavelengths.  Polarization -- the tendency of
         light waves to vibrate in a preferred orientation -- can be used to
         determine more about the chemical makeup of interstellar matter and
         processes that occur in the interstellar medium.

         G70D8247 is a magnetic white dwarf that has been extensively observed
         in the optical.  That data, in combination with WUPPE data, should
         permit the development of a reliable model for this star.  It was
         observed by WUPPE last night for 42 minutes.  Magnetic white dwarfs
         are of interest to WUPPE astronomers because their strong magnetic
         fields -- stronger than any magnetic field that could be created on
         Earth -- polarize light.

         The WUPPE science team considered last night's observations to be some
         of the best WUPPE observations of the Astro 1 mission.  Ground command
         operations are becoming more efficient, allowing astronomers to push
         the WUPPE instrument toward its full capabilities.

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #663
*******************