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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #669

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 669

Today's Topics:
              Magellan Update - 12/03/90
            Re: Where is GALILEO?
           Re: space news from Nov 5 AW&ST
    Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [0718 CST] (Forwarded)
       Re: Thanks from "star gazer...maybe"..Bob and 8 year old
               Re: 10th planet?
      Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1730 CST] (Forwarded)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1900 CST] (Forwarded)
            Re: Where is GALILEO?

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: 11 Dec 90 04:00:15 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 12/03/90


                    MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                     December 3, 1990

     The Magellan spacecraft, presently performing nominally, experienced an
incorrect attitude update on Saturday, December 1, which degraded the radar
mapping data of several orbits and affected the X-band communications.  Early
Saturday morning, the star tracker accepted a spurious interrupt and incurred
an incorrect attitude update of 0.136 degrees.  The on-board drift bias was
also corrupted so that the attitude knowledge degraded with time, and
eventually was off by about 0.4 degree.

     This off-point made it impossible to achieve a reliable X-band lock and
radar data for several orbits was lost.  S-band telemetry was maintained, and
the spacecraft was never in danger.  Spacecraft controllers were initially
confident that a successful star calibration would correct the attitude error,
but another spurious interrupt further degraded the off-point to 1.1 degrees.

     Attitude corrections were computed on the ground and uplinked to the
spacecraft on Saturday evening in two stages.  At 8:22 PM PST the orbit #946
STARCAL (star calibration) was successful on both stars.  On subsequent orbits
the drift bias value was updated, and by Sunday morning the attitude update
limit was reset to it normal value of 0.07 degree.  The net result was degraded
radar data for 2-1/2 orbits and lost radar data for 3-1/2 orbits.  The
Magellan flight team will examine ways to accelerate the recovery process in
the event of incorrect attitude updates.

     Of the 450 orbits completed by November 30, 438 orbits of valid data have
been received at earth (97.3%).  The causes of data losses are as follows:

       o Power outage at Madrid DSN station (10/1)    1.2 orbits
       o Incorrect attitude update (10/1)             1.5 orbits
       o DSN delay is setting polarization after
         TWTA swap following spurious shutoff         0.3 orbits
       o Frequency timing outage Canberra (11/13)     1.4 orbits
       o Loss of Signal #3 (11/15)                    3.0 orbits
       o Power outage at Canberra (11/21)             0.2 orbits
       o Tweak Commanding anomaly (11/23)             4.0 orbits
       o Miscellaneous DSN lockup delays, etc.        0.4 orbits

           TOTAL TO DATE:                            12.0 ORBITS
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 15:23:17 GMT
From: pilchuck!seahcx!phred![e-mail]  (Pete Jarvis)
Subject: Re: Where is GALILEO?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stephen A. Lowe) writes:
>I thought that the Galileo spacecraft was supposed to fly
>by Earth this past weekend?  What happened?  Did I get
>the date wrong?  What's the scoop?

It did. It flew within 590 miles. Was only in the vicinity for half an hour.
Peter Jarvis.......

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 22:19:08 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5![e-mail]  (Nick Szabo)
Subject: Re: space news from Nov 5 AW&ST

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>OSC and Hercules get the 1990 National Air and Space Museum Trophy for
>Pegasus.

Congratulations!  Pegasus is indeed the most important space development
of 1990, IMHO.

>...
>Orbital Sciences posts its first after-tax profit, with five Pegasus launches
>sold to date (all to DARPA).

The Pegasus program is still operating at a loss, since it is in the R&D
phase.  Most of the profits come from the Space Data Division, which
operates satellite tracking systems for NASA, DoD, and other organizations.
When doing cutting-edge R&D in the real world (as opposed to begging before
Congress) it helps to have a diversified product line and customer base.
A major weakness of SSI, Amroc, and other stalling private space companies
is

* they are 1-product companies
* their designs are not compatable with current satellites, but they
  do not have the resources to develop their own satellites
* they have not put priority on strategic partners (OSC works with
  Martin Marietta and Hercules on their two largest projects).

IMHO, Amroc can still succeed if they do the following:

* Build a rocket with a payload fairing exactly the size of Ariane
  or Delta (so that currently building satellites can be launched)
* Find a strategic partner to do integration and launch (they are
  doing this now)
* Develop and market a second, related product (for example, a
  small military missile using their patented fuels).


OSC tows the fine line between government contracts (most of its revenue
still comes from NASA and DoD) and cutting-edge projects with potentially
large public and private markets.  Unlike the larger aerospace companies,
they are not afraid to trade short-term profits on government contracts
for longer-term market potential.


--
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: 8 Dec 90 13:43:23 GMT
From: uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU![e-mail]  (Greg Hennessy)
Subject: Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded)

In the NASA PR that Peter Yee posted:
#      She used the slinky
#      to illustrate that the length and frequency of light waves is
#      directly proportionate to the amount of energy producing them.

Well, I don't really mind the idea of the classroom in space (even if
it was very noisy) but I really hate telling students that the lenght
of the light waves is proportional to its energy.

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

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

Date: 9 Dec 90 19:36:15 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [0718 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #39
      7:18 a.m. CST, December 9, 1990
      7/06:23 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      Air-to-ground communications took a different twist last night as
      Astro Mission Manager Jack Jones (call sign KC41WU) and Payload
      Specialist Ron Parise (WA4SIR) chatted informally by ham radio.

      "At approximately 9:22 [CST] last night, at the Marshall Space
      Flight Center amateur 'radio shack,' I made contact with Ron Parise
      on board Columbia and talked with him for a moment or two," reported
      Jones.  "That's the first time ever a mission manager has done
      that."

      The two were communicating via the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
      (SAREX), being operated aboard its third Shuttle mission.  Both
      Parise and Jones are licensed ham radio operators.

      "We discussed how well things are going, how proud we are of what
      they're doing -- really a wonderful job -- and we're looking forward
      to congratulating them after they get home," Jones said.

      As a secondary Shuttle payload, SAREX is being operated by Parise
      during his pre- and post-sleep activities each day.  Automated SAREX
      operation is also provided with a "robot," which is activated and
      deactivated by the crew at about 12-hour intervals.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 13:31:10 GMT
From: hpfcso![e-mail]  (James Sorensen)
Subject: Re: Thanks from "star gazer...maybe"..Bob and 8 year old


>Boom...Mars !!! wow...almost on top of us...never did figure out what
>that very small cluster of stars near it were...(I see them allot)

The small cluster of stars next to Mars is the Pleides.  It consists of lots
of start of which 7 are visible.  I call it the mini dipper.

James Sorensen

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

Date: 6 Dec 90 21:30:15 GMT
From: mnetor!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: 10th planet?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Fraering Philip) writes:
>There is more than one model for Planet X's orbit that shows it to
>be perpendicular to the ecliptic and as eccentric as Pluto's...
>
>Which means that sometimes it is interacting with the outer planets,
>and sometimes not.

The problem with such models is, what is the evidence that planet X exists
at all?  A much simpler model is that it doesn't.  With the outer-planet
perturbation evidence gone, there is no need to invoke bizarre orbits to
explain why planet X doesn't perturb the outer planets!
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 8 Dec 90 20:15:47 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1730 CST] (Forwarded)


     Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #18
     5:30 p.m. CST, Dec. 7, 1990
     5/16:40 MET
     Spacelab Mission Operations Control
     Marshall Space Flight Center,
     Huntsville, AL

     A "lesson from space" and a steady succession of astronomical
     observations were highlights of the sixth day of the Astro-1
     mission, during the period from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CST).  The lesson
     was provided by four of Columbia's crewmembers, who devoted part of
     their off-duty time this morning to an educational effort known as
     "Space Classroom: Assignment the Stars."  Payload Specialist Sam
     Durrance and Mission Specialist Jeff Hoffman gave a presentation
     about the electromagnetic spectrum and its relationship to the
     high-energy astronomy mission.  Seeing and hearing the lesson were
     students in classrooms at the Marshall Space Flight Center in
     Huntsville and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
     Later, the students also had the opportunity to ask questions over
     an air-to-ground circuit, and receive answers from Payload
     Specialist Ron Parise and Mission Specialist Bob Parker.

     Observations with Astro-1's four specialized telescopes continued
     throughout the lesson, as well as during the rest of this period.
     New procedures which had been worked out Thursday continued to work
     well for bringing the three ultraviolet telescopes into the track
     and observe modes by a combination of ground commands and crew
     involvement aboard Columbia.  The smoothness of operations today
     prompted Dr.  Arthur Davidsen of Johns Hopkins University to say,
     "We're now operating at an efficiency level as good as where we had
     hoped to be pre-mission, with everything working as well as
     expected." Davidsen is principal investigator for the Hopkins
     Ultraviolet Telescope, one of the three Astro-1 ultraviolet
     instruments.

     The observing schedule during this period was a busy one,
     highlighted by target acquisitions which included the well-known
     spiral galaxy M31 in Andromeda, the Supernova 1987A, and, at the end
     of this period, Jupiter and its moons.  Use of available observation
     time was consistently high during the period, with 100 per cent of
     the available time used in the case of the Jupiter opportunity.  The
     latter was the first observation during the mission of an object
     within the solar system, and one aimed at learning more about the
     interaction between the giant red planet and its moons.

     The three ultraviolet telescopes and the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope
     were performing without any significant anomalies
     during this period.

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 19:59:31 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/09/90 [1900 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #41
      07:00 p.m. CST, December 9, 1990
      7/18:11 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center

      Bob O'Connell, co-investigator for the Ultraviolet Imaging
      Telescope, was excited and enthusiastic in reporting his team's
      successful findings from observations of the Perseus cluster of
      galaxies, Abell 426.

      This large cluster, which is composed of about 500 galaxies,
      measures one trillion times the mass of our Sun. This mass, which is
      in the form of gas with temperatures of over 100 million degrees,
      spews out huge quantities of X-rays. The data from these X-Rays
      shows gas radiating from the center of this cluster and "cooling" as
      it draws inward. Scientists hope to account for the measurement of
      this material and its origins based upon Astro-1 observations.

      To date, UIT has acquired over 75 astronomical targets. Over 900
      exposures have been made of objects such as the elliptical galaxy in
      the Fornax, NGC 1399, the edge-on galaxy NGC891 and the impressive
      Supernova 1987A.

      The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope aboard Columbia records wide-view
      photographic images of ultraviolet light of star clusters, galaxies
      and other stellar objects. UIT images will be recorded directly onto
      a very sensitive astronomical film for later development after
      Columbia lands. UIT has enough film to make 2,000 exposures during
      this mission. The telescope was developed by the Goddard Space
      Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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

Date: 11 Dec 90 00:39:25 GMT
From: snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Steve Groom)
Subject: Re: Where is GALILEO?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stephen A. Lowe) writes:
>I thought that the Galileo spacecraft was supposed to fly
>by Earth this past weekend?  What happened?  Did I get
>the date wrong?  What's the scoop?

It went by as planned, within about 5 miles of the aim point.  (100 miles
would still have been OK.)  It was a couple of seconds early, I think.

Things are quite busy around here with Magellan, so this "encounter"
didn't get all the attention that the Voyager encounters have
received.  Besides, everyone pretty much knew what they were going to
see - not like finding Elvis on Neptune :-) .  The current shuttle
mission has also grabbed some attention.

You'll probably see the Galileo stuff start to trickle out within a
week or so, but they'll be working on the data for years.  They're
planning to correlate and compare the Galileo data with that from
several other instruments (e.g. weather satellites) which collected
data at almost the same time.
--
Steve Groom, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
[e-mail]  {ames,usc}!elroy!stevo

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #669
*******************