Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V13_0/V13_089.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #089

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 13 : Issue 89

Today's Topics:
            Space Station Weights
              Galileo Update - 01/21/91
              Re: Space Station Weights
            Re: Magellan Update - 01/21/91
      Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript
              Re: I know who you are...
      Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript
      Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 19 Jan 91 04:01:56 GMT
From: pilchuck!amc-gw!thebes!polari![e-mail]  (Charles Radley)
Subject: Space Station Weights


Space Station Mass Budgets:-
  Cage & Scherzer criticized my not reading the LLNL proposals.  I
can now report that I have received substantial data from Dr Wood of
LLNL with my sincere thanks.  It is indeed interesting.  My thanks
also go to NASA Reston, and NASA Marshall who have deluged me with
weight data for Freedom as of October / November 1990.  My argument
with Rus Cage concerned effect of centrifugal forces on the weight
breakdown, giving consideration to the functional requirements.  Here
are weight breakdown summary numbers:-

First, Space Station Freedom (fax header date 11 Oct 1990)

Solar power Module            37.1 tons
Truss Assembly                25.6 tons
US Laboratory Module         29.2 tons
Habitation Module            28.2 tons
ESA Columbus Attached Lab    17.2 tons
Japanese Experiment Module    27.7 tons
Four Resource Nodes            42.2 tons
Other                     52.5 tons

Total Manned Base            259.7 tons

The more recent "Resource Summary" of 1 Dec 90 received from NASA
Reston itemized all the modules and nodes but at lower levels is a
little hard to follow.  EXCEPT for the Japanese Experiment Module,
which is clearly broken down in minute detail .  The NASA weight
breakdown is extremely detailed, over 28 pages with 50 items per
page.  But the terminology is a little cryptic.  I did note the
following two items:- US Lab Module Core Structure    36,844 pounds
US Hab Module Core Structure    23,709 pounds

 I have attempted to summarize the JEM breakdown as follows (the
detailed list really is much too long to post):-

    Core Structure            28,859 pounds
    Internal Equipment        15,120 pounds
    External Equipment        10,510 pounds.

    JEM Total                54,489 pounds

There is no breakdown of what the "Core Structure" comprises, but the
internal and external equipment are broken down into several dozen
items.  So it is not really possible to say what the  hull  weighs,
but at least the parameters are now somewhat bounded.

The LLNL Crew Station is presented as follows:-

Habitation Modules            4.9 tonnes
Atmosphere                1.5 tonnes
Internal Equipment            7.0 tonnes
Life Support Module            2.1 tonnes
Consumables                3.6 tonnes
Power & conditioning        2.6 tonnes
Thermal management            2.5 tonnes
Crew & personal effects        1.0 tonnes
ACS & drag make-up            1.5 tonnes
Water                    10.0 tonnes
Miscellaneous                3.7 tonnes

Total                    40.4 tonnes

Overall LLNL versus Freedom Comparison:-

There is no point in reproducing all the material here.   I was
interested to note that many of the points I had expressed in
sci.space  are independently raised in the NASA Critique.

A couple of new things did strike me.  I was intrigued by the lengthy
political discussions presented at length by LLNL.   In particular I
found their political statements about the undesirability of
international collaboration as extraordinarily parochial and totally
at variance to todays global realities.   It is essential that we
allow our friends and allies to participate in the "Great Adventure",
to do anything else would open the US to accusations of trying to
monopolise the benefits of space.
    I was especially astonished by LLNL's remark that the USSR is
"..too impoverished for major fiscal participation".  This neglects
the potentially enormous benefit of having the Soviets' contribute
cheap off-the-shelf launch vehicles.  This alone could make the whole
endeavor instantly viable..!  The Soviets in turn would gain enormous
benefits.

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

Date: 21 Jan 91 18:40:41 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 01/21/91


                          GALILEO STATUS REPORT
                            January 21, 1991

     Today, commands were sent to the Galileo spacecraft to reset the
Command Loss Timer and to modify the system fault protection state in
preparation for the planned Low Gain Antenna switch next week.  Later today,
the spacecraft will perform a planned sun acquisition and a cruise science
memory readout activity for the MAG (Magnetometer) and DDS (Dust Detector)
instruments.

     Tomorrow, a CDS "A" (Command Data Subsystem) memory readout activity is
scheduled.  This readout will provide memory verification subsequent to the
memory copy performed on January 8.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

Date: Mon, 21 Jan 91 16:17:04 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Space Station Weights
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]> Charles Radley writes:
|There is no point in reproducing all the material here.   I was
|interested to note that many of the points I had expressed in
|sci.space  are independently raised in the NASA Critique.

...and are adequately dismissed in the LLNL reply. BTW, since you
saw the critique, can you tell me who wrote it and where they are
from?

|A couple of new things did strike me.  I was intrigued by the lengthy
|political discussions presented at length by LLNL...

So what. If the approach is good then the politics of the people
advocating it are not relevant! You have yet to post any compelling
technical reason why their approach won't work.

|    I was especially astonished by LLNL's remark that the USSR is
|"..too impoverished for major fiscal participation".  This neglects
|the potentially enormous benefit of having the Soviets' contribute
|cheap off-the-shelf launch vehicles....

This from the person who said using a Soyuz was not acceptable?

   Allen

--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Allen W. Sherzer | America does best when it accepts a challenging mission. |
|   [e-mail]   | We invent well under pressure. Conversely, we stagnate   |
|                 | when caution prevails.   -- Buzz Aldrin                  |

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

Date: 21 Jan 91 21:15:14 GMT
From: hsdndev!bbn.com!nic!kira!emily![e-mail]  (Garrett Wollman)
Subject: Re: Magellan Update - 01/21/91

It seems that, since someone posted a note asking what all the
acronyms are, Ron (and maybe Peter?) have started, at least sometimes,
to expand their acronyms and initialisms in text.  I am somewhat of
two minds about this.

First, it seems to be useful to have the expansions available for
newcomers--I was one once--and non-so-newcomers--I didn't know what
DESATs and SITURNs were, either.  However, doing so tends to ruin the
NASA flavor of some of them, not to mention the fact that it repeats
information that people already know.

So, how does everyone feel about a periodical posting--perhaps
monthly--which will give expansions of the acronyms and initialisms
that are often used in this newsgroup?  I volunteer to coordinate it,
if there's enough interest.

So, if you think this would be a good idea, please mail me a reply
(`r' or `R' in [tr]?rn) and say so.  If there's enough interest after
a week or so I'll start collecting these things.

-GAWollman

Garrett A. Wollman - [e-mail]

Disclaimer:  I'm not even sure this represents *my* opinion, never
mind UVM's, EMBA's, EMBA-CF's, or indeed anyone else's.

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

Date: 25 Jan 91 16:25:10 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!euclid.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter Scott)
Subject: Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William K. McFadden) writes:
> >So, what does it say?
>
> --- WARNING ---
>
> This may make you very sad.  I sure was.

You were right; so was I.  What makes it even more saddening is
not knowing whether or not this is true.  There are a couple of
lines in there (I won't repeat them) that sound a little phoney,
but not by much.  More unusual is the absence of expletives, and that
if the voices could be identified as male or female, I would have
thought that at least a few utterances could have been identified
by person.  But I think we both know that if they survived the
break-up, this is the kind of thing that would have happened.

--
Not speaking for NASA.        |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
                              |    ([e-mail])

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

Date: 25 Jan 91 15:55:17 GMT
From: eagle![e-mail]  (James Fincannon)
Subject: Re: I know who you are...

I called the number and a recorded announcement stated that
due to public misunderstanding of the CD-ROM, they decided
to not sell it and therefore didn't offer the service of
removing your name.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes...
>This is not space related at all, but Space_Digest is my only outlet to
>to network world.  Maybe this message is already out there, but then
>again, maybe it isn't.
>
>Anyway, I heard that the Lotus Corporation is going to sell the names,
>addresses and phone numbers of 120,000,000 Americans on CD-ROM.  This
>database MAY include consumer information such as:
>
>    * Your Annual Salary
>    * Your Debt-to-Earnings Ratio
>    * Your Net Worth
>    * Your Investment Portfolio
>    * Your Car(s)
>    * Your Gun(s)
>    * Your Computer, Stereo Equipment, Video Equipment, etc.
>    * Et Cetera...
>    * ...and so forth...
>    * ...and so on...
>
>I know that some of this is true, but at this time I don't know how
>much is just paranoia run amok.  In any case, you may call toll free,
>1-800-688-8320, to get a name removal packet from Lotus.  Barring Acts
>of God, Congress, or the Courts, this set of CD-ROMs will be available
>in March of 1991, so act soon or it'll be too late.
>
>_____________
>Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the
>Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER
>     "...that flag is a symbol of something greater than just the rights
>      in this country." -- Rep. Larry Smith of Florida, October 12, 1989

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

Date: 25 Jan 91 19:20:26 GMT
From: ksr![e-mail]  (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript

In article <[e-mail]>, pjs@euclid (Peter Scott) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William K. McFadden) writes:
>> >So, what does it say?
>>
>> --- WARNING ---
>>
>> This may make you very sad.  I sure was.
>
>You were right; so was I.  What makes it even more saddening is
>not knowing whether or not this is true.

What happened is a tragedy, whether or not the WWN got the story right (I
wouldn't bet on them having gotten it right).  It's not necessary to know
exactly what went on in the crew cabin to feel very sad about that.

>         But I think we both know that if they survived the
>break-up, this is the kind of thing that would have happened.

The medical report done by Joe Kerwin makes it clear that the disintegration of
the Challenger was eminently survivable, and that, judging from three of the
four air packs examined, at least some of the crew survived until impact.  I
believe he concluded they probably lost consciousness during the crew cabin's
ascent and he does not speculate as to whether any of them regained
consciousness during the descent.

I don't presume to know what would have happened in the crew cabin if the crew
remained conscious.  The important things to know about the failure are why it
occurred, how can a recurrence be prevented, and what to do if it reoccurs.

>Not speaking for NASA.        |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
>                              |    ([e-mail])

Probably the most apt use of a disclaimer I have ever seen.
--
Chris Jones    [e-mail]    {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj

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

Date: 25 Jan 91 16:01:13 GMT
From: prism![e-mail]  (Niel M. Bornstein)
Subject: Re: Weekly World News publishes Challenger tape transcript

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William K. McFadden) writes:
>>So, what does it say?
>Here is the rest: the suppressed transcript of the crew's last minutes,

I'm no psychologist (though I do have a BS in Applied Psychology), but this
reads to me more like a movie script than an actual transcript.  I am
extremely doubtful about the validity of this 'transcript'.

I can't back it up, but it just sounds wrong.  Everything you'd expect to
hear is in there.  The whole thing smacks of the kind of conspiracy you'd
expect in tabloids like the Weekly World News.

Niel
--
* Niel M. Bornstein                                  [e-mail] *
* Even if I understood the opinions of Georgia Tech, I couldn't explain them. *
We are destroying art by destroying the beautiful in life.  -- Kakuzo Okakura

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #089
*******************