Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V13_1/V13_111.TXT

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Date: Tue,  5 Feb 91 01:53:15 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #111

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 111

Today's Topics:
Re: Problems with International Collaboration (was Re: Space Station...)
             Re: Humanity's Launch Window
              Re: Expendable vs Shuttle
              Re: SPACE Digest V13 #090
                   I-CON X
            In the Stream of Stars
              Magellan Update - 01/31/91
         NASA Headline News for 01/31/91 (Forwarded)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
             [e-mail]

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

Date: 31 Jan 91 16:03:00 GMT
From: julius.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Problems with International Collaboration (was Re: Space Station...)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian Yamauchi) writes:

>Of course (1) and (2) are also good arguments for a strong private
>space exploration and development program...

Not really. Even though the gubbimint has sucked up a great deal of
the capital in this country (to the point that space startups here
are at a great disadvantage) the politicians have fits when
Japanese investors are kind and thoughtful enough to invest in
high technology here, because they're 'eroding/stealing our technology
base' even though the alternative is not having the thing built at
all.

The Spacehab program was set back some when a major Japanese investor
was 'encouraged' to reduce his share (or so I've heard).

Shame Shame Shame.

Phil

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

Date: 31 Jan 91 15:57:07 GMT
From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Humanity's Launch Window

Oops. I forgot one other little basic invention of the Chinese.
Rockets. Well, that's not too big an ommision, the way things are
going they may go the way of the airship: an expensive curiosity :-(

Phil

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

Date: Thu, 31 Jan 91 14:23:36 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Expendable vs Shuttle
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]> Henry Spencera writes:

>>Especially when you realize that the capsule has a nice little rocket
>>to carry the crew to safety.

>My personal opinion is that the rocket isn't necessary, actually, unless
>we are talking about failures at extremely low altitude.

I think it is a little more complex than that. You also need to insure
that the capsule is outside the fragmentation envelope of the launch
vehicle. Otherwise the parachutes could turn to swiss cheese which the
crew would regret for the rest of their lives! Personally, I would
want to be taken *quickly* away from the launcher before deploying
my parachutes.

The rocket would also help control the attitude of the capsule so
they aren't tangled in the lines.

  Allen

PS. I know Mercury carried their escape rocket almost into orbit.
    What did Apollo do?

--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Allen Sherzer |A MESSAGE FROM THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF KUWAIT: |
|[e-mail]   |       "If rape is inevitable, enjoy it!"                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Thu, 31 Jan 91 12:24:50 -0800
From: [e-mail] (60351000)
Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V13 #090

Please...

  Do NOT send me the Space Digest!!
  It's just cluttering up my mailbox.

Thank you.

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

Date: 31 Jan 91 22:00:59 GMT
From: att!cbnewsj!cbnewsi![e-mail]  (The Resource, Poet-Magician of Quality)
Subject: I-CON X



                           I  -  C  O  N     X

                  The East Coast's Largest Convention of
                        Science Fact,
                                 Fiction,
                                      and Fantasy

                            April 19-21, 1991
              State University, Stony Brook, Long Island, NY


                       Special Guest: Majel Barret
                 Number One, Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi,
                and the voice of the computer on Star Trek


                        Special Guest: Tom Baker*
                                Doctor Who


                      Guest-of-Honor: Dan Simmons
             Author of the Hugo Award winning novel Hyperion


                      Special Guest: Harlan Ellison


       Other SF, Fantasy & Horror Guests: Poul Anderson, Jim
       Frenkel, Joan D. Vinge, Larry Niven, Fred Pohl, Jack
       Williamnson. Roger MacBride Allen, Jim Baen, Ian and Betty
       Ballantine, Hal Clement, Tom Doherty, Robert L. Forward,
       Raymond Z. Gallun, Barry Malzberg, James Morrow, Thomas
       Monteleone, Pamela Sargent, John Skipp, Craig Spector, Bruce
       Sterling, Keil Stuart, Tom Weisskopf, George Zebrowski,
       David Kyle, Tracy Hickman, Patricia Kennealy, Nancy
       Springer, Margaret Weiss, and more...


                Science Guest-of-Honor: Robert L. Forward


            Science and Technology Special Guests: Deke Slayton
                       Mercury and Apollo Astronaut

          (currently negotiating with a Russian cosmonaut as well)


                    Gaming Guest-of-Honor: Ken Rolston
                          Co-creator of Paranoia

       Gaming Special Guest: Gary Gygax (Creator of Dungeons & Dragons)

         Gaming Special Guest: Steve Jackson (Developer of GURPS)


       Other Gaming Guests: Greg Costikyan, Jahn Faughnan, Stefan
       Jones, and more...


                Artist Guests: Jill Bauman, Doug Beekman,
                Tom Kidd, Ron Walotsky, and Gahan Wilson.

       Comics Guests: Micheal Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Fred
       Hembeck, Steve Saffel, and Julie Schwarz.


                                  Films:

                            (To be announced)



       In addition to the personal appearances, panels and film
       program, I-CON features an Art Show, Meet the Pros Parties,
       dealers' rooms, writers' workshops, autograph party, no-
       minimum-bid auctions, gaming, filksinging, japanimation,
       model rocketry, gaming tournaments, sneak previews of
       upcoming films, videos, stargazing, ...


                              Special Event:

       I-CON Awards Banquet:         Our annual presentation of the
                                     Gallun Award.  Dinner.  Saturday,
                                     5:30pm, $20 additional.


                           Ticket Information:

       $20 until March 31, 1991 (Children 5-11 years old, $8).
       $25 at the door (Children 5-11 years old, $10).

       Children under 12 must be accompanied by a ticketholding
       adult at all times.

                          I-CON
                          P.O. Box 550
                          Stony Brook, NY  11790

       Please mark on the back of your envelope "USENET Registrant"
       so that we can get in touch with you if there is to be a
       USENET party.  To be sure of being informed of any USENET
       activities...send email to me at [e-mail]


                               Hotel List:

       The CON Hotel is the Holiday Inn in Stony Brook.  Accomodations
       there are available only through the convention: send
       $69/night/room to the above address, indicating which
       night(s) you would like accomodations for.  Other local area
       motels are listed below:

          +o Beacon Motel                        [phone]

          +o Smithtown Motor Lodge               [phone]

          +o Terryville Motor Lodge              [phone]

          +o Harborside Inn of Port Jefferson    [phone]


                               No weapons.


       For more information, send email to [e-mail].
       Please do not call...but if you call, at least leave a phone
       number so I can get back to you.


--
Brian Charles Kohn          AT&T Bell Laboratories Quality Process Center
Quality Management System   E-MAIL: att!hoqax!bicker  ([e-mail])
Consultant                  PHONE: [phone]        FAX: [phone]

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

Date: 31 Jan 91 23:47:59 GMT
From: bbn.com!nic!kira![e-mail]  (Garrett Wollman)
Subject: In the Stream of Stars

I recently purchased a collection of "space art" at our local
good-books bookseller.  I found it more than worth the paltry sum
($19.95) that was asked.  The full information is as follows:

_In the Stream of Stars:  The Soviet/American Space Art Book_
Edited by William K. Hartmann, Andrei Sokolov, Ron Miller, and Vitaly Myagkov
"With the cooperation of:  The International Association for the
Astronomical Arts, The Planetary Society, The USSR Union of Artists."

It was published in November 1990 by Workman Publishing, although it
only appeared in our local area this past week.  The ISBN is
0-89480-705-6 (paper) or 0-89480-875-3 (cloth).

Here's the table of contents:

We Are the Carpenters of an Invisible Cathedral (Ray Bradbury)
Beginnings (William K. Hartmann)
The history of Space Art (Ron Miller)
Space Art in the USSR (Vitaly Myagkov)
Visions of Flight (Robert Schulman)
An Artist in Space (Alexei Leonov)
An Artist on the Moon (Alan Bean)
Exploring by Paintbrush (William K. Hartmann)
To Infinity and Beyond (Andrei Sokolov)

I certainly would recommend this book to practcally any
sci.space/SPACE Digest reader, even the ones who use {tr,n}n to read it.

-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: 31 Jan 91 20:19:38 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 01/31/91


                          MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                             January 31, 1991

     The Magellan spacecraft and its radar system are performing nominally.
All STARCALS (star calibrations) and DESATS (desaturations) since yesterday
were successful.

     The correction to the battery heater set points has successfully brought
down the battery #1 temperature to the desired range.

     Data from tape recorder test #1 is still being analyzed, but preliminary
results indicate that the erase process performs as expected.  Test #2, which
will look for deterioration of the tape itself, has been postponed for a few
days.  The section of little-used tape, which engineers wanted to compare to a
heavily-used part of the tape, was found to have been overwritten.  Other tests
of the flight tape recorder "A", using specific bit patterns or encoding
rules, are being prepared.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Jet Propulsion Lab |
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   M/S 301-355        | It's 10PM, do you know
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  Pasadena, CA 91109 | where your spacecraft is?
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                      | We do!

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

Date: 31 Jan 91 16:22:07 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 01/31/91 (Forwarded)


             Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Thursday, January 31, 1991        Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, January 31, 1991

At the Kennedy Space Center, the replacement thrusters for
Discovery's orbital maneuvering system will be installed
today.  The replacement thrusters were checked and delivered
to the Orbiter Processing Facility yesterday.  Following
installation and re-connection, the thrusters will be retested.
Connection and retest activities are expected to be completed by
Sunday.  Rollover of Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly
Building is now targeted for next Thursday, Feb. 7.
Technicians have completed the orbiter main propulsion system
gaseous oxygen leak checks.  Discovery's launch is set for
March to carry out a series of on-orbit experiments for the
Department of Defense.  The Flight Readiness Review for the
STS-39 mission is currently set for Feb. 21 and 22 at KSC.

Also in the OPF, turnaround activities continue to progress on
Atlantis, scheduled for an April launch to deliver the Gamma
Ray Observatory into orbit.  Technicians have installed the
replacement main engine controller on main engine #2.
The flight readiness test of that engine is set for next week.  The
other two engines have passed their electrical and mechanical
flight readiness tests.  The forward reaction control system will
be installed later this week.  Preparations for that installation
are underway now.  In the Vehicle Assembly Building, Atlantis'
STS-37 solid rocket booster stack is complete and is
undergoing field joint closeout and booster alignment.  The
external tank is now expected to be mated to the two boosters on
Monday, Feb. 4.

Columbia continues to have minor modifications and
maintenance items performed while it awaits Discovery's
move out of the OPF.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NASA will hold its FY 1992 Budget Press Briefing
Monday, Feb. 4, at 2:30 pm in the NASA Headquarters
Auditorium.  Participants will include Administrator Adm.
Truly, Deputy J.R. Thompson, and Comptroller Tom Campbell.
The Office of Space Flight will release a new manifest
concurrent with the briefing.  The briefing will be televised live
on NASA Select TV.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Also on Monday, former United Kingdom Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher will visit the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory.  Mrs. Thatcher expressed a keen interest in space
exploration and environmental science during her tenure as PM.
In May, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip will visit the
Johnson Space Center as part of the royal couple's visit to the
Houston area.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

       STS-39 Mission Facts:
Discovery will fly over the Saudi Arabian peninsula 13 times on
its STS-39 mission.  Five of the orbits are descending while eight
are ascending.  One of the ascending nodes, REV 91, traverses
Africa's Sudan and then flies directly over the Israeli
Mediterranean coast and then over Lebanon and Syria.  One of
the descending orbits, REV 96, runs directly over Bahgdad and
then down the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian coast along the Gulf of
Oman.



Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Thursday, 1/31/91
        11:30 am        NASA Update will be transmitted.

        12:00 pm        Seeds Revisited, a replay of the NASA
Educational videoconference on the space tomato seeds project.

        1:30 pm        Aeronautics and Space report.

Monday, 2/4/91

        2:30 pm        **NASA FY 1992 Budget press briefing from NASA
                                        Headquarters.


NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72
degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.

      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Jet Propulsion Lab |
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   M/S 301-355        | It's 10PM, do you know
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  Pasadena, CA 91109 | where your spacecraft is?
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                      | We do!

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #111
*******************