Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V13_1/V13_141.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #141

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 141

Today's Topics:
              Salyut 7 Returns to Earth
              MIR Lottery Execs Arrested
             Magellan GIF images
              New book: Exploring Space
           Re: Mir Sweepstakes Organizers Arrested
         NASA Headline News for 02/08/91 (Forwarded)
       Keplerian elements by anonymous FTP (How to...)

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

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 22:17:41 PST
From: [e-mail]
X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"[e-mail]"
Subject: Salyut 7 Returns to Earth


This is from America Online's online news service.  Usually they credit
AP, UPI, TASS, XINHUA or somebody, but this one has no initial credits.

++++++++++++++++

SALYUT-7 SOVIET SPACE STATION PLUNGES THROUGH ATMOSPHERE OVER ARGENTINA

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO (FEB. 7) - The Soviet space station Salyut-7
plunged through Earth's atmosphere over Argentina early Thursday and some
of its pieces may strike a lightly populated area, according to the U.S.
Space Command.

The Salyut-7 and its attached Cosmos-1686 cargo spacecraft together weigh
40  tonnes and are 28 meters (31 yards) long, about the size of a railroad
car.  Navy Commander Charles Connor, a space command spokesman, said the
craft entered the Earth's atmosphere at 0344 GMT, traveling at about 27,200
kilometers (17,000 miles) per hour.

(According to the Soviet news agency Tass, the Soviet space control center
in Kaliningrad, near Moscow, clocked their reentry at 0347 GMT.  The space
station plunged over the Argentine pampa several hundred kilometers (miles)
west of Buenos Aires, Tass reported.)

It was not known whether some of the debris would burn up on their journey
through the atmosphere, or survive and fall to earth.  Cmdr. Connor said
the U.S. Space Command expected the debris to reach earth, which he said
was rare.  "Usually in satellite break-ups they just don't pass through
the atmosphere, but the size of this one and with its shields, we certainly
expect it to fall"  to earth, he said.

The Salyut-7, powered by solar energy and chemical batteries, does not
contain any radio-active substances.

The seventh and last version of the first permanent Soviet space station,
the Salyut-7, launched April 19, 1982, was used in nine cosmonaut missions
before technical problems forced it into retirement four years ago.
Cosmos-1686, a new model of experimental station, was docked to the station
September 17, 1985.

Debris from two spacecraft have fallen to earth. In 1978, radioactive
debris  from Soviet satellite Cosmos-954 struck a lightly populated area
of northern  Canada; in 1979, pieces of the U.S. Skylab space station fell
on unpopulated  parts of Australia.

+++++++++++++++++++
End of copied article

_____________
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
"It's not a question of on whose side God is on.  The question is,
are we on God's side?  And I'm confident we are."
-- J. Danforth "Not-to-put-too-fine-a-point-on-it,-but-don't-you-
sleep-better-at-night-knowing-he's-just-a-heartbeat-away-from-
Air-Force-One?" Quayle

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

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 11:53:39 PST
From: [e-mail]
X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"[e-mail]"
Subject: MIR Lottery Execs Arrested


The Dallas Morning News today reported that David Mayer and James Davidson,
president and senior vice president of Space Travel Services, were arrested
Wednesday in Houston on charges of violating state gambling laws.  STS has
been operating a lottery to select an American to go to the Soviet MIR space
station.  Each chance of being selected costs $2.99 through a 900 number.
Lotteries are illegal in Texas.  The state attorney general claims to have
received assurances that STS would bring operations into compliance with
state law, but that said assurances went unfulfilled.

Comment:
As I understand it, there are plenty of states in the union that allow
lotteries, and everybody in Texas knows that gambling is illegal here.
So how come STS didn't just set up shop in another state to begin with?

_____________
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
   "I like Dan Quayle.  He's young." -- George Bush on his choice for VP

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

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 15:00:55 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
Subject: Magellan GIF images


The GIF-format Magellan radar images are great. Thanks for converting
them, Ron!
    John Roberts

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

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 13:02:23 PST
From: [e-mail]
X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"[e-mail]"
Subject: New book: Exploring Space

    There is a new book just out that would interest a lot of the SD readers,
it is called "Exploring Space: Voyages in the Solar System and Beyond" by
William E. Burrows.  (He also wrote the book "Deep Black" about the history
of spysats.)  It's a history of the space program, but what makes this book
different from all the others I've read is that it's the first to focus on
the unmanned space program.  Most histories you see (in both book and tv
form) go on forever about the manned program, then toss in a snippet about
"Oh yeah, there's Voyager and Viking too."  And this is the first book I've
read that thoroughly examines and explains the past and ongoing frustrations
felt by the space sciences communities towards the manned space program.

To give you an idea, here's an excerpt from it (any typos are mine):
    "And so on May 25 [1961] towards the end of a speech on 'Urgent
National Needs' that he delivered to a joint session of Congress, Kennedy
announced that he wanted to land Americans on the Moon before the end of the
decade and asked the nation to approve such a commitment.  'No single space
project in this period will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind,
or more important for the long range exploration of space; and none will be
so difficult or expensive to accomplish,' Kennedy averred.
    "In all ways except one, JFK's statement would prove to be prophetic.
Sending men to the Moon would indeed be exciting, impressive, difficult, and
expensive.  The program's long-range importance for the exploration of space,
however, would turn out to be very different from what the young president
seemed to have in mind.
    "In any case, there it was.  The United States of America was finally
pointed right at the Moon, just as von Braun, Ley, and the others had prophe-
sied a decade earlier [in "Collier's" magazine articles].  The decision rested
on four fundemental principles that were so important they would constitute
the essential underpinnings of the space program for decades to come:
    "* The crusade to land Americans on the Moon would be unabashedly
political, and would be dictated by a perceived competition that the Kennedy
administration resolved to win at all costs.  The Soviet Union, and specifi-
cally its presence in space, would thereby become a force that was used to
consolidate, shape, and focus the national will in a patriotic enterprise
of unparalleled scope.  Competition with the USSR was therefore to become an
intrinsic part of the US space program.  And if winning was everything, any
means of doing so could be justified, even if it involved technologically
dubious strategies.  The science and technology would have to support the
politics, not the other way around.
    "* Since winning would be measured in terms of prestige--how the
world viewed the American space program--favorable public relations would
become a fundamental part of the process.  Being the best would matter only
as it related to popular perception.  And that would apply at home no less
than beyond the nation's borders because there would be no program without
public support.  The country would have to have its appetite whetted for the
competition--the game--and kept interested enough to finish.  That in turn
would require a campaign to portray the conflict in epic terms, with the
astronauts depicted as true heroes in the Arthurian tradition and the
opposition as the embodment of evil.  In this regard, "Life" magazine's
exclusive converage of the original seven Mercury astronauts would be
reminiscent of the "Collier's" series, which in part dealt with the astro-
naut selection and testing process, portraying successful candidates as
examples of the ideal American male.
    "* The space program would now be firmly man-centered, since only
men could be heroes and heroes were the order of the day.  That, too, would
prove to be costly.  Not only were astronauts incapable of performing even
a fraction of the tasks that machines could do, but sending them to space
and keeping them there would be extremely expensive becuase their lives had
to be protected in an environment that was relentlessly dangerous and poten-
tially lethal.  Furthermore, while the race to get men on the Moon would
usher in a period of robust space science and planetary exploration, the
Space Transport System that followed Apollo would force NASA to plunder the
budgets of many valuable unmanned programs just to keep the shuttle going.
This would have a divisive effect within the space agency itself, not only
pitting manned and unmanned programs against one another, but forcing unmanned
programs to compete on their own level for the crumbs dropped by the shuttle.
The Hubble Space Telescope and other space-based astronomical projects, for
example, had to vie with projects involving planetary exploration.
    "* Finally, Project Apollo would be goal- or mission-oriented, not
part of a larger, more comprehensive endeavor.  Because landing astronauts
on the Moon was to be an end in itself, rather than the means to a greater
end, it would conclude abruptly after the sixth trip without realizing its
true potential: that of being a sizable step in the larger process of securing
an expanding foothold in the solar system.  The Apollo experience would
therefore leave a confusing void.  The morning after the party, so to speak,
many thoughtful Americans who remained convinced that the lunar landings were
good would find themselves wondering what, in fact, they were good for.
    "The goal of getting Americans to the Moon would be a sharply focused
undertaking, but an exceedingly narrow one, and that too would have telling
effects on the space program as a whole.  It would haunt both the shuttle and
the space station in years to come.  The system--NASA, successive administra-
tions, and Congress--would prove incapable of creating and sustaining a com-
prehensive and ongoing space program.  Instead, the program (if, indeed, it
could be called that) would be constantly subjected to the vagaries of parti-
san politics and a mercurial budget that would leave almost everything
severely malnourished.  And the most scientifically and technologically pro-
ductive of the space agency's programs--space science in all of its manifes-
tations on the ground, in Earth orbit, and beyond, and the exploration of the
solar system--would be the least nourished of all."  pp. 68-70

_________________________________
Marc Hairston--Center for Space Sciences--Univ of Texas at Dallas
...part of the slowly starving space science community...
SPAN address   UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTD750::HAIRSTON

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

Date: Thu, 7 Feb 91 14:08:05 -0500
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Mir Sweepstakes Organizers Arrested
Newsgroups: sci.space
Cc:

In article <[e-mail]> Brian Yamuchi writes:

>According to a UPI story on Clarinet (clari.tw.space), the organizers
>of the Mir Sweepstakes were arrested today (2/6) and charged with
>running an illegal lottery by the local DA.  This is a felony charge
>which carries a penalty of 2-10 years in prison.

Well, a while ago the DA threatened to do something like this. A lot
of phone calls seems to have changed their minds at that time. Pity
it didn't take. It might be a good idea to try some calls again. If
you want to call, the Houston DA's number is 713-221-5800. If you call,
pe polite and calmly tell them how you feel about it. Don't threaten
anything or anybody. If you are from Houston, make sure they know that.
You might also tell them if you entered and that you don't feel duped
(unless you do) even though you don't expect to win (I myself figure
I am five times more likely to be killed in a car crash as fly on Mir).

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

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

Date: 8 Feb 91 17:41:38 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/08/91 (Forwarded)


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

  Friday, February 8, 1991    Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Friday, February 8, 1991

Discovery will be rolled from Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter
Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building
Saturday afternoon.  Mating of Discovery to its external tank
and solid rocket booster stack will follow the rollover.  Columbia
will be rolled from the VAB into Discovery's vacated spot in the
OPF by dusk tomorrow.  Activity today on Discovery includes
weight and center--of-gravity measurements.  The heater
problem on Discovery's thruster has been isolated to a
cable harness located between the thruster and an associated
logic unit.  Launch of Discovery for the STS-39 Department of
Defense mission is set for early March.

Work on Atlantis continues on a schedule which would allow an
early April launch for the STS-37 Gamma Ray Observatory
deploy mission.  Current activity on Atlantis includes the
installation of the left-hand orbital maneuvering system
pod this weekend, and tests of the right-hand pod today.  The
STS-37 Atlantis crew equipment interface test will occur
tomorrow.

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

Galileo is now more than 28 million miles from Earth.  It has
traveled 763 million miles since launch and has gone 120
million miles in its solar orbit since the December Earth flyby.
Current spacecraft orbital speed is about 80,300 mph.  Galileo's
health and performance continue to be excellent.
Engineering telemetry and cruise science data are being
transmitted through the  primary low-gain antenna at a rate of
40 bits per second.

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

NASA has scheduled two chemical releases from the
Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite for
February.  There are opportunities to make the two releases,
one of barium and one of lithium, on the nights of Feb. 9, 11, 13,
and 16, and the morning of Feb. 19.  There are multiple release
opportunities each evening.  The CRRES scientists seek to
understand what processes cause aurora.  The studies are
conducted using charged-particle clouds, released by the CRRES
spacecraft, which induce aurora.  These artificial aurora are
then observed to study the interaction between them and
Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere.

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

In testimony yesterday before the House Committee on Science,
Space and Technology, Administrator Richard Truly said that
NASA activities make significant contributions to
America's competitive posture in the global marketplace,
to our national pride and accomplishment, to our creative and
intellectual spirit, and to our understanding of the fragile Earth
we inhabit.  He also said the 1991 budget request reflects
Congressional guidance to temper the proposed rate of
growth of the agency's budget, and to restructure Space Station
Freedom, and responds to recommendations of the Report of the
Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program.
Truly noted that the budget contains a 17 percent increase for
NASA's educational activities, which represents a sustained
commitment on the part of NASA and the President to stimulate
young people's interest in science, mathematics and engineering,
and to provide resources for teachers and support for university
activity in these areas.



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

Monday, 2/11/91
     1:00 pm    NASA Radio Program will be transmitted.

Tuesday, 2/12/91
    12:00 pm    NASA Productions will be transmitted.



All events and times may change without notice.  This report is
filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a
service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA
Headquarters.  Contact:  CREDMOND on NASAmail or at
202/453-8425.


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

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

Date: 8 Feb 91 15:26:18 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!nachos.SSESCO.com!SSESCO.com![e-mail]  (Chris Elmquist)
Subject: Keplerian elements by anonymous FTP (How to...)

Satellite Keplerian Elements Available for Anonymous FTP
--------------------------------------------------------

For those that are having difficulty receiving the NASA
satellite tracking element sets via News postings, I have
set up and maintain an archive of these element sets accessable
by anonymous FTP.

The server is:

        nachos.ssesco.com    [192.55.187.18]

T.S. Kelso's element sets (the most current and several previous versions)
are maintained in the directory:

        sat_elements/nasa

New element sets are posted weekly.

You can also find the Molczan element sets on the same server
in the directory:

        sat_elements/molczan

These are also updated weekly.

When logging-in to nachos, please use your e-mail address as the
anonymous password so that we can trace network problems if they
should occur.

Thanks go to T.S. Kelso and Mike McCants for providing these element
sets on a regular basis.

Address problems with the server to:    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #141
*******************