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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #183

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 183

Today's Topics:
       NASA Inventor of the Year announced (Forwarded)
      Goddard announces contract termination (Forwarded)
                Space Profits
    ESA announces publication of Hipparcos Input Catalogue
        Mars Mystery? -clarification & dilemma

Administrivia:

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

Date: 19 Feb 91 04:25:42 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Inventor of the Year announced (Forwarded)

Kelly O. Humphries
Jonhson Space Center, Houston
February 14, 1991
(Phone:  [phone])


RELEASE:  91-26

NASA INVENTOR OF THE YEAR ANNOUNCED


     Johnson Space CenterUs Leo Monford, NASA's Inventor of the Year, is
determined to make the Space Shuttle's robot arm even more useful
than it is, and his inventions could revolutionize orbital docking and
robotics use.

     The invention that earned him the award is a "Docking Alignment
System,  Monford calls it the Targeting and Reflective Alignment
Concept, or TRAC.

     By itself, the new precision alignment system is a significant
improvement. But used in concert with another of Monford's inventions,
a Magnetic End Effector, it could change
the shape of future robot arms, satellites and space stations.

     Monford, who works in the New Initiatives Office's Space Servicing
Systems Project Office, is the first JSC employee to receive the
Inventor of the Year award since its inception in 1980. The award will
be presented March 28 at a NASA Headquarters
ceremony,  according to NASA General Counsel Edward Frankle, who
announced Monford's selection Feb. 5.

     "My job is to come up with innovative thoughts and technologies and
stimulate others into producing those products," Monford said. "I
honestly can't think of an award I would desire more than this one."

     TRAC utilizes a television camera mounted inside the arm's end
effector and a monitor on the Shuttle's aft flight deck, both with
alignment marks and a flat, mirrored target marked with cross hairs on
the target object. It has been tested extensively at the manipulator
development facility and is able to routinely insert square pegs into
square holes with only  0.03 of an inch clearance.

   Here's how it works. An astronaut operating the remote manipulator
system from the aft flight deck moves the arm to within range of the
fixed-focus television camera inside the arm. The operator makes
translational corrections with the arm until the cross hairs on the
target and the monitor line up.

     Then, the operator uses rotational controls until the camera is able
to see its own image. Since the camera can see only directly in front of
itself, it will not see its own image until the end effector and the
target are perpendicular to each other. When the camera can see itself
and the cross hairs are lined up, alignment is complete.

     "It's like looking through a rifle scope," Monford said.  "Once you
understand the idea of aligning the cross hairs, it just comes naturally
to you."

     The existing alignment system uses a target with a protruding post.
The main advantage of Monford's system is that the target is flat. Many
proposed space operations for the Shuttle's arm or a space station arm
involve stacking and unstacking objects for construction purposes.

     "When you try to make things stack up, a protruding target gets in
the way," Monford said. The beautiful thing about the TRAC system, he
added, is that it works perfectly with the operator's hand controllers,
which maneuver the arm through separate rotational and translational
controls.

    The first practical application of TRAC will be on STS-37, as a part
of Development Test Objective 1205, "TRAC Application for RMS
Alignment/Deflection Measurements." TRAC will be used to provide
precise data on the amount of "play" in the remote manipulator system
when a space walking astronaut applies force to the oustretched arm.
The targeting system will gather data that would be difficult or
impossible to gather otherwise.

     Monford said researchers at Texas A&M, his alma mater, are working
on automating TRAC. Instead of cross hairs, the automat system uses
corner cubes on the target that reflect light back only in the direction
of its origin, similar to bicycle reflectors and a light-emitting diode on
the camera lens. A computer lines up the flood-lit corner cubes to
determine when the arm is perpendicular to its target. When the camera
can see the reflection of the LED on its lens, the computer will know
the alignment is exact.

     "It's really a generic concept. It has very broad application," he said,
explaining that it can provide a precise reference point for intelligent
robots that need to perform exacting tasks on three-dimensional
surfaces.   Put the TRAC system together with Monford's Magnetic End
Effector, patent pending, and the possibilities grow.

     The MEE is a potential replacement for the Standard End Effector,
which grapples payloads through electro-mechanical means, using
cables to snare a protruding grapple fixture. The MEE, with no moving
parts, uses electro-magnetic force to "clomp onto" a plate made of
ferrous metal  attached to the payload. The metal plate shares the
advantage of flatness with the alignment target, and the MEE's
centerline camera would allow the docking plate to double as the target
plate for the TRAC system.

     Monford's smaller, lighter MEE is two-fault tolerant both in
grappling and releasing payloads and requires no regularly scheduled
maintenance or pyrotechnic safety release devices.

    Proposed MEEs would give different sized arms the capability to
grapple common target plates, add the ability to transfer both power
and data to payloads and provide a method of attaching a variety of
power tools that could help alleviate the need for some extravehicular
activity space walks by astronauts. "I think in the space station era,
this type of an end effector will be baselined," Monford said.

     The TRAC, MEE, a JPL Force Torque Sensor that provides a
representation of forces and moment on the arm, and a Carrier Latch
Assembly that uses electromagnetic force to help hold satellites in the
payload bay, are scheduled to fly as part of  the Dexterous End Effector
Flight Demonstration on STS-58.   "I'm looking forward to some other
exciting flight experiments that would leapfrog from this one."

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

Date: 19 Feb 91 04:31:35 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Goddard announces contract termination (Forwarded)

Mark Hess
HQ, Washington, D.C.
February 15, 1991
(Phone:   [phone])


John J. Loughlin II
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:   [phone])



Release No. 91-27

GODDARD ANNOUNCES CONTRACT TERMINATION

     Officials at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., have
announced the termination of the contract held by the General Electric
Company, Astro-Space Division, Princeton, N. J., for the design,
development and test of the Attached Payload Accommodation
Equipment (APAE) element of Space Station Freedom.  The contract,
valued at approximately $555 million, was signed in 1987.

     The APAE was deferred indefinitely from the space station during
the early phases of a Congressionally-mandated 90-day restructuring
review of the Freedom program.

     Goddard officials termed the termination for the convenience of the
government.

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

ReSent-Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Resent-Date:  Wed, 20 Feb 91 15:26:49 EST
Resent-From: Harold Pritchett <[e-mail]>
Resent-To: Space discussion group <[e-mail]>
Date:     Wed, 20 Feb 91 00:50 CDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Space Profits
Original_To:  BITNET%"space@finhutc"

There seems to to be a lot of discussion on the list about the
profitability of space.  Most of this discussion revolves around
current payloads (e.g. satelites, experiments, military etc.).  It
seems to me that the ultimate profitability of space will be determined
by what space allows us to produce and carry back to earth.  I am
not knowledgeable in these areas and would like to encourage an open
discussion about just what we might produce in space and how we will
be able to transport it back to earth in quantities sufficient to
support profit and investment.
  In particular, I am interested in material manufacturing in space, and
what might be mined on the moon or Mars.  What types of useful/rare
materials mightbe/have been found on these worlds, how do we retreive
them, should we retrieve them, and is it practical to bring them back to
earth.  Of course there is a whole list of side issues that go along
with each one of these questions and I think that these are all fodder
for the discussion.  For the time being, however, I would like to start
by getting some basic questions answered.  First, what manufacturing
processes will gain an advantage by being performed in space as oppossed
to earth-based production?  Second, what resources are known to exist on
the moon, or Mars, that would have a viable market back on Earth? I am
looking forward to reading your ideas and opinions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McCollum   (TPM4017@PANAM)      |  Technology coupled with skill     |
Cognitive Scientist                 |  may someday make us all wizards...|
University of Texas - Pan American  |     - or extortionists.            |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 19 Feb 91 09:25:59 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!phigate!philtis![e-mail]  (Harm Munk)
Subject: ESA announces publication of Hipparcos Input Catalogue

In the last issue of the ESA-Journal, a leaflet was inserted with
the following text. Please forward all further inquiries to Dr.
C. Turon, MESIOA::TURON (SPAN), or TURON@FRMEU51 (EARN) (see also
end of article), NOT to the poster of this article.

=================================================================
                 Pre-Publication Announcement
                 THE HIPPARCOS INPUT CATALOGUE
a catalogue of 118 000 star positions and associated astronomical
                             data
           will be published by ESA on behalf of the
                INCA Consortium in Spring 1991

This notice gives details of this important star catalogue, and
   an opportunity to order printed copies, for individual or
         institutional use, at a pre-publication price
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Hipparcos Input Catalogue has been compiled, over the period
1982-1990, as the definitive observational catalogue for the
European Space Agency's Hipparcos astrometry satellite, which
was launched on 8 August 1989.. The Catalogue's compilation has
been carried out by an international astronomical team, the INCA
Consortium, endorsed by ESA, and led by dr. Catherine Turon of
the Observatoire de Paris, France. The Input Catalogue contains
the most up-to-date information on all stars to be observed by
Hipparcos. As a source of stellar astronomical data, its
completeness and accuracy are of unprecedented quality. It will
be a valuable reference for research activities to be undertaken
with the final Hipparcos astrometric data. The Input Catalogue
will be available in printed form, on magnetic tape through the
Strasbourg Stellar Data Centre, and probably also on CD-ROM. The
printed version will comprise approximately 2500 tabulated pages,
and is being published by ESA on behalf of the INCA Consortium.

Stellar Content: the Catalogue contains data on each star
included for observation by the Hipparcos satellite. The star
list comprises about 55 000 stars brighter than, and essentially
complete to, between V=7.3 and 9 mag (dependent on galactic
latitude and colour index), with a roughly uniform sky
distribution. A further 60 000 stars, selected on the basis of
their astrometric and astrophysical interest, lie between this
completeness limit and the satellite observability limit of about
V=12.4 mag. The stars selected for inclusion in the Hipparcos
observing programme, and therefore contained in the Hipparcos
Input Catalogue, were selected on the basis of more than 200
scientific proposals submitted to ESA in 1982, ranked and
supplemented by a peer scientific selection committee, takin
into account the observing capabilities of the satellite.

Data content: the Input Catalogue does _NOT_ contain data derived
from the Hipparcos satellite observations (these data will only
be available at the end of the data analysis phase, probably
around 1995). It comprises the best-available ground based
astronomical data for each programme star, verified and reduced
to homogeneous systems, as measured or compiled by the INCA
Consortium.It includes the following information, when available
(including, where appropriate, formal errors and sources of the
data), and ordered by right ascension:
     Hipparcos Input Catalogue (HIC) running number
     Cross-identification to HD, DM, FK5, AGK3, and SAO
     catalogues*
     Position for equinoxes J2000 & B1950*
     Proper motion*
     Parallax
     Radial velocity
     Magnitudes (B, V and 'Hipparcos')*
     Spectral type and luminosity class
     Variability information*
     Multiplicity information* (including an Annex containing
     more detailed information
     Proper motion and cluster identifiers*
     A supplementary "Atlas" of finding charts for approximately
     10 000 fainter stars*

* indicates that the entries include newly-observed, measured,
or compiled data.

The Input Catalogue amounts to five printed volumes. A sixth
volume contains finding charts for approximately 10 000 fainter
stars.

Orders for the Printed Version of the Hipparcos Input Catalogue

The Catalogue will be published as ESA SP-1136 in april 1991.
Orders received before 31 March will be accepted at a special
pre-publication price.

Orders for the printed version of the Hipparcos Input Catalogue
should be made on a special order form (or photocopies of the
form). The form must be accompanied by a cheque, or an
international banker's draft, or proof of a bank transfer, for
the appropriate amount in Dutch guilders, made payable to"ESA
Publications Division", as follows:

- Individuals certifying that the Catalogue is for private use:
for orders received before 31 March 1991: 120 Dfl, for orders
received after 1 April 1991: 180 Dfl
- Libraries, observatories and other institutes: for orders
received before 31 March 1991: 360 Dfl, for orders received after
1 April 1991: 540 Dfl

 (The prices include postage: outside Europe, delivery will be
                     made by surface mail)

Further information (and further copies of the order form) can
be obtained from:

     Dr. C. Turon,                 Tel: [phone]
     INCA Consortium Leader        MESIOA::TURON (SPAN)
     Observatoire de Paris,        TURON@FRMEU51 (EARN)
      Section d'Astrophysique,
     F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France.
==============================================================

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

ReSent-Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Resent-Date:  Wed, 20 Feb 91 16:08:09 EST
Resent-From: Harold Pritchett <[e-mail]>
Resent-To: Space discussion group <[e-mail]>
Date:     Wed, 20 Feb 91 14:46 CDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Mars Mystery? -clarification & dilemma
Original_To:  BITNET%"space@finhutc"

I apologize for not making my self clearer in my first message.  I
do not think a photo from Mars or any other place is strong evidence
for extra-terrestrial intelligence!  The thing that caught my ear
about this particular structure were the claims made by the author
that this structure maintained its integrity no matter which angle
it was photographed from (same with the martian pyramid).  Based upon
several replies to the first question, this claim seems unfounded,
because as far as I know only two photos have ever been taken of it,
and the author only had one photo to support his claims. I had
simply never heard of this structure before and was curious if it
even existed.  For, those of you who offered to post the image to the
net, I would like to have a copy of the image if you wish to take
the time & trouble to post it or send it to me.
   As a space activist, however, I think these types of hype jobs raise
an interesting dilemma. With funding for space development so tight, and given
the power of such psuedo-issues to capture the public imagination, is
it really in our best interest to off-handedly discard such claims? Personally,
I do not want to spend millions or billions of dollars to chase what
any knowledgeable person knows is a red herring. However, is this
structure in proximity to areas that are potential areas of
development?  Are the processes that created this structure unique enough
that closer study may provide significant insight to the geophysical
evolution of Mars, Earth, or the Solar system? The fact is that such
things capture the publics attention and if we can answer meaningful
questions by visiting such areas then why not use it to build public
interest. Don't get me wrong here, I am not advocating lying in order
to get funding. In fact, I think we should let people know that the
best guesses are that the face is just a creation of lighting and
natural processes, but, at the same time, we should also foster the
idea that we don't have all the answers yet, and that the only way
to get them is by further exploration of the planet. If we want
space to become self-supporting in a free market economy then we have to
promote the field. One source, and hopefully the primary source, of
promotion should be the industrial, scientific, and technological
contributions that space development will ultimately make to our
lives. However, humans do not live by rationality & logic alone. They need
to have some light fun which such anomalies can provide. Further, the power
of such fun to motivate spending should not be underestimated. Also the
educational benefits of discussing how such odditites are interpreted
certainly have a place in the classrooms, and TVs, of a society that is
getting more and more technically illiterate. What do you folks think?

Tim McCollum  (tpm4017@panam)
Cognitive Scientist
University of Texas - Pan American

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #183
*******************