Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V13_5/V13_510.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #510

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 510

Today's Topics:
        Re:International Civil Space Agency 93
          Letter to U.S. Congress and Senate
             ESO or MIDAS contact address
                Re: GREAT IDEA
                Re: IT'S OVER
            Re: EXPLOSION over Los Angeles
                 Re: tether's
  Goddard's Small Explorers (was Re: space news from March 11 AW&ST)
            Re: Recovering Galileo
               Re: Hypersonic Transport
         NASA Headline News for 05/06/91 (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: 3 May 91 00:30:30 GMT
From: vax5.cit.cornell.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re:International Civil Space Agency 93


      To all NewsNet Members

      Thank you for correcting my spelling, as this is one of my low points.
I must also say that I am just learning the system and have not yet figured out
how to spell check my documents on the VMSNEWS network. Any help I can recieve
in this regards would be helpful.  I must also remind those of narrow minds who
seek after fault and not what is good in somthing, to lighten up just a little.
For if you spent as much of your intellegence to look for what was being
presented instead of nitpicking misspellings and the such, your time might be
better spent.  In the future I will make an effort to present corrected
documents to the VMSNEWS network.

                          Thank you for the many replies of support, Godspseed!
                                              Rick R. Dobson
                                              ExSincerely,ecutive Director
                                              UnRick R. Dobsonited Spa
                                                Founder and
                                                Executive Director
                                                United Space Federation, Inc.

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

Date: 3 May 91 01:25:18 GMT
From: vax5.cit.cornell.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Letter to U.S. Congress and Senate



    Dear Senators and Congressmen

        Many key  technology  related  industries in your district are now
suffering cutbacks and scale downs of epidemic proportions as a result of the
collapse of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA.  Thousands of your
constituents ( VOTERS ) are now  losing their jobs, their lively hoods, and
the very  means with which to support their familys and their communities.
This could very well be the beginning of a devastating chain reaction which
could  engulf all areas of this countries economic infrastructure.  I  must
also emphasize that this problem is not only occurring here in this country,
but is also occurring at much worse proportions throughout Eastern Europe and
the USSR.   I ask you this Mr. Senator, what shall be your pledge to your
constituents in the next few months when the hoards of letters cascade onto
your desk  from people who for years have had steady job security, who now
stand bewildered and overwhelmed with fear for their family's survival in the
long lines to collect unemployment checks;  What shall be your response to the
leaders of your States aerospace, electronic, manufacturing, and other key
industries when they say " Mr. Senator, what shall we do, we have no work for
our workers, and our Corporations are failing for lack contracts " ;   And
what Mr. Senator shall you do when the costs for providing subsidies and
services to your states county, city, and town governments outstrips the
income generated from Taxes which now have been eliminated, or greatly
reduced, as a result of  key industries and corporations failing and workers
who no longer make taxable incomes.

         I have a viable solution to this problem and wish to receive
your support and assistance in making it happen.  I will put unemployed
workers in your state back to work.  I will give your states industry and
corporations a bounty of contracts to fulfill.  I will Mr. Senator generate
enough new tax income for your state to fill  its exhausted treasuries to
overflowing.  I have a dream Mr. Senator, a vision of renewed prosperity,
adventure, and the opening and conquest of the new frontier.  This dream and
vision does not only incompass this country,  but it incompesses the well
being of the whole world.


                 Thank you for your time and support, Godspeed!
                        Sincerely,
                        Rick R. Dobson

                               Founder and Executive Director
                                UNITED SPACE FEDERATION, Inc.

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

Date: 2 May 91 20:59:51 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!uos-ee!ee.surrey.ac.uk![e-mail]  (Ata Etemadi)
Subject: ESO or MIDAS contact address

Dear all

I'm trying to get in touch with the people at the European Southern
Observatory near Munich. They produce the MIDAS package. I would
be grateful if someone could give me a relevant email address.

    regards
        Dr A. Etemadi <(|)>.

--
===============================================================================
Dr. A. Etemadi,                           | Phone: [phone] Ext. 2311
V.S.S.P. Group,                           | Fax  : [phone]
Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng.,  | Email:
University of Surrey,                     |   Janet: [e-mail]
Guildford,                                |          [e-mail]
Surrey GU2 5XH                            |   SPAN : ata@mssl
United Kingdom                            |          ata@msslc
===============================================================================

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

Date: 3 May 91 15:47:17 GMT
From: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: GREAT IDEA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>... for the hype and praise for OSC (which I am not knocking or
>denying), how can everybody rate them as the hottest thing in town on
>the basis of one launch (with the initial ride given/subsidized by a
>gov't plane)?  Isn't their money made on separation doohickeys ...

Pegasus isn't making money yet, but that's because it's still in its very
early stages.  It will eventually.  And yes, one launch isn't very much, but
there are two more scheduled for this summer; the holdup has been payload
readiness, not launcher problems.

And the ride wasn't "subsidized" by a government plane:  the customer provided
the launch aircraft to reduce his launch costs, since he happened to own a
suitable plane.  (It's convenient that he did, since nobody else has one
and setting one up from scratch would have been costly, but this was hardly
a subsidy:  it reduced the customer's costs, not OSC's.)

The significance of Pegasus's one launch is not so much that it makes them
a roaring commercial success, although that's certainly the way the wind
is blowing.  Its significance is that it was the very first launch of a
completely privately developed launcher.  It's also the first launch in a
very long time of a launcher developed at modest cost (circa $50M) and in
a relatively short time (about 3 years).
--
And the bean-counter replied,           | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
"beans are more important".             |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 5 May 91 03:06:35 GMT
From: hayes.ims.alaska.edu!hayes![e-mail]  (Eric Olson)
Subject: Re: IT'S OVER

In article <[e-mail]6> [e-mail] (MICHAEL DAVID WARREN) writes:
>STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION WILL BE CANCELLED AFTER THE 1991-92
>SEASON. IT IS OFFICIAL FROM THE PRODUCERS OF THE SHOW.
>I AM SO GLAD, THAT HAS TO GO DOWN IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY
>AS ONE OF THE WORST RATED SHOWS OF ALL TIME
>NEXT TO THE 1988 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
>GOODBYE STTNG, YOU WILL NOT BE MISSED

How nice.  Are you sure you wanted to post this to sci.space, and not
to sci.space.cadet?

Eric Olson <[e-mail]> Gryphon Gang Fairbanks AK 99775

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

Date: 5 May 91 02:09:39 GMT
From: skipper![e-mail]  (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: EXPLOSION over Los Angeles

In article <32569@usc> [e-mail] (Steve Robiner) writes:

   I've heard several reports on the radio this morning about a bright
   'flash' of light in the sky over LA on the night of April 30th/morning
   of May 1st.

   Anyone know more about this?

The L A Times said it was a meteorite and had a bunch of experts to
back up their claim.  The evening news said so too.

   It was described by witnesses as 'an electrical fire' and others
   as 'an explosion.'  I heard one report on the radio that a witness
   who happened to videotape the event had his tape confiscated by the
   Air Force.

Well, the Times had a picture.  I didn't see a video tape, but I was
in and out and not really watching.  It looked like a meteorite trail
to me and it certainly didn't look like an explosion--just the streak
across the sky.

   I'm not trying to spread wild rumors, just reporting what I heard on the
   radio.  And from those accounts it doesn't sound like your average
   meteorite.

Maybe not average, but still a meteorite.  People's accounts seem to
be pretty inaccurate.  Remember all the reports of explosions and
gear being up, etc, at the time of the collision at LAX in February?
No explosion, gear down, everything else false, it turned out.

--
Mary Shafer  [e-mail]  ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
           NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
                     Of course I don't speak for NASA
            "Turn to kill, not to engage."  CDR Willie Driscoll

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

Date: 5 May 91 20:22:03 GMT
From: snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: tether's

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>The simplest way is to have each end of the cable in good electrical
>contact -- details left to the student :-) -- with the surrounding plasma.
>Then you get current because the plasma is not moving at the same speed
>with respect to the field as you are.

I've heard of variants of MHD/MPD propulsion systems being proposed as
plasma contacts of some sort. The course instructors :-) may perform
some sort of appropriate demonstration as soon as a more frequent and
less expensive bus to the lab envornment comes into use.


--
Phil Fraering
[e-mail]
''It's a Flash Gordon/E.E. Smith war, with superior Tnuctip technology
battling tools and weapons worked up on the spot by a billion Dr.
Zarkovs.`` - Larry Niven, describing the end to _Down in Flames_.

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

Date: 5 May 91 22:01:34 GMT
From: rochester!sol![e-mail]  (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: Goddard's Small Explorers (was Re: space news from March 11 AW&ST)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>OSC to get two new NASA contracts:  seven Pegasus launches (plus options
>on three more) for Goddard's Small Explorer series, starting 1993 and
>running two per year,

Does anyone have any more details about the Small Explorer program?
Are these orbital satellites or lunar/planetary probes?  What are they
designed to study, and how much do they cost?
--
_______________________________________________________________________________

Brian Yamauchi                University of Rochester
[e-mail]        Department of Computer Science
_______________________________________________________________________________

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

Date: 2 May 91 21:27:05 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!caen!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Recovering Galileo

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Doug Phillipson ) writes:
>
>     Forgive this possibly silly idea, but could we just use
> Jupiter or one of its moons to send Galileo back to Earth/Venus
> for a gravity-brake back to earth orbit where the shuttle could
> do a repair mission and carry up another booster for it.  Or some
> other trajectory to slow it down and return it to Earth?  Would
> this be cheaper than sending a comm satellite to jupiter?
>
> Douglas Phillipson (EG&G)


        Forgive me, but I can just imagine how the fringies who reacted
        so extremely to the launch of Galileo in the first place would
        react to NASA sling-shotting the thing back at the Earth.
        Besides, I suspect that the additional expense due to the extra
        shuttle flight, maintaining operations for Galileo for an
        additional (what?) 5-10 years while we bounced it around the
        solar system like a billiard ball, not to mention the
        frustration of the scientists and engineers involved in having
        the real meat of the mission put off again, doesn't justify this
        as an approach. After all, this isn't HST or some other spacecraft
        in a low earth orbit we're talking about.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II    |  E-mail:                       |
|  Mail Code 933.9        |    (SPAN) NCF::Bell               |
|  National Space Science    |    or   NSSDC::Bell               |
|    Data Center        |    or  NSSDCA::Bell               |
|  NASA                |    or  NSSDCB::Bell               |
|  Goddard Space Flight Center    |   (Internet) [e-mail]       |
|  Greenbelt, MD   20771    |                           |
|  [phone]        |                           |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 6 May 91 18:21:07 GMT
From: snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Hypersonic Transport

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (J Gillespie) writes:
>]                              The first-class
>]market simply isn't big enough to finance a large new airliner, especially
>]an unusually high-tech one that could be expected to [cost a lot]
>
>Someone has to say it: what about Concorde?  I'm no expert on its
>history, but as I understand it most of the development costs were
>written off, and the service is only just profitable in spite of the
>*rather* high fares ...

The existing Concorde service is comfortably profitable despite the very
high costs of spares and support for such a small fleet.  It does a good
job of serving its small super-first-class market niche.  But there wasn't
the slightest hope of ever paying for the development costs on such a tiny
production run; the project would never have been started if anyone had
expected that so few would be sold.  Concorde service went into the black
only when all parties involved agreed to write off development costs as
a lost cause.
--
And the bean-counter replied,           | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
"beans are more important".             |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 6 May 91 18:49:46 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 05/06/91 (Forwarded)


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

  Monday, May 6, 1991    Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Monday, May 6, 1991 . . .

Discovery's mission experiments were concluded successfully
yesterday and the crew is in the process of landing preparations now.
The deorbit maneuver to bring Discovery back from orbit is now
scheduled for 1:49 pm EDT.  That maneuver will give Discovery a
2:49 pm EDT landing time on Runway 22 at California's Edwards
Air Force Base.  All orbiter systems are performing nominally and
weather predictions for Edwards call for good landing weather.

Over the weekend, the Discovery crew was quite busy with
several additional chemical releases; stowing and retrieving the
Infrared Background Signature Survey package with the robot arm,
and finally, yesterday, splicing cables to allow the three
secondary scientific experiments to bypass their non-
functional tape recorders and send data directly to the White Sands
tracking station.

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

The Joust 1 launch did not occur this morning as scheduled.
The countdown was delayed from its planned 7:00 am EDT launch due
to a series of problems which kept cropping up.  First, a range control
computer problem halted the count; the next halt was due to a payload
problem; another halt was unexplained.  Joust flight management
picked up the count with about three minutes left at 8:45 am.  At T-0,
the Joust 1 did not ignite and the launch team declared a "hang
fire" situation.  Flight and launch system engineers are presently in
the process of safing the vehicle and beginning the anomaly
investigation.  No launch decision has been made at this time.  The
Joust is a commercial suborbital rocket carrying 10 materials and
biotechnology experiments for the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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

Endeavour left Biggs Army Air Field, El Paso, this morning at 10:00
am EDT, heading for Ellington Field, Houston.  Following the
approximately-one-hour flight, NASA's new 747 shuttle carrier
aircraft, with Endeavour on its back, landed at Ellington and
will remain there for about four hours.  Endeavour will then
depart enroute to Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.  The shuttle carrier
aircraft crew will layover in Columbus and depart for Kennedy Space
Center tomorrow, weather permitting.  Weather conditions
between Mississippi and Kennedy call for thunderstorms, so
the 747 crew will make a day-by-day assessment of flight
weather before proceeding to Kennedy's Shuttle Landing
Facility.

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

The seven-member STS-40 crew arrived at Kennedy yesterday and are
today engaged in the mission terminal countdown demonstration test.
The test concludes tomorrow at 11:00 am.  The STS-40 mission flight
readiness review is scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday,
May 13 and 14, at Kennedy.

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

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Galileo flight controllers report that
the spacecraft entered a safe mode again on Friday.  This
incident is reported to be similar to the previous incident which
involved one of two control and data computers which took itself off
line, causing the remaining one to enter the safe mode.  JPL
management reports that this incident is not expected to have any
impact on the mission and appears to be completely unrelated to the
high-gain antenna partial deployment problem.  JPL expected to
have Galileo back online and fully functional, with regard to
the computer subsystems, by this morning.

Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  Note that all events and times may change without notice,
and that all times listed are Eastern.

Monday, 5/6/91
    1:49 pm    Scheduled deorbit maneuver for Discovery (audio only).

    2:49 pm    Scheduled landing of Discovery at Edwards Air Force Base
          Runway 22 (LIVE).

    4:30 pm    Post-landing press conference from Dryden Flight
          Research Facility (LIVE).

    8:30 pm    STS-39 crew departure from Dryden for Houston (LIVE).

This report is filed daily at noon, Monday through Friday.  It is a service of
NASA's Office of Public Affairs.  The contact is Charles Redmond, 202/453-
8425 or CREDMOND on NASAmail.  NASA Select TV is carried on GE
Satcom F2R, transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West Longitude,
transponder frequency is 3960 megaHertz, audio is offset 6.8 MHz,
polarization is vertical.

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #510
*******************