Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_2/V15NO267.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 31KB

Date: Thu,  1 Oct 92 05:09:12
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #267
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Thu,  1 Oct 92       Volume 15 : Issue 267

Today's Topics:
                   another sad anniversary (5 msgs)
                  Clinto and Space Funding (2 msgs)
Help! Need bitmaps (or good photographs) of planets viewed from earth
                          Information Wanted
 Nick Szabo Disinformation debunking (Re: Clinton and Space Funding)
Pluto,Galileo instruments(was Re: Mariner Mark II vs smaller missions)
        Russia's OPERATIONAL Starwars Defense System (2 msgs)
                   Socialist myths about investment
               Space and Presidential Politics (3 msgs)
             Space platforms (political, not physical :-)
                      The Latest on DC-X Funding
      Who pays for SEI studies? (was Re: Lunar landing in 2002)

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 30 Sep 92 18:57:18 GMT
From: "Michael V. Kent" <[e-mail]>
Subject: another sad anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>On 30 Sept 1977, the surviving Apollo lunar surface instruments -- left by
>Apollos 12, 15, 16, and 17 -- were turned off by ground command, because
>money could no longer be found to receive and record their data.

Why on earth did they turn them off?  Maybe stop listening for a while, but
why turn them off?  What if they had wanted to listen again sometime in the
future?

Mike

--
Michael Kent                                   [e-mail]
McDonnell Douglas                              Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
All facts in this post are based on publicly available information.  All
opinions expressed are solely those of the author.    Apple II Forever !!

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 19:23:48 GMT
From: Doug Mohney <[e-mail]>
Subject: another sad anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>Fifteen years ago today, for the first time, NASA deliberately switched off
>instruments on another planet that were still returning good data and gave
>every prospect of continuing to do so for years.  It was done to save money.
>
>On 30 Sept 1977, the surviving Apollo lunar surface instruments -- left by
>Apollos 12, 15, 16, and 17 -- were turned off by ground command, because
>money could no longer be found to receive and record their data.

Obviously, we should have asked Canada for money to keep them running.


                 Play in the intelluctual sandbox of Usenet

  -- >                  [e-mail]                        < --

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 21:11:28 GMT
From: Richard Ottolini <[e-mail]>
Subject: another sad anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Michael V. Kent) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>>
>>On 30 Sept 1977, the surviving Apollo lunar surface instruments -- left by
>>Apollos 12, 15, 16, and 17 -- were turned off by ground command, because
>>money could no longer be found to receive and record their data.
>
>Why on earth did they turn them off?  Maybe stop listening for a while, but
>why turn them off?  What if they had wanted to listen again sometime in the
>future?

Same reason they turned off the Magellan radar- to save money.
Magellan could have collected radar images for another 243-day cycle or two,
for the cost of a few percent of the original mission.  (The attenna was
becoming less reliable although).

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

Date: 1 Oct 92 05:06:22 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: another sad anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes...
>Fifteen years ago today, for the first time, NASA deliberately switched off
>instruments on another planet that were still returning good data and gave
>every prospect of continuing to do so for years.  It was done to save money.
>
>On 30 Sept 1977, the surviving Apollo lunar surface instruments -- left by
>Apollos 12, 15, 16, and 17 -- were turned off by ground command, because
>money could no longer be found to receive and record their data.
>--

May 15, 1993 may mark another sad anniversary.  That's when Magellan is
scheduled to be turned off.  It will be the first time that NASA has turned
off a functioning spacecraft.  NASA has recently communicated to JPL that
this will still happen.  The reason is similiar, to save money.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Quiet people aren't the
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | only ones who don't say
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | much.

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

Date: 30 Sep 1992 19:24:53 GMT
From: Jeff Bytof <[e-mail]>
Subject: another sad anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

>Why on earth did they turn them off?  Maybe stop listening for a while, but
>why turn them off?  What if they had wanted to listen again sometime in the
>future?

It's possible that the Plutonium power supplies are now delivering
less than adequate power for nominal operation.

Jeff Bytof
[e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 13:47:33
From: Steinn Sigurdsson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Clinto and Space Funding
Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space

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

   > and getting your medical
   > system sorted. You can lambast the UK and other Eropean countries for having
   > doctrinally unsound socialised (gasp!) medical systems, but the fact is *our
   > health services are ****cheaper***** in terms of GNP than yours.

   Having experienced both, I prefer the US one. In three years here I have yet to
   recieve a call from my doctor. Wellness programs are unheard of. And if you need
   certain classes of operations, you are best off flying to the US and paying for it
   because you might be dead before your turn in the queue comes up. There ARE NO
   QUEUES in the US. When a government controls the allocation of resources, they are
   either under or over supplied.

Having experienced both I prefer the British system, and I prefer the
Scandinavian system to either.
    To say that there are no queues in the US for health care
services is as ludicrous a claim as I have yet seen on Usenet.
What is true is that if you are in one of limited occupations,
especially a public University or a rich private University,
or if you have money/good credit you will get immediate health
care in most places - until your coverage or cash runs out,
and if the care is not intrinisically supply limited (eg. organ
transplants). Of course unless you're part of a very powerful
customer base, like UC, you better not plan on getting ill
again or being chronically ill as you become uninsurable,
in large part due to a very peculiar attitude in the US
that insurance actually involves more of a pre-payment
installation scheme rather than actual insurance (in which
a large fraction of the contributors by definition do not
recoup their contributions). If you are not one of the fortunate
group you are essentially limited to heavily supply  limited
charity and enormously expensive emergency services, leading
to a large fraction of the population receiving most of
their health care as emergency services, often for routine
maladies that had to wait treatment until they constituted
an emergency.
    The US health care system is neither caring nor systematic
and quite unhealthy.

*  Steinn Sigurdsson               Lick Observatory          *
*  [e-mail]        "standard disclaimer"      *
*  I know people whose idea of fun                *
*  Is throwing stones in the river in the afternoon sun        *
*  Oh let me be as free as them                    *
*                  - BB 1986            *

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 18:18:08 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Clinto and Space Funding
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>I would suggest one area that need serious consideration are lung cancer
>subsidies (ie. the money given to the tobacco producers which goes to subsidise

I can't let this old chestnut pass. Tobacco is the *one* agricultural
product where growers do *not* receive money from the government. It
is the one program that works because the government limits the amount
of tobacco a given producer can sell. This keeps supply low enough that
it sells at a profit. The government does *not* pay a subsidy to the
farmer. Instead a clerk at the ACS office fills out a permit once a
year, about 5 minutes of government clerk time goes to each tobacco
farmer in the district. That's *it*.

Gary

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 19:32:02 GMT
From: David Knapp <[e-mail]>
Subject: Help! Need bitmaps (or good photographs) of planets viewed from earth
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,alt.sci.planetary

Hello,

I'm seeking earth based photographs or graphics files of Jupiter or Mars
taken from ground based telescopes. I need, yes, *mediocre* quality and they
need to be large in number over short time durations.

Any help or pointers to where I can find these would be *greatly* appreciated.




--
David Knapp                                      University of Colorado, Boulder
Perpetual Student                                   [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 19:27:50 GMT
From: "John H. Rydzewski" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Information Wanted
Newsgroups: sci.space

    I am looking for information on a research project
that involves putting a man in a boat for 400 days to see
the effects of isolation on mental health. A paper discussing
this project was presented at the World Space Congress in
Washington, D.C., this past August. All I have is the schedule of
the talks from this conference and  would like to learn more about
it.

    From what I was told from someone who attended the conference,
NASA Goddard is involved with it...if anyone has information about
this project, please email me at either of the addresses below.

    Thanks,

    John Rydzewski
    [e-mail]
    [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 18:44:39 GMT
From: Paul Dietz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Nick Szabo Disinformation debunking (Re: Clinton and Space Funding)
Newsgroups: sci.space

This thread *does* seem to generate a lot of misinformation!  It has
little to do with space now, so followups to sci.energy.


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:

 > Much of Eastern coal is high sulphur that costs more to pollution
 > control. Subsurface mines are closing in the East. Alabama, West
 > Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania now have less subsurface mining
 > activity than in the 1970s.

Total coal output in Alabama, West Virginia and Kentucky is *higher*
than in the 1970s.  From the 1991 Statistical Abstracts of the US
(which has information up to 1989):

            Production by year (mil. short tons)

    State        1970    1975    1980    1989
    ---------------------------------------------
    West Virgina    144.1    109.3    121.6    151.2
    Kentucky    125.3    143.6    150.1    158.6
    Alabama         20.6     22.6     26.4     28.5

Pennsylvania and Ohio output is down, however.

I don't have a subsurface mining breakdown by state, but nationwide
subsurface output has not declined, although its share of the market
has declined (1989 figure is preliminary):

    Year          1970    1975  1980  1985  1989
 Subsurface mine output      339    293   338   350      394
   (million short tons)


 > lack of market for their coal. Our coal exports have declined as Japan and
 > other trading partners switch to more nuclear power generation and more
 > modern electric steel furnaces.

According to the US Statistical Abstract, 1988 (the last year for
which figures were listed) the US exported 94.9 mil. short tons
of coal.  This is less than 1981 or 1982 (when the exports
were 106.5 and 105.6 mil. sh. tons, respectively), but higher
than any other years listed, and considerably higher than any
year in the 1970s.

Figures listed for importing countries show that coal imports by
Western Europe/mediterranian countries and by Japan are growing, not
shrinking.  Japan imported 64.5 mill. short tons in 1979, and 111.5
mill. short tons in 1988.  Western Europe/Med imports grew from 107.4
to 147.0 in that time.

Total world trade in coal increased from 254.9 mill. short tons in
1979 to 411 mill. short tons in 1988.  The US market share did not
increase more because of increased competition from South Africa,
Australia, China, the (former) Soviet Union and Canada.

 > It's ironic that environmentalists fought the steel
 > industry's belching smokestacks, and now the belching is coming from power
 > plants forced to use coal by their protests. Meanwhile the primary energy
 > efficiency of the steel industry has declined because of the intermediate
 > conversion losses from coal to heat to electricity and back to heat.

In fact, using coal to make electricity, then using that electricity
to melt scrap steel, is *more* efficient that refining steel from iron
ore.  It's also much cheaper, and suited to small, nimble, low
overhead companies, which is why it has caught on.

A typical modern blast furnace (no. 6 BF at Chiba, Kawasaki Steel
Corp) uses 17.44 GJ of primary energy input to make one ton of iron.
The energy required to raise 1 ton of iron from room temperature to
melting (and to melt it) is about 1.2 GJ/ton.  Even with losing 2/3
of the energy of coal in making and distributing the electricity, and
tossing in a factor of 2 (let's say) in additional inefficiencies,
melting the scrap is more efficient.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 07:57:49 GMT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: Pluto,Galileo instruments(was Re: Mariner Mark II vs smaller missions)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Frank Crary) writes:
> The proposed Pluto mission will spend no more than $400 million on two
> spacecraft. That would suggest a ~$200 - $250 cost for a single instrument
> sapcecraft.

Two and a half instruments:

1. Imager (also sensitive in the IR)

2. Ultraviolet "occultation" spectrometer (only looks at absorption  when
sunlight passes through Pluto's atmosphere, as the spacecraft moves
behind Pluto;  not sensitive enough to look at aurora, lightning, or
other faint sources as Voyager or Galileo UVS can)

2.5 Radio science (because of power limitations, rather than using spacecraft
transmitter as a beacon and monitoring signal strength on the ground during
occultation, the spacecraft will listen to a signal beamed from the
DSN; half an instrument, because receiver can be part of spacecraft's
comm system)

> I suspect the Galileo mission (which I have a detailed
> instrument breakdown for) would require about seven or eight such
> spacecraft to meet the same goals. That would suggest $1.5-2 billion
> dollars to accoplish a Mariner Mark II mission using several small
> spacecraft. I don't recall the current Cassini/Huygens budget, but
> I don't think this is a huge savings.

No.  Cassini and CRAF together were growing to over a billion when
CRAF was killed, I think.  Cassini's been recently "descoped" in major
ways.  See the latest issue of *JBIS* for a detailed description of
the mission and many of its instruments.

On the other hand, Galileo does break down into at least two
spacecraft in a rather obvious way:  the orbiter and the "probe" entry
capsule.  Also, the orbiter carries magnetometer, particle, and dust
instruments on a spinning bus, and imager, IRIS, two UV spectrometers,
and a photopolarimeter on a scan platform despun with a motor turning
24 hours a day on a tricky coupling.  One could imagine a small cheap
spinner, and a fancier 3-axis spacecraft, carrying the two instrument
loads.  As Anita points out, you sacrifice the coordinated
observations of having all the instruments together on the same
spacecraft; in a NASA running on FCB budgets, you probably don't even
fly all these spacecraft to Jupiter (or wherever) in the same year.

Moira Higgins on astronomy:          Bill Higgins
"I can always find Orion.            Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Besides that the Moon                Internet: [e-mail]
is my only other specialty."         Bitnet:   [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 17:14:20 GMT
From: Dave Jones <[e-mail]>
Subject: Russia's OPERATIONAL Starwars Defense System
Newsgroups: sci.space

Nick Haines ([e-mail]) wrote:
: I love this guy. Best laugh of the morning.
:
: Nick

I was wondering if his BS stood for Bachelor of Science or something
else.

Speaking of BS, check out soc.culture.british, "VNS News for 30 Sept."
for details of Clintons leap onto the e-mail bandwagon.

--
||)) There is no truth to the rumor that:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||)) Lotus are suing Apple for copying the look and feel of their lawsuits )|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones ([e-mail]) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 17:54:31 -0400
From: David O Hunt <[e-mail]>
Subject: Russia's OPERATIONAL Starwars Defense System
Newsgroups: sci.space

Whatever he's smoking, I WANT SOME!




David Hunt - Graduate Slave |     My mind is my own.      | Towards both a
Mechanical Engineering      | So are my ideas & opinions. | Palestinian and
Carnegie Mellon University  | <<<Use Golden Rule v2.0>>>  | Jewish homeland!
====T=H=E=R=E===I=S===N=O===G=O=D=========T=H=E=R=E===I=S===N=O===G=O=D=====
Email:  [e-mail]    Working towards my "Piled Higher and Deeper"

"Out there is a fortune waiting to be had; do you think I'd let it go you're
mad - you got another think coming!" -- Judas Priest

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:36:35 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Socialist myths about investment
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>...the pioneers often go broke and it is those who stand on their shoulders
>who profit. You are like someone belittling Goddard because it was
>Von Braun who capitalized on his work...

Although I agree with Gary's general point, this is a poor example.  The
early practical development of rockets in both Germany and the US did not
owe much to Goddard except a few bits of basic concept and inspiration,
because Goddard published hardly anything about his later work.  Von Braun
drew much more on the early experimental work of the VfR -- which he was
personally involved in -- than on Goddard's more advanced but little-known
efforts.
--
There is nothing wrong with making      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 18:40:06 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space and Presidential Politics
Newsgroups: sci.space

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

>I also think Dan Goldin is possibly NASA's last hope. It would be the
>act of a low grade moron with the mental cabilities of an amoeba to
>replace him.

My sources within the Clinton campaign say that Clinton is likely to
keep Goldin (who is, after all, a registered democrat). Wether a Gore
run space council will support Goldin as well as the current space
council is at best an open question.

  Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they     |
|  [e-mail]     |  put a man on the Moon?"                               |
+----------------------206 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 20:00:44 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space and Presidential Politics
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Fraering Philip G) writes:

>\My sources within the Clinton campaign...

>Allen, I have a question for you:
>How do you get "sources?"

Generally from other sources :-)

Usually if I know who I want to talk to I call them and try them
directly or via their staff. I explain to them about the column I write
and ask if they can give me information. Generally they appreciate that
somebody is helping them do what they want to do and help. Frequently as
I work with them on one issue, other issues come up and they connect
me with other sources who can help with that issue. Often these people
will only talk on condition I never use their name.

  Allen
--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they     |
|  [e-mail]     |  put a man on the Moon?"                               |
+----------------------206 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:19:46 GMT
From: Fraering Philip G <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space and Presidential Politics
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:

\My sources within the Clinton campaign say that Clinton is likely to
/keep Goldin (who is, after all, a registered democrat). Wether a Gore
\run space council will support Goldin as well as the current space
/council is at best an open question.

Allen, I have a question for you:

How do you get "sources?"

--
Phil Fraering
[e-mail]
---------------------
Disclaimer: Some reasonably forseeable events may exceed this
message's capability to protect from severe injury, death, widespread
disaster, astronomically significant volumes of space approaching a
state of markedly increaced entropy, or taxes.

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 20:19:26 GMT
From: Jim Mann <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space platforms (political, not physical :-)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
writes:
> > Intersting.  Our society is now freer than at any time in our
> > history.  Books that could not have been published 50 years ago
> > are published.  People can say or do things in public that would
> >
>
>
> Can you spell... W a r  O n  D r u g s?
>
> How about the simple freedom to live on one's own property and do
as
> one pleases. (ie, let the grass grow wild if you want, outlawed in
> some communities; water it on Sunday, outlawed in some parts of
> Germany I believe...)

Note that I said "freer" meaning "more free" than it was 150 years
ago.   Yes, there are still some restrictions on what you can
do, even on your own property.  Sometimes there are good reasons
for this.  If my neighbor begins dumping old cars and refrigerators
in his front yard, my property value goes down, the neighborhood
becomes less liveable, etc.  Since his actions affect those
around him, he can't be 100% free.

>
> How about the freedom of contract between consenting adults?

What specifically are you refering to.  I know that in some
circles minimum wage laws are considered a violation of this
freedom (and a conservative supreme court once struck such
laws down on this basis).

>
> I see some brilliant ideas of Paine, Jefferson and Franklin that
were
> quickly co-opted by Madison and others with more Statist leanings.
> And not to mention that the seeds of conflict were sown from the
> first day by failing to apply that Bill of Rights equally to all,
> regardless of sex or race. If not for that mistake the USA might
very
> well still be something close to laissez faire.

Perhaps you should go back and read more about Madison. Madison
was heavily influenced by Jefferson. Where they differed tended
to be more that Madison was more practical.

As for Jefferson, he sometimes had very statist leanings. Look
at the Burr trial. Or look at some of the laws Jefferson
used while governor of Virginia (very similar to John Adams'
infamous Alien and Sedition Acts).


--
Jim Mann
Stratus Computer   [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:17:17 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: The Latest on DC-X Funding
Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space

The Defense Appropriations Conference Committee is nearing completion of its
work. The person responsible for transfering DC-X funds to NLS has
told a couple of people that he has removed the section of the report
which transfers the funds. If this doesn't change, then DC-X is safe for
the forseeable future. However, things can happen so keep those cards
and letters coming in.

Thanks to those who have written and called. You did make a difference.

  Allen

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they     |
|  [e-mail]     |  put a man on the Moon?"                               |
+----------------------206 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

Date: 30 Sep 92 19:48:48 GMT
From: Edmund Hack <arabia!hack>
Subject: Who pays for SEI studies? (was Re: Lunar landing in 2002)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Dani Eder) writes:
>>
>> NASA has maintained an office for the past several years at the
>> Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX dedicated to planning the
>> Lunar and Mars exploration programs.  [...]
>>
>> Most of the work on these plans has been done in-house by NASA people.
>> My company (and I assume other aerospace companies) maintain groups
>> doing parallel work on company funds.  This is speculative on our part,
>> in the hope that a real program will develop at some point.
>>
>> For the past couple of years NASA has requested funding to start to
>> pay contractors to work on these projects.  The US Congress has seen
>> fit to deny these requests except at the most minimal levels
>> ($1 million per year).
>
>Dani, I have wondered how all this work gets paid for, since Congress
>has voted essentially nothing for the Space Exploration Initiative.
>You give part of the answer:  some of the work is company-funded.
>But, judging from the papers and conferences I see, there are really
>quite a lot of people working on SEI-type stuff.  How does NASA pay
>for in-house work?  Is there a non-SEI source of funds for this?

Yes.  The work I have done on FLO and other mission studies has been
paid out of discretionary funds.  Each center and the sub-organizations
within a center (here at JSC they are the Directorates and the
Divisions) has a certain amount of discetionary funds that can be
allocated to "think tank" studies.  There are also explicit funds for
advanced mission studies.
>
>I also feel that such companies as Eagle Engineering and SAIC seem to
>do a lot of this work for their size.  Can it all be internally
>funded, or is there a source of NASA money for it, or are they getting
>contracts from Boeing, Martin Marrietta, etc.?

These companies are often sub-contractors to primes such as Rockwell
(Shuttle at JSC), MacDac (prime for SSF) and Lockheed Engineering &
Sciences (my employer - support to JSC's Engineering Directorate).  They
are useful for short term work that you don't want to hire and fire
someone for, for specialized expertise you don't want to maintain
in-house and since several of these are small or small disadvantaged
businesses (use of SB and SDBs are required as part of our contracts.)
--
    Edmund Hack - Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Co. - Houston, TX
  [e-mail] - I speak only for myself, unless blah, blah..
   Papoon for President - You Know He's Not Insane! - Endorsed by the
  American Friends of the Martian Space Party, League of Winged Voters

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


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Source-Info:  Sender is really [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>>Have the U.S. some kind of RPV with such performances ?
>>
>>If so, it is secret, so why bother asking?
>
>Because here in Western Europe, we don't like behavior in the KGB style,
>especially when it's over our heads... Well, maybe it was the Russians ?

Probably not... but you've missed my point.  I wasn't saying "why do
you care?".  I was saying "do you seriously think you'll get an answer?".
--
There is nothing wrong with making      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 267
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