Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_3/V15NO302.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 37KB

Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 05:00:07
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #302
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Sat, 10 Oct 92       Volume 15 : Issue 302

Today's Topics:
  All systems are what? (was Re: Mars Observer Update #2 - 10/07/92)
                 Asteroid Toutatis Closes in on Gaul
                    Astro FTP list - October issue
                   Controversy over V-2 anniversary
                       Drop nuc waste into sun
                      HRMS/SETI Answers (2 msgs)
            Luna III images of the moon's farside (3 msgs)
                 Pioneer Venus Briefing Set for Today
                          SETI NOT POSITIVE

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

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 18:46:59 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: All systems are what? (was Re: Mars Observer Update #2 - 10/07/92)

> And what does it mean?  If a subsystem is not "Go,"  what else
could
> it be?  I mean, what other values X might "All subsystems are X"
have?
>


Have you ever heard of Go/No Go decisions? You make them all the time
in aviation :-)

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

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 08:56:47 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Asteroid Toutatis Closes in on Gaul

\[e-mail] (Ron Baalke) writes:
/: [..]
\:      The approach of Toutatis this year and the one in 2004
/: represent the two closest Earth passages of any known asteroid
\: for the next 30 years, said Yeomans.
/:
\:      Toutatis was discovered Jan. 4, 1989, by Astronomer
/: Christian Pollas at Caussols, France, and was named after a
\: Gallic deity called "protector of the tribe."

/And according to a popular comic strip, the only thing the worshipers
\of Toutatis ever feared was that the sky might fall on their heads.

/Wolfgang

So if Toutatis _is_ going to impact, can we count on Asterix the Gaul
to come save us?

Does he have one of those Arthurian "wake again in our hour of
need" clauses in his contract?

Phil

--
Phil Fraering [e-mail] where the x is a number from 1-5.
Phone: [phone] SnailMail: 2408 Blue Haven Dr., New Iberia, La. 70560
---------------------
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: 9 Oct 92 12:22:39 GMT
From: M{kel{ Veikko <[e-mail]>
Subject: Astro FTP list - October issue
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

#
#                        A S T R O - F T P   L I S T
#                             Updated 9.10.1992
#
# This  is  a  short  description  of  anonymous-ftp  file  servers  containing
# astronomy  and space research related material.  I have  included only  those
# servers  where  there are  special subdirectories  for  astro stuff  or  much
# material  included into  a general  directories.  This list is not a complete
# data set of possible places,  so I would be very happy of all kind of notices
# and information depending on this listing.
#
# The newest version of this file is available via anonymous-ftp as:
#
#                nic.funet.fi:/pub/astro/general/astroftp.txt
#
# There are also many mirror (copy) archives  for  simtel-20.army.mil (PC)  and
# sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Mac) which are not included into this list. Only some
# of mirroring sites are listed.
#
#
#                                              Veikko Makela
#                                         [e-mail]
#                                    *Computing Centre of Univ. Helsinki*
#                                      *Ursa Astronomical Association*

# Server, IP                          # Contents
# Directories

akiu.gw.tohoku.ac.jp                  images
130.34.8.9
/pub/gif/astro
/pub/gif/nasa

ames.arc.nasa.gov                     spacecraf data and news,images,NASA data,
128.102.18.3                          Spacelink texts,VICAR software,FAQ,
/pub/SPACE                            mandarin.mit.edu c.

atari.archive.umich.edu               Atari
141.211.164.8
/atari/applications/astronomy

archive.afit.af.mil                   Satellite software,documents,elements
129.92.1.66
/pub/space

baboon.cv.nrao.edu                    AIPS document and patches,radioastronomy
192.33.115.103                        image processing,FITS test images
/pub/aips

c.scs.uiuc.edu                        ROSAT,Starchart(PC)
128.174.90.3
/pub

capella.eetech.mcgill.ca              garbo.uwasa.fi c.,archive.umich.edu c.,
132.206.1.17                          other mirrors
/wuarchive/mirrors3/

ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz                     PC
130.216.1.5
/msdos/astronomy                      (*) overseas connections refused

chara.gsu.edu                         Electronical Journal of ASA
131.96.5.10
/asa

daisy.learning.cs.cmu.edu             Space technology texts
128.2.218.26
/public/space-tech

fits.cx.nrao.edu                      FITS propotionals,radio-cdrom,radio images
192.33.115.8
/FITS/doc

ftp.cco.caltech.edu                   Astronomy magazine index 1991
131.215.48.200
/pub/misc

ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de                   PC,Amiga,general
130.149.17.7
/pub/astro

ftp.funet.fi                          PC,Mac,CP/M,Atari,Amiga,databases,Unix,
128.214.6.100                         HP48,OS/2,texts,News,solar reports,images,
/pub/astro                            Satellite elements

ftp.uni-kl.de                         iauc,Vista image reduction,asteroids
131.246.9.95
/pub/astro

garbo.uwasa.fi                        PC
128.214.87.1
/pc/astronomy

gipsy.vmars.tuwien.ac.at              images
128.130.39.16
/pub/spacegifs

hanauma.stanford.edu                  Unix,misc
36.51.0.16
/pub/astro

ics.uci.edu                           images
128.195.1.1
/astro

idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov                IDL routines
128.183.57.82
/

iear.arts.rpi.edu                     images
128.113.6.10
/pub/graphics/astro

iraf.noao.edu                         IRAF Software
140.252.1.1
/iraf

iris1.ucis.dal.ca                     images
129.173.18.107
/pub/gif

julius.cs.qub.ac.uk                   Space Digest
143.117.5.6
/pub/SpaceDigestArchive

kauri.vuw.ac.nz                       Astrophysical software
130.195.11.3
/pub/astrophys

kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov                   Satellite elements,spacecraft info
128.149.1.165
/pub/space

lowell.edu                            Vista image reduction
192.103.11.2
/pub/vista

mandarin.mit.edu                      Comets,asteroids,SAC,databases,Ephem,PC
18.82.0.21
/astro

minnehaha.rhrk.uni-kl.de              Starchart,iauc index
131.246.9.116
/pub/astro

mcshh.hanse.de                        PC
192.76.134.1
/pub/msdos/astronom

nachos.ssesco.com                     Satellite elements
192.55.187.18
/sat_elements

ns3.hq.eso.org                        Test images
134.171.11.4
/pub/testimages

nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov                  HST,IUE,Astro-1,NSSDCA info,Spacewarn,
128.183.36.23                         FITS standard
/

osgate0.mei.co.jp                     images
132.182.49.2
/free/others/SPACE

pioneer.unm.edu                       spacecraf data,catalogs,image processing
129.24.9.217
/

plaza.aarnet.edu.au                   images,docs,garbo.uwasa.fi c.
139.130.4.6
/graphics/graphics/astro
/micros/pc/garbo/astronomy

pomona.claremont.edu                  Yale Bright Star Catalog
134.173.4.160
/YALE_BSC

puffin.doc.ic.ac.uk                   archive.umich.edu c.,other mirrors
146.169.3.7
/mac/umich/graphics/astronomy

ra.nrl.navy.mil                       Mac
128.60.0.21
/MacSciTech/astro

rascal.ics.utexas.edu                 Mac
128.83.138.20
/mac

rigel.acs.oakland.edu                 PC
141.210.10.117
/pub/msdos/astronomy

rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de           Atari
129.69.1.12
/soft/atari/applications/astronomy

scavengerhunt.rs.itd.umich.edu        Mac
141.211.164.153
/mac/graphics/astronomy

simtel20.army.mil                     PC,CP/M
192.88.110.20
/msdos/educ
/cpm

sol.deakin.oz.au                      garbo.uwasa.fi c.
128.184.1.1
/pub/PC/chyde/astronomy

sola.fcit.monash.edu.au               HP48
130.194.224.224
/HP48/seq/astronomy
/HP48/seq/misc

solar.stanford.edu                    Solar reports
36.10.0.4
/pub

solbourne.solbourne.com               some PC programs
141.138.2.2
/pub/rp/as-is/astro

stardent.arc.nasa.gov                 Martian map
128.102.21.44
/pub

stsci.edu                             HSTMap(Mac),HST info
130.167.1.2
/Software

sumex.stanford.edu                    Mac
36.44.0.6
/info-mac/app

sun0.urz.uni-heidelberg.de            PC,misc
129.206.100.126
/pub/msdos/astronomy

tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov                   FITSIO subroutines
128.183.8.77
/pub/fitsio

unbmvs1.csd.unb.ca                    Space geodesy,solar activity info
131.202.1.2
pub.canspace

vab02.larc.nasa.gov                   images
128.155.23.47
/gifs/space

vmd.cso.uiuc.edu                      Weather satellite images
128.174.5.98
/wx

xi.uleth.ca                           Solar reports,auroral activity forecast
142.66.3.29                           maps,solar images,x-ray plot,coronal
/pub/solar                            emission plots


# Some abbreviations:
#
#   c = copy (mirror) of other archive



# -----
# My other e-communication projects:
# * E-mail contact addresses of interest groups in amateur astronomy
# * European astronomy and space-related bulletin boards
# * E-mail catalogue of Finnish amateur astronomers

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 05:34:48 GMT
From: Derby Chang <[e-mail]>
Subject: Controversy over V-2 anniversary
Newsgroups: sci.space

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

>And of course, the Luftwaffe attacked London and other cities
>(including Belfast). A little known fact is that the RAF bombed a
>German city first. It was a ploy of Churchill to get the erratic
>Hitler to fly off the handle and do something stupid. Up until that
>time Goering was focusing the Lufwaffe on reducing the RAF bases and
>aircraft manufacturing. After the British attack Hitler went berserk
>and ordered the retaliation against London which put the Luftwaffe
>into nice predicatable air corridors where the RAF had a chance to
>decimate them. A gamble that won. It also had the effect of
>stiffening some upper lips in London. Churchill was as ruthless as
>they came. He counted on causing the bombing of his own people, but
>England probably would not have survived without him. However, none
>of this justified the leveling of German cities after the tide began
>to turn.
>

I mentioned this in sci.military some time ago, but might repeat it.  Shirer
in `The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' says that what happened was the
Luftwaffe intended to bomb some fuel depots on the outskirts of London,
went off-course accidentally, and ended up unloading in the middle of London.
In retaliation, the RAF bombed Berlin for the first time in the war.  In
his fury, Hitler ordered the switch from tactical bombing of RAF bases,
sector stations and alike, to strategic bombing of major cities.  It is a
fine point I admit, but it gives the RAF a justification for deliberately
bombing civilians.

I don't know if this is another example of 'victors writing history' but it
sounds creditable.


+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Derby Chang            |"Cathy, I said, I have no sympathy,     |
|  Telectronics Pacing Systems    | Look up `masochism' in the dictionary" |
|  Syndey, Australia            |                     |
|  (Tel): 0011-61-2-413-6940    |               Flanagan & Richardson    |
|  [e-mail]    |                                 |
|                               |                                        |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 9:36:50 CDT
From: ssi![e-mail] (Louis F. Adornato)
Subject: Drop nuc waste into sun

Nick Haines writes:
>
> In the same way that the sun's gravity pulls the Earth towards the
> sun? Wrongo. Whatever we launch from Earth starts off in solar orbit
> (because the Earth is in solar orbit), and has to dump all of its
> orbital velocity (i.e. 30 km/sec) in order to fall into the sun. This
> is much more expensive than launching to solar escape velocity and
> leaving the solar system. Do the sums.
>

1 - The initial change in orbital veliocity (wrt the sun) only needs to be
    large enough to drop apahelion to the orbit of Venus (about .5 au,
    if I recall correctly).  From there a gravity assist maneuver can
    be used to provide the remaining delta-v.

2 - A solar escape traj. would accomplish the same mission objective; get
    the waste out of the biosphere for good.  I wouldn't want to put any
    Voyager type plaques on it, though; you don't want the Galactic EPA
    to be able to trace the source.  The point is, if it takes less delta-v
    to go to escape, then that's a Good Thing.

3 - I have the luxury of speaking from near total ignorance on this (i.e,
    more knowledgeable than >99% of Americans (and <7% of Japanese), but
    not really qualified to talk about it on the net), but I read once
    that the _really_ hot part of spent fuel (the major source of high
    level waste) can be extracted chemically.  Further, the portion of
    the nasties is pretty low; the entire world supply of spent fuel
    could be reduced to a mass that could be lifted in one or two
    shuttle missions, even after adding buffers to keep it from going
    critical and glassifying the whole mess.  I also heard rumors about
    15 years ago that someone at Alfred U. (known in some circles as
    Corning's independent research arm) got a grant to work on the
    glassification process.  Could someone more qualified please comment?

4 - I don't think leaving waste at L5 (or a heliocentric with perihelion
    <1AU) is a good idea.  You never know if technology will someday
    enable crazies to recover something left in a parking orbit (and
    they wouldn't have to make a bomb out of it - a small amount of
    this in a water table or reservior would be a _lot_ more
    destructive).  It's conceivable that future generations might have
    an urgent need for it, but I'd suspect that if they no longer had
    the capability to mine and manufacture new fuel, they won't have
    the capability to recover used fuel from orbit and reprocess it.
    Someday our descendents _might_ build a spacefaring civilization,
    and it _might_ find having fissionables available in orbit useful,
    but there will _certainly_ still be nut cases among them who might
    find the same fissionables useful for completely different reasons.

    As for crash landing it on the Moon, I personally dislike the idea
    of poisoning something before we've had a chance to explore it; it
    seems pretty short sighted to make a portion of the Moon even more
    hazardous than it already is, before we know if it can be better
    exploited in some other way.  Wouldn't it be a kick in the butt if
    the spot we chose for a Lunar waste repository turned out to be
    TMA-1's home address?

Lou Adornato                 |    "Sure, the cow may have jumped over the
Supercomputer Systems, Inc   |      moon, but she burned up on reentry"
Eau Claire, WI               | The secretary (and the rest of the company)
uunet!ssi!lfa or [e-mail] | have disavowed any knowledge of my actions.

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 14:55:36 GMT
From: "Edward T. Olsen" <[e-mail]>
Subject: HRMS/SETI Answers
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

In response to David Harwood's direct questions in
<[e-mail]>:


<Is NASA/HRMS going to investigate any previously detected signals, which
<it considers might possibly have been of ETI origin? Does NASA say that no
<such candidate ETI signals have been detected so far? (We all now that
<HRMS is beginning soon, but there have been previous surveys of far less
<scope.)

1) NO. There are no believable previously detected signals.
2) YES. NASA says that no such candidate ETI signals have been
detected so far.

The NASA HRMS has no secret list of signals from previous searches.
The NASA HRMS will search in two modes: (1) a moderate sensitivity
all sky survey over the microwave spectrum between 1 GHz and 10 GHz
at 20 Hz resolution, and (2) a high sensitivity targeted search of all
solar type stars within 25 pc (there are nearly 800) over the
microwave spectrum between 1 GHz and 3 GHz at 1 Hz resolution.

The all sky survey must sweep the sky at high speed (about 0.2
deg/sec) to complete the survey within a 7 year period. Thus each beam
area on the sky will be looked at for a small period of time (of the
order of 1 second). The targeted search will dwell on each of the
chosen stars for up to 1000 seconds.

All previous surveys have had "hits", meaning signals above a preset
threshold.  The HRMS Sky Survey component will set an initial detection
threshold which will have a PFA (probability of false alarm, i.e., threshold
exceedence due to thermal noise fluctuations in the instrument) of
approximately 10**-5. In the case of the prototype system which will
be in the field at Goldstone, CA, which contains 2**21 channels and
which will apply that threshold to the spectral data every 0.1 second,
this means approximately 200 hits/second. Follow-on signal detection
algorithms will further winnow the data to a PFA of 10**-10 to
10**-12 to provide lists for immediate look back observations.

IT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT ANY ETI SIGNAL DETECTION BE REOBSERVABLE, NOT
ONLY WITH THE NASA HRMS SEARCH SYSTEMS, BUT ALSO BY SIMPLE
CONFIRMATION SYSTEMS. THIS REQUIREMENT FOR REOBSERVABILITY IS CRUCIAL
AND ALL PREVIOUS SEARCH "CANDIDATES" HAVE FAILED TO MEET IT.

<Is HRMS capable of detecting signals of power equivalent to terrestial
<broadcasts (different frequencies) at distances of say 50 light years or so?

YES or NO, depending upon which mode of NASA HRMS you are considering,
and more importantly, what terrestrial signals you choose to include
in your list of broadcast signals.

Neither component is capable of detecting the leakage of our
commercial broadcasts at interstellar distances. However, there have
been highly beamed, strong signals emitted from the Earth which both
components are capable of detecting. The strongest signal emitted from
the Earth is the Arecibo planetary radar, EIRP = 10**13 W. The strongest
commercial broadcasts eminate from UHF television stations, and have
EIRP = 10**6 W to 10**7 W. The sky survey could detect Arecibo at
approximately 50 ly, and the targeted search could do so at
approximately 1000 ly.

The strong military radars which have been used over the last decades
to detect possible bomber attacks and ICBM attacks are another source
of signals which HRMS could detect from nearby stars. Woody Sullivan
published an interesting article some time back in Science which
discussed this (Science, 199, pp377-388, 27 Jan 1978). Tarter and
Billingham also gave a paper at the 40th congress if the International
Astronautical Federation in 1989, whose publication reference escapes
me at this moment. These radars have EIRP levels of approximately
10**11 W. There is a torus around the north pole which has been
illuminated thusly for a few decades. Any advanced civilization within
20 ly within that torus would have been able to determine not only
that our solar system is inhabited by intelligences using the
electromagnetic spectrum, but would also have been able to determine
the parameters of our planetary orbit and rotation, our sun's mass
and infer the temperature of the earth.

Edward Olsen
HRMS

--
 Edward T. Olsen
 Mail Stop 169-506, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA  91109
 Phone: [phone]   INTERNET: [e-mail] (Node: 128.149.82.1)

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 15:53:15 GMT
From: Rohit Sharma <[e-mail]>
Subject: HRMS/SETI Answers
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Edward T. Olsen) writes:
>In response to David Harwood's direct questions in
><[e-mail]>:
>
>
><Is NASA/HRMS going to investigate any previously detected signals, which
><it considers might possibly have been of ETI origin? Does NASA say that no
< deletia >
>solar type stars within 25 pc (there are nearly 800) over the
>microwave spectrum between 1 GHz and 3 GHz at 1 Hz resolution.
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 why this particular portion of the mw spectrum ?

- rohit
              [e-mail]  or [e-mail]
--

{{  Rohit Sharma         [e-mail]   or  [e-mail]  }}

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

Date: 8 Oct 92 20:28:18 GMT
From: Bruce Watson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Luna III images of the moon's farside
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]+, [e-mail] (Bruce Watson) writes:
+ 33 years ago, on Oct 7, 1959, Luna III, launched on the 4th
+ returned to earth the first images of the other side of the moon.
+
+ --
+ Bruce Watson (wats@scicom)  Tumbra, Zorkovick; Sparkula zoom krackadomando.


From wats Thu Oct  8 13:32:10 1992
Received: by scicom.alphacdc.com (smail2.5/bdb)
    id AA17092; Thu, 8 Oct 92 13:32:07 MDT (-0600)
To: ncar!uunet!page!husky.bose.com!charlie
Subject: Re: Luna III images of the moon's farside
Cc: wats
Message-Id: <[e-mail]+
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 13:32:07 MDT (-0600)
From: Bruce Watson <[e-mail]+
Errors-To: [e-mail] (Bruce Watson)
Status: R

They were pretty poor. Luna III took a b/w photo and then scanned it
with a slow TV like process of 1000 lines/inch and transmitted to earth.
The Dec, 1959 Sky&Telecope magazine calls it comparable in quality to
1840's daguerreotypes. And what the rest of the world got was of poorer
quality than what they got for a variety of reasons. Features on the
earth side and far side features were included--only 3/4s of the previously
unseen side were in the photo. But quite a few features are clearly
seen. They were undeniably the first and got the privilege of naming them.
The article goes on to say that the far side appears to be mainly
continental (as opposed to all the 'seas' we see on the earth side).
They continue: "The Soviet photographs mark the first serious beginnings
of what may be called _trans-selenography_, the science of the moon's
hiterto hidden side." --definitely science.

In the early days of space exploration--1957 to about the mid 60's, when
it seemed that we had pulled ahead of them (July 1969 clinched it), there
was a great deal of frustration in the US and it encouraged a great
deal of effort and commitment. Since the manned lunar landing the
space exploration effort has been in the doldrums--planetary probes
funding squeeking by, Space Station in constant danger of cancellation,
Space Shuttle with no real mission. It seemed that our entire program
was just a response to the Russians--if so, their propaganda worked!
I'm hoping that someone-the Chinese, the Japanese, even the Indians--
would do something boldt that we can't do--like go to the moon anytime
soon--and shock the country into action before we sink irretrievably
into third rate status.

--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom)  Tumbra, Zorkovick; Sparkula zoom krackadomando.

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 14:53:21 GMT
From: "robert.f.casey" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Luna III images of the moon's farside
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bruce Watson) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]+, [e-mail] (Bruce Watson) writes:
>+ 33 years ago, on Oct 7, 1959, Luna III, launched on the 4th
>+ returned to earth the first images of the other side of the moon.
>
>They were pretty poor. Luna III took a b/w photo and then scanned it
>with a slow TV like process of 1000 lines/inch and transmitted to earth.
>The Dec, 1959 Sky&Telecope magazine calls it comparable in quality to
>1840's daguerreotypes. And what the rest of the world got was of poorer
>quality than what they got for a variety of reasons. Features on the
>earth side and far side features were included--only 3/4s of the previously
>unseen side were in the photo. But quite a few features are clearly
>seen. They were undeniably the first and got the privilege of naming them.
>The article goes on to say that the far side appears to be mainly
>continental (as opposed to all the 'seas' we see on the earth side).
>They continue: "The Soviet photographs mark the first serious beginnings
>of what may be called _trans-selenography_, the science of the moon's
>hiterto hidden side." --definitely science.

I seem to remember that there were no follow-ups to that mission, like to
map the missing area on the far side (of the Moon, not the cartoons), and/or
to get better resolution pictures.  Did they try and fail, or just didn't
have budget or hardware to do it, or maybe they figured they already got
enough bragging rights out of the first one? :-)
==========================================================================
499.99 years ago, Columbus discovered America.

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 16:20:24 GMT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: Luna III images of the moon's farside
Newsgroups: sci.space

> They were pretty poor. Luna III took a b/w photo and then scanned it
> with a slow TV like process of 1000 lines/inch and transmitted to earth.

All were proudly published in a book called *Atlas of the Moon's Far Side*,
which I found in a bookstore in Miami.

     O~~*           /_) ' / /   /_/ '  ,   ,  ' ,_  _           \|/
   - ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / /   / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
 /       \                          (_) (_)                    / | \
 |       |     Bill Higgins   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
 \       /     Bitnet:     [e-mail]
   -   -       Internet:  [e-mail]
     ~         SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS

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

Date: 9 Oct 92 23:37:48 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Pioneer Venus Briefing Set for Today
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

Donald L. Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                October 9, 1992
(Phone:  [phone])

Peter W. Waller
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone:  [phone])

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N92-89

PIONEER VENUS BRIEFING SET FOR TODAY

     The Pioneer Venus spacecraft, which has been orbiting
Venus since 1978, did not survive its passage through Venus'
upper atmosphere at 3:22 p.m. EDT yesterday.

     A briefing will be held at NASA's Ames Research Center,
Mountain View, Calif., today at 1 p.m. EDT to summarize the
mission.  Also presented will be quick-look science
information from the past month, when Pioneer Venus has been
passing through the planet's high atmosphere, a region never
before reached by an orbiting spacecraft on any planet.
Participating in the briefing will be Jack Dyer, Project
"Navigator," and Richard Fimmel, Project Manager.

     The briefing will be carried live on NASA Select TV,
Satcom F2R, 72 degrees west longitude.  There will be two-way
question-and-answer capability from NASA Headquarters and
centers.

     The spacecraft passed through the lowest part of its
orbit, which repeats every 24 hours, at 3:22 p.m. EDT.
During this period, the radio signal could not be tracked
from Earth because Pioneer was hidden behind Venus.  No radio
signal could be detected from the spacecraft when it should
have emerged from behind the planet.

     Project officials believe the spacecraft was disabled by
the heat of friction with Venus' atmosphere, with spacecraft
insulation and other fragile components melting or breaking
off.  Although the spacecraft's remains will continue to
orbit Venus for a short while, no further data can be
collected without the radio signal.

     Pioneer Venus made the first maps of Venus and has
returned thousands of pictures of the planet over the past 14
years.

     Video animation, a press kit and photos are available to
news media by calling the Ames Public Information Office on
415/604-9000.
- end -
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Einstein's brain is stored
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | in a mason jar in a lab
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | in Wichita, Kansas.

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

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 05:43:39 GMT
From: David Harwood <[e-mail]>
Subject: SETI NOT POSITIVE
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Edward T. Olsen) writes:
>Gentlemen:
>
>The NASA search for signals of extraterrestrial intelligent origin has
>not yet begun. The Initial Deployment of the High Resolution Microwave
>Survey (HRMS) will be October 12, 1992.
>
>Do not propagate misinformation and rumor!
>
>Edward Olsen
>HRMS
>--
> Edward T. Olsen
> Mail Stop 169-506, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA  91109
> Phone: [phone]   INTERNET: [e-mail] (Node: 128.149.82.1)

\\\\\\\\\\\\
Just curious - I have a direct question for you:

Is NASA/HRMS going to investigate any previously detected signals, which
it considers might possibly have been of ETI origin? Does NASA say that no
such candidate ETI signals have been detected so far? (We all now that
HRMS is beginning soon, but there have been previous surveys of far less
scope.)

A direct "NO" to question 1 or "YES" to question 2 is what we are trying
to detect. That will kill rumors most effectively.

Also, there has been another interesting question:
Is HRMS capable of detecting signals of power equivalent to terrestial
broadcasts (different frequencies) at distances of say 50 light years or so?

Thanks for your information.
David Harwood

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 302
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