Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_3/V15NO331.TXT

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Date: Wed, 21 Oct 92 05:01:25
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #331
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Wed, 21 Oct 92       Volume 15 : Issue 331

Today's Topics:
                             DCX Status?
         Federation gives a decent explantion to you (3 msgs)
                    NASA Shake Up Rumor? (2 msgs)
                        SAREX QSL information
           Weather satellites & preventing property damage
         Weekly reminder for Frequently Asked Questions list

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 22:15:00 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: DCX Status?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>The paper on the DC-X is facinating.  Is the prototype going to be flown
>manned or unmanned??

The DC-X demonstrator is unmanned.  The DC-Y design is meant to be flyable
either manned or unmanned.  I would hope that test flights would be flown
manned, given experience on programs like the X-15 which clearly showed
the value of a human pilot when something goes wrong.  (The X-15 people
estimated that if the X-15 had been unmanned and nonredundant, the first
50 flights would have written off 15 of them.  Simply adding a pilot, or
adding redundant systems, wouldn't help very much -- the pilot isn't very
useful unless he has alternatives, and automated redundancy does not cope
well with unanticipated problems, like having the landing gear drop down
at Mach 5 [this happened].  The big win comes from having redundant systems
to provide options, and a pilot to figure out which ones to use.)

>There is a reference to a "near-crash" during a shuttle landing...

There actually were several such, depending on how you define the term.
If you exclude equipment problems of various kinds -- which arguably are
one-time things, to be expected in a craft that is still in early phases
of flight testing -- then you're left with the Atlantis landing in April
1991 (the Gamma Ray Observatory mission) which came down 600ft before the
official start of the runway because of a meteorologist calling the winds
wrong.  No harm done, because the runway in question has an underrun area
just in case, but hypothetically combine it with other problems -- e.g.,
use of an emergency landing site without an underrun -- and it could have
been fatal.

If memory serves, the NRC report on shuttle launch frequency said that
a landing accident is the single most probable cause of the next loss
of an orbiter (although the crew might survive).
--
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 16:07:27 GMT
From: Chris Kostanick 806 1044 <chris@kbsw1>
Subject: Federation gives a decent explantion to you
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.skeptic,alt.alien.visitors

I bet if you do the math, you find out a couple of things:

    (1) The wattage to get photon pressure that actually lifts
    something is much too high to generate.

    (2) At the power levels necessary in (1) even a 99.99% efficient
        crystal vaporises before you get off the pad.


Keep trying though, enthusiasm is worth more than pessimism.

Chris Kostanick

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

Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1992 21:12:47 GMT
From: Max Elliot <[e-mail]>
Subject: Federation gives a decent explantion to you
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.skeptic,alt.alien.visitors

  Well done! The material in that piece sounds almost realistic.
  I love great sci-fi. The next issue to address is how much
  'harnessed nuclear force' one could actually generate using
  said device, and where this force would be applied/dissipated.
  Would we mount massive arrays of these devices at the propulsion
  end of our craft? Would we be able to generate significant force
  for acceleration? How long would it take us to reach Alpha Centauri?
  Do these devices operate in neutral and reverse as well and can we
  have automatic transmission? Put me on the list for tickets to ride
  the first craft powered by Quantum Effect Injection Laser!

  I really love this stuff, I do.
-Max

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 17:41:33 GMT
From: Walter Wohlmuth <[e-mail]>
Subject: Federation gives a decent explantion to you
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.skeptic,alt.alien.visitors

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>For all of you who have been waiting for a decent explanation of the
>drive/laser system, from the Federation, Here you are:
>Lady Rhavyn [e-mail], questions, ideas comments ?
>1   Federation Science Academy;
>     Engineering Research Text
>
>
>A FEDERATION RESEARCH PROPOSAL:
>

Why is this article in sci.space?  Although the author presents a rather
long-winded description of his/her proposal it is shear fantasy.  The
cost of this project is immense in regards to equipment and work required.

>
>By the synthesis of several fields of scientific and engineering
>specialty, the production of a new form of space drive may be
>possible.  This new drive will represent a literal quantum leap in
>space propulsion technology, entailing as if does the reduction of
>space drive components to a single 51 centimeter crystal.
>
Excuse me, a crystal 51 cm long! Silicon wafers are currently about
24 to 30 cm in diameter.  GaAs wafers are about 15 to 20 cm in diameter.

>By exponential expansion, the crystal
>electric-magnetic fields should reach a strong-force counter reaction
>by the time the electron-current flow has reached the end of the
>crystal.   The end product of this action should be an quanta level
>release burst of energy along most known frequencies of the
>electromagnetic wave-band.    ( Harnessed nuclear thrust.)

I don't quite understand this.  The highest fields achievable in Si
or GaAs I think are about 20 KV/cm.  Which is equivalent to 5 V appearing
across a 0.25 mm gap.  These 'high' fields are present in your basic
computer chip.  Electron current is proportional to electron velocity,
but electron current is only proportional to electric field at low fields.
Applying a higher E field will cause the current to reduce because the
electron velocity will drop in GaAs, negative differential resistance.
Excessive E fields will disrupt the crystal lattice.
>
>1.)   If a conversion ratio of 1.5 Amperes produce 1/2 a watt of light
>(  1.5a=1/2w )  in a device 0.25 millimeters long, what will the
>wattage output be at the end of a device 51 centimeters long?
>

Most certainly not in the kW range, lucky if > 10 W are achieved.

>7.)  Combining semiconducting/piezoelectric lattice structures with
>super conducting/quasi-crystal ceramic tiling junctions in a
>north/front - south/back hyper-magnetic domain;  what will be the
>effect on piezoelectric compression?
>

Introduction of acoustic waves, which will reduce electron velocity,
and aid in non-radiative recombination.
>
>9.)   Experiments in 1981 proved that intense, coherent light flashes
>in an area of less then 1 millimeter lasted only ten-trillionth of a
>second produced electric fields thousands of times more powerful then
>those used in particle accelerators;  Combined with the possible
>hyper-magnetic fields generated by electric fields in motion, what
>would the classification of the field generated after the process has
>reached the theoretical 51 centimeters?
>

I would like a reference to this point.

It would be interesting to see the date at which the federation thinks
it will complete this process.  Completion of this project in ten years
is sheer fantasy.

Walter Anthony Wohlmuth
Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF)
Microelectronics Lab

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 21:03:42 GMT
From: Curtis Roelle <roelle@uars_mag.jhuapl.edu>
Subject: NASA Shake Up Rumor?
Newsgroups: sci.space

What's going on at NASA H.Q.?  There are rumors floating about.  Here is
a summary of what I have heard, and maybe someone closer to the source
would care to elaborate.

#RUMOR ON#
On Thursday, Administrator Goldin appointed Lennard A. Fisk, Office of
Space Science and Applications (OSSA), to be NASA's new Chief
Scientist (a position which has been vacant for a number of years).
OSSA is headless and budgetless.  Wesley Huntress, also from OSSA, is
now heading the Mission From Planet Earth effort.
#RUMOR OFF#

Is there any furter information, clarification, or correction available?

CWR

(views are not those of my employer, their clients, or mine for that matter)

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 22:41:35 GMT
From: Josh 'K' Hopkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: NASA Shake Up Rumor?
Newsgroups: sci.space

roelle@uars_mag.jhuapl.edu (Curtis Roelle) writes:

>What's going on at NASA H.Q.?  There are rumors floating about.  Here is
>a summary of what I have heard, and maybe someone closer to the source
>would care to elaborate.

>#RUMOR ON#
>On Thursday, Administrator Goldin appointed Lennard A. Fisk, Office of
>Space Science and Applications (OSSA), to be NASA's new Chief
>Scientist (a position which has been vacant for a number of years).
>OSSA is headless and budgetless.  Wesley Huntress, also from OSSA, is
>now heading the Mission From Planet Earth effort.
>#RUMOR OFF#

The latest _Space News_ has the story on page 3.  Lennard Fisk, Tom Campbell
and Marty Kress of science, comptroller and legislative offices respectively
have been reassigned.  Kress is now cheif scientist in Goldin's office,
and the other two are in the space station program.  The article includes some
quotes saying it was a bad idea, some saying it was good and one from Kress
that suggests he's happy with the move.  Goldin is apparently opening the
competion for replacements to outsiders, which has some worried that NASA will
be taken over by DoD and DoE types.

--
Josh Hopkins                                          [e-mail]
     The views expresed above do not necessarily reflect those of
ISDS, UIUC, NSS, IBM FSC, NCSA, NMSU, AIAA or the American Association for the
                      Advancement of Acronymphomaniacs

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

Date: 20 Oct 1992 20:00:27 GMT
From: Jay Maynard <[e-mail]>
Subject: SAREX QSL information
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

[Forwarded for Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT VP of Manned Space Ops --K5ZC]

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) has agreed to
distribute the QSL cards for the STS-50 mission.

Keith Baker, KB1SF from DARA will be coordinating this effort.
All STS-50 QSL cards received at the ARRL, the Goddard  ARC and
at the JSC ARC should be forwarded to DARA at the following
address:

            DARA
            Box 44
            Dayton, OH 45401

For your convenience, I have compiled the addresses of the QSL
distributors for the STS-35, 37, 45 and 47 missions.  These are
shown below.

STS-35        Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
        9609 Tuckerman Ct
        Seabrook, MD 20706

STS-37        Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
        9609 Tuckerman Ct
        Seabrook, MD 20706

STS-45        Sterling Park ARC
        P.O. Box 599
        Sterling, VA 22170

STS-47        Jay Apt, N5QWL
        806 Shorewood Drive
        Seabrook, Texas 77586


Please remind all that seek a QSL card, that to receive a QSL,
they need to include the QSO information (e.g. Date, time in
UTC, frequency, mode) which documents the contact or listener
report.  In addition they MUST also include an SASE using a
large, business sized envelope if they wish to receive a card.
No cards will be distributed without the proper postage affixed
or sufficient IRCs included.

The status of the various cards and their distribution follows:

Mission        Launch Date        QSL Distribution Status

STS-35        December 1990        QSL distribution complete.

STS-37        April 1991        All who included SASE's for
                    STS-37 should have received
                    their QSL by now.  Please
                    note that I am still
                    receiving 1-3 QSL requests
                    per day.

STS-45        March 1992        QSL distribution just
                    beginning.

STS-50        June 1992        QSL currently being printed,
                    QSL distribution expected to
                    start in approximately 4-6
                    weeks.

STS-47        September 1992        QSL layout should be
                    starting.


If you have any questions or concerns regarding the QSL
distribution, please contact me at [e-mail]

73,

Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
--
Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can
[e-mail]      | adequately be explained by stupidity.

    Vote for a REAL change on 3 November: Throw out the check-bouncing,
  tax-and-spend Democrat Congress! (obviously, not an opinion of UTHSCH)

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

Date: 20 Oct 92 22:25:11 GMT
From: Josh 'K' Hopkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: Weather satellites & preventing property damage
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Robert P Dale) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Josh 'K' Hopkins) writes:
>> I think hurricanes are the only major natural
>>disaster we can predict reliably enough that people take it seriously and far
>>enough in advance to do much good.

>I dunno... Major tornadic outbreaks are well forecast and publicized
>usually, although the warnings aren't always heeded (Wichita/Andover 1991.)

The latter is why I discounted them.  Tornadoes appear on short notice and
the ratio of area that gets warned to area affected is so large that most people
don't take warnings all that seriously.  When people do start to take a warning
seriously is when they can see the sky getting ugly outside their window.

Hurricanes on the other hand can be detected a week or more in advance.   More
importantly, when the forecaster says where it's going to hit, you believe it.
The story I forgot to mention about Houston was the hurricane tracking maps
free in every grocery store.  Anyone who really wants to can plot the location
of every tropical depression in the Carribean just by watching the news.

--
Josh Hopkins                                          [e-mail]
     The views expresed above do not necessarily reflect those of
ISDS, UIUC, NSS, IBM FSC, NCSA, NMSU, AIAA or the American Association for the
                      Advancement of Acronymphomaniacs

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

Date: 15 Oct 92 21:32:07 GMT
From: Jon Leech <[e-mail]>
Subject: Weekly reminder for Frequently Asked Questions list
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.space.shuttle

    This notice will be posted weekly in sci.space, sci.astro, and
sci.space.shuttle.

    The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for sci.space and sci.astro is
posted approximately monthly. It also covers many questions that come up on
sci.space.shuttle (for shuttle launch dates, see below).

    The FAQ is posted with a long expiration date, so a copy may be in your
news spool directory (look at old articles in sci.space). If not, here are
two ways to get a copy without waiting for the next posting:

    (1) If your machine is on the Internet, it can be obtained by anonymous
FTP from the SPACE archive at ames.arc.nasa.gov (128.102.18.3) in directory
pub/SPACE/FAQ.

    (2) Otherwise, send email to '[e-mail]'
containing the single line:

help

    The archive server will return directions on how to use it. To get an
index of files in the FAQ directory, send email containing the lines:

send space FAQ/Index
send space FAQ/faq1

    Use these files as a guide to which other files to retrieve to answer
your questions.

    Shuttle launch dates are posted by Ken Hollis periodically in
sci.space.shuttle. A copy of his manifest is now available in the Ames
archive in pub/SPACE/FAQ/manifest and may be requested from the email
archive-server with 'send space FAQ/manifest'. Please get this document
instead of posting requests for information on launches and landings.

    Do not post followups to this article; respond to the author.

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

End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 331
------------------------------