Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_3/V15NO342.TXT

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Date: Sun, 25 Oct 92 04:59:59
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #342
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Sun, 25 Oct 92       Volume 15 : Issue 342

Today's Topics:
               Clinton/Gore go after Bush on sci.space
                             DCX Status?
                        Dyson sphere (2 msgs)
                 Gore Blames George Bush for Big Bang
    Minerals from space (was Re: Bootstrap hardware for LunaBase)
                 NASA budget (was Perot and Freedom)
                     Planets, moons gifs, jpegs.
                               Question
                       re HRMS for ETI (3 msgs)
             South Africa tests Satellite launch vehicle
                         Toward 2001 - 19 Oct
                     Voyager 1 Passes 50 AU Mark
                       Voyager Family Portrait
    Voyager Family Portrait (was Re: Space for White People only?)

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
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    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1992 09:56:57 FULL
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Clinton/Gore go after Bush on sci.space

Clinton for President <[e-mail]> writes:

> George Bush just doesn't get it.  He's shown time and time again he
 doesn't understand America's economic problems.  Now he's showing
 again he doesn't understand America's drug problem.<

Perhaps, but then again he isn't posting political broadsides shotgun-style
to sci.space.

    Perhaps when the issues are SOOOO important, the normal elements of net etiquette must be suspended.

    I just hope they don't post a detailed five-page analysis on Bill
Clinton's response to Larsonian Physics :)

Regards,
Patrick R. Briggs  [a person with a name, not like Clinton f. President]
Dept. of Physics
The Citadel
Charleston, SC  29409
briggsp@citadel

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 16:04:56 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: DCX Status?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mary Shafer) writes:

>It's my understanding that SDIO has reprogrammed all the funding for DC-Y
>development into DC-X support.

That's true. There is talk of building a 2/3 scale prototype called DC-X'.
This would be a reusable vehicle SDIO would use for testing.

There is a good chance the Air Force will be interested. If we can convince
Congress to fund an Air Force request then there is a good chance it will
be built.

   Allen

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
|  [e-mail]     |  nothing undone"                                       |
+----------------------183 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1992 00:49:33 GMT
From: James Davis Nicoll <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dyson sphere
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Charles Frank Radley) writes:
>
>>For a nonspinning sphere, does it have an atmosphere on the outside(for lifeforms to breathe?
>
>Almost certainly not -- it hasn't enough gravity to hold one.
>
    Ah, isn't escape velocity at 1 AU ~50 km/s? 11 km/s seems to hold
an atmosphere down on Earth.

    I imagine the desnity of the atmosphere would vary very slowly with
altitude, and the mass of atmosphere might be, ah, rather large.

                                James Nicoll

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

Date: 25 Oct 92 02:28:50 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dyson sphere
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>>>For a nonspinning sphere, does it have an atmosphere on the outside...
>>Almost certainly not -- it hasn't enough gravity to hold one.
>>
>    Ah, isn't escape velocity at 1 AU ~50 km/s? 11 km/s seems to hold
>an atmosphere down on Earth.
>    I imagine the desnity of the atmosphere would vary very slowly with
>altitude, and the mass of atmosphere might be, ah, rather large.

Picky, picky, picky...  Yup, it *does* have enough of a gravity well to
hold an atmosphere -- its surface gravity is feeble but the field reaches
out a long, long way -- but it would indeed have to be thick.  At 1AU, the
field is about 0.7 milligees, so (ignoring gravity gradient) you'd need
1400 times the mass of air to get the same pressure.  Earth has about ten
tons per square meter, so I think we're in trouble again with the available
mass in the solar system being too small.

Actually, we probably don't want to do this even if we could.  How do we
travel quickly in such an atmosphere?  We can't even reach airliner speeds
without first climbing ten thousand kilometers or so to find thinner air!
(Could be even worse -- I'm not certain heights would scale linearly.)
More immediately, in such a feeble field, I expect there'd be all manner
of practical problems with convection not working well and so forth.  It
does have a few attractions, though...
--
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1992 00:52:00 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Gore Blames George Bush for Big Bang
Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]> writes...
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Information in the public interest which does not imply that it
>is the opinion of UIC.  Contact [e-mail] for
>further information.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> FOR RELEASE UPON DELIVERY
> Clinton/Gore Email
> 9 A-M (EDT) FRIDAY
> October 23, 1992
>
*************************************************************************

Information in the public interest that does imply that Gore is a weirdo
with no concept of international relations and the recent forces of
history.



>
>
>           In second major speech on space, aerospace policy:
>
>          GORE SAYS BUSH FAILS AEROSPACE INDUSTRY AND WORKERS
>     OUTLINES PLAN FOR ACTION TO STRENGTHEN INDUSTRY, PRESERVE JOBS
>
>      MELBOURNE, FL - The U.S. aerospace industry and American jobs
> are threatened by the failed policies of the Bush-Quayle
> Administration, said Sen. Al Gore, D-TN, offering a new approach to
> strengthen the industry and America's civil space program in a speech
> at the Florida Institute of Technology near Cape Canaveral and at the
> U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
>
>      "The time when we could assume continued American supremacy in
> aerospace is gone.  And President Bush's hands-off economic policies
> have dangerously weakened the ability of American aerospace to fight
> back," said Gore, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's
> Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space, which has jurisdiction
> over NASA.
>
Meaning that the slick one and he will turn American aerospace into a
bureaucratic program that will get absolutly nothing done. Also they will
impliment policies that are being abandoned by every nation that has tried them.


>      "During his Administration, President Bush has had the
> opportunity to take steps needed to reinvigorate our aerospace
> industry.  He never recognized that opportunity and never responded,"
> said Gore, in the second of two major policy speeches focusing on the
> civil space program and the aerospace industry.

Fact is the Demorats have derailed every single aerospace initiative that
the republicans have pushed in the last twelve years to feed the Democratic
goal of bread and circuses for every household in America. Remember NASP? it
would be flying in 18 months if it were not for the Demorats.

>
>      "He has failed to provide U.S. aircraft manufacturers with a
> level playing field on the international market.  He has failed to
> invest in new technologies needed to maintain the competitiveness of
> U.S.-built aircraft.  And, President Bush has failed to create an
> economic climate in which American business, including our domestic
> airline industry, can compete and prosper," said Gore.

Meaning that with their limited concept of international relations, they will
spark a trade war that will hurt all of us.  In addition the comment on
investing in new technologies means that they would rather the government take
money from corporations in the form of taxes and then redistribute it to the
people that are politically correct instead of passing a capital tax gain break
for the businesses that are profitable and future oriented.

>
>      Gore outlined specific action that would be taken by a
> Clinton-Gore Administration to strengthen America's aerospace
> industry and the civilian space program and to increase investment in
> advanced aeronautics technologies:
>
> *    Investing in NASA's aeronautical research and technology
>      policies;
>
Flat lie. Every new technology that NASA has invested in (NASP, HLV, SS Solar
Cells, and the good work by SDIO) has been cut and the money given to the
bread and circus crowd.


> *    Increased emphasis on the development of new subsonic aircraft
>      technologies;
>
Whipping a dead horse. Boeing does not ask for money for the 777 they just
do it. There have been over 4300 Boeing 737 variations built in the last
twenty years. MacDac has the MD-11 and MD-12. What about the 767 and 757.
Where's the beef Gore?

> *    A new approach to developing advanced technology by renewing the
>      civilian technology base.
>
>            -- creating 170 market-driven manufacturing centers to
>            help American manufacturers attain global economic
>            leadership,
>
Already spoken about this one. Remember that all of NASA's technology budget
has been slashed to the bone by this same guy's political party. Who is going
to run these centers? What is their goal (specific concrete ones not arm
flapping)?


>            -- reinvesting every dollar cut from defense research and
>            development into federal civilian R&D and generic
>            technology programs,
>
Is this like generic bread? Be specific. Remember that the slick one wants to
use that money for his social programs.



>            -- helping communities hit hard by defense cuts by
>            creating at least 25 Manufacturing Extension Centers --
>            Regional Alliances -- that will employ the expertise of
>            our defense industry and scientists in civilian technology
>            and manufacturing programs.
>
The slick one stated during the debates that he is going to cut 148 billion
from defense. It is going to take a great deal more than 25 welfare centers
to counteract that. Why not develop SEI? That would save the trained jobs, the
industrial infrastructure in high tech and get us off the planet at the same
time. Naa it makes too much sense.




> *    Creating a defense conversion plan to help companies make the
>      transition from military contractor to commercial contractor;
>

To do what? Make appliances? Can you imagine Loral making pocket radios? Long
on wind proposals and short on ideas.



> *    Supporting the state-of-the-art aeronautical testing facilities,
>      including  subsonic, advanced supersonic, and hypersonic wind
>      tunnels.
>

For what reason slick one? Your party has cut all of the R & D budgets for these
activities after the wind tunnels were built for them. We have them everywhere
and no work for them because you killed NASP.


>       "Under the Bush-Quayle Administration policies, U.S. aircraft
> manufacturers are losing market share.  Testimony before Congress
> earlier this year put the U.S. share of the large civil transport
> aircraft market at 70 percent, down from 90 percent in 1980.
> Industry experts have said that without action to strengthen NASA's
> aeronautical research program, the U.S. market share could fall
> another 10 points," said Gore.
>
This totally ingores international considerations. Aerobus did not make many
planes in 1980 and Europe tries to buy from them. Of course the balance
changes as these nations continue to rebuild from WWII into that era. Also
this ignores the rise of the asian nations abilities in these areas.





>       "America cannot continue to rely on trickle-down technology
> from the military to maintain the competitiveness of our high-tech
> and manufacturing industries.  Civilian industry, not the military,
> is the driving force behind technology today," said Gore.
>

Why not? It worked very well for fifty years and reall throughout the history
of mankind. Read about wars and their effect on technology. Too bad Gore
only reads books by the Club of Rome.



>       Gore also reprised from earlier this week his criticism of the
> Bush-Quayle Administration's space policy, saying that "because of
> the failed policies of the last four years, our national space
> program is as lost as a satellite thrown out of orbit" and that
> "George Bush and Dan Quayle have perilously weakened our space
> program."
>
That is funny from the party that has consistently cut the space budget at
every opportunity and forced NASA to build the ASRM that it did not want.
It is the failed polices of a congress that continues to vote the policies
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that has been dead for fifty years.



>       "By failing to set priorities within NASA, by failing to make
> investments that strengthen the space program and create new jobs,
> the Bush-Quayle Administration has weakened every component of that
> program," said Gore

The space program IS creating new jobs. Space news reports that space program
revenue has been growing at 20% per year for the past few years. Too bad
Gore does not read space news.

>
>       Gore said that he and Governor Bill Clinton would make the
> space program more cost-effective and flexible, "spending more wisely
> in line with established priorities [that] will enable us to preserve
> jobs and ensure that the United States remains a leader in space."
> Space science should be a priority for NASA, Gore said.
>
How about some specifics here? Goldin is doing exactly this with the faster
cheaper better approach. Many programs savings are already in progress. Will
you guys make a promise to keep Goldin? What about the future. Your party
has cut every single program, even small ones like Lunar Resource Mapper,
that would put the US in a postion to take advantage of the 21st century in
space. The next probe to the moon will be Japanese because  of your party.




>       Gore also reinforced the Clinton-Gore support to move forward
> to complete the Space Station Freedom, the Advanced Solid Rocket
> Motor program, and to upgrade our existing fleet of expandable launch
> vehicles and invest in the future of America's commercial launch
> industry.

Supports Jamie Whittens pork barrel projects and Traxlers pork as well.
McDonnell Douglas is doing just fine with the Delta without the government
strings. You just killed the NLS because a low cost MLV booster was a threat
to GD and MacDac and Martin. So what the heck are you talking about here?

>
>       The Florida Institute of Technology is the first school in the
> country to offer a degree in space technology.  Many of its graduates
> go on to work at NASA, Grumman, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta.  The
> school is located about 25 miles south of Cape Canaveral.  Gore
> echoed his remarks in Florida during a visit later in the day to the
> U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

There was a large contingent from the University of Alabama in Huntsville at
this little party carrying Bush/Quayle posters. Too bad it did not get on TV.
Sorry Gore baby but it was the University of South Dakota that did it first.
David Webb has also put the program in place at Emery Riddle University in
Florida.  The University of Alabama in Huntsville continues in its efforts
to train the real space professionals of the twentyfirst century. These
students can read write and see propaganda when it is put out. Your
talk is just talk.

The Clinton/Gore Campaign is like a man trying to bed a beautiful virgin. They
promise anything that they think can woo her to bed. What usually happens is
that after the conquest the virgin is discarded as trash. Let this not happen
to our nation.

Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville

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

Date: Sat, 24 Oct 92 19:57:19 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Minerals from space (was Re: Bootstrap hardware for LunaBase)

> What about regolith gardening by zillions of impacts?  Each impact
> sends some soil flying, and the fragments land someplace else.
After
> millions of years, the lunar regolith is thoroughly churned
top-to-bottom
> and, to a lesser extent, horizontally, so that it's a mixture of

> all the types of meteorites that ever landed there.
>


Minor quibble Bill... You need to look for "young" soils. Mature
soils are also fused and shattered and refused, so magnetic
beneficiation won't be quite as effective, although still possible.

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 14:51:02 GMT
From: Gerald Cecil <[e-mail]>
Subject: NASA budget (was Perot and Freedom)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (Jr Childers) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>Someone asked recently about federal outlays, probably not in
>>this thread.  These figures are from the Financial Management Service,
>>Treasury Dept., General Accounting Office:
>>
>>1992 US Budget Receipts & Outlays
>>Total receipts    1,073.6 (billions)
>>Total expenses  1,407.1
>
>[list deleted]
>
>>This leaves 218.8 billion to divide among other activities.
>>Currently NASA gets about 14 billion (6%).  As Ross points out
>                                      ^^^^
>Is this their number?
>
>      NASA's Budget             14 billion
>     ---------------- X 100% = --------------- X 100% = 1% != 6%
>      Total Expenses            1,407 billion
>
>Now I know why we never ballance our budget.  :-(
>
>John Childers
>UNCCharlotte
>[e-mail]

Nope, it's 6.5% of the funds available *after the various multi-year
entitlements are taken into account*, and so can be viewed as a large enough slice
to be quite vulnerable. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is
that virtually the *entire* NASA authorization has to be renegotiated each budget
cycle and so competes with the <20% (optimistically) of the total federal budget
can be moved around in a given year. NASA has repeatedly asked Congress for
multi-year authorizations, to no avail.  Of course DOD does have multi-year
authority, officially spends at least as much as NASA on space, and probably has
a number of surprises in the $65 billion/pa Black budget. And then there is SDIO ...

At $37 billion (est.) over 10 years it's clear that SSF & ancilliary equipment
by themselves are not going to keep aerospace companies alive.
---
Gerald Cecil [e-mail]  919-962-7169
Physics & Astronomy, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 USA

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

Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1992 14:29:50 GMT
From: David Knapp <[e-mail]>
Subject: Planets, moons gifs, jpegs.
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

Does anyone know of sites that carry gifs or jpegs of planets and moons?
Can someone post a comprehensive list?
--
David Knapp                                      University of Colorado, Boulder
Perpetual Student                                   [e-mail]

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

Date: 23 Oct 92 10:40:39 MDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Question
Newsgroups: sci.space

     What ever happened to the Daedalus project?  Way back when
I was in fifth grade, I did my science project on it.  I haven't
heard anythin since.
                                            ... Jerrel

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 23:05:33 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: re HRMS for ETI
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Anton Sebastian) writes:
>     Surely NASA must have some estimates of the probability of
>success of it's HRMS...

How?  There is little data on which to base such an estimate, and what we
do know disagrees:  the Drake Equation (which says there ought to be lots
of communicating civilizations out there) versus the Fermi Paradox (which
points out that we ought to have unmistakable evidence of their presence).
Any attempt to assign probabilities to such a thing is pure guesswork.

>...Just cause the universe is so huge it doesnt mean that
>life exists elsewhere.The Anthropic Principle speculates along
>those lines...

If the Anthropic Principle makes any testable predictions, it's news to me.
--
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 22:40:34 GMT
From: Steinn Sigurdsson <[e-mail]>
Subject: re HRMS for ETI
Newsgroups: sci.space

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

   In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Anton Sebastian) writes:
   >     Surely NASA must have some estimates of the probability of
   >success of it's HRMS...

   How?  There is little data on which to base such an estimate, and what we
   do know disagrees:  the Drake Equation (which says there ought to be lots
   of communicating civilizations out there)

Well, not quite, there is a several order of magnitude uncertainty
in the Drake equation, we are pinning down the first few factors
but P(life developing), P(intelligent life) and T(communicating
civilization) are all completely uncertain.

    versus the Fermi Paradox (which
   points out that we ought to have unmistakable evidence of their presence).
   Any attempt to assign probabilities to such a thing is pure guesswork.

   >...Just cause the universe is so huge it doesnt mean that
   >life exists elsewhere.The Anthropic Principle speculates along
   >those lines...

   If the Anthropic Principle makes any testable predictions, it's news to me.

The C-12 resonance Hoyle predicted (somebody correct me if I got
isotope or scientist wrong ;-) ?

|  Steinn Sigurdsson    |I saw two shooting stars last night        |
|  Lick Observatory    |I wished on them but they were only satellites    |
| [e-mail] |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?        |
| "standard disclaimer"    |I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983    |

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

Date: 25 Oct 92 03:18:02 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: re HRMS for ETI
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:
>   ... the Drake Equation (which says there ought to be lots
>   of communicating civilizations out there)
>
>Well, not quite, there is a several order of magnitude uncertainty
>in the Drake equation...

Indeed so.  But there are so *many* stars in the galaxy that you have to
stack the deck pretty thoroughly to make civilizations really rare.  The
middle-of-the-road estimates say "probably plenty of them".
--
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 21:10:39 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: South Africa tests Satellite launch vehicle
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
says:
>
> Don't know if it's known internationally *yet*, but South Africa successfully
> tested a solid-fuel rocket motor with ballistic potential recently...
>
> The test took place at the Rooi Els test range of Somchem, a subsidiary
> company of Denel (formerly Armscor).
> The burn lasted 58 seconds and produced enough thrust to put a 800kg+        e
>satellit
> in a polar orbit at a height of 400-800km.
> Comparable costs are half that of a similar US launch and South Africa hopes
> that within the next few years to be launching up to 70 satellites annually.
>
> (Incidentally, which other nations/groups of nations have viable satellite
> programs??)
>______________________________________________________________________________

>_Brazil has been working for many years in a launcher/satellite program.
The program was conducted by two independent organizations. The satellite has
been ready for four or three years. However, the launcher, a three or four sta-
ges rocket called VLS (Veiculo Lancador de Satelites - "Satellite Launcher Vehi
cle) although technically ready could not be operationalized in a commercial
scale due to the present Brazilian economic recession. As a result, the first
Brazilian satellite will be delivered by the air launched U.S. rocket Pegasus,
I think next year.
   I am not sure, but I think Argentina also has an orbit-launching capability
through a liquid fueled rocket called "Condor" (the Brazilian VLS, like the
South-African is solid-fuel rocket).

>Gary Glen-Young     'The token South African'
>E-mail:[e-mail]
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>God made men BIG&small, then Samuel Colt made them all equal,*NOW* Gaston
>Glock
>has made some of us better than others.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
Danilo Fonseca

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

Date: Sat, 24 Oct 92 16:48:56 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Toward 2001 - 19 Oct

> o France Opposes Star Wars
> Paris
>

> The French government believes SDI "presents the unacceptable risk

> of reviving the arms race, militarizing space, and going against the

> current of nuclear disarmament," Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy

> told attendees at an international defense strategies conference in

> Paris.

>


Translation: we spent a bloody FORTUNE to make people think we're a real
power, and now those damned yanks are going to make it all obsolete! How
dare they!!

I'll believe the cries of anguish after they scrap their force du frappe.
Until then, "Methinks they doth protest to much..."




power, and now those damned yanks are going to make it all obsolete! How
dare they!!

I'll believe the cries of anguish after they scrap their force du frappe.
Until then, "Methinks they doth protest to much..."

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

Date: 25 Oct 92 02:37:06 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager 1 Passes 50 AU Mark
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

From the JPL Universe
Voyager 1 distance
10/23/92

    Voyager 1, one of two spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore
the outer planets, has gone more than 50 times the distance of
Earth to the sun -- a distance greater than the outermost reaches
of Pluto's orbit.

    Voyager project officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory said the spacecraft, which is headed upward from the
ecliptic, the plane where the planets orbit the sun, is searching
for the end of the sun's influence, called the heliopause.

    The spacecraft crossed the 50 astronomical units (AUs)
distance at 1:30 a.m. PDT Friday, October 9, and is even farther
from Earth, since our planet is going the other way in its orbit.
An astronomical unit is the Earth's mean distance from the sun,
or 93 million miles.

    Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, about two weeks
after its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, was launched. Voyager 1,
on a faster trajectory, reached Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and
encountered Saturn November 12, 1980.

    From Saturn, Voyager 1 was turned by the planet's gravity
toward its upward journey, aimed 35 degrees above the ecliptic
plane. It is traveling at a rate of about 520 million kilometers
(about 320 million miles) a year.

    It is actually 7,480,357,296 kilometers (4,648,078,550
miles) from the sun.

    Voyager Project manager George Textor said the spacecraft,
as is its twin, is still operating and it is hoped it will
continue to return science data until it crosss the heliopause.
That boundary is believed to be 60 to 90 AU from the sun,
depending on the periods of the sun's activity.

      Voyager 2 encountered Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
and then, its trajectory bent by Neptune's gravity, headed south
of the ecliptic plane, also searching for the outer limit of the
solar wind and the beginning of interstellar space. It is now a
little more than 38 AUs from the sun.

    Two other NASA spacecraft also are in the outer areas of the
solar system. Pioneer 10 is more than 55 AUs from the sun, and
its sister spacecraft, Pioneer 11 is more than 36 AUs from the
sun.

    The two Voyagers gave the world the first detailed pictures
of the outer planets and volumes of scientific data on the giant
gas planets and their satellites.

    The Voyager mission was designed to take advantage of a rare
geometric alignment of the outer planets in the late 1970s and
the 1980s, the arrangement of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune, which occurs only about every 175 years, allowed the
spacecraft to swing from one planet to the next without the need
for large onboard propulsion systems.

                                   #####

     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | If God had wanted us to
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | have elections, he would
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | have given us candidates.

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

Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1992 13:37:30 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager Family Portrait
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ethan Dicks) writes...
>Philip A. Stehno ([e-mail]) wrote:
>:     The collage of pictures from the departing Voyager probes showed it
>: best, I think, when earth was shown to be a barely distinguishable blue ball
>: from far out in space.
>
>Where can the "family portrait" done by Voyager be viewed?

If by chance you happen to visit JPL, the family portrait images are
on one of the walls of Von Karman Auditorium across from Voyager 3.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | If God had wanted us to
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | have elections, he would
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | have given us candidates.

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Date: 24 Oct 92 05:00:48 GMT
From: Ethan Dicks <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager Family Portrait (was Re: Space for White People only?)
Newsgroups: sci.space

Philip A. Stehno ([e-mail]) wrote:
:     The collage of pictures from the departing Voyager probes showed it
: best, I think, when earth was shown to be a barely distinguishable blue ball
: from far out in space.


I remember reading that somewhere, there is a *large* mural with the
collage put together.  The location that sticks in my mind is Washington,
in one of the Smithsonian museums.

Where can the "family portrait" done by Voyager be viewed?

Thanks,
-ethan

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 342
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