Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_4/V15NO416.TXT

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Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 05:15:11
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
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Subject: Space Digest V15 #416
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Space Digest                Thu, 12 Nov 92       Volume 15 : Issue 416

Today's Topics:
            ALTERNATIVE Heavy Element Creation in Universe
                 Automated space station construction
                             clarke's law
                  Japanese X-ray satellite: Astro_D
                     Lunar "colony" reality check
                        Space suit research???

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Date: 11 Nov 92 14:34:58 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: ALTERNATIVE Heavy Element Creation in Universe
Newsgroups: sci.space



                              BIOLOGICAL ALCHEMY

                        ( ANOTHER Form of COLD FUSION )

               ( ALTERNATIVE Heavy Element Creation in Universe )

               A very simple experiment can demonstrate (PROVE) the
          FACT of "BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATIONS" (reactions like Mg + O
          --> Ca, Si + C --> Ca, K + H --> Ca, N2 --> CO, etc.), as
          described in the BOOK "Biological Transmutations" by Louis
          Kervran, [1972 Edition is BEST.], and in Chapter 17 of the
          book "THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS" [see Footnote] by Peter
          Tompkins and Christopher Bird, 1973:

               (1) Obtain a good sample of plant seeds, all of the same
                   kind.  [Some kinds might work better that others.]

               (2) Divide the sample into two groups of equal weight
                   and number.

               (3) Sprout one group in distilled water on filter paper
                   for three or four weeks.

               (4) Separately incinerate both groups.

               (5) Weigh the residue from each group.  [The residue of
                   the sprouted group will usually weigh at least
                   SEVERAL PERCENT MORE than the other group.]

               (6) Analyze quantitatively the residue of each group for
                   mineral content.  [Some of the mineral atoms of the

                   sprouted group have been TRANSMUTED into heavier
                   mineral elements by FUSING with atoms of oxygen,
                   hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, etc..]


               BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATIONS occur ROUTINELY, even in our
          own bodies.

               Ingesting a source of organic silicon (silicon with
          carbon, such as "horsetail" extract, or radishes) can SPEED
          HEALING OF BROKEN BONES via the reaction Si + C --> Ca, (much
          faster than by merely ingesting the calcium directly).

               Some MINERAL DEPOSITS in the ground are formed by micro-
          organisms FUSING together atoms of silicon, carbon, nitrogen,
          oxygen, hydrogen, etc..

               The two reactions Si + C <--> Ca, by micro-organisms,
          cause "STONE SICKNESS" in statues, building bricks, etc..

               The reaction N2 --> CO, catalysed by very hot iron,
          creates a CARBON-MONOXIDE POISON HAZARD for welder operators
          and people near woodstoves (even properly sealed ones).

               Some bacteria can even NEUTRALIZE RADIOACTIVITY!


               ALL OF THESE THINGS AND MORE HAPPEN, IN SPITE OF the
          currently accepted "laws" of physics.



          Footnote: Chapters 19 and 20 are about "RADIONICS".
                    ENTIRE BOOK is FASCINATING!



          "BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATIONS, And Their Applications In
               CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, MEDICINE,
               NUTRITION, AGRIGULTURE, GEOLOGY",
          1st Edition,
          by C. Louis Kervran, Active Member of New York Academy of
               Science,
          1972,
          163 Pages, Illustrated,
          Swan House Publishing Co.,
               P.O. Box 638,
               Binghamton, NY  13902


          "THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS",
          by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird,
          1973,
          402 Pages,
          Harper & Row,
               New York



               UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this
          IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED.


                                   Robert E. McElwaine
                                   B.S., Physics and Astronomy, UW-EC

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

Date: 12 Nov 92 04:43:48 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Automated space station construction
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Charles Frank Radley) writes:
>Space Station Freedom is Apollo type technology ?
>Really ?
>
>Using ADA and 386 / 586 processors and Nickel Hydrogen batteries,

Military COBOL and Intel processors, FRED IS DOOMED. :-) :-)

Gary

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

Date: 12 Nov 92 08:22:23 GMT
From: Dan Tilque <[e-mail]>
Subject: clarke's law
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.physics.fusion

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Thomas Clarke) writes:
>Someone recently posted Clarke's law.  The one about
>if a senior scientist says possible he's probably right,
>if he says impossible he's probably wrong.
>
>Could you e-mail me the exact quotation?  I need to cite it
>in a paper and don't want to go digging in the library.

Here's the relevant section from the rec.arts.sf.written FAQ.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
17. Clarke's Laws

(This entry was written by Mark Brader.)

Clarke's Law, later Clarke's First Law, can be found in the essay
"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination", in the collection
"Profiles of the Future", 1962, revised 1973, Harper & Row, paperback
by Popular Library, ISBN 0-445-04061-0.  It reads:

# [1]        When a distinguished but elderly scientist
#        states that something is possible, he is almost
#        certainly right.  When he states that something
#        is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Note that the adverbs in the two sentences are different.  Clarke continues:

#    Perhaps the adjective "elderly" requires definition.  In physics,
#    mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other
#    disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties.
#    There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher
#    just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for
#    nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out
#    of the laboratory!

Isaac Asimov added a further comment with Asimov's Corollary to Clarke's
Law, which he expounded in an essay logically titled "Asimov's Corollary".
This appeared in the February 1977 issue of F&SF, and can be found in the
collection "Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright", 1978, Doubleday; no ISBN on
my copy.  Asimov's Corollary reads:

% [1AC]        When, however, the lay public rallies round an
%        idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly
%        scientists and supports that idea with great fervor
%        and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly
%        scientists are then, after all, probably right.


So much for Clarke's First Law.  A few pages later on, in the final
paragraph of the same essay, Clarke writes:

# [2]        But the only way of discovering the limits of the
#        possible is to venture a little way past them into
#        the impossible.

To this he attaches a footnote:

#    The French edition of [presumably, the first edition of] this
#    book rather surprised me by calling this Clarke's Second Law.
#    (See page [number] for the First, which is now rather well-
#    known.)  I accept the label, and have also formulated a Third:
#
# [3]        Any sufficiently advanced technology is
#        indistinguishable from magic.
#
#    As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly
#    decided to stop there.


---
Dan Tilque    --     [e-mail]

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

Date: 12 Nov 92 07:19:54 GMT
From: "John A. Nousek" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Japanese X-ray satellite: Astro_D
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

Astro-D will be an outstanding spectroscopic observatory, but
it is not the first X-ray spectroscopy experiment.  The Focal
Plane Crystal Spectrometer on Einstein had higher spectral
resolving power, but due to the low efficiency of Bragg scattering
off the crystals had low quantum efficiency.  Other spectroscopic
instruments included the Objective Gratings on Einstein and EXOSAT,
the SSS (a Si(Li) detector on Einstein) and the BBXRT on the Astro-1
mission.

But for the combination of moderate spatial resolution and large
effective area the Astro-D instrument will be able to take ground
breaking spectra of nearly every source that it looks at (and
won't be matched until the launches of AXAF-I and XMM around 1998-2000).

John Nousek

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

Date: 12 Nov 92 04:58:03 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Lunar "colony" reality check
Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Scott A Koester) writes:
>
>   I don't know too much abotu many of the specifics, but in the sense of the
>moon 'colony' paying for itself, did any mention the fact that if solar arrays
>are set up on the moon the can produce a large amount energy, energy which
>could be used to power the base/colony, or could be beamed back down to the
>EArth in the form of microwaves and then collected and tranformed back into
>usable energy.  This could be sold at a rate to other countries also.

The inverse square law is a hard master. A microwave array on the Moon
needs a gain 1,000,000 times that of an array at LEO to produce the same
beam on Earth's surface. A Lunar array needs to be 100 times larger than
an array at GEO and is available only 12 hours a day to any given site on
Earth, and receives solar power only 2 weeks a month. It would take decades
of concentrated work to build a Lunar array after permanent manned presence
is established on the Moon, if the array is to be constructed from native
materials. If it's imported from Earth, transport costs kill any chance of
payback.

Satellite power systems are of dubious economic viability at best. Placing
one on such a distant satellite is lunacy. [I kill me. :-)]

Gary

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

Date: 12 Nov 92 04:48:26 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Space suit research???
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (STANCZYK MICHAEL B) writes:
>With all the talk about US space suits being at 5 psi and pure O2 I was
>wondering what the current state of research is in space suits using
>1 atm and normal air?

Imagine a starfish. Constant volume joints aren't constant volume. At
1 atm, you can't move unless you're Arnold S. The suit fabric becomes
so stiff when inflated to 14 PSI that you can't get any feeling through
it, gloves don't work. 1 atm suit designs are hard suits with remote
manipulators, one man space ships, not suits at all.

Gary

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 416
------------------------------