Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_5/V15NO575.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 30KB

Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 05:00:03
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #575
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Mon, 21 Dec 92       Volume 15 : Issue 575

Today's Topics:
                                aurora
                          Biosphere 2 update
    Breeder reactors (was Re: Justification for the Space Program
                         Breeder reactors...
                     Galileo's atmospheric probe
           Galileo's Atmospheric Probe Passes Health Checks
             GPS prediction software (SRI International)
                          Micro-g in KC-135
                      Space Calendar - 12/20/92
                    Voyager UVS shutdown (2 msgs)
                Yuri's descent module in situ still ?

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Date: 20 Dec 92 15:01:52 GMT
From: Dean Adams <[e-mail]>
Subject: aurora
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
 >I think I may have just solved the Aurora question.
Sorry, no such luck.  :-)

 >Attend the following press release.

Yep... I've been following this program for a while. It is quite interesting,
but it bears absolutely no actual resemblance to the "Aurora".  Unfortunately
seeing the terms NASA, high altitude, and Aurora in the same paragraph HAS
confused some people at times though...

 >Perseus, designed and built for NASA by Aurora Flight Sciences Corp.,
 >is the first aircraft designed specifically for atmospheric science.
 >It will carry up to 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of instruments to a
 >maximum altitude of 82,000 feet (25 kilometers).  The plane is made
 >of lightweight composite materials, much like sailplanes or gliders.
 >Perseus' engine is based on the 4-cycle, 4-cylinder Rotax  engine that
 >powers ultralight aircraft around the world ...

This vehicle has a max speed in the 100mph range and is powered by
a reciprocating engine.  Sorry, it ain't gonna go Mach 6-8.  :->

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

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 11:07:30 PST
From: Taber MacCallum <[e-mail]>
Subject: Biosphere 2 update

Biosphere 2 Update:

Several people have asked me to post a general description
of Biosphere 2 as well as updates during the remainder of
our first test run. I'm Taber MacCallum, a crew member
inside Biosphere 2 for the first full test. So here I go.


Biosphere 2 is a privately financed closed ecological
system that is now supporting eight humans and nearly
4000 documented species of plants and animals in seven
biomes. There is a rain forest, savannah, desert, marsh,
ocean, farm and a human habitat with a kitchen,
apartments, laboratory, workshop, command room, animal
bay, storage, fully equipped medical facility, recreation and
living rooms. Biosphere 2 has a foot print of 14 thousand
square meters with an atmospheric volume of 161 thousand
cubic meters. Almost all of the energy used for growing
plants, waste recycling and atmosphere maintenance is
derived directly from sunlight through the glass. In this
closed environment all the air, water and  waste is recycled
and purified by plants and microorganisms. In summary the
system is essentially materially closed with a leak rate of
less than 9% per year and energetically open, meaning that
information, electricity, light and heat go in and out as
needed.

I am responsible for the analytical chemistry inside
Biosphere 2, and primarily concerned with the
biogeochemistry. For instance, research into the
mechanisms responsible for the decreasing atmospheric
oxygen may bear significantly on the mechanisms involved
in the decreasing global oxygen and show us what to avoid
in future large closed system designs. (See the R.F.
Keeling paper in the August issue of Nature for global
decrease data.) I also work with Dr. Walford on the
medical research involving the crew. Our caloric intake
now is about 2100 calories per day/per person and the
oxygen is now at 14.8%, so the partial pressure is the
equivalent of about 13,000 feet. While low food and oxygen
would not be a good situation if we were in an isolated
space colony, it's why we're doing it first on the ground.
We are now 14.7 months into our two-year exploratory
mission and even though we could just walk out the door,
we treat air, food and water as matters of life and death.
Someday, hopefully, they will be. The restricted calorie
intake has serendipitously provided a research opportunity.
Our cholesterol level, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar
and other basic measures of health have all improved
dramatically. This is one of the first highly controlled long
term dietary studies that has ever been conducted on
humans. The results thus far were published in the
December 1, 1992 issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.

Now at over 14 months, we have surpassed the 6 month
record for living in a closed life support system, previously
set by Russian researchers working in Siberia. We live and
work in a computerized paper-free environment, monitor
and maintain the various technical systems, collect data,
communicate with a team of outside scientific
consultants and researchers, prepare reports, and
somehow find time for individual research projects and
creative endeavors like writing, painting, video
documentation, music and computer network postings.
The project is located north east of Tucson in Arizona,
near the town of Oracle and is open to visitors.
The space exploration and settlement aspects of Biosphere
2 are my primary interests, especially from the aspect of
technological development and first hand experience with
the management of a total life support system, crew
relations and mission control support etc. on a two year
mission.

One of the things that has become very important is feasts
in Biosphere 2, having become an invaluable and
inseparable part of life inside Bio 2. So when Thanksgiving
came along I slaughtered and roasted a young pig whole on
a spit after stuffing it with guavas, bananas and papaya.
Oh... The fruit made the pork wonderfully tender and
sweet. We also had Indonesian rice with peanuts, stir-fried
vegetables, baked beans, salad, chutney, crepes with ice
cream, sweet potato pie, and cheese cake, bread, soup and
home brew.

The complexity of the experience is hard to relate, from
farming and analytical chemistry to giving emergency
medical treatment and exploring the wilderness all in a
day's events. It's like hearing several sources of different
music all at once, that are somehow not discordant, albeit a
little jarring at times. It is imperative that space travelers
be
able to find a way to relate the experience, or society is
cheated out of a large part of the returns from the large
endeavor required to colonize space and other worlds.
A year ago I was not totally sure if Biosphere 2 would
work, even to the degree that it has. Before Biosphere 2,
nobody knew if complex closed ecological systems on this
scale would even survive, let alone support humans. To
have objective, living proof that nature thrives on a scale
and condition so radically different from the one we
evolved in, is a major change in our understanding of the
nature of nature.

During the winter solstice period, basically between
Thanksgiving and mid January, the sunlight on a full sunny
day at the latitude of Tucson falls to less than 40% of the
summer solstice sunlight and the frequency of long storms
that obscure the sun is much greater. This is the time of
maximum impact on the carbon dioxide level in Biosphere
2, due to diminished photosynthesis by the plants, the CO2
can rise to above 4,000 ppm during stormy weather as
compared to its summer minimum of under 1000 ppm.
In preparation for these stormy episodes I tested the
carbon dioxide recycler and it is now being used due to the
storms we are experiencing. In the absence of storms we
would not need to use the system at all.

The carbon dioxide is scheduled to be re-released in the
atmosphere during the sunny, clear days of Spring. The
recycling action differentiates it fundamentally from
precipitation only units (CO2 scrubbers) used in systems
such as submarines and the space shuttle, that cannot
recycle the gas. I designed the system to take CO2 out of
the air in the fall and winter and put it back in the high light
spring and summer. The release process regenerates the
chemicals for use again the following fall/winter season.
Carbon dioxide is stored as limestone (CaCO3) and the
limestone is heated in the summer releasing the CO2 and
forming CaO.

While in many ways Biosphere 2 is inexorably linked to the
Earth energetically, by gravity, with information and
science, material closure creates for many intents and
purposes another entity. The feeling inside, our attitude and
actions are definitely those of people who are part of
another world. The mission rules and the unspoken rules,
our cravings, desires and the physical/mental
transformations thus far can only be explained by a drastic
departure from what I once knew to be the norm. Though I
am still part of, and for my very breath and sustenance
depend on a biosphere that is radically different from the
one you are in right now.

We as a species have found no way to live for any
significant length of time except as part of a biosphere.
Significance for a species is measured in generations not
months or years. This is rather inconvenient because of the
relative weight and size of a biosphere as we know them.
Biospheres are impossible to launch and require
maintenance of systems that on the surface seem to bear
no direct benefit to the humans doing the maintenance, but
they could potentially be reliable once we get the bugs (not
insects) worked out, and it's the only system that we know
definitely works.

Of course nobody would launch a biosphere off the earth,
but I think it is a model of what we might ultimately build in
space or on a planet from local materials. Just bring the
genetics. We must not forget the aesthetics and stability of
a long term settlement. This may be beyond our active
lifetimes but I think we must lay the proper foundations
from the very beginning. The life support systems we land
with, are the backup systems we live and grow old with.

*****

I will endeavor to periodically post updates with more
specific and current information than was in this post,
during the next nine months of this closure, as we approach
the end of the first full test of Biosphere 2.

Taber MacCallum
Analytical Systems Manager, Biosphere 2 Crew,
1991-1993 mission
[e-mail]

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

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 18:53:59 GMT
From: Paul Dietz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Breeder reactors (was Re: Justification for the Space Program
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh,talk.politics.space,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Zack C. Sessions) writes:

>>Speaking of breeder reactors, why doesn't the U.S. have more of
>>them?

>Because they're too damn dangerous.


Gee, all kinds?  Do remember that there are at least 3 fundamentally
different classes of breeder reactors that we know are workable (fast
breeders, thermal breeders and spallation reactors).  The second of
these already has instances in commercial use (Canadian CANDU PHWRs,
and the related Indian PHWRs).  These can be operated in the
thorium/uranium fuel cycle which involves no plutonium, although
currently they operated as burners with natural uranium.

With natural uranium currently at $10/lb, and with fossil fuels
abundant (too abundant, some might say) breeders (as such) don't
currently have sufficient advantages to overcome political and
economic obstacles.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 10:47:43 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Breeder reactors...

\[e-mail] (Brendan B. Boerner) writes:

/>Speaking of breeder reactors, why doesn't the U.S. have more of
\>them?

/Because they're too damn dangerous.

\Zack Sessions
/[e-mail]
\University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Alumnus)
/"Good health is merely the slowest form of dying."

Same reason we don't have automobiles, eh?

There isn't anything inherently dangerous about breeders. It's
just that there are a bunch of lobotomized idiots out there
who are more concerned with making policy than actually knowing
anything about nuclear physics.

Of course, these same people have prevailed upon the government
to ban nuclear fuel recycling. I had a hard time trying to
convince a friend of my dad's the other day that there was a
solution to the nuclear waste problem, and the gubbimint, "will
ofthepeeble" (or the feeble minded) had _banned_ a way to reduce
the "dangerousawfulearthdestroyingnucularwaste" problem by a
couple orders of magnitude.

--
Phil Fraering
"...drag them, kicking and screaming, into the Century of the Fruitbat."
<<- Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_
PGP key available if and when I ever get around to compiling PGP...

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

Date: 17 Dec 92 23:37:51 GMT
From: _Floor_ <[e-mail]>
Subject: Galileo's atmospheric probe
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Craig "Powderkeg" DeForest) writes:
] If you drop a Timex watch (``takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'\ '') from
] a height of 1m onto a cement floor, carefully holding it so it falls flat,
] and it stops in 1mm, then it underwent 1000G's of acceleration!
]
] And, being a Timex, it (usually) still works!
]
] We talked about this about a year ago on sci.physics.  Everyday things
] undergo a lot more acceleration than we give 'em credit for.
]
] Other examples:  a light aluminum hunting arrow experiences 1000G's on
] release from a good compound bow; a car piston with a 10cm stroke
] undergoes 900G's at the top and bottom of its stroke, at 3000rpm (and
] a whopping 3600 at 6000 rpm!); and dropped personal stereos routinely
] take >300 G's and survive.

  I think there's a bit of a difference here. You're talking about forces
  and accelerations experienced for milliseconds at a time. This probe
  will be experiencing this accleration for several minutes! Things
  can be damaged to prolonged exposure to acceleration!

  _____    "But you can't really call that a dance. It's a walk." - Tony Banks
 /  ___\  ___  __ ___   ___      _____________   [e-mail]
 | / __  / _ \ | /   \ / _ \     |  physics  |   [e-mail]
 | \_\ \ | __/ |  /\ | | __/     |racquetball|   [e-mail]
 \_____/ \___/ |_| |_| \___/     |volleyball |   [e-mail]
 Gene Van Buren, Kzoo Crew(Floor), Washington U. in St. Lou - #1 in Volleyball

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

Date: 19 Dec 92 18:55:13 GMT
From: Paul Campbell <taniwha!paul>
Subject: Galileo's Atmospheric Probe Passes Health Checks
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

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

>How does NASA and JPL expect the probe to survive the deceleration? It must
>be pretty close to slamming into a piece of boilerplate!

I think that the jokes about NASA and lawyers are getting a bit stale :-)

    Paul


--
Paul Campbell    UUCP: ..!mtxinu!taniwha!paul     AppleLink: CAMPBELL.P
Use up your Quayle jokes now while they're still good "Quayle for Pres. in '94"
     Q: Why is Marilyn Quayle like Marion Barry?
     A: They both suck a little dope.

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

Date: 20 Dec 92 15:02:06 GMT
From: Greg Price <[e-mail]>
Subject: GPS prediction software (SRI International)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.ifr,sci.space,sci.electronics

Hi there! I have some public domain GPS satellite simulation/prediction
software written by SRI International (Menlo Park, CA), it's great software,
the only problem being that I have version 1.62 (March '88) and I'm after
a more recent version. I you have a more recent version of the software,
please drop me a line, or if you know how to contact SRI International
via email, etc. please let me know. The author of the software is Dr. Glenn
Siebert. If you are interested in seeing this software, send me some mail
and I will see about mail a copy, or putting it on some ftp site.

Thanks,
Greg Price
([e-mail])

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

Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 13:21:57 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: Micro-g in KC-135

-From: [e-mail] (Stick,CommoSigop)
-Subject: Re: Micro-g in KC-135
-Date: 15 Dec 92 22:19:31 GMT
-Organization: Great White North/UPLink

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

->In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Claudio Egalon) writes:
->>What causes the microgravity in the KC-135, the centripetal
->>acceleration at the top of the parabola, which may cancel the gravity
->>acceleration,  or something else???

->You don't "cancel" the gravitational acceleration, you fall with it.  The
->KC-135 flies the exact trajectory that it would follow if it were falling
->free in a vacuum.

->That trajectory isn't exactly a parabola; it is in fact a segment of an
->elliptical orbit (one that intersects the Earth's surface).  It's very
->close to being a parabola.  It would *be* a parabola if the Earth were
->flat and gravity did not diminish with altitude.

-   Interesting.  The way I see it, the -135, after nosing up, pushes over
-in such a manner that its acceleration towards the Earth's surface exactly
-matches the acceleration of gravity.   And, I don't know for sure if its
-flight path would be that of a parabola, it doesn't maintain its lateral
-velocity vector.  The speed vector parallel to the Earth's surface would be
-at its greatest when the aircraft was in level flight.

The horizontal velocity vector *has* to remain essentially the same, or
you won't get zero-G.

While the trajectory might technically be an ellipse, I think it's more
practical to use the approximation that the Earth is flat, the gravitational
field is constant, and the trajectory is a parabola. After all, over the
course of a 30-second zero-G trajectory, the local intensity of the Earth's
gravitational field should show an altitude-related variation of only about
one part in 3000, and the Earth beneath the airplane should curve by only
about 1/16 of a degree. The trajectory of the plane isn't precise enough
to reflect such small differences.

Approximations of this type are useful in many fields of engineering. For
instance, among those who build their own amateur telescopes, a 4-inch f/10
primary mirror used to be one of the popular choices, in part because for
that size mirror, a spherical curvature (much easier to grind than a parabolic
curvature) is sufficiently close to a parabola that further figuring isn't
really needed.

John Roberts
[e-mail]

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

Date: 21 Dec 92 03:16:55 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Calendar - 12/20/92
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.space.shuttle,alt.sci.planetary

     Here's the latest Space Calendar.  Send any updates or corrections
to the calendar to Ron Baalke ([e-mail]).  Note that launch
dates are subject to change.

     The following people made contributions to this month's calendar:

        o Keith Gendreau - Updated Astro-D Launch Date (02/12/93)
        o Michael Hamilton - SeaWIFS Launch Date (08/93)
        o Dennis Wingo - Updated Consort 6 Launch Date (02/93)


                          =========================
                               SPACE CALENDAR
                             December 20, 1992
                          =========================

* indicates change from last month's calendar

   December 1992
     22 - Ursid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 10:00 UT, Solar Longitude 258.7 deg.)
     23 - Partial Solar Eclipse, East Asia to Alaska
    *23 - Optus B-2 Long March 3 Launch
     25 - Isaac Newton's 350th birthday (or January 4)
     28 - Galileo, Dual Drive Actuator Hammer Test #1 (DDA-5)
    *29 - Biomedical Spacecraft Launch (Soviet)

   January 1993
     ?? - Eutelsat II F-5 Ariane Launch
     ?? - NASA Town Meeting - Denver, Colorado
     ?? - Galaxy 4 Ariane Launch
     03-4 Quadrantid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 10:00 UT, Solar Lon 283.13 deg.)
    *03 - Mars at Opposition (58 million miles from Earth)
    *04 - Mars Observer, High Gain Antenna (HGA) Activated
    *06 - Galileo, Dual Drive Actuator Hammer Test #2 (DDA-5)
     07 - 25th Anniversary, Surveyor 7 Launch (Moon Soft Lander)
    *07 - SCD-1 Pegasus Launch (Brazil)
     10 - Geotail, 4th Lunar Flyby
    *11 - Galileo, Dual Drive Actuator Hammer Test #3 (DDA-5)
    *12 - Soyuz TM-16 Launch (Soviet)
    *13 - STS-54, Endeavour, TDRS-F
    *15 - Galileo, Dual Drive Actuator Hammer Test #4 (DDA-5)
    *30 - Soyuz TM-15 Lands (Soviet)

   February 1993
     ?? - ALEXIS Pegasus Launch
    *?? - Consort 6 Starfire Launch
     01 - 35th Anniversary, Explorer 1 Launch (1st U.S. Satellite)
     08 - Mars Observer, 2nd Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-2)
    *12 - Astro-D Launch (USA/Japan)
     18 - Jules Verne's 165th Birthday
     19 - Copernicus' 520th Birthday
     25 - STS-55, Columbia, Spacelab Germany (SL-D2)

   March 1993
     ?? - Hispasat 1B & Insat 2B Ariane Launch
     ?? - Galileo, 10 RPM Spinup Test
     ?? - DFH-3 Long March 2E Launch (China)
    *?? - UHF-1 Atlas Launch
    *?? - GPS/SEDS-1 Delta II Launch
     01 - Ulysses, 3rd Opposition
     18 - Mars Observer, 3rd Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-3)
     23 - STS-56, Discovery, Atmospheric Lab for Applications and Science
          (ATLAS-2)
     31 - Commercial Experiment Trasporter (Comet) Launch

   April 1993
    *?? - First Test Launch of the DC-X
     06 - 20th Anniversary, Pioneer 11 Launch (Jupiter & Saturn Flyby Mission)
    *19 - Venus/Moon Occultation, Visible from North America
     22 - Lyrid Meteor Shower (Maximum: 02:00 UT, Solar Longitude 32.1 degrees)
     23 - Pi-Puppid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 33.3 degrees)
     29 - STS-57, Endeavour, European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA-1R)

   May 1993
     ?? - Advanced Photovoltaic Electronics Experiment (APEX) Pegasus Launch
    *?? - Radcal Scout Launch
    *?? - Astra 1C Ariane Launch
    *?? - GPS/PMQ Delta II Launch
     04 - Galileo Enters Asteroid Belt Again
    *05 - Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower
    *21 - Partial Solar Eclipse, Visible from North America & North Europe
    *25 - Magellan, End of Mission?

   June 1993
     ?? - Temisat Meteor 2 Launch
    *?? - UHF-2 Atlas Launch
    *?? - NOAA-I Atlas Launch
     04 - Lunar Eclipse, Visible from North America
     14 - Sakigake, 2nd Earth Flyby (Japan)
     22 - 15th Anniversary of Charon Discovery (Pluto's Moon) by Christy

   July 1993
    *?? - MSTI-II Scout Launch
    *01 - Soyuz Launch (Soviet)
    *08 - Soyuz Launch (Soviet)
     09 - STS-51, Discovery, Advanced Communications Technology Satellite(ACTS)
    *14 - Soyuz TM-16 Landing (Soviet)
    *21 - Soyuz TM-17 Landing (Soviet)
    *28 - S. Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower
     29 - NASA's 35th Birthday

   August 1993
     ?? - ETS-VI (Engineering Test Satellite) H2 Launch (Japan)
     ?? - GEOS-J Launch
     ?? - Landsat 6 Launch
    *?? - SeaWIFS Launch
    *?? - ORBCOM FDM Pegasus Launch
     08 - 15th Anniversary, Pioneer Venus Orbitor 2 Launch
     09 - Mars Observer, 4th Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-4)
     12 - Perseid Meteor Shower (Max: 04:00 UT, S.L. 139.6 deg and 15:00 UT,
                                 S.L. 140.1 deg.)
     24 - Mars Observer, Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI)
     26 - STS-58, Columbia, Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-2)
     28 - Galileo, Asteroid Ida Flyby

   September 1993
     ?? - SPOT-3 Ariane Launch
     ?? - Tubsat Launch
    *?? - Seastar Pegasus Launch
    *?? - EPOT-3/ASAP-4 Ariane Launch

   October 1993
     ?? - Intelsat 7 F1 Ariane Launch
    *?? - SLV-1 Pegasus Launch
    *?? - Telstar 4 Atlas Launch
     21 - Orionid Meteor Shower (Solar Longitude 208.4 degrees)

   November 1993
     ?? - Solidaridad Ariane Launch
     03 - 20th Anniversary, Mariner 10 Launch (Mercury & Venus Flyby Mission)
    *03 - S. Taurid Meteor Shower
     04 - Galileo Exits Asteroid Belt
    *06 - Mercury Transits Across the Sun, Visible from Asia, Australia, and
          the South Pacific
    *13 - Partial Solar Eclipse, Visible from Southern Hemisphere
     16 - STS-60, Discovery, SPACEHAB-2
     28-29 - Total Lunar Eclipse, Visible from North America & South America

   December 1993
    *?? - GOES-I Atlas Launch
    *?? - NATO 4B Delta Launch
    *?? - FAST Scout Launch
    *?? - TOMS Pegasus Launch
    *?? - DirectTv 1 & Thiacom 1 Ariane Launch
    *?? - ISTP Wind Delta-2 Launch
    *?? - STEP-2 Pegasus Launch
    *01 - Mars Observer, Mapping Orbit Established
    *04 - SPEKTR-R Launch (Soviet)
    *05 - 20 Anniversary, Pioneer 10 Launch (Jupiter Flyby Mission)
    *07 - STS-61, Endeavour, Hubble Space Telescope Repair
    *08 - Mars Observer, Mars Equinox
    *13 - Geminids Meteor Shower
    *20 - Mars Observer, Solar Conjunction
    *25 - Mars Observer, Mapping Phase Begins

                                     #####
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Choose a job you love, and
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | you'll never have to work
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | a day in your life.

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

Date: 20 Dec 92 16:41:45 GMT
From: Jonathan McDowell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager UVS shutdown
Newsgroups: sci.space

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey):
 [ Reacting to:]
>> The Voyager Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) Guest Observer (GO) Program
>> Scientist, Bob Stachnik/NASA HQ and the UVS GO Project Scientist, Ron
>> Oliversen/GSFC regretfully announce the termination of the UVS GO program.
>
> Ouch!  Bummer.

You ain't heard nothing yet, Bill. All of the Mission Ops and Data
Analysis programs (IUE, Einstein, EUVE, GRO, ROSAT, etc) were called
to D.C. last week for an emergency review and further major cuts. The usual
Congress smarts - spend half a billion on getting a mission up, then cut
the one percent of that that would let you do a good job with the
results. MO&DA is one of the cheapest and most important things NASA
does but one of the first to get cut.

[Declaration of interest: of course, my salary comes out of this budget,
so I would say that, wouldn't I.]

 - Jonathan McDowell

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

Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 01:30:51 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager UVS shutdown
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ryan Korniloff) writes...
>Yeah, that really is a shame. But let me ask this.. Does this mean that
>Voyager has discontinued to look for the helopause? Or does this mean that
>only one of the instuments have been shutdown, and there are still others
>that are active..
>
This only applies to the UVS instrument.
The VIM (Voyager Interstellar Mission) for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is funded
through the year 2019, which means we'll be tracking the spacecraft as long
as we can.  Of course, neither spacecraft is expected to last to 2019.  As
time goes on and the power level drops from the plutonium decay from the
RTG's, additional instruments will have to be turned off.  The spacecraft's
signal is getting weaker and weaker as it moves farther away, and will
probably be out of range of the DSN stations by 2019.  Pioneer 10 and 11 are
also being used for the search for the heliopause boundary, but they are not
expected to last beyond 1996.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Choose a job you love, and
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | you'll never have to work
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | a day in your life.

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Date: 20 Dec 92 22:45:02 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Yuri's descent module in situ still ?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Hello,

  I happened to be dial grazing the other night and watched part of the
Moscow to Paris "auto" relay.  At one point the soviet commentator said that
the crews stopped to examine "Yuri Gagarin's" space craft. The video showed
a couple of people walking through some scrub brush in the middle of nowhere
(apparently) and looking over what sure looked like a stripped descent
module ! (with little rust - must be titanium  ;-)
  Could this be truly just "left out there" ?  Or, would they have left this
module as an in situ display or monument.
  You see the weirdest things on cable TV ...         happy holidays !
                                                     Jack Lawson
                                                     [e-mail]

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 575
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