Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V16_4/V16NO491.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 31KB

Date: Tue, 27 Apr 93 05:00:03
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #491
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Tue, 27 Apr 93       Volume 16 : Issue 491

Today's Topics:
                         Billboards in space
     Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration.  May 7  Crystal City
                         Drag free satellites
                Gamma Ray Bursters.  WHere  are they.
             Gamma Ray Bursters. Where are they? (2 msgs)
                        HST Servicing Mission
                        Kupier Object: Smiley
                               Level 5?
                        Moonbase race (3 msgs)
                         Remote Sensing Data
                     Solid state vs. tube/analog
                      Space Advertising (2 of 2)
              Space Station Redesign, JSC Alternative #4
                    Vandalizing the sky. (3 msgs)
                What counntries do space surveillance?

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
    "Subscribe Space <your name>" to one of these addresses: listserv@uga
    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 19:56:57 EDT
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Billboards in space

   From: "Phil G. Fraering" <[e-mail]>
  >> Finally: this isn't the Bronze Age, [..]
  >> please try to remember that there are more human activities than
  >> those practiced by the Warrior Caste, the Farming Caste, and the
  >> Priesthood.

F Baube responds;
   Right, the Profiting Caste is blessed by God, and may
    freely blare its presence in the evening twilight ..

  Steinn Sez;
  >The Priesthood has never quite forgiven
  >the merchants (aka Profiting Caste [sic])
  >for their rise to power, has it?

If we are looking for evidence of belessed-by-God-ness, I'd say the ability
to blare lights all over the evening sky is about the best evidence you
could ever hope to get.  No wonder the preistly classes are upset :-)

-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
[e-mail] 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 03:18:01 -0500
From: Mark Prado <[e-mail]>
Subject: Conference on Manned Lunar Exploration.  May 7  Crystal City
Newsgroups: sci.space

Reply address: [e-mail]

 > From: [e-mail] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
 >
 > In article <[e-mail]>,
 > [e-mail] (S.F. Davis) writes:
 > > |> AW&ST  had a brief blurb on a Manned Lunar Exploration
 > confernce> |> May 7th  at Crystal City Virginia, under the
 > auspices of AIAA.
 >
 > Thanks for typing that in, Steven.
 >
 > I hope you decide to go, Pat.  The Net can use some eyes
 > and ears there...

I plan to go.  It's about 30 minutes away from my home.
I can report on some of it (from my perspective ...)
Anyone else on sci.space going to be there?  If so, send me
netmail.  Maybe we can plan to cross paths briefly...
I'll maintain a list of who's going.

[e-mail]

 * Origin: Just send it to [e-mail]
(1:109/349.2)

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

Date: 26 Apr 1993 07:49:04 -0500
From: "Hoffman, Eric J." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Drag free satellites
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <1raee7$[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pat) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Ron Baalke) writes:
>> In answer
>>to a question from Hawking, Chahine described a proposed
>>drag-free satellite, but confirmed that at this point, "it's only
>>a concept."
>
>SO what's a drag free satellite?   coated with WD-40?


     TRIAD, the first drag-free satellite, was designed and built by the
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and launched 2 Sept 1972.  The
satellite was in three sections separated by two booms.  The central section
housed the DISCOS Disturbance Compensation System, which consisted of a proof
mass of special non-magnetic alloy housed within a spherical cavity.  The
proof mass flew a true gravitational orbit, free from drag and radiation
pressure.  Teflon microthrusters kept the body of the satellite centered
around the proof mass, thereby flying the entire satellite drag free.

     TRIAD was one of the APL-designed Navy Navigation Satellites.  The
2nd-generation operational navigation satellites flying today (NOVA) use a
single-axis version of DISCOS.  TRIAD was also the sixth APL satellite to be
powered by an RTG (APL flew the first nuclear power supply in space, in 1961).

     Further info on TRIAD, DISCOS, etc. can be found in "Spacecraft Design
Innovations in the APL Space Department," Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest,
Vol. 13, No. 1 (1992).

                                                      --Eric Hoffman

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

Date: 26 Apr 1993 15:37:32 GMT
From: John F Carr <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gamma Ray Bursters.  WHere  are they.
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

If gamma ray bursters are extragalactic, would absorption from the
galaxy be expected?  How transparent is the galactic core to gamma
rays?

How much energy does a burster put out?  I know energy depends on
distance, which is unknown.  An answer of the form _X_ ergs per
megaparsec^2 is OK.


--
    John Carr ([e-mail])

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 09:38:28 EDT
From: Graydon <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gamma Ray Bursters. Where are they?
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

If all of these things have been detected in space, has anyone
looked into possible problems with the detectors?

That is, is there some mechanism (cosmic rays, whatever) that
could cause the dector to _think_ it was seeing one of these
things?

Graydon

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 14:11:14 GMT
From: it's enrico palazzo! <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gamma Ray Bursters. Where are they?
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

> = From: Graydon <[e-mail]>

> If all of these things have been detected in space, has anyone
> looked into possible problems with the detectors?

> That is, is there some mechanism (cosmic rays, whatever) that
> could cause the dector to _think_ it was seeing one of these
> things?

> Graydon

That would not explain why widely separated detectors, such as on Ulysses
and PVO and Ginga et al., would see a burst at the same time(*).  In fact, be-
fore BATSE, having this widely separated "Interplanetary Network" was the
only sure way to locate a random burst.  With only one detector, one cannot
locate a burst (except to say "It's somewhere in the field of view.").  With
two detectors, one can use the time that the burst is seen in each detector
to narrow the location to a thin annulus on the sky.  With three detectors,
one gets intersecting annuli, giving two possible locations.  If one of these
locations is impossible (because, say, the Earth blocked that part of the
sky), voila, you have an error box.

BATSE, by having 8 detectors of its own, can do its own location determination,
but only to within about 3 degrees (would someone at GSFC, like David, like
to comment on the current state of location determination?).  Having inde-
pendent sightings by other detectors helps drive down the uncertainty.

You did touch on something that you didn't mean to, though.  Some believe
(in a reference that I have somewhere) that absorption-like features seen
in a fraction of GRBs can actually be caused by the detector.  It would be
a mean, nasty God, though, that would have a NaI crystal act like a 10^12 Gauss
neutron star...but this is getting too far afield.

Peter
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 16:03:41 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: HST Servicing Mission
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.astro

In article <1rd1g0$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Pat) writes:
 >
 >
 > SOmebody mentioned  a re-boost of HST during this mission,  meaning
 > that Weight is a very tight  margin on this  mission.
 >

I haven't heard any hint of a re-boost, or that any is needed.

 >
 > why not  grapple,  do all said fixes,   bolt a small  liquid  fueled
 > thruster module  to  HST,   then let it make the re-boost.  it has to be
 > cheaper on mass then usingthe shuttle as a tug.

Nasty, dirty combustion products!  People have gone to monumental efforts to
keep HST clean.  We certainly aren't going to bolt any thrusters to it.

Ben

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 19:49:23 EDT
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Kupier Object: Smiley

James Nicholl sez;
>>       If the  new  Kuiper belt object *is*  called 'Karla', the next
>>one  should be called 'Smiley'.

Jeff responds;
>Unless I'm imaging things, (always a possibility =) 1992 QB1, the Kuiper Belt
>object discovered last year, is known as Smiley.

>--
>Jeff Foust              [49 days!]      "You're from outer space."
>Senior, Planetary Science, Caltech      "No, I'm from Iowa.  I only work in
>[e-mail]                  outer space."
>[e-mail]                  -- from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

I wouldn't worry too much about it, Jeff.  If you work for JPL, then your
job IS imaging things :-)

(I know, it was a just a typo, but I couldn't resist.  At least, I hope it
was a typo, or my stupid joke is stupider than I intended :-)

-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
[e-mail] 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 10:07:31 CDT
From: Bret Wingert <[e-mail]>
Subject: Level 5?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In <[e-mail]> Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Bret Wingert) writes:
>> 3. The Onboard Flight Software project was rated "Level 5" by a NASA team.
>>    This group generates 20-40 KSLOCs of verified code per year for NASA.
>
>Will someone tell an ignorant physicist where the term "Level 5" comes
>from? It sounds like the RISKS Digest  equivalent of Large, Extra
>Large, Jumbo... Or maybe it's like "Defcon 5..."
>
>I gather it means that Shuttle software was developed with extreme
>care to have reliablility and safety, and almost everything else in
>the computing world is Level 1, or cheesy dime-store software.  Not
>surprising.  But who is it that invents this standard, and how come
>everyone but me seems to be familiar with it?

Level 5 refers to the Carnegie-Mellon Software Engineering Institute's
Capability Maturity Model.  This model rates software development
org's from1-5.  with 1 being Chaotic and 5 being Optimizing.  DoD is
beginning to use this rating system as a discriminator in contracts.  I
have more data on thifrom 1 page to 1000.  I have a 20-30 page
presentation that summarizes it wethat I could FAX to you if you're
interested...
Bret Wingert
[e-mail]

(713)-282-7534
FAX: [phone]

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

Date: 25 Apr 93 13:45:00 GMT
From: Jim Mcnelly <[e-mail]>
Subject: Moonbase race
Newsgroups: sci.space

To: Newsgroups: sci.space
From: [e-mail]    (Jim McNelly)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: The McNelly Group, Composting Consultants
@mojo.eng.umd.edu>
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1993 17:16:24 CDT

Marvin Batty [e-mail] writes:

MB>Also, what about bio-engineered CO2 absorbing plants instead of many LOX bot
MB>?

I wonder why the term "bio-engineered" was added to the comment? As I
review the problems of Space Biosphere2 in Arizona, and work on
modelling a new composting/vermiculture system to propose for the next
generation of closed system environments, I believe that biological
carbon sinks are essential to help regulate CO2. In my models, humus is
an optimum carbon repository that can help buffer increases in
atmpospheric CO2. Why consider "bio-engineering" some mythical plant
when the existing organisms are well suited to the task if managed
properly?
---
 . SLMR 2.0 . Finally! I found the last bug..last bug..last b.........
 . QNet3. . * <W-NET> * ORIGIN: GRANITE BBS * St. Cloud MN * 612-654-8372 HST

----
| HAL 9000 BBS:  QWK-to-Usenet gateway  | Four 14400 v.32bis dial-ins    |
| FREE Usenet mail and 200 newsgroups!  | PCBoard 14.5aM * uuPCB * Kmail |
| Call [phone] or 663 3959      +--------------------------------+
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------------------------------

Date: 25 Apr 93 13:45:00 GMT
From: Jim Mcnelly <[e-mail]>
Subject: Moonbase race
Newsgroups: sci.space

To: Newsgroups: sci.space
From: [e-mail]    (Jim McNelly)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: The McNelly Group, Composting Consultants
@mojo.eng.umd.edu>
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1993 17:16:24 CDT

Marvin Batty [e-mail] writes:

MB>Also, what about bio-engineered CO2 absorbing plants instead of many LOX bot
MB>?

I wonder why the term "bio-engineered" was added to the comment? As I
review the problems of Space Biosphere2 in Arizona, and work on
modelling a new composting/vermiculture system to propose for the next
generation of closed system environments, I believe that biological
carbon sinks are essential to help regulate CO2. In my models, humus is
an optimum carbon repository that can help buffer increases in
atmpospheric CO2. Why consider "bio-engineering" some mythical plant
when the existing organisms are well suited to the task if managed
properly?
---
 . SLMR 2.0 . Finally! I found the last bug..last bug..last b.........
 . QNet3. . * <W-NET> * ORIGIN: GRANITE BBS * St. Cloud MN * 612-654-8372 HST

----
| HAL 9000 BBS:  QWK-to-Usenet gateway  | Four 14400 v.32bis dial-ins    |
| FREE Usenet mail and 200 newsgroups!  | PCBoard 14.5aM * uuPCB * Kmail |
| Call [phone] or 663 3959      +--------------------------------+
| Member of EFF, ASP, ASAD  * 1500MB disk * Serving Ann Arbor since 1988 |

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 16:16:20 EDT
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Moonbase race

George William Herbert sez:

>Hmm.  $1 billion, lesse... I can probably launch 100 tons to LEO at
>$200 million, in five years, which gives about 20 tons to the lunar
>surface one-way.  Say five tons of that is a return vehicle and its
>fuel, a bigger Mercury or something (might get that as low as two
>tons), leaving fifteen tons for a one-man habitat and a year's supplies?
>Gee, with that sort of mass margins I can build the systems off
>the shelf for about another hundred million tops.  That leaves
>about $700 million profit.  I like this idea 8-)  Let's see
>if you guys can push someone to make it happen 8-) 8-)

I like your optimism, George.  I don't know doots about raising that kind
of dough, but if you need people to split the work and the $700M, you just
give me a ring :-)  Living alone for a year on the moon sounds horrid, but
I'd even try that, if I got a bigger cut.  :-)

-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
[e-mail] 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 12:50:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail] (Tricia Porth [phone])
Subject: Remote Sensing Data

=================================================================
I am posting this for someone else.  Please respond to the
address listed below.  Please also excuse the duplication as this
message has been crossposted.  Thanks!
=================================================================


      REQUEST FOR IDEAS FOR APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING DATABASES
                             VIA THE INTERNET

NASA is planning to expand the domain of users of its Earth and space science
data.  This effort will:

  o   Use the evolving infrastructure of the U.S. Global Change Research
      Program including the Mission To Planet Earth (MTPE) and the Earth
      Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Programs.

  o   Use the Internet, particularly the High Performance Computing and
      Communications Program's NREN (National Research and Education
      Network), as a means of providing access to and distribution of
      science data and images and value added products.

  o   Provide broad access to and utilization of remotely sensed images in
      cooperation with other agencies (especially NOAA, EPA, DOE, DEd,
      DOI/USGS, and USDA).

  o   Support remote sensing image and data users and development
      communities.

The user and development communities to be included (but not limited to) as
part of this effort are educators, commercial application developers (e.g.,
television weather forecasters), librarians, publishers, agriculture
specialists, transportation, forestry, state and local government planners, and
aqua business.

This program will be initiated in 1994.  Your assistance is requested to
identify potential applications of remote sensing images and data.  We would
like your ideas for potential application areas to assist with development of
the Implementation Plan.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS.

We are seeking your ideas in these areas:

  (1)  Potential commercial use of remote sensing data and images;

  (2)  Potential noncommercial use of remote sensing data and images in
       education (especially levels K-12) and other noncommercial areas;

  (3)  Types of on-line capabilities and protocols to make the data more
       accessible;

  (4)  Additional points of contacts for ideas; and

  (5)  Addresses and names  from whom to request proposals.

For your convenience, a standard format for responses is included below.  Feel
free to amend it as necessary.  Either e-mail or fax your responses to us by
May 5, 1993.

E-MAIL:   On Internet "[e-mail]"  ASCII  - No binary
attachments please

FAX:   Ernie Lucier, c/o RSDWG, NASA HQ, FAX [phone]

Survey responses in the following formats may also be placed in the FTP
directory ~ftp/pub/RSDWG on orion.nasa.gov.  Please indicate the format.
Acceptable formats are: Word for Windows 2.X, Macintosh Word 4.X and 5.X, and
RTF.



----------------------------RESPONSE FORMAT--------------------------

REQUEST FOR IDEAS FOR APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING DATABASES VIA THE INTERNET

(1)  Potential commercial use of remote sensing data and images  (if possible,
identify the relevant types of data or science products, user tools, and
standards).







(2)  Uses of remote sensing data and images in education (especially levels
K-12) and other noncommercial areas (if possible, identify the relevant types
of data or science products, user tools, and standards).







(3)  Types of on-line capabilities and protocols to make the data and images
more accessible (if possible, identify relevant types of formats, standards,
and user tools)







(4)  Additional suggested persons or organizations that may be resources for
further ideas on applications areas.  Please include: Name, Organization,
Address and Telephone Number.







(5)  Organizations, mailing lists (electronic and paper), periodicals, etc. to
whom a solicitation for proposals should be sent when developed.  Please
include: Name, Organization, Address and Telephone Number.



(6)  We would benefit from knowing why users that know about NASA remote
sensing data do not use the data.  Is it because they do not have ties to NASA
investigators, or high cost, lack of accessibility, incompatible data formats,
poor area of interest coverage, inadequate spatial or spectral resolution, ...?





(7)  In case we have questions, please send us your name, address, phone number
(and e-mail address if you have one).  If you don't wish to send us this
information, feel free to respond to the survey anonymously.  Thank you for
your assistance.



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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 19:24:23 EDT
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Solid state vs. tube/analog

 Davis Nicoll sez;
>>      Hmmm. I seem to recall that the attraction of solid state record-
>>players and radios in the 1960s wasn't better performance but lower
>>per-unit cost than vacuum-tube systems.

I'd buy that for two reasons.  The tubes for TV's and radios (if you can
still find them) are usually 3x or more expensive than comparable transistors.

Also, ask any electric-guitar enthusiast which type of amp they prefer, and
they'll tell you tube-type, since tubes have lower distortion and noise
than transistors.  'Course, most of your electric guitar types just say
"Tubes sound better, dude." :-)

Also, transistors have the advantage in both waste-heat and energy-use,
mainly because of the heaters on the cathodes of the tubes.

-Tommy Mac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom McWilliams 517-355-2178 wk   \\ As the radius of vision increases,
[e-mail] 336-9591 hm \\ the circumference of mystery grows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 13:28:57 GMT
From: Dave Stephenson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Advertising (2 of 2)
Newsgroups: sci.space

As for SF and advertising in space. There is a romantic episode
in Mead's "The Big Ball of Wax" where the lovers are watching
the constellation Pepsi Cola rising over the horizon and noting
the some 'stars' had slipped cause the Teamsters were on strike.

This was the inspiration for my article on orbiting a formation
of space mirrors published in Spaceflight in 1986. As the reviews
said: this seems technically feasible, and could be commercially viable
but is it aesthetically desirable?  These days the only aesthetics
that count are the ones you can count!
--
Dave Stephenson
Geological Survey of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 15:27:22 GMT
From: "Ken Jenks [NASA]" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Station Redesign, JSC Alternative #4
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Hey, that's me!) wrote:
: I have 19 (2 MB worth!) uuencode'd GIF images contain charts outlining
: one of the many alternative Space Station designs being considered in
: Crystal City.  [...]

I just posted the GIF files out for anonymous FTP on server ics.uci.edu.
You can retrieve them from:
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode01.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode02.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode03.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode04.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode05.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode06.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode07.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode08.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode09.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode10.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode11.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode12.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode13.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode14.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode15.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode16.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geode17.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geodeA.gif
  ics.uci.edu:incoming/geodeB.gif

The last two are scanned color photos; the others are scanned briefing
charts.

These will be deleted by the ics.uci.edu system manager in a few days,
so now's the time to grab them if you're interested.  Sorry it took
me so long to get these out, but I was trying for the Ames server,
but it's out of space.

-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
      [e-mail]  [phone]

     "The earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind will not stay in
     the cradle forever." -- Konstantin Tsiolkvosky

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 93 11:55:14 BST
From: Greg Stewart-Nicholls <[e-mail]>
Subject: Vandalizing the sky.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In <[e-mail]> George F. Krumins writes:
>It is so typical that the rights of the minority are extinguished by the
>wants of the majority, no matter how ridiculous those wants might be.
 Umm, perhaps you could explain what 'rights' we are talking about
here ..
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Nicholls ...         : Vidi
[e-mail] or     : Vici
[e-mail] : Veni

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

Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 16:32:32 GMT
From: "George F. Krumins" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Vandalizing the sky.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

[e-mail] (Greg Stewart-Nicholls) writes:

>In <[e-mail]> George F. Krumins writes:
>>It is so typical that the rights of the minority are extinguished by the
>>wants of the majority, no matter how ridiculous those wants might be.
> Umm, perhaps you could explain what 'rights' we are talking about
>here ..
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>Greg Nicholls ...         : Vidi
>[e-mail] or     : Vici
>[e-mail] : Veni

I was suggesting that the minority of professional and amateur astronomers
have the right to a dark, uncluttered night sky.

Let me give you an example.  When you watch TV, they have commercials to pay
for the programming.  You accept that as part of watching.  If you don't like
it, you can turn it off.  If you want to view the night sky, and there is a
floating billboard out there, you can't turn it off.  It's the same
reasoning that limits billboards in scenic areas.

Pat writes:
George.

    It's called a democracy.  The majority rules.  sorry.
If ytou don't like it, I suggest you modify the constitution to include
a constitutional right to Dark Skies.   The theory of government
here is that the majority rules,  except in the nature of fundamental
civil rights.

I say:
    Any reasonably in-depth perusal of American history will show
    you that many WASPs have continued the practices of prejudice,
    discrimination, and violence against others of different
    races, religions, and beliefs, despite the law.

Pat says:
If you really are annoyed,   get some legislation
to create a dark sky zone,  where in all light emissions are protected
in the zone.  Kind of like the national radio quiet zone.  Did you
know about that?  near teh Radio telescope  observatory in West virginia,
they have a 90?????? mile EMCON zone.  Theoretically they can prevent
you from running light AC motors, like air conditioners and Vacuums.
In practice, they use it mostly to  control  large radio users.

I say:
What I'm objecting to here is a floating billboard that, presumably,
would move around in the sky.  I, for one, am against legislating
at all.  I just wish that people had a bit of common courtesy, and
would consider how their greed for money impacts the more ethereal and
aesthetic values that make us human.  This includes the need for wild
and unspoiled things, including the night sky.

George
--
|  George Krumins                     /^\        The Serpent and the Rainbow  |
|  [e-mail]       <^^. .^^>                                  |
|  Pufferish Observatory           <_ (o) _>                                  |
|                                     \_/                                     |

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

Date: 26 Apr 1993 10:10 PST
From: SCOTT I CHASE <[e-mail]>
Subject: Vandalizing the sky.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering) writes...
>[e-mail] (Jeff Cook) writes:
>....
>>people in primitive tribes out in the middle of nowhere as they look up
>>and see a can of Budweiser flying across the sky... :-D
>
>Seen that movie already. Or one just like it.
>Come to think of it, they might send someone on
>a quest to get rid of the dang thing...

Actually, the idea, like most good ideas, comes from Jules Verne, not
_The Gods Must Be Crazy._  In one of his lesser known books (I can't
remember which one right now), the protagonists are in a balloon gondola,
travelling over Africa on their way around the world in the balloon, when
one of them drops a fob watch.  They then speculate about the reaction
of the natives to finding such a thing, dropped straight down from heaven.
But the notion is not pursued further than that.

-Scott
--------------------                          New .sig under construction
Scott I. Chase                                     Please be patient
[e-mail]                                   Thank you

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Date: 26 Apr 93 11:45:42
From: Bob McGwier <[e-mail]>
Subject: What counntries do space surveillance?
Newsgroups: sci.space

I can tell you that when AMSAT launched some birds along a Spot satellite
(French), that during installation of some instruments on Spot 2, there
heavily armed legionaires who had a `take no prisoners' look on there faces.
Spot satellites are completely capable of doing some very good on orbit
surveillance.

BMc
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Robert W. McGwier                  | [e-mail]
Center for Communications Research | Interests: amateur radio, astronomy,golf
Princeton, N.J. 08520              | Asst Scoutmaster Troop 5700, Hightstown

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 491
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