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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #321

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 321

Today's Topics:
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
      Re: Good stuff on TV (A&E Cable to show Apollo 11 footage)
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
                   biomass
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
 Astronaut Hauck departing NASA for Navy post at Pentagon (Forwarded)
      Environmental Impact Statement for ASRM issued (Forwarded)
               Re: NASA Select
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
                   Aurora?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 Mar 89 15:41:53 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!etive![e-mail]  (Bob Gray)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glenn Chapman) writes:
>occurred.  People at the UK Atomic Energy Authority say they know of the
>work and are treating it seriously.  The article has been submitted to the

I don't want to dampen people's hopes too much, but the TV
news programmes here carried the reports and made it clear
in their reports that people at Draesbury laboratory, one of
the UK research labs, had been trying to replicate the
experiment for the last fortnight without any success.

The only safe prediction that can be made at the moment, is
that the anti-nuclear people are already thinking up
campaigns to prevent the use of this technique if it works.
Hydrogen and platinum? That causes explosions! Ban it now!!!
    Bob.

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 22:22:50 GMT
From: hypatia![e-mail]  (William LeFebvre)
Subject: Re: Good stuff on TV (A&E Cable to show Apollo 11 footage)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (M.BAKER) writes:
>Hope this is of interest to many newsgroup readers.  I was 12 then,
>and there are probably more than a few people reading this who weren't
>even born in 1969 --- so this should be a quite an opportunity to
>see and tape this programming.

I was 8.  My parents let me stay up to watch it.  They would have probably
forced me had I not been so willing.  But then I fell asleep right before
the big event.  Sigh.  I will certainly be watching or taping this
program!

            William LeFebvre
            Department of Computer Science
            Rice University
            <[e-mail]>

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 18:50:45 GMT
From: vsi1!daver!lynx![e-mail]  (Neal Woodall)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

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

>There's a third large source : auto junkyards. TONS of platinum anyway.
>I don't know if palladium is in catalytic converters or not.

Don't mean to ruin your day, but the catalytic converters on scrap cars are
usually the first thing that a junk-man goes after....it does have the
highest rate of return (in terms of dollars per time/effort expended).


Neal

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 15:30:36 GMT
From: thorin!lhotse![e-mail]  (James Symon)
Subject: biomass

> Although technician are checking out two small leeks that occurred
> in Discovery's main engine no. 1.

Did one of the On-Orbit Human Sustenance experiments go wild and spread
to unauthorized areas?

jim
[e-mail]
{decvax uunet}!mcnc!unc!symon

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 02:08:37 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

The fact is it was THERE money the department where they worked did NOT put
any money into it??? Seems trange?

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 15:46:33 GMT
From: prometheus![e-mail]  (Paul M Koloc)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (54317-T.EBERSOLE) writes:
>>...there are reactions which eject fast-moving ions (electrons, etc.) with
>>no gamma rays or neutrons; I seem to recall these involve carbon as one
>>of the "reactants."

> .. .   . . boron-11 plus proton yielding helium-4 (works
>fine but rather harder to ignite).

The protium-boron (isotope 11 -- the common one) is the reaction
that forms a carbon (isotope 12) which then immediately fissions to three
helium isotope-four atoms and 8.7 MeV  of energy, if I recall.

This fission, incidentally, does not come under the proscription
'What G-- has joined, let no man put asunder'.

>Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
>passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

WHAT? - Russians will use PLASMAK(tm) p-B11 propulsion engines, first?

In the relatively near future, the Room Temperature Fusion fusion
technology, should be able to provide the "fusion battery" to cold
start more powerful forms of thermonuclear fusion such as PLASMAK(tm)
aneutronic devices.

+-------------------------------------------------------************
| Paul M. Koloc, President: [phone]              ** FUSION **
| Prometheus II, Ltd.; College Park, MD 20740-0222      *** this ***
| mimsy!prometheus!pmk; [e-mail]             ** decade **
+-------------------------------------------------------************
   Made it!!! --  with months to  spare.                  --------

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

Date: 28 Mar 89 00:55:13 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astronaut Hauck departing NASA for Navy post at Pentagon (Forwarded)

Sarah Keegan
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                     March 23, 1989

Jeffrey E. Carr
Johnson Space Center, Houston


RELEASE:  89-39

ASTRONAUT HAUCK DEPARTING NASA FOR NAVY POST AT PENTAGON

     Three-time spaceflight veteran Capt. Frederick Hauck (USN),
crew commander of the first post-Challenger Shuttle mission, has
announced that he will leave NASA on April 3 to join the Pentagon
staff of the Chief of Naval Operations.  Hauck will serve as
Director of Navy Space Systems Division, reporting in late May.

     "My 11 years with NASA have been extremely rewarding.  I'll
miss the challenging environment and the people.  I am looking
forward to continuing my career in the Navy and to the new
challenges it provides," said Hauck.

     Selected as an astronaut in January 1978, Hauck made his
first Shuttle flight as pilot on mission STS-7 in June 1983.
That mission featured the deployment of two communications
satellites, the first STS deployment and retrieval demonstration
in space and the first formation flying of the orbiter with a
free-flying satellite (SPAS-01).

     In November 1984, Hauck was STS-51A mission commander, the
first space salvage mission in history.  Hauck and crew retrieved
and returned to Earth the Palapa B-2 and Westar VI communications
satellites after deploying Anik D-2 and LEASAT-1 satellites.

     Following the Challenger accident, he was appointed
Associate Administrator for External Relations at NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in August 1986.

     Hauck returned to the astronaut office in February 1987 when
he was named to command the first post-Challenger mission, STS-
26.  In September 1989, the mission deployed the Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-C) and conducted 11 mid-deck
experiments.  Hauck has logged more than 436 hours in space.

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

Date: 28 Mar 89 00:51:57 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Environmental Impact Statement for ASRM issued (Forwarded)

Sarah Keegan
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                    March 21, 1989

Jerry Berg
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.


RELEASE:  89-37

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR ASRM ISSUED


     NASA has issued the final environmental impact statement for
the planned Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) project, an
approximately 5-year-long program to design, develop, test and
evaluate the next-generation Space Shuttle solid rocket motor.

     Issuance of the statement completes a key step in the
agency's process of assessing environmental factors associated
with locating the major ASRM production and testing facilities at
one or more of three government-owned locations.

     NASA's preferred site for ASRM production is the Yellow
Creek property in extreme northeastern Mississippi, presently in
the custody and control of the Tennessee Valley Authority.  The
preferred site for motor testing is John C. Stennis Space Center
near Bay St. Louis, Miss.

     In addition to those two locations, the environmental impact
statement addresses impacts at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
The Kennedy center is included because it was among the three
government-owned property options examined by NASA last year
prior to the selection of Yellow Creek and Stennis as the
preferred sites.

     The statement also summarizes NASA's consideration of
several ASRM design alternatives and their differing effects on
the project's environmental impact.  Another option considered in
the assessment process is the "no-action" alternative -- that is,
to halt the ASRM project and continue to use the current
redesigned solid rocket motor for Shuttle flights into the next
century.

     NASA, with support and encouragement from Congress, has been
developing plans for an improved solid rocket motor since late
1986.  The project was begun in response to a need to enhance
Shuttle safety and reliability over the many years in the future
that the Shuttle will continue to be a principal U.S. launch
vehicle.  Another key objective is to achieve significantly
improved booster performance compared to the current solid rocket
motor.  In addition, the new motor would establish a strong
technical foundation for future advances in the solid fuel
propulsion area.

     NASA is currently evaluating proposals from two teams of
companies who responded to a 1988 request for proposals inviting
bids for the design, development, test and evaluation of the
ASRM.  The contractors also proposed on the design, construction
and operation of the manufacturing plant, static testing facility
and all other associated facilities.  Proposals were received
from Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., along
with Aerojet Solid Propulsion Co., Sacramento, Calif. (which
would be its principal subcontractor); and a joint venture known
as Hercules-Atlantic, consisting of Hercules Inc., Magna, Utah,
and Atlantic Research Corp., Gainesville, Va.

     Selection of the prime contractor is planned for this
spring, and the approximately 5-year-long effort would lead to
delivery of the first set of flight motors by 1994.  NASA's plan
is for a 3-year, phase-in period during which the ASRM would
replace the current motor.

     NASA has committed to a variety of steps aimed at avoiding
or minimizing potential environmental impacts from the ASRM
project.  These mitigative measures are outlined in the document.

     The final version of the statement includes and reflects
consideration of comments received from interested agencies,
organizations and individuals following last December's
publication of a draft version of the document.  An additional
30-day opportunity for review began with today's issuance of the
final statement.  Following that, signing of a Record of Decision
by NASA's associate administrator for space flight will mark
completion of the environmental impact assessment process for the
ASRM program.

     Groundbreaking at the ASRM production site is expected to
begin in June 1989.

     Copies of the environmental impact statement are available
for examination and copying at public libraries in communities
near the three candidate sites, at NASA Headquarters and the
agency's field centers.

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 21:34:37 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: NASA Select

In article <Added.4Y=[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Lou Surface) writes:
>... My question is why were there no cabin views during
>the launch? Come to think of it, I don't recall cabin views at launch
>on any mission - from Apollo to STS. Is this due to G-force limits
>on operating cameras? - that would be suprising. Or is there some
>classified ritual that occurs at T minus 0?

There's no special problem with it that I'm aware of.  I'd assume that
the reason is (a) the view would be boring, and (b) the astronauts'
conversations are considered private unless explicitly transmitted.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 28 Mar 89 02:41:12 GMT
From: thorin!zeta![e-mail]  (Jonathan Leech)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Matthew T. DeLuca) writes:
>measured in the hundreds of thousands of tons, if not millions.  Of course,
>since the object of the mission is to get asteriod ores (not fuel, by the way),
>the fuel for the return trip must be carried on board, and this fuel must be
>sufficient to accelerate and decelerate the loaded ship.

    Probably not, since we suspect many asteroids of being
volatile-rich. Fuel and reaction mass, all in one. I was unable to
find any information on D/H ratios in a quick glance through my copy
of _Asteroids_, but the Phobos mission may provide info in short
order, if their mass spectrometer determines D abundance.

    This is aside from there being no need to accelerate at 1G in
either direction for other reasons.
--
    Jon Leech ([e-mail])    __@/
    "Totally bounded: A set that can be patrolled by a finite number
     of arbitrarily near-sighted policemen."    A. Wilonsky, 1978

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

Date: 27 Mar 89 17:07:32 GMT
From: ecsvax!dukeac![e-mail]  (James Kittock)
Subject: Aurora?


Well, I'm sort of sorry to just be getting in to this aurora discussion late,
but what with spring break and all, I've had trouble catching up on the
volume of unread news...

Discovering that others had seen a similar optical effects on the night of
Monday March 13 intrigued me, because I had been very perplexed by the sky
that night.  My experience occurred on a hike from Shining Rock to Flower Gap
in the Pisgah National Forest of western North Carolina (how's that for
accuracy :-).  About 1 or 2 hours after sunset (I was backpacking, so I didn't
have a watch) myself and my nine crewmembers noticed the sky starting to
LIGHTEN, and to our amazement, it went from a faint purplish color to a blood
red that just about scared me shitless.  We discussed it briefly, since none
of us was an astronomical expert, and concluded that it was unlike any aurora
we had ever heard described, since it had almost zero dynamics (i.e. no moving
curtains of light, etc.) and was almost uniformly red (no greens or blues).
The light covered the northern 1/2 to 3/4 of the sky from the west horizon to
almost the east horizon.  At the time, I convinced myself that it was some
very strange post-sunset glow off high clouds (or something!!!), but between
the sky, the high winds we experienced that night, and the number of flashing
lights (probably planes, but when you're in the middle of a bald gap on a
freaky night, your imagintation does wonders for you) in the sky, I think
most of my crew was wondering if it wasn't an Apocalyptic sky...  Not to tie
this in to the other "discussions" in sci.astro, but if little green men had
landed and said "take me to your leader" I wouldn't have been to surprised.

Anyways, the effect lasted a good 4 or more hours, until (I would estimate)
midnight or 1 am.  Oh-- and there were also a number of whitish streaks that
were either illuminated contrails (when I still believed the clouds idea) or
god knows what else-- they spanned 1/4 to 1/2 the sky and it was a bit
disconcerting when two of them made a gigantic "V" in the SOUTHERN sky...

Sorry to have taken so much bandwidth, but please e-mail me or post if your
particular version of the aurora sounds like ours (verified by about 30 other
people...) visually, if not psychologically.



--
james kittock - Duke '92 - P.O. Box 5750, Duke Station, Durham NC 27706-5750
"...I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface!" -- Woody Allen
ph#: [phone] (but usually running from class to class before 4 p.m.)
  ...!(decvax|mcnc)!ecsgate!jek@dukeac   or   [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #321
*******************