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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #382

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 382

Today's Topics:
        Re: 'Europe stuff' (was: Re: UK astronaut...)
                  Re: Ariane
             Disarmament and Outer Space
           Space Shuttle Attacked by 200-foot UFO!
    Re: URGENT -- SPACE STATION FUNDING VOTE ON TUESDAY!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 18 Apr 89 09:26:40
From: Lutz Massonne <ESC1325@ESOC> ([phone]) <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 'Europe stuff' (was: Re: UK astronaut...)

(Flame on)

I am surprised to see Hermes being launched from a butter mountain
instead of a Ariane 5 ...
The US people should not mix up the EC bureaucracy with the ESA
bureaucracy. ESA is not the EC, it has different member states
and there is one big difference: ESA works.

The European Space Program has perhaps more limited goals than the
US and USSR programs, but the science program as well as the
commercial programs have produced a lot of remarkable results.
The manned space effort of ESA has just started (not counting
the Spacelab which is infrequently launched by a shuttle),
but its prospects of getting astronauts into space are not
worse than those of Arianespace to get a significant part of
the worlds commercial launch market.

(Flame off)

To be serious: for a entirely civilian program (as far as this
is possible) the ESA space program is remarkably well funded
and successful.

Regards, Lutz

Disclaimer: This mailing expresses my personal opinions only,
neither mbp's nor ESA's. I accept no liability for any of my
statements and give no guarantee for their correctness.
Some parts of this mail may be meant humorous or are simply cynic.

+------------------------------------------------------+
| Address: Dr. Lutz Massonne, OAD/mbp, ESOC,           |
|          Robert-Bosch-Str.5, D-6100 Darmstadt, FRG   |
+------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Tue, 18 Apr 89 09:15:19
From: Lutz Massonne <ESC1325@ESOC> ([phone]) <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ariane

A good description of the Ariane 4 manufacturing and transportation
can be found in the 'esa bulletin' no. 55 from august 1988.

The 1st stage of the launcher is is integrated at Aerospatiale in France,
the 2nd stage is integrated at MBB-Erno in the Fed. Rep. of Germany
and the 3rd stage is again integrated at Aerospatiale.
The liquid strap-on boosters are integrated at MBB-ERNO (FRG) and the
solid strap-ons are integrated at SNIA-BPD in Italy.

All Ariane launcher parts are brought to the port of Le Havre by vessel
from Les Mureaux on the river Seine about nine weeks prior to the launch.
The all is shipped in special containers (including the propellants
except the liquid oxygen, which is produced in Kourou) to
Cayenne in French Guiana.
Some ten days later the vessel arrives at the port of Cayenne and launcher and
propellants are transferred by road to the launch site, some 15km west
of Kourou.
Transfer to the launch pad takes place about two weeks before launch.

The payload will be flown to Kourou.

The industrial capabilities allow at present the production of
eight Ariane-4 launchers in a nominal production cycle
and up to ten per year by shift working.
The ELA-2 launch complex at Kourou is also capable of supporting
ten launches per year.

Arianespace plans to produce and launch about 70 Ariane-4's.

In overall 50 european companies are involved in Ariane-4 production,
providing employment for about 10000 people.
Eight firms are main contractors for the major elemtens of the launcher.

However, I have no information about the inner-european transport of
the launcher parts prior to the final integration and shipping
from Les Mureaux. Personally I suspect that the involved firms follow
the normal european customs and transport by road or railway,
and use air transport for time-critical items.

I hope this provides some more information

Lutz

+------------------------------------------------------+
| Address: Dr. Lutz Massonne, OAD/mbp, ESOC,           |
|          Robert-Bosch-Str.5, D-6100 Darmstadt, FRG   |
+------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 18 Apr 89 20:37:58 GMT
From: ccnysci![e-mail]  (Patt Haring)
Subject: Disarmament and Outer Space


Ported to UseNET from UNITEX Network
                      201-795-0733
          via Rutgers FidoGATEway


*DISARMAMENT and OUTER SPACE

     GENEVA, 11 April -- The Conference on Disarmament heard a
     statement today by the representative of the Federal Republic of
     Germany on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

     Paul Joachim von Stuelpnagel (Federal Republic of Germany)
     said increasing numbers of States were becoming space Powers or
     were participating in important programmes for the exploration
     and utilization of outer space. All States could be threatened
     by a possible misuse of outer space.  Despite the special
     responsibility and obligation of the two principal space Powers,
     the regulation of outer space and the prevention of an arms race
     in outer space could not be left entirely to bilateral
     negotiations between the two major Powers.  At a propitious
     time, the Conference on Disarmament had to play its role in that
     field.  Nothing, however, should be done that would hinder the
     success of bilateral negotiations on outer space issues.

     One of the most important permanent obligations of the Ad
     Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
     was to examine ways and means of developing and broadening the
     basis of consensus, he said.  As long as divergencies on
     substance and methodology prevailed, it did not make sense to
     call for "negotiations" without knowing precisely what objective
     was to be reached nor having agreed on the need, purpose and
     prospect for any of the intended conventions, treaties,
     amendments or regulations that were urged to be elaborated.
     *    Press Release DC/2239 of 5 April should have had the symbol
     DCF/22.       Press Release DCF/22 of 7 April should have had
     the symbol DCF/23.

     The work of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an
     Arms Race in Outer Space would, inevitably, be incomplete and
     not succeed in making substantial progress unless a real effort
     was made to analyse the nature and completeness of the existing
     outer space legal regime.  The Committee needed to consider
     whether the legal outer space regime needed to be complemented
     and how it could be improved.

     He said two approaches, which were principally different,
     had been taken by the Ad Hoc Committee to the objective of
     improving the protection for satellites:  the prohibition of
     ASATs or of all weapons that could attack objects in outer
     space; and the indirect protection of satellites to minimize the
     possibility of hostile action against them (for example, by
     agreed "rules of the road").  It had become evident that it was
     technically difficult to distinguish between satellites that
     needed to be protected and satellites that would not be covered
     by a possible legal "immunity".  Because many non-dedicated
     ASATs existed (for example, anti-ballistic missile (ABM)
     systems, any kind of long-range ballistic missiles, satellites
     with inherent ASAT capabilities, and so on), a comprehensive ban
     on all of those systems would be neither verifiable nor
     acceptable to all parties concerned.  The Federal Republic of
     Germany had conducted research and was prepared to offer its
     findings by contributions of scientific experts during the summer
     session of the Conference.

     It may be difficult to accept, but it seemed that a ban on
     ASAT means would only be effective if all weapons were
     prohibited that were capable of attacking objects in relevant
     orbits, he said.  The subject of an ASAT ban concerned basic
     questions of the strategic stability between the major nuclear
     Powers.  Those questions were still under consideration in the
     bilateral negotiations.

     The Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in
     Outer Space should make a comprehensive effort to determine to
     what extent the existing legal regime could be completed and
     reinforced, he said.  It should work for a greater observance of
     the existing provisions of the outer space legal regime, for
     more precise definitions, for more commonly shared
     interpretations, for improving norms and, finally, for
     elaborating more provisions of a legal nature.


 * Origin: UNITEX --> Crime Stoppers Against the New Age Hustle (1:107/501)

--
unitex - via FidoNet node 1:107/520
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--
Patt Haring
rutgers!cmcl2!ccnysci!patth
[e-mail]

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

Date: 17 Apr 89 23:07:02 GMT
From: haven!vrdxhq!daitc!ida.org![e-mail]  (Eric Roskos)
Subject: Space Shuttle Attacked by 200-foot UFO!

Well, I scoffed when I read the recent postings in rec.ham-radio about the
UFO, but then I was standing in the check-out line at Giant (world's
slowest cashiers) and saw the following headline on "Weekly World News":

"US Astronauts' close encounter rocks NASA!  SPACE SHUTTLE WAS INVADED BY
ALIENS  Star creatures boarded discovery -- and ... radio conversations
prove it, experts say".

Here's a short excerpt from the article, which closely parallels what
was reported earlier in sci.space and rec.ham-radio:

A 200-foot UFO buzzed last month's space shuttle flight and there are
even more serious allegations that a pair of bug-eyed extraterrestrials
took control of the craft while they inspected its cargo!

London's respected Daily Star newspaper, which has a circulation of 1.3
million, broke the story that included sensational testimony from a
stable of scientists and UFO researchers who claim to have tapes of
conversations between the shuttle and mission control.

In a mind-blowing interview, former NASA mission specialist Bob Oechsler
of Baltimore, MD stunned Daily Star readers when he revealed that he was
in posession of a tape that described the shuttle's incredible UFO
encounter.

The veteran space flight specialist, who worked at the famed Goddard
Space Flight Center located near Washington, DC, refused to say where he
got the explosive tape.

But he told The NEWS in a telephone interview that he has commissioned a
sophisticated voice-print analysis to determine if it really is the
shuttle telling mission control: "Houston, this is Discovery.  We still
have the alien spacecraft under observation."

            * * *

The Daily Star rocked Europe by additionally reporting that a *ham radio
operator* claims to have heard a shuttle astronaut say: "Houston, we
have a `fire'" -- which is widely believed to be a NASA [term] for a
UFO.

Those reports, while sensational, paled before yet another allegation
from Dr.  Marcel Ponte.  In Paris, the founder and president of the
watchdog group, UFO Truth, said he can prove that space aliens boarded
the shuttle and inspected its cargo....  He also claimed to have heard
an alleged conversation between the shuttle and mission control that
says:

"Houston, this is Discovery.  We have alien spacecraft.  200 feet.  Blue.
Cargo hold.  Controls useless.  A pair.  Bug eyed.  We are invaded."

The brief transmission was allegedly made when the Discovery was in the
20th hour of its five-day mission.

[End of excerpt.]

The article also includes an "artist's conception of chilling encounter
in space," depicting an object resembling a plumber's helper with a disc
brake rotor attached to the bottom of it, pointing a long, antenna-like
object at the shuttle, which has its cargo door open and and astronaut
precariously perched on the back, near the tail fin, as if he is about
to fall backward with surprise.  He appears to be holding a suitcase.

A few pages later in the newspaper, it has this testimonial from a reader
in Wales:

Editors: I am 14 years old and have never been to America, but I can see
your country must be a truly exciting place to live.  My dad went to New
York for business and brought me a Weekly World News so I could read
about life in America.  I have read the stories over and over.  The
people there do such wonderful things, and I know it is a fascinating
place to be.

The newspapers here don't tell us about things like space ships and space
aliens and reincarnation.  I'm going to save all my money and come to America,
where life must be great fun.

[End of quote.]

It certainly is inspiring that one can read news reports in the Usenet weeks
before they appear in the Weekly World News.
--
Eric Roskos ([e-mail] or [e-mail])

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

Date: 18 Apr 89 22:17:56 GMT
From: agate![e-mail]  (William Baxter)
Subject: Re: URGENT -- SPACE STATION FUNDING VOTE ON TUESDAY!!

In article <[e-mail]>, EWTILENI@pucc (Eric William Tilenius) writes:
>The National Space Society has initiated a phone tree alert

>Say that you urge the Congressman to "SUPPORT FULL FUNDING FOR THE
>SPACE STATION."                       --------------------
>-------------

In discussing the budget priorities for NASA in FY 1989, the HUD
Independant Agencies Committee Chairman, Mr. Boland, pointed out that
full funding of the Space Station and protection of the Space Shuttle
program from cuts would require elimination of every other increase over
FY 1988.

Here is a list of (most of) those other programs:

Orbital Manouvering Vehicle
Tethered Satellite System
Hubble Space Telescope Development
Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility
Global Geospace Science Program
Explorer Development
Suborbital Program
Life Sciences Flight Experiments
Galileo Development
Ulysses
Mars Observer
Airborne Science and Application
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
Ocean Topography Experiment
Materials Processing
Information Systems
Technology Utilization
Materials and Structures Research and Technology
Rotocraft systems Technology
Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation
Space Propulsion Research
Space Vehicle Research
Large Structures and Control
Power Systems
Automation and Robotics
Pathfinder Program
Transatmospheric Research and Technology
Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance
Tracking and Data Advanced Systems
ELVs
Second TDRS
CDSF


Remember this when somebody tells you that full funding for THE space
station is vitally important to our future in space.  Given the proposed
funding curve for the space station, it will only get worse.


William Baxter

ARPA: web@{garnet,brahms,math}.Berkeley.EDU
UUCP: {sun,dual,decwrl,decvax,hplabs,...}!ucbvax!garnet!web

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #382
*******************