Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V09_4/V9_444.ZIP/V9_444

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #444

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 444

Today's Topics:
            Re: New Orbiter Name Announced
            Magellan & SRB exhaust
              Re: Magellan & SRB exhaust
    Marine/Oceanography Programme at UN Maspalomas Meeting
    Applications of Space Technology to African Coast - I
    Applications of Space Technology to African Coast - II
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 May 89 12:37:40 PDT
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Orbiter Name Announced

cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx![e-mail]  (Marc Bonin) writes:

>It's interesting to note that every shuttle orbiter except Columbia has
>a fictional counterpart

Well, there is the sailing ship _Columbia_ at Disneyland... surely that
qualifies as `fictional'...

Peter Scott ([e-mail])

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

Date: 15 May 89 12:41:11 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Andy Clews)
Subject: Magellan & SRB exhaust

If the Shuttle crew were able to watch Magellan as it fired off on its
trip to Venus, would they have been able to see the exhaust plume from
its solid motor?

The reason I ask this fascinating :-) question is that, years ago when
I watched the later-Apollo LEMs leave the moon (by the miracle of TV), I
noted that no exhaust was visible - only the debris blasted from the top
of the descent stage.  If liquid fueled motors burn "invisibly" in the
vacuum of space, what about the solid rocket motors?

Also, (rather naive question), would the shuttle have been "showered"
with any of the impurities from the Magellan solid motor exhaust at burn
time, even though it was obviously a long distance from it?

--
Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, ENGLAND
JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]
Voice: [phone] ext.2129

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

Date: 16 May 89 22:39:20 GMT
From: att!cbnewsl![e-mail]  (Stuart Warmink)
Subject: Re: Magellan & SRB exhaust

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Andy Clews) writes:
> [...deleted...] If liquid fueled motors burn "invisibly" in the
> vacuum of space, what about the solid rocket motors?

   There are some rather pretty pictures of an OMS burn and a "yaw" thruster
   firing as seen from the Shuttle's rear windows in the book _Entering Space_
   by Joseph Allen (mission specialist). They clearly show whitish plumes, but
   it dissipates within a meter or so for the thruster firing. Both OMS and
   attitude thrusters are liquid (hydrazine) fueled engines.

   Solid rocket motor should have a far more visible plume, because of the
   many solid exhaust products which will glow brightly. Just look at the
   Shuttle's boosters!

> Also, (rather naive question), would the shuttle have been "showered"
> with any of the impurities from the Magellan solid motor exhaust at burn
> time, even though it was obviously a long distance from it?

   Not so naive, because that it exactly why the Shuttle turns its undersurface
   towards where the probe/satellite starts its burn. The worry is that
   exhaust particles could damage or dirty the orbiter's windows.

   P.S. "Let's go Seagulls!" :-)
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Captain, I see no reason to stand here  |  Stuart Warmink, Whippany, NJ, USA
 and be insulted" - Spock                | [e-mail] (att!cbnewsl!sw)
-------------------------> My opinions are just that <------------------------

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

Date: 16 May 89 17:21:15 GMT
From: ccnysci![e-mail]  (Patt Haring)
Subject: Marine/Oceanography Programme at UN Maspalomas Meeting

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*MARINE/OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAMME AT UN MASPALOMAS MEETING

     MASPALOMAS, 10 May -- A paper on requirements and needed infrastructure
for a viable regional marine sciences/oceanography programme was presented
this morning as a concluding presentation in the United Nations Meeting of
Experts on Space Applications to Marine Resources and Coastal Management, in
Maspalomas, Canary Islands.

     Following the presentation, participants were conducted on a tour of the
Maspalomas Space Station of Spain's National Institute of Aerospace Technology
by the Director of the Station, Julio Melian.

     In his presentation, V, Klemas, of the Centre for Remote Sensing at the
University of Delaware's College of Marine Studies, said successful
applications of remote sensing to solve ocean and coastal problems required a
number of key elements.  These included project planning, experimental design,
mathematical/physical modelling, remote-sensing data acquisition, field data
collection, data processing and storage, and information extraction.  Some of
these steps could be carried out in local laboratories; others required
regional collaboration if costs were to be minimized.

     Satellite data, for example, should be received at a centralized,
regional facility, he said.  This facility should store and archive all raw
data and provide a high-capacity image analysis system for users doing
advanced image analysis or requiring analysis of large ocean regions.  On the
other hand, data processed to a higher level, including radiometric, geometric
and atmospheric correction, should be made available to scientists at local,
national laboratories for investigations of smaller high-intensity test sites.

     Just as satellite data-receiving stations should be shared on a regional
basis, major field data collection platforms, such as large aircraft or
research vessels, should not be duplicated locally, he stated.  The operating
costs of four-engine aircraft and large ships were extremely high.  New
aircraft and ship instruments were being developed which could be used on

smaller platforms.  As a typical case, operating costs could be reduced from
$3,000 to $150 per hour.

     Training of new personnel must be carried out at both the regional and
local level, according to the paper.  Regional workshops on new equipment and
techniques were very useful, but it was at the local level that the trainee
must receive the details of hands-on experience which regional workshops and
seminars could not provide.  Training experience had shown that classroom
lectures by themselves were not sufficient to provide trainees with a working
knowledge of the subject.  Therefore, a hands-on analysis of satellite data
using computers, as well as field work, was recommended whenever possible.

     Workshops were most effective if several days of classroom lectures were
followed by several days of case studies and several weeks of field work, the
expert believed.  Students and scientists from developing countries must be
trained at two levels.  They must be exposed to the latest techniques to
satisfy their curiosity and self-esteem, but must also be trained in
inexpensive, simple methods which could be implemented in their countries.  It
was important, when holding workshops overseas, to leave a permanent
capability behind.  Such institution building was vital.

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

Date: 16 May 89 17:54:22 GMT
From: ccnysci![e-mail]  (Patt Haring)
Subject: Applications of Space Technology to African Coast - I

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*APPLICATIONS OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY TO AFRICAN COAST I

     MASPALOMAS, 9 May -- A series of technical papers were presented today
during the second day of a United Nations meeting on space applications to
marine resources and coastal management, being held in Maspalomas, Canary
Islands.

     The meeting has been organized for the States of the Atlantic coast of
Africa by the Space Applications Programme of the United Nations Outer Space
Affairs Division, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), in co-operation with the Government of Spain.

     Papers today dealt with such subjects as oceanic upwelling cells and
various aspects of remote sensing, including the sensing of the physical and
biological properties of coastal waters; the monitoring of the marine
environment, including water pollution; and coastal zone surveying and mapping

     Other topics discussed in today's presentation included experiences of
the Canary Islands Centre for Fisheries Technology in remote sensing, space
technology for search and rescue operations, and case studies on the use of
recent marine-related remote-sensing projects in Cameroon, Guinea, Cote
d'Ivoire, Morocco and Nigeria.

     Technical Papers

     V. KLEMENS, Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing of the University
of Delaware, discusses in his paper the remote sensing of physical and
biological properties of coastal waters, estuaries and wetlands.  He said
remote sensors, combined with ship measurements, could provide synoptic
observations of coastal and estuary phenomena which varied rapidly in time and
space.  Coastal applications of remote sensing required a wide assortment of
sensors, including aerial film cameras for beach erosion and vegetation
mapping; multispectral sensors for wetlands biomass and estuary water property

studies; thermal infrared scanners for mapping surface water temperatures and
currents; and microwave devices for salinity or wave measurements.

     Recent progress in optical modelling and instrument design is making
remote sensing of estuaries quite effective.  A variety of sensors are being
developed which can be flown on inexpensive small aircraft.  Deployed in
conjunction with satellites, such airborne sensors can observe tidal, seasonal
and annual variations and spacial distribution of phytoplankton blooms,
sediment plumes, estuarine fronts and circulation patterns.  These new
techniques are enabling scientists to monitor the environmental quality of
coastal waters and compare the susceptibility for degradation of estuaries, as
required by the various national and international programmes.

     VITTORIN BARALE, specialist in remote sensing and oceanography at FAO,
said in his paper that remote sensing was a powerful, if not exclusive, tool
for studying and monitoring environmental conditions of the sea surface.
Marine features accessible for remote observations of the sea surface are
essentially colour temperature, texture and elevation.  As far as water
quality, pollution and sediment transport are concerned, remote sensing of sea
surface colour can be particularly effective in providing large-scale,
long-term assessments of environmental conditions not attainable by other
means.

     Visible remote-sensing techniques can be used to determine the presence
and abundance of water constituents such as biological pigments, suspended
sediments or other products of organic matter degradation.  Since water
constituents act as tracers of various marine processes, colour patterns on
the sea surface can also provide indications on the relationship between
forcing mechanisms and biological responses to the marine environment.  These
capabilities render optical remote sensing a viable technique for marine
ecological assessments, although atmospheric processes may pose severe
limitations to its use.

     MATS ROSENGREN, of the Swedish Space Corporation, presented a paper on
remote-sensing technology as a tool in coastal zone surveying and mapping.  It
says that marine resources and coastal zone management were complex activities
requiring extensive sets of basic information describing the marine and land
environments.  Satellite and airborne remote sensing constituted effective
tools for collecting fundamental data for the surveying and mapping of coastal
zones.

     The unique strength of remote sensing was the possibility to get a
detailed overview of a large area in a single image.  Applications included
topographic and undersea mapping, continuous airborne patrolling of oil spill
surveillance and other environmental controls.

     Satellite remote sensing is not suitable for monitoring rapidly changing
phenomena within smaller areas.  In such cases, airborne remote sensing was an
alternative.

     The influence of changes in land use, agriculture and forestry can be
analysed by combining land use information, topographic data and drainage
basins in a hydrological model of an area.  Most of this information can be
obtained from remote-sensing data.

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

Date: 16 May 89 17:56:10 GMT
From: ccnysci![e-mail]  (Patt Haring)
Subject: Applications of Space Technology to African Coast - II

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*APPLICATIONS OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY TO AFRICAN COAST II

     JELLE U. KIELKEMA, Co-ordinator, Environmental Monitoring Group, Remote
Sensing Centre, FAO, describes the FAO's operational satellite environmental
monitoring for food security.

     Since 1976, FAO's Remote Sensing Centre has been developing and testing
the operational use of data from environmental and earth resources satellites
for improving information bases of the FAO Global Information and Early
Warning System on Food and Agriculture and Desert Locust Plague Prevention
Programme at international, regional and national levels.

     The paper describes ARTEMIS (Africa Real Time Environmental Monitoring
using Imaging Satellites), FAO's operational satellite remote-sensing-based
environmental monitoring system, which has been in operation at the FAOSensing
Centre since August 1988.  The ARTEMIS system was specifically designed and
built for FAO by the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands, in
co-operation with the United States National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), the Goddard Space Flight Centre and the Universities of
Reading and Bristol.

     The paper also summarizes the development status of a dedicated satellite
communication system (DIANA) for transmission of the high-volume ARTEMIS
system and related products at FAO headquarters to users at regional and
national levels through the INTELSAT satellites.

     A paper by KOLA KUSEMIJO, of the Department of Biological Sciences at the
University of Lagos, deals with upwelling cells in the Atlantic coast of
Africa.

     Upwelling areas, it is pointed out, are noted for their primary and
secondary productivity and fish production; they hold the greatest promise of
fish production in tropical and sub-tropical areas.

     It has been estimated that upwelling regions, totalling no more than
0.1 per cent of the ocean surface, produce about half of the world's fish
supply.  In the Atlantic coast of Africa, the major upwelling areas occur in
the waters off Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Angola and Namibia.

     The paper reviews aspects of the ecology of the upwelling cells in the
Atlantic coast of Africa, with particular reference to their occurrence and
reasonable distribution, and the hydrographic features affecting the abundance
of upwelling cells.

     Total fish potential of the upwelling areas have not yet been fully
tapped.  There is also the possibility of commercially viable tuna fisheries.

Further exploitation would require sufficient studies to monitor distribution
and migration patterns.  Information gathered would be important in the
regulation of fisheries in order to maintain a sustainable yield.

     A second paper on upwelling was presented by ULO K. ENYENIHI, Director of
the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Calabar.  It describes the
taxonomy, distribution, abundance, growth, psychology, migration and feeding
characteristics of phytoplanktons and zooplanktons, whose biological
activities in association with bacteria, in the presence of increased
nutrients, govern the productivity of the region.  Their roles in the food
web, which results in the large fish stocks harvested by artisanal and
industrial fishermen of these coastal countries, are discussed.

     The fisheries of the African coastal region are greatly influenced by
upwelling cells.  The result is a phenomenal change in composition of catches
with the abundance of particular species.  The upwelling phenomenon brings
about movement of stocks parallel and nearer to the coast in the
Senegal-Mauritania and Congolese-Angolan sectors, thereby increasing the
capturability of the abundant stock for artisanal in-shore fishermen.  The
economic importance of this phenomenon and its effects on the biological
productivity of this regional sea is discussed.

     Case Studies

     Case studies were presented by Collins Ayamama Angwe of the Fisheries
Research Station of the Institute of Animal Research in Cameroon (on behalf of
Jean Folack, Research Officer with the Fisheries Research Station in Limbe,
Cameroon); I.E. Timchenko, an oceanographer currently on contract with the
Government of Guinea; Vassiafa Diomande, Chief of the Remote Sensing Service
of the National Commission on Environment of Cote d'Ivoire; Abdellatif Orbi,
Chief of Oceanographic Services of the Maritime Institute in Casablanca,
Morocco; and Lawrence Folajimi Awosika, Senior Research Officer at the
Nigerian Institute for Oceanography in Lagos.

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #444
*******************