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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #148

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 148

Today's Topics:
               Re: Pharmacies in Space
             MICROSAT LAUNCH DATE
              Re: Trump Station
           Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?
        Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself
           Re: Space goals, cheap launchers
           Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?
           Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?
            Soviet commercial space groups
            Re: The 'Face' of Mars
                 Leap Second
      Re: Plutonium in space (was Risk of NOT launching Galileo)
              MARS OBSERVER INSTRUMENTS
              Re: astrodynamic software
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11 Oct 89 15:41:20 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Pharmacies in Space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Dietz) writes:
>This was largely NASA-encouraged propaganda when they were trying to
>sell the space station.  McDonnell-Douglas had a project -- continuous
>flow electrophoresis -- that was obsoleted by advances in earth-based
>protein separation technology.  McDD terminated CFE last year.

Note, though, that they spent a good bit of their own money on it while
it was going.  I.e., it looked like a serious possibility.  If they'd had
all the flight opportunities they wanted, when they wanted them, the end
of the story might have been different.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 10 Oct 89 20:05:28 GMT
From: idacrd![e-mail]  (Robert McGwier)
Subject: MICROSAT LAUNCH DATE

The new launch date for SPOT-2, Microsat, UOSAT has just been given to
us by Arianespace.  They are shooting for a January 19, 1990 launch.

Bob McGwier
N4HY

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 18:09:41 GMT
From: phri!cooper!dasys1![e-mail]  (Robert Sweeney)
Subject: Re: Trump Station

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Games Wizard) writes:
>It is clear that this magnitude project puts him in the league where he is
>willing to committ a LARGE ammount of money to see his name in lights
>(or on the side of the building ).  The question is :
>        How does one convince him that a space station,
>            or a space shuttle, or any space project x
>            is worth HIS getting involved.

Note that although Trump is unimaginably rich, and unquestioniably the most
famous billionaire in America today, his personal fortune is estimated at
"only" around $ 1.7 billion.  While this is an incredible amount of money,
it's not enough to run a personal space program.

Trump has made a name for himself as an effective manager of big projects,
though, and perhaps this is where he'd be most useful.

/rs


--
Robert Sweeney                              ..!cmcl2!dasys1!rsweeney
Big Electric Cat - Computerized Conferencing:    [phone]/9033
Never eat anything bigger than your head. - B. Kliban

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 12:53:46 GMT
From: eplrx7![e-mail]  (leipold)
Subject: Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (nick szabo) writes:
>It takes twenty years to build something monstrous like the Station.
>Small unmanned efforts can be mounted within 5-10 years of proposal.

'dja ever notice how everybody refers to it as _THE_ station?  Why only
one, huh?  If DoD wants one, give it to 'em; if we need one for medical
research, dedicate a station for the purpose; if the exotic materials
people require better microgravity than DoD can guarantee in _its_
station, we'll build a separate station (compact, for the low gravity
gradient) for materials research.

Putting all our eggs in the basket of one space station sounds about
as smart as depending on one launch system (remember the Shuttle?).
Look at some of the problems caused by having only one station:

1) It has to be _perfect_ the first time around.  Of course, this isn't
   a real practical attitude.

2) It has to do everything!  Multipurpose tools aren't always useful;
   the classic example is the 100-bladed Swiss army knife.

Besides, It may look like it would cost more to build several smaller
stations, but the synergy among multiple program teams (exchange of
personnel, and (hopefully) good-natured competition) would be better
than having a single, humongous program office pronouncing the One True
Way (tm) of conquering space.

>Our real space efforts--planetary exploration, new technology, microgravity
>research, privatization, etc. etc.--do not at all rely on the Station.

I tend to agree, but by now it's politically infeasible to change horses
in midstream.

--
"As long as you've lit one candle,                         Walt Leipold
you're allowed to curse the darkness."       ([e-mail])
--
--
The UUCP Mailer

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 06:05:13 GMT
From: bungia!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: Galileo--- history repeats itself

Apparently Korac MacArthur is a product of the Amerian Public Educational
System. Where did he get his history - Monty Python???

UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, chinet, killer}!orbit!pnet51!schaper
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 10:09:47 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Nick Watkins)
Subject: Re: Space goals, cheap launchers

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

>Can any of these small launchers be equipped with a secondary booster, and get
>a payload of usable size into lunar or interplanetary trajectories?

Yes. The Taurus (MX plus Pegasus) now under development for DARPA "would
be capable of sending 925 lb payloads on Earth escape trajectories to
the Moon."
 "JPL has begun examining the type of small spacecraft that could be
used in the 21st century for such high velocity, low cost missions to
the planets." (AW&ST, 18-9-89, p.50)
 Sounds like Dyson's "Astrochicken" to me.

Nick
--
Nick Watkins, Space & Plasma Physics Group, School of Mathematical
& Physical Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN1 9QH, ENGLAND
JANET: [e-mail]   BITNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 14:00:35 GMT
From: mailrus!sharkey!itivax!vax3![e-mail]  (Allen W. Sherzer)
Subject: Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (nick szabo) writes:
>It takes twenty years to build something monstrous like the Station.
>Small unmanned efforts can be mounted within 5-10 years of proposal.

Apollo was mounted within 5-10 years of proposal. It can be done if
the political will exists.

>NASA has basically promised Europe and Japan a free ride on our Station.
>We spend the $30 billion, and they do the research.  Blah to that!

No they haven't. There is an article in the current Economist which gives
figures but the partners are spending billions on the station.

  Allen

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Allen Sherzer                     | DETROIT:                            |
|  [e-mail]                       | Where the weak are killed and eaten |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 15:42:27 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: What would we do WITHOUT 'Freedom'?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (nick szabo) writes:
>NASA has basically promised Europe and Japan a free ride on our Station.
>We spend the $30 billion, and they do the research.  Blah to that!

I've got news for you, Nick:  they're spending their own billions on it,
and the US gets quite a bit of use of the facilities they're supplying.
On terms that they aren't too happy about, either.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 10:05 -0600
From: bradley thompson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Soviet commercial space groups

We have been setting up some space services deals with the Soviets
and had been dealing with Glavcosmos. The Soviets have just informed
us that they have created two agencies, the Estonian Aero-Space
Agency and the Dniepepotrovsk Rocket and Space Scientific Test Centre
to deal with commercial space projects. We are to deal with these
groups instead of Glavcosmos. I am assuming these groups existed
before, and are now being utilized for this new purpose. I will update
as I get more info.

Brad Thompson

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

Date: 9 Oct 89 13:47:00 GMT
From: sun-barr!newstop!texsun!letni!merch!cpe!hal6000!trsvax![e-mail]
Subject: Re: The 'Face' of Mars


So you're kinda new to sci.space, eh?

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

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 89 16:28:35 PST
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Leap Second
X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"[e-mail]"

Information from Herb Royden here which may be useful to you folk
with ephemeris programs, or super-accurate system clocks:

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

The International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) has announced that a positive
leap second will occur at the end of December 1989. Details are given in IERS
Bulletin C (11 September 1989), as follows:


              UTC TIME STEP on the 1st of January 1990

A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of December 1989.
The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be :
                 1989 December 31,   23h 59m 59s
                 1989 December 31,   23h 59m 60s
                 1990 January   1,    0h  0m  0s
The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is :
from 1988 January 1, 0h UTC, to 1990 January 1, 0h UTC    : UTC-TAI = - 24s
from 1990 January 1, 0h UTC, until further notice    : UTC-TAI = - 25s


This UTC step will be incorporated into future STOIC output files (UniSys
elements) starting with last Monday's, having

TIMPOL='STOIC.LD890929/PT891023 .LAST DATUM 890929 PREDICTS TO 891023.   ',

as the first record. The value of TAI - UTC will increase from exactly 24 sec
(88/01/0189/12/31) to exactly 25 sec (90/01/01). The value of UT1 - UTC will
jump from roughly -0.7 to +0.3 sec. The value of ET - UTC will increase from
approximately 56.184 to 57.184 sec.

Peter Scott ([e-mail])

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

Date: 12 Oct 89 03:27:13 GMT
From: tramp![e-mail]  (SERRE GLENN)
Subject: Re: Plutonium in space (was Risk of NOT launching Galileo)

Milstar uses solar panels.

Disclaimer: I don't represent anyone, even myself.

--Glenn Serre
[e-mail]

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

Date: 11 Oct 89 18:34:26 GMT
From: hp-pcd!hpcvlx![e-mail]  (Greg Goebel)
Subject: MARS OBSERVER INSTRUMENTS

AVIATION WEEK -- just broke down and finally got a subscription, since
I like aircraft too IT'S ALL GRAVY! -- in their latest issue did some
closeups on future American space probes; great article on Mars
observer, which however leaves me with some questions about the
instrumentation payload:

  * Gamma ray spectrometer:  No problem there, detects elemental
    composition and distribution of planetary surface by sensing
    gamma rays due to fluorescence of the surface under cosmic-ray
    bombardment.  (Operating principles unkown.)

  * Laser altimeter:  Probably uses radar-like action, using laser
    light instead of radio waves.

  * Pressure modulator infrared radiometer: Huh?

  * Thermal emission spectrometer:  An IR spectrometer?

  * Camera.

  * Electron reflectometer: Say what?

  * Magnetometers:  Magnetic field sensors, probably using an
    inductive pickup.

Anybody who can elaborate on, clarify, correct, or otherwise enlighten
me on these nice toys would have my appreciation.  Please email unless
you feel your response would be of general interest ...
--
    +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
    | Greg Goebel                                                         |
    | Hewlett-Packard CWO / 1000 NE Circle Boulevard / Corvallis OR 97330 |
    | [phone]                                                      |
    | INTERNET: gvg@hp-pcd                                                |
    | HP DESK:  GREG GOEBEL / HP3900 / 20                                 |
    +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date:        Wed, 11 Oct 89 11:36:46 ADT
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject:     Re: astrodynamic software
From: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Rick
Kwan) asks about recent books on astrodynamics.  Below I list a few
books which I have found useful in the study of the orbits of earth
satellites; they are either in my personal library or that of UNB.
Additions to the list would be much appreciated.

A short bibliography of selected books dealing in whole or in part with orbital
mechanics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Astronautics for Science Teachers by J.G. Meitner (ed.).  1965.  John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, NY  10158.

Celestial Mechanics, a Computational Guide for the Practitioner by L.G. Taff.
1985.   John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, NY  10158.  ISBN
0-471-89316-1.

Dynamics of Satellites by M. Roy (ed.).  1963.  Academic Press Inc., Publishers,
111 5th Ave., New York, NY.

Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by R.R. Bate, D.D. Mueller and J.E. White.  1971.
Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick St., New York, NY  10014.  ISBN
0-486-60061-0.

Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics by J.M.A. Danby.  2nd edition.  1988.
Willmann-Bell, Inc., P.O. Box 35025, Richmond, VA  23235.

Guide to GPS Positioning by D. Wells and 10 other authors.  1987.  Canadian GPS
Associates, Box 3184, Postal Station B, Fredericton, N.B.  E3A 5GP, Canada.
ISBN 0-920-114-73-3.

Introduction to Geostationary Orbits by E.M. Soop.  1983.  European Space
Agency, ESA Scientific and Technical Publications Branch, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The
Netherlands.  ISSN 0379-6566.

Introductory Orbit Mechanics by F.P.J. Rimrott.  1989.  Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn
Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Braunschweig, Federal Republic of Germany.  ISBN
3-528-06344-0.

Methods of Orbit Determination by P.R. Escobal.  1965.  Reprinted 1985.  Robert
E. Krieger Publishing Comp., Inc., Krieger Drive, Malabar, FL  32950.  ISBN
0-88275-319-3.

Non-gravitational Perturbations and Satellite Geodesy by A. Milani, A.M. Nobili
and P. Farinella.  1987.  Adam Hilger, IOP Publishing Ltd., Techno House,
Redcliffe Way, Bristol  BS1 6NX, England.  ISBN 0-85274-538-9.

Observing Earth Satellites by D. King-Hele.  1983.  Van Nostrand Reinhold Comp.,
135 West 50th St., New York, NY  10020.  ISBN 0-442-24877-6

Satellite Communications Systems by G. Maral and M. Bousquet.  1986.  John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, NY  10158.   ISBN 0-471-90220-9.

Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control by J.R. Wertz (ed.).  1978.  D.
Reidel Publishing Comp., Inc., Lincoln Bldg., 160 Old Derby St., Hingham, MA
02043, U.S.A.  ISBN 90-277-0959-9.

The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook by M.R. Davidoff.  1984.  The American
Radio Relay League, Inc., 225 Main St., Newington, CT  06111.  ISBN
0-87259-004-6.

The Theory of Satellite Orbits in an Atmosphere by D. King-Hele.  1964.
Butterworth and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London.


Richard B. Langley                E-mail:  [e-mail] or [e-mail]
Assoc. Prof.                      Phone:   [phone]
Geodetic Research Laboratory      Telex:   014-46202
Dept. of Surveying Engineering    FAX:     [phone]
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, N.B., Canada
E3B 5A3

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #148
*******************