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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #151

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 151

Today's Topics:
        Re: RICO to combat Christic Institute
            Re: More whining about Galileo
           Re: Interplanetary Contamination
             Christics and Smells
            Enterprise Utilization
                 Re: An Idea
            Threat to delay Shuttle launch
       Re: NASA Headline News for 10/04/89 (Forwarded)
                Re: Asteroids
     Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!
                 Re: An Idea
                Computer Virus
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 16 Oct 89 07:05:03 GMT
From: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: RICO to combat Christic Institute

I opposed to the highly improper use of the RICO laws to combat free speech
and its effects. Let them speak, but let us speak also. But then I think it
was wrong to dump the Fairness Doctrine, too. Just some hangup I have about
the Constitution and Freedom. Silly me.
  Just to clarify, I am also opposed to the Christic Institute and their
attempts to stop the launch of RTG powered vehicles.
  I just prefer rational debate - inasfar possible - to police-state actions.

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

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

Date: 16 Oct 89 13:03:06 GMT
From: mentor.cc.purdue.edu!l.cc.purdue.edu![e-mail]  (Herman Rubin)
Subject: Re: More whining about Galileo

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mark Robert Thorson) writes:
> [e-mail] (Pat Wimmer) says:
>
< > Dear Flatlander,
< >
< >     Your outburst proves my observation of the mental powers and
< >     sense of vision of your ilk.  To paraphrase a quote from RFK, who
< >     borrowed the original quote, "Some people look at a new challenge
< >     and say WHY.  I look at the same challenge and say WHY NOT?"
< >
< >     If you are more worried about risk, which is a downward spiral
< >     into mental midget mentality, than you are with risk management,
< >     than you deserve the country you get!  But you won't have to
< >     worry too long about controlling your own fate, because your
< >     country won't be yours much longer!
< >
< > Pat
>
> Spoken like a true Stalinist.  Bleed the people today so we can build the
> great Utopia tomorrow.  If you really believe a tiny minority has a right
> to loot the nation to achieve your own private goals, why don't you join
> your space-faring friends in Commie Russia.

It is clear you have no understanding of the philosophy of Wimmer or Stalin.
Wimmer is not interested in bleeding the people, nor was Stalin interested
in building a Utopia.  The USSR has no interest in space per se, as you seem
to imply.

> Remember we still live in a democracy, even if Joe Sixpack doesn't know how
> to spell "democracy".  Our Congress cut funds for the last few flights of
> Apollo because the American people lost interest in it.  Without the keen
> foresight of Congress, we wouldn't have that neat display of an authentic
> Saturn V booster in the National Air & Space Museum.
>
> If you want American consumers to support your expensive hobby, you gotta
> give them a consumer reason for it.  You gotta let'em know that Galileo
> will provide the same improvement in astrological prediction that weather
> satellites provided to weather prediction.  Educastion is the solution!

We will never have reasonable progress in anything as long as it depends on
government funding or allows government control.  The display of a Saturn V
booster in the National Air & Space Museum is the waste of money.

Our general research program is suffering from government funding!  If it
were clear that government funding was going to be inadequate, other sources
would be maintained by the universities.  But now the administration says that
if it is should be funded, the appropriate government agency must provide the
money.  Szilard gave this scenario as a means of stifling research before 1950.\

Government funding is generally the way to mess things up.  Significant
progress in space can only come when those of us who believe in it can invest
in operations which Congress can not stop.  Fortunately we do not live in a
democracy; our Constitution blocks that.  I would have no interest in trying to
persuade Joe Sixpack to vote for tax moneys to support space if our government
would free those of us who believe in it to put our money where our mouths are.

--
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail] (Internet, bitnet, UUCP)

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

Date: 16 Oct 89 16:24:26 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Interplanetary Contamination

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Williams) writes:
>So how hard was Mars hit to eject material to Earth?  Any search for a
>recent crater?

One of the biggest uncertainties about the possibly-Martian meteorites is
that nobody can figure out a entirely plausible mechanism for ejecting them.
It's difficult to get rock up to Mars's escape velocity without melting it.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 16 Oct 89 19:12:21 GMT
From: jumbo![e-mail]  (Bob Ayers)
Subject: Christics and Smells


    My involvement with the Christic Institute started with the reading of
    a graphic-docunovel entitled Brought to Light. It dealt with
    questionable American activity in central america and the role of the
    CIA in subversive and covert operations thoughout the world. Really
    good peice of work. Read it if you can. Gives an interesting (not
    nessecarily the last) viewpoint on what we've been doing.

Right off the bat, we see that the writer confuses fiction with fact. He
states he read a work of fiction and learned about the world.

    They [Christics] played an important part in uncovering much of the
    information about the Iran-Contra connection.

The Christics made a lot of statements. Their novel "information" turned
out to be just plain made up. That's why the judge told them that they had
no legal case, had invented the "facts" in their deposition, had named
many "witnesses" who did not exist or who had nothing to do with the
"facts", and invited the defendants (various memebers of the government)
to sue the Christics for legal expenses -- which they did and won.

    plutonium (which is the most poisonous substance known to man ...)

As has been posted many times, this is simply not true.  (Facts and
more-poisonous listings are in back messages on sci.space.)

    Even if only 2 pound of plutonium escape into the atmosphere (only 5%)
    how many people will this kill over the next 20 years?

First, we are discussing _solid_ Pu oxide here. If the RTG "escapes into
the atmosphere" it will just be another rock. If you mean a long chain of
very unlikely events that causes a cloud of Pu gas or atoms, consider that
in the 60s the US government took kilos of Pu, placed it in tall towers in
Nevada, deliberately vaporized it, and let it drift downwind across the
USA -- many times.

    We cannot dismiss everyone that wants more careful thinking done as an
    obstructionist.

Quite true.  I don't dismiss everyone. There have been some reasonable
"careful thinking" messages on sci.space. The Christics are not
reasonable, and I do dismiss them.

    I mean how many of you people actually knew about the Christis
    Institute before this? Any of you.

I knew about the Christic Institute long before this recent flap. They've
been hanging out on the fringes of left-wing politics for years. I don't
know why they got into the Galileo flap, it's not their normal style.

My guess is that they saw how well they NDRC did with their Alar-in-apples
flap, and decided to latch onto their own "environmental" scare and see if
they could make some bucks.

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 06:25:20 GMT
From: hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Enterprise Utilization


 Previously wrongly sent.

  Could the Orbiter Enterprise be refurbished as the Emergency Crew Return
Vehicle for the Space Station? Just dock it and plug it in. Would the tile
material hold up? APU's even though not in use?
  How about the core for a manned space tug?

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 23:15:35 GMT
From: uhccux![e-mail]  (Jeff Goldader)
Subject: Re: An Idea

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (George William Herbert) writes:
>
>The plane that had the drone impact wasn't destroyed.  The drone operator was
>killed, but the plane flew back to base and landed. (detail)
>

Thanks; I knew one of the launches was a bust, but USnail seems to have lost
all of my books somewhere near the bottom of the Pacific...  There's a really
good one by (I think) AEROFAX which details the history of each Blackbird-
type, and I remembered reading about the drone there.  Do you know how many
M-12 launches were successful before they switched to using B-52s, or
how many B-52 launches there were?

Jeff Goldader                        University of Hawaii
uhifa.ifa.hawaii.edu                 Institute for Astronomy

"So, Lonestar, now you see that Evil will always win- because Good is stupid."
-The Dark Lord Dark Helmet, _SPACEBALLS_

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my responsibility alone.
The University of Hawaii and the Institute for Astronomy neither support
nor are in *any way* responsible for these opinions.

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

Date: 16 Oct 89 04:25:23 GMT
From: f.gp.cs.cmu.edu![e-mail]  (Bret Musser)
Subject: Threat to delay Shuttle launch

The Christics are supposed to be attempting to break into the Cape
and delay the launch by blocking the pad.  I assume NASA is taking
addition security measures?  What is the normal launch pad
security anyways?

Personally, I say if they get too close, fry 'em, but that is just
my opinion. (Oh, don't forget :-)

bjm
.sig ahead!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bret J. Musser   ---   Carnegie-Mellon University | Why bother with dis-
                             Pittsburgh, Pa       | claimers on rec.arts.-
Internet: [e-mail]                     | startrek?  Do companies
Bitnet: bjm%f.gp.cs.cmu.edu@cmccvb                | hold official policies
Work Phone: [phone]                        | on TOS vs. TNG?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 03:25:44 GMT
From: uceng![e-mail]  (daniel mocsny)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 10/04/89 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Loren (Buck) Buchanan) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (bill davidsen) writes:
> >If you were the launch officer and there was a Luddite on the pad...
>
> I think that launching with a Luddite on the pad would set the Space
> Program back a whole lot. ...

Please, folks, let's get our terminology straight. A "luddite" is a
person who opposes JOB-THREATENING technological advance...for example,
a manned-space-flight advocate. :-)

A "technophobe," on the other hand, is a person who fears technology.
This term is not very meaningful, of course, because everyone I have
ever met fears some technologies while embracing others. Generally,
when you hear the term "technophobe," the speaker refers to another
person who dislikes some technologies the speaker likes.

The members of the Christic Institute do not appear to be opposing the
launch of Galileo because it will increase industrial productivity
enough to put them out of work. (What is their product, BTW?) So to
call them "luddites" is erroneous, and (dare I say this) it reflects
unfavorably on the speaker's grasp of technological history.

Dan Mocsny
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 13 Oct 89 01:12 EDT
From: NUTSY FAGEN <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Asteroids

    I can understand how some asteroids would be cheaper to get to than the
moon.  However, is this true all the time, or just when a specific asteroid
is in the 'right spot'.
        What I'm getting at is this - would an asteroid-base allow emergency
escape to Earth all the time (as I assume the moon would), or would they
be faced with certain windows through which an escape would have to be made?

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 13:52:00 GMT
From: epicb![e-mail]  (David Cook)
Subject: Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!

>From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Mark A. Haun):
>>
>> I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has built any sort of
>> fluxgate magnetometer, anyone who has seen a construction article
>> for one, or anybody with suggestions/ideas/etc. on the feasibility
>> of this project.
>>
>

    Mark...  The very latest issue of Radio Electronics has an article
on connecting the Radio Shack Electronic COmpass to a computer system.

    To make a long story short, they have an excellent discussion on
fluxgate magnetometers as a part of the article, including a description
as to how the windings are made (a control winding goes totally around
the core [ring] and a sine and cosine winding exist at 90 degree angles
to each other).  Check out this article for at least a "feel" as to how
these devices are constructed.

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 15:44:52 GMT
From: gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: An Idea

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (George William Herbert) writes:
>    Take a Pegasus rocket, being developed now, and mount it on top
>of a surplus A-12 (variant of SR-71, the ones outfitted to carry a drone
>on top).  It can get probably a thoudand MPH and fifty thousand feet
>better launch position over the current B-52 platform...

I suspect it wouldn't win that much.  The big advantage Pegasus gets from
air launch is not velocity, but being above the thickest air.  Thinning
out the air still further probably doesn't help too much, and in fact it
might hurt, since Pegasus needs enough air for its wings to work.  The
higher velocity would be useful, but I'd expect gains to be modest.

There would probably be some tricky problems with separation, and with
clearing Pegasus for sustained Mach 3 flight before launch.

Not to mention a small problem with trying to convince the USAF to rent
you a Blackbird...
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 13 Oct 89 22:13:39 GMT
From: usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Computer Virus



I just hope the new computer that they are replacing on the Space Shuttle
is not infected with the "Friday the 13th" computer virus......

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #151
*******************