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Date: Thu,  2 Nov 89 03:26:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #188

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 188

Today's Topics:
          Re: Threat to delay Shuttle launch
           NASA Prediction Bulletin Format
              Space Related FTPs
     Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!
         Re: Galileo and the proposed asteroid flybys
            email path to moscvax?
          Re: Space Shuttle SRB exhaust gas makeup.
         Re: Mach - what does it really mean?
       Re: NASA Headline News for 10/26/89 (Forwarded)
              Re: Wood in space
                  Moon globe
               Soviet E-Mail Conference
         Re: Mach - what does it really mean?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 25 Oct 89 06:49:57 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!psueea!parsely!agora![e-mail]  (Alan Batie)
Subject: Re: Threat to delay Shuttle launch

One of the reports that I saw pointed out that the launch pads are
surrounded by some sort of wildlife refuge, with the particular point that
there are "natural" security guards in the form of alligators, et. al.,
and that it wouldn't be particularly wise to try a night-time sneak-in.
Since I've never even been to Florida, I'm not sure how much of a threat
'gators really are, but it was an interesting point.
--
Alan Batie                                    [phone]
1221 N.E. 51st, #227                          [e-mail]
Hillsboro, OR  97124                          tektronix!tessi!agora!batie

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

Date: 28 Oct 89 23:33:53 GMT
From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird![e-mail]  (TS Kelso)
Subject: NASA Prediction Bulletin Format


As a service to the satellite user community, the following description
of the NASA Prediction Bulletin's two-line orbital element set format is
uploaded to sci.space on a monthly basis.  The most current orbital elements
from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are carried on the Celestial RCP/M, (513)
427-0674, and are updated several times weekly.  Documentation and tracking
software are also available on this system.  The Celestial RCP/M may be
accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1 stop
bit, no parity.

==============================================================================

Data for each satellite consists of three lines in the following format:

AAAAAAAAAAA
1 NNNNNU NNNNNAAA NNNNN.NNNNNNNN +.NNNNNNNN +NNNNN-N +NNNNN-N N NNNNN
2 NNNNN NNN.NNNN NNN.NNNN NNNNNNN NNN.NNNN NNN.NNNN NN.NNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Line 1 is a eleven-character name.

Lines 2 and 3 are the standard Two-Line Orbital Element Set Format identical
to that used by NASA and NORAD.  The format description is:

Line 2
Column     Description
 01-01     Line Number of Element Data
 03-07     Satellite Number
 10-11     International Designator (Last two digits of launch year)
 12-14     International Designator (Launch number of the year)
 15-17     International Designator (Piece of launch)
 19-20     Epoch Year (Last two digits of year)
 21-32     Epoch (Julian Day and fractional portion of the day)
 34-43     First Time Derivative of the Mean Motion
        or Ballistic Coefficient (Depending on ephemeris type)
 45-52     Second Time Derivative of Mean Motion (decimal point assumed;
           blank if N/A)
 54-61     BSTAR drag term if GP4 general perturbation theory was used.
           Otherwise, radiation pressure coefficient.  (Decimal point assumed)
 63-63     Ephemeris type
 65-68     Element number
 69-69     Check Sum (Modulo 10)
           (Letters, blanks, periods = 0; minus sign = 1; plus sign = 2)

Line 3
Column     Description
 01-01     Line Number of Element Data
 03-07     Satellite Number
 09-16     Inclination [Degrees]
 18-25     Right Ascension of the Ascending Node [Degrees]
 27-33     Eccentricity (decimal point assumed)
 35-42     Argument of Perigee [Degrees]
 44-51     Mean Anomaly [Degrees]
 53-63     Mean Motion [Revs per day]
 64-68     Revolution number at epoch [Revs]
 69-69     Check Sum (Modulo 10)

All other columns are blank or fixed.

Example:

NOAA 6
1 11416U          86 50.28438588 0.00000140           67960-4 0  5293
2 11416  98.5105  69.3305 0012788  63.2828 296.9658 14.24899292346978

Note that the International Designator fields are usually blank, as issued in
the NASA Prediction Bulletins.

--
Dr TS Kelso                           Asst Professor of Space Operations
[e-mail]          Air Force Institute of Technology

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

Date: 27 Oct 89 19:16:00 GMT
From: pur-phy!tippy![e-mail]
Subject: Space Related FTPs


I have been on a lot of anonymous FTPs, but haven't seen any with
valuable space/astro programs or information.  Does anyone have some
space-related anonymous FTP addresses (i.e. NASA, etc.)?



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Rob Dale ++ N8GSK     .=.  tippy!fireman
     Purdue University     .=.               @newton.physics
    Atmospheric Sciences   .=.                              .purdue.edu

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

Date: 29 Oct 89 22:47:36 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Trying to build a fluxgate magnetometer -- help!

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Doug McDonald) writes:
>I have been in the science business for over 20 years and have
>never heard anyone refer to magnetic fields in Tesla - everyone
>uses gauss...
>Sometimes it might appear in a textbook (usually directed at
>freshmen or sophmores - more advanced books use gauss).

The gauss is the older unit, still used a lot, especially in older sources
and by older writers.  The Tesla is the correct modern unit; if you look
around, you'll see increasing use of it in most fields.
--
A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 26 Oct 89 03:44:01 GMT
From: frooz![e-mail]  (Bill Wyatt)
Subject: Re: Galileo and the proposed asteroid flybys

> [...] I start wondering whether the
> launch delays the probe suffered affect in any way the planned
> asteroid rendezvous (sp?).

I believe the first asteroid encounter will be missed because its
launch window lasted only to Tuesday, and they launched on Wednesday.
The second encounter is still possible.

Bill Wyatt, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory  (Cambridge, MA, USA)
    UUCP :  {husc6,cmcl2,mit-eddie}!harvard!cfa!wyatt
    ARPA:   [e-mail]
    SPAN:   cfa::wyatt                 BITNET: wyatt@cfa

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

Date: 27 Oct 89 21:49:37 GMT
From: thorin!alanine![e-mail]  (Jonathan Leech)
Subject: email path to moscvax?

From Av. Week 10/16 pg 13:

    Moscow Aviation Institute and the Soviet weekly magazine New Times
    are organizing an international computer mail conference on
    cooperative space exploration.  Participants would receive a list
    of questions to which they may respond via email this month and in
    November.

Anyone have more details?
--
    Jon Leech ([e-mail])    __@/
    "The imaging team is moving from its ``instant science'' mode to
     a more leisurely ``fast science'' mode."
    - Dr.  Bradford Smith, Voyager Imaging Team

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

Date: 27 Oct 89 17:15:35 GMT
From: sjsca4!bach![e-mail]  (Clark Jones)
Subject: Re: Space Shuttle SRB exhaust gas makeup.

Given all of the nasties that come out of the tail end of a working SRB, it is
kind of suprising that the Luddites haven't tried to shut down the STS program
on the basis of the airpollution generated.  After thinking about some of
that stuff, I think I'll skip watching a launch in person for fear of being
downwind.  :-)

Actually, it might not be such a bad idea if the Luddites could get NASA to
abandon the SRBs.  Only a critter as stupid as Congress would go for that
unreliable a system in the first place.  ;-)

BTW, anyone besides me remember the saga of the Little Joe II?  It was a solid
fuel rocket designed to be used in testing the Apollo escape tower.  One high-
up NASA official said it was "the most reliable rocket we've built".  The
third (and final) launch produced a shattered charge about 7 sec. before
scheduled escape tower ignition, generating a much more realistic test of the
escape system than NASA had planned.  (They counted it a "successful test"!)
IMHO, the ONLY place that manned solid rockets belong are in ejection seats,
and then you put in a dozen or so, and as long as 75% or so fire when you
"pull", and NONE fire when you _DON'T_ "pull", you're OK.  You can even
tollerate a couple of them shattering while in use.

                        Clark

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are mine and not those of Schlumberger
because they are NOT covered by the patent agreement!

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

Date: 27 Oct 89 14:37:22 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!larry!cupcake![e-mail]  (Jeffrey W Percival)
Subject: Re: Mach - what does it really mean?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chris Jones) writes:
>One of my pet peeves is the use of Mach numbers in space flight contexts.  As I
>understand it, Mach 1 is the speed of sound (under ambient conditions, I would
>guess).  I understand the usefulness of saying that something is going more or
>less than the speed of sound, since aerodynamic characteristics change passing
>through that speed, but hearing that the shuttle enters the atmosphere at, say,
>Mach 24 is so much hooey in my opinion.  What does it mean when I hear some
>NASA spokesperson say that?  Since the speed of sound depends on temperature,
>pressure, and composition of medium, what does it mean when I read in AW&ST
>(October 9, 1989, p. 109) that the Titan probe released from the Cassini
>mission will end its entry phase at a velocity of about 1.5 Mach?  What's wrong
>with m/sec or some similar "real" unit?



I guess I'm a little confused by this statement...  if I paraphrase
it correctly as "what good is a unit of speed that depends on physical
conditions?", I would point out that that is exactly why it is useful.
A speed of exactly Mach 1 is not the only interesting regime for travel
in a gas.  The sound speed in a gas is related to shock propagation,
energy transfer, etc.  The shuttle's speed with respect to the sound speed
is certainly more useful than an almost arbitrary "ground speed".  I
say arbitrary, because after all, even that reference frame is moving.

I'll agree that the Mach number hasn't much meaning for the average
TV watcher, who would much rather hear a number with a bizillion
zeroes attached to it, but I personally find it much more interesting
and insightful to know that the Cassini probe will end it entry phase
while it is still supersonic.
--
-Jeffrey W Percival ([e-mail])

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

Date: 29 Oct 89 11:44:32 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Nick Watkins)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 10/26/89 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer)
writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> NASA writes:

>>Corporation to launch a government satellite.  The satellite,
>>which is a joint venture of NASA and the Air Force, is scheduled
>>to be launched in June 1990.  It will mark the first commercial
>
>Um, it would be too much to ask the *name* or *mission* of this satellite?

CRRES (Combined Radiation and Release Experiments Satellite). Gas
release experiments, effect of radiation on microelectronics, and general
space plasma physics in GTO.
 Maybe I'll post more after the CRRES Science meeting in Boulder I'll be
attending next week (I am starting a postdoc at Sussex related to this
mission).
 CRRES seems to be a follow on to AMPTE and various USAF space test
program missions.

 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: 26 Oct 89 16:34:08 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: Re: Wood in space

We could try pitching wooden spacecraft to the NSS.

But I'm afraid we'd only end up creating another splinter group.

--
"DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT blow the hatch!"  /)\   Tom Neff
"Roger....hatch blown!"                   \(/   [e-mail]

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

Date: 27 Oct 89 16:27:51 GMT
From: crdgw1!crdos1![e-mail]  (Wm E Davidsen Jr)
Subject: Moon globe


  Can someone point me at a source of a globe of the moon and/or Mars? I
must not read the right ads.
--
bill davidsen    ([e-mail] -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
"The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called
'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see
that the world is flat!" - anon

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

Date:     Sun, 29 Oct 89 10:31:18 MST
From: [e-mail] (Richard Travsky)
Subject:  Soviet E-Mail Conference

The October 16th issue of _Aviation Week And Space Technology_ carried the
following blurb under their _Industry Observer_ column:

    Moscow Aviation Institute and the Soviet weekly magazine _New Times_
    are organizing an international computer mail conference on cooperative
    space exploration.  Participants would receive a list of questions to
    which they may respond via electronic mail this month and in November.

The thing that jumps out at me is that this thing is to be done via e-mail.  I
know little about our electronic mail capabilities with the Soviet Union (which
I assume is where responses will go).  Anyone have any light to shed on this?
Please cc me as I may not see replies on the list.

I'm posting this to SPACE and INFO-NETS,  apologies if you're seeing this twice.

+--------------------+     Richard Travsky                   __ /
|                    |     Computer Services                  o.O
|                    |     University of Wyoming            ={___}=
|                    |     Bitnet:   RTRAVSKY @ UWYO            U
|                    |     Internet: RTRAVSKY @ CORRAL.UWYO.EDU
|                    |
|               U W  |     "Wyoming is the capital of Denver." - a tourist
|                 *  |     "One of those square states." - another tourist
+--------------------+
Home state of Dick Cheney,  Secretary of Defense of these here UNITED STATES!

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

Date: 26 Oct 89 11:42:23 GMT
From: sei![e-mail]  (Kenneth Van Wyk)
Subject: Re: Mach - what does it really mean?


In article Mach - what does it really mean? of 25 Oct 89 19:49:22 GMT
[e-mail] (Chris Jones) writes:

> Mach 1 is the speed of sound (under ambient conditions,
> I would guess).  I understand the usefulness of saying that something
> is going more or less than the speed of sound, since aerodynamic
> characteristics change passing through that speed, but hearing that
> the shuttle enters the atmosphere at, say, Mach 24 is so much hooey in
> my opinion.  What does it mean when I hear some NASA spokesperson say
> that?

Well, it's been a few years since I took Thermodynamics (my degree is
in M.E.), but...  "Mach 1" indeed means the speed of sound and yes,
the speed of sound varies with temperature, pressure, etc.  However,
it's not impossible that "they" are referring to N times the speed of
sound at Standard Atmospheric Conditions.  In other words, if the
speed of sound is 700 mph at standard atmosphere, and the shuttle is
doing 7000 mph, then they might (incorrectly) refer to this as "Mach
7".  Of course, this wouldn't be as accurate as saying N m/sec or some
other speed relative to the earth's surface, since it wouldn't count
for the fact that the speed of sound is *significantly* different at
these very high altitudes.  But, then, perhaps they actually mean
"Mach N" literally, in which case they should be supplying local
atmospheric conditions along with "Mach N" so that viewers can take
out their HP calculators and figure out the speed of sound under those
conditions...  :-)

Ken van Wyk
Standard disclaimers...

A FORTRAN programmer was overheard as saying,
  "GOD is REAL - unless declared INTEGER..."

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #188
*******************