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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #316

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 316

Today's Topics:
               Fact vs Fiction
      Manned/Unmanned space and Underwater Colonization
         NASA Headline News for 12/06/89 (Forwarded)
        Re: Manned vs Unmanned Mission to Mars
               AI for Unmanned probes?
            News of the Week (sic), Dec 5
           Does life revolve around macho impotency
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 11:10:37 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
Subject: Fact vs Fiction


>From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
>Subject: NASA Headline News for 12/04/89 (Forwarded)

>Recent news stories about a federal grand jury probe into space
>shuttle solid rocket boosters are directed at possible
>fraud....not safety concerns.  The Huntsville news quotes
>Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jack Lee as saying, "I
>don't think it's a question of safety....but it might be a
>question of fraud if the government finds that we paid for
>something in the recertifiction program we didn't get".
                  --------------

I hope that's not a Freudian slip! :-)

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

Date:     Wednesday, 6 December 1989 0945-EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject:  Manned/Unmanned space and Underwater Colonization

I thought the participants in the manned/unmanned space discussion
with its subthread about an analogy with underwater exploration/
colonization would find the following quotes of interest.  Both
come from "The Ocean World", Jacques Cousteu, ISBN 0-8109-8068-1.
Let me preface this by saying that in another book, while talking
about CONSHELF II, he implies that his personal vision of the purpose
of his explorations and of CONSHELF in particular include the
desire for colonization, even though the projects themselves were
more narrowly directed toward simply proving that man could live
and work undersea for extended periods.

   The three week stay of CONSHELF III reaffirmed our
   experience that surface vessels and research equipment are
   more vulnerable to damage than the underwater habitat and
   that machines fail more often than men.

Sound like a familiar argument? :-)

Unfortunately, economics caught up with his next man-underwater
project, which would have allowed men to stay submerged for long
periods and make frequent dives, from a roving underwater vessel:

   The government suspended construction when [the vessel] was
   more than three quarters built.  Leaving aside [the
   politics] the real reasons for the suspension are that the
   oil companies (the only industry rich enough to fund such a
   project) were convinced that they could successfully
   achieve their deep jobs without divers, using remote
   controlled tools.

The parallel here is a little less strong; but, while the scientists
are not exactly equivalent to commercial customers, their arguments
in favor of automation *are* based on relative costs . . .

And to make a personal answer to somebodies implication that if one
wants to colonize space one also ought to want to colonize the
continental shelves . . . well, I hadn't given it much thought,
but yes, I would find that just as exciting.  Of course, I'm likely
to do as much about that as I am currently doing about space, (which
is to read SPACE).

I think colonization will go like this: spaceplane trips for 50,000 or
so, followed by cheaper spaceplane trips and at the same time more
expensive trips to an orbital shack, which will quickly grow into
an orbital Hilton.  At that point staff will be living in space, and
it won't be long before there will be permanent residents and babies.
Somebody will get a space-hilton job just to get to orbit and
once there will buy or steal enough parts to go homestead an
asteroid . . . . . . .

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

Date: 6 Dec 89 18:13:41 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 12/06/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, December 6, 1989                   Audio: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, December 6.....

New information about Neptune and its moon Triton has been
revealed by JPL scientists at the fall meeting of the American
Geophysical Union in San Francisco.  Photos taken by Voyager 2
cameras indicate that Neptune has the fastest winds yet observed
in the solar system.  Dr. Edward Stone says Neptune's jet-stream
winds near the great dark spot may be as high as 1500 miles per
hour.  It was also revealed that enhanced images of Triton
indicate there may be up to four more geyser-like volcanoes that
spew nitrogen-ice onto the moon's surface.


It's official.  The STS-32 space shuttle mission is scheduled for
a December 18 launch from Kennedy Space Center.  It will be a
night launch from the re-activated Pad 39A.  The launch window
opens at 7:29 P.M., Eastern time, and lasts about 62 minutes.
The exact lift off time will be determined from the latest
tracking data on the orbiting Long Duration Exposure Facility.

Space shuttle managers, following completion of the Flight
Readiness Review, say there are no major problems with the space
shuttle stack, but because the refurbished mobile launch platform
and pad complex will be used there is a more than usual chance
that a delay in the launch could occur.

During the 10-day mission, a SYNCOM communications satellite will
be deployed...the LDEF will be retrieved and a variety of
experiments will be conducted.


The first commercial launch of the Titan III booster has been
moved up to Thursday.  Martin-Marietta says checkouts were
completed ahead of time and they're ready to go.  The Titan will
boost a British Skynet 4A and a Japanese JSSAT-2 into orbit.
Apogee kick motors will put the communication satellites into
geosynchronous orbit.


The Washington Post says an Office of Management and Budget
report claims that NASA does not oversee some contracted programs
closely enough.   An OMB "high risk list" was released yesterday
by Ohio Senator John Glenn that says NASA has three troubled
programs that need tighter management controls and accounting
procedures.  The programs were not identified in the newspaper
story.


         *        *                         *       *



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the broadcast schedule for public affairs events on NASA
Select television.   All times are Eastern.


Thursday, December 7.....


     11:30 A.M.     NASA Update will be transmitted.


Sunday, December 10....


Launch of the Global Positioning System-05 satellite by a Delta
rocket.  Launch window extends from 12 noon to 3:30 P.M.  NASA
Select will join the count at T-30 minutes.

All events and times are subject to change without notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12 noon,
Eastern time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A service of the Internal Communications Branch (LPC), NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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

Date: 6 Dec 89 16:43:20 GMT
From: pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!dpmizar!dptspd![e-mail]  (John Arft)
Subject: Re: Manned vs Unmanned Mission to Mars

>>It [Apollo] caught the attention of nearly every human on the planet.
>>When was the last time JPL did that?
>
>August of this year when Voyager II encountered Neptune?
>

Really?  We sent a probe to Neptune?

Oh, that's right.  I remember seeing a 30 second blurb on the news. ;^)

Abdul.

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

Date: 6 Dec 89 01:21:40 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu![e-mail]
Subject: AI for Unmanned probes?

One thing that the manned vs. unmanned debate has mostly ignored is the current
status of artificial intelligence work. I am not an AI expert; however, I am a
moderately experienced programmer and I have occasionally followed the status
of AI in the "popular" computer press.
From what I know of AI work:

1.  AI is nowhere near the ability needed to give an unmanned craft (such as a
Mars rover) something resembling human discrection and ability.
2.  The major success of AI so far is in expert systems. Expert systems cannot
practically be used to run an exploration craft, because all you can get out of
an expert system is what you (or an expert, hence the name) put in. Almost by
definition, an exploratory craft will run into new, unanticipated and unknown
problems. This is not as great a problem for remote sensing craft, such as
Voyager and Galileo; it will be very serious indeed for a real-time
action craft, such as the afore mentioned Mars rover.

Is there someone out there who is a little more conversant about AI than I am,
who could  judge the "Reality quotient" of these statements?

It seems to me that most of the unmanned proponents have been assuming that AI
technology will "be there when we need it." This doesn't seem apparant at all
to me.

Travis Butler

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

Date: 5 Dec 89 20:49:43 GMT
From: frooz!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: News of the Week (sic), Dec 5

Jonathan's Space Report

Dec 5,1989 (no.30)
OK, let's catch up on the backlog...
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Two major astrophysics missions were orbited this past month:

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) was launched by Delta 5920 from
Vandenberg on Nov 18.  COBE carries three instruments to study the
diffuse extragalactic background radiation.  The DMR experiment is
searching for spatial variations in the 3K microwave background
radiation: is the radiation slightly more intense in some directions
than in others? The FIRAS experiment is studying the spectrum of the
background radiation: how does the intensity of the radiation vary with
wavelength? Is there an extra source of background radiation in the
submillimetre wavelength range? The DIRBE experiment will study the
amount of radiation at somewhat shorter infrared wavelengths, mapping
the distribution of dust in our Galaxy and possibly from galaxies at
high redshift.

The 'Granat' X-ray astrophysical observatory was launched by Proton
from Baykonur on Dec 2; it carries Soviet and French x-ray and gamma-ray
telescopes.

November also saw the flight of Discovery on the STS-33 mission, which
deployed a payload in a low 28 degree orbit on Nov 23. The payload
was probably a Mentor (alias Magnum) signals intelligence satellite
for the National Security Agency, boosted to geostationary orbit
with an IUS upper stage.

On November 26, the Kvant-2 space station module was put in orbit.
The module is due to dock with the Mir station, and carries an EVA
airlock and EVA manoeuvring unit. One of two solar arrays failed to
deploy initially, but has now been fully extended. The first attempt
to dock with Mir failed on Dec 2, and another attempt is due this week.

Kosmos-2049, launched Nov 17, is an advanced reconnaissance satellite.
Kosmos-2050, launched Nov 23, is an early warning satellite operated by
 the PVO (Soviet Air Defence).
Kosmos-2051, launched Nov 24, is a recon satellite.
The 36th Molniya-3 communications satellite was orbited on Nov 28.

A number of large satellites have reentered recently: the Kosmos-122
weather satellite on Nov 14, the Kosmos-1064 navigation satellite on Nov
12, the Kosmos-1662 radar calibration satellite on Nov 16, and the Solar
Max satellite on Dec 2.


The STS-32 mission is due for launch on Dec 18 from Complex 39A.

(c) 1989 Jonathan McDowell

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

ReSent-Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
ReSent-Date: Wed,  6 Dec 89 17:35:43 -0500 (EST)
ReSent-From: "Todd L. Masco" <[e-mail]>
ReSent-To: Space-Editors-New <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue Dec  5 20:27:01 1989
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Does life revolve around macho impotency
Cc: [e-mail]

     Dear friends i would like to comment about a very intresting piece
of writing that has just circulated.
=========================================================================

>The expansion of terrestrial life to space is the greatest opportunity
>for a positive resolution to the contemporary crisis in masculine identity
>that currently plagues western cultures.

    Well who knows,..., as far as i know, macho identity isn't in crisis
as we all know, relativity tells us there is more than one side to every-
thing.

>As discussed in George F. Gilder's brilliant analysis: "Sexual Suicide",
>the growing denial that males require affirmation of their masculine identity
>has resulted in western cultures exhibiting a kind of geopolitical neurosis.
>A comprehensive list of the effects would be voluminous.

     I think i kind of missed the point, is this brilliant ??
     let's be fair, I think George is suffering a crisis (Posesive wife ?
 ????? :-), maybe he was repressed in his youth !!!).

>The political power of feminism, the space program and the war economy
>...............       .........    bla     bla ........................
>increasing alienation through mobility and the erosion of moral and
>ethical standards in human relations.

     Yow, Gorge, there's is lot's more people (men = MACHO), that do have
perfectly good (decent) lives. Don't you think you're taking the point
a tad toooooooo far ?

>Something that Gilder didn't go into is that this has come about as
>reaction to the loss of our frontiers combined with the unacceptability of
>war as a way of getting rid of the "excess males".  Humans have an
>effective "harem size" of about 1.8 according to comparative primate
>studies.  The resulting excess males are usually driven away to bring
>back protien (meat), spread the tribal culture and genes to other tribes
>or die in wars to expand the tribe's territory.  More recently, they
>expanded agricultural areas into surrounding habitat.  Of course, this
>only addresses human males -- similar patterns can be found throughout
>species of mammals and, in more abstract ways, in virtually all sexual
>species with an effective harem size >1.

      I think this means that i'm a potential Stud. Great, We send of
the excess males into space (great idea), and leave the pretty girls
here.    (Somehow I thought Science had another goal, but anyway i'll
adapt :-) ).

>With this in mind we might choose to redirect the resources we have been
>borrowing to prop up male identity in the war economy and instead
>establish a government program to support a bunch of excess males
>(space nerds) in a space colony.  This, however, would be ineffective.

       True, funds are spent in many projects deemed unnecessary, and
lot's of military projects are mainly for pumping up Ego, (some tank or
other that cost $$$$ and did nothing pretty impresive ). But remember
that your microwave oven (without which you'd go crazy), and my beloved
computers, are spinoffs either directly or indirectly of this macho ego.

        Well, to cut my crap short, before i bore your guts out. I agree
your friend George has some points, BUT, the lingo is badly used. I doubt
very much that a small kid wants to live in space, because his sex life
and future hareem is involved.

        I'm not a prude, macho, chobinist or whatever they call us. I'm
just a computer engineer who loves hi-tech, spcae and related. I'm sure
woomen don't become involved in space flights, because there are more
males in the crew than females.   Come on life is too short. And there is
to much BLA BLA and no aparent momentum.

     Your's

      Douglas Sargent
      D5OMTP1009@UTFSM

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #316
*******************