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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #380

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 380

Today's Topics:
            Re: Photographer of the decade
           Re: Launching AUSSAT on Chinese rockets
           Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?
               Re: Antigravity
           Re: Ringing in the new millenium
           Payload Status for 12/20/89 (Forwarded)
           Livermore space station query...
               Galileo Update 12/20/89
           Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?
         Re: proposed "space-mail" incentive
           Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?
       Re: Scientific value of Apollo (was Re: Motives)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 29 Dec 89 22:45:08 GMT
From: bfmny0![e-mail]  (Tom Neff)
Subject: Re: Photographer of the decade

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Anthony Kramer) writes:
>The editors of the magazine 'American Photo' nominated Voyager 2 as
>the photographer of the decade...

This is kind of a shame.  Voyager was the CAMERA of the decade.
The JPL imaging team are the PHOTOGRAPHERS of the decade...

--
There's nothing wrong with Southern California that a    || Tom Neff
rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. -- Ross MacDonald || [e-mail]

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

Date: 31 Dec 89 00:16:47 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Launching AUSSAT on Chinese rockets

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>Henry has looked better than this!  When Afghanistan was invaded we
>*did* embargo trade.  With the accession of Mr Gorbachev things have
>been unfrozen; the USSR has publicly and formally apologized for
>Afghanistan in the last months...

Ah, I see.  The apology makes everything all right.  I wonder if the
mujahidin would agree, though, since the (Soviet-backed) Afghan government
is continuing the slaughter without apology.

Has Uncle Gorby apologized for the Gulag yet?

>... By contrast, the butchers of Tiananmen Square are SMUG about
>their atrocious response to 1989's wave of democracy.  They flaunt their
>dictatorly arrogance and cynically count on the West's selfish sense of
>economic expediency to rescue them from hard consequences...

For some reason, I find it difficult to be horrified at a few months'
smugness about a few thousand deaths while dismissing most of a decade's
smugness about the mass slaughter and systematic devastation in Afghanistan.
Between the dead and the refugees, Afghanistan's population dropped 25-30%
in the last decade.  Its economy is in ruins, to put it mildly.  Nasty little
legacies like millions of unmarked land mines will be there for decades.
And the war continues.  In most ways, China is paradise by comparison.
The consequences of Afghanistan were not particularly hard; the West's
economic expediency came through for the USSR despite the initial fuss.
And now that Gorbachev has apologized, let's let bygones be bygones?

I have tried to convince myself that the protest/sanctions/embargo/etc
uproar over China is not just the latest trendy cause, endorsed by the
same people who were outraged about US policies in Central America but
changed the subject whenever the word "Afghanistan" was heard, and
that there is some rational reason for drastic response to ugly and
vicious but comparatively minor repression... but I can't.

Being a little less cynical for the moment...  Trade policy should not be
based on the whims of the moment; consistency and continuity are important.
The space industry has been particularly plagued by policy-of-the-week
decision-making in recent years.  Encouraging though the fresh air in
Eastern Europe is, and disgusting though the graveyard stench in China is,
both are very recent developments.  Next year things may well be reversed.
It would be reasonable to discourage new Long March launch agreements
until trends in China are clearer, but existing agreements which have
already received formal approval should not be retroactively disapproved
(especially without compensation) except in a dire emergency.
--
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 30 Dec 89 21:32:26 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (Mark Robert Thorson)
Subject: Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?

The F-15 based weapon is called the "Homing Vehicle".  The spiderweb-like thing
was used in the "Homing Overlay Experiment".  These are completely different
machines, but they both demonstrate that the "hit a bullet with a bullet"
argument against ABM has been made impotent and obsolete by semiconductor
silicon.  Though SSI and MSI digital logic were available to the designers
of the last ABM's before the treaty, that's nothing compared to what we have
today.

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

Date: 31 Dec 89 18:07:25 GMT
From: crdgw1!jupiter![e-mail]  (Daniel P. Esmond)
Subject: Re: Antigravity

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Edwin R. Carp) writes:
> Anyone know anything about the Brown-Biefeld Effect (discovered by Townsend
> Brown back in the early 1920's)?
>
> This supposedly exploited the tendancy for a charged conductor to move towards
> its positive pole.


A couple of years ago OMNI magazine had a brief report on continuing
anti-gravity research in Australia ( if I remember correctly ). The
report said that there is a direct corrolation between electro-
negativity and the masses response to gravity. It seems that materials
in a certain group ( charge-wise ) don't fall as fast as all others.
The results were obtained by dropping objects inside an outrageously
long vacuum tube mounted inside a deep cavern. Rate differences where
often less than 0.1%, but they were convinced they were on to something.
On the other hand, can you believe a report in a sci-fi magazine?

 - Dan

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

Date: 19 Dec 89 18:58:38 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!ogicse![e-mail]  (Terry Rooker)
Subject: Re: Ringing in the new millenium

In article <[e-mail]6> [e-mail] writes:
>You  folks  all  seem to be missing the  wonderful  opportunity  presenting
>itself here.  Instead  of  arguing  over  which  New  Year's  eve to have a
>gigantic party you should arrive at the obvious compromise:  celebrate BOTH
>years.
>
Even better yet, start the party on New Year's 2000 and end it on 2
Jan 2001!



--
Terry Rooker
[e-mail]

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

Date: 20 Dec 89 20:59:54 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 12/20/89 (Forwarded)

Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 12-20-89


- STS-31R HST (at VPF) -

Began yesterday with construction of "wasp tent" to support
Wide Field Planetary Camera (WF/PC) installation.  WF/PC
installation is planned for today.  The every four hour wasp
inspection of the VPF highbay is continuing and will work through
the holiday week to ensure the problem has been resolved prior
to picking up with HST operations in January.

- STS-32R SYNCOM (at Pad A) -

Battery conditioning will continue through 23 December and will
pick back up again on 29 December.

- STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at O&C) -

Software validation continues.  ASTRO-1 was successfully moved
from test stand 3 to cite test stand four.  There were no problems
encountered during the move.  Access platforms are being
installed followed by the cabling configuring of ASTRO-1 for cite
testing.

- STS-40 SLS-1 (at O&C) -

Rack pyrell foam replacement worked yesterday.  Rack 7 upper
mods, rack 9, 11, & 13 front mods were worked yesterday.  Module
pyrell foam replacement continues.

- STS-42 IML (at O&C) -

No activity.  Plan to pick up with rack mod work and staging
today.

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

Date: 21 Dec 89 07:47:41 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!milton!maven![e-mail]  (Games Wizard)
Subject: Livermore space station query...

Several weeks ago, there was a posting citing a study done by Lawerence
Livermore laboratories stating that an inflatable Kevlar space station
could be produced and flown for $40 million.

Could someone send me enough information for me to get a copy of this
from them for myself?
( Like the real title, who wrote it, who it was presented to, who
commisioned it, etc??? )

Anything will be appreciated.

Thanx in advance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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            John Stevens-Schlick
            Internet?: [e-mail]
            7720 35'th Ave S.W. Seattle, Wa. 98126
            (206) 935 - 4384
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My boss dosn't know what I do.

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

Date: 21 Dec 89 17:21:43 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update 12/20/89



                     GALILEO MISSION STATUS
                        December 20, 1989

     The Galileo spacecraft is 11.3 million miles or just over 1
light-minute from Earth today.  It is just over halfway (or about
93 million miles) along its path to Venus encounter, and is going
67,104 mph in its orbit. The spin configuration is in cruise mode,
with the upper part of the spacecraft spinning at 3.15 rpm around the
axis pointed within a couple of degrees of the Sun, and the lower part
despun, fixed in orientation.

     The EV-4 (Earth-Venus #4) sequence is currently in effect,
defining spacecraft operating states and functions. The celestial reference
loss and science alarm monitors are disabled as planned. The
telemetry rate is 1200 bits per second, and telemetry indicates
that all temperatures and pressures are at acceptable levels.
The spacecraft's attitude sun point angle is currently at 1.87 degrees,
plus or minus 0.3 degrees.

     The spacecraft DC voltage imbalance measurement, which
indicates the potential difference between the power busbars and
the spacecraft chassis, has been fluctuating. The DC bus voltage imbalance
has been slowly increasing and has reach nearly 17.3 volts. This does not
reflect a fluctuation in spacecraft electrical power, which
continues to show the normal margin.  Nor does it pose any hazard
to the spacecraft, which was designed to function at any level of
imbalance up to short-to-chassis; Voyager 1 has been operating
acceptably since early 1988 in this condition.

     On Friday the Galileo spacecraft will perform its
second trajectory change, moving the Venus closest approach
point to the desired 10,000 miles from planet center (about
6,200 miles above the cloud tops).  Closest approach will
occur about 10 p.m. PDT February 9.  At injection, the aim
point was biased out to several hundred miles from Venus.
This maneuver, will thrust mostly at right angles to the sun
line, with a magnitude of about 3/4 of 1 meter per second
(about 1/20 the first maneuver).  It will be done in four
segments or pulse chains, taking about 2-1/4 hours in all.

     All of the orbiter science instruments are off except for the
magnetometer and HIC.  Next week all the orbiter science instruments will
be checked out in a four-day programmed sequence, preparing
for Venus encounter.

 Ron Baalke                       |    [e-mail]
 Jet Propulsion Lab  M/S 301-355  |    [e-mail]
 4800 Oak Grove Dr.               |
 Pasadena, CA 91109               |

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

Date: 28 Dec 89 07:29:21 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!percy!parsely!bucket![e-mail]  (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?


A production system probably would work exactly that way. To hit an
orbiting body, your missile has to be at the right place at the right
time. (ie it has to intercept). Acheiving orbital velocity will not
aid this goal, and could make it more difficult.

It's definitely *cheaper* to just throw something "in front" of the
satellite.
--
Leonard Erickson        ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short

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

Date: 29 Dec 89 02:55:32 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: proposed "space-mail" incentive

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Earnshaw) writes:
>>  1) Burial.
>>...
>Where exactly would this ash end up?  We already have lots of junk in earth
>orbit without putting more up there...

There was one serious burial-in-space proposal.  It specified use of a
medium-altitude orbit, long-lived and in the thick of the Van Allen belts
where nobody else wants to operate.

>... or fire it out of orbit.  In the latter case, you
>still have to make sure that it's going to land somewhere so that we don't have
>all these commemorative urns flying around the solar system with unknown
>trajectories.

Considering the enormous volume of natural debris already flying around
the solar system with unknown trajectories, it is unlikely that this would
be a significant issue.
--
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 Dec 89 03:05:02 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Air to orbit launch in 1985?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (bill davidsen) writes:
>... a report of the F15 shooting down a dead US satellite
>with a missle... in 1985. Now I realize that it is not impossible to
>throw something slow moving into orbit and let a satellite "run into
>it" as it were, but it is certainly not the reliable way to do it. I
>would doubt that anyone would design a production defense system which
>involved a crossing shot on something at orbital velocity.

This is, in fact, exactly what was done.  It's somewhat demanding for the
guidance system, but it is *much* easier to boost a payload to orbital
altitude than to get it to orbital speed, and the relative velocity is
high enough that you don't need a warhead.  The projectile was an infrared
seeker system with a ring of rocket motors around it, boosted by one or
two stages of big solid rocket after being dropped from a tuned-up F-15
in a steep supersonic climb.  It was quite a sensible design for an
antisatellite system, since you could hit any low orbit on a few hours'
notice by flying the F-15 to the right place.
--
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 Dec 89 04:58:27 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Scientific value of Apollo (was Re: Motives)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:
>>It's interesting that some of the people who said that Apollo was a
>>ridiculously expensive way to get minimal results are now the ones who
>>are saying that Apollo completely explored the Moon, so we should forget
>>the Moon and press on to Mars.
>
>Bah.  Claims to this effect would be much more credible if they included
>names and statements...

Louis Friedman of the self-styled Planetary Society, writing in Aviation
Week a couple of years ago.  Exact reference can be dug up if needed.
Actually, almost any statement by the Planetary Society's overlords --
Sagan, Murray, Friedman -- in which they deign to mention the Moon
at all says the same thing:  "no further exploration worth doing at
this time -- ON TO MARS!".
--
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #380
*******************