Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V10_3/V10_394.ZIP/V10_394

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Date: Mon,  8 Jan 90 20:25:16 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #394

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 394

Today's Topics:
               Re: Antigravity
       Re: NASA Headline News for 01/02/90 (Forwarded)
               Re: Simpler space suits?
            Re: Big Bang - no more
               Galileo Update 01/03/90
     Re: Chris Robertson's "Henry bio" (was Re: who's out there?)
               Re-subscription needed?
            Magellan Update 1/3/90
           Correction to Article Submission
     Re: Chris Robertson's "Henry bio" (was Re: who's out there?)
        NASA Select television programming (Forwarded)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 3 Jan 90 19:14:54 GMT
From: agate!sag4.ssl.berkeley.edu![e-mail]  (David Ray)
Subject: Re: Antigravity


  I thought that when things go fast, close to the speed of light,
their mass in our space-time-frame gets heavier, not lighter.

  Is it relavistic effects that make the gyroscopes get lighter?

-d

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

Date: 3 Jan 90 23:55:15 GMT
From: attcan!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 01/02/90 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Peter E. Yee) writes:
>The tenth attempt to launch a commercial Titan 3 rocket from Cape
>Canaveral was successful...

Ah, nothing like those wonderful expendables, always on schedule and always
ready when the launch window is narrow... :-)
--
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1990: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 4 Jan 90 21:53:42 GMT
From: att!mcdchg!illusion![e-mail]  (Marcus Hall)
Subject: Re: Simpler space suits?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (William Watson) writes:
>....  Comment were made on the expense
>of current spacesuits, and the fact that suits today are custom made for
>each astronaut (in the US, at least).

This is not true with the space shuttle suits.  The HUT (Hard Upper Torso)
is made in one (possibly two?) size(s).  The arms and legs are made in just
a few sizes (with extensions to provide some alteration in the sizes).  The
gloves are custom made for each astronaut since it is necessary that they
fit very exactly, but everything else is made in a limited number of sizes.
Of course, the sizes loaded on the shuttle for any particular flight are
chosen for the astronauts that are anticipated to be using them.  I'm not sure
how much truth is in this, but I have heard that the height requirements for
astronaut applicants is so that they fit in the spectrum of suit sizes.

marcus hall

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

Date: 3 Jan 90 13:27:45 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma![e-mail]  (Mark S Madsen)
Subject: Re: Big Bang - no more

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ian Macey) writes:
>I think you'll find the Big Bang theory has been looking pretty shakey for a
>number of years now. I for one would put it down as a nice little theory
>which seemed to work with what we knew at the time, but which almost certainly
>isn't the right answer.

Jeez! Is this condescension, or what???

"Nice little theories" are exactly what science is about, Dr Macey.

The hot big bang model was formulated in the mid-sixties, and it's
still going strong in the nineties - with the help of inflation, and
supported by a lot of data that wasn't available in the sixties.

>One of the people who has done a lot towards coming up with an alternative
>theory of the existence/creation of the universe is Stephen Hawking of Oxford
>University. His work involves (if I remember correctly) superstring theory and
>steady state universes. For more information try his book 'A Brief History Of
>Time' which is a very good read and gives a state of the art explanation for
>the universe's existence.

Now if you can't even get this right, then why should we trust your
impressions of anyone else's science?

FYI, Stephen Hawking is at Cambridge. His book is hardly state of the
art. And his work doesn't need steady state universes or superstrings
- just stationary Euclidean action and the correct boundary condition
in the path integral.

So my advice, contrary to yours is:
   1) Read a couple textbooks
   2) Get your facts straight
   3) Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs :-)

>|\\\X\\|\  |           Ian Macey  Bath, England.  ([e-mail])

Mark.

--
#######################################################################
##  Mark S. Madsen  ####  [e-mail]  ###################
####  Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.  ##
####################  Life's a bitch.  Then you die.  #################

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

Date: 4 Jan 90 17:30:52 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 01/03/90



                     GALILEO MISSION STATUS
                         January 3, 1990


     Today the Galileo spacecraft is 13.6 million miles from
Earth.  Round-trip light time is almost 2+ minutes. It has
travelled 116.4 million of the 185 million miles in its path to
Venus encounter, now about 5 weeks away.  Heliocentric velocity
has risen to 71,020 mph. The spacecraft's spin rate is 3.14 rpm
as estimated by the star scanner, and the attitude sun point angle
is at 0.5 degrees.

     Last week's four-day science checkout was generally
successful.  All orbiter instruments were exercised and tested;
the magnetometer, the heavy ion counter, the dust detector, and
the UV spectrometer are still powered. On December 22, Galileo
conducted a successful second trajectory correction maneuver, as
programmed and monitored by the flight team.

     At present the mission is proceeding as planned with the
spacecraft in normal dual-spin cruise mode.  All temperatures and
pressures are within acceptable limits, and the downlink
telemetry rate is 1200 bits per second.

     DC and AC voltage imbalance measurements continue to fluctuate.
All other power related measurements are stable and are as expected.

     On January 8, the operational sequence EV-4 (fourth
sequence in Earth-Venus cruise) concludes, and EV-5 begins.  EV-6
will contain the Venus flyby operations.


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

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

Date: 5 Jan 90 00:40:56 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Kevin William Ryan)
Subject: Re: Chris Robertson's "Henry bio" (was Re: who's out there?)

>... and had the chance to be ignored in person.

   Hmm.  Does _everyone_ have this experience with Henry?  Because, the same
damn thing for me, at WorldCon - Boston, the end of August...

                                                 kwr

   "Jest so ya know..."

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

Date:         Thu, 04 Jan 90 20:27:29 PST
From: Craig Cholar <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re-subscription needed?

I haven't received any issues of Space Digest since VOL 10 #357 arrived
here on Dec 18th.  I would like to continue receiving them, if at all
possible.  Please re-subscribe me.

Thank you

Craig Cholar, [e-mail]

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

Date: 4 Jan 90 00:34:59 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update 1/3/90


                       MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                          Jan. 3, 1990

     Today, the Magellan spacecraft is 111,898,063 miles from
Earth, traveling at a speed of 65,982 miles per hour relative to
the sun. One way light time is 10 minutes and one second.

     On Dec. 31, the spacecraft's computers detected an error in
the privileged memory and took several actions to protect
itself.

     First, the command data system (CDS) switched to its backup
unit, side B, which took control to make sure the solar panels
were properly aligned and the medium gain antenna pointed to
Earth. The on-board cruise sequence, which was composed solely of
momentum wheel desaturations and star calibrations, was cancelled
by the CDS when the change over was made.

     The telemetry link was switched from the high gain to the
medium gain antenna and the rate was reduced from 1,200 bits per
second (bps) to 40 bps.

     Also, the command link was switched from the high gain to
the low gain and the rate was reduced from 62.5 bps to 7.8 bps.

     A momentum wheel desaturation is being done once daily via
non-standard commands to the spacecraft, and because of the low
attitude drift rates no star calibrations have been needed.

     Magellan operations officials said the difficulty appears to
be a memory cell oxide problem, but there is a possibility an
energetic particle from recent high solar activity could have
caused a memory hit in one of the science instruments.

     Magellan spokesman Dr. Ed Sherry said operations teams at
JPL and at Martin Marietta in Denver will troubleshoot the
problem over the next 8 to 10 days and then uplink a new sequence
to resume normal cruise.

     The "bit-slip/bit-flip" problem was further isolated on radar tests
performed on Dec. 12 through Dec. 14. The problem was occuring on only
track 2 on one of the two tape recorders aboard Magellan. Deep Space Network
was eliminated as a possible cause as data was run through
two different DSN pathways, with the problem seen on both paths. This
ruled out the Frame Synchronization Subassembly (FSS) and the Maximum
Likelihood Convolutional Decoder (MCD) which were originally have been
thought as a possible cause of the problem.

     There is no impact to the mapping phase of the mission due to this
problem since only 2 tracks are needed from each tape recorder to record
data. Each tape recorder has 4 tracks.


     SPACECRAFT
     Distance from Earth (mi)             111,898,063

     Velocity Heliocentric                65,982 mph

     One-way light time                   10 mins, 1 sec

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

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

Date: 3 Jan 90 02:23:00 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!pikes!udenva!isis!scicom!paranet!f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG![e-mail]  (Michael Corbin)
Subject: Correction to Article Submission


 * Forwarded from Michael Corbin, 104/428
 * Originally to All
 * Originally dated 02 Jan 90  19:20:50

A slight correction to the 'Call For Submission of Articles' previously
posted:

ParaNet, upon payment to the author, retains the first exclusive publication
rights.  This means that an author can sell his material after the first
publication through Oddysey.

Thanks,

Mike

--
Michael Corbin - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 5 Jan 90 15:37:10 GMT
From: usc!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!db.toronto.edu![e-mail]  (John Hogg)
Subject: Re: Chris Robertson's "Henry bio" (was Re: who's out there?)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Kevin William Ryan) writes:
>>... and had the chance to be ignored in person.
>
>   Hmm.  Does _everyone_ have this experience with Henry?

No.

---
John Hogg            [e-mail]
Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto

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

Date: 6 Jan 90 03:36:50 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Select television programming (Forwarded)

Les Gaver
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                    January 5, 1990

N90-2
NOTE TO EDITORS/PROGRAM DIRECTORS

NASA SELECT TELEVISION

     There will be a substantial amount of activity on NASA
Select television over the next several days involving a variety
of events including:

     o  STS-32 Shuttle mission to recover LDEF.
     o  Astro-1 mission science objectives briefing.
     o  NASA Total Quality Management Colloquium.
     o  Delta rocket launch (DOD mission with NASA support).

Details follow:

Jan. 6 - Coverage of Space Shuttle mission STS-32 begins at 9
a.m. EST with a series of backgound briefings from the Kennedy
Space Center.

Jan. 7 - Prelaunch press conference by program officials at 11:30
a.m. EST.  The principal objectives of this 10-day mission are to
deploy a communications satellite and to retrieve the Long
Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite.  There will be NASA
Select coverage each day with transmission of numerous individual
downlinks of live and taped material.

     The highlight of coverage will be pictures of the approach
to and retrieval of LDEF.  These pictures will be live and in
color.  Several other on-orbit events, including a crew press
conference, will be available live in color.  Otherwise, a
substantial amount of live television from the Space Shuttle will
be in flickering black and white except at the Johnson Space
Center where all material is available in color.  Videotape of
B&W downlinks will be available in color later on the satellite.

     The day and time of the LDEF retrieval are closely tied to
the day and precise time of the Shuttle launch and, therefore,
cannot be pinpointed in this note.  Please check the mission
television schedule daily.  Directions on how to obtain the
schedule are provided at the end of this note.

Jan. 8 - Launch of STS-32 in live color.  Coverage begins at 3:30
a.m. EST.  Lift-off scheduled for 8:10 a.m. EST.

Jan. 9 - Videotape playback of presentations about science
objectives of the Astro-1 mission.  The presentations will have
been made earlier in the day during a colloquium at the Space
Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.  Astro-1 is a
Shuttle payload of three independent telescopes that will provide
spectral coverage in the ultraviolet.  They will study the
behavior of quasars, galaxies, active galactic nuclei and hot
stars.  This is one of NASA's most important science missions in
the next 5 years.  It is scheduled for launch this April.  The
playback currently is scheduled between noon and 4 p.m. EST.
STS-32 mission developments could alter this schedule.

Jan. 10 - Presentation at the NASA Total Quality Management
Colloquium by Dr. Carolyn Burstein, Chief of Quality Management,
Office of Management and Budget - 1-2 p.m. EST.

Jan. 11 - Live coverage of the launch of a Delta 6 rocket to
deploy a Navy global positioning satellite.  This is a Department
of Defense event.  NASA is providing television support - 3:50 to
4:11 p.m. EST.

Jan. 12 - STS-32 live, on-orbit crew press conference at 6:53
a.m. EST.  Reporters must be at the Johnson Space Center to
participate.

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #394
*******************