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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #37

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 11 : Issue 37

Today's Topics:
             space news from Jan 8 AW&ST
               Re: SSX and Propellants
         NASA Headline News for 02/12/90 (Forwarded)
              Galileo Update - 02/12/90
               Shuttle launches
           Re: Systeme International (was Imperial
    Re: Systeme International (was Imperial measurements)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 12 Feb 90 05:08:31 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Jan 8 AW&ST

[The subscription foulup dropped my copies of the late-Dec issues and the
Jan 1 issue into a black hole.  I've arranged for replacements, but they
will be a little while coming.  Meanwhile, I think I'd better carry on or
I'll get hopelessly behind.]

NASA to combine Office of Exploration and Office of Aeronautics and
Space Technology, on the grounds that the two are closely interrelated.
Arnold Aldrich, recently appointed head of the OAST, will be in charge.
[Translation:  the Office of Exploration is dead.]

NASP officials and contractors meet in Florida to talk about the notion
of combining the competing contractors into a single team.

Big fuss over the Japanese "lunar mission".  Muses, a magnetospheric
science mission, is set for launch Jan 23.  On March 20, it will make
a lunar flyby, detaching a small subsatellite which will go into lunar
orbit.  The lunar-science content of the mission is essentially zero;
the only useful results of the orbiter will be experience in the problems
of tracking and communicating with a lunar mission.  There are no specific
plans for a followon.

A matching fuss about several Japanese companies starting to spend small
amounts on lunar-base technology.  Ohbayashi Corp., a large Japanese
construction company, will be heavily involved in a joint project (with
several US companies) to build a lunar-base technology-research facility
near KSC.  There are political grumblings about the Japanese involvement.
Also viewed with alarm is the Japanese company which is buying a Mir
engineering mockup from the USSR.  The US says it is impressed with the
Japanese interest in lunar bases etc., but it is too early to say what
international participation there might be in the US project.

Second Pegasus captive-carry test run Dec 15, with hopes high for a
real launch in Feb.  [No, they decided a third carry test was in order,
so launch date has slipped to March.]

DARPA/USAF Teal Ruby infrared tracking experiment moves to dead storage
at Norton AFB, out of its Rockwell clean room.  Originally it was going to
be the payload for the first Vandenberg shuttle launch, to run live tests
on detecting and tracking aircraft and missiles from space.  Unfortunately,
the original low-cost fast-track program hit major technical trouble and
massive cost escalation, further complicated by Challenger.  It was then
manifested to fly March 1990 from KSC, after modifying it for launch on
an expendable was determined to be difficult and costly.  Then DARPA and
the USAF agreed that the USAF would handle all Teal Ruby funding in 1990
and 1991, and once the DARPA funding ended in 1989, the USAF cancelled
the program instead.  Teal Ruby is ready to fly, but probably never will.
If nothing happens in the next two years, it will be cannibalized for parts.

Arianespace decides to develop a slightly uprated Ariane 4, stretching
the third-stage tanks a bit.  The combination of this, various weight-
reduction measures being gradually implemented on Ariane 4, and the fact
that Ariane 4 performance is slightly above original expectations, will
raise payload about 5%.  This is officially the last Ariane 4 change.

Magellan has had a memory failure [sounds like a single bit dead] and
is on its backup computer.  Software to bypass the failed section will
be in place within a few days.  This is expected to happen occasionally.

First Commercial Titan launched Dec 31 on the tenth attempt [!].  Most
of the delays were weather.  Telemetry was lost at T+73s, but everything
worked as planned and this caused no problems.  Payloads were Skynet 4
(British military comsat) and JCSat 2 (Japanese domestic comsat).  Martin
Marietta has three more CT launch contracts -- two Intelsats, one next
month and one in June, plus Mars Observer in 1992 -- and says this is
plenty, the program is viable with only 1-2 launches a year.  MM has
decided that it doesn't want to mix and match customers, so it will
emphasize single-payload launches in future.  This largely takes it
out of competition with the other commercial launches, as CT costs
up to $125M and is not cost-effective for single payloads unless they
are too heavy for the competition.  CT marketing is in low gear right
now anyway, because the CT pad (Complex 40 at the Cape) will be shut
down for major modifications for 18-24 months as soon as the second
Intelsat goes up.

Group of US aerospace engineers visiting USSR sees formerly-flight-ready
Soviet lunar module and orbital module, meant to take two cosmonauts to
lunar orbit and one to the surface in 1968.  The plan was scuttled by
repeated failures of the N1 heavy booster.  The Soviets told the
MIT/Caltech group that the N1 would have launched the lunar module
and a propulsion stage into Earth orbit, after which a Proton would
have taken up the modified-Soyuz orbital module with the crew aboard,
and the two would have docked and proceeded together from there.
The Soviets also said that two complete N1s were scrapped when the
whole program was finally killed in 1974.

[Note an interesting side issue here:  the crew were supposed to go
up on a *Proton*.  I'm not one of the serious Soviet-watchers, but this
is the first time I recall the Soviets hinting at what some Western
observers have been claiming for some time:  Soyuz was meant to fly
on Proton, not the slightly modified Vostok booster it now uses.  One
claim which has been heard is that Soyuz 1 went up on a Proton, and
vibration problems during ascent contributed to the landing failure
and Komarov's death, leading to the decision to cut down Soyuz for
the Vostok booster and abandon man-rating of Proton.]

Lockheed Space Operations begins deployment of a new computerized
work-tracking system at KSC, aimed at reducing paperwork and speeding
communication in shuttle ground processing.  It may make enough of a
difference to permit one more launch per year with the same manpower.

RFP imminent for major design studies for ATDRSS, improved tracking
and relay satellites which are meant to start replacing the existing
TDRS system circa 1997.

US civil-aviation leaders urge DoD to reaffirm availability of Navstar
to civilians, after mutterings from the Pentagon about technology
transfer etc etc cast doubts on future intentions.  Moves towards
developing a system which can receive both Navstar and Glonass signals --
a major win for the aviation community, which badly needs enough
redundancy to detect an ailing satellite -- have apparently upset DoD.
At a recent Moscow conference where the idea was discussed, a DoD
representative kept an eye on the FAA officials and cautioned them
not to reveal too much technical detail about Navstar.  Attendees
observe that the KGB does this routinely but it's a first for DoD.
Technology-transfer worries are a bit odd since companies making
civil Navstar receivers already have approval to sell to the USSR.

Inmarsat proposes to equip its third-generation satellites with
Navstar-like navigation-signal transmitters, providing more
redundancy to aviation users except in the polar regions.  (The
Inmarsats are in Clarke orbit above the equator.)  There is general
agreement that Inmarsat would probably try to fill the void if DoD
decided to make Navstar unavailable to civilians, but extending
coverage to the polar regions would require a number of extra
satellites and would probably result in imposition of user charges
to cover the cost.

USAF C-135 transport spends 12 days flying around the world (with a
number of stops, of course) with a ground center in Cambridge tracking
it and exchanging digital communications with it continuously via
Geostar and Inmarsat satellites.  This was a demonstration flight
to show the capabilities of satellite-based transoceanic air-traffic
control.
--
SVR4:  every feature you ever |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
wanted, and plenty you didn't.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 12 Feb 90 17:39:18 GMT
From: mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: SSX and Propellants

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bruce Dunn) writes:
>...have generally found that burning subcooled propane during the first
>part of the flight reduces total hardware masses by 5 to 10% over the mass of
>an all hydrogen vehicle.  This is not a huge difference, but it is real...

All the more so because the payload is typically only a few percent of the
vehicle mass!  Particularly for single-stage-to-orbit launchers, minimizing
the dry mass is extremely important, because it all gets delivered to orbit,
and quite small changes in dry mass turn into large changes in payload.
This is also the fundamental problem with SSTO launchers, the reason why
nobody has seriously tried to build one yet:  quite minor weight increases
during development can wipe out the payload completely.
--
SVR4:  every feature you ever |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
wanted, and plenty you didn't.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 13 Feb 90 01:14:14 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/12/90 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 12, 1990                     Audio: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Monday, February 12...


The next Space Shuttle flight is scheduled for February 22.  The
official launch date was established Saturday following the
STS-36 flight readiness review at Kennedy Space Center.   The
classified DoD mission has a four hour launch window that extends
from midnight to 4:00 A.M. Eastern time.  At the present time,
there are no significant problems that could prevent the launch
from occuring.



The flyby of the planet Venus by the Galileo spacecraft was
highly successful early Saturday, but it did have some tense
moments.  The spacecraft's TV camera system acted up, but the
problem was quickly solved allowing the video camera system to
shoot a series of pictures as Galileo passed over the planet's
cloud tops.  Several other scientific instruments operated
without any problems.  The close flyby was the first of three
planetary encounters that will be used to catapult Galileo out to
Jupiter.

Galileo is now on a trajectory back toward Earth to get another
gravity assist boost to increase its velocity.  That occurs in
December.  The Venus flyby added about 5000 miles per hour to the
spacecraft's speed.



Four American astronauts watched the launch of a Soviet
spacecraft from the Biakonur Cosmodrome yesterday.  The Soyuz
liftoff was witnessed by JSC Deputy Director P.J. Weitz,
Astronaut Chief Dan Brandenstein and astronauts Jerry Ross and
Ron Grabe.  The Soyuz crew of Anatoly Solovyov and Alexander
Balandin will relieve the current Mir crew who have been aboard
the space platform since last September.  The mission of the new
crew will be to manufacture biotechnological and technological
materials in zero-G for economic gain.



Pre-launch testing of the Hubble Space Telescope continues at
Kennedy Space Center.  Functional testing of science instruments
is expected to be compled this week.  Upcoming work includes
closeout of the solar arrays, configuration of the high gain
antenna, installation of flight batteries and a final cleaning of
the telescope.  The telescope processing schedule is aimed for a
launch target date of no later than April 12.

                     *      *        *        *

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


Tuesday, February 13....

    11:00 A.M.           LDEF briefing from Kennedy Space Center


Thursday, February 15...

     2:30 P.M.           NASA Update will be transmitted (delay
                         due to testing program)


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: 12 Feb 90 23:27:12 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 02/12/90



                     GALILEO MISSION STATUS
                        February 12, 1990

     The Galileo spacecraft is 33.4 million miles from Earth,
818,000 miles from Venus, and 450 million miles from Jupiter
today.  The Venus flyby occurred as predicted about a minute
before 10 p.m. PST Friday, 10,000 miles above Venus (41 degrees
south of the equator).  The spacecraft gained 4,990 mph from the
gravity assist as planned.

     The spacecraft is currently in excellent health; the latest
imaging session concluded about 6 a.m. (PST) today, and the next
is due about 10 p.m.

     The special circumstances which induced an onboard computer
to send the imaging system a series of unplanned shuttering
commands early Saturday morning are now fully understood and will
not occur again. The anomaly resulted in about 760 unplanned
shutter activities before the sequence control shuttering ended.
The flight team began analyzing these circumstances soon after
turning off the camera Saturday morning and were able to turn it
on again safely in time for the next scheduled imaging session
Saturday night.  They determined that a minor incompatibility
between the spacecraft's main computer software control timing and
ground memory management system caused the anomaly; there were no
hardware problems and no damage, and no extra pictures were recorded
on tape. There is high confidence that 14 of 16 planned images
expected in this phase were properly executed.

     At the moment the spacecraft is not being tracked
by the Deep Space Network; the Australian station's pass
ended this morning, shortly after the imaging session
concluded, and the station in Spain will pick up Galileo this
evening, a few hours before the next imaging activity is due.


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

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

Date: 13 Feb 90 00:27:58 GMT
From: munnari.oz.au!cluster!metro![e-mail]  (Tim Bedding)
Subject: Shuttle launches

I will be making a pilgrimage to the northern hemisphere later this year
and would love to see a shuttle launch.
1) Is it worth it?
2) How far in advance are launch dates scheduled; is there a list of
    launched scheduled for Sept (+/- 1 month) 1990?
3) Any suggestions or hints on observing strategy?

I'd suggest reply by email, but I suspect others might be interested, too.

Thanks,

Tim Bedding  ([e-mail])
School of Physics
Uni of Sydney
Australia.

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

Date: 13 Feb 90 01:38:05 GMT
From: brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Systeme International (was Imperial


>>The Systeme International has only six base units (the metre, the kilogram,
>>the  second,  the  Ampere,  the  Kelvin,  and  the  candela)

>    You forgot the radian and the steradian.

Radian and steradian are fictitious units, as angles are dimensionless.

Kevin, KE9TV

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

Date: 12 Feb 90 06:05:27 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!cluster!metro!bunyip![e-mail]  (Mark Williams)
Subject: Re: Systeme International (was Imperial measurements)

[e-mail] writes:
>The Systeme International has only six base units (the metre, the kilogram,
>the  second,  the  Ampere,  the  Kelvin,  and  the  candela)

    You forgot the radian and the steradian.

Mark Williams
--
*   Don't tell my mother that I work for                                     *
*   Prentice Computer Centre,   University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Q, 4067 *
*   [e-mail]{.au}, [phone]                                          *
*   She thinks I play the piano at a brothel in the valley.                  *

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #37
*******************