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Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 01:36:17 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #49

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 11 : Issue 49

Today's Topics:
            Re: Galileo Update - 02/12/90
            Re: Kepler fudged the Numbers?
           Payload Status for 02/15/90 (Forwarded)
              Magellan Update - 02/14/90
           Re: HASA select & Operacio 9000
         NASA Headline News for 02/14/90 (Forwarded)
        Re: measurement standards (aerospace)
               Re: Interstellar travel
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 15 Feb 90 21:28:19 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!uniblab![e-mail]  (Steve Groom)
Subject: Re: Galileo Update - 02/12/90

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>The usual policy for science data is that the principal investigators of
>the particular experiment have control for a limited period (e.g. 1 year)
>after which the data becomes freely available.  "Freely" does not mean
>"free", mind you, as you may have to pay handling costs to get a copy.
>
>For imaging data and other high-profile stuff, I'm not sure whether the
>principal-investigator rule still holds.  Possibly only selected images
>are exempt from it?

The principal investigator rule holds for everything, including image
data.  Some stuff is released to the press (and thus the public), but
most of that (if not all) is in the form of processed images, not raw
data.

Let me answer another related and often asked (at least of me) question.
    "There is no Voyager or Galileo data available for anonymous FTP
    at JPL.  Please don't bother looking for it."
--
Steve Groom, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
[e-mail]  {ames,usc}!elroy!stevo

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

Date: 15 Feb 90 20:51:02 GMT
From: maytag!watcsc![e-mail]  (Jim Sankey)
Subject: Re: Kepler fudged the Numbers?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Robert M. Panoff) writes:
>I have heard (or read) recently that Kepler fudged his numbers.
>He claimed to have an independent check on his theory, but the charge
>is used the theory to calculate the numbers he said verified his theory.
>
>Could someone point me to a specific published article that gives
>the particulars of this subterfuge? Thanks.
>--
>rmp, for the Bob's of the World


I found the article in _The New York Times_ dated 14 Jan 1990.
I'm almost positive it was the 14th.  If not, it is definitely in
either the 7th or 21st.  You can't miss it, first page of the
Science section (includes a big picture of Johannes and his view
of the system.

                                               -Jim-

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

Date: 15 Feb 90 22:08:22 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 02/15/90 (Forwarded)

Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 02-15-90



- STS-31R HST (at VPF) -

GIPCU functional testing was completed yesterday.  Today
+/- V2 flight trunion bay access will be installed and
bays 2 and 3 batteries will be connected.


- STS-32R SYNCOM/LDEF (at SAEF-2)

LDEF deintegration continues.


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

CITE decable and closeout activities were performed
yesterday and will continue today.

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

Preps for systems test were worked yesterday.  This activity
included ECS preps, rack 10 bellows installation, RAU B
installation, and HDRR EU installation.  Today, aft flight
deck equipment will be installed, the HDRR TU will be
installed, and cable mods and ECS preps will continue.
Also, experiment integration to the floor and rack 10 will
be worked today.


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

Racks 5 and 11 structural mods were worked yesterday.
Today, rack 5 structural mods will continue along with
rack 3 installation into the handling frame, rack 3
panel removal, and rack 11 staging operations.


- STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C) -

Pallet keel installation and orthogrid hardpoint installation
were worked yesterday and will continue today.


- STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C) -

PPCU checkout will continue today.


- HST M&R -

ORUC cable installation will be worked today.

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

Date: 15 Feb 90 17:13:23 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Magellan Update - 02/14/90



                     MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                          Feb. 14, 1990

     Magellan is 112,633,595 miles from Earth, traveling at a
speed of 60,419 miles per hour relative to the sun. One way light
time is 10 minutes and 10 seconds. During the next 12 weeks the
spacecraft distance from Earth diminishes as Magellan passes
through aphelion. It then will begin to arc back toward the
orbit of Venus for its August 10 encounter.

     The Magellan spacecraft is in normal cruise today and has
successfully completed a high-gain antenna calibration. Very
little spacecraft activity is planned during the next few months
with the spacecraft close to Earth orbit in a low power state.

     The Deep Space Network Operations team has completed Phase 1 of
the Magellan Orbital Ops Mission Readiness Test (MRT) program, which
excercised the 70 meter stations in realistic mapping support scenarios.

     A new Goldstone Venus radar image has been processed. It
covers an area approximately 1000 km (620 mi) across near the
Prime Meridian along the equator and includes a feature called
Heng-o Chasma. In the image the feature appears to be a type of
ovoid structure 1200 km (744 miles) in diameter, called a
corona. If it is this type of structure, it would be the largest
one so far identified on Venus.

     SPACECRAFT
     Distance from Earth (mi)             112,633,595

     Velocity Heliocentric                60,419 mph

     One-way light time                   10 mins, 10 sec

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

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

Date: 15 Feb 90 19:29:17 GMT
From: concertina![e-mail]  (Steve Hix)
Subject: Re: HASA select & Operacio 9000

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Peter Scott) writes:
>
>  [e-mail] (Jordi Iparraguirre) writes:
>
> >On the other hand, On Feb/18/1990 will begin in Catalonia (Europe)
> >OPERACIO 9000. In this operation, a man called Emili Reyes will be living
> >alone in a grot for 9000 days.

!??  (That works out to a bit over 24.6 years.)

Is 9000 *hours* the correct duration?  That's about 375 days.

------------
"...Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise
anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear
and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded..."   Plato, _Phaedrus_

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

Date: 15 Feb 90 17:11:38 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 02/14/90 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, February 14, 1990                   Audio:202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, February 14....


Investigators from Langley Research Center who have checked over
the Long Duration Exposure Facility...LDEF...say the satellite
has revealed no "show stoppers" after six years in Earth orbit.
Scientists and engineers will use much of the data collected from
the spacecraft to refine the design of NASA spacecraft,
particularly Space Station Freedom.   The project's Chief
Scientist...Bill Kinard...told a media briefing Tuesday that
many of the 57 experiments came close to that predicted.  The
experiments will be dismantled later this month and sent to
laboratories for further investigation.

Some 12.5 million tomato seeds appear to be in good shape.  The
seeds will be distributed in March to over 100,000 schools for a
variety of student experiments over the next year.


Three supersonic SR-71 "Blackbird" aircraft will be loaned by the
Air Force to NASA.  The once supersecret high-performance planes
will be shipped to the Ames-Dryden flight research facility at
Edwards, California.  The first of the 100-foot long titanium
aircraft will arrive at Dryden tomorrow with the second arriving
on February 20.  Delivery of the third will be detemined later.

The three supersonic SR-71s will be stored in flyable condition.
NASA officials are assessing research opportunities for the
aircraft.  The Lockheed-manufactured Blackbirds are capable of
flying greater than three times the speed of sound.


The Soviet Union's Mir space station has a new crew on board.  A
Soyuz carrying two cosmonauts docked with the platform yesterday.
The current crew...on board Mir for six months...will return to
Earth next Monday.   The primary objective of the new crew is to
produce crystal material that can be produced only in a
microgravity environment.  The crystals will be sold for profit
by the Soviet Union.


Orange groves leased to private growers at NASA'S Kennedy Space
Center suffered significant damage in December's cold snap.
Orange crops experienced a loss of 40 to 60 percent.  Hardest hit
was the grapefruit and tangerine crops.  Losses as high as 90
percent may be recorded because of post freeze processing
problems.  Even the trees themselves were damaged by the record
low temperatures.

                        *     *   *    *


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



Thursday, February 15....


     2:30 P.M.     NASA Update will be transmitted. (delay is
                   due to communications tests.)


Wednesday, February 21.....

     11:00 P.M.    Video feed begins of STS-36 mission launch
                   only coverage.  Launch is scheduled between
                   midnight and 4:00 A. M. on Feb. 22.



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: 15 Feb 90 19:32:33 GMT
From: rti![e-mail]  (Mike Mitchell)
Subject: Re: measurement standards (aerospace)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Eric T. Anderson)
writes:

>...
>Hey, let's just use base 12! or so!  Then we can divide by lots of
>numbers...   We just need a lot more fingers.  =-)  How about it?
>

I have always wondered why we don't count in base 11, instead of 10.
The current argument is something like 'because we have 10 fingers'.
The real reason is because the concept of zero was invented much later
than the other number-symbols.  The number ten is written as a '1' and a
'0', where the '1' is the number of tens, and the '0' is the number of ones,
a place holder.  If you start counting on your fingers, 'zero' is no
fingers, and the last finger is '10'.  But wait!  The composite symbol '10'
is the number of tens followed by the number of ones.  You have a finger left
over for the 'ones'!  You should not be using the symbol '10' until you have
run out of fingers.

--
Mike Mitchell    {decvax,seismo,ihnp4,philabs}!mcnc!rti!mcm  [e-mail]

"If you hear me talking on the wind, You've got
 to understand, We must remain perfect strangers"        [phone]

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

Date: Thu, 15 Feb 90 19:46:18 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
Subject: Re: Interstellar travel


>From: [e-mail]  (Patrick Brewer)
>Subject: inter stellar travel

>    I have noticed a lot of talk about interstellar travel. When
>we speak of .01 to .7 C I see this as speeds for maybe space probes.
>I know a few years back there was discusion about particles that might
>travel faster than the speed of light. How have results of that thinking
>turned out? To have useful interstellar travel by people we would need
>speeds in the range of light years per day or more.

>    The  NOBLE  One           Patrick W. Brewer       [e-mail]

It has been pointed out that a ship capable of accelerating continuously
at 1G can get anywhere in the observable universe in a few years' ship time,
and it wouldn't take much more fuel to get to another galaxy than to the other
side of this one. There are two main problems doing this: much more time
passes for those not on the ship, and unless the ship is able to extract
its drive power from its surroundings, nearly all the mass of the ship must
be the mass-equivalent of the energy required to power the drive.
                    John Roberts
                    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #49
*******************