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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #267

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 267

Today's Topics:
         Re: Aurora = Strange Flash of Light?
          Re: Pegasus launch from Valkyrie  (or ...
            Re: release of images
      Re: Discovery's Spin in 2010 (Was Re: Artificial gravity)
        SWERVE - Mach 14 Vehicle Flies From 1975-1985
           Payload Summary for 04/13/90 (Forwarded)
       Re: Drake Equation (was Re: Interstellar travel)
        Re: releasing data / digitized images
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11 Apr 90 17:34:42 GMT
From: att!mcdchg!illusion![e-mail]  (Marcus Hall)
Subject: Re: Aurora = Strange Flash of Light?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Will Martin) writes:
>The news speculation and net responses that stated the reported flash of
>light was an aurora have confused me, because I don't know enough about
>aurorae (auroras? ... whatever...). I recall seeing it once as a child
>on a vacation to the North...

Interesting...  So, not only does the Aurora make a lot of noise on takeoff,
it also occasionally generates bright flashes in the night sky?  This is
a curious property for a hypersonic spy plane indeed.  I guess you must have
a VERY high security clearance to tecall seeing one of these as a child!

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

marcus hall
[e-mail]

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

Date: 13 Apr 90 20:19:37 GMT
From: att!cbnewsj![e-mail]  (john.a.welsh)
Subject: Re: Pegasus launch from Valkyrie  (or ...

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Smith) writes:
> >>>I don't really know what current planes could carry 40,000 lbs at such speeds;
>
> >>I was wondering if a FB-111 would do?

> >It's not exactly in the same speed class as B-70 or FB-111,


We have seen here that if you want to launch more with a Pegasus,
you need more speed in the booster plane.  There is only 1 B70
left, and I don't think the Airforce Museum in Dayton will let
anybody use it (who would certify it air worthy, too?).  So how
about the next fastest bomber, the B58?  Were they all broken
up or are there other museum pieces around (other then Dayton's)?
A B58 held the coast to coast record that the SR71 broke (LA - NY
in about 2 hours) and they were in regular airforce service, so
they were not experimental oddities.  They had external pods so
they could carry more than their bomb bays could hold, though I
am not sure if they could go supersonic with the pods (I think
they could).  If we are discussing B70s here, why couldn't we have
a B58 launch Pegasus?

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

Date: 13 Apr 90 06:34:32 GMT
From: unmvax!nmtsun![e-mail]  (Daniel Briggs)
Subject: Re: release of images


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John F Nixon) writes:
#At least we'll get to see HST data after a year.  Are their any requirements
#on data taken with, say, the Mayall scope to be released to the public after
#a fixed period of time??

Greg S. Hennessy ([e-mail]) also writes:
>I don't know what is written on paper, but in practice the only copy
>of the data is what the astronomer takes with them when they leave the
>peak. There is a real problem in archiving the amount of data
>generated by a nights observing with a CCD.

I can make a few comments on the policy here at NRAO.  The raw data is the
property of the investigator for a year, and then it becomes public.  (Sound
familiar?)  There is one important point to make here, though.  I said
"raw" data.  Typically it takes a week or so to make a publication quality
image from that data.  It can take as little as a day or two, and in extreme
cases it can take as much as a year or several.  The images that are made
from the data belong to the investigator.  Period.  Most investigator like to
see their images (with their name attached) spread as far as possible.
So if one simply wants an image of object X, it usually easiest to check the
observing data base and see if someone has looked at it before.  If they
have, just ask them for it.  Most astronomers will be happy to oblige.

As far as archiving is concerned, NRAO archives all data taken by the VLA.
(An execption or two for the scientists who bring their own special purpose
magic boxes to the site with them.)  It only amounts to a mag tape or two a
day.  We can handle that much.  You can't tell me that a CCD will put out
a great deal more than that in an evening.  Maybe there is more of a problem
with the diversity of media that optical types use for data storage.  In
radio, *all* of the data, including schedule and bookkeeping information is
digital.  In optical circles, only *some* of the data comes out that way.
Also, it may be that the great diversity of instuments used make the archive
problem worse.  In our case, the VLA is a very flexible instrument, but 95%
of the useful data passes through a single machine (the correlator).  Of the
remainder, 4.8% goes through a different correlator.  All we have to do is
keep track of the correlator output, and we're done.

BTW, there *is* a bit of a problem with regards to tape rotation.  We aren't
very good about that, I'm afraid.  Few sites are, anywhere.  We are just
starting to study the process of converting the archives to optical disc.
A number of people will breathe easier about the archives when that is done.

-----
This is a shared guest account, please send replies to
[e-mail] (Internet)
Dan Briggs / NRAO / P.O. Box O / Socorro, NM / 87801  (U.S. Snail)

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

Date: 13 Apr 90 17:54:34 GMT
From: sco![e-mail]  (Nathaniel Ingersoll)
Subject: Re: Discovery's Spin in 2010 (Was Re: Artificial gravity)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bob Myers) writes:
[2010]
:movie ever made, but it was a good deal more accurate than the vast majority
:of "space" SF films made to date.  I especially liked the coating of sulfur
:that _Discovery_ had picked up over the eight years or so it had been a
:derelict.
:

One thing that has always impressed me about 2001 was the lack of
sound in the outer-space (ie outside of spacecraft) shots; no
Star Wars-like deep, low freq rumble of powerful thrust engines.
Any other such movies with silent space?  Even Alien, with "in space
no one can hear you scream", you could hear the engines from "outside".
--
________________________________________________________________________________
  I told the police that I was not injured,
  but on removing my hat, I found that I
  had a skull fracture.                     -- from an insurance accident form

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

Date: 13 Apr 90 20:25:18 GMT
From: bu.edu!orc!inews!iwarp.intel.com!omepd!omews10.intel.com![e-mail]  (Larry Smith)
Subject: SWERVE - Mach 14 Vehicle Flies From 1975-1985


"Mach 14 SWERVE Offers Potential of New Cruise Weapon",
Philip Finnegan, Defense News, 3/26/90, pg 1.

Highlights:

SWERVE = Sandia Winged Energetic Re-entry Vehicle Experiment.
A "finned, cone shaped", rocket launched, ballistic (unpowered?)
re-entry vehicle.

Program has been flight testing since 1975. Since 1975 there
have been 3 successful Mach 14 tests. The article implied that
flight testing stopped in 1985.

Sandia started this program since they were already involved
in designing high altitude re-entry vehicles for the nations
nuclear weapons program. This program gave them additional
capability in ballistic trajectories, and controlling vehicles.

Purposes of this program:

To develop the X-band Radar Intercept Sensor. A radar unit
that can guide and stabilize a vehicle operating in the hypersonic
flight regime. The article said that this effort was successful,
and that it was quite an achievement due to the high temperature
environment, and the fast reaction times required.

To establish ground to vehicle communication, for control purposes,
to a vehicle travelling in excess of Mach 10. The article said that
this also has been successful, and represents a first for communicating
through the plasma blackout phase. The article also said that no attempt
was made to have the vehicle respond.

The vehicle used ablative cooling.

The program's existence was confirmed by Sandia's (Albuquerque, N.M.)
spokesman Nigel Hey, who said that the program is not dead, but struggling
for funds. DARPA would not comment on SWERVE or the X-Band Intercept Sensor.

The article also said that all hypersonic weapons programs have now been
combined into a "single program" under control of DARPA, by an act of
Congress in 1987.

The article said that SWERVE has also been used as a hypersonic test vehicle.

Larry Smith

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

Date: 13 Apr 90 21:52:45 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Summary for 04/13/90 (Forwarded)


                            STS-35 PAYLOAD STATUS REPORT
                         FRIDAY, APRIl 13, 1990 -- 1:15 p.m.


          Patricia E. Phillips
          NASA Public Affairs,
          Kennedy Space Center
          407/867-2468

          ASTRO-1/STS-35
          (OPF)

               Preparations are underway to move the Space Shuttle Columbia
          and ASTRO-1 to the Vehicle Assembly Building tonight.  The actual
          rollover  from  the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) takes about
          half an hour.

               In preparation for the move to the VAB and next week's  move
          to  Launch  Pad  39A,  the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) was
          serviced April 10-11 with solidified argon.  That servicing  will
          keep  the  BBXRT cooled through April 27,  thus providing contin-
          gency time should there be a  delay  in  gaining  access  to  the
          payload bay. Nominal time between servicing is about 16 days when
          solidified, versus liquid, argon is used. The liquid argon proce-
          dure provides 12 days of cooling capability.

               BBXRT  will  also  be serviced on the launch pad during pre-
          flight processing operations.


                                        ####


          Note to Editors/News Directors: Both video and  still  photos  of
          various processing activities are available through KSC News Cen-
          ter Audio-Video department at 407-867-7819.

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

Date: 14 Apr 90 06:10:58 GMT
From: mentor.cc.purdue.edu![e-mail]  (Mark Gellis)
Subject: Re: Drake Equation (was Re: Interstellar travel)


I've been reading the discussion of ETs and interstellar travel.  Here are
my two cents, for what they are worth:

Interstellar travel might be accomplished by our civilization, if we have
a large enough industrial base to support it.  The various methods I have
heard include:

Matter-antimatter drives (could reach relativistic speeds, like .6 c)

Laser-powered lightsails (if the power is available, the limit here might
be something like .99 c)

(In a book called INTERSTELLAR MIGRATION AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE, an
excellent anthology, there is a discussion of boosting entire habitats to
very high speed over a long period of time; doubtless they employ fusion
or matter-antimatter power rather than solar)

Fusion drives might work, but I believe the theoretical limit on nuclear
fusion is a specific impulse of about 2.6 million, which means that you
could not get a spacecraft moving much faster than about 10%-15% c.  This
might work if you are using unmanned probes or have perfected suspended
animation technology, but otherwise it is a bad idea for manned probes.

If there is no way around the lightspeed limit, we might well colonize
other solar systems, very slowly, over the next several centuries, but
these solar systems would be isolated civilizations.  They would receive
messages, and be able to send them, but they would be politically
autonomous; no one tries to run an empire with a multi-year delay on
responses to political situations!

There is also, by the way, the possibility of colonizing the cometary
halo in our own or other solar systems.  Remember, once you have a space-based
economy/industry, those 5 km. chunks of ice and rock = lots of raw materials
(and hydrogen for fusion power plants!)  While playing around with some
numbers for an sf story I was working on, I figured that a 10 km. cometary
nucleus (larger than average, but not rare) would easily support, even
with my conservative figures, a population of 200,000 in raw materials
for building a large habitat, water, organics, etc.

As for those pesky aliens, we have a few options:

1) There are none.  (Oooo...creepy, could that silly book with all the
hard-to-pronounce names begetting one another be right?)

2) There are some, but they are a LOT further away than 50 light years,
which means they have no idea we are around.

How far, by the way, can normal radio transmissions be detected?  After
all, an advanced technological civilization might be relatively "radio
quiet," having moved much of its communications to lasers and other direct
channel (cable, etc.) technology.

3) There are some, and they know we are here, but they have decided not
to talk to us because...

    a) They know that if they do, our civilization will self-destruct
trying to deal with all the too-advanced technology we will steal even if
they don't give it us

    b) They do not feel we have anything worth buying from us (and they
are not going to just give us disinto-ray technology out of the goodness
of their seven-valved hearts)

    c) They are not sure if we are intelligent, yet

    d) They don't like us (probably becuase they have intercepted some
of our radio transmissions and listened to things like Michael Jackson
or Barry Manilow or Milli Vanilli or whatever, so they have a good idea
of what our culture is like).


Enjoy.

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

Date: 14 Apr 90 20:00:28 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aristotle![e-mail]  (Peter Scott)
Subject: Re: releasing data / digitized images

This may answer some of the questions on this thread.  Note that as
one poster previously pointed out, the people to go to are the NSSDC
in Greenbelt.


Reproduced from the JPL _Universe_, April 13, Vol. 20, #19:


DISK DATA TECHNOLOGY ENHANCES CONVENIENCE

Scientific data from JPL space exploration on compact disks are available
to researchers world-wide, and analysts here are looking at the data closely
for anything that might have been missed.

JPL's Mike Martin, leading the compact disk effort development [sic],
said a search of Viking mission data revealed for the first time the
highest resolution image of Mars' giant mountain, Olympus Mons.

JPL has gathered data on all its planetary missions, and is processing
and making available to researchers more than 150 [gigabytes].

The data will be available to the public through the National Space Science
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Data Center, Greenbelt, Md.   [No, I don't have their phone # or net
address.]  Collected into books, the amount already on [CD-ROMs] would
make a library of nearly 200,000 volumes.

[...]

The first major archive, "Voyagers to the Outer Planets," contains nearly
all of Voyager's close-up images of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (16,000 images
representing about 15 gigabytes of data).

The cost of producing a master disk is about $1,000, but replicas can be
made for only $2 each.

[...]


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

So there you go.  I'll be interested to see which netter is the first to
obtain one of these disks and put the information on-line.


This is news.  This is your       |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
brain on news.  Any questions?    |    ([e-mail])

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #267
*******************