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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #280

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 280

Today's Topics:
          Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Tomatoes
           Payload Status for 04/17/90 (Forwarded)
Richard named Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications (Forwarded)
      Re: Listening to the Star (was RE: Drake Equation)
           Re: Gerry Bull Murder and "Doomsday Gun
           Re: The effects of decompression
             Whip launch as first stage?
           Re: space news from March 12 AW&ST etc.
         NASA Headline News for 04/17/90 (Forwarded)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 17 Apr 90 14:56:19 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!uhnix1!nuchat![e-mail]  (Steve Nuchia)
Subject: Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Tomatoes

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>But anyway, what kinds of mutations might we expect, given the
>especially energetic particles these seeds had to deal with?

Exactly the same kinds you get on the ground, only more of them.

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 23:57:55 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 04/17/90 (Forwarded)


    Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 04-17-90.


    - STS-31R HST (at pad-B) -

    HST battery charging continues.


    - STS-35 ASTRO-1 (at OPF) -

    Support for orbiter rollover to the VAB was provided Monday.
    Support for VAB operations will continue today.


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

    Rack and floor installation into the module, aft end cone
    mating to the module, and preps for experiment train
    interface test were active Monday and will continue today.


    - STS-42 IML-1 (at O&C) -

    On Monday module pyrell foam replacement along with racks 3,
    4, 7, and 11 staging operations were performed.  Pyrell foam
    replacement will continue today along with racks 3, 4, 7, 8,
    9, and 11 staging.


    - STS-45 (Atlas-1)-

    Connector bracket, support structure, and hardpoint
    installations will continue today.


    - STS-55 SL-D2 (at O&C) -

    Rack 12 staging will continue today.


    - HST M&R (at O&C) -

    ORUC power network verification and cable installation will
    continue today.

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 23:59:07 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Richard named Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications (Forwarded)

Debbie Rivera
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                     April 17, 1990


RELEASE:  90-55

RICHARD NAMED DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR COMMUNICATIONS


     Sue Mathis Richard was named Deputy Associate Administrator
for NASA's Office of Communications.  The appointment was
effective April 9, 1990.  She works directly with the Associate
Administrator on all matters concerning the news media, public
services and television development.

     Before coming to NASA, Richard served as Vice President,
Industry Communications for the National Cable Television Assn.,
overseeing press, publicity and public relations activities for
the cable industry.

     Previously, Richard was Florida Communications Director
for the Bush-Quayle Campaign and before that Public Relations
Manager for the Walt Disney World Co.  Prior to that she was a
Special Assistant to President Reagan and Director of Media
Relations at the White House.

     In addition to her extensive managerial experience, Richard
has held several key positions as a journalist, including
Washington television correspondent for Cox Enterprises, Inc.,
and cable television anchor and producer in East Lansing, Mich.
She also is a former teacher, having served as an
English/Communications instructor at Carl Brablec High School,
Roseville, Mich.

     A native of Fraser, Mich., Richard graduated from the
University of Michigan with a degree in Radio/Television
Communications.  She now resides with her husband and 3-year old
daughter in Alexandria, Va.

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

Date: 18 Apr 90 03:49:38 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucdn![e-mail]  (Arnold G. Gill)
Subject: Re: Listening to the Star (was RE: Drake Equation)

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Tom Neff) says:
>
>If those Indians were sitting in the forest today looking for smoke
>signals as a sign of "they're presense" [good thing we have Universities
>on the net isn't it] they would not catch our CB radios...  but they'd
>see our contrails!
     But they wouldn't know if it were natural or not - which effectively
means that our existence would still be unknown.

>The point is that civilization tends to add new media, not eliminate old
>ones.  We will surely still be emitting RF of identifiably sentient
>origin many centuries from now.
>
>In fact the only reason I can think of that we'd stop emitting radio
>would be DELIBERATELY, to avoid cluttering up the aether with our
>noise... perhaps for the sake of astronomy, perhaps out of some highly
>advanced sense of environmental awareness... or perhaps to HIDE from
>something NASTY out there!! :-)
     Or simply to make our backyard look nicer.  How many people out there
still have a 25 foot antenna sticking out above their house?  Cable TV has
nearly wiped out *THAT* form of communication.
-------
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|  Arnold Gill                        |                                     |
|  Queen's University at Kingston     |     If I hadn't wanted it heard,    |
|  BITNET   : gilla@qucdn             |       I wouldn't have said it.      |
|  X-400    : [e-mail]  |                                     |
|  INTERNET : [e-mail]  |                                     |
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 09:41:38 GMT
From: brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Gerry Bull Murder and "Doomsday Gun


/* Written 11:45 am  Apr 12, 1990 by [e-mail] in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:sci.space */
would assume that the Iraqis would have had to test this gun, and that a
"peaceful" mission would have had to be fabricated to justify it.  This would
have allowed the promise of HARP to have been realized.
/* End of text from uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:sci.space */

Ha.  Iraq has no peaceful missions.  Anyone who wants to cooperate with
Iraq involving any aspect of technology or science has more than my
invitation to shoot themselves.  Iraq has repeatedly confirmed their
desire for weapons of destruction or terror i.e. chemical, biological, and
nuclear.  The only purpose of the Iraqi space program was the production
of a missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

I admit that it would be nice to see the HARP realized, but Iraq is _not_
the place to do it.

(BTW, if you want references, just say the word.  There is plenty of material
to support this.)

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 13:11:27 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!watyew![e-mail]  (Brian or James)
Subject: Re: The effects of decompression


 I believe that tests exposing humans to a soft vacuum were done
by Nazi Germany. The impression I have is that these tests were
done to destruction of the human subject, but I have no idea
what, if anything, was ever done with the results [or if the
records survived the war in any meaningful way]. This is a bit
like the hypothermia test the Germans did, in that while the
test procedure was inhumane, the results may have been put to
good use. To fend off flames, don't take this as a recommendation
that NASA or any other group start performing intentionally lethal
tests on humans.
 As an aside, while the dogs involved in the '60s vacuuum exposure
tests were exposed until dead, for some reason the primates were not.
This is probably because of the cost of getting new primates, rather
than any primate prejudice.
                            JDN

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 19:27:46 GMT
From: sam.cs.cmu.edu![e-mail]  (Vincent Cate)
Subject: Whip launch as first stage?

Ken Harrenstien:
>Just to keep the thread alive, how about simply towing a Pega-RPV up?
>The disposable wings (made by Rutan, of course) could be optimized
>either for height or speed.  The idea of a pair of F-15s slinging a
>Pega-BB through Mach 2 is wild enough, I hope.

Can you give any more details on how you would use 2!!   F-15s to do this?
Each with a sort of elastic tow rope, maybe?

In the same way that a water skier can end up going much faster than
the boat pulling him it should be possible for the glider to go
much faster than the plane.  Soaring type gliders can easily be
higher than the plain towing them so extra altitude should be easy.

If you are going to tow a rocket behind it seems that a good whip action
off of a long tow line from a big plane would be fun.  With a C-5A at
about 600 MPH and 40,000 feet I think a whip could get a small rocket
to well over Mach 2.  What I would do is to have several gliders along
the tow rope to provide the whip action.  The number of intermediate
gliders probably depends on the length of the cable.  If we could have
a kevlar cable that was 5 miles long with 4 intermediate gliders I think
we could get at least an extra 1,000 MPH.  I think that 2,000 MPH might
even be possible.  Can anyone say how much 5 miles of kevlar cable strong
enough to lift 100,000 lbs would be?  (possible BIG problem here)

The way I see it working is as follows.  The line of gliders (last being
the pegasus) starts out at 45 degrees below the horizon (or as low as
they can get really).  If all gliders start lifting at the same time
the ones closest to the plane should get up first since they do not
have as far to go.  The exact timing would all have to be worked out
in order to get the whip to crack at the highest point (near 60,000 feet?).
The C-5A weighs about 20 times as much as the pegasus, so the its engines
should be able to keep it in the air and going forward while giving
the pegasus at the end of the whip a 2 G acceleration.  The gliders
should be light and have good lift to drag ratios.  Also, the C-5A could
slow down by 100 MPH without any real problems which, with no loss,
would be enough momentum to send something 1/20th as heavy at 2,000 MPH.

Just in case people missed the start of this (Pegasus launch from a Valkyrie)
it seems that the difference between a polar launch and an equatorial
launch (1,000 MPH) causes the payload of the Pegasus to go from
600 lbs to 900 lbs.  Clearly if you could add 1,000 MPH to a polar
launch in some way you could add 300 lbs to the payload.  Since payload
to orbit seems to be around $10,000 for small payloads, this is worth
around $3,000,000 per launch.  A whip might pay for itself after only a
couple launches but I have no idea how expensive kevlar (can anyone say?)
not to mention these extra gliders or development cost.

I could see a whip launch giving an extra 2,000 MPH and 20,000 feet over
a simple B-52 launch.  This might even double the payload that could
be sent into a polar orbit making 1,200 lbs.  If we take the operating
cost of the towline as zero, then the price per pound to polar orbit
could be cut in half with such a whip, making the Pegasus really attractive!!

   -- Vince

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 16:19:33 GMT
From: att!cbnewsh![e-mail]  (maurice.r.baker)
Subject: Re: space news from March 12 AW&ST etc.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
> Soviets say that the first Buran orbiter probably will not fly again,
> since it is too far behind what is now considered full flight standard
> in electronics and life support.

Does anyone know how many orbiters there are in the USSR shuttle "fleet"?
Is this really saying that there is a new orbiter design under construction
now, or that the one-and-only (presumably) flight of the Buran is the last
'shuttle' flight we'll see from USSR ?

M. Baker
homxc!jj1028

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

Date: 17 Apr 90 23:56:26 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 04/17/90 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, April 17, 1990               Audio Service: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, April 17.....

A new Auxiliary Power Unit installed in the orbiter Discovery
will undergo a "hot fire" test on Wednesday.  A 20-30 second
firing will qualify the unit for the STS-31 launch scheduled for
April 25 at Kennedy Space Center.

The batteries which were removed from the Hubble Space Telescope
last Saturday are undergoing charging and will be reinstalled in
the telescope on Saturday.

A careful check of detectors in the payload bay indicate no signs
of contamination to the telescope.

A heater cable leading from Discovery's aft compartment to a rear
External Tank strut has been disabled.  It shorted out during
last week's countdown.  Warm weather at the Cape precludes the
need for the heater during launch next week.

                        *              *

Associated Press reports the National Research Council feels a
joint U.S. - Soviet mission to Mars is too risky and suggests the
two countries follow a "graceful path" of coordinated but
independent explorations.

The council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said the
Soviets and U.S. "have no prior experience with the degree of
cooperation necessary to carry out a technical project of this
complexity or magnitude".

                        *              *

The crew for the STS-35 mission will conduct a news conference
Friday, April 20, at Johnson Space Center.  They will discuss
their roles in the flight set for mid-May.  The orbiter Columbia
will carry the Astro payload into Earth orbit to conduct a series
of astronomical observations.

The news conference begins at 10:30 a.m., EDT, and will be
carried on NASA Select TV.

                        *              *

Solar arrays and antennas will be deployed today aboard the
Palapa B-2R communications satellite launched aboard a Delta 2
rocket last Friday.
                        ***************






----------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are EDT.


Thursday, April 19....

     11:30 a.m.        NASA Update will be transmitted.


Friday, April 20.....

     10:30 a.m.        STS-35 Astronaut News Conference from
                       Johnson Space Center.


Tuesday, April 24.....

      9:00 a.m.       STS-31 Countdown Status Report

     10:00 a.m.       APU/HST Status Report

     11:00 a.m.       Pre-launch News Conference


Wednesday, April 25.....

      4:00 a.m.       STS-31 Launch and mission coverage
                      begins.

All events and times are subject to change without notice.

NOTE:  During the STS-31 mission NASA Select TV will provide
daily mission highlights on Satcom F1R at midnight, EDT.  F1R is
located so that TV stations and educational institutions in
Hawaii and Alaska may access the NASA Select video.
----------------------------------------------------------------
These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12 noon,
EDT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A service of the Internal Communications Branch, NASA Hq.

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #280
*******************