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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #367

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 367

Today's Topics:
            space news from March 26 AW&ST
             Re: Manned mission to Venus
            Re: Re: Dyson spheres?
        Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage
             Re: Manned mission to Venus
              re: weather in VAB
                  Apollo 12
                Re: Apollo 12
               HELP !!!!!!!!!!!
                Re: Our galaxy
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 7 May 90 02:26:14 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from March 26 AW&ST

This is the Hubble issue, with HST as the cover story.

NASA and Intelsat are talking about the possibility of a rescue mission
for the stranded Intelsat VI.  Shuttle astronauts haven't done an EVA
since 1985, but there were tentative plans to do one on mission 37 later
this year simply to keep proficiency up.  A rescue mission might offer
a useful focus for this.  An astronaut flying an MMU could attach a
grapple fixture to the bird, after which either it could be moved into
a cargo-bay cradle for return to Earth, or a new perigee motor could
be attached.  Intelsat has a suitable spare motor.

Any rescue would be a secondary mission on a flight primarily done for
a payload deployment.  Costs have not yet been sorted out, and they
will be a major factor in choosing the type of mission.  Late this
year is the earliest a rescue could be flown.  The satellite can wait
for years if necessary.

The problem with the Intelsat launch is now understood.  The Commercial
Titan uses similar wiring harnesses for both one-satellite and two-
satellite launches.  Its first mission, fully successful, deployed two
satellites.  When it came time to set up software and wiring for the
one-satellite Intelsat mission, the software people found it most
convenient to treat a single payload as the forward of two, while the
hardware engineers found that using the aft-payload wiring harness
was preferable.  So the software sent a deploy-forward-payload signal,
and got no response.  The hardware people were supposed to communicate
with the software people about the wiring revisions, and they thought
they had, but proper procedures weren't followed and the message did
not get through.  The same mixup has been found on the Commercial Titan
waiting to launch the next Intelsat VI, and it is being fixed.

Congressional subcommittee chairman says NASA should be ready for a FY1991
budget cut of $1-1.5G, there is no chance of multiyear funding for the
space station until it starts to show more stability, and advancing the
launch date of foreign station modules at the expense of US laboratory
operations is unacceptable.  Congress is also very skeptical about the
Moon/Mars initiatives and is likely to make cuts there.

The AFP-731 spysat launched by Atlantis in February appears to have failed.
Columbia carried a similar bird up in August, and it maneuvered about ten
days after launch.  At about the same point in the Atlantis bird's mission,
it broke into four pieces, two of which reentered quickly (the other two
are expected to reenter April-May).  DoD is being vague about what happened.
The Columbia payload seemed to encounter problems of its own later in its
mission -- it was tumbling for a while, although it later recovered -- so
the propulsion hardware may not be fully debugged yet.

USAF plans mid-April launch for several small research satellites using
an odd booster configuration:  an Atlas topped with a Scout fourth stage.
This particular Atlas has "slightly degraded performance" and is therefore
unsuitable for the heavier payloads Atlas is normally used for; it is one
of eight ex-ICBM Atlases still awaiting use as launchers.

Board of Contract Appeals overturns NASA's selection of Computer Sciences
Corp for software support at Ames Research Center, awarding the contract
instead to Sterling Federal Systems.  Sterling has had the software
contract at Ames for many years, and filed a protest after the award to
CSC.  The judge criticized NASA for its selection, and noted "deceptions"
in CSC's bid.

Uproar about EVA requirements for station maintenance.  [This was well
covered at the time it came up so I won't spend much time on it here.]
The need to reduce station EVA has been clear for a long time, but it
has always been assumed that relatively small design changes would be
sufficient, and this is still the working assumption.  The EVA committee
says it is disturbed to find no systematic approach to evaluating
reliability or failure rates, and notes that military-aircraft experience
indicates repairs typically take 2.3 times as long as they would under
ideal conditions.

ESA begins maneuvers to retarget Giotto for a flyby of comet Grigg-Skjellerup
in July 1992.  This will be accomplished mostly by an Earth gravity assist
this July.  Final go-ahead will depend on how much of Giotto's science gear
is still in working order; dust impacts at Halley are thought to have killed
about 50% of it.  Evaluation of damage will start mid-April.

Japan's Muses-A subsatellite enters lunar orbit March 19.

Assorted color pictures of Hubble being readied for launch.  [This is
another area where I'm going to skip over things lightly because it was
covered well at the time.]  Numerous fixed and improvements have been
made to HST during the post-Challenger delays, and indeed in retrospect
it is doubtful that HST could have been ready for launch in mid-1986.
--
If OSI is the answer, what is |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 May 90 07:15:15 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Manned mission to Venus

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jonathan A Bishop) writes:
>>On a side note, 9 months isn't all that bad.  Our forebears often survived
>>_years_ long trips on the sailing ships.  Often in cramped,dark,wet quarters.
>>On poor rations.  Under sadistic officers.  I think we could stand 9 months
>>in a space ship.  Even the Apollo's.
>
>     I'm not so sure.  In Apollo, the only private space available was in the
>LM tunnel.  That might be adequate for a week, but it would not be enough,
>IMHO, for 9 months...

Just how much private space do you think there was for common sailors on
an old-time sailing ship?

Admittedly, they did have a couple of advantages:  more room to move around,
and more company.  A dozen people is much better than three.
--
If OSI is the answer, what is |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 7 May 90 01:36:31 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Re: Dyson spheres?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Derek Bell) writes:
>        Sorry if this has already been answered, but wouldn't the
>presence of planets disrupt the orbits of the bodies making up the "shell"
>of the sphere? (Or do you take them apart too?) ...

Orbit perturbations would be a concern, although in practice one would
probably end up dismantling most of the planets for materials, so maybe
it wouldn't be a serious issue. :-)
--
If OSI is the answer, what is |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: Sun, 6 May 90 17:54 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (How to get rid of) space garbage

    My pet idea is to use a giant sponge.  Create a huge mylar baloon
    and fill it with foam.  Foams have very good energy absorbing
    properties (see the scientific american article on foams from last
    year).  If a huge foam disk were placed soon in the planned orbit
    of the space station, then all of the particles in orbits that are
    highly probable to hit the station would also be highly likely to
    hit the disk.  Certainly smaller particles like paint chips could
    be stopped this way.  Since these are also the most difficult to
    detect this scheme would work well in conjunction with others.

    An occational inspection would also provide good data on the sizes
    and energy densities of particles.

    Chris Eliot
    Umass/Amherst

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

Date: 6 May 90 21:40:22 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!quiche!calvin![e-mail]  (Mark SOKOLOWSKI)
Subject: Re: Manned mission to Venus


>"Cultural?" If the selection of target were ruled by a cultural point
>of view, it should be Mars. Remember Schiaparelli's and Lowell's
>'canals'? H.G.Wells' "War of the Worlds"? Orson Welles' broadcast in
>1938 that caused major panic in New England? The speculations
>of life forms that prompted researchers to include a life-detection
>experiment on the Viking landers? Venus may be the "TRUE twin" of Tellus
>mass-wise, but as far as the climate and possiblilty of life (as we
>know it, Captain :-), Mars is definitively closer.

When I was talking "cultural", I was talking about the soil composition,
landscape features, and gravity, which would make life on Venus so much
similar to those of Earth's. Of course, there`s this problem with
athmosphere, but don't forget too that Venusian air has simply kept all
its CO2 while on our planet it was trapped in the basaltic rocks. By the
way, some scientists (Carl Sagan, If I recall it well) have speculated
that 200 million years ago, Venus had bearable surface conditions with
liquid water... And that makes me want to go to this planet. Beside,
I think that we should have some change! After more than a century
of Mars! Mars! Mars! talk, I find the idea of going there boring. If
it's not more difficult than going onto the Moon, then it's surely
no more a new frontier. Let's have some real adventure!!! Some
real excitement!!! All of us know very well that if we build the damn
space station, and then build the (damn) moon colonies, nothing will
change for humanity! We will be 6, 7 or even 10 billion down here, and
they will be a hundred over there. Space is void, cold and cruel, so
why bother with some kind of timid actions... Von Braun wanted to send
a man to Mars in the 1980's!!!!! And that's when we needed to do it!!!
Now, we can simply add Mars on the list together with Neptune, Uranus and
Pluto. WE NEED HEROS, WE NEED EMOTIONS WITH PEOPLE THAT WON'T BOTHER
RISKING THEIR LIVES!!! (And not by pretending that space is now routine
and sending a teacher that wasn't informed that some joint in a booster
was terribly bad designed....). We don`t have to forget that SPACE IS A
SHOW. It should INSPIRE, GIVE EXAMPLES OF ACHIEVEMENT. I know enough on
the subject to tell you that it won't have another use for more centuries
I'm 20, and I surely won't be able to wait that long. Venus is hellish,
and those that will land there won't come back (the athmospheric pressure
is the same as that in the combustion chamber of a rocket engine, and
we need an Earth sized rocket to leave it...). So WHAT A SHOW WILL IT PUT
UP on all of us!!! Space technology is so inhuman, advanced, beyond the
reach of everyone (Except the few thousand involved in its use...), but
we don`t have to forget that it has ultimately to satisfy our EMOTIONS.
Why should I care about the inferno on Venus. What makes me love this
planet is its exotism, the beauty of its landsapes covered with redded
rocks, and the analogy with the Earth. Sometimes when I'm walking during
a very hot summer afternoon, I like to think that I am on Venus, that
I am closer to the sun and that Earth is far, far away... And that's
because it would be too so surrealistic to be there NOW!!!! Not after
tenth of year of carrefffulllll step by step coordinated effort. What
will our children say when they'll learn that it took us a hundred and
fifty year beyond schedule to go to Mars: What a bunch of @#$%^ chicken!!!
Kennedy wanted a man on the Moon in 10 years, and we will remember it
forever because it was done. Nobody cares about the lunar missions after
Apollo 11, nobody cares about Skylab, Mir. The only thing HUMANITY
remembers now is that a man was on the Moon. And it will never care about
Moon colonies and space stations because all of these are now banal things
for imagination. We have to be original, Venus is so terribly harsh, such
a strange and unknown place....

Mark S.
-------

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

Date: Sat, 5 May 90 17:02:37 EDT
From: Thomas Lapp <[e-mail]>
Subject: re: weather in VAB

> Date: Fri, 4 May 90 11:29:53 +0200
> From: [e-mail] (Daniel Fischer)
> Subject: 'Weather' in the VAB ?
> Cc: [e-mail]
>
> about most is this: ] The Vehicle Assembly Building at the KSC is so big
>           ] (isn't it the largest room ever built?) that inside they have
>           ] 'local weather'. So while the sun is shining over Florida, if
>           ] humidity is high enough, big clouds form under the ceiling.

When a relative of mine visited the Superdome in New Orleans, LA, she was
told two facts that stuck out in her mind and mine:  1. that the place
is big enough that a Cessna could circle inside the place (if it could get
in flying!) and 2. the ventilation system is an absolute necessity since
without it humidity could rise to the point when clouds would form in the
upper part of the building.

So your idea that the VAB has its own weather (and Henry's comments about
the ventilation system) make perfect sense to me.
                         - tom

--
internet     : mvac23![e-mail]  or  [e-mail]
uucp         : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas
Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1
Location: Newark, DE, USA
Quote   : The only way to win thermonuclear war is not to play.

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

Date: 6 May 90 20:04:51 GMT
From: uokmax!uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu![e-mail]  (Jonathan A Bishop)
Subject: Apollo 12


     Lately, I've been wondering something.  Why was the decision made to
launch Apollo 12 in a thunderstorm?  A Saturn V is probably the world's
biggest lightning rod; we seemed to be inviting a strike.  Was it the last
launch window for a month or something?
     (If anyone knows, try to reply on or before the 11th.  I won't be able
to use my account after that.)
--
[e-mail]

"I'm President of the United States and I'm NOT going to eat any more
broccoli!" -- George Bush

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

Date: 7 May 90 01:40:56 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Apollo 12

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jonathan A Bishop) writes:
>     Lately, I've been wondering something.  Why was the decision made to
>launch Apollo 12 in a thunderstorm?  A Saturn V is probably the world's
>biggest lightning rod; we seemed to be inviting a strike.  Was it the last
>launch window for a month or something?

The Apollo launch windows weren't unlimited, since the position of the Moon
mattered, but a quick look at the references suggests it was a combination
of overconfidence and lack of understanding of the extent to which a big
rocket could provoke lightning rather than just being a passive target.
The weather rules were tightened up afterward.
--
If OSI is the answer, what is |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the question?? -Rolf Nordhagen| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date:      Sun, 6 May 90 04:21:50 EST
From: John E Crocker <[e-mail]>
Subject:   HELP !!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to have to post this but I have no other alternitive.  I have tried
a signoff from every listserv I can find.  Please help me get off this list.
                                                   thanks


                               _--_         _--_
                              -   -         -   -
                              - _-          -   -
                               _-_-- ___----- --    ---   ---
                              - -  _-   -_  -   -  -  -  -   -
                             - -   -_   _-  -   - -    - -   -     _-
                            -_-      ---    -   ---     -     -----

                                     John E. Crocker

                                (Future System Programmer)

*************************************************************************
* Ignorance can be cured with knowledge, but stupidity is terminal      *
*************************************************************************
*  People are promoted until they reach their level of incompetence.    *
*************************************************************************
*  An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.    *
*************************************************************************
*  As usual, questions will be cheerfully ignored.   *    DILLIGAF      *
*************************************************************************
* The comments and or opinions expressed here are    * ADOJEC@SUVM      *
* expressly those of the writer and not necessarily  * JCROCKER@SUNRISE *
* that of the University.                            * JCROCKER@RODAN   *
*************************************************************************

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

Date: 6 May 90 06:06:51 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!mintaka!ogicse!cs.uoregon.edu!oregon!milton!blake![e-mail]  (William Lewis)
Subject: Re: Our galaxy

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Alan Hepburn) writes:
>     Actually, I think that referring to Earth as SOL-3 is more
>heliocentric than geocentric.  To be really detached, maybe we
>should refer to it on the basis of our position in the galaxy, or
>something along those lines.

  "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the
Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
  Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an
utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life
forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are
a pretty neat idea..."

   The _Guide_ refers to it most of the time as "the Galaxy", although
I'm not sure anyone would consider it a standard reference =8) For my part,
when I start addressing my mail to my cousin in the Snickers Galaxy, I'll
specify what I'm talking about, but "the Galaxy" will do for common use...


--
JESUS SAVES   |  [e-mail]       Seattle, Washington
but Clones 'R' Us makes backups!  |  47 41' 15" N   122 42' 58" W

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #367
*******************