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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #596

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 596

Today's Topics:
               Re: MIR broken?
         NASA Headline News for 11/20/90 (Forwarded)
          Re: ELV Support to Space Station (1 of 2)
           Re: Apollo LightCraft and Lasers
          Re: Recent DoD Space System Cost Data ...
               Russia and Mars?
         NASA Headline News for 11/15/90 (Forwarded)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
             [e-mail]

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

Date: 27 Nov 90 18:50:17 GMT
From: shlump.nac.dec.com!star.dec.com![e-mail]  (Gary Hughes - VMS Development)
Subject: Re: MIR broken?


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Richard Schroeppel) writes...
>I was talking to someone who works on Fred design at a Thanksgiving dinner.
>He claimed that MIR is sufficiently disabled that it should be regarded
>as broken: that the damaged air-lock hinges -> they can't pressurize the
>main large module -> they must wear suits in this module, which prevents
>their accomplishing useful work; and that the remaining two pressurized
>modules were disconnected, and going from one to the other required a suit,
>and probably used up a lot of air every time they opened a door.
>
Well, he must have a unique source of information.

From my reading of 'Spaceflight' etc, they cannot close the outer hatch on the
large airlock on the Kvant-2 module (from memory, it definitely one of the
expansion modules). This means that they effectively cannot use this airlock
(without depressurizing the Kvant-2 module) which restricts their EVA activity
somewhat. It may also impact their use of their MMU.

It does not affect the presure integrity of the main module, or any of the
expansion modules. Even the main body of the Kvant-2 is useable, and there are
other airlocks on Mir.

I believe they are sending up replacement parts in the next Progress-M. Or they
already have.

gary
hughes @star.dec.com

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

Date: 29 Nov 90 21:32:51 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 11/20/90 (Forwarded)


             Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA
Headquarters

  Tuesday, November 20, 1990    Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, November 20, 1990

Atlantis is still in orbit, doing fine as is its crew.  There are
enough expendables onboard to support orbital operations
through Thursday.  With just 90 seconds left before loss-of-
signal and less than four minutes to go to the scheduled deorbit
maneuver, which would have put Atlantis down at Edwards Air
Force Base yesterday afternoon at 5:25 pm EST, Johnson Space
Center mission controllers waived STS-38 off.

The moderate media drama which this created was caused by
shifting winds at EAFB which created a no-go landing
condition for all runways due to unacceptable crosswinds.  The
winds preceded a strong front which moved through the
Southern California area last evening and which is continuing to
cause no-go conditions for an Edwards landing today.
Predicted Edwards weather today calls for winds out of
the NE at 15 knots with gusts to 25 knots.  Weather predictions
for the Kennedy Space Center area call for light winds with
scattered clouds at 4,000 and 30,000 feet.

JSC flight management is watching the weather situation very
carefully and is prepared to have the STS-38 Atlantis crew try
for any of three possible landing opportunities at
Edwards today.  They are:
    1) Deorbit on REV 79 at 3:37 pm EST with landing at EAFB
at 4:35 pm;
    2) Deorbit on REV 80 at 5:12 pm EST with landing at EAFB
at 6:09 pm; and
    3) Deorbit on REV 81 at 6:47 pm EST with landing at EAFB
at 7:43 pm.
There is also one landing opportunity for Kennedy Space Center
on REV 79 at 3:46 pm EST with a landing at 4:43 pm.

Meanwhile at launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center,
tankers are delivering to the pair of large storage spheres the
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants which will be
used to fill Columbia's external tank for the STS-35 mission.  On
the fixed service structure, the orbiter mid-body umbilical will
be connected today and leak checked.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Marshall Space Flight Center officials recently hosted a
tour of the Center for a group of international journalists.
The group included reporters from Bulgaria, Singapore,
Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Bophuthatswana, Zimbabwe,
Denmark, South Africa, Canada, Portugal, USSR, and Norway
who were visiting on a tour organized by CNN.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The second NASA Educators Videoconference, produced for
NASA Headquarters by Oklahoma State University, will be held
on Tuesday, Nov. 27.  The program topic will be the Astro-1
astronomy mission.  A portion of the program will originate
from Marshall's Payload Operations Control Center.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Carl McNair, brother of 51-L astronaut Ron McNair, is
working with a number of Atlanta area schools on several
science and math education initiatives.  Marshall center
education staff have been assisting in his efforts.


Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Tuesday, 11/20/90
    1:00 pm    **Augustine Group meeting from George
Washington University, Washington, DC.




All events and times may change without notice.  This report is
filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a
service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA
Headquarters.  Contact:  CREDMOND on NASAmail or at
202/453-8425.


NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72
degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.

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

Date: 29 Nov 90 15:00:09 GMT
From: sumax!amc-gw!thebes!polari![e-mail]  (Charles Radley)
Subject: Re: ELV Support to Space Station (1 of 2)


+ My guesses: If, at the moment it is dropped, the velocity of the
+spanner wrt station is at rightangles (either plane) to the orbital
+ velocity of the station, then spanner and station should meet twice
+ per orbit.  Parallel velocities and the spanner will move in or out
+ and they won't meet.  Inbetween, interpolate!  Max collision velocity:
+ (2x?) spanners' initial speed wrt station (i.e. very slow, as orbital
+ collisions go).
-
No they would not meet twice per orbit, because they would have
different orbital periods.   Ignoring regression, they would pass
through the same points in space twice per orbit, but at different
times.  In practise, objects orbiting at different altitude
experience nodal regression at different rates, so as soon as the
spanner is dropped, the planes of the orbits of the spanner and
station will diverge.  In order to collide, many orbits would have to
occur such that both objects arrive at the intersection at the same
time, and that  in turn must coincide with a moment where regression
has caused both orbital planes to become coincincident.  Therefore
the chances of them meeting during a 30 year station life are
negligible.

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

Date: 26 Nov 90 20:50:26 GMT
From: rochester![e-mail]  (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Apollo LightCraft and Lasers

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>Since lasers are inefficient, you will need several gigawatts of power.
>Your local power company simply won't sell you that much.  They don't
>have that kind of capacity lying around, especially when you want it in
>bursts of a few minutes at random times.  You will have to build your
>own power plant, and it will be among the world's biggest.

Henry, you know better than that. The most economical source of
electrical power to for delivery over a period of minutes is a stack
of lead-acid batteries (granted, a sizeable stack in this case).  The
utility would be happy to sell you a few tens of megawatts of power to
charge your batteries so you could launch one payload per day.  One
need not generate one's own power.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: 26 Nov 90 12:05:50 GMT
From: swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink![e-mail]  (Bruce Dunn)
Subject: Re: Recent DoD Space System Cost Data ...

> [e-mail] writes:
> Person: Glenn A. Serre
>
> In article <[e-mail]>
> [e-mail] (Wales Larrison) writes:
>
> >...  The IUS (Inertial Upper Stage),
> >which has had a troubled cost history, is very expensive - costing
> >about 5 X the cost of at least one satellite it deploys (the DSP).
>
> Shouldn't be too suprising, it's built using the standard government
> acquisition process (I think, corrections are welcome).
>


     What is particularly ironic is that the "Inertial Upper Stage" initially
had a different name - the "Interim Upper Stage".  When initially conceived, it
was a stopgap, quick and dirty solid fuel booster to be used only until proper
liquid fueled orbital transfer vehicles were built.  When plans for the latter
were dropped, the name was changed to "Inertial" because the stage was no
longer "Interim" and they wanted to leave the acronym "IUS" unchanged.
--
Bruce Dunn   Vancouver, Canada    [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 Nov 90 05:38:16 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!noc.MR.NET!nic.stolaf.edu!thor.acc.stolaf.edu![e-mail]  (Thomas Raich)
Subject: Russia and Mars?

Well, what is know about these craft? The one at Mars, what is it doing,
what is it's mission and has anyone besides the USSR seen some of the
returned matherial, are they sharing?
What happened to the other craft?  Is there a better idea of the
error than what I have said?

Any info would be appreciated.  I will summarize and post to the net or send to intested parties.

Thanks for your time,
Thomas


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thomas R. Raich                      It's what you
Microcomputer Coordinator/              do with the beans
User Services                                that counts...
Academic Computer Center                      --Jack
St.Olaf College
    Internet:    [e-mail]
    Applelink:   UO691
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
            1. PV = NRT
            2. F = MA
            3. You cant push on a rope.
Learn any two of the three and get your college degree.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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

Date: 29 Nov 90 20:42:25 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 11/15/90 (Forwarded)


             Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA
Headquarters

  Thursday, November 15, 1990    Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Thursday, November 15, 1990

The countdown for the launch of STS-38 continues to go
smoothly.  No hardware anomalies have been reported and
presently there are no constraints to tanking operations.
However, weather at launch time remains somewhat of a
concern.  A high pressure area over the Carolinas is pushing
easterly winds and stratocumulus clouds across the Florida
peninsula.  The principal concerns are scattered to broken clouds
at the 4,000 to 7,000 foot level in the area, and crosswinds which
might exceed 12 knots at the launch pad and the Shuttle
Landing Facility.  The probability of violating launch and
Return-to-Launch-Site abort constraints has risen from
yesterday's 40 percent to 60 percent today.  The prediction for a
24-hour launch delay calls for a probability of no more than 30
percent violation of launch or RTLS constraints.

Activities associated with the Columbia STS-35 Astro-1 mission
continue to progress smoothly.  Yesterday, orbiter operations
included topping off the hydrazine tanks for the onboard
auxiliary power units.  Also yesterday, Johnson and Marshall
Space center personnel participated in another joint integrated
simulation of the 10-day astronomy mission.  The Flight
Readiness Review for this mission is currently set for Tuesday,
Nov. 27, at the Kennedy Space Center.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Science instrument turn-on activities on the Ulysses spacecraft
will conclude this week, as the last of the nine experiments is
activated.  Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers executed
a pair of maneuvers yesterday which more precisely aimed
Ulysses' high gain antenna at Earth.  Starting today, the
spacecraft will begin to transmit its data on X-band.  The X-band
offers higher data transmission rates.

The flight control team has continued to analyze a slight wobble
which was noticed just after the deployment of the Ulysses axial
boom, nine days ago.  The analysis team is still considering
what, if any, corrective action to take.  As of yesterday, Ulysses
is 22 million miles from Earth moving outward at a heliocentric
velocity of 86,000 miles per hour.  This is about 26,000 mph
faster than Galileo at the current time.  Following the Earth 1
Gravity Assist Flyby, Saturday, Dec. 8, Galileo will be travelling
at about 72,000 mph relative to the Sun.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Magellan project officials will hold a mission news conference
tomorrow at 1:00 pm EST to discuss current spacecraft status
and recent science results.  A Venus radar image 3-D computer
animation sequence will be featured during the press briefing.
Project manager Anthony Spear, project scientist Dr. Stephen
Saunders, MIT scientists Dr. Gordon Pettengill and Dr. Sean
Solomon, and Washington University scientist Dr. Ray Arvidson
will participate.  The press briefing will be shown on NASA
Select TV.

Magellan, meanwhile, continues to perform well since its
mapping mission resumed last Saturday.  On Tuesday, flight
controllers transmitted a software patch to correct oscillation of
the onboard solar panels.  The new software patch corrects an
onboard computer conflict which was causing the oscillations.
Spacecraft performance analysis has indicated that there may be
some degradation in one track of the onboard A-side tape
recorder.  JPL is studying data management strategies which
would work around the use of that track.  Another problem with
timing, which affects pointing of the radar antenna beam, is also
being studied.  This timing problem may cause minor to
moderate image quality degradation, however the onboard
processor may be able to be compensate for it.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NASA has selected the principal investigators and science teams
for the Saturn Orbiter portion of the Cassini mission, scheduled
for launch in 1996.  The investigators come from 11 U.S.
universities, 3 NASA centers and 3 other U.S. laboratories, as
well as 13 foreign countries.  The Saturn Orbiter will include 62
investigations encompassing analysis of the structure and
composition of Saturn's atmosphere, the physical properties of
ring particles, a survey of moonlets within the rings, and a close
look at several moons.  The NASA centers are the Ames
Research Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.


Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Thursday, 11/15/90
    11:30 am    NASA Update will be transmitted.

    4:30 pm    **NASA Select will begin coverage of STS-38.



All events and times may change without notice.  This report is
filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a
service of Internal Communications Branch at NASA
Headquarters.  Contact:  CREDMOND on NASAmail or at
202/453-8425.


NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72
degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #596
*******************