Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V12_6/V12_627.ZIP/V12_627

Internet Message Format | 1991-06-28 | 17KB

Return-path: <[e-mail]>
X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
Received: from beak.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/[e-mail] (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests)
          ID </afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/Mailbox/sbLTpzq00VcJADgU5y>;
          Thu,  6 Dec 1990 03:12:49 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Precedence: junk
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Date: Thu,  6 Dec 1990 03:12:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #627

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 627

Today's Topics:
             space news from Oct 6 AW&ST
        Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle?
        Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle?
           Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space
           Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space
           Space Classroom for 11/26/90 (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: 4 Dec 90 02:59:45 GMT
From: van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST

Editorial urging NASA to decide what its priorities for the space station
are, rather than trying to keep everybody happy on a steadily shrinking
station... especially since the international "partners" are getting fed up.
The coincidence in timing with the Ulysses launch is noteworthy:  "The
12-year story of [Ulysses] is littered with broken US promises, including
eight changes in boosters, multiple launch postponements, and reneging on
a deal to build a companion US spacecraft.  Small wonder no one beyond its
borders seems to take US plans for a settlement on the Moon and trips to
Mars very seriously..."

*Another* engine fire in development work for the H-2 booster.

Investigation underway after 30kg work-platform support beam is left inside
Atlantis as the orbiter is moved to a vertical position Oct 3.  All the
paperwork indicated the beam had been removed.  [Isn't it wonderful how
much reliability NASA gains by having everything checked three times?]

Senate committee recommends killing the Milstar strategic comsat, saying
it is overdesigned against a diminishing threat of nuclear war and largely
useless for tactical purposes.

GAO finds that a NASA effort to get private industry involved in financing
space hardware scored six failures out of seven, and predictably so, because
the projects were too far along or had no commercial market.  This will
contribute to hard times for NASA, because its FY90-94 budgeting was based
on the assumption that this effort would succeed.  The only success out of
seven was private funding for the orbiter long-mission cryogenic fuel pallet.
The ASRM plant, a free-fall training pool, space station docking and tele-
robotic systems, space-station payload processing facilities, and some
instrument development for unmanned probes were the failures.

Images from the Soviet Almaz radarsat show clear pictures of the ocean
bottom hundreds of feet down, confirming (at greater depths and with better
resolution) the experience with Seasat in 1978.  The radar itself is not
penetrating, but currents and tides flowing over the bottom apparently tend
to make surface features reflect bottom features.  The big question is
whether submerged submarines leave similar traces.  Nobody is talking;
even when Seasat data was being analyzed, discussion of antisubmarine
applications was taboo.  Almaz is a prototype civilian remote-sensing
craft rather than a military program.  The Soviets say they have also
been able to see buried pipelines in the radar images, indicating some
limited ability to penetrate earth (another technology with military
applications, too...).  Almaz is a heavily modified Salyut space-station
core with long radar arrays along its sides.  Space Commerce Corp. of
Houston is marketing Almaz data worldwide, with launch of the first
operational Almaz set for Nov 25-31.  Two relay satellites for passing
the data to the control center in Moscow are already up.

Configuration for the X-30 selected:  basically a lifting body with small
wings and twin vertical stabilizers.  The crew are located in a blister
just aft of the nose, and at the moment have side-looking windows.  The
scramjet propulsion system will be augmented by a 50-75klb rocket engine,
for the final push into orbit, orbital maneuvering, and emergency propulsion
in the event of scramjet failure during tests.

SDI notifies Congress of plans to drastically cut funding for the ground-
based free-electron laser project, citing budget constraints.  Congressional
reaction is expected to be hostile, given the feeling there that SDIO is
increasingly sacrificing promising long-range projects in favor of more
money for the politically-doomed effort at near-term deployment.  [This
may not sound space-relevant, but the FEL is possibly the single best
laser for a laser launcher.]

Picture of the Soviet payload-return capsule incorporated in the modified
Progress freighter, slated for first use in November.

The Molniya Scientific and Industrial Enterprise is looking for partners
to develop a reusable suborbital spaceplane, capable of carrying 50 or so
passengers in a suborbital flight with altitude reaching 160km.

Pictures of the next two Mir modules, Spektr ("Optical") and Piroda,
respectively optical remote sensing and environmental monitoring, both
under construction for launch around a year from now.

NASA orders hiring freeze at space-station contractors, probably in
anticipation of Yet Another Redesign -- largely inevitable given the
likely budget cuts.

Planetary Soviety invitation-only meeting to "critique" the current space
station concludes that the current design is not viable even if nothing
goes wrong with the shuttle, citing persistent reliance on unrealistic
shuttle launch rates, inflexibility due to trying to meet too many users'
needs, and inadequate consideration of alternatives.  (On the other hand,
some of the attendees commented that the deck was stacked:  the choice
of participants seemed to be deliberately aimed at such a conclusion.)

Marshall is looking at the possibility of dividing the two big US modules
into four, making it possible to launch them fully equipped.

Station EVA needs seem to be under control, but many are unhappy about the
increased reliance on relatively inflexible remote-controlled devices, and
say that a high-pressure spacesuit would be a better approach.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 3 Dec 90 16:36:10 GMT
From: swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aristotle![e-mail]  (Eric Slimko)
Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle?

The following was mailed to me by [e-mail] (luke plaizier)
by accident.  He asked me to post it to the newsgroup, so here it is:

------

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

Date: Sun, 2 Dec 90 16:12:57 EST
From: [e-mail] (luke plaizier)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle?
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

     SSME Restartability was discussed here a few months back. Even though
the ignitors in each SSME are electrical (Draw your own parallel here with a
Spark Plug), the trouble is that they do have to be replaced. (Draw your own
parallel here with model rocket ignitors.....).

    There is trouble with fuel and oxidiser pooling in the external tank
and the trouble of starting the low and high pressure pumps when there is
the risk that the fuel may not pool at 17inch fuel line that connects the tank
to each SSME. Ever seen Joe Allen chase that orange blob around the cabin.

    I'd say there would be ways around this pooling, as the J-2 in the
Saturn V was electrically started twice (BUT TWICE ONLY) and the OMS system
somehow gets around it.
    The OMS engines, though, are hypergolic. Carrying extra fuel for those
engines could be another option, but then why carry SSME's all the way to the
moon and back when you don't use them?

    Also mentioned in another article was re-entry. Apollo was going damn
fast when it came back, believe you me.  [Mach 36, I believe - Eric Slimko]

    Luke.


--
Eric Slimko                |  Jet Propulsion Laboratories
[e-mail] |  NASA/CalTech

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 21:31:08 GMT
From: world!ksr![e-mail]  (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space

In article <[e-mail]>, coleman@sundae9 (Richard Coleman) writes:
>I don't think it was a bad idea.  Hasn't Senator Garn been
>a big supporter of the space program.

I'm sure he's been a big supporter of the part of the space program which
benefits Morton Thiokol, a major employer in his home state.
--
Chris Jones    [e-mail]    {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj

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

Date: 5 Dec 90 16:37:33 GMT
From: usc!samsung!rex!rouge![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: Re: Sending Sen. Garn into space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chris Jones) writes:

>I'm sure he's been a big supporter of the part of the space program which
>benefits Morton Thiokol, a major employer in his home state.

I have read elsewhere that he is.

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

Date: 4 Dec 90 23:56:39 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Space Classroom for 11/26/90 (Forwarded)

[This was delayed until I could figure out what to do with it.  Apologies
for the tardiness. -PEY]

                                                  November 26, 1990
                         "SPACE CLASSROOM
                      ASSIGNMENT: THE STARS"


BACKGROUND

     "Space Classroom" is a new NASA educational effort designed to
involve students and teachers in the excitement of Space Shuttle
science missions.  This new program joins an extensive collection
of educational programs being conducted by NASA that use the
agency's missions and unique facilities to help educators prepare
students to meet the nation's growing need for a globally
competitive workforce of skilled scientists and engineers.

     The first Space Classroom project, called Assignment: The
Stars, will capitalize on the December 1990 flight of Astro-1, a
Space Shuttle astronomy mission.  It is designed to spark the
interest of middle school students, encouraging them to pursue
studies in mathematics, science and technology.  It will offer
educators an alternative approach to teaching their students about
the electromagnetic spectrum -- a science concept that is required
instruction in many classrooms in the United States.

     Space Classroom, Assignment: The Stars, involves several
educational elements.  They include a lesson on the electro-
magnetic spectrum to be taught live by the Astro-1 crew from the
cabin of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the flight; a supporting
lesson to be taught from the Astro-1 control center in Huntsville,
Ala.; an Astro-1 teachers guide; an Astro-1 slide presentation; a
NASA educational satellite video conference this fall; and post-
flight video products suitable for classroom use.


THE EDUCATIONAL ELEMENTS

A Lesson From Orbit

     The major component of Assignment: The Stars will be a lesson
taught by members of the Astro-1 science crew from the Space
Shuttle as they orbit the Earth during the mission.  This 15-20
minute presentation will focus on the electromagnetic spectrum and
its relationship to the high-energy astronomy mission.

     The crew presentation will be followed by demonstrations and
discussions of the concepts introduced by the crew from a classroom
in the Astro-1 control center at Marshall Space Flight Center.

     The lesson will conclude with an opportunity for some students
participating in the lesson from Marshall and students at Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., to ask questions of the crew
in orbit.  Students at both centers will participate in additional
workshops, tours and laboratory sessions.

     The lesson by the crew, the follow-up lesson from the Astro-1
control center, and the question-answer session will be carried
live on NASA Select TV, Satcom satellite F2R, transponder 13, 3960
megahertz, 72 degrees West longitude.  NASA Select will carry
continuous programming of all mission events as well.

     The lesson is tentatively scheduled for the fifth day of the
mission.  However, because launch dates and the actual lesson date
and time are subject to change, teachers may want to arrange to
video tape the lesson off NASA Select subsequent classroom use.
Many local cable companies carry NASA Select TV coverage of
missions.  Teachers may wish to check this possible resource if
they do not have access to satellite receivers.  All NASA Select
mission programming may be used freely for non-commercial purposes.

     In the winter of 1991, tapes of the lesson will available for
a small fee from NASA CORE, Lorain County Joint Vocational School,
15181 Route 58 South, Oberlin, Ohio, 44074, phone: [phone].

A Guide For Teachers

     Seeing in a New Light, the Astro-1 teachers guide with
activities, is a practical source of lesson plans and student
activities on the electromagnetic spectrum.  Intended for middle
school use, the concepts range in difficulty from basic instruction
on the electromagnetic spectrum to information on interesting
astronomical objects and telescopes.  The guide is interdiscipli-
nary, with projects in math, literature, social studies and art and
is easily reproduced for individual and small-group assignments.

     The teachers guide is available at no charge from all NASA
Teacher Resource Centers.

A Slide Presentation

     Astro-1: Seeing the Hidden Cosmos slide presentation, is a
scripted set of 24 slides.  The presentation describes the Astro-1
mission and basic concepts on the electromagnetic spectrum and
astronomy.  The slides include X-ray, ultraviolet, visible and
infrared images of interesting astronomical objects.

     Reproductions of the slide set and script are available from
NASA CORE or by visiting one of NASA's Teacher Resource Centers.


A Pre-flight Videoconference

     A NASA Educational Satellite Video Conference on the Astro-1
mission science is scheduled for Nov. 27, 1990.  The interactive
conference will feature NASA scientists and specialists in
aerospace education and will be broadcast by satellite.

     Further information is available from Videoconference Series,
Aerospace Education Services Program, Oklahoma State University,
300 North Cordell, Stillwater, OK, 74078-0422, phone: (405) 744-
8131.

An Experiment in Amateur Radio

     The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX-II) is another
element of the Astro-1 mission that offers educational value.
Payload Specialist Dr. Ron Parise, a Spacelab science astronaut,
will use a ham radio aboard the Shuttle to communicate with amateur
radio operators on Earth.  Parise's call sign is WA4SIR.

     Additional information is contained in Amateur Radio in Space,
NASA EB-89-1, available from NASA Spacelink or from a NASA Teacher
Resource Center.


KEEPING CURRENT

NASA Spacelink

     NASA Spacelink is a computerized information service for
educators.  It is accessible from most computers through a modem by
dialing [phone].  It includes a variety of information and
educational materials on the Astro-1 mission.  During the flight,
it will be updated daily.

     Spacelink information can be obtained by writing the Spacelink
Administrator, Mail Code CA20, Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala., 35812, or by phoning [phone].  Spacelink
is a free service, but your telephone company makes normal charges
for the long distance call.

Telephone Hotline

     Beginning approximately 1 week before launch, Astro-1 Update,
a recorded bulletin on the status of the Astro-1 mission, and Space
Classroom, will be available by dialing [phone].

Today in Space

     Although not an element of the Space Classroom program, NASA
will air a half-hour daily summary of Astro-1 mission activities at
approximately 2:30 p.m. CDT on NASA Select during the mission.
Teachers may wish to record and view the program as a source of up-
to-date information on mission progress.

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #627
*******************