Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V12_6/V12_655.ZIP/V12_655

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #655

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 655

Today's Topics:
              Voyager Update - 12/05/90
               Lookng ofr info on NASA
    Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [0400 CST] (Forwarded)
                 SPACE Digest
             space news from Oct 29 AW&ST
             Re: * SpaceNews 10-Dec-90 *
              Re: Another Russian first
            Need LANDSAT Imaging Software
         Re: Shuttle Status for 12/06/90 (Forwarded)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [1430 CST] (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]

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Date: 11 Dec 90 04:26:06 GMT
From: snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Voyager Update - 12/05/90


                        VOYAGER STATUS REPORT
                          December 5, 1990

                              Voyager 1

     The Voyager 1 spacecraft collected routine UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer)
data on sources HD 193322, HD206165, and HD217675.  On November 20 and 27, PWS
(Plasma Wave) data recorded on the DTR (Digital Tape Recorder) for future
playback.  Round trip light time is 12 hours, 14 minutes.

     TLC (Tracking Loop Capacitor) tests were performed on the spacecraft by
the 70 meter station in Spain on November 23 and November 27.

                              Voyager 2

     The Voyager 2 spacecraft collected routine UVS data on sources F7,
Mark 335, and 3C273.  On November 27 a frame of PWS data was recorded on the
DTR for future playback.  Round trip light time is 9 hours, 30 minutes.

    On November 19, TWNC was turned off so 3-way doppler could be accomplished
from the Goldstone 70 meter antenna to the 34 meter antenna in Australia.  On
November 20, one frame of high-rate PWS was recorded, DTR maintenance was
performed, science calibrations for PLS (Plasma), MAG (Magnetometer), and LECP
(Low Energy Charged Particles) instruments were completed, and 3-way was
collected at Australia and Spain.


               CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 12/05/90

P R O P E L L A N T    S T A T U S           P O W E R

          Consumption
            One Week Propellant Remaining Output Margin
Spacecraft    (Gm)            (Kg)        Watts  Watts

 Voyager 1     6         36.2 + 2.0        366    55
 Voyager 2     7         39.3 + 2.0        370    61

      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

ReSent-Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Resent-Date:  Tue, 11 Dec 90 11:42:51 EST
Resent-From: Harold Pritchett <[e-mail]>
Resent-To: Space discussion group <[e-mail]>
Date:     Sat,  8 Dec 90 15:56 CST
From: KURT MILES 329-7303 <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Lookng ofr info on NASA
Original_To:  BITNET%"space@uga"

My daughter is in the 6th grade and has a report due on Astronauts, (e.g.,
their training, their selection, the food they eat in space, etc... pick one
of the above.), or NASA.

I was hoping a few kind souls out in netland who work at NASA could help by
perhaps sending a paragraph or so on what they do at NASA, or on some aspect of
the astronaut program.

If one of the kindly readers is actually an astronaut themselves (i.e. any
catagory), a short note on your job would be really appreciated.  (short
paragraph or short note is only 4 or 5 lines)

Her name is ERIN MILES.

Please e-mail, as I do NOT read or subscribe to this discussion group.

Thanks for your time.

Kurt


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Greyman ------->   and the   <-----------DRAGON

                        Remember... Sometimes the DRAGON wins!!!
                                                  ------
kmiles@uokucsvx (bitnet)
[e-mail]  (internet)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Date: 11 Dec 90 17:05:02 GMT
From: sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!sialis!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]  (S Schaper)
Subject: Re: Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [0400 CST] (Forwarded)

A Smoke Ring!
 ?
**************************************************************************
Zeitgeist Busters!
UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, chinet, killer}!orbit!pnet51!schaper
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 12 Dec 90 11:46:58 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Andreas)
Subject: SPACE Digest

Interested.
Please send information about your mailing list.
Thanks.

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 07:38:19 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Oct 29 AW&ST

The cover story on this one is the X-30 design selection.  It's a slim
lifting body with very small delta wings far aft, a pair of vertical tails,
and a cockpit blister (with side-facing windows) near the nose.  Exact
size not yet set, expected to be 150-200ft long and 250-300klbs takeoff
weight.

The X-30's wing is mostly there as a mounting for control surfaces.  The
body size needed to provide inlet and exhaust aerodynamics for the
scramjets at high speed turned out to provide ample lift by itself.  Exact
control-surface layout is still being settled, as are the details of the
engines.  There will be a small rocket engine, 50-70klbs thrust, for
the final push into orbit, in-orbit maneuvering, and retrofire, and also
as a reserve propulsion system for safety during testing.  Early flights
will not have a go-around capability on landing, but this is just to go
easy on the large, fragile aircraft early on; later it will be possible.
[At one point there was a faction saying that go-arounds were unnecessary
and the X-30 should be planned around shuttle-style no-room-for-error
landings, but that idiotic idea seems to have died quietly, probably about
one minute after the pilots heard about it.]

Lots of X-30 coverage, much of it not very interesting.

X-30 flight-test planning is starting, particularly insofar as it affects
the aircraft design.  One big issue is windows:  the pilots, after some
limited-visibility tests at Dryden, badly want at least some direct view.
Hence the side windows.  Forward view is still being debated:  the engineers
like television-based systems, but the pilots are concerned about reliability
and time lag, and want to see something like a retracting periscope instead.
Escape systems are also uncertain; the current leading notion is to follow
the SR-71 and use high-performance ejection seats plus spacesuits.

Mir hatch-repair spacewalk set for Oct 19 postponed; Strekalov has a cold.

Picture of Boeing's concept of a "lunar utility vehicle", essentially the
Apollo rover upgraded for longer life, on-site maintenance, and modern
technology.

Atlantis clears its fueling test.

NTSB hands down recommendations concerning three near-misses between NASA
astronaut T-38s and airliners.  The astronauts are told to pay closer
attention to instructions and to write them down, the controllers are
told to be more on the ball, and NASA is urged to upgrade the 1960s-vintage
radios and other electronics of its trainers.  NASA says it is working on
the electronics upgrades already.

Antarctic ozone hole re-opens, worse than ever.  Satellite images.

NASA talks about ideas being worked on for shuttle upgrades.  Prominent
among them is a nine-screen "glass cockpit" closer to modern airliner
cockpit technology than the rather dated equipment the orbiters now have.
Another notion is using complex castings and plasma-spray technology to
build SSMEs with many fewer welds, significant because the welds are
tricky and hard to inspect; the SSME will probably get a bit heavier in
the process, although its performance may increase slightly to match.
The Hardware Interface Module which connects the launch processing system
to the ground-support equipment will be redesigned and replaced, cutting
costs because the current HIM design uses obsolete components that are
increasingly difficult to get.

Several other ideas, farther away, are also being looked at.  Replacing
the hydrazine-burning APUs in the SRBs with a solid-motor-gas-generator
design would eliminate one messy and hazardous subsystem.  Newer materials
in the orbiter's fuel cells could improve power output and extend life.
Modernizing the whole orbiter electrical system might be worthwhile.
And tests are being done to study using a lidar system to measure high-
altitude winds more quickly and more accurately than current systems,
giving better weather prediction for launches and reentries.

Picture of Rockwell's mockup of the cryogenic pallet, to be carried in
the orbiter cargo bay to extend fuel-cell power supply up to 16 days
on Columbia and Endeavour.  The first extended-duration flight is set
for March 1992, by Columbia.  Other changes needed include regenerative
carbon-dioxide removal, a better waste collector system, more nitrogen
tanks, and "crew cabin improvements".  Rockwell is funding the cryogenic-
pallet development temporarily, and will be reimbursed by NASA over the
next three years.  [Surprisingly brave of them, actually.]

Soviet space program currently faces uncertain prospects due to political
and economic upheaval.  A new space policy is needed.  The future of
Glavkosmos in particular is uncertain:  it was meant as the point of
contact for commercial space activity, but now the individual "companies"
are authorized to negotiate and sign their own deals.  The Intercosmos
program, providing low-cost flights for socialist nations, is also in
doubt, since the Soviet Union is going to be less willing to provide
free rides in future.  Its customers are also skeptical; Romania, for
example, says it benefited little from its 1981 cosmonaut flight, and is
much more interested in joining ESA.

The German space program is also facing some uncertainty due to the recent
reunification and the coming financial strains of modernizing East Germany.
One firm decision, though, is that the separate East and West German imaging
instruments being built for the Soviet 1994 Mars mission will be combined.

Soviets are modernizing their manned maneuvering unit for improved thrust
(needed for handling heavy components), better telemetry, and a remote-
control capability allowing the MMU to be controlled from Mir in an
emergency, e.g. incapacitated cosmonaut.

Letter from Rick Rezabek suggesting that ESA needs to step back and rethink
Hermes, since the recent inclusion of an expendable "resource module"
carrying several important systems indicates that Hermes is simply too
small to carry out its missions.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 15:13:58 GMT
From: pasteur!agate!bionet!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!tegra![e-mail]  (Johnathan Vail)
Subject: Re: * SpaceNews 10-Dec-90 *



Given these articles in SpaceNews:

    * SAREX NEWS *
    ==============
    Dr. Ron Parise, WA4SIR, has made hundreds of packet radio contacts with
    his Amateur Radio station on board the space shuttle Columbia.  Telephone
    bridges were set up to enable school children to talk with the latest
    ham in space.  Ron has also been making some voice contacts.  The primary
    downlink frequency for all SAREX operations has been 145.550 MHz.


    * MIR NEWS *
    ============
    Soyuz TM-11 has successfully docked with the Mir space station complex
    currently on Earth orbit.  The Soyuz spacecraft carried Soviet cosmonauts
    Musa Manarov, Viktor Afanasyev, and Japanese journalist Toyehiro Akiyama.

I was wondering: If there are hams in the shuttle and hams in Mir,
both running 2 meters, have there been any space-to-space (ham) QSO's?

I realize that the altitude of the orbits is not enough to provide
significant mutual windows but the shuttle and Mir do occasionally
pass close enough to see each other.  Last week I heard that they
passed within 30 miles of each other so it certainly is possible.

(maybe this time the Russians were too busy babysitting that whining
journalist...)


"Koukinaries"
 _____
|     | Johnathan Vail | [e-mail]
|Tegra| [phone] | N1DXG@448.625-(WorldNet)
 -----  [e-mail] {...sun!sunne ..uunet}!tegra!vail

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:28:15 GMT
From: mnetor!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Another Russian first

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glen Pill) writes:
>> Interesting to note that the Soviets have had a string of workable space
>> stations, while Skylab 2 is sitting inside of the National Air & Space Museum.
>
>I always thought skylab was splattered over Western Australia.

Skylab 1 got delivered to the Australians in pieces.  Skylab 2 is in the
NASM.  (Yes, there was a second one.)
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 10 Dec 90 04:19:17 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uniwa!vax7![e-mail]
Subject: Need LANDSAT Imaging Software


NEED CHEAP LANSAT IMAGING SOFTWARE!!!

I am posting as a request for a colleague who is looking for a software package
to display LANDSAT DATA on an Amiga 1000. I know of one package, called A-Image
but unfortunatly this package is way out of his budget (costing amout $2000 Aus)
He want to be able to display the raw data from the data files he has so any
suitable display package will do. PLEASE EMail me if you know of any such soft-
ware packages he could use.

            M.J. Lynch
            Curtin University of Technology
            Perth Western Australia.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:27:27 GMT
From: mnetor!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Status for 12/06/90 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve "il-Manhous" Norton) writes:
>So here's the $6e6 question for the day: What's going to happen to Astro
>when it gets back to Florida?  (Aside from some scientists cursing and
>screaming at the IPS electronics for a while :-) ) ...

After the cursing and screaming stops, it goes into storage in hopes that
there might someday be an Astro-2 mission after all.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

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

Date: 9 Dec 90 19:32:25 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/08/90 [1430 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #37
      2:30 p.m. CST, December 8, 1990
      6/00:00 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      The mood projected sheer delight as the Astro-1 operations and
      science teams gathered to report upon the mission's status and
      findings at the Spacelab Mission Operations Control in Huntsville,
      Alabama Saturday morning.

      Dr. Warren Moos, co-investigator of the Hopkins Ultraviolet
      Telescope was brimming with good news as he shared results from an
      earlier observation of Jupiter, one of the mission's most exciting
      targets.

      "We've had a very successful observation," said Moos as he described
      Jupiter's glowing plasma torus and its relation to the moon, Io.
      This data will help determine the important discoveries of oxygen
      and sulfur within the planet's atmosphere. "This information
      certainly shows the power of the Astro observatory."

      Moos further commented on the hard work and "can-do" attitude of the
      many people involved in the Astro mission. "What you're seeing is a
      bunch of people pulling together," said Moos as he referred to the
      Columbia crew and ground teams at the Johnson Space Center and the
      Marshall Space Flight Center. "They're thinking of ways out of
      problems and doing something about it."

      Dr. Francis Marshall of the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope science team
      also shared spectral results from the elliptical galaxy NGC1399. The
      BBXRT team hopes to determine how a hot gas "halo" was formed around
      the galaxy and the origins of a "dark mass" which expands its size.

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #655
*******************