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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #400

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 400

Today's Topics:
             Toward 2001 - 08 Apr
            Re: Launch Technology
                 anniversary
                Teflon spinoff
           Re: ADMIN: Reliability question
                Mars?
      Re: spacesuits (Was: Re: HST in-orbit Maintenance)
        Re: comsat cancellations and lawsuits
             Re: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT
               MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT

Administrivia:

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

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

Date: 12 Apr 91 06:07:59 GMT
From: cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!pitt!nss![e-mail]  (Bev Freed)
Subject: Toward 2001 - 08 Apr


                            ***********
                            TOWARD 2001
                            ***********
                       Week of 08 April 1991
                 A Weekly Feature of SPACE CALENDAR
                   + = Domestic (USA) Earth event
                   * = Domestic (USA) space event
                   o = International Earth event
                   # = International space event
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                        REPRINT INFORMATION
This information is reproduced by permission of the Space Age
Publishing Company.  All rights reserved.  Copyright April 8
1991.  Reproduction in any form without written permission violates
federal statute with penalty of up to $50,000.  SPACE CALENDAR is
edited and published on the Big `Space' Island of Hawaii.
====================================================================
                           * * * * * * *
o Long March 2E Upper Stage
Beijing, China

China Great Wall Industry Corp is working on a solid rocket perigee
kick motor that will lift 3,330 kg to GEO; to reach the market in
late 1992.
                           * * * * * * *
+ Space Industries International
Houston TX

Dr Joseph Allen will act as President and Chief Executive Officer of
SII following Dr Maxime A Faget's assumption of duties as Chairman
of the Board. Allen is also a member of the Board.
                           * * * * * * *
o Space Station Freedom / Paris Air Show
Le Bourget, France

NASA will make the International Space Station the centerpiece of
its display at the 39th Paris Air Show 13-23 June. A full-scale
mock-up will denote both habitat and laboratory facilities in one
unit.
                           * * * * * * *
o Korea Telecom
Seoul

The state-owned telecommunications company will accept proposals
next week on a two-satellite system to begin operating by 1995.
Foreign firms will team with Korean industry.
                           * * * * * * *
+ Consortium of Small Satellite Constructors and Service Providers
Warwick NY

The group of entrepreneurs intends to sell data relay services using
spacecraft based on Soviet military comsats. In all, a constellation
of 24 550-lb satellites is envisioned, with the first 6 slated for a
1993 Soviet launch.
                           * * * * * * *
o Mir 1 Mock-Up for Sale
Moscow USSR

Space Commerce Corp president Bill Wirin told Space Calendar the
USSR wants to sell its full-sized, equipped replica of the Mir 1
space station at the end of the Paris Air Show in June for US$10
million.
                           * * * * * * *
+ Lunar Astronomy / NRC
Washington DC

John Bahcall, chairman of the NRC's Astronomy and Astrophysics
Survey Committee, acknowledged on 19 March that the Moon "is a
wonderful place for astronomy." His committee found, however, that
"there were no projects of fundamental importance that needed to be
done from the Moon" before 2010.
                           * * * * * * *
# Canada's Anik-E2
GeoTransfer Orbit

Is moving toward its geostationary position at 107.3 degrees W if 4
April launch aboard an Ariane 44P rocket was on time and successful.
The launch was the first flight of the AR 44P, which uses four
strap-on solid rocket boosters.
                           * * * * * * *
+ General Dynamics
Cape Canaveral AFS FL

Engineers and technicians are preparing an Atlas 1 rocket for the
company's first commercial flight of 1991 -- launching Japan's BS-
3H, a 2,940 lb direct broadcast satellite. The company recently
reiterated its intention to stay "in the business for the long run.
We are in it for keeps."
                           * * * * * * *
+ Lunar Footnote (Statistic)

6,689 Days Since Moon last visited by humans.
                           * * * * * * *
o International Space Year 1992 (Quote)

      The most important policy objective of the ISY . . . is
  to instill a new Space Age frame of reference in the thoughts and
               actions of governments and individuals."
                  -- The late U S Senator Spark M Matsunaga, Hawaii
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====================================================================


--- Opus-CBCS 1.14
 * Origin: NSS BBS - Ad Astra! [phone] *HST* (1:129/104.0)
--
Bev Freed - via FidoNet node 1:129/104
UUCP: ...!pitt!nss!freed
INTERNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 12 Apr 91 11:34:47 GMT
From: world!ksr![e-mail]  (Chris Jones)
Subject: Re: Launch Technology

In article <[e-mail]>, Bruce_Dunn@mindlink (Bruce Dunn) writes:
[...]
>In considering first stage launchers, the choice generally seems to have
>settled down to three systems: solid fuel, RP-1 and O2, and some form of
>hydrazine burned with N2O4.

This is generally true, though, depending on what you call the first stage,
both the shuttle and Energia have H2 and O2 first stages.  (Actually, since in
both cases the strap-ons (solid for shuttle, kerosene and O2 for Energia) drop
off first, it could be argued that it's the *second* stage that's H2 and O2.)

The Soviets say that the Sputnik launcher (still in use today as the first two
stages of the Soyuz and Molniya boosters) is powered by kerosene and O2.  I
don't know whether this is really plain old kerosene or their RP-1 equivalent,
but the difference probably isn't that great.
--
Chris Jones    [e-mail]    {uunet,harvard,world}!ksr!clj

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

Date: 12 Apr 91 19:51:35 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: anniversary

Lest we forget, today is the 20th anniversary of the first man in space.
--
And the bean-counter replied,           | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
"beans are more important".             |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 17:39:37 PDT
From: fermat![e-mail] (Richard Schroeppel)
Subject: Teflon spinoff


[e-mail]  (Phil OKunewick) writes

>   Teflon probably wouldn't even have been invented if NASA hadn't
 needed a slippery, heat-resistant, abrasion-resistant, non-conductive
 material.  Matter of fact, the government spending millions of dollars
 to develop a non-stick frying pan would most likely have been labeled
 a huge waste of taxpayers money; thus the program would have probably
 been killed after a few million had been spent, but before there were
 any usable results.  But once the material was developed, it became
 clear that the uses for this stuff were endless.

Teflon was discovered in the late 1940s; I remember reading about it
in a 1950 vintage Astounding (in the hard science section).  I don't
remember reading about non-stick frying pans, but the advantages of
low-friction corrosion&chemical-resistant coatings were obvious to
anyone who worked with machinery.  (This was back when it was still
legal to tune your own car engine, and lots of people knew about gears
and pumps and moving parts and friction.)

Rich Schroeppel                                       [e-mail]

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

X-Delivery-Notice:  SMTP MAIL FROM does not correspond to sender.
Date:    Fri, 12 Apr 91 01:47 CDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: ADMIN: Reliability question

Todd

How does subscribers of Space Digest sign-off
temporarily during a long vacation??

Thanx,

Rudi Padilla <a02rrp1@niu>

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

Date: 11 Apr 91 13:48:16 GMT
From: eru!hagbard!sunic!news.funet.fi!fuug!casino!p0.f310.n222.z2.FIDONET.ORG![e-mail]  (Charles Meyer)
Subject: Mars?

Just wondering when the human race gonna stop this self-killing and
reach the planet Mars?

-"Where no man has gone before..."



--
Charles Meyer - via FidoNet node 2:220/801
UUCP: ...!fuug!casino!222!310.0!Charles.Meyer
INTERNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: 12 Apr 91 20:53:17 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: spacesuits (Was: Re: HST in-orbit Maintenance)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (George William Herbert) writes:
>>At least one SF writer (Jerry Pournelle) has postulated spacesuits
>>made from thin, flexible, elastic material, rather like the neoprene
>>used in wetsuits.  Cooling would be by sweating through the suit
>>itself ...
>Such suits are being developed.  Major known problems include:
>    Wierd joint bending characteristics in skin-tight membranes
>    Problems with solar heating
>Gore-Tex won't work, it doesn't retain pressure...

The sort of suit Pournelle was alluding to -- the "Space Activity Suit" --
doesn't retain pressure at all.  The suit provides mechanical support only;
the skin is in vacuum, and is itself the pressure membrane.  Before jumping
up with theoretical explanations of why this cannot work satisfactorily,
note that vacuum-chamber tests have proven that it can and does.  See
NASA CR-1892, "Development of a Space Activity Suit", by James Annis and
Paul Webb.  The SAS concept *does* have some unsolved engineering problems,
but the basic notion is workable.  Alas, such suits are *not* being
developed; as far as I know, nobody has pursued the idea since the original
Annis/Webb study, which was 15+ years ago.

>    You're memory/information is pretty close, most of the bulk in the
>suit proper is insulation (which doubles as armour for impacts/abraisons).

However, this bulk would be a whole lot more manageable if it didn't also
have to support a pressure membrane.  For example, the joints could use
overlapping segments, sliding over each other, rather than having to be
one stiff piece.  The SAS would need insulation and armor just as much as
the current suits do, but this could be a non-pressurized non-airtight
overgarment.  (In fact, it is important that it not be airtight, since
SAS cooling is by sweating into vacuum.)
--
And the bean-counter replied,           | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
"beans are more important".             |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 11 Apr 91 00:10:19 GMT
From: hub.ucsb.edu!ucsbuxa![e-mail]  (Charles Frank Radley)
Subject: Re: comsat cancellations and lawsuits



Intelsat is suing Martin Marrietta for the launch vehicle
failure which suggest the bird was not insured (?) which
suggests it is still owned by Intelsat.
  The Palapa and Westar birds recovered were owned by their
insurers, even though they were still useable, and at least one
is now in orbit being used...

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

Date: 12 Apr 91 18:09:12 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Lawrence Curcio)
Subject: Re: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT

I'm sending this from my bomb shelter through TEMPEST-hardened feed lines.
PLEASE let me know when it's safe to come out! I have only so much tuna fish
down here! ;-)

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

Date: Fri, 12 Apr 91 01:50:42 MDT
From: oler <@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU:[e-mail]> (CARY OLER)
Subject: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT
X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"[e-mail]"

                        --  MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT  --

                                APRIL 11, 1991

                              Flare Event Summary
                          Potential Impact Assessment


                                    --------



MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY

     A major high-level M-class flare occurred today.  The event began at
11:03 UT, peaked at an x-ray intensity of M9.5 at 11:17 UT and ended at 12:01
UT on 11 April.  The event was accompanied by a 990 sfu tenflare and
moderately strong radio bursts at other frequencies.  No sweeps were observed
from this event.

     An optical confirmation of this flare was not possible due to poor
seeing conditions at all active optical observatories.  However, one report
was received from an observatory which was able to spot a bright surge
from Region 6583 (now at N09E60) sometime after the event.  This leads us to
believe that the flare probably originated from this region.  The fact that
Region 6583 produced a class M4.9/1B long-duration event earlier in the day
(peaking at 06:18 UT) would support this assumption.

     Surging on the northeast limb is being observed now.  Additional
activity appears to be ready to rotate into view.  Region 6555 (which will
return to view in the southeastern quadrant) is also due within the next 48
hours.

     The background x-ray flux has increased to a class C2.0 level as of 11
April, and is expected to remain near or above the C2.0 level throughout the
next week.  The solar flux is also climbing, as is the sunspot number.


POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

     Todays major flare will not have a terrestrial impact.  Region 6583 is
continuing to grow and develope, and may become capable of producing more
frequent major flares.  At the present time, it is difficult to determine
whether this region will continue to produce major flaring.  It is still too
close to the eastern limb to obtain reliable magnetic imaging information.
This region could produce another major flare, although we believe major
flaring likely will not occur for another 24 to 48 hours.

     A POTENTIAL MAJOR FLARE WARNING has been issued.  Although major flaring
is not expected to occur for at least another 24 to 48 hours, major flares
could be observed periodically over the next week or two.  This contradicts
the most recent STFR forecast, which was released prior to the recent
developments.

The following Warning has been issued as of 11 April:

   - POTENTIAL MAJOR SOLAR FLARE WARNING

Aside from this most recent major flare alert, there are no other alerts
in progress at the present time.


**  End of Alert  **

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #400
*******************