Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V13_4/V13_416.ZIP/V13_416

Internet Message Format | 1991-06-28 | 16KB

Return-path: <[e-mail]>
X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
Received: from hogtown.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/0c2yHry00WBwQSW04w>;
          Wed, 17 Apr 91 02:02:32 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Precedence: junk
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 02:02:25 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #416

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 416

Today's Topics:
               Re: anniversary
      ADMIN: Postings from [e-mail]
                 Re: confused
              Re: lawsuits etc.
               interesting comets quote
          Conference Proceedings amiss - Help needed
               MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT
              Mylar, not Teflon
             Earth/Moon formation

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: 16 Apr 91 16:43:20 GMT
From: skipper![e-mail]  (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: anniversary

The following wandered by my screen:

   Henry Spencer (April 12, in sci.space):
   > Lest we forget, today is the 20th anniversary of the first man in space.

   Mark Earnshaw:
   > Oops, that should be the 30th anniversary...

   Henry Spencer:
   > Oops indeed.  30th it is.

It's also the 10th anniversary of the first Shuttle flight.

You'll be pleased to know that one of the STS-37 crew (the pilot or
one of the mission specialists, as I recall) mentioned the Russian
anniversary at the astronaut departure ceremony on Thursday.  Steve
Hawley, one of our deputy directors at Ames, and a former astronaut
mentioned the Shuttle anniversary.

We got a little cloisenne pin and a sticker too.  Kinda cute, if you're
in to spacy mementos.

--
Mary Shafer  [e-mail]  ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
           NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
                     Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot

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

Date: 17 Apr 91 01:14:56 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Todd L. Masco)
Subject: ADMIN: Postings from [e-mail]

Hello, all.

I just want to make it clear that postings that appears to be coming
from [e-mail] are really just the interaction
between a bad mailer and the gateway software;  they have nothing to
do with me or with cmu at all, except that they're routed through
[e-mail].

I hope to hunt down the exact problem soon, but...

(Actually, mail *never* originates from "space-request"; there is no
 such account.  It's a mail alias pointing to a mailbox.  Bad mailers
 interpret the reply-to: header as the from: field)

Just wanted to clarify this.

        -- Todd Masco
           Moderator/Maintainer SPACE {Magazine,Digest}

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

Date: 16 Apr 91 16:00:26 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!mips!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!pbs.org![e-mail]
Subject: Re: confused

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mary Shafer) writes:

> Boy are you confused.
What do you expect?  It hasn't been two weeks yet since we changed to Daylight
Savings Time and my biological clock needs about a fortnight to readjust. :-)

As a compromise when we fall back to Standard, let's just set the clocks back
30 minutes which would put the time half way between Daylight and Standard
and leave it there, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

(As a suggestion to someone looking for a reseasrch paper topic, why not look
to see if there is any evidence that the mortality rate jumps up a little
right after we fiddle with the clocks.  I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
Biological clocks are harder to reset than mechanical ones.)

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

Date: 16 Apr 91 16:17:25 GMT
From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!hellgate.utah.edu!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!pbs.org![e-mail]
Subject: Re: lawsuits etc.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
> Let us not forget that Challenger disrupted *one part* of NASA's launch
> capability, not all of it.  NASA still owned and ran expendable launchers
> at the time.  (In fact, it *still* owns some expendables -- Scouts --
> although I don't know of any specific plans to use them.)  "Best endeavours"
> could easily have included shifting the grounded payloads onto NASA-provided
> expendables.  In fact, that could have done wonders as a "launch order" (pun
> unintentional) for the US commercial launch industry.
>
1)  Unless the Scout, originally a sounding rocket launched from Wallops
Island, has been considerably upgraded, it does not have the lifting power to
get a Hughes comsat to the desired orbit.
2) NASA at the time did not have funds available to place the type of "launch
order" you are suggesting.  Beside, were not Martin Marrietta and General
Dynamics trying to get into the launch business on their own?  They could have
dealt directly with Hughes, bypassing NASA entirely, but the hold up was and
still is one of the Gov't Depts (Commerce and/or Transportation) requiring
regulations and paperwork that stiffle this effort.

It might indeed be better if NASA were a Cabinet Level Department in itself.
Of course a name change would be reguired.  Department of Aeronautics and
Astronautics?  Then instead of having to deal with Commerce, Transportation,
Defense etc.  It would all be handled by one department only - Aeronautics and
Astronautics or whatever you want to call it.

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

Date: 16 Apr 91 21:14:24 GMT
From: wuarchive!rex!rouge!pc.usl.edu![e-mail]  (Fraering Philip)
Subject: interesting comets quote

I thought the people on this group might find the
following interesting:



''The military engineers of the commision have taken upon their
shoulders the job of making the Mississippi over again - a job
transcended in size by only the original job of creating it. They are
building wing-dams here and there, to deflect the current; and dikes
to confine it in narrower bounds; and other dikes to make it stay
there; and for unnumbered miles along the Mississippi, they are
felling the timber front for fifty yards back, with the purpose of
shaving the bank down to low-water mark with the slant of a house
roof, and ballasting it with stones; and in many places they have
protected the wasting shores with rows of piles. One who knows the
Mississippi will promptly aver - not aloud, but to himself, that ten
thousand river commissions, with the mines of the world at their back,
cannot tame that lawless stream, cannot curb it or confine it, cannot
say to it, "Go here," or "Go there," and make it obey; cannot save a
shore which it has sentenced; cannot bar its path with an obstruction
which it will not tear down, dance over, and laugh at. But a discreet
nam will not put these things into spoken words; for the West Point
engineers have not their superiors anywhere; they know all that can be
known of their abstruse science; and so, since they conceive that they
can fetter and handcuff that river and boss him, it is but wisdom for
the unscientific man to keep still, lie low, and wait till they do it.
Captain Eads, with his jetties, has done a work at the mouth of the
Mississippi which seemed clearly impossible; so we do not feel full
confidence now to prophesy against like impossibilities. Otherwise one
would pipe out and say the commission might as well bully the comets
in their courses and undertake to make them behave, as try to bully
the Mississippi into right and reasonable conduct. `` - "Uncle
Mumford", as recorded in _Life on the Mississippi_ by Mark Twain.

Brought to you by:
Phil Fraering
[e-mail]
"The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extermes, in
which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself
of almost all sense and meaning." - Winston Churchill, _The Birth of
Britian_
"X-rays are a hoax." - Lord Kelvin

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

Date: 17 Apr 91 01:40:34 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!waikato.ac.nz!comp.vuw.ac.nz!matai.vuw.ac.nz![e-mail]
Subject: Conference Proceedings amiss - Help needed




Some two years ago, I attended a conference on Photoelectric
Photometry. The task of printing the proceedings was given to
Russ Genet's Tucson based Fairborn Press, with a promised
turn around of 4 months. The organisers are still waiting...

What they were wondering is : could some one please get in
touch with Genet and see what is going on? They are not getting
much joy out of the FAX machine, and would be most grateful
for any assistance on "local turf", so to speak. Fairborn
claims to have copies in hand, but queries asking for a FAX
of the title page have been in vain.

Any assistance from some one in Arizona would be greatly
appreciated. Dr Edwin Budding ([e-mail]) is
the editor of this production, to whom "solutions" should
be addressed.

In no way is this note intended as even an unintentional
slur on Fairborn Press, or anyone associated with it. This is
simply a query for help so that if progress is not being made
with the Proceedings due to other commitments or problems with
production, the fate of the papers can be decided before they
go stale.

The Conference was the "Blenheim Photoelectric Photometry (PEP-3)
Conference", held in New Zealand March 1989.

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 02:36:22 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 15, 1991

                              Flare Event Summary
                          Potential Impact Assessment


                                    --------



MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY

     New region 6593 spawned a high-level major M-class flare at 09:42 UT on
15 April.  The event was rated a class M9.8/2F flare, which was associated
with radio bursts of a fairly minor intensity.  The flare was located at
S11E70, within the confines of Region 6593, which is now located at S10E60 as
of 00:00 UT on 16 April.  This event endured 128 minutes, but was not
associated with any sweep frequency events.  The flare began at 09:32 UT,
peaked at 09:42 UT and ended at 11:41 UT on 15 April.

     Region 6593 is proving (so far) to be quite active.  It has spawned
three mid-to-high level minor M-class flares over the past 24 hours and is
visibly associated with strong Calcium emissions.  Magnetic complexity
appears to be quite impressive, although the region is still too near to the
limb to discern any great detail.  The group has been defined as a beta-delta
magnetic group existing in a DKO optical spot configuration.  It is of
moderately large size and encompasses a total of 25 visible spots (although
more spots almost certainly exist).

     Region 6583 continues as the most prominent and potent region visible on
the solar disk.  It still sports a beta-gamma-delta magnetic configuration
and could easily spawn a major flare anytime, although the recent inactivity
in the region may indicate that this group will remain predominantly dormant.
Nevertheless, it has the potential for producing a major energetic event.
This region has the capability of producing a proton flare.  A Potential
Satellite Proton Event Warning may be issued within the next 2 to 3 days if
this region becomes more active and/or complex.

     Region 6583 (N08E08) spawned a noteworthy class M3.9/1N flare which
began at 19:00 UT, peaked at 19:08 UT and ended at 19:51 UT on 15 April.
This event was associated with a moderate to high intensity HF SWF (Short
Wave Fade) which was observed over all of North America.  The event affected
frequencies up to 25 MHz.


POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

     The major class M9.8/2F flare will not produce a terrestrial impact.  It
will, however, remain capable of producing potentially frequent SID's/SWF's
over sunlit areas.  This region is also a strong candidate for further major
flaring.

     Geomagnetic activity never increased as was anticipated earlier this
week.  Conditions are presently quiet and stable.  Activity is expected to
increase to generally unsettled to active levels on 17 or 18 April due to
solar coronal hole effects.  Long-range predictions suggest that activity may
remain generally unsettled until after 26 April, particularly over the high
latitude and polar regions.

     HF propagation conditions are expected to peak over the next 24 to 48
hours.  Some degradation can be expected if the coronal effects increase
geomagnetic activity as predicted on 17/18 April.  Thereafter, HF propagation
conditions will remain near normal or slightly below normal (they are
currently above normal for all latitudes).

The following Warning is in effect:

   - POTENTIAL MAJOR SOLAR FLARE WARNING (PROTON FLARE POSSIBLE)

No alerts are presently in progress.


**  End of Alert  **

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

Date: 16 Apr 91 16:36:59 GMT
From: skipper![e-mail]  (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Mylar, not Teflon

I always thought the spinoff was Mylar, not Teflon.

Fresher potato chips from the Echo technology.

You do remember Echo, don't you?  Sitting out on the lawn just after
dark, watching it flash by?
--
Mary Shafer  [e-mail]  ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
           NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
                     Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot

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

Date: 16 Apr 91 21:29:19 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Phil OKunewick)
Subject: Earth/Moon formation


   Now, this is what I call a good spin-off from the space program,
specifically a factual(?) debate which started in the argument about
whether the space program had enough useful spinoffs.

   I don't have too many details about the moon samples brought back,
except: many date to 4.5 billion years ago, and are of composition very
similar to earth rocks that old.

   Several theories had been proposed about the earth/moon formation.
The capture theory is plausable, though highly unlikely.  In order for
the moon to have been captured, another massive celestial body would
have had to pass about the same time.  Chances of that happenning are
slim; chances of it causing this almost-round orbit are even slimmer.
The orbit also seems to follow the solar plane (unlike pluto); chances
of this occurring are slimmer still.  Throw in the moon samples, and
throw this theory out.  The earth and moon had to be related in creation.

   The moon-split-off-from-earth theory is more likely, though still
would probably require a celestial body passing.  Again, the orbit is
awfully circular, which I suspect is unlikely.  But this still doesn't
explain how the earth formed in the first place.

   My favorite theory is that there was a ring of dust/gas orbiting
the sun which had some eddys in it.  The matter in these eddys
collected more matter until they became solid objects (planets and
moons).  This allows for the rock to solidify around 4.5 billion years
ago, and assuming that this area of the oribiting dust ring contained
similar matter throughout, it allows for earth and moon rocks to be
the same composition.


   Now, my skills in geology are strictly ameteur.  Can anybody shed
more evidence/theories on this event?  How about why we never see the
back of the moon - what would cause the moon's mass to be that offset?

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #416
*******************