Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V15_1/V15NO120.ZIP/V15NO120

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 35KB

Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 05:00:04
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #120
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Tue, 18 Aug 92       Volume 15 : Issue 120

Today's Topics:
                 Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
              Beanstalks in Nevada Sky (was Re: Tethers)
              CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP
                Early Warning of missiles and meteors
          Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and... (2 msgs)
        GEO coverage, aurorae (was Re: SPS fouling astronomy)
                           He3 Power Source
                      Home made rockets (3 msgs)
                         Meteor Soaks Daytona
                             What is DCX

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
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    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 17 Aug 92 08:06:47 GMT
From: Larry Wall <[e-mail]>
Subject: Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,alt.hackers

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Bradford) writes:
: Archive-name: space-acronyms
:
: A&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics
: AAO: Anglo-Australian Observatory
: AAS: American Astronomical Society
and so on...

After looking cross-eyed at these acronyms a few too many times, I
decided to automate the process, in the spirit of "travesty".  Here are
the results of running a little program you'll find at the end of the
article on the aforementioned acronum list.  You can run the program as
many times as you like, and it'll spit out a different list each time.

Enjoy.

Larry Wall
[e-mail]

A&A: Array and Away
AAO: Abort-Air Organization
AAS: Astrophysical Air Special
AAVSO: Adaptation ASTRO of Venus Spatiales Orbiter
ACE: Astronautical Composition Explorer
ACRV: Advisory Committee Rescue Voltage (or) Airborne Commercial Replacement Vehicle
ADFRF: Astronomical-Disk Format Reduction FAQ (was DDCU) (NTT)
AGN: Altitude Giotto New
AGU: Astrophysical Gravity United
AIAA: Assembly Interchange of Air and Astrophysical
AIPS: Atmosphere InterGalactic Propulsion SpaceLab
AJ: Arm Jet
ALEXIS: Astronautics of Letter Extended X-ray Information Schmidt
ALPO: Auxiliary of Launch and Processing Opinion
ALS: Analysis Looking Simulator
ANSI: Aeronautics Noise Snapshot Imaging
AOA: Application Observatories Altimeter (Southern abort plan)
AOCS: Axial and Occultation Corporation Star
APM: Asteroid Pressure Monster (a.k.a. Coordinated)
APU: Astronomy Power Union
ARC: Atmospheric Remnant Control (NICMOS)
ARTEMIS: Abort Royal TEthered MISsile
ASA: Advanced States of the Astronomical
ASI: Atmosphere Swedish Inertial
ASRM: Augmentation Survey Review Monomethyl
ATDRS: Air Tube and Data Ray Small
ATLAS: American Launch for AIPS and SLS
ATM: Arm Tracking Molecular
ATO: Ames Tololo Orbiter (SAMPEX abort plan)
AU: Altitude Unusual
AURA: Ames of Ultraviolet for Rodents in Astronautical
AW&ST: American Week and Studies Tololo (a.k.a. AcronymsLaunch)
AXAF: AeroSpace X-ray ASTRO Force
Ap.J: Aviation Japanese
BATSE: Boundary Altimeter The Source Etude (on Corrective)
BBXRT: Boundary-By X-Return Transform (ASTRO package)
BEM: Burst-Explorer Mobility
BH: British Hydrogen
BIMA: Backscatter In Molecular Astronaut
BNSC: By Notices Stage Compact
BTW: Black Transfer WFPCII
C&T: Computer & Thermal
CCAFS: Consolidated Coupled Analysis Force Society
CCD: Cosmic-Control Data
CCDS: Compact for the Cretaceous DC of SSF
CD-ROM: Commercial Dextrous Reaction-Opinion Mapping
CFA: Cretaceous Fourier Assembly
CFC: CompactFlybyCoordinated
CFF: Canaveral Fred Facility
CFHT: Canada-Fast-Heliospheric Transform
CGRO: (Auxiliary Halley) Circumstellar Guide Rest Orbiter
CHARA: Cassegrain for Henry Application Robotic Administration
CIRRIS: Coordinated Institute Rest Intelligence for SSF
CIT: CGRO Interface Tank
CM: Cosmic Mean (Adaptation spacecraft)
CMCC: Cosmic My Circular Commercial (ESO)
CNES: Carrier National d'Energetic Smithsonian
CNO: Cosmic-Noise-Observatory
CNSR: ChloroFluoroCarbon N2 Source Russell
COBE: COmet Bug Energy
COMPTEL: COMPton TELevision (on C&T)
COSTAR: Cloud Object SuperSonic Technology Adaptation Rodents
CRAF: Circumstellar Robotic / Angular Freedom
CRRES: Complex Readiness / Reaction Engine Seen
CSM: Comet and Spaziale Meter (Administration spacecraft)
CSTC: Carbon Scintillation Telescope Centre (UGC)
CTIO: Compton Tended Infrared Opinion
DCX: Duration Communications eXavier
DDCU: Delta-to-Derived Composition Upper
DFRF: Device Fred Return France (now ADFRF)
DMSP: DFRF Monster Strategic Propulsion
DOD: Dryden Orbit Disturbance (sometimes DodDerived)
DOE: Duration Oceanic Excursion
DOT: Deep Ozone Technology
DSCS: DC SNR Committee Shuttle
DSN: Defense State Network
DSP: Disturbance Stellar Physics (USAF/NRO)
EAFB: ExtraTerrestrial Administration Flight Black
ECS: Expendable Cage Satellite
EDO: European Dark Organization
EGRET: Energetic Greenwich Remote Effects Test (on CGRO)
EJASA: Exposure Jet of the Attitude Star of the Acronym
ELV: Eyed LEM Vehicle
EMU: Energetic Manned Union
EOS: Extreme Oceanic Science
ERS: Exposure Rodent Science (as in ERS-1)
ESA: Expendable Speed Astronomy
ESO: European Spectroscopic Observer
ET: (Seen) Effects Transform
ETLA: Exploration Transport Little Australian
ETR: Extreme Thermal Radio
EUV: Earth UpperVLBA
EUVE: Electronic UniversitiesVehicle Effects
EVA: ExposureVariable Astronomie
FAQ: France Application Quasi
FAST: For Association SeenTES explorer
FFT: Fine Fading Test
FGS: Flying Green Servicer (on HLV)
FHST: Frequently High Space Telescope (on Hertzsprung)
FIR: Frequency ImageRemote
FITS: Fourier Intelligence Tertiary Schmidt
FOC: Far Optical C (on Hermes)
FOS: Flyer Observatory Spectrograph (on Henry)
FRR: FGS-Red Relay
FTP: Frequently Transient Phenomenon
FTS: Full Timing Systeme
FUSE: Frequently Universal Suit Effects
FWHM: Flexible Week at Hydrogen Missile
FYI: Far Year InfraRed
GAS: Green-Asked Sciences
GBT: General Bug Transport
GCVS: German Canada of Venus Size
GDS: Gravity Development Spot
GEM: Giant Explorers Mapping
GEO: Guide Extraterrestrial Organization
GHRS: Global Head Research Society (on HV)
GIF: Goddard Initiative Flyby
GLOMR: Greenwich Lunar-Oceanic Magellan Rescue
GMC: Green Multicolor Computer
GMRT: Great Medium-wave Ratio Television
GMT: Graphics Mission Test (also called USMP)
GOES: Gaseous Optical Energy Science
GOX: Get OXygen
GPC: Guide Pointing Corporation
GPS: Graphics Program Sample
GRO: Gravity Radiation Optics (now (Astro Hopkins) Center German Rest Only)
GRS: Geostationary Readiness Supernova
GSC: Great Southern Corporation (for HRI)
GSFC: Global Solar Fourier Committee (NSF)
GTO: Gaseous Tertiary Oxygen
HAO: Heavy Attitude Observers
HD: Half Dwarf catalog entry
HEAO: Head Extravehicular Astrophysics Optical
HF: Henry Fading
HGA: Heavy Geostationary Air
HLC: Humble List Commercial
HLV: Hermes Little Vandenberg
HMC: Hydrogen Management Catalog (on German)
HR: HST-Radiation (diagram)
HRI: Hawaii Revised InfraRed (on Release)
HSP: Hydrazine Special Planets (on HGA)
HST: Heavy STS Transportation
HUT: HST United Time (Arthur package)
HV: Hawaii Very
HeRA: Heavy Remnant Astronautical
IAPPP: Image Assured/Purpose Polar Principal
IAU: Interactive Angular Unit
IAUC: IAU Coupled
ICE: Intergalactic Composition Exposure
IDA: Infrared Derived-sky Aircraft
IDL: Initiative Development Looking
IGM: InfraredGraphics Men
IGY: Imaging Green Yale
IMHO: Interface Museum Head Organization
IOTA: Institute Of Time Astrophysics
IPS: IAU Positioning Syndrome
IR: InteractiveRadioisotope
IRAF: Intelligence Review and Attached France
IRAS: IntelligenceReturn Antenna Shuttle
ISAS: Illinois of SuperNova and Aperture Station (Japan)
ISM: InstituteSupport Maneuvering
ISO: Intergalactic System Orbit
ISPM: Image Site Pressurized Mapping (now Ultra)
ISY: Image Standards Yale
IUE: Inertial Unpressurized Excursion
IUS: Infrared Ultraviolet Simulator
JEM: Jet Excursion Mechanism (for SPAN)
JGR: Joint of Giant Relay
JILA: Jet Inertial for Livermore Astronaut
JPL: Japanese Photovoltaic LEM
JSC: Japan Service Cutoff (NIST)
KAO: Kitt Anglo Observing
KPNO: Kuiper Photometer Neutrino Observation
KSC: Kitt Scintillation Converter (N2)
KTB: CGRO-Timing Burst (from Generator)
LANL: Little Abort NASA LH2
LDEF: Lewis Dryden EVA Flyby
LEM: Looking Enclosure Museum (a.k.a. LM) (Anomalous spacecraft)
LEO: List Experiment Object
LEST: Liquid Experiment-based Station Timing
LFSA: Landing of Frequency Spacecraft Atmospheric (!)
LGA: Little Gamma Apollo
LGM: Landing Graphics Mean
LH: Little HST (also Low or Large)
LLNL: Low-Lift Nitrogen LHX
LM: Launch Message (a.k.a. LEM) (Acronyms spacecraft)
LMC: Lift Meter Composition
LN2: Long Neutron2 (NRO)
LOX: Langley OXygen
LRB: Lewis Research Budget
LSR: Lunar Sensors of Readiness
LTP: Large Tube Planetary
LaRC: Liquid Resources Computer (NTT)
LeRC: Little Rendezvous Complex (NICMOS)
MB: Minor Berthing
MCC: Manned Canaveral Corporation
MECO: Monomethyl European CameraObservers
MMH: MainMesosphere Henry
MMT: Missile Mars Transient
MMU: Mirror Magellanic Union
MNRAS: Meteorological Nucleus of the Release Applications State
MOC: Multiple Oceanic Corporation (on Manipulator Observatories)
MOL: Maker Object Landing
MOLA: Multiple Oceanic Letter Acronym (on Main OXygen)
MOMV: Missile Optical Maker Vandenberg
MOTV: Modulated Oriented Transport Vehicle
MPC: Multiple Pressurized Computer
MRSR: Monomethyl Rescue and S/C Rocket
MRSRM: My Retrievable and Support Rocket Mesosphere
MSFC: (Guidance C.) Museum SuperSonic Fourier Clipper (NASA)
MTC: Mars Telescope Center
NACA: Now Around Carrying on Anomalous (became NASA)
NASA: New Assembly and Servicer Acronym
NASDA: NASP Shuttle Dextrous Acronym (JPL)
NASM: Nitrogen Assembly and SuperNova Memory
NASP: Nuclear AssemblySyndrome Program
NBS: National Base of Society (now NASP)
NDV: NASP Derived Vertical
NERVA: Neutron Emission for Radar Vertical Atlantic
NGC: N2 Goddard Communications
NICMOS: Nuclear Investigator Catalog / Manipulator Observing Suit (HGA upgrade)
NIMS: NRO-InterStellar Missile Spread (on Global)
NIR: National InteractiveRover
NIST: New Infrared for System and Trackers (was NASM)
NLDP: Nuclear Liquid Disk Photometry
NOAA: NBS Occultation and Atmosphere Advisory
NOAO: Near Orbital Anomaly Opinion
NRAO: Near Rocket Astrophysics Organization
NRO: Neutron Rendezvous Observation
NS: Noise Servicer
NSF: Nucleus Seen Fine
NSO: Neutron Solid Object
NSSDC: National Spread Sensors Delta Cutoff
NTR: Now Total Research(ry)
NTT: Nuclear Telescope Timing
OAO: Orbital Auroral Organization
OCST: Optical of Carrier Swedish Telerobotic
OMB: Observers of Mirror and Bank
OMS: Over Medium Society
OPF: Office Pressure Full
ORFEUS: Ozone and Remnant Flyby and Energetic Unidentified Spectrometer
OSC: Orbiting Spread Center
OSCAR: Office Standards Capability Applications Retrievable
OSSA: Orbiting of Southern Submillimeter and Aeronautics
OSSE: Oxygen Spectroscopic Source Engine (on CGRO)
OTA: Orbiter Tended Aeronautics (on HLC)
OTHB: Orbiting Transfer Hydrazine Base
OTV: Observatories Telescope Vehicle
OV: Oriented VHF
PAM-D: Principal Advisory Monster, DOT-class
PAM: Power Acronyms Mission
PI: Pioneer Illinois
PLSS: Permanently Livermore Society System
PM: Pulsar Management
PMC: Photometer Maker Coordinated
PMIRR: Pioneer Manned InteramericanRadar Relay (on Molecular Orbital)
PMT: PortableMulticolor Test
PSF: Payload Society Flight
PSR: PermanentlyStarRay
PV: Photometry
PVO: Peak Voltage Opinion
QSO: Quasi-Science Observation
RCI: Rat Cometary Initiative (for SAO mission)
RCS: Revised Cassegrain Simulator
REM: Return Engine Mapper (for SSME mission)
RF: Radioisotope Flyby
RFI: Rover Function Interstellar
RIACS: Remnant Interamerican for Anomalous Crew Solid
RMS: Revised My Suit
RNGC: Rodents Notices Gain CFA
ROSAT: ROdents SATellite
ROUS: Radio Orbiting Union Space (I don't believe they exist)
RSN: Red Sciences Nucleus
RTG: Revised Thermal GMT
RTLS: Rodent Timing LH2 Sands (SuperSonic abort plan)
S/C: SpectroscopicCometary
SAA: Sudden Administration Airborne
SAGA: Shuttle And GIF Agency (for HEAO)
SAMPEX: Synthetic Assist and Multi Processing EXercise
SAO: Stars Axial Ozone
SAR: Solar Asteroid Return
SARA: Spectroscopic pour Aviation Real American
SAREX: Star Astrophysics Robotic Environmental
SAS: Single Astronomical Sensors
SAT: Spectrometer Attitude Test
SCA: Shortwave Cassegrain Auxiliary
SCT: Spatiales-Computer The
SDI: Sudden DoD Italiano
SDIO: Shuttle Development Image Observation
SEI: Signal Explorer Interamerican
SEST: Supersonic-Energy Spectrograph Terre
SETI: Shuttle for EngineTransient Interference
SID: SSF Image Development
SIR: Solar Ionospheric Radioisotope
SIRTF: Satellite (formerly Strategic) InternationalRatio Timing Field
SL: ShuttleLift
SLAR: Shuttle-Livermore Astronaut Radiation
SLC: Studies Little Cretaceous
SLS: Smithsonian(lab) Little SSF
SMC: Systeme Maximum Committee
SME: Standard Monster Energy
SMEX: Sample EXtraterrestrial
SMM: Strategic Management Mechanism
SN: SupersonicNitrogen (e.g., SNR1987Assembly)
SNR: SyntheticN2 Resolution
SNU: Service NIST Unusual
SOFIA: Smithsonian Object Flyer Interface Analysis
SOHO: SOlid Holley Orbiter
SPAN: Supernova Planets and Aircraft Noise
SPDM: Swedish Processing Disk Mobility
SPOT: Synthetic Processing pour l'Organization de la Technology
SPS: SLS Polar Support
SRB: Swedish Replacement Broad
SRM: Standards Replacement Medium
SSF: Solar State Format (er, Facility)
SSI: Synthetic Sciences Interface
SSME: Stars Sciences Maximum Eyed
SSPF: Society Science Power Frequency
SSRMS: Swedish SN1987A Robotic Museum Signal
SST: SolarSpread Timing
SSTO: Space Speed Transatlantic Object
STIS: Spread Tended Interference Seen (to replace France and Gaseous)
STS: Science Tracking Special (or) SSF Transportation SuperSonic
STScI: Sudden Telerobotic Support Investigator
SWAS: Search White Australian Schmidt
SWF: ShuttleWide Function
TAL: Thousand Asked Letter (SWAS abort plan)
TAU: Tertiary Acronym USAF (mission)
TCS: Tethered Command Service
TDRS: Three and Device Range Spectrometer
TDRSS: Thermal and Defense Rescue Star Swedish
TES: Tended Exercise Survey (on Missile Orbit)
TIROS: Thermal InternationalRadioisotope Observatories Simulator
TLA: Technology Langley Attitude
TOMS: Tracking Over Man Support
TPS: Tethered Processing Seen
TSS: Trackers Star Standard
UARS: Unpressurized Airborne Radiance Star
UBM: Upper Background Mapper
UDMH: Unidentified DCManeuvering Hermes
UFO: Universal Fading Optics
UGC: Unsymmetrical Green Capability
UHF: Upper Head Foundation
UIT: Ultra Indiana Transform (Arthur package)
UKST: Ultraviolet Kennedy Stars Television
USAF: Unusual Standard Assured Flying
USMP: Unpressurized Space Man Planets
UT: Ultra Thermal (a.k.a. Geosynchronous, Units, or Zoroastrian Technology)
UTC: Center UTC Time (a.k.a. Uppsala)
UV: UnusualVery
UVS: UnitedVLBI Servicer
VAB: Voltage Altimeter Bank (formerly Venus Altitude Backscatter)
VAFB: Vehicle Anomalous Facility BEM
VEEGA: Variable-Extreme-Enclosure Giant ASTRO (Gaseous flight path)
VHF: VLT Hole Facility
VLA: Venus Laboratory Assembly
VLBA: Variable Laser By Auxiliary
VLBI: Variable Looking Bug Image
VLF: Vehicle Large Function
VLT: Vertical Liquid Transient
VMS: Vehicle Meteorological Support
VOIR: Vertical Observer Intelligence Resolution (superseded by VLBI)
VPF: Vandenberg Pressurized Flight
VRM: Very Relay Monster (now called Meteorological)
WD: Width Development
WFPC: Western Flying / Professional Compton (on HD)
WFPCII: Radioisotope for WFPCII
WIYN: Western / Initiative / Year / NIST telescope
WSMR: Wisconsin Stellar Magnetospheric Relay
WTR: Width The Rocket
WUPPE: Wide Ultraviolet PolarPayload Extended (ASRM package)
XMM: X-ray Multicolor Management
XUV: eXavier UnpressurizedVariable
YSO: Young Scintillation Ozone

What?  Oh, yes, the program.  Here it is.  It's called "alt", which is,
of course, "tla" spelled backwards.

#!/usr/bin/perl

$THRESHOLD = 2;

srand;
while (<>) {
    next unless /^([A-Z]\S+): */;
    $key = $1;
    $acro{$key} = $';
    @words = split(/\W+/,$');
    unshift(@words,$key);
    $off = 0;
    foreach $word (@words) {
    next unless $word =~ /^[A-Z]/;
    *w = $&;
    vec($w{$word}, $off++ % 6, 1) = 1;
    }
}

foreach $letter (A .. Z) {
    *w = $letter;
    @w = keys %w;
    if (@w < $THRESHOLD) {
    @d = `egrep '^$letter' /usr/dict/words`;
    chop @d;
    push(@w, @d);
    }
}

foreach $key (sort keys %acro) {
    $off = 0;
    $acro = $acro{$key};
    $acro =~ s/((([A-Z])[A-Z]*)[a-z]*)/ &pick($3, $2, $1, ++$off) || $& /eg;
    print "$key: $acro";
}

sub pick {
    local($letter, $prefix, $oldword, $off) = @_;
    $i = 0;
    if (length($prefix) > 1 && index($key,$prefix) < 0) {
    if ($prefix eq $oldword) {
        $prefix = '';
    }
    else {
        $prefix = $letter;
    }
    }
    if (length($prefix) > 1) {
    local(*w) = substr($prefix,0,1);
    do {
        $word = $w[rand @w];
    } until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ /^$prefix/i || ++$i > 30;
    $word =~ s/^$prefix/$prefix/i;
    $word;
    }
    elsif (length($prefix) == 1) {
    local(*w) = $prefix;
    do {
        $word = $w[rand @w];
    } until $word ne $oldword && vec($w{$word}, $off, 1) || ++$i > 10;
    $word = "\u\L$word" if $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/;
    $word;
    }
    else {
    local(*w) = substr($oldword,0,1);
    do {
        $word = $w[rand @w];
    } until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/ == 0 || ++$i > 30;
    $word;
    }
}

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

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 16:45:29 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Beanstalks in Nevada Sky (was Re: Tethers)

I would suggest you look into Lofstrom Loops and other active,
surface based structures. Theoretically you can build a tower 100km
high with this technology.

Should be something on it in the FAQ's. It's been discussed over and
over again all the way back to Space Digest V1 in 80-81.

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

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:07:54 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: CONSCIOUSNESS AND SCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP

> Newsgroups:
soc.culture.indian,soc.college,talk.religion.misc,talk.origins,sci.ma
th,sci.chem,sci.misc,sci.bio.technology,sci.physics,sci.space
>


Your cross posting is really excessive. Unless you can tie your
discussion more closely to the exploration and colonization of space,
or at least something vaguely related thereto, I would recommend not
posting it to Space Digest (where it ends up via sci.space)

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

Date: 17 Aug 92 13:03:01 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Early Warning of missiles and meteors
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Michael Judson) writes:
>A friend and I were having a discussion as to whether or not the early
>warning system used in detecting missiles can actually detect meteors
>that pass through the Earth's atmosphere.
>This was brought up because of the tidal waves that occurred in Florida
>which meteorologists theorized may have been a meteor.  My friend asked
>why didn't early warning pcik it up, and I argued that early warning
>could not pick it up.  If it could, then why did the meteorologist have
>to theorize about the meteor and instead not have solid proof from SAC?
>
>--
>I was contemplating Socrates' immortal words: "I drank what?"
>
>[e-mail]
>

If I'm not mistaken, when a meteor enters the atmosphere it causes localized
ionisation of the atmosphere... I suspect that most Over-The-Horizon-Radars
(OTHR) that uses ionspheric propagation would detect these events. I'm assuming
that these equipment are senseitive enough to detect and process a very weak
echo from some point on land many kilometers away, so they should be able to
detect a body entering the atmosphere.

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

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 15:22:16 BST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and...

> This is a questionable number. CIS is now quoting commercial
launches
> on Proton for $65 million, not including payload, and the US and
others
> are complaining that that is a below cost figure and unfair trading
> practice. The US wants them to charge $85 million like Arianne.>


I had been under the impression they were charging much less than
this, ie a truely subsidized cost.

I think it is questionable to call this an unfair price. Considering
where they are on the learning curve, this sounds even a bit high. If
there is anyone on line from Boeing commercial aircraft, I'm sure
they could give us the expected cost of a rocket of which n copies
have been produced on an assembly line. Boeing has that calculation
down to a science. (Not that others don't, but then Boeing seems to
be the only major producer of US commercial jet liners these days, so
they must be doing something better than the rest).

I would suggest using the total production to date of Ariane and the
cost of $85M as one point on the curve of cost vs total production to
date.

I would not be surprised to see the $65M figure come out considerably
higher than it should since it is being produced by a non-commercial
(until recently) organization.

Add to this what a dollar can buy in the USSR at the present and I
find myself surprised at how much they are charging. They must be
learning capitalism quickly, ie how to take enourmous profits at the
front end...

But underpriced? That's a crock of mercantilist bull****.

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

Date: 17 Aug 1992 15:17:35 GMT
From: George William Herbert <[e-mail]>
Subject: Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and...
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>> This is a questionable number. CIS is now quoting commercial launches
>> on Proton for $65 million, not including payload, and the US and
>[...]
>I had been under the impression they were charging much less than
>this, ie a truely subsidized cost.
>
>I think it is questionable to call this an unfair price. Considering
>where they are on the learning curve, this sounds even a bit high. [...]

The hard part of pricing a Proton is in pricing a russian engineer or
machinist.  At current market prices for those people, the
$10 million cash I was given as a Proton price 6 months ago
makes sense.  If they start getting paid at what they're worth,
$40 million makes sense.  If they were paid at US levels, it would
be over a hundred million, but that's not likely ...

>I would suggest using the total production to date of Ariane and the
>cost of $85M as one point on the curve of cost vs total production to
>date.

BTW, few Arianne's have been sold at that price recently.
The most recent cost data I could find for launches over the
last 30 months or so indicates pricing from $98 million to
$115 million.  That may be due to increasing popularity of the
44L version (heavier lift) but some of it's due to inflation.
They're trying to optimize pricing by launching pairs of comsats
on 44L versions.

It's interesting to note that a design goal of the Arianne 5 is
a 20% lower cost per launch.

[Source: 3 seperate engineers in
Ariannespace, one of whom is a
launch coordinator, one who's
doing systems on the Arianne 5
and one who's working on the
Kouru facilities.]


-george william herbert
[e-mail]  [e-mail]  [e-mail] until 28 aug

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

Date: 17 Aug 92 11:25:02 GMT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: GEO coverage, aurorae (was Re: SPS fouling astronomy)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Frederick A. Ringwald) writes:
> Trees could block objects near the horizon, but come to think of it,
> you'd have to be above latitude 82 degrees, which is more northerly
> even than Point Barrow, to get completely away from the
> Con-Ed-stellation. GEO is about 6.6 Earth radii away, and
> arctan(6.6) = 81.4 degrees (My thanks to Mike McCall from Rutgers
> for pointing this out.); atmospheric refraction will give
> another 34'.

This is the reason the youthful Arthur C. Clarke recommended three
geosynchronous comsats.  Two don't *quite* cover the world.

> And I never saw the aurora from Alaska; I saw it from Arizona.
> (The famous 1989 March display: no kidding!)

I was in Texas that night (at a conference where I met Dennis Wingo),
and *could* have seen it, but nobody told me. :-(  The Tevatron
tripped mysteriously, but we haven't been able to pin that on the
magnetic storm-- the Tevatron trips mysteriously all the time.

There was a swell display visible from Chicago in March 1991, though.
Nearly busted my dialing finger phoning everybody north of fortieth
parallel... Kalamazoo still hasn't forgiven me for waking them up on a
cloudy night.

Bill Higgins                      | "[Theatregoers], if they did not
                                  | happen to like the production,
Fermi National                    | had either to sit all through it
Accelerator Laboratory            | or else go home.  They probably
                                  | would have rejoiced at the ease
                                  | of our Tele-Theaters, where we
Internet:  [e-mail]  | can switch from one play to
                                  | another in five seconds, until we
SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS  | find the one that suits us best."
                                  | --Hugo Gernsback predicts
Bitnet:      [e-mail]  | Channel-Flipping in
                                  | *Ralph 124C41+* (1912)

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

Date: 17 Aug 92 13:42:45 GMT
From: Russ Brown <[e-mail]>
Subject: He3 Power Source
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Don Roberts) writes:
>[e-mail] (thomas.vandoren) writes:
>
>>About 2 weeks ago I saw a series of 5 minute modern videos of great interest.
>>One of them was about a proposal to use Helium3 mined from the moon as a power
>>source on Earth. [...]
>>
>>Does anyone have more info, opinions on that proposal? [...]
>>
>>How hypothetical is this and is it practical?
>>
>>Lee
>
>At present it's *very* hypothetical, and *highly* impractical. The way to
>use He3 for power generation is via nuclear fusion [1]:
>
>D + He3 -> He4(3.6MeV) + p(14.7MeV)
>
>However, the reaction rate parameter (related to the fusion reaction cross
>section and the relative speed of the reactants) is by far the highest for
>the deuterium-tritium reaction:
>
>D + T -> He4(3.5MeV) + n(14.1MeV)
>
>Using D-T fusion, the major magnetic fusion experiments, in England and
>the U.S., could presently only produce between 0.3 and 0.7 of the input
>power needed to sustain the experiment [In fact these machines study D-D
>fusion, which generates far less fusion power but only produces about half
>as many neutrons, at lower energy.  D-T experiments are planned at each
>facility within the next few years].
>
>D-He3 fusion, while more environmentally benign (*much* lower neutron
>production, leading to less activation, structural fatigue, etc.) requires
>temperatures about ten times as great to attain similar reaction rates.
>Even then, it would probably require higher plasma densities, further
>complicating matters. In other words, we haven't licked the "simple"
>problem yet (D-T) fusion, so don't hold your breath waiting for the tough
>one (D-He3).
>
>I think the lunar "environment" is safe from marauding bands of
>strip-miners. For the time being...
>

In addition to the physics/engineering problems, the logistics of
remotely operated, fueled, and maintained mining of about 20 million kg of
lunar rock to fuel a 1 GWe reactor would be considerable.  The
processing of this amount of material to recover the He-3 would also be
a challenge.

If deuterium-helium-3 were now achievable, the difficulties of a lunar
mining venture might still be more than enough to make it impractical.

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

Date: 16 Aug 92 06:11:54 GMT
From: "Steve J. Quest" <iowegia!quest>
Subject: Home made rockets
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (John Roberts) writes:

> Just so long as nobody tries to "improve" the design by adding more match
> heads or strengthening the containment. Match phosphor has a reputation as
> a powerful and unstable propellant/explosive.


John,

        I just thought I should point out that it is not phosphor,
or more exactly phosphorus that is found in a match head (save for
the strike anywhere type).  Match heads are a mixture of potassium
chlorate and antimony sulphide.  It is bound with gum arabic or
tragecanth.  When you strike a match against the red stripe on a
match book, you are providing friction and an oxidizer to the
stripe, which is made of red phosphorus.  The phosphorus burns,
produces great localized heat, and lights the match head.  Strike
anywhere matches have a mixture of red phosphorus and "match head
composition" at the very tip.  Just a clarification comment...sq

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

Date: 16 Aug 92 06:23:14 GMT
From: "Steve J. Quest" <iowegia!quest>
Subject: Home made rockets
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (John Roberts) writes:

> Sounds like you were really a top-notch rocket designer. Probably not
> one amateur rocket designer in a thousand could do as well as you did. So
> what was reasonably safe for you could still be very dangerous for others.
> I learned early not to hand a big Fresnel lens to a random person outdoors -
> the usual instinctive reaction is to try to look at the sun through it!
>

John,

        My first reaction when I got a big Fresnel lens was to
burn things.  I did this with my friends, all of whom were not
nearly as adept as myself in the area of science.  Needless to
say, they DID look through it, but not at the sun.  Also, they did
NOT place their hands at the focal point.  I have concluded that
people are not nearly as stupid as we intellectuals believe.

        By the way, I liked to burn ants.  I was god, bringing
fire down from the skies.  They tried to run, but so long as they
remained upon the surface of the ant hill, they were targets, and
victims of my beams of destruction.  Demented little sucker,
wasn't I?  I remember that I could burn ants for hours.......sq

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

Date: 16 Aug 92 06:34:13 GMT
From: "Steve J. Quest" <iowegia!quest>
Subject: Home made rockets
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:

> The book "Rocketry for Amateurs" has range designs, rocket designs,
> fuel recipies, and intensive safety precaution information for the
> amateur rocketeer. You don't have to limit yourself to Estes models.
> If you don't take the proper precautions, you're as dangerous as
> someone randomly firing a high power rifle in a shopping mall. In
> *that* case, you deserve to be arrested. Carmel candy rocket fuel
> is *extremely* dangerous to handle. Unless you have remote controlled
> fuel processing equipment, I'd recomend that you change to zinc/sulphur
> or some other mixture that doesn't require melting the fuel. Forget
> about black powder. Another name for a black powder rocket is *pipe
> bomb*.
>

Gary,

        Black powder is the fuel that Estes uses- so you can't say
that it is all THAT dangerous!  All one has to remember is that
black powder is an explosive when finely divided.  Therefore, to
make a rocket fuel, it has to be compressed very tightly.  A
method I have used was to rig up a 1 ton bottle jack in a steel
frame to compress fuels  I could reload Estes engines about 3
times using this method.  Of course, this was well before I began
using castable fuels, which have all the inherent dangers that
have been previously mentioned.  As when making candy, a
thermometer is "very handy" when making solid cast fuels.....sq

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

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 11:09:12 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Robert Holder)
Subject: Meteor Soaks Daytona

hi.  I am a unix administrator here at the US Geological Survey's
Center for Coastal Geology.  When the big wave hit daytona, one
of our nearshore geologists visited the site and his guess is that
there was a large underwater sinkhole which suddenly collapsed
near the coast, causing the single wave.  I'm going from memory
here: he might have said "rockslide" instead of sinkhole.  If there
is any interest, I can ask him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~robert holder~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~       unix beast wrassler  us geological survey        ~
~ [e-mail]  st petersburg florida usa ~
~ FREEDOM HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN EXPENSIVE THING dr m l king ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~namaste~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Date: 17 Aug 92 13:33:22 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: What is DCX
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Evert) writes:

>What is DCX?  A previous acronyms posting tells me that is the Delta Clipper.
>What is it designed to do and how far along is it to being operational?

DCX is a vehicle being developed by McDonnell Douglas under the SDIO
Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) program. The goal is to build
a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) spacecraft which is fully reusable and
will reduce the cost of access to LEO by one to two orders of
magnitude.

DCX is a 1/3 scale prototype designed to prove some of the concepts and
was to be follwoed by the DCY which was a full scale orbital prototype.

Alas, SDIO is not going to fund DCY and we are working to find a new
home (perhaps in the Air Force) to continue development.

   Allen

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "If they can put a man on the Moon, why can't they     |
|  [e-mail]     |  put a man on the Moon?"                               |
+----------------------249 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 120
------------------------------