Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V16_0/V16NO054.ZIP/V16NO054

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Date: Sat, 16 Jan 93 05:06:49
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #054
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Sat, 16 Jan 93       Volume 16 : Issue 054

Today's Topics:
                         best food for space?
                       Biosphere 2 Agriculture
                       Freedom's orbit (2 msgs)
                         future space travel
Galileo's 3 U.S. Tour(was Re: Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulator?)
              Galileo's History (Was Re: Galileo Stuck R
                Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulato
               Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulator?
                      getting .gif files by ftp
                         Handling Antimatter
                          Hipparcos Status?
                    IP address for space shuttle?
        MAGELLAN Venus article in February NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
                        Oxygen in Biosphere 2
                           Retaining Goldin
   Silver and Liquid Hydrogen or Hydrogen Peroxide rocket engines?
             Two-Line Orbital Element Set:  Space Shuttle

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 22:22:54 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: best food for space?

-From: [e-mail] (Bruce F. Webster)
-Subject: Re: best food for space?
-Date: 15 Jan 93 16:55:44 GMT
-Organization: Pages Software Inc.

-In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (rabjab)
-writes:
-> I watched Robinson Crusoe on Mars the other day and got the idea to
-> put my food in toothpaste tubes.

-As Dave Barry would say, obviously a case of this person having too much time
-on his hands....    ;-)   ..bruce..

It could be that the only alternative to putting food into toothpaste tubes
is working on that term paper that's due in a week. Under such circumstances,
clearly desperate measures are called for! :-)

I still think the open-end tubes from the backpacker suppliers are better,
except of course that it takes less time, so you have to get back to the
term paper sooner. :-)

John Roberts
[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 22:08:58 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Biosphere 2 Agriculture
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
>
>
>
>
> My name is Jane Poynter, the Biospherian in charge
> of the Field Agricutlure Systems inside Biosphere
> 2.  Taber MacCallum has given progress reports on
> Biosphere 2 and given general outlines.  I thought
> I would give a brief outline of the Agriculture
> Biome of Biosphere 2.  What I write here are my
> own opinions and not to be taken as opinions held
> by Space Biospheres Ventures.
>
> The Biosphere 2 Agriculture covers an area of
> approximately 0.5 acres, which includes the field
> agriculture, orchard and domestic animal barns.
> It was designed to produce enough food for the 8
> biospherians and domestic animals (goats and
> chickens), to be non polluting and totally
> recycling.
>
> Our main staples are beans (mostly a tropical
> variety called hyacinth bean, or lab lab), rice,
> wheat, sorghum, sweet potatoes, taro, bananas
> (green as a starch and ripe as a fruit), papayas
> (also green as a vegetable and ripe as a fruit),
> peanuts (which give us a large percentage of our
> daily fat intake), and of course all sorts of
> vegetables such as carrots, squash, eggplant,
> tomatoes, chilis, bell peppers, beets and lots of
> greens.
>
>>From the animals we get mainly milk and eggs.
> Meat is quite a luxury, eaten once a week and for
> feasts.  We currently have 4 African Pigmy does,
> one buck and 2 kids, 10 hens, 2 cocks and 3
> pullets.  There are also tilapia fish in the rice
> paddies which live off the azolla (a small water
> fern which grows on the surface of the water) and
> the small crustacea and insect larvae in the water
> and mud.  At the outset of the experiment we had
> included a breeding pair of Ossabaw Ferrel Swine,
> which are a medium sized pig, somewhat larger than
> the Vietnamese Potbellied Pig, but much smaller
> than a farm pig.  The boar weighed 110 lbs.
> However, it became increasingly clear that this
> pig, and probably any pig, is not suitable for
> this agriculture system at its current level of
> production.  There was no starch available for the
> pigs, as had been thought there would be when the
> decision was made to include the pigs.  I am sure
> that this agriculture system will go through many
> phases of evolution as we discover what works and
> what does not, and how to improve on existing
> systems.
>
> We use no polluting pesticides to control pest
> outbreaks.  We use soap and other such sprays
> where necessary, and use many of the commonly used
> methods of integrated pest programmes.  We also do
> not use chemical fertilisers, but recycle waste
> products.  Animal wastes and crop residues not fed
> to the domestic animals are composted, human
> waste, the wash down from animal barns and the
> waste water from the human habitat is cycled
> through a marsh waste recycling system.  Our
> nutrient recycling in the agriculture is therefore
> essentially a closed loop.  There are some
> nutrients that may be tied up in forms
> unretrievable by plants in the long run, and this
> is a possible problem that we may have to face in
> the future.
>
> As in all new ventures there have been problems
> which we are currently attempting to solve, and
> doubtless there will be many more challenges along
> the way to reaching the afore mentioned goals.
> Some of our main problems have been in pest
> management which has led to problems with crop
> diversity.  Light levels are also of concern as
> the plants receive approximately 45% ambient
> light. This is because of the shading of the
> structure and glass.  The pest problems have
> arisen because, despite efforts to introduce a
> wide variety of predators and parasites on several
> occasions, before closure and once during closure,
> the food web is by no means complex enough to
> handle the fluxes in pest populations.  We have
> also seen the development of damaging population
> levels of broad mites which we did not see before
> closure at all. This tiny mite has devastated
> white potatoes, and is now attacking our sweet
> potatoes, despite efforts to control it by
> spraying vegetable oil (which we have found to be
> the most effective non-toxic spray to date) and to
> lower levels of relative humidity as far as
> possible as this seems to be the most effective
> method of population control.
>
> Because of this and other pest and disease
> problems our species diversity has been diminished
> in the agriculture which of course does not help
> in itself.  We begin to rely on fewer and fewer
> crops for our main staples, which is not a healthy
> situation to be in, especially when one's lively
> hood relies upon the crops' success.  Species
> diversity is an important factor to consider in
> any agriculure system as it is necessary to have
> several crops that perform the same funtion in the
> diet (such as white potato and sweet potato).
> Unpredictable growing conditions may arise and one
> crop may do well where the other may fail.
> Diversity is also important to maintain an
> interesting diet, one aspect of keeping high
> morale among the crew of any long expedition.
> Both the pest problems and the species diversity
> are problems that we are currently trying to
> solve, but will also be a large part of the work
> being done during the transition phase betwen this
> 2 year experiment and the next one year
> experiment.
>
> Then there is the problem of light: the plants
> will indeed grow and produce under the existing
> light levels, but it makes the plants somewhat
> etiolated and much more susceptible to disease and
> prone to pest infestations.
>
> People have often asked what the Biosphere 2
> Agriculture system has to do with space
> exploration, habitation.  There are several
> answers to that question, but the general answer
> is in long term colinization of planets, and
> eventually even the totally man made space
> colonies as in Gerard O'Neill's vision of the High
> Frontier.  There are indeed many methods of
> growing plants.  NASA is doing great work in the
> realms of hydroponics for maximum efficiency and
> reliability in the production of food and have
> succeeded in obtaining extraordinary yields,
> making the production of food a viable option
> during spaceflight.  However, this kind of system
> is as yet non-recylable.  The nutrient solution
> itself can be recycled, but no way has been found
> to date to recycle the nutrients that have been
> taken up by the plants themselves.   Hydroponics
> will most probably be the way to go for space
> flights needing to get materials up out of a deep
> gravity well, like that of Planet Earth's, but in
> situations where there are materials at hand with
> which to make the main bulk of the growing medium,
> like on Mars, or possibly larger asteroids, then
> the soil based totally recycling, non-toxic, intensive
> agriculture approach may well be more viable in
> the long run. I will say, however, that I think
> domestic animals will be a long time in arriving
> in space and are not an essential part of our
> system, either for nutrient recycling, or for food
> production.  They are currently essential for a
> good portion of the fat in our diet, but this can
> be remedied by the inclusion of other oil crops.
>
> Another aspect of the food production systems
> used in space, is the diversity that can
> be produced for the human diet.
> Living inside Biosphere 2 for 15 months has
> shown that food, and the cuisine aspects of the
> daily meals, is an extremely important aspect of
> group morale.  If someone cooks a poor meal, or if
> there is a period of time when the number of
> species which end up on our plates is low, or very
> monotonous for a period of time, people become
> grumpy and somewhat dispondent.  However, feasts
> have become very important, where we all make
> great efforts to produce favorite dishes like
> cheesecake and sweet potato pies, stuffed
> chickens, ice creams, rice and peanuts, chutneys
> and crepes.  Whilst humans can, for the most part,
> tolerate poor living conditions for periods of
> time, they do nothing to contribute to group
> morale, and high morale on any long space
> expedition will be extremely important to ensure
> success.
>
> In any food production system in space there must
> be room for unpredictablility and failure.  Plants
> will be plants.  They will grow very differently
> with only very small changes in evironmental
> parameters, and problems will arise that were not
> seen before, or planned for, as we have seen with
> the Bisophere 2 agriculture system.  Although many
> crop and variety production trials were run under
> conditions as close to those in Biosphere 2 as
> possible many plants have acted quite differently
> under actual Biopshere 2 conditions.  Bananas have
> become an extremely high producer for us in here,
> which we did not experience in our test beds.
>
> Pests are of great importance to consider.  Even
> in NASA's environmentally controlled chambers
> where they take great precautions against the
> inclusion of pests they have seen problems with
> pests.  Learning how to exclude pests completely
> from a system is very important but there needs to
> be a back up system of pest management if
> unexpected pest populations do arise.  This
> non-toxic integrated pest management approach,
> with complex food webs, is an important aspect of
> the resarch being done in Biosphere 2.
>
> Energy is a big concern in space, both the
> acquisition of the energy for artifial lighting
> etc. but also the dealing with the heat load
> created by electric motors, lights etc.  Using the
> sun's photons as far as possible seems the obvious
> way to go, but some artificial lighting may be
> needed for periods of time or for general
> supplementation.  Finding the optimum light levels
> for food production, which may not necessarily be
> the ideal levels for maximum production/unit area,
> is another important area of research which needs
> to be carried out.
>
> There are many questions to be answered about food
> production systems and many yet to be asked that
> have not been thought of, but you might say that
> the Biosphere 2 Agriculture system is a
> step towards the total system's approach to space
> agriculture.  This approach and the as yet
> non-recyclable systems of hydro and airoponics
> have very different applications, just as the
> different rocket propulsion systems have their
> pros, cons and very different applications.
>
> I would welcome food production as a new
> thread on the net.
>
> Jane Poynter
> Biospherian in charge of
> Field Agriculture Systems in Biosphere 2
>
>
>
>
>
Dear Ms. Poynter,

I realize this will be a low substance, specific topic note but I hope that I
can be an encouragement to you and the other 7 Biosperians.  I realize that you
have received a lot of praise for your efforts, and a lot of criticism.  I have
been following the Biosphere project since before it was built ( "I" and "II")
"I" being  the current gift shop, not the Earth.  I just want to say, despite
even my critical thoughts on your endeavors that I am impresssed by the
commitment shown and by the innovation demonstrated.  Yours is a huge
undertaking and not one to be taken lightly.  Kudos to you and the others.  On
a specific subject substantive note:  I am a researcher at the Land Grant
univeristy for the State of Alabama, Auburn University.  We are currenmtly
working on quite a few agricultural/animal/food related projects.  I
specifically do not but am associated with a huge diversity of projects that
you might be interested in.  One, off the top of my head is the freshwater
"lobster" program.  These are crayfish that yield 1/2 pound tails much like
that of the saltwater lobster.  This, anmd other projects may be of interest to
you.  Please let me knbow and I wouldn't mind starting a "string" with you and
your group if communication with the outside world in various forms is
appreciated and morale boosting.

Sincerely and Agapeo',

Paul S. Shanley
Researcher ad infinitum
Auburn University
voice 205 844 1339 office
voice 205 887 7440 home
fax   [phone] office
e-mail  [e-mail]


ad astra mylanta




IGNORE EXTRA TEXT (I don't know the delete command  :}   )




5.  ayhe other  >

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

Date: 15 Jan 93 23:48:58 GMT
From: Steinn Sigurdsson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Freedom's orbit
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:

     Allen

   +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
   |  [e-mail]     |  nothing undone"                                       |
   +----------------------990 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+
            ^^^^^???

Gosh, Allen, what happened?!

;-)

|  Steinn Sigurdsson    |I saw two shooting stars last night        |
|  Lick Observatory    |I wished on them but they were only satellites    |
| [e-mail] |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?        |
| "standard disclaimer"    |I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983    |

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

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 01:51:55 GMT
From: "Allen W. Sherzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Freedom's orbit
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:

>   +----------------------990 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+


>Gosh, Allen, what happened?!

Hmmm... Looks like some insidious software virus affecting my countdown
deamon. I have updated the number for the currently expected date.

People who hand on my every post (both of you :-)) will note a schedule
slip. This is due to welding problems wiht the hydrogen tank. I am told
that all other parts are done on time.

   Allen

--
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
|  [e-mail]     |  nothing undone"                                       |
+----------------------990 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 21:37:56 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: future space travel

-From: [e-mail] (Nick Szabo)
-Subject: Re: future space travel
-Date: 15 Jan 93 12:05:28 GMT

[e-mail] (John Roberts) writes:

->...the dry valleys of
->Antarctica. Conditions there are very reminiscent of Mars - bitter cold
->much of the time, bare rock, high winds, and dryer than the Sahara Desert.
->(There's even fairly intense UV, by Earth standards.)
->Yet life is there - algae living under rocks, sheltered from the most
->extreme cold, and getting light needed for photosynthesis from sunlight
->shining *through* the rocks. Other algae are found *inside* rocks, located
->between the component crystals of the rock.

-There are some _big_ differences.

That's why I said it's *reminiscent* rather than identical. I was agreeing
with Henry that if there should happen to be life forms on Mars that use
techniques analogous to those of Earth life forms to avoid the greatest
extremes of their environment, then currently envisioned robots would have
trouble finding such life.

-The most important is probably
-pressure.  When water gets above freezing in Antartica from the
-sunlight, it melts into liquid.  On Mars, it sublimates into vapor:
-there is no liquid state at that pressure.  It's been over a
-billion years since any signficant part of Mars got above the triple
-point of water.

Frank Crary wrote that there are a few spots on the surface of Mars (basins)
where the pressure is high enough for liquid water to exist. There could also
be liquid water underground. I'd say the most important difference from the
viewpoint of finding active life is the much greater UV bombardment and the
reactive surface soil, which makes it difficult to come up with a place
where there's likely to be enough energy available to support life processes,
but where such life wouldn't be killed by the UV and soil chemistry.

-Some other differences: the water content of Mars surface rock
-is, in most places, orders of magnitude lower than that in Antartic
-ice.

Mars *rock* drier than Antarctic *ice*? I should certainly hope so! :-)
The reason for interest in the dry valleys of Antarctica is not a belief
that they're as dry as Mars, but that they're probably the driest spots on
the face of the Earth - much drier than the Sahara, for instance. It is
thought there may be some spots that haven't received precipitation for
hundreds of thousands to millions of years. If there is ever active interest
in looking for life on Mars, the ways that Earth life has adapted to the
extreme conditions of the dry valleys could serve as a hint to ways that one
might look for Mars life. In addition, the bottoms of the dry valleys *look*
very much like the surface of Mars as observed by the Viking landers - soil,
loose rocks, and occasional boulders, subject to considerable wind erosion -
and could serve as yet another spot to run Mars rover prototypes for practice.
If you ever get a chance to see the IMAX film "Antarctica", it's definitely
worthwhile.

-The most basic living processes discriminate against C13,
-increasing the C12/C13 ratio; Mars' carbon has been untouched
-by such processes.

Most of those in the field who discuss looking for signs of life on Mars
appear to be thinking mainly of inactive life, or fossils.

-The ratio of hope for life on Mars, to the actual probability
-of same, is nearly infinite.  Boy do I wish there was a futures
-market on this!  :-)

I don't particularly hope there's native life on Mars - if there isn't, that
would make things considerably simpler for human use of Mars. Even if life
is found on Mars, it could turn out to be so similar to Earth life that it
doesn't tell us much about possible alternate biological processes. But I
think it's worth some effort to take a look.

John Roberts
[e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 00:22:12 GMT
From: "Richard A. Schumacher" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Galileo's 3 U.S. Tour(was Re: Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulator?)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

If it makes anyone feel better, please recall that, if Galileo
had launched on time in 1986, it would almost certainly have blown
up before reaching Jupiter because of a maneuvering thruster design
flaw. Part of the idle time was spent in redesigning and replacing
these.

Achieving 70% of original mission objectives is better than
achieving 0%.

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 21:56:26 GMT
From: "Don M. Gibson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Galileo's History (Was Re: Galileo Stuck R
Newsgroups: sci.space

[history deleted]

they should make a movie out of that drama.  they
could call it "rocky road to jupiter".

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 22:09:32 GMT
From: "Don M. Gibson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulato
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (Craig Keithley) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry
>Spencer) wrote:
>>
>> (Unfortunately, one consequence of this was that the antenna-motor
>> reversing relay got diverted to other uses... after all, nobody thought
>> they'd have to reverse the antenna motor.)
>
>What did they use the reversing relay for?

i little fuzzy, here's my best rememberance:

I think that the "relay" in question was used for the
PA (PDE (Propulsion Drive Electronics) Annex).  that was
box that was added for the Post Challenger redesign.  it
is actually a very important piece of hardware.  it
1) provides critical enables for all thrusters, thus providing
two-fault tolerance to a "thruster on" fault.  that was
required to fly in the shuttle post-challenger.  2) it
prevents a couple of documented thruster failure modes that
would have been mission catastrophic.  3) it provides important
thruster status information that is used by GLL to catch other
thruster failures, which could be mission catastrophic.
In short, a large list of thruster failures were covered at
the price of unforseen necessity (HGA motor reversal).

also, for those that ask, why not add a relay?  it might be the case
that "relay" actually includes the relay and the commandability
of the power subsystem, which is not easily expanded.

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

Date: 15 Jan 93 21:01:00 GMT
From: SCOTT I CHASE <[e-mail]>
Subject: Galileo Stuck Ribs / Remote Manipulator?
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (justin sullivan) writes...
>In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>>Bear in mind that the Galileo malfunction is of a fairly unusual type.
>>Most failures are subtle things ailing in the innards of the boxes.
>
>One could always argue that it wasn't an unusual problem that caused
>Galileo to have a crippled antenna, but an oversight of hoardes of fine
>engineers. Nobody's perfect, but when you get so many superbrains together
>and give them piles of money, they're expected to deliver a perfectly
>functioning piece of hardware. If they're so damn smart (I believe they are..)
>things like this shouldn't happen. Either way, 40bps means that my great
>grandchildren will have to analyze the data.

That's at least a little unfair.  The way I understand it, Galileo
only lost it's lubricant because it had to make an extra cross-country
round trip to and from the launch site due to a launch delay and the
need to store it during the interrum.  This caused vibration that the
engineers did not design for.  I don't think you can hold the designers
particularly responsible that the device failed when used in a way
that did not comply with the original design specifications.

-Scott
--------------------
Scott I. Chase            "It is not a simple life to be a single cell,
[e-mail]         although I have no right to say so, having
                 been a single cell so long ago myself that I
                 have no memory at all of that stage of my

                 life." - Lewis Thomas

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 21:43:25 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: getting .gif files by ftp

-From: [e-mail] (George Hastings)
-Subject: Re: IP for pub/SPACE/GIF wanted!!!!!
-Date: 15 Jan 93 12:49:55 GMT
-Organization: Virginia's Public Education Network (Richmond)

-Irmgard Heeb ([e-mail] ) writes:
-> this is an urgent search for the IP-Address where all the gif's archived!
-> I've allready been at that host but I've lost the address now so I hope
-> there's someone able to give me the right information

-FTP ames.arc.nasa.gov
-logon: anonymous
-password: guest
-dir
-cd (change directory to whatever)
-ls (to list - usually there is a file named INDEX)
-then get (filename)

Don't forget to set to binary mode before transfer - if you try to get .gif
files in ASCII mode, they'll probably be damaged.

John Roberts
[e-mail]

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

Date: 15 Jan 93 21:23:09 GMT
From: "Kevin W. Plaxco" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Handling Antimatter
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Thomas Clarke) writes:

>up my pet scheme for handling the stuff.
>Imagine a molecular cage, say a buckminsterfullerene.  The cage has a

"Pet", "cage"... very funny.

>could then be trapped in the center of the cage where it would
>only "contact" and be repelled by the orbital electrons.  Since
>electrons and antiprotons don't annihilate, this arrangement should
>be stable as long as the cage is intact.

The molecular weight of C60 plus antiproton is >721 daltons.
Proton-antiproton annihilation would convert 2/721 or 0.28%
of this into energy.  The energy/mass ratio of this rocket
fuel would, unfortunately, be no better than that of U-235.

-Kevin


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

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 02:34:56 GMT
From: Matt Healy <[e-mail]>
Subject: Hipparcos Status?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Anyone out there have recent information on
Project Hipparcos?  IE, how many parallaxes
have they already computed to what accuracy,
and how many more will they be able to compute
with data they *now* have in hand?  What
fraction of the original project goals is
likely to be attained in the end?

PLEASE EMAIL REPLIES; I don't often read this
newsgroup!

Matt Healy
"I pretend to be a network administrator;
 the lab net pretends to work"

[e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 22:33:21 GMT
From: Gene Kochanowsky <[e-mail]>
Subject: IP address for space shuttle?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Greetings,

    I had heard that when the Shuttle is in orbit it is on the internet. Is
this true and if so, does anyone know what it's IP address is?

Thanks

Gene Kochanowsky
--
Gene Kochanowsky                           | "And remember ....
Associated Electronic Engineers, Inc.      |       The better you look ...
[phone] Voice, [phone] Fax     |       the more you will see."
[e-mail]                               |               Miss Lidia

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

Date: 15 Jan 93 18:36:13 GMT
From: Larry Klaes <[e-mail]>
Subject: MAGELLAN Venus article in February NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.geo.geology,alt.sci.planetary

    The February 1993 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine has an
    article on the MAGELLAN space probe mission to Venus.  Included are
    some excellent radar and computer-generated images of the Venerian
    surface, and a comparison of the geologies of Venus and Earth.

        Larry Klaes  [e-mail]
             or - ...!decwrl!verga.enet.dec.com!klaes
                 or - [e-mail]
                     or - [e-mail]

             "All the Universe, or nothing!" - H. G. Wells

        EJASA Editor, Astronomical Society of the Atlantic

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

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 22:01:54 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: Oxygen in Biosphere 2

-From: [e-mail] (Josh Diamond)
-Subject: Re: Oxygen in Biosphere 2
-Date: 15 Jan 93 18:27:42 GMT
-Organization: Bear, Stearns & Co. - FAST

-In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

-   Biosphere 2 update, 01/14/93

-   Oxygen began coming in yesterday, thus far the O2 has
-   been increased by 0.5% to 14.9%. The total addition will be slow,
-   over about the next 10 days. Yes, the oxygen is actually
-   being removed from the Biosphere 2 atmosphere. In fact
-   we are missing 12,000 kg of oxygen.

-That's nice, but where did the oxygen go?  Leakage into the
-outside world?  Stored in solid form?  Is there an increase
-is CO2 corresponding to the decrease in O2?  Has the missing
-O2 been removed from the system together with some carbon by
-CO2 scrubbers or some such device?

The oxygen is being converted to carbon dioxide by biological processes,
and since there's excess carbon dioxide, the CO2 scrubber is absorbing
the CO2, so the total volume of the atmosphere is decreasing. When the
growing season comes, some of the chemically stored CO2 may be released,
and converted to oxygen by photosynthesis, so the total volume of the
atmosphere and the percentage of oxygen could rise again.

John Roberts
[e-mail]

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

Date: 15 Jan 93 23:57:59 GMT
From: Steinn Sigurdsson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Retaining Goldin
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

   As someone who seems to have come in on this thread in the middle of the
   discussion, could someone please explain to me what is wrong with replacing
   Administrator Goldin with someone of President-elect Clinton's choosing?

Should NASA adminstrators be so political that they automatically
change with the Presidency? I like to think not. The exception I'd
consider valid is if the incoming President has articulated a
definitive policy on Space which contradicts a stated position of
the administrator who should then resign as a matter of principle,
or accept the new policy.

|  Steinn Sigurdsson    |I saw two shooting stars last night        |
|  Lick Observatory    |I wished on them but they were only satellites    |
| [e-mail] |Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?        |
| "standard disclaimer"    |I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care - B.B. 1983    |

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

Date: 16 Jan 93 00:00:53 GMT
From: Jon Marshall <[e-mail]>
Subject: Silver and Liquid Hydrogen or Hydrogen Peroxide rocket engines?
Newsgroups: sci.space

I remember years ago, rocket sleds at the drag strip that used a
rocket engine made of silver. I'm not sure if it used Liquid Hydrogen
or Hydrogen Peroxide for fuel(probably peroxide for a catalyst reaction?).
But I'm seeking any and all references to such an engine.

Thanks,
--
  J. Marshall
  [e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 01:31:35 GMT
From: TS Kelso <[e-mail]>
Subject: Two-Line Orbital Element Set:  Space Shuttle
Newsgroups: sci.space

The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element sets are
carried on the Celestial BBS, [phone], and are updated daily (when
possible).  Documentation and tracking software are also available on this
system.  As a service to the satellite user community, the most current
elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below.  The Celestial
BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using
8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.

Element sets (also updated daily), shuttle elements, and some documentation
and software are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.afit.af.mil
(129.92.1.66) in the directory pub/space.

STS 54
1 22313U 93  3  A 93 15.24999999  .00062469  00000-0  20323-3 0    85
2 22313  28.4706 142.4328 0006379 259.0803 354.5278 15.89176066   267
--
Dr TS Kelso                           Assistant Professor of Space Operations
[e-mail]                    Air Force Institute of Technology

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

End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 054
------------------------------