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Date: Tue, 19 Jul 88 19:06:44 PDT
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Subject: SPACE Digest V8 #283

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 8 : Issue 283

Today's Topics:
            Space-support contest
             space news from May 2 AW&ST
             space news from May 9 AW&ST
    Soviet crew about to do EVA for X-ray telescope repair
                 Re: Pegasus
 Re: Postcard from Lewis: Having a wonderful time, wish you were here
                  NASA news
           Re: Sample Salyut 7 overflight predicti
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 14 Jul 88 11:01:55 CDT
From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Space-support contest

The new (July/Aug) issue of NASA Tech Briefs just came in today's mail
and it has an announcement of a contest SPACE readers might want to
participate in:

Deadline: August 31, 1988

Rules: Write a letter to the politician of your choice, outlining your
reasons for asking him or her to support NASA and the civil space
program. Then send a copy of the letter, with your phone number, to the
attention of Bill Schnirring at the following address:

NASA Tech Briefs
Letter Writing Contest
41 East 42nd St., Suite 921
New York, NY  10017

(Note: the accompanying text states the letters will be judged by their
editorial board, and the winning letters will be published in their
October issue. All letter writers will have their names listed in their
"Honor Roll", published in that same issue. They plan to send copies of
*each* letter submitted to *every* Congressman.)

Prizes: First prize is a tuition-free stay at the US Space Camp, choice
of the 3-day adult camp at Huntsville or sending a child to a week-long
camp in either Huntsville or Florida. Second prize is a complete set of
NTB:BASE, a PC-compatible database of NASA technology. Five runners-up
will each receive one NTB:BASE category. All entrants will get a
certificate of recognition.

In case you want to look this up, the info is on pages 14 & 15 of the
July/August '88 issue of NASA Tech Briefs.

Regards, Will Martin

PS -- To those whose view of "supporting the civil space program" does
NOT include supporting NASA, but instead pushing private space
development, I suppose you could still enter by carefully wording your
letter to avoid mentioning NASA. I doubt they'll choose such letters to
win, though! Their interest is NASA-oriented, after all... WM

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

Date: 18 Jul 88 05:23:36 GMT
From: attcan!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from May 2 AW&ST

Well, I'm back from vacation and past my immediate software troubles,
so here we go again.  The next few summaries are going to be rather
terse, in the interest of catching up.

Editorial urging NASA to avoid unrealistic attempts at scheduling the
next shuttle launch as early as possible, and in particular suggesting
a need for reasonable contingency margins to cover the unexpected.
"In practice, virtually every task has taken more time than scheduled."

April 8 SRB test revealed crack in aft SRB skirt weld and a bolt failure
at 1.32 times expected launch loads.  The official margin is 1.4; it has
been suggested that this is overly conservative, since launch loads are
now well understood.

Japan successfully tests prototype SRB for the H-2 launcher.

Ford Aerospace is hitting technical problems on instrumentation for the
next-generation Clarke-orbit metsats, causing cost overruns.  Delays are
considered unacceptable because the existing GOES satellites have limited
lifetimes and time is short.

SDI planning classified multi-experiment package for Delta launch in
August;  it will replace the Relay Mirror Experiment originally planned,
which has hit technical problems.

USAF will fully mothball the Vandenberg shuttle pad next year.  Keeping
it in standby is too expensive when the USAF no longer expects to use it.
It will not be converted for Titan 4; a new facility will be built for
that.  Specialized shuttle equipment will go to KSC.

US Army wants a heavylift launcher to provide assured access to space,
says it "must be cheap and built by workers in a foundry, not technicians
in a clean room".

USAF still wants space-based radar, but has a problem affording it.

NASA runs full-scale shuttle landing rehearsal at Edwards.

Ariane launch with Intelsat 5 slips one week for inspection of the
third-stage engine; loose pieces of insulation have been found in another
such engine, probably from the engine test stand.

Scout launches two Navy navsats from Vandenberg April 25.

April 20 SRB test goes okay, boot ring survives.  It now appears that one
boot ring failed near the end of the SRB burn on mission 51J.  The nature
of the problem appears to be that vent holes connecting the motor cavity
to the inside of the flexible boot tend to plug up as burnout approaches,
and as pressure falls inside the motor the trapped high pressure inside
the boot puts extra stress on the rings.  Nozzle vectoring makes this worse.
Instrument readings suggest that the boot ring failure in December occurred
after burnout, during post-burnout vectoring done to calibrate actuator
forces.  The April test did slightly less vigorous vectoring during the
burn (to the software limit, rather than the hardware limit), and did
not do post-burnout vectoring (so that the boot ring could be inspected
in its burnout state).

There is disagreement about whether SDI's planned Boost Surveillance
Tracking Satellite and Zenith Star space laser experiments comply with
the ABM treaty.

SAC suspects Soviets are developing major military space systems not
known to intelligence analysts; Soviet launch capacities appear to exceed
known requirements by a considerable margin.
--
Anyone who buys Wisconsin cheese is|  Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
a traitor to mankind.  --Pournelle |uunet!mnetor!utzoo! henry @zoo.toronto.edu

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

Date: 18 Jul 88 05:44:31 GMT
From: attcan!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from May 9 AW&ST

Aviation Week & Space Technology subscription address is PO Box 1505,
Neptune NJ 07754 USA.  Rates depend on whether you are an "unqualified" or
"qualified" subscriber, which basically means whether you look at the ads
for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or out of genuine commercial or
military interest.  Best write for a "qualification card" and try to get
the cheap rate.  US rates are $55 qualified, $70 unqualified at present.
It's weekly, it's thicker than Time or Newsweek, and most of it has nothing
to do with space, so consider whether the price is worth it to you. -- HS

Intelsat seeks bids from Japan, China, Europe, and US to launch Intelsat 7
series, asking for both "standard" and "premium" bids; the latter would
include schedule guarantees and requirements for refund or reflight in
the event of launch failure.

Fletcher says NASA budget crisis may lead to unilateral cancellation of
international agreements on space station.

Loss of the Pacific Engineering oxidizer plant near Las Vegas will not
cause any near-term problems because existing stocks are substantial.
Possible impact (direct damage and safety changes) to the Kerr-McGee
plant nearby is still being sorted out; it's now the only one left...
Long-term impact is less clear:  total production capacity exceeded
requirements, because both firms expanded considerably back when NASA
was talking about weekly shuttle launches, but there may still be a
net shortfall.

To the stupefied surprise of absolutely nobody, the USAF MLV-2 contract
went to General Dynamics for its Atlas-Centaur:  11 launchers to carry
DSCS-3 military comsats and a Navstar technology experiment, with an
option on 20 more.  Long-time readers will recall that I've been claiming
all along that MLV-2 was a transparent excuse for government subsidy of
Atlas-Centaur.  However, it's not nearly as bad as I thought; read on.
GD will have to stretch A-C a bit to meet the specs; the alternative was
a paper proposal from McDonnell Douglas and Martin Marietta.  The really
noteworthy and encouraging thing is that the USAF is buying launch
services, not raw hardware, with a fixed-price guaranteed-reflight contract
instead of government inspection of everything.  The result is a fairly
low price, $40M per flight.

Full postmortem on the April SRB test shows mixed results.  The seals
mostly worked.  One of the deliberate defects did not seal as expected,
but the later seals stopped the gas and there was no leak.

Office of Technology Assessment which works for Congress harshly
criticizes SDI for various things, notably software issues and problems
with survivability.  A particularly serious survivability problem is
direct-ascent non-orbital nuclear antisatellite weapons.  OTA also
says that space-based threats to SDI systems have not been given enough
attention, and that there are implicit assumptions that the US will
control certain sectors of space.

Milstar advanced military comsat hits large cost overruns and slips two
years, due to technical problems.  One particular problem is that the
full cost of a Titan-Centaur with a Milstar on top is now $1G.

Launch of first converted-ICBM Titan 2 launcher slips to July due to
minor electronics problems.
--
Anyone who buys Wisconsin cheese is|  Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
a traitor to mankind.  --Pournelle |uunet!mnetor!utzoo! henry @zoo.toronto.edu

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

Date: Tue, 28 Jun 88 10:30:57 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Soviet crew about to do EVA for X-ray telescope repair

    The Soviet's long duration Mir crew of Vladimir Titov and Musahi Manarov
(now up for 190 days, more than half a year) is preparing to make a space walk
to repair the British/Dutch X-ray telescope on the Kvant astrophysical module.
A 40 kilogram (88 pound) electronic portion of the system will be replaced in
an Extra Vehicle Activity scheduled for Thursday June 30.  The equipment for
this EVA was brought up on the last Progress (36) and the Soyuz TM-5 mission.
Currently the Titov and Manarov have checked out the space suits and only need
to pass the medical checkout the night before the mission for the go ahead.
One point here - again the cosmonauts on board are repairing space station
elements, but unlike such work here they do not have the luxury of doing
a test run in a water simulation tank.   When you are on board the station
for that long problems will arise that must be handled by the crew without
ground preparation.  Yes the ground cosomonauts can try things out in the
simulator and tell them what works best, but in the end success depends on the
general orbital skills of the people on the station.
    The Russians are getting very used to solving problems that way.  Not only
have they done it several times on Salyut 7 and now Mir but they are even using
it commercially. For example the Payload Systems people were talking to the
Glavcosmos people (who market their space systems) about training the cosmonauts
for the materials processing experiments they are paying for to be done on Mir.
The Soviets suggested that they should train a team in use of the equipments and
materials which in turn would train the cosmonauts that use it.  Payload's
people said no, they would rather train the cosmonauts directly.  Glavcosmos's
man answered "but what if they have been on the station for months when you
are ready to begin." The Payload people gave that as an example of the change
in thinking they underwent when going from short duration shuttle experiments
to longer ones on a station.
    One other point, as expected the Soyuz TM-5 capsule was left up at Mir
during the last mission, and Bulgarian crew came down in the Soyuz TM-4 that
Titov and Manarov went up in.  That gives them a fresh capsule, good for
another 6 months.
     Well at least the shuttle is finally moving towards the launch pad.  Now
it must fly again if this country is to catch up.

                                                    Glenn Chapman
                                                    MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: 28 Jun 88 18:21:01 GMT
From: concertina![e-mail]  (Steve Hix)
Subject: Re: Pegasus

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Phil R. Karn) writes:
> Am I the only one who is amazed that anyone would give any credibility
> at all to the launch costs projected by the manufacturer of a radically
> new launcher that hasn't even been built yet, much less tested and made
> operational?
>
> Or hasn't anyone learned from the Shuttle experience?

Well, this doesn't look to be anything near as bad as the Shuttle.

 1.  Not man-rated.
 2.  Not pushing the technology of engines like the SSMEs.
 3.  Not pushing the limits of size.
 4.  Not trying to be all things to all customers.

What it looks like is (essentially) a solid-fuel, multi-stage,
small launcher with wings.  Maybe a Scout rigged for airdrop?
(Not identical, but you get the idea.)

The teams that designed the Thor and Redstone weren't doing
anything much less complex (probably more), had less back-
ground to draw on, and still worked out the projects in about
the same time frame and without going grossly over budget.

This one looks doable.  (Maybe even on schedule and at cost. :} )

    seh

p.s.  There are things to be said for KISS.

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

Date: 29 Jun 88 08:00:06 GMT
From: jplpub1![e-mail]  (Jordan Brown)
Subject: Re: Postcard from Lewis: Having a wonderful time, wish you were here

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Hix) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ralf Brown) writes:
>> [de-orbit shuttle with cable]
>> This isn't all that new an idea.  See the SF novel "Descent of A????" (it's
>
>"Descent of Anansi" by Larry Niven.

Correction:  Larry Niven & Steve Barnes.

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

Date: 29 Jun 88 07:05:07 GMT
From: sonia![e-mail]  (Eric Behr)
Subject: NASA news

Today is my last active day on the net. I'm off to
a new location/job etc., where access will be uncertain.
I won't be posting the NASA stuff any more; another
'volunteer' has to be found, if there's still interest.

Thank you all for making life more interesting.

---------------------------------------------------
GEnie mail: EJ.BEHR (checked occasionally)
Compu$erve: 76545,2646 (even less often)
                                                       Eric

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

Date: 28 Jun 88 14:55:30 GMT
From: att!whuts!mhuxh!mhuxu![e-mail]  (Dave Caswell)
Subject: Re: Sample Salyut 7 overflight predicti

I'd just like to ask you folks that are posting overflight predictions
to post the elements that you used.  This would be very valuable to my
efforts to generate a tracking program of my own.

Thanks,
    DAveC

--
    --->Dave Caswell
    {allegra|ihnp4|...}!mhuxu!davec
    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V8 #283
*******************