Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v09_3/v9_353.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #353

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 353

Today's Topics:
             Re: Babies in Space
            Hubble Space Telescope
          Re: Building a fusion-based rocket
                Re: Astrology
              Re: Hubble Space Telescope
             Re: Babies in Space
        Re: more on Liberty Bell 7 (and other s'craft)
  Re: Civilians in space (Was Re: First concert from space--update)
        Re: Cold fusion: chemical explanation?
           Re: Furnace Effect?..no worries
                Re: Astrology
           Re: Unmanned shuttle advantages
              Re: Magellan's Trajectory
               DSN mission launch dates
        Re: Success with cold fusion reported
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 6 Apr 89 15:32:37 GMT
From: uflorida!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Babies in Space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Colin Hunter) writes:
>... You really need fertilisation  and normal gestation time
>in  a  micro-gravity  environment.   Embryological experiments should wait
>until Freedom is operational.

Why wait?  Fly them on Mir.  It's cheaper, too.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 18:23:26 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Philip Verdieck)
Subject: Hubble Space Telescope



This maybe the stupidest question, especially if its
allready been asked and answered since the point where
I saw an article here mentioning it (early march/late feb).
So if its been discussed, ignore this cause I'll catch up,
but.....

What are the capabilities for rotating this baby and using it for
spying purposes???

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

Date: 4 Apr 89 15:15:49 GMT
From: mailrus!wasatch!uplherc!esunix![e-mail]  (Bob Pendleton)
Subject: Re: Building a fusion-based rocket

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Keith P. Mancus):
>
>     I've been trying to figure out how to get a "heat-pump" effect
> to use the fusion system to pump up a heat exchanger to a reasonable
> temperature.

What follows has so many assupmptions and so much speculation in it
that I'd call it science fiction rather than speculation.

From all I've heard and read about FP fusion I'd try to make
precharged lattice pellets. That is, pellets of some fusion catalyst
already charged with fusile material. It look like these pellets could
be ignited by passing a current through them.

You would feed pellets one at a time into a chamber and detonate them.
Sort of a tame Orion.

Fusion aided chemical explosives might also become reality. Micro
pellets could be imbedded in a solid explosive or floated in a
chemical fuel, like kerosene, with fusion being started by the heat
released by burning the fuel.  Fusion assisted solid and liquid fuel
rockets may be possible.

Wild speculation. But it's fun.

            Bob P.

--
-              Bob Pendleton, speaking only for myself.
- UUCP Address:  decwrl!esunix!bpendlet or utah-cs!esunix!bpendlet
-
-             Reality is stranger than most can imagine.

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 14:15:22 GMT
From: haven!uvaarpa!hudson!astsun1![e-mail]  (Greg Hennessy)
Subject: Re: Astrology

James C. Benz writes:
#Not to lend any support to pseudo-science, but an interesting thing to look
#at in this respect is the police blotter of any large urban area on the
#night of a full moon.  I have heard the same story from several police
#officers here in Pittsburgh - craaazy things happen when there's a full
#moon, not just your run-of-the-mill stabbings and domestic violence, but
#the truly bizzarre.

Nick Sandulek, an astronomer at Case-Western Reserve in Cleveland, did
a 13 year study of police records and found NO correlation of crimes
with the phase of the moon. He did fine a LARGE correlation of the day
of the week, Friday and Saturday. Published in The Skeptical Inquirer.

-Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia
 USPS Mail:     Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA
 Internet:      [e-mail]
 UUCP:        ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7w

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 22:20:26 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Matthew T. DeLuca)
Subject: Re: Hubble Space Telescope

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Philip Verdieck) writes:
>
> What are the capabilities for rotating this baby and using it for
> spying purposes???

According to the NASA material I have, the HST is a low-light telescope,
meaning that it cannot view bright objects like the sun, moon, or the Earth.
However, the KH-12 reconaissance satellite (wasn't this launched recently?)
is a close cousin of the HST, except it can view the earth.


--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Matthew DeLuca                      :
Georgia Institute of Technology     : Remember, wherever you go, there you are.
ARPA: [e-mail]        :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 19:59:43 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Kieran A. Carroll)
Subject: Re: Babies in Space

Colin Hunter ([e-mail]) writes:

> ...how  can  you  completely allow for all the differences
> between the experimental and control groups such that micro-gravity is the
> *only* variable.  You really need fertilisation  and normal gestation time
> in  a  micro-gravity  environment.   Embryological experiments should wait
> until Freedom is operational.

If you want to get experimental results sometime in the next
decade, embryological experiments should be done on Mir. All
indications are that the Soviets are willing to coopoerate fully
with anybody wishing to rent space in their lab.
--

     Kieran A. Carroll @ U of Toronto Aerospace Institute
     {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!kcarroll

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 15:17:01 GMT
From: m2c!wpi![e-mail]  (Tom [Chris] Murphy)
Subject: Re: more on Liberty Bell 7 (and other s'craft)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stuart Warmink) writes:
>
>plutonium-powered thermionic generator of Apollo 13's LEM.
>

HUH?  All American (and probably all Soviet) manned spacecraft use
fuel cells for electrical generation.  The U.S. doesn't make much use
at all of nuclear-powered satilites, except for deep-space probes.

Tom



--
Thomas C. Murphy         Worcester Polytechnic Institute CAD Lab
Internet:   [e-mail]   [e-mail]
BITNET:     TMURPHY@WPI              CompuServe: 73766,130
               "I drank what?" - Socrates

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 15:37:50 GMT
From: uflorida!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Civilians in space (Was Re: First concert from space--update)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jerry Gardner) writes:
>>...The dream may be alive, but not at NASA headquarters.
>
>I'm curious, how's the Canadian space program doing these days?

Lousy.  Our glorious government, in its (minimal) wisdom, has tied it much
too closely to the US program.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 06:33:23 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Cold fusion: chemical explanation?

[e-mail] (Jorge Stolfi) writes:
        [portions deleted]
>If this makes sense, then the extra energy detected by F&P is
>energy that was stored into the electrode during the charging period.
        [more deleted]
>Does this make any sense? (As you can tell, I am no chemist.)
>
>                Jorge Stolfi @ DEC Systems Research Center

Pons & Fleischman have apparently taken into acount all the energy
put into the system during the multi-week "charge-up" time.
The energy out is still calculated as more than put in.

Jim Kowalczyk
[e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 00:27:18 GMT
From: attcan!lsuc!ncrcan!ziebmef![e-mail]  (Matthew Francey)
Subject: Re: Furnace Effect?..no worries

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Vincent J. Erickson) writes:
> The greenhouse effect and the furnace effect could both be compensated
> for in the following way:  Call 3M up; order many square kilometers of
> mylar; place mylar in solar orbit just indise the Earth's so it blocks
> a small percentage of the sun's rays. Result; a lowering of the
> Earth's temperature.

  Let us assume we wish to block 1% of the sun.   A simple calculation shows
a disk 638km in radius is needed (at least).  If this disk is to be 1mm in
thickness, and if mylar has a density of 50kg/m^3 (ridiculously low), a total
mass of 6.39e10kg will have to be placed in 'solar orbit'.  I think a shuttle
can put some 30000kg into earth orbit (we will blithely assume earth orbit
== solar orbit), so the Great Mylar Sun Shade will need about 2 million shuttle
launches...

  Hey, if it will help the space program, I'm all for it... :-)

--
Name: Matthew Francey             Address: N43o34'13.5" W79o34'33.3" 86m
[e-mail]          uunet!utgpu!{ontmoh!moore,ncrcan}!ziebmef!mdf

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 15:44:55 GMT
From: uflorida!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Astrology

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (James C. Benz) writes:
>... I have heard the same story from several police
>officers here in Pittsburgh - craaazy things happen when there's a full
>moon...

When you correct for better light (which facilitates outdoor activities)
and the tendency for the phase of the Moon to line up with weekends for
several months at a time (this matters, if only because weekend alcohol
consumption is much higher than on weekdays), the effect vanishes.  Hospital
staff say the same thing, but studies of the hospital records do not
bear them out.

>... Of course, this is probably purely subjective - people
>see a full moon and all their inhibitions go out the window, but an
>interesting phenomenon nonetheless.

It's even more subjective than that:  policemen, hospital staff, etc.
remember weird things that happen at the full moon, discount them
when they happen at other times, and forget the times when the moon was
full and nothing significant happened.  This is how most superstitions
get started.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 13:57:23 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Matthew T. DeLuca)
Subject: Re: Unmanned shuttle advantages

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Peter Scott) writes:
>
>Well, let's start with the possibilities for additional payload if you've
>designed your shuttle so that you can remove the life-support systems
>fairly easily (anyone know whether this can be done with Buran?)
>And then you can fly missions that are outside the envelope of human
>comfort/survivability, e.g. duration (no running out of air), acceleration
>(high g forces), radiation (flying during solar flares),... anyone got any more ideas?
>
Okay , I suppose there is are possible uses for an unmanned shuttle.  However,
it appears to me you're going to have most of the disadvantages of manned
flight with none of the advantages.  You still have an incredibly complex
flying machine that will be subject to the majority of the same delays, since
at a cost of a billion dollars or so per shuttle, you're going to want to
be *very* sure it's in working order when you go up.  And if a fuse blows
while it's up, there's nobody there to fix it, and you have to send a second
mission up to take care of the problem.  I don't think you can get much
outside the envelope of human survivability, either.  The shuttle generally
runs at max performance anyway (the throttle-back is to keep the dynamic
pressure down on the orbiter's structure), and I don't think you'd want to
fly during the output of a flare; can't the radiation scramble the electronics?
I suppose if you had a payload that you *had* to fly without people, you
might conceive of trying it, but otherwise, I wouldn't risk it.





--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Matthew DeLuca                      :
Georgia Institute of Technology     : Remember, wherever you go, there you are.
ARPA: [e-mail]        :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 7 Apr 89 01:23:18 GMT
From: osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu![e-mail]  (stephen)
Subject: Re: Magellan's Trajectory

Check out the April issue of Discover for the answer to this and other
questions about Magellan.  (Pretty good article.)

.Steve

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

Date: Thu,  6 Apr 89 11:40:06 PST
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: DSN mission launch dates
X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"[e-mail]"

Just discovered that this message which I tried to send out on 3/11
and had assumed was in a digest that I missed never made it, so here
it is, albeit slightly dated:

I just got a list of launch dates for missions supported by the DSN
through 1990.  I don't have a glossary, so if you don't know what
one of these acronyms means, don't ask me.

STS-30 (MAGELLAN)    4/28/89
DFS-1            5/5/89    (but maybe 3/31 or 4/4 depending on Ariadne
                   manifest)
TV-SAT-2        7/13/89   (6/29 is possible early launch date)
COBE            5/89
SPOT-2            5/15/89
STS-28  (DOD)        7/1/89
GMS-4            8/1/89
STS-33            8/10/89
FLTSATCOM-F8        9/89
STS-34 (GALILEO)    10/12/89
STS-32            11/13/89
STS-31 (HST)        12/11/89
STS-36            12/11/89  (no, it doesn't make sense to me either)
MUSES-A            EARLY 90
TDF-2            1/15/90
DFS-2            1/15/90   (could be launched separately from TDF-2)
ROSAT            2/90
GOES-I            3/90
STS-35            3/1/90
EUTELSAT        4/1/90    (with Ariadne; 3/1 with Atlas-Centaur)
STS-37            4/5/90
STS-38            5/10/90
STS-40            6/7/90
STS-39  (GRO)        7/19/90   (Gamma-Ray Observatory)
BS-3a            8/1/90
STS-41            9/10/90
STS-42  (TDRS-E)    10/5/90
STS-43            11/8/90
GOES-J            12/90
STS-44 (ULYSSES)    12/20/90
STS-45            1/31/91

There's also a note that Kourou is closed August and mid-December to
mid-January.

We all know how rapidly these things change, so if any of the above is
completely risible by the time it reaches you, don't blame me!

Peter Scott ([e-mail])

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

Date: 6 Apr 89 20:08:23 GMT
From: crdgw1!steinmetz!sunspot![e-mail]  (Emmett Black)
Subject: Re: Success with cold fusion reported


> ... put a reactor under the hood of a car...

not very likely.  you have a shielding and weight problem.
you might see fusion powered locomotives.

--Emmett
    J.E.Black; GE Research/K1-3C26; Schenectady, NY 12345
    [e-mail];   ...!uunet!steinmetz!crd!blackje

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #353
*******************