Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v09_4/v9_414.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #414

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 414

Today's Topics:
        Space salvage (was RE: Colonization problems)
            Re: asteroid almost hits earth
            Wireless electricity and Tesla
                Shuttle audio
         Re: Brilliant (but old hat) Pebbles
            Govt. vs. Small Launch
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 May 89 13:59:48 CDT
From: [e-mail] (c, it's not just a good idea, it's the law)
Subject: Space salvage (was RE: Colonization problems)

haven!aplcen!aplcomm!stdb.jhuapl.edu![e-mail]  (Jim Meritt) writes:

>(BTW:  Would MIR count as adrift and qualify under international salvage
>laws, since it has been abandoned?)


Got some plans we should know about?

Salvage laws only came about when there were enough ships to make it worth
while.  Besides, I can leave my ship at anchor (the analogy here) and go
into town if I leave the correct set of lights burning.  But if you want
to try something, I'll post your bail!!!

Dillon Pyron                         | The opinions are mine, the facts
TI/DSEG Lewisville Computer Services | probably belong to the company.
[e-mail]              |
[phone]                        | We try, we learn, sometimes we die.
                                     | We sit on our butts, learn nothing,
                                     | and we still die.

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

Date: 4 May 89 19:13:52 GMT
From: vygr![e-mail]  (Mike Ekberg, Sun {GPD-LEGO})
Subject: Re: asteroid almost hits earth

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dani Eder) writes:
>
>If an asteroid misses the Earth by 500,000 km, that is about 80 Earth
>radii.  Let us comapre this to more familiar events and see how this
>compares.  The mean radius of a car is about 2 meters.  80 times 2
>meters is 160 meters (525 feet.).  If a car crosses a 4 way intersection
>while you are that far away, do you call it a near miss? I think not.
>The collision cross section of an irplane is 20 meters in the horizontal
>radius and 4 meters in the vertical direction.  A crossing at 1600
>meters horizontal separation (1 mile) is hardly a near hit, as is
>320 meters (1000 feet) in the vertical direction.
>

Carried to an absurd length(reducio ad absurtum(sd?)), let's assume
that instead of a another car crossing an intersection a couple of
blocks away, a 747 crashes. Or an atomic bomb goes off? (Phewww! just
missed me (:-).

Please note in the following re-post:

"His[ Eugene Shoemaker, a respected US Geological Survey scientist]
calculations suggest that asteroids packing the explosive energy of one
megaton should enter the atmosphere on an average of once every 30 years,
larger asteroids with a 20-megaton punch every 400 years, and a 1 km, 10,000
megaton comet or asteroid once in 100,000 years."

Maybe we should consider a cheap form of insurance, like a radar satellite
or two pointing out instead of in(of course the shuttle would carry them right)?

Note the Siberian comet/asteroid was estimated at 12-megaton, about 80 years
ago(so we have 320 years {:->).


# mike (sun!mae), M/S 8-04
"I'd rather sniff French shit for 5 years then eat
Chinese shit the rest of my life"  -Ho Chi Minh-

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

Date: Thu, 4 May 89 18:02:26 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Wireless electricity and Tesla

In:  Subject: Re: wireless electricity,
cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!dover![e-mail]

(Glen Fullmer) writes,

> Didn't Nikola Tesla transmitted wireless power sufficient to
light a light bulb over a considerable distance sometime near the
turn of the century?

In her biography of Tesla, Margaret Cheney writes,

> With his giant oscillator he believed he had set the earth in
electrical resonance, pumping a stream of electrons into it at a
rate of 150,000 oscillations per second. The resulting pulsations
had a wavelength of about 6,600 feet. Tesla concluded that they
expanded ever outward over the bulge of the earth, first in
increasing circles and then in ever smaller ones yet with growing
intensity, and converged at a point on the globe directly opposite
from Colorado Springs -- that is, slightly west of the French
islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul in the Indian Ocean. Here,
according to his experimental results, a great electrical "south
pole" was created with a stationary wave that rose and fell in
unison with his transmissions from his "North Pole" at Colorado
Springs. Each time the wave receded, it was reinforced and sent
back more powerfully than before to the antipode.
>
> Had the earth been capable of perfect resonance, the results could
have been catastrophic, but since it was not, the effect, he
believed, was merely to make available at any point on the Earth
energy that could be drawn off with a simple piece of equipment.
This would included the elements of a radio tuning unit, as ground
connection, and a metal rod the height of the house. Nothing more
would be needed to absorb household electricity from the waves
rushing back and forth between the north and south poles. He did
not, however satisfactorily prove this claim...
>
> It has been reported by various writers that during his power
transmission experiments in Colorado, Tesla succeeded in lighting
up a bank of two hundred 50 watt incandescent lamps wirelessly,
at a distance of twenty-six miles from his station. In his own
writings, however, no such claim is ever made, nor is there other
evidence that he did so. What he actually wrote was that, by the
use of  the magnifying transmitter, he had passed a current across
the globe sufficient to light more than two hundred incandescent
lamps.

Our library computer here at the University of Michigan, MIRLYN,
lists the following books about Tesla:

Cheney, Margaret.
  Tesla, man out of time / Margaret Cheney. -- Englewood Cliffs,
N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1981.
xvi, 320 p., 16 pages of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Includes index.
Bibliography: p. 291-308.
ISBN 0-13-906859-7 : $14.95 (est.)

Martin, Thomas Commerford, 1856-1924.
  The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla,
<microform> with special reference to his work in polyphase
currents and high potential lighting, by Thomas Commerford Martin.
New York, The Electrical engineer, 1894.
xi, 496 p. front. (port.) illus., diagrs. 24 cm.
  Includes three lectures by Tesla: I. Experiments with alernate
currents of very high frequency, and their application to methods
of artificial illumination, delivered before the American institute
of electrical engineers at Columbia college, N.Y., May 20, 1891.--II.
Experiments with alternate currents of high potential and high
frequency, delivered before the Institution of electrical engineers,
London, Feb. 3, 1892.--III. On light and other high frequency
phenomena, delivered before the Franklin institute, Philadelphia,
Feb., 1893, and before the National electric light association, St.
Louis, March, 1893.
Microfiche (negative). <New York, New York Public Library,
Photographic Service> 1968. 10 microfiches. 11 x 15 cm.

O'Neill, John J. (John Joseph), 1889-
  Prodigal genius; the life of Nikola Tesla, by John J. O'Neill.  New
York,  N.Y., I Washburn, inc. <1944>
4 p.L., 3-326 p. front. (port.) 23 cm.

Rauscher, Elizabeth A.
  Electromagnetic phenomena in complex geometries and nonlinear
phenomena, non-Hertzian waves and magnetic monopoles / by
Elizabeth A. Rauscher. -- Millbrae, Calif. : Tesla Book Co., 1983,
c1982.
141 p. ; 28 cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-9603536-9-0 (pbk.) : $15.50

Tesla, Nikola, 1856-1943.
  Moji pronalasci = My inventions / Nikola Tesla ; preveli Tomo
Bosanac, Vanja Aljinovic ; urednik Branimira Valic. -- Zagreb :
Skolska knjiga, 1977.
108 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.
English and Serbo-Croatian in opposite columns.
Text originally published in Electrical experimenter in 1919.
Published on the occasion of the celebration of the 120th
anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla organized by the Yugoslav
Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Tesla, Nikola, 1856-1943.  .
..Colorado Springs notes, 1899-1900 / Nikola Tesla ; <scientific
commentaries by Aleksandar Marincic ; the manuscript of Nikola
Tesla prepared for publication by the Nikola Tesla Museum,
Beograd>. -- Beograd : Nolit, 1978.
436, <1> p. : ill. ; 29 cm.
Bibliography: p. 435-<437>

Tesla, Nikola, 1856-1943.
  Experiments with alternate currents of high potential and high
frequency : a lecture delivered before the Institution of Electrical
Engineers, London / by Nikola Tesla ; with an appendix by the same
author on The transmission of electric energy without wires :
reviewing his recent work, and presenting illustrations from
phootographs never beforep  ublished : with a new portrait and a
biographical sketch of the author. -- New ed. -- Hawthorne, Calif. :
Omni Publications, 1979, c1904.
ix, 162 p. : ill., port. ; 23 cm.
Reprint. Originally published: New York : McGraw-Hill, 1904.

Tesla Centennial Symposium (1984 : Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Proceedings of the Tesla Centennial Symposium held at Colorado
College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States of America,
August 9-12, 1984 : celebrating a century of electrical progress.
Colorado Springs, Colo. : International Tesla Society, Inc., c1985.

 *   Henry Edward Hardy                                                    *
 *   University of Michigan Computer Consultant                            *
 *   sysop, Arbor Intelligent Systems                                      *
 *   President, Althing Communications                                     *
 *                                                                         *
 *   Henry Edward [e-mail]                                    *
 *   Henry Edward [e-mail]                                    *
 *   "Arbor" on MacNet                                                     *

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

Date: 4 May 89 17:14:39 GMT
From: ncrlnk!ncrcce![e-mail]  (Wayne D. T. Johnson)
Subject: Shuttle audio

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Smithwick) writes:
>Remember, that if you live near any of the NASA installations, they'll
>probably be broadcasting the shuttle communications on some of the
>ham radio channels. You may want to invest in a cheap police scanner
>and monitor this yourself, without the nitwit commentary from Hollywood
>stars.
>
What about Shortwave, does any one know of a frequency that we could tune
into on the shortwave band.  It would seem to me that there are far more
SW receivers that VHF and SW has a much larger coverage.
--
Wayne Johnson                 (Voice) 612-638-7665
NCR Comten, Inc.             (E-MAIL) [e-mail] or
Roseville MN 55113                    [e-mail]
These opinions (or spelling) do not necessarily reflect those of NCR Comten.

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

Date: 4 May 89 22:31:46 GMT
From: nprdc![e-mail]  (Sean Malloy)
Subject: Re: Brilliant (but old hat) Pebbles

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Timothy Roberts) writes:
>    I like big science.  I detest weapons based in space.  The
>    Peace Shield will make a lot of engineers rich and destabilize
>    the current nuclear standoff.

It may sound facetious, but to quote a bumper sticker I saw recently:

    STOP SDI -- MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR NUCLEAR WARHEADS



 Sean Malloy                    | "The proton absorbs a photon
 Navy Personnel Research & Development Center    | and emits two morons, a
 San Diego, CA 92152-6800            | lepton, a boson, and a
 [e-mail]                | boson's mate. Why did I ever
                        | take high-energy physics?"

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

Date: 5 May 89 06:41:55 GMT
From: agate![e-mail]  (William Baxter)
Subject: Govt. vs. Small Launch


From hearings of the House of Representatives Committee on Science and
Technology, J61 S42 100th No. 68, September 15, 1987, "Commercial Launch
Industry"

Testimony of Mr. KOOPMAN of American Rocket Co., Mr. KADAR of Conatec,
Inc., and Mr. CHAFER of Space Services, Inc.


  Mr. NELSON.  So, I take it from your testimony that the government
has not been forthcoming in suggesting the government range cost, the
tooling and equipment cost.

  Mr. KOOPMAN.  In our case, sir, in American Rocket's case, we have
just received a relatively detailed and precise estimate of the range
costs for our activities through our first two launches.  So, in our
case the Air Force has been forthcoming.

  Mr. NELSON.  And the rest of you?

  Mr. KADAR.  In our experience with costing from the U.S. Government,
we have never had the opportunity to try any with NASA.  We are still
waiting for a MOA, but we have had very quick response from the Army
and the Navy personnel in departments at the White Sands Missile
Range.  The costs they have given us are excellent.  They are in as
much detail as we would like to see them.  They put us in a very
competitive mode, and once we get NASA's costs rolled into there, then
we can get up and running.

  Mr. CHAFER.  We submitted what undoubtedly will be the model for your
ISA as well several months ago in order to get a number from NASA.  We
have gotten one, but it is not an official number.  It's a "we think
we can do it for this" kind of number.  We are still looking for that
official number because that drives our launch site choice, and are
having some problems bidding fixed price launches to people in the
United States and around the world with us having to take the risk of
the dosts.  So, we are still waiting for an official number from NASA.

  Mr. NELSON.  If the model agreement is not changed, are what you
saying is it is going to be bad news for you?

  Mr. KOOPMAN.  Yes, sir.

  Mr. KADAR.  It is too open ended.  We are liable for everything.

...

  Mr. WALKER.  As I understand it, your testimony has been that there
is, indeed, a market for your product.  Is that fair--

  Mr. KADAR.  Yes.

  Mr. KOOPMAN. Yes.

  Mr. WALKER.  And that the main thing which stands in the way of you
marketing your products successfully is in large part government.

  Mr. KADAR.  Directly and indirectly.

  Mr. WALKER.   Directly and indirectly?

  Mr. KADAR.  Undirectly through the insurance requirements placed on
us, directly from a slow process to get proper agreements effected.

  Mr. WALKER.  Getting away from---I understand you have testified,
and I don't want to go over a lot of additional ground here.
  But getting away from the specifics of arguments that you may have
internally about Air Force agreements and so on, if we were to develop
a policy right now, if we were to build upon the present policy, what
are the three things you need most from the Congress and from the
Government to assure that a large percentage of our launch capacity in
the next 5 years is coming from the commercial sector?

  Mr. CHAFER.  A statement that the Government won't compete with
private launch providers; a statement that realistic regulatory
aspects will be placed on us with regard to insurance liability and
user agreements; and a statement that on a case-by-case basis, as the
Government requires it, they will buy commercial launch services on a
turnkey basis.

  Mr. KADAR.  I have to agree with the three points that Mr. CHAFER
made.  They are exactly the problems we would like to overcome.

  Mr. WALKER.  Let's take that final point.  If you knew that NASA was
going to buy commercial launch services rather than fly its own
vehicles, that could be a mahor incentive toward moving you into the
commercial market?

  Mr. KADAR.  Absolutely.

  Mr. KOOPMAN.  Sir, I mentioned before that we have a situation with
the financial community where there is still a large perception that
the government does not really mean what it says about buying launch
services.  I have been told point blank that not only do they not
believe that the government will buy launch services from us, but that
in addition, they will never let us fly a nonmilspec rocket.
  I think that a simple, clear direction that wherever possible
that--for example, to use the analogy of the airline business, that
the fovernment buy tickets to get from here to Los Angeles and not
airplanes, that that alone and a powerful, simple statement by the
Congress to that effect would be one of the most positive direct and
immediate things that this Congress could do to encourage the
development of this business.

  Mr. WALKER.  Well, I can understand why the industry does not believe
it.  I for one don't believe it either at the present time.  I think we
have been pushing.  We have sent all kinds of signals that that is what
we want to have done, and the fact is that I still have the feeling
that there are an awful lot of people who are trying to frustrate the
will of Congress and a number of other people in terms of how they fly
in the future.  And that does not give very much of a financial
incentive to the investment community.

  Mr. KOOPMAN.  And the second thing--again, I am not a lawyer and I
can't opine on what in fact needs to be changed.  I suspect that very
little, if anything, needs to be changed in order to have a much more
equitable division of risk.  But it is clear that the division--right
now if with none of myu people around our launch complex, a government
employee breaks into the complex and sets off something which drops on
downtown Santa Barbara, under the current agreement this is 1,000
percent American Rocket Co.'s responsibility.  I don't think that that
is the way to encourage a commercial launch undustry in this country.

  Mr. WALKER.  Each of you represents a segment of the industry.  We
have you on a panel here of small launch providers.  But you are
probably experts as well in something which I think has a good deal of
bearing on the work of this subcommittee.  And that is, if we were to
give you the kinds of incentives that you need to become providers on a
day-to-day basis of launch services, how much of the gap that we are
now hearing about in terms of on-orbit capabilities could the
commercial sector pick up?   I assume that you all are familiar with
the newspaper articles that have been out, the Newsweek articles and
all of that.  Is the commercial sector now in a position of being able
to fill that gap with the appropriate incentives?

  Mr. KOOPMAN.  With the appropriate incentives if you include the three of
us sitting here, plus at least the three larger players who come on in
the next panel, Mc-DAC, Martin Marietta and General Dynamics, I would
say absolutely yes.  And I wouldn't want to make a prediction, but I
would think that if you want to put this country back on its feet, so
to speak, in the launch business, that with the proper incentives, you
are looking at a very few years before we are once again leaders in
the world.

----
William Baxter

ARPA: web@{garnet,brahms,math}.Berkeley.EDU
UUCP: {sun,dual,decwrl,decvax,hplabs,...}!ucbvax!garnet!web

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #414
*******************