Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v09_4/v9_487.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #487

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 487

Today's Topics:
          Re: Space Station Computer System
          Committee On Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
           Re: Kremlin reveals space budget
    China, Japan and Europe Space Programs - on PBS 6/13 and 6/20
      September Georgia Star Party and SERAL Convention
           Re: Getting news about China from space
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 13 Jun 89 07:42:24 GMT
From: vsi1!daver!lynx![e-mail]  (Neal Woodall)
Subject: Re: Space Station Computer System

In article <Added.EYY=[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Taylor) writes:

>Why PS/2's? Why the Micro Channel bus in particular? If they want to
>use PC's, why not the (vastly superior) Apple Mac? Oh well... :(

You are joking, right? While I am no fan of the IBM PC's and PS's, calling
the Mac a "superior" machine is kind of like saying that an amoeba is
superior to a bacteria.

What is it that you think makes the Mac so superior to the IBM? OK, so the
Motorola 68030 is a better processor than the 80386 (IMHO)...that doesn't
make the Mac a "superior" machine....

Maybe things have changed since the last time I looked inside a Mac, but
back then, they did not even have a DMA controler!!! They used programed
I/O to move data from the disk to memory!!! Yuck!

This is what I now like to refer to as "spin lock" (thanks, Kendall, for
this great new term!).

The only thing that makes the Mac any good at all is the Mac human interface,
this will probably not be of any consequence for the space station software.

Besides, as others on the net have pointed out, the space station machines
are NOT PS 2's, but rather are a new design based on Intel 80386 chips and
the micro channel bus. Perhaps the designers will have enough common sense
to put a few DMA channels on the thing.....

One thing I am kind of hazy on: what are the relative merits of the micro
channel vs. the NuBus? I am a VME man myself, so perhaps one of you "gurus"
out there could post some "pros and cons" of the two.



Neal        I am the NRA!

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

Date: 13 Jun 89 12:49:05 GMT
From: ccnysci![e-mail]  (Patt Haring)
Subject: Committee On Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

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COMMITTEE ON PEACEFUL USES OF OUTER SPACE


     The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space continued its general
exchange of views this morning, hearing 12 statements.

     Many representatives spoke of the need to establish a legal framework for
the peaceful uses of outer space and the sharing of space benefits with
developing countries.

     Statements were made by Nigeria, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,
Mongolia, Pakistan, Japan, France, Canada, the Netherlands and Cuba.

     The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to conclude its general
exchange of views and take up the issue of ways and means of maintaining outer
space for peaceful purposes.

     Committee Work Programme

     The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space met this morning to
conclude its general exchange of views.

     Statements

     JOHN OBAKPOLOR (Nigeria) said the 1982 United Nations Conference on the
Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE 82) continued to
sustain hope in the abundant potential of multilateral co-operation.  The work
of the Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee attested to the conviction that,
given the necessary political will, the United Nations could play a decisive
role in securing outer space for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of all
mankind.

     New challenges had been posed by technological achievement, he said.  The
question of remote sensing of the earth by satellites and the use of nuclear
power sources in space represented significant scientific progress in space
exploration but were also issues capable of producing dire consequences for
the security and environmental interests of many States if not correctly
handled.

     The questions of the delimination of outer space and the utilization of
the geostationary orbit were considerations of interest to many States, as
were their views about the type of activities being undertaken by spy
satellites and military-oriented spacecraft.  Greater attention must be
focused on those issues.

     In order to maintain outer space for peaceful use, hostile competition
and the arms race in outer space must be eliminated as obstacles to common
objectives, and viable peaceful international activities must be devised,
broadened and vigorously pursued at multilateral, regional and bilateral
levels, he said.  Availability of adequate resources for development
assistance, especially to the developing nations, and contributions to the
Outer Space Affairs Division, were vital ingredients to promote necessary
technical training programmes and educational opportunities which, among
others, could contribute to multilateral co-operation within the United
Nations.

     The question of remote sensing of the earth by satellites represented an
area where international co-operation could be enhanced, he said.  By enabling
developing countries to benefit directly and fully from the use of
remote-sensing technology through access to data reception and products from
remote sensing, international co-operation would invariably replace the
"current perception of opportunism and remote-sensing brigandage" which
commercialization of sensing activities tended to imply on the part of the
developed States.  Sharing of technologies, experiences and information in
that connection would thus promote the goals and objectives of remote
sensing.  Nigeria was also interested in preventing radioactive contamination
of the human environment and outer space by space debris.

     PAUL GRECU (Romania) said there was growing awareness in the
international community of the danger posed by the militarization of outer
space; every effort must be made to reverse that phenomenon.  All States
should contribute to the elimination of the nuclear-arms race, particularly in
outer space.  An important step towards that end would be the conclusion of an
international treaty on the use of outer space exclusively for peaceful
purposes, and an agreed legal framework to regulate the problems relating to
space vehicles, to protect the environment and avoid accidents.  The Committee
could play an important role in that process.

     He said the peaceful use of outer space should benefit all the countries,
particularly the developing countries.  Romania supported establishment of a
world space organization to foster co-operation in practical fields and to
assist developing countries in gaining access to the scientific, technological
and other applications resulting from space studies.  The United Nations
should promote co-operation among States, provide experts, programmes and
computer assistance to third world countries, organize international
scientific meetings and encourage data and information exchange on scientific
achievements and their practical applications.

     Regarding nuclear power sources in outer space, Romania supported
elaboration of an international legal instrument to increase security in that
area.  There was a need to establish a more precise definition of security
criteria and rules governing the use of such sources of energy than were
provided in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) norms.  The
establishment of an outer space delimitation line should not prejudice the
interests of States in connection with the protection of their national air
space.  The geostationary orbit should be used more efficiently, equitably and

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

Date: 13 Jun 89 16:29:22 GMT
From: rochester![e-mail]  (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Kremlin reveals space budget

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom Neff) writes:

>Anyway it's a total straw man to talk about a "Great Red Hope" as if
>readers here have all been praying for the Soviets to do something
>for us, and now they won't.

By "Great Red Hope" I meant the attempts to use the example of the
Soviet space program to motivate the US government to spend more on
space (like the space station TV ad), and as a "proof" that it is
currently worthwhile to put men in space.  I didn't mean that the
Soviets would actually do something for us.

Come now, aren't you hoping for a "Sputnik, the Sequel" to shock
the government into spending more on NASA?

>  Most discussion here treats the massive Soviet space presence as a
> commonplace fact, not some kind of "hope."

By massive Soviet space presence, do you mean the large number of
cosmonauts in orbit right now?

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: 13 Jun 89 20:49:15 GMT
From: att!mtuxo![e-mail]  (54317-T.EBERSOLE)
Subject: China, Japan and Europe Space Programs - on PBS 6/13 and 6/20


"Innovation," which airs at 9pm on PBS-Thirteen in the NJ-NY area, is
showing a 2-part program on the Chinese, Japanese and European space
programs, tonight, June 13, and next Tuesday, June 20. Other PBS
stations carry Innovation at other times and Channel 13 probably
rebroadcasts the show sometime during the week.

I would take any optimistic views of the Chinese program with a
grain of salt until the current mess in Beijing gets sorted out.
It seems likely that any civilian space initiatives will be set
back a few years, and that anything spent on space will likely be
for military purposes.

--
Tim Ebersole ...!att!mtuxo!tee
                 or {allegra,ulysses,mtune,...}!mtuxo!tee

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

Date:    Tue, 13 Jun 89 22:33:33 CDT
From: [e-mail]
X-St-Vmsmail-To: FEDEX::"[e-mail]"

I wanted to throw in a few comments on the discussion about the computers
planned for Space Station Freedom.  I didn't have anything to do with the
decision, or know much about the planned processors, but maybe I can throw
some light on some of the things that have come up.

Why not use an off the shelf computer?   Because space is very different than
a computer room, or even an office desk.  There is a lot more free radiation
to scramble chips, and although a crash on Earth is often annoying, it can be
fatal if it's attached to your air supply (and even more dangerous things!).
The closest to "off the shelf" that might be reasonable would be something that
DOD uses, which is "rad hard", or at least mil spec.  Pretty much all of those
are dogs for speed, and about as far from off the shelf as you can get.  The
80386 stuff is a leap forward, there.  People can at least write some of the
code on affordable, off-the-shelf '386 PC's.  Note that disk drives have never
been fully qualified, so big virtual memory machines are certainly not simple
to build.

Why not use off-the-shelf unix?   Do you want to bet your life Berkley unix
won't crash?  NASA is pretty fanatic about software verification, which means
having source around, another problem.  My guess is that the planned flight
system involves some kind of Posix compliant OS, preferably government owned,
that integrates well with Ada, since everything is supposed to be in Ada.
Just a guess.

Why so many?  A lot of them will be used as distributed controllers.  There
will be a processor in each experiment rack, just to keep track of power,
thermal, life support, and other system parameters, as well as others as
needed for experiments.  These would normally never be acessed directly by
either an astronaut or from the ground.  Instead the data would be collected
and distributed by yet other processors.

The '486 isn't hopeless, either.  That would be the logical upgrade, even
if no plans are in the works yet.  The station will be there for thirty years,
so swapping out computer boards along the way is pretty much inevitable.


These comments are mine, and probably bear no relationship with the official
views of NASA or anybody else.

Bryan Walls
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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

Date: 13 Jun 89 18:22:38 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Don Barry)
Subject: September Georgia Star Party and SERAL Convention


                              ANNOUNCING

                      The 1989 Georgia Star Party
                                  and
                         1989 SERAL Convention

                           an activity of the

                  Astronomical Society of the Atlantic,
                        the Astronomical League,
            the Southeast Region of the Astronomical League,
          and the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy

From 28 September through 1 October, the Astronomical Society of the
Atlantic will host the the Georgia Star Party(tm) at the Rock Eagle
4-H Convention center in the dark skies of the Georgia countryside.

Activities will include deep-sky observation, special talks by renowned
amateur and professional astronomers, workshops on aspects of amateur
astronomy, and also an astronomy swap and trade event.  Dr. Hal McAlister,
president of the International Astronomical Union's Commission on Binary
Star Research, will speak at the Saturday convention Banquet.  The
Business meeting of the Southeast Region of the Astronomical League will
also be held.

    Other speakers and tentative talks are:
      Dr. Douglas Gies  --  "The Case for Black Holes"
      Dr. Ingemar Furenlid --  "Spectroscopy and What Stars are Made Of"
      Dr. Bill Bagnuolo  --  "A Professional Telescope with Amateur Technology"
      Mr. Ed Dombrowski  --  "The Cosmic Distance Ladder"
      Mr. Don Barry  --  "How to Make a Contribution to Astronomy"
        (quite a few more are expected)

    The convention will be held at the Rock Eagle retreat some 50 miles east
of Atlanta.  The center features 56 cabins on a scenic lake, surrounded by
hardwood trees which will be entering autumn foliage.

    A complete package, including three nights cabin accomodation, eight
meals, registration and all events, is available at very reasonable rate --
send mail for more information.  All organizations involved are non-profit.

    The convention begins Thursday September 28 at Noon and ends Sunday,
October 1 at 2 p.m.  Registration is available at standard rates until
15 August and at a higher rate afterwards.

     Registration information, scheduling of programs, and other
inquiries may be made by electronic mail to
     [e-mail]
or by regular mail to
     Don Barry
     Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy
     Georgia State University
     Atlanta, Georgia  30303      [phone]

   Messages may also be left on the Society's answering machine at
   [phone].

   If you are an amateur astronomer, this is an event you won't want to miss.

   We'll see you in September!

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

Date: 7 Jun 89 14:32:44 GMT
From: usc!orion.cf.uci.edu!uci-ics!zardoz!tgate!irsx01!ka3ovk!drilex!axiom!linus!alliant!merk!spdcc!ftp!poopsie![e-mail]  (Seth D. Hollub)
Subject: Re: Getting news about China from space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dennis Kriz) writes:
>... could satellite photos from spacecraft like Spot
>make any difference.  I mean that's how the networks covered the Chernobyl
>accident when it first broke.  I doubt that such a satellite could detect
>individual tanks but perhaps it could detect masses of them.  Maybe it could
>detect them deployed by bridges, intersections and the like.  Any comments?

CNN reported in the last 24-36 hours that the US (govt) had satellite
images showing 300K troops in a ring around Bejing. Reportedly this caused
the US to encourage anyone who was planning to leave to expedite their
travel plans. No source for the images was mentioned, nor were the images
shown (not surprised).

Spot probably can't detect individual soldiers, but may be able to detect
masses of people and things. US platforms can detect individuals.

Seth
--
     "Segments: Just Say No!", "Whadya mean there's no control key?"
[e-mail], ...ftp!poopsie!seth, 18 Rindge Av, Camb. Ma, 02140 USA Earth

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #487
*******************