Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v10_0/v10_029.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #29

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 10 : Issue 29

Today's Topics:
          More details about the Soyuz TM-8 docking
    Soviet's Soyuz TM-8 docking time at Mir space station
             space news from Aug 7 AW&ST
              future happenings
             Anon-UUCP for Voyager Pics??
    Re: Exotic Thrusters (was Re: Where the hell are electric...)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 8 Sep 89 14:44:51 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: More details about the Soyuz TM-8 docking

     Some more information was given on the shortwave about the USSR's
Soyuz TM-8 mission.  About 48 hours after launch the Soyuz approached the
Mir station slowly at its Kvant (rear) end.  A few meters from the docking
port the autodock system failed.  The crew of Alexander Viktorenko and
Alexander Serebrov then pulled the capsule away from the station.  After
a conference with the ground controllers it was decided to go ahead and
try a manual docking rather than another automatic attempt.  This was quickly
accomplished.  One point here, during the flight to the station the shortwave
mentioned that they were checking out the docking radar, not something that
they normally talk about.  This, and their quick response to the problem, may
indicate that the crew knew well in advance that trouble might occur in the
docking.
    After checking the mechanical locks, and equalizing the pressure, they
entered the station.  In addition to the traditional Russian guest gifts of
bread and salt there was a note from Dr. Valrey Polyakov (Soyuz TM-6/TM-7,
Aug. 29 '88) of the last crew giving them some final advice.  The station
was clean with no dust, but the air smelled slightly of plastic.
    Some more details about the plans for this mission.  The experimental
module, to be added in October, will contain significantly more supplies,
a larger airlock, and the "Space Chair" or "Space Bicycle".  The crew will
be doing 5 space walks, at least some to test out this Manned Maneuvering
Unite type system.  The technical module is their name for the February '90
expansion section.  Both additions will definitely be 20 Tonnes in mass.
It has not been stated at what point the first module will be transfered
to one of the side docking ports of Mir's docking ball.  Probably this
will occur only slightly before the February addition to minimize the
asymetry in the station shape and thus aid in its control.  They say
that Mir will be permanently manned starting with this mission.
    The Russians keep rolling along, even when problems develop. People
used to say that was the hallmark of the US program.

                                                 Glenn Chapman
                                                 MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: Thu, 7 Sep 89 09:05:55 EDT
From: Glenn Chapman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Soviet's Soyuz TM-8 docking time at Mir space station

     The USSR's Soyuz TM-8 mission, which began on Sept. 5, is now scheduled
to arrive at Mir about 4:00 am Moscow time on Fri. Sept. 8 (8:00 pm EDT Thur).
Cosmonauts Alexander Viktorenko and Alexander Serebrov have been checking
out the docking system in preparation for reaching the station.  One point,
this mission seems to be taking longer than usual to dock with Mir.  This may
be due to Mir's orbit (which may still be higher than standard; I have not seen
the latest orbital elements), or it may indicate that they expect the docking
to be tricker than most (launch to dock time is typically less than 2 days).
For those that wish to follow this on shortwave the best frequencies now
at the east coast of North America are 7165 and 9600 KHz.  Listen on the hour
for the Radio Moscow news report.
     The expansion modules to be added in October and February are now stated
as being about the same size and mass as Mir itself (ie about 20 tonnes
and nearly 100 cubic meters of volume).  This means they are much larger than
the current Kvant addition which is less than half Mir's mass and volume.
They will contain extra gyroscopic systems to maintain the station position.
One of them (the first to arrive?) will have substantial equipment for
semiconductor crystal growth.  The Feb. module has a docking port which will
mate with the Buran shuttle.
     One interesting sidelight in recent broadcasts was some statements on
what cosmonauts get paid.  Typical ground pay is 300-400 rubles per month
about 50% more than the average pay if I remember correctly (the official
rate puts the ruble about equal to the dollar, though on the
black market it is much less).  For a mission they get a bonus of
2000-15,000 rubles, though the higher number is for a 1 year flight
(ie. 5-6 years regular pay for a year on Mir - not bad).  Speaking of money,
the pictures of the launch show a giant advertisement on the side of the
booster for an Italian insurance company.  I wonder if they offered to insure
the cosmonauts themselves as part of that.
     News reports in the west speak of this mission showing how the costs
of manned space flight are causing the Russians to cut back.  A 6 month flight,
which plans to include the doubling of their space station's volume and
mass is indications of a reduction in the program?  The US should have
such scaled back goals instead of the incredible shrinking Freedom station.

                                                 Glenn Chapman
                                                 MIT Lincoln Lab

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

Date: 11 Sep 89 02:01:20 GMT
From: jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Aug 7 AW&ST

Editorial urging that before any decisions are made about schedule slips
for NASP, it should be reviewed by people with aerospace-industry experience
but no direct stake in the program.

First flight of Pegasus delayed to October from Aug 22; things are slightly
behind schedule, notably the testing of the carrier-aircraft pylon.  The
first flight is still "as planned" in other respects, including the
DARPA/NASA payload.

Dept of Truly Ridiculous Pork Barrel:  House urges NASA to give more space
station contracts to firms owned by women and minorities.

Asiasat gets preliminary deal for Thailand's first comsat, and an agreement
under which Thailand will lease half of Asiasat 1 until Thaisat is ready.
Asiasat 1 itself is in trouble from the new ban on high-technology transfer
to China, however:  not only does this cause problems for launching on Long
March next year, the fact that the satellite is partly for China may
interfere with getting it launched at all.  (Asiasat does have a backup
reservation on Ariane.)

OTA report says it is time to fund a fifth shuttle orbiter, because at
current planned launch rates there is a 72% chance of writing off an
orbiter before space station assembly begins.  This assumes that shuttle
reliability is 98%, but this is by no means certain; the 29 launches so
far provide only 50% confidence that reliability is at least 94.3%.  If
94.3% is the actual reliability, the odds are better than even that an
orbiter will be lost within a couple of years.  OTA concludes that NASA
will have to find funding for one or more additional orbiters in the
next five years, and must restrict shuttle use to payloads that cannot
fly on anything else.  OTA says the matter is urgent, with a decision
required this year or next if the situation is to be under control in
time for station assembly.  Funding in FY90 (which starts Oct 1!) would
be needed if the next orbiter is to be available in 1996.  OTA also notes
that existing orbiters will be 15 years old when station assembly starts,
with a 25-year old design.

Rep. Bill Nelson (Democrat, head of House Sci/Space/Tech subcommittee on
space) says the administration needs to make up its mind about its plans
in light of the OTA report.  He says another orbiter is needed, and NASA
also needs to put more payloads on expendables to provide some slack in
the shuttle schedule in case of trouble.  Nelson also says that the public
needs to be informed about all this to avert political disaster when (not
if) another orbiter is lost.

NASP officials and contractors say the 2.5-year program slip proposed by
various people is longer than necessary, with a 1-year slip sufficient to
let the program's technology catch up with flight requirements.  Congress
is also casting a suspicious eye on the 2.5-year slip, with the thought
that the USAF and NASA don't seem to be quite as committed to the program
as they claim.  The USAF in particular seems reluctant to spend much on it.

Soviets visit Japan to talk about launcher technology.  They are interested
in cooperative work on single-stage-to-orbit launchers, and have offered
to transfer Energia technology to Japan (!).  The possibility of exporting
or transferring other launchers, e.g. Proton, was also raised.  Japan is
a bit cool to the idea right now, as it would violate the COCOM agreements
on technology transfer to the USSR.

Space Commerce Corp. (the Houston firm that currently represents much Soviet
space activity in the US) and Technopribor (the Soviet organization that
builds the SS-20 IRBM, now being scrapped under INF) agree to investigate
jointly developing and marketing a new commercial space launcher!  The new
launcher, named Start, will carry 300 lbs into a 500-km orbit.  It will be
a three-stage solid-fuel launcher, based on SS-20 technology but an entirely
new design to avoid trouble with the INF treaty.  INF safeguards need to
be sorted out so that military use is not possible; the Soviets say that
Start facilities would be open to inspection.  Start will be launched from
a transporter/launcher vehicle, like the SS-20, eliminating the need for
fixed pads [and, more significantly, avoiding the need to ship payloads
to the USSR!].  Technopribor, which badly wants to find a civilian use for
its facilities and workforce, says it could build 300 launchers within
five years of goahead, and could deliver loads to orbit at $10k-16k/lb.
This would make it broadly competitive with Pegasus and other small
launcher proposals.  The final decision will be made next year after a
detailed market analysis.  Flight testing would begin around the end of
1990, with perhaps ten test launches over 2-3 years.  Some of the tests
may be in Australia and Brazil, and SCC will ask OCST approval to run
one test launch in the US.

NASA picks 14 initial scientific experiments for the space station, fairly
modest ones that can fly during assembly.

Voyager finds new moons around Neptune.  Voyager's camera resolution of
Neptune has been better than ground-based telescopes since late last year,
so lots of new data is coming in.  Voyager project people observe that a
hefty fraction of the world's total radio-telescope area will be pointed
at Voyager during Neptune encounter -- a total of 38 major antennas on
four continents.   [As said before, I'm keeping the Voyager event reporting
to a minimum since it's old news by now.]

Orbital Sciences signs with Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology
to develop, produce, and launch a small low-orbit satellite for experimental
use by Virginia universities and industry.

A very nice diagram of the trajectories of the Voyagers, much the nicest
3-D visualization I've seen.  [Voyager 1 is actually sort of vaguely near
Pluto (emphasis on the "vaguely"!).]
--
V7 /bin/mail source: 554 lines.|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989 X.400 specs: 2200+ pages. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 27 Aug 89 05:23:00 GMT
From: attctc!tlsi!f424.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG![e-mail]  (Brendan Bayne)
Subject: future happenings

This was published in the spring _AIAA Student Journal_.  I got a
kick out of it, and I thought you would too, so here it is:


     Into the Future: An Aerospace Chronology
     25 Years Hence - May 2014

     by Will A. Kirschner at SUNY, Buffalo

     MAY 2:  The Boeing company rolls the last 747-1000 Full
Upper Deck (FUD) off the Far East assembly line in Outer
Mongolia.  Rollout of the tandem fuselage Boeing 2747 is
scheduled for the following month.  Boeing anticipates no delays
for the 864 seat (1028 in all-tourist layout) aircraft.

     MAY 5:  Two US astronauts return from space station Freedom
after 427 M*A*S*H reruns in orbit.  The National Aero-Space Plane
is employed for the return home on only its eight mission in as
many years.  President Ricky Schroeder uses the occasion to make
an appeal for congressional funding: "The lunar base is within
our grasp.  We can't allow Freedom to be a stepping stone to
nowhere."  President Schroeder is the fifth president to request,
and the fifth to be denied, funding for the project.

     MAY 5:  A Soviet MiG-29 interceptor plunges into the Bering
Strait after striking the port wing of a US E-3A AWACS aircraft.
Both were on routine missions: the MiG pilot ejected and the
stalwart reconnaissance aircraft landed safely.  The cause of the
incident is disclosed two weeks later on _Nightline_ by Secretary
of Defense Gary Maddox.  "Our pilot held up the centerfold of
last month's _Playboy_ for [the Soviet pilot's] approval.  He
aparently came in too tight for a better look."

     MAY 9:  The People's Republic of China launches a
communications satellite for ABC-TV.  The satellite will bring
3-D smell-a-vision to households across the American continent,
where available.  ABC spokesman Ted Koppel, Jr. announces at
press conference that technology transfer held up delivery of the
satellite to the launch site in the communist country.  "It was
touch-and-go, give-and-take with the State Department for so
long. . . In the end we got the go ahead, but had to remove the
roast beef dinner and new car aromas for reasons of national
security."

     May 15:  A new heavy-lift record is set when the prototype
Antonov An-427 departs after an airshow at Ronald Reagan Air
Force Base.  The ten-engine transport leaves the California base
with 160 tons of Pez candies.  A maximum take-off weight of 1.28
million pounds prevented the loading of Pez dispensers on the
same aircraft.  Smaller An-326 eight-engine and An-225 six-engine
transports were used in that endeavor.

     MAY 16:  The single-engine Airbus A360 is granted
certification by the International Aviation Administration for
Extended Range Operations.  The aircraft features new technology
fly-by-telepathy controls and is powered by the 130,000-pound
thrust CFM56-10.  General Electric and SNECMA, CFM International
partners, forsee only slight sales growth for the world's mot
powerful powerplant as, after all, only one powerplant is
required per airframe.  Some analysts  also say the engine will be done
in by its own dependability.

     MAY 21:  New York developer Donald Trump sell Manhattan Island, which
he had acquired in its entirety, back to the Indians for Peter Minuet's
price of twenty-four dollars.  Said Trump, "It's what I planned to do all
along.  I'm keeping the air shuttle, though, just to spite the labor
unions who've been giving me trouble since 1988."

     MAY 21-26:  The Space Shuttle Friendship makes its final
mission, STS 341L.  Friendship launches a television satellite for the Ivory
Coast.  The satellite will allow both smell-a-visions in
the country to receive an upcoming live MTV concert. The shuttle also
includes an experiment on reverse peristalsis in outer space.  Ten
college students were chosen from fraternities through out the nationand
were each sent up with a case of Milwaulkee's Best.

     MAY 25:  Trans World Airlines chairman Michael J. Fox was on hand for
the delivery of the first of 100 MD-99 propfan powered twins.  Mr. Fox
priased himself during the festive event.  "The MD-90 series of aircraft
made us the only domestic airline to show a profit during the 2001 oil
embargo, and even though McDonnell Douglas' only customer so far for
the ultrea-high bypass technology, we're proud of those funny looking
engine mounts.

     MAY 28:  While on a routine mission, the B-2 Stealth bomber
mysteriously appears on radar over the Bermuda Triangle.

     MAY 30:  Singer/actor John Denver finally gets his wish and is sent
into space by the Soviets.  The news agency TASS said there are no immediate
plans for his return.



        I know not all of this is space related, but I felt enough of it was
to post.  There are some uncomfortably possible scenarios in here, aren't
there?

                        Brendan


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

Date: 30 Aug 89 07:58:16 GMT
From: attctc!tlsi![e-mail]  (Keith Dickinson)
Subject: Anon-UUCP for Voyager Pics??

Does anyone know where I can PEP an anon-UUCP copy of the Voyager pics?? I would be VERY interested in them (in GIF please).

Thanks
Keith

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Date: 30 Aug 89 22:32:19 GMT
From: oliveb!pyramid!octopus!vsi1!daver!lynx![e-mail]  (Neal Woodall)
Subject: Re: Exotic Thrusters (was Re: Where the hell are electric...)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Terry Hancock) writes:

>According to the same papers I used to give the specifications
>for the 30-cm drive, another, more powerful drive was tested.  Although
>I'm not certain it was the same drive, a 150-cm drive and one capable
>of generating 4 N (~1 lb) thrust were mentioned.  I can imagine the
>power requirements must have been enormous.

Well, as someone has suggested already, maybe we can use the Soviet's Topaz
reactor for the power....we have the thrusters, they have the reactor. and
this might make a "winning combination".

>I don't think 3000 lbf-s/lbm is a physical or engineering
>limit -- it is, rather, an ideal value to trade-off the amount of
>fuel required with the size of the Power Processing Unit

The Power Processing Unit.....don't know what this is, but it sounds as if
it is the device that generates the electricity and then converts it to the
correct volt/amp combination that keeps the thruster happy....is this right?

>By the way, the source, (ION Propulsion for Spacecraft,
>Publication of NASA Lewis Research Center 1977)

Thanx for the reference!

>I hope this is interesting to some people, sorry it's so long.

Not at all....this discussion is one of the more interesting in the last
few months, IMHO.




Neal

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #29
*******************