Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v10_3/v10_340.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #340

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 10 : Issue 340

Today's Topics:
           Re: space news from Oct 23 AW&ST
           Payload Summary for 12/12/89 (Forwarded)
               Re: Mars rovers
         NASA Headline News for 12/12/89 (Forwarded)
           proposed "space-mail" incentive
               Satellites in E-W orbits
              Hughes vs GM/NASA
       Planetary position software: summary of replies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 12 Dec 89 17:58:04 GMT
From: idacrd![e-mail]  (Robert McGwier)
Subject: Re: space news from Oct 23 AW&ST

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Henry Spencer):
>
> Ariane V34 slips from Oct 5 to Oct 27 due to relay problems; the payload
> is the first Intelsat 6.  This will be followed by V35 on Dec 13, carrying
> Japan's Superbird B and BS-2X.  That is a change from earlier manifests,
> which showed Spot 2 (and its piggyback amateur-radio microsatellites)
> on V35, due to a contractual commitment to get the Japanese payloads up
> this year.  Spot 2 and friends are now scheduled for the next flight, Jan 19.
>


The current schedule for launch for Spot-2 is January 11, 1990 at 0135 UTC (
That is 8:35 PM EST on January 10).  First time in a long time I have ever
heard of a launch authority moving a launch UP from a scheduled date
within a month of launch time, but there it is.  The AMSAT birds are
ready along with the UOSAT birds.  There are seven satellites on board
that launch including Spot-2, four AMSAT Microsats and two University
of Surrey UOSAT's.

Bob McGwier

--
____________________________________________________________________________
    My opinions are my own no matter    |    Robert W. McGwier, N4HY
    who I work for! ;-)            |    CCR, AMSAT, etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 12 Dec 89 18:24:28 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Summary for 12/12/89 (Forwarded)


                                PAYLOAD STATUS REPORT
                                    Dec. 12, l989
                               Missions STS-35 and 42


          STS-35 -- ASTRO-1, BBXRT

               Members of the STS-35 crew  joined  KSC  payload  processing
          team members in testing operations during the continuing prepara-
          tion  of  the Astro payload scheduled for flight in April,  l990.
          Commander Vance Brand,  Pilot Guy  Gardner,  Mission  Specialists
          John "Mike" Lounge,  Jeff Hoffman,  and Bob Parker,  plus Payload
          Specialist Sam Durrance participated in payload  simulations  and
          integrated verification testing as part of the "build-up" process
          for  the  payload.  The  work was performed in the Operations and
          Checkout Building (O & C) in Test Stand 3.

               Referred to jointly as ASTRO,  the payload consists of  four
          optical  instruments.  They  are: 1) three ultraviolet (UV) tele-
          scopes aligned to each other on  an  Instrument  Pointing  System
          (IPS) and mounted to two Spacelab pallets; and 2) and x-ray tele-
          scope  mounted  on a Two-Axis Pointing System (TAPS) secured by a
          special support structure.  The payload,  which will  fly  aboard
          Columbia,  is  the  first of a series of Astro missions that will
          make precise astronomical measurements.


          STS-42 -- IML-1

               The International Microgravity Lab (IML) is  a  microgravity
          mission  scheduled  for flight in December,  l990.  About 15 dif-
          ferent instruments will be mounted on a Spacelab long module.  An
          IMAX  camera  will also fly aboard the mission,  as will the Get-
          Away Special (GAS) bridge.

               Work on drawings and racks to support payload  build-up  are
          in  work.  Hardware  cleaning,  harness  installation,  and other
          routine items, including electrical work, are in progress.

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

Date: 12 Dec 89 04:36:14 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (Paul L Schauble)
Subject: Re: Mars rovers

With all of this discussion, someone must have worked out how to make a
remote control rover work without considering the delay. Both the Earth
and Mars rotate. It seems to me that in order to keep a rover operating
you need a network of communications satellites around both planets to
get constant communication. You also need a network of satellites in
solar orbit to keep things operating when Mars is on the other side of
the sun. Has anyone seriously evalused what is needed?

How did Viking do this? Or did they just figure that the mission was short
enough that they can ignore the conjunction problems and just ignore the
loses to planetary rotation? Henry?

  ++PLS

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

Date: 12 Dec 89 18:21:13 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 12/12/89 (Forwarded)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, December 12, 1989                    Audio: 202/755-1788
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is NASA Headline News for Tuesday, December 12....


Workers at Kennedy Space Center continue to prepare the Columbia
for the STS-32 mission.  Preflight launch preparations are
running on a tight schedule with hypergolic fuel loading now
scheduled to be completed early Wednesday and pad validation
checks to begin immediately after.  The launch window opens at
7:29 P.M., Eastern time, Monday.


A Delta II rocket successfully boosted a Navstar navigation
satellite into a transfer orbit yesterday from Cape Canaveral.
The launch vehicle lifted off at 1:10 P.M., Eastern time, 16
minutes after the window opened.  An apogee kick motor aboard the
Navstar will circularize the orbit on Wednesday.  It's the eighth
Delta launch this year.


A commercial Titan III launch carrying two communications
satellites has been delayed to no earlir than December 20.  The
launch was originally set for December 8, but poor weather and a
busy launch schedule at the Cape is forcing the setback.


A NASA high-altitude balloon will carry four astronomical
instruments aloft from Ross Island in the Antarctica later this
month.   The New York Times says one of the instruments is a
large new-type cosmic ray telescope.  The experiment will exploit
Antarctica's unique physical qualities for research.  The balloon
will take the instrument package up to 100,000 feet altitude and
then drift westward along the 78th parallel completing a trip
around the Earth in about two weeks.


Space News Magazine reports this week that Vice President Quayle
has asked the aerospace industries association to poll its
members on new ideas for a U.S. program to return to the moon and
go on to Mars.  The publication says the Vice President, Chairman
of the National Space Council, was critical of the effort made by
a NASA study team on ways to carry out the administration's space
initiative.


NASA's space activities in Florida provided that state's economy
with a $1.24 billion boost in fiscal year 1989.  Over 18,000
workers were employed during the year at the NASA field center.
Of that number 2400 were civil service.

                *          *           *            *


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the broadcast schedule for public affairs events on NASA
Select TV.  All times are Eastern.


Thursday, December 14...


    10:00 A.M.   Coverage begins of NASA B-52/Pegasus air launch
                 booster captive flight from Dryden Flight
                 Research Facility.


     3:00 P.M.   NASA Update will be transmitted....delayed from
                 its normal transmission due to Pegasus captive
                 flight.


Monday, December 18......

      STS-32 mission television begins.

All events and time are subject to change without notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
These reports are filed daily, Monday through Friday, at 12 noon,
Eastern time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A service of the Internal Communications Branch (LPC), NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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

Date: 12 Dec 89 15:55:17 GMT
From: groucho![e-mail]  (Steve Emmerson)
Subject: proposed "space-mail" incentive

[e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>On the whole, I tend to agree:  the "space mail" approach is a better
>scheme.  For one thing, it's a lot cheaper.  And as you point out, there
>is less room for cheating and other complications.  It would make cheaper
>launch technology a much less chancy investment, promoting new development
>in a field that's been stalled badly for a couple of decades.

I'm curious about this analogy and wish to explore it further.  Does
anyone know of a currently desirable service (or services) that is
analogous to the early demand for more rapid mail delivery?

Note, I'm wondering about a "currently" desirable service; not "proposed"
(continuing the analogy with the early airmail incentive).

If you know of one; can you quantify the demand for it in financial
terms?

--Steve Emmerson    [e-mail]

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

Date: 12 Dec 89 18:34:28 GMT
From: eru!luth!hagbard![e-mail]  (B|rje Josefsson)
Subject: Satellites in E-W orbits

Hi!

(I have used the term "satellite" below - even if it might just be any
orbiting object)

This is something I have been thinking about some time:

I live far up in the northern part of Sweden ( Lat 65 35' - not so far
from the arctic  circle). When  we have dark  nights here  (no moon or
aurora (yes  there is  aurora outside  right now  - but  the full moon
takes  off  the  spectacular  effect)   there  is  no  problem  seeing
"satellites" orbiting.  If  You  stand  outside,  looking  up,  for 15
minutes there are always several of them.

Now to  my  question:  It seems  that  they  are going  mainly  in two
directions - either north-south  (or vice versa)  or east-west. I dont
know very much  about orbits for  satellites but I  can understand the
N-S orbits.  What I'm  wondering about  is  if it  is possible  for an
object to have an E-W orbit lying 2/3 from the equator??

One solution  I have  thought about  is that  what I'm  seeing is just
satellites on the top of  their "sine"-shaped orbits (whatever they're
called). This is just a guess - what is the answer?

--Borje
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borje Josefsson, Computer centre, University of Lulea, S-951 87 Lulea, Sweden
Tel: [phone] (direct), [phone] (operator).  Fax: [phone]

Domain:  [e-mail]                Path: {uunet,mcvax}!sunic!dc.luth.se!bj

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

Date: Mon, 11 Dec 89 12:07:40 PST
From: mordor!lll-tis!ames!scubed!pnet01.cts.com![e-mail] (Jim Bowery)
To: crash![e-mail]
Subject: Hughes vs GM/NASA

Henry Spencer quotes AW&ST:
>Hughes considers commercial venture to build small ocean-monitoring
satellite,
>to be financed by sale of data to fishing and environmental interests.  It
>would weigh about 250lbs, could be up by 1991, and would be launched by
>Pegasus.  Hughes and NASA are negotiating a deal to give NASA R&D rights
>and Hughes commercial rights.  Total costs for six-year life would be
>"under $50M".  Data returned would be similar to that from Nimbus 7's
>coastal-zone color scanner; the project grew out of old proposals to
>put an ocean sensor on a future Landsat.  It would be a relatively
>wide-angle sensor gathering low-resolution images in eight narrow bands.
>The satellite would be in a sun-synchronous orbit with equator crossing
>at noon.  Hughes wants to sign up some startup customers before go-ahead,
>on contracts offering ongoing access to the data stream rather than sale
>of single images.  The venture will be based in Canada, where Hughes is
>finding the government much more helpful than in the US.

I just can't believe Hughes is putting together a space mission within
2 years for under $50M and selling the data.  Such a scenario is totally
implausible.  :-)

The history of NASA vs Hughes is even worse than that of
NASA vs AMROC.  Hughes, being enormously successful in the only
area NASA was barred from anticompeting in (comm satellites) has
had a lot of money to put into satellite technology -- the one area
in space technology where the US really does still outshine everyone
else in the world.  The only real problem is that Hughes is now
owned by GM -- a rather ugly state of affairs which could result
in the loss of the Hughes-edge.  If you don't know what Howard Hughes
thought of GM, go see "Tucker".  "What's good for GM is bad for the
country."

Have you folks also noticed that the only high tech industries where
the US has maintained a trade surplus (biotech, chemical industry and
comm sats) are areas where there has been virtually no government funded
development for the last 20 years?  And those industries of lost promise,
(semiconductors/VHSIC, nuclear power/Atoms for Peace, supercomputers/NSF
supercomputer network, space transporation/Shuttle et al) were areas of
big federal "initiatives" which started PRIOR to the decline of those
industries?

This pattern can't have escaped the attention of the KGB existing, as it
does, within a society which is relatively good at keeping "government
initiatives" from being totally destructive.  They shoot their corrupt
bureaucrats.  Our founding fathers did give us a tool to deal with this
situation -- right in the Constitution:  Treason as a Capital Offense.

Lessee.... Reagan and most of his administration, NASA and most of its
bureaucrats, DoE and most of its bureaucrats, just about everyone (including
IBM lobbyists) clamoring for nonenforcement of antitrust statutes because of
the threat from "Japan, Inc." and most of the "Great Physicists" (I actually
heard someone say that) who are chewing the hell out of NSF, DoE and DoD by
creating the illusion that they are peers of Oppenheimer et al.  That will
probably be enough to get the message across.  I wonder how much of our
federal budget is financing KGB sleepers who are there for the sole purpose
of lobbying for more corruption of this type and preventing the appropriate
application of the death penalty.

It's almost enough to make a guy wanna go out and leverage some
palladium futures at the risk of being labeled "one of those
anti-big-science types."  But since I can't handle disapproval from
KGB agents enjoying large U.S. government cashflows, I'll restrain myself.
---
Typical RESEARCH grant:
$
Typical DEVELOPMENT contract:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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

Date: 11 Dec 89 15:14:16 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!memex![e-mail]  (Peter Ilieve)
Subject: Planetary position software: summary of replies.

Here is a summary of the replies to my request for planetary position
software a few weeks ago.

The clear winner is ephem, a program written by Elwood Downey.
It doesn't do any astrology, but then I was not really expecting that from
sci.* newsgroups. The author mailed me, and coincidently the latest version
just appeared in comp.sources.misc.

Another program mentioned was Voyager, for the Mac, authors/agents unknown.

One specifically astrological program mentioned was BlueStar, for which I
do not yet know the source, but which has the drawback that it is commercial
and costs about $500.

Other suggestions were any decent public domain/shareware PC software catalog
and the PD1:<MSDOS.EDUCATION> directory on simtel.army.mil. I can't ftp to
anywhere so I can't vouch for this last one.

Thank you, normal service will now be resumed ...

        Peter Ilieve        [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V10 #340
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