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Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #538

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 538

Today's Topics:
           Payload Status for 06/18/90 (Forwarded)
Re: Public Perception Of Space (was Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity)
              Galileo Update - 06/14/90
           Re: NSS protests Chinese launch pricing
              Ulysses Update - 06/18/90
    Re: Challenger accident (Was: Re: 10 psi overpressure)
               Re: cosmosphere
              Voyager Update - 06/13/90

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 18 Jun 90 12:55:46 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Payload Status for 06/18/90 (Forwarded)


    Daily Status/KSC Payload Management and Operations 06-18-90.


    - STS-35 ASTRO-1/BBXRT (at Pad-A) -

    Rollback support continues.


    - STS-37 gro (at PHSF)

    GRO partial fueling will start today.


    - STS-40 SLS-1 (at O&C) -

    CITE interface testing continues.


    - STS-41 Ulysses (at ESA 60) -

    CITE MUE validation at the VPF and goal software debug at
    the O&C will be active today.


    - STS-42 IML-1 (at O&C) -

    Rack, floor, and module staging is continuing.


    - STS-45 Atlas-1 (at O&C) -

    Pallet cables, RAU mating plates, and plumbing will be
    installed today.


    - STS-46 TSS-1 (at O&C) -

    PR's against the pallet hardware will be worked today.


    - STS-47 Spacelab-J (at O&C) -

    Racks 5 and 11 staging continues.


    - STS-LON-3 HST M&R (at O&C) -

    No work is scheduled for today.

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

Date: 18 Jun 90 04:46:46 GMT
From: usc!samsung!umich!ox.com!kitenet![e-mail]  (Russ Cage)
Subject: Re: Public Perception Of Space (was Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (lawrence.m.geary) writes:
>To say this has "near zero information content" is kind. CNN in fact has
>a weekly series, "Science and Technology Today", consisting of a rundown
>of the week's stories in these areas. But it tends to be superficial, full
>of file film of researchers looking at "ls -l" listings, and a lot of the
>filler material sounds like the sample I gave above.

On the other hand, some of this stuff sells by itself.

Witness the success of Omni magazine.  I consider it junk;
the last straw was when I got an issue with a false-color
radio map (or something) of an astronomical object, WITHOUT
A CAPTION.  There was no attempt made at giving information,
just pretty pictures.

Well, one thing NASA has in profusion is pretty pictures, and
they sure know how to make more.  Making an informational TV
program which grabs the Omni crowd, and has better content,
might keep them in the public eye in a favorable light.  It
should not be too difficult to do this with NASA's archives
and a free hand.

--
  I am paid to write all of RSI's opinions.  Want me to write some for you?
[phone]        Forewarned is half an octopus.
Russ Cage, Robust Software Inc.            [e-mail]

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

Date: 17 Jun 90 19:04:35 GMT
From: usc!jarthur!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Galileo Update - 06/14/90


                              GALILEO
                       MISSION STATUS REPORT
                           June 14, 1990

     As of noon Thursday (PDT), June 14, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft is
96,243,340 miles from the Earth, 62,678,100 miles from Venus and traveling at
a heliocentric velocity of 56,796 miles per hour.  Galileo's spin rate
remains at 3.15 rpm in dual spin configuration.  Round trip light time is 17
minutes, 14 seconds.

     The Venus-Earth-5 (VE-5) sequence was successfully transmitted and
received by the spacecraft on June 8.  This sequence controls spacecraft
activities from June 11 to October 22.  This is the longest stored sequence
generated to date and contains major events such as five SITURNS, six RPM
flushing activities, three telecommunications system tests, numerous cruise
science memory readouts and several engineering calibration activities.  In
addition, time windows are provided for Trajectory Course Maneuvers (TCM-5
and TCM-6) planned for mid-July and early October, respectively.  The VE-5
sequence went active as planned on June 11.

     The thirteenth Retropropulsion Module (RPM) thruster "flushing" activity
was successfully performed on June 8.  The activity flushed the Z, L, and S
thrusters only.  The P thrusters were not flushed since they are used
periodically to perform SITURNS.  These activities were performed at 40 bps
and consequently thruster temperature profiles were not available due to low
telemetry sample rate.  Successful flushing was inferred from other spacecraft
measurements/events including attitude control performance and thruster counts.

     Cruise Science Memory Readouts (MROs) were successfully performed for
the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV), Magnetometer (MAG) and Dust Detector (DDS)
instruments on June 8, 11 and 14.

     A SITURN was successfully performed on June 14.  This turn, about 13
degrees, was the largest turn performed to date.  Spacecraft performance for
this activity was as expected and without incident.

     Four electrical heaters were activated on June 11 to maintain acceptable
thermal control for the Plasma Subsystem (PLS), Bay A electronics, and the
Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS).

     The Plasma Wave (PWS) magnetic field pre-amplifier thermal control
algorithm was enabled on June 11.  This algorithm automatically controls the
state of the electrical heater used to maintain proper thermal control of the
PWS.

     The AC/DC bus imbalance measurements have remained very stable.  The AC
measurement continues to indicate a near short circuit to chassis.  The DC
measurement continues to indicate a reading near 20.4 volts.  No significant
measurement changes were observed when the electrical heater loads were
powered on.

    Results of further analysis of the EUV data at the University of Colorado
now suggests that the earlier detection of O+ emissions from Comet Austin was
due to internal Lyman Alpha scattering in the instrument.  Hence at this time
no positive detection of Comet Austin in O+ can be reported.
       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____/ |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 18 Jun 90 18:32:27 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: NSS protests Chinese launch pricing

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jon Bloom) writes:
>How are the commercial firms supposed to compete with an entity that
>is willing to lose money indefinitely? ...

The question is, *are* the Chinese losing money?  That is, are they
subsidizing foreign launches, or are they simply launching things more
cheaply?  One look at their launch facilities and practices indicates
very clearly that their costs *are* lower than Western ones.  Whether
the difference is enough to account for their prices is hard to figure
out, and most of the people interested in figuring it out have a vested
interest (one way or the other) in the answer.

It is not *impossible* that they are simply passing on their lower costs
to their customers, and balking at artificially inflating their prices
to match those of inefficient Western launch firms.

>... the NSS should take the
>position that other countries should not do business with the Chinese
>while their current human rights abuses continue.  Even single-issue
>interest groups have a moral duty to protect basic human rights,
>their single-issue interest notwithstanding.

Do they also have a moral duty to help feed the starving, house the
homeless, educate the illiterate, etc etc?  All these things have been
cited as "basic human rights" at one point or another.  There is
nothing intrinsically wrong about single-issue groups declining to
take a position on matters well outside their area of interest.
--
As a user I'll take speed over|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
features any day. -A.Tanenbaum| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 18 Jun 90 22:59:53 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Ulysses Update - 06/18/90


                          Ulysses Update
                          June 18, 1990

    A Ulysses Mission Readiness Test (MRT) was run on the Ulysses
spacecraft, and all objectives of the MRT were met.  Successful validations
were performed on tracking (S and X band doppler), ranging, command, monitor
& control, and telemetry subsystems.  Standard S-band uplink acquisition
completed with no problems.  The Telemetry Simulation Assembly (TSA) was
configured in standalone mode with receiver injection.  The telemetry data
source used was pre-recorded test data.  Telemetry Processing Assemblies
1 & 2 (TPA1 & TPA2) were configured to the link and simultaneous validations
conducted on S and X band.  Solid frame synchronization was achieved on all
bit rates and formats.  The Ulysses spacecraft is scheduled for launch from
the Space Shuttle in October 1990.
       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____/ |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

Date: 19 Jun 90 03:26:23 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aristotle![e-mail]  (Peter Scott)
Subject: Re: Challenger accident (Was: Re: 10 psi overpressure)

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Fraering Philip) writes:
> On a related topic, did the Challenger have a range safety package
> attached to it?

As usual, yes, on the ET and the SRBs.  There's a diagram in the
Rogers report showing placement.  If you were wondering about the
orbiter specifically, no, there are none on it.  I'd be interested
to know whether there are any on Buran, since it is rigged to fly
pilotless.  Would they take them off the orbiter when a pilot flew?

This is news.  This is your       |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
brain on news.  Any questions?    |    ([e-mail])

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

Date: 18 Jun 90 16:17:05 GMT
From: pioneer.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (R. Michael Smithwick -- FSN)
Subject: Re: cosmosphere

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Harry Burford) writes:
>[e-mail] ("Bill Ball") writes:
>
>>In a note of 30 may [e-mail] mentions some museums including
>>"the Cosmosphere near Kansas City". Can anyone provide me with more
>>info on this place?
>>((( Bill Ball c476721@UMCVMB ) Dept. Pol. Sci. ) U. Mo.-Columbia )
>>internet: [e-mail]
>
>The Cosmosphere is located in Hutchinson Kansas just north west of
>Wichita 316-622-2305.  There you will find a large collection of
>space artifacts as well as an OmniMAX theater.  The folks at the
>Cosmosphere are recognized for their talents at space craft
>restoration and there are several one of a kind objects on display
>in their museum.

The Cosmosphere is a wonderful place. I went back there several
years ago and was permitted to probe around their warehouses and back
rooms.

The full-scale Lunar Module is the NBC mockup which they restored using
many authentic LM parts. (I got to go up inside the thing, but it was
pretty ratty then).

They have a scale model of the Sputnik that was loaned  to the Smithsonian
by the USSR during the Bicentennial. In return we loaned them some
of our space pieces. They never returned them so we kept the Sputnik.

They also have the backup Explorer 1 satillite, and what is considered
the world's best space suit collection.

I was also shown a box full of the original silk-screens used for the
real Apollo flight patches, backup panels to the Apollo-Soyuz docking
adapter, and the Skylab blueprints. Max Ary (the curator) told me
some heartbreaking stories about collecting the material. For instance,
he showed me some beautiful large acrylic illustrations of early shuttle
concepts. He found them in a pile of stuff to be sent on to landfill
because "they were not historically accurate". He also found another
box of items in the "to be discarded" pile, and in the box where the
Skylab 2 flight suits.

The Cosmosphere has a touching tribute to the Apollo 1 crew as well.
On display was Gus Grissom's backup helmet (I think) that his family
donated. Max told me that it was the only Apollo 1 item ever displayed
anywhere.

When I was there, they just took delivery of several boxes of new
material. When Max opened one of them, on the top were the Apollo 8
flight data file checklists, complete with the crew's notes still on
the pages.

I enjoyed the Cosmosphere much more than the NASM. The Smitsonian
looks more like a gigantic warehouse, with displays tossed around
haphazardly, whereas Max put in alot of effort to tell the story
of manned spaceflight, leading the visitor thru curving walkways and
small side galleries, never revealing too much at once. It starts off
with a recreation of Goddard's lab and going up thru the space station
and beyond (I think, since when I was there, only about 1/3rd of the
exhibit space was completed).


mike



Any opinions are my own since nobody else would ever want them.

"Lisa! You make it sound like butt-kissing is something to be
ashamed of!" Homer Simpson.

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

Date: 17 Jun 90 19:03:18 GMT
From: usc!jarthur!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Voyager Update - 06/13/90


                     Voyager Mission Status Report
                            June 13, 1990

                              Voyager 1

     The Voyager 1 spacecraft continues to collect routine cruise science data.
One frame of high-rate Plasma Wave (PWS) data was recorded on June 5.  On
June 1 and June 5 high rate Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) observations were
performed on the stars HD 212571 and HD 217675.  The observation on June 1
was not received as there was no Deep Space Network (DSN) downlink coverage
available.  The observation on June 5 was degraded due to poor performance at
the 70 meter antenna in Spain (DSS 63) which was attributed to bad weather
conditions; the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) was 1 to 2 db below predicted
values.

    On June 7 a Computer Command Subsystem (CCS) A Memory refresh sequence
was executed.  Initially, pre-refresh CCS checksums and a memory readout were
executed.  Following verification of the CCS checksums and memory readout,
real-time commands were transmitted to initiate the CCSA memory refresh,
subsequent confirmation checksums and memory read-out, and to reset the CCS
status telemetry.  A CCS Timing (CCSTIM) test was also executed which
indicated that the time offset between the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) frame
start and the CCS timing chain in each processor has not changed since the
previous test.  Because of timing problems at the 34 meter antenna in
Goldstone, California (DSS 15), the memory refresh as well as the verification
checksums and memory readout were not received in the downlink telemetry.
Downlink telemetry was not acquired by DSS 15 until all but the last element
of three transmitted to reset the CCS status telemetry was received.  The
subsequent CCS hours telemetry indicates that all commands transmitted for
the refresh sequence appear to have been received and executed correctly.



                              Voyager 2

     The Voyager 2 spacecraft also continues to collect routine cruise science
data.  A high-rate UVS observation of Markarian 509 was conducted on June 2
but, due to limited DSN station availability, only about two-thirds of the
data were acquired.  One frame of high-rate PWS data was recorded on June 5.

     On June 4 CCSLB005 began execution, and a transfer to the FDS program
was performed.  Spacecraft performance for the load start and transfer was
nominal.  A Spacecraft Time (SCT) Detailed Status Check was performed to
verify the spacecraft performance and configuration in the new data mode.
While spacecraft performance was found to be nominal at the status check,
six "S" channels indicated "no data" from the Test and Telemetry Subsystem
(TTS) processing, and one channel indicated changing values.  Further
investigation revealed that all these channels contained correct data in the
minor frame prior to TTS processing.  Currently the problem is thought to be
in the new TTS software.

     On June 5 a PWS observation was recorded in the new data mode.  This
data will be played back on July 12 and July 26.



                  CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 6/13/90

    P R O P E L L A N T    S T A T U S          P O W E R

                     Consumption
             One Week    Propellant Remaining     Output     Margin
  Spacecraft  (Gm)                (Kg)            Watts      Watts

   Voyager 1    7             36.4 + 2.0          370         59
   Voyager 2    6             39.5 + 2.0          374         66

       _   _____    _
      | | |  __ \  | |       Ron Baalke           |  [e-mail]
      | | | |__) | | |       Jet Propulsion Lab   |  [e-mail]
   ___| | |  ___/  | |___    M/S 301-355          |
  |_____/ |_|      |_____|   Pasadena, CA 91109   |

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

End of SPACE Digest V11 #538
*******************