Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v13_2/v13_222.txt

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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #222

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 222

Today's Topics:
                   Re: Gaia
            Commercial Space news (2 of 8)
            Commercial Space news (1 of 8)
      Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
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Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 21:30:00 EST
From: John Roberts <[e-mail]>
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of the sender
    and do not reflect NIST policy or agreement.
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Gaia


>Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 22:44:15 EST
>From: Tommy Mac <[e-mail]>
>Re:  Gaia Hypothesis

Some excerpts from your posting (extensively quoted to try to establish
a common thread)...

>About Gaia:  It all started when two people, whose names I can't remember, were
>discovering the amazing importance of micro-organisms in the atmosphere.  The
>negative feedback is an important issue, and in fact, is also an important
>current question.

>But here's my understanding of current Gaia theory.
 ...
>The next important question is :  What is an individual?
>    a cell?   a cell colony?  a species?  a biome?  a biosphere?  all of them?

>This is the basic analogy that the Gaia Hypothesis wants to resolve.

>Some have proposed that we are Gaia's nuerons, since we can foresee changes,
>unlike any other species has been able to do.
>I propose that we are also Gaia's sex organs, since we can leave the biosphere,
>unlike any other species can do.

>The originator of the Hypothesis (Sorry I can't remember the guy's name) also
>pointed out that birth, in mammals, is usually triggered by the drain that the
>fetus causes on the resources that the mother has to offer.
>     Maybe our current resource crises are the labor pains......

>If you continue thinking of analogies (cells excrete their wastes, while our
>civilization would be better off with polluting industrial processes in space)
>you will not only find many of them, but you might begin to see the almost
>unarguable position of the Gaia Hypothesis.  The only reasons not to accept it
>at face value are:  (as far as I can tell)
 ...
>Maybe my vision of the Hypothesis is too romantic.  But hey, who cares?  By all
>the defenitions of life that I know, Gaia fits.

As I mentioned before, I think the Gaia hypothesis has been valuable in
directing attention to the regulatory mechanisms of the ecosystem - some
of the imformation thus obtained is being used, for instance, in trying
to predict the long-term results of a trend toward global warming. There
are many other questions which have perhaps not yet been fully addressed,
such as:
 - Why aren't all plants poisonous?
 - How has the earth been protected from the potential evolution of an
   extremely efficient predator, or a germ that kills everything?

There are apparently deep and complex mechanisms at work which tend to keep
the ecosystem functioning well. I can see how some of these might work,
particularly on a local scale, but the overall global operation is obviously
much more complex. I suspect at least some of it is genetically "programmed"
into all living things, dating from some point very early in the development
of life. These are the types of questions that the Gaia researchers can
investigate, with the potential of great benefit if they learn how such
things work.

On the other hand, there is a tendency to delve deep into philosophy, in
an effort to establish that our fantastically complex biosphere can be
usefully modeled by a comparatively simple single organism. Much of your
posting reflects this trend - postulate that Gaia is an organism, preferably
an animal, not too different from a human being, then say "an animal has
such and such a part, Gaia is an animal, so it must also have this part -
where is it?" This is undoubtedly fun, like trying to see faces in cloud
patterns, but what does it get you? An analogy is an attempt to model a
complex thing with a simpler thing, in the hope that one's greater
understanding of the simple thing will inspire greater knowledge of the
complex thing. I feel fairly confident that if Gaia is an animal or plant,
then it is very much unlike any animal or plant we know, so in this case
the attempted analogy will provide us with very little information about
the complex system.

One sees attempts at this type of analogy in introductory biology texts,
trying to compare a human being and a single cell - one part is like the
brain, one part is like the liver, and so on. The problem is that the
organizational structure is very different at the two levels - functions
are grouped differently, so the comparison is of very little benefit. I
feel that this is probably also the case with a comparison of the
multicellular organisms we know and the biosphere as a whole. So while
a study of any level of life can be profitable, it has to be studied at
its own level - simplistic analogies are of very limited use.

If it's philosophy you want, why not say that life is nothing more or less
than a particular type of organization, and that like a virus, it infests
inanimate matter and forces upon it further organization, obtaining the
energy to do this from the trend toward entropy that was already present?
Then you can go on to point out that the tooth enamel of an animal, though
in no sense alive, is nevertheless part of the animal, and that automobiles
are part of Gaia, because they were produced under the direction of living
creatures. Isaac Asimov wrote a story which came close to this school of
thought - the planets were "Petri dishes" in a universe which was a vast
laboratory, created for the purpose of studying life.

What part of Gaia is its appendix? :-)

>Tommy Mac
>[e-mail]

         John Roberts
         [e-mail]

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Date: 1 Mar 91 02:56:30 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123![e-mail]  (Wales Larrison)
Subject: Commercial Space news (2 of 8)


   (Commentary continued on Presidential Commercial Space Policy)
   From my readings of the document, probably the three most
interesting provisions in this are:
  -"retain only the government rights as needed" - this has been a
sticky point in several past commercial space ventures, which have
centered around "Who owns the rights to commercially-applicable
technology developed under government contracts?"  This policy would
indicate that the government is being encouraged to allow a firm to
commercialize technologies developed under government contracts,
without giving the government the right of first refusal. This
should certainly help encourage companies to enter into new
commercial space ventures with government-developed technologies.
  - "Make unused or excess space assets and services available for
commercial use".  Ohhh, this is going to cause a lot of discussion.
Lockheed has already stated their wish to use surplus Polaris
/Posiden submarine-launched missile motors to compete in the small
ELV market.  Other competitors (OSC for one) have expressed their
opinions this would seriously damage their competitive position,
since they have had to develop their own systems from scratch.  This
policy would encourage the government to release such surplus
motors, which also have to be judged as whether it is harmful to the
market, overall.  Since the government is 90% of the market, how
they allocate their unused or surplus assets willy be of significant
impact to the market, and there will be a lot more discussion of
this, and probably a case-by-case analysis.  Already this is of
significant impact in the small ELV program.
   - "Act as 'anchor tenants' for commercial space ventures".
Again, since the government is 90% of the market, this provision
makes since.  This was one of the key issues with the ISF venture
that was proposed a couple of years ago.  This general guideline
should allow the government to accept a long-term contractual
commitment (given the usual funding and contractual hassles of
course), that would allow a commercial venture to make some longer
term plans and get the needed long term investment.
   In general, this Presidential policy is a good thing - but there
are still a lot of terms and conditions needed to be worked out to
implement it, and the Congressional side still has to approve the
money for any actual government/commercial ventures (which, in
general, they have been willing to do).]



--
Wales Larrison
Internet: [e-mail]
Compuserve: >internet:[e-mail]
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Date: 1 Mar 91 02:55:11 GMT
From: agate!bionet!uwm.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123![e-mail]  (Wales Larrison)
Subject: Commercial Space news (1 of 8)

This is the third in an irregular series on news from the commercial
space business.  The commentaries are my own thoughts on these
developments.  Posted in eight messages (My apologies - message
length restrictions at my up-load point).

Contents -
 1- PRESIDENT BUSH APPROVES SET OF COMMERCIAL SPACE POLICIES
 3- NASA MAY SET ASIDE UP TO 1/2 OF SPACE STATION FOR COMMERCIAL
     PROJECTS
 4- PERMANENT RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION TAX CREDIT TO BE
    REINSTATED?
 4- ARIANESPACE RESCHEDULES LAUNCHES DUE TO ENGINE TEST FAILURE
 5- EER ENTERS LAUNCH SERVICES MARKET WITH CONESTOGA, COMET TEAM
 5- GENERAL DYNAMICS GETS FIRST 'LAUNCH OPERATORS LICENSE'
 6- ASIAN BIDS FOCUS COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE MARKET EFFORTS
 7- UPDATED COMMERCIAL LAUNCH MANIFEST RELEASED BY OCST

Articles -
------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESIDENT BUSH APPROVES SET OF COMMERCIAL SPACE POLICIES
  On Feb 8th, President Bush approved a new set of guidelines to
encourage government agencies to buy and use commercial space
services.  These guidelines included specific mention of 5 areas of
commercial space activities - satellite communications, space
transportation, remote sensing, the processing of materials in
space, and support facilities and services.
  The new policy, which combines several previous policies and
extends their applications, encourages government organizations to
use commercially available space products and services "to the
fullest extent feasible", where they are "cost effective".
Technologies development by the government are to be transferred to
the private sector "in as timely a manner as possible and in ways
that protect its commercial value," the guidelines said.  The policy
encourages federal agencies to:
   - undertake cooperative research and development with the private
sector or state and local governments.
   - retain only rights to new technology generated in the course of
a government contract, as necessary to meet government needs and
mission requirements.
   - avoid regulating domestic space activities "in a manner that
precludes or deters commercial private sector activities, consistent
with national security and domestic legal requirements."
   - Make unused or excess space assets and services available for
commercial use, as long as the long-term economic impact of such
transfers is taken into account.
   - Work to establish an international trading environment that
encourages market-oriented competition.
   - Act as "anchor tenants" for commercial space ventures.
   [Commentary: I'd originally been planning not to include this,
but I've gotten several question specifically asking about the
impact of this upon commercial space ventures.  This policy does not
have the force of law - and as policy, only provides general
guidelines to government organization.  What is important about this
is it shows the government is trying to provide a common, unified
approach to encourage commercial space activities.  Most of the
provisions in the policy are not new, but this Presidential
Directive pulls the pieces together in a single set of unified,
general guidelines.
                                        (continued)
s


--
Wales Larrison
Internet: [e-mail]
Compuserve: >internet:[e-mail]
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Date: 1 Mar 91 12:01:47 GMT
From: eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!amelia![e-mail]  (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Information sources for frequent space questions (1 of n)


Many space activies center around large Government or International
Bureaucracies.  In this country that means NASA.  If you have basic
information requests: (e.g., general PR info, research grants, data,
limited tours, and ESPECIALLY SUMMER EMPLOYMENT (typically resumes
should be ready by Jan. 1), etc.), consider contacting the nearest
NASA Center to answer your questions.

EMail typically will not get you any where, computers are used by
investigators, not PR people.  The typical volume of mail per Center is
a multiple of 10,000 letters a day.  Seek the Public Information Office
at one of the below, this is their job:

NASA Headquarters (NASA HQ)
Washington DC 20546

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Moffett Field, CA 94035
[Mountain View, CA, near San Francisco Bay, you know Silicon Valley 8-) ]

NASA Ames Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Facility [DFRF]
P. O. Box 273
Edwards, CA  93523

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, MD 20771
[Outside of Washington DC]

NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC)
21000 Brookpark Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44135

NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC)
Houston, TX 77058

NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC)
Titusville, FL 32899

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Huntsville, AL 35812

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)
Hampton, VA 23665
[Near Newport News, VA]

Not a NASA Center, but close enough:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL/CIT]
California Institute of Technology
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109

There are other small facilities, but the above major Centers are set up
to handle public information requests.  They can send you tons of information.

Manager, Technology Utilization
Office, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility,
Post Office Box 8757, Baltimore, Maryland 21240.

Specific requests for software must go thru COSMIC at the Univ. of Georgia,
NASA's contracted software redistribution service.  You can reach them
at [e-mail].  If this gives you problems, tell me.

NOTE:  Foreign nationals requesting information must go through their
Embassies in Washington DC.  These are facilities of the US Government
and are regarded with some degree of economic sensitivity.
Centers cannot directly return information without high Center approval.
Allow at least 1 month for clearance.  This includes COSMIC.

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY        (O) 202/488-4158
955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, D.C.  20024

 Arianespace Headquarters
 Boulevard de l'Europe
 B.P. 177
 91006 Evry Cedex
 France

ARIANESPACE, INC. (O) 202/728-9075
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 875, Washington, DC  20006

SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION           (FAX) 703/648-1813    (O) 703/620-2200
1857 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091

National Space Development Agency (NASDA), 4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome
          Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, Japan

SOYUZKARTA
45 Vologradsij Pr., Moscow 109125, USSR

SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services)
504 Pluto Drive, Colorado Springs, CO  80906   (O) 719/578-5490
69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower, Houston, TX 77002  (O) 713/227-9000

Additionally information is frequent asked about:
Space camp:

        Alabama Space and Rocket Center
        1 Tranquility Base
        Huntsville, AL 35805
        205-837-3400

    U.S. SPACE CAMP
    6225 Vectorspace Blvd
    Titusville FL  32780
    [phone]
    (registration and mailing list are handled through Huntsville --
     both camps are described in the same brochure)

There is talk of a space camp to be located next to NASA Ames.
Watch that space.

    "It's not a message.  I think it's a warning." -- Ripley

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End of SPACE Digest V13 #222
*******************