Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v15_0/v15no024.txt

Text File | 1993-07-13 | 33KB | 735 lines

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 05:03:21
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #024
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Wed, 22 Jul 92       Volume 15 : Issue 024

Today's Topics:
                           GEOTAIL MISSION
   How Much Nothing for Antimatter? (was Re: Propulsion questions)
                  Lunar Resource Mapper Information
                         Propulsion questions
Star Trek and public perception of space/science/engineering (3 msgs)
          Testers for Astronomy  -or- Get your act together!
           Testers for Astronomy Lab: NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!!!
                         U.S. Black Programs
  What Galileo didn't find (was Re: Galileo found intelligent life?)

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 22 Jul 92 06:45:06 GMT
From: Yoshiro Yamada <[e-mail]>
Subject: GEOTAIL MISSION
Newsgroups: sci.space

        * GEOTAIL *


    The GEOTAIL spacecraft is Japan's largest scientific satellite to date.

    The purpose of the GEOTAIL mission is to study the mechanism of
input, transport, storage, release and conversion of energy in the magnetotail
of the Earth. Part of the energy released produces very beautiful emission of
light known as Aurora seen in the Antarctica and Arctic.

    The GEOTAIL spacecraft carries on board the following scientific
instruments on board:


Electric field detector,

Magnetic field detector,

Low energy plasma analyzer and ion mass spectrometer,

Hot plasma analyzer and ion composition analyzer (from U.S.),

High energetic particle detector,

Energetic particles and ion composition spectrometer (from U.S.),

and Plasma wave analyzer.



    The GEOTAIL spacecraft is a spin stabilized spacecraft utilizing
a despun antennas system. The diameter of the spacecraft is approximately
2.2 meters with a height of 1.6 meters. The weight of the spacecraft
is approximately 1,000 kg including 332 kg of hydrazine fuel. The design life
is three years.



    The GEOTAIL will be launched from KSC by making use of Delta-II rocket
into a 185 km circular parking orbit with an inclination of 28.7 degrees.
The upper stage will be ignited to boost GEOTAIL into a translunar orbit.
It is a unique point that the GEOTAIL changes its orbit by using the swingby
and maneuver technique. Following are description of the phases of the
GEOTAIL mission.


(1) Translunar Phase (until L+50 days)

    Translunar phase is defined until the first lunar swingby,
which takes place on September 8-th, 1992.


(2) Distant Tail Phase (L+50 days to 1.78 years)

    The GEOTAIL spacecraft will be first injected onto distant tail orbit
so that the orbital apsis should be aligned toward midnight side of the Earth.
The orbital plane is almost same as that of the moon.


(3) Trans-near-tail Phase (L+ 1.78 years to 1.85 years)

    This is corresponding to the period from the last swingby to the
injection  into near tail orbit.  During this, two large amount of corrective
maneuvers are carried out. One of them is the orbital plane change maneuver
and the other is for the reduction of the apogee. The insertion
into Near Tail Phase is scheduled in May, 1994.


(4) Near Tail Phase (L+ 1.85 years to L+ 3.3 years)

    The second half of the scientific observation will be performed
in the near tail phase, whose orbit is scheduled as 8 X 30 Re ellipse
inclined 7.5 deg. to the ecliptic plane. The apogee is directed to antisunward
at the June solstice. This phase will last at least one and half years.



* All information is provided by the Office of External Relations;
    The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
    3-1-1, Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229, Japan

--
-*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*---
Yoshiro Yamada                            | tel    : [phone]
Astronomy Section                         | fax    : [phone]
      Yokohama Science Center             | e-mail : [e-mail]

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 09:21:28 GMT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: How Much Nothing for Antimatter? (was Re: Propulsion questions)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Michael Ott) writes:
>
> Just exactly how do you store antimatter?  I would think perhaps magnetically
> suspended in a vaccuum, but can "vaccuum-enough" vaccuums be created?

Sure.  Here we store antiprotons by circulating them in a synchroton
ring called the Antiproton Accumulator.  The vacuum there is 1E-10
torr.  I presume this is comparable to the similar facility at CERN.
The beam lifetime in such a vacuum is of order weeks, I think.

We put them to work by injecting them counterclockwise into the
Tevatron, our superconducting synchrotron.  There the vacuum is
somewhat worse, typically 1E-9 torr.  (The walls of the beampipe are
at 4.5K, so they act as cryopumps, which helps, but there are six
kilometers of pipe with thousands of places for potential leaks.) The
Accumulator works at 6 GeV beam energy, the Tevatron between 150 and
900 GeV.

Another method for storing p-bars in small numbers is in the traps
used by Gerald Gabrielse and collaborators at the University of
Washington.  I don't know what their vacuum is, but it must be good;
they once kept a single electron trapped for ten months.  Hans Dehmelt
received a Nobel Prize in physics for developing this technique, and I
imagine you could find details in his prize speech, published a few
years ago in *Reviews of Modern Physics*.  Or dig up papers by
Gabrielse.

There have been one or two books on antimatter experiments, sources,
and storage.  The pop version, as we've already mentioned in this
thread, is *Mirror Matter* by Bob Forward and Joel Davis.  Uh-oh,
our library's node seems to be down so I can't fetch you any more
technical titles.

Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey              | "I'm gonna keep on writing
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory  | songs until I write the song
Bitnet:           [e-mail]  | that makes the guys in
Internet:       [e-mail]  | Detroit who make the cars
SPAN/Hepnet:           43011::HIGGINS  | put tailfins on 'em again."
                                            --John Prine

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 05:00:00 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Lunar Resource Mapper Information
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes...
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes...

>>How about posting something about Lunar Resource Mapper? Is it because it
>>is targeted to the moon that you don't care? JPL folks have been wonderfully
>>silent over this issue and the Congress Critters have cut the funding this
>>year by recission and have basically gutted Mike Griffin's budget for next
>>year. Where is the pleas from the likes of Allan protesting this injustice?
>>
>
>The Lunar Resource Mapper is not a JPL mission, and I myself would like to
>see more details about it.  It seems that Congress is very reluctant to
>fund the Lunar Resource Mapper because it is associated with SEI.  There are
>other missions that haven't recieved any budget support and have fallen
>to the wayside, Lunar Observer and SIRTF come to mind.  Mike
>Griffin has been doing a great job since he has taken over in his new
>position, but without the support of Congress, his plans are going to go
>nowhere.

Lunar Resource Mapper information that I give here is gleaned from presentations
that I have heard in the last few months at various conferences.

Lunar Resource Mapper (LRM) is the first of the new class of planetary missions
using a streamlined procurement policy adopted by NASA Headquarters
code X (Mike Griffin). The LRM is not a single spacecraft. To my knowledge there
are two spacecraft that will carry out the objectives of the single JPL
Lunar Observer spacecraft.  The TOTAL cost of the first LRM mission is capped
at 100 million FY 93 dollars. Yep you got it folks 100 million dollars. The
cost for two spacecraft total mission expenditures is capped at somewhere
under 200 million dollars exclusive of DSN support. This is a vast departure
from the Lunar Observer mission, which uses much Mars Observer heritage hardware
and from the last literature that I saw (JPL document on Lunar Observer dated
April 1991) the cost for LO was around 750 million dollars. I hope you correct
me if I am wrong on this one Ron, I do not have the book in front of me. The
high cost of LO was prime in the decision of Congress not to fund it as a new
start up in FY 91 or 92.

Lunar Resource Mapper uses all of the research that was carried out by JPL on
Lunar Observer and its predecessor Lunar Polar Orbiter as a baseline for the
LRM missions.  The reason that you have not heard anything about the spacecraft
size, weight etc, is because NASA in this instance did not predesign the
spacecraft and then tell the Contractors to bid to that design specification.
In this instance NASA simply said, "we want to fly these instruments, (supplied
by the Applied Physics Laboratory APL), and this is what we want to do with
these instruments. Tell us how you will carry out this mission, and YOU
CONTRACTOR design the spacecraft". This is the equivalent of the launch
services agreements that are touted as tools to lower the costs of launching
payloads by Allen and others.  Basically Griffin said here is what we want
delivered to Lunar polar orbit and this is what we want to do with the
instruments once we get there. You provide a solution Mr. Contractor.  As
is obivious, this is a radical departure from the norm at NASA.

I know that some of the experiments for the two missions are a follows:

Gamma Ray Spectrometer. (Elemental distribution of Ti, Fe, Ni, and other metals)
X Ray Spectrometer. (Elemental or molecular distribution of materials on surface)
Infrared Spectrometer ( Molecular constituitants and Thermal Sources on Moon)
High Resolution Imager (Visible light mapping at 1 meter resolution)
Magnetometer (Required on all NASA payloads whether needed or not)
Gravity Experiment (Map the distribution and intensity of anomalies "Mascons")
Neutron Spectrometer (Water Ice at the Poles)

This is not all because I have not heard everything but these are the major
ones. It is easy to be seen that LRM is for resource mapping and site
prepartion for future landing missions. The Artemis mini lander program is also
out on RFP from Griffin & Co.  The importance of this mission is obivious for
anyone interested in the DEVELOPMENT of space. In my opinion (Bill you know that
I am never self righteous :-)) LRM is more important than CRAF, CASSINI and
Mars Observer put together. It is stupid that we have better information
on Venus and Mars than we do of our nearest celestial body.

If our civilization is to survive (at least the propaganda from the gloom and
doomers) we must expand the resource base for mankind.  The rebuttals of the
resources posts that I have made recently simply do not realize how much the
popular media is about to push a major retrenchment of industrialization on
our planet due to the imminent exaustion of our planet's resources. If you
doubt this go to a local bookstore and look for Al Gore's Book on the
environment. It is right out of the club of Rome and their school of end
industry and go to a agrarian society of two billion people. With that is the
end of a harmful to progress little thing liker personal freedom. If you
doubt this go get the book and read it.

Lew Freidman told me a couple of years ago that the development of space
resources may happen in forty years. He wants to see us go to Mars so that it
can happen in his lifetime. Mars has no potential in the near term to assist
in aleviating the Earth's resource crisis. The moon does. The Planetary
Society's obsession with Mars is hurting the true development of space. Mars
is a fine goal once we at least start the reaping of the harvest of a virgin
body such as the Moon, but it is not true to tout going to Mars as anything
but Apollo II.

Ron I love JPL and the accomplishments that have been made there. These
accomplishment will be remembered for thousands of years to your credit, but
times have changed. We can no longer afford the wow gee whizzes that accompany
the Planetfests that we have had in Pasadena. I have been to almost every one
and have loved it like everyone else, but we have to change course. We must
provide information to business and government regarding an alternative to
the gloom and doom scenarios that are painted for us by the underinformed.
We must return to the Moon with cost effective missions to scout for resources,
we must support the recon landers of the Artemis series that will follow. There
is a book called "For All Mankind" detailing the Apollo program. That is what
the Moon can be, a boon for all mankind. Let us begin now.

Lunar Resource Mapper is managed by Doug Cook's office at Johnson Space Center
in Houston. They have kept the lunar flame alive. This is all that I can tell
about the project from what I have heard. I know that Eight contractors bidded
on the mission and two, Boeing and Martin Marietta won the design study
competition. From these two, a final contractor for construction of the
Spacecraft will be chosen, based on the overall merit of the design proposed
at the end of the study period. I saw a rendering of the Martin Design at the
ASCE Space 92 conference in Denver in early June. Looks much like Mars Observer
of course.

Support LRM. Griffin's office took a 28% budget hit in the recission effort of
the congress critters in June and not one person on here spoke up. Lunar
Resource Mapper needs to fly if for no other reason than it will shake JPL
up and help them become saved to the gospel of faster cheaper better. It is
sad, the overruns that have happened to the Mariner MK II bus that is the
heart of CRAF and CASSINI. That is the main reason for CRAF's demise. Mariner
MK II was promised as 400 million dollar per mission modular bus as late as
89. What happend? I don't know but it is costing us all of the future glories
of the planetfests to come if something does not change soon.

Congress remembers promises made on unmanned missions just like it does for SS
Freedom. To them, the unmanned community's bashing of Freedom is the pot
calling the kettle black and only gives them ammunition to kill both aspects
of the space program in favor of their bread and circuses approach to
legislation. A house divided cannot stand. This is as old as the bible and as
true as the sun coming up tomorrow. Both community's need to get their house
in order or the dedicated ones in the pseudoscience of environmentalism will
eat our lunch and along with it our future.

Dennis Wingo, University of Alabama in Huntsville

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 06:58:07 GMT
From: Nick Janow <[e-mail]>
Subject: Propulsion questions
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Michael Ott) writes:

> Just exactly how do you store antimatter?  I would think perhaps magnetically
> suspended in a vaccuum, but can "vaccuum-enough" vaccuums be created?

Sure.  Pump out most of the air, then spray in some antimatter to remove the
rest of the air molecules.  :-)

--

[e-mail]

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 02:45:03 GMT
From: "Phil G. Fraering" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Star Trek and public perception of space/science/engineering
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (SCOTT I CHASE) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering) writes...

>>_both_ Star Trek series... Hell, if anyone ever starts a terraforming
>>project somewhere, you know some Professional Idiot over in Congress
>>or Parlaiment or the Diet or the Supreme Soviet is going to stand up
>>and say "But how do we know there isn't some life there we can't even
>>begin to imagine, like that episode of Star Trek?"

>No need.  I'll stand up and ask it.  It is such a ridiculous question?

Yes. If we are going to live in fear of constantly wiping out
totally unrecognizable life forms we might as well all give up
and mass suicide now. True, we don't know whether or not Mars
might have lifeforms totally unrecognizable to us which might
be wiped out in a terraforming attempt, but I would consider it
of considerably less possibility than the possibility that (to
bring in another and in my mind better example from science fiction)
every time we spill some whiskey on our towels we sterilize away
a high civilization built up by hundreds of generations of bacteria...

I think we could recognize life if we see it. If for no other reason
than Gaea-like effects.


>Would you want something from a nearby star system to come here and
>accidentally reterraform

perhaps the word you're looking for here is Kzinform?

>Earth to their liking because they didn't notice
>we were here?  Until we meet a new life form or two from another planet
>I don't think you can make a convincing case for our ability to know
>them when we see them.

If we won't know them when we see them, then how will we know if
we meet them? Seriously, planetary engineering per se is constrained
by the basic physics of the various surfaces and energy flux on the
surfaces of the worlds under consideration, not to mention the need
for the chemistry to be at least roughly similar. [Translated: I
don't think silicon-based life forms will evolve on a planet that could
be engineered to provide earthlike conditions]. Therefore their life
is likely to be constrained by chemical and physical factors to be
similar to ours and therefore we would be recognizable to them
and vise versa.

Also, you might as well live in fear of the Great Cosmic Hankerchief
as worry about inadvertently wiping out totally unrecognizable and
inconceivable life forms.

>-Scott

>--------------------
>Scott I. Chase            "The question seems to be of such a character
>[e-mail]        that if I should come to life after my death
>                and some mathematician were to tell me that it
>                had been definitely settled, I think I would
>                immediately drop dead again."      - Vandiver
--
Phil Fraering [e-mail] where the x is a number from 1-5.
Phone: [phone]
"There are still 201969 unread articles in 1278 groups" - nn message
"57 channels and nothing on" - Bruce Springsteen

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

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 04:38:56 GMT
From: Ken Arromdee <[e-mail]>
Subject: Star Trek and public perception of space/science/engineering
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>_both_ Star Trek series... Hell, if anyone ever starts a terraforming
>>project somewhere, you know some Professional Idiot over in Congress
>>or Parlaiment or the Diet or the Supreme Soviet is going to stand up
>>and say "But how do we know there isn't some life there we can't even
>>begin to imagine, like that episode of Star Trek?"
>No need.  I'll stand up and ask it.  It is such a ridiculous question?
>Would you want something from a nearby star system to come here and
>accidentally reterraform Earth to their liking because they didn't notice
>we were here?  Until we meet a new life form or two from another planet
>I don't think you can make a convincing case for our ability to know
>them when we see them.

So we only terraform planets that don't have life on it.

And if you reply "but how do we know what's life?  Maybe Venus has some
completely unknown life forms based on molten lava or on sulfuric acid gas.
Maybe mountains have some sort of life that we don't know about.  Maybe the
whole planet Mars is alive, and we just can't detect it.", let me point out
that this applys even to Earth: maybe metal ores are really alive and mining is
murder....
--
Hi! Ani mutacia shel virus .signature. Ha`atek oti letoch .signature shelcha!

Ken Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: [e-mail])

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 08:00:44 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Star Trek and public perception of space/science/engineering
Newsgroups: sci.space

In <[e-mail]> SCOTT I CHASE writes:
>Would you want something from a nearby star system to come here and
>accidentally reterraform Earth to their liking because they didn't notice
>we were here?
  Oh I dunno. There's not much difference between that, and being
obliterated to make way for an interstellar bypass ...
  I could die happy knowing that the aliens were being tormented by
their own versions of eco-nazis for destroying a peacful primitive
species .... :-)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
               ** Of course I don't speak for IBM **
Greg Nicholls ... [e-mail] or [e-mail]
                  voice/fax: [phone]

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 07:31:17 GMT
From: Tom Duenser <[e-mail]>
Subject: Testers for Astronomy  -or- Get your act together!
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms,comp.windows.ms.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,sci.astro,sci.space,sci.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Eric Bergman-Terrell) writes:
>
>*** Beta Testers Needed for Windows 3.X Astronomy Program ***
>

1) I noticed that your astronomy program just appeared
   in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.

   v19i034: alw108.zoo, Astronomy Lab for Windows (part 01/05)
   etc.

   So what is all the beta-fuzz about?
   Is it a different version?

2) Be a latent masochist, I enjoy the thirty odd postings of
   machine configurations, names, etc. Very informative!
   I would nevertheless recommend that you use a TESTED
   alias ( like [e-mail] ) for you future
   postings.

Tom
--
Tom Duenser                                [e-mail]
COPHOS Development Team                    #include <std/disclaim.h>

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 07:19:10 GMT
From: Mike Zeiner <datmuc!mike>
Subject: Testers for Astronomy Lab: NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!!!
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms,comp.windows.ms.programmer,sci.astro,sci.space,sci.edu

>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Eric Bergman-Terrell) writes:

>*************************************************************************
>* Sorry about the unreliable e-mail address.  I have a new one that     *
>* should work: uunet!edoc9!erict                                        *
>*************************************************************************

Sorry for posting this, but I'm also playing mail-ping-pong!
Even with the new e-mail address.


Name:
German Mail Address: Michael Zeiner; Halmsrieder Str. 21; D - 8064 Altomuenster;
                 Germany
E-Mail Address: [e-mail]
Version of MS-Windows: V3.1
Version of MS-DOS: V5.0
CPU: 80386-SX (16 MHz)
Math Coprocessor (not required): none
Memory: 4 MB
Graphics Card: TSENG VGA (1 MB)
Printer: NEC P20

Thanks in advance

--
 -----------------------------------------| Mike Zeiner                       |
 | E-mail: [e-mail]             | DAT Informationssysteme GmbH      |
 | Phone:     +49 - (0)89 67901-119       | Gustav-Heinemann-Ring 212         |
 -----------------------------------------| D-8000 Muenchen 83                |

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 07:16:34 GMT
From: Andrew - Palfreyman <[e-mail]>
Subject: U.S. Black Programs
Newsgroups: sci.space

J. Pharabod writes:
: Since last January, I try to get more information about a strange
: aircraft (probably an airship) which has been seen near U.S. Air Force
: bases in California and/or Nevada. The point is that this craft looks
: like the "UFO(s)" which thousands Belgian (and a few Dutch) citizens
: claim to have seen since November 1989. The description of this U.S.
: secret craft can be found in Popular Mechanics (not an UFO review!),
: December 1991, in the article "America's New Secret Aircraft":
: ''[...]
:   The big wing.
:   Meanwhile, several Antelope Valley residents say they've seen a
:   craft that simply strains credulity.
    [rest deleted]
Please would you indicate the location of this "Antelope Valley"
location?
        Andrew Palfreyman

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

Date: 22 Jul 92 08:38:31 GMT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: What Galileo didn't find (was Re: Galileo found intelligent life?)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.misc

[The full Subject was "Subject: Galileo found intelligent life? (was Re: Whale
killing ..)"]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Hartmut Frommert) writes:
> [e-mail] (Ken Arromdee) writes:
HF>>>(As I see, spacecraft Galileo found *NO*
HF>>>evidence for the existence of intelligent life on the surface of Earth).
KA>>Wrong.
HF> Since Ken complains, I ask the space audience:
HF>
HF> *  Did Galileo find evidence for the existence of intelligent life on the
HF>    surface of Earth during its fly-by ?

Does netiquette allow re-runs?  I'll chance it.  Below, something I
posted to sci.space in December 1990 (the date on the press release is
fraudulent).  People seemed to like it, and it is marginally relevant
to the present discussion... if, that is, you take rock 'n' roll as a
sign of intelligence.

     O~~*           /_) ' / /   /_/ '  ,   ,  ' ,_  _           \|/
   - ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / /   / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
 /       \                          (_) (_)                    / | \
 |       |     Bill Higgins   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
 \       /     Bitnet:     [e-mail]
   -   -       Internet:  [e-mail]
     ~         SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS
====================================================================

W. Skeffington Higgins
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                   April 1, 1991
(Phone:  [phone])


RELEASE:  91-48

NASA'S GALILEO PROBE FINDS NO EVIDENCE FOR ELVIS ON EARTH

The Galileo science team today announced that the spacecraft's
instruments failed to find any new traces of Elvis Presley during its
flyby of Earth last December 8th.

Galileo, a joint project of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the European Space Agency, is a two-part spacecraft,
consisting of an orbiter and an atmospheric probe, which will explore
Jupiter and its satellites when it arrives there in December of 1995.
On the way, it has encountered Venus, returned to pass Earth, and will
encounter Earth once more at the end of next year.

Prelimnary analysis of the Galileo science data has concentrated on
searching for characteristic profiles of the pioneering rock 'n' roll
singer.

"It's a tough background subtraction problem," explained Dr. Edward
Rock of Caltech.  "We know the planet contains several thousand Elvis
imitators.  You have to distinguish the real thing from many objects
of similar appearance."

The method used involved interdisciplinary comparison from several of
Galileo's sensors.  "For example, an Elvis imitator would have a very
similar appearance to Elvis in the SSI [Solid State Imaging] and NIMS
[Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer] data," said Dr. Graham Finale.
"But no imitator has Elvis's magnetism."  Researchers combined data
from Galileo's sensitive magnetometer, mounted on a 36-foot (11-meter)
boom, with optical, infrared, and ultraviolet measurements.  They are
capable of identifying a single genuine Elvis among all the other
features of Earth's landscape. This is a very sensitive technique-- a
feat equivalent to standing in St. Joseph, Missouri, and
distinguishing a jellybean in a bowl of amphetamines in Memphis.

Instruments which measure radio emissions also studied the planet
during the encounter.  "We picked up numerous broadcasts of
'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Hound Dog,'" Dr. Finale said.  "But we were
able to correlate nearly every one with the location of previously
known oldies stations."

Galileo investigators were cautious about ruling out the possible
existence of Elvis.  "We can only set an upper limit," said Dr. Rock.
"And we're guessing to some extent at the profile we're looking for.
If Elvis has lost weight, for instance, he'd have a different infrared
signature."  According to the science team, there are 0.21 plus or
minus 0.17 Elvises on Earth, a number described as "consistent with
zero."

The most widely held theory on Elvis Presley is that he died on August
16, 1977. In the past few years, however, ground-based observers have
reported sightings of Presley in such locations as Kalamazoo,
Michigan.  Since then scientists have been interested in more precise
measurements of "The King."

Though speculation has been published in some journals that evidence
for Elvis might exist on other planets and moons in our solar system,
most scientists agree that Earth is the most likely place to find him.
"If, as the new results suggest, there's no Elvis on Earth," said Dr.
Torrance California, "this lends weight to the supposition that he
really is dead."

Galileo's ultimate destination is an orbit around Jupiter.  But to get
there, it needs to pick up extra speed; it has made one encounter with
Venus and another with Earth.  The spacecraft will swoop by Earth one
more time in December 1992. The Galileo flyby was an opportunity to
employ advanced planetary-science instruments to observe the Earth.
According to Ted Clarke, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "Only two
planets in our solar system had never had a flyby mission.  One is
Pluto.  The other is Earth."  During the encounter Galileo studied
several aspects of the Earth-Moon system, which also served as a test
of its instruments.

Having verified their search techniques in the Decmber 1990 encounter,
scientists are now planning for the 1992 Earth flyby.  At that time
they expect to use Galileo to search for aviatrix Amelia Earhart and
labor leader Jimmy Hoffa.

                               * * * *
Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select
TV.  All times are Eastern.  **indicates a live program.

Monday, 4/1/91

          ** 2:00 pm      Galileo at Earth report from JPL
             3:00 pm      Speedway
             5:00 pm      Viva Las Vegas
             7:00 pm      Jailhouse Rock

All events and times may change without notice.  This report is filed
daily, Monday through Friday, at 12:00 pm, EST.  It is a service of
Eternal Communications Branch at NASA Headquarters.  Contact:
WSHIGGINS on NASAmail or at 202/555-8425.

NASA Select TV:  Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees West
Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz.

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

Date: 
P
From: 
P

          id aa14361; 21 Jul 92 23:24:36 EDT
To: [e-mail]
Path: crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news.harvard.edu!ogicse!uwm.edu!wupost!tulane!rouge!srl03.cacs.usl.edu!pgf
From: "Phil G. Fraering" <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: first man on moon date and time
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Jul 92 03:02:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: srl03.pgf.711774166
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: Anonymous NNTP Posting <[e-mail]>
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana
Lines: 20
Source-Info:  Sender is really [e-mail]
Source-Info:  Sender is really [e-mail]

[e-mail] writes:

>Can someone E-mail me the following information.  I wouldlike to know
>at what time the first man stepped on the moon and when it wass
>televised. Direct ansewrs to : [e-mail]
>Thank you
>OAM

Everyone should know the date: July 20, 1969.

I think I remember seeing it late at night. This would count as
one of my first memories, if not my first. I was ~ 2.

Possibly not...

--
Phil Fraering [e-mail] where the x is a number from 1-5.
Phone: [phone]
"There are still 201969 unread articles in 1278 groups" - nn message
"57 channels and nothing on" - Bruce Springsteen

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 024
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