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Date: Wed, 5 Aug 92 05:04:29
From: Space Digest maintainer <digests@isu.isunet.edu>
Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu
Subject: Space Digest V15 #073
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk
Space Digest Wed, 5 Aug 92 Volume 15 : Issue 073
Today's Topics:
Another TSS update
ask a NASA person...?
Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive
HST splitup
Methods for meteor avoidance (Flies On Meat)
What is FRED?
Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to
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(THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:04:39 GMT
From: John Roberts <roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV>
Subject: Another TSS update
Newsgroups: sci.space
I got most of the post-midnight press conference on videotape. It's too
much to type in at 1 AM. Maybe in the morning I can post some of the
highlights (and of course we can hope for official releases from the
NASA people).
Basically, it got stuck several times, and didn't deploy as far as planned
for the first day. It's thought that the main problem at the moment is
that high tension in the earlier maneuvers has caused some of the loops of
tether on the reel to slip down beneath the outer layer of loops, causing
them to have much higher friction in deployment. There's considerable
hope that getting a "running start" and deploying faster than originally
planned will get them past the points where it sticks.
There's still some hope for a deployment of the originally planned length,
but consumables on the satellite are a concern. The mission has been extended
one day to increase the amount they can accomplish. Currently the satellite
is in a stable mode 870 feet from the Shuttle, with minimum power consumption.
All the scientific instruments appear to be working correctly. The Shuttle
team that works with the tether has gone to bed, and they plan to get up
in seven hours and continue work.
Sounds like they ought to call in some experts from the weedeater
manufacturers. :-)
John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 04:47:00 GMT
From: seds%cspara.decnet@Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov
Subject: ask a NASA person...?
Newsgroups: sci.space
In article <2217@tymix.Tymnet.COM>, jdresser@altair.tymnet.com (Jay Dresser) writes...
>
>I have a listing of Internet BBS's that lists Spacelink
>(spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov) as having an "Ask-a-NASA-person" service,
>where I could ask a question of a genuine NASA guru. But after
>TELNETing to it and wading through their menus, I see no evidence of
>such a thing. Is this for real, or should I just ask the question
>here?
>
>
>-- Jay Dresser, jdresser@Tymnet.com
Jay at the end of your session it asks if you want to leave a question with
NASA. That is the time to post your question. It would be interesting for
some of the questions that are debated here to be put to the NASA MSFC folks.
The times that I have asked questions, I have recieved either good information
or mailings with things like the Saturn I manufacturing plans! All in All
Spacelink is a great resource.
Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:16:50 GMT
From: John Roberts <roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV>
Subject: Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive
Newsgroups: sci.space
-From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
-Subject: Fermi Paradox vs. Prime Directive
-Date: 4 Aug 92 22:26:30 GMT
-In article <9208041334.AA12553@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov> roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts) writes:
->... One can imagine something like
->the "non-interference rule", where contact with Earth is *illegal*. That
->would require a coherent interstellar culture in the local region.
-The hard part is making it stick for many millions of years, and be
-sufficiently airtight that there are no leaks whatever. (Despite all
-the true-believer hoopla over UFOs, there is not one case of an
-unquestionably extraterrestrial artifact being found.) Moreover,
-bear in mind that until recently -- at most a few million years ago --
-this planet had no intelligent life, and was ripe for colonization or
-other exploitation even if such a rule existed and was 100% enforced.
Good point. I like your "failure of extrapolation" - that basically says
that we don't know enough to come up with a good explanation for the
Fermi Paradox.
John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:20:39 GMT
From: John Roberts <roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV>
Subject: HST splitup
Newsgroups: sci.space
-From: gsh7w@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy)
-Subject: Re: Soyuz as ACRV
-Date: 4 Aug 92 15:25:36 GMT
-Organization: University of Virginia
-#No need to split it up. The Air Force has a Titan IV fairing which is fully
-#compatible with the Shuttle.
-There is a need to split it up. Having seven different instruments on
-HST caused a lot of compromises. Launching three smaller missions
-instead of one all singing all dancing one would have been cheaper,
-more reliable, and returned more data.
Then we'd have to build three COSTAR devices, and make three visits
to replace the solar panels. :-)
John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:03:01 GMT
From: Andrew - Palfreyman <lordSnooty@cup.portal.com>
Subject: Methods for meteor avoidance (Flies On Meat)
Newsgroups: sci.space
If we lived in afuture time, this scenario would need neither forethought
nor complex long-distance monitoring or planning.
Think of swatting a piece of meat covered in flies; they rise up
before the blow lands. So, we all jump into our personal space vehicles
and tool about for a day or two until the dust has settled.
- Andrew Palfreyman
------------------------------
Date: 5 Aug 92 05:11:51 GMT
From: John Roberts <roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV>
Subject: What is FRED?
Newsgroups: sci.space
-From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
-Subject: Re: What is FRED??
-Date: 4 Aug 92 22:34:02 GMT
-In article <1992Aug4.215355.8158@den.mmc.com> zwork@starfighter.den.mmc.com (Michael Corvin) writes:
->What program does "fred" refer to? I've seen it mentioned quite
->a bit but have never come across what it actually is...
-It's a cynical nickname for Space Station Freedom, coined when the thing
-shrunk yet again a couple of years ago.
Actually, somebody on sci.space suggested "Fred" even before Reagan announced
the name "Freedom".
John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
------------------------------
End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 073
------------------------------