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- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 05:04:57
- From: Space Digest maintainer <digests@isu.isunet.edu>
- Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu
- Subject: Space Digest V16 #061
- To: Space Digest Readers
- Precedence: bulk
-
-
- Space Digest Tue, 19 Jan 93 Volume 16 : Issue 061
-
- Today's Topics:
- "Synchronous Orbits around other planets" (2 msgs)
- Air Force Space Command
- Earth's rotation rate may be due to early collisions [Release 93-12] (Forwarded)
- Goldin's future
- Handling Antimatter (3 msgs)
- JPL and public info (was Re: Goldin's future) (2 msgs)
- Let's be more specific (was: Stupid Shut Cost arguements)
- Magellan Update - 01/18/93
- Organic heat shielding.
- Parting Words
- Railgun in Southwest US
- RTG's on the Lunar Module
- Sabatier reactor? (was Re: Oxygen in Biosphere 2)
- Soviet space disaster
- Space nuclear power....
- Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating)
- Who can launch antisats? (was DoD launcher use)
-
- Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to
- "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form
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- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 19:59:04 GMT
- From: "Bruce T. Harvey" <idsssd!bruce>
- Subject: "Synchronous Orbits around other planets"
- Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
-
- A friend of mine and I were discussing (albeit after a few drinks) the
- feasibility of placing a satellite into a
- '[insert-planetary-prefix]-synchronous' or '[x]-stationary orbit on some of
- the more quickly rotating planets in our system.
-
- Understanding that for our small world, geostationary means about a score or
- so thousand miles out, are there any planets in our system where this type
- of orbit is out of the question because rotation is too fast? I do
- understand that to synchronize with Venus would be a pain in the solar butt,
- even if it is reasonably possible.
-
- Any ideas?
-
- Thanks.
-
-
-
-
-
- --
- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
- Bruce T. Harvey {B-}) ::: UUCP: ... {uunet|mimsy}!wb3ffv!idsssd!bruce
- MGR-Applications Dvlpmt::: INTERNET: wb3ffv!idsssd!bruce%uunet.uu.net@...
- INSIGHT Dist. Sys. - AD:::CompuServe: 71033,1070
- (410)329-1100 x312,x352::: SnailMail: 222 Schilling Cir.,Hunt Valley, MD 21031
- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 23:39:55 GMT
- From: Joe Cain <cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu>
- Subject: "Synchronous Orbits around other planets"
- Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,alt.sci.planetary
-
- In article <1993Jan18.195904.10011@idsssd.UUCP> bruce@idsssd.UUCP (Bruce T. Harvey) writes:
- >A friend of mine and I were discussing (albeit after a few drinks) the
- >feasibility of placing a satellite into a
- >'[insert-planetary-prefix]-synchronous' or '[x]-stationary orbit on some of
- >the more quickly rotating planets in our system.
- >
- >Understanding that for our small world, geostationary means about a score or
- >so thousand miles out, are there any planets in our system where this type
- >of orbit is out of the question because rotation is too fast?
-
- Why not just use Kepler's 3rd law and use a presently known satellite?
-
- p**2=a**3
-
- i.e. Mars has p= .319 (Earth) days and a=9378 km for Phobos. Since the
- rotaional period of Mars is 1.026 days, you can do the arithmetic
-
- like a = 9378*(1.026/.319)**(2/3) km
-
- For the Moon it is like 384E3/27**(2/3) so you do not even need a
- calculator.
-
- of course you can also find the K, mass, etc and plug
-
- into Newton's improvement M*P**2 = (4*pi/G)*a**3
-
- where G=6.67 * 10E-11 Nm**2*kg**-2
-
- for the outer planets you have a LOT of moons to play with and you
- only have to look at tables of rotations and moons. For example:
-
- the inner two of Jupiter's moons are below the synchronous radius
- all of Saturns are outside.
- 10 of Uranus are inside
- 5 of Neptune
- and of course Charon and Pluto dance together.
-
- I believe that this means that all those inside should be tidally
- accelerated inward, no?
-
- Joseph Cain cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu
- cain@fsu.bitnet scri::cain
- (904) 644-4014 FAX (904) 644-4214 or -0098
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:48:38 GMT
- From: gawne@stsci.edu
- Subject: Air Force Space Command
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- earlier I wrote:
-
- >>While the Air Force may wish to claim space command as their own, it is
- >>in fact a joint service command staffed by folks from all DoD services.
- >>The USAF is the majority player at space command, but that's all.
-
- and then Captain Samuel Bryant replied:
-
- > Sorry Bill, but Air Force Space Command is 100% Air Force!!
- > (and has about 30,000 personnel including civilians)
- >
- > US Space Command is the one you mean, and it is comprised of personnel
- > from the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Canadian Air Force.
-
- Which seems to agree with what I wrote earlier. Yes, there is a very large
- USAF Space Command, and much smaller US Army and US Navy Space Commands, and
- they all come under a joint force command called US SPACE COMMAND, which is
- what the good Captain then describes in detail.
-
- I gather from Captain Bryant's posting that I was misinformed about the
- command of US SPACECOM rotating between the USAF and the Navy. From his
- information it appears the billet is always held by an Air Force general.
-
- -Bill Gawne, Space Telescope Science Institute
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 93 21:08:42 GMT
- From: Ray Davis <rayd@hpcvcas.cv.hp.com>
- Subject: Earth's rotation rate may be due to early collisions [Release 93-12] (Forwarded)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- > "A popular theory holds that the collision of a Mars-sized planetary body
- > with the Earth threw considerable debris into orbit, which then came together
- > to form the moon," Dones said. "Thus, the same impact which gave Earth its
- > spin, could also have formed the moon."
-
- How does this popular theory account for the moon having zero spin?
-
- Ray Davis (rayd@cv.hp.com)
- hplabs!hp-pcd.cv.hp.com!rayd
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 20:08:10 GMT
- From: Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>
- Subject: Goldin's future
- Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space
-
- In article <C0xoM5.C1n@rice.edu> hagen@owlnet.rice.edu (Jeffrey David Hagen) writes:
- : Besides, catch a clue about JPL. It is widely considered to be the single most
- : bloated, pig-headed, and inefficient part of NASA among industry folks I have
- : dealt with. Having spent some time as a student at Caltech myself, I can
- : certainly see were they get that impression.
-
- Note, that's among *industry* folks. I think what these industry folks are
- seeing is, at least in part, the academic side of JPL, which derives from
- its relationship with Caltech. Certainly industry views academia as
- pig-headed and inefficient. In my experience at JPL I didn't find an
- unexpected amount of bloat. I've also been in industry and in academia,
- so I suppose I have some basis of comparison.
-
- In article <1993Jan16.184504.10453@ee.ubc.ca> davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes:
- : Sad but true, that impression certainly exists. I toured a well-known radio
- : observatory several years ago. The assistant director made a comment about
- : a project. A colleague on the tour offered that at JPL, they're doing such
- : and such in connection with a similar project. The assistant director replies
- : (somewhat annoyed), "JPL spends most of their time doing PR. Here, we do
- : science."
- :
- : I'm not in much of a position to judge whether that impression is correct,
- : however.
-
- I think it's slightly true, and slightly unfair. (Smacks a bit of sour
- grapes as well.) Yes, JPL, does some PR, but that's demand driven. I
- can assure you that JPL also does science. Some of you may have noticed...
-
- Larry Wall
- lwall@netlabs.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 93 17:41:59 GMT
- From: Steve Masticola <masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu>
- Subject: Handling Antimatter
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke) writes:
-
- >Imagine a molecular cage, say a buckminsterfullerene. The cage has a
- >net positive charge (missing an electron). A negative antiproton
- >could then be trapped in the center of the cage where it would
- >only "contact" and be repelled by the orbital electrons.
-
- I think it might work better if the fullerene had a net negative
- charge - would tend to keep the antiproton centered, rather than
- attracted to the walls. But I see a bigger problem.
-
- How would you keep the fullerenes charged? Lose the charge and the
- antiproton can go where it wants.
-
- Also, couldn't a proton get through the fullerene? Maybe by tunneling,
- if not by just going through the center of one of the benzene rings.
- (Do protons tunnel?) If so, any hydrogen contamination would make the
- thing blow up.
-
- A net positive charge on the fullerene would avoid this problem by
- repelling any protons that happened to show up. But then the
- antiproton inside would move toward the walls, and maybe escape from
- one of the windows. Same problem.
-
- - Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 93 21:25:11 GMT
- From: Mark Budd <budd@ccrs.emr.ca>
- Subject: Handling Antimatter
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <Jan.18.12.41.59.1993.2294@cadenza.rutgers.edu> masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) writes:
- >clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke) writes:
- >
- >>Imagine a molecular cage, say a buckminsterfullerene. The cage has a
- >>net positive charge (missing an electron). A negative antiproton
- >>could then be trapped in the center of the cage where it would
- >>only "contact" and be repelled by the orbital electrons.
- >
- >I think it might work better if the fullerene had a net negative
- >charge - would tend to keep the antiproton centered, rather than
- >attracted to the walls. But I see a bigger problem.
- >
- >- Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).
-
- This whole approach has the problem of equipotential within a spherical
- shell. It has been long known that there is no gravitational gradient
- within a uniform spherical shell of mass. The intuitive reason for this
- is the counteracting of the 1/r^2 distance factor and the r^2 mass factor
- within a cones on either side of any point within the shell. (Did this
- make any sense without an ascii drawing?) The same would be true for
- a charged sphere. Of course this assumes that the sphere is uniformly
- charged, but for an electron confined to the atoms of the shell (but not
- to any individual atom) this would essentially be the case.
-
- Mark (budd@ccsr.emr.ca)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 19 Jan 93 00:27:54 GMT
- From: Sam Warden <samw@bucket.rain.com>
- Subject: Handling Antimatter
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- kwp@wag.caltech.edu (Kevin W. Plaxco) writes:
-
- >The molecular weight of C60 plus antiproton is >721 daltons.
- >Proton-antiproton annihilation would convert 2/721 or 0.28%
- >of this into energy. The energy/mass ratio of this rocket
- >fuel would, unfortunately, be no better than that of U-235.
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- Did we get really spoiled really fast, or what? :-) :-)
-
- --
-
- samw@bucket.rain.com (Sam Warden) -- and not a mere Device.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 19:00:59 GMT
- From: Dave Jones <dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com>
- Subject: JPL and public info (was Re: Goldin's future)
- Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space
-
- Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey (higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov) wrote:
- > In article <1jekv9INN4ta@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>, pjs@euclid.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter J. Scott) writes:
- > > In article <1993Jan16.184504.10453@ee.ubc.ca>, davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes:
- > [at some radio observatory]
- > >> The assistant director replies
- > >> (somewhat annoyed), "JPL spends most of their time doing PR. Here, we do
- > >> science."
- > >
- > > I imagine a lot of public educational effort is mistaken for PR, appearing
- > > rather similar. Public education is one of NASA's duties. In fact,
- > > Goldin told us (general address to JPL, 11/25/92) that we weren't doing
- > > enough of it.
- >
- > Public relations and public education. I have trouble understanding
- > the distinction-- maybe somebody can enlighten me.
- >
- Public relations approaches public education in the limit of zero
- dissimulation.
-
- --
- ||------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)|Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY |
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 93 19:26:15 GMT
- From: Joe Cain <cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu>
- Subject: JPL and public info (was Re: Goldin's future)
- Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space
-
- In article <1993Jan18.122156.1@fnalo.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
- >In article <1jekv9INN4ta@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>, pjs@euclid.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter J. Scott) writes:
- >> In article <1993Jan16.184504.10453@ee.ubc.ca>, davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) writes:
- >[at some radio observatory]
- >>> The assistant director replies
- >>> (somewhat annoyed), "JPL spends most of their time doing PR. Here, we do
- >>> science."
- >>
- >> I imagine a lot of public educational effort is mistaken for PR, appearing
- >> rather similar. Public education is one of NASA's duties.
-
- >Public relations and public education. I have trouble understanding
- >the distinction-- maybe somebody can enlighten me.
-
- When I worked for Goddard we were sometimes embarressed by the
- PR people who often reported things about our results that were, well,
- at least overstated. The people doing science and engineering at JPL
- are certainly some of the best around, as is their computer graphics
- group. I am extremely pleased with the support they have supplied in
- many areas, including my teaching. I agree that some of the material in
- their videos blows their horn loudly, and when time comes to create a
- clip for class use, I copy little of such material for lack of class time.
-
- Now being at a University I can better appreciate the feelings of
- those who are supported much less extravagently than is given to the
- JPL workers. When I worked for NASA I often had to deal with
- (i.e. make sure it was spent 3 months before the new fiscal year) contract
- funds of the order of $300-500K while I observed those in similar jobs
- in DOD who had to spend much more. When I moved to USGS the amount was
- reduced to $30K and unlike NASA I had to pay for helpers, travel and
- computer time. On moving to a University I am lucky to find $3K and
- mostly less unless I generate it myself. Even here the administration
- looks favorably on good PR and can only conclude that JPL's success is
- partly due to their ability to do a good job in this department.
-
- Public education is often the best PR and greatly needed in all areas
- of science. We need to change the image of the mad scientist on
- Saturday morning cartoons and help show the public how space research
- is more important for our future than astronauts spinning tops for TV.
-
-
- Joseph Cain cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu
- cain@fsu.bitnet scri::cain
- (904) 644-4014 FAX (904) 644-4214 or -0098
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:40:13 GMT
- From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
- Subject: Let's be more specific (was: Stupid Shut Cost arguements)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <1jc78dINNafi@mirror.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
- >In article <1993Jan12.171525.7437@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
- >>
- >>are a preferred solution. Honeycomb composite structures are another good
- >>solution, but remain very expensive to fabricate.
- >
- >Too the best of my understanding, the chinese use Bamboo heat shields
- >on their rocket capsules. The bamboo carbonizes, and becomes an almost
- >perfect insulator. A friend of mine watched a thermite lance get halted
- >by a piece of plywood. the carbon just sucked up the heat.
-
- I heard they used oak. Dry wood char is a fairly good insulator in an
- oxygen poor environment. Try hitting that plywood with an oxyacetylene
- torch with the oxygem turned up, however. It will burn brightly and
- quickly. A neutral lance is one thing, but 20% excess oxygen is something
- else, and that's what you've got during re-entry, a hot high speed flow
- of oxygen rich gas. If you can protect the wood from direct oxygen
- exposure, you may have something. I think even balsa wood is heavier
- than the Shuttle tiles, however.
-
- Gary
- --
- Gary Coffman KE4ZV | You make it, | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
- Destructive Testing Systems | we break it. | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
- 534 Shannon Way | Guaranteed! | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary
- Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | | emory!ke4zv!gary@gatech.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 1993 23:41 UT
- From: Ron Baalke <baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
- Subject: Magellan Update - 01/18/93
- Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary
-
- Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager
-
- MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
- January 18, 1993
-
- 1. The Magellan spacecraft continues to operate normally.
-
- 2. All starcals (star calibrations) and desats (desaturation
- of the reaction wheels) over the weekend were successful, with two
- partial scans.
-
- 3. The TWTA (Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier) experienced another
- spurious shutoff which was corrected automatically. A memory readout
- was commanded early this morning to determine the time of the TWTA SSO.
- No further commanding is scheduled for today.
-
- 4. The Magellan Project continues a systematic process of archiving
- its scientific data products and other records. The radar images,
- altimetry/radiometry, and gravity data represents a data set many
- times the volume of all previous planetary missions, but the process
- of distributing this data to the science community has gone extremely
- well.
- ___ _____ ___
- /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
- | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab |
- ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Every once in a while,
- /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | try pushing your luck.
- |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ |
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 09:42:15 GMT
- From: Dennis Newkirk <dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com>
- Subject: Organic heat shielding.
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <C11B5A.1tE@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh 'K' Hopkins) writes:
- >prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
- >>Too the best of my understanding, the chinese use Bamboo heat shields
- >>on their rocket capsules. The bamboo carbonizes, and becomes an almost
- >
- >Actually, I think they use(d) oak....
- >
- >>any low cost vehicle plans ever look at these?
- >
- >Well, obviously the chinese have...
- >Josh Hopkins
-
- I remember reading that the Germans had something to do with the use
- of plywood. During the war and those later taken to the US and Russia were
- working on seperating warheads from ballistic missiles for greater accuracy.
- Of course, the Germans were into alternate materials during the war
- and this may have something to do with the use of wood.
-
- Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
- Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
- Schaumburg, IL
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 23:30:25 EST
- From: John Roberts <roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov>
- Subject: Parting Words
-
- -From: rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ryan Korniloff)
- -Subject: Re: Parting Words
- -Date: 18 Jan 93 02:32:56 GMT
- -Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
-
- ->> "God willing... we shall return." | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
- ->> -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
- ->
- ->Are these perhaps the *last* words spoken on the moon ?
- ->If not, what *were* the last ?
- ->* Fred Baube ..when you think your Toys you hear Laughter
-
- -It was probubly "ignition"...
-
- How about "Wait! I forgot..."
-
- Or "Hey look! There's Elvis!" :-)
-
- John Roberts
- roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 14 Jan 93 02:27:27 GMT
- From: Bruce McKenzie <bruce@sugarbowl>
- Subject: Railgun in Southwest US
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <1j1mahINN6rd@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> writes:
- > Evidently, it's a two stage light gas gun, 425 ft. long, built by
- > Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for $4 million over the last
- > three years.
- ...
- > "When the final pieces are in place late this fall, the Super High
- > Altitude Research Project (SHARP) gun is expected to send a projectile
- > weighing 5 kg. (11 lb.) hurtling into a pile of sandbags at 4 km./sec.
- > (8,945 mph.)."
-
- This beastie had a successful test firing ~last week. Reported in the
- local (San Jose) paper. I had thought that they had test-fired an even
- smaller version last fall, but I must have misread it.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 17 Jan 93 23:13:32 GMT
- From: Kenneth Ng <sugra!ken>
- Subject: RTG's on the Lunar Module
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <C0JrqM.n1I@zoo.toronto.edu: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
- :In article <1993Jan8.165057.3965@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov writes:
- :>> The radiation hazard from plutonium 238 is insignificant; it's pretty much
- :>> a pure alpha emitter, and human skin stops alpha particles completely. (A
- :>> sheet of paper will do likewise.) You don't want to eat the stuff...
- :>Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lies a memory of a scientist
- :>who offered to eat some plutonium if the journalist covering the
- :>event would eat the same amount of caffeine. No takers, obviously,
- :>but does this mean that it would be safe to eat plutonium?
- :Plutonium 239 would not be very toxic if eaten as the metal, I would think.
- :(Whereas caffeine in bite-and-chew quantities would be lethal.) I don't
- :know as I'd call it "safe", but it might not be certain death. Inhaling it
- :into the lungs as fine dust is the quick way to die from plutonium. The
- :metal probably wouldn't be absorbed very efficiently when eaten.
-
- In his book "The Nuclear Energy Option" by Bernard L. Cohen, Cohen said that
- he had offered to publically inhale many times as much plutonium as Nadar said
- was lethal. Also to inhale 1000 particles of plutonium of any size that
- could be suspended in air, in response to "a single particle...will cause
- cancer", or eat as much plutonium as any prominent nuclear critic will eat
- or drink caffeine. (reference page 251) However, he does not say whether
- it was plutonium metal or oxide. My suspicion is oxide, since the stuff
- is relatively inert.
-
- --
- Kenneth Ng
- Please reply to ken@eies2.njit.edu for now.
- Apple and AT&T lawsuits: Just say NO!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 18 Jan 93 21:09:24 GMT
- From: Frank Crary <fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>
- Subject: Sabatier reactor? (was Re: Oxygen in Biosphere 2)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <1993Jan18.120253.1@fnalo.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalo.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
- >Pat, could you explain, for the benefit of chemical engineering
- >illiterates, what the heck is the "sabatier" reaction and how you can
- >make a chemical reactor gadget so small?
-
- It's a chemical process that, as I recall, uses heat and a few
- catalists to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and waste cardon.
- There are one or two other artificial processes that do the same
- thing, but the sabatier process (apparently) has some advantages
- in terms of size, effecience, etc... A fair amount of research has
- gone into it, and it's a common part of closed or partially closed
- spacecraft life support systems. (The shuttle doesn't use it, since
- the oxygen carried versus sabatier machinery trade off favors open
- life support systems for missions under a few weeks... But I think
- Freedom is supposed to use it.)
-
- Frank Crary
- CU Boulder
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 09:19:19 GMT
- From: Dennis Newkirk <dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com>
- Subject: Soviet space disaster
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <4098.900.uupcb@almac.co.uk> bill.edwards@almac.co.uk (Bill Edwards) writes:
- >But - and correct me if I'm wrong - the Soviets said that they never
- >intended going to the moon. And now we have seen film of the booster
- >that would have taken them there and and pictures of the spacecraft
- >they would have travelled in.
- >Just playing devil's advocate.
-
- Ah, how well the propaganda works. There was plenty of man on
- the moon talk from the Soviets up to 1969, and they weren't talking
- about US astronauts. You'll have to look elsewhere for a comparison
- to pre-Vostok cosmonaut fairy tales.
-
- Dennis Newkirk (dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com)
- Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector
- Schaumburg, IL
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 23:24:08 EST
- From: John Roberts <roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov>
- Subject: Space nuclear power....
-
- -From: i0c0256@zeus.tamu.edu (IGOR)
- -Subject: Space Nuclear Power....
- -Date: 18 Jan 93 03:30:00 GMT
- -Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
-
- -I was attending last week, the Space Nuclear Power Symposium
- - in Albuquerque and had the
- -confirmation that they have been doing that for years. Most of them were
- -called RORSAT and were used at very low altitude, the most recent ones were two
- -Topaz-I reactors sent on two cosmos missions ( i will get the numbers for
- -people interested ).
-
- -Igor Carron
- -Department of Nuclear Engineering
- -Texas A&M University
-
- The Soviets have used nuclear reactors for low-altitude military radar
- satellites. They were probably chosen mainly because drag on solar panels
- would be a problem at low altitude. Before the satellites fail, the
- reactors are usually jettisoned and boosted to a high orbit to avoid
- near-term reentry.
-
- Much of the US interest in nuclear reactors appears to be directed toward
- propulsion, which could be used in interplanetary flight, for instance.
-
- John Roberts
- roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 18:40:50 GMT
- From: Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>
- Subject: Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- In article <1ja2tgINN76c@mirror.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes:
- : Elijah otis certainly did a lot ofr elevator safety, but as mary shafer
- : says, life aint perfect.
-
- And sometimes life is downright hostile. Elevators have a nasty habit
- of going to the floor with the fire, due to heat-induced shorts in the
- up/down buttons.
-
- Myself, I never cared much about my chance of dying as expressed either
- per mile, or per boarding. I'd rather know what chance I have of dying
- per minute. THAT'S the curve whose integral I try to keep low, in the
- absence of higher goals...
-
- Larry Wall
- lwall@netlabs.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 17 Jan 93 15:26:00 GMT
- From: "Geoff C. Marshall" <Geoff.C..Marshall@f159.n633.z3.fidonet.org>
- Subject: Who can launch antisats? (was DoD launcher use)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
-
- SysMgr....
-
- sy> Prevent a degree of hostile acts. Why didn't the Iraqis use chemical
- sy> weapons against allied forces in Desert Storm?
-
- Perhaps because he lacked the organisational capability to see that they
- were properly maintained or could be fitted to SCUDs ?
-
- I really doubt S.Hussein has ANY care about 'public opinion' as where it
- counts (for him) he makes his own 'public opinion'.
-
- Count.
-
- * Origin: The Gate - Melbourne, Australia - +61-3-879-9082 (3:633/159.0)
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- id AA01036; Mon, 18 Jan 93 21:22:09 EST
- Received: from crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu by VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
- id aa19831; 18 Jan 93 21:16:45 EST
- To: bb-sci-space@CRABAPPLE.SRV.CS.CMU.EDU
- Newsgroups: sci.space
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- Subject: Re: Parting Words
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- Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
- References: <C0yH91.4E2.1@cs.cmu.edu>
- Distribution: sci
- Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:39:15 GMT
- Source-Info: Sender is really news@CRABAPPLE.SRV.CS.CMU.EDU
- Source-Info: Sender is really isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
-
-
- In article <C0yH91.4E2.1@cs.cmu.edu>, flb@flb.optiplan.fi ("F.Baube x554")
- writes:
- |>
- |>> "God willing... we shall return." | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto
- |>Zoology
- |>> -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 | henry@zoo.toronto.edu
- |>utzoo!henry
- |>
- |>Are these perhaps the *last* words spoken on the moon ?
- |>If not, what *were* the last ?
- |>
- |>--
- |>* Fred Baube ..when you think your Toys you hear Laughter
-
- Probably "3-2-1-Liftoff" or something similar!
-
- Burns
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 061
- ------------------------------
-