Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v16_1/v16no153.txt

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Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 11:02:00
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #153
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Fri, 12 Feb 93       Volume 16 : Issue 153

Today's Topics:
          An 'agitator' replies (was: Clinton's Promises...)
                Automatic Refueling/Liquid Feul Safe!
                    Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle
                      Cooling re-entry vehicles.
    Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 [Part 2]
                         Fred is dead again.
                  Getting people into Space Program!
                              hilarious
                          Just Hit 'N' ???
                              man-rating
                             Polar Orbit
                             Polar Orbits
                          Sabatier Reactors.
                           Solar Sail power
                 Supporting private space activities
                  Tethers for electricity generation
           Tethers for electricity generation, bouy/mars..
                    Wood Pulp/Ice/Landing Strips..
                         Znamya "flash" track

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:08:16 GMT
From: "Edward V. Wright" <[e-mail]>
Subject: An 'agitator' replies (was: Clinton's Promises...)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Matthew DeLuca) writes:

>I'd be surprised if that was the case.  Physiological reactions to
>weightlessness will occur at the same rate, I am sure, but learned
>reactions and skills such as how to physically move about and how to
>perform basic functions should be picked up much faster than the first
>time around.

None of which has much relevence if you spend your time being
sick as dog due to spacesickness (or using those learned reactions
and skills to care for fellow crewmembers who are sick as dogs).

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

Date: 8 Feb 93 00:09:50 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Automatic Refueling/Liquid Feul Safe!
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Frank Crary) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>>>... they will be using hydrazine thrusters. BTW, these thrusters are the
>>>single heviest items to be returned to Earth. They must be returned intact
>>>since it would be too dangerous to re-fuel them in orbit.
>
>>The Soviets/Russians have only been doing such refuelling for ten years,
>>after all...
>
> And the Soviets have had an unmanned resupply craft, launched on a
> cheap, Atlas-class launcher, available for such refullings. As
> far as I know, NASA has no plans to develop such a craft, and as
> a cargo/fuel transport the Shuttle isn't exactly cost-effective...
> By the way, how do they plan to get around the no-liquid-fuel-payload
> requirement imposed on the Shuttle after the Challenger accident?
>
>                                                 Frank Crary
>                                                 CU Boulder

Why not ship the feul up by auto, in a form that is volitle or less so..
Propane is less volitle to a point, or have the feul suspended in a medium that
makes it less suseptible to explosion/fire...
But that is also easy to seperate once it gets there.

I do like the automatic thing..


Michael Adams
Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:35:38 GMT
From: Go Sunatori <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ceramic tiles on Space Shuttle
Newsgroups: sci.materials,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle

= manufacturer:
  - Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
    Space Systems Division
    Aerospace Ceramic Systems
    Orgn. 70-05, Bldg. 174
    1111, Lockheed Way
    Sunnyvale, CA 94089-3504
    tel: [phone]
    fax: [phone]

= Refractory Composite Insulation
  - LI900:   Lockheed Insulation/ 9 pound per cubic foot
  - LI2200:  Lockheed Insulation/22 pound per cubic foot
  - FRCI-12: Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation

= HTP (High Thermal Performance)
  - HTP-12-22

  Yours/Bien a vous,
  __________________
  Go Simon Sunatori, P.Eng.
+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| X.400: C=CA; A=Telecom.Canada; P=BNR; S=Sunatori; G=Go; DD.ID=1342639   |
| Envoy: [ID=1342639 Go Sunatori]BNR | Bell-Northern Research Ltd.        |
| Internet:          [e-mail] | Department 5C22, Mailstop Code 029 |
| Tel   (office):       ESN 393-5117 | P.O. Box 3511, Station C           |
| Tel   (office):    [phone] | 3500, Carling Avenue               |
| Tel   (residence): [phone] | Ottawa (Ontario)                   |
| Fax   (office):    [phone] | CANADA  K1Y 4H7                    |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:12:48 GMT
From: "Edward V. Wright" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cooling re-entry vehicles.
Newsgroups: sci.space

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>>Gary Hudson is proposing a similar system for his Skyrocket
>>and Frequent Flyer (at least the leading edges) except that
>>he has the ice inside the metal skin.

>Actually, he talked a little bit about this at Making Orbit.  He said that
>the much greater heat loads of a winged reentry are a bit much for such
>a system to handle all by itself, at first glance, but there are tricks
>you can play (he didn't elaborate).

My take on this was that freezing the water was one of the
tricks he alluded to.  The water-cooled heat-shield concepts
I've seen in the past used water in the liquid phase, but
freezing would add a significant heat of fusion.

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

Date: 7 Feb 93 20:52:00 GMT
From: Larry Klaes <[e-mail]>
Subject: Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA) - February 1993 [Part 2]
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,alt.sci.planetary,soc.culture.soviet

    revealed to be a world more like the fire and brimstone vision of Hell
    from Christianity.  Instead of invoking fear, however, there was now
    even greater curiosity and will to learn why a planet so similar to
    Earth in many fundamental ways could also be so radically different
    at the same time.

        Bibliography -

         Burgess, Eric, VENUS: AN ERRANT TWIN, Columbia University Press,
           New York, 1985

         Burrows, William E., EXPLORING SPACE: VOYAGES IN THE SOLAR
           SYSTEM AND BEYOND, Random House, Inc., New York, 1990

         Davies, Merton E., and Bruce C. Murray, THE VIEW FROM SPACE:
           PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE PLANETS, Columbia University
           Press, New York, 1971

         Gatland, Kenneth, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY,
           Salamander Books, New York, 1989

         Gatland, Kenneth, ROBOT EXPLORERS, Blandford Press Ltd., London,
           Macmillan Company, New York, 1972

         Hart, Douglas, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOVIET SPACECRAFT, Exeter
           Books, New York, 1987

         Johnson, Nicholas L., HANDBOOK OF SOVIET LUNAR AND PLANETARY
           EXPLORATION, American Astronautical Society, Univelt, Inc.,
           San Diego, California, 1979

         Newlan, Irl, FIRST TO VENUS: THE STORY OF MARINER 2, McGraw-Hill
           Book Company, Inc., New York, 1963

         Nicks, Oran W., FAR TRAVELERS: THE EXPLORING MACHINES, NASA
           SP-480, Washington, D.C., 1985

         Sagan, Carl, and Jonathan Norton Leonard, PLANETS, Life Science
           Library, Time, Inc., New York, 1966

         Shelton, William, SOVIET SPACE EXPLORATION: THE FIRST DECADE,
           Washington Square Press, Inc., New York, 1968

         Smith, Arthur, PLANETARY EXPLORATION: THIRTY YEARS OF UNMANNED
           SPACE PROBES, Patrick Stephens, Ltd., Wellingborough, Northamp-
           tonshire, England, 1988

         Stoiko, Michael, SOVIET ROCKETRY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE,
           Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1970

         VOYAGE THROUGH THE UNIVERSE: THE NEAR PLANETS, By the Editors
           of Time-Life Books, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, 1990

         Wilson, Andrew, JANE'S SOLAR SYSTEM LOG, Jane's Publishing, Inc.,
           New York, 1987

        About the Author -

        Larry Klaes, EJASA Editor, is the recipient of the ASA's 1990
    Meritorious Service Award for his work as Editor of the EJASA since
    its founding in August of 1989.  Larry also teaches a course on
    Basic Astronomy at the Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community
    Education Program in Massachusetts.

        Larry is the author of the following EJASA articles:

        "The One Dream Man: Robert H. Goddard, Rocket Pioneer" - August 1989
        "Stopping Space and Light Pollution" - September 1989
        "The Rocky Soviet Road to Mars" - October 1989
        "Astronomy and the Family" - May 1991


      THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC

                         February 1993 - Vol. 4, No. 7

                           Copyright (c) 1993 - ASA

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:31:58 GMT
From: "Edward V. Wright" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fred is dead again.
Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:

>Latest news:  Clinton has denied any plan to terminate Fred, although
>he has not ruled out cutting it back.

Of course, Henry.  No one comes right out and kills a project anymore.
Instead, they "support it as a research program."  Just like SDI and
NASP.

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

Date: 7 Feb 93 23:49:53 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Getting people into Space Program!
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>It seems that we are putting more in to our Space Program more than is
>>necesary..
>>
>>Why can't we put some "common people" into orbit.. Why must it be PHds and
>>such. It sure would get more voters involved, after all why must I as a voter
>>spend money on a project for the direct benefit for some technocrat? Why not
>>have a national lottery for a one time position on the Shuttle or some other
>>mission into space.. Common people do not get excited about abstract things,
>>but get excited about tangible things.. If I was working for a NASA contractor,
>>I might get excited more about space. But if Im a autoworker, what does space
>>benefit me/and my job, none directly...
>
> No, but offering it as an expensive Disneyworld ride to some lottery
> winner doesn't benefit society either. And attempting to do so will
> only make space exploration seem more of a bad joke to the lay public
> than it does now. The big complaint now is that we are "throwing away
> all that money in space." Making it a sideshow ride would just emphasize
> the apparant lack of merit of the program in the common mind.
>
>>We need to get the space program down to the common person so that they can
>>understand where it is going and what benefits there is to it..
>
> *We* don't understand where it's going or what benefits it may ultimately
> have. We have ideas, but we are at the stage of the mapmaker who draws
> "Here there be dragons" on empty spaces in his maps. What you're asking
> is similar to asking Lewis and Clark to take some tourists along to take
> a look at America. Space is not even at the point of Seward's Folly right
> now. It's fodder for explorers and researchers, but not yet for settlers
> or tourists. Any large scale benefits for society at large, aside from some
> remote sensing and communications, is decades away at best, centuries is
> probably a more likely time scale.
>
> Much as I'd like it to be true, I don't expect to see Japanese tourist
> hotels in space in my lifetime. Or colonies on the Moon or Mars, or
> large scale industrial activity for that matter. I *believe* all of
> that will happen eventually, but it's going to be a slow step by step
> process for which we are just now beginning to lay the faintest hint
> of infrastructure. We're floating coracles in a pond, ocean liners
> are a long way off.
>
> 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     |                     |

Well Gary your answer to what space is, is a classic example of why people are
loosing interest in space..
Such is life and fun.. The US will just become a second class power..

Michael Adams
Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel
[e-mail]

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

Date: 8 Feb 93 00:44:41 GMT
From: Tom A Baker <[e-mail]>
Subject: hilarious
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.privacy

In article <[e-mail]>
   [e-mail] (RASKU, JASON T.) writes:
>Is there anything that can be done to prevent anon postings in groups that
>there is no reason to post anonomously?  I CAN see some people who don't
>have access to a group posting anonomously but I'm sure that consideration
>can be made for them.  Is there ANY way that a UNIVERSAL kill file can be
>created in order to keep people from posting GARBAGE anonomusly?  There is
>NO reason to not post publicly if you are posting something you feel is of
>worth unless you CAN'T post any other way.  What does the rest of the net
>think of this?

I direct your attention to the last line of the article in question...

>Please report any problems, innapropriate use, etc. to [e-mail]

I'm sending mine within the next five minutes.

>In article <[e-mail]>,
  [e-mail] (Tesuji) writes...
>>The response the Challenger transcript has gotten
>>has been hilarious.
>>
>>If you guys can't joke about bone cancer,
>>childhood leukemia, and facing certain
>>horrifying death, then you guys don't have
>>the perspective to call yourself adults.
>>
>>Get a life.  Get *seven*.  Ha ha.

In a sci.space discussion on this subject, I'd probably call this
flaming, and while it is probably inappropriate, the best thing to
do is ignore it.

BUT .. if there is any chance at all of anonymous servers being shut down,
or of anonymous posts being killed out of discussion, then I'd push people
into voicing their complaints to the anonymous administrator, as I said.

Anonymous sources have had their uses for a long time.  If some government
employee (and I won't say which government) has some dirt they'd like to
expose, but doesn't want to lose their job ... that is the appropriate channel.

tombaker

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:07:21 GMT
From: MAYTAG CHRISTOPHER P <[e-mail]>
Subject: Just Hit 'N' ???
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,comp.org.eff.talk

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>> ... if you don't like it, hit N.
>>
>
>I must have seen this advice dozens of times on the net.  Unfortunately
>it doesn't work.  At least on my machine.
>When I hit "N", all I get is:
>
>%CLI-W-ABVERB, ambiguous command verb - supply more characters
>
>"NE" gets the same thing.
>However, "NEX" or "NEXT" goes to the following message.
>Is this what all this free advice (worth every penny) on 'just hit "n"' means?
>If so, be advised (for Free) that it ain't necessarily so.  Try again.
>
>Wm. Hathaway

Most people use nn, rn, trn...and N works for us.
(if you don't like this message, just hit 'N'...)

--
/ christopher maytag / cis:76500,1205 genie:c.maytag / VOTE FREEDOM- /
/    boulder, co.    /  ---------------------------  /     VOTE      /
/    303.440.9452    /    [e-mail]     /  LIBERTARIAN  /

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:53:03 GMT
From: Tom A Baker <[e-mail]>
Subject: man-rating
Newsgroups: sci.space

>>> Just what is "man-rating" ? What sort of extras does the rocket need to
>>> be man rated?

In addition to the other posts, I'll add that NASA used to have the
requirement in the 1960's that man-rating required two successful
unmanned launches.  So I remember.

tombaker

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:31:06 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Polar Orbit
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dave Michelson) writes:
>  "But it's most economical to do it from a pad close to the pole.  And the
>  people who can do things for the lowest cost are going to come out on top
>  in this business."
> ...
>Once again, I admit that *my* calculations don't show much of an advantage
>to launching into polar orbit from a polar latitude either...

Notice that he doesn't say there's a *big* advantage, just that there's an
advantage.  Remember that if you care about exact orbital position of
individual satellites, e.g. for maintaining proper spacing in a low-orbit
comsat constellation, every extra kilogram you can get into orbit means
more stationkeeping fuel and longer satellite life.  Arianespace makes
a considerable point of this in advertising Kourou as the preferred launch
site for Clarke orbit -- most existing comsats *can* go up from the Cape
instead, but at the price of a bit less fuel and slightly shorter life.

I admit that I too would like to see numbers, but I'm inclined to give
Tennyson the benefit of the doubt -- I don't know him personally, but
some of my friends do, and they've got considerable respect for him.
--
C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
effect since OS/360.                    |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:13:00 GMT
From: Dave Michelson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Polar Orbits
Newsgroups: sci.space

I've received quite a bit of E-mail on this subject...  My original query
was, "What am I missing?  My calculations *don't* show that there is much of
an advantage".  Most of the correspondence was "technical" in nature, if a
little hand-wavy, and simply confirmed that the intuition of others mirror
my own.

This response was the most interesting of the bunch.  I still suspect that
Tennyson was misquoted.  But the whole tenor of Canadian Space Technoloogies
argument that Churchill should be reactivated is based on this "fact"...

.In article <[e-mail]>, you write (quoting an article
.written by someone else):  [from The Financial Post Magazine, Dec 1992 - dm]

.>  Most small satellites [of the type used in systems like Iridium and such]
.>  will orbit around the poles of the earth.  "Theoretically, you can send a
.>  satellite into polar orbit from anywhere on the globe," says Rod Tennyson,
.>  director of the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies.
.>  "But it's most economical to do it from a pad close to the pole.  And the
.>  people who can do things for the lowest cost are going to come out on top
.>  in this business."

.Dave,

.Tennyson is wrong, of course, if this statement has to stand on its own. I
.suspect this is a self-serving partial falsehood designed to promote his
.own project with the people who must fund it if it is to proceed. That is
.just a guess, however; this is the only reference I have heard to this...

.It is this kind of self-delusion which will lose for science the
.credibility which has taken almost four centuries to establish. If my guess
.is correct, I find it deplorable. Churchill is not the most economical
.place to do anything!

.(I'm really a coward at heart; I should post this! If you like, you may
.paraphrase it and post it as being from "a (completely unqualified) source
.who wished to remain anonymous") :-))

If Tennyson was misquoted, I'm going to write a letter to the Financial Post
echoing the comments of my correspondent.  Misleading the business community
about "investment opportunities" like this -- and the article was certainly
very clear that CST was actively looking for investors -- is indeed deplorable.

---
Dave Michelson                             University of British Columbia
[e-mail]                                  Antenna Laboratory

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:36:12 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Sabatier Reactors.
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Frank Crary) writes:
>>>... they will be using hydrazine thrusters. BTW, these thrusters are the
>>>single heviest items to be returned to Earth. They must be returned intact
>>>since it would be too dangerous to re-fuel them in orbit.
>
>By the way, how do they plan to get around the no-liquid-fuel-payload
>requirement imposed on the Shuttle after the Challenger accident?

There is no such requirement; spacecraft with large amounts of liquid
fuel in their tanks have flown a number of times.  The recent extended-
duration mission even had LH2/LOX tanks in the cargo bay.  It was only
Centaur that was banned from the cargo bay.
--
C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
effect since OS/360.                    |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: 7 Feb 93 20:28:09 GMT
From: Zach K <[e-mail]>
Subject: Solar Sail power
Newsgroups: sci.space

Given all the talk on solar sails I thought a few quick calculations
would be in order.

       L*A
F=  ----------
    4*pi*c*R^2


A= Area of sail im m^2
R= 1.5E11 m
L= 4E26   w

So F(A) = 4.72E-6N/m^2

Nead a realy big sail to get much force, But it might be usefull for
some things,

--Zach
  Zachary Kessin  [e-mail]
 real.world: I don't think the news server gets that group!

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 00:51:22 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Supporting private space activities
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John F Carr) writes:
>>(By contrast, the first Saturn V
>>rolled out to the pad in weather so bad that they had to stop for 20
>>minutes or so because the visibility was too poor for safe driving.)
>
>That must be pretty severe weather, to stop a several-thousand-ton vehicle
>that travels about 1 mph along a smooth, well known road with no obstacles.

You try driving 1 mph along a smooth, well known road with no obstacles,
blindfolded!  Now try doing it with the added constraint that there are
a bunch of baby ducks running along beside you and in front of you, and
you're not allowed to squash any of them... they'll *usually* get out
of your way...

I, or whichever account I was remembering, may have had the details
slightly wrong in any case.  It was the second Saturn V, and "Moonport"
cites communications difficulties as the major factor in the decision
to stop until the storm abated some.
--
C++ is the best example of second-system| Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
effect since OS/360.                    |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 02:23:27 GMT
From: Josh Hopkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: Tethers for electricity generation
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] writes:

>Maybe use the cable to power a orbital packet to check out the atmosphere.
>Kindof like a sonar bouy from space.. The shuttle then drags the bouy
>thru the atmosphere and collects samples and such.. Wierd maybe..
>Teh cable would power the bouy.. or maybe power the shuttle especially whne the
>shuttle is ina place to not use soalr power?

It should be noted that the shuttle doesn't use solar power.

>Othe rpossibel use is at Mars
>whenthe solar power is weaker than earth?

Unfortuantely, much to the consternation of planetary scientists, Mars does not
appear to have a magnetic field.  Since the magnetic field is necessary for
power generation the tether wouldn't be useful.


--
Josh Hopkins                                          [e-mail]

Q:  Why did the chicken cross the mobius strip?
A:  To get to the other... er, uh...

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

Date: 7 Feb 93 23:59:36 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Tethers for electricity generation, bouy/mars..
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Zach K) writes:
> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David Smith) writes:
>>>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>>>>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>> > [...]
>>> What about a coaxial cable?  I should think a current would be generated in
>>>the sheath but the center conductor would be shielded?  Or am I forgetting
>>>my physics here?
>
>>Coaxial cables generally aren't magnetic shields. If you could magnetically
>>shield the inner, say by using an outer that's superconductive and operating
>>below critical field strength, then that approach should work. (A super-
>>conductor in a magnetic field below a certain critical strength doesn't
>>let the magnetic field penetrate it's surface. At critical strength, the
>>magnetic field penetrates, and the superconductor is no longer superconductive.
>>That's a catastropic failure mode.)
>
> This sounds good, you could use the inner conductor could be used to
> complete the circut. Thus you have an applied voltage.
> However I think using this as a power source is kinda stupid. Solar is
> the way to go in space in my mind, this would be better for holding an
> orbit.
>
> (ps this was used in David Brin's story _Tank Farm Dynamo_)
> --Zach
>    Zachary Kessin         /  Define the Universe, Give 3
>  [e-mail] /       examples.
>   [phone]         /     Repeal Ohm's Law

Maybe use the cable to power a orbital packet to check out the atmosphere.
Kindof like a sonar bouy from space.. The shuttle then drags the bouy
thru the atmosphere and collects samples and such.. Wierd maybe..
Teh cable would power the bouy.. or maybe power the shuttle especially whne the
shuttle is ina place to not use soalr power? Othe rpossibel use is at Mars
whenthe solar power is weaker than earth?


Michael Adams
Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel
[e-mail]

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

Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1993 23:43:13 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Wood Pulp/Ice/Landing Strips..
Newsgroups: sci.space

Anyone who has followed arctic/antarctic explorationknows about using ICe as a
landing strip.. Here in Alaska it was and in some places still used.. Namely
Little Diomede island has no landing strip until Feb/Mar when the shore ice
freezes..
Using wood pulp for a additive for a landing strip/material is soemthing I had
heard rumors of, but not sure where until someone mentioned landing strips, ice
and wood pulp.. I have heard of other uses for the mixture, just not sure
where...


Michael Adams
Alias: Morgoth/Ghost Wheel
[e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 01:33:07 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Znamya "flash" track
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

The info I have on Znamya is that the mirror was used for only 6 minutes and
then jetissoned (via TV news reported relayed to me by one of our members).
Our Chairman, David Moore BSc FRAS, spoke to Leo Enright, BBC Ireland
correspondent (who has been at JPL for every major planet flyby) who said
the "5 mile wide" track crossed Toulouse, France, to Lyons, France into
Switzerland and on into Belorussia. I think he said it lit up streets in
those areas. Here in Dublin, a Doctor reported an extremely bright flash in
the sky at the correct time. Whether it was Znamya or not is unclear.

Mir continues to be visible in skies over UK and Ireland (with or without
Znamya, or even Progress!) until Feb. 17. If you don't have satellite
software you can get the latest prediction on when to look by calling
Astronomy Ireland's telephone hotlines (numbers are given after my name
below). The time is the very first thing on the hotline so it should only
cost a few pence (unless you listen to the full message about everything
else to see in the sky during the next week - comet, Jupiter Moon and Red
Spot times, Grazing lunar occultation, sunspot/aurora, Syris Major on
Mars...).

Please pass this fone number on to any local clubs/societies you know.

-Tony Ryan, Hon. Sec., Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1.
newslines (48p/36p per min):    0891-88-1950 (UK/NI)    1550-111-442 (Eire)

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 153
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