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T H E P R O B E ____________________________________________________________________________ O K C R A N G E R A E R O S P A C E A S S O C I A T I O N ______________________________________________________________________ M a y N e w s l e t t e r 1 9 9 1 _________________________________________________________________ VOLUME 2 NUMBER 4 ========================================================= THE PROBE ELECTRONIC VERSION VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 Published by the Oklahoma City Ranger Aero-Space Association (OKC-RASA) For more information about RASA, please send a SASE to: RASA c/o Mark Hardaway PO Box 800201 Oklahoma City, OK 73119 (405)681-3165 You can also post a message ATT: Micheal Moery on the HAL-9000 BBS (405)682-1177. Subscription rate for THE PROBE is $15.00 and includes membership in RASA. Make checks payable to Mark Hardaway. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. RASA REPORT By Mark Hardaway Greetings once again to all of our friends and welcome to those of you who are joining us for the first time. Please fasten your seatbelts and extinguish all smoking materials as we prepare for launch. Carolyn Snavely was our special guest speaker at the April meeting. Carolyn, as many of you may know, is one of Oklahoma's NASA Teacher in Space Finalists. Carolyn shared with us much of interest during our informal discussion, including the story of how she got started in the space program. At the end of the meeting, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to make her an honorary member of RASA. Carolyn was a wonderful guest and we hope to see her again soon. Our guest speaker for the May 19th meeting was to be Johnathan Majid, Architect AIA. His offices are located here in Oklahoma City at 3324 Classen Blvd. Mr. Majid is a designer, architect and builder of underground or earth sheltered dwellings. It was with much regret and sorrow that we decided to cancel the planned program. After a phone survey and a quick nose count, we discovered that the meeting would not be attended by as many as had been hoped for. Therefore, we felt that it would be in the best interest of everyone to seek a postponement. However, Mr. Majid did agree to reschedule his engagement for sometime this fall, and we will preview his talk with an interview. Again we thank Mr. Majid for his time and patience. THUNDERCON '91!! On May 31, June 1 & 2, at the Central Plaza Hotel, which is near the I-40 and Eastern intersection, will be embarking upon a 3-day mission to explore the known and the unknown universe of OKC 'STAR TREK' fandom. The price for this grand 3-day adventure is a paltry 18 dollars at the door. BE THERE !!! RASA has been asked to participate in a panel discussion on NASA & Futures in Space to be held Sunday at noon in Main Programing. By the way, we will be holding a Spacers Room Party on Friday evening and serving Hydrozine, a rocket fuel component in its stabilized form. ENGAGE ! AEROSPACE AMERICA '91 enters its sixth year. On Father's Day weekend, June 14-16, aviation takes on a new meaning by bringing our world a little closer together in search of answers to global questions and worldwide peace. Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City All Sports Association presents Aerospace America '91 in memory of Tom Jones, co-founder. Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday, and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $6.00 in advance and $9.00 at the gate, children (6-12) are $3.00 and $5.00. Anyone wishing to volunteer to work the airshow should contact Micheal Moery or Mark Hardaway before June 3rd. Because of the airshow, we are moving our June meeting to the following week. Our June meeting will be held at the Air-Space Museum, Kirkpatrick Planetarium on Sunday, June 23, at 3:30pm. This will be our first meeting held at these facilities. We are all looking forward to the experience. On June 29 the STAR-OKC/RASA fossil hunt and star watch is expected to take place in Southeastern Oklahoma with Kevin Hopkins as our tour guide. *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 2 OUR VISION by Mark Hardaway As the resolve of the Ranger Aero-Space Association (RASA) moves forward in its commitment to promote space exploration, research, and development in Oklahoma and abroad, it is important to continue to redefine our direction and to make our intentions clear. We are a grass-roots organization committed first to City, State, Nation, and our World. Although we are not primarily a lobbyist group, we do support those national lobbying consortia who express our ideals and we will add our voices to any effort that meets that criteria. The purpose of RASA is to enlighten the public and to gain their support for continued space exploration. It is our contention that an aggressive space program is the only viable solution with a peaceful mandate that can successfully or effectually stimulate our economy. Furthermore, the space program has given mankind the technology and ability to solve many of the world's problems including issues of environment, health, education, and welfare. Our meetings are the workshops that research and produce our plan of action. They are informal and have the feel of a "think tank" session. Our newsletter is dedicated to all of those who have a genuine enthusiasm for space and science. We hold the future dearly and wish to have a part in educating future generations so that their hold may be firm. We believe that the children of today are the leaders of TOMORROW. EDITOR'S NOTE THE PROBE is a monthly newsletter published for the benefit and enjoyment of the members of RASA. Reader submissions to the newsletter are encouraged and, in fact, essential. Articles are to be about space or aeronautics, either factual or speculations based on realistic technology and research. All articles will become the property of the editor unless a self-addressed, stamped envelope is provided by the author. Submissions may also come in the form of an IBM/AT computer data file, either on floppy disk or posted ATT. MICHEAL MOERY on the HAL-9000 BBS (682-1177.) Deadline for submissions shall be the Monday before the RASA meeting date. Any opinion expressed in the newsletter is that of the author and not that of the editor or staff of THE PROBE. Submissions are to be sent to: THE PROBE c/o Micheal Moery 2401 NW. 122nd Apt. 242 Oklahoma City, OK 73120 (405)751-2113 Any submissions that arrive after the deadline will be considered for a future issue. NEWSLETTER STAFF AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT/ LAYOUT & DESIGN ......... T. Mark Hardaway EDITOR-IN CHIEF/ BOARD MEMBER .............. Micheal D. Moery ASST-EDITOR/ VICE-PRES .............................. Angie R. Berry SEC/TREAS ................................. Myron Moody BOARD MEMBER ........................ Karen Mauer *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 3 FIRST SPACELAB DEDICATED TO LIFE SCIENCES HIGHLIGHTS STS-40 Shuttle mission STS-40, the 41st flight of the Space Shuttle and the 11th flight of Columbia, will conduct the Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1) mission, the first spacelab dedicated to life sciences research. During the SLS-1 mission, the STS-40 crew will perform experiments which will explore how the heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys and hormone-secreting glands respond to microgravity, the causes of space sickness and changes in muscles, bones and cells during the microgravity environment of space flight and in the readjustment to gravity upon returning to Earth. The experiments performed on Columbia's crew and on laboratory animals will provide the most detailed and interrelated physiological measurements acquired in the space flight environment since the Skylab program flights in 1973 and 1974. Other payloads on the SLS-1 mission include 12 experiments being flown under NASA's Get Away Special program. The experiments, enclosed in canisters on a bridge in the Shuttle's cargo bay, will investigate such topics as materials science, plant biology and cosmic radiation. The mission is planned to last 9 days, 3 hours and 30 minutes, concluding with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Following the STS-40 mission, Columbia will then go to Palmdale, CA, for nearly 6 months to undergo major modifications and inspections at Rockwell International Corp. Columbia is next scheduled to fly on STS-50, the U. S. Microgravity Laboratory mission, in June 1992. STS-40 CREW BIOGRAPHIES Marine Corps Col. Bryan D. O'Connor, 44, will serve as Commander of STS-40 and will be making his second space flight. O'Connor, from Twentynine Palms, CA, was selected as an astronaut in May 1980. Air Force Lt. Col. Sidney M. Gutierrez, 39, will serve as Pilot. Selected as an astronaut in 1984, Gutierrez, from Albuquerque, NM, will be making his first space flight. James P. Bagian, M.D., 39, will serve as Mission Specialist 1 (MS1). Selected as an astronaut in 1980, Bagian is from Philadelphia, PA, and will be making his second space flight. Tamara E. Jernigan, Ph.D., 32, will serve as Mission Specialist 2 (MS2). Selected as an astronaut in 1985, Jernigan is from Santa Fe Springs, CA, and will be making her first space flight. Margaret Rhea Seddon, M.D., 43, will serve as Mission Specialist 3 (MS3). Selected as an astronaut in 1978, Seddon is from Murfreesboro, TN, and will be making her second space flight. Francis Andrew Gaffney, M.D., 44, will serve as Payload Specialist 1 (PS1). Gaffney will be making his first space flight and his hometown is Carlsbad, NM. Millie Hughes-Fulford, Ph.D., 46, will serve as Payload Specialist 2 (PS2). Hughes-Fulford, from Mineral Wells, TX, will be making her first space flight. NASA SPCLNK/BBS NEW ASTRONAUT CANDIDATES SOUGHT BY NASA NASA conducts astronaut candidate selections on a 2-year cycle and has scheduled the next class of candidates for July 1992. Interested individuals may apply until the cut-off date of July 1, 1991. Applications received after the deadline will be eligible for consideration in the next selection cycle. After a 6-month process including screening of applications, interviews and medical evaluations, selections will be announced early in 1992, and the new candidates will report to the Johnson Space Center, Houston, in July. The limited number of selections to be made every 2 years is based on projected requirements. There are two types of astronaut candidate positions -- mission specialist and pilot. Successful pilot applicants typically have extensive piloting experience in high-performance jet aircraft and flight test experience. Successful applicants for the mission specialist positions typically have significant backgrounds in the sciences (materials science, Earth science, medical science and space science) or engineering. This year, because of the requirements of some future payloads and experiments, NASA is particularly interested in individuals with backgrounds in medical sciences research, microgravity research and materials processing. All applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must be U.S. citizens. An application package may be obtained by writing to : NASA Johnson Space Center Attn: AHX Astronaut Selection Office Houston, TX 77058 NASA SPCLNK/BBS ENDEAVOUR STATE OF THE ART OF SHUTTLES NASA's newest orbiter features a host of enhanced systems and improved or updated components. The onboard computing, navigation and guidance system uses newer generation inertial measuring units and faster computers. Endeavour also features improved nosewheel steering and updated auxiliary power units. In addition to the systems which Endeavour has in common with its orbiter fleet members, OV-105 features a drag chute which is expected to decrease the landing distance by more than 1,000 feet. Things might be more crowded aboard Endeavour missions, though, as it also features 127 cubic feet of additional mid-deck stowage. Endeavour also inaugurated another new NASA vehicle, the new 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, NASA 911, which joins the first carrier aircraft, NASA 905. The new carrier aircraft was used to transport the Endeavour to Kennedy Space Center on May 2. NASA SPCLNK/BBS *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 4 NASA TO TEST FLIGHT-WEIGHT AERO-SPACE PLANE COMPONENT NASA is preparing to test a structural component made of advanced carbon-carbon composite material as part of the X-30 National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program. Carbon-carbon is an advanced heat-resistant, non-metallic material that may be used on the NASP flight research vehicles in the mid-1990s. The NASP mission profile demands much greater performance from its structures and materials than does the Space Shuttle, which travels through the atmosphere in a relatively short time. Engineers expect that the X-30 will experience structural loads at extreme temperatures and sustained high temperatures in high-altitude cruise through the atmosphere. Design and fabrication of this major NASP flight-weight component follows years of technology development. The carbon-carbon material is stronger than metal at high temperatures. It's also lighter than aluminum, making it a good alternative in areas where active cooling can be avoided. The component is part of a full-scale wing control surface from a generic NASA aerospace plane design. The structure was shipped to NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA, for extensive tests to begin this Fall. The flap-like component first will be tested for its ability to withstand mechanical loads similar to those on a vehicle that takes off from a runway like an airliner and flies into orbit. Thermal trials are scheduled to start in Fall 1992. Initial tests will be limited to state-of-the-art strain measurement capabilities -- about 600 degrees F. Researchers hope to achieve test temperatures exceeding 2000 degrees F. by 1993. The Missile Division of LTV Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, designed and built the NASP test component under contract to NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA LTV's successful fabrication of the somewhat stiff composite represents a major milestone in materials technology development. "The fabrication was challenging," said Dr. Wayne Sawyer of Langley's Structural Mechanics Division. "It is a big part that requires a series of fairly high-temperature thermal cycles in the fabrication process. These thermal cycles result in material deformations in some way or another. It shrinks and expands and tends to warp. Just being able to make a big part or several big parts that will fit together is very tough and requires good control of the tolerances and the fabrication process." The rib-stiffened NASP component is about 56 inches long, 39 inches wide, 14 inches thick at the leading edge and 6 inches thick at the trailing edge. It is patterned after part of a flight control surface called an elevon, which is mounted at the back of some aircraft and the Space Shuttle orbiter to provide pitch and roll control. "To our knowledge the component is made of some of the most complicated carbon-carbon parts ever fabricated," said Langley's Dr. Don Rummler, also of the Structural Mechanics Division. The need for a load-bearing tube with multiple layers and many holes and cutouts complicated the fabrication task. High-temperature requirements dictated that even simple parts like fasteners were made of carbon-carbon. Extra care was taken to overcome the potentially serious problem of delamination of the materials, which is almost impossible to repair. Technicians built up the test structure one thin layer at a time; it has 42 layers, or plies, at its maximum thickness. The component parts were heated to high temperatures several times and densified to increase their strength, in a process Rummler likens to "burning toast." Strength went up with each processing cycle, as epoxy-like material was used to densify the material by filling tiny voids in the carbon matrix between heat treatments. A final coating protected exterior surfaces against oxidation. Just where, how and if advanced carbon-carbon will be used in the X-30 has yet to be decided. "The material and the advanced fabrication procedures developed to make the elevon structure represent an option that we did not have at the beginning of the National Aero-Space Plane program," explained Rummler. "It is a design-efficient, light-weight alternative." NASA SPCLNK/BBS ASTRO MISSION TO REFLY NASA announced May 20, that the second Astro mission will fly aboard the Space Shuttle. "We are delighted to be able to refly this proven scientific performer," said Dr. Lennard A. Fisk, Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications. The success of the earlier mission and the demonstrated ability of the instruments to acquire high-quality scientific data are among the major reasons for reflight of the Astro payload. Astro-2, like Astro-1 which flew in December of 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, will be dedicated to a single scientific discipline - astrophysics. The following three instruments will fly on Astro-2 and observe energetic objects in space in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum: o The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), developed at Johns Hopkins University, performs spectroscopy, breaking light into its constituent colors, allowing scientists to analyze the chemical composition and temperature of the objects HUT observes. o The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, produces images of especially hot components of nebulae, stars and galaxies. These images help to explain the physical structure of such objects. o The Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photopolarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), developed at the University of Wisconsin, measures a subtle characteristic of light, its polarization. These measurements probe the orientation and detailed physics of the distant regions in which the light originates. Astro-2 complements the much larger Hubble Space Telescope. HUT, for example, explores a region of the spectrum immediately adjacent to that studied by Hubble. UIT, because of its very large field of view, can serve as a "finder" for the powerful imaging devices aboard Hubble. Finally, WUPPE's precision polarimetry adds another dimension to the physical understanding of astronomical objects obtained from Hubble's collection of instruments. Astro-2 will be managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, for the Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. NASA SPCLNK/BBS *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 5 GALILEO MISSION STATUS May 15, 1991 The Galileo spacecraft is 49.6 million miles from Earth, making the round-trip communication time almost 9 minutes. Speed in orbit is 54,526 mph; distance from the Sun is 143 million miles or 1.54 astronomical units. The spacecraft has traveled 919 million of its 2.4-billion-mile looping course to Jupiter. Galileo is in a stable cruise mode, spinning at about 2.9 Rpm, and transmitting engineering data at 1200 bits per second over the low-gain antenna. Spacecraft health and performance are good except that the high-gain antenna is only partly deployed. This week the Galileo spacecraft team began a series of tests to characterize this partly-open antenna. Yesterday the spacecraft was shifted from all-spin to dual-spin (the aft section fixed in inertial space) and back. Celestial and gyro data may reveal a very slight wobble, verifying that the antenna opened off-center. It will be a very subtle effect because the antenna is light and the spacecraft heavy. Another test tomorrow, using radio signals, may give more information on the antenna's shape. NASA SPCLNK/BBS ULYSSES MISSION STATUS May 15, 1991 The Ulysses spacecraft remains in good condition as it cruises through the ecliptic plane on its way to Jupiter. Today Ulysses is approximately 498 million kilometers (309 million miles) from Earth, traveling at a heliocentric velocity of approximately 79,200 kilometers per hour (49,300 miles per hour). Following discussions at the spring science working team meeting in Heidelberg, Germany, steps were taken to schedule longer, 10-hour passes to permit the spacecraft's real-time link to operate at a continuous bit rate of 1024 bps even when the onboard tape recorder is being played back. A new maneuver strategy has been implemented to maintain the expected data rate at baseline levels during the remainder of Ulysses' journey to Jupiter and after it exits the ecliptic plane. To maintain continuous bit rate links during each extended pass, operations team members will perform Earth-pointing maneuvers more frequently to keep Ulysses pointed more precisely at the Earth. During this reporting period, routine slew maneuvers were performed yesterday, May 14, and were planned for tomorrow, May 16, and Monday, May 20. NASA SPCLNK/BBS GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY (GRO) WEEKLY STATUS REPORT #5 May 20, 1991 The Flight Operations Team in the Payload Operations Control Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, reports the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) is performing well. GRO orbits Earth at an altitude of 287 x 280 statute miles (462 x 451 kilometers). All four of GRO's instruments have been calibrated. Science operations began Thursday May 16, 1991 with the observatory pointed toward a pulsar in the Crab Nebula. The Phase 1 viewing plan of the science operations is a full-sky survey expected to last fifteen months. Analysis of the propulsion system pressure transducer and valve misconfiguration anomalies continues. The system is stable and the observatory will continue to be operated in its present configuration for an indefinite period. The propulsion system anomalies do not affect the spacecraft's operation. Four detectors in the Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL) instrument have not been activated at this time, leaving the instrument at 67% of full efficiency. The detectors are experiencing high levels of noise associated with out-gassing. Out-gassing is a normal process. One of the detectors will be activated this week and all four are expected to be activated by the end of May. The Flight Operations Team anticipates that COMPTEL will be functioning at 100 percent efficiency once the equipment is activated. NASA SPCLNK/BBS MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT May 17, 1991 The Magellan spacecraft, now in its second mapping cycle, went through an orbit trim maneuver today so it will not duplicate the first cycle's altimeter data. The new altimeter track will interleave with the first cycle's track. In order to improve the quality of data, it was decided to slightly rotate the spacecraft's orbit around the node -- an imaginary line drawn through the poles of Venus. Mapping was suspended at 6:43 a.m. PDT today in preparation for the orbit trim maneuver which began at 11:33 a.m. The burn, using the small thrusters, lasted for little more than 33 minutes. The burn shifted the orbit about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles). The spacecraft also was switched from the high-gain antenna to the medium-gain antenna for the operation. Normal mapping is to resume at 7:46 p.m. The spacecraft and radar system are performing well. Six of the seven star calibrations Thursday were fully successful. NASA SPCLNK/BBS *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 6 NASA DISCOVERS IMPACT LIKELY TIED TO DINOSAURS' DEMISE The first surface evidence of a buried impact crater formed by a comet or asteroid which may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs has been discovered by NASA researchers. The scientists believe a ring of sink holes in the northwestern corner of the Mexican state of Yucatan outlines the largest known impact crater on Earth. The crater, which is more than 125 miles in diameter, is a prime candidate in the search for an impact that may have caused the planet-wide extinctions of dinosaurs and other species about 65 million years ago. Charles Duller of NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, discovered the ring formation in 1987 while searching satellite imagery for water sources used by ancient Mayan cities. Two other members of the research team -- Dr. Kevin Pope, formerly of Ames and now with Geo Eco Arc Research in La Canada, CA and Adriana Ocampo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA -- considered many other geological explanations before concluding the formation was caused by a buried impact crater. "The apparent age, location and size of the proposed Yucatan impact make it one of the best candidates for the global catastrophic event, although multiple impacts remain a possibility. Regardless, the Yucatan impact alone would have had a devastating impact on the climate, animals and plant life of the Earth," Pope said. Some scientists believe such an impact pushed so much dust and debris into the atmosphere that it blocked sunlight, interrupting the growth of plants, starving dinosaurs and other animals and freezing much of the Earth. The results of the study by Duller, Pope and Ocampo were announced in the current issue of Nature magazine. The team's findings agree with the work of other scientists who have found unusual circular gravity and magnetic patterns and quartz fractured by an impact, all suggesting a buried crater in the Yucatan. The circular hydro-geological feature, which they named the Cenote Ring (cenote is the local Spanish name for sink holes), provides surface evidence of the buried crater's precise location and size. It is centered near the town of Chicxulub, for which the buried crater is named. Duller mapped hundreds of water-filled sink holes which form an almost perfect semicircle that marks the crater's buried rim. Fresh water springs well up beneath the surface where the Cenote Ring meets the shore line. The sink holes are found in clusters at some places along the rim and spaced up to a mile apart at others. They average 300 - 500 feet in diameter. Duller and Pope determined the half-circle of sink hole and severely fractured limestone outside and along the rim area. This conclusion was verified through independent hydrogeological research conducted by Dr. Luis Marin, now of the University of Mexico, during his work on a doctoral thesis under Dr. Eugene Perry at Northern Illinois University. "As the buried crater rim settles over millions of years, the rock on top slumps and cracks. Underground water flows through the cracks on its way to the ocean. As the water is forced around the unfractured rock in the center, the flow dissolves the limestone, causing cave-ins that create the sink holes," Pope said. Pope and Ocampo examined core sample data taken from nearby exploratory oil wells and found they geologically date the buried crater's floor at Late Cretaceous about 65 million years ago. The crater floor has younger Tertiary sediments on top. According to the fossil record, more than half of Earth's plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs, disappeared about 65 million years ago. This abrupt change in evolutionary history occurred between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods in Earth's geologic history and is called the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. Unusual amounts of the rare element iridium -- more abundant in comets and asteroids than on Earth -- have been found in the K-T boundary in many locations worldwide, leading scientists to believe that a large extraterrestrial impact caused the planet-wide extinctions. Rock and melted glassy fragments, "blown out" by an impact, have been found in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico region, causing scientists to concentrate the search for the suspect crater in this area. Deposits and erosion patterns produced by a gigantic tidal wave have been found at the K-T boundary in Texas, Mexico and in cores from the Gulf of Mexico. "Our research," Duller said, "adds one more piece of evidence to a complex and intriguing jigsaw puzzle. Many researchers in different scientific fields have contributed to our understanding of the Yucatan impact. Each additional piece brings us closer to understanding one of the great mysteries in the evolution of life on Earth." NASA SPACLNK/BBS ASTRONOMY The Royal Astronomical Society, London, has announced that astronomers have proved the existence of a BL Lac object in a galaxy dominated by a large flattened disk. Previously, BL Lacerta objects were thought to exist only in the center of elliptical galaxies. BL Lac objects produce X-rays, radio and visible light energy which are thought to be produced by relativistic jets streaming from the active nuclei of elliptical galaxies. There are about 40 known BL Lac objects. The Society says the discovery of such an object in a non-elliptical galaxy throws doubt into current theories about these objects. The discovery was made by Ian McHardy, Southampton University, Roberto Abraham and Caroline Crawford, Oxford University, Pat Mock and Roland Vanderspeck, Mass. Institute of Tech., and Marie-Helene Ulrich, European Southern Observatory. They were using the 4.2 meter Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands. NASA SPCLNK/BBS *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 7 MAGELLAN SCIENTISTS STUDY SURFACE OF VENUS Magellan scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, are studying the surface features on Venus caused by wind in the planet's dense atmosphere, says Project Scientist Steve Saunders. The movement of dust and sand is an important geological process on planets with atmospheres, he said. The surface pressure of Venus' atmosphere is 90 times that of Earth's. Soviet landers and the U.S. Pioneer probes measured wind speeds near the surface of Venus at 2 to 4 miles per hour (1 to 2 meters per second). Based on theory and laboratory experiments, that wind speed is very close to the speed required to move sand grains on Venus, Saunders said. Accumulations of blown sand and dust can blanket large regions and produce visible patterns in the Magellan radar images, he stated. "The most prominent wind features in the Magellan images of Venus are wind streaks," Saunders said. "Streaks form in the lee of topographic obstacles by the deposition or removal of sand and dust and can be used as indicators of the direction of the most intense winds," he stated. Many large impact craters on Venus have nearby wind streaks that may have been caused by the violent winds generated during the impact event or that may be the result of a slower process of subsequent wind movement of the fine impact debris. Magellan has mapped more than 78 percent of the planet and by the time the primary mission cycle ends May 15, will have mapped about 84 percent, project officials said. Project Manager Tony Spear said a newly adopted strategy to protect the spacecraft from the heat of direct sunlight has been successful in cooling the spacecraft. Magellan has been growing warmer as a result of changes in the geometry of Venus, Earth and the sun and the time the spacecraft spends broadside to the sun. A strategy, called "two-hide" which results in slightly shorter imaging swaths, protects the spacecraft by hiding it behind the large antenna and by turning the solar panels away for periods of time to reduce reflection. The Magellan project is managed by JPL for the Office of Space Science and Applications. NASA SPCLNK/BBS MEETING REPORT By Myron Moody Those members attending the April meeting were Mark Hardaway, Angie Berry, Myron Moody, Mike Moery, and Diana Hopkins. Visitors included Clay McCormick, and our guest speaker was Carolyn Snavely. At the meeting we talked about our plans for making some commercials about space technology, and moving the meetings to the Kirkpatrick Center. We then discussed putting out flyers at computer conventions, airshows, and having a room party at Thundercon. Mark then introduced Carolyn as our guest speaker and she told us about her being involved in several of the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions and the projects that she had her students perform in model rocketry. We then adjourned the meeting right after her presentation and gave Carolyn an honorary membership into RASA. CALENDER OF EVENTS May 19 RASA meeting - 3:30pm South Community Hospital. Guest speaker Johnathan Majid. May 22-27 Tenth Annual International Space Development Conference in San Antonio, TX. May 31; June 1,2 THUNDERCON - Central Plaza Hotel, Oklahoma City, OK. NO STAR-OKC MEETING THIS SATURDAY! NASA Futures in Space panel - Sunday at noon. June 8 USS-RANGER meeting - 1:00pm Capital Hills Christian Church. STAR-OKC meeting - 2:00pm Moore Public Library. June 14-16 AEROSPACE AMERICA - FAA Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. June 23 RASA meeting at the Kirkpatrick Air-Space Museum 3:30pm. June 29 STAR-OKC/RASA fossil hunt and star watch - Southeastern Oklahoma. For more info. call Kevin Hopkins (405)634-1856. *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** PAGE 8 WHAT IF... "Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein This section of the newsletter is devoted to the proposal, the hypothetical supposition, or the excursion into the realm of fiction. Reader's submissions are encouraged. TERRA TEARDROP by T. M. Hardaway I am sitting in space Viewing Terra Teardrop, A teardrop from God's face, Home of the human race. Each sunrise, Earth is shinning, With its bright beauty blinding, Like a smiling lover's face, Day - the warmth of her embrace. I picked up tomorrow, Turned it over in my hands, All I saw was sorrow And empty barren lands. Where has the World gone? Where did your people go? Where did the good go wrong? Why all the radioactive snow? I am sitting in space Watching the humans race, Each consumed with disgust at the others' disgrace. It's already too late, You have sealed your fate. Instead of mankind, All I see is man-hate. Terra, you are headed for the end of your days. You are going to pay for the sins of your ways. You're missing out on the part Where love begins, And just think, you could have had the stars my friends. O lovely Terra, goodbye, Crystal Teardrop from God's eye. MAY 1991 KEY DATES The fifth month of the year has several possible histories for its name. One is the word Maia who was the Roman mother of Mercury. The other is Maius, which is Latin for 'great'--perhaps referring to the great Roman god, Jupiter. To the Anglo-Saxons this was the Tri-Milchi month which referred to the idea that cows were supposed to give milk three times a day due to their feeding on fresh spring grass. Native American names include the planting moon month of the Dakota Sioux and the egg-laying moon month of the Chipewayan. May 1 Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut born. 2 "Preliminary Design of Experimental World Circling Spaceship" published. (1946) 4 William Herschel reported active volcanoes on the moon. (1783) 5 Shepard becomes the first American to go into space. (1961) 6 Transit of Venus. (2012) Plan ahead! 8 The astronomer Lalande records a star that unknown to him was the planet Neptune. (1795). 9 A laser beam is bounced off the moon. (1962) 11 Einstein presented his general Theory of Relativity. (1916). Comet Iras-Arak-Alcock misses Earth by 27 hrs. (1983) 14 Truman signs bill establishing Cape Canaveral as the site for a rocket testing range. (1949) Skylab launched. (1973) Full Earth-but you have to be on the moon to see it. 15 Kepler writes 3rd law of Planetary Motion. (1618) Last Mercury flight. (Cooper,1963) 17 First observations of cloud belts on Jupiter. (1630) 18 Apollo 10 launched. (1969) 24 Carpenter becomes the second American to orbit the Earth.(1962). The 20,000th manmade object to orbit the Earth is launched. (1989). 27 Kennedy announced the Apollo goal-The Moon. (1961) 28 Monkeynauts, Able and Baker flew in space. (1959) 29 Solar Eclipse tests Einstein's theory. (1919) 30 ESA, the European Space Agency is founded. (1975) NASA SPCLNK/BBS *********** RASA PROBE VOLUME 2; ISSUE 4 MAY 1991 *************** END THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. LOOK FOR NEXT MONTH'S ISSUE.