Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_3/V9_317.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #317

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 317

Today's Topics:
             space news from Jan 16 AW&ST
              Re^2: Babies born in space
          Second call for votes on sci.edu newsgroup
      Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
      Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?
      Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?
  APRIL 11 -- PRINCETON SPACE POLICY CONFERENCE -- DON'T MISS THIS!
     Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 28 Mar 89 04:50:26 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: space news from Jan 16 AW&ST

Cover:  photo of the systems-test prototype of the Soviet shuttle,
in its bay at Baikonur.

Galileo's maneuvering thrusters returned to MBB for testing and modification.
They can overheat, it turns out.  This was discovered fortuitously during
experiments with TVSat 1, the abandoned German comsat that failed to deploy
one solar array -- it used similar thrusters.  Galileo planners want
to see reliable thrusters several weeks before Galileo goes to the Cape
on May 12, otherwise the schedule will be in trouble.

Japan's IASA and NASDA are studying [unmanned] lunar rovers for possible
launch in the next decade.

Retiring SecCommerce William Verity denounces NASA and its contractors
for restricting the US space program to their own interests, saying
that the shuttle is a trucking operation, the space station is unnecessary,
and NASA should be ordered back to science and exploration.  "Will a
future Christopher Columbus study space science, only to discover his
career options are limited to a government bureaucracy that runs a
glorified trucking operation or a cost-plus contractor that just fills
orders?"

USAF FY90-91 budget plans include no funding for Asat work.

Pentagon board suggests that the Army should take the lead in Asat efforts,
partly because the Army is considered most likely to cooperate with other
services if things get serious.  (The USAF is bowing out, and the Navy is
not interested unless the weapon is sea-based.)  Stiff Congressional
opposition is expected if any serious attempt is made to get an Asat
program going again.  It is not clear whether Congress will balk at
the proposed conversion of the Miracl experimental laser for Asat tests.
The tests are aimed at resolving some doubts about how vulnerable
satellites are to lasers.

The An-225 Mria begins flight tests.  [This is the giant cargo aircraft
fitted to carry Soviet shuttle components externally.]

Soviets reveal they have twice space-tested a new nuclear reactor design,
Topaz, using thermionic technology well in advance of the US thermoelectric
designs (which have never flown) (the US has avoided thermionics, partly
because the technology is considered unproven and risky).  One Topaz ran for
six months, the other for a year; future versions are aimed at a three-year
lifetime, while five years at several hundred kilowatts (the tests were
10 kW) looks feasible.  To cap it off, the Soviets have informally
indicated that they are interested in selling Topazes to the US!  [The
Soviets have been talking about nuclear-electric rockets for a manned
Mars mission.  Sounds like they're already testing hardware for it.]

More photos and coverage from Baikonur.  Buran's mission was nearly letter-
perfect, including landing 1.5 m from the runway center line despite an
18 m/s (40 mph) crosswind 30 degrees from the centerline.  Soviets say
their thermal tiles are designed for about 10 reentries before replacement,
and admit that applying them to the shuttle is difficult.  Final checkout
of the second orbiter should be completed this year; apparently there is
still some uncertainty about its name.  The Soviets are starting to use
"Buran" as a generic name for their shuttle, creating some confusion.
Photo of orbiter #2 surrounded by workstands.  Buran was parked outside
during the visit (in subzero weather) for inspection of propellant tanks.
AW&ST says the orbiter building looks frankly shabby from outside, although
workmanship is much better on the inside -- evidently outside appearance
was not a priority.  Igor Volk and Rimantas Stankiavicius are in training
for the first orbital shuttle mission.

Photos of the launch pad used for the first Energia mission.  Soviets say
it is earmarked for non-shuttle missions.

Letter in the letter column observes that in 1984, AW&ST published a
drawing of the Soviet shuttle with some lettering that made no sense
at the time:  just aft of the mid-deck, it was labelled "Buran"!
Somebody knew the name of the thing four years before the Soviets
revealed it...
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 23 Mar 89 16:56:52 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!axion!stc!idec!camcon![e-mail]  (Chris Cracknell)
Subject: Re^2: Babies born in space

[e-mail] (Colin Hunter) writes:

>From:

>m.cs.uiuc.edu!s.cs.uiuc.edu![e-mail] writes

>> I saw a report recently that had a Get-Away-Special mission that was
>>sending up half of a set of ``identical'' chicken eggs, the other half
>>staying on the ground as a control group. While not exactly human
>>development, I'd say it's certainly a first step in such research.

>This sounds like an almost useless experiment if the intention is to
>extrapolate the results they will obtain to human foetal development. Earlier

   Much of early embryogenesis is very species-independant.   (This is often
quoted as a piece of evidence for related ancestry of vertebrates.)   I
have an embryologist friend currently studying bird eggs mainly because
it is easy to get to the embryo without worrying about having to cut open
and keep alive a mother.   I suspect that this is a major reason for using
eggs in such a study.

Chris Cracknell

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

Date: 24 Mar 89 22:02:56 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Lawrence V. Cipriani)
Subject: Second call for votes on sci.edu newsgroup

This is the second call for votes for the proposed sci.edu newsgroup, just
in case you missed it the first time.

I lost three votes (sorry).  One from a lady with a first name of Lili, from
CMU I believe, and one from a gentleman from AT&T.  The third I can't remember
anything about, other than it was a yes vote.  I received these around March
14th.  If you voted around this time and you want to be certain I have your
vote, just vote again.  I will check for duplicates in the final tally.

Here is some repeated information from the first call for votes:

I had to post this twice since postnews wouldn't let me post to 16 newsgroups
at once, please reply to this only once.

As a reader of many of the sci and comp newsgroups I have seen a lot of
material that is discussed more appropriately in a general education forum.
Unfortunately, such a news group does not exist.  Hence, sci.edu.  It
would be used to bring general discussion of education, and in particular
science education, into one news group.

Votes will be collected until April 6th.  If the number of yes votes exceeds
the number of no votes by 100, the newsgroup will be created.

If you are for or against this proposed newsgroup send me your vote along
with your email address.  Just replying to this article (the R command in
rn) should get it to me.  If that does not work, try manually sending it to:
[e-mail] (...!osu-cis!tut!lvc might work too).  As a last resort,
try the address [e-mail] (...!att!cbnews!lvc).  Group or posted
votes will not be counted.

I will not be able to reply to you individually until after the voting period
is over.

Followups to this article have been directed to news.groups.  Thank you for
your vote.
--
Larry Cipriani, [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 04:24:03 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Dietz) writes:
>Nuclear proliferation may have just become a lot easier...

Only if the thing can be made to explode, which isn't at all clear.
It doesn't sound significantly more useful for breeding plutonium than
an ordinary reactor, and reactors are not hard to build if you are not
too worried about efficiency and safety.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 04:13:42 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (54317-T.EBERSOLE) writes:
>...there are reactions which eject fast-moving ions (electrons, etc.) with
>no gamma rays or neutrons; I seem to recall these involve carbon as one
>of the "reactants." Anyone know what these particular fusion reactions
>are, or have a reference I could look this up in? ...

The major ones are deuterium plus helium-3 yielding helium-4 plus proton
(unfortunately there is also some tendency for the deuterium to react
with itself, so neutron emission isn't zero; also, helium-3 is rare and
extremely expensive) and boron-11 plus proton yielding helium-4 (works
fine but rather harder to ignite).
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 04:55:21 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>Here is a thoery of what is happening -- IF it is happening.  Thermal
>fusion requires a very high temperature because at lower speeds each
>proton will scatter the other before colliding, if they are slightly
>misaligned... ...if the protons are perfectly aligned, the fusion
>temperature is quite modest -- I think of the order of kilovolts...
>But I can't figure out how to get the required kilovolts into that
>solution with electrodes...

The alternative is that this is non-thermal fusion.  The temperatures
are not an end in themselves:  they are a way of pushing nuclei very
close together.  As Paul Dietz speculated, this may be pycnonuclear
fusion:  fusion induced by pressure rather than temperature.  I'm more
than slightly surprised that they can get enough pressure out of
chemical bonds, mind you...
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 04:19:07 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion - possible indication?

Let us all be very cautious about this; while it sounds promising, there
have been major scientific false alarms before.  (For example, there were
a number of high-temperature-superconductor false alarms before Bednorz
and Muller hit the jackpot -- this was one reason why their report was
slow to be accepted.)
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 03:10:34 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Eric William Tilenius)
Subject: APRIL 11 -- PRINCETON SPACE POLICY CONFERENCE -- DON'T MISS THIS!


                             S   P   A   C   E   :

            SMALL STEPS AND GIANT LEAPS FOR THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS

  An Evening-Long Public Forum to Explore What's Next for America in Space.

 Sponsors: Princeton University, The Planetary Society, National Space Society

                          TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 7:30 pm
               McCosh Hall Auditorium 50, Princeton University

Almost twenty years have past since America first landed a man on the moon.
What  have we learned since then?  What should our goals be for the next
twenty years?  What policy decisions must be made now to achieve these goals?

The top space experts from across the nation are coming to Princeton University
to explore these questions.  This exciting and informative public forum will
feature talks, a panel discussion, and a question and answer session with these
eleven leaders who are shaping tomorrow's realities:

HARRISON SCHMITT:  Former astronaut and former U.S. Senator (New Mexico);
     One of only 12 men to walk on the moon.  Currently studying how to
     integrate the three planetary missions (Earth, Moon, Mars).

GEORGE BROWN:  Congressman for California; author of the Space Settlement Act.

FREEMAN DYSON:  One of the foremost thinkers of our time.  Currently at the
     Institute for Advanced Study. Author of _Weapons_and_Hope_, _Disturbing
     _the_Universe_, and _Infinite_in_All_Directions_.

GEORGE KOOPMAN:  President and CEO, American Rocket Company (Amroc).

JEREMIAH P. OSTRIKER:  Director, Princeton University Observatory.  Chairman,
     Princeton Astrophysics Department.  Served on the National Academy of
     Sciences' Committee on Space Policy.

HARLAN SMITH: Director of the McDonnell Observatory, University of Texas.

TOBIAS OWEN:  Professor of Astronomy, SUNY-Stony Brook; Noted space author.

JAMES BURKE:  Technical Editor of The Planetary Report, Technical Staff, JPL.

ALAN LADWIG:  Director of Special Projects, Office of Exploration, NASA.

GREGG E. MARYNIAK:  Executive Vice President of the Space Studies Institute;
     Professor of Space Resources & Manufacturing, International Space Univ.

J. RICHARD GOTT, III:  Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University.

Tickets for this extraordinary event are available to the public for just
five dollars each.  Use the form below to order advance tickets.  If spaces
are left, tickets will also be sold at the door.  For further information,
call [phone], day or evening.

Tickets for a special banquet with the speakers are available $40/plate.
Banquet starts at 5:30 pm.  (This is a fund raiser to help raise needed
money for the event, too, so we appreciate all ticket purchases!)

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

Please send me _____ tickets at $5 each to attend the Space Forum on Tuesday,

April 11 and _____ banquet tickets at $40 a plate.  Total enclosed: $______

Please make checks payable to Princeton Planetary Society.  Orders received
after April 5 will be held at the door.  Orders for banquet tickets must be
received by April 5.  A map and directions will be included with your tickets.

Name:_______________________________________ Phone: ________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________________

City, State, ZIP ___________________________________________________________


Please return this form to: Princeton Planetary Society
                            332 Walker Hall
                            Princeton University
                            Princeton, NJ 08544

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Eric W. Tilenius     | ColorVenture Software    | [e-mail]
Princeton University | 11 Prospect Drive South  | [e-mail]
332 Walker Hall      | Huntington Sta, NY 11746 | rutgers!pucc.bitnet!ewtileni
Princeton, NJ 08544  | 516-424-2298             | princeton!pucc!ewtileni
609-734-4911         | * Sft. for the CoCo 3 *  | CIS:  70346,16

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

Date: 25 Mar 89 04:57:58 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications?

In article <[e-mail]> I wrote:
>>...there are reactions which eject fast-moving ions (electrons, etc.) with
>>no gamma rays or neutrons...
>
>The major ones are deuterium plus helium-3 yielding helium-4 plus proton...
>... and boron-11 plus proton yielding helium-4 ...

Oops, I should amend that:  those are the major reactions that don't yield
neutrons.  If you're after a reaction that doesn't yield gamma rays, you
may be looking for a long time.  Almost any nuclear process yields gamma
rays to some extent.
--
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #317
*******************