Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_4/V9_421.TXT

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Date: Wed, 10 May 89 00:20:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #421

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 421

Today's Topics:
           Re: DO IT YOURSELF SPACE-PROBES?
           Re: citizens in space -- risk silliness
        Spaceplane mailing list--where is it?
           Re: citizens in space -- risk silliness
         Re: UFOs and other weird stuff on this list.
 Request for information on space industrialization, asteroids, etc.
          Private Funding of Space Projects
           Re: DO IT YOURSELF SPACE-PROBES?
      Re: manned vs. unmanned (was: Priorities at NASA?)
     Logo selected for Space Station Freedom program (Forwarded)
            Re: Meme me up, Scotty
                SETI question
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 7 May 89 23:55:53 GMT
From: ogccse!blake![e-mail]  (sealion)
Subject: Re: DO IT YOURSELF SPACE-PROBES?

In article <[e-mail]6>, [e-mail] writes:


[Stuff deleted]
>                 Could someone with the technical know-how build a
> useful satellite out of components bought at the local Radio Shack
> and hardware store?

This is exactly what some some students an faculty at Utah State
University and Weber State College, Ogden, Ut. did a few years back.
The satellite was named NUSAT ( Northern Utah SATellite).

If I remember correctly, the satellite was intended to assist in the
calibration of ham radio antennas. Mounted on a tripod with a spring
in between, it was deployed from a Get-Away-Special canister.

  The diagram below gives the basic appearence of the setup.


                         _______________
                        ()|   _______   |
                          |  /       \  |
                          | /_________\ |
                          | \         / |
              |  \_______/  |
                          |  (-------)  |
              |  //  |  \\  |
                          | //   |   \\ |
                  |//    |    \\|
                          ---------------

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't
 believe this to be a coincidence." || - Jeremy S. Anderson   12/15/88

#include <disclaimer.h>                       [e-mail]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Date: 7 May 89 16:13:59 GMT
From: dinl![e-mail]  (kevin w. holroyd)
Subject: Re: citizens in space -- risk silliness

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (steve emmerson) writes:
|In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
|(Henry Spencer) writes:
|
|>Of course it's
|>not safe; so what?  Don't you think Christa McAuliffe understood that?
|
|Probably not completely, and I would be very surprised if her family did.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|On the other hand, if one is made fully aware of the risks, I agree with
|you.
|--
|Steve Emmerson                     Inet: [e-mail] [128.116.10.1]
|SPAN: miami::emmerson (host 3074::)      [e-mail]
|UUCP: ...!ncar!umigw!steve               [e-mail]
|"Computers are like God in the Old Testament: lots of rules and no mercy"

Christa McAuliffe was an intelligent, educated woman.  Do you mean to tell us
that she got on a vehicle fueled by tons of hydrogen and oxygen, that had flown
less than twenty-five times, went through all the training that NASA gives the
shuttle crew, and failed to understand the risk that she was taking?
Or are you referring to the fact that certain program managers witheld some
information on risk factors from the crew, as grounds that no one on the shuttle
fully understood what risks they were taking?

On the contrary, I think shuttle crew probably know better than anyone, what
risks they are taking. (Drilling in emergency procedures tends to give you
a good idea of what could possibly go wrong).  Christa McAuliffe understood
the risks as well as anyone else and put her life on the line because she
believed in space and education.  In that sense she accomplished her mission.
Those who really look back will see a women (and the rest of the crew) who
believed in opening up outer space and was willing to risk her life to be a part
of that effort.

I think the Challenger crew would be appalled at the idea of their families
bringing suit as a result of their deaths.  It cheapened everything they
dedicated their entire lives to.  Just another indicator of what a sick,
litiguous society this can be.

--
*******************************************************************************
Kevin W. Holroyd            *
CFI Aspen Flying Club            * Got tired of last .signature file
Denver CO.                *
*******************************************************************************

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

Date: 7 May 89 20:51:23 GMT
From: phoenix![e-mail]  (Keith P. Mancus)
Subject: Spaceplane mailing list--where is it?


    What happened to the spaceplane mailing list?  Is it defunct?
I received one startup message stating the list existed and requested
that I confirm reception, which I did.  Since then I've heard nothing.
I tried sending mail to Norman but received no answer.  So, what
happened?  Have I "fallen off" of it, or did it quietly disappear?

--
-Keith Mancus <[e-mail]>
              <[e-mail]>  <- preferred
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"We're going to space if we have to walk."   -Jerry Pournelle, 1983

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

Date: 7 May 89 18:42:24 GMT
From: umigw![e-mail]  (steve emmerson)
Subject: Re: citizens in space -- risk silliness

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (kevin w. holroyd) writes:
>Or are you referring to the fact that certain program managers witheld some
>information on risk factors from the crew, as grounds that no one on the
>shuttle fully understood what risks they were taking?

Something like that.  Do you know if she was told that one study
(the Air Force's I believe) estimated that 25 flights was the mean
time to catastrophic failure due to SRB malfunction?
--
Steve Emmerson                     Inet: [e-mail] [128.116.10.1]
SPAN: miami::emmerson (host 3074::)      [e-mail]
UUCP: ...!ncar!umigw!steve               [e-mail]
"Computers are like God in the Old Testament: lots of rules and no mercy"

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

Date: 7 May 89 12:14:28 GMT
From: unmvax!indri!polyslo!usc!nunki.usc.edu![e-mail]  (Mark Anderson)
Subject: Re: UFOs and other weird stuff on this list.

>From: [e-mail] (Shallow thoughts for shallow minds)
> ....
>Nope. UFOs probably dont exist, and do not warrant discussion. If they are
>aliens trying to avoid us, I doubt we could do much about them, so ignore
>them. If they are toying with us, the best way to get them to stop is to
>ignore them. If there is a valid reason we shouldn't have contact with them
>yet, the best method would be to ignore them to save our hides (souls?).
>If they dont exist, why dont we ignore them? UFOs are the realm of the
>mystical, not the scientific. Lets leave them there.
>
>This diatribe brought to you by:
>Scott Hess,
>[e-mail]

It always amazes me to stare into the sky on a clear night and see
the light from stars that are so far away it is unimaginable to
try and grasp the size of this universe.  Then I wonder and analyze
what could be out there, what kind of natural phenomenon exist.  It
is clear, by observing the history of human developement, that our
understanding of the universe is limited and has been evolving throughout
the years.  It is also clear, that in my lifetime, my children's lifetime,
and their grandchildren's lifetimes that we will not be able to reach
and network the stars using present day technology and knowledge.  We
limit ourselves to the speed of ight.

If you can accept an argument that life must be evolving somewhere else
besides earth, then life must be evolving in many places, probably in
different phases of developement.  A mere extra million years of knowledge
and understanding to a civilization should give them the ability, not
just to visit other star systems, but also to network them together.  Just
try and imagine our planet in a million years. (If we can keep from blowing
it up a few times.)

Maybe the Sun is part of a star network that has been colonized by a
nation of beings unknown to us.  Maybe there is an intergalactic United
Nation like system set up which we unknowingly are part of.  Our
ability to keep track of activities and collate information about
what is going on on our planet is increasing every day.  If UFO's
exist, verifiable proof will emerge.  At least it is something to look
forward to.  The fact that proof of extraterrestrial intelligent life
in the universe
could happen here on our own planet, is something to look forward to, and
could be achievable within our lifetime.

Science has grown out of the search of the mystical.  Many phenomenon
once thought of as mystical were eventually explained through scientific
theories.  I am not necessarily supporting the claim that the space
shuttle was attacked by a 200 foot UFO.  I am just trying to put across
the point that if we just keep our eyes and ears open,  there may be
more on this planet than we originally thought.

                      Mark

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

Date: 8 May 89 02:16:58 GMT
From: mentor.cc.purdue.edu!i.cc.purdue.edu![e-mail]  (Mark Gellis)
Subject: Request for information on space industrialization, asteroids, etc.

Hi.  I am looking for information concerning the use of asteroids and
moons (either our Moon or the moons of other planets) for space-based
industry.  What I am interested in finding out is how you would go about
breaking up a large moon or asteroid to facilitate mining and/or refining
and/or other industrial processes.

For example, the mass of a 100-km. asteroid would be about one million
times that of a 1-km. asteroid, but would we be able to utilize the whole
thing without breaking it up?.  Even with no atmosphere and microgravity,
would be able to simply tunnel the entire asteroid?  Or would we have
to break it up somehow to get at those raw materials?  If so, how would
we go about doing it?  Would it be possible to simply find "fault" lines
or stress regions and chip the asteroid apart with explosives (or nukes)?
Does anyone have any other suggestions?  (Please include any references
that you think might help.)

Incidently, the mass of even larger objects is even more tempting.  A
space-industrialized society would find the mass of Ceres (or any of the
dozen or so really large asteroids, or any of the medium-sized moons of
Saturn or Uranus a very tempting prize, even though a lot of the mass of
the latter is going to be water ice there will be a lot of organic chemicals,
and a fair-sized chunk of silicon, metals, etc.)

Why break up the asteroids instead of simply hollowing them out and living
in them?  My own opinion--which could very well be wrong--is that people
would probably enjoy living in large cylinder habitats like the ones
described by Gerald O'Neill.  (By the way, while I agree with his design
idea, I think the habitats will have to larger than he thinks for large
populations--when the world is only a few hundred square kilometers,
people will need lots of room per person.)


Anyway, please post or email any ideas you have on this subject.   Thanks
in advance.


     Mark Gellis
     [e-mail]

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

Date: Sun, 7 May 89 18:11:50 PDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Private Funding of Space Projects

Several postings during the last few weeks have suggested that private
and/or non-profit groups could do worthwhile space research if they
were given the chance...

On that note, what is happening with the World Space Foundation and
their plans to develop/launch/operate a prototype Solar Sail?

                                 David G. Michelson
                                    PhD Candidate
                            University of British Columbia

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

Date: 7 May 89 22:20:21 GMT
From: blake![e-mail]  (William Lewis)
Subject: Re: DO IT YOURSELF SPACE-PROBES?

In article <[e-mail]6> [e-mail] writes:
   [.....]
>everything. Could someone with the technical know-how build a
>useful satellite out of components bought at the local Radio Shack
>and hardware store? I just saw some video shot from Atlantis with
>a home video camera. It may not have been a KH-12, but it sure
>looked impressive!

    Seems to me I remember an article about this in a magazine a while back,
maybe a year or 8 months ago. It covered some people who built satellites
on their own. The satellites were called OSCAR ### (i.e., OSCAR 1, OSCAR 2,
and so on) They were launched in extra spaces of boosters being used for
other purposes (communications satellites) and so they didn't have much
choice about the orbits. However, the article said that many were operating
at the time it was written. I forget what theyw were geing used as.

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

Date: 8 May 89 03:48:42 GMT
From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: manned vs. unmanned (was: Priorities at NASA?)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (steve emmerson) writes:
>>... Congress has generally been quite happy to go along
>>with giving big projects priority over small ones (e.g. letting Galileo
>>eat most of the planetary-probe budget year after year).
>
>Ha!  I would have used the shuttle (and now Freedom) for my example ;-).

Too obvious. :-)  It seems to be necessary to remind people that it's not
just the big *manned* projects that destroy worthwhile smaller-scale work
by gobbling up all the funding.  Big projects of any kind have powerful
bureaucratic empires and clusters of contractors surrounding them, and
small projects can't muster that kind of clout when funding crunches come.

>Seriously though, perhaps Congress is now getting proof?

I see no sign that anything has changed, really.  Proof has been available
for a long time; Congress chooses to disregard it for the same old reasons.
(Surely you don't think it's an accident that things like the space station
and major military projects have contractors in as many states as possible!)
--
Mars in 1980s:  USSR, 2 tries, |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
2 failures; USA, 0 tries.      | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

Date: 8 May 89 06:36:12 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Logo selected for Space Station Freedom program (Forwarded)

Mark Hess
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                        May 5, 1989


RELEASE:  89-68

LOGO SELECTED FOR SPACE STATION FREEDOM PROGRAM


     NASA's Office of Space Station today issued its official
logo for the permanently manned space station, which is called
Freedom.  The logo was designed by Justin Associates of
Washington, D.C.

     "With the adoption of the logo, the Freedom program has a
symbol that will distinguish it from all others," said Tom Moser,
acting associate administrator for the space station program, in
announcing the new logo.

     The logo depicts a stylized version of the Freedom program's
manned base featuring two of its most dominant features -- the
pressurized modules where space station crew members will work
and live and the large solar panels.  The circular shape in the
background represents both the Earth and other planets.  An
important element of the logo is the name, Freedom, which was
announced last year by former President Ronald Reagan.

     Space Station Freedom will be an international space complex
used for fundamental research in the materials and life sciences,
and to explore the Earth and outer space.  Ultimately, Freedom
will be an orbital stepping stone for extending human presence
beyond Earth orbit into the solar system.

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

Date: 8 May 89 03:53:50 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (H Keith Henson)
Subject: Re: Meme me up, Scotty

Tried to send mail to Tom Neff, but for some reason, the Portal mailer
will not recognize his address tonight.

Meme and memetics are *not* new age chatter.  The concept is straight out
of the work of the formost evolutionary biologist of our time, Richard
Dawkins of Oxford, author of The Selfish Gene, and The Blind Watchmaker
among others.  It is a recognition that we share the planet (and are
host to) a lifeform based on replicating information.  The intertwined
evolution of humans and memes (in the aggregate, culture) is simplier to
understand than considering only humans.  With memes, Jim Jones and the
Childrens Crusade are understandable.  Keith Henson

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

Date: 8 May 89 17:52:17 GMT
From: blake![e-mail]  (Eric Gorr)
Subject: SETI question

I was just wondering...we are pumping all kinds of money into seti research
and I was wondering what extra is comming out of it.  For instance, in
other space related research, came better lasers and velcro...what is
seti producing that will be able to be implemented in other areas?

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #421
*******************