Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V09_6/V9_608.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #608

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 608

Today's Topics:
        Time Urgent: Phone Service to Neptune
   Voyager discovers 3 additional moons around Neptune (Forwarded)
          Space Launch Services Purchase Act
     Corrections to corrections to planetary probe list.
            Re: Weather newsgroup?
          Re: Wrap up on "S-Band Beacon on the Moon"
Re: Science observations selected for NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (Forwarded)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 17 Aug 89 11:55 CDT
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Time Urgent: Phone Service to Neptune
Original_To:  SPACE

From a National Space Society press release:

        NSS ANNOUNCES PLAN TO OFFER PHONE SERVICE TO NEPTUNE

Talk about long-distance phone calls-- the National Space Society
(NSS) today announced it will produce "Dial-A-Planet," an AT&T Dial-it
900 telephone service (1-900-909-NASA).  This phone link to another
world will enable the public to eavesdrop on the Voyager 2
spacecraft's close encounter with the planet Neptune on August 24, 25,
and 26.

Callers to Dial-A-Planet will hear up-to-the-minute details of
Voyager's rendezvous with Neptune as the data is received and
interpreted by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California.  Dial-A-Planet coverage will include daily NASA
press conferences, interviews with key figures on the Voyager project,
and continuous updates on the scientific findings gleaned from this
historic first close-up look at the planet and its mysterious system
of moons and rings.

Dial-A-Planet is produced by the National Space Society in cooperation
with AT&T's Dial-it 900 service program and NASA.  The service will be
available live on a 24-hour continuous basis from 6 AM PDT on
Thursday, August 24 to 6AM PDT Sunday, August 27.  The live broadcasts
will originate from mobile Dial-A-Planet studios at the California
Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena, California. CalTech
operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a NASA contract.

The National Space Society is a nonprofit, publicly-supported
membership organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring
civilization.  NSS has more than 20,000 members and 113 throughout the
United States and abroad.

There is a toll charge for Dial-A-Planet; it is $2.00 for the first
minute, 45 cents for each additional minute.

National Space Society
922 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20003
[phone]
====================================================================
Personal note: I'll be working as an announcer on Dial-A-Planet.
Looking forward to it.

                      ______meson   Bill Higgins
                   _-~
     ____________-~______neutrino   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
   -   -         ~-_
 /       \          ~----- proton   Bitnet: [e-mail]
 |       |
 \       /                          SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS
   -   -
     ~                              Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 3 Aug 89 19:59:15 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Voyager discovers 3 additional moons around Neptune (Forwarded)

Charles Redmond                                    August 3, 1989
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                        11 a.m. EDT

Mary Beth Murrill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.


RELEASE:  89-128

VOYAGER DISCOVERS 3 ADDITIONAL MOONS AROUND NEPTUNE


     Images from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft have revealed three
additional new moons in orbit around Neptune, Voyager imaging
team scientists announced today.

     The discovery brings to six the number of moons known to
exist around the blue planet, including one, 1989 N1, discovered
by Voyager 2 last month.  The spacecraft, launched in 1977, has
explored Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and will come within 3,000
miles of Neptune at 12 midnight EDT, Aug. 24, 1989.

     Finding so many moons when the spacecraft was more than 22
million miles away from Neptune may mean there are many more to
be found in coming weeks, according to Voyager scientists.

     The three newest Neptunian satellites, temporarily
designated 1989 N2, 1989 N3 and 1989 N4, were tracked as
candidate moons in images returned by the spacecraft over a 5-day
period.  When the objects were found to follow predicted orbits,
Voyager imaging scientists yesterday were able to confirm them as
moons of Neptune.  Their temporary names designate the order in
which they were discovered.

     Like 1989 N1, the three new moons occupy nearly circular and
equatorial orbits around the planet.  All move in prograde orbits
(in the same direction the planet rotates), making the large moon
Triton, which occupies a retrograde orbit, even more of an oddity
in the Neptune system.

     The innermost of the new moons is 1989 N3, which orbits at a
distance of about 32,300 miles from the center of the planet or
about 17,000 miles from Neptune's cloud tops.  It makes one
complete orbit of Neptune every 8 hours, 10 minutes.

     Next is 1989 N4, orbiting about 38,000 miles from the
planet's center or about 23,300 miles from the cloud tops.  It
orbits the planet every 10 hours, 20 minutes.

     The outermost is 1989 N2, orbiting at about 45,400 miles
from Neptune's center or about 30,000 miles from the cloud
tops.  It completes an orbit every 13 hours, 30 minutes.

     The three new moons exist in the region where partial
Neptunian rings or "ring arcs" are thought to exist.  If ring
arcs exist, the new moons might play an important role in
"shepherding" and maintaining them, Voyager scientists said.  The
search for moons and visible ring arcs will continue as Voyager 2
flies toward Neptune.

     Several sequences of spacecraft activity include plans to
point Voyager 2's cameras at any newly discovered ring arcs or
moons.

     The Voyager Mission is conducted by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Office of Space Science
and Applications.

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

Date: Thu,  3 Aug 89 10:26:22 EDT
From: "GE: WE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Launch Services Purchase Act
X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"[e-mail]"

Could someone be so kind as to send me a copy of the SLSPA?  Please don't take
the attitude that someone else will, do it yourself.

                                          Thanks in advance,

                                          Tony Luberecki, STScI, Baltimore
(On a clear disk you can seek forever!)

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

Date: 3 Aug 89 20:28:21 GMT
From: frooz!cfa250![e-mail]  (Jonathan McDowell)
Subject: Corrections to corrections to planetary probe list.

From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283):
> Jul 1, 1966      Explorer 33   93       US      Lunar orbiter; failed to enter
>                                                  lunar orbit. Now in Earth orbit

This probe went into a very high orbit and may now have been perturbed
into solar orbit

> Mar 2, 1968      Zond 4      5600?     USSR     Zond test flight in cislunar
>                                                  space. Now in solar orbit(?)

Although Western tracking lost this probe, there is reason to believe it
may have been on a very elliptical orbit which returned it to Earth.
One rumour said that it crashed in China.

> Feb 19, 1970?  Unannounced   5600?    USSR      Lunar sample return; launch
>                                                  failure
Soviets now confirm Proton launch failure on Feb 6, 1970, but
call the payload 'Kosmos'. Probably a Kosmos-382 class payload.
Similar launch rumoured for Nov 16, 1969.

> Dec 2, 1970    Kosmos 382    5600?    USSR      Circumlunar probe(?); failed
>                                                  to leave Earth parking orbit
> [...         The following year, the Soviets began conducting tests in space
>     in an attempt to avoid the problems of their past Mars missions.  In
>     November and December of 1970, COSMOS 379 and 382 conducted a series
>     of various maneuvers in Earth orbit which would later be learned by the
>     West as being tests of an improved rocket insertion system, designed to
>     place the new Mars probes on course to their target planet.  These tests
>     were apparently successful in accomplishing their tasks.... ]

This craft made a complicated series of maneuvers in Earth orbit and
returned scientific data for several days.  It is very unlikely that it
was a planetary launch failure or related to a rocket insertion system.
Many analysts believe it was an automatic Earth orbital test of a Soviet
piloted lunar spaceship (LM equivalent?).  K-379 is believed to be a
lunar Soyuz variant, and was acknowledged prior to reentry as a 'lunar
cabin' test.


> Oct 13, 1975?  Unannounced   5600?    USSR      Lunar sample return; launch
>                                                  failure

Proton launch failure confirmed by Soviets for Oct 16, 1975; payload
confirmed as Luna.

>          Another Mars probe mission in 1960 was not admitted officially by
>     the Soviets to have existed until 1989, even though increasing rumors
>     had been spread about it during the intervening decades.  This probe
>     not only failed to reach Earth orbit, it caused death and serious
>     destruction on the ground.  According to a press release by the Soviet
>     weekly magazine OGONYOK in April of 1989, a third Mars probe was to be
>     launched on October 24 when trouble with the rocket booster occurred:
>     An electrical defect in the rocket had created a fuel leak.

I have been trying (with my nearly nonexistent command of Russian) to
translate the Ogonyok article in question. As far as I can see, it
makes no reference to Mars probes at all, but links the Nedelin explosion
to the first test flight of an ICBM designed by the Yangel bureau. If you
have further information, I would very much appreciate hearing about it.


 .----------------------------------------------------------------.
 |  Jonathan McDowell       |  phone : [phone]              |
 |  Center for Astrophysics | uucp: husc6!harvard!cfa200!mcdowell |
 |  60 Garden Street        | bitnet : [e-mail]        |
 |  Cambridge  MA 02138     |  inter : [e-mail]   |
 |  USA                     |   span : cfa::mcdowell              |
 |                          |  telex : 92148 SATELLITE CAM      |
 |                          |    FAX : [phone]              |
 '----------------------------------------------------------------'

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

Date: 3 Aug 89 19:19:16 GMT
From: ecsvax!uncmed!pelham![e-mail]  (Peter St.Wecker)
Subject: Re: Weather newsgroup?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Cavrak,Waterman 113,656-1483,) writes:
>From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail]
>    (CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283):  Is there a sci.meteorology
>    newsgroup on USENET?  If not, would anyone like to create one?
>    Thanks,
>
>     Larry
>
>Strangely enough, nothing like this show up in the ARPANET or BITNET
>listing either.  Even stranger considering that NCAR is so "close".
>I guess the professionals don't talk about the weather, they do
>something about it !

  Actually, there IS a mailing list available for those who are interested
in weather.  Here's a copy of the original posting, giving all the info.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 89 11:55:08 CST
From: [e-mail] (Chris Novy)
Subject: A new LIST for SKYWARN participants

The list STORM-L has been created for the purpose of discussing
weather-related phenomena such as severe storms, tornadoes, forecasting,
interesting local weather events, SKYWARN storm spotter groups, and
tornado chasing --to name several.  You can subscribe by sending an
interactive message to LISTSERV at UIUCVMD as follows:

         SUB STORM-L <your-full-name>

Example:  SUB STORM-L John D. Doe

You can also subscribe by sending the SUB command as MAIL --where
the SUB command is the first line in the MAIL.  MAIL can be sent
to the following addresses:

LISTSERV@UIUCVMD
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

You can use these same addresses to send a reply to the list.

To unsubscribe send the following command:

     UNSUB STORM-L

This list is not in digested form.  A monthly notebook will be
maintained.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Novy - WA9V                   BITNET: axvsccn@uicvmc
Southern Illinois Univ.           Internet: [e-mail]
Carbondale, IL 62901                Packet: WA9V@WD9EBQ
                                     Phone: [phone]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this helps!!!
                -- Peter

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Peter St.Wecker               Internet:[e-mail]
       [phone]                    UUCP:[e-mail]
      Dept. of Physiology, Univ. of North Carolina,  Chapel Hill NC

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

Date: 2 Aug 89 18:47:40 GMT
From: peregrine!ccicpg!cci632![e-mail]  (David Hallidy)
Subject: Re: Wrap up on "S-Band Beacon on the Moon"

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Bill Chiarchiaro) writes:
> I have finally found the reference to which I alluded in my original
> posting.  It appeared in QST magazine, November 1981, in the "New
> Frontier" column.
>
>     "For EME [Earth-Moon-Earth or moonbounce] work at frequencies
> above 1 GHz, transmitted signals should have right-hand circular
> polarisation, except on 2.3 GHz where the standard is left-hand
> circular.  It may be noted that reflection from the moon causes a
> reversal in polarisation so that received signals will be left-hand
> circular, with again the opposite on 2.3 GHz.  The reason for 2.3 GHz
> being the odd man out is that advantage can be taken of the 2276-MHz
> beacon left on the moon during the Apollo program.  This beacon has
> already proved useful in testing antennas and 2.3 GHz receiving
> systems, but unfortunately it transmits right-hand polarised signals,
> and so the standard was reversed for 2.3 GHz."
>
> From the weight of responses to my original posting, I do, however,
> surmise that the beacon was shut down sometime after April 1981.

I think your last comment must be correct, because the 2.3 GHz EME
guys (myself included) have gone to the IARU standard polarization.
Since most of the EME activity has been on the 2.3 GHz band since
about 1983 or so, I would imagine that the beacon has been off for
at least that amount of time. Paul Wilson, W4HHK, who is credited
with the first two-way off the moon on 2304 with Smitty W3GKP (sk)
has never mentioned it in any of our many conversations regarding
2.3 GHz EME. We regularly listen on the band for various "beacons"
including a couple of the Soviet COSMOS birds, so I feel sure if
there were any chance of hearing it, or reactivating it readily,
Paul would be working toward that end. After all, it's the only
band he "regularly" operates!

It's an interesting subject, and I personally wish that those
experiments were still operational up there, as they would provide a
very constant weak-signal source to use for antenna/preamp
performance measurements.

My $.02 on the subject.

Dave KD5RO

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

Date: 4 Aug 89 02:49:05 GMT
From: jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Science observations selected for NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Rehrauer) writes:
> [HST's first year] ...  why on (or off :-) Earth
>are there only 1200 hours of observation time available?  Is this the
>time that has been allotted for such use, or total available time?  If
>the latter, why only 50 days' worth?  (Hey, I *said* it was naive!)

I don't know the details on this one, but one problem is that HST turns
*very* slowly, so it spends a lot of its time moving from one observation
to another.
--
1961-1969: 8 years of Apollo.  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1969-1989: 20 years of nothing.| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #608
*******************