Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_5/V12_543.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #543

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 543

Today's Topics:
         Superior USSR space program triumphs again!
             Re: LNLL Inflatable Stations
              Galileo Update - 11/09/90
               Re: Synchronous rotation
              Voyager Update - 11/09/90
         Re: Call for new news group : sci.space.seds

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Date: 9 Nov 90 14:51:20 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!ccserver![e-mail]  (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry)
Organization: UKSEDS
Subject: Superior USSR space program triumphs again!
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Right! Now that your reading- decide for your self....

======================================================================
The Soyuz TM-9 Mission Ends.   by Neville Kidger

The troubled mission of Soviet cosmonauts Anatoli Solovyov and Aleksandr
Balandin ended with a safe landing in Kazakhstan at 7:35 GMT on August 9th.
Despite fears in the Soviet and western press the Soyuz TM-9 landed without
incident after the cosmonauts had conducted an EVA on July 17th to secure
two of three loose thermal blankets which had become partially detached
during the spacecraft's launch on February 11th.  The third blanket was left
floating loose after it was found to have been too badly damaged to secure.
The loose blankets had been considered a potential hazard during the
spacecraft's preparations for re-entry and were secured for this reason.
In addition the cosmonauts ensured that the unintended prolonged exposure to
space vacuum and radiation had not adversely sffected the explosive bolts
which are used to separate the Soyuz descent module from the engine section
after retrofire.
     However, at the close of the July 17th EVA the
cosmonauts encountered difficulties in securing the hatch of the Kvant-2
module through which they had exited into open space. The men were forced to
depressurise Kvant-2's second, scientific, section and enter it before they
were able to repressurise and end the EVA after a Soviet record duration of
seven hours.  Soviet reporters made no secret that the cosmonaut's lives
were threatened during the return to Kvant-2 due to the build up of carbon
dioxide in their suits.  While the men were able to replenish their oxygen
supply they were unable to exchange canisters of lithium hydroxide in the
life-support system of their EVA suits.  The lithium hydroxide removes the
exhaled carbon dioxide from the suit's atmospheres.
     During a second EVA,on July 26th, Solovyov and Balandin were able to
secure the hatch of the Kvant-2 module after determining that a hinge had
buckled.  At the time of writing the blame for the incident was being laid
on the cosmonauts for breaching the regulations governing the opening of the
hatch - at least by the deputy designer of the Salyut design beureau where
the module was designed and constructed.
     The charge is that Solovyov and Balandin did not wait for the internal
pressure of the Kvant-2 airlock to reach zero before opening the hatch.
This lead the hatch to being forced open into the space vacuum.  Despite the
fact that the cosmonauts managed to secure the hatch during their second
EVA, yet another EVA will need to be conducted by Mir's current crew of
Gennadi Manakov and Gennadi Strekalov.
     This pair will replace a hinge on the hatch door to enable it to be used
as intended. One Soviet commentator has compared the current state of the
hatch to that of a boarded-up door !  The expedition of Solovyov and Balandinwas notable for another couple of reasons as well as their Soyuz TM-9 EVAs
and subsequent problems.
     The men were the first to witness the birth, in space, of Japanese
quails from their eggs in a Czechoslovak-made incubator contained in the
Kvant-2 module. Unfortunately, the chicks grew weak and unable to feed them-
selves in their weightless environment, and the descision was made to put
them to sleep.
     The other major aspect of the cosmonaut's activities in orbit
related to their attempts to secure a profit from their work in space.
At the time of their launch, the cosmonauts were said to be ready to recoup
the cost of the mission (80 million Roubles) and even earn a further 25
million Roubles from their Earth observations and materials processing work
on the Kristall module which was to be launched in April.
     But the Kristall launch was delayed to May 31st and then the docking was
further delayed to June 10th because of thruster problems.  The late start tousing the large module's five processing units to produce semi-conductor
crystals and biotechnical materials meant that the estimate of profit which
could be expected to be made from the flight was reduced to 13 million
Roubles. The head of the Soviet space agency Glavkosmos has said, however,
that the profits are "hypothetical".  He revealed that money still had to be
transferred into the account of Glavkosmos and the amount to be recouped was
based upon the selling price of the Earth photographs that the men had taken
($1,000 each) and in the value of crystals processed in space (R500,000
each).   The current crew of Manakov and Strekalov are to continue the
processing and observations and Glavkosmos expects their flight to recoup
about the same amount as the previous one.
     The Soviets have revealed that the amount of money allocated for 1990's
manned space programmes is 220 million Roubles and one Soviet commentator
has called for a serious explanation of the amount.   But from the next
launch to Mir of a manned crew - planned for December 2nd this year - part of
the costs of each flight will be recouped by the paying presence of a
foreign cosmonaut.
     The first to go will be a reporter-cosmonaut from a Japanese TV station TBS.  He or she will accompany two cosmonauts to Mir and will return with
Manakov and Strekalov after an eight-day mission.  The reporter will make TV
and radio broadcasts from the complex during the approximately six days
aboard.
     The two candidates are a 40-year old male who used to smoke 80
cigarettes a day and a 25-year old camerawoman.
     Next up, in May 1991 should be Britain'sJuno mission, but the continuing
quest to find sponsors for the mission may mean that Tim Mace or Helen
Sharman may have to wait for their flight or even find it cancelled.
     The following year should see missions including cosmonaut
representatives from Austria, France [for the third time ed.], West Germany
and Spain.
==================================================================
Comments and postings wellcomed...to [e-mail]
--
/------    -------    -----\       /------   |  ======================  |
|          |          |      \    |          |  M. Sean Bennett         |
\-----\    |----      |       |    \-----\   |  UKSEDS TECH.OFF.        |
       |   |          |      /            |  |  Janet:[e-mail]  |

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

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Date: 9 Nov 90 14:49:29 GMT
From: att!emory!emcard!wa4mei!ke4zv![e-mail]  (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
Subject: Re: LNLL Inflatable Stations
References: <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] ("Allen W. Sherzer") writes:
>Space debris would need to go through the external shield, the outer kevlar
>envelope and the inner kevlar envelope before it could put people in danger.
>Also remember that since the station is inflatable the envelopes will absorb
>shock before puncturing, like a tire on your car.

At the expected relative velocities of the blimp and space debris, the impact
would vaporize the fabric not bounce off.

Gary

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Date: 9 Nov 90 23:24:37 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Subject: Galileo Update - 11/09/90
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                        GALILEO STATUS REPORT
                          November 9, 1990

     As of noon (PST) Thursday, November 8, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft is
15,401,300 miles from the Earth and traveling at a heliocentric speed of
58,380 miles per hour; distance to the Sun is 104,470,860 miles (1.11 AU).
The spacecraft is spinning at 2.89 rpm with a spacecraft attitude sun point
angle of 4.9 degrees.  Round trip light time is 2 minutes, 50 seconds.

     A special NO-OP command was successfully sent on November 2 using the
26-meter antenna in Spain to demonstrate command capability in the event
contingency backup 26-meter commanding is required during the Earth Flyby.
Another NO-OP command was sent on November 5, as planned,  to reset the
Command Loss Timer to 216 hours, the planned value for this mission phase.

     A MAG (Magnetometer) instrument cruise science Memory Readout (MRO) was
successfully performed on November 5; a planned EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet
Spectrometer) MRO on November 8 was lost.

     Commands were sent on November 5 to enable the thruster firing all clear
algorithm allowing the PPR (Photopolarimiter Radiometer) and PLS (Plasma)
instruments to be in a state to collect data when powered on later in the
sequence, i.e., PPR covers open and PLS high voltages on.

     Commands were also sent on November 5 to load a series of Delayed-Action
Commands (DACs) scheduled for execution on November 7 and November 13.  The
commands will be used to cycle the RCT/NIMS (Near Infrared Mapping
Spectrometer) heaters off/on and RTG Boom Heaters on/off.  Powering off the
RCT/NIMS is required to preclude possible radiative induced overheating of the
SSI (Solid State Imaging) detector during scan platform high cone slews
associated with UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer) data collection.  Turning on
the RTG Boom heaters is required to minimize heat flow into the RPM (Retro
Propulsion Module) tanks.  Proper command execution was verified for the
November 7 set of DACs.

     Two more delta DOR (Differential One-way Ranging) activities were
completed on November 6.  Both delta DORs were successful.  The 70 meter
Goldstone/Australia pass was the first activity where link performance allowed
simultaneous transmission of spacecraft telemetry data along with DOR tone
modulation.  A total of 19 of the planned 27 delta DOR activities are complete;
15 were successful.

     The PWS (Plasma Wave), PLS and EPD (Energetic Particles Detector)
instruments were powered-on November 8.  Telemetry received shortly after PLS
and EPD power turn on differed from predicted levels.  Status of both
instruments has been assessed by the Principal Investigators and is not
considered to be a concern.

     The PLS temperatures were observed to exceed predicted levels.
Consequently, non-interactive commands were sent to improve ground visibility
into the state of PLS detectors.  Subsequent data analysis indicated no
concern for the PLS.  The PLS temperatures are on a downward trend approaching
predicted steady state levels.  One of the EPD LEMMS detectors exhibited higher
than expected noise counts at its lowest threshold setting.  A non-interactive
command was sent to increase the threshold setting to collect important
detector status information.  The cause of the increased noise counts is under
investigation.  Preliminary results indicate no concern for the health of the
detector.

     For some selected periods the spacecraft's telemetry downlink data rate
was commanded to 7.68 kbps via the stored sequence.  This was the first time
since Venus flyby that this data rate has been used and successfully
processed by the ground data system.

     The AC bus imbalance measurement remained relatively stable.  The AC
measurement fluctuated about 2DN and is stable near 48.6 volts.  The DC
measurement fluctuated about 100 DN (11 volts) during a period of no
spacecraft activity and is near 5 volts.  All other power-related and
spacecraft telemetry measurements are normal.

     The Project reviewed and approved the final cruise plan sequence products
for VE-12 (Venus-Earth 12) on November 5.  This sequence controls spacecraft
events from December 17, 1990 to February 18, 1991.  The Project also reviewed
and approved the final sequence and command generation products for the VE-11
Earth encounter sequence; Earth closest approach is on December 8.

     The Project reviewed and approved the TCM-7 (Trajectory Course Maneuver-7)
design.  This maneuver will be executed on November 13, and will use the axial
and lateral thrusters.
      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

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Date: 9 Nov 90 20:30:34 GMT
From: puppsr5![e-mail]  (Marty Ryba)
Organization: Dept. of Physics, Princeton U.
Subject: Re: Synchronous rotation
References: <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (John Logajan) writes:
|> [e-mail] Phil Stooke writes:
|> >This produces stresses and movements in the crust
|> >which involve some energy dissipation. Therefore energy is slowly being
|> >lost from the system, and that manifests itself as a gradual slowing of the
|> >rotation period, until syncronous rotation is reached.
|>
|> Okay -- so where does the angular momentum go?  It has to be conserved.
|>

Into the orbit.  Not very noticeable, since the relative period change is
decreased by a factor of roughly (radius of moon/radius of orbit)^2

--
Marty Ryba                      | slave physics grad student
Princeton University            | They don't care if I exist,
Pulsars   Unlimited             | let alone what my opinions are!
[e-mail]      | Asbestos gloves always on when reading mail

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

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Date: 10 Nov 90 00:10:52 GMT
From: usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars.jpl.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Ron Baalke)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Subject: Voyager Update - 11/09/90
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                        Voyager Status Report
                           November 9, 1990

                              Voyager 1

     The Voyager 1 spacecraft collected routine UVS (Utraviolet Spectrometer)
data on source SS CYGNI.  On October 29, one frame of high-rate PWS (Plasma
Wave) was recorded.  On November 1, there was a slew to a position pointing
toward Voyager 2 to observe interstellar hydrogen levels between the two
spacecraft.

     On October 30 a DTR (Digital Tape Recorder) Maintenance sequence was
executed.  The X Band TWT (Traveling Wave Tube) was also commanded to the
high power mode and the Bay 1 heater was turned off in preparation for
Playback #4.

     On October 31 Playback # 4, containing PWS data, was executed; DSN (Deep
Space Network) performance for the playback was nominal.  Following the
playback, the X Band TWT was returned to the low power mode and Bay 1 heater
turned on.  A TLC (Tracking Loop Capacitor) test was also performed by the
Goldstone 34 meter station.

     On November 1, real-time commands to reset the CCS (Computer Command
Subsystem) Status Telemetry, change the FDS (Flight Data Subsystem) data mode,
load the AACS (Attitude and Articulation Control Subsyste) and CCS Memory
readout mini-sequence for execution on November 2, load the AACS software fix
(Gyro Drift Turn), Reset the Command Loss Timer, perform a CCSTIM (CCS Timing)
Test, perform a CCSCAL (CCS Calibration) Test, and return the FDS to its
original mode, were transmitted to the spacecraft.  Many problems were
experienced while attempting to command which caused all but the first command
to be delayed, and some to be transmitted out of the planned order.  The
second element of the CCS Status Telemetry Reset command was aborted at the
first attempt and was not retransmitted as it was redundant.  Delays from one
hour and twenty five minutes to four hours and forty seven minutes were
experienced in the command file transmission.  All transmitted commands were
eventually successfully received by the spacecraft and executed; CCS checksum
verification was received.  The CCSTIM and CCSCAL tests were executed and
analysis indicates there has been no change in the time offset between the FDS
frame start and the CCS timing chain in each CCS processor nor in the CCS
instruction cycle timing when compared with the sequence timing derived from
the FDS oscillator.


                              Voyager 2

     The Voyager 2 spacecraft collected UVS background in the anti-Voyager 1
direction.  On November 1, the scan platform was slewed to point towards
Voyager 1 to observe interstellar hydrogen levels between the two spacecraft.
Background levels will be removed by subtracting out the data from when the
spacecraft were pointed away from each other.  On October 30, one frame of
high-rate PWS data was recorded.


            CONSUMABLE STATUS AS OF 11/9/90

    P R O P E L L A N T  S T A T U S  P O W E R
           Consumption
           One Week    Propellant Remaining Output Margin
Spacecraft   (Gm)           (Kg)            Watts  Watts
 Voyager 1     5        36.3 + 2.0          367      55
 Voyager 2     6        39.3 + 2.0          370      61

      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   Jet Propulsion Lab | [e-mail]
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  M/S 301-355        |
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/   Pasadena, CA 91109 |

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

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Date: 8 Nov 90 14:52:16 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!ccserver![e-mail]  (M.S.Bennett Supvs= Prof Pendry)
Organization: Imperial College Computer Centre
Subject: Re: Call for new news group : sci.space.seds
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]


This is just to set the record straight - I should not have used the word
'congress'. SEDS was also formed to educate people about space and inspire
them to achieve.

I have also been told that I'm using the wrong news group!
Is it too much to ask for a news group called HELP!
>chukle<
OK all kidding asside I have got no +ve response so I withdraw the
sujestion.

I hope to have some persons posting a complete history of SEDS to this
newsgroup.

I'm also trying to fix my signature file!



--
/------    -------    -----\       /------   |  ======================  |
|          |          |      \    |          |  M. Sean Bennett         |
\-----\    |----      |       |    \-----\   |  UKSEDS TECH.OFF.        |
       |   |          |      /            |  |  Janet:[e-mail]  |

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #543
*******************