Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V12_6/V12_649.TXT

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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #649

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 649

Today's Topics:
       WUPPE Status for 12/06/90 [1930 CST] (Forwarded)
    Press briefing on Augustine Committee final report (Forwarded)
           Need Space Science References in Bibtex.
              Re: Another Russian first
      Fred is dead (was Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1514 CST] (Forwarded)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded)
      Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [0320 CST] (Forwarded)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
             [e-mail]

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:42:36 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: WUPPE Status for 12/06/90 [1930 CST] (Forwarded)


        University of Wisconsin-Madison
        WUPPE Status Report
        7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 6, 1990

               The WUPPE telescope aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia has
        not made an observation since before the loss early this morning
        of the remaining Spacelab Dedicated Display Unit (DDU).
               The loss of the DDU will hamper observations by the
        Wisconsin telescope, but the WUPPE science team is hopeful that an
        observation can be made within the next few hours as the
        Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope has now been able to successfully
        acquire and photograph objects in the ground operation mode.  The
        Wisconsin science team must now wait for the Hopkins Ultraviolet
        Telescope to acquire targets before WUPPE objects can be focused
        through the smaller aperture of the Wisconsin telescope.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:45:56 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Press briefing on Augustine Committee final report (Forwarded)

Ken Atchison
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                   December 7, 1990
(Phone:  [phone])


N90-98  EDITORS NOTE

PRESS BRIEFING ON AUGUSTINE COMMITTEE FINAL REPORT


     The final report of the Advisory Committee on the Future of
the U.S. Space Program will be the topic of a press briefing on
Monday, Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. EST, Room 450, Old Executive Office
Building.

     Participants will include Vice President Dan Qualye, NASA
Administrator Richard H. Truly and Norman R. Augustine, Chairman
of the committee.

     Media representatives wishing to attend the briefing who do
not hold White House press credentials should contact the Vice
President's press office with date of birth and social security
number (Ethel Sappington at 202/456-7034).

     The briefing will be carried live on NASA Select television,
Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-band, at 72 Degrees West Longitude,
Frequency 3960.0 MHz, Audio 6.8 MHz.  There will not be a two-way
question and answer capability.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 01:49:03 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!uos-ee![e-mail]  (Ata Etemadi)
Subject: Need Space Science References in Bibtex.

Hello folks

I am new to this news group. I wanted to know if anyone out there has a set of
references to papers in the Journal of Geophysical Research  or Planetary And
Space Science in Bibtex format. If so then please mail me a copy.

    Thanks in advance

        Ata <(|)>.

===============================================================================
Dr. A. Etemadi,                | Phone: [phone] Ext. 2311
V.S.S.P. Group,                | Fax  : [phone]
Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng.,    | Email:
University of Surrey,            |   Janet: [e-mail]
Guildford,                    |          [e-mail]
Surrey GU2 5XH                |   SPAN : ata@mssl
United Kingdom                |          ata@msslc
===============================================================================
--
===============================================================================
Dr. A. Etemadi,                | Phone: [phone] Ext. 2311
V.S.S.P. Group,                | Fax  : [phone]
Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng.,    | Email:

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 18:29:05 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!cunews!mitel!testeng1![e-mail]  (Chris Stanfield)
Subject: Re: Another Russian first

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glen Pill) writes:
>From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (John A. Weeks III):
>I always thought skylab was splattered over Western Australia.
>
> :-)
I'm not sure what your smiley means, so I just thought I'd point out
thet the Spacelab you are talking about was the one that went into
orbit. The one at the Air and Space museum was an extra (backup?
future mission?) and is very impressive to take a walk through, if you
ever get the chance.

Chris Stanfield, Mitel Corporation: E-mail to:- uunet!mitel!testeng1!stanfiel
[phone] Ext.4960
We do not inherit the world from our parents - we borrow it from our children.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:27:49 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!sequent!crg5![e-mail]  (Nick Szabo)
Subject: Fred is dead (was Re: space news from Oct 6 AW&ST)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Nick Szabo) writes:
>>>some of the attendees commented that the deck was stacked:  the choice
>>>of participants seemed to be deliberately aimed at such a conclusion.)
>>
>>Isn't "invitation only" also true of NASA committees, the Space Council,
>>NSS committees, etc.?  Your biases are showing, Henry.  :-)
>
>"I don't make the news, I just report it."  The comment was in the original.
>
>Committee-stacking is a venerable tradition in the government, but the
>Planetary Society only undermines its position as a source of honest
>advice by such tactics.

The comment may be in the original, but it does look like you agree
with it. :-)  I still don't see how the choosing mechanism was different
from NASA, NSS, Space Council, and other non-elected committees.  I
don't see any reason to comment on it and I don't see how a normal
committee selection process undermines that committee's position as a
source of honest advice.  Since the committee includes space scientists
that have explored most of the solar system, and other "customers" of
Fred, their opinions bear great weight.

>
>>Nobody wants "Fred" anymore....
>>We are coming to the realization that the "space station" concept is an
>>obsolete 19th-century idea...
>
>Nonsense.  We are coming to the conclusion that trying to build a space
>station that is all things to all people -- most notably, a reliable
>source of income for the NASA centers and their contractors -- is a lousy
>way to explore space.

Only organizations in it for reliable source of tax income (eg NASA
and Glavkosmos) would seriously consider launching a space station.
Even Glavkosmos does it only because they lack automation technology.
Fred isn't all things to all people, it is nothing to nobody.  Before
the Fred announcement, no customers came out and expressed a desire
to use (and even remotely pay for) a space station.  The "requirements"
were gimicked after the announcement to make it look like a space station
would be useful.  It turns out that a  space station is useless.  "We live
and we learn, or we don't live long" (Robert A. Heinlein).

>That in no way indicates any fundamental failing
>in the concept of a space station as a useful resource.  Even -- dare I
>say it -- the Planetary Society has proposed a suitably designed space
>station as an important part of their headlong-race-to-Mars project.

I don't know what the Planetary Society has proposed in this regard,
but I have never heard any experienced deep space mission planner propose
significant use of a space station.  (I have heard a lot of people who
have never planned a successful deep space venture propose all sorts of
weird things with a space station).  Astronauts point out that we didn't
need a space station to do Apollo -- in fact a space station was explicitly
proposed and rejected, for the good reason of being a costly side diversion.

As for microgravity furnaces, I have read the Soviet microgravity papers
which clearly show that cosmonaut vibrations are (by several orders of
magnitude) the worst destroyers of microgravity material structure.
Nearly all microgravity scientists want a free-flyer.

What is left?  What vapor customers can be conjured up now?  The long
search for the mythological Space Station Application is over.

Fred is dead.  Let the Space Age begin.






--
Nick Szabo            [e-mail]
"We live and we learn, or we don't live long" -- Robert A. Heinlein
The above opinions are my own and not related to those of any
organization I may be affiliated with.

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

Date: 8 Dec 90 05:20:50 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1514 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #32
      3:14 p.m. CST, December 7, 1990
      5/14:22 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      "It's working as well as it ever possibly could have worked at this
      time," said Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope Principal Investigator Dr.
      Arthur Davidsen as he described the successful reactivation of the
      Astro observatory last night.

      "Do I understand that you are right now operating at an efficiency
      rivaling that which you had hoped to operate at with everything
      working automatically, perfectly, and nothing had broken down?"
      a reporter asked.

      "You've got it right!" affirmed Davidsen.

      Dr. Peter Serlemitsos, Broad Band X-Ray Telescope principal
      investigator, announced exciting indications from his observation of
      a Seyfert 1 galaxy Markarian AR335.  The galaxy is about 325 million
      light years from Earth.  Such galaxies have something very compact
      and luminous in the center, thought to be caused by a very massive
      black hole.  The X-ray spectrum taken last night, recorded
      simultaneously with observations taken of the same galaxy by the
      Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, seems to confirm theoretical
      predictions of such an object.  The spectra will help to estimate
      the mass of this candidate black hole.

      Deputy Mission Scientist Gene Urban recounted the procedure ground
      controllers at Huntsville had used to reactivate the ultraviolet
      observatory the previous day.  "We were going to take a very
      conservative approach, first bringing up the IPS, then one
      experiment at a time."  However, the process worked better than
      expected.  They were able to gather data the first time with the
      Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope.  The next step was operation of the
      Hopkins telescope alone.  Then a Hopkins/Wisconsin Ultraviolet
      Photo-Polarimeter Experiment co-observation was successful.  Since
      then the nominal operation is all three ultraviolet instruments
      working in parallel.

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

Date: 8 Dec 90 05:20:06 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [1340 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #31
      1:40 p.m. CST, December 7, 1990
      5/12:50 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      Space became a classroom this morning as the crew of the Astro
      observatory taught a lesson from orbit to students monitoring the
      flight from the Marshall and Goddard Space Flight Centers.

      "Space Classroom--Assignment: the Stars" began with Payload
      Specialist Sam Durrance playing two taped versions of the same
      musical theme as he floated in the orbiter's crew cabin.  The first,
      Durrance explained, was an unrecognizable screech because the high
      and low notes had been taken out.  The second tape, with all the
      notes intact, proved to be the theme from "Star Wars."

      "You need to hear all the notes to appreciate the sound," said
      Durrance.  Saying that "the heavens are playing a symphony of
      light," the payload specialist began a brief explanation of visible
      and invisible forms of light that make up the electromagnetic
      spectrum.  "Stars and other celestial objects emit all kinds of
      radiation, and we must look at them all to understand the stars."

      Mission Specialist Jeff Hoffman followed, describing how space
      astronomy missions such as Astro, operating above the Earth's
      obscuring atmosphere, are used to get a complete picture of the
      universe.  Hoffman was decked out in a dress shirt and necktie for
      the occasion.  "I realized that all my male teachers wore ties, so I
      thought I would see how they work in space," he explained as the tie
      floated around him.

      A classroom lesson from Huntsville's Spacelab Mission Operations
      Control, led by teacher Karen Widenhofer, used imaginative
      demonstrations to strengthen the students' understanding of the
      electromagnetic spectrum.  "What do light and a slinky have in
      common?" Widenhofer asked as she had the students shake the
      outstretched toy.  "They both travel in waves."  She used the slinky
      to illustrate that the length and frequency of light waves is
      directly proportionate to the amount of energy producing them.  The
      hotter or more energetic the star, the shorter the wavelengths it
      produces.

      After a crew change of shift, students at Marshall and Goddard
      questioned astronauts Ron Parise and Bob Parker about the mission.

      The Space Classroom program was designed by NASA to encourage
      students to pursue studies in mathematics, science and technology.

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

Date: 7 Dec 90 16:40:45 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/07/90 [0320 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #29
      03:20 a.m. CST, December 7, 1990
      5/02:30 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      "Due to a monumental team effort with the scientists and NASA
      Support Operation teams," said Stu Clifton, assistant mission
      manager, "new commanding procedures for operation of the Astro
      instruments have been successful following the loss of the second
      Data Display Unit.  The Astro Mission has made a rapid recovery in
      obtaining important science data on a number of targets.  As time
      goes on, we anticipate that all the instruments will be acquiring
      nominal science."

      As of 3:30 a.m. CST, the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope has obtained
      about 73 minutes of data on a large eliptical galaxy, referred to by
      scientists as NGC 1399.

      NGC 1399 is in the Fornax cluster of galaxies.  UIT Astronomer Susan
      Neff had these comments:  "We're looking at this galaxy because it
      is in a nearby cluster of galaxies.  And we can do galaxy sociology
      by studying this cluster.  We look at how different galaxies evolve
      and interact with each other.  And when we take a picture of a field
      like this, we will probably get several hundred galaxies at once.
      We assume they have all formed together because they are living in
      this cluster together now."

      While the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope had lead command on this
      important target, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope has also jointly
      recorded science data.

      Gerard Kriss, assistant project scientist for HUT, described the
      significance of NGC 1399.  "One of the most significant things about
      this target is that the UV spectrum, which has been observed by the
      International UV Explorer, shows an unexplained excess brightness of
      UV emission at short wavelengths.

      "Elliptical galaxies are usually composed of old, cool, red stars,
      without much ultraviolet emission.  So it is surprising to see
      excess emissions from galaxies like this one.  We want to know
      what's going on here and will be looking at the spectrum to
      determine the temperature and type of star that is emitting this
      radiation."

      HUT Co-investigator Dick Henry was quick to add that "this is a good
      example of where both instruments are doing very wonderful jobs and
      very important science!  We are very excited about it."

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

End of SPACE Digest V12 #649
*******************