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Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #438

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 13 : Issue 438

Today's Topics:
         NASA Headline News for 04/17/91 (Forwarded)
               Re: Saturn V blueprints
NASA, industry to develop remote sensing firefighting aid (Forwarded)
          Re: Government vs. Commercial R&D
    POTENTIAL GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING - IMPACT EXPECTED
              Re: Why the space station?

Administrivia:

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

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

Date: 22 Apr 91 01:07:13 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA Headline News for 04/17/91 (Forwarded)


             Headline News
Internal Communications Branch (P-2) NASA Headquarters

  Wednesday, April 17, 1991    Audio Service: 202 / 755-1788

This is NASA Headline News for Wednesday, April 17, 1991 . . .

Atlantis made it as far as Columbus, Mississippi, yesterday on the
return flight from California following its STS-37 landing.  Because of its
late departure from Edwards Air Force Base, the 747 shuttle carrier
aircraft crew couldn't refuel in San Antonio and make it to the Shuttle
Landing Facility during the allotted daylight period.  Instead, they opted to
lay over at Columbus Air Force Base, and are expecting to leave this
morning for Kennedy Space Center.  There are some weather
concerns for the flight path near the Mississippi-Georgia border,
thunderstorms mostly.  However, the 747 crew expects to have Atlantis
back at Kennedy by early afternoon.

                   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goddard Space Flight Center flight controllers report that instrument
turn-on began yesterday on the Gamma Ray Observatory.  At 11:29
am yesterday, the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment
successfully detected charged particles as the spacecraft flew the South
Atlantic anomaly, a positive indication that the OSSE instrument is
alive and well.  Science operations with GRO are expected to begin the
third week of May.

                   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Stennis Space Center reports that nearly 2,300 guests toured its
visitor center last week.  The center also notes that its Early Education
Monday, an innovative educational program for grade school children,
was conducted for 137 students from three schools in Picayune and
Kosciusko, Mississippi, and Lacombe, Louisiana.

                   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NASA yesterday issued a request for proposals to establish six
Regional Technology Transfer Centers to replace the ten
Industrial Applications Centers, whose contract expires this year.  This
restructuring is intended to upgrade and revitalize the current technology
utilization network and to broaden its geographical coverage.  The new
program also expects to forge new partnerships with state and local
government technology transfer centers and to establish close ties
with the NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space
in their respective regions.

                   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Marshall Space Flight Center commemorates the 10th anniversary of
the first flight of the shuttle this Friday with a special luncheon at the
Redstone Arsenal Officer's Club.  Honored at the luncheon will be
John Young and Robert Crippen, commander and pilot, respectively, of
the shuttle's pioneer mission -- STS-1.  Also honored will be individuals
from Marshall who, at that time, played a significant role in enabling
Columbia to take that historic first step, including then-Center Director
Bill Lucas, then-Center Deputy Director Jack Lee, then-Marshall
Shuttle Project Manager Bob Lindstrom, then-External Tank Project
Manager Jim Odom, and then-Solid Rocket Booster Manager George
Hardy.  Current Marshall Director Jack Lee will host the luncheon, which
starts at 12:00 pm EDT.  The press has been invited to cover the luncheon
and to interview participants following its close.


Here's the broadcast schedule for Public Affairs events on NASA Select TV.
All times are Eastern.  NASA Select TV is carried on GE Satcom F2R,
transponder 13, C-Band, 72 degrees W Long., Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960
MHz.

Wednesday, 4/17/91
    10:00 am    STS-40, Spacelab Life Sciences-1, live Joint Integrated
          Simulation between Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson
          Space Center.  Simulation activities continue through 10:00 pm.

    1:15 pm    Magellan-at-Venus status report and science update live from
          Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

    1:30 pm    STS-40 Joint Integrated Simulation activities continue live
          from Johnson and Marshall centers.

Thursday, 4/18/91
    8:00 am    STS-40, Spacelab Life Sciences-1, live Joint Integrated
          Simulation between Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson
          Space Center.  Simulation activities continue through 2:00 pm.

Friday, 4/19/91
    9:00 am    Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space
          (Albert Gore, D-Tenn, chairman) hearing on NASA Fiscal Year 1992
          budget request and findings of the Advisory Committee on the
          Future of the U.S. Space Program.  NASA Administrator Richard
          Truly and advisory committee chairman Norman Augustine are
          witnesses.  (This hearing will be covered live at the beginning, and
          picked up again in progress following the STS-37 briefing.  The
          entire hearing will then be replayed.)

    10:00 am    STS-37 flight crew post-mission press conference live
      from Johnson Space Center.  Mission commander Steve Nagel, pilot Ken
          Cameron, and mission specialists Jerry Ross, Jay Apt and Linda
          Godwin will describe their recent flight and show and narrate video
          highlights of the mission, which included two spacewalks.

    11:00 am    Continue live coverage of Senate Subcommittee hearing
      on NASA budget request.

    approx. 12:00 pm    Replay entire hearing of Senate Subcommittee on
          NASA Fiscal Year 1992 budget request and advisory committee
          findings.

All events and times may change without notice.  This report is filed daily,
Monday through Friday, by 12:00 pm, Eastern.  It is a service of NASA
Headquarters Office of Public Affairs.  Contact:  CREDMOND on
NASAmail or at 202/453-8425.

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

Date: 21 Apr 91 18:15:14 GMT
From: mintaka!think.com!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucdn![e-mail]  (Arnold G. Gill)
Subject: Re: Saturn V blueprints

In article <t.qg-=[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Michael V. Kent) says:
>
>Rebuilding the Saturn V will give you an old, expensive, unreliable system.
>Better to take what we've learned and start anew.

     Old -- of course.  Expensive -- unknown until it is actually built.
Unreliable -- perhaps I am being forgetful here, but were there not exactly 0
Saturn V failures, no launch delays?  Compare that to the shuttle, where
launch delays are the rule.  Old and simple does not necessarily mean bad and
unsafe.  But new gadgets are what powers the industrial feeding trough.
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|  Arnold Gill                        |   - If I hadn't wanted it heard,      |
|  Queen's University at Kingston     |         I wouldn't have said it.      |
|  InterNet:  [e-mail]  |   - Astrophysician in training        |
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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

Date: 22 Apr 91 01:27:45 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NASA, industry to develop remote sensing firefighting aid (Forwarded)

[See, we do more than space probes. :-) -PEY]

Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                        April 18, 1991
(Phone:  [phone])

Diane Stanley
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone:  [phone])


RELEASE:  91-56

NASA, INDUSTRY TO DEVELOP REMOTE SENSING FIREFIGHTING AID


    NASA's Ames Research Center and Terra-Mar Resource Information
Services, Inc., both of Mountain View, Calif., will jointly develop
a system to allow firefighters to merge elevation and vegetation
data with live pictures of forest fires to enable the firefighters
to quickly "see" through a smoky forest fire and plan their
strategy.

    The data will be available to firefighters in a matter of
minutes, compared with current systems which take 6 to 12 hours to
obtain similar data.  The disaster assessment system also could be
used during floods, earthquakes, oil spills and similar events.

    The system will be used to retrieve maps containing information
about location, land cover, roads and water sources from distant
sites and to merge this data with up-to-the-minute aerial images of
the fire area.  The digital image of the fire will be transmitted
from an airplane flying over the fire to a mobile ground station
near the fire lines.

    The system will give firefighters a picture of the fire
intensity and borders, overlaid with drawings of roads, water
sources and map coordinates.  If needed, elevation data will be
displayed in images that appear three dimensional to model the
fire's spread.

    The 3-year project calls for NASA to expand existing remote
sensing technology and for Terra-Mar to develop portable computer
work stations and advanced software for the system.

    The $600,000 project is funded by NASA's Office of Commercial
Programs, Washington, D.C., under the Earth Observations
Commercialization Applications Program (EOCAP), based on a proposal
submitted by Ames and Terra-Mar.

    The ultimate goal of the effort is to develop, test and market
a commercial remote sensing system for real-time assessment and
management of natural disasters.  EOCAP promotes partnerships
between government, industry, educational institutions and non-
profit organizations to increase commercial applications of NASA-
developed remote sensing technology.

    The agreement also funds development of data bases on
California's vegetation, roads and water sources by the State of
California's Teale Data Center.  The U.S. Forest Service Forest Fire
Laboratory will coordinate system testing and use during actual
fires.  Hewlett-Packard, Ft. Collins, Colo.; VITec, Inc., Plano,
Texas; and ESL, Sunnyvale, Calif., a subsidiary of TRW, will provide
hardware and software support to the project.

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

Date: 21 Apr 91 19:07:10 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (Alan M. Carroll)
Subject: Re: Government vs. Commercial R&D

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Paul Blase) writes:`
> [ research costs too much for private companies ]
> Look at superconductors as a good example.  For years, nobody did
> much work on them, they were too expensive to use.  Now that the new
> ceramic compounds promise large commercial payoffs, there is a lot of
> private-sector work going on (as well as a lot of government-funded work).

Good example. Weren't the ceramic superconductors first discovered in
the IBM Zurich lab, i.e. a _private_ research lab?

--
Alan M. Carroll          <-- Another victim of applied metaphysics
Epoch Development Team
Urbana Il.               "I hate shopping with the reality-impaired" - Susan

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

Date: Sun, 21 Apr 91 01:46:46 MDT
From: oler <@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU:[e-mail]> (CARY OLER)
Subject: POTENTIAL GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING - IMPACT EXPECTED
X-St-Vmsmail-To: st%"[e-mail]"

                /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

                     POTENTIAL GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING

                              21/22 APRIL, 1991

                /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


WARNINGS ISSUED:

  - POTENTIAL LOW LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY WARNING
  - POTENTIAL MINOR TO MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING
  - POTENTIAL GIC WARNING
  - POTENTIAL MAJOR SOLAR FLARE WARNING (PROTON)

ALERTS IN PROGRESS:

  - MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT (X1.0/3N ON 20 APRIL)


ATTENTION:

     A minor to major geomagnetic storm warning has been issued.  A major
long-duration class X1.0/3N Tenflare occurred at 10:31 UT on 20 April and was
associated with a moderate to strong Type IV sweep.  This event is expected
to produce a minor to major geomagnetic storm beginning anytime after about
21:00 UT on 21 April.  The main phase is not expected to begin until sometime
on 22 April.

     The intensity of this storm could push the planetary A-index above 40.
High and northerly middle latitudes are expected to feel the brunt of the
storm, with possible magnetic A-indices between 35 and 60.  Planetary
K-indices are expected to reach 5 and 6, with possible brief excursions of 7.

     A LOW LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY WARNING has been issued for 22 April.
There is a chance that geomagnetic and auroral storming could become intense
enough to be seen over southerly middle and low latitudes, particularly
during the moonless hours of the early morning.  Activity is expected to be
moderate to high over all northerly middle and high latitude locations.  If
this storm materializes, the activity could be quite intense and more
impressive over the middle and high latitudes than the storm of last March,
primarily due to the waxing phase and reduced luminosity of the Moon.
However, the overall intensity of the geomagnetic and auroral storm is not
expected to be as intense as last March.

     There is a risk for geomagnetically induced currents (GIC's) if this
storm materializes as expected.  The intensity of the storm likely will not
be as strong as the storm of last March, but isolated magnetic activity could
be sufficient to produce induced currents.  All industries and organizations
which might be affected should be aware of the increased potential for GIC's.

     HF propagation conditions are expected to become degraded late on 21
April or early on 22 April.  Significant periods of absorption, flutter,
noise and distortion could be observed over most paths, but particularly over
the middle and high latitude paths.  The intensity of the degradation will
not be as bad as the major geomagnetic storm which occurred one month ago,
but could still significantly disrupt HF communications.

     There is a high probability for VHF auroral backscatter communications
on 22 and possibly 23 April.  VHF auroral backscatter should become possible
over the northerly low latitudes, middle latitudes and high latitudes on 22
and possibly 23 April.

     The duration of this storm is expected to be around 36 hours, although
this is only a very rough estimate.

     A geomagnetic storm alert will be issued if the SSC arrives as expected
late on 21 or early on 22 April.

PLEASE SEND ANY REPORTS OF AURORAL ACTIVITY, AURORAL BACKSCATTER
COMMUNICATIONS OR SIGNIFICANT HF RADIO DEGRADATION TO: [e-mail]
PLEASE INCLUDE THE LOCAL AND UT TIME OF OBSERVATION, GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
(LATITUDE/LONGITUDE) AND A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PHENOMENA OBSERVED.


                /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

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

Date: 22 Apr 91 04:41:49 GMT
From: rochester!sol![e-mail]  (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: Re: Why the space station?

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Prentice) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>>
>>A well-designed space station could be useful for life sciences
>>research and as a assembly platform/staging area for interplanetary
>>missions.

>Is this something that life scientists (whatever that means, biologists,
>doctors, etc...) are really calling for or is this something that NASA
>has dreamt up as yet another one of their applications of space?

I was thinking in terms of the application of life sciences to space
exploration rather than vice versa.  A properly configured station
could study the long-term affects of microgravity and artificial
gravity on human beings.  For manned interplanetary missions, such
knowledge would be extremely useful -- although perhaps not absolutely
necessary, depending on the amount of risk one is willing to take.

There are still those who argue that manned interplanetary missions
are impossible due to the long-term biological effects of
weightlessness.  The Soviets have partially disproved this assertion
with the long-duration stays of cosmonauts on Mir, but more research
is necessary to conclusively determine the best means to deal with
this problem -- exercise, artificial gravity, etc.
--
_______________________________________________________________________________

Brian Yamauchi                University of Rochester
[e-mail]        Department of Computer Science
_______________________________________________________________________________

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

End of SPACE Digest V13 #438
*******************