Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V15_3/V15NO346.TXT

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Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 05:00:07
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #346
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Tue, 27 Oct 92       Volume 15 : Issue 346

Today's Topics:
                       Comet Collision (7 msgs)
                          Dan Quayle on Mars
                       electromagnetic heating
                             Gif Pictures
                         nasa shake up rumor?
            Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth? (4 msgs)
                     Space Domination Initiative
                       Voyager Family Portrait

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Date: Monday, 26 Oct 1992 10:18:58 CET
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space

I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that
NASA "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work)
had tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it
was due to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising
it !

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 15:03:28 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary

In sci.space, article <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> writes:
> I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that NASA
> "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work) had
> tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it was due
> to hit us in 2016.  Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising it!

When I heard this from my office mate, I was thrilled!  Just picture
it:  mankind is doomed, and only the space program can save us!  THIS
is why I joined NASA!  I quickly went downstairs to our coffee shop in
building 1 (run by a blind guy named Tom) and got change so I could
pick up a Houston Post.  On the front page, above the fold, is a story
from Reuter News Service with a "Wilson da Silva" by-line.

"A huge comet is on course to collide with Earth in the year 2116, and
could kill off most forms of life with an explosion more powerful than
a million atom bombs, [astronomer Duncan Steel of the Anglo-Australian
Observatory] told a space conference Sunday."  -- Houston Post, 10/26/92

The date given in the Post is 2116, while the date given in the "SKY
TV" notice and the date my office mate gave me were both 2016.  No
NASA people involved in the discovery.

The Smith-Tuttle comet was first discovered in 1862.  Steel re-acquired
it on Oct. 15th.  The International Astronomical Union (IAU), for the
first time every, could not rule out a collision with Earth.  The story
says the Smith-Tuttle comet, a 3.1-mile-wide dirty snowball, "could
plunge the world into the Dark Ages."

Of course, the million-nukes and plunge-into-Dark-Ages part of the
story was front page, but the technical details were on the
continuation on A-6.  Reading the details, it becomes clear that there
are no calculations which prove there WILL be a collision, just
speculation that there MIGHT be a collision on August 14, 2116,
when Smith-Tuttle's orbit intersects that of the Earth.

Drat.  I was hoping for the "Comet" movie scenario and a real shot
in the arm for the space program.  A 2016 collision would be a
real challenge; 2116 is far enough away that Congress won't feel
the need for immediate action.

-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
      [e-mail]  [phone]

     "NASA turns dreams into realities and makes science fiction
      into fact" -- Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 15:58:41 GMT
From: Dillon Pyron <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]> writes:
>I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that
>NASA "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work)
>had tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it
>was due to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising
>it !

Friday, on All Things Considered, they had a blip on that.  I think that the
exact date is August 14, 2164.  So, start planning now!  The comet in question
is (arrrrgh, I can't remember!).  Tulley-whomever.

They guy they interviewed was rather strange.  He kept talking about the
tremendous threat to Earth, then says the chances of an actual collision are
about 1:10000.
>
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
[phone] (when I'm here)     |
[phone] (when I'm home)     |I'm back from vacation and I don't know why.
[e-mail]          |
PADI DM-54909                     |

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

Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1992 00:31:51 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]> writes...
>I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that
>NASA "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work)
>had tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it
>was due to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising
>it !

Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was recently rediscovered, has a small chance of
colliding with Earth on August 14, 2126.  This date coincides with the
Perseids meteor shower for that year, and the comet has been determined
to be the source of the material in the meteor shower.  Based on what
we currently know of the comet's orbit, there is a two week error of margin on
2126 collision date.  The odds of a collision are small, but at this point
cannot be ruled out. Observations of the comet over the next couple of years
will provide better accuracy of the comet's orbit and help determine if a
collision in 2126 will happen or not.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | If God had wanted us to
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | have elections, he would
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | have given us candidates.

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 13:13:56 GMT
From: Faust <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that
>NASA "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work)
>had tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it
>was due to hit us in 2016. Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising
>it !

    No, you weren't hallucinating (at least, not unless I was too).
    I saw a report on the same story on Channel 4's 'The Big Breakfast'
    and BBC1.  Neither channel seemed to consider the story to be of
    any significance at all (like, the GATT talks and the political
    credibility of an insignificant pimple on the backside of humanity
    like John Major count for more than the future of the human race).

    As far as I can remember however, the comet wasn't due to collide
    with the Earth until well into the 22nd century (the date quoted
    was something like 2160 AD).  Nonetheless I would have thought that
    the imminent death of the human race warranted more than 30 seconds
    at the end of a news broadcast.  Journalists obviously find anything
    more than two weeks into the future too hard to grasp with their
    limited minds.

    I was amazed and want to find out more.  I'm suprised that sci.space
    seems to have almost no discussion of this discovery.  Does this mean
    that the whole story is a hoax --or have you pro's out there been
    caught with your pants down?

    Does anyone out there in Net Land (preferably those close to the
    heart of NASA) have any information?  If so, please post it.

    (Don't tell me:  it was discussed to death 6 months ago and now
    it's part of the FAQ list :-)


    ********    ***      **    **   *******   ********  "Quantum Mechanics:
    **         ** **     **    **  **            **      even I don't fully
    ******    *******    **    **  *******       **      understand it."
    **       **     **   **    **        **      **              - Ian Sales
    **      **       **   ******   ********      **    [e-mail]

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 13:12:47 GMT
From: "Bill Jameson SPS Pres." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space

what i heard, on NPR news friday evening, was that Harvard-Smithosonian
Astrophysics people announced that on August 14, 2126, the earth might
collide with comet Swift-Tuttle, thereby bringing an end to our civilization,
rather like the poor dinosaurs.
 any one else hear about it?

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 17:56:17 GMT
From: Anita Cochran <[e-mail]>
Subject: Comet Collision
Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
> In sci.space, article <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> writes:
> > I caught the end of a newsclip on SKY TV this a.m. which said that NASA
> > "scientists" (probably the techs. that actually do the real work) had
> > tracked a comet on collision course with the earth - I think it was due
> > to hit us in 2016.  Anyone else hear this, or was I just fantasising it!
>
> When I heard this from my office mate, I was thrilled!  Just picture
> it:  mankind is doomed, and only the space program can save us!  THIS
> is why I joined NASA!  I quickly went downstairs to our coffee shop in
> building 1 (run by a blind guy named Tom) and got change so I could
> pick up a Houston Post.  On the front page, above the fold, is a story
> from Reuter News Service with a "Wilson da Silva" by-line.
>
> "A huge comet is on course to collide with Earth in the year 2116, and
> could kill off most forms of life with an explosion more powerful than
> a million atom bombs, [astronomer Duncan Steel of the Anglo-Australian
> Observatory] told a space conference Sunday."  -- Houston Post, 10/26/92
>
> The date given in the Post is 2116, while the date given in the "SKY
> TV" notice and the date my office mate gave me were both 2016.  No
> NASA people involved in the discovery.
>
> The Smith-Tuttle comet was first discovered in 1862.  Steel re-acquired
> it on Oct. 15th.  The International Astronomical Union (IAU), for the
> first time every, could not rule out a collision with Earth.  The story
> says the Smith-Tuttle comet, a 3.1-mile-wide dirty snowball, "could
> plunge the world into the Dark Ages."
>

I think that some fact correcting is definitely in order here.  First of
all, the comet's name is Swift-Tuttle, not Smith-Tuttle.  Second, no one
presently alive "discovered" this comet.  It is named for the discovers
in 1862.    Its return was predicted for 1982 but that proved to be a
bad orbit and Brian Marsden (of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
and in charge of the IAU Central Telegram burueau) had suggested it was
linked to a comet from the 1730's and should return in the 1990s.  This
comet is interesting since it is the parent source of the Perseid meteor
shower.

Duncan Steele was NOT the person who reacquired this comet.  It was
reacquired on 26 September by a Japanese (amateur I think) by the name of
Kiuchi.  It was subsequently confirmed by several US astronomers at
Marsden's request on 27 September.    Then, it was confirmed that this
was not a newly discovered comet but a recovery of Swift-Tuttle.

As for the possibility that is might hit the earth, this is not Steele's
prediction either.  It turns out that there is difficulty linking the
data from the three appearances of this comet.  This difficulty has been
noted by both Marsden and Nakano.  However, they have a best fit
solution.  This solution does NOT have an intersection of the earth and
Swift-Tuttle.  However, if the date of perihelion passage is off by
15 days, then the comet would collide with the earth in 2116.  As for
the amount of explosive force, that is speculation since the size is unknown,
the brittleness is unknown and a lot depends on incidence angle.

Marsden argues that our concept of this perihelion passage was off 10 years
so 15 days is a very small error.  However, we should have new positions
from this apparition which can confirm or deny the collision.

As for Duncan Steele, I doubt that he is claiming he recovered the comet
or figured the collision (I know Duncan and he is reasonably honest)
but was probably quoting the IAU information and was quoted out of context.

So the truth is, NASA had nothing to do with the discovery, recovery or
prediction.  They will probably pay for scientists to study it however.
--
 Anita Cochran  uucp:  !utastro!anita
                arpa:  [e-mail]
                snail: Astronomy Dept., The Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712
                at&t:  [phone]

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 09:21:35 GMT
From: Stewart T Fleming <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dan Quayle on Mars
Newsgroups: sci.space

As Mahatma Ghandi might have said, "I think that would be a very good idea."

STF
--
[e-mail], [e-mail]
"I only deal with cats.  I don't understand humans."

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 16:39:55 GMT
From: Joe Cain <[e-mail]>
Subject: electromagnetic heating
Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary

On pg. 266 of Hartmann's 3rd edition (Moons and Planets,1983!) is a
diagram after Sonnett et al giving heating of various sized bodies vs
distance from the Sun postulated by induction during the T-Tauri
phase of our early Sun.

 It seems to explain the lava on 4 Vesta which otherwise would not
have enough mass/surface to generate its own, but also includes a
small icon of the Moon without comment in the portion labeled
"molten."

Is this electromagnetic heating generally accepted for 4 Vesta, and
was it supposed to have been a major factor in liquifying the early
Moon (top layers only?) compared with the other sources available
(e.g. impacts, gravitational settling, short lived radiogenics like 26Al)?


Joseph Cain        [e-mail]
[e-mail]        scri::cain

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

Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1992 15:36:38 GMT
From: Richard Velez <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gif Pictures
Newsgroups: sci.space

Hello,
 I'm new to Sci.Space, and I will like to know if someone could tell me
a ftp site, from where I could download gif pictures of space, like
pictures of the earth, mars, etc etc etc.. please send me the following
informatiom.

Ftp Site
Dir or files
and how to get a list of all the files in the dir. Thanks...


    {-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-}
     Richard Velez - New York City              Electronic Mail
     InterNet Relay Chat :IRC: - Rickie       FidoNet - 1:278/712
     Born and Raise in the South Bronx     [e-mail]
    {=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=}

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

Date: 24 Oct 92 10:25:38 EST
From: tom betz <[e-mail]>
Subject: nasa shake up rumor?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Quoth Josh 'k' Hopkins regarding NASA SHAKE UP RUMOR? on 10-22-92:


J'> Goldin is apparently opening
J'>competion for replacements to outsiders, which has some worried that N
J'>be taken over by DoD and DoE types.

To feed the rumor mill still further, rumor has it that Richard Truly is
preparing, once Al Gore takes over for Dan Quayle, to take a White House
position directing NASA.  This may have something to do with the present
shakeup.

Justice served, if you ask me.



---
  WinQwk 2.0 a#299  "I can feel it, Dave; my mind. It's going. Stop, Dave."
--
Executive Network Information System  [phone]
International ILink Host

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 14:46:22 GMT
From: FRANK NEY <tnc!m0102>
Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth?
Newsgroups: sci.space

On the radio news this morning, I heard a report that an Australian
astronomer by the name of Duncan Steele predicted that the
Smith-Tuttle comet will strike the earth sometime in the 22nd century.

The news report gave an exact date, but I couldn't write fast enough
to catch up.

Is anyone else hearing these stories, and how true are they?

Frank Ney N4ZHG EMT-A  LPVa NRA ILA GOA CCRTKBA "M-O-U-S-E"
Commandant and Acting President, Northern Virginia Free Militia
Send e-mail for an application and more information
----------------------------------------------------------------
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703-803-0391 To log in for trial and account info.

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 10:40:32 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering)
Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth?

>On the radio news this morning, I heard a report that an Australian
>astronomer by the name of Duncan Steele predicted that the
>Smith-Tuttle comet will strike the earth sometime in the 22nd century.

I don't know if this is true; I have heard that Duncan _Steel_
is a legitimate Australian astronomer who has done work in the
past on asteroid impacts.

>The news report gave an exact date, but I couldn't write fast enough
>to catch up.

>Is anyone else hearing these stories, and how true are they?

I don't really know, but Smith-Tuttle is going to move
(by which I mean change its trajectory) a lot between
now and the 22nd century. Comets tend to do that, due to
outgassing, etc...


>Frank Ney N4ZHG EMT-A  LPVa NRA ILA GOA CCRTKBA "M-O-U-S-E"

I knew there was some sort of sinister right-wing conspiracy
involving the Mouseketters...

--
Phil Fraering [e-mail] where the x is a number from 1-5.
Phone: [phone] SnailMail: 2408 Blue Haven Dr., New Iberia, La. 70560
---------------------
Disclaimer: Some reasonably forseeable events may exceed this
message's capability to protect from severe injury, death, widespread
disaster, astronomically significant volumes of space approaching a
state of markedly increaced entropy, or taxes.

    The world will end tomorrow.
    NASA scientists note that this was the way the system was
    designed to operate.

    - From the Nov. Focus in Sky and Telescope, on a hypothetical
      NASA press release on something hitting the Earth...

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 16:42:31 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (FRANK NEY) writes:
>
> On the radio news this morning, I heard a report that an Australian
> astronomer by the name of Duncan Steele predicted that the
> Smith-Tuttle comet will strike the earth sometime in the 22nd century.
>
> The news report gave an exact date, but I couldn't write fast enough
> to catch up.
>
>

I've heard it - or actually I read about it in the largest local newspaper
(Helsingin Sanomat) last week.  Unfortunately I couldn't find the article
so I have to trust to my memory:

Somebody has indeed calculated, that this Comet should be very near to Earth
sonetime in the future (I should think, that the date was set to next cenury,
but please, don't take my word for it).  However comets are known to change
their orbits due to reaction effects caused by ejection of gas and matter
close to perihelion.  Therefore calculating cometary orbits is still
far from the accuracy required to make such predictions.  What's more
the uncertainties of the parameters of comets present orbit are so large
that even the best of calculations could only tell, that comet will pass
Earth at a distance, less than 1.5 million kilometers - about four times
the radius of Moon's orbit.  We've had much closer calls already, so though
one can't say, that this piece of news is entirely false it is certainly
misleading.

Harri Tavaila

> The Next Challenge - Public Access Unix in Northern Va. - W

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 15:47:45 GMT
From: Andy Cohen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Smith-Tuttle Comet a threat to earth?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (FRANK NEY) wrote:

> Is anyone else hearing these stories, and how true are they?
>
Last Friday on NPR's All Things Considered the head of Astrophysics for the
Smithsonean also provided a date. Aug 14 (or 16) 2126.  Since I heard the
interview I went to my shortwave reciever looking for other discussions on
broadcasts and in astro-ham circles.....nothing.....
In the interview it was all taken seriously by the Smithsonean guy, but the
NPR announcer seemed slightly cynical and not at all concerned.  I talked
about it with others and nobody seems to care..... Well, I care!!  If this
is all plausible, then that leaves us two full generations to figure out
what the heck to do about it!!!   Read Lucifer's Hammer!!!  AAKKK!

I'm seriously considering contacting the Smithisonean later this week if we
don't hear something on this board.....
Too bad Halloween isin't earlier in the week, otherwise it would have to be
a joke..

Andy Cohen           |                   |  |        Support Freedom!
MDSSC                |  /       OO    /  |  |
                     -----------------------
                     |                   |  |
                     |                   |  |

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

Date: 26 Oct 92 16:53:02 GMT
From: Patrick Chester <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Domination Initiative
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,alt.alien.visitors,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Josh 'K' Hopkins) writes:
=[e-mail] (Brad Pierce) writes:
Actually, Brad Pierce did not write this. This article was originally posted in
misc.activism.progressive. I asked the groups moderator for permission to
repost it elsewhere and did so in sci.space and alt.activism.d. I guess Brad
saw this too and decided to repost it here for discussion.
=>The official anti-missile scheme calls for a constellation of
=>surveillance satellites (Brilliant Eyes), watching for fiery rocket
=>plumes, the telltale indicator of an enemy launch.  In a lower orbit, a
=>larger constellation of human-sized interceptors (Brilliant Pebbles)
=>wait for the signal, then attack the missiles and destroy them.
=
=>In the unofficial version, much of which has been invented at Livermore,
=>the Eyes will be equipped with radars, lasers, telescopes, antennae and
=>sensors to allow military commanders to see practically every square
=>foot of Earth--and analyze that information instantly.
=
=Increasing the capability of satellites like this increases their mass
=significantly.  The biggest problem we have with spysats is a lack of
=interpreters to examine the data.  The last thing we need is more data.

Right. We need to increase the number and quality of analysts to go over our
data. Despite the tech available for data gathering, it still takes a human
to pore over the data and realize what is happening. ("Gee, that looks like
an armored brigade sneaking behind our lines..")

=
=>In a conventional war, according to a proposal being promoted around
=>the Pentagon by Lowell Wood, Brilliant Pebbles would be ordered to leave
=>their orbits and fly downward at high speed to hit targets on the sur-
=>face of the planet with great precision.
=
=BP, as now designed, is utterly unable to do this.  They lack the sensors,
=guidance and aerodynamics.

The real authors of the article may be confusing BP w/something proposed in
about 1980 by some scientists, engineers and sci-fi writers called Thor. It
involved hundreds of tungsten/titanium/dep. uranium javelins dropped from
orbit by decellerating a satellite loaded a large number of them. They were
supposed to have sensors on the tip capable of finding a specific shape (tank,
bunker, ship, basic categories like that) and homing in on it and impacting
with near orbital velocity (ouch.) They weren't designed for pinpoint accuracy
to keep them cheap, and were meant to be fired in groups at multiple targets...
say an armored brigade trying to sneak behind your lines :) I think they
could also home in on laser beams for better accuracy so they could hit a
bunker and slice right through it. Note this all assumes there are sensors
capable of surviving/operating under the heat of reentry.. though I don't
know how much friction a javelin would build up while penetrating the
atmosphere. I do think the people who made this up thought of that, however, so
it might actually work. It was never adopted (at least I think it has :) maybe
because it was made up by science fiction writers. Oh well. There is a copy
of the proposal in _There Will Be War_ Vol. 1, ed. Jerry Pournelle if you
want a better description. Anyway, BP is not this.

=>In Colorado Springs, we asked Teller while he was walking to lunch one
=>day if Pebbles could be used to hit enemy command bunkers, a
=>high-priority target in the war with Iraq.  He stopped walking.
=
=>"Look," he said, in his commanding form of speech.  "Yes.  And in a war,
=>you would."
=
=Teller may be a brilliant physicist, but he is is well known for is infatuation
=with bizzare SDI concepts and was responsable for much of the wasted research
=in the early SDIO.

What sort of wasted research? Particle beams or something?

=>But these endoweapons may be fringe projects.  Threatening enemy
=>satellites would seem to be Pebbles' main goal.
=
=BP is also unable to hit satellites as now configured.  Missiles generate an
=incredible amount of heat which is easy to track.  Satellites are much harder
=to detect from orbit.  In addition, most satellites orbit far above BPs and
=would thus be very hard to hit.

Think of it as two people throwing rocks at each other. One is at the bottom
of a well, the other is at the top. Which one has a better chance of hitting
the other as well as dodging incoming rocks? This is a good example of the
tacical advantages of high orbits.

=
=>In their blockade role, Pebbles would be transformed into enforcement
=>battleships, poised to destroy any missile attempting to run the
=>blockade and put a satellite in orbit.
=
=Missiles don't put satellites in orbit.  Launchers or rockets do.

I doubt they can tell the difference, Josh. Rocket=missile to some people.
I also hardly see BP as space battleships. But then, I'm prejudiced from
watching too much anime. :)

=
=>Equally important is the role of Pebbles as anti-satellite weapons, or
=>ASATs, to knock out satellites already in orbit.  Having the ability to
=>eliminate any satellite, whether military or commercial (the difference
=>between the two is diminishing)
=
=Actually, the difference is getting bigger.  Many commerical satellites have
=no military value, and few military sattelites (with the exception of GPS) are
=commerically valuable.

Well, you can use civilian comsats for emergency communications, but comsats
are in very high orbits that are hard to reach from ground or LEO.
Also, LANDSAT can be used for recon, but I don't think it can encode it's
telemetry. That would limit it's use.

=
=>Although the U.S. military has long wanted ASAT weapons, Congress has
=>denied them, fearing an expensive arms race in space.  But the generals
=>have not given up.
=
=The other reason is that ASAT weapons are very destabilizing, so politicians
=are much less excited about them than generals are.

The reason the "generals" want ASATs is too knock down enemy satellites to
prevent their use. Now it's not such a problem as long as the CIS continues
towards democracy and improves its economy (it's not good, though.) The CIS
has a workable ASAT system. It's not as fancy as the one we were testing, but
it works okay.

=
=>So bothersome is the ABM treaty that President Bush is personally
=>pushing Boris Yeltsin to yield.  Teller's missile purchases would be a
=>way of buying the Russians out of the treaty.  On the other hand, U.S.
=>military contractors don't want competition in the launch-vehicle
=>business.
=
=The ABM treaty is completly different from the one (the START treaty?) which
=limits the uses of former missiles.

Also, I don't think the ABM treaty said anything about space-based ABM weapons.
Sort of like the Naval Treaty from the 1920s not limiting aircraft carriers
because they weren't seen as useful. Interestingly enough, the concept of
space-borne ABM weapons *had* been covered in science fiction stories, but then
no one takes that seriously.

=
=>But since any satellite is suspect in wartime, the U.S.,
=>the backgrounder says, should quickly develop a "capability to enforce a
=>military 'keep-out' zone in space over a battle area."
=
=First, not all satellites have military value (can you think of a strategic
=use for an ultra-violet telescope that can't face the Earth?).  Second,
=Most areas can't have a "no fly" zone over them without taking huge numbers
=of satellites out of orbit.

USAF SpaceCom has telescopes and radar that let it track over 20,000(?) objects
in orbit. The telescopes are supposed to be good enough to see a soccer ball
in LEO clearly. Methinks that it is possible to have some idea of what that
satellite is doing. Besides, satellites are usually trapped in their orbits
unless they have thrusters and a lot of fuel. Such satellites are usually
military recon birds so that would be a big giveaway to the ident of an unknown
satellite doing massive orbit changes. This is different from attitude thrusters
used to point a telescope or something at a star, since those don't have the
thrust or fuel to change orbit that much.

=
=The rest of the post (on how SDI is crazy) does have some valididty as long as
=you don't take it to far.

Well, I think there were legitimate reasons for SDI while there was a major
Soviet nuclear threat. I still think it should be looked into in case the
CIS gets toppled by a coup (plausible) or some regional power gets *really*
good ICBM capability. Always judge the threat, not intentions. Threats are
harder to change/eliminate than intentions.


=
=--
=Josh Hopkins                                          [e-mail]
=     The views expresed above do not necessarily reflect those of
=ISDS, UIUC, NSS, IBM FSC, NCSA, NMSU, AIAA or the American Association for the
=                      Advancement of Acronymphomaniacs


--
Patrick Chester            |----------------------------------------------------
[e-mail] |"The earth is too fragile a basket in which to keep
Politically Incorrect      |  all your eggs." Robert A. Heinlein
Future Lunar Colonist      |"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us
#^%$!! Militarist          |  are going to the stars." Anonymous
(Of the Sun Tzu mentality) |----------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 14:13:42 GMT
From: Ed McCreary <[e-mail]>
Subject: Voyager Family Portrait
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes...
>>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ron Baalke) writes...
>>>If by chance you happen to visit JPL, the family portrait images are
>>>on one of the walls of Von Karman Auditorium across from Voyager 3.
>>
>>Voyager 3?  A third probe whose mission got cancelled after it was built?  What
>>would its mission have been?
>>
>
>No, this Voyager 3 is a full scale replica of the Voyager spacecraft and is
>not a real spacecraft.  It runs along the entire length of one wall of the
>auditorium (or at least is used to, the Magnetometer boom was recently removed
>so that a mockup of the Magellan spacecraft could be stored next to it), and is
>often used as a backdrop during interviews with the news media.

Insert foot in mouth and ignore my last posting...  :(

I seem to remember reading that there were initially three spacecraft
built, and that one of the ones designated to be launched was swapped
at the last moment with the backup.  I'm I just imagining things?


--
In the midst of the word he was trying to say,|[e-mail]
     In the midst of his laughter and glee,   |Me, speak for Compaq?
He had softly and suddenly vanished away---   |Yeah, right.
     For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.   |#include <stddisclaimer.h>

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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 346
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