Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V16_0/V16NO066.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 34KB

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 05:00:09
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #066
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Thu, 21 Jan 93       Volume 16 : Issue 066

Today's Topics:
                         (home) HELP Wanted!
                      1992 - A Year To Remember
                            Bio-sphere II
           Clinton's Promises (space) in Charlotte Observer
Earth's rotation rate may be due to early collisions [Release 93-12] (Forwarded)
                        HELP Wanted! (3 msgs)
                    Hewlett Packard conin space
              Next unmanned missions to Venus? (2 msgs)
                    Oxygen in Biosphere 2 (2 msgs)
                   ParaNet UFO Continuum Radio Show
              Request for guidance (aka words of wisdom)
          Sabatier reactor? (was Re: Oxygen in Biosphere 2)
              Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating)
                        Tidally locked bodies

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Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 03:44:26 GMT
From: Greg Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: (home) HELP Wanted!
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (David TW Lai) writes:
>Hi netters,
>
>    I'puzzling around he following questions and I wonder
>if someone could help me on them.
>
    Hmm, I's suggest you go to the library and look up sedimentation
and erosion in the card catalog.

>(1) Why are Earth age estimates based on sedimentation and erosion
>rates so poor?
>
    Hell, this one you should be able to figure out on your own.

>(2) A rock specimen contains precisely ten times less potassium-40 than
>its radioactive decay product (half-life 1.3 billion years) argon-40.
>How old is this rock and where did it come from?
>
    Let me see the rock.  I want to feel it, I want to experience.
I need a Zen experience witht his rock before I can answer your question.

    Let me ask you a question.  Detectives have discovered a body
laying on a sheet of ice.  The temperature of the body is 56 degrees.
How long has the body been dead?  (Hint, if you can solve this one, you
can solve the above one.)

>(3) Give four reasons, in order of importance, why the Earth appears to
>have fewer huge impact scars than the Moon.
>
    Hint, 2 reasons are included in this post.  Read carefully, you
just might find them.

    Now another question:  Can a dog reach a state of Zen?

>    Thanks a lot!
>
    Sure, no problem.  Now get your lazy ass out there and learn to
do some research.  The net is NOT here to do your homework for you.


>David.
>

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

Date: 20 Jan 1993 01:47 UT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: 1992 - A Year To Remember
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

From the "JPL Universe"
January 15, 1993

1992 was a year to remember for JPL
By Mark Whalen

     1992 may have been the busiest and most satisfying year in
JPL's history. As deep-space missions were launched from Earth,
others continued forward toward their goals after leaving our
planet in earlier years. The Lab's technological, engineering and
scientific wizardry allowed us to gaze at passing asteroids and
far off galaxies alike, and excited us with close-up views of our
own planet and others.
     New and challenging missions were proposed, helping us look
toward the next century with excitement and anticipation. And
1992 also showed the great diversity that is JPL, as much of the
Lab's efforts and discoveries attest to the fact that Earth is
indeed the most important planet for us to observe from above.
     Some highlights:

January
     Magellan, which was launched in May 1989, began its third
mapping cycle of Venus and focused on stereo mapping of selected
targets and areas not mapped earlier. ... A nine-member
delegation of Russian scientists and engineers spent a week at
the Lab, meeting with staff members of JPL's Navigation Ancillary
Information Facility to study a NASA information system they are
adopting for data distribution during their mission to Mars in
1994. They also met with scientists and engineers from the Mars
Observer mission and the Space Flight Operations Center.

February
     Spaceborne radar and enhanced satellite images helped JPL
geologists locate the lost city of Ubar in southern Oman, a
civilization dating back 5,000 years. ... On its way to the poles
of the sun, the Ulysses spacecraft sailed past Jupiter at closest
approach of about 172,000 kilometers (277,474 miles) from the
planet's center on Feb. 8. The spacecraft found a magnetosphere
that is more extended and thinner than that encountered by
Voyager. The Ulysses project also announced that the spacecraft
was able to study charged particles around Jupiter at higher
latitudes than its predecessors. ... JPL's Microwave Limb Sounder
(MLS) team announced discovery of exceptionally high levels of
ozone-destroying chlorine monoxide at Earth's northern latitudes.
MLS is aboard NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).
"The findings show that the ozone layer is in significantly more
danger than previously thought," said Dr. Joe Waters, MLS' team
leader. ... The All Source Analysis System (ASAS), a computerized
battlefield intelligence system developed by JPL for the Army
which saw limited action in the Persian Gulf war, was accredited
by the Defense Intelligence Agency, meaning that ASAS can now be
deployed for use on battlefields as the Army chooses. ... JPL
Director Dr. Edward Stone announced Lab-wide implementation of
the Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative, focusing on
customer satisfaction and continuous improvement of work
processes.

March
     The Mars Observer spacecraft passed its last major test
before shipment to Cape Canaveral -- a 12-day thermal
environmental test to simulate the vacuum and temperature of
space. ... A new business ethics program is launched at the Lab.

April
     Andrew Thomas, a JPL mechanical engineer, was chosen as an
astronaut for NASA's space shuttle program. ... JPL's Employee
Recreation Club celebrated its 40-year anniversary. ...
Organizational Dynamics Inc., JPL's TQM consultant, found in a
random Lab survey that employees believe that existing policies
and procedures "interfere with their ability to perform excellent
work." The survey also found that employees believe that "many
policies and practices are outdated and get in the way of serving
customers." ... JPL and the Pasadena Unified School District
dedicated the district's new Saturday Science Academy program,
which was partially funded through a $50,000 contribution from
JPL.

May
     Oceanographer Mark Drinkwater, JPL's principal investigator
for the Weddell Sea Project, began research in the Antarctic on
that region's interaction of the ocean, ice cover and atmosphere.
.. Newly appointed NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin made his
first visit to JPL on May 28, urging Lab employees to be bold and
innovative, and to try to cut through NASA's bureaucracy to
restore the agency's technical and managerial excellence. ... JPL
Director Dr. Edward Stone told the first-ever "Briefing for
Industry" conference in Pasadena that the Lab wants to build a
stronger relationship with industry. "We see industry more in
partnership. But this also means that industry should assign its
very best people to projects and provide sufficient
oversight. ...Magellan project scientists identified large
landslides on Venus which are similar to slides on Earth and
Mars, the largest of which spread 30 km (18 miles) across the
surface. Project Scientist Steve Saunders said the most dramatic
landslides on Venus may have formed much like the Mount St.
Helens eruption in Washington in 1980. ... NASA approved JPL's
redesign of the Cassini mission to Saturn, set for 1997. Under
the plan, the spacecraft's weight will be cut by about 20 percent
to 5,050 kilograms (11,130 pounds); overall cost is projected to
drop by about $250 million.

June
     The Galileo mission released detailed photographs of the
asteroid Gaspra, which were taken in October 1991. The spacecraft
visited Gaspra on its first swing through the main asteroid belt,
between gravity-assist flyby encounters with Earth. Images were
played back indirectly from the spacecraft tape recorder through
the low-gain antenna at distances of up to 430 million kilometers
(266 million miles). ... In commemoration of the 25th anniversary
of the Surveyor rover missions to the moon, JPL revealed "Rocky
IV," a prototype for a small rover that will be part of the Mars
Environmental Survey (MESUR) Pathfinder mission, which would send
a single lander and instrumented rover to Mars beforehand to
photograph the surface and look for hydrogen, a possible sign of
water. The remote-controlled, 16 1/2-pound vehicle is designed as
a precursor to a sample-return mission. ... Citing the fact that
"A classic never goes out of style," Goldin announced that the
agency's original 1959 "meatball" insignia would return to
replace the newer, tubular "worm" logo. ... JPL research
physicist Eugene Trinh served as a payload specialist on STS-50
(Space   Shuttle Columbia), the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory-1.
During the 14-day mission, the longest ever for shuttle flights,
Trinh conducted experiments on the Drop Physics Module, a
microgravity instrument supporting various experiments on the
dynamics of fluids and gases in space.

July
     Dr. Peter Lyman, Deputy Director of the Lab for five years,
announced his retirement; Larry Dumas, formerly assistant
laboratory director for the Office of Telecommunications and Data
Acquisition, was named Deputy Director.

August
     TOPEX/Poseidon, a joint U.S./French mission managed by JPL
to study ocean surfaces in unprecedented detail, took off from
Kourou, French Guiana on Aug. 10. The three-to-five-year mission,
which will utilize a dual-frequency radar altimeter and high-
accuracy satellite orbit determination systems, will enable
oceanographers to map the large-scale movement of ocean water and
understand how the ocean changes with time. The satellite's orbit
will take it over the entire Earth's surface every 10 days. ...
The Deep Space Network successfully tracked the European
spacecraft Giotto as it flew within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of
the comet Grigg-Skjellerup, the closest encounter ever performed
by a spacecraft. ... Robert Staehle of JPL's Systems Analysis
Section described the feasibility of a fast flyby mission to
Pluto, which could be launched before the end of the decade. ...
Launch of the Mars Observer spacecraft was delayed
because of contamination in the nose fairing, discovered
during a routine payload inspection. ... Norman Haynes, who had
served as deputy assistant laboratory director for the Flight
Projects Office, was named to replace Dumas as ALD for the Office
of Telecommunications and Data Acquisition. ... The U.S. Postal
Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring JPL founder Dr.
Theodore von Karman.

September
     Ulysses Project Scientist Edward Smith reported that data
acquired by the spacecraft show that the solar wind exerts a much
stronger influence on Jupiter's magnetic field than previously
thought. ... The Mars Observer spacecraft lifted off on Sept. 25.
The mission, which will play a critical pathfinding role for
future missions to Mars, will study the planet's geology,
geophysics and climate. Objectives include identifying and
mapping surface elements and minerals, measuring the height of
surface features, defining the gravitational field and searching
for a planetary magnetic field. The spacecraft will reach Mars in
August 1993 and will spend a full Martian year -- 687 days --
mapping the planet.

October
     Space Shuttle Columbia carried in its cargo bay JPL's Lambda
Point Experiment, which used cryogenics technology developed by
the Lab's Low Temperature Research facility to study changes in
properties of materials during phase transitions. The environment
of space allowed testing of a Nobel Prize-winning physics theory
to an accuracy 100 times greater than that possible on Earth. ...
Five hundred years after Columbus landed in America, JPL's High
Resolution Microwave Survey -- the most powerful search ever for
extraterrestrial intelligence -- began its sky survey at the Deep
Space Network's Goldstone station, NASA's Ames Research Center
and at the Aricebo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. DSN antennas
in California and Australia will scan the entire sky across
millions of frequencies in the microwave band. ... JPL
geologists, working with colleagues from Louisiana State
University, discovered previously unknown earthquake faults in
the Mojave Desert by analyzing remote sensing images at optical,
infrared and radar wavelengths. ... The SIR-C/X-SAR Project
received delivery of the X-band hardware from its German and
Italian manufacturers, making way for testing and integration in
1993. When completed, the antenna -- which will perform a series
of environmental experiments from Space Shuttle Endeavour -- will
be the most massive piece of flight hardware ever assembled at
JPL.

November
     JPL astronomer Peter Eisenhardt reported findings that a
distant radio galaxy previously thought to contain old stars --
older than some estimates of the age of the universe -- may
instead be a very young system caught in the act of formation.
.. The Lab announced it has entered into a collaboration with
Cray Research Inc. to conduct joint research and development with
a new massively parallel supercomputer developed by Cray. JPL
will take delivery of one of the first models this fall. ... The
Miniature Seeker Technology Integration (MSTI) spacecraft took
off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a four-day mission. MSTI,
which carried a Department of Defense payload that took infrared
photos of islands in the Pacific Ocean, undertook an innovative
approach in its design process which was hardware-driven, rather
than requirements-driven. Eighty-three percent of the $15-million
spacecraft was built from off-the-shelf components. ... The
"eyes" of the Hubble Space Telescope -- JPL's Wide
Field/Planetary Camera-1, captured the most detailed view ever of
a galaxy's core, feeding a suspected black hole in the Virgo
cluster, about 45 million light years from Earth. Final work is
under way on WF/PC-2, which will correct the optical flaw in
Hubble's primary mirror in late 1993.

December
     Exactly two years after its first gravity assist pass by
Earth, the Galileo spacecraft made its second flyby on its way to
Jupiter on Dec. 8, streaking above the South Atlantic Ocean at an
altitude of 304 kilometers (189 miles). On its way to Earth, the
spacecraft's camera captured various images and spectral scans of
the northern regions of the moon, as it flew within 110,000
kilometers (about 68,000 miles) of the lunar surface. The
spacecraft will reach Jupiter in December 1995. ... One day after
Galileo's closest approach to Earth, researchers for the Galileo
Optical Experiment (GOPEX) fired laser beams from locations in
California and New Mexico to the spacecraft at distances of up to
6 million kilometers (3.7 million miles). GOPEX is part of a
program testing the use of laser beams to transmit large volumes
of space-acquired data currently achieved by radio signals. ...
Using satellite images taken before and after the June Landers
earthquake, JPL geologist Robert Crippen produced a videotape
showing the motion of earthquake faults in the Mojave Desert.
This was the first time that fault motion has been observed
through the use of images acquired from space. ... JPL
astronomers obtained the sharpest images yet of an Earth-
approaching asteroid, 4179 Toutatis, as it passed within 4
million kilometers (2.5 million miles) of Earth.
                               ###
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Every once in a while,
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | try pushing your luck.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     |

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 17:00:33 EST
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bio-sphere II

From: Carl Hage <[e-mail]>

>.... Also, it would seem that odor might be a problem
>in such a small enclosed space.

Just as a hobby, I was into bottle gardens for a while.  Rather than
re-collecting plants all the time, I finally converted a 10-gallon
aquarium into a vivarium for propogating plants.

Anyway, even when the tropic levels were overtaxed (salamanders eating
all the slugs and worms, fish making the water nasty, cuttings left in
the tank to rot, as nutrients) the 'bad' odors associated with decay and
garbage hardly last at all.  So, if the colony or biosphere were actually
in balance, my experience suggests that the odor would be no problem at
all!  The worst smell I got from my 'bio-cube' was when the slamander died.
It lasted only a couple days, and wasn't that bad anyway.  It may even be
a bad odor because that's how people came to recognize an unhealthy
environment back when we only chose, rather than shaped environments.

Of course, if you find the odor of a healthy ecosystem (think swamp and
foresty smells;  dirt, decaying leaves, standing water, etc) offensive,
then you will be in big trouble if we ever build colonies that depend
on a healthy ecosystem.

>How is the CO2 removed? Is a chemical method used like in the Shuttle, or
>is it condensed out with chillers?

About the co2;  In one of the answers provided, there was expressed the
possibility that the co2/oxygen ratio would get back to normal during
the growing season, when the plants start fixing the co2 again.  This
is excellent news for space applications!  The growing seaon can last
all year, if we choose it, in artificial colonies.

-Tommy Mac
------------------------------===========================================
Tom McWilliams               |Is Faith a short '  `      '   *.;     +%
[e-mail]       |cut for attaining    +    .      '
[phone] -or- 353-2986 |  . knowledge? ;"'       ,'    .   '     .
a scrub Astronomy undergrad  |      *     ,    or is it just  .       .
at Michigan State University |   ';   '        * a short-circuit?   ,
------------------------------===========================================

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 04:26:47 GMT
From: rabjab <[e-mail]>
Subject: Clinton's Promises (space) in Charlotte Observer
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (EMIL CHUCK) writes:

>THE CLINTON PRESIDENCY
>PROMISES PROMISES: What Clinton told Voters
>The Charlotte OBSERVER
>Sun Jan 10 1993 <<< MY BIRTHDAY!!! >>>, p 10A

>28. Space
>        A. Deemphasize defense-oriented space initiatives.
>        B. Support completion of the space station Freedom.
>        C. Direct NASA to give high priority to improving the American
>civil aircraft industry.

Looks like Clinton is going to make some rather severe cuts in space
projects.  And "supporting completion" doesn't mean actual completion.

-rabjab

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

Date: 19 Jan 93 19:39:21 GMT
From: Bruce Watson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Earth's rotation rate may be due to early collisions [Release 93-12] (Forwarded)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]| [e-mail] (Ray Davis) writes:
||     "A popular theory holds that the collision of a Mars-sized planetary body
|| with the Earth threw considerable debris into orbit, which then came together
|| to form the moon," Dones said.  "Thus, the same impact which gave Earth its
|| spin, could also have formed the moon."
|
|How does this popular theory account for the moon having zero spin?
|
The moon rotates once a month, otherwise it wouldn't keep the same
face to the earth.

The "lock" occurred due to tidal friction and took a long time to happen.

--
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131

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

Date: 20 Jan 93 01:39:09 GMT
From: David TW Lai <[e-mail]>
Subject: HELP Wanted!
Newsgroups: sci.space

Hi netters,

    I'puzzling around he following questions and I wonder
if someone could help me on them.

(1) Why are Earth age estimates based on sedimentation and erosion
rates so poor?

(2) A rock specimen contains precisely ten times less potassium-40 than
its radioactive decay product (half-life 1.3 billion years) argon-40.
How old is this rock and where did it come from?

(3) Give four reasons, in order of importance, why the Earth appears to
have fewer huge impact scars than the Moon.

    Thanks a lot!

David.

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

Date: 20 Jan 93 03:07:21 GMT
From: David TW Lai <[e-mail]>
Subject: HELP Wanted!
Newsgroups: sci.space

*** IMPORTANT NOTE TO PREVIOUS ARTICLE ***

Please note that I'm NOT asking people to do homework for me.  Instead,
I'm looking for comments/advices on how to attack the problem.  In
addition, I'm looking for textbooks which will have such things.  Thank
you for your attention.

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 23:06:08 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: HELP Wanted!
Newsgroups: sci.space

We don't do homework, last I heard!

 ___                 ___                  Larry Rossi -- [e-mail]
/   \   _ _   _  _  /   \  _     ___
| O  | || || | \/ | | O  || |   | __|     And for a moment when our
|  -<  || || |    | | --< | |   ||=         world had filled the skies,
| O  | ||_|| ||\/|| | O  || |_  ||__        Magic turned our eyes...
\___/  \___/ ||  || \___/ |___| |___|                       Jon Anderson

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

Date: 20 Jan 93 04:27:02 GMT
From: Philip Young <[e-mail]>
Subject: Hewlett Packard conin space
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
|> |> Is there anyone from HP on the net? I think I've seen network address
|> |> with "hp" in them. Is this Hewlett Packard?
|> |>
|> |> Tony Ryan, Homn. Sec., Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 1, Ireland.
|>
|> Sure is. I've not heard of any specific HP into Space stuff. There was the
|> HP handheld calculator that was used on some (I think) Apollo missions.

HP inside Apollo?  My, how things have changed ...

--
Philip R. Young
Data General Australia Pty. Ltd.


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

Date: 20 Jan 93 05:56:53 GMT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Next unmanned missions to Venus?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (rabjab) writes...
>Does anyone know of plans for future Venus exploration?  Any
>leads would be appreciated.

The only mission I'm aware of that will be going to Venus within the
next 10 years is Cassini.  Cassini will be making two Venus flybys
in 1998 and 1999 as part of its gravity assisted trajectory to Saturn.
But other than that, it looks pretty bleak for Venus missions. I know
several members of the Magellan team would like to see another spacecraft
dedicated to Venus.  The Soviets had tentative plans a couple of years
ago to send a Venera spacecraft to Venus in 2005, but as far as I know
those plans have been abandoned.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Every once in a while,
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | try pushing your luck.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     |

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 03:10:57 GMT
From: rabjab <[e-mail]>
Subject: Next unmanned missions to Venus?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Does anyone know of plans for future Venus exploration?  Any
leads would be appreciated.

thanks,
rabjab

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 03:00:43 GMT
From: Bruce Dunn <[e-mail]>
Subject: Oxygen in Biosphere 2
Newsgroups: sci.space

> Carl Hage writes:
> The relatively small atmosphere of Bioshpere or a space colony would
> seem to have a number of problems which would not be significant in the
> large atmosphere of Earth.


        Yes and no.  The atmosphere problems with Biosphere II (drawdown of
oxygen and buildup of CO2 during the winter) don't show that a sealed system
is unusable.  They do however suggest that there is a mismatch in the current
design between the ability of the biological components to crank the gases up
and down rapidly, and the ability of the atmosphere to buffer these changes.
If the Biosphere II had a larger volume with the same biological load, the
problem would not have occurred.  In a space colony with light which does not
have seasonal changes, there would have been no problem with the current
setup.



--
Bruce Dunn    Vancouver, Canada   [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 18:42:27 GMT
From: Donald Lindsay <[e-mail]>
Subject: Oxygen in Biosphere 2
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Bruce Dunn) writes:
>In a space colony with light which does not
>have seasonal changes, there would have been no problem with the current
>setup.

Do you mean artificial lighting would fix B2's problem?

Then why don't they? It wouldn't reduce the integrity of the
experiment. They are only supposed to be sealed in terms of chemical
and biological exchange. I wouldn't be disturbed if they brought grow
lights in through the airlock, or strung them outside the windows.
--
Don        D.C.Lindsay    Carnegie Mellon Computer Science

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

Date: 20 Jan 93 06:17:04 GMT
From: Michael Corbin <[e-mail]>
Subject: ParaNet UFO Continuum Radio Show
Newsgroups: sci.space

 * Forwarded from "ParaNet UFO Echo"
 * Originally by Michael Corbin
 * Originally to All
 * Originally dated 19 Jan 1993, 23:16

The satellite radio network that was carrying our show has closed it doors for
financial reasons, thus canceling our show.  We are in the process of relocating to our new home and will be back up in a few weeks with an announcement to follow as to time, satellite frequencies, etc.

Thanks for your interest in the show.  The first four weeks was very enjoyable.

Michael Corbin

--
Michael Corbin - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 11:16:33 -0500 (EST)
From: [e-mail] (Bryan Glancey)
Subject: Request for guidance (aka words of wisdom)

    I see a lot of footer in this digest that are from JPL and all sorts
of other big aerospace places. I'm just finishing my undergraduate degree in
physics with a concentration in computers, and am about to start my Masters
in physics; I wonder if any of you can give me any words of wisdom about what
the best path into the industry is. I'd really like to get into NASA, but they
don't exactly advertise in the classified section. I would mind working for
any other aerospace firm where I can have a part in some sort of space program
 either.
    Any suggestions?

            Thanks;
                Bryan Glancey


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

'Life's the illusion, love is the dream'   Buzzcocks

'Life is just a dream; a story that I read, a picture that I've seen a thousand
times before - but it's never quite the same.'
        -Nine Big Dogs

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 05:01:59 GMT
From: Frank Crary <[e-mail]>
Subject: Sabatier reactor? (was Re: Oxygen in Biosphere 2)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Willie Smith) writes:
>I'm not convinced that such a reactor would do any good in this case,
>unless you had a _lot_ of them.  9,000 kilograms of LOX comes out to
>something like (scribble, scribble) 50,300 cubic feet of oxygen gas.
>At one cubic foot per hour, that's 5.7 years to make up the deficit...

>On the other tentacle, it sounds like interesting technology, pleae
>tell us more!  Startup costs, maintainance and operating costs,
>reliability?

They all would depend on the system. The only number I have handy is
an estimate of mass for a four-man partially closed life support
system ~2000 kg (actually, the paper says roughly 4000 lbs...) That
includes carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion, as well as a few other
things...

                                                 Frank Crary
                                                 CU Boulder

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 03:52:44 GMT
From: Trevor Fenton <[e-mail]>
Subject: Subjective Safety Measure(Re: man-rating)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bruce Watson) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]| [e-mail] (Pat) writes:
>|In article <[e-mail]| [e-mail] (Robert Turner) writes:
>||
>||Isn't the elevator considered the safest mode of transportation meeting both the
>||"if I get in, I get out" and "deaths per passenger mile".
>||
>|
>|a
>|Ah, this guy has never heard of elevator accidents?
>|While kinda uncommon they do occur.  mostly due to improper door opening.
>
>Contrary to all the movies we've seen, there has never been an elevator
>fatality since Otis designed the safety features of the modern elevator
>in the late 19th century.
>
>--
>Bruce Watson (wats@scicom) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131

    Unfortunately, you happen to be wrong. About a year or two ago there
was a fatal accident at the Lord Elgin Hotel here in Ottawa where the door shut on someone and the elevator went up anyway. Pretty gruesome, but true. (I'm
pretty sure the elevator was an Otis.)

trev

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

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 17:30:39 EST
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Tidally locked bodies

Dale Greer sez;
>The moon does spin.  Its rotational period is equal to its orbital period
>about the Earth, so it always presents the same face to the Earth.  This
>happened because the distribution of the Moon's mass is not perfectly
>spherical; it's a little lumpy.

It would have happened even if the moon had a perfectly smooth mass
distribution.  The uneven distribution will determine the final
tidally-locked orientation, but it isn't required for the tides to exist.

>Originally, the Moon was spinning more
>quickly than today, but over time, tidal forces working on the lumps in the
>Moon slowed it down until the lump with the greatest angular moment became
>"locked" into place, so that it always points toward the Earth.  The
>technical term for this is Gravity Gradient Stabilization.

Another interesting effect of this tidal interaction is the gradual increase
in the orbital distance of the moon, as it's (and the Earth's) rotational
angular momentum is converted into orbital momentum (and a bunch of heat from
friction, too).

The story I've heard (actually a prediction) is that when the Earth is
finally locked to the moon, as the moon is to Earth, the Moon will take
nearly a year to orbit the Earth, after which the moon's orbit will
finally start to decay (ever so slowly, due to friction from libration)
until it is torn apart into rings.  Whether this or the death of the
sun will occur first is unknown to me.

-Tommy Mac
------------------------------===========================================
Tom McWilliams               |Is Faith a short '  `      '   *.;     +%
[e-mail]       |cut for attaining    +    .      '
[phone] -or- 353-2986 |  . knowledge? ;"'       ,'    .   '     .
a scrub Astronomy undergrad  |      *     ,    or is it just  .       .
at Michigan State University |   ';   '        * a short-circuit?   ,
------------------------------===========================================

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 066
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