Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V16_5/V16NO576.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 29KB

Date: Sun, 16 May 93 05:00:03
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #576
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Sun, 16 May 93       Volume 16 : Issue 576

Today's Topics:
                  ** Dance of the planets program **
                        ** MegaStar program **
        Another SF Irritation RELIEVED! Doctor Who vindicated.
                       DC-X Publicity (3 msgs)
             HST Servicing Mission Scheduled for 11 Days
                    Interesting DC-X cost anecdote
                   Life on Earth (or elsewhere :-)
                            Life on Mars.
                       looking for PLANET MAPS
                         Near Miss Asteroids
                     Over zealous shuttle critics
                             SDIO kaput!
                       Shuttle vs Delta Clipper
                    Soyuz and Shuttle Comparisons
                    Vandenberg launches? (2 msgs)
                          White Sands & DC-X
                Who is Henry Spencer anyway? (3 msgs)
    Why we like DC-X (was Re: Shuttle 0-Defects & Bizarre? DC-X?)
        Yoo hoo, White Sands? (was Re: DC-X Status?) (2 msgs)

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
    "Subscribe Space <your name>" to one of these addresses: listserv@uga
    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 15:04:21 GMT
From: Frank ROUSSEL <[e-mail]>
Subject: ** Dance of the planets program **
Newsgroups: sci.space

Is anybody know where the 'Dance of the planets' program is available ?
Is it a Freeware or Shareware or Commercial product ?

Thanks in advance
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   _______       _______       ________   | Firstname: Frank
  /______/|     /______/\     /_______/|  | Lastname : ROUSSEL
 / ______|/    /  ____ \/|    |__   __|/  | E-mail: [e-mail]
/ /|           | |____| |/       | ||     | Telephone: + 33 99 83 26 10
| ||           |  __  __/        | ||     |
| |\______     | || \ \\       __| ||__   | Address: 175, rue Belle Epine
\ \______/|    | ||  \ \\     /__| |/_/|  | CityStateZip: 35510
 \_______|/    |_|/   \_\|    |_______|/  | Cityname: CESSON SEVIGNE
    Centre de Ressources Informatiques    | Country: FRANCE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- Science without conscience is only soul's ruin (Rabelais) ------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Signed: The responsible of ASTROGOF project at Rennes' University of France   -
- who contributes to the development of CRI-CICB Gopher's server (ASTRO images) -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 15:03:13 GMT
From: Frank ROUSSEL <[e-mail]>
Subject: ** MegaStar program **
Newsgroups: sci.space

Is anybody know where the 'MegaStar' program is available ?
Is it a Freeware or Shareware or Commercial product ?

Thanks in advance
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   _______       _______       ________   | Firstname: Frank
  /______/|     /______/\     /_______/|  | Lastname : ROUSSEL
 / ______|/    /  ____ \/|    |__   __|/  | E-mail: [e-mail]
/ /|           | |____| |/       | ||     | Telephone: + 33 99 83 26 10
| ||           |  __  __/        | ||     |
| |\______     | || \ \\       __| ||__   | Address: 175, rue Belle Epine
\ \______/|    | ||  \ \\     /__| |/_/|  | CityStateZip: 35510
 \_______|/    |_|/   \_\|    |_______|/  | Cityname: CESSON SEVIGNE
    Centre de Ressources Informatiques    | Country: FRANCE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- Science without conscience is only soul's ruin (Rabelais) ------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Signed: The responsible of ASTROGOF project at Rennes' University of France   -
- who contributes to the development of CRI-CICB Gopher's server (ASTRO images) -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: 15 May 93 18:38:46 GMT
From: "Thomas A. Baker" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Another SF Irritation RELIEVED! Doctor Who vindicated.
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Richard A. Schumacher) writes:
>This "reverse the polarity!" crap always bugged the hell out of me, too,
>until I found an actual, live, real-life example of it working! I quote
>from Aviation Week and Space Technology for 2 July 1990, page 25:
>
>    He [Colonel Charles F. Stirling, speaking of the problem of
>    fuel bubble formation in Titan 4 Aerojet LR87 engines] said
>    engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory had run into
>    the same problem and suggested that the Air Force look at the
>    effect of Aerozene 50 decomposition. The fix, now flown three
>    times without incident, was to reverse the inlet and outlet
>    portions of the hot gas cooler.
>
>! Once again, life imitates art.

How about the discussion of the STS Tether experiment.  Ran forward,
it would suck energy from the Earth's magnetic field, while trivially
slowing the Shuttle.  It could also have run backward -- if they ran
electricity through the tether the other way, it would have trivially
propelled the Shuttle faster.

But an even better example comes to mind.  There's this electronics guy,
someone like Craig Anderton or Don Lancaster.  Ten years ago he wrote about
an invention of his.  He could take a light-detector, run current through
it at about a hundred times its rating, and it would glow.  He got legal
rights to this design of a combination "fiber optic emitter/receiver".  This
turned out to be the basic unit of ATT's  (I think) plan to bring Brazil's
communications system into the 21st century.  (The article was mostly about
his legal wranglings with the company that eventually got him well-compensated
for his invention.)

tombaker
(yes that's my real name)
                                   (My employer's opinion's are not my own.)
                                   (I am self-employed)

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 93 15:05:47 EET
From: [e-mail] (F.Baube[tm])
Subject: DC-X Publicity

Here's the only publicity DC-X will ever need
to get it into the public's consciousness:

Have made a full-size inflatable replica to
fly in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade !!

--
* Fred Baube (tm)         * "Government had broken down. I found the
* [e-mail]       *  experience invigorating." -- Maurice Grimaud,
* #include <disclaimer.h> *  Paris prefect of police in May 1968

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

Date: 15 May 1993 22:26:00 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: DC-X Publicity
Newsgroups: sci.space

No.  Do this.

Have the DC-X1, make an unscheduled landing at teh 50 yard
line during the halftime show of This years Superbowl.

ABC  will have more reporters there  for that,  then at
any news event.

pat

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

Date: 15 May 1993 22:27:02 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: DC-X Publicity
Newsgroups: sci.space

Even better.  Make up pete conrad in a Martian Suit,
and have him get ou;t  and throw a football
to the refs.

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

Date: 15 May 1993 10:59:10 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: HST Servicing Mission Scheduled for 11 Days
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.astro

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>This is a real world too.  You can't do science like this with out doing
>politics as well, unfortunately.  Good PR keep the $$ coming in.
>

"Do you know what makes rocket ships fly?  Funding, makes them fly.
No Bucks,  No Buck Rogers" :-)


>> Staplers  cost money.  information does not constitute
>> mis allocation of government resources.
>it sure can.  If the 'research' does not follow its charter or is used
>for someone's personal gain it is misuse.  period.



Bob,

    I think you are missing the point.   If an agency has gathered some data
on something.  and once tax dollars have been spent,  the data is now
Property of the people of the US government.  The government may
charge to recover some of the cost,  or they may charge to maintain
the data,  but they cannot claim the data  is proprietary,  unless it
is classified national security data.

I live down the road from NIH.  THey run studies all the time.
I can go into their  library  and  photocoppy all the raw data from
any study thev'e  done.   Just bring a roll of quarters.

I'm not saying you guys don't have internal rules,  but they are
not supported by US law.

pat

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

Date: 15 May 1993 22:23:34 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Interesting DC-X cost anecdote
Newsgroups: sci.space

That's assuming it could get built by them.

Of course,  it would probably sport Cruise missile Racks,
Sidewinder Missile tubes,  Bomb Points,  extra drop tanks,
a Full ECM suite, Terrain following radar  and stealth
materials.

IT might not fly,  but a technology demonstrator does
not require  actual flight.

:-)
pat

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

Date: 16 May 93 00:47:54 GMT
From: Chris Colby <[e-mail]>
Subject: Life on Earth (or elsewhere :-)
Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.origins

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tom) writes:

>    What evidence is there that there is a trend towards greater
>species diversity over time? What I see going on right now is a major
>extinction event, and  it isn't clear to me that the diversity 10K years
>ago was necessarily greater than 600 million years ago.

Well, there are several bursts in species diversity I can think of.
The Cambrian and Ordovician explosions resulted in a vast increase
in animal diversity. Likewise, after the one-two punch of the
Permian and Triassic extinctions, the number of marine animals
rose steadily (**) to an all-time high (*) just prior to the spread
of humans.

(**) biggest exception being the K/T (bye bye dinos) extinction

(*) about 800 families

Also, plants arose from green algae and colonized the land in
succesive sweeps. Mosses colonized very wet environments first,
ferns (who had evolved vascular tissues) took over more territory
when they evolved (1). These were eventually (mostly) replaced by gymnosperms
(pines and the like) (2) and then (mostly) displaced by angiosperms (flowering
plants -- now the dominant plant group on the planet(3). Fungi
also radiated greatly with the invasion of the land.

(1) around the carboniferous (up to about 200 families)
(2) around the triassic (up to maybe 250 families)
(3) starting in the cretaceous (rising to about 600 families currently)

It's unclear (to me at least) what the max equilibrium number
of species the earth can hold (***) and if it has ever hit this
in the past. It could be (warning: speculation alert) that
diversity has never reached a peak because mass extinctions
happen often enough to keep the total number down.

(***) This would depend a great deal on how fragmented
specific ecosystems were.

See Cowen's book "History of Life" for a not-too-technical
run-down on, well, like the title sez, the history of life.
Or see, Wilson's "Diversity of Life" for a view centered more
on current ecology -- this is (IMHO) the best popular biology
book of (what the hell, I'll say it) all time.

>                            James Nicoll

Follow-ups to t.o.

Chris Colby     ---     email: [e-mail]    ---
"'My boy,' he said, 'you are descended from a long line of determined,
resourceful, microscopic tadpoles--champions every one.'"
     --Kurt Vonnegut from "Galapagos"

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 11:13:37 GMT
From: Paul Dietz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Life on Mars.
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John McKernan) writes:

> Some new information has been discovered recently. Microscopic fossils
> have been found in VERY old rocks. The theory is that this life is so
> old that it must have been destroyed during the periodic intense
> meteorite bombardments that were a feature of the early solar system.
> Under this theory life originated on Earth multiple times (between
> multiple meteorite bombardments), and therefore the conditions for
> the creation of life cannot be that unlikely.


This was all badly reported in the news.  There is no evidence that
signs of life found in old rock predate putative planet-sterilizing
events.  Rather, the argument was that if life arose shortly the last
sterilizing event, then it must be easily formed.  The *inference*
was that life originated before and was destroyed, but there was
no evidence of that.

However, even this argument is flawed.  It could well be that origin of
life requires specific conditions (say, a certain composition of the
atmosphere) that do not last for long.  So, perhaps life formed
early only because it would have had no other chance to do so,
not because it was likely that life would originate under those
conditions.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 08:10:08 GMT
From: Dick Wilmot <[e-mail]>
Subject: looking for PLANET MAPS
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro

[e-mail] (Josh Hopkins) writes:

>[e-mail] (Tim "Spock" Larson) writes:

>> Where can I get topographical maps of Mars, Venus, other terrestrial
>>bodies?

>I still use the old National Geographic maps from the Apollo and Viking eras.

>The other people to ask would be the US Geological Survey.  They have maps of
>just about everything.  Unfortunately, I do not have their address.

There is an office on the middle left US coast on Middlefield Road in
Menlo Park, CA [phone]

>--
>Josh Hopkins                                          [e-mail]
>            "Find a way or make one."
>                 -attributed to Hannibal
--
          Dick Wilmot
          Editor, Independent RAID Report
          [phone]

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 93 18:04 GMT
From: THE ARTSTONE COLLECTIVE <[e-mail]>
Subject: Near Miss Asteroids

If by chance you answered my request for NEO Asteroids in the last two days
please send them to me directly. I by mistake deleted instead of read
all the space-request messages .

Thanks and sorry.

Harry G. Osoff
Science & Technology Editor
Access News Network

[e-mail]

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

Date: 15 May 1993 08:42:05 -0400
From: Matthew DeLuca <[e-mail]>
Subject: Over zealous shuttle critics
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Phil G. Fraering) writes:
>[e-mail] (Pat) writes:

>>    the shuttle reminds me of Brunels  Boat.
>>    what was it, the"great western"???  the one
>>    that bankrupted him, and broke his health.

>I don't remember the name of said boat, but it eventually went
>on to do great things; it laid the first transatlantic cable, for
>instance.

>Doesn't remind me of the shuttle at all.

Everyone said the boat (I'm fairly sure it was the Great Northern) was a
complete waste as well, but it had it's virtues.  Likewise, when the shuttles
are long dead and gone I'm fairly certain they will be considered a major
step forward in manned spaceflight.  Sure, they're expensive, less than
amazingly reliable, and they don't live up to their original promises, but
fifty years from now those won't be the criteria by which they are judged.
--
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:      ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 15:27:50 GMT
From: James Davis Nicoll <[e-mail]>
Subject: SDIO kaput!
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>
>Liberals just don't like technology.
>
>Liberals would rather waste tax money on social programs. I for one think
>our space program would go a long way if the welfare system wasn't sucking
>money away from it, stunting our technological development.>

    Funny, I don't generally hear Richard Nixon  called a liberal, but I
guess he  must be  on this  scale. Can anyone remember under  which President
NASA  had peak funding  1960-1975?

    Seems kinda pinko-leftist to rely on the State to fund space
exploration.  Some people might call it 'wefare for engineers.' Isn't
that  just like a  leftist to assume programs he  likes should be forced
on the general  population, even though there doesn't appear to be a
general desire for a Soviet style program.

                            James Nicoll

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

Date: 15 May 1993 08:34:42 -0400
From: Matthew DeLuca <[e-mail]>
Subject: Shuttle vs Delta Clipper
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Josh Hopkins) writes:
>[e-mail] (Ken Hayashida) writes:

>>[...] Doesn't it strike you as unusual to propose reversing the attitude of
>>large rocket and ignite its engines while in the atmosphere?

>A great many rockets light engines inside the atmosphere.  Many of them also do
>significant manuevering, albeit not quite this extreme.  However, you shouldn't
>be afraid of "unsual" techniques.  Be afraid of bad ones.  The landing profile
>is going to be one of the hard parts of the DC-X program, but thats why you
>build a test vehicle instead of the real thing.

Official net prediction: twenty years from now, after it's been determined
that 98.73% of all people toss their cookies during the DC-1's flip-up
maneuver, we'll have Henry Spencer Jr. posting to the descendant of this
newsgroup lamenting the days of the straightforward and simple Shuttle landing
profile. :-)
--
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:      ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew
Internet: [e-mail]

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

Date: 15 May 93 18:27:35 GMT
From: "Thomas A. Baker" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Soyuz and Shuttle Comparisons
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>The most revealing comparison between Shuttle and Soyuz is cost. All
>other comparisons are apples and oranges.
>
>--- Maximus 2.01wb

I like this statement, though for my own reasons.  Cost comparisons depend
a lot on whether the two options are similar, and *then* it becomes very
revealing to consider what their differences are.  Can Soyuz launch the
Long Exposure Facility?  Course not.  Will the Shuttle take my television
relay to LEO by year's end?  Almost certainly not, but the Russians are
pretty good about making space accessible on a tight schedule.

Comparing S and SS points up that there are TWO active space
launcher-and-work-platform resources, with similarities and differences.
Where they are in direct competition, we may get to see some market
economics come into play.

tombaker
                                   --------------------------------------
                                   My employer's opinions are not my own.
                                   I am self-employed.

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 21:09:27 GMT
From: Paul Carroll <[e-mail]>
Subject: Vandenberg launches?
Newsgroups: sci.space

I know about the phone numbers, etc. to get Kennedy/Canaveral
launch information, but is there any equivalent way of finding out
about launches at Vandenberg?  I went to the COBE launch in '89,
but I remember that as being just a special case where it was
well-publicized beforehand.  Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks.

                    Paul Carroll
                    Microtec Research Inc.
                    [e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 22:23:12 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Vandenberg launches?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Carroll) writes:
>I know about the phone numbers, etc. to get Kennedy/Canaveral
>launch information, but is there any equivalent way of finding out
>about launches at Vandenberg?

Bear in mind that a lot of the Vandenberg launch traffic is military and
at least semi-secret.  They aren't interested in publicizing it beforehand.
--
SVR4 resembles a high-speed collision   | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
between SVR3 and SunOS.    - Dick Dunn  |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 93 20:01:48 MDT
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Horan)
Subject: White Sands & DC-X

It is interesting to note in the past few days' correspondance that some
believe that poor old New Mexico is not capable of hosting a commercial
space launch business.  For many reasons, it can, and we here on the front
lines see no reason why it should not.  The 'spaceport political publicity'
referred to the other day had its intended effect - the state of New Mexico
did establish the start of the necessary government infrastructure to back a
commercial space port.  The commanding general at WSMR is in full support of
dual-use for the facilities.  The WSMR location also has some strategic
advantages in the form of necessary infrastructure and controlled air space
to support the project.  Just because the folks involved have not done the
traditional aerospace-equivalent of vapor-ware by inviting folks out to kick
non-existent tires but have been merely doing their job to prepare for
launch, don't think that nothing has happened.  From my interactions with
the MACDAC folks, I get the impression that they want to set a firm,
believable launch date based on vehicle readiness and not just some fiction
to plug a space on a calendar.  I believe that all will happen this summer
and don't worry, the locals here are planning to let everyone know when it
does occur.
Stephen Horan
[e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 22:15:40 GMT
From: "Phil G. Fraering" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Who is Henry Spencer anyway?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Someone named Hansk asked about pictures.

Well, there is an archive of portraits in xfaces format at
ftp.uu.net. Henry Spencer's picture is there somewhere, along
with several thousand others.

I don't remember the path, though it should be easy to find.
Remember, though, it seems to use both internet and uucp
addresses.

--
Phil Fraering         |"Number one good faith! You convert,
[e-mail]|you not tortured by demons!" - anon. Mahen missionary

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

Date: Sat, 15 May 1993 23:05:15 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Who is Henry Spencer anyway?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Hans Kinwel) writes:
>My god!  You dare posting!  I posed these very questions to Mr Spencer
>some time ago by email.  Unfortunately I never received any response.

Apologies...  Your mail is probably in the pile that arrived just before
I got sick about a month ago...  A reply will appear eventually...

>Now, what I really would like to see is an interview with Mr Spencer. A
>magazine (photograph!), or even better a tv program. (No! I want both!)

So far, there have been none (unless you count an interview in The Amateur
Computerist about the history of netnews, which may be disqualified because
TAC's budget doesn't run to reproducing photos...).
--
SVR4 resembles a high-speed collision   | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
between SVR3 and SunOS.    - Dick Dunn  |  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

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

Date: Sun, 16 May 1993 02:36:41 GMT
From: Mary Shafer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Who is Henry Spencer anyway?
Newsgroups: sci.space

On Sat, 15 May 1993 01:45:54 GMT, [e-mail] (Hans Kinwel) said:

Hans> As somebody replied on whether the space shuttle is connected to
Hans> Usenet: "No. Of course the main flow of information would be up,
Hans> unless Henry Spencer would be aboard, in which case the main
Hans> flow of information would be down."

Gene Miya says that Henry will never go aloft in the Shuttle; the
payload bay isn't big enough for his chocolate chip cookies.

When Henry was here at Dryden, he was looking pretty covetously at the
SR-71s and the F-104s, even though they don't have much cookie space.
I guess he figured that he could manage for a short flight....
--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
[e-mail]                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot

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

Date: 15 May 1993 22:31:20 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Why we like DC-X (was Re: Shuttle 0-Defects & Bizarre? DC-X?)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes:
>(However, I do agree with Richard that if you're planning short missions,
>it may not be worth the trouble of providing anything more than a urine-
>disposal rig and a few baggies.)

I don't know about C-5's,  but on C-130's  which are regularly used
for Medium  haul  Personnel transport by the Army,  only have a
funnel and a garden hose  in the aft.  The female personnel
hate long trips in the box cars.

pat

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

Date: 15 May 1993 11:07:15 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Yoo hoo, White Sands? (was Re: DC-X Status?)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>In the desert they wouldn't have the problems with high humidity that occur
>at coastal launch facilities.  I mean, humidity plus cryogenic fuels adds
>up to major ice problems.
>

IT seems to not ba a najor problem at KSC or vandenburg.

Water is nice for spaceports.   if it crashes,  no-one lives on water, much.

>Plus the weather would be much more predictable, and range safety would
>be IMHO the same or even easier for a desert launch area.
>
I don't think so.

WSMC  is pretty empty,  but people who live in the sierra further out.
are in some risk.   Until a DC-1  is fully proved out,  water is a
little less dense.
 in terms of population.

Once the Clipper gets running,  they want to land them at conventional airports.

>In the event of a accident with a manned DC-vehicle (god forbid) an ejecting
>crew wouldn't have to contend with the added hazard of landing in the water,
>and it would definitely make recovering debris easier for the accident
>investigation.
>

My understanding is that for ejection seats,  water is better
for landing in.  you needa life vest,  but  no  hard impact
on landing.




pat

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

Date: 15 May 1993 11:28:22 -0400
From: Matthew DeLuca <[e-mail]>
Subject: Yoo hoo, White Sands? (was Re: DC-X Status?)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <1t30v3$[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pat) writes:

>IT [ice] seems to not ba a najor problem at KSC or vandenburg.

Major problem, no, but icing is always a concern with cryogenics.  It is
something that needs to be watched, and if you can reduce the problem by
flying in the desert you might as well.

>Once the Clipper gets running,  they want to land them at conventional
>airports.

It's a bit early to be thinking about that, and it may make better sense to
have separate spaceports and airports anyway.  One possible problem with
regular rocket flights out of airports is that of air traffic control; at a
congested airport like O'Hare or Kennedy or Atlanta, it could be difficult to
come up with a clear vertical launch corridor.  Then, of course, you've got
the problem of coming back down in an abort condition...I'm not sure we could
do it all safely with our current ATC setup, and the costs of the upgrades
and changes needed might not be worth the expense without a *really* high
flight rate.
--
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:      ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!matthew
Internet: [e-mail]

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

End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 576
------------------------------