henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (02/25/91)
Launch of the next Almaz radarsat slips to late Jan [I believe it has since slipped further] due to delays in testing of the data-relay system. Astro-1's Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope team, after first looks at UIT's film, are very happy: alignment on targets seems to have been excellent and stability during long exposures was adequate. Photograph of the Gulf area by moonlight, taken by the Astro-1 crew. Both Spot and Eosat say the remote-sensing market is starting to grow rapidly and they expect double-digit sales growth in 1991. Spot sales in the second half of 1990 exceeded total sales in 1989 [although the Gulf might perhaps have had something to do with that...] and their projected growth rate in 1991 is 30%. NASA to establish a Nuclear Propulsion Systems Office at Lewis, as a joint project with DoE and DoD, to resume work in advanced propulsion. [About %$#$%#$%ing time!!!] The official goal is a functional test engine by 2005 to support Moon/Mars efforts. Both nuclear-thermal [classical nuclear rockets] and nuclear-electric [nuclear-powered ion thrusters] are being considered, and the choice will be made late this decade. There will also be some funding for high-risk-high-payoff concepts like gaseous-core reactors. NASA's last formal nuclear-rocket project died in 1973. Japan's Superbird A, a nearly new large comsat, died Dec 23. On Dec 18 a valve either malfunctioned or was left open, and most of the oxidizer in the maneuvering system leaked off into space. The loss of attitude control made the satellite useless and it was shut down. Massive insurance claims are already being filed [with lawsuits to follow, I shouldn't wonder...]. This failure is especially nasty because Superbird B was lost in the Ariane failure last Feb, and a replacement cannot be launched before November. Space Communications Corp. is trying to lease transponders on other satellites in the interim, and JC-Sat has agreed to make capacity available on JCSat 1 and 2. Postmortem on the Dedicated Display Units that failed aboard Astro-1 shows identical failures, tentatively the result of debris clogging heat sinks. The debris is still being analyzed but "...it looked like it consisted of blue lint, human hair of several different colors, several colors of paint chips, a piece of food that looked like a piece of a peanut, and some clear bits, probably of glass and plastic". The source of the debris is not known, but Astro-1 spent six months waiting for launch due to hydrogen leaks and other problems, and there was a lot of activity aboard the orbiter meanwhile. [Also of note is that the DDUs reportedly have a history of overheating problems.] Pictures of Earth and Moon from the Galileo flyby Dec 8. Nothing remarkable. GAO says that NASA has not maintained its facilities adequately, and this has led to recent incidents that are starting to threaten major failures. Mission-critical facilities like the pads and the orbiter-processing building are in good shape, but other buildings are starting to suffer. KSC has had to install a net under the deteriorating ceiling of the VAB to keep concrete fragments from striking workers or equipment. Except for JPL, which is operated by Caltech, NASA centers are spending only about 1% of the replacement value of facilities annually on maintenance, and 2-4 times that is needed. (JPL spends 2.3%.) Minor electrical fire at KSC due to an error during improvements to ground power supplies in the Orbiter Processing Facility Dec 14. Discovery powered down 16 hours during troubleshooting. No damage to flight hardware, and no schedule impact is expected. Aerospace Ambassadors, of Huntsville, a nonprofit tour organization, signs with NPO Energia for exclusive rights to tours of Baikonur. AA has already done two test tours to Baikonur, which were allowed to visit facilities like shuttle pads and processing bays that are typically off-limits in the US. Weather-satellite picture of the Gulf area, showing thunderstorm activity that might affect military preparations. [Not seriously, as it turned out.] -- "But this *is* the simplified version | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology for the general public." -S. Harris | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
szabo@crg5.UUCP (Nick Szabo) (02/25/91)
In article <1991Feb25.013310.8439@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >NASA to establish a Nuclear Propulsion Systems Office at Lewis, as a >joint project with DoE and DoD, to resume work in advanced propulsion. >[About %$#$%#$%ing time!!!] The official goal is a functional test >engine by 2005 to support Moon/Mars efforts. Both nuclear-thermal >[classical nuclear rockets] and nuclear-electric [nuclear-powered >ion thrusters] are being considered.... I agree, this is great news! This is another step NASA can take to get back into the technology development instead of technology operation business. (For some other worthwhile items to pursue, see the Japanese Space Program thread). Nuclear rockets are of course not tied to the Moon or Mars; they would be especially useful for visiting asteroids, comets, and Jupiter. They might even replace chemical rockets as GEO comsat upper stages. >Pictures of Earth and Moon from the Galileo flyby Dec 8. Nothing remarkable. Some interesting new angles, though. Also, think about the resolution, and compare it to Voyager.... if Galileo makes it out there, we're going to have some _incredible_ pictures of Io (volcanoes and the most differentiated geology in the solar system) and Europa (complex patterns of melting ice and dirt and ????? <- we could find out!) and many of the other moons (I hope they get a shot at Metis.... :-) Here's another item for NASA -- how about a Galileo follow-on? After Galileo runs out of steam, it would be good to have something at Jupiter to look closer at all the new things Galileo has found and new questions it has raised. Nothing ambitious -- just a small Jupiter orbiter to be launched by a Delta or Atlas/Centaur, containing a smaller, more modern bus and instruments (I would guess that we can fit instruments with a resolution similar to Galileo's on a Delta if we try). If we start now it could get there by the time Galileo poops out. Whadya think? -- Nick Szabo szabo@sequent.com "What are the _facts_, and to how many decimal places?" -- RAH
masticol@athos.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) (02/25/91)
Henry Spencer writes: > Postmortem on the Dedicated Display Units that failed aboard Astro-1 > shows identical failures, tentatively the result of debris clogging > heat sinks. The debris is still being analyzed but "...it looked > like it consisted of blue lint, human hair of several different colors, > several colors of paint chips, a piece of food that looked like a > piece of a peanut, and some clear bits, probably of glass and plastic". Slobs. Oh, well. Given that this is probably going to happen again, is there a reasonable way to instrument the heat sinks so that they can detect clogging, and design them so that they can be cleaned in space? Even a small temperature or airflow sensor would be adequate instrumentation, if the heat sinks were designed for maintenance in flight. I thought that the ability to maintain equipment was supposed to be one of the purposes of having a human presence in space. - Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu)