henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (09/19/88)
[Aviation Week & Space Technology subscription address is PO Box 1505, Neptune NJ 07754 USA. Rates depend on whether you are an "unqualified" or "qualified" subscriber, which basically means whether you look at the ads for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or out of genuine commercial or military interest. Best write for a "qualification card" and try to get the cheap rate. US rate is $58 qualified, higher for unqualified. It's weekly, it's thicker than Time or Newsweek, and most of it has nothing to do with space, so consider whether the price is worth it to you.] Australia completes develoment and test of its Endeavor UV astronomy package, which fits in two Getaway Special cans; it is now awaiting a shuttle launch slot. First Delta 2 launch slips to early next year due to a variety of minor technical problems. [Another possible issue is that it's rumored that the USAF people at the Cape are not too happy about the northeast launch heading needed to reach the high-inclination Navstar orbit -- it crosses populated areas (Europe) too soon for the range-safety folks' liking.] John Denver, the singer, who has been interested in a shuttle ride for a long time, has asked the Soviets about buying a Soyuz trip to Mir. They quoted him a price of $10M, and said that he had to get permission from the US government. The State Dept. has officially said that it has "no position" on the matter: "We very carefully did not endorse his going, but at the same time we can't prevent US citizens from going to exotic places." [It is reported that the Soviets have raised the price to $12M. Maybe they've listened to some of his music. :-)] Big story on early work on the international "Mission To Earth" project, now a major focus of the 1992 International Space Year. Initial efforts will focus on the greenhouse effect, deforestation, and standardizing data formats so that countries can use each other's data. There is broad political support for it, and various major environmental problems of late have strengthened the case. USAF selects Boeing, General Dynamics, and the Martin Marietta / McDonnell Douglas team as the finalists in the Advanced Launch System effort. All three will do detailed design work in the next two years. There is no longer a requirement for a near-term interim ALS; the late 1990s is now the target date. Boeing's earlier concept -- they will not say whether this is their current best idea -- looked somewhat like a shuttle minus the SRBs, with the winged part being a flyback booster and the "external tank" part being the core that would go on to orbit. General Dynamics is looking at a concept with two side-by-side stages, both firing at liftoff but only one (with fewer engines) going all the way to orbit with a payload on top; the "first" stage engines would be recovered and reused a few times before final use on a "second" stage. MM/MD has three ideas, all using a common core stage: #1 uses solid strap-ons in various numbers, #2 uses liquid strap-ons with the same engine type as the core, #3 uses either one or two flyback boosters. Arianespace signs six very small satellites for piggyback launch on the Ariane 4 that carries Spot 2 up, using a new small-payload platform to fit in the lower part of the payload fairing. Max total mass is 200 kg, max individual mass is 40 kg. The six are amateur-radio satellites, two from U of Surrey and four from Amsat. Target launch date is June 1989, but it could be as early as January if Spot Image invokes a clause in its contract that could be used to give Spot 2 special priority. Rocketdyne engineers are assessing a possible problem with excessive shaft travel in a LOX pump on one of Discovery's main engines. It is within spec but surprisingly large for the brief FRF test. [I believe this is now thought to have been measurement error.] With the exception of the possible small hydrogen leak, suspected to be due to microscopic changes in the shapes of seals at cryogenic temperatures, no other significant problems surfaced after the FRF. Space is, surprisingly, becoming a bit of a political issue in the US election, perhaps because the resumption of shuttle flights will occur not long before the election, and there is heavy space involvement in several key election states. Dukakis and Bentsen visit NASA centers. Dukakis comes out more strongly in favor of "a permanently manned space station" than before. Republican Party platform calls for a manned Mars mission and resumption of lunar exploration (eventually). NASA's inspector general begins investigation into last year's award of $360k to establish an industry association for commercial space firms. This is a large lump by normal NASA educational/nonprofit grant standards, and ex-NASA people are involved. A lot of questions are being asked. Final pre-launch SRB test was run Aug 18, successful at first glance. West German commercial crystal-growth experiment, flown as a secondary payload on a Chinese satellite, is recovered and returned to Germany. Initial results look good. Several articles on recent SDI technology work. NASA studying yet another possible shuttle hazard: noctilucent clouds, high-altitude ice-crystal clouds which are not uncommon at high latitudes in summer. The problem is what happens if a reentering shuttle goes through one: they occur at altitudes where the shuttle is still at near-orbital velocities. Simulations suggest that the shuttle might "skip" on the cloud layer, producing large navigational errors and attitude changes, and it is possible that the crystals might erode the shuttle tiles. Three studies are underway: one aimed at understanding the clouds better (not a lot is known about them, and one major unknown is whether the ice crystals are big enough to get through the shuttle's shock wave without vaporizing), one studying the effects of substantial tile erosion during reentry, and one looking at the operational impact of using only low-latitude reentry tracks. The latter would be a nuisance because for high-inclination missions, reentry windows for low-latitude tracks generally occur in the middle of the crews' sleep period. Another issue is that nobody is *certain* that noctilucent clouds don't occur at low latitudes or in winter. That aside, the clouds are not an issue for STS-26, which will be in a low-inclination orbit. It looks like automated production technology will be a major issue in the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor competition, if NASA's proposed specs for quality and reliability are to be met while staying within cost and performance targets. [This sounds ominously like NASA is pushing a bit too hard.] The definitive ASRM RFP, expected mid-July, has not come out as of mid-August; Congressional funding battles are believed to be the reason. Morton Thiokol has officially withdrawn from ASRM, but NASA still classes them as a potential bidder. There is speculation that MT may try to use lobbying and its Congressional allies to kill ASRM, by proposing a less ambitious souped-up version of the current SRB at lower cost. ASRM will be [sigh] a segmented design, due to the development risks involved in casting million-pound quantities of propellant in one go. [Yet another case of NASA telling the contractors how to do their jobs, instead of setting performance specs and watching how well the jobs are done. And a silly one, too: one-piece big motors have been built and fired successfully. (Under NASA contract, yet.)] The casing will be lighter and the propellant more powerful than the current SRB, with a "saddle" in the thrust profile to eliminate the need to throttle back the main engines during the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure. (NASA engineers would like to see the main engines messed with as little as possible early in flight, when safe aborts in the event of major engine trouble are tricky.) Better production controls will reduce variation in performance between boosters. The proposed government-owned site, at Yellow Creek, Miss., has caused some concern because it is in a remote area that will be unattractive to workers; at least one of the bidders is proposing an alternate site as a hedge against practical or political problems with Yellow Creek. (In particular, Congress is lukewarm about the idea of making the plant government-owned.) Israel Aircraft Industries reserves 1993 Ariane launch slot for the first of two Amos domestic comsats to be built in Israel. The go-ahead for Amos is awaiting a decision from the Israeli government: funding and management are commercial but the Communications Ministry is a crucial customer. -- NASA is into artificial | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology stupidity. - Jerry Pournelle | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student) (09/20/88)
In article <1988Sep19.033649.29339@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo (Henry Spencer) writes: >John Denver, the singer, who has been interested in a shuttle ride for a >long time, has asked the Soviets about buying a Soyuz trip to Mir. They >quoted him a price of $10M, and said that he had to get permission from >the US government. This story was also covered in the 27 Sept Weekly World News. They had the extra information that the price tag did not cover "coffee and tea". Say, is it time for space news from WWN? The face on Mars, the WWII bomber on the moon, the first pansy alien, and much more! And at 65 cents a week (yes, Virginia, they raised their price), it's a lot cheaper than AW&ST. ucbvax!garnet!weemba Matthew P Wiener/Brahms Gang/Berkeley CA 94720