henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (11/29/88)
[A light news week.] Congress forces SDI to give NASA $96.5M in FY89 funds for ALS propulsion technology work. [There is considerable unhappiness about SDI being a major -- probably the major -- customer for ALS but not helping to fund it.] Soviet officials say they will appeal the US ban on US commercial use of Proton. State Dept says US position will not change. SDI plans a new launch vehicle for the Space-Based Interceptor, possibly a derivative of existing military missiles. ALS remains important to launch Phase 2 weapons, which will be much bigger and heavier. SDI changes Zenith Star space laser experiment to a two-parter, so it can use Titan 4 launches rather than needing its own improvised heavylift launcher. The optics will go up first, followed by the laser, for a teleoperated docking [a first for the US], possibly in late 1993. STS-26 crew remarks on relatively small number of problems experienced on their flight, a slight surprise considering the number of changes to the orbiter since 51L. Letter from Gary A. Davis, observing that the cost and development problems attributed to the space-station rescue vehicle are unnecessary, since Apollo hardware is well-proven and flight-tested [if perhaps a bit of work to revive] and there is no need to start development all over. Letter from O.P. Harwood: "...NASA has developed such an inflated belief in its capabilities that in this round [of space station design] the agency appointed itself prime contractor. The resulting edifice in Reston VA, now filled with compliant bureaucrats, is designed to ensure that the contractors and NASA centers will be overcompensated for as little as they accomplish. "Not long ago somebody else summed it up: `As long as NASA exists, the American public will harbor the delusion that we have a space program.' The cure is obvious." -- SunOSish, adj: requiring | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology 32-bit bug numbers. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
gtww2z9z%gables.span@umigw.miami.edu (Jason Gross) (11/30/88)
In article <1988Nov29.063434.12111@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: > Letter from O.P. Harwood: > > "Not long ago somebody else summed it up: `As long as NASA exists, > the American public will harbor the delusion that we have a space > program.' The cure is obvious." What might be the "obvious cure"? Could it be that we should just get rid of NASA? That would solve a whole lotta problems. The money could go to feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, and things like that. But then again, without NASA we would second to the Soviets not becuase of a highly politicized space agnecy, but becuase we didn't even try. That would be a real shame. Sincerely, Jason Gross Comp Sci Ugrad University of Miami Class of '91 (?) =========================================================================== "Women. You can't live | Mail your invigorating replies to: | For with them, and you can't | GTWW2Z9Z%Gables.Span@Umigw.Miami.Edu | Sale: shoot them, either." | (What a lovely address, isn't it now?) | $.05 ======================================================== IBM Sucks Silicon!