mike@bambi.UUCP (Michael Caplinger) (10/16/85)
Does anybody know if the Planetary Society is going to let members get anywhere near JPL during the Voyager Uranus encounter? Is there any way for regular civilians to get in otherwise? (Unfortunately, my Caltech ID is a few years out of date.) If I can figure out how to sneak in, when is closest approach? - Mike
jon@CIT-VAX.ARPA (Jonathan P. Leech) (10/18/85)
Actually, having a Caltech ID would do you little good. During
Saturn encounter, I found JPL was relatively tightly sealed (except to
the press). Even if you could get in, the most interesting areas
(Mission Operations and the press conferences in Von Karman
Auditorium) are much more difficult, being filled with press types.
However, during those encounters there were monitors placed all
around Tech receiving real-time feed from JPL as the pictures came
in. I suspect they'll do it again. There's no problem with access to
Tech (only in wanting to stay...)
Quoting from the document
`Voyager Bulletin / Mission Status Report # 68, April 10, 1985':
" ... Voyager 2 will make its closest approach to Uranus on
January 24, 1986, passing within 110,000 kilometers (68,000
miles) of the planet's center."
" Extended observations of Uranus will begin on November 4, 1985
and continue through Februrary 25, 1986. Future issues of the
Voyager Bulletin will focus on preparations for the encounter,
including the health of the spacecraft, science objectives for
the encounter, and capabilities for sending and receiving data
over large distances."
" Uranus, its rings, and satellite orbits present a bull's-eye
target to Voyager 2; the planet is tilted on its rotational
axis and the illuminated pole presently points almost directly
to the sun. This unique orientation means that significant
events of the Uranus encounter, such as satellite encounters
and ring plane crossing, will be compressed into about 5-1/2
hours, as compared to 35 hours for the approach to Jupiter's
Galilean satellites and 13 days for the satellites out to
Phoebe's orbit at Saturn."
Current issues of this publication can probably be obtained by
writing:
Public Information Office
F. E. Bristow, Manager
Mail Code 180-200
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, Ca. 91109
(818)-354-4321
Note that this address came from the Institute directory so I
make no guarantees of its reliability.
-- Jon Leech (jon@cit-vax.arpa)
__@/ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (10/21/85)
> Does anybody know if the Planetary Society is going to let members get > anywhere near JPL during the Voyager Uranus encounter? I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. > (Unfortunately, my Caltech ID is a few years out of date.) Alas, mine too. :-) But once upon a time it sufficed to get me in to watch some live photos come back from the first Mercury encounter -- so who knows? Alan Silverstein
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (10/22/85)
I had occasion to visit my old haunts at JPL on Friday (a working day off
for me) where I had a chance to revisit old friends [wow! some soon to
be Shuttle mission specialists, others proposing Uranus orbiters]
and meet new JPL people who read this news group. I had a chance to
stop by and see a few Voyager images which is what you want to hear about.
First, there is not much detail to see. Yes, there is a fuzzy, disk
(looks a bit like distant shots of Titan, Saturn's methane covered moon).
It is a side view maybe 3/4 full. The satellites are visible, but only
as points. The images I saw were tinted with blue, probably the
same one Doug and others report. I didn't get a chance to see a histogram
of the images as a spent less time with imaging team and more time with
HyperCube people.
Second, you [I forgot to tell you this] can get these images from
the JPL by writing the public information office [don't mention me,
that doesn't help] or get tours of the Lab thru PIO. Black and White
Voyager Bulletins are available without charge while supplies last.
They are typically a page or two with one photo and text. Better to
know someone currently working there on the project.
Encounter is sometime in January 1986.
From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:
--eugene miya
NASA Ames Research Center
{hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene
emiya@ames-vmsbfc@spuxll.UUCP (fc) (10/25/85)
>> Does anybody know if the Planetary Society is going to let members get >> anywhere near JPL during the Voyager Uranus encounter? > I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most > of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. What was the reason for sending home "most of the JPL employees"? Statements like the above make me wonder what the Planetary Society/JPL/US Govt. etc would do if a confirmed encounter with intelligent non-earth life were made? Would there be full disclosure, or would there be a coverup to avoid a possible panic?
ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (10/28/85)
>> I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most >> of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. > > What was the reason for sending home "most of the JPL employees"? All I remember is, we got some notice from our managers (dunno if it was in writing), and I don't think we were paid for the time. My vague memory is that it was paranoia about someone (anyone, even a JPL employee) somehow wrecking the landing, or even just the receipt of the data during the landing. Remember, JPL is in California, where it's taken for granted that weirdos abound. The honchos probably worried about some anti-science cult attempt to gain attention and/or prevent "heresy". Alan Silverstein
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (10/29/85)
> >> Does anybody know if the Planetary Society is going to let members get > >> anywhere near JPL during the Voyager Uranus encounter? > > > I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most > > of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. > > What was the reason for sending home "most of the JPL employees"? > > Statements like the above make me wonder what the > Planetary Society/JPL/US Govt. etc would do if a confirmed encounter > with intelligent non-earth life were made? Would there be full disclosure, > or would there be a coverup to avoid a possible panic? I cannot verify the statement on Viking. They did not send people home on Voyager encounter days, but I can see reasons why: the Parking Situation at the Lab is the "1" topic of discussion. Strictly pragmatic. I've posted this response before: Regarding Government paranoia: the Planetary Society would have no official way of transmitting such info. I suspect most scientists would not know what do do if such an event happened. I'll ask the SETI people for you, however, they are several buildings over. I will give you two insight based on two events. The first took place after the release of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Lunchtime discussion [highly official stuff this ;-) !] centered around the handling and the portrail of the Government. Several planetary scientists [no name please] at the table came to the conclusion that if an encounter occurred as portraried in the film, they [these scientists] would use a cover much like the nerve gas cover in the film. It was not clear to my friends that exposure to the general public would be health for aliens or the public, to the point of using nerve gas to keep civilians away. On the other hand, as Sagan would point out, a civilization capable of interstellar travel could damn well inform as much of the Earth as it well pleased. The second real incident occurred during the 1st encounter with Voyager at lunch again. A day or so after encounter. A planetary scientist [this person was responsible for teaching Neil Armstrong about the geology of the Moon] walked up to the table, tray in hand and said, "Guys, you aren't going to believe this, but they think this discovered a volcano erupting on Io [nearest large Moon of Jupiter]." Someone else, "Why do you realize the odds of actually taking a photograph of such an event?" Later an official meeting was held to cover the release of this information which occurred three days later. Clearly all sorts of checking and official wording was taking place. Nothing like actually being at the Lab when its happening. More later upon talking to SETI friends. From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb
rivero@kovacs.UUCP (Michael Foster Rivero) (11/08/85)
In article <22000009@hpfcla.UUCP> ajs@hpfcla.UUCP writes: >>> I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most >>> of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. >> >> What was the reason for sending home "most of the JPL employees"? > >All I remember is, we got some notice from our managers (dunno if it was >in writing), and I don't think we were paid for the time. My vague >memory is that it was paranoia about someone (anyone, even a JPL >employee) somehow wrecking the landing, or even just the receipt of the >data during the landing. Remember, JPL is in California, where it's >taken for granted that weirdos abound. The honchos probably worried >about some anti-science cult attempt to gain attention and/or prevent >"heresy". > >Alan Silverstein As a flight controller for the Viking Missions, I would like to clear the air a little. The employees who were sent home were not sent home because they were suspected wierdos! They were sent home to gaurentee a reduced load on all power / computer systems. Viking had already suffered bad press for missing the Bi- Centennial landing date on July Fourth, and JPL was taking no chances on the landing itself. Every piece of computer gear was on standby, and sending everyone home was deemed the best way to keep 'em off the time sharing systems. JPL people are NOT weird. Just delightfully eccentric! Michael Rivero First Order Viking Lander Image Processing
wb6rqn@yojna1.UUCP (Brian Lloyd) (11/10/85)
> >> I doubt it. When the Viking missions landed in '76, they sent home most > >> of the JPL employees (!) for half a day. > > > > What was the reason for sending home "most of the JPL employees"? > > All I remember is, we got some notice from our managers (dunno if it was > in writing), and I don't think we were paid for the time. My vague > memory is that it was paranoia about someone (anyone, even a JPL > employee) somehow wrecking the landing, or even just the receipt of the > data during the landing. Remember, JPL is in California, where it's > taken for granted that weirdos abound. The honchos probably worried > about some anti-science cult attempt to gain attention and/or prevent > "heresy". > > Alan Silverstein Heck, they let me in. I sat next to Leonard Nimoy. There is nothing like high-powered intellectual capability to liven up a party, I always say! Brian Lloyd ...![bellcore!cp1]!yojna1!wb6rqn
julian@osu-eddie.UUCP (Julian Gomez) (11/19/85)
> All I remember is, we got some notice from our managers (dunno if it was > in writing), and I don't think we were paid for the time. My vague > memory is that it was paranoia about someone (anyone, even a JPL > employee) somehow wrecking the landing, or even just the receipt of the > data during the landing. Remember, JPL is in California, where it's > taken for granted that weirdos abound. The honchos probably worried > about some anti-science cult attempt to gain attention and/or prevent > "heresy". > > Alan Silverstein They must have lightened up after that. For the Voyager/Jupiter and Pioneer/Saturn encounters in 1979 they didn't make any mention of sending anyone home, including non-mission staff. (I was at JPL from 77-81) -- "If Chaos himself sat umpire, what better could he do?" Julian "a tribble took it" Gomez Computer Graphics Research Group, The Ohio State University {ucbvax,decvax}!cbosg!osu-eddie!julian