TAW%S1-A@sri-unix.UUCP (06/30/83)
From: Tom Wadlow <TAW@S1-A> Date: 21 Jun 83 4:05:49-PDT (Tue) From: harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix <con't> !ucbcad!ucbesvax.turner @ Ucb-Vax When you think of how the Russians have been doing soft ground- landings almost from the start, and how "splash-down" was SOP for the U.S. until the shuttle, one wonders whether the Navy didn't have some- thing to do with the American Way of Re-entry. Pomp and Circumstance for an event of indefinite location is a little easier to arrange on a movable surface like an aircraft carrier. Those Siberian Plump-Downs must be rather dismal affairs by comparison. I believe that the ''official'' reason for wet landings is a matter of both weight and safety. Why carry lots of shock absorbers into space when you've got a couple of nice cushy oceans right nearby. And the sudden stop at the end of a ground landing (even if the chutes *don't* fail) is nobody's idea of fun. As for the Russian Plump-Downs, for quite some time the Russian cosmonauts ejected from their Vostoks and landed separately, for exactly the same reasons of safety. This practice ended shortly before the flight of Valentina Tereshkova, I believe. (Side-note: Tereshkova was selected mostly on the basis of her looks, since she was flown primarily for publicity value. Since nobody wanted to take chances she was kept heavily sedated for the duration of the flight. During the landing, the sedative wore off, and when the spacecraft was found by the locals, they found the Heroine of the State outside the Voshkod, puking her guts out in a reaction to the drugs. So despite what the popular press has been saying, the first *qualified* woman to go into space was Svetlana Savitskaya, last year.) --Tom
HPM%SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (07/18/83)
From: Hans Moravec <HPM@SU-AI>
a220 1159 17 Jul 83
AM-Space Station, Bjt,750
Adviser Reverses Course on Manned Space Station
By HOWARD BENEDICT
AP Aerospace Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan's science adviser has reversed
course and asked the nation's space agency to prepare a ''grand
vision'' for the future that might include not only a U.S. space
station but eventually manned lunar bases and astronaut trips to Mars.
The adviser, George Keyworth, had been using his considerable
influence to oppose development of a space station.
This week, a NASA task force is assembling several hundred industry,
government, foreign and military planners to gather final ideas
before NASA presents its case to the president in the fall.
An indication of whether there really is a White House change of
heart will come in September when the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration submits its fiscal 1985 fiscal budget. It will contain
the first major funding request for a station, an estimated $60
million to $120 million.
Congressional support has been strong, with both houses forcing
money on NASA, which has been restrained by the Office of Management
and Budget. When the agency recently asked for $6 million more for
station design studies, the House voted to add $10 million and the
Senate $5 million.
Rep. Don Fuqua, D-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Science
and Technology, says, ''We need a firm presidential commitment to the
space station goal,'' and the next step is Reagan's.
Encouragement came in a little-publicized speech by Keyworth two
weeks ago to a technical group in Seattle. After two years in which he
strongly opposed a station as an ''unfortunate step backwards,''
Keyworth said:
''Some people have jumped to the conclusion that I have a bias
against a space station because I insist on a valid mission before we
make any commitment to it. That's not true. But I think it's time for
us to take a broader look - with more vision, much more vision - at
where we expect the American manned space program to go over the next
quarter century.''
He said the American people should be informed of the ''grand
vision'' - whether it is an orbital transfer vehicle to high
geostationary orbits, a manned lunar station, or even manned
exploration of Mars.
In a follow-up interview with Science magazine, Keyworth said: ''I
think the country should take a major thrust in space very seriously.
We've shown that the space shuttle works and is reliable. We have the
technology to build a space station. It is only an intermediate step
in a more ambitious long-range goal of exploring the solar system.''
Keyworth termed President Kennedy's call for the Apollo
man-on-the-moon program ''a brilliant stroke,'' at a time when U.S.
technical superiority was being challenged by early Soviet space
spectaculars.
The Soviets have set a goal of 1985 for a permanent manned orbiting
laboratory. Given a go-ahead in fiscal 1985, NASA estimates it can
put up an initial space station by 1991 at a total cost of $6 billion
to $8 billion.
NASA officials were surprised at being asked to be more forthright
about their visions. Budget austerity has scuttled many of their
projects since the Apollo moon landings, and they have hardly been
inclined to push for lunar bases and trips to Mars.
Asked about the shift in Keyworth's thinking, Robert F. Freitag,
deputy director of NASA's space station task force, said: ''Support
for a station comes about with understanding - when we sit down with
people, explain it to them and give them time to think about it. Dr.
Keyworth is a good example of that ... He's beginning to see some
virtue he didn't see a year ago.''
A consensus of the task force's 60 members favors a station that
would begin as two small low-orbit platforms.
One would be operated initially by four to six people and carry a
variety of instruments and servicing capabilities. It would fly in
formation with a platform carrying research and processing devices
that need a human presence for support.
The NASA task force has identified 48 space science and applications
missions, 31 commercial missions and 30 technology developments that
would be enabled or substantially enhanced by a U.S. station
capability.
Many potential users, U.S. and foreign, will be represented at the
three-day Space Station Symposium which starts here Monday.
''The task force has been working its tail off for 14 months and we
feel it is time to let people know where we stand,'' Freitag said.
''We will state our policy and seek their ideas.''
ap-ny-07-17 1502EDT
***************HPM@SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (07/18/83)
From: Hans Moravec <HPM@SU-AI>
a789 2214 16 Jul 83
BC-APN--Extraterrestrial Life, Adv July 31-2 takes,500-980
$adv 31
AGENCIES AND RADIO OUT
For release Sun., July 31
>From AP Newsfeatures
APN PRINT SUBSCRIBERS HAVE BEEN MAILED ONE ILLUSTRATION
EDITOR'S NOTE - Is there a real E.T. out there? If there is, Frank
Drake will find it. The Cornell astronomer is known as the father of
SETI - the search for extraterrestrial life.
By MEL REISNER
Associated Press Writer
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) - After a multimillion-channel system of radio
telescopes begins to monitor interstellar signals around the end of
the decade, astronomer Frank Drake figures on another 10 years or so
before ankind makes contact with life in space.
That's not to say that he believes human life as we know it will be
seen on other planets by 2001.
''It is unlikely that the end product of a long evolution would be a
duplication of us,'' he says. ''We just know that it will be
intelligent enough to communicate. You get the sense that there's a
lot of life out there. It will be fascinating when we learn about
it.''
Drake, 52, is known as the father of the search for extraterrestrial
life (SETI) because of his interest and work on the subject for
nearly three decades. He helped organize the first SETI conference in
1961.
Twice, as a young researcher, Drake was disappointed when he found
that what appeared to be signals emanating in space turned out to be
sounds apparently from a passing airplane or truck.
Undaunted, he developed an equation to calculate the number of
possible communication-capable civilizations in space. The 22-year-old
equation, which Drake wrote while preparing the agenda for the first
SETI conference, is widely known, especially since its use in James
Michener's novel ''Space.''
SETI is just one of the pursuits of Drake, who teams with Carl Sagan
of television's ''Cosmos'' to give Cornell perhaps the best-known
astronomy department in the nation. Drake is believed to be the first
to send a coded radio message to the stars. He also discovered
Jupiter's radiation belts, worked on the Mariner series of Mars
explorations and has been studying the measured, steady emissions of
energy - pulsars - from neutron stars.
The radio telescope, first set up in the 1950s, is the instrument
that gave scientists visions of getting in touch with
extraterrestrials. Cornell was the right place at the right time for
Drake after it completed the world's largest radio telescope at
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, in 1963.
Featuring the trademark aluminum dish mounted upside-down to
intercept radio waves, the 1,000-foot-diameter Arecibo instrument is
capable of picking up, filtering and delivering to a computer signals
from incredible distances. Renovations will make it 2,000 times as
sensitive as before.
The development is what makes Drake confident of contacting life in
space before the turn of the century.
Three decades ago, he says, the first radio listened for waves on
one channel; next year, the Planetary Society-Harvard project will
begin receiving on 128,000 channels at once.
MORE
ap-ny-07-17 0116EDT
***************
!a790 2224 16 Jul 83
BC-APN--Extraterrestrial Life, Adv 31-1st add,550
$adv 31
AGENCIES AND RADIO OUT
For release Sun., July 31
ITHACA, N.Y.: at once.
According to Drake, that should vastly increase the chances of
contact, but the tool he thinks will make the breakthrough is a
cluster of telescopes midway through a 10-year National Aeronautics
and Space Administration program which will have eight million
channels.
''It takes a system that powerful to give us a chance of succeeding
by the end of the century,'' he says. ''We have to have a device that
tests many, many possibilities at once. You're getting data from
eight million channels a second. By the end of the next five years,
we'll have the computer techniques to deal with the enormous data flow
from a system of that size.''
In years to come, Drake would like to see the whole concept lifted
from the earth to an orbiting radio telescope which would beam its
information back to earth-based computers. The setup would narrow the
possibility of false alarms like the kind he experienced in 1958
while a graduate student at Harvard.
Drake recalls picking up ''a great big signal in a narrow frequency
channel'' and believing that he was monitoring a message from space.
However, the signal which appeared to be coming from the Pleiades
star cluster persisted even when the telescope was moved - an
indication that it came from an earthly source.
Two years later, Drake had to rule out another potential contact
because it, too, was multidirectional.
''No one has ever seen a signal which strong evidence showed was
extraterrestrial. There are some in the files (on tape) which couldn't
be tested,'' Drake acknowledges.
No one ever will receive such a signal, says physicist Frank J.
Tipler of Tulane University.
Tipler, a leading critic of SETI, argues that radio telescopy is
speculative and lacks the scientifically mandatory possibility that it
could be proven false. Its proponents have never said what test
results would satisfy them that other life does not exist, he says.
Tipler wrote in Discover magazine, ''I contend that any discussion
of extraterrestrial intelligence contains tacit speculations about
civilizations that have possessed radio technology for thousands or
millions of years. Radio searchers presume that civilizations have
been deliberately beaming signals at us for this length of time.''
Drake says Tipler's arguments can be countered, but that such doubts
in a field where major discoveries are still theoretical hurt SETI
campaigners seeking funds to back their explorations.
The orbiting radio telescope he envisions would cost $20 billion,
putting it out of reach of private foundations without a massive
infusion of government help. This year, the government dedicated $200
million of the NASA budget to SETI.
Actual contact with extraterrestrials would multiply the amount of
money for more research, Drake acknowledges.
Drake is not put off by the fact that he would not be around to make
friends with communicants from space. Radio waves travel at the speed
of light - 186,000 miles per second - which means that a transmission
from the nearest star would have to travel more than four years to
reach earth.
Pointing out that television waves travel at the same speed, he
says, ''If you can intercept their TV, you can learn what you want to
know without asking questions.''
END ADV
ap-ny-07-17 0127EDT
***************HPM@SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (07/18/83)
From: Hans Moravec <HPM@SU-AI>
a067 0608 12 Jul 83
PM-Space Ants,420
Student Says Ants Probably Survived Space Trip
By ROBERT WADE
Associated Press Writer
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - Scientists and a group of enterprising students
are still trying to find out what killed an ant colony that blasted
into orbit aboard the space shuttle Challenger. But one student says
he thinks he has the answer.
Anthony Trusty, 19, who helped design the experiment while attending
Camden High School, said Monday a preliminary look at the colony
showed the ants probably died when their living quarters dehydrated in
the California desert after landing.
A post-landing inspection showed the moss and dirt inside the
L-shaped habitat had dried out. But videotapes made just after
Challenger rocketed into space June 18 showed conditions inside the
colony were acceptable, said Trusty, now a computer science major at
Rutgers University.
Trusty was the first of the present and former students and teachers
from Camden and Woodrow Wilson high schools to say publicly that the
more than 100 carpenter ants and their queen, Nora, survived orbit.
Others involved in the project said detailed findings on whether the
insects died while awaiting takeoff, in space, during re-entry or
after touchdown won't be available until at least mid-August.
''The two schools are doing their studies and any conjectures as to
the results of the whys, wheres and how is premature until these
studies are completed,'' said a spokesman for RCA Corp., which
sponsored the project.
Although the colony's death was a disappointment, teachers say the
program accomplished its goal of getting students from the rival
inner-city schools involved in sciences, mathematics, computer
programming and engineering. The 5 1/2-year-old project has won wide
praise and the notice of President Reagan.
Dr. Thomas Chavis, an RCA scientist who became involved in the
program in 1978 and continued to advise the students despite his
retirement two years ago, said the data from the experiment would help
researchers determine how weightlessness affects species in a
community settings.
''Does it disintergrate their ability to get along? Do they continue
to work as a group or split up as individuals over long periods of
weightlessness?'' said Chavis.
He said scientists would find the data useful in efforts to colonize
space for humans.
Autopsies, in which the students will analyze the ants' remains, are
under way to determine how long the insects survived after being
sealed into a 30-gallon container filled with monitoring equipment in
Florida in late April and placed aboard Challenger.
ap-ny-07-12 0907EDT
***************KFL@MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (07/27/83)
From: Keith F. Lynch <KFL @ MIT-MC>
Date: 25 July 1983 21:19 EDT
From: bruc@mit-ml
One interesting speculation that I had about this -- if there
is life on Mars, it's quite possible it came from Earth. Since
material from Mars is believed to have traveled to the earth and
landed in Antarctica (by being blasted from Mars by a meteor impact
and eventually intersecting the earth's orbit), the reverse is also
possible. I wonder if the spores of ancient microorganisms would be
capable of surviving the voyage (suitably encased or shielded by
rock)..
Or perhaps life on Earth got started from a meteor from Mars or
elsewhere. Maybe life in the universe only started once and then
drifted to Earth and other planets.
...KeithDavid.Smith@CMU-CS-IUS@sri-unix.UUCP (07/27/83)
I remember reading about the orbiting needle experiment in the NASA booklet "Space - The New Frontier" in around 1962-3. I forget the name of the project. The idea was to girdle the Earth with a ring of copper needles cut to the right length, and use it for reflecting radio communications. I think it was a Navy project. A few years ago, I read (I don't remember where) that the experiment had been carried out over the loud protests of radio astronomers. It was a failure, but turned out not to interfere with radio telescopes, either. The needles all burned up in the atmosphere in a few years. A ring of needles is just what we need to compete for space with spacecraft and skyhooks.
KFL@MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (08/30/83)
From: Keith F. Lynch <KFL @ MIT-MC>
Date: 25 Aug 83 13:58 PDT (Thursday)
From: Manley.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Re: Name of the sun
It is appropriate to name our galaxy after Giordano Bruno and our sun
after Copernicus, especially since Bruno was burned at the stake for
holding these views while Copernicus just barely escaped this fate by
dying before his book was published.
Who shall we name the local cluster after? Or the local
supercluster?
I wonder who will finally work out the all-over structure of the
universe as a whole and hence will have the whole universe named after
him (her?).
...KeithPERSA%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (11/10/83)
From: Persaram O. Batra <PERSA @ MIT-MC> Please add me to your mailing list. Persa
rwh%ucbernie%Berkeley@sri-unix.UUCP (12/08/83)
From: rwh%ucbernie@Berkeley (Robert W. Henry) Please clean up your disk space on ernie:/va. A check shows you are using a large number of disk blocks and many have not been accessed in the last 3 months. PLEASE remove all unnecessary files or back them up on tape. Thanks for you help.
BRUC%MIT-ML@sri-unix.UUCP (01/14/84)
From: Robert E. Bruccoleri <BRUC @ MIT-ML> Frankly, I don't see any way of restoring the earth's ecology to a more healthly state unless we tap extra-terrestrial resources soon. We do not have the energy capacity in easily accessible form that will permit the improvements in standards of living for most of the world so that population growth can be stopped. (Rich, educated people have few children than poor, illiterate ones and energy will be at the root of future development) To clean up the various industries responsible for pollution, we also need cheap energy. Because I can't go into detail about these arguments, I refer you to Gerard K. O'Neill's The High Frontier which addresses many of the points you raised although from a much more optimistic and pragmatic point of view. I would opt for good living rather than just surviving; I would opt for good living for all of mankind, not just Europe, North America, and the Western Pacific; I would opt for a living earth getting resources from lifeless asteroids and planets.
SSchwartz@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (03/15/84)
From: Steven Schwartz <SSchwartz@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Date: Wednesday, 14 March 1984 13:58 est
From: Ted Anderson <OTA at S1-A>
To: rk.m at MIT-MULTICS, Schauble at MIT-MULTICS, SSchwartz at MIT-MULTICS
cc: "#SPACE.REQ[SPA,OTA]" at S1-A
[Is there something I can/should do about this, or is it a local Multics
problem? -ota]
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 84 09:33 EST
From: Steven Schwartz <SSchwartz@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Number 138 (ai [0019])
To: Schauble.HIS_Guest@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA, Postmaster@MIT-MC.ARPA,
Space-Enthusiasts@MIT-MC.ARPA
Mail to SPACE at MIT-MC is starting to appear in the AI-List (ai) forum
on MIT-Multics.
Paul Schauble's process, which normally enters AI-List transactions, is
entering the SPACE mail. I venture one of the following:
SPACE @ MC has AI-List @ SRI-AI (or elsewhere) as a recipient;
SPACE @ MC has the AI-List forum @ SRI-AI (or elsewhere) as a recipient;
Paul is entering the transactions in the wrong forum.
Ted (or whomever), could you please check the SPACE mailing list for
the first two possibilities? Thanks.glenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (07/25/84)
Subject: Soviet Soyuz T-12 flight
The latest Soviet space flight (Soyuz T-12, launched July 17) has received
almost no notice in the press here, perhaps because it seems old hat besides
the space shuttle flights. Nevertheless on close inspection there are a
number of interesting features of this Soyuz that indicate changes in the
Soviet space program. Here are a list of the ones that I have noticed
along with some personal projections of what they may mean.
First the flight engineer in this 3 crew Soyuz is Svetlana Savitskaya, the
woman who flew up to the Salyut about two years ago. The fact that she was
sent up again after a relatively short period of time (as far as spaceflights
go) indicates that she had little in the way of problems in adjusting to
space. Also note that historically the Russians have sent their cosmonauts
on only 3 missions, with the person going as engineer on the second flight,
and mission commander on the third. Then that person has been moved up into
the management of the space program. From the space spectacular point of
view it would have made more sense to send a new woman up ("Now we have had 3
females in orbit and the US had only 1"). Hence it seems likely that
Svetlana is being aimed at the position of commander of the womans'
cosmonaut corp. A slight possibility is that she was the backup person
for some other woman. We will know for certain if she gets a third flight
in the near future as the mission commander. Either way it seems certain
that the Soviets are expanding the use of woman in their programs.
Secondly, the mission commander, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, is unusual also because
this is his fourth mission when, as noted in the first point, the Russians
have restricted their men to three missions before this. Hence the Soviets
may be setting up their cosmonaut corp, which is rather large in number, to
generate more highly experience spacemen. This suggests an expanded space
program in the near future. It does not seem likely that he was simply
the backup man, they have lots of two flight experienced men.
Thirdly, the docking for this flight with the Salyut space station took place
in a 355 x 335 Km orbit. However previously the Soyuz have followed a strict
rule: two man crews have docked above 300 Km, while 3 crew ships docked below
300 Km. James Oberg calculated that previously the fuel needed to raise the
ship to the higher orbit was 110 Kg, about the weight of one cosmonaut. Hence
the need for this difference. Since the Salyut is always brought down to the
rendezvous orbit prior to the launch this means that the Soviets have
improved either the A-2 launcher or the Soyuz-T capsule, and will probably
used such higher cargo capacity in the future (perhaps in their Progress
cargo craft if it is the launcher).
Fourthly, this mission started a little early for their current landing window,
which is about July 24 according to Clarke in a recent Spaceflight magazine
article. Due to safety restrictions the Russians only bring people down from
their space station during a specific landing period that occurs for about one
week every two months. The Russians have been launching ships only two days
before the landing window opens so that if something goes wrong they can
recover the capsule quickly and safely. This may indicate that the Soyuz has
more supplies and can stay up longer (possibly related to point 3) or that they
are will to extend their landing window from the hour before sunset
restriction they have kept for almost the past decade. Either on has
significant impacts on their manned program. Also as of 3 am GMT July 25
the Soviets had not stated that the Soyuz was leaving. Since all
previous flights lasted only eight days for crew visits to the Salyut it
will an important change if this one does last longer.
Finally the fact that a flight occurred at this time means that the Salyut
crew, which has been up for >170 days now, will not land before late September,
from the point 4 restrictions. That will mean that they will have set a new
record of about 240 days. If you want speculation on top of that consider that
one of the station crew is a doctor. If they were going to try for a full
one year mission then that is just what they would want on board to check that
things were going well. If the Soyuz ships are exchanged in the current flight
that makes a longer mission than 240 days more likely
All in all this seems to be a rather unusual flight. Has any else noticed
other strange facts about this one?
Personally I find the contradiction shown by the comparison of the Soviet and
western (especially US) space programs recently rather depressing. The
Russian hardware is probably about what we could have made a decade ago,
but they obviously have the will to push it to the limit and aggressively
pursue manned efforts in space. This country has the hardware to do things
better then the Soviets, but seems to lack the will to really push things.
Look at battle the L5 society had to go through to insure the passage of
the space station program's funding for the first year! That only means
that we have a chance that in 1992 we could have something manned as often
and long as the Salyut has been crewed for the past few years. Does anyone
really think that when the funding costs really get high for the space station
there will not be strong efforts to stretch the program out till 1995 or even
2000? That is what happened to the shuttle, and look at how the low funding
of the early years is still creating problems in that program. If we are
right about there being important and useful things for mankind that will
come out of the space station I see considerable evidence to suggest the
Russians will be producing them first over the next decade. Let us hope
that their lack of advanced hardware will prevent them from getting too far
ahead.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (08/01/84)
Subject: Soyuz T-12 flight, update
As noted in the previous mail I sent the Soyuz T-12 flight has a number of
unusual features. Some events new today (July 25) make it even
more important.
First Svetlana Savitskaya spent four hours in a space suit outside the
Salyut space station, making her the first woman to walk in space. With
her was the mission commander of the T-12 Vladimir Dzhanibekov. This time
was spent doing experiments in electron beam welding and film sputtering.
The Russian commentary was that these techniques were important for
the construction of space colonies and large space stations. The fact that
she spent so long outside enforces the point about Svetlana being aimed at
some higher position; a simple one hour or less EVA test would have given
them a space spectacular.
Secondly the Soyuz T-12 shows no sign of returning to earth, and has already
exceeded the eight day norm for such flights. To meet the current landing
deadline it should come down before about Aug 1, but just when will be
important.
Finally there is the point did the space walkers use their own suits or not.
If they are not the suits on board the Salyut (which have been used 5 times
in the past year) did they bring them up themselves or were they sent up
in the Progress 20 in June? If they brought the suits up themselves it would
indicate a substantial increase in the lifting capacity of their orbital
system for the Soyuz.
Hey look it, the Russians are not letting any grass grow under their feet in
space activities. Let us get a move on.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (08/05/84)
Subject: Ariane 3 launch successful
The Arianespace/European Space Agency successfully lauched the first
Ariane 3 rocket today (Aug 4) at about 10:30 am after a 90 minute hold
due to minor problems according to the British Broadcasting Corp.
This launch placed two satellites in orbit, the Eutelsat ECS-2 and
the French Telecoom 1, both commsats. Total lauch weight to geosync
orbit of the Ariane 3 is about 2500 kilos. This makes the Ariane
very competative with the shuttle for geosync orbits at this time.
This is the eighth Ariane launch. Inspite of the comment made by
someone a few weeks ago in this net the Ariane has never "blown up on the
pad". It has had 2 failures, one in the booster quite late in the first
stage flight, and once in the third stage. Actually the failures of the
upper stages on the shuttle, and the success of today's launch has
raised the possibility that the shuttle may have higher insurance rates
placed on launches from it compared to the Ariane. Not good for the
shuttle as this gives more evidence for those that say the single
launch bosters are better.
Glenn Chapmanbuell%lsu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa (08/08/84)
From: Duncan A. Buell <buell%lsu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> The space program--how do we justify it to Congress? Beats the hell out of me, and I have been close to the space program since my father learned rocketry in Huntsville in 1951. How does Congress justify spending money on the arts? on public TV? How did the Duke of Brunswick justify subsi- dizing Gauss? Apart from the obvious (justified or unjustified) desires of the military for space ability, the people who want to explore space do it, I suppose, because it's there, because it would be a denial of some of our more fundamental lusts to have the technology to "look beyond the ranges" and not do so. And Congress pays for it because they can be sucked in by the same urges. That, I think, is all there is to it. That certainly does not suggest practical approaches to going after continued funding. Should the turkeys outnumber the visionaries in Congress, the space program can expect lean years--and has seen some of them. On the other hand, maybe this does suggest funding approaches. Don't try to show that it's centsible to go into space. Just sell the dream. Rational arguments are always in danger of being refuted by better rational argu- ments. A good irrational hunger is a much better bet. No flames in response to this, please. I really don't know any sure-fire justifications for going into space that aren't military. I do know that we'd be less as a species if we didn't succumb to some of the urges we have, like pointing up and wanting to go there.
glenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (08/15/84)
Subject: New Soviet Space Walk
Two of the Soviet Salyut cosmonauts, Vladimir Solovyov and Leonid Kizin,
have just today (Aug 8) spent another five hours in a space walk. The
purpose of this one was to do more work on the fuel lines of the station
and to take in a piece of the solar panels for return to earth for studies.
This is the sixth space walk for this pair this year, and gives them a total
of 22 hours each in vacuum. The Russian reports went on to say this gave
more indications of the usefulness of men in building large space structures.
In recent days they have been talking of solar power sats. That Salyut crew
has just passed the half year mark in space so who knows what the Soviets
have planned for them in the rest of their flight. The Russians are having
their best year in space ever this year, unfortunately the same cannot be
said for this country.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (09/27/84)
Subject: Soviet Salyut Mission to End
The Russians have announced that the crew of the current Salyut mission is
preparing to depart the space station. Such messages are usually given these
days one or two weeks before they land. That should give them a total of
about 240 days in orbit. This is in agreement with the Soviet's previous
missions for record space durations. Each one of those tends to be 30 to
40 days longer than the previous record. There was no suggestion in the
Soviet press reports that a replacement mission was being sent up. Indeed as
there has been no mention of the removal of the last Progress supply vessel
it is probably still attached to the station preventing such a link up.
O.K. I goofed it in my previous comments. It really did appear that they were
going to try for a quantum leap in mission duration this time. Instead they
played it safe and stuck to their older mission style of incremental increases.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (09/28/84)
Subject: NASA and Women Spacewalkers
An article in the Wall Street Journal (Sept 26) suggests that NASA not
really that interested in getting women working in space with spacesuits.
NASA now is using a set of off-the-rack spacesuits which come in sizes
ranging from extra-small to extra-large. When they bought the suits the
only extra-small one purchased was for test use on earth only. However
five of the eight women astronauts take that size, and hence cannot do EVA's.
All 66 male astronauts fit in working suits. NASA says that it did this to
save money, but that does not seem reasonable. They could probably got
the $600,000 needed just from saying to the congress that this would be
a positive step for women's equality in the new realm of space.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (10/01/84)
Subject: Empty Salyut Station
The Russians have announced that their cosmonauts are preparing the Salyut
Space Station to operate in an unmanned automatic mode after they leave it
in a few days. They are also beginning to load their Soyuz T-11 spacecraft
for the return flight.
There had been much speculation that the Soviets would try a crew switch on
this mission to keep the Salyut continuously occupied. However in a recent
interview with Roald Sagdeev, the director of the Space Research Institute
in Moscow, for Sky and Telescope magazine he was asked if the about indications
he gave that the Salyut would be run in an automatic mode with experiments
on board it. He said point blank that this Salyut would not be permently
manned because the design was too old. That would wait until their new
station was put up in the near future. The behaviour of this mission agrees
with his statements.
One other point. Leonard David of the Nation Space Institute has pointed
out that on Sept 25 the Russians had achieved 10 man-years of human activity
in space (from Space Calendar, Sept 24 '84 issue). The US has less than half
that and is falling further behind, even with the current large number of
people orbited in a shuttle.
Glenn Chapmanglenn%ll-vlsi@sri-unix.UUCP (10/03/84)
Subject: Soviet Salyut Mission Ends
The Russians announced at 8:00 am EDT Oct 2 that the Soyuz T-11 capsule had
landed safely with the three cosmonauts from the Salyut spacestation.
The total flight time was 237 days on board the station, 26 days longer than
the previous record of 211 days.
One other interesting first was achieved in this flight I think. The wife of
one of the Cosmonauts (I think it was Kazin) had a baby while he was in orbit.
Politically that may be not important but I think it is a milestone for mankind.
For centuries that has happened to seamen, and now mankind is spending enough
time in space that it happens to spacetravelers. Maybe in the not too distant
future the first child will be born off this planet. Let us hope the Soviets
are not the only ones to celebrate that future event.
Glenn Chapmangreenber@acf4.UUCP (10/06/84)
<> The first time that a man is in space for about a year and his wife has a child....Now that is what the seafarers of old experienced (:-) Ross M. Greenberg @ NYU ----> allegra!cmcl2!acf4!greenber <----
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (10/12/84)
> Subject: Women Space Walkers > > a space suit if it choose one of those suitless women. Oh yes the current > flight will have Kathleen Sullivan do a walk in space. On the other hand > > Glenn Chapman Her name is Kathryn. You are mistaking the female newscaster. Honest mistake, I met another woman named Kathleen Sullivan at the ACM yesterday. --eugene miya NASA Ames Res. Ctr. {hplabs,dual,hao,vortex}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb.ARPA
REM@SU-AI.ARPA (10/29/84)
From: Robert Maas <REM@SU-AI.ARPA>
(I saw an AP story in the Peninsula Times-Tribune which used the cute
phrase "Tip of the asteroid" to compare 3 billion dollars per year
currently earned from communication satellites with hundreds of
billions of dollars earned from space by the year 2010. I then tried
to retrieve that story from the AP archive here, but couldn't find
it. I found this instead.)
a017 0007 29 Oct 84
PM-Lunar Conference, Bjt,0544
Scientists Gathering to Discuss Mankind's Return to the Moon
Eds: Prenoon EST lead likely
By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Although the United States is only barely embarked
on building a space station, several hundred scientists and engineers
gathered today to discuss space projects to follow - particularly the
establishment of a permanent base on the moon.
''I believe it highly likely that before the first decade of the
next century is out, we will, indeed, return to the moon,'' said
James M. Beggs, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, in remarks prepared for the opening of the three-day
conference.
''We will do so,'' he said, ''not only to mine its oxygen-rich rocks
and other resources, but to establish an outpost for further
exploration and expansion of human activities in the solar system, in
particular, on Mars and the near-Earth asteroids.''
The symposium, sponsored by NASA, is being held at the National
Academy of Sciences. It is part of an effort to decide the direction
of space exploration after an $8 billion permanent manned station is
put in orbit around 1992. The space station, declared a national goal
by President Reagan, is only in the preliminary design stage now.
Other speakers scheduled for the opening session were George
Keyworth, the president's science adviser; Walter Hickel, former
secretary of Interior; Harrison Schmitt, a moon-walking astronaut and
former senator; and Arthur Kantrowitz, a physicist and professor of
engineering at Dartmouth College.
Last April, a small working group met in Los Alamos, N.M., and
examined the unique scientific experiments that could be carried out
at a lunar base, the potential development of the moon's resources
for industrial and space transportation; the problems of man's living
and working on the moon; the technological and scientific
requirements for a lunar base, and the economic, political and legal
problems that would be faced.
The group termed industrial development ''a compelling component of
a lunar base,'' adding:
''The first base could be mainly a demonstration of industrial
promise. It is an excellent arena in which to test our faith in our
ability to adapt the resources of space for our needs in space.''
Twelve American astronauts walked on the moon during the Apollo
program of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The last of those
missions, Apollo 17, was in December 1972 and no human has been on
the moon since.
''A whole generation of people is coming of age, not only in the
United States, but around the world, who are barely able to remember
that it was once thought impossible to go to the moon,'' said Beggs.
''We now know that we can get there. The question is, what should we
be doing if we establish permanent roots there, to make our presence
most productive and beneficial to mankind?''
Beggs said he hoped America's friends and allies will join in the
space station effort and lay the groundwork for further international
cooperation.
''An internationally developed lunar base,'' he said, ''might even
prove an irresistable lure to the Soviets.''
The Soviets have said that once they have developed a permanent
space station, they would like to use it as a jumping off place to
establish a research base on the moon.
AP-NY-10-29-84 0306EST
- - - - - -
a055 0530 29 Oct 84
PM-Late News Advisory,0074
Editors:
The Supreme Court meets at 10 a.m. EST to issue orders.
We plan prenoon tops on these Washington-dated stories:
-PM-Lunar Conference, a017.
-PM-Deficit Commission, a024.
We are going to update the PMs political roundup each day around 11
a.m. EST, if not before. We will provide new tops for events that
merit such treatment; other writethrus will contain updated material
lower in the story.
The AP
AP-NY-10-29-84 0829EST
- - - - - -
a072 0756 29 Oct 84
PM-Lunar Conference, 1st Ld, a017,0261
Eds: Updates with opening of conference
By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Although the United States is only barely embarked
on building a space station, several scientists and engineers
gathered today to discuss space projects to follow - particularly the
establishment of a permanent base on the moon.
''The lunar base is one of the more obvious of the goals we can
reach,'' George A. Keyworth, President Reagan's science adviser, told
the opening of the three-day conference.
He said that before such a project is started decisions must be made
on where it will lead and why.
''Remember, much of the momentum of our space program was lost after
Apollo because we treated the moon as an end to itself,'' Keyworth
said.
Walter Hickel, secretary of the interior in the Nixon administration
and a former governor of Alaska, called the Apollo moon missions a
''glorious elevation of the human spirit in our society,'' and added
that ''that kind of inspiration doesn't come along very often.''
''A return to the moon would be a rational extension of our program
to expand human activities in space,'' said James M. Beggs, the head
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
He said that a generation of people who have grown up in the space
age will be in a decision-making role and ''they will be expecting
benefits and pragmatic results'' from space ventures.
He forecast that it is highly likely that in the next 25 years the
United States will return to the moon.
''We will, 3rd graf
AP-NY-10-29-84 1054EST
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