Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: NEAR Weekly Report for Oct. 23, 1998
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NEAR WEEKLY REPORT
October 23, 1998
MISSION OPERATIONS:
The NEAR spacecraft state/configuration has remained nominal (Flight
Computer #1 and Attitude Interface Unit #1 active).
NEAR's attitude mode continues to alternate between GS-4 (Earth
pointing) during Earth pointing, high gain antenna tracks, and GS-5
(~Sun pointing) at all other times. The GS-5 off-sun pointing limit has
remained at 10 deg. The new momentum biasing feature of the Flight
Computer is now in regular use between DSN contacts.
The Magnetometer and XGRS instruments remained on throughout this
reporting period.
All science and engineering data for the period was successfully
recorded and played back. Due to SSR anomaly, data from 288:05:56:41
through 289:16:02:59 (last week) was unrecoverable. A PFR on the
recorder is now open. Science and engineering data from this time
period was not retrieved. This SSR problem is now under investigation.
Two throughput tests were conducted with the SDC and DSN this week.
Data was flowed at 26 Kbps from the DSN to test a new approach being
considered for serving telemetry to the SDC and reducing Front End
loading. Both tests were successful. SDC access to science data in
near real-time was greatly improved and Front End loading peaks were
reduced. Plans are now underway to move telemetry serving from the
Front Ends to existing MOC workstations (tested configuration).
Future Plans:
October 27th: NASA Headquarters Peer Review of NEAR
readiness.
Upcoming Spacecraft Activities:
October 28: Fancy Momentum Dump Test #1
November 5: Monochrome Light Curve of Eros (First
images of Eros)
November 9: NIS/MSI Rotation Sequence Dry Run
November 18: Fancy Momentum Dump Test #2
November 19: Monochrome Light Curve of Eros
November 19: NIS Cal Target Observation
November 20: Eros Optical Navigation A (16 frames)
Debra Fletcher
240-228-8274/Washington
443-778-8274/Baltimore
Fax: 240-228-3237
Email: debra.fletcher@jhuapl.edu
Bldg-Rm: 2-155
The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, MD 20723-6099
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: NEAR Weekly Report for Oct. 30, 1998
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NEAR WEEKLY REPORT
October 30, 1998
MISSION OPERATIONS:
The NEAR spacecraft state/configuration has remained nominal (Flight
Computer #1 and Attitude Interface Unit #1 active).
The Magnetometer and XGRS instruments remained on throughout this
reporting period.
The first flight test of the new "Fancy Momentum Dump", a propulsive
momentum bias maneuver, was successfully conducted on October 28.
The SSR anomaly reported last week was resolved. The data from
288:05:56:41 through 289:16:02:59, reported as unrecoverable, has indeed
been recovered. A ground software problem, periodically preventing
proper frame sync of SSR data has been fixed.
All science and engineering data for the period was successfully
recovered. A short data span from 98301-16:02:13 to 98301-16:19:07 was
not recovered during a SSR #2 playback but it was recovered from SSR #1.
Participated in the NEAR Readiness Review conducted on October 27 and
28.
NEAR's attitude mode continues to alternate between GS-4 (Earth
pointing) during Earth pointing, high gain antenna tracks, and GS-5
(~Sun pointing) at all other times. The GS-5 off-sun pointing limit has
remained at 10 deg.
As a means to improve data throughput to the SDC, telemetry serving on
Front End #2 has been moved to an existing MOC workstation. Telemetry
data serving from Front End #1 will continue "as is" until additional
disk space is procured.
Upcoming Spacecraft Activities:
November 5: Monochrome Light Curve of Eros (First images of
Eros from NEAR)
November 9: NIS/MSI Rotation Sequence Dry Run
November 18: Fancy Momentum Dump Test #2
November 19: Monochrome Light Curve of Eros
November 19: NIS Cal Target Observation
November 20: Eros Optical Navigation A (16 frames)
MISSION DESIGN:
Mission Design Team personnel computed contingency rendezvous maneuver
sequences in case the first or second burns (RND1 and RND2) are
underperformed or delayed for any reason. In most cases, it was
possible to keep the times of the later maneuvers (RND4 and the orbit
insertion maneuver, OIM) fixed at their scheduled dates and times
(important since rescheduling DSN tracking is very difficult), while
keeping the OIM within the desired range of 6 to 12 meters/second. The
results were presented at the Eros Readiness Review on October 27.
Debra Fletcher
240-228-8274/Washington
443-778-8274/Baltimore
Fax: 240-228-3237
Email: debra.fletcher@jhuapl.edu
Bldg.-Rm.: 2-155
The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, MD 20723-6099
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: ESA's first Spanish astronaut rides into orbit alongside space pioneer
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European Space Agency
Press Release No. 45-98
Paris, France 29 October 1998
ESA'S FIRST SPANISH ASTRONAUT RIDES INTO ORBIT ALONGSIDE SPACE PIONEER
The Space Shuttle Discovery performed a perfect lift-off today (Thursday
29 October 1998), carrying ESA astronaut Pedro Duque among its
international crew, which includes John Glenn, making his return to
space 36 years after he became the first American to orbit the Earth.
Glenn is not the only member of this crew to go into the record books.
Duque does too, as the first Spaniard to travel into space. Born in
March 1963, over a year after John Glenn's epic flight, he's also the
youngest member of the crew.
Discovery lifted off from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 19
minutes after the 2+ hour launch window opened at 20:00 Central
European Time (14:00 EST - Florida time)
Duque was cheered on his way by thousands of spectators at the launch
site, including his wife and three young children.
During the launch phase, Duque monitored the overall performance of
Discovery and its systems, looking out for any anomalies or
malfunctions.
On reaching orbit, his responsibilities included working with the team
that deployed the communications antennas and opening Discovery's
payload bay doors to let surplus heat out of the Shuttle into space. He
also switched on systems for the Spacehab science module in the payload
bay.
Duque's tasks during the nine-day flight will include supervising
experiments on the five ESA science facilities being used to study the
effects of weightlessness on various materials and substances.
"The ESA facilities are advanced and largely automatic, so it is more a
question of periodic checks and ensuring that data is routed to the
correct place," said Duque. "This kind of operation is typical of what
work will be like on the International Space Station, where crew time
will be at a premium."
Although no spacewalks are scheduled for STS-95, Duque is one of two
crew members specially trained to work outside the orbiter should an
emergency arise. He may be called upon to close the payload doors
manually before re-entry and landing or if there are problems in
retrieving the sun-observing Spartan satellite at the end of its two
days of free flight in space.
Duque is also the mission's laptop troubleshooter. He will look after a
record number of 19 laptop computers being carried by Discovery to help
run the Shuttle's systems and the experiments.
The mission is scheduled to last 8 days, 22 hours and 4 minutes, landing
at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility on 7 November at
18:04 Central European Time (1204 EST - Florida time).
For further information, see the ESA web page at
http://www.estec.esa.int/spaceflight.
During the mission, contact:
31 Oct-07 Nov
ESA Press Desk at Johnson Space Center, Houston
Tel: (281) 218-6836, Fax: (281) 218-6420
02-07 Nov
Press Desk at ESA Villafranca, Madrid
Tel: (34) 91 813 12.11 Fax: (34) 91 813 12.12
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: NASA Will Study Balance in Two Woods Hole Toadfish, a Senator, and , F
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Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Contact:
Pamela Clapp Hinkle, 508-289-7276; pclapp@mbl.edu
or
Dr. Stephen Highstein, pager: 1-888-403-6210
For Immediate Release: October 30, 1998
NASA Will Study Balance in Two Woods Hole Toadfish, a Senator, and Five
Astronauts in Upcoming Shuttle Mission
Woods Hole, MA -- Some of the ugliest and laziest fish known to inhabit the
waters of the northeast are accompanying John Glenn on his historic mission
into space this month. Two oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), collected from the
waters off Woods Hole, Massachusetts, are participating in an experiment
designed to help scientists better understand the effects that microgravity
has on our vestibular, or balance, system. These fish will be traveling more
than 3 million miles through space on shuttle mission STS-95, which launched
yesterday from Kennedy Space Center.
This experiment is a follow-up to studies conducted on four toadfish sent
into space during the Neurolab mission (STS-90) last April.
The scientist responsible for these experiments, Stephen M. Highstein, has
been coming to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts,
for more than 20 years to study the vestibular system of the toadfish. The
vestibular system, which consists of fluid-filled canals in the ears of all
vertebrates, provides our sense of balance and equilibrium. (The linings of
these canals are covered with hair cells that sense the movement of calcium
carbonate crystals known as otoliths. Changes in the position of the head
cause the otoliths to move, and the hair cells sense the movement and pass
that information along to the brain.)
Information about balance, movement, and location is so critical to animals
that the vestibular system was one of the first sensory systems to evolve,
says Highstein, an M.D./Ph.D. professor at Washington University School of
Medicine who spends his summers doing research at the Marine Biological
Laboratory. Not only were the vestibular organs an early invention, but the
system of canals and hair cells and otoliths has not changed much over the
eons or between vertebrates ranging from toadfish to Senators.
Because the toadfish's vestibular system is very similar to our own, the fish
has become a well-known experimental model for learning more about balance
disorders such as Meniere's disease and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
The toadfish is also a good model for studying motion sickness, including that
experienced by astronauts during space flight. This is why a few toadfish, in
their specially designed aquatic habitats, are joining John Glenn and other
Shuttle crewmembers on their journey through space.
The toadfish are fitted with a monitoring system that will enable Highstein
to analyze changes to their vestibular system, specifically their otoliths,
before, during, and after space flight. Because Glenn and the other astronauts
on the flight will experience the same changes in gravity, the data gathered
should reveal important information about how the human vestibular system
adjusts to microgravity as well. (More information about the specific
experiment can be found at
http://shuttlepresskit.com/STS-95/experiment14.htm).
Most of us don't think much about our vestibular system, until it
malfunctions. When your vestibular system isn't working -- when, for instance,
you are suffering from motion sickness -- any number of other systems are
thrown out of kilter.
"You're lying on your bed," Highstein says, "You're dizzy. Your vision is
moving. Your digestion is affected. You certainly have trouble doing any deep
thinking ..." Virtually all other systems in your body can be affected when
your vestibular system misfires -- and it often misfires during space flight.
Highstein tried a number of fish before choosing the toadfish as a model when
he came to the MBL in the 1970s.
"It was a matter of convenience," he remembers. Toadfish were readily
available. They were hardy enough to survive in the lab. And they had an
important anatomical advantage over other fish: Their broad, flat head -- an
ungainly feature that gives Opsanus its monstrous pollywog look -- provides
space enough for easy-to-sort-out neural wiring.
It turns out that all of these advantages hold true for the toadfish's
usefulness as a model for studies in space as well.
The Marine Biological Laboratory, located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is
an independent scientific institution, founded in 1888, that undertakes the
highest level of creative research and education in biology, including the
biomedical and environmental sciences.
Visit our Web site at http://www.mbl.edu.
For more information about NASA mission STS-95 see:
http://shuttlepresskit.com/
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Global Surveyor Update - October 30, 1998
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Mars Global Surveyor
Project Status Report Overview
Prepared by Mars Surveyor Operations Project Manager
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Friday 30 October 1998
Mars Global Surveyor continues in excellent health with excellent
aerobraking progress. With the orbital period now under 8 hours and close to
one-third of the Mars rotation period, better atmospheric density
predictions are allowing more aggressive aerobraking. More than half of the
timeline deficit caused by the 9 day delay in resuming aerobraking has now
been made up, and it is anticipated that orbital period will be on the
original baseline guide slope by early December.
MSOP has baselined (for work planning purposes) a period of three weeks at
the beginning of the mapping period with the high gain antenna in the stowed
(not deployed) position. This is a contingency strategy to assure meeting
the minimum mission success criteria. This decision will be revisited
following the launches of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander for
final NASA Headquarters concurrence.
The MSOP Readiness Review (Part II) for the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars
Polar Lander was successfully conducted on October 30th.
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: This Week On Galileo - November 2-8, 1998
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THIS WEEK ON GALILEO
November 2-8, 1998
Galileo continues to process and transmit science data stored on its
onboard tape recorder. With this week's playback, we start the portion
of the cruise phase used to fill gaps in previously returned data,
select new data, or to re-process data with different parameters. Data
playback is interrupted on Thursday to perform a standard test on the
gyroscopes.
This week's playback schedule includes data from twelve observations.
Six of them contain Europa data, four of them, Jupiter data, and two of
them data describing Jupiter's rings.
The near-infrared mapping spectrometer returns two observations of
Europa. The first will provide data on Europa's surface with a special
emphasis on detecting non-ice components. The second, performed in
conjunction with the ultraviolet spectrometer, captures data on Europa
at a global scale. The photopolarimeter radiometer also returns two
observations of Europa. Both of these measure thermal characteristics
of Europa's night side, and are designed to allow scientists to
increase their knowledge of the formation, composition and age of
Europa's surface. The final two Europa observations are returned by
the spacecraft camera. The first captures a region near Europa's
terminator. The mosaic will show several terrain types that are
considered to be the best evidence for the existence of a liquid layer
under Europa's surface. The second is a global shape observation.
Three observations of Jupiter's newly formed white oval are returned
this week. One observation contains measurements made by the
near-infrared mapping spectrometer, and the other two, measurements by
the spacecraft camera. This particular oval was formed in Spring 1998,
when two other white ovals merged. The photopolarimeter radiometer
returns the last Jupiter observation, which contains data to be used to
characterize atmospheric temperature structure and thermal properties
of the southern equatorial, tropical, and temperate belts.
Finally, the spacecraft camera returns two out of three images which
display Jupiter's rings under varying lighting conditions. The
different lighting conditions will allow scientists to get better ideas
of the number and sizes of the particles that make up the rings.
For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission
to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - October 31, 1998
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1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT
October 31, 1998
John McNamee
Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager
Mars Climate Orbiter: Launch -40 days
Pyro Initiation Unit (PIU) ATLO Test Unit (ATU) troubleshooting was
successfully completed. The previously observed failure was duplicated
on the vehicle and the data captured. Belief is that the ATU contains a
defective part. The ATU was removed and returned to Denver for analysis
and the reworked flight PIU was reinstalled on the orbiter. The reworked
flight PIU functions and interfaces were retested and reverified
successfully on the orbiter.
Mars Polar Lander: Launch -64 days
The Attitude Control System (ACS) phasing test was partially completed with
several issues regarding the star camera to be resolved. The launch/init
mission system test was conducted successfully. The star camera issues
discovered were determined to be caused by incorrect paramaters in the
lander database. The star camera portion of the ACS phasing will be repeated
next week.
For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit
our website at:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Historic commercial launch agreements signed (Forwarded)
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Air Force Space Command News Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 27, 1998
Historic commercial launch agreements signed
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- General Richard B. Myers, Commander, Air
Force Space Command signed the first Commercial Space Operations Support
[CSOS] Agreements here, today. He was joined by industry executives R. Gale
Schluter, Vice President and General Manager, Boeing Expendable Launch
Systems, Nathan J. Lindsay, Executive Vice President and General Manager,
Advanced Space Launch Systems for Lockheed Martin Astronautics, and J. R.
Thompson, Jr., Executive Vice President and General Manager, Launch Systems
Group, Orbital Sciences Corporation who represented their respective
corporations. "What a great day this is ... for the Air Force and our
industry partners," said Gen. Myers. "The documents we've just signed
culminate two and one-half years of dedicated efforts." The agreement
outlines the conditions for government support, the allocation of risk to
include insurance requirements, and financial arrangements for launch. It
requires industry to comply with environmental, safety and security
requirements. "This agreement may make the difference in our competitiveness
in the world market," said Lindsay.
-30-
PHOTO CAPTION:
[http://www.spacecom.af.mil/hqafspc/news/news_asp/nws_tmp.asp?storyid=98133]
The CSOS was signed Oct. 17.
[NOTE: Text of the agreements are available at
http://www.spacecom.af.mil/hqafspc/news/temp_news1028.htm]
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: John Glenn To Highlight NASA 40th Anniversary Luncheon
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November 2, 1998
John Ira Petty
Johnson Space Center, TX
(281/483-5111)
Release: J98-52
JOHN GLENN TO HIGHLIGHT NASA 40th ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON
STS-95 Payload Specialist John Glenn, aboard the shuttle Discovery, will
deliver a special message to NASA's 40th Anniversary luncheon at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Houston on Wednesday, November 4. The
event, featuring Walter Cronkite as master of ceremonies, will begin at
11 a.m.
Featured speakers will include NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and
Mayor Lee P. Brown of Houston. The luncheon, which is a Houston
community celebration, will take place in the Imperial Ballroom of the
Hyatt Regency.
News media representatives should call the Johnson Space Center newsroom
at 281/483-5111 for more information.
- end -
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - November 2, 1998
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1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT
November 2, 1998
John McNamee
Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager
Mars Climate Orbiter: Launch -38 days
Flight software build 8.2 was delivered as scheduled, however a problem
with the memory allocation in EEPROM was discovered and fixed overnight
in FSW build 8.2.1.
Mars Polar Lander: Launch -62 days
The Deep Space Network (DSN) End-to-End compatibility test is proceeding
as scheduled.
For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit
our website at:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 WebCams
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MARS SURVEYOR 98 SPACECRAFT WEBCAMS
November 3, 1998
New WebCams on the two Mars Surveyor 98 spacecraft have recently been
installed at Kennedy Space Center and live images of the spacecraft
are now available on the Mars Surveyor 98 website. Both spacecraft are
currenty being prepared for launch in the Spacecraft Assembly and
Encapsulation Facility (SAEF-2) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Mars Climate Orbiter
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter/ksc1.html
Mars Polar Lander
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/lander/ksc1.html
The images are updated approximately every 1 to 30 seconds, depending
on your network connection. The Mars orbiter is currently scheduled for
launch on December 10, 1998, and the Mars lander is scheduled for a
January 3, 1999 launch.
Ron Baalke
Mars Surveyor 98 Webmaster
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Ariane 503/ARD - A successful complete European space mission (Forward
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European Space Agency
Press Release No. 46-98
Paris, France 30 October 1998
Ariane 503/ARD: A successful complete European space mission
Europe has moved a step closer to flying its own complete space missions
with the highly successful flight of an automatic capsule, the
Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD).
ARD was released during the Ariane 503 flight on 21 October, shortly
after separation of the launcher's cryogenic main stage (at an altitude
of about 216 km) 12 minutes after lift-off from the Guiana Space Centre,
Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Engineers analysing data from its sub-orbital flight reported this week
that all the capsule's systems had performed well and according to
expectations.
ARD reached an altitude of 830 km and splashed down to within 4.9 km of
its target point in the Pacific Ocean between the Marquises and Hawaii
after one hour and 41 minutes. It was recovered some five hours later
and will undergo more detailed technical analysis in Europe.
Engineers analysing real-time telemetry from the flight have reported
that all electrical equipment and propulsion systems functioned
nominally. Telemetry systems and reception stations all performed well,
and the onboard GPS receiver worked satisfactorily during the entire
flight except, as expected, during black-out in reentry.
During reentry the heatshield temperature reached 900 C and the cone and
heatshield thermal protection was in a perfect state after retrieval.
Throughout the flight ARD remained airtight and perfectly intact.
Built by Aerospatiale (France) for ESA, the ARD has a "classical" Apollo
capsule design and is packed with the most advanced technologies
to test and qualify new technologies and flight control capabilities for
atmospheric reentry and landing.
During the mission it recorded and transmitted to the ground more than
200 critical parameters for analysis of the flight and behaviour of
onboard equipment.
Although not strictly a prototype of a possible future European Crew
Transport Vehicle (CTV), which could fly to and from the International
Space Station, ARD is a major step towards providing greater confidence
in Europe's capabilities in reentry technologies for use not only in
the frame of crew and equipment transport but also for future re-usable
launchers.
For the first time ever Europe has flown a complete space mission --
from launching a vehicle into space to recovering it safely. This is a
major step forward in Europe's capability for developing and operating
spacecraft that can return to Earth carrying people or equipment.
For further information, please contact:
ESA Public Relations Division
Tel : +33(0)1.53.69.7155 Fax : +33(0)1.53.69.7690
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Galileo Update - November 3, 1998
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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Galileo Europa Mission Status
November 3, 1998
The Galileo spacecraft is operating normally as it continues
to transmit to Earth pictures and science information stored on
its onboard tape recorder during the September 26 Europa flyby.
Playback will be interrupted on Thursday for a standard gyroscope
test.
A dozen observations will be transmitted this week, half of
them containing Europa data, with the other half providing
information on Jupiter and its rings. The Europa observations
include a mosaic of images taken by the spacecraft camera,
showing several terrain types that scientists believe provide the
best evidence yet for the existence of a liquid ocean under
Europa's surface. The camera and the near infrared mapping
spectrometer return three observations of Jupiter's newest white
oval, a swirling storm system formed earlier this year when two
smaller storms merged. Two images display Jupiter's rings under
varying lighting conditions. This will help scientists better
determine the size and quantity of the particles contained in the
rings.
The next Europa flyby is scheduled for November 22. Galileo
Europa Mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C.
#####
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=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center chosen to build science ins
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Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space
Contact: Buddy Nelson, (510) 797-0349
Pager: (888) 916-1797
Email: buddy1@home.com
98-110
LOCKHEED MARTIN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CENTER CHOSEN TO BUILD SCIENCE
INSTRUMENT FOR NASA'S TRIANA MISSION
PALO ALTO, California, November 3, 1998 -- The Lockheed Martin Missiles &
Space Advanced Technology Center (ATC) has been selected by the University
of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography to design and
build the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) for NASA's Triana
mission, to be led by Dr. Francisco P.J. Valero from Scripps.
"This opportunity to provide the EPIC for Triana allows us to bring a long
heritage of space imaging instruments to the service of this important
remote sensing mission to planet Earth," says co-investigator Dr. Jack
Doolittle, the instrument implementation team leader at the ATC.
The Triana satellite concept will place a high definition television camera
-- paired with a 12-inch telescope -- into an orbit at a unique vantage
point a million miles from Earth where it will provide 24-hour views of the
home planet. It will orbit about a point in space where the gravitational
attraction of the Sun and the Earth on a satellite are essentially balanced,
allowing it to be suspended above the Earth to constantly view the fully
sunlit hemisphere.
The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) will acquire in six optical
bands, with a resolution of six kilometers per pixel and six infrared bands,
with a resolution of 24 kilometers per pixel. Appropriate channels can be
chosen to highlight various features on the land and oceans as well as in
the atmosphere. A minimum of 500 images each day will allow scientists to
closely monitor changing features and rapidly build up a large database of
changes over time.
"We are very pleased with this contract because Triana offers several
unprecedented opportunities for examining aspects of the Earth not presently
accessible from low Earth orbit or geostationary satellites," says
co-investigator Dr. Keith Hutchison, EPIC instrument scientist at the ATC.
"Indeed, we believe that the remote sensing instrumentation we will design
and build at the ATC will provide never before available observations of
dynamic aspects of atmospheric aerosols and clouds, regional ecological
responses on short time scales, and ocean color variability.
"Multispectral images and broadband radiometry from Triana offer an exciting
opportunity to look, for the first time, at the Earth as a planet,"
continues Hutchison. "Understanding the Earth's bulk and thermodynamic
properties as an open system, exchanging energy with the Sun and space, is
a fundamental scientific goal of climatology."
The concept for the Triana mission was first conceived in February 1998.
The small satellite will be linked to Earth through three simple, low-cost
ground stations equally spaced around the globe to provide continuous
downlink capability. One new image in each wavelength band would be
downlinked every few minutes. The name of the mission comes from Juan
Rodriguez Bermejo de Triana, a lookout on Christopher Columbus' flagship
the Santa Maria. It was he who, on October 12, 1492, first sighted the
New World.
The Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Advanced Technology Center (ATC) is
a world-class provider of advanced scientific and space technologies,
prototypes, and research for physical, electronic, information/computing,
materials, engineering, and electro-optical applications. The ATC is
involved in the development of numerous sophisticated systems and programs
-- ranging from missile seekers to satellite telescopes used to measure
solar phenomena.
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [1/12]
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This is the November 1998 "SpaceViews" (tm) newsletter, published by the
Boston chapter of the National Space Society.
For a description of related e-mail lists maintained by the Boston NSS, or
to stop receiving this SpaceViews newsletter, see the instructions at the
end of this message.
SpaceViews is available on the WWW at http://www.spaceviews.com
and by FTP from ftp.seds.org in directory /pub/info/newsletters/spaceviews
See the very end for information on membership, reprinting, copyright, etc.
Copyright (C) 1999 by Boston Chapter of National Space Society,
a non-profit educational 501(c)3 organization.
All articles in SpaceViews represent the opinions of the authors and do not
necessarily represent the views of the Editor, the National Space Society
(NSS), or the Boston chapter of the NSS.
S P A C E V I E W S
Volume Year 1998, Issue 11
November 1998
http://www.spaceviews.com/1998/11/
*** News ***
Glenn Lifts Off on Historic Shuttle Mission
Glenn Dropped from Shuttle Experiment
Clinton Uses Glenn Launch to Promote Space Policy
Deep Space 1 Launches
Ariane 5 Lifts Off on Final Qualification Flight
Atlas, Pegasus, Ariane Rockets Launch Satellites
NASA Selects Triana Proposal
Dust Disk Discoveries Indicate Planets May Be Common
Callisto May Have Subsurface Ocean
SpaceViews Event Horizon
Other News
*** Articles ***
The Start of the Manned Space Race
Making Progress on the Frontier: The 1998 Space Frontier Conference
*** Book Reviews ***
Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet
Worlds Without End: The Exploration of Planets Known and Unknown
Star Ware
*** NSS News ***
Upcoming Boston NSS Events
*** Regular Features ***
Jonathan's Space Report No. 378
*** News ***
Glenn Lifts Off on Historic Shuttle Mission
In one of the most widely anticipated launches in the history
of the space program, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off Thursday,
October 29, carrying a seven person crew on mission STS-95 that
includes senator and former astronaut John Glenn.
The shuttle lifted off at 2:19pm EST (1719 UT) after two brief
delays, one to correct a sensor problem and another when aircraft
violated the restricted airspace around the launch site.
"Liftoff of the shuttle Discovery with a crew of six astronaut
heros and one American legend," Lisa Malone, the voice of launch
control, said as the shuttle left the ground.
The launch was not completely problem-free. As the main
engines on the shuttle started up, a 5-kg (11-lb.) aluminum panel fell
from the shuttle and bounced off an engine nozzle. NASA officials
said the missing panel was not serious, although has the panel struck
a little higher up on the engine nozzle it could have hit and damaged
a hydrogen coolant line, with more serious consequences.
The panel served as a door to the drag chute, which deploys
after the shuttle touches down to help slow down the speeding orbiter.
The chute is not necessary to brake the orbiter, though, and wasn't
added to the orbiter fleet until the early 1990s.
Over 3,000 members of the media and up to 350,000 spectators
watched the launch, although some NASA officials pegged the total
crowd size as nearly one million. Among those in attendance was
President Bill Clinton, who watched the launch with First Lady Hillary
Clinton. Clinton was the first President to view a shuttle launch,
and the first to attend a manned launch since Richard Nixon watched
the launch of Apollo 12 in November 1969.
Also in attendance were a number of celebrities, ranging from
actor Leonardo DeCaprio and heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield to
baseball legend Ted Williams, who served with Glenn as a Marine Corps
fighter pilot.
With the shuttle safely in orbit, the crew turned to a busy
schedule of experiments and projects. On October 30 the shuttle
deployed the Petite Amateur Naval Satellite (PANSAT), an experimental
satellite built by students at the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California. The satellite will capture and transmit radio
signals that would normally be lost to interference. It will serve
primarily as a teaching tool for the school.
On Sunday, November 1, the shuttle deployed the Spartan 201
solar science satellite. The satellite will fly free from the shuttle
and study the Sun's corona for two days before being retrieved by the
shuttle.
Dozens of onboard experiments, including many involving or run
by John Glenn, are also underway. In one key experiment astronaut
Scott Parazynski takes blood samples from Glenn to study the buildup
and breakdown of muscle mass.
Glenn has shown no signs of any problems either during the
launch or in the adaptation to weightlessness. "Zero-g and I feel
fine," Glenn said Thursday night, echoing a phrase he said during his
Mercury flight in 1962.
"Let the record show that John has a smile on his face and it
goes from one ear to the other one, and we haven't been able to remove
it yet," shuttle commander Curtis Brown said.
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Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [2/12]
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Glenn Dropped from Shuttle Experiment
Senator and shuttle astronaut John Glenn will not take part in
an experiment to study the effects of melatonin, the Boston Globe
reported Wednesday, October 21.
Glenn was dropped from the experiment, which involved taking
doses of the brain hormone and monitoring its effects, for unspecified
health reasons, according to a doctor involved with the study.
"When we examined the data we collected for preflight studies,
we realized Senator Glenn didn't meet one of the criteria for our
study," Dr. Charles A. Czeisler of Boston's Brigham and Women's
Hospital told the Globe. Neither he, NASA officials, nor Glenn's
spokesman would elaborate on the medical reasons, citing
confidentiality.
However, they emphasized that the medical criteria used to
remove Glenn from the experiment do not jeopardize his overall health
or his ability to fly on the mission.
The Globe, citing a copy of the study provided by the
researches, said there were "dozens" of conditions that could
disqualify someone from the study. Those include infections, heart
and lung problems, kidney disease, gastrointestinal and immune-system
disorders, cancer, blood diseases, hormone and metabolic problems,
disorders of the circadian-rhythm system, sleep disorders, depression
and other psychiatric disorders, and use of medications affecting the
brain.
Glenn was to take the melatonin to see if the hormone could
help him adjust his circadian rhythm, which would be affected by the
rapid day-night cycle the shuttle experiences while in orbit. Another
crew member, Japanese astronaut Dr. Chiaki Mukai, will take part in
the study.
Melatonin has been used by many as a way to fight jet-lag and
insomnia, but has not jet been scientifically proven as a way of
combating those disorders.
Glenn's non-participation in the study should not have a major
impact on the mission, Czeisler said. "In the case of Senator Glenn,
melatonin was never the primary reason why we were doing the study,"
he told the Globe. "I'm still interested in finding out the changes of
sleep with age, how similar they are to changes in sleep in other crew
members, and whether an older crew member will exhibit the same
changes or not."
Glenn is scheduled to take part in a wide range of experiments
during the nine-day STS-95 mission, which launched October 29.
However, the melatonin study was part of one of only two "primary
payload" experiments, along with a study of protein turnover in
muscles.
Clinton Uses Glenn Launch to Promote Space Policy
President Clinton took time during Thursday's launch of the
space shuttle Discovery to comment on the state of the space program
and suggest the U.S. should pay Russia additional funds to support
their role in the International Space Station.
Clinton, the first President to attend a space shuttle launch,
spoke with CNN commentators Miles O'Brien and Walter Cronkite an hour
before the launch of STS-95, and told them that he would support
sending additional money to Russia for ISS "if it were required."
"If we were required now to help the Russians during this
difficult period -- which will not last forever -- so that they could
continue to participate, I would be in favor of that," Clinton said.
He added that he "would be happy to talk to the Congressional leaders
in both parties" about such funding.
When asked if he supported a goal of sending humans to Mars by
2019, as first proposed by then-President Bush in 1989, Clinton was
noncommittal. "Well, let me say, what we're doing now will help us
once we get to the position of evaluating that," he said. "I don't
want to either affirm or renounce it."
Clinton said that NASA's first priority should be the
completion of ISS. "Let's get the space station up and going and
evaluate what our long-term prospects are. I'll tell you this, I am
for a continued, aggressive exploration of space in ways that are high
quality, cost effective and that will benefit us here on Earth."
After the successful launch, Clinton spoke to launch
controllers. "It has been immensely impressive and important to me to
have the chance to work with NASA over the last six years and see the
revolution which has been undertaken, so that now you can -- on
virtually the same budget you had six years ago -- do eight launches a
year instead of two."
The basis for Clinton's claims are uncertain. In 1992 there
were eight shuttle launches, and between 1993 and 1996 there were
seven launches a year, with eight again in 1997. STS-95 is only the
fourth shuttle launch of 1998, with one more scheduled before the end
of the year. The last year there were only two shuttle flights was
1988, the year the shuttle returned to service after the Challenger
disaster.
That apparent error was an opening for sharp criticism by Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), chair of the House Science Committee's space
subcommittee.
Calling Clinton's claims "pure nonsense", Rohrabacher said
that Clinton "has cut NASA's budget in actual dollars every year he's
been President, and slashed the real purchasing power by a third. In
fact, this administration has cut $40 billion from NASA's outyear
budget since he was first elected."
"Personally, I'm glad that John Glenn got to return to space,"
Rohrabacher said. "But we need to invest our space dollars in making
it cheaper so that lots more people and projects can go into space. I
hope that next year the President will work with the new Congress to
really open the space frontier for everyone."
Deep Space 1 Launches
A Delta booster carrying an experimental NASA spacecraft and a
student-built satellite lifted off Saturday morning, October 24.
The Delta 2, carrying the Deep Space 1 (DS1) and SEDSAT-1
spacecraft, lifted off at 8:08 am EDT (1208 UT) from Cape Canaveral,
Florida. The launch was delayed by a few minutes to resolve minor
technical issues.
After some communications problems, mission control officials
were able to confirm that Deep Space One had left Earth orbit and had
separated from its upper stage. Likewise, the SEDSAT-1 satellite
successfully deployed from the Delta 2's second stage.
DS1 is the first spacecraft in NASA's New Millennium Program,
an effort to develop and test spacecraft tecnologies that may be of
use on future science missions.
DS1's innovative technologies include an ion engine that is
the spacecraft's main propulsion system, solar concentrators that are
15-20 percent more efficient that ordinary solar cells, and autonomous
control systems that minimize the interaction needed with human
controllers on the ground.
"Science mission project managers are reluctant to take the
risk of using untested technologies," said Wesley Huntress, NASA's
former associate administrator for space science. "The New Millennium
Program is devoted to testing out new technologies first so they can
be used with greater confidence on upcoming faster, better, cheaper
scientific missions of the early 21st century."
While primarily a technology development mission, DS1 will
perform some science. The spacecraft will fly by the asteroid 1992 KD
in late July of 1999, coming as close as 5 km (3 mi.) to the asteroid.
If an extended mission is funded, the spacecraft could make flybys of
comets Wilson-Harrington and Borrelly in 2001.
The Delta 2 also carried the SEDSAT-1 satellite into orbit. A
project run by Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
(SEDS), the satellite will return images of the Earth that will be
distributed on the World Wide Web and also serve the amateur radio
communuity.
The launch was the cumulation of many years of work by
students at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, headquarters for
the SEDSAT-1 project. and students and volunteers worldwide.
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Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [3/12]
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Ariane 5 Lifts Off on Final Qualification Flight
A European Ariane 5 heavy-lift booster made a successful third
flight Wednesday, October 21, launching two test payloads.
The Ariane 5 lifted off at 12:37 pm EDT (1637 UT) from Kourou,
French Guiana. The launch was delayed by over a half hour due to
problems with three sensors on the booster.
This launch, designated Ariane 503, was the third and final
qualification flight for the booster, conducted by Arianespace, the
European Space Agency, and the French Space Agency CNES.
"The third Ariane-5 flight has been a complete success," said
Ariane 503 flight director Fredrik Engström. "It qualifies
Europe's new heavy-lift launcher and vindicates the technological
options taken by the European Space Agency."
The Ariane 5 carried the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator
(ARD), a spacecraft designed to test reentry techniques that may be
used on future unmanned and manned launch vehicles, such as a space
station crew return vehicle or automated transfer vehicle.
Resembling a smaller version of an Apollo command module, the
2,800-kg (6,160-lb.) ARD was designed to make one trip around the
planet before reentering overt the Pacific Ocean and parachuting to a
splashdown in the Pacific about 90 minutes after launch.
Arianespace later reported that the ARD successfully splashed
down in the Pacific between the Iles Marquises and Hawaii. A recovery
boat picked up the ARD late Wednesday.
The booster also carried the MaqSat-3, a mockup of a
communications satellite. Ariane 503 was to carry Eutelsat's W2
comsat, but that was moved to an Ariane 4 when Eutelsat W1, intended
for that Ariane 4 launch, was damaged in a ground test in May.
The Ariane 5's first launch, in June of 1996, ended in failure
when a problem with the guidance control software caused the rocket to
veer out of control less than 40 seconds after launch. The vehicle
was destroyed by ground controllers, destroying it and its payload of
four small solar science satellites.
After the problem was corrected, the Ariane 5 flew again a
year ago on Ariane 502, carrying two test satellites. That launch was
not entirely successful, as the booster's main Vulcain engine shut
down early, placing the satellites into a lower-than-planned orbit.
With a successful Ariane 503 flight, Arianespace plans to move
forward to market the heavy-lift booster to commercial customers. The
company earlier this year ordered 50 Ariane 5's for commercial
launches well into the next decade.
"We will now be offering our customers a launch service
combining performance, power, flexibility and availability in line
with today's commercial demands and those of tomorrow," said
Arianespace chairman Jean-Marie Luton.
Atlas, Pegasus, Ariane Rockets Launch Satellites
Several American and European rockets launched a number of
commercial and government satellites in late October, ranging from
communications satellites to environmental monitoring spacecraft.
An Atlas 2A launched a U.S. Navy communications satellite at
3:19 am EDT (0719 UT) Tuesday, October 20, after a short delay caused
by a minor problem with the power system on the spacecraft. The
satellite was successfuly delievered into orbit, according to launch
officials.
The launch was scheduled for 3:11 am EDT (0711 UT) October 19,
but was called off more than an hour before the scheduled launch when
forecasts called for upper-level winds that could blow debris from an
explosion towards populated areas.
The Atlas 2A carried the Navy's UHF Follow-On F9
communications satellite. Based on the Hughes HS 601 spacecraft
design, UHF F/O F9 will join seven other operational UHF satellites in
geosynchronous orbit to provide high-speed broadband communications to
ships and other fixed and mobile terminals.
An Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) Pegasus booster launched
a Brazilian environmental satellite and a NASA experimental payload at
8:03 pm EDT (0003 UT) Thursday, October 22 off the coast from Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
The rocket carried the Satelite de Coleta de Dados-2 (SCD-2)
satellite for Brazil's INPE space agency. The satellite will collect
information from sensors located in Brazil's Amazon Rover basin and
relay them to scientists, who will use the data to better understand
the environmental changes taking place in the Amazonian rain forest.
The Pegasus also carried NASA's Wing Glove experimental
payload on the first stage of the booster. The payload was designed
to measure the transition from smooth to turbulent airflow at
hypersonics speeds up to Mach 8. The payload collected all of its
data in the first 90 seconds of flight and was not designed to go into
orbit.
An Ariane 4 booster launched two communications satellites
into orbit from French Guiana at 5:16 pm EST (2216 UT) Wednesday,
October 28, from Kourou, French Guiana. No problems were reported with
the launch and its payload, the GE-5 and AfriStar satellites,
successfully reached orbit.
The GE-5 satellite, built by the French firm Alcatel, will
provide direct TV services for the United States for GE American
Communications. AfriStar, built by Matra Marconi, is the first of
three satellites planned to provide direct radio broadcasts for
Africa. It is run by WorldSpace, a company based in Washington, DC.
NASA Selects Triana Proposal
NASA has selected a proposal for the controversial Triana
Earth-observing spacecraft, the space agency announced Tuesday,
October 27.
A team led by Francisco P.J. Valero of the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography will lead development of the $75-million spacecraft,
which will observe the Earth from the Earth-Sun L1 point 1.5 million
kilometers (900,000 miles) away, scheduled for launch in late 2000.
Triana will carry the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera
(EPIC), a camera designed to return high-resolution images of the
Earth. It will also carry a radiometer to measure temperatures and an
instrument to monitor space weather conditions such as solar storms.
The radiometer will provide, according to Valero, "the first
direct measurements of the radiant power reflected by the planet, and
thereby contribute to our knowledge of how much of the Sun's energy is
absorbed in the Earth's atmosphere."
"The EPIC instrument will observe the Earth's vegetation
canopy structure and evolution by taking advantage of the
retro-reflectance, or 'hot spot,' view that will be available by being
in-line between the Earth and the Sun," he added. "The EPIC also will
observe clouds and aerosols."
Triana's distant viewpoint will provide it with unique
advantages, claims Ghassem Asrar, NASA's associate administrator for
earth science. "The full-disk view of the Earth enables retrieval of
global quantities at once, whereas measurements from low Earth orbit
or geostationary Earth orbit must be 'stitched' together, requiring
concerted efforts to 'process out' differences due to viewing times
and revisit intervals."
NASA is also planning involvement by the educational community
in the mission, Asrar said, and is also looking at the possibility of
commercial participation, where private companies would pay for
commercial rights to the data collected by Triana.
Triana, named after Rodrigo de Triana, the sailor who first
spotted the New World on Columbus's first expedition, is the
brainchild of Vice President Al Gore. He announced the program in
March as a way of educating people about the environment.
"With the next millennium just around the corner, developing
this high-definition TV quality image of the full disk of the
continuously lit Earth and making it available 24 hours a day on the
Internet will awaken a new generation to the environment and educate
millions of children around the globe," Gore said at the MIT
conference where he announced Triana.
The proposal was criticized in Congress, where opponents
dubbed the mission "Goresat". They thought such a mission had little
scientific value and could be done by private industry without NASA
intervention.
The House included language in its appropriations bill for
NASA that prevented the space agency from spending money on the
project. However, that restriction was removed in a conference report
that reconciled the House and Senate versions of the spending bill
earlier this month.
At the time NASA believed the mission could be carried out for
under $50 million, but the announcement of the proposal selection said
the mission would cost $75 million. NASA plans to launch Triana from
the space shuttle during a December 2000 flight.
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Dust Disk Discoveries Indicate Planets May Be Common
A recent slew of discoveries of dust disks around stars --
long thought to be raw materials from which planets form -- indicates
that these disks may be commonplace around young stars and are
directly linked to the formation of planets.
Three independent teams of astronomers announced seperate
discoveries this month, including the discovery of a dust disk around
a star where extrasolar planets have already been detected, a dust
disk that resembles the early solar system, and an estimate of the
number of young stars with such disks.
Two University of Arizona astronomers reported October 21 that
they had discovered a dust disk around the star 55 Cancri. An
extrasolar planet had already been indirectly detected around the star
two years ago by San Frnacisco State University astronomers.
Using an instrument called a coronagraph that blocks out light
from the star, David Trilling and Robert Brown were able to detect the
dust disk around the star using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in
Hawaii. The disk lies at least 27-44 astronomical units (4.05-6.6
billion km, 2.5-4.1 billion miles) from the star and may be larger.
"The disk we have found is similar in extent to our solar
system's Kuiper Belt, and has a spectral signature similar to some
Kuiper Belt objects, suggesting similar compositions," Trilling said.
"And, for all we know, there could be other similarities in this
system yet to be discovered."
Trilling and Brown were also able to constrain the mass of the
extrasolar planet to 1.9 times the mass of Jupiter. The planet, which
they were not able to observe, orbits the star at a distance of only
0.1 AU (15 million km, 9.3 million mi.).
Meanwhile, radio astronomers using the Very Large Array in New
Mexico were able to discover the smallest known protoplanetary dust
disk, around a star 1300 light years from Earth.
The disk is thought to be about the same size as the disk that
created our solar system, making the discovery of special interest.
"We're pretty sure that systems like this, with disks of gas and dust
surrounding a young star, turn into solar systems," said co-discoverer
Luis Rodriguez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "But
we don't know exactly how they do it."
Astronomers plan further studies of this system to determine
the structure of the disk and help understand the process of planet
formation.
Such dust disks may be common around young stars, astronomers
using a European space observatory reported October 23. Two teams
using data from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) believe that up
to half of young stars might possess protoplanetary disks.
According to astronomer Eric Becklin of UCLA, about half of
stars a million years old have dust disks, a fraction that drops to 20
percent for stars hundreds of millions of years old. Becklin believes
these dust disks disappear as planets form, but "that cannot be yet
established," he said.
Scientists are also using ISO data to determine the origin of
these dust disks and their composition.
Callisto May Have Subsurface Ocean
Europa may not be the only large moon of Jupiter to have an
ocean beneath its surface, as scientists have found evidence for such
a body of water beneath the surface of Callisto, NASA reported
Wednesday, October 21.
Data returned by the Galileo spacecraft suggests that
Callisto, the outermost of Jupiter's four large Galilean satellites,
may have a salty ocean of liquid water hidden beneath its cratered
surface.
"Until now, we thought Callisto was a dead and boring moon,
just a hunk of rock and ice," said Dr. Margaret Kivelson of UCLA.
"The new data certainly suggest that something is hidden below
Callisto's surface, and that something may very well be a salty
ocean."
Such an ocean would have to be at least 10 km (6 mi.) thick to
support the magnetic field, scientists said. It would likely be
buried beneath about 200 km (120 mi.) of ice on the surface.
Evidence for a liquid water ocean comes from magnetometer
readings from Galileo, which show variations in Callisto's magnetic
field. Such variations can be explained by changes in electrical
currents associated with Jupiter that flow near the moon.
Neither Callisto's extremely tenuous atmosphere nor its icy
crust could support the moon's magnetic field, Kivelson said, but a
subsurface liquid could. "If this liquid were salty like Earth's
oceans, it could carry sufficient electrical currents to produce the
magnetic field," she said.
Similar magnetic field changes have been seen with Europa and
associated with a liquid water ocean that many scientists believe
exist beneath Europa's icy crust. "This seemed to fit nicely with
other data supporting the idea that beneath Europa's icy crust, a
liquid ocean might be serving as a conductor of electricity," said
Kivelson.
The existence of a liquid water ocean on Europa has been seen
as a key piece of evidence to support the possibility of life on that
world. However, scientists cautioned that the same may not be true
for Callisto.
"Biologists believe liquid water and energy are then needed to
actually support life, so it's exciting to find another place where we
might have liquid water," said JPL's Torrence Johnson, Galileo
project scientist. "But, energy is another matter, and currently,
Callisto's ocean is only being heated by radioactive elements, whereas
Europa has tidal energy as well." That lack of additional tidal
energy could hinder or prevent the development of life in Callisto's
oceans.
Galileo will make four more flybys of Callisto next year, but
Kivelson and colleagues are focusing their attention on Ganymede, a
large moon between Europa and Callisto, to see if it might also have a
subterranean liquid water ocean.
SpaceViews Event Horizon
November 4 Launch of a Proton carrying the PAS-8 comsat from
Baikonur, Kazakhstan
November 6 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying five replacement Iridium
satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
November 7 Landing of the space shuttle Discovery on mission
STS-95, at 11:49 am EST (1649 UT) at the Kennedy
Space Center, Florida
November 19 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Bonum 1 satellite
from Cape Canaveral, Florida
November 20 Launch of a Proton carrying the Zarya space station
module from Baikonus, Kazakhstan
December 2-3 NSS's "Property Rights and Commercial Space
Development" meeting, Washington, DC
December 3 Launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-88, launch of
the Unity space station module, from Kennedy Space
Center, Florida
December 10 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Mars Climae Orbiter
spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
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От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [5/12]
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Other News
Delta 3 Fixed: Boeing investigators have isolated the problem that
caused a Delta 3 booster to go out of control on its maiden flight
August 25 and found a solution, the company reported Monday, October
19. A "roll instability" caused by the 4-hertz back-and-forth rocking
of three solid-rocket motors (SRMs) ignited after launch led to the
eventual loss of control and destruction of the booster, investigators
concluded. As the vibrations grew dominant 40-50 seconds after launch
the rocket tried to correct it by steering the thrusters, but ran out
of hydraulic fluid, leading to eventual loss of control. "The roll
instability which led to the Delta 3 failure can be corrected by a
change to our control software," chief investigator Clarance Quan
said. The next Delta 3 launch is planned for the first quarter of
1999.
Progress Launched: A Progress resupply spacecraft lifted off Sunday,
October 25 and docked with the Mir space station two days later.
Progress M-40 carried supplies for Mir and its two-man crew, including
food, water, and personal items, including New Year's gifts for the
crew, who will not get another cargo spacecraft for the rest of this
year. The spacecraft also carried the Znamya ("Banner") 2.5
experimental space mirror. The mirror, which will deploy from the
spacecraft after it undocks from Mir in Feburary 1999, will test ways
to illuminate nighttime regions of the Earth by reflecting sunlight.
SETI Hoax?: Claims that a British amateur has discovered a radio
signal from an alien intelligence have been debunked as a hoax by SETI
scientists. The anonymous Briton, later identified as a Mr. Paul
Dore, claimed to have detected a signal from the star EQ Pegasi. His
reports, pushed on a SETI mailing list and elsewhere on the Internet,
were mentioned in a BBC report. However, other amateur and
professional SETI researchers have picked up no signs of such a
signal, although a signal was detected from that star in September by
Project Phoenix at Arecibo but failed to pass their stringent
confirmation checks. "A hacker gone wild," concluded Professor Nathan
Cohen of Boston University. "Too many 'Contact' reruns. Case closed."
Still, Dore claims the signal is true and is reportedly planning a
press conference as early as this week to formally present his claims.
Mars Discoveries: New images returned by the Mars Global Surveyor
(MGS) spacecraft show that active sand dunes may be moving across the
planet and "relatively recent" lava flows, scientists reported last
week. The dunes, made of sand-sized granules of rocks and minerals,
are blown across the surface by the planet's winds. The sand is
either rolled along the ground or hops through the air by the winds.
Images of the Elysium Basin on Mars show that its surface appears to
be made of plates of solidified lava, and not lakebed sediments as
once thought. This means the region might once have been covered with
giant ponds of molten lava, according to work by Alfred McEwen of the
U.S. Geological Survey. "These eruptions could be much younger than
the youngest of the large Martian volcanoes like Ascraeus Mons and
Olympus Mons in the Tharsis region, but they would still have occurred
many, many millions of years ago," he said.
Hubble Heritage: The Space Telescope Science Institute has started a
program last month to share dramatic, colorful images of the cosmos
with the public. The Hubble Heritage Program will post a
newly-processed color image from the Hubble Space Telescope on the
first Thursday of every month, institute offcials announced. A team of
scientists and image processing experts are going through 5.4-terabyte
archive of images of over 10,000 objects, looking for the best images.
They then combine images taken at several wavelengths to create the
color images presented to the public. The first set of Heritage
images includes dramatic views of Saturn, the Milky Way, another
spiral galaxy, and a bubble of hot gas from a star.
Other News: Vanity Fair and The New Yorker are not the magazines
you're most likely to find insightful articles about space. Yet, the
November issue of Vanity Fair includes an article by Bryan Burrough
about NASA's experience on the Russian Mir space station. The article
is an excerpt from "Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis aboard Mir"
published this month (look for a review in the December issue of
SpaceViews). The New Yorker's Oct. 26-Nov. 2 double issue includes
"Starship Private Enterprise", an article that looks at SpaceDev's
efforts to make a business out of space exploration. In the article,
SpaceDev founder Jim Benson compares commercial space exploration with
the psychological barrier of the four-minute mile. "If we break this
four-minute mile of space, go out and make some money doing something
practical that is needed in an existing market, all hell is going to
break loose..."
*** Articles ***
The Start of the Manned Space Race
by Andrew J. LePage
Introduction
At the same time NACA and the USAF were studying manned
spaceflight (see "The Beginnings of America's Man in Space Program" in
the October 1998 issue of Space Views), comparable efforts were
quietly taking place independently in the Soviet Union . As with
virtually every other aspect of the Soviet Union's early space
program, Chief Designer Sergei P. Korolev and his OKB-1 (Special
Design Bureau No. 1) lead the way. All during the 1950s when Korolev
and his colleague, Mikhail K. Tikhonravov of NII-4 (Scientific
Research Institute No. 4), were pushing their original Earth satellite
proposal, it also included plans to send probes to the Moon and men
into orbit. When the satellite proposal was finally adopted by the
Soviet government on January 30, 1956, the lunar probe and manned
satellite projects were also given the green light.
Initially the bulk of the resources at OKB-1 were poured into
building Object D (which would eventually become Sputnik 3) as well as
continuing development of the R-7 as both an ICBM and the basis of a
launch vehicle. Work on more advanced space missions did not begin
until after November of 1956 when Tikhonravov and his group were
officially transferred from NII-4 to Korolev's OKB-1 to become Project
Department No. 9. On March 8, 1957 the group was reorganized to focus
exclusively on the planning and development of spacecraft. Within a
month the group released their first preliminary plan for lunar and
manned spaceflights.
As these efforts began, Korolev envisioned the need for short
suborbital manned flights comparable to the existing program to launch
dogs on high altitude ballistic flights using "geophysical" rockets.
At this time manned missions into orbit were not anticipated until the
1964 to 1967 time frame. But the launches of Sputnik 1 and 2 in
October and November of 1957 changed everything.
The first Sputnik launches were to affect the manned space
program in several ways. The impact the launch of Sputnik 1 had on
the West led Soviet Primer Nikita Krushchev to exploit space missions
for their propaganda value. Development of more advanced and
spectacular missions like the manned satellite program were
immediately approved and placed on the fast track. Also at the
insistence of Krushchev, Sputnik 2 was launched with a dog on board.
While thermal control problems marred the mission, it did demonstrate
that weightlessness would not be a major hazard for a human (see
"Sputnik 2: The First Animal in Space" in the November 1997 issue of
Space Views). As a result, Korolev scrapped his initial, more
conservative approach and moved ahead with a much more aggressive
plan. In December of 1957 Korolev established three new design groups
under Tikhonravov: The first group would design automatic lunar
probes, another group communication satellites, and the last would
work on piloted spacecraft using the designs of the successors of
Object D as a starting point.
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Moving Towards a Manned Satellite
As work was moving forward during 1956 and 1957 on Object D, a
group at Department No. 9 under Eugeniy F. Ryazanov was already
performing preliminary studies on a series of successors designated
Object OD (with "OD" standing for "Oriented D"). Unlike Object D
whose orientation was not controlled, Object OD would be equipped with
an attitude control system to point its payload of
photo-reconnaissance cameras. Object OD-1 would use a lightweight,
passive attitude control system and be equipped with a cone-shaped
reentry module to return its payload of exposed film. Unfortunately
early studies quickly showed that the mass of Object OD-1 would exceed
the 1,400 kilogram (3,100 pound) payload capability of the R-7-based
8A91 being developed to launch Object D. A more powerful rocket would
be needed.
Based on experience with the 8K71 ICBM as well as the 8K71PS
and 8A91 satellite launch vehicle versions of the R-7, development of
an improved ICBM called the R-7A (also known by the designation 8K74)
was begun. Many of the R-7A upgrades could be incorporated into a new
family of satellite launch vehicles to increase their reliability and
payload performance. One of the designs to result from these studies
was the 8A92. Like the 8A91, the 8A92 was initially envisioned as a
two-stage launch vehicle consisting of four strapon boosters
surrounding a sustainer core. Its increased performance promised to
orbit a payload of as much as 1,700 kilograms (3,700 pounds). But
even this enhanced lift capability would prove to be insufficient. By
the end of 1957, the Object OD-1 design was still 400 kilograms (880
pounds) overweight.
With continuing development problems and the change in goals
in December of 1957, work on Object OD-1 was ended. Resources were
instead shifted to the development of the larger and more advanced
Object OD-2. In its reconnaissance configuration, this spacecraft
retained the basic cone-shaped reentry module of Object OD-1 but it
was now mated to a large cylindrical service module containing an
active attitude control and other support systems not required for the
return to Earth.
The 4,900 kilogram (10,800 pound) mass of Object OD-2 required
the development of a larger launch vehicle called the 8A93. The 8A93
would be a three-stage rocket using a stripped down R-7A for the first
two stages and a third stage based on the Blok E being developed for
the 8K73 Moon rocket (see "The Soviets Reach for the Moon" in the May
1998 issue of Space Views). With a third stage built around the
powerful RD-109 engine being developed by OKB-456 under Valentin P.
Glushko, this much more powerful rocket promised to deliver a payload
as great as 5,300 kilogram (11,700 pounds) into orbit.
A Manned Spacecraft Design
A team of engineers from Project Department No. 9 under
Konstantin P. Feoktistov were assigned the task of designing a manned
version of Object OD-2. While this team retained the original concept
of employing separate service and reentry modules to minimize the
total spacecraft mass, they ultimately designed a spacecraft totally
different from the original OD-2 concept. As would be the case with
its sister the 8K73, this team anticipated that the development of the
Blok E stage of the 8A93 would drag on far longer than anticipated.
Instead they opted to use the 8K72K. Based on the 8K72 launch vehicle
then under development to launch the E-1 lunar probes, the 8K72K would
incorporate a number of modifications to improve its performance and
reliability. This included an improved Blok E third stage that
replaced the RO-5 engine used in the 8K72 with an upgraded RO-7 being
developed by OKB-154 under Semyin A. Kosberg. For later flights, the
original two-stage 8A92 concept would be upgraded to include an
improved Blok E stage. The orbital payload of the 8K72K and 8A92
would be no more than 4,700 kilograms (10,300 pounds) but it was felt
that these rockets would be available at a sooner date than the more
powerful 8A93.
Presented with more stringent payload limits, Feoktistov's
team had to make every effort to minimize the mass of the manned OD-2.
While a variety of shapes for the reentry module were considered, the
original conical shape was ultimately abandoned in favor of a 2.3
meter (7.5 foot) in diameter sphere. Such a simple shape had many
advantages. First the aerodynamics of a sphere were well understood
and it promised to be stable. This shape also maximized the interior
volume for the passenger and critical recovery systems while at the
same time minimizing the mass of the required heat shielding. By
offsetting its center of mass from its center of figure, the reentry
module would automatically keep itself oriented during its return to
Earth without the weight penalty of an active attitude control system.
This approach did result in a more punishing ballistic reentry but
peak braking loads would still be limited to a tolerable 10 Gs. This
design also promised to keep the landing target errors to an
acceptable 200 to 300 kilometers (125 to 190 miles). While a
lightweight, unpressurized service module was studied, ultimately
Korolev's wish to use a pressurized one was adopted despite the weight
penalty. This helped to simplify thermal control problems, offered a
more benign environment for the onboard systems, and would speed
development.
The final hurdle to a successful manned mission was the
landing. American efforts centered on a parachute-assisted water
landing that would take advantage of their large naval surface fleet.
Soviet designers opted for a touchdown on land to take advantage of
the Soviet Union's vast territory. A variety of systems including a
helicopter-like rotor favored by Korolev were considered for the final
braking but ultimately it was decided to use a simple a parachute.
Unfortunately a parachute large enough to guarantee a survivable
landing for the passenger-laden reentry module would be prohibitively
heavy. In April of 1958 Feoktistov's design team came up with an
ingenious solution which they called "the forced landing procedure".
The cosmonaut would ride inside the reentry module until after the
worse of the reentry was completed. At an altitude of 7 kilometers
(23,000 feet) the cosmonaut would use an ejection seat to blast clear
and make a final descent using his own parachute. The descending
reentry module would then be free to make a rough landing at a final
speed of 10 meters per second (22 miles per hour) using a small
parachute. This ejection seat could also double as a launch escape
system to pull the cosmonaut clear of his craft in case of a
catastrophic failure during ascent.
While the manned Object OD-2 concept was much different than
the original Object OD-2 design, Feoktistov's team broadened its
appeal further by designing a reconnaissance variant. In this second
version, all the systems needed to support a passenger were removed
and a photo-reconnaissance package installed. This approach only made
sense since both manned and reconnaissance orbital missions involved
the return of a payload from orbit. This new Object OD-2 proposal was
presented to Korolev in June of 1958. He approved the manned design
and the cone-shaped reconnaissance configuration of the OD-2 was
eventually dropped in favor of Feokstitov's unified spacecraft design
concept. But while Korolev was convinced that this was the best way
to proceed, he still had powerful critics that needed to be swayed.
Seeking Approval
At this time there was much debate among the various Chief
Designers and officials in the Soviet government on which path their
space program should take. Echoing concerns that are still voiced
today, one group insisted that manned spaceflight was too expensive
and would yield few if any tangible benefits. They felt that the
country's limited resources were better spent on the development of
unmanned spacecraft to perform various useful tasks. While a valid
argument could be made on this point, Krushchev clearly preferred a
manned flight for its potential propaganda value. In addition,
because of the amount of hardware shared between the manned and
unmanned reconnaissance versions of Object OD-2 that Feoktistov group
had designed, development efforts for a manned spacecraft could have
direct applications towards a highly useful photo-reconnaissance
satellite.
Others thought that suborbital flights should be a
prerequisite for a full blown manned orbital flight. But by May of
1958 even Korolev had become convinced that manned suborbital flights,
even suborbital test flights, were superfluous. This was in part due
to the relative success of Sputnik 2 and a continuing series of canine
suborbital test flights. Korolev also argued that the development of
hardware needed for a manned suborbital flight would not add as much
to the art as an orbital mission would. This despite the small
additional effort required to achieve the latter. In the end Korolev
had decided that a manned suborbital flight would be a meaningless
stunt. He felt that moving directly to the development of a manned
satellite would be of much greater value given the growing competition
with the United States and the resources he had available.
In the end Korolev won the argument and the Council of Chief
Designers approved his plan for a manned orbital spaceflight in
November of 1958. Work to design and manufacture this new spacecraft
began in earnest in early 1959 as the Soviet government issued a
series of secret decrees on the matter. By the summer of that year
the spacecraft officially received the name the world would know it
by: Vostok.
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Bibliography
Peter A. Gorin, "Zenit - The First Soviet Photo-Reconnaissance
Satellite", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 50,
No. 11, pp. 441-448, November 1997
Bart Hendrickx, "Korolev: Facts and Myths", Spaceflight, Vol. 38, No.
2, pp. 44-48, February 1996
Asif A. Siddiqi, "Before Sputnik: Early Satellite Studies in The
Soviet Union 1947-1957 - Part 2", Spaceflight, Vol. 39, No. 11, pp.
389-392, November 1997
Timothy Varfolomeyev, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space Part 3:
Lunar Launchings for Impact and Photography", Spaceflight, Vol. 38,
No. 6, pp. 206-208, June 1996
Timothy Varfolomeyev, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space Part 7:
Launch Vehicles for the First Reconnaissance Satellite", Spaceflight,
Vol. 40, No. 9, pp. 360-363, September 1998
Wayne R. Matson (editor), Cosmonautics: A Colorful History, Cosmos
Books, 1994
Making Progress on the Frontier:
The 1998 Space Frontier Conference
by Jeff Foust
The prospects for commercial development of space appeared to
take an upturn this year, from the passage of the Commercial Space Act
to Lunar Prospector's confirmation that water ice exists on the Moon,
opening new possibilities for commercial use of the Moon. Those
beliefs were in evidence at the Space Frontier Conference, held by the
Space Frontier Foundation October 9-11 in Los Angeles.
At the conference, an optimistic future for commercial space
was presented, from Earth orbit to the Moon and asteroids. Speakers
also made clear the challenges ahead, from the need to successfully
develop low-cost space access to the dangers a possible future
economic recession might pose.
Making Money on the Moon
The confirmation of water ice on the poles of the Moon has
raised interest in further exploration of our nearest neighbor, both
from a scientific and commercial standpoint. Several plans for lunar
exploration were reported at the conference.
David Gump, CEO of LunaCorp, discussed his company's new plans
for lunar exploration. LunaCorp has shelved plans for a rover that
would travel for thousands of kilometers around the surface in favor
of a mission focused on the north pole of the Moon. The IceBreaker
mission, planned for a July 2002 launch, would send a lander and rover
to Peary crater near the Moon's north pole to search for ice.
The rover, developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics
Institute, would be able to drill up to 1.2 meters into the lunar
regolith to look for deposits of water ice. A radar will be able to
penetrate to deeper levels to provide a better estimate about the
amount of water ice buried in the Moon.
LunaCorp estimated IceBreaker will cost between $80-$200
million, depending on the launch vehicle used: the low end assumes a
$10-million launch on a Roton. The company still plans to pay for the
mission through commercial sponsorships, data purchase, and
interactive opportunities via TV and the Web to give people the
opportunity to drive the rover once the primary part of the mission is
completed.
Applied Space Resources (ASR) is pushing forward with its
Lunar Retriever mission to return over 10 kg (22 lbs.) of lunar rock
and soil samples to the Earth. ASR plans to send the $50-million
spacecraft to Mare Nectaris in August 2001.
At the conference, ASR officials announced plans to sell
"Lunar Time Capsules", nickel discs microetched with text and graphics
provided by purchasers, to fly on the spacecraft. If 500,000 time
capsules are purchased at $189 each, the company said, it will give
nearly half its payload of lunar samples, 5 kg (11 lbs.), to
scientists at no charge.
The company also said it plans to select one 1-kg "forgotten
experiment" to fly on the mission at no charge. The remainder of the
10-kg payload space will be available for $5 million per kg.
Even commercial human bases were a topic of discussion. Alan
Binder, chief scientist for the Lunar Prospector mission and a
long-time proponent of lunar exploration, said he is working on plans
for a manned commercial lunar base that could be established in the
north polar regions in as little as 10 years. He said a workshop
planned for March 1999, before the annual Lunar and Planetary Sciences
Conference in Houston, will work out details of a business plan that
could finance such a project. Binder is also planning future robotic
missions to the Moon, and has identified over 100 sites for visits by
future mission, perhaps in conjunction with human activities.
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How to Keep Mir Alive
One of the major programs of the Space Frontier Foundation has
been "Keep Mir Alive", an effort to prevent next year's planned
deorbiting of the Russian space station. Any decision to keep Mir in
orbit needs to be made soon, according Victor Blagov, deputy head
mission controller for Mir, who spoke at the conference.
Blagov said three deorbiting burns are scheduled for Mir: one
in November, a second in February 1999, and a final one in June. (It
has since been reported that the November's burn may actually raise
the orbit slightly, to counter the effects of increased atmospheric
drag.) A decision to keep Mir in orbit needs to be made before the
second burn in February, Blagov said.
Keeping Mir in orbit also means keeping it continuously
occupied, he told SpaceViews. The station would soon spin out of
control and become unusable if left unoccupied for even a short time,
he claims. This would rule out proposals to loft the station into a
high "cold storage orbit" and leave it unoccupied for several years.
The three Progress spacecraft that will help deorbit Mir could
also be used to raise its orbit to an altitude of 400 km. That
altitude is as high as the Soyuz spacecraft can fly and is also near
the limit beyond which radiation levels are too high, Blagov said. In
such a high orbit Mir could survive to 2001, but would need to be
continuously occupied at a cost of $20 million a month, he said.
Blagov stressed that Mir is today "fully operational", having
recovered from a series of accidents and technical problems. The main
problems keeping the station from staying in orbit are "financial, not
technical," he said.
If Mir could be kept in orbit, there could be considerable
commercial uses for it, claimed Michael Lawson, CEO of Space
Marketing, Inc. Lawson arranged the filming of a Pepsi ad on and
outside Mir, using a large inflatable Pepsi can, that will be used
next year in advertising for the next Star Wars movie. He also hinted
at the possibility of filming a portion of a future episode of "The
X-Files" television show from Mir.
Both Mir and the International Space Station can coexist,
Lawson said. "Two stations are better than one station."
"The Watch" Kicks Off
The Space Frontier Foundation and the Foundation for the
International Non-Governmental Development of Space (FINDS) used the
conference to officially kick off "The Watch", their program to
support the search for Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that could both prove
a threat to the Earth and provide resources for future space
exploration.
The program, which has received $50,000 in startup funds from
FINDS, will give money to needy astronomers involved in the search for
NEOs. However, they said to have any real impact on NEO searches they
need to raise at least $1 million and up to $3 million a year.
To achieve that goal they are looking at an unconventional
source of funds: naming rights. Traditionally astronomers who discover
asteroids get the right to name them, provided they meet the standards
of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The Watch proposes to
name asteroids discovered by participating astronomers after donors to
the program, and is in discussion with the IAU about this proposal.
RLV Update
The conference has become a key opportunity to check on the
progress of the several commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV)
companies, and this year was no exception. Although reports of
substantial progress towards the first flight of such vehicles were
limited, several companies reported that they would be ready for at
least test flights in 1999.
Kistler Aerospace appeared to be the farthest along, with its
two-stage K-1 RLV. Robert Meuser, vice president of Kistler, said the
vehicle was progressing. Several contractors had reached key
milestones, as AeroJet completed "6 or 7" tests of the NK-33 and NK-43
engines used on the K-1 and Lockheed Martin completed one of the fuel
tanks. The company is planning for a first test flight from Woomera,
Australia, some time in 1999, with commercial flights starting as soon
as possible thereafter. However, there was no comment on reports that
funding to Kistler subcontractors had slowed down or dried up because
of financial problems at the company.
Rotary Rocket is moving towards some atmospheric test flights
-- without rocket power -- of the Roton in 1999, according to company
CEO Gary Hudson. They were planning to complete a rotor test facility
by the end of October. A complete orbital flight of the Roton could
be as little as 18 months away "if all goes well," Hudson said.
The completion of a series of tow flights by Kelly Space and
Technology (KST) "was one of the major breakthroughs of the industry
this year," claimed chairman Michael Kelly. The tests, designed to
test the ability to tow large vehicles like the company's planned
RLVs, gained a lot of credibility for KST and the RLV industry in
general. The company is continuing design work on its Astroliner RLV,
scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2002. KST also recently
won a $1 million NASA contract to contribute to a space transportation
architecture study.
Robert Wolf, chief engineer of Pioneer Rocketplane, said the
company used funding from NASA's Bantam-X program to improve the
design of the Pathfinder rocketplane this summer. The revised vehicle
uses a shuttle-derived thermal-protection system and two F404 turbofan
engines (the same as those used on the F-18 fighter) mounted on the
sides of the vehicle. The F404s provide less thrust than the original
F100s, but are lighter, according to Wolf. The company is still
looking for a prime contractor to begin production of the vehicle.
Foundation Awards
The Space Frontier Foundation handed a number of awards at the
conference. Alan Binder and Gregg Maryniak won the "Vision to
Reality" award for their pioneering early work for Lunar Prospector.
Andrew Chaikin won the "Best Presentation of Space" award for writing
the book "A Man on the Moon", the basis for the Emmy-winning HBO
miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon." A special award was given to
Energia RSC, in the person of deputy mission controller Victor Blagov,
for their work keeping Mir operational. Ben Muniz won the "Service to
the Foundation" award and artist Peter Thorpe won the Founder's Award.
ProSpace, the grassroots space lobbying group, also handed out
awards at the conference. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, chair of the House
Science Committee's space subcommittee, won their "Legislator of the
Year" award while Jeff Krukin was named "Activist of the Year".
ProSpace also announced that the 1999 March Storm was tentatively
scheduled for the week of March 21.
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*** Book Reviews ***
by Jeff Foust
Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet
by Paul Raeburn and Matt Golombek
National Geographic Society, 1998
hardcover, 232 pp., illus.
ISBN 0-7922-7373-7
US$40/C$56
By now, more than a year after the last data was sent back to Earth by
Mars Pathfinder, you are likely more than familiar with the mission
and have seen countless images of the Martian surface sent back by
Pathfinder, either on its Web site or in magazines. So why spend $40
on another book with mostly the same images? Because "Mars:
Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet" does a beautiful job
presenting the images and puts them into context.
The book includes many dozens of photos from Pathfinder -- and from
other spacecraft missions like Viking, Mariner 9, and even Mars Global
Surveyor -- all beautifully reproduced at high resolution (much better
than what you can find on the Web, unless you're willing to wait hours
downloading the high-res versions!) Several 3-D images are included,
as well as two pairs of 3-D glasses.
For a coffee-table sized book like this, you would expect little from
the text. Instead, Paul Raeburn's text helps tie the pictures
together and provide a historical context: about half of the book
discusses the history of MArtian exploration from early telescopic
observations through Viking. The history of the Pathfinder program is
also included and is among the best to date (Donna Shirley's "Managing
Martians" goes into greater detail, but focuses on the development of
the rover only.) Project scientist Matthew Golombek contributed the
foreward to the book.
At $40, this book is something of an investment (although through
online book sellers you should be able to get it at a significant
discount.) However, the beautiful pictures and excellent text are
more than worth the price for anyone fascinated with the Red Planet.
Worlds Without End: The Exploration of Planets Known and Unknown
by John S. Lewis
Helix Books, 1998
hardcover, 240pp., illus.
ISBN 0-7382-0011-5
US$24
The discovery of extrasolar planets has become a hot topic in recent
years, as astronomers discover more planets and evidence grows that
stars with planets may be more the rule then the exception. However,
little has been written about what these planets might be like, or how
they -- or our own solar system, for that matter -- formed. John S.
Lewis's "Worlds Without End" provides a readable introduction to the
formation and development of planets.
Lewis explores the processes that create a solar system. Throughout
the book he keeps an eye towards what conditions are needed for worlds
to support life, noting that a planet need not be a clone of Earth to
be hospitable to life (Europa is very different from Earth, for
example, but may still support life.) Even an "Earthlet" orbiting a
brown dwarf star could support life, he noted.
Solar system formation can be a dense, technical topic, but Lewis
writes in an easily-understandable style that at times is almost
lighthearted. Fans of Lewis's recent books, "Rain of Iron and Ice" and
"Mining the Sky" will like this book, even though it's on a different
topic, as well as others interested in how other worlds might form.
Star Ware
by Philip S. Harrington
John Wiley and Sons, 1998
softcover, 376pp., illus.
ISBN 0-471-18311-3
US$19.95/C$27.95
As with any hobby, the serious amateur astronomer can acquire a
bewildering array of equipment, including telescopes, eyepieces,
filters, cameras, mounts, and more. So how does anyone just getting
into the field get started? Philip Harrington's "Star Ware" provides
not only a guide for those getting started in amateur astronomy, but
resources for the more advanced looking for the latest gadget.
Harrington's book starts with an introduction to telescopes, then a
guide to purchasing the right kind of telescope (or binoculars) to
meet the reader's observing needs. From there he goes on to
accessories, like eyepieces, filters, and more, including specialized
devices built by amateurs themselves to meet their observing needs. He
also includes a guide to the care of astronomical equipment and
information on some objects a beginner can start observing.
The book is well written, although the concept of cameras, especially
CCD cameras, is glossed over fairly quickly, when one could argue this
fast-growing field might deserve a chapter all its own -- a minor
omission. Otherwise, "Star Ware" is an excellent starter guide for the
beginning amateur astronomer and reference for the advanced amateur.
*** NSS News ***
Upcoming Boston NSS Events
Thursday, November 5, 7:45pm
Tour of the AXAF Science Center
AXAF (Advanced X-ray Astronomical Facility) Science Center Thurs. Nov
5th, 7:45. You must be prompt, no one will be after 7:46! You can
meet in lobby of "Hill Building" which is near the intersection of
Broadway & Hampshire St., near RR tracks, enter through doors under
the pedestrian bridge over Broadway. Or meet PROMPTLY at 7:30, at our
usual meeting location, and walk over. There is a limit of 15 people,
but if we get more, it is possible to get additional tours.
Thursday, December 3, 7:30pm
"The Overview Effect"
by Frank White
Frank White, author of "The Overview Effect" will be giving a talk and
doing a book signing! The 2nd edition of his book has been released
and he will be talking about the changes in the world and in the space
movement/space program since the publishing of the first edition in
1987.
Unless otherwise specified, Boston NSS Meetings are held on the first
Thursdays of every month at 545 Main Street (Technology Square), 8th
floor, Cambridge, near the Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line. Free
parking is available.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [10/12]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
*** Regular Features ***
Jonathan's Space Report No. 378
by Jonathan McDowell
[Ed. Note: Go to http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html for
back issues and other information about Jonathan's Space Report.]
Shuttle and Mir
STS-95 was launched on Oct 29 with Sen. John Glenn and the first
Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque among the crew. The US Navy PANSAT
student satellite was deployed on Oct 30 into a 550 x 561 x 28.5 deg
orbit.
Meanwhile, Endeavour has been moved to pad 39A in preparation for STS-88
with a Space Station module payload.
Cargo ship Progress M-40 was launched from Baykonur on 1998 Oct 25.
It docked with the Mir orbital station to provide supplies on Oct 27.
It also carries the Znamya-2.5 solar illumination experiment.
Visit to Kourou
I had the opportunity to be present for the launch of Ariane V113 on Oct
28, and in this special report describe my visit to the Centre Spatial
Guyanais (CSG) in Guyane francaise, S America. Pictures to accompany
this report are at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/csg.html
The small French town of Kourou is on the northern coast of the South
American landmass, at the edge of the Amazonian forest. From the air,
the approach to the region is over a dense mat of trees broken only by
the occasional river. The person next to me on the plane remarked that
the shape of the trees and their closeness to each other made it look
like a forest of broccoli. On a sandy beach covered with palm trees sits
a modern hotel where the penitentiary once stood (the notorious Devil's
Island is visible a few miles offshore). We arrived the evening before
launch after an hour-long bus ride from Cayenne airport, in time for a
banquet of fresh seafood, baked plantain, and tropical juices as well as
more traditionally French dishes. I didn't get to see too much of the
town itself, but it has a population of around 17000 consisting mostly
of recent immigrants from the rest of South America, the Caribbean and
Europe, together with indigenous Amerinds and a village of the
descendants of Africans who escaped slavery and developed their own
communities. The next morning, a short bus ride to the west of town
takes us to the Centre Technique, and the Jupiter launch control room
where the representatives of the various agencies briefed us. The
speakers used either French or English as they preferred, with
headphones provided for all of us to give simultaneous translation
for anyone who wasn't fluent in one or other language.
Launcher V113 was an Ariane 44L model, and carried the most massive
payload of any Ariane 4 to date, with 4.9 tonnes carried to orbit; it
was also the first time Arianespace has carried out three launches in a
single month. The V113 vehicle used the lightest stages available at
the factory, and the fuel in the lower stages was kept at a lower
temperature than usual to increase its density and allow a few extra
kilograms to be loaded - they ended up with more than 230 tonnes in the
L220 first stage. These measures allowed the record payload, and
Arianespace president Jean-Marie Luton predicted that eventually we'll
see a 5-tonne payload on Ariane 4.
Two satellites were carried, Afristar and GE 5; both were delivered to
geostationary orbit. The lower payload is the GE-5 satellite, with C
and Ku band transponders to augment the GE Americom system. GE Americom
contracted with Daimler-Benz Aerospace/Dornier Satellitensystem
GmbH/Friedrichshafen to provide the satellite in orbit. They in turn
contracted Alcatel/Cannes to provide the Spacebus 2000 satellite,
originally built as a backup for Argentina's Nahuelsat. This allowed
Dornier and Alcatel to deliver the satellite in a record twelve months.
Dry mass of GE 5 is 769 kg; it carries 950 kg of propellant at launch.
The upper payload was the first WorldSpace satellite, Afristar. Afristar
will broadcast digital radio over Africa and the Middle East. Small
handheld radios will be able to pick up the transmissions from its three
L-band beams; the satellite can carry from 24 to 96 radio channels
with on-board processing to allow variable bit rates from mono
to CD audio quality transmission. Broadcasters send their programs
up to the satellite with a small X-band ground station.
It will be followed next year by Asiastar and Ameristar. Afristar is a
Matra Marconi Space (Toulouse) Eurostar 2000+, using a Marquardt R-4D
apogee engine. Prime contractor for the combined satellite and comms
payload is Alcatel. Dry mass of Afristar is 1205 kg; it carries 1534 kg
of propellant at launch. The WorldSpace project is led by
Ethiopian-born Noah Samara, whose ebullient
personality was very much in evidence at CSG during the V113 launch.
There was a strong feeling that Afristar was not just yet one more
`boring' comsat, but part of a crusade to empower the developing world
by providing improved access to information. Samara's mantra is that
`people are only as developed as the information they access.' Another
of the leading figures in WorldSpace, chief engineer Pierre Madon, was
feted for completing a notable career in aerospace which included a
leading role in the first French rocket program Diamant and the
Symphonie comsat of the 1970s, as well as a long career at Intelsat.
CSG is operated by the French space agency CNES. The Ariane launch
vehicle was developed by the European Space Agency, ESA, together with
CNES, and is operated by the Arianespace company. Travelling further
west from Jupiter on the old Route Nationale 1 coast road, we reach the
CSG proper, with the entrance guarded by the French Foreign Legion. The
launch pads are on the north side of the road, nearer the sea. We first
pass the small clearing which marks the sounding rocket launch area
("aire de lancement fusee-sondes"). Here in 1968 was the first launch
from CSG, a small Veronique rocket. The area has four launchers, three
still in use for small weather rockets and amateur launches. A little
further and we reach the now disused Diamant pad. Used between 1970 and
1975, CNES launched several small satellites from here using the Diamant
B and Diamant B P.4 vehicles. The other old pad was the Aire de
Lancement Europa, some distance to the west. A single orbital launch
attempt from here by the Europa vehicle failed in 1971. However, by 1979
the pad had been rebuilt to become ELA 1, the first Ensemble de
Lancement Ariane, marking the beginning of Europe's success in the
commercial space launch services business with Ariane launches from 1979
to 1989, when the ELA1 pad was retired. Only a water tower marks the
spot currently. Next to ELA1 is ELA2, which we didn't get too close to
as it was occupied by our fully fuelled V113 launch vehicle. In the
early afternoon, the enclosed gantry was rolled back from ELA2 to reveal
the Ariane rocket on the pad, and fuelling of the cryogenic third stage
began. We were able to observe the rocket from the roof of a nearby
building - the third stage was enclosed in insulation, and no venting
was visible. The pad is surprisingly close to the Ariane 4 assembly
building, containing the V114 launcher now being assembled, and the
nearby ESA and Arianespace offices.
The remaining launch site is ELA3, which is spread over a large area
between ELA2 and the Diamant area. The rocket and payload are assembled
in two large buildings, BIL and BAF, and are then taken out to the pad on
a mobile launch platform (Table de Lancement) which travels on a small
railway. We saw the launch platform used for the Ariane 503 mission
being returned by rail to the BAF building, while a second platform was
under construction nearby. The BIL and BAF are to the south of the main
road while the pad is to the north.
The Ariane 5 pad itself, ZL3 (Zone de lancement) contains only the minimal
equipment for launch, to simplify reconstruction if there is a launch
accident. A simple umbilical tower is flanked by three large lightning
towers which dominate the site's appearance, reminiscent of the
N-1/Energiya pads at Baykonur. The main pad has a circular mount for
the central core and mounts for the solid boosters on each side, above
large flame trenches filled with water (the water suppresses reflection
of sound energy from the launch which would otherwise increase the
vibration levels inside the payload fairing). The trenches are similar
to the ones I saw at Vandenberg's SLC-6 Shuttle pad. A large water
tower and liquid hydrogen and helium storage facilities complete the
picture.
After our visits to the launch site were complete, and a brief trip back
to Kourou, we set off again to the Jupiter control center where we
watched the final countdown from the auditorium surrounding the launch
control room proper. (We had the choice of going to the outdoor Toucan
viewing point closer to the pad, but I decided it would be geekier to
get as close to the launch controllers as I could). The launch
commentary, with the cultivated and reassuring tones of former BBC man
Martin Ransom lending a touch of class, punctuated the countdown as the
display screens showed live TV from the pad beside the clocks and status
displays, and the controllers pored over their consoles in front of us.
At T-1 minute, the side doors of the auditorium were opened and we
rushed out on the terrace to watch. We scanned the dark horizon and
didn't know which direction to look, but then 'Allumage!' and a bright
light appeared in the distance to our left. Slowly this new star rose
into the sky - initially it was pretty much pointlike. It arced over our
position and we began to see the trail of fire behind it. About half a
minute later, the sound began to reach us as a dull roar which grew to a
loud crackling sound. Separation of the strapon boosters was visible as
a dramatic flare, and we were able to follow the rocket through first
stage separation as it moved down the coast to our right. The
disappearance of the first stage plume as followed by a bright flash
like a firework as the separation occurred. Trooping back to our seats,
we heard the report of second stage separation and settled down to watch
the graphic of the long third stage burn. At T+20 min the Afristar
satellite finally separated and a huge cheer went up, followed two
minutes later by another cheer for GE 5. Afristar and GE 5 were placed
in a 200 x 35788 km x 6.5 deg orbit. The launch team put on T-shirts
celebrating the month's three launches (I thought the big boss Luton
looked a little uncomfortable in such informal attire), and after the
obligatory speeches (Walter Braun of GE Americom bravely and courteously
giving his in French) a long night of partying began. The following day,
most of the group went off to tour Devil's Island, but I stayed in
Kourou to interview space center old-timers and soak up some beach time
to brace myself for Friday's 4:30 am homeward wakeup call.
Thanks to Arianespace for making my trip possible, and to Marie-Vincente
Pasdeloup, Jean-Michel Desobeau, Yves Dejean, Martin Ransom, Pierre
Madon and others for their helpful information.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [11/12]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Recent Launches
* Ariane 503
The Ariane 503 mission described last week was the first
Ariane 5 launch carried out by Arianespace, and is numbered
V112 in their system. For the first two Ariane 5 flights,
CNES and ESA both owned the launch vehicle and carried out
the launch. On V112, Arianespace owned the vehicle but ESA and
CNES were the customers.
* Meteosat 1 apogee motor
The Meteosat 1 apogee motor has finally been cataloged by Space Command.
The motor has been assigned international designation 1977-108D and
catalog number 13907. Until around Oct 1, 13907 was assigned to a piece
of debris from a 1967 explosion, 1967-01AB. This debris object was in an
elliptical orbit of 292 x 17909 km x 24 deg on Sep 30, it's not clear
where it is in the catalog now. The practice of reassigning previously
used catalog numbers is really confusing, and I do wish Space Command
wouldn't do it. It's not like they are going to run out of positive
integers, after all...
Meteosat 1 was launched on 1977 Nov 23 and ejected its apogee motor
after reaching geostationary orbit some days later. There's some
confusion as to what apogee motor was used - ESA bulletin 85 implies
an Aerojet solid motor, probably an SVM-5; other sources which
say it used an Italian SNIA/BPD solid motor derived from the one
developed for the Europa program are probably incorrect.
* Deep Space 1
Marc Rayman from the DS1 team reports that Deep Space 1 was injected
into a 0.99 x 1.32 AU x 0.4 deg solar orbit, with a mass of 486.3 kg
(including 81.5 kg of Xe and 31.1 kg of hydrazine). He corrects me that
DS1 was built by both JPL and Spectrum Astro, rather than 'by Spectrum
Astro for JPL'.
Table of Recent Launches
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Sep 8 2113 Iridium SV77) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Comsat 51E
Iridium SV79) Comsat 51D
Iridium SV80) Comsat 51C
Iridium SV81) Comsat 51B
Iridium SV82) Comsat 51A
Sep 9 2029 Globalstar FM5 ) Zenit-2 Baykonur Comsat F05
Globalstar FM7 ) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM9 ) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM10) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM11) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM12) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM13) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM16) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM17) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM18) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM20) Comsat F05
Globalstar FM21) Comsat F05
Sep 16 0631 PAS 7 Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 52A
Sep 23 0506 Orbcomm FM21 ) Pegasus XL/HAPS Wallops I Comsat 53A
Orbcomm FM22 ) Comsat 53B
Orbcomm FM23 ) Comsat 53C
Orbcomm FM24 ) Comsat 53D
Orbcomm FM25 ) Comsat 53E
Orbcomm FM26 ) Comsat 53F
Orbcomm FM27 ) Comsat 53G
Orbcomm FM28 ) Comsat 53H
Sep 28 2341 Molniya-1T? Molniya-M Plesetsk Comsat 54A
Oct 3 1004 STEX ) ARPA Taurus Vandenberg 576E Technol. 55A
ATEX )
Oct 5 2251 Eutelsat W2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 56A
Sirius 3 ) Comsat 56B
Oct 9 2250 Hot Bird 5 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36B Comsat 57A
Oct 20 0719 UHF F/O F9 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36A Comsat 58A
Oct 21 1637 ARD ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Technol.
Maqsat 3) Technol. 59A
Oct 23 0002 SCD-2 Pegasus Canaveral RW02/20 Rem.Sens. 60A
Oct 24 1208 Deep Space 1) Delta 7326 Canaveral SLC17A Probe 61A
SEDSAT 1 ) Amateur 61B
Oct 25 0414 Progress M-40 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 62A
Oct 28 2216 Afristar ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Radio com 63A
GE 5 ) Comsat 63B
Oct 29 1919 Discovery ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 64A
Spacehab ) Laboratory 64A
Oct 30 1845 PANSAT - Discovery, LEO Test sat 64B
Current Shuttle Processing Status
_________________________________
Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93
OV-103 Discovery LEO STS-95 Oct 29
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 ?
OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-88 Dec 3
MLP2/ LC39B
MLP3/RSRM-67/ET-97/OV-105 LC39A STS-88
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Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 04 ноября 1998 (1998-11-04)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - November 1998 [12/12]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS:
Articles, letters to the editor, chapter updates, andother similar
submissions for SpaceViews are always welcome. The deadline for each
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