Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle Subject: space news from Aug 10 AW&ST Message-ID: <8644@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Tue, 22-Sep-87 19:11:38 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.8644 Posted: Tue Sep 22 19:11:38 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 22-Sep-87 19:11:38 EDT Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 233 [There is a lot of news in this issue.] [Second recommendation for space magazines has to be, I think, Space World. It used to be okay but ho-hum; it has gotten significantly more interesting of late, perhaps partly as a side effect of the NSI/L5 merger. Aimed at relative beginners, no heavily technical stuff. One of the more interesting features is interviews with interesting people; summer readers may recall me quoting large chunks out of one of those. The way to get Space World is to join the National Space Society, which is what was formed when the National Space Institute and the L5 Society merged. This is a Good Thing and you should join anyway. NSI was always a fairly quiet group that didn't do a whole lot in my opinion (except for their Shuttle launch tours, which were pretty good; I saw 41C go up that way). L5 was different, it being credited with little things like scuttling the infamous Moon Treaty, saving Galileo, making a key difference in getting the replacement orbiter funded, etc. The publications weren't all that great but the results were fairly impressive; being the only space-activist group that the US State Department hated was a distinction of sorts... :-) (State backed the Moon Treaty, as did almost everyone else who cared except L5. Score: L5 and mankind 1, State Dept 0.) It is a little too early to tell what will come of the merger, but there are hopeful signs. NSS (the name is likely to change, many people dislike it) is at PO Box 7535, Ben Franklin Station, Washington DC 20044. Regular dues are $30/year, with a reduction to $18 for people under 22 or over 64, I believe. (I'm a life member and proud of it; unfortunately, you can't buy a life membership any more -- it was a casualty of the merger.)] Signs that the White House may be waking up to the state of the US space program. AW&ST pats itself on the back for making noise about it, which apparently got read at fairly high levels. USAF Space Division passes control of the DMSP military metsat to USAF Space Command [you can't tell the players without a program...] since it is now operational in orbit. [This should be old news to readers of this group by now.] Proxmire is going to try to kill the space station. Garn will lead the defense. Rep. Nelson: "NASA is awash in so much uncertainty due to a lack of direction from the White House [that] decisions are being made by indecision." USAF completes first conversion of Titan 2 ICBM to booster, rolled out of Martin Marietta plant on Aug 3 for shipment to Vandenberg. MM has a contract to convert 7 more, with an option for another 5; there are about 50 of the missiles in mothballs since their recent deactivation. Air Force Sec. Aldridge predicts that the program will go beyond the existing contracts. The missiles are in good shape. Changes to make them into launchers are mostly electronics upgrades and modifications to the nose to take a payload instead of a warhead. Payload is 4800 pounds into low orbit. Modifications to Vandenberg pad SLC4-West got underway after the launch of the last Titan 3B in February; the Titan 2s are a bit shorter. [Micro-editorial: This is what the USAF should have done all along, and in particular this is what they should have done if they were really concerned about getting the Navstars launched. Instead, for Navstar, they held a lengthy competition and then bought, "off the shelf", a version of Delta that does not exist yet and has never flown! Can you say "subsidy"? Can you say "pork barrel"? And they complain about Ariane subsidies.] Hopeful signs for space science at NASA. DoD is moving things off the shuttle as much as possible, which is good news for science payloads. NASA is trying to go back to building backup spacecraft for planetary missions. [About time!! The lack of a Galileo backup in particular is a national scandal, given a complicated, ambitious mission and a new and (in my opinion) risky spacecraft design.] Funding for a Mars Observer backup is in FY88 authorizations; if the primary spacecraft works, the backup may fly as the Lunar Polar Orbiter. [ABOUT TIME!! We are long overdue for a lunar-polar mission. I also applaud the idea that backups which aren't needed as backups should be *flown*, perhaps on a different mission, rather than being donated to the Smithsonian. If you think the Viking and the Voyager in the Smithsonian look realistic, it's because they *are* real.] Lennard Fisk, new Space Science & Applications head at NASA, is pushing for long-term continuity in several ways: - One Scout-class science satellite per year, aimed at getting small research groups active again in flight programs. - Regular Explorer-class missions, starting with Cosmic Background Explorer in 1989, Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer in 1990, and then X-Ray Timing Explorer in 1992. - Continuation of the "great observatories" program. "We are the only nation capable of doing such great space observatories -- it's time we got on with the rest of them." The Hubble telescope is ready to fly and the Gamma Ray Observatory is in the works, but the others are still stalled; in particular, the Advanced X-Ray Astro- physics Facility is high on the list for an FY89 new start but has competition from the planetary program. - Getting planetary missions going again. Comet Rendezvous and Asteroid Flyby is AXAF's competition. The CRAF backup could turn into the Cassini Saturn mission. [Pity there won't be a Galileo- Saturn mission, since the chance to build a second Galileo has been lost. There were hopes for it; some of the Galileo software has a Jupiter/Saturn bit in it.] - Earth Observing System, aka the US polar platform, probably a FY91 new start for launch circa 1995. Fisk is trying to sort out who gets priority if AXAF and CRAF collide for FY89 funding. AXAF may have a slight edge, because CRAF could delay a year (by picking another comet) while AXAF's optics development is a tricky long-lead item; AXAF would also start out cheaper. Soviets activate Cosmos 1870 polar platform. Cosmos 1871, launched Aug 1, seems to be a Soviet equivalent to the early Big Bird spysats, based on its orbit and early activity. Progress 31 tanker docks with Mir. China orbits recoverable imaging satellite carrying French experimental payload piggyback. Japan decides to develop three new advanced spacecraft: ADEOS (Advanced Earth Observation Satellite), an Earth/ocean satellite for launch in 1993 on an H-2 and later refuelling and servicing in orbit; an experimental data relay and tracking satellite for launch in 1994; and an advanced Clarke-orbit metsat to fly in 1993. Japanese controllers regain full control of MOS-1 after an Earth-sensor malfunction forces it into a backup attitude-control mode. Details still under investigation. US plans $1G five-year program looking at lightweight-satellite technology. DoD is semi-interested in the idea of lots of small satellites rather than a few big ones, since it would make overall systems much more resistant to attack. Some (e.g. Aldridge) are skeptical because big satellites are needed to meet requirements, but others note that battlefield commanders would much prefer small cheap satellites under their direct control. DARPA is pursuing both light-satellite technology and portable-launch-system ideas. Morton Thiokol hot-fires the new shuttle SRB joint design for the first time. On first inspection, looks okay. First full-size SRB test set for Aug 26. NASA formally awards contract for Challenger replacement, orbiter OV-105. It will be essentially a duplicate of Atlantis and Discovery, with minor upgrades that will also be retrofitted to them. The existing structural spares will be used; discussion on building a new set of structural spares will start soon. Picture of the shoulder patch for STS-26, quite a pretty one. NASA to start shuttle-derived heavylift booster studies despite USAF opposition. Now called "Shuttle-C", aimed at operational status by mid-1993 for space station assembly. Payload 100-150,000 lbs into low orbit, availability rather sooner than the USAF's ALS. Martin Marietta and Amroc sign agreements with USAF for use of government launch facilities. McDonnell-Douglas and General Dynamics to follow. The insurance situation remains less than ideal. Also, the agreements contain pious platitudes but no real guarantees about preemption by government missions, and the government is not liable for preemption costs. Roy Gibson, director of British National Space Centre, resigns in protest at Thatcher decision not to boost space funding. European sources comment: "This could not have come at a worse time...". Outlook for Hotol cited as "extremely grim"; other ESA and British projects endangered. Inmarsat chooses Delta for an Inmarsat 2 launch in late 1989. NASA is looking at the problems of transporting space station modules and related large payloads. They are too big for ground transport, and water transport has a lot of problems. Air transport is preferred for several reasons, but the aircraft aren't up to it. The NASA Super Guppy has troublesome weight limits and in any case is about to be retired; it would need massive overhauling to stay in service. The USAF is modifying two C-5As to accommodate shuttle-payload-bay-sized loads, but there is no formal agreement for NASA use of these aircraft. Aerojet tests rocket engine, originally meant for commercial-space uses, that might go into the new USAF upper stage. It's a leftover from a Ford Aerospace project called "Transtar" for shuttle-to-geosynch transport, and has been funded privately since Transtar's cancellation, with an eye on government use. JPL is working on improving Voyager 2's attitude-control software for the Neptune encounter; low light levels will again require moving the whole spacecraft to compensate for Voyager's motion during long exposures. Also under study is the exact encounter trajectory. There are no more gravity- boost constraints since Neptune is Voyager's last stop. The Polar Crown trajectory plan takes Voyager very low over Neptune's north pole and then past Triton. There are some worries, though: Polar Crown passes very close to a possible Neptunian ring, a strong Neptunian magnetic field (considered unlikely) could cause trouble during the north-pole pass, and getting too close to the atmosphere could cause heating, drag, or arcing in high-voltage circuitry. The encounter trajectory could be changed up to a few weeks before encounter (August 1989), but a late change would mess up encounter planning. Soviet radar-equipped ice-tracking satellites have proven valuable enough that the USSR will establish a permanent ocean-monitoring satellite system. FCC receives three filings for permission to operate a mobile satellite system. This is two more than they hoped for; attempts to form a single consortium, to avoid protracted spectrum-space battles, have failed so far. McDonnell-Douglas studies larger versions of the PAM upper stages, for use with large comsats launched on Titan or Long March. Teledyne Brown exhibits reusable-spaceplane model at Paris airshow. A 747 would carry it to altitude. Engines would be four RL-10 Centaur engines and one Shuttle main engine. Payload would be 3500 kg, with increases possible later. The 747 would need some sort of thrust augmentation, either hydrogen duct-burning in its engines [Dani Eder says that Boeing believes this is practical; it more than doubles the thrust, and doesn't hurt the engines if it's brief] or else replacement of the engines with eight afterburning fighter engines [world's hottest 747!]. Aerospace Forum article from David Morrison, chairman of the SSEC, arguing for ongoing commitments to planetary exploration. "The primary difficulties are not technical; they simply reflect lack of commitment and funds. Like other space science areas within NASA, the planetary program is never treated as a continuing activity. Individual missions are proposed and perhaps eventually approved. Meanwhile, as previous missions are completed their funding is terminated automatically. Continuity and efficiency are lost. Without an infusion of new starts, science at NASA is always in a going-out-of-business mode... The US cannot regain international leadership in planetary exploration without a specific commitment and well-understood long-range objectives... Business as usual -- meaning an annual new-start competition between disciplines within a highly constrained NASA space science budget -- is likely to result in further frustration and erosion of the field..." Langley experiments with using optical disks to distribute satellite data to researchers. -- "There's a lot more to do in space | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology than sending people to Mars." --Bova | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry