Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Shuttle Vandenburg Lauch Site
Message-ID: <1989Dec20.174546.19216@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1586@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 89 17:45:46 GMT

In article <1586@rodan.acs.syr.edu> amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (A. Michielsen) writes:
>   ...[Vandenberg is good for...] electronic intell
>   isolation (which is prohibited by law, but the U.S Violates flagrantly, but
>   loudly complains when the soviets or chinese or japanese do it).

Encrypted telemetry is (theoretically) prohibited only for ICBM tests, not
for space launches, last I heard.  And as I understand it, it's a gentleman's
agreement, not a legally-binding treaty.

>1. The environment is HOSTILE. Sand storms, Oxidation (rust), Solar damage
>   (UV ray intensity, tenperature, etc.), and the intense lack of relative
>   humidity...

The sun shines just as brightly at KSC.  And the humidity at Vandenberg is
not particularly low; the suspected cause of the Amroc launch failure is
icing, not seen in Amroc's tests because they were run at Edwards where
the humidity *is* fairly low.  Vandenberg is on the coast, remember.

>2. The close proximity to several GREAT NATIONAL Historic assets caused great
>   consternation by all sorts of environmental, historical, animal, natural
>   special intrest groups...

I don't know about "close proximity", but there is a problem in that
Vandenberg itself is literally on top of some American Indian historical
sites, and this causes hassles for planning and construction.

>   ... The recon payload limits
>   from the Cape then moved from marginal to practical...

The recon payload limits from the Cape are still below what was originally
forecast; they have *not* increased.  And the Cape simply cannot reach the
preferred orbits for most spysats without upsetting the range-safety folks
a lot.  The real reason Vandenberg shuttle launches stopped looking so
useful was that the USAF won its battle to keep the Titans operating, and
lost interest in using somebody else's launchers.
-- 
1755 EST, Dec 14, 1972:  human |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
exploration of space terminates| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu