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Diffs to sci.space/sci.astro Frequently Asked Questions

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Jon Leech

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Apr 3, 1994, 6:49:29 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/diff

Significant changes: added items on GeoSphere full-Earth image, Mars
Direct, NPO Energia email address, Clementine imagery FTP address. New
references for items on nearby stars and shuttle computers.

DIFFS SINCE LAST FAQ POSTING (IN POSTING ORDER)

(These are hand-edited context diffs; do not attempt to use them to patch
old copies of the FAQ).

============ Changes in FAQ.intro ============
*** /tmp/old.intro Sun Apr 3 18:46:34 1994
--- /tmp/current.intro Sun Apr 3 18:46:34 1994
***************
*** 123,128 ****
--- 123,129 ----
Orbital Element Sets
SPACE Digest Archives
World-Wide-Web (WWW)
+ GeoSphere Project (full Earth image)
Landsat & NASA Photos
Planetary Maps
Cometary Orbits
***************
*** 137,143 ****
Performing N-body simulations efficiently
Interpreting the FITS image format
Sky (Unix ephemeris program)
! Three-dimensional star/galaxy coordinates

5* References on specific areas
(See "space/references")
--- 138,144 ----
Performing N-body simulations efficiently
Interpreting the FITS image format
Sky (Unix ephemeris program)
! Nearby star/galaxy coordinates

5* References on specific areas
(See "space/references")
***************
*** 149,154 ****
--- 150,156 ----
LLNL "great exploration"
Lunar Prospector
Lunar science and activities
+ Mars Direct / Lunar Direct
Orbiting Earth satellite histories
Spacecraft models
Rocket propulsion
***************
*** 164,172 ****

6 Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
(See "space/addresses")
! NASA Centers / Arianespace / CNES / ESA / NASDA / Soyuzkarta /
! Space Camp / Space Commerce Corporation / Spacehab /
! SPOT Image
Other commercial space businesses

7 Space shuttle answers, launch schedules, TV coverage
--- 166,174 ----

6 Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
(See "space/addresses")
! NASA Centers / Arianespace / CNES / ESA / NASDA / NPO Energia /
! Soyuzkarta / Space Camp / Space Commerce Corporation /
! Spacehab / SPOT Image
Other commercial space businesses

7 Space shuttle answers, launch schedules, TV coverage
***************
*** 281,286 ****
--- 283,289 ----
g...@telesoft.com (Gary Morris) - amateur radio info
ga...@cfa.harvard.edu (Terry Gaetz) - N-body calculations,
orbital dynamics
+ gmcq...@Ingres.COM (George F. McQuary) - nearby star refs
gra...@noao.edu (Steve Grandi) - planetary positions
greer%utd201.dnet%uta...@utspan.span.nasa.gov (Dale M. Greer) - constants
he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) - survival in vacuum,
***************
*** 315,320 ****
--- 318,324 ----
pe...@denali.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pete Banholzer) - Clementine
p...@plato.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) - RTGs
psch...@unomaha.edu (Paul W. Schleck) - AMSAT, ARRL contact info
+ p...@minnie.bell.inmet.com (Paul Tarr) - Shuttle computer refs
r...@mel.cocam.oz.au (Rodney Brown) - propulsion refs
rj...@phil.cs.virginia.edu (Ran Atkinson) - FTPable astro. programs
rjun...@ihlpb.att.com (R. Michael Jungclas)- models

============ Changes in FAQ.net ============
*** /tmp/old.net Sun Apr 3 18:46:35 1994
--- /tmp/current.net Sun Apr 3 18:46:35 1994
***************
*** 26,33 ****
'group name'. The groups dealing most closely with space topics are
called:

! sci.astro - astronomy
! sci.astro.* - various topic-specific subgroups
alt.sci.planetary - planetary science. sci.space.science is
probably a better group for most purposes.
talk.politics.space - space politics. sci.space.policy is
--- 26,33 ----
'group name'. The groups dealing most closely with space topics are
called:

! sci.astro - astronomy.
! sci.astro.* - various topic-specific subgroups.
alt.sci.planetary - planetary science. sci.space.science is
probably a better group for most purposes.
talk.politics.space - space politics. sci.space.policy is
***************
*** 34,46 ****
preferred.
sci.space.news - moderated, for mission status reports,
news announcements, etc.
! sci.space - general space discussion. To be removed soon, replaced
! by:

- sci.space.tech - moderated, technical/hardware issues
- sci.space.science - moderated, space & planetary science
- sci.space.policy - unmoderated, space policy
-
Contributors 'post' submissions (called 'articles' in netnews
terminology) on their local machine, which sends it to other nearby
machines. Similarly, articles sent from nearby machines are stored
--- 34,45 ----
preferred.
sci.space.news - moderated, for mission status reports,
news announcements, etc.
! sci.space.policy - unmoderated, space policy.
! sci.space.science - moderated, space & planetary science.
! sci.space.shuttle - discussion specific to the space shuttle,
! including launch/landing schedules and mission activities.
! sci.space.tech - moderated, technical/hardware issues.

Contributors 'post' submissions (called 'articles' in netnews
terminology) on their local machine, which sends it to other nearby
machines. Similarly, articles sent from nearby machines are stored
***************
*** 73,79 ****

GPS Digest is a moderated list for discussion of the Global Positioning
System and other satellite navigation positioning systems. Email to
! gps-r...@esseye.si.com to join.

Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (v...@cs.cmu.edu) to join.
--- 72,80 ----

GPS Digest is a moderated list for discussion of the Global Positioning
System and other satellite navigation positioning systems. Email to
! gps-r...@esseye.si.com to join. A Usenet group,
! sci.geo.satellite-nav, has been established to deal with terrestrial
! applcations of satellite navigation.

Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (v...@cs.cmu.edu) to join.
***************
*** 81,90 ****
Space-tech is a list for more technical discussion of space topics;
discussion has included esoteric propulsion technologies, asteroid
capture, starflight, orbital debris removal, etc. Email to
! space-tec...@cs.cmu.edu to join. Archives of old digests and
! selected excerpts are in

! ftp://b.gp.cs.cmu.edu/usr/mnt/public/space-tech/

or by email to space-tech-request if you don't have FTP access.

--- 82,91 ----
Space-tech is a list for more technical discussion of space topics;
discussion has included esoteric propulsion technologies, asteroid
capture, starflight, orbital debris removal, etc. Email to
! space-tec...@cs.cmu.edu to join. Some archives (now somewhat
! out of date, but still interesting) are in

! ftp://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/mnr/st

or by email to space-tech-request if you don't have FTP access.

***************
*** 209,218 ****
(This is a VMS FTP site, and the URL is non-functional).

SHUTTLE MANIFEST
! Ken Hollis (hol...@titan.ksc.nasa.gov) posts a compressed version of
! the Space Shuttle launch manifest to sci.space.shuttle. This
! includes dates, times, payloads, and information on how to see
! launches and landings. These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

--- 210,219 ----
(This is a VMS FTP site, and the URL is non-functional).

SHUTTLE MANIFEST
! Steven S. Pietrobon (ste...@spri.levels.unisa.edu.au) posts a
! compressed version of the Space Shuttle launch manifest to
! sci.space.shuttle. This includes dates, times, payloads, and
! information on how to see launches and landings. These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

============ Changes in FAQ.data ============
*** /tmp/old.data Sun Apr 3 18:46:36 1994
--- /tmp/current.data Sun Apr 3 18:46:36 1994
***************
*** 530,535 ****
--- 530,549 ----
get a particular file.

+ GEOSPHERE PROJECT (FULL EARTH IMAGE)
+
+ Tom van Sant's GeoSphere Project has produced a very nice composite
+ image of the entire Earth (without clouds, so all the surface is
+ visible) by assembling thousands of Landsat images. This image is not in
+ the public domain; any digital copies made available by anonymous FTP
+ are illegal.
+
+ GeoSphere offers the image in a variety of printed forms (posters, mugs,
+ globes, etc.). Contact them at (800)-845-1522 for a catalog. They may be
+ willing to license the digital database for specific uses, contact them
+ for details.
+
+
LANDSAT AND NASA PHOTOS

You can get black-and-white 1:1M prints, negatives, or positives for

============ Changes in FAQ.math ============
*** /tmp/old.math Sun Apr 3 18:46:37 1994
--- /tmp/current.math Sun Apr 3 18:46:37 1994
***************
*** 491,497 ****
the sci.astro.fits FAQ.

! THREE-DIMENSIONAL STAR/GALAXY COORDINATES

To generate 3D coordinates of astronomical objects, first obtain an
astronomical database which specifies right ascension, declination, and
--- 491,497 ----
the sci.astro.fits FAQ.

! NEARBY STAR/GALAXY COORDINATES

To generate 3D coordinates of astronomical objects, first obtain an
astronomical database which specifies right ascension, declination, and
***************
*** 507,511 ****
--- 507,523 ----

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/ (files stars.data,stars.doc)

+ A potentially useful book along these lines is:
+
+ "Proximity Zero, A Writer's Guide to the Nearest 200 Stars (A
+ 40-Lightyear Radius)"
+ Terry Kepner
+ ISBN # 0-926895-02-8
+
+ Available from the author for $14.95 + $2.90 shipping ($5 outside US):
+
+ Terry Kepner
+ PO Box 481
+ Petersborough, NH 03458

NEXT: FAQ #5/13 - References on specific areas

============ Changes in FAQ.references ============
*** /tmp/old.references Sun Apr 3 18:46:38 1994
--- /tmp/current.references Sun Apr 3 18:46:38 1994
***************
*** 43,49 ****
Wide selection of Apollo, Shuttle, Viking, and Voyager slides at ~50
cents/slide. Call for a catalog.

! Hansen Planetarium (Utah)

Said to hold sales on old slide sets. Look in Sky & Telescope
for contact info.
--- 43,53 ----
Wide selection of Apollo, Shuttle, Viking, and Voyager slides at ~50
cents/slide. Call for a catalog.

! Hansen Planetarium Publications
! 1845 South 300 West, # A
! Salt Lake City, Utah 84115-1804
! (801-483-5400) / (800)-321-2369
! (801)-483-5484 (fax)

Said to hold sales on old slide sets. Look in Sky & Telescope
for contact info.
***************
*** 147,159 ****

DC-X SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT (SSTO) PROGRAM

! BMDO (formerly SDIO)'s SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has
! funded a suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that flew
! successfully twice in late 1993.

! The SSRT program has been moved from BMDO to ARPA, and its future is
! uncertain. DC-X has attracted much interest on the net, and there is a
! great deal of discussion taking place.

An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is at

--- 151,165 ----

DC-X SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT (SSTO) PROGRAM

! BMDO SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
! suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that flew successfully
! three times in August and September 1993.

! The SSRT program has been moved from BMDO to ARPA, and may now move to
! NASA. If funded, flight tests of DC-X will be completed, followed by a
! building more capable test vehicles. With luck this would culminate in a
! SSTO demonstrator in 5-6 years. DC-X and the SSTO concept have attracted
! a great deal of interest on the net, and discussion continues.

An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is at

***************
*** 247,252 ****
--- 253,281 ----
various Orbiters.

+ MARS DIRECT / LUNAR DIRECT
+
+ Robert Zubrin and collaborators have developed several proposals for
+ near-term, low cost manned missions to Mars and the Moon. These
+ proposals center around the use of "indigenous propellants" to reduce
+ the mass which must be launched from Earth - for example, sending a
+ robotic "mining" vehicle to Mars before the astronauts arrive, which
+ would extract methane from the atmosphere for use on the return trip.
+ Some references are:
+
+ Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Mars Direct: A Simple, Robust, and Cost
+ Effective Architecture for the Space Exploration Initiative, AIAA
+ paper 91-0326, 29th Aerospace Science Meeting, Reno, Nevada, Jan.
+ 7-10, 1991.
+
+ Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Humans to Mars in 1999", Aerospace
+ America, Aug. 1990, p. 30-32, 41.
+
+ Walberg, G., "Ho Shall We Go to Mars? A Review of Mission
+ Scenarios", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 30, No. 2,
+ Mar.-Apr. 1993, p.129-139.
+
+
ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES

A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is in
***************
*** 259,266 ****
References to plans, kits, building, and other information can be found
in the Rec.Models.Rockets FAQ in the rec.models.rockets newsgroup.

! A catalog of available models will be placed on the SPACE FAQ site
! shortly.

Saturn V and Saturn 1B plans (six 11"x17" blue print sheets) can be
purchased from National Association of Rocketry Technical Service
--- 288,295 ----
References to plans, kits, building, and other information can be found
in the Rec.Models.Rockets FAQ in the rec.models.rockets newsgroup.

! A catalog of available models is at
! ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/ModelCatalog

Saturn V and Saturn 1B plans (six 11"x17" blue print sheets) can be
purchased from National Association of Rocketry Technical Service
***************
*** 268,279 ****

Try the following for mail order purchases:

Countdown Hobbies, 3 P.T. Barnum Square, Bethel, CT 06801-1838,
203-790-9010 (voice), Send $2.50 for a catalog.

! Countdown Hobbies has a great catalog of current production scale
! plastic and flying model rocket kits. Huge number of space related
! kits.

Four Star Collectibles, PO Box 658, Dracut, MA 01826,
603-635-7639 (voice), Send SASE for a catalog.
--- 297,315 ----

Try the following for mail order purchases:

+ Collect-Aire Models, 166 Granville Lane, North Andover, MA 01845,
+ 508-688-7283. Catalog: US$9 for 4 issues/year.
+
+ The Collect-Aire calalog contains their own resin/metal kits and a
+ large number of rockets/spacecraft (both real and science fiction)
+ from other manufacturers.
+
Countdown Hobbies, 3 P.T. Barnum Square, Bethel, CT 06801-1838,
203-790-9010 (voice), Send $2.50 for a catalog.

! Countdown Hobbies specializes in rocket and spacecraft models with a
! great catalog of current production scale plastic and flying model
! rocket kits. Huge number of space related kits.

Four Star Collectibles, PO Box 658, Dracut, MA 01826,
603-635-7639 (voice), Send SASE for a catalog.
***************
*** 284,290 ****
Lunar Models, 106 Century Drive, Cleburne, TX 76031,
817-556-0296 (voice), 817-556-0298 (fax), Send $7.00 for catalog.

! Lunar Models sells mainly science fiction movie character models
(Lost in Space, Forbidden Planet, etc), but they also have very nice
models of Voyager, HST, Viking, & Lunar Rover.

--- 320,326 ----
Lunar Models, 106 Century Drive, Cleburne, TX 76031,
817-556-0296 (voice), 817-556-0298 (fax), Send $7.00 for catalog.

! Lunar Models primarily sells science fiction movie character models
(Lost in Space, Forbidden Planet, etc), but they also have very nice
models of Voyager, HST, Viking, & Lunar Rover.

***************
*** 294,305 ****
SCI manufactures of prepainted laser cut cardboard model spacecraft.
These are very nice models, just add glue.

! The Planetary Society (sells Space Craft International models)
! 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106 USA,
818-793-1675 (voice), 800-966-7827 (fax continental US/Canada),
818-793-5528 (fax international)

! Ace Hobbies, 35 W31 St; 3rd floor, New York, NY 10001,
212-268-4151

Estes Industries, Penrose, CO 81240
--- 330,342 ----
SCI manufactures of prepainted laser cut cardboard model spacecraft.
These are very nice models, just add glue.

! The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106 USA,
818-793-1675 (voice), 800-966-7827 (fax continental US/Canada),
818-793-5528 (fax international)

! The Planetary Society sells Space Craft International paper models.
!
! Ace Hobbies, 35 West 31st St; 3rd floor, New York, NY 10001,
212-268-4151

Estes Industries, Penrose, CO 81240
***************
*** 315,320 ****
--- 352,359 ----

"Fine Scale Modeler"

+ "Scale Modeler"
+
"High Power Rocketry", PO Box 96, Orem, Utah, 84059-0096,
(Compuserv 71161,2351), US$25.00 per year for US,
US$38.00 for international.
***************
*** 326,347 ****
"Model Rocketry Handbook", Stuart Lodge, England,
128 pages, US$16.00.

! "Space in Miniature #2: Gemini" Michael J. Mackowski,
! 34 pages, US$7.50.

! Send US$7.50 + S&H to:
! Michael J. Mackowski,
! 1621 Waterwood Lane,
! St. Louis, MO 63146.

"Rockets of the World", Peter Alway, 1992,
384 pages, ISBN 0-9627876-1-2 (US$35 hardcover),
ISBN 0-9627876-2-0 (US$28 softcover).

! Successor to his book "Scale Model Rocketry" (no
! longer in print). Includes details on more than 200
! versions of 133 rockets from 14 countries, with
! history, pictures, measurments, and paint schemes.

Hard cover $35.00, soft cover $28.00 (wire bound).
Add $2.50 for postage and handling,
--- 365,387 ----
"Model Rocketry Handbook", Stuart Lodge, England,
128 pages, US$16.00.

! "Space in Miniature #1: Spacecraft Primer"
! "Space in Miniature #2: Gemini"
! "Space in Miniature #3: Shuttle"

! Send US$7.50 (each book) + S&H to:
! Michael J. Mackowski
! 7714 Aragorn Court
! Harmans, MD 21076

"Rockets of the World", Peter Alway, 1992,
384 pages, ISBN 0-9627876-1-2 (US$35 hardcover),
ISBN 0-9627876-2-0 (US$28 softcover).

! Successor to "Scale Model Rocketry" (no longer in print).
! Includes details on more than 200 versions of 133 rockets from
! 14 countries, with history, pictures, measurments, and paint
! schemes.

Hard cover $35.00, soft cover $28.00 (wire bound).
Add $2.50 for postage and handling,
***************
*** 737,742 ****
--- 777,799 ----
Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia,
1993, 128 pages, ISBN 0-8094-7590-1,
US $14.95.
+
+ Space Shuttle Avionics System
+ John F. Hanaway and Robert W. Moorehead
+ NASA SP-504
+ Available via:
+ Superintendent of Documents
+ U.S. Government Printing Office
+ Washington, DC 20402
+ Document #NAS 1.21:504.
+
+ This is an easily readable 62 page book that contains a wealth of
+ information including history, rationale, alternate designs considered,
+ design tradeoffs and descriptions of the Shuttle data processing system
+ (DPS) and its' associated Redundancy Management (RM) system and
+ philosophy. One of the authors is the former head of the NASA division
+ which developed the Shuttle DPS design.
+

SETI COMPUTATION (SIGNAL PROCESSING)

============ Changes in FAQ.addresses ============
*** /tmp/old.addresses Sun Apr 3 18:46:39 1994
--- /tmp/current.addresses Sun Apr 3 18:46:39 1994
***************
*** 190,195 ****
--- 190,198 ----
Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, JAPAN
asu...@rd.tksc.nasda.go.jp (Public Relations Office)

+ NPO ENERGIA (Washington office)
+ Email: ene...@delphi.com
+
SOYUZKARTA
45 Vologradsij Pr.
Moscow 109125

============ Changes in FAQ.schedule ============
*** /tmp/old.schedule Sun Apr 3 18:46:39 1994
--- /tmp/current.schedule Sun Apr 3 18:46:39 1994
***************
*** 4,13 ****

SHUTTLE LAUNCHINGS AND LANDINGS; SCHEDULES AND HOW TO SEE THEM

! Ken Hollis (hol...@titan.ksc.nasa.gov) posts a compressed version of the
! Space Shuttle launch manifest to sci.space.shuttle. This includes dates,
! times, payloads, and information on how to see launches and landings.
! These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

--- 4,13 ----

SHUTTLE LAUNCHINGS AND LANDINGS; SCHEDULES AND HOW TO SEE THEM

! Steven S. Pietrobon (ste...@spri.levels.unisa.edu.au) posts a compressed
! version of the Space Shuttle launch manifest to sci.space.shuttle. This
! includes dates, times, payloads, and information on how to see launches
! and landings. These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

============ Changes in FAQ.new_probes ============
*** /tmp/old.new_probes Sun Apr 3 18:46:41 1994
--- /tmp/current.new_probes Sun Apr 3 18:46:41 1994
***************
*** 63,72 ****
(Schedule last updated 7/22/92)

! CLEMENTINE - Joint mission of the Strategic Defense Initiative
! Organization and NASA to flight test sensors developed by Lawrence
! Livermore for SDI. The spacecraft, built by the Naval Research Lab, was
! launched on January 25 to a 400 km by 8300 km orbit of the Moon for a 2
month mapping mission. Instruments onboard include UV to mid-IR imagers,
including an imaging lidar that may be able to also obtain altimetric
data for the middle latitudes of the Moon. In early May the spacecraft
--- 63,72 ----
(Schedule last updated 7/22/92)

! CLEMENTINE - Joint mission of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
! (formerly SDIO) and NASA to flight test sensors developed by Lawrence
! Livermore for BMDO. The spacecraft, built by the Naval Research Lab, was
! launched on January 25 to a 425 km by 2950 km orbit of the Moon for a 2
month mapping mission. Instruments onboard include UV to mid-IR imagers,
including an imaging lidar that may be able to also obtain altimetric
data for the middle latitudes of the Moon. In early May the spacecraft
***************
*** 73,79 ****
--- 73,83 ----
will be sent out of lunar orbit toward a flyby (11 km/sec ?) of the 4 km
x 1 km asteroid 1620 Geographos on August 31 at less than 100 km.

+ Clementine imagery and other data may be obtained from
+ ftp://clementine.s1.gov/pub/clementine/images
+ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/clem

+
EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM (EOS) - Multiple orbiting platforms to provide
long-term data of Earth systems science including planetary evolution.
First platform launch 1997?
***************
*** 279,290 ****

o Clementine II
Preliminary studies for a Clementine II mission have been done
! by JPL. These studies envision a launch in July 1995, flyby of
! the asteroid Eros on March 13, 1996, and flyby of the asteroid
! Toutatis on October 4, 1996. Clementine would deply a probe to
! impact Toutatis, and imagery and other measurements of the
! impact crater and debris would help analyze the composition of
! the asteroid.

o Pluto Fast Flyby (PFF)
Possible launch in 1999-2000 (if a 1996 new start is
--- 283,291 ----

o Clementine II
Preliminary studies for a Clementine II mission have been done
! by JPL, APL, and NRL, envisioning multiple asteroid or
! asteroid/comet encounters. No funding has been allocated for
! such missions.

o Pluto Fast Flyby (PFF)
Possible launch in 1999-2000 (if a 1996 new start is

============ Changes in FAQ.controversy ============
*** /tmp/old.controversy Sun Apr 3 18:46:41 1994
--- /tmp/current.controversy Sun Apr 3 18:46:41 1994
***************
*** 291,296 ****
--- 291,306 ----
the Face is best carried on in the altnet group alt.alien.visitors, not
sci.space.* or sci.astro.

+ Two images of the Face are available in
+
+ ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/
+ Files 33a72pr, 33a72pr.GIF, 70a13pr, 70a13pr.GIF
+
+ These have been subjected to considerable image processing, and so
+ should not be used for scientific purposes, just casual viewing.
+
+ Some references:
+
V. DiPeitro and G. Molenaar, *Unusual Martian Surface Features*, Mars
Research, P.O. Box 284, Glen Dale, Maryland, USA, 1982. $18 by mail.

============ Changes in FAQ.groups ============
*** /tmp/old.groups Sun Apr 3 18:46:42 1994
--- /tmp/current.groups Sun Apr 3 18:46:42 1994
***************
*** 81,92 ****
interstellar missions. BIS has published a design study for an
interstellar probe called _Daedalus_.

British Interplanetary Society
27/29 South Lambeth Road
London SW8 1SZ
ENGLAND
-
- No dues information available at present.

CSS - A federally-incorporated non-profit Canadian corporation. Inspired
by the old L5 Society, its principal objective is to sponsor and
--- 81,94 ----
interstellar missions. BIS has published a design study for an
interstellar probe called _Daedalus_.

+ Membership #38/year (US $69), #26 (US $47) for ages 22 and younger
+ or 65 and older. I believe membership includes a subscription to
+ either _Spaceflight_ or _JBIS_ (choose one).
+
British Interplanetary Society
27/29 South Lambeth Road
London SW8 1SZ
ENGLAND

CSS - A federally-incorporated non-profit Canadian corporation. Inspired
by the old L5 Society, its principal objective is to sponsor and

============ Changes in FAQ.launchers ============
*** /tmp/old.launchers Sun Apr 3 18:46:43 1994
--- /tmp/current.launchers Sun Apr 3 18:46:43 1994
***************
*** 245,254 ****
but no solid data that this is real program.

* OrbEx - Small all solid vehicle. "ORBital EXpress". Firm
! contract for SDIO MISTI payload launch. Options for
another 9 launches. First launch planned 1994. Cost
per launch estimated at $ 10-15 M. First launch for
! SDIO, MISTI-4 payload, priced at $14.7 M, contract
signed July 1992. Owned by International Microspace
Inc. -- partnered with Conatec, Saab, and Bristol
Aerospace.
--- 245,254 ----
but no solid data that this is real program.

* OrbEx - Small all solid vehicle. "ORBital EXpress". Firm
! contract for BMDO MSTI payload launch. Options for
another 9 launches. First launch planned 1994. Cost
per launch estimated at $ 10-15 M. First launch for
! BMDO, MSTI-4 payload, priced at $14.7 M, contract
signed July 1992. Owned by International Microspace
Inc. -- partnered with Conatec, Saab, and Bristol
Aerospace.

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:50:23 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/intro
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:57 $

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SCI.SPACE.*/SCI.ASTRO

INTRODUCTION

This is the long FAQ for the sci.space hierarchy. It will soon be split
across the newly created sci.space.{tech,science,policy} groups, but for
now, it's being posted to all of them. The sci.space.tech moderator posts a
more frequent short FAQ with concise answers; this is the place to go for
more detail and references.

If you have corrections or answers to other frequently asked questions
that you would like included in this posting, send email to le...@cs.unc.edu
(Jon Leech).

If you don't want to see the FAQ, add 'Frequently Asked Questions' to
your KILL file for this group (if you're not reading this with a newsreader
that can kill articles by subject, you're out of luck).

The current version of the FAQ is FTPable at

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/

along with more information expanding on topics in the FAQ. The
hypertext version of the FAQ is at

http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/space/top.html

Good summaries will be accepted in place of the answers given here. The
point of this is to circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old
answers. Better to build on top than start again. Nothing more depressing
than rehashing old topics for the 100th time. References are provided
because they give more complete information than any short generalization.

Questions fall into three basic types:

1) Where do I find some information about space?

Try your local public library first. The net is not a good place to ask
for general information. Ask INDIVIDUALS (by email) if you must. There
are other sources, use them, too. The net is a place for open ended
discussion.

2) I have an idea which would improve space flight?

Hope you aren't surprised, but 9,999 out of 10,000 have usually been
thought of before. Again, contact a direct individual source for
evaluation. NASA fields thousands of these each day.

3) Miscellanous queries.

These are addressed on a case-by-case basis in the following series of
FAQ postings.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BETTER NETIQUETTE

Read news.announce.newusers if you're on Usenet.
Minimize cross references, [Do you REALLY NEED to?]
Edit "Subject:" lines, especially if you're taking a tangent.
Send mail instead, avoid posting follow ups. (1 mail message worth
100 posts).
Internet mail readers: send requests to add/drop to SPACE-REQUEST
not SPACE.
Read all available articles before posting a follow-up. (Check all
references.)
Cut down attributed articles (leave only the points you're
responding to; remove signatures and headers). Summarize!
Put a return address in the body (signature) of your message (mail
or article), state your institution, etc. Don't assume the
'reply' function of mailers will work.
Use absolute dates. Post in a timely way. Don't post what everyone
will get on TV anyway.
Some editors and window systems do character count line wrapping:
keep lines under 80 characters for those using ASCII terminals
(use carriage returns).

INDEX TO LINKED POSTINGS

I've attempted to break the postings up into related areas. There isn't
a keyword index yet; the following lists the major subject areas in each
posting. Only those containing astronomy-related material are posted to
sci.astro (indicated by '*' following the posting number).

# Contents

1* Introduction
(See "space/intro")
Suggestions for better netiquette
Index to linked postings
Notes on addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Contributors

2* Network resources
(See "space/net")
Overview
Mailing lists
Periodically updated information
Warning about non-public networks

3* Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.
(See "space/data")
Introduction
Viewing Images
Online Archives
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)
Infrared Processing & Analysis Center
Lunar and Planetary Institute
NASA Ames
NASA Astrophysics Data System
NASA Directory of WAIS Servers
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (Mission Information and Images)
NASA Langley (Technical Reports)
NASA Spacelink
National Space Science Data Center
Space Telescope Science Institute Electronic Info. Service
Starcat
Astronomical Databases
Astronomy Programs

Orbital Element Sets
SPACE Digest Archives
World-Wide-Web (WWW)

GeoSphere Project (full Earth image)
Landsat & NASA Photos
Planetary Maps
Cometary Orbits

4* Performing calculations and interpreting data formats
(See "space/math")
Constants and equations for calculations
Computing spacecraft orbits and trajectories
Computing planetary positions
Computing crater diameters from Earth-impacting asteroids
Map projections and spherical trignometry

Performing N-body simulations efficiently
Interpreting the FITS image format
Sky (Unix ephemeris program)

Nearby star/galaxy coordinates

5* References on specific areas
(See "space/references")

Publishers of space/astronomy material
Careers in the space industry
Comet/Jupiter Impact
DC-X single-stage to orbit (SSTO) program
How to name a star after a person

LLNL "great exploration"
Lunar Prospector
Lunar science and activities

Mars Direct / Lunar Direct
Orbiting Earth satellite histories
Spacecraft models
Rocket propulsion

Spacecraft design
Esoteric propulsion schemes (solar sails, lasers, fusion...)
Spy satellites
Space capsule locations
Space shuttle computer systems
SETI computation (signal processing)
Amateur satellies & weather satellites
Tides
Astronomical Mnemonics

6 Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
(See "space/addresses")

NASA Centers / Arianespace / CNES / ESA / NASDA / NPO Energia /

Soyuzkarta / Space Camp / Space Commerce Corporation /

Spacehab / SPOT Image
Other commercial space businesses

7 Space shuttle answers, launch schedules, TV coverage

(See "space/schedule")
Shuttle launchings and landings; schedules and how to see them
Why does the shuttle roll just after liftoff?
How to receive the NASA TV channel, NASA SELECT
Amateur radio frequencies for shuttle missions
Solid Rocket Booster fuel composition

8 Planetary probes - Historical Missions
(See "space/probe")
US planetary missions
Mariner (Venus, Mars, & Mercury flybys and orbiters)
Pioneer (Moon, Sun, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn flybys and orbiters)
Ranger (Lunar lander and impact missions)
Lunar Orbiter (Lunar surface photography)
Surveyor (Lunar soft landers)
Viking (Mars orbiters and landers)
Voyager (Outer planet flybys)
Soviet planetary missions
Soviet Lunar probes
Soviet Venus probes
Soviet Mars probes
European planetary missions
Japanese planetary missions
Planetary mission references

9 Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules
(See "space/new_probes")
ASCA
Cassini
Clementine
Galileo
Hiten
Magellan
Mars Observer
TOPEX/Poseidon
Ulysses
Other space science missions
Proposed missions

10 Controversial questions
(See "space/controversy")
Space shuttle mission costs
What happened to the Saturn V plans
Why data from space missions isn't immediately available
Risks of nuclear (RTG) power sources for space probes
Impact of the space shuttle on the ozone layer
How long can a human live unprotected in space
How the Challenger astronauts died
Using the shuttle beyond Low Earth Orbit
The "Face on Mars"

11 Space activist/interest/research groups and space publications
(See "space/groups")
Groups
Publications
Undocumented Groups

12 How to become an astronaut
(See "space/astronaut")

13 Orbital and Planetary Launch Services
(See "space/launchers")

NOTES ON ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, ETC.

Unless otherwise specified, telephone numbers, addresses, and so on are
for the United States of America. Non-US readers should remember to add
the country code for telephone calls, etc.

CREDITS

Eugene Miya started a series of linked FAQ postings some years ago which
inspired (and was largely absorbed into) this set.

Peter Yee and Ron Baalke have and continue to spend a lot of their own
time setting up the SPACE archives at NASA Ames and forwarding official
NASA announcements.

Many other people have contributed material to this list in the form of
old postings to sci.space and sci.astro which I've edited. Please let me
know if corrections need to be made. Major contributors I've managed to
keep track of are:

ad...@yfn.ysu.edu (Steven Fisk) - publication refs.
ake...@bill.phy.queensu.CA (Richard Akerman) - crater diameters
alwe...@athena.mit.edu (Lisa Weigel) - SEDS info
aoa...@emx.utexas.edu (Srinivas Bettadpur) - tides
awp...@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Alan Wm Paeth) - map projections
a...@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) - Great Exploration
baa...@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) - planetary probe schedules
ban...@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Timothy Banks) - map projections,
variable star analysis archive
bro...@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Bernie Rosen) - Space Camp
bschle...@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger) - FITS format
c...@venera.isi.edu (Craig E. Ward) - space group contact info
cha...@cbnewsc.att.com (Tom Chapin) - planetary positions
cun...@tenet.edu (D. Alan Cunningham) - NASA Spacelink
cyam...@kilroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Cliff Yamamoto) - orbital elements
da...@convex.com (Anthony Datri) - PDS/VICAR viewing software
da...@sjc.mentorg.com (Dave Rickel) - orbit formulae
dlbr...@pc.usl.edu (Phil Fraering) - propulsion
ed...@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder) - Saturn V plans, SRBs
eug...@nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) - introduction,
NASA contact info, started FAQ postings
frank...@genie.geis.com (Francis Reddy) - map projections
fre...@isu.isunet.edu (Patrick M. French) - space group contact info

g...@telesoft.com (Gary Morris) - amateur radio info
ga...@cfa.harvard.edu (Terry Gaetz) - N-body calculations,
orbital dynamics

gmcq...@Ingres.COM (George F. McQuary) - nearby star refs
gra...@noao.edu (Steve Grandi) - planetary positions
greer%utd201.dnet%uta...@utspan.span.nasa.gov (Dale M. Greer) - constants
he...@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) - survival in vacuum,

astronaut how-to, Challenger disaster, publication refs, DC-X
hig...@fnal.bitnet (William Higgins) - RTGs, publishers, shuttle
landings, spysats, propulsion, "Face on Mars", and general
assistance with FAQ upkeep.
hmue...@cssun.tamu.edu (Hal Mueller) - map projections,
orbital dynamics
jbh5...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins) - launch services
j...@pnet01.cts.com (Jim Bowery) - propulsion, launch services
jnh...@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu (James N. Head) - atmospheric scale heights
jsc...@lpl.arizona.edu (Jim Scotti) - planetary positions
kcar...@zoo.toronto.edu (Kieran A. Carroll)- refs for spacecraft design
k...@orion.bitnet (Kenneth Ng) - RTGs
kje...@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov (Ken Jenks) - shuttle roll manuever
kl...@verga.enet.dec.com (Larry Klaes) - planetary probe history
le...@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech) - crater diameters
l...@ssi.com (Lou Adornato) - orbital dynamics
maury.m...@egsgate.fidonet.org (Maury Markowitz) - propulsion
m...@west.darkside.com (Erik Max Francis) - equations
ma...@ipac.caltech.edu (Joe Mazzarella) - IPAC
mbe...@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM - N-body calculations
mcco...@phoenix.Princeton.edu (Marc Wayne Mcconley) - space careers
m...@sq.com (Mark Brader) - Mariner 1 info.
m...@cmu.edu (Mark Maimone) - SPACE Digest
ni...@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Dr. Nick Watkins) - models, spysats
ohai...@eso.org (Olivier R. Hainaut) - publishers, STARCAT
on...@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Graham O'Neil) - Lunar Prospector
pan...@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham) - cometary orbits, IAU
paul....@nss.fidonet.org (Paul Blase) - propulsion

pe...@denali.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pete Banholzer) - Clementine
p...@plato.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) - RTGs
psch...@unomaha.edu (Paul W. Schleck) - AMSAT, ARRL contact info

p...@minnie.bell.inmet.com (Paul Tarr) - Shuttle computer refs
r...@mel.cocam.oz.au (Rodney Brown) - propulsion refs
rj...@phil.cs.virginia.edu (Ran Atkinson) - FTPable astro. programs
rjun...@ihlpb.att.com (R. Michael Jungclas)- models

rosb...@uk.ac.ucl.ps (Richard Osborne) - UK-SEDS
se...@leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov (David Seal) - Cassini mission schedule
sha...@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) - photos, shuttle landings
sm...@sndpit.enet.dec.com (Willie Smith) - photos
ste...@gpwd.gp.co.nz (Stephen Dixon) - shuttle audio frequencies
ste...@warper.jhuapl.edu (Ray Sterner) - planetary positions
sto...@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca (Phil Stooke) - planetary maps
ted_an...@transarc.com (Ted Anderson) - propulsion
te...@astro.as.utexas.edu (Terry Hancock) - NASA center info
tho...@typhoon.atmos.coloState.edu (Bill Thorson) - FITS info
tm...@andrew.cmu.edu (Todd L. Masco) - SPACE Digest
t...@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) - refs for algorithms
veikko...@helsinki.fi (Veikko Makela) - orbital element sets
Wales.L...@ofa123.fidonet.org (Wales Larrison) - groups & publications
wa...@csri.utoronto.ca (Wayne Hayes) - constants
wee...@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) - Voyager history
yam...@yscvax.ysc.go.jp (Yoshiro Yamada) - ISAS/NASDA missions
y...@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee) - AMES archive server,
propulsion

In Net memoriam:
Ted Flinn

NEXT: FAQ #2/13 - Network Resources

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:23 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/net
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:59 $

NETWORK RESOURCES

OVERVIEW

You may be reading this document on many types of computers, so much of
the material below may not apply to you. In general, however, systems
connected to 'the net' fall in one of three categories: Internet,
Usenet, or BITNET. Electronic mail may be sent between these networks,
and other resources available on one of these networks are sometimes
accessible from other networks by email sent to special 'servers'.

The space and astronomy discussion groups actually are composed of
several mechanisms with (mostly) transparent connections between them.

One mechanism is the mailing list, in which mail is sent to a central
distribution point which relays it to all recipients of the list. In
addition to the general lists for space (called SPACE Digest for
Internet users, and SPACE on BITNET), there are a number of more
specialized mailing lists described below.

A second mechanism is Usenet 'netnews'. This is somewhat like a bulletin
board operating on each system which is a part of the net. Netnews
separates contributions into hundreds of different categories based on a

'group name'. The groups dealing most closely with space topics are
called:

sci.astro - astronomy.

sci.astro.* - various topic-specific subgroups.
alt.sci.planetary - planetary science. sci.space.science is
probably a better group for most purposes.
talk.politics.space - space politics. sci.space.policy is

preferred.
sci.space.news - moderated, for mission status reports,
news announcements, etc.

sci.space.policy - unmoderated, space policy.

sci.space.science - moderated, space & planetary science.

sci.space.shuttle - discussion specific to the space shuttle,

including launch/landing schedules and mission activities.

sci.space.tech - moderated, technical/hardware issues.

Contributors 'post' submissions (called 'articles' in netnews
terminology) on their local machine, which sends it to other nearby
machines. Similarly, articles sent from nearby machines are stored

locally and may be forwarded to other systems, so that an article is
posted locally and eventually reaches all the Usenet sites interested in
receiving the news group to which the article was posted.

Gateway machines redirect several of the Usenet sci.space groups into
Internet and BITNET mailing lists and vice versa; the other Usenet
groups are not accessible as mailing lists. If you can receive netnews,
its more flexible interface and access to a wider range of material
usually make it the preferred option.

MAILING LISTS

SPACE Digest is the main Internet list, and is now being run by the
International Space University (in only its second change of management
in over a decade). Email space-...@isu.isunet.edu (message body
should be in the format 'subscribe space John Public') to join. Note
that the moderated SPACE Magazine list is defunct at present for lack of
a moderator. Old copies of SPACE Digest since its inception in 1981 are
in

ftp://julius.cs.qub.ac.uk/pub/SpaceDigestArchive/

Elements is a moderated list for fast distribution of Space Shuttle
Keplerian Elements before and during Shuttle flights. NASA two line
elements are sent out on the list from Dr. Kelso, JSC, and other sources
as they are released. Email to elements...@telesoft.com to join.

GPS Digest is a moderated list for discussion of the Global Positioning
System and other satellite navigation positioning systems. Email to

gps-r...@esseye.si.com to join. A Usenet group,

sci.geo.satellite-nav, has been established to deal with terrestrial

applcations of satellite navigation.

Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (v...@cs.cmu.edu) to join.

Space-tech is a list for more technical discussion of space topics;

discussion has included esoteric propulsion technologies, asteroid
capture, starflight, orbital debris removal, etc. Email to

space-tec...@cs.cmu.edu to join. Some archives (now somewhat

out of date, but still interesting) are in

ftp://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/mnr/st

or by email to space-tech-request if you don't have FTP access.

Ssi-mail is a discussion group covering the Space Studies Institute.
Email to list...@link.com with a message saying "subscribe ssi_mail
First Name Last Name".

SEDS-L is a BITNET list for members of Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space and other interested parties. Email
LIST...@TAMVM1.BITNET with a message saying "SUBSCRIBE SEDS-L your
name". Email saying "INDEX SEDS-L" to list the archive contents.

SEDSNEWS is a BITNET list for news items, press releases, shuttle status
reports, and the like. This duplicates material which is also found in
Space Digest, sci.space.news, sci.space.shuttle, and sci.astro. Email
LIST...@TAMVM1.BITNET saying "SUBSCRIBE SEDSNEWS your name" to join.
Email saying "INDEX SEDSNEWS" to list the archive contents.

Ron Baalke (baa...@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) runs a mailing list which
carries the contents of the sci.space.news Usenet group. Email him to
join the list.

As a general note, please mail to the *request* address to get off a
mailing list. SPACE Digest, for example, relays many inappropriate
'please remove me from this list' messages which are sent to the list
address rather than the request address.

PERIODICALLY UPDATED INFORMATION

In addition to this FAQ list, a broad variety of topical information is
posted to the net (unless otherwise noted, in the group sci.space.news
created for this purpose). Please remember that the individuals posting
this information are performing a service for all net readers, and don't
take up their time with frivolous requests.

ASTRO-FTP LIST
Veikko Makela (veikko...@helsinki.fi) posts a monthly list of
anonymous FTP servers containing astronomy and space related
material to sci.space and sci.astro.

AVIATION WEEK
Henry Spencer (he...@zoo.toronto.edu) posts summaries of
space-related stories in the weekly _Aviation Week and Space
Technology_.

BUYING TELESCOPES
Ronnie Kon (ron...@cisco.com) posts a guide to buying telescopes to
sci.astro.

ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASA
Editor Larry Klaes (kl...@verga.enet.dec.com) posts the monthly
Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic to
sci.astro, sci.misc, sci.space, and sci.space.news.

The EJASA Volume Lists for ordering back issues may be requested
from him, and back issues are also available from the ASA site

ftp://chara.gsu.edu/

FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL
Swaraj Jeyasingh (sjey...@axion.bt.co.uk) posts summaries of
space-related news from _Flight International_. This focuses more on
non-US space activities than Aviation Week.

IAU CIRCULARS
The IAUC are copyrighted, and should normally not be posted to the
net (sometimes they are posted, with Brian Marsden's permission).
The best way to get all the IAUC is to subscribe: you get all the
info by e-mail, and it helps the Minor Planet Center.

A subscription is $7.50 per month for hardcopy or e-mail delivery
(e-mail version includes log-in privileges to collect the Circulars,
as well as orbits from the MPC files, and a facility for computing
ephemerides).

Enquiries (and checks) should be sent to

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Email: mar...@cfa.harvard.edu

with checks (in U.S. dollars) made out to "Central Bureau for
Astronomical Telegrams". Subscribers can also purchase the MPC's
cometary orbit catalogue at half price. A more complete description
of IAUC/MPC services is available from the email contact.

LARGE ASTRONOMICAL PROJECTS
Robert Bunge (rbu...@access.digex.com) posts a list describing many
"Large Telescope Projects Either Being Considered or in the Works"
to sci.astro.

NASA HEADLINE NEWS & SHUTTLE REPORTS
Peter Yee (y...@ames.arc.nasa.gov) posts a variety of NASA material,
including NASA Headline News (with the schedule for NASA SELECT),
shuttle payload briefings and flight manifests, and KSC shuttle
status reports. For Usenet users, much of this material appears in
the group sci.space.shuttle.

NASA UPDATES
Ron Baalke (baa...@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) posts frequent updates from
JPL, Ames, and other centers on the Ulysses, Gailileo, Pioneer,
Magellan, Landsat, and other missions.

ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS
TS Kelso (tke...@blackbird.afit.af.mil) posts orbital elements from
NASA Prediction Bulletins.

Mike Rose (mr...@stsci.edu) posts orbital elements for the Hubble
Space Telescope to sci.astro.

Jost Jahn (j.j...@abbs.hanse.de) posts ephemerides for asteroids,
comets, conjunctions, and encounters to sci.astro.

SATELLITE LAUNCHES
Richard Langley (la...@unb.ca) posts SPACEWARN Bulletin, which
describes recent launch/orbital decay information and satellites
which are useful for scientific activities. Recent bulletins are in

ftp://nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (directory ANON_DIR:[000000.ACTIVE.SPX])

(This is a VMS FTP site, and the URL is non-functional).

SHUTTLE MANIFEST

Steven S. Pietrobon (ste...@spri.levels.unisa.edu.au) posts a

compressed version of the Space Shuttle launch manifest to
sci.space.shuttle. This includes dates, times, payloads, and
information on how to see launches and landings. These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

SOLAR ACTIVITY
Cary Oler (ol...@hg.uleth.ca) posts Solar Terrestrial reports
(describing solar activity and its effect on the Earth) to
sci.space. The report is issued in part from data released by the
Space Enviroment Services Center, Boulder Colorado. The intro
document needed to understand these reports is in

ftp://solar.stanford.edu/pub/understanding_solar_terrestrial_reports
ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/misc/rec.radio.shortwave/solarreports

nic.funet.fi is an archive site for the reports (please note this
site is in Europe, and the connection to the US is only 56KB). A new
primary archive site,

ftp://ftp.uleth.ca/

has been established and will be actively supported.

SOVIET SPACE ACTIVITIES
Glenn Chapman (gle...@cs.sfu.ca) posts summaries of Soviet space
activities.

SPACE ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER
Allen Sherzer (a...@iti.org) posts a newsletter, "One Small Step for
a Space Activist," to talk.politics.space. It describes current
legislative activity affecting NASA and commercial space activities.

SPACE EVENTS CALENDAR
Ron Baalke (baa...@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov) posts a calendar including
anniversaries, conferences, launch dates, meteor showers and
eclipses, and other space-related events.

SPACE NEWS
John Magliacane (kd...@ka2qhd.UUCP) posts "SpaceNews" (covering
AMSATs, NOAA and other weather satellites, and other ham
information) to rec.radio.amateur.misc and sci.space.

SPACE REPORT
Jonathan McDowell (mcdo...@cfa.harvard.edu) posts "Jonathan's Space
Report" covering launches, landings, reentries, status reports,
satellite activities, etc.

TOWARD 2001
Bev Freed (fr...@nss.fidonet.org) posts "Toward 2001", a weekly
global news summary reprinted from _Space Calendar_ magazine.

WARNING ABOUT NON-PUBLIC NETWORKS

(Included at the suggestion of Eugene Miya, who wrote the item)

NASA has an internal system of unclassified electronic mail and bulletin
boards. This system is not open for public use. Specifically, NASA
personnel and procurement operations are regarded with some sensitivity.
Contractors must renegotiate their contracts. The Fair and Open
Procurement Act does not look kindly to those having inside information.
Contractors and outsiders caught using this type of information can
expect severe penalities. Unauthorized access attempts may subject you
to a fine and/or imprisonment in accordance with Title 18, USC, Section
1030. If in fact you should should learn of unauthorized access, contact
NASA personnel.

Claims have been made on this news group about fraud and waste. None
have ever been substantiated to any significant degree. Readers
detecting Fraud, Waste, Abuse, or Mismanagement should contact the NASA
Inspector General (24-hours) at 800-424-9183 (can be anonymous) or write

NASA
Inspector General
P.O. Box 23089
L'enfant Plaza Station
Washington DC 20024

NEXT: FAQ #3/13 - Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:25 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/launchers
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:58 $

ORBITAL AND PLANETARY LAUNCH SERVICES

Most of the following data comes from _International Reference Guide
to Space Launch Systems_ by Steven J. Isakowitz, 1991 edition. The
launcher FAQ was compiled and is maintained by Josh Hopkins. His address
is jbh5...@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu. Special thanks go to Wales Larrison
(wales.l...@ofa123.fidonet.org) for providing some cost data and the
summaries of other programs included at the end.

Notes: * Unless otherwise specified, LEO and polar payloads
are for a 100 nm orbit.
* Reliablity data generally includes launches through Dec
1990. When applicable, reliability data for a family of
vehicles includes launches of types no longer
operational. Reliability data is subject to interpretation
and is for comparison purposes only.
* Only operational vehicle families are included.
Vehicle types which had not yet flown at the time
my data was published (or when I wrote this) are
marked with an asterisk.
* Data on price is for comparison purposes only.
Costs for government vehicles are somewhat meaningless
and commercial costs vary from bid to bid.

Ariane 35/40 87.5%
(ESA)
AR40 4,900 3,900 1,900 1/1 $65m
(10,800) (8,580) (4,190)
AR42P 6,100 4,800 2,600 1/1 $67m
(13,400) (10,600) (5,730)
AR44P 6,900 5,500 3,000 0/0 ? $70m
(15,200) (12,100) (6,610)
AR42L 7,400 5,900 3,200 0/0 ? $90m
(16,300) (13,000) (7,050)
AR44LP 8,300 6,600 3,700 6/6 $95m
(18,300) (14,500) (8,160)
AR44L 9,600 7,700 4,200 3/4 $115m
(21,100) (16,900) (9,260)

* AR5 18,000 ??? 6,800 0/0 $105m
(39,600) (15,000)
[300nm]

Atlas 213/245 86.9%
(USA)
Atlas E -- 820 -- 15/17 $45m
(1,800)

Atlas I 5,580 4,670 2,250 1/1 $70m
(12,300) (10,300) (4,950)

Atlas II 6,395 5,400 2,680 0/0 $75m
(14,100) (11,900) (5,900)

Atlas IIA 6,760 5,715 2,810 0/0 $85m
(14,900) (12,600) (6,200)

* Atlas IIAS 8,390 6,805 3,490 0/0 $115m
(18,500) (15,000) (7,700)

Delta 189/201 94.0%
(USA)
Delta 6925 3,900 2,950 1,450 14/14 $45m
(8,780) (6,490) (3,190)

Delta 7925 5,045 3,830 1,820 1/1 $50m
(11,100) (8,420) (4,000)

Energia 2/2 100%
(Russia)
Energia 88,000 80,000 ??? 2/2 $110m
(194,000) (176,000)

H series 22/22 100%
(Japan)
* H-2 10,500 6,600 4,000 0/0 $110m
(23,000) (14,500) (8,800)

Kosmos 371/377 98.4%
(Russia)
Kosmos 400 km circular orbit $???
51 degrees - 1400 kg
83 degrees - 1105 kg

Lockheed Launch Vehicle 0/0
(U.S)
* LLV-1 1,100 ??? ??? $15m ?
(2,400)
* LLV-2 1,800 ??? ???
(4,000)
* LLV-3 3,600 ??? ???
(8,000)

Long March 23/25 92.0%
(China)
* CZ-1D 720 ??? 200 0/0 $10m
(1,590) (440)

CZ-2C 3,200 1,750 1,000 12/12 $20m
(7,040) (3,860) (2,200)

CZ-2E 9,200 ??? 3,370 1/1 $40m
(20,300) (7,430)

* CZ-2E/HO 13,600 ??? 4,500 0/0 $60m
(29,900) (9,900)

CZ-3 ??? ??? 1,400 6/7 $33m
(3,100)

* CZ-3A ??? ??? 2,500 0/0 $???m
(5,500)

CZ-4 4,000 ??? 1,100 2/2 $???m
(8,800) (2,430)

Pegasus/Taurus 4/4 100%
(USA)
Pegasus 455 365 125 4/4 $13.5m
(1,000) (800) (275)

* Taurus 1,450 1,180 375 0/0 $15m
(3,200) (2,600) (830)

Proton 164/187 87.7%
(Russia)
Proton 20,000 ??? 5,500 164/187 $35-70m
(44,100) (12,200)

SCOUT 99/113 87.6%
(USA)
SCOUT G-1 270 210 54 13/13 $12m
(600) (460) (120)

* Enhanced SCOUT 525 372 110 0/0 $15m
(1,160) (820) (240)

Shavit 2/2 100%
(Israel)
Shavit ??? 160 ??? 2/2 $22m
(350)

Space Shuttle 37/38 97.4%
(USA)
Shuttle/SRB 23,500 ??? 5,900 37/38 [I'm not going
(51,800) (13,000) to touch the
price issue]

* Shuttle/ASRM 27,100 ??? ??? 0/0
(59,800)

SLV 2/6 33.3%
(India) (400km) (900km polar)
ASLV 150 ??? ??? 0/2 $???m
(330)

* PSLV 3,000 1,000 450 0/0 $???m
(6,600) (2,200) (990)

* GSLV 8,000 ??? 2,500 0/0 $???m
(17,600) (5,500)

Titan 160/172 93.0%
(USA)
Titan II ??? 1,905 ??? 2/2 $43m
(4,200)

Titan III 14,515 ??? 5,000 2/3 $158m
(32,000) (11,000) [1988$]

Titan IV/SRM 17,700 14,100 6,350 3/3 $315m-$360m
(39,000) (31,100) (14,000)

Titan IV/SRMU 21,640 18,600 8,620 0/0 $???m
(47,700) (41,000) (19,000)

Vostok 1358/1401 96.9%
(Russia) [650km]
Vostok 4,730 1,840 ??? ?/149 $14m
(10,400) (4,060)

Soyuz 7,000 ??? ??? ?/944 $15m
(15,400)

Molniya 1500kg (3300 lbs) in ?/258 $???M
Highly eliptical orbit

Zenit 12/13 92.3%
(Russia)
Zenit 13,740 11,380 4,300 12/13 $65m
(30,300) (25,090) (9,480)

The following information on other proposed launch systems is
provided by Wales Larrison. The asterisks mark vehicles which seem most
likely to make it off the drawing board.

Aerospatiale air launched (France) --study of two-stage launch
vehicle launched from Airbus-type aircraft. Reported
capable of 1000 Kg to LEO low-Earth orbit. Used M4
and M5 solid rocket boosters, and studied for
European military uses. No data since early 1992.
Probably shelved.

Argentina -- small orbital launcher, derivative of Argentinian
sounding rocket program. Some interesting rumors
that suitable large solids were poured as part of
secret military ICBM effort under military Junta rule
several years ago, but program records destroyed when
civilian government took over.

Sweden (Bofors/Saab) -- small all solid sounding rocket to use
Kiruna launch range in northern Sweden. Probably
subsumed into IMI effort (Saab is teamed on Orbex).
No data for several years.

TRW -- Proposed development of launch vehicle using pressure-fed
"dumb" boosters. Studied extensively at TRW in late
1960's and revived in late 1980's. Rumors of
company-funded propulsion tests. Rumors this is
being proposed as joint program with GDC or MDC for
upgrade in MLV-3 proposal effort. -- Lots of rumors

but no solid data that this is real program.

* OrbEx - Small all solid vehicle. "ORBital EXpress". Firm

contract for BMDO MSTI payload launch. Options for
another 9 launches. First launch planned 1994. Cost
per launch estimated at $ 10-15 M. First launch for

BMDO, MSTI-4 payload, priced at $14.7 M, contract
signed July 1992. Owned by International Microspace
Inc. -- partnered with Conatec, Saab, and Bristol
Aerospace.

PACASTRO PA-1 - Little data. Estimate $5-10 M per launch. All
solid, very small launcher. No confirmed customers
or customer support. Floating venture capital
prospectus around.

* Russian ICBM derivatives -- Several proposed, usually SS-18 or
SS-25 derivatives. Would used converted strategic
ICBMs to launch small payloads. Bid on several
international smallsat launchers. Political
concerns due to use for MCTR and number of launches
tightly regulated by START treaties and verification
activities. Prices discussed are absolute rock-
bottom.
[There is also converted SLBM called the "Surf" which
seems likely to make it off the drawing boards]

Space Clipper (NPO Yuznoye - Ukraine) - Proposed derivative of
SS-18 utilizing air-launched ICBM as first stage of
orbital launcher for small sats. Used AN-124
aircraft as carrier. Extensively publicized as part
of IAF. 500 Kg into LEO. No customers, no contracts.

SEALAR (Sea Eagle) - Mobile SEA LAunched Rocket. Supported by
Navy Research lab funding. Estimated cost $ 10
M/launch. Projected first launch data of 1996
(dependent upon NRL funding) Bob Truax company.
Suborbital test planned.

* Sonda IV (Brazil)- Small orbital launcher derivative of existing
Brazilian Sonda sounding rocket. Rumored being
readied for 1993 launch. Cost unknown. Obvious
political issue from MTCR, if used as a launch
vehicle for US payloads.

Zefiro (Italy) - Small launcher derivative of Scout vehicle,
utilizing new solid booster. From Gilarini in Italy.
Cost unknown. Proposed to be ready for qual flights
in late 1995.

* J-1 (Japan) - Small all-solid launcher from NASDA H-2 solid
boosters combined with M-3S II solids from ISAS
launcher program. Paper by Tateu Hosomura of Nissan
Motor Co., Japan's principal solid- booster
manufacturer, at IAF claimed first flight in mid-
1995. Capable of 900 kilograms in LEO, with growth to
2000 Kg. Believed funded in 1993 NASDA/ISAS budget.

Aussroc (Australia) - Eventual derivative of small indigenous
sounding rocket currently being test fired. Last
sounding rocket test failed. Probably 5-10 years
away for orbital launch attempt if not fully funded
by national government (currently shared industry/
university/ government). Would use old Woomera
launch range.

Bristol (Canada) - Proposed small launcher, based upon Black
Brandt series of sounding rockets. Proposed
development program to be shared with Canadian Space
Agency. 500 lb to LEO class launcher. Requires
development of new solid booster by Bristol.

Capricornia (Spain) - small 3 stage booster. Reported to be
capable of 100 Kg in LEO. Originated by INTA in
Spain, under $ 30M of developmental funding. Looking
for international partners and further financing.
Potential launch in 1995/1996.

* COMET/Conestoga -- small all solid vehicle being developed to
launch the COMET orbital launch/return payload
system. First launch planned 1993 from Wallops
Island. Estimated launch cost $10-25 M (depending on
type).
[As of 7-93 COMET was on indefinate hold due to
cost overruns. -JBH]

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:44 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/data
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:55 $

ONLINE AND OTHER SOURCES OF IMAGES, DATA, ETC.

INTRODUCTION

A wide variety of images, data, catalogs, information releases, and
other material dealing with space and astronomy may be found on the net.
The sources with the broadest selection of material are the NASA Ames
SPACE archive and the National Space Science Data Center (described
below).

A few sites offer direct dialup access or remote login access, while
others offer file transfer over the Internet (referred to as 'anonymous
FTP'). Sites not connected to the Internet cannot use FTP directly, but
there are a few automated FTP servers which operate via email. Send mail
containing only the word HELP to ftp...@decwrl.dec.com,
bit...@pucc.princeton.edu, or ftp...@doc.ic.ac.uk, and the servers will
send you instructions on how to make requests.

Shorthand for a specific file or directory at an anonymous FTP site is

ftp://sitename/pathname[/]

(e.g. ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). The format has
been changed to valid URLs for users of the World Wide Web. If you are
using a normal FTP client, you will connect to the sitename part of the
URL (explorer.arc.nasa.gov, in this case) and get the file specified by
the pathname (/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). If a '/' terminates the URL, it
indicates a directory containing multiple files.

WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)

WWW is a global hypermedia network carried on the Internet and
incorporating popular protocols including FTP, WAIS, gopher, archie,
NNTP (netnews), etc. The Web is growing at an explosive pace, and huge
amounts of space-related information are already online. This FAQ is
evolving towards a fully hyperlinked Web document (a plain text version
will continue to be posted to the net, of course). The primary change at
present is the use of Web URLs (Universal Resource Locators) to specify
files available by FTP (discussed above), sites accessible by telnet
(URLs of the form telnet://sitename), and Web hypertext documents
(http://site/page).

If you are not familiar with the Web, you should probably begin by
obtaining a Web browser (typically NCSA Mosaic for X, Mac, and PC) and
exploring. The newsgroup 'comp.infosystems.www' is also available.

The NASA Web home page is at

http://hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html

Other space-related material may be found on the Web starting with the
overview page at

http://info.cern.ch/Space/Overview.html

There is also a pointer in the "information by subject" page under
"Space Science."

VIEWING IMAGES

Don't ask for images to be posted to the space/astro newsgroups. They're
clumsy to access, wasteful of net resources, and inappropriate in
discussion groups. Retrieve images on your own using FTP or Web clients.

The possible combinations of image formats and machines is forebodingly
large, and I won't attempt to cover common formats (GIF, etc.) here. To
read PDS and VICAR (and many other) formats on Unix systems running X,
use XV 3.00, available in

ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/xv-3.00.tar.Z

The FAQ for the Usenet group alt.binaries.pictures discusses image
formats and how to get image viewing software. A copy of this document
is available from the Usenet FAQ archives in

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.binaries.pictures

ONLINE ARCHIVES

DEFENSE METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE PROGRAM (DMSP)

DMSP is a two satellite constellation of near-polar orbiting, sun
synchronous satellites monitoring meteorological, oceanographic and
solar-terrestrial physics environments. DMSP sample data and information
may be accessed on-line via:

ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/DMSP/
http://web.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/dmsp.html

Contact Greg Deuel (dm...@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov).

INFRARED PROCESSING & ANALYSIS CENTER

Caltech's IPAC provides access to an easy-to-use interface for making
queries of many astronomical catalogs, especially those from the
Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission. You can also query the
Bright Star catalog, SAO star catalog, a number of extragalactic
(galaxy/quasar) catalogs, etc. Results can be saved to flat ASCII tables
or FITS files and copied to your computer via FTP. Using the interface
requires a machine running X Windows. You can get to IPAC via

http://xcatscan.ipac.caltech.edu
telnet://xcatscan.ipac.caltech.edu

Contact Joe Mazzarella (ma...@ipac.caltech.edu).

LUNAR AND PLANETARY INSTITUTE

LPI offers online searching of planetary science databases, including
bibliographies, images, meeting abstracts, and other categories.
Internet users can access LPI via

telnet://lpi.jsc.nasa.gov

This system is primarily for professionals in planetary science.

NASA AMES

Extensive archives are maintained at NASA Ames and are available via
anonymous FTP or an email server. These archives include many images and
a wide variety of documents including this FAQ list, NASA press
releases, shuttle launch advisories, and mission status reports. Please
note that these are NOT maintained on an official basis.

A listing of files available in the archive is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/Index

An email server for the SPACE archive is temporarily out of service due
to the archive moving to its new home, explorer. Instructions for
accessing the email server will be returned to the FAQ when the server
is running again.

Magellan, Voyager, and Viking CD-ROMs are online in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/cdrom/

Tens of thousands of images are available.

The GIF directory contains images in GIF format. The VICAR directory
contains Magellan images in VICAR format (these are also available in
the GIF directory). A PC program capable of displaying these files is
found in the IMDISP directory (see the item "VIEWING IMAGES" below).

The NASA media guide describes the various NASA centers and how to
contact their public affairs officers; this may be useful when pursuing
specific information. It's in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/media.guide

Contact Peter Yee (y...@ames.arc.nasa.gov).

NASA ASTROPHYSICS DATA SYSTEM

The ADS is a distributed data retrieval system which is easy to use and
provides uniform access to ground-based and space-based astronomy data
from NASA data centers across the country. It currently has over 140
data catalogs of radio, infrared, optical, UV, and X-ray data which can
be queried by position or any other parameter in the catalog. The ADS
also provides tools to manipulate and plot tabular results. In addition,
ADS has a Beta version of an Abstracts Service which allows users to
query over 125,000 abstracts of astronomy papers since 1975 by authors,
keywords, title words, or abstract text words.

ADS use requires direct Internet access. For more info and to sign up to
become a user, email a...@cuads.coloradu.edu. The User's Guide and
"QuickStart" Guide (PostScript files) are in

ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/ads/ADS_User_Guide

Contact Carolyn Stern Grant (st...@cfa.harvard.edu).

NASA DIRECTORY OF WAIS SERVERS

A WAIS database describing servers of interest to the space community is
described by the source file:

(:source
:version 3
:ip-name "ndadsb.gsfc.nasa.gov"
:tcp-port 210
:database-name "NASA-directory-of-servers"
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer "stela...@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov"
:description "Server created with WAIS release 8 b5.1 on May 5 14:05:34 1993 by warnock@Hypatia

Maintainers of WAIS databases of interest to the NASA community can
register their databases with the NASA-directory-of-servers by sending
the source file to stela...@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov. Contact Archie
Warnock (war...@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov).

NASA JET PROPULSION LAB (MISSION INFORMATION AND IMAGES)

ftp://pubinfo.jpl.nasa.gov

is an anonymous FTP site operated by the JPL Public Information Office,
containing news releases, status reports, fact sheets, images, and other
data on JPL missions. It may also be reached by modem at (818)-354-1333
(no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit).

Contact news...@jplpost.jpl.nasa.gov or phone (818)-354-7170.

NASA LANGLEY (TECHNICAL REPORTS)

ftp://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/pub/techreports/larc/92/

offers technical reports. Start with files README and abstracts.92. Most
files are compressed PostScript. The reports are also in a WAIS database
with the following description:

(:source
:version 3
:ip-name "techreports.larc.nasa.gov"
:tcp-port 210
:database-name "nasa-larc-abs"
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer "M.L.N...@LaRC.NASA.GOV"
:description "NASA Langley Research Center Technical Reports

Contact tr-a...@techreports.larc.nasa.gov.

NASA SPACELINK

SpaceLink is an online service located at Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Alabama. The system is specifically designed for
teachers. The data base is arranged to provide easy access to current
and historical information on NASA aeronautics, space research, and
technology transfer information. Also included are suggested classroom
activities that incorporate information on NASA projects to teach a
number of scientific principles. Unlike bulletin board systems, NASA
Spacelink does not provide for interaction between callers. However it
does allow teachers and other callers to leave questions and comments
for NASA which may be answered by regular mail. Messages are answered
electronically, even to acknowledge requests which will be fulfilled by
mail. Messages are generally handled the next working day except during
missions when turnaround times increase. The mail system is closed-loop
between the user and NASA.

SpaceLink also offers downloadable shareware and public domain programs
useful for science educators as well as space graphics and GIF images
from NASA's planetary probes and the Hubble Telescope.

You can access SpaceLink via

telnet://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
ftp://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov

Or you can dial in at (205)-895-0028 (300/1200/2400/9600(V.32) baud, 8
bits, no parity, 1 stop bit).

Most of this information is also available from the Ames server in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/SPACELINK

NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER (NSSDC)

The National Space Science Data Center is the official clearinghouse for
NASA data. The data catalog (*not* the data itself) is available online:

telnet://nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov

You can also dial in at (301)-286-9000 (300, 1200, or 2400 baud, 8 bits,
no parity, one stop). At the "Enter Number:" prompt, enter MD and
carriage return. When the system responds "Call Complete," enter a few
more carriage returns to get the "Username:" and log in as "NODIS" (no
password).

The system is menu-driven; topics available as of 3/93 are:

1 - Master Directory - NASA & Global Change
2 - Personnel Information Management System
3 - Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data
4 - Interplanetary Medium Data (OMNI)
5 - Request data and/or information from NSSDC
6 - Geophysical Models
7 - CANOPUS Newsletter
8 - International Ultraviolet Explorer Data Request
9 - CZCS Browse and Order Utility
10 - Astronomical Data Center (ADC)
11 - STEP Bulletin Board Service
12 - Standards and Technology Information System
13 - Planetary Science & Magellan Project Information
14 - Other Online Data Services at NSSDC
15 - CD-ROMS Available at NSSDC

For users with Internet access, datasets are made available via
anonymous FTP once you select the desired datasets from the online
catalog. For other users, data may be ordered on CD-ROM and in other
formats. Among the many types of data available are Voyager, Magellan,
and other planetary images, Earth observation data, and star catalogs.
Viewers for Macintosh and IBM systems are also available. As an example
of the cost, an 8 CD set of Voyager images is $75. Data may ordered
online, by email, or by physical mail. The postal address is:

National Space Science Data Center

Request Coordination Office
Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 633
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Telephone: (301) 286-6695

Email address: req...@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov

SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

STEIS contains a large amount of information about the Hubble Space
Telescope, such as status reports and newsletters, in addition to
material oriented towards HST observers and proposers. To get started,

ftp://stsci.edu/README

Contact Pete Reppert (rep...@stsci.edu) or Chris O'Dea (od...@stsci.edu).

STARCAT

The Space Telescope European Coordination Facility, at ESO/Garching
provides on-line access to a huge astronomical database, featuring

- Observation log files of several satellites/telescopes
(IUE,IRAS,HST,NTT...).
- Spectra and images (IUE, HST).
- Most of the astronomical catalogues (SAO, HR, NGC, PPM, IRAS,
Veron, GSC and many others, more than 50) in a very convenient
way (give center+radius+kind of objects, and you get the
corresponding files!).

Access at

telnet://stesis.hq.eso.org (or STESIS on DECnet).

Log in as "starcat" (no password). Files created can be retrieved via
FTP. Contact: Benoit Pirenne (bpir...@eso.org) (phone +49 89 320 06
433) at ST-ECF

ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES

The full SAO stellar database is probably not available online yet. It
may be ordered on magnetic tape from the NSSDC. A subset containing
position and magnitude only is available by FTP (see "Astronomy
Programs" below).

ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/astro/

contains a large collection of astronomical programs for many types of
computers, databases of stars and deep sky objects, and general
astronomy information. This site is mainly for European users, but
overseas connections are possible.

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/galaxy.dat

is a database of 8,436 galaxies including name, RA, declination,
magnitude, and radial velocity, supplied by Wayne Hayes
(wa...@csri.utoronto.ca).

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/

contains constellation boundary data (files constell.*) in a form
suitable for the construction of star charts and atlases.

ftp://iris1.ucis.dal.ca/pub/gif/

contains a number of GIFs from Voyager, Hubble, and other sources (most
of this data is also in pub/SPACE/GIF on the Ames server). Please
restrict access to 5pm - 8am Atlantic time.

ftp://pomona.claremont.edu (directory [ANONYMOUS.YALE_BSC])

contains the Yale Bright Star catalog. Web users, note that this is a
VMS site and Mosaic does not get along with their server, so this URL is
a placeholder - run FTP manually. Contact James Dishaw
(jdi...@pomona.claremont.edu).

The Hubble Guide Star catalog is available on CD-ROM for the Mac and PC
for $49.95 US (catalog #ST101).

Astronomical Society of the Pacific
390 Ashton Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone: (415) 337-2624 9 AM - 3 PM Pacific Time
FAX: (415) 337-5205

For German (and possibly other European) readers, Jost Jahn
(j.j...@abbs.hanse.de) has a mail service to distribute astronomical
data to interested amateurs at cost. About 30-40 catalogs are available
for DM 6..8/disk. Several floppy disk formats are available. He also has
a FAX service with current news on the observable sky. Email him if
interested in these services, or write:

Jost Jahn
Neustaedter Strasse 11
W-3123 Bodenteich
GERMANY
Phone: FRG-5824-3197
FAX: (49)-581-14824

ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS

A more complete list is posted monthly to sci.astro or available in

ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/astro/general/astroftp.txt

This list is maintained by Veikko Makela (Veikko...@Helsinki.FI).

Some astronomy-related programs and databases archived from
Usenet source groups:

ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume8/phoon.Z
Moon phase and date routines
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume8/moon.Z
Another moon phase program
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume15/moontool.Z
Show moon phase picture on Suns

Xephem is an interactive astronomical ephemeris program for X11R4/Motif
1.1 (or later) X Windows systems. It computes lots of information about
the planets and any solar system objects for which orbital elements are
available. A sample database of some 16000+ objects is included in the
release kit. It's in

ftp://export.lcs.mit.edu/contrib/xephem/xephem_2.4e.tar.Z

and has been submitted to comp.sources.x. Contact Elwood Downey
(ecdo...@noao.edu). Ephem is the forefather of xephem designed for
simple 24x80 character displays, in

ftp://export.lcs.mit.edu/contrib/ephem_4.28.tar.Z

XSAT, an X based satellite tracking program, is available in

ftp://export.lcs.mit.edu/contrib/xsat1.0.tar.Z

Contact Dave Curry (da...@ecn.purdue.edu).

Xsky 2.0.1, a computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, is
available in

ftp://arizona.edu (file path [.software.unix.xsky]xsky2-0-1.tarz)

(This is a VMS FTP site, so the URL is nonfunctioning). Contact Terry R.
Friedrichsen (te...@venus.sunquest.com).

The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is in

ftp://kauri.vuw.ac.nz/pub/astrophys/

This is intended for specialists in this field, and they would
appreciate people from outside New Zealand confining their FTP access to
the astrophys directory, as they pay a significant amount for Internet
access. Contributions are encouraged. Contact the archive administrator,
Timothy Banks (ban...@kauri.vuw.ac.nz).

The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is in

ftp://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov/README

This is a central repository for general purpose astronomy procedures
written in IDL, a commercial image processing, plotting, and programming
language. Contact Wayne Landsman (land...@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov).

ORBITAL ELEMENT SETS

The most recent orbital elements from the NASA Prediction Bulletins are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (513)-427-0674. Documentation and tracking
software are also available on this system. The Celestial BBS may be
accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud using 8 data bits, 1
stop bit, no parity.

Orbital element sets are FTPable from the following directories:

ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/ NASA,TVRO,Shuttle
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/astro/pc/satel/ NASA,TVRO,Molczan,CelBBS,Shuttle
ftp://kilroy.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/space/ NASA,Molczan

SPACE DIGEST ARCHIVES

Copies of back issues of Space Digest are archived on
LIST...@UGA.BITNET. Send mail containing the message "INDEX SPACE" to
get an index of files; send it the message "GET filename filetype" to
get a particular file.

GEOSPHERE PROJECT (FULL EARTH IMAGE)

Tom van Sant's GeoSphere Project has produced a very nice composite

image of the entire Earth (without clouds, so all the surface is

visible) by assembling thousands of Landsat images. This image is not in

the public domain; any digital copies made available by anonymous FTP

are illegal.

GeoSphere offers the image in a variety of printed forms (posters, mugs,

globes, etc.). Contact them at (800)-845-1522 for a catalog. They may be

willing to license the digital database for specific uses, contact them

for details.

LANDSAT AND NASA PHOTOS

You can get black-and-white 1:1M prints, negatives, or positives for

$10, $18, $12 respectively for any Landsat data more than 2 years old
from EDC, (Eros (Earth Resources Orbiting Satellite) Data Center). Call
them at (605)-594-6511. You get 80 meter resolution from the MSS
scanner, 135x180 kilometers on a picture 135x180 mm in size. I think you
have to select one band from (green, red, near IR, second near IR), but
I'm not sure. Digitial data is also available at higher prices.

Transparencies of all NASA photos available to the public can be
borrowed from the NASA photo archive; you can have copies or prints
made.

NASA Audio-Visual Facility
918 North Rengstorff Ave
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415)-604-6270

PLANETARY MAPS

The following list gives brief references to maps of all bodies other
than Earth for which maps have been drawn - 45 by Nov. 1993. The list
will be updated periodically. Where many maps exist for a world (e.g.
Mars) a good general purpose global map is listed. Where appropriate
these are subdivided further: relief maps (usually with feature names),
topography (contours), geological maps etc. Otherwise (e.g. Deimos) the
best available map is listed. Some (e.g. Comet Encke) are very simple
diagrams of possible surface features ('sketch' under map type). A few
interesting atlases are listed at the end of the main table. Users
noting errors or omissions are urged to contact Phil Stooke at
sto...@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca.

References: USGS refers to the U.S. Geological Survey. Order maps by I-
number from USGS Map Sales, Box 25286, Denver, Colorado USA 80225. Most
maps cost about $3 per sheet (some listed maps are sets of several
sheets), but check cost with USGS before ordering. NASA Tech. Memo.
4395, 'Indexes of Maps of the Planets and Satellites 1992' by J.L. Inge
and R.M. Batson, is an excellent guide to sheet maps (but not the
journal illustrations). Apollo-era Moon maps (LAC, LTO) are mostly out
of print, but some may still be available from NSSDC (as are NASA
CD-ROMs): National Space Science Data Center, Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Maryland USA 20771. Other references are to books and
journals. Although not full bibliographic entries, to save space, there
should be enough information to enable the item to be found.

I will answer questions about planetary maps by e-mail at:
sto...@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca (Phil Stooke)

BODY MAP TYPE REFERENCE

Mercury relief USGS maps I-1149,1171,1822
geology USGS maps I-1199,1233,1408,1409,1658,1659,1660,
2015,2148
atlas Davies et al., ATLAS OF MERCURY, NASA SP-423, 1978
globe USGS (out of print- see at Cornell U. or LPI)
Venus relief USGS map I-2041 (Venera 15/16 data)
topography USGS map I-1324 (Pioneer Venus data)
+ GxDR CD-ROM (Magellan) available from NSSDC
geology USGS map I-2059 (Venera 15/16 data)
atlas ATLAS POVERKHNOSTI VENERY, Russia, 1989
globe USGS (out of print - see at Cornell U. or LPI)
Moon relief USGS maps I-1218,1326,2276
topography NSSDC: LAC maps (earthside)+ LTO maps (Apollo zone)
geology USGS maps I-703,948,1034,1047,1062,1162,
+ Wilhelms, USGS Professional Paper 1348, 1987
atlas LUNAR ORBITER PHOTO ATLAS, NASA SP-206, 1971
+ A. Rukl, ATLAS OF THE MOON, Hamlyn, 1990
globe Replogle Globes (via Sky Publ., ads in SKY+TELESCOPE)
Mars relief USGS maps I-1618,2179
topography USGS map I-2160
+ MDIM CD-ROM, disk 7, available from NSSDC
geology USGS map I-1802
digital MDIM CD-ROMs, disks 1-6, available from NSSDC
atlas Batson et al., ATLAS OF MARS, NASA SP-438, 1979
globe Sky Publishing (ads in SKY+TELESCOPE)
Phobos outline Thomas, ICARUS, 40: 223-243, 1979
relief Bugaevsky et al., ADV.SPACE.RES. 12(9):17-21, 1992
topography Thomas, ICARUS, in press
globe Max Planck Institut fur Physik+Astrophys., 1988
Deimos outline Thomas, ICARUS, 40: 223-243, 1979
relief Stooke, SKY+TELESCOPE 69:551-553, 1985
topography Thomas, ICARUS, in press
Amalthea sketch Veverka et al., J.GEOPHYS.RES. 86:8675-8692, 1981
relief,top Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS 56:123-139, 1992
Io relief USGS map I-1713
topography Gaskell+Synnott,GEOPHYS.RES.LET. 15:581-584, 1988
geology USGS map I-2209
Europa relief USGS maps I-1241,1493,1499
geology SATELLITES OF JUPITER, Ch.14, U.Arizona Press, 1982
Ganymede relief USGS map I-2331
geology USGS map I-1934,1966 (13 other sheets to come)
Callisto relief USGS map I-1239,2035
Prometheus relief,top Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
Pandora relief,top Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
Janus relief,top Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
Epimetheus relief,top Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
Mimas relief USGS maps I-1489,2155
geology Croft, NASA TECH.MEM. 4300, 95-97, 1991
Enceladus relief USGS maps I-1485,2156
geology Smith et al., SCIENCE, 215:504-537, 1982
Tethys relief USGS maps I-1488,2158
geology Moore+Ahern, J.GEOPHYS.RES. 88:A577-A584, 1983
Dione relief USGS maps I-1487,2157
geology Moore, ICARUS, 59:205-220, 1984
Rhea relief USGS maps I-1484,1921
geology Moore et al., J.GEOPHYS.RES. 90:C785-C795, 1985
Titan sketch Lemmon et al., ICARUS 103:329-332, 1993
Hyperion sketch Thomas+Veverka, ICARUS, 64:414-424, 1985
Iapetus relief USGS maps I-1486,2159
geology Croft, NASA TECH.MEM. 4300, 101-103, 1991
Phoebe sketch Thomas et al., J.GEOPHYS.RES. 88:8736-8742, 1983
Puck sketch Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Miranda relief USGS map I-1920
topography Wu, LUNAR PLANET.SCI XVIII, 1110-1111, 1987
geology Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Ariel relief USGS map I-1920
geology Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Umbriel relief USGS map I-1920
geology Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Titania relief USGS map I-1920
geology Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Oberon relief USGS map I-1920
geology Croft+Soderblom, URANUS, U.Ariz.Press, 1991
Larissa relief Stooke, to be submitted to EARTH,MOON,PLANETS
Proteus sketch Croft, ICARUS, 99:402-419, 1992
relief,top Stooke, to be submitted to EARTH,MOON,PLANETS
Triton relief USGS map I-2153,2154,2275
geology Smith et al., SCIENCE 246:1422-1449, 1989
Pluto albedo Buie et al., ICARUS, 97:211-227, 1992
Charon albedo Buie et al., ICARUS, 97:211-227, 1992
4 Vesta sketch Stooke, ASTER.COMET.METEOR.'91 Proceedings, 1992
29 Amphitrite sketch Barucci et al., ASTER.COMET.METEOR.II, 89-92, 1986
243 Ida sketch Binzel et al., submitted to ICARUS.
532 Herculina sketch Taylor et al., ICARUS, 69:354-369, 1987
624 Hektor sketch Hartmann+Cruikshank, ICARUS, 36:353-366, 1978
951 Gaspra topography Thomas et al., ICARUS, in press
Comet Encke sketch Sekanina, ASTRON.J. 96:1455-1475, 1988
Comet Halley sketch Moehlmann+,COM.IN POST-HALLEY ERA,p.764,Kluwer 1991
relief,top Stooke+Abergel, ASTRON.ASTROPHYS. 248:656-668, 1991
Swift-Tuttle sketch Sekanina, ASTRON.J. 86:1741-1773, 1981
Tempel-2 sketch Sekanina, ASTRON.J. 102:350-388, 1991

Interesting atlases: (no single source has maps of all bodies listed above)

ATLAS PLANET ZEMNOI GRUPPA... (atlas of terrestrial planets), Russia, 1992
ATLAS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, Hunt & Moore (eds), Rand McNally, 1983
THE ASTRONOMER'S MANUAL, A. Rukl, Crescent Books, 1989.
VOYAGER ATLAS OF SIX SATURNIAN SATELLITES, Batson et al., NASA SP-474, 1984

COMETARY ORBIT DATA

The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and the Minor Planet
Center announce the sixth edition of the Catalogue of Cometary Orbits in
IAU Circular 4935. The catalogue contains 1292 entries which represent
all known comets through November 1989 and is 96 pages long.
Non-subscribers to the Circulars may purchase the catalogue for $15.00
while the cost to subscribers is $7.50. The basic catalogue in ASCII
along with a program to extract specific orbits and calculate
ephemerides is available on MS-DOS 5.25-inch 2S2D diskette at a cost of
$75.00 (the program requires an 8087 math coprocessor). The catalogue
alone is also available by e-mail for $37.50 or on magnetic tape for
$300.00.

Except for the printed version of the catalogue, the various magnetic
media or e-mail forms of the catalogue do not specifically meantion
non-subscribers. It is possible that these forms of the catalogue may
not be available to non-subscribers or that their prices may be more
expensive than those given. Mail requests for specific information and
orders to:

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

NEXT: FAQ #4/13 - Performing calculations and interpreting data formats

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:46 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/math
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:58 $

CONSTANTS AND EQUATIONS FOR CALCULATIONS

This list was originally compiled by Dale Greer. Additions would be
appreciated.

Numbers in parentheses are approximations that will serve for most
blue-skying purposes.

Unix systems provide the 'units' program, useful in converting between
different systems (metric/English, CGS/MKS etc.)

NUMBERS

7726 m/s (8000) -- Earth orbital velocity at 300 km altitude
3075 m/s (3000) -- Earth orbital velocity at 35786 km (geosync)
6371 km (6400) -- Mean radius of Earth
6378 km (6400) -- Equatorial radius of Earth
1738 km (1700) -- Mean radius of Moon
5.974e24 kg (6e24) -- Mass of Earth
7.348e22 kg (7e22) -- Mass of Moon
1.989e30 kg (2e30) -- Mass of Sun
3.986e14 m^3/s^2 (4e14) -- Gravitational constant times mass of Earth
4.903e12 m^3/s^2 (5e12) -- Gravitational constant times mass of Moon
1.327e20 m^3/s^2 (13e19) -- Gravitational constant times mass of Sun
384401 km ( 4e5) -- Mean Earth-Moon distance
1.496e11 m (15e10) -- Mean Earth-Sun distance (Astronomical Unit)

1 megaton (MT) TNT = about 4.2e15 J or the energy equivalent of
about .05 kg (50 g) of matter. Ref: J.R Williams, "The Energy Level
of Things", Air Force Special Weapons Center (ARDC), Kirtland Air
Force Base, New Mexico, 1963. Also see "The Effects of Nuclear
Weapons", compiled by S. Glasstone and P.J. Dolan, published by the
US Department of Defense (obtain from the GPO).

EQUATIONS

Where d is distance, v is velocity, a is acceleration, t is time.
Additional more specialized equations are available from:

explorer.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/MoreEquations

For constant acceleration
d = d0 + vt + .5at^2
v = v0 + at
v^2 = 2ad

Acceleration on a cylinder (space colony, etc.) of radius r and
rotation period t:

a = 4 pi**2 r / t^2

For circular Keplerian orbits where:
Vc = velocity of a circular orbit
Vesc = escape velocity
M = Total mass of orbiting and orbited bodies
G = Gravitational constant (defined below)
u = G * M (can be measured much more accurately than G or M)
K = -G * M / 2 / a
r = radius of orbit (measured from center of mass of system)
V = orbital velocity
P = orbital period
a = semimajor axis of orbit

Vc = sqrt(M * G / r)
Vesc = sqrt(2 * M * G / r) = sqrt(2) * Vc
V^2 = u/a
P = 2 pi/(Sqrt(u/a^3))
K = 1/2 V**2 - G * M / r (conservation of energy)

The period of an eccentric orbit is the same as the period
of a circular orbit with the same semi-major axis.

Change in velocity required for a plane change of angle phi in a
circular orbit:

delta V = 2 sqrt(GM/r) sin (phi/2)

Energy to put mass m into a circular orbit (ignores rotational
velocity, which reduces the energy a bit).

GMm (1/Re - 1/2Rcirc)
Re = radius of the earth
Rcirc = radius of the circular orbit.

Classical rocket equation, where
dv = change in velocity
Isp = specific impulse of engine
Ve = exhaust velocity
x = reaction mass
m1 = rocket mass excluding reaction mass
g = 9.80665 m / s^2

Ve = Isp * g
dv = Ve * ln((m1 + x) / m1)
= Ve * ln((final mass) / (initial mass))

Relativistic rocket equation (constant acceleration)

t (unaccelerated) = c/a * sinh(a*t/c)
d = c**2/a * (cosh(a*t/c) - 1)
v = c * tanh(a*t/c)

Relativistic rocket with exhaust velocity Ve and mass ratio MR:

at/c = Ve/c * ln(MR), or

t (unaccelerated) = c/a * sinh(Ve/c * ln(MR))
d = c**2/a * (cosh(Ve/C * ln(MR)) - 1)
v = c * tanh(Ve/C * ln(MR))

Converting from parallax to distance:

d (in parsecs) = 1 / p (in arc seconds)
d (in astronomical units) = 206265 / p

Miscellaneous
f=ma -- Force is mass times acceleration
w=fd -- Work (energy) is force times distance

Atmospheric density varies as exp(-mgz/kT) where z is altitude, m is
molecular weight in kg of air, g is local acceleration of gravity, T
is temperature, k is Bolztmann's constant. On Earth up to 100 km,

d = d0*exp(-z*1.42e-4)

where d is density, d0 is density at 0km, is approximately true, so

d@12km (40000 ft) = d0*.18
d@9 km (30000 ft) = d0*.27
d@6 km (20000 ft) = d0*.43
d@3 km (10000 ft) = d0*.65

Atmospheric scale height Dry lapse rate
(in km at emission level) (K/km)
------------------------- --------------
Earth 7.5 9.8
Mars 11 4.4
Venus 4.9 10.5
Titan 18 1.3
Jupiter 19 2.0
Saturn 37 0.7
Uranus 24 0.7
Neptune 21 0.8
Triton 8 1

Titius-Bode Law for approximating planetary distances:

R(n) = 0.4 + 0.3 * 2^N Astronomical Units

This fits fairly well for Mercury (N = -infinity), Venus
(N = 0), Earth (N = 1), Mars (N = 2), Jupiter (N = 4),
Saturn (N = 5), Uranus (N = 6), and Pluto (N = 7).

CONSTANTS

6.62618e-34 J-s (7e-34) -- Planck's Constant "h"
1.054589e-34 J-s (1e-34) -- Planck's Constant / (2 * PI), "h bar"
1.3807e-23 J/K (1.4e-23) - Boltzmann's Constant "k"
5.6697e-8 W/m^2/K (6e-8) -- Stephan-Boltzmann Constant "sigma"
6.673e-11 N m^2/kg^2 (7e-11) -- Newton's Gravitational Constant "G"
0.0029 m K (3e-3) -- Wien's Constant "sigma(W)"
3.827e26 W (4e26) -- Luminosity of Sun
1370 W / m^2 (1400) -- Solar Constant (intensity at 1 AU)
6.96e8 m (7e8) -- radius of Sun
1738 km (2e3) -- radius of Moon
299792458 m/s (3e8) -- speed of light in vacuum "c"
9.46053e15 m (1e16) -- light year
206264.806 AU (2e5) -- \
3.2616 light years (3) -- --> parsec
3.0856e16 m (3e16) -- /

Black Hole radius (also called Schwarzschild Radius):

2GM/c^2, where G is Newton's Grav Constant, M is mass of BH,
c is speed of light

Things to add (somebody look them up!)
Basic rocketry numbers & equations
Aerodynamical stuff
Energy to put a pound into orbit or accelerate to interstellar
velocities.
Non-circular cases?

PERFORMING CALCULATIONS AND INTERPRETING DATA FORMATS

COMPUTING SPACECRAFT ORBITS AND TRAJECTORIES

References that have been frequently recommended on the net are:

"Fundamentals of Astrodynamics" Roger Bate, Donald Mueller, Jerry White
1971, Dover Press, 455pp $8.95 (US) (paperback). ISBN 0-486-60061-0

NASA Spaceflight handbooks (dating from the 1960s)
SP-33 Orbital Flight Handbook (3 parts)
SP-34 Lunar Flight Handbook (3 parts)
SP-35 Planetary Flight Handbook (9 parts)

These might be found in university aeronautics libraries or ordered
through the US Govt. Printing Office (GPO), although more
information would probably be needed to order them.

M. A. Minovitch, _The Determination and Characteristics of Ballistic
Interplanetary Trajectories Under the Influence of Multiple Planetary
Attractions_, Technical Report 32-464, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., Oct, 1963.

The title says all. Starts of with the basics and works its way up.
Very good. It has a companion article:

M. Minovitch, _Utilizing Large Planetary Perubations for the Design of
Deep-Space Solar-Probe and Out of Ecliptic Trajectories_, Technical
Report 32-849, JPL, Pasadena, Calif., 1965.

You need to read the first one first to realy understand this one.
It does include a _short_ summary if you can only find the second.

Contact JPL for availability of these reports.

"Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics", Peter C. Hughes 1986, John Wiley and
Sons.

"Celestial Mechanics: a computational guide for the practitioner",
Lawrence G. Taff, (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1985).

Starts with the basics (2-body problem, coordinates) and works up to
orbit determinations, perturbations, and differential corrections.
Taff also briefly discusses stellar dynamics including a short
discussion of n-body problems.

COMPUTING PLANETARY POSITIONS

More net references:

"Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac" (revised edition),
Kenneth Seidelmann, University Science Books, 1992. ISBN 0-935702-68-7.
$65 in hardcover.

Deep math for all the algorthms and tables in the AA.

Van Flandern & Pullinen, _Low-Precision Formulae for Planetary
Positions_, Astrophysical J. Supp Series, 41:391-411, 1979. Look in an
astronomy or physics library for this; also said to be available from
Willmann-Bell.

Gives series to compute positions accurate to 1 arc minute for a
period + or - 300 years from now. Pluto is included but stated to
have an accuracy of only about 15 arc minutes.

_Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac_ (MICA), produced by the US
Naval Observatory. Valid for years 1990-1999. $55 ($80 outside US).
Available for IBM (order #PB93-500163HDV) or Macintosh (order
#PB93-500155HDV). From the NTIS sales desk, (703)-487-4650. I believe
this is intended to replace the USNO's Interactive Computer Ephemeris.

_Interactive Computer Ephemeris_ (from the US Naval Observatory)
distributed on IBM-PC floppy disks, $35 (Willmann-Bell). Covers dates
1800-2049.

"Planetary Programs and Tables from -4000 to +2800", Bretagnon & Simon
1986, Willmann-Bell.

Floppy disks available separately.

"Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics" (2nd ed), J.M.A. Danby 1988,
Willmann-Bell.

A good fundamental text. Includes BASIC programs; a companion set of
floppy disks is available separately.

"Astronomical Formulae for Calculators" (4th ed.), J. Meeus 1988,
Willmann-Bell.

"Astronomical Algorithms", J. Meeus 1991, Willmann-Bell.

If you actively use one of the editions of "Astronomical Formulae
for Calculators", you will want to replace it with "Astronomical
Algorithms". This new book is more oriented towards computers than
calculators and contains formulae for planetary motion based on
modern work by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Naval
Observatory, and the Bureau des Longitudes. The previous books were
all based on formulae mostly developed in the last century.

Algorithms available separately on diskette.

"Practical Astronomy with your Calculator" (3rd ed.), P. Duffett-Smith
1988, Cambridge University Press.

"Orbits for Amateurs with a Microcomputer", D. Tattersfield 1984,
Stanley Thornes, Ltd.

Includes example programs in BASIC.

"Orbits for Amateurs II", D. Tattersfield 1987, John Wiley & Sons.

"Astronomy / Scientific Software" - catalog of shareware, public domain,
and commercial software for IBM and other PCs. Astronomy software
includes planetarium simulations, ephemeris generators, astronomical
databases, solar system simulations, satellite tracking programs,
celestial mechanics simulators, and more.

Andromeda Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 605
Amherst, NY 14226-0605

COMPUTING CRATER DIAMETERS FROM EARTH-IMPACTING ASTEROIDS

Astrogeologist Gene Shoemaker proposes the following formula, based on
studies of cratering caused by nuclear tests.

(1/3.4)
D = S S c K W : crater diameter in km
g p f n

(1/6)
S = (g /g ) : gravity correction factor for bodies other than
g e t Earth, where g = 9.8 m/s^2 and g is the surface
e t
gravity of the target body. This scaling is
cited for lunar craters and may hold true for
other bodies.

(1/3.4)
S = (p / p ) : correction factor for target density p ,
p a t t
p = 1.8 g/cm^3 for alluvium at the Jangle U
a
crater site, p = 2.6 g/cm^3 for average
rock on the continental shields.

C : crater collapse factor, 1 for craters <= 3 km
in diameter, 1.3 for larger craters (on Earth).

(1/3.4)
K : .074 km / (kT TNT equivalent)
n empirically determined from the Jangle U
nuclear test crater.

3 2 22
W = pi * d * delta * V / (12 * 4.185 * 10 )
: projectile kinetic energy in MT TNT equivalent
given diameter d, velocity v, and projectile
density delta in CGS units. delta of around 3
g/cm^3 is fairly good for an asteroid.

An RMS velocity of V = 20 km/sec may be used for Earth-crossing
asteroids.

Under these assumptions, the body which created the Barringer Meteor
Crater in Arizona (1.13 km diameter) would have been about 40 meters in
diameter.

More generally, one can use (after Gehrels, 1985):

Asteroid Number of objects Impact probability Impact energy as
diameter (km) (impacts/year) multiple of
Hiroshima bomb

10 10 10^-8 10^9
1 1 000 10^-6 10^6
0.1 100 000 10^-4 10^3

assuming simple scaling laws. The Hiroshima explosion is assumed to be
.013 MT TNT equivalent, or about 5*10^13 joules.

References:

Gehrels, T. 1985 Asteroids and comets. _Physics Today_ 38, 32-41. [an
excellent general overview of the subject for the layman]

Shoemaker, E.M. 1983 Asteroid and comet bombardment of the earth. _Ann.
Rev. Earth Planet. Sci._ 11, 461-494. [very long and fairly
technical but a comprehensive examination of the
subject]

Shoemaker, E.M., J.G. Williams, E.F. Helin & R.F. Wolfe 1979
Earth-crossing asteroids: Orbital classes, collision rates with
Earth, and origin. In _Asteroids_, T. Gehrels, ed., pp. 253-282,
University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Cunningham, C.J. 1988 _Introduction to Asteroids: The Next Frontier_
(Richmond: Willman-Bell, Inc.) [covers all aspects of asteroid
studies and is an excellent introduction to the subject for people
of all experience levels. It also has a very extensive reference
list covering essentially all of the reference material in the
field.]

MAP PROJECTIONS AND SPHERICAL TRIGNOMETRY

Two easy-to-find sources of map projections are the "Encyclopaedia
Britannica", (particularly the older editions) and a tutorial appearing
in _Graphics Gems_ (Academic Press, 1990). The latter was written with
simplicity of exposition and suitability for digital computation in mind
(spherical trig formulae also appear, as do digitally-plotted examples).

More than you ever cared to know about map projections is in John
Snyder's USGS publication "Map Projections--A Working Manual", USGS
Professional Paper 1395. This contains detailed descriptions of 32
projections, with history, features, projection formulas (for both
spherical earth and ellipsoidal earth), and numerical test cases. It's a
neat book, all 382 pages worth. This one's $20.

You might also want the companion volume, by Snyder and Philip Voxland,
"An Album of Map Projections", USGS Professional Paper 1453. This
contains less detail on about 130 projections and variants. Formulas are
in the back, example plots in the front. $14, 250 pages.

You can order these 2 ways. The cheap, slow way is direct from USGS:
Earth Science Information Center, US Geological Survey, 507 National
Center, Reston, VA 22092. (800)-USA-MAPS. They can quote you a price and
tell you where to send your money. Expect a 6-8 week turnaround time.

A much faster way (about 1 week) is through Timely Discount Topos,
(303)-469-5022, 9769 W. 119th Drive, Suite 9, Broomfield, CO 80021. Call
them and tell them what you want. They'll quote a price, you send a
check, and then they go to USGS Customer Service Counter and pick it up
for you. Add about a $3-4 service charge, plus shipping.

A (perhaps more accessible) mapping article is:

R. Miller and F. Reddy, "Mapping the World in Pascal",
Byte V12 #14, December 1987

Contains Turbo Pascal procedures for five common map projections. A
demo program, CARTOG.PAS, and a small (6,000 point) coastline data
is available on CompuServe, GEnie, and many BBSs.

Some references for spherical trignometry are:

_Spherical Astronomy_, W.M. Smart, Cambridge U. Press, 1931.

_A Compendium of Spherical Astronomy_, S. Newcomb, Dover, 1960.

_Spherical Astronomy_, R.M. Green, Cambridge U. Press., 1985 (update
of Smart).

_Spherical Astronomy_, E Woolard and G.Clemence, Academic
Press, 1966.

PERFORMING N-BODY SIMULATIONS EFFICIENTLY

"Computer Simulation Using Particles"
R. W. Hockney and J. W. Eastwood
(Adam Hilger; Bristol and Philadelphia; 1988)

"The rapid evaluation of potential fields in particle systems",
L. Greengard
MIT Press, 1988.

A breakthrough O(N) simulation method. Has been parallelized.

L. Greengard and V. Rokhlin, "A fast algorithm for particle
simulations," Journal of Computational Physics, 73:325-348, 1987.

"An O(N) Algorithm for Three-dimensional N-body Simulations", MSEE
thesis, Feng Zhao, MIT AILab Technical Report 995, 1987

"Galactic Dynamics"
J. Binney & S. Tremaine
(Princeton U. Press; Princeton; 1987)

Includes an O(N^2) FORTRAN code written by Aarseth, a pioneer in
the field.

Hierarchical (N log N) tree methods are described in these papers:

A. W. Appel, "An Efficient Program for Many-body Simulation", SIAM
Journal of Scientific and Statistical Computing, Vol. 6, p. 85,
1985.

Barnes & Hut, "A Hierarchical O(N log N) Force-Calculation
Algorithm", Nature, V324 # 6096, 4-10 Dec 1986.

L. Hernquist, "Hierarchical N-body Methods", Computer Physics
Communications, Vol. 48, p. 107, 1988.

INTERPRETING THE FITS IMAGE FORMAT

If you just need to examine FITS images, use the ppm package (see the
comp.graphics FAQ) to convert them to your preferred format. For more
information on the format and other software to read and write it, see
the sci.astro.fits FAQ.

NEARBY STAR/GALAXY COORDINATES

To generate 3D coordinates of astronomical objects, first obtain an
astronomical database which specifies right ascension, declination, and

parallax for the objects. Convert parallax into distance using the
formula in part 6 of the FAQ, convert RA and declination to coordinates
on a unit sphere (see some of the references on planetary positions and
spherical trignometry earlier in this section for details on this), and
scale this by the distance.

Two databases useful for this purpose are the Yale Bright Star catalog
(sources listed in FAQ section 3) or "The Catalogue of Stars within 25
parsecs of the Sun", in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/ (files stars.data,stars.doc)

A potentially useful book along these lines is:

"Proximity Zero, A Writer's Guide to the Nearest 200 Stars (A
40-Lightyear Radius)"
Terry Kepner
ISBN # 0-926895-02-8

Available from the author for $14.95 + $2.90 shipping ($5 outside US):

Terry Kepner
PO Box 481

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:49 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/references
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:46:02 $

REFERENCES ON SPECIFIC AREAS

PUBLISHERS OF SPACE/ASTRONOMY MATERIAL

Astronomical Society of the Pacific

1290 24th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122

More expensive but better organized slide sets.

Cambridge University Press
32 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Crawford-Peters Aeronautica
P.O. Box 152528
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 287-3933

An excellent source of all kinds of space publications. They publish
a number of catalogs, including:
Aviation and Space, 1945-1962
Aviation and Space, 1962-1990
Space and Related Titles

European Southern Observatory
Information and Photographic Service
Dr R.M. West
Karl Scharzschild Strasse 2
D-8046 Garching bei Munchen
FRG

Slide sets, posters, photographs, conference proceedings.

Finley Holiday Film Corporation
12607 East Philadelphia Street
Whittier, California 90601
(213)945-3325
(800)FILMS-07

Wide selection of Apollo, Shuttle, Viking, and Voyager slides at ~50
cents/slide. Call for a catalog.

Hansen Planetarium Publications

1845 South 300 West, # A

Salt Lake City, Utah 84115-1804

(801-483-5400) / (800)-321-2369
(801)-483-5484 (fax)

Said to hold sales on old slide sets. Look in Sky & Telescope
for contact info.

Lunar and Planetary Institute
also Univ. Space Research Assn. (USRA) Division of Educational Programs
also USRA Division of Space Life Sciences
Center for Advanced Space Studies
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston TX 77058-1113
(713)-486-2182

LPI has a quarterly magazine, "The Lunar and Planetary Information
Bulletin," edited by thom...@lpi.jsc.nasa.gov (P. Thompson). Also
technical, geology-oriented slide sets, with supporting booklets.

John Wiley & Sons
605 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10158-0012

Sky Publishing Corporation
PO Box 9111
Belmont, MA 02178-9111

Offers "Sky Catalogue 2000.0" on PC floppy with information
(including parallax) for 45000 stars.

Roger Wheate
Geography Dept.
University of Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4
(403)-220-4892
(403)-282-7298 (FAX)
whe...@uncamult.bitnet

Offers a 40-slide set called "Mapping the Planets" illustrating
recent work in planetary cartography, comes with a booklet and
information on getting your own copies of the maps. $50 Canadian,
shipping included.

Superintendent of Documents
US Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402

Univelt, Inc.
P. O. Box 28130
San Diego, Ca. 92128

Publishers for the American Astronomical Society.

US Naval Observatory
202-653-1079 (USNO Bulletin Board via modem)
202-653-1507 General

Willmann-Bell
P.O. Box 35025
Richmond, Virginia 23235 USA
(804)-320-7016 9-5 EST M-F

CAREERS IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY

In 1990 the Princeton Planetary Society published the first edition of
"Space Jobs: The Guide to Careers in Space-Related Fields." The
publication was enormously successful: we distributed 2000 copies to
space enthusiasts across the country and even sent a few to people in
Great Britain, Australia, and Ecuador. Due to the tremendous response to
the first edition, PPS has published an expanded, up-to-date second
edition of the guide.

The 40-page publication boasts 69 listings for summer and full-time job
opportunities as well as graduate school programs. The second edition of
"Space Jobs" features strategies for entering the space field and
describes positions at consulting and engineering firms, NASA, and
non-profit organizations. The expanded special section on graduate
schools highlights a myriad of programs ranging from space manufacturing
to space policy. Additional sections include tips on becoming an
astronaut and listings of NASA Space Grant Fellowships and Consortia, as
well as NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space.

To order send check or money order made payable to Princeton Planetary
Society for $4 per copy, plus $1 per copy for shipping and handling
(non-US customers send an International Money Order payable in US
dollars) to:

Princeton Planetary Society
315 West College
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544

COMET/JUPITER IMPACT

Dan Bruton (as...@tamu.edu) maintains a lengthy FAQ covering the
upcoming impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July, 1994.
It is frequently posted to sci.astro and can also be obtained via

ftp://tamsun.tamu.edu/pub/comet/comet.faq
http://info.cv.nrao.edu/staff/pmurphy/jove-comet-wham-2.html

DC-X SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT (SSTO) PROGRAM

BMDO SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a

suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that flew successfully

three times in August and September 1993.

The SSRT program has been moved from BMDO to ARPA, and may now move to

NASA. If funded, flight tests of DC-X will be completed, followed by a

building more capable test vehicles. With luck this would culminate in a

SSTO demonstrator in 5-6 years. DC-X and the SSTO concept have attracted

a great deal of interest on the net, and discussion continues.

An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is at

ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/delta-clipper/
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/delta-clipper/title.html

A SSRT news mailing list, which echoes additions to this archive site,
can be subscribed to by sending email to
"list...@zimbazi.cc.utexas.edu" with a first line containing "subscribe
ssrt-news".

Contact Chris W. Johnson (chr...@bongo.cc.utexas.edu).

HOW TO NAME A STAR AFTER A PERSON

Official names are decided by committees of the International
Astronomical Union, and are not for sale. There are purely commercial
organizations which will, for a fee, send you pretty certificates and
star maps describing where to find "your" star. These organizations have
absolutely no standing in the astronomical community and the names they
assign are not used by anyone else. It's also likely that you won't be
able to see "your" star without binoculars or a telescope. See the back
pages of Astronomy or other amateur astronomy publications for contact
info; one such organization may be found at:

International Star Registry
34523 Wilson Road
Ingleside, IL 60041

This is not an endorsement of ISR.

LLNL "GREAT EXPLORATION"

The LLNL "Great Exploration", a plan for an on-the-cheap space station,
Lunar base, and Mars mission using inflatable space structures, excited
a lot of interest on the net and still comes up from time to time. Some
references cited during net discussion were:

Avation Week Jan 22, 1990 for an article on the overall Great
Exploration

NASA Assessment of the LLNL Space Exploration Proposal and LLNL
Responses by Dr. Lowell Wood LLNL Doc. No. SS 90-9. Their address
is: PO Box 808 Livermore, CA 94550 (the NASA authors are unknown).

Briefing slides of a presentation to the NRC last December may be
available. Write LLNL and ask.

Conceptual Design Study for Modular Inflatable Space Structures, a
final report for purchase order B098747 by ILC Dover INC. I don't
know how to get this except from LLNL or ILC Dover. I don't have an
address for ILC.

LUNAR PROSPECTOR

Lunar Exploration Inc. (LEI) is a non-profit corporation working on a
privately funded lunar polar orbiter. Lunar Prospector is designed to
perform a geochemical survey and search for frozen volatiles at the
poles. A set of reference files describing the project is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/LEI/

LUNAR SCIENCE AND ACTIVITIES

Grant H Heiken, David T Vaniman, and Bevan M French (editors), "Lunar
Sourcebook, A User's Guide to the Moon", Cambridge University Press
1991, ISBN 0-521-33444-6; hardcover; expensive. A one-volume
encyclopedia of essentially everything known about the Moon, reviewing
current knowledge in considerable depth, with copious references. Heavy
emphasis on geology, but a lot more besides, including considerable
discussion of past lunar missions and practical issues relevant to
future mission design. *The* reference book for the Moon; all others are
obsolete.

Wendell Mendell (ed), "Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st
Century", $15. "Every serious student of lunar bases *must* have this
book" - Bill Higgins. Available from:

Lunar and Planetary Institute
3303 NASA Road One
Houston, TX 77058-4399
If you want to order books, call (713)486-2172.

Thomas A. Mutch, "Geology of the Moon: A Stratigraphic View", Princeton
University Press, 1970. Information about the Lunar Orbiter missions,
including maps of the coverage of the lunar nearside and farside by
various Orbiters.

MARS DIRECT / LUNAR DIRECT

Robert Zubrin and collaborators have developed several proposals for

near-term, low cost manned missions to Mars and the Moon. These

proposals center around the use of "indigenous propellants" to reduce

the mass which must be launched from Earth - for example, sending a

robotic "mining" vehicle to Mars before the astronauts arrive, which

would extract methane from the atmosphere for use on the return trip.

Some references are:

Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Mars Direct: A Simple, Robust, and Cost

Effective Architecture for the Space Exploration Initiative, AIAA

paper 91-0326, 29th Aerospace Science Meeting, Reno, Nevada, Jan.

7-10, 1991.

Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Humans to Mars in 1999", Aerospace

America, Aug. 1990, p. 30-32, 41.

Walberg, G., "Ho Shall We Go to Mars? A Review of Mission

Scenarios", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 30, No. 2,

Mar.-Apr. 1993, p.129-139.

ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES

A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Satellites

SPACECRAFT MODELS

References to plans, kits, building, and other information can be found
in the Rec.Models.Rockets FAQ in the rec.models.rockets newsgroup.

A catalog of available models is at
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/ModelCatalog

Saturn V and Saturn 1B plans (six 11"x17" blue print sheets) can be
purchased from National Association of Rocketry Technical Service

(NARTS) (see rec.models.rockets FAQ).

Try the following for mail order purchases:

Collect-Aire Models, 166 Granville Lane, North Andover, MA 01845,

508-688-7283. Catalog: US$9 for 4 issues/year.

The Collect-Aire calalog contains their own resin/metal kits and a

large number of rockets/spacecraft (both real and science fiction)

from other manufacturers.

Countdown Hobbies, 3 P.T. Barnum Square, Bethel, CT 06801-1838,
203-790-9010 (voice), Send $2.50 for a catalog.

Countdown Hobbies specializes in rocket and spacecraft models with a

great catalog of current production scale plastic and flying model

rocket kits. Huge number of space related kits.

Four Star Collectibles, PO Box 658, Dracut, MA 01826,
603-635-7639 (voice), Send SASE for a catalog.

Four Star Collectibles has a very large selection of collectable and
current production plastic model kits. Lots of space related kits.

Lunar Models, 106 Century Drive, Cleburne, TX 76031,
817-556-0296 (voice), 817-556-0298 (fax), Send $7.00 for catalog.

Lunar Models primarily sells science fiction movie character models

(Lost in Space, Forbidden Planet, etc), but they also have very nice
models of Voyager, HST, Viking, & Lunar Rover.

Space Craft International,
953 East Colorado Boulevard, Number 201, Pasadena, CA 91106 USA

SCI manufactures of prepainted laser cut cardboard model spacecraft.
These are very nice models, just add glue.

The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106 USA,

818-793-1675 (voice), 800-966-7827 (fax continental US/Canada),
818-793-5528 (fax international)

The Planetary Society sells Space Craft International paper models.

Ace Hobbies, 35 West 31st St; 3rd floor, New York, NY 10001,
212-268-4151

Estes Industries, Penrose, CO 81240

Quest Aerospace Education, Inc. (model rocket company)
PO Box 42390, Phoenix, AZ 85080-2390, 800-858-7302

Cox Products, 350 West Rincon Street, Corona, CA 91720,
909-278-1282

Periodicals and Literature (models):

"Fine Scale Modeler"

"Scale Modeler"

"High Power Rocketry", PO Box 96, Orem, Utah, 84059-0096,
(Compuserv 71161,2351), US$25.00 per year for US,
US$38.00 for international.

"Sport Rocketry", (Journal of the NAR), NAR Headquarters,
PO Box 177, Altoona, WI 54720, USA, US$24.00/year
continental US, 1-800-262-4872.

"Model Rocketry Handbook", Stuart Lodge, England,
128 pages, US$16.00.

"Space in Miniature #1: Spacecraft Primer"

"Space in Miniature #2: Gemini"

"Space in Miniature #3: Shuttle"

Send US$7.50 (each book) + S&H to:
Michael J. Mackowski
7714 Aragorn Court
Harmans, MD 21076

"Rockets of the World", Peter Alway, 1992,
384 pages, ISBN 0-9627876-1-2 (US$35 hardcover),
ISBN 0-9627876-2-0 (US$28 softcover).

Successor to "Scale Model Rocketry" (no longer in print).

Includes details on more than 200 versions of 133 rockets from

14 countries, with history, pictures, measurments, and paint

schemes.

Hard cover $35.00, soft cover $28.00 (wire bound).
Add $2.50 for postage and handling,

$4.00 for foreign orders.
Michigan residents add 4% sales tax.

Peter Alway (al...@tarle3.physics.lsa.umich.edu),
P.O. Box 3709, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3709

ROCKET PROPULSION

George P. Sutton, "Rocket Propulsion Elements", 5th edn,
Wiley-Interscience 1986, ISBN 0-471-80027-9. Pricey textbook. The
best (nearly the only) modern introduction to the technical side of
rocketry. A good place to start if you want to know the details. Not
for the math-shy. Straight chemical rockets, essentially nothing on
more advanced propulsion (although earlier editions reportedly had
some coverage).

Dieter K. Huzel and David H. Huang, "Design of Liquid Propellant
Rocket Engines", NASA SP-125.
NTIS N71-29405 PC A20/MF A01 1971 461p
Out of print; reproductions may be obtained through the NTIS
(expensive). The complete and authoritative guide to designing
liquid-fuel engines. Reference #1 in most chapters of Sutton. Heavy
emphasis on practical issues, what works and what doesn't, what the
typical values of the fudge factors are. Stiff reading, massive
detail; written for rocket engineers by rocket engineers.

SPACECRAFT DESIGN

Brij N. Agrawal, "Design of Geosynchronous Spacecraft",
Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-200114-4.

James R. Wertz ed, "Spacecraft Attitude Determination and
Control", Kluwer, ISBN 90-277-1204-2.

P.R.K. Chetty, "Satellite Technology and its Applications",
McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-8306-9688-1.

James R. Wertz and Wiley J. Larson (editors), "Space Mission
Analysis and Design", Kluwer Academic Publishers
(Dordrecht/Boston/London) 1991, ISBN 0-7923-0971-5 (paperback), or
0-7923-0970-7 (hardback).

This looks at system-level design of a spacecraft, rather than
detailed design. 23 chapters, 4 appendices, about 430 pages. It
leads the reader through the mission design and system-level
design of a fictitious earth-observation satellite, to
illustrate the principles that it tries to convey. Warning:
although the book is chock-full of many useful reference tables,
some of the numbers in at least one of those tables (launch
costs for various launchers) appear to be quite wrong. Can be
ordered by telephone, using a credit card; Kluwer's phone number
is (617)-871-6600. Cost $34.50.

ESOTERIC PROPULSION SCHEMES (SOLAR SAILS, LASERS, FUSION...)

This needs more and more up-to-date references, but it's a start.

ANTIMATTER:

"Antiproton Annihilation Propulsion", Robert Forward
AFRPL TR-85-034 from the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory
(AFRPL/XRX, Stop 24, Edwards Air Force Base, CA 93523-5000).
NTIS AD-A160 734/0 PC A10/MF A01
PC => Paper copy, A10 => $US57.90 -- or maybe Price Code?
MF => MicroFiche, A01 => $US13.90

Technical study on making, holding, and using antimatter for
near-term (30-50 years) propulsion systems. Excellent
bibliography. Forward is the best-known proponent
of antimatter.

This also may be available as UDR-TR-85-55 from the contractor,
the University of Dayton Research Institute, and DTIC AD-A160
from the Defense Technical Information Center, Defense Logistics
Agency, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA 22304-6145. And it's
also available from the NTIS, with yet another number.

"Advanced Space Propulsion Study, Antiproton and Beamed Power
Propulsion", Robert Forward

AFAL TR-87-070 from the Air Force Astronautics Laboratory, DTIC
#AD-A189 218.
NTIS AD-A189 218/1 PC A10/MF A01

Summarizes the previous paper, goes into detail on beamed power
systems including " 1) pellet, microwave, and laser beamed power
systems for intersteller transport; 2) a design for a
near-relativistic laser-pushed lightsail using near-term laser
technology; 3) a survey of laser thermal propulsion, tether
transportation systems, antiproton annihilation propulsion,
exotic applications of solar sails, and laser-pushed
interstellar lightsails; 4) the status of antiproton
annihilation propulsion as of 1986; and 5) the prospects for
obtaining antimatter ions heavier than antiprotons." Again,
there is an extensive bibliography.

"Application of Antimatter - Electric Power to Interstellar
Propulsion", G. D. Nordley, JBIS Interstellar Studies issue of
6/90.

BUSSARD RAMJETS AND RELATED METHODS:

R. W. Bussard, "Galactic Matter and Interstellar Flight",
Astronautica Acta 6 (1960): 179 - 194.

G. L. Matloff and A. J. Fennelly, "Interstellar Applications and
Limitations of Several Electrostatic/Electromagnetic Ion Collection
Techniques", JBIS 30 (1977):213-222

N. H. Langston, "The Erosion of Interstellar Drag Screens", JBIS 26
(1973): 481-484

C. Powell, "Flight Dynamics of the Ram-Augmented Interstellar
Rocket", JBIS 28 (1975):553-562

A. R. Martin, "The Effects of Drag on Relativistic Spacefight", JBIS
25 (1972):643-652

D.P. Whitmire, "Relativistic Spaceflight and the Catalytic Nuclear
Ramjet", Acta Astronautica 2 (1975): 497 - 509.

D.P. Whitmire and A.A. Jackson, "Laser Powered Interstellar Ramjet",
JBIS 30 (1977):223 - 226.

FUSION:

"A Laser Fusion Rocket for Interplanetary Propulsion", Roderick Hyde,
LLNL report UCRL-88857. (Contact the Technical Information Dept. at
Livermore)

Fusion Pellet design: Fuel selection. Energy loss mechanisms.
Pellet compression metrics. Thrust Chamber: Magnetic nozzle.
Shielding. Tritium breeding. Thermal modeling. Fusion Driver
(lasers, particle beams, etc): Heat rejection. Vehicle Summary:
Mass estimates. Vehicle Performance: Interstellar travel
required exhaust velocities at the limit of fusion's capability.
Interplanetary missions are limited by power/weight ratio.
Trajectory modeling. Typical mission profiles. References,
including the 1978 report in JBIS, "Project Daedalus", and
several on ICF and driver technology.

"Fusion as Electric Propulsion", Robert W. Bussard, Journal of
Propulsion and Power, Vol. 6, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1990

Fusion rocket engines are analyzed as electric propulsion
systems, with propulsion thrust-power-input-power ratio (the
thrust-power "gain" G(t)) much greater than unity. Gain values
of conventional (solar, fission) electric propulsion systems are
always quite small (e.g., G(t)<0.8). With these, "high-thrust"
interplanetary flight is not possible, because system
acceleration (a(t)) capabilities are always less than the local
gravitational acceleration. In contrast, gain values 50-100
times higher are found for some fusion concepts, which offer
"high-thrust" flight capability. One performance example shows a
53.3 day (34.4 powered; 18.9 coast), one-way transit time with
19% payload for a single-stage Earth/Mars vehicle. Another shows
the potential for high acceleration (a(t)=0.55g(o)) flight in
Earth/moon space.

"The QED Engine System: Direct Electric Fusion-Powered Systems for
Aerospace Flight Propulsion" by Robert W. Bussard, EMC2-1190-03,
available from Energy/Matter Conversion Corp., 9100 A. Center
Street, Manassas, VA 22110.

[This is an introduction to the application of Bussard's version
of the Farnsworth/Hirsch electrostatic confinement fusion
technology to propulsion. 1500<Isp<5000 sec. Farnsworth/Hirsch
demonstrated a 10**10 neutron flux with their device back in
1969 but it was dropped when panic ensued over the surprising
stability of the Soviet Tokamak. Hirsch, responsible for the
panic, has recently recanted and is back working on QED. -- Jim
Bowery]

"PLASMAKtm Star Power for Energy Intensive Space Applications", by
Paul M. Koloc, Eight ANS Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion
Energy, special issue FUSION TECHNOLOGY, March 1989.

Aneutronic energy (fusion with little or negligible neutron
flux) requires plasma pressures and stable confinement times
larger than can be delivered by current approaches. If plasma
pressures appropriate to burn times on the order of milliseconds
could be achieved in aneutronic fuels, then high power densities
and very compact, realtively clean burning engines for space and
other special applications would be at hand. The PLASMAKtm
innovation will make this possible; its unique pressure
efficient structure, exceptional stability, fluid-mechanically
compressible Mantle and direct inductive MHD electric power
conversion advantages are described. Peak burn densities of tens
of megawats per cc give it compactness even in the
multi-gigawatt electric output size. Engineering advantages
indicate a rapid development schedule at very modest cost. [I
strongly recommend that people take this guy seriously. Bob
Hirsch, the primary proponent of the Tokamak, has recently
declared Koloc's PLASMAKtm precursor, the spheromak, to be one
of 3 promising fusion technologies that should be pursued rather
than Tokamak. Aside from the preceeding appeal to authority, the
PLASMAKtm looks like it finally models ball-lightning with solid
MHD physics. -- Jim Bowery]

GAS GUNS

There's a good article (replete with pictures) in the August 10,
1992 issue of Aviation Week entitled "World's Largest Light Gas Gun
Nears Completion at Livermore." In addition, that article refers to
another article on the same subject in their July 23, 1990 issue.

ION DRIVES:

Retrieve files pub/SPACE/SPACELINK/6.5.2.* from the Ames SPACE
archive; these deal with many aspects of ion drives and describe the
SERT I and II missions, which flight-tested cesium ion thrusters in
the 1960s and 70s. There are numerous references.

MASS DRIVERS (COILGUNS, RAILGUNS):

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics contain the proceedings of the
Symposium on Electromagnetic Launcher Technology, including hundreds
of papers on the subject. It's a good look at the state of the art,
though perhaps not a good tutorial for beginners. Anybody know some
good review papers?

Vol MAG-18, No. 1, Jan 82 (EML 1)
Vol MAG-20, No. 2, Mar 84 (EML 2)
Vol MAG-22, No. 6, Nov 86 (EML 3)
Vol 25, No. 1, Jan 89 (EML 4)
Vol 27, No. 1, Jan 91 (EML 5)
Vol 29, No. 1, Jan 93 (EML 6)

NUCLEAR ROCKETS (FISSION):

"Technical Notes on Nuclear Rockets", by Bruce W. Knight and Donald
Kingsbury, unpublished. May be available from: Donald Kingsbury,
Math Dept., McGill University, PO Box 6070, Station A, Montreal,
Quebec M3C 3G1 Canada.

RAM ACCELERATORS

"The Ram Accelerator: A New Chemical Method of Accelerating
Projectiles to Ultrahigh Velocities" A. Hertzberg, A.P. Bruckner,
and D.W. Bogdanoff, _AIAA_Journal_, Vol. 26, No. 2, February, 1988.

The seminal reference.

"The Ram Accelerator: A Chemically Driven Mass Launcher" P. Kaloupis
and A.P. Bruckner, AIAA Paper 88-2968, AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 24th Joint
Propulsion Conference, July 11-13, 1988, Boston, MA.

Applications to surface-to-orbit launching.

"Ram Accelerator Demonstrates Potential for Hypervelocity Research,
Light Launch," Breck W. Henderson,
_Aviation_Week_&_Space_Technology_, September 30, 1991, pp. 50-51.

"Beyond Rockets: the Scramaccelerator" J.W. Humphreys and T.H.
Sobota, _Aerospace_America_, Vol. 29, June, 1991, pp. 18-21.

Non-technical articles on the status of ram accelerator
technology.

SOLAR SAILS:

Starsailing. Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel. Louis Friedman,
Wiley, New York, 1988, 146 pp., paper $9.95. (Not very technical,
but an adequate overview.)

"Roundtrip Interstellar Travel Using Laser-Pushed Lightsails
(Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 21, pp. 187-95, Jan.-Feb.
1984)

TETHERS:

_Tethers and Asteroids for Artificial Gravity Assist in the Solar
System,_ by P.A. Penzo and H.L. Mayer., _Journal of Spacecraft
and Rockets_ for Jan-Feb 1986.

Details how a spacecraft with a kevlar tether of the same mass
can change its velocity by up to slightly less than 1 km/sec. if
it is travelling under that velocity wrt a suitable asteroid.

"Tethers in Space Handbook, 2nd Edition", Paul A Penzo & Paul W
Ammann. NASA Office of Advanced Program Development, 1989.
NTIS N92-19248/3 PC A12/MF A03

It may be possible to obtain this handbook from:
NASA Office of Advanced Program Development
NASA HQ Code DD
Washington, DC 20546

NASA Conference Publication 2422
Applications of Tethers in Space
Workshop Proceedings Vols 1 and 2.
[Proceedings of a workshop held in Venice, Italy, Octover 15-17, 1985]

GENERAL:

"Alternate Propulsion Energy Sources", Robert Forward
AFPRL TR-83-067.
NTIS AD-B088 771/1 PC A07/MF A01 Dec 83 138p

Keywords: Propulsion energy, metastable helium, free-radical
hydrogen, solar pumped (sic) plasmas, antiproton annihiliation,
ionospheric lasers, solar sails, perforated sails, microwave
sails, quantum fluctuations, antimatter rockets... It's a wide,
if not deep, look at exotic energy sources which might be useful
for space propulsion. It also considers various kinds of laser
propulsion, metallic hydrogen, tethers, and unconventional
nuclear propulsion. The bibliographic information, pointing to
the research on all this stuff, belongs on every daydreamer's
shelf.

Future Magic. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Avon, 1988. ISBN 0-380-89814-4.

Nontechnical discussion of tethers, antimatter, gravity control,
and even futher-out topics.

The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide To Interstellar Travel.
Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff, Wiley, 1989. ISBN
0-471-61912-4.

Probably the best semi-technical introduction to interstellar
flight.

SPY SATELLITES

*Deep Black*, by William Burrows;
"best modern general book for spysats."

1) A Base For Debate: The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar, Des Ball,
Allen and Unwin Australia, 1987 ISBN 0 04 355027 4 [ covers DSP early
warning satellites]

2) Pine Gap: Australia and the US Geostationary Signals intelligence
satellite program, Des Ball, Allen and Unwin Australia, 1988 ISBN 0 04
363002 5. [covers RHYOLITE/AQUACADE, CHALET/VORTEX, and MAGNUM signals
intelligence satellites]

3) Guardians: Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites, Curtis Peebles, 1987,
Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 17654 [ good on MOL, military Salyut and Soviet
satellites, less so on others. Tends to believe what he's told so flaws
in discussion of DSP, RHYOLITE et al..]

4) America's Secret Eyes In Space: The Keyhole Spy Satellite Program,
Jeffrey Richelson, 1990, Harper and Row, ISBN 0 88730 285 8 [ in a class
of its own, *the* historical reference on the KEYHOLE satellites]

5) Secret Sentries in Space, Philip J Klass, 1971.
"long out of print but well worth a look"

SPACE CAPSULE LOCATIONS

Ross Finlayson (finl...@eng.sun.com) has put together a list of
locations of space capsules of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo type, in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/CapsuleLocations

SPACE SHUTTLE COMPUTER SYSTEMS

%J Communications of the ACM
%V 27
%N 9
%D September 1984
%K Special issue on space [shuttle] computers

%A Myron Kayton
%T Avionics for Manned Spacecraft
%J IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
%V 25
%N 6
%D November 1989
%P 786-827

Other various AIAA and IEEE publications.

Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience,
James E. Tomayko, Wichita State University,
NASA Contractor Report CP-182505,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Scientific and Technical Information Division,
1988, 417 pages.

Understanding Computers: Space,
by the Editors of Time-Life Books,
part of the multiple volume series "Understanding Computers",

Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia,
1993, 128 pages, ISBN 0-8094-7590-1,
US $14.95.

Space Shuttle Avionics System

John F. Hanaway and Robert W. Moorehead

NASA SP-504
Available via:
Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402
Document #NAS 1.21:504.

This is an easily readable 62 page book that contains a wealth of

information including history, rationale, alternate designs considered,

design tradeoffs and descriptions of the Shuttle data processing system

(DPS) and its' associated Redundancy Management (RM) system and

philosophy. One of the authors is the former head of the NASA division

which developed the Shuttle DPS design.

SETI COMPUTATION (SIGNAL PROCESSING)

%A D. K. Cullers
%A Ivan R. Linscott
%A Bernard M. Oliver
%T Signal Processing in SETI
%J Communications of the ACM
%V 28
%N 11
%D November 1984
%P 1151-1163
%K CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: D.4.1 [Operating Systems]:
Process Management - concurrency; I.5.4 [Pattern Recognition]:
Applications - signal processing; J.2 [Phsyical Sciences and Engineering]:
astronomy
General Terms: Design
Additional Key Words and Phrases: digital Fourier transforms,
finite impulse-response filters, interstellar communications,
Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence, signal detection,
spectrum analysis

AMATEUR SATELLIES & WEATHER SATELLITES

A writeup on receiving and interpreting weather satellite photos is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/WeatherPhotos

The American Radio Relay League publication service offers the following
references (also see the section on AMSAT in the space groups segment of
the FAQ):

ARRL Satellite Experimenters Handbook, #3185, $20
ARRL Weather Satellite Handbook, #3193, $20
IBM-PC software for Weather Satellite Handbook, #3290, $10

AMSAT NA 5th Space Symposium, #0739, $12
AMSAT NA 6th Space Symposium, #2219, $12

Shipping is extra.

The American Radio Relay League
Publications Department
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(203)-666-1541

TIDES

Srinivas Bettadpur contributed a writeup on tides, in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Tides

It covers the following areas:

- 2-D Example of Tidal Deformation
- Treatment of Tidal Fields in Practice
- Long term evolution of the Earth-Moon system under tides

The writeup refers to the following texts:

"Geophysical Geodesy" by K. Lambeck
"Tides of the planet Earth" by P. Melchior

ASTRONOMICAL MNEMONICS

A listing of astronomical mnemonics is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/mnemonics

NOTE: the remaining FAQ sections do not appear in sci.astro, as they cover
material of relevance only to sci.space.

NEXT: FAQ #6/13 - Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:51:59 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/addresses
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:45:53 $

CONTACTING NASA, ESA, AND OTHER SPACE AGENCIES/COMPANIES

Many space activities center around large Government or International
Bureaucracies. In the US that means NASA. If you have basic information
requests: (e.g., general PR info, research grants, data, limited tours, and
ESPECIALLY SUMMER EMPLOYMENT (typically resumes should be ready by Jan. 1),
etc.), consider contacting the nearest NASA Center to answer your questions.

EMail typically will not get you any where, computers are used by
investigators, not PR people. The typical volume of mail per Center is a
multiple of 10,000 letters a day. Seek the Public Information Office at one
of the below, this is their job:

NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is the
civilian space agency of of the United States Federal Government.
It reports directly to the White House and is not a Cabinet
post such as the military Department of Defense. Its 20K+ employees
are civil servants and hence US citizens. Another 100K+ contractors
also work for NASA.

NASA CENTERS

NASA Headquarters (NASA HQ)
Washington DC 20546
(202)-358-1600

Ask them questions about policy, money, and things of political
nature. Direct specific questions to the appropriate center.

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Moffett Field, CA 94035
(415)-694-5091

Some aeronautical research, atmosphere reentry, Mars and Venus
planetary atmospheres. "Lead center" for Helicopter research,
V/STOL, etc. Runs Pioneer series of space probes.

NASA Ames Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Facility [DFRF]
P. O. Box 273
Edwards, CA 93523
(805)-258-8381

Aircraft, mostly. Tested the shuttle orbiter landing
characteristics. Developed X-1, D-558, X-3, X-4, X-5, XB-70, and of
course, the X-15.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, MD 20771
[Outside of Washington DC]
(301)-344-6255

Earth orbiting unmanned satellites and sounding rockets. Developed
LANDSAT.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
California Institute of Technology
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109
(818)-354-5011

The "heavies" in planetary research probes and other unmanned
projects (they also had a lot to do with IRAS). They run Voyager,
Magellan, Galileo, and will run Cassini, CRAF, etc. etc.. For
images, probe navigation, and other info about unmanned exploration,
this is the place to go.

JPL is run under contract for NASA by the nearby California
Institute of Technology, unlike the NASA centers above. This
distinction is subtle but critical. JPL has different requirements
for unsolicited research proposals and summer hires. For instance in
the latter, an SF 171 is useless. Employees are Caltech employees,
contractors, and for the most part have similar responsibilities.
They offer an alternative to funding after other NASA Centers.

A fact sheet and description of JPL is available in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/JPLDescription

NASA Johnson Manned Space Center (JSC)
Houston, TX 77058
(713)-483-5111

JSC manages Space Shuttle, ground control of manned missions.
Astronaut training. Manned mission simulators.

NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC)
Titusville, FL 32899
(407)-867-2468

Space launch center. You know this one.

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)
Hampton, VA 23665
[Near Newport News, VA]
(804)-865-2935

Original NASA site. Specializes in theoretical and experimental
flight dynamics. Viking. Long Duration Exposure Facility.

NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC)
21000 Brookpark Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44135
(216)-433-4000

Founded in 1941 as one of the original NACA centers. Aircraft/Rocket
propulsion. Space power generation. Materials research. Space
communications technology. Electric propulsion. Structures research.
Microgravity science. Intermediate and large expendable launch
vehicles.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Huntsville, AL 35812
(205)-453-0034

Development, production, delivery of Solid Rocket Boosters, External
Tank, Orbiter main engines. Propulsion and launchers.

Michoud Assembly Facility
Orleans Parish
New Orleans, LA 70129
(504)-255-2601

Shuttle external tanks are produced here; formerly Michoud produced
first stages for the Saturn V.

Stennis Space Center
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi 39529
(601)-688-3341

Space Shuttle main engines are tested here, as were Saturn V first
and second stages. The center also does remote-sensing and
technology-transfer research.

Wallops Flight Center
Wallops Island, VA 23337
(804)824-3411
Aeronautical research, sounding rockets, Scout launcher.

Manager, Technology Utilization Office
NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility
Post Office Box 8757
Baltimore, Maryland 21240

Specific requests for software must go thru COSMIC at the Univ. of
Georgia, NASA's contracted software redistribution service. You can
reach them at cos...@uga.bitnet.

NOTE: Foreign nationals requesting information must go through their
Embassies in Washington DC. These are facilities of the US Government
and are regarded with some degree of economic sensitivity. Centers
cannot directly return information without high Center approval. Allow
at least 1 month for clearance. This includes COSMIC.

The US Air Force Space Command can be contacted thru the Pentagon along with
other Department of Defense offices. They have unacknowledged offices in
Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Colorado Springs, and other locations. They have
a budget which rivals NASA in size.

ARIANESPACE HEADQUARTERS
Boulevard de l'Europe
B.P. 177
91006 Evry Cedex
France

ARIANESPACE, INC.
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 875
Washington, DC 20006
(202)-728-9075

CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES (CNES) [the French space agency]
2, place Maurice Quentin
F-75039 Paris Cedex 01, FRANCE
phone 33 (1) 45.08.75.00

EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE COMPANY (EOSAT)
7500 Forbes Boulevard
Lanham, MD 20706
(800)-344-9933 (Landsat Applications Group)

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA)
955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W.
Washington, DC 20024
(202)-488-4158

NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NASDA)
4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome

Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, JAPAN
asu...@rd.tksc.nasda.go.jp (Public Relations Office)

NPO ENERGIA (Washington office)
Email: ene...@delphi.com

SOYUZKARTA
45 Vologradsij Pr.
Moscow 109125

CIS

SPACE CAMP
Alabama Space and Rocket Center U.S. SPACE CAMP
1 Tranquility Base 6225 Vectorspace Blvd
Huntsville, AL 35805 Titusville FL 32780
(205)-837-3400 (407)267-3184

Registration and mailing list are handled through Huntsville -- both
camps are described in the same brochure.

Programs offered at Space Camp are:

Space Camp - one week, youngsters completing grades 4-6
Space Academy I - one week, grades 7-9
Aviation Challenge - one week high school program, grades 9-11
Space Academy II - 8 days, college accredited, grades 10-12
Adult Program - 3 days (editorial comment: it's great!)
Teachers Program - 5 days

SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services)
504 Pluto Drive 69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower
Colorado Springs, CO 80906 Houston, TX 77002
(719)-578-5490 (713)-227-9000

SPACEHAB
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Suite 201 West
Washington, DC 20004
(202)-488-3483

SPACE INDUSTRIES, INC.
101 Courageous Dr. 711 W. Bay Area Blvd. #320
League City, TX 77573 Webster, TX 77598
(713) 538-6000

I'm not certain which of these two addresses is correct.

SPOT IMAGE CORPORATION
1857 Preston White Drive,
Reston, VA 22091
(FAX) (703)-648-1813 (703)-620-2200

OTHER COMMERCIAL SPACE BUSINESSES

Vincent Cate (maintainer of the space-investors mailing list) keeps a
list with addresses and info for companies in space related businesses in

ftp://furmint.nectar.cs.cmu.edu/usr2/anon/space-companies

NEXT: FAQ #7/13 - Schedules for space missions, and how to see them

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:52:01 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/schedule
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:46:03 $

SPACE SHUTTLE ANSWERS, LAUNCH SCHEDULES, TV COVERAGE

SHUTTLE LAUNCHINGS AND LANDINGS; SCHEDULES AND HOW TO SEE THEM

Steven S. Pietrobon (ste...@spri.levels.unisa.edu.au) posts a compressed

version of the Space Shuttle launch manifest to sci.space.shuttle. This

includes dates, times, payloads, and information on how to see launches

and landings. These files are in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MANIFEST/

For the most up to date information on upcoming missions, call toll-free
(800)-KSC-INFO (800-572-4636) or (407) 867-INFO (867-4636) at Kennedy
Space Center.

Official NASA shuttle status reports are posted to sci.space.news
frequently.

WHY DOES THE SHUTTLE ROLL JUST AFTER LIFTOFF?

The following answer and translation are provided by Ken Jenks
(kje...@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov).

The "Ascent Guidance and Flight Control Training Manual," ASC G&C 2102,
says:

"During the vertical rise phase, the launch pad attitude is
commanded until an I-loaded V(rel) sufficient to assure launch tower
clearance is achieved. Then, the tilt maneuver (roll program)
orients the vehicle to a heads down attitude required to generate a
negative q-alpha, which in turn alleviates structural loading. Other
advantages with this attitude are performance gain, decreased abort
maneuver complexity, improved S-band look angles, and crew view of
the horizon. The tilt maneuver is also required to start gaining
downrange velocity to achieve the main engine cutoff (MECO) target
in second stage."

This really is a good answer, but it's couched in NASA jargon. I'll try
to interpret.

1) We wait until the Shuttle clears the tower before rolling.

2) Then, we roll the Shuttle around so that the angle of attack
between the wind caused by passage through the atmosphere (the
"relative wind") and the chord of the wings (the imaginary line
between the leading edge and the trailing edge) is a slightly
negative angle ("a negative q-alpha"). This causes a little bit of
"downward" force (toward the belly of the Orbiter, or the +Z
direction) and this force "alleviates structural loading."
We have to be careful about those wings -- they're about the
most "delicate" part of the vehicle.

3) The new attitude (after the roll) also allows us to carry more
mass to orbit, or to achieve a higher orbit with the same mass, or
to change the orbit to a higher or lower inclination than would be
the case if we didn't roll ("performance gain").

4) The new attitude allows the crew to fly a less complicated
flight path if they had to execute one of the more dangerous abort
maneuvers, the Return To Launch Site ("decreased abort maneuver
complexity").

5) The new attitude improves the ability for ground-based radio
antennae to have a good line-of-sight signal with the S-band radio
antennae on the Orbiter ("improved S-band look angles").

6) The new attitude allows the crew to see the horizon, which is a
helpful (but not mandatory) part of piloting any flying machine.

7) The new attitude orients the Shuttle so that the body is
more nearly parallel with the ground, and the nose to the east
(usually). This allows the thrust from the engines to add velocity
in the correct direction to eventually achieve orbit. Remember:
velocity is a vector quantity made of both speed and direction.
The Shuttle has to have a large horizontal component to its
velocity and a very small vertical component to attain orbit.

This all begs the question, "Why isn't the launch pad oriented to give
this nice attitude to begin with? Why does the Shuttle need to roll to
achieve that attitude?" The answer is that the pads were leftovers
from the Apollo days. The Shuttle straddles two flame trenches -- one
for the Solid Rocket Motor exhaust, one for the Space Shuttle Main
Engine exhaust. (You can see the effects of this on any daytime
launch. The SRM exhaust is dirty gray garbage, and the SSME exhaust is
fluffy white steam. Watch for the difference between the "top"
[Orbiter side] and the "bottom" [External Tank side] of the stack.) The
access tower and other support and service structure are all oriented
basically the same way they were for the Saturn V's. (A side note: the
Saturn V's also had a roll program. Don't ask me why -- I'm a Shuttle
guy.)

I checked with a buddy in Ascent Dynamics. He added that the "roll
maneuver" is really a maneuver in all three axes: roll, pitch and yaw.
The roll component of that maneuver is performed for the reasons
stated. The pitch component controls loading on the wings by keeping
the angle of attack (q-alpha) within a tight tolerance. The yaw
component is used to determine the orbital inclination. The total
maneuver is really expressed as a "quaternion," a grad-level-math
concept for combining all three rotation matrices in one four-element
array.

HOW TO RECEIVE THE NASA TV CHANNEL, NASA SELECT

NASA SELECT is broadcast by satellite. If you have access to a satellite
dish, you can find SELECT on SpaceNet 2, Transponder 5, C-Band, 69
degrees West Longitude. SELECT has been moved from Satcom F2R to a
satellite even further to the east, and is apparently even more
difficult to receive in California and points west. During events of
special interest (e.g. shuttle missions), SELECT is sometimes broadcast
on a second satellite for these viewers.

If you can't get a satellite feed, some cable operators carry SELECT.
It's worth asking if yours doesn't.

The SELECT schedule is found in the NASA Headline News which is
frequently posted to sci.space.news. Generally it carries press
conferences, briefings by NASA officials, and live coverage of shuttle
missions and planetary encounters. SELECT has recently begun carrying
much more secondary material (associated with SPACELINK) when missions
are not being covered.

AMATEUR RADIO FREQUENCIES FOR SHUTTLE MISSIONS

The following are believed to rebroadcast space shuttle mission audio:

W6FXN - Los Angeles
K6MF - Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California
WA3NAN - Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Maryland.
W5RRR - Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, Texas
W6VIO - Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California.
W1AW Voice Bulletins

Station VHF 10m 15m 20m 40m 80m
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
W6FXN 145.46
K6MF 145.585 7.165 3.840
WA3NAN 147.45 28.650 21.395 14.295 7.185 3.860
W5RRR 146.64 28.400 21.350 14.280 7.227 3.850
W6VIO 224.04 21.340 14.270
W6VIO 224.04 21.280 14.282 7.165 3.840
W1AW 28.590 21.390 14.290 7.290 3.990

W5RRR transmits mission audio on 146.64, a special event station on the
other frequencies supplying Keplerian Elements and mission information.

W1AW also transmits on 147.555, 18.160. No mission audio but they
transmit voice bulletins at 0245 and 0545 UTC.

Frequencies in the 10-20m bands require USB and frequencies in the 40
and 80m bands LSB. Use FM for the VHF frequencies.

[This item was most recently updated courtesy of Gary Morris
(g...@telesoft.com, KK6YB, N5QWC)]

SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER FUEL COMPOSITION

Reference: "Shuttle Flight Operations Manual" Volume 8B - Solid Rocket
Booster Systems, NASA Document JSC-12770

Propellant Composition (percent)

Ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer) 69.6
Aluminum 16
Iron Oxide (burn rate catalyst) 0.4
Polybutadiene-acrilic acid-acrylonitrile (a rubber) 12.04
Epoxy curing agent 1.96

End reference

Comment: The aluminum, rubber, and epoxy all burn with the oxidizer.

NEXT: FAQ #8/13 - Historical planetary probes

Jon Leech

unread,

Apr 3, 1994, 6:52:03 PM4/3/94

Archive-name: space/probe
Last-modified: $Date: 94/04/03 18:46:01 $

PLANETARY PROBES - HISTORICAL MISSIONS

This section was lightly adapted from an original posting by Larry Klaes
(kl...@verga.enet.dec.com), mostly minor formatting changes. Matthew
Wiener (wee...@libra.wistar.upenn.edu) contributed the section on
Voyager, and the section on Sakigake was obtained from ISAS material
posted by Yoshiro Yamada (yam...@yscvax.ysc.go.jp).

US PLANETARY MISSIONS

MARINER (VENUS, MARS, & MERCURY FLYBYS AND ORBITERS)

MARINER 1, the first U.S. attempt to send a spacecraft to Venus, failed
minutes after launch in 1962. The guidance instructions from the ground
stopped reaching the rocket due to a problem with its antenna, so the
onboard computer took control. However, there turned out to be a bug in
the guidance software, and the rocket promptly went off course, so the
Range Safety Officer destroyed it. Although the bug is sometimes claimed
to have been an incorrect FORTRAN DO statement, it was actually a
transcription error in which the bar (indicating smoothing) was omitted
from the expression "R-dot-bar sub n" (nth smoothed value of derivative
of radius). This error led the software to treat normal minor variations
of velocity as if they were serious, leading to incorrect compensation.

MARINER 2 became the first successful probe to flyby Venus in December
of 1962, and it returned information which confirmed that Venus is a
very hot (800 degrees Fahrenheit, now revised to 900 degrees F.) world
with a cloud-covered atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide
(sulfuric acid was later confirmed in 1978).

MARINER 3, launched on November 5, 1964, was lost when its protective
shroud failed to eject as the craft was placed into interplanetary
space. Unable to collect the Sun's energy for power from its solar
panels, the probe soon died when its batteries ran out and is now in
solar orbit. It was intended for a Mars flyby with MARINER 4.

MARINER 4, the sister probe to MARINER 3, did reach Mars in 1965 and
took the first close-up images of the Martian surface (22 in all) as it
flew by the planet. The probe found a cratered world with an atmosphere
much thinner than previously thought. Many scientists concluded from
this preliminary scan that Mars was a "dead" world in both the
geological and biological sense.

MARINER 5 was sent to Venus in 1967. It reconfirmed the data on that
planet collected five years earlier by MARINER 2, plus the information
that Venus' atmospheric pressure at its surface is at least 90 times
that of Earth's, or the equivalent of being 3,300 feet under the surface
of an ocean.

MARINER 6 and 7 were sent to Mars in 1969 and expanded upon the work
done by MARINER 4 four years earlier. However, they failed to take away
the concept of Mars as a "dead" planet, first made from the basic
measurements of MARINER 4.

MARINER 8 ended up in the Atlantic Ocean in 1971 when the rocket
launcher autopilot failed.

MARINER 9, the sister probe to MARINER 8, became the first craft to
orbit Mars in 1971. It returned information on the Red Planet that no
other probe had done before, revealing huge volcanoes on the Martian
surface, as well as giant canyon systems, and evidence that water once
flowed across the planet. The probe also took the first detailed closeup
images of Mars' two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.

MARINER 10 used Venus as a gravity assist to Mercury in 1974. The probe
did return the first close-up images of the Venusian atmosphere in
ultraviolet, revealing previously unseen details in the cloud cover,
plus the fact that the entire cloud system circles the planet in four
Earth days. MARINER 10 eventually made three flybys of Mercury from 1974
to 1975 before running out of attitude control gas. The probe revealed
Mercury as a heavily cratered world with a mass much greater than
thought. This would seem to indicate that Mercury has an iron core which
makes up 75 percent of the entire planet.

PIONEER (MOON, SUN, VENUS, JUPITER, and SATURN FLYBYS AND ORBITERS)

PIONEER 1 through 3 failed to meet their main objective - to photograph
the Moon close-up - but they did reach far enough into space to provide
new information on the area between Earth and the Moon, including new
data on the Van Allen radiation belts circling Earth. All three craft
had failures with their rocket launchers. PIONEER 1 was launched on
October 11, 1958, PIONEER 2 on November 8, and PIONEER 3 on December 6.

PIONEER 4 was a Moon probe which missed the Moon and became the first
U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Sun in 1959. PIONEER 5 was originally
designed to flyby Venus, but the mission was scaled down and it instead
studied the interplanetary environment between Venus and Earth out to
36.2 million kilometers in 1960, a record until MARINER 2. PIONEER 6
through 9 were placed into solar orbit from 1965 to 1968: PIONEER 6, 7,
and 8 are still transmitting information at this time. PIONEER E (would
have been number 10) suffered a launch failure in 1969.

PIONEER 10 became the first spacecraft to flyby Jupiter in 1973. PIONEER
11 followed it in 1974, and then went on to become the first probe to
study Saturn in 1979. Both vehicles should continue to function through
1995 and are heading off into interstellar space, the first craft ever
to do so.

PIONEER Venus 1 (1978) (also known as PIONEER Venus Orbiter, or PIONEER
12) burned up in the Venusian atmosphere on October 8, 1992. PVO made
the first radar studies of the planet's surface via probe. PIONEER Venus
2 (also known as PIONEER 13) sent four small probes into the atmosphere
in December of 1978. The main spacecraft bus burned up high in the
atmosphere, while the four probes descended by parachute towards the
surface. Though none were expected to survive to the surface, the Day
probe did make it and transmitted for 67.5 minutes on the ground before
its batteries failed.

RANGER (LUNAR LANDER AND IMPACT MISSIONS)

RANGER 1 and 2 were test probes for the RANGER lunar impact series. They
were meant for high Earth orbit testing in 1961, but rocket problems
left them in useless low orbits which quickly decayed.

RANGER 3, launched on January 26, 1962, was intended to land an
instrument capsule on the surface of the Moon, but problems during the
launch caused the probe to miss the Moon and head into solar orbit.
RANGER 3 did try to take some images of the Moon as it flew by, but the
camera was unfortunately aimed at deep space during the attempt.

RANGER 4, launched April 23, 1962, had the same purpose as RANGER 3, but
suffered technical problems enroute and crashed on the lunar farside,
the first U.S. probe to reach the Moon, albeit without returning data.

RANGER 5, launched October 18, 1962 and similar to RANGER 3 and 4, lost
all solar panel and battery power enroute and eventually missed the Moon
and drifted off into solar orbit.

RANGER 6 through 9 had more modified lunar missions: They were to send
back live images of the lunar surface as they headed towards an impact
with the Moon. RANGER 6 failed this objective in 1964 when its cameras
did not operate. RANGER 7 through 9 performed well, becoming the first
U.S. lunar probes to return thousands of lunar images through 1965.

LUNAR ORBITER (LUNAR SURFACE PHOTOGRAPHY)

LUNAR ORBITER 1 through 5 were designed to orbit the Moon and image
various sites being studied as landing areas for the manned APOLLO
missions of 1969-1972. The probes also contributed greatly to our
understanding of lunar surface features, particularly the lunar farside.
All five probes of the series, launched from 1966 to 1967, were
essentially successful in their missions. They were the first U.S.
probes to orbit the Moon. All LOs were eventually crashed into the lunar
surface to avoid interference with the manned APOLLO missions.

SURVEYOR (LUNAR SOFT LANDERS)

The SURVEYOR series were designed primarily to see if an APOLLO lunar
module could land on the surface of the Moon without sinking into the
soil (before this time, it was feared by some that the Moon was covered
in great layers of dust, which would not support a heavy landing
vehicle). SURVEYOR was successful in proving that the lunar surface was
strong enough to hold up a spacecraft from 1966 to 1968.

Only SURVEYOR 2 and 4 were unsuccessful missions. The rest became the
first U.S. probes to soft land on the Moon, taking thousands of images
and scooping the soil for analysis. APOLLO 12 landed 600 feet from
SURVEYOR 3 in 1969 and returned parts of the craft to Earth. SURVEYOR 7,
the last of the series, was a purely scientific mission which explored
the Tycho crater region in 1968.

VIKING (MARS ORBITERS AND LANDERS)

VIKING 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 20, 1975 on
a TITAN 3E-CENTAUR D1 rocket. The probe went into Martian orbit on June
19, 1976, and the lander set down on the western slopes of Chryse
Planitia on July 20, 1976. It soon began its programmed search for
Martian micro-organisms (there is still debate as to whether the probes
found life there or not), and sent back incredible color panoramas of
its surroundings. One thing scientists learned was that Mars' sky was
pinkish in color, not dark blue as they originally thought (the sky is
pink due to sunlight reflecting off the reddish dust particles in the
thin atmosphere). The lander set down among a field of red sand and
boulders stretching out as far as its cameras could image.

The VIKING 1 orbiter kept functioning until August 7, 1980, when it ran
out of attitude-control propellant. The lander was switched into a
weather-reporting mode, where it had been hoped it would keep
functioning through 1994; but after November 13, 1982, an errant command
had been sent to the lander accidentally telling it to shut down until
further orders. Communication was never regained again, despite the
engineers' efforts through May of 1983.

An interesting side note: VIKING 1's lander has been designated the
Thomas A. Mutch Memorial Station in honor of the late leader of the
lander imaging team. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington,
DC is entrusted with the safekeeping of the Mutch Station Plaque until
it can be attached to the lander by a manned expedition.

VIKING 2 was launched on September 9, 1975, and arrived in Martian orbit
on August 7, 1976. The lander touched down on September 3, 1976 in
Utopia Planitia. It accomplished essentially the same tasks as its
sister lander, with the exception that its seisometer worked, recording
one marsquake. The orbiter had a series of attitude-control gas leaks in
1978, which prompted it being shut down that July. The lander was shut
down on April 12, 1980.

The orbits of both VIKING orbiters should decay around 2025.

VOYAGER (OUTER PLANET FLYBYS)

VOYAGER 1 was launched September 5, 1977, and flew past Jupiter on March
5, 1979 and by Saturn on November 13, 1980. VOYAGER 2 was launched
August 20, 1977 (before VOYAGER 1), and flew by Jupiter on August 7,
1979, by Saturn on August 26, 1981, by Uranus on January 24, 1986, and
by Neptune on August 8, 1989. VOYAGER 2 took advantage of a rare
once-every-189-years alignment to slingshot its way from outer planet to
outer planet. VOYAGER 1 could, in principle, have headed towards Pluto,
but JPL opted for the sure thing of a Titan close up.

Between the two probes, our knowledge of the 4 giant planets, their
satellites, and their rings has become immense. VOYAGER 1&2 discovered
that Jupiter has complicated atmospheric dynamics, lightning and
aurorae. Three new satellites were discovered. Two of the major
surprises were that Jupiter has rings and that Io has active sulfurous
volcanoes, with major effects on the Jovian magnetosphere.

When the two probes reached Saturn, they discovered over 1000 ringlets
and 7 satellites, including the predicted shepherd satellites that keep
the rings stable. The weather was tame compared with Jupiter: massive
jet streams with minimal variance (a 33-year great white spot/band cycle
is known). Titan's atmosphere was smoggy. Mimas' appearance was
startling: one massive impact crater gave it the Death Star appearance.
The big surprise here was the stranger aspects of the rings. Braids,
kinks, and spokes were both unexpected and difficult to explain.

VOYAGER 2, thanks to heroic engineering and programming efforts,
continued the mission to Uranus and Neptune. Uranus itself was highly
monochromatic in appearance. One oddity was that its magnetic axis was
found to be highly skewed from the already completely skewed rotational
axis, giving Uranus a peculiar magnetosphere. Icy channels were found on
Ariel, and Miranda was a bizarre patchwork of different terrains. 10
satellites and one more ring were discovered.

In contrast to Uranus, Neptune was found to have rather active weather,
including numerous cloud features. The ring arcs turned out to be bright
patches on one ring. Two other rings, and 6 other satellites, were
discovered. Neptune's magnetic axis was also skewed. Triton had a
canteloupe appearance and geysers. (What's liquid at 38K?)

The two VOYAGERs are expected to last for about two more decades. Their
on-target journeying gives negative evidence about possible planets
beyond Pluto. Their next major scientific discovery should be the
location of the heliopause. Low-frequency radio emissions believed to
originate at the heliopause have been detected by both VOYAGERs.

SOVIET PLANETARY MISSIONS

Since there have been so many Soviet probes to the Moon, Venus, and
Mars, I will highlight only the primary missions:

SOVIET LUNAR PROBES

LUNA 1 - Lunar impact attempt in 1959, missed Moon and became first
craft in solar orbit.
LUNA 2 - First craft to impact on lunar surface in 1959.
LUNA 3 - Took first images of lunar farside in 1959.
ZOND 3 - Took first images of lunar farside in 1965 since LUNA 3. Was
also a test for future Mars missions.
LUNA 9 - First probe to soft land on the Moon in 1966, returned images
from surface.
LUNA 10 - First probe to orbit the Moon in 1966.
LUNA 13 - Second successful Soviet lunar soft landing mission in 1966.
ZOND 5 - First successful circumlunar craft. ZOND 6 through 8
accomplished similar missions through 1970. The probes were
unmanned tests of a manned orbiting SOYUZ-type lunar vehicle.
LUNA 16 - First probe to land on Moon and return samples of lunar soil
to Earth in 1970. LUNA 20 accomplished similar mission in
1972.
LUNA 17 - Delivered the first unmanned lunar rover to the Moon's
surface, LUNOKHOD 1, in 1970. A similar feat was accomplished
with LUNA 21/LUNOKHOD 2 in 1973.
LUNA 24 - Last Soviet lunar mission to date. Returned soil samples in
1976.

SOVIET VENUS PROBES

VENERA 1 - First acknowledged attempt at Venus mission. Transmissions
lost enroute in 1961.
VENERA 2 - Attempt to image Venus during flyby mission in tandem with
VENERA 3. Probe ceased transmitting just before encounter in
February of 1966. No images were returned.
VENERA 3 - Attempt to place a lander capsule on Venusian surface.
Transmissions ceased just before encounter and entire probe
became the first craft to impact on another planet in 1966.
VENERA 4 - First probe to successfully return data while descending
through Venusian atmosphere. Crushed by air pressure before
reaching surface in 1967. VENERA 5 and 6 mission profiles
similar in 1969.
VENERA 7 - First probe to return data from the surface of another planet
in 1970. VENERA 8 accomplished a more detailed mission in
1972.
VENERA 9 - Sent first image of Venusian surface in 1975. Was also the
first probe to orbit Venus. VENERA 10 accomplished similar
mission.
VENERA 13 - Returned first color images of Venusian surface in 1982.
VENERA 14 accomplished similar mission.
VENERA 15 - Accomplished radar mapping with VENERA 16 of sections of
planet's surface in 1983 more detailed than PVO.
VEGA 1 - Accomplished with VEGA 2 first balloon probes of Venusian
atmosphere in 1985, including two landers. Flyby buses went on
to become first spacecraft to study Comet Halley close-up in
March of 1986.

SOVIET MARS PROBES

MARS 1 - First acknowledged Mars probe in 1962. Transmissions ceased
enroute the following year.
ZOND 2 - First possible attempt to place a lander capsule on Martian
surface. Probe signals ceased enroute in 1965.
MARS 2 - First Soviet Mars probe to land - albeit crash - on Martian
surface. Orbiter section first Soviet probe to circle the Red
Planet in 1971.
MARS 3 - First successful soft landing on Martian surface, but lander
signals ceased after 90 seconds in 1971.
MARS 4 - Attempt at orbiting Mars in 1974, braking rockets failed to
fire, probe went on into solar orbit.
MARS 5 - First fully successful Soviet Mars mission, orbiting Mars in
1974. Returned images of Martian surface comparable to U.S.
probe MARINER 9.
MARS 6 - Landing attempt in 1974. Lander crashed into the surface.
MARS 7 - Lander missed Mars completely in 1974, went into a solar orbit
with its flyby bus.
PHOBOS 1 - First attempt to land probes on surface of Mars' largest
moon, Phobos. Probe failed enroute in 1988 due to
human/computer error.
PHOBOS 2 - Attempt to land probes on Martian moon Phobos. The probe did
enter Mars orbit in early 1989, but signals ceased one week
before scheduled Phobos landing.

While there has been talk of Soviet Jupiter, Saturn, and even
interstellar probes within the next thirty years, no major steps have
yet been taken with these projects. More intensive studies of the Moon,
Mars, Venus, and various comets have been planned for the 1990s, and a
Mercury mission to orbit and land probes on the tiny world has been
planned for 2003. How the many changes in the former Soviet Union (now
the Commonwealth of Independent States) will affect the future of their
space program remains to be seen.

EUROPEAN PLANETARY MISSIONS

GIOTTO was launched by an Ariane-1 by ESA on July 2 1985, and approached
within 540 km +/- 40 km of the nucleus of comet Halley on March 13,
1986. The spacecraft carried 10 instruments including a multicolor
camera, and returned data until shortly before closest approach, when
the downlink was temporarily lost. Giotto was severely damaged by
high-speed dust encounters during the flyby and was placed into
hibernation shortly afterwards.

In April, 1990, Giotto was reactivated. 3 of the instruments proved
fully operational, 4 partially damaged but usable, and the remainder,
including the camera, were unusable. On July 2, 1990, Giotto made a
close encounter with Earth and was retargeted to a successful flyby of
comet Grigg-Skjellerup on July 10, 1992.

A much more complete description of the Giotto Extended Mission is in

ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/GiottoHistory

JAPANESE PLANETARY MISSIONS

SAKIGAKE (MS-T5) was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center by ISAS on
January 8, 1985, and approached Halley's Comet within about 7 million km
on March 11, 1986. The spacecraft is carrying three instruments to
measure interplanetary magnetic field/plasma waves/solar wind, all of
which work normally now, so ISAS made an Earth swingby by Sakigake on
January 8, 1992 into an orbit similar to the Earth's. The closest
approach was at 23h08m47s (JST=UTC+9h) on January 8, 1992. The
geocentric distance was 88,997 km. This is the first planet-swingby for
a Japanese spacecraft.

During the approach, Sakigake observed the geotail. Some geotail
passages will be scheduled in some years hence. The second Earth-swingby
will be on June 14, 1993 (at 40 Re (Earth's radius)), and the third
October 28, 1994 (at 86 Re).

HITEN, a small lunar probe, was launched into Earth orbit on January 24,
1990. The spacecraft was then known as MUSES-A, but was renamed to Hiten
once in orbit. The 430 lb probe looped out from Earth and made its first
lunary flyby on March 19, where it dropped off its 26 lb midget
satellite, HAGOROMO. Japan at this point became the third nation to
orbit a satellite around the Moon, joining the Unites States and USSR.

The smaller spacecraft, Hagoromo, remained in orbit around the Moon. An
apparently broken transistor radio caused the Japanese space scientists
to lose track of it. Hagoromo's rocket motor fired on schedule on March
19, but the spacecraft's tracking transmitter failed immediately. The
rocket firing of Hagoromo was optically confirmed using the Schmidt
camera (105-cm, F3.1) at the Kiso Observatory in Japan.

Hiten made multiple lunar flybys at approximately monthly intervals and
performed aerobraking experiments using the Earth's atmosphere. Hiten
made a close approach to the moon at 22:33 JST (UTC+9h) on February 15,
1992 at the height of 423 km from the moon's surface (35.3N, 9.7E) and
fired its propulsion system for about ten minutes to put the craft into
lunar orbit. The following is the orbital calculation results after the
approach:

Apoapsis Altitude: about 49,400 km
Periapsis Altitude: about 9,600 km
Inclination : 34.7 deg (to ecliptic plane)
Period : 4.7 days

PLANETARY MISSION REFERENCES

I also recommend reading the following works, categorized in three
groups: General overviews, specific books on particular space missions,
and periodical sources on space probes. This list is by no means
complete; it is primarily designed to give you places to start your
research through generally available works on the subject. If anyone can
add pertinent works to the list, it would be greatly appreciated.

Though naturally I recommend all the books listed below, I think it
would be best if you started out with the general overview books, in
order to give you a clear idea of the history of space exploration in
this area. I also recommend that you pick up some good, up-to-date
general works on astronomy and the Sol system, to give you some extra
background. Most of these books and periodicals can be found in any good
public and university library. Some of the more recently published works
can also be purchased in and/or ordered through any good mass- market
bookstore.

General Overviews (in alphabetical order by author):

J. Kelly Beatty et al, THE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM, 1990.

Merton E. Davies and Bruce C. Murray, THE VIEW FROM SPACE:
PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE PLANETS, 1971

Kenneth Gatland, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE
TECHNOLOGY, 1990

Kenneth Gatland, ROBOT EXPLORERS, 1972

R. Greeley, PLANETARY LANDSCAPES, 1987

Douglas Hart, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOVIET SPACECRAFT, 1987

Nicholas L. Johnson, HANDBOOK OF SOVIET LUNAR AND PLANETARY
EXPLORATION, 1979

Clayton R. Koppes, JPL AND THE AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM: A
HISTORY OF THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, 1982

Richard S. Lewis, THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE
UNIVERSE, 1983

Mark Littman, PLANETS BEYOND: DISCOVERING THE OUTER SOLAR
SYSTEM, 1988

Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff, THE STARFLIGHT
HANDBOOK: A PIONEER'S GUIDE TO INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, 1989

Frank Miles and Nicholas Booth, RACE TO MARS: THE MARS
FLIGHT ATLAS, 1988

Bruce Murray, JOURNEY INTO SPACE, 1989

Oran W. Nicks, FAR TRAVELERS, 1985 (NASA SP-480)

James E. Oberg, UNCOVERING SOVIET DISASTERS: EXPLORING THE
LIMITS OF GLASNOST, 1988

Carl Sagan, COMET, 1986

Carl Sagan, THE COSMIC CONNECTION, 1973

Carl Sagan, PLANETS, 1969 (LIFE Science Library)

Arthur Smith, PLANETARY EXPLORATION: THIRTY YEARS OF UNMANNED
SPACE PROBES, 1988

Andrew Wilson, (JANE'S) SOLAR SYSTEM LOG, 1987

Specific Mission References:

Charles A. Cross and Patrick Moore, THE ATLAS OF MERCURY, 1977
(The MARINER 10 mission to Venus and Mercury, 1973-1975)

Joel Davis, FLYBY: THE INTERPLANETARY ODYSSEY OF VOYAGER 2, 1987

Irl Newlan, FIRST TO VENUS: THE STORY OF MARINER 2, 1963

Margaret Poynter and Arthur L. Lane, VOYAGER: THE STORY OF A
SPACE MISSION, 1984

Carl Sagan, MURMURS OF EARTH, 1978 (Deals with the Earth
information records placed on VOYAGER 1 and 2 in case the
probes are found by intelligences in interstellar space,
as well as the probes and planetary mission objectives
themselves.)

Other works and periodicals:

NASA has published very detailed and technical books on every space
probe mission it has launched. Good university libraries will carry
these books, and they are easily found simply by knowing which mission
you wish to read about. I recommend these works after you first study
some of the books listed above.

Some periodicals I recommend for reading on space probes are NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC, which has written articles on the PIONEER probes to Earth's
Moon Luna and the Jovian planets Jupiter and Saturn, the RANGER,
SURVEYOR, LUNAR ORBITER, and APOLLO missions to Luna, the MARINER
missions to Mercury, Venus, and Mars, the VIKING probes to Mars, and the
VOYAGER missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

More details on American, Soviet, European, and Japanese probe missions
can be found in SKY AND TELESCOPE, ASTRONOMY, SCIENCE, NATURE, and
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN magazines. TIME, NEWSWEEK, and various major
newspapers can supply not only general information on certain missions,
but also show you what else was going on with Earth at the time events
were unfolding, if that is of interest to you. Space missions are
affected by numerous political, economic, and climatic factors, as you
probably know.

Depending on just how far your interest in space probes will go, you
might also wish to join The Planetary Society, one of the largest space
groups in the world dedicated to planetary exploration. Their
periodical, THE PLANETARY REPORT, details the latest space probe
missions. Write to The Planetary Society, 65 North Catalina Avenue,
Pasadena, California 91106 USA.

Good luck with your studies in this area of space exploration. I
personally find planetary missions to be one of the more exciting areas
in this field, and the benefits human society has and will receive from
it are incredible, with many yet to be realized.

Larry Klaes kl...@verga.enet.dec.com

NEXT: FAQ #9/13 - Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules