The Newsletter of
the Seattle Chapter
of
The National Space Society
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» September 1998 «««««««««««««««««««««
The National Space Society is an international membership group
dedicated to furthering the exploration and development of space. The Seattle
chapter mission is to facilitate Space Activism and all pro-Space activities; and to provide
a gathering place for space enthusiasts to meet, exchange information and ideas.
President:
Vince Creisler
vincelc@hotmail.com
Vice President: Chris
Vancil
CLVANCIL@aol.com
Secretary:
Randy Rumley
rjrumley@juno.com
Treasurer:
David Stuart
xsxs80a@prodigy.com
Editor:
Christopher Erickson
aster@wolfenet.com
----------Board of Directors---------
Kelly Caviezel Gary Harrison Christopher Erickson
Susan Harrison Toni Rusi
------------Advisors------------
Terry Burlison
Chapter meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the second Saturday of each month, at the
Museum of Flight; parking is available in the lot North of the museum. To receive
information regarding upcoming events please send your name and addresses
to: Randy Rumley; 12008 S.E. 223rd Drive Kent, WA 98031
XXII
so·journ(sò jûrn), to stay for a time in a place; live temporarily.
Message from the Vice President
Since our President, Vince Creisler, is out of town for a few days, our illustrious V.P has this space. Ed.
We live in exciting times, with the International Space Station soon to have it's first components lofted, a growing number of probes being sent into outer space, and the construction of a number of commercial launch systems that will radically lower cost to orbit. Humanity seems to be on the verge of the greatest Frontier we have ever encountered.
Last month a new Space Society formed in Boulder, Colorado. I was there with David Stuart and Randy Rumley. It is called the Mars Society and it is forming chapters all over the world including here in the Pacific Northwest. It is less a general educational space activist society and more a get to Mars ASAP society. I have no idea how NSS and the Mars Society will be associated, other than some of the two Societies membership is shared (Robert Zubrin is the founder of the Mars Society and a former President of NSS). I would expect good things coming out of this new Society and hope it has fair winds and smooth sailing! Here is a "little" quote from Founding Declaration of the Mars Society:
"The time has come for humanity to journey to Mars."
We're ready. Though Mars is distant, we are far better prepared today to send humans to Mars than we were to travel to the Moon at the commencement of the space age. Given the will, we could have our first teams on Mars within a decade.
We must go for the challenge. Civilizations, like people, thrive on challenge and decay without it. The time is past for human societies to use war as a driving stress for technological progress.
We must go for the youth. The spirit of youth demands adventure. A humans-to-Mars program would challenge young people everywhere to develop their minds to participate in the pioneering of a New World.
We must go for the future. Mars is not just a scientific curiosity; it is a world with a surface area equal to all the continents of Earth combined, possessing all the elements that are needed to support not only life, but technological society. It is a New World, filled with history waiting to be made by a new and youthful branch of human civilization that is waiting to be born. We must go to Mars to make that potential a reality. We must go, not for us, but for a people who are yet to be. We must do it for the Martians.
Believing therefore that the exploration and settlement of Mars is one of the greatest human endeavors possible in our time, we have gathered to found this Mars Society, understanding that even the best ideas for human action are never inevitable, but must be planned, advocated, and achieved by hard work. We call upon all other individuals and organizations of like-minded people to join with us in furthering this great enterprise. No nobler cause has ever been. We shall not rest until it succeeds. "
Chris L. Vancil
Vice President, NSS Seattle
Mars Society participants peruse Mars map
September 12, 1998
Meeting
A chapter member and former FIDO (ask him what that is) who worked at mission control during some of the first launches of the Space Shuttle will be speaking to us this month. He will be discussing Orbital Rendezvous, a continuation on a previous presentation orbital mechanics. If you missed the first discussion, you won't be too lost here. It is easier to grasp than you may think.
Vice President Chris Vancil will be opening this meeting due to absence of the President. He and David Stuart and myself will give a brief overview of the Mars Society and the convention we attended.
A few other things will also be discussed: Rustycon…we are running the science track again this year, any ideas for panels/discussions out there? We will also be participating in NORWESCON again, so all ideas will be considered. Busy, busy, busy. Elections this fall…Anyone interested in running for President, Vice President, Secretary, or Treasurer, please let the current officers know and begin preparing a statement to be included in a future Sojourner issue.
Randy J. Rumley
Secretary, NSS Seattle (acting Editor)
Meeting Summary, August 8, 1998
Our speaker was Professor Jim Tillman of the University of Washington. Went over accomplishments of the Voyager and Pathfinder missions, and his involvement these, and in educational outreach. He discussed the science that pathfinder was able to perform, including a wind sensor which was supposed to deflect from vertical in the wind. He thought it wasn't going to work, but it actually worked quite well. Everyone is fallable. He also discussed his work in getting the computer systems set up at the Smithsonian Institute for Viking data viewing. He also worked on the 'hopefully' upcoming European NetLander proposal for the Mars Express program, and Future educational initiatives.
In all, it was a very informative discussion. I hope everyone who missed it live got to see it on channel 29 on the 6th.
Ed.
Hollywood Educates the World?
or
The 'Science' (using the term loosely) in "Armageddon", Part 2
I'll continue beginning with "the Russian space station". From the start, when any spacecraft is docking with another, the operative word is SLOW. (Come see my talk on Orbital Rendezvous at this week's NSS meeting to see why.) If the shuttles came barreling at the station as they did in the movie, that cosmonaut's first work order would involve cleaning out his uniform!
The station was "spun up" to produce artificial gravity. This was done for the scientifically valid reason of reducing the movie's zero-gee special effects budget. (If they *were* to spin up the station to produce artificial gravity, they would wait until the shuttles had docked!)
The artificial gravity would act radially along the arms of the station; that is, "outward." Since the shuttles in the movie dock with the side hatches, that would put the gravity vector across the shuttle (left to right instead of up to down). In other words, the astronauts would be walking on the walls! (Note: I was nearly climbing the walls of the theatre myself by this point.)
As the crew entered the station, they walked along the arms on which the shuttles were docked. As I said, the "gravity" would be acting along those corridors, not perpendicular to them. To the crew, it would be as though they were climbing a vertical tunnel, not walking along a horizontal corridor. And the "gravity" would lessen to zero as they approached the center of the station. However, both crews walked brazenly up the corridors and met in the middle! Apparently, in their universe, spinning the station in any direction produces one constant "gee" through the floor. Cool.
The Russian space station is evidently laced with nitroglycerin, given the ensuing spectacular fireworks.
Oh well, on to the asteroid...
Doing a gravity assist around the moon is not a bad idea. However, there is nothing about the moon's gravity that would "clear out" the debris field behind the asteroid as it passed.
Yeah, a shuttle could survive multiple crashes, explosions, and slamming into the asteroid without losing cabin integrity. Yeah, sure, no problem.
Would you really need a Gattling gun on a drilling rig?
Asteroids that size would not have enough mass to support any kind of atmosphere, not even a pretty purple one with drifting clouds.
Those open fires on the surface {of the asteroid}? Oops--no oxygen.
And what was it with all those rocks zipping around near the surface of the asteroid? (Vroom...vroom) And what WAS that roaring sound? Perhaps they were near the ocean....
The asteroid is hundreds of miles in diameter. Would planting a nuke only 800 feet below the surface really split it and drive the two halves apart?
Waiting until 10 hrs before impact to divert an asteroid the size of Texas
is a tad too late. Like by maybe 30 years or so. In reality, the explosion
would vaporize a bit of rock and slow the asteroid down such that it would
hit the earth going only, say, 60,000 mph, instead of
60,000.000000001 mph.
All in all, the science is Don Knott's "The Reluctant Astronaut" was much better.
Terry Burlison
Six String Software
http://www.sixstring.com
Advertisement:
Wanted: The Chapter needs a lockable fishing tackle box. For use storing materials such as pens, nuts and bolts, and other paraphernalia for doing displays and presentations at conventions etc.
Some conversion factors
Last months
AU (Astronomical Unit) = 1 earth radii (distance from earth to sun = 92,955,734 miles
[149,597,800 km]
1 km (kilometer) = 0.621 mi.
1 mi. (mile) = 1.609 km
Km/s Kilometers per second
1 m (meter) = 3.281 feet
1 ft (feet) = 0.3048 m
1 cm (centimeter) = 0.394 in
1 in (inch) = 2.54 cm
1 kg (kilogram) = 2.205 lb.
1 lb. (pound) = 0.4536 kg
1 Metric Ton = 1000 kg = 2205 lb. = 1.102 tons
(short ton, U.S.)
1 Ton (U.S.) = 907.18 kg = 2000 lb. = 0.907 tons
(metric)
New
g (Gravitational constant) = acceleration due to gravity on earth, 'one gee'
= 980.665 cm/sec2 = 9.80665 m/sec2
= 32.1725 ft/sec2
Geepounds X 1 = Slugs
X 14.5939 = kilograms
Angstroms X 1.0 x 10-8 = Centimeters
X 3.9370079 x 10-9 = Inches
Bars X 0.986923 = Atmospheres
X 100 = kilopascals
X 14.5038 = pounds/square inch (psi)
Hogsheads X 0.5 = Butts
X 0.23848 = cubic meters
Kilowatts X 1 x 1010 ergs/sec.
X 1.34102 = horsepower (hp)
X 1000 = joules/sec.
Light years X 63239.9 = astronomical units (AU)
X 9.46055 x 1012 = kilometers (km)
X 5.878513 x 1012 = Miles
X 0.3067882 = Parsecs
Fun times getting to the Mars Society founding convention
I went, I saw, I took lots of notes. (At least 40 pages). Dave Stuart, Chris Vancil, and myself decided (eventually) to go to the convention. Problems: By the time it was decided, airfare was $500+ each for round trip. Hotel rooms nearby were very scarce. We had to send in our money to join it in advance.
Due to the expense of airfare, we drove in David's van, a three seated Plymouth Voyager. With all of our stuff crammed in the back, it got a bit tight (especially on the return trip, we had a spare person then). Sleep? Who needs sleep, sleep is for wimps!
23 Hours later, we arrived in boulder and hunted around for the hotel. Well…our reservations were thoroughly screwed up. We were scheduled on October 13 instead of August 13. (This was at midnight) After much cussing and discussing, they found us another hotel a bit farther out of town for 1 night. Okay, so far. The hotel room has 1 bed and a big Jacuzzi in it. Two of us were on the floor for the night. (by this time we didn't care too much, just had to pass out for awhile.
We wake up in the morning feeling like death, and need for more beauty sleep. Have a continental breakfast, call for hotels (found one near the convention site), load up the van and go… Nope, dead battery. We had to be jumped twice. (Sorry, I'm incompetent with broken down vehicles. he he he). Then we found a place to get a new battery ($75). Are we having fun yet?
We missed most of the opening discussion on Friday, but the rest of the day went well enough. In fact, the rest of the trip went well. Fortunately.
Ed.
Notes on the Mars Society founding convention
As I said, I took lots of notes. I won't put them here verbatim, but here are some of the panels I went to.
On Friday, We missed most of the first panel with Astronaut John Young. Our first full panel was by Matt Golombek, a scientist from the Pathfinder mission. He went over the mission from both a scientific, and popular perspective. Some info you may not have known: The landing was planned for and was succusful at the mouth of Artis Valis (an ancient 'river'). The rocks found there were found to be high in Silica (SiO2), and the dust was nearly all magnetic. There was evidence of high levels of water (lots of rounded off rocks). A scientist unrelated to the project used the released pictures and other data to determine that "dust-devils" exist on Mars. In all, 2.3 billion bits of data were provided by Pathfinder and Sojourner. This discussion was in the main auditorium at the convention, and it was filled.
I decided to go to the Advanced Propulsion track for the rest of the day. I stayed in the room concerning this from 1:00 till 5:00. I had to stay seated, or I wouldn't have had one. The room stayed very overcrowded all afternoon, even when there was a no-show speaker.
The subject of this track turned out to be largely Nuclear Thermal Rockets (NTR). The order of the panels was fairly well worked out, only one completely different topic in the middle. The first speaker was Stanley V. Gunn, a scientist from the NERVA program from 1956 to 1972. After he got of to a good start, there was an alteration of the presentation when James Oberg swatted a fly on the overhead projector, killing both. This incident is already infamous as the "James Oberg vs. The Fly" battle to the death. And I was lucky enough to be a witness. A good laugh, but it took forever to get another projector.
Since this was a discussion on real tests done on NTRs, here is some of the data presented. Tests were performed on several models. Early versions were 35" in diameter (all were round), with power at 1100 Megawatts (these were called 'KIWI' reactors). Later ones tried for 5000 MW (called Phoebes reactors). A test on Phoebes 1B produced a thrust of 75,000 lb at 1500 MW. Phoebes 2 made it to 4150 MW and ran for 10 minutes. It could have run higher, but a "bellyband" was radioactively overheating and limited the test. He told us that the test site could be brought back to full function with an investment of $100 to 300 million, or testing could be done in Russia.
The next two panels covered NTR powered Mars flight, and Nuclear Electric Propulsion (using Ion engines). Then there was a break in the Nuke stuff, how about "Mass based alternate propulsion systems"? Yup, this was an interesting physical system with a cylinder and two hoops. This was presented by Amanda Gilbert (aj_gilbert@alumni.stanford.org). To the skeptical audience, it seemed to be breaking the law of conservation of energy/momentum. A demonstration using ice cubes on a table was interesting, but inconclusive.
The next discussion was missing the speaker (ask me and I might tell who it wasn't). The last two panels were also on NTR engines to go to mars, configurations and uses etc.
I will write up more of this later. I would make one observation though, the 'track' panels were only ½ hour long. All of them went long. They should have had an hour to work with. By the end of the day, I was loaded with information ("May I be excused? My brain is full" Gary Larson). I actually felt this way after each day there.
Randy J. Rumley
Latest Lunar Prospector Findings Indicate
Larger Amounts Of Polar Water Ice
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Press Release #: 98-158
The north and south poles of the Moon may contain up to six billion metric tons of water ice, a more than ten-fold increase over previous estimates, according to scientists working with data from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission.
Growing evidence now suggests that water ice deposits of relatively high concentration are trapped beneath the soil in the permanently shadowed craters of both lunar polar regions. The researchers believe that alternative explanations, such as concentrations of hydrogen from the solar wind, are unlikely.
Mission scientists also report the detection of strong, localized magnetic fields; delineation of new mass concentrations on the surface; and the mapping of the global distribution of major rock types, key resources and trace elements. In addition, there are strong suggestions that the Moon has a small, iron-rich core. The new findings are published in the Sept. 4 issue of Science magazine.
"The Apollo program gave us an excellent picture of the Moon's basic structure and its regional composition, along with some hints about its origin and evolution," said Dr. Carl Pilcher, science director for Solar System exploration in NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. "Lunar Prospector is now expanding that knowledge into a global perspective. The indications of water ice at the poles are tantalizing and likely to spark spirited debate among lunar scientists."
In March, mission scientists reported a water signal with a minimum abundance of one percent by weight of water ice in rocky lunar soil (regolith) corresponding to an estimated total of 300 million metric tons of ice at the Moon's poles. "We based those earlier, conscientiously conservative estimates on graphs of neutron spectrometer data, which showed distinctive dips over the lunar polar regions," said Dr. Alan Binder of the Lunar Research Institute, Gilroy, CA, the Lunar Prospector principal investigator. "This indicated significant hydrogen enrichment, a telltale signature of the presence of water ice.
"Subsequent analysis, combined with improved lunar models, shows conclusively that there is hydrogen at the Moon's poles," Binder said. "Though other explanations are possible, we interpret the data to mean that significant quantities of water ice are located in permanently shadowed craters in both lunar polar regions.
"The data do not tell us definitively the form of the water ice," Binder added. "However, if the main source is cometary impacts, as most scientists believe, our expectation is that we have areas at both poles with layers of near-pure water ice." In fact, the new analysis "indicates the presence of discrete, confined, near-pure water ice deposits buried beneath as much as 18 inches (40 centimeters) of dry regolith, with the water signature being 15 percent stronger at the Moon's north pole than at the south."
How much water do scientists believe they have found? "It is difficult to develop a numerical estimate," said Dr. William Feldman, co-investigator and spectrometer specialist at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM. "However, we calculate that each polar region may contain as much as three billion metric tons of water ice."
Feldman noted he had cautioned that earlier estimates "could be off by a factor of ten," due to the inadequacy of existing lunar models. The new estimate is well within reason, he added, since it is still "one to two orders of magnitude less than the amount of water predicted as possibly delivered to, and retained on, the Moon by comets," according to earlier projections by Dr. Jim Arnold of the University of California at San Diego.
Further information about Lunar Prospector, its science data return, and relevant charts and graphics can be found on the project website at: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov
SpaceDev Acquires Hybrid Rocket Technology
Excerpt from Release of August 13, 1998
Contact: Jim Benson
SAN DIEGO, CA - SpaceDev (OTC BB: SPDV), the world's first commercial space exploration and development company, announced today that it has acquired exclusive rights to intellectual property including the three patents originally issued to American Rocket Company (Amroc) for their hybrid rocket motor technology.
In addition, SpaceDev has acquired exclusive possession of and access to a large quantity of Amroc engineering documents, plans, designs, test results, manufacturing data, and other materials related to the rocket motors and Amroc launch vehicles.
"We believe this technology could be useful in a wide variety of commercial launch vehicle applications," said Jim Benson, president and chairman of SpaceDev. "Hybrid rocket technology is relatively simple, environmentally cleaner than most propulsion systems, non-explosive and less expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, it is easily transported, throttleable, restartable, and scalable."
Benson noted that hybrid rocket technology has many potential markets, some of which could be internally useful to SpaceDev and its subsidiaries in the future, and some of which could become products for sale to commercial and government customers.
Hybrid rocket motor products could include: small and large boosters for use in sounding rocket applications, university class satellite launches and LEO constellation launches; boosters for sale as main propulsion systems for external customers; strap-ons for expendable and reusable launch vehicles; smaller specialized motors for use in upper stages; and for complete launch systems.
Integrated Space Systems (ISS), a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceDev, spent several months studying and analyzing original Amroc engineering and test result documents. The documents were generated from years of Amroc testing and improvements, and rocket motor test firings. ISS engineers concluded that Amroc had done excellent engineering, and had brought the technology close to commercial viability.
"Hybrid rockets combine a liquid oxidizer and solid fuel (therefore hybrid) into a rocket motor," said Phil Smith, Chief Operating Officer of SpaceDev. "Because rocket motors or engines form a large part of the total cost of any launch vehicle, controlling this fundamental underlying technology could be key to developing low cost launch systems."
In the agreement, SpaceDev is granted the exclusive world wide license rights for the technology for a minimum of five years. If SpaceDev is successful in developing a commercial market for the hybrid rocket technology, it will have the rights to purchase the technology over the next five years in exchange for discounted warrants for the purchase of SpaceDev common stock. The warrants would be issued in relation to sales of the rocket technology and the maximum dilution will not exceed three million shares. If SpaceDev is not successful in developing a commercial market for the technology, the company will return the technology and have no further obligation for the issuance of additional warrants.
Mr. Benson added, "The agreement is extremely fair for both SpaceDev and the owner of the technology as it allows for both to share in the success of the technology as may be further developed and marketed by SpaceDev."
SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration and development company, intends to launch the first privately financed spacecraft to land on another planetary body. SpaceDev is offering for sale rides for scientific instruments to governments and companies to transport their instruments and experiments through deep space to a near Earth asteroid. SpaceDev intends to sell the data acquired by its instruments as commercial products. Colorado-based SpaceDev has offices in San Diego, CA and Washington, DC.
Note: For the complete news release and other information on SpaceDev, access at http://www.SpaceDev.com or http://www.ctaonline.com/spdv on the Internet.
What's on the web (the ever growing list of URLs):
The Astrobiology Web:http://www2.Astrobiology.Com/astro/
(astrobio@reston.com)
The Virtual Space Museum:http://www.ccas.ru/~chernov/vsm/halls.htm
ISS assembly sequence:http://station.nasa.gov/core.html
Space Place:http://www.thespaceplace.com/
Space Race:http://www.nasm.edu/GALLERIES/GAL114/SpaceRace/
Space Case:http://spot.colorado.edu/~marscase/
Mars Society:http://www.nw.net/mars/
U.S. Congress on the Internet:http://thomas.loc.gov/
Spacecast:http://www.spacer.com/main.html
Satellite passes:http://www.bester.com/satpasses.html
RealSpace Models:http://www.computal.com/realspace/
NINFINGER PRODUCTIONS-SVEN'S PAGE:
http://www.dtm-corp.com/~sven/models/models.html
Astronomical WWW resources:http://www.stsci.edu/astroweb/net-www.html
Space Publications and Magazines:http://www.space.ca/space-pub.html
Space Colonies:http://www.resto.om/astro/colonies.html#space
Lunar Prospector:http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/
SpaceViews Newsletter:http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/
Space Links:http://www.newspace.com/ref/links/home.html
New Space Newsletter:http://www.newspace.com/news/masthead.html
Mike's Spacecraft Library:http://www.newspace.com/ref/msl/home.html
Launchspace:http://www.newspace.com/home.html
Zegrahm Space Voyages:http://www.spacevoyages.com
Archimedes Institue:http://www.permanent.com/archimedes/
Vandenburg launches:http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rawhide_home_page/
Space laws & regulations:http://ast.dot.gov/regulations/index2.html
Orbit on-line:http://www.10mb.com/brv/orbit.htm
Terran Institute:http://www.geocities.com/~ttinstitute/main.html
The Space Frontier:http://www.space-frontier.org/CATS.
Spacezone:http://www.spacezone.com/
Space Almanac:http://www.afa.org/space/31.html
Sky & Telescope's web-site:http://www.skypub.com
Aerospace Index:http://www.ultranet.com/~adjm/aero/aeronav.html
SpaceNews:http://www.spacenews.com/homepage.html
Satellite Times:http://grove.net/html
Science Fiction Weekly:http://www.scifi.com/sfw
Federation of American Scientists Space Policy page: http://www.newspace.com/news/masthead.html
Astronaut Biographies:http://www.nauts.com:80/astro/astro.html
Space Shuttle Mission Archives:http://shuttle.nasa.gov/
MIR sighting info:http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/ops/mir/tracking/target.txt
NASA WWW servers:http://www.sti.nasa.gov:80/www.
ProSpace:http://www.prospace.org
Here are more interesting web sites:
Asteroid Hunting: http://www.skypub.com/benson/hunting.html
Opinion on US – Russian cooperation on ISS: http://www.spectator.org/archives/98-08_oberg.html
Anglo Australian Observatory: Clues to the origin of life: http://www.aao.gov.au/press/life.html
New Scientist: Article on Gary Hudson's rocket Roton (excellent article): http://www.newscientist.com/ns/980801/features.html
USA Today – Science: More rocks with info on life on Mars:http://www.usatoday.com/life/science/space/lss093.htm
Mars VR on CD-ROM: Full of pictures from Pathfinder: http://www.vrcamera.com/cdrom/cdrom.html
Astronomical WWW resources: http:// www.stsci.edu/astroweb/net-www.html
Astronaut Biographies: http:// www.nauts.com:80/astro/astro.html
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