The Joint Newsletter of
The Seattle Area Chapters of
The National Space Society
NSS Seattle
And
The Mars Society Puget Sound
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» July 1999 «««««««««««««««««««««
Volume 1, Issue II
Contents:
NSS Seattle Proceedings
Third Man To Walk On Moon Dies In Motorcycle Accident
NASA Release: July 9, 1999
Charles P. "Pete" Conrad, the third human to walk on the moon, died late Thursday night in a hospital in Ojai, CA, of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. He was 69.
Conrad was on a trip to Monterey, CA with…friends when his motorcycle crashed on a turn, according to the California Highway Patrol. Conrad, who lived in Huntington Beach, CA, near Los Angeles, died later at the hospital of internal injuries. His wife was in a Teleconference regarding the 30th Anniversary of Apollo 12 landing when she was called with the news.
Conrad made history on Nov. 19, 1969, when, as commander of the Apollo 12 mission, he and Astronaut Alan Bean set their lunar module "Intrepid" down on the moon's Ocean of Storms, the second of six Apollo landings.
Some five hours later, referring to Neil Armstrong's historic "one small step" statement four months earlier, Conrad said, "Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." Conrad and Bean conducted two excursions on the moon, totaling almost eight hours, in which they set up experiment packages and collected 75 pounds of lunar rocks and soil. They also retrieved a camera and other gear from the nearby Surveyor 3 probe, which had landed on the moon in April 1967.
"The whole NASA family was extremely sad to learn of Pete Conrad's death," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "He was known at NASA for his irrepressible spirit, his sense of humor, his talents as a pilot and skill as an astronaut. He never lost interest in space travel, even after he left NASA. We will all miss him."
Conrad was selected in the second class of NASA astronauts in 1962 following a distinguished career as a Navy test pilot and instructor. Following his graduation from Princeton University in 1953, Conrad entered the Navy and attended test pilot school at Patuxent River, MD, where he was assigned as a Project Test Pilot.
After being selected as an astronaut, Conrad was assigned to fly on the Gemini 5 mission as the co-pilot to Gordon Cooper. In August 1965, Cooper and Conrad spent a record eight days in orbit, perfecting techniques for use in later lunar missions and proving astronauts could spend more than a week in space.
Conrad commanded the Gemini 11 mission in September 1966, in which he and co-pilot Richard Gordon established the fastest rendezvous and docking in history and a new altitude record of almost 850 miles above the Earth.
Bean and Gordon joined Conrad on the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, forming an all-Navy crew. Conrad and Bean proved that pinpoint landings could be made on the lunar surface and conducted the first significant science operations during their 31 hours on the Ocean of Storms.
Conrad's final space flight occurred in 1973 as the Commander of the first crew to live and work on America's first space station, Skylab. Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin were launched on a modified Saturn rocket on May 25, 1973. Eleven days earlier, the station had been launched and had lost a solar panel during its climb to orbit.
Conrad and his crewmates freed the remaining solar array on Skylab and set up a sunshade to help cool the station for the remainder of its lifetime on orbit. He also conducted a space walk with Weitz late in the mission to retrieve film packages and conduct other maintenance procedures. In all, Conrad and his crew spent 28 days in space, establishing another endurance record at the time.
Conrad left NASA and the Navy in 1974 to pursue a career in private industry. Conrad first served as Vice President of American Television and Communications Corporation, responsible for the operation and development of cable television systems. In 1976, Conrad became Vice President of McDonnell Douglas Corporation and later took on the responsibility for all commercial and military sales for the Douglas Aircraft Company.
With an eye toward the commercialization of space and the exploration of Mars, Conrad worked on the development of new spacecraft and space transportation systems with McDonnell Douglas and a California research firm called Universal Space Lines. Pete Conrad was also one of the chief instigators on the DC-X/Delta Clipper Program.
Among Conrad's numerous awards are the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service medals, two Navy Distinguished Service Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. He was enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980.
Conrad is survived by his wife, three sons and seven grandchildren. A son preceded him in death.
Funeral arrangements are pending
NSS SEATTLE Proceedings
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@galaxy-7.net
Vice President: Chris Vancil
CLVANCIL@aol.com
Secretary/Editor:
Randy Rumley
rjrumley@juno.com
Treasurer:
David Stuart
DSTUART@prodigy.net
Special Projects Manager:
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 Sunday 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
so·journ(sņ jūrn), to stay for a time in a place; live temporarily.
President's Message
One feature of Sojourner in previous years had been a selection of the most recent URL's of interest to Space enthusiasts. It's fallen by the wayside to make room for other Space related news. So--I'm taking this occasion to mention three new web sites Sojourner readers should be aware of.
The first is of the latest high resolution Hubble pictures of Mars, including a giant storm near the north Martian pole. They make perfect screen savers:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast01jul99_1.htm
These next two are for fans of lunar ice--a selection of images of the Lunar poles:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/June99/moon.poles.deb.html
And an update on Lunar Prospector's upcoming "crashdown" July 20th:
http://www.ae.utexas.edu/~cfpl/lunar/
Vince Creisler
President NSS Seattle
June 12, 1999 Meeting
Last month we had Jim Burk from the Puget Sound Mars Society chapter talk to us. He discussed Mars exploration history and plans to get people to Mars in the near future. This talk will show on TCI Public Access on July 19th from 4:30 to 6:00PM, one day before the 30th aniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. Jim will be giving a similar talk on July 20 at the Everett Library.
July 11, 1999 Meeting (Our first Sunday meeting. online ED)
This month, Dr. Robert Forward will be discussing the MERITT system for getting people and cargo to Mars. He has an AIAA paper on this subject (as well as other subjects).
A few years ago, Dr. Forward talked to us about using tethers to get to the moon. His partner (Dr. Hoyt) talked to us about the use of tethers for dropping space debris and defunct satellites out of orbit. I think tethers are going to be a growth industry in the future of space flight.
For a change, we have this talk already scheduled to go on Public Access. It will show on August 2 from 4:00 to 6:00PM.
As always, we will continue discussion of various space-related subjects until we are kicked out of the room.
We will also have our 'Let's go to the new world' T-shirts available, and The Mars Society Puget Sound Chapter will have a couple of interesting books on Mars available for sale.
Mars Society Puget Sound Proceedings
The Mars Society was founded in August 1998 and is an international organization dedicated to furthering the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.
This will be done by:
*Broad public outreach to instill the vision of pioneering Mars.
*Support of ever more aggressive government-funded Mars exploration programs around the
world.
*Conducting Mars exploration on a private basis.
Officers of Mars Society Puget Sound
Jim Burk, President
Dustin Green, Vice President
V Mark Tye, Secretary
David Stuart, Treasurer
Randy Rumley, Editor, Sojourner
President's Report
The first issue of Ares, the Mars Society's CD-ROM which will be mailed to all paid members of the Society, is almost complete. Dean Calahan and I have been working on the CD-ROM since May and finally burned a beta copy that was sent to Dr. Robert Zubrin and many others at Mars Society HQ. Copies will be available at our monthly meeting, Saturday, July 17 at 2pm at the Bellevue Regional Library.
The annual Mars Society convention in Boulder is fast approaching. Several of us will be travelling to the convention and a few of us will be making presentations and organizing workshops. If you haven't registered or made your travel plans, do so now! The convention promises to be an exciting event; there will be dozens of interesting Mars-related talks, and everybody in the world that has a personal interest in Mars or dreams of people going to the red planet will be there. It's better than Woodstock, man!
In other news from Headquarters, the first teams from NASA/Ames and the Mars Society have arrived at Haughton Crater on Devon Island, the future site of the Mars Society's Mars Arctic Research Station. Daily reports are being posted on the expedition's website and on the Mars Society's home page. In the next few months, additional members of the Mars Society, including Dr. Zubrin, will travel to Devon Island to survey potential sites for the Arctic base. Construction is to begin soon and the base will be operational by the start of next summer's expedition.
You can contact us at marspuget@egroups.com
Until next month, On to Mars!
Jim Burk
President, Mars Society Puget Sound
Meeting # 12 Minutes
Submitted by V. Mark Tye Secretary, MSPS
Saturday, June 19,1999
1400 1440
Museum of Flight
9404 E Marginal Way
Seattle, WA 98018
The location for this month's chapter meeting was changed on short notice so that we could attend a talk on the X-Prize at the Museum of Flight which coincided with our normal meeting time. The presentation was co-hosted by Zack Brettler and Erik Lindburgh (grandson of the famous aviation pioneer). The videos were interesting and I, for one, was surprised to discover that there were 16 entrants competing for the prize.
At 1515 we moved into a side room in the cafeteria where J.Burk , the President, brought the meeting to order with several raps of the gavel (a peppershaker).
Eight people were present including the four Chapter Officers. Shifting into our usual informal discussion mode the following items were hashed over:
R. Rumley will produce a report on the NSS talk.
Everett Library talk, scheduled for July 20 …logistics, which models to bring, books
Renton River Days, Saturday and Sunday July 31 and August 1…J.Burk, D. Green, D. Calahan, C. Vancil will man the tables
August Mars Society Convention in Boulder, CO.…D. Stuart and J. Burk looking into group airfares, car rentals, and lodging.
Political Action…There is a possibility that the Mars Lander in 2001 and ST4 Comet Lander will be cut. WRITE LETTERS NOW.
Inflatable Displays/Globes…There was considerable technical discussion on how to make inflatable globes of mars, the moon, and earth for teaching props or for toys, where to obtain them and how to make them. The hassle of getting inks and paints to adhere to plastic balls was covered in colorful detail. These are items that we would like to resell for profit at various display tables and several schemes are
being looked into, e.g. do we co-ordinate with the National on this.
CD-ROM Project…The contents of the first and second editions will probably be combined before the convention and both mailed and distributed at the convention.
Joint Newsletter…R. Rumley is now editor of a combined newsletter of both the NSS and the Mars Society Puget Sound. SEND HIM STUFF that's fit to print.
Constitution Ratified…After being cussed and discussed for several months the latest version of our Chapter's Constitution was unanimously ratified. See the Chapter web site for the complete text.
J. Rodgers suggested that we seek out schools with a strong BAC or science connection as being likely candidates for talks and new members.
At 1440 J. Burk brought the meeting to a close by rapping on the table with a salt shaker (to complement the opening).
This was a very enjoyable session with lots of small projects and details discussed in an informal atmosphere. I would urge those of you who have not joined us to come get acquainted and tell us what you think we should be doing to further the cause of the settlement of the Red planet, (or the moon, or L5 if you like to stir the pot) to spark some interesting conversation.
V. M. Tye, Secretary
Martian Sounds
Submitted by V. M. Tye
Emkay Products press release
Emkay's electret EK-3132 Mars Microphone is on board the NASA Mars Polar Lander which should reach the surface of Mars near the end of this year.
Mark Johnson, marketing manager for Emkay, said "our microphone will pick up not only sounds from the Lander itself, e.g. motors, robotic arm and other mechanical parts, but also sand blown against the Lander and the surrounding terrain, other wind sounds, and possible sounds from electrical discharges in the dust clouds. We may even pick some unexpected sounds as well!"
Any sounds captured will be transmitted back to earth and made available on web site http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/marsmic. The experiment consists of a tiny microphone plus a circuit board that contains the necessary electronics to operate the microphone. The microphone will be attached to the LIDAR experiment on the Mars Surveyor 1998 Lander, called MVACS after the main payload. The microphone will be able to operate only for short periods because of the strict data-transmitting constraints on the Lander. It will both listen (for periods of about 10 seconds each), and record occasional frequency spectrum information (telling us what tones are in the sound, but not the details.
Current and possible projects
For NSS Seattle and/or Mars Society Puget Sound
by Randy Rumley
Mass Mapper -- Currently on hiatus due to design rework
Displays at public events -- looking at Renton River Days, UW street fairs, etc.
Educational programs –looking for some sort of 1 day demonstration or continuing.
Gravity Race entry at SeaFair -- No power, downhill, artistic design (Moon rovers, Mars rovers anyone?) (Online Editor Note: I think Randy means Bumbershoot not SeaFair)
Projects with other local organizations -- Seattle Rocketry society, Robotics Society, Astronomic Society
Anyone wanting to lead the charge on any listed project, or with ideas for others, please let me know by e-mail, snail mail, or phone.
Robotic Spacecraft Mission updates
Compiled from:
Media Relations Office
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Pasadena, Calif. 91109 Telephone (818) 354-5011
Ion Propulsion System Wins Discover Magazine Award
Release June 22, 1999
The futuristic ion propulsion system on NASA's Deep Space 1 spacecraft is the winner of Discover Magazine's Award for Technological Innovation in the exploration category.
Discover magazine's annual awards, now in their 10th year, honor teams whose innovations improve the quality of everyday life. Twenty-seven technologies were selected as finalists. Nine winners, featured in Discover's July issue, were announced at a recent ceremony in Florida.
The award went to NASA's Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) program team, which developed and delivered Deep Space 1's ion propulsion system. Accepting on behalf of the team was former NSTAR manager Jack Stocky of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
The ion drive combines a gas found in photo flash units with some of the technologies that make television picture tubes work to deliver a thrust only as powerful as the pressure of a sheet of paper resting on the palm of a hand. Despite the almost imperceptible level of thrust, this engine, for a given amount of fuel, can increase a spacecraft's velocity 10 times more than can a conventional liquid or solid fuel rocket.
Deep Space 1, launched last October, has tested 12 new technologies, including ion propulsion, so that they can be confidently used on science missions of the 21st century.
The NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness program began in the early 1990s as a partnership between JPL and NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, to develop xenon ion engines for deep space missions. In June 1996, a prototype engine built by the Glenn center began a long-duration test in a vacuum chamber at JPL simulating the conditions of outer space. The test concluded in September 1997 after the engine successfully logged more than 8,000 hours of operation.
Results of the tests were used to define the design of flight hardware that was built for Deep Space 1 by Hughes Electron Dynamics Division, Torrance, CA, and Spectrum Astro Inc., Gilbert, AZ. Other partners in the development of the flight ion engine system included Moog Inc., East Aurora, NY, and Physical Science Inc., Andover, MA. Development of the ion propulsion system was supported by NASA's Office of Space Science and the Office of Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology, Washington, DC. A portion of the program was supported by the Advanced Space Transportation Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.
Deep Space 1 is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. More information about the mission is available on the web at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1news .
Cassini Mission Status
June 24, 1999
The Cassini spacecraft, marking the 617th day of its voyage to Saturn, today successfully completed its second flyby of the planet Venus, once again on time and on target.
As planned, Cassini came within 600 kilometers (about 370 miles) of the planet at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, with Venus' gravity giving the spacecraft a boost in speed to help it reach Saturn more than 1 billion kilometers away. The spacecraft, launched on its voyage October 15, 1997, remains in excellent condition as it travels its nearly seven-year trajectory to Saturn. Most of Cassini's scientific instruments were set to make observations during the Venus flyby. Scientific data from the flyby will transmitted to Earth over coming days.
Four flybys of planets -- two of Venus and one each of Earth and Jupiter -- give Cassini the speed it needs to reach Saturn. Cassini first flew past Venus on April 26, 1998 at a distance of 284 kilometers (about 176 miles). Today's Venus flyby will be followed by a 1,166-kilometer (724-mile) flyby of Earth on August 18 (August 17 Pacific time at 8:28 p.m. PDT), then it's on to Jupiter for a December 30, 2000 flyby. The giant planet's gravity will bend Cassini's flight path to put it on course for arrival into orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004.
Cassini's mission is to study the ringed planet, its magnetic and radiation environment, moons and rings for four years. Cassini will also deliver the European Space Agency's Huygens probe to parachute to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Titan is of special interest partly because of its many Earthlike characteristics, including a mostly nitrogen atmosphere and the presence of organic molecules in the atmosphere and on its surface. Lakes or seas of ethane and methane may exist on its surface. The Cassini mission is a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed and the Cassini spacecraft built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.
More information about the Cassini mission is available at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini
JPL's New Deep Impact Asteroid Mission Ok'd By NASA
Release July 7, 1999
A radical mission to excavate the interior of a comet has been selected as one of the next two flights in NASA's Discovery Program, the agency announced today.
The comet mission, called Deep Impact, will be managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led by Dr. Michael A'Hearn from the University of Maryland in College Park, and built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo. The mission will send a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) copper projectile into comet P/Tempel 1, creating a crater as big as a football field and as deep as a seven-story building. A camera and infrared spectrometer on the spacecraft, along with ground-based observatories, will study the resulting icy debris blasted off the comet, as well as the pristine
interior material exposed by the impact.
"Comets are leftovers from the birth of the Sun and the planets, and Deep Impact will punch through the dark crust of P/Tempel 1 to give us our first look at what's inside," said JPL director Dr. Edward Stone.
James E. Graf will serve as project manager at JPL. Graf currently heads NASA's QuikScat mission to measure sea surface winds over the global ocean, successfully launched last month.
Deep Impact will be launched in January 2004 toward an explosive July 4, 2005 encounter with P/Tempel 1. Those impacts will occur at an approximate speed of 10 kilometers per second (22,300 mph). The total cost of Deep Impact to NASA is $240 million.
NASA also today announced the selection of another new Discovery mission, one that will map the pockmarked surface of Mercury. That spacecraft, to be built and managed by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, is known as Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and
Ranging mission, or Messenger.
"These low-cost missions are both fantastic examples of the creativity of the space science community," said Dr. Edward Weiler, associate administrator for space science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. "Deep Impact presents a special chance to do some truly unique science, and it is a direct complement to the other two comet missions already in the Discovery Program."
Those missions, both managed by JPL, are STARDUST, launched in February 1999 on a journey to gather samples of comet dust and return them to Earth, and the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) that will launch in June 2002 and fly closely by three comets.
In this latest round of Discovery missions, NASA selected Deep Impact and Messenger from 26 proposals made in early 1998. The missions must be ready for launch no later than Sept. 30, 2004, within the Discovery Program's development cost cap of $190 million in fiscal 1999 dollars over 36 months and a total mission cost of $299 million. The Discovery Program emphasizes lower-cost, highly focused scientific missions.
JPL will manage the Deep Impact mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. In Related News, on June 29, NASA Cancelled the Champollion (Space Technology 4) Comet lander mission which would have landed on the same comet as Deep Impact (P/Tempel 1) but had more science to do, as well as technology to land instead of impact. To land involves matching orbits and running a series of small maneuvers to come to the surface (basically a rendezvous mission). Impact involves going to a place in the Comet's orbit at the same time as the comet from any orbit that will get the spacecraft there. As the orbits cross, the spacecraft impacts the surface and we get some data from it. Ed.
Mars 98 Mission Status Report
June 29, 1999
Late last week, flight controllers for NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter commanded the spacecraft to begin flying in an "all-stellar" mode. This configuration means that the spacecraft's auto-pilot is operating by only using star sightings from its star camera, allowing its gyroscopes to be turned off so that their operating life can be preserved for future uses. With this transition to "all-stellar" mode, all of the engineering objectives for the phase of the mission during cruise from Earth to Mars are complete.
Mars Climate Orbiter is now 74 days from Mars arrival on September 23. Today, the spacecraft is approaching the planet at a speed of 13,933 kilometers per hour (8,658 miles per hour).
Meanwhile the other Mars '98 spacecraft, Mars Polar Lander, is undergoing preparation for its landing December 3. The master sequence of computer commands that will control the spacecraft during its critical entry, descent and landing was tested last week in a simulator facility at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO. The test was largely successful and identified a few minor issues that are being worked this week. The flight team is now conducting its first operational readiness test for entry, descent and landing. In this readiness test, the team uses the updated sequence of computer commands to practice all activities leading up to landing.
The Mars Polar Lander team will spend the summer poring over the latest images of the south pole taken by the currently orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in order to fine-tune the landing site selection. Final selection of Mars Polar Lander's landing site will take place later this summer.
NASA Managers Set July 20 As Launch Date For Chandra Telescope
NASA managers set Tuesday, July 20, 1999, as the official launch date for NASA's second Space Shuttle Mission of the year that will mark the launch of the first female Shuttle Commander and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
Columbia is scheduled to liftoff from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center on July 20 at the opening of a 46-minute launch window at 12:36 a.m. EDT. Columbia's planned five-day mission is scheduled to end with a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center just after 11:30 p.m. EDT on July 24.
Following its deployment from the Shuttle, Chandra will join the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory as the next in NASA's series of "Great Observatories." Chandra will spend at least five years in a highly elliptical orbit which will carry it one-third of the way to the moon to observe invisible and often violent realms of the cosmos containing some of the most intriguing mysteries in astronomy ranging from comets in our solar system to quasars at the edge of the universe.
Columbia's 26th flight is led by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, who will command a Space Shuttle mission following two previous flights as a pilot. The STS-93 Pilot is Navy Captain Jeff Ashby who will be making his first flight into space. The three mission specialists for the flight are: Air Force Lt. Col. Catherine "Cady" Coleman, who will be making her second flight into space; Steven A. Hawley, Ph.D, making his fifth flight; and French Air Force Col. Michel Tognini of the French Space Agency (CNES), who is making his first Space Shuttle flight and second trip into space after spending two weeks on the Mir Space Station as a visiting cosmonaut in 1992.
Events from History
Did you know that on this date (July 11) 20 years ago, Skylab became part of the landscape in western Australia and the Indian ocean. A sad day for U.S. Space flight.
X-34 Rocket Plane Takes To The Sky As Part Of Safety Check
Locked to the belly of its newly modified L-1011 carrier aircraft, a test version of NASA's X-34 rocket plane is scheduled to make its first flight next week. The prototype of the robotic spacecraft will test new technologies and methods of operations needed to develop low-cost reusable space vehicles.
The first flight will begin at approximately 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 29, from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. In this series of flights, the L-1011 and X-34 maneuvers will include a simulated launch flight. This captive-carry flight, in which the aircraft and test vehicle remain combined, will check for potentially hazardous conditions that may have resulted from modifications made to the L-1011 to enable it to carry the X-34.
When powered flights of the X-34 begin later this year, the experimental vehicle will be carried aloft by the L-1011, then released for rocket-powered flight and a standard horizontal landing. Eventually, the X-34 will perform high-speed suborbital free flights to demonstrate technologies such as advanced thermal protection system, composite structural components and autonomous landing.
The operational program is designed to demonstrate that reusable launch vehicles can be more reliable, fly more often and in worse conditions than current vehicles using a smaller operations team.
This captive-carry flight is the first of several tests that will be conducted as part of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification process for the mated vehicles. When a commercial airplane like the L-1011 is altered, the FAA must certify that the changes have not adversely affected the plane's safe operation.
The unpiloted X-34 is a single-engine rocket plane that will fly itself with onboard computers. It measures approximately 58 feet long, 11 feet tall and 28 feet across the wings. It will be powered by the new Fastrac engine, designed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, which also manages the X-34 program for NASA.
Dryden Flight Research Center is supporting the captive-carry part of the program with flight testing and ground vibration tests. In 1996, NASA awarded Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA, a contract now worth $85.7 million to design, build and test fly the X-34. The contract includes a structural test vehicle for vibration and captive carry flights and two flight vehicles. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, VA owns the L-1011, which also launches the company's Pegasus Launch Vehicle.
Food for thought
An idea has been floated towards NSS Seattle that there hasn't been an ISDC in town for a long time. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, know what I mean? If it were to happen, a lot of organization would be necessary at the chapter, and several people would be needed to run it. For now, it is something to think about. It would be a few years off.
Ed.
Some new books on Mars:
Rainbow Mars, by Larry Niven
A novel involving Svetz the time traveler. Has most of the old sci-fi ideas about Mars in it, including Canals, little green men, and flying saucers. The main topic surrounds a living "beanstalk" for getting to orbit cheap. Some problems are found with this type of transportation, especially since it is put in the earth's past. Very imaginative and a lot of science to it.
Return to Mars, by Ben Bova
Just released book, follows his previous "Mars" book about an expedition to Mars. I haven't finished reading it yet, a review will be in the next issue.
Ed.
Note:
We will welcome any articles, editorials, referrals, or new web sites from any Chapters member. Please let us know. If you have ideas for speakers and/or projects for the chapter, let any officer know by E-mail, or in person at a meeting. Thank you.
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