Archive-name: space/intro
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:52 $

    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SCI.SPACE/SCI.ASTRO

    INTRODUCTION

    This series of linked messages is periodically posted to the Usenet
groups sci.space and sci.astro in an attempt to provide good answers to
frequently asked questions and other reference material which is worth
preserving. If you have corrections or answers to other frequently asked
questions that you would like included in this posting, send email to
leech@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 FAQ volume is excessive right now and will gradually being trimmed
down by rewriting, condensing, and moving static information to archive
servers. The FAQ postings are available from the Ames SPACE archive in
ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/faq*, along with more information expanding
on topics in the FAQ.

    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
	    Suggestions for better netiquette
	    Index to linked postings
	    Notes on addresses, phone numbers, etc.
	    Contributors

    2*	Network resources
	    Overview
	    Mailing lists
	    Periodically updated information
	    Warning about non-public networks

    3*	Online (and some offline) sources of images, data, etc.
	    Introduction
	    Viewing Images
	    Online Archives
		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
	    Landsat & NASA Photos
	    Planetary Maps
	    Cometary Orbits

    4*	Performing calculations and interpreting data formats
	    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)
	    Three-dimensional star/galaxy coordinates

    5*	References on specific areas
	    Publishers of space/astronomy material
	    Careers in the space industry
	    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
	    Orbiting Earth satellite histories
	    Spacecraft models
	    Rocket propulsion
	    Spacecraft design
	    Esoteric propulsion schemes (solar sails, lasers, fusion...)
	    Spy satellites
	    Space shuttle computer systems
	    SETI computation (signal processing)
	    Amateur satellies & weather satellites
	    Tides
	    Astronomical Mnemonics

    6	Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies
	    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
	    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
	    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
	    Japanese planetary missions
	    Planetary mission references

    9	Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules
	    Cassini
	    Galileo
	    Magellan
	    Mars Observer
	    TOPEX/Poseidon
	    Ulysses
	    Other space science missions
	    Proposed missions

    10	Controversial questions
	    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
	    Groups
	    Publications
	    Undocumented Groups

    12	How to become an astronaut

    13	Orbital and Planetary Launch Services


    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. Contributors I've managed to keep
    track of are:

    ad038@yfn.ysu.edu (Steven Fisk)		- publication refs.
    akerman@bill.phy.queensu.CA (Richard Akerman)   - crater diameters
    alweigel@athena.mit.edu (Lisa Weigel)	- SEDS info
    aoab314@emx.utexas.edu (Srinivas Bettadpur) - tides
    awpaeth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Alan Wm Paeth) - map projections
    aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)		- Great Exploration
    baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)	- planetary probe schedules
    bankst@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Timothy Banks)	- map projections,
	variable star analysis archive
    brosen@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Bernie Rosen)	- Space Camp
    bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)   - FITS format
    cew@venera.isi.edu (Craig E. Ward)		- space group contact info
    chapin@cbnewsc.att.com (Tom Chapin)		- planetary positions
    cunnida@tenet.edu (D. Alan Cunningham)	- NASA Spacelink
    cyamamot@kilroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Cliff Yamamoto) - orbital elements
    datri@convex.com (Anthony Datri)		- PDS/VICAR viewing software
    daver@sjc.mentorg.com (Dave Rickel)		- orbit formulae
    dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Phil Fraering)		- propulsion
    eder@hsvaic.boeing.com (Dani Eder)		- Saturn V plans, SRBs
    eugene@nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)	- introduction,
	NASA contact info, started FAQ postings
    frank.reddy@genie.geis.com (Francis Reddy)	- map projections
    french@isu.isunet.edu (Patrick M. French)	- space group contact info
    g@telesoft.com (Gary Morris)		- amateur radio info
    gaetz@cfa.harvard.edu (Terry Gaetz)		- N-body calculations,
	orbital dynamics
    grandi@noao.edu (Steve Grandi)		- planetary positions
    greer%utd201.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov (Dale M. Greer)   - constants
    henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)	- survival in vacuum,
	astronaut how-to, Challenger disaster, publication refs, DC-X
    higgins@fnal.bitnet (William Higgins) - RTGs, publishers, shuttle
	landings, spysats, propulsion, "Face on Mars", and general
	assistance with FAQ upkeep.
    hmueller@cssun.tamu.edu (Hal Mueller)	- map projections,
	orbital dynamics
    jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh Hopkins)	- launch services
    jim@pnet01.cts.com (Jim Bowery)		- propulsion, launch services
    jnhead@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu (James N. Head) - atmospheric scale heights
    jscotti@lpl.arizona.edu (Jim Scotti)	- planetary positions
    kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu (Kieran A. Carroll)- refs for spacecraft design
    ken@orion.bitnet (Kenneth Ng)		- RTGs
    kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov (Ken Jenks)	- shuttle roll manuever
    klaes@verga.enet.dec.com (Larry Klaes)	- planetary probe history
    leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech)		- crater diameters
    lfa@ssi.com (Lou Adornato)			- orbital dynamics
    maury.markowitz@egsgate.fidonet.org (Maury Markowitz)   - propulsion
    max@west.darkside.com (Erik Max Francis)	- equations
    mbellon@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM		- N-body calculations
    mcconley@phoenix.Princeton.edu (Marc Wayne Mcconley)    - space careers
    msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)			- Mariner 1 info.
    mwm@cmu.edu (Mark Maimone)			- SPACE Digest
    nickw@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Dr. Nick Watkins)	- models, spysats
    ohainaut@eso.org (Olivier R. Hainaut)	- publishers, STARCAT
    oneil@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Graham O'Neil)	- Lunar Prospector
    panama@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham)	- cometary orbits, IAU
    paul.blase@nss.fidonet.org (Paul Blase)	- propulsion
    pete@denali.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pete Banholzer)	- Clementine
    pjs@plato.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott)	- RTGs
    pschleck@unomaha.edu (Paul W. Schleck)	- AMSAT, ARRL contact info
    rdb@mel.cocam.oz.au (Rodney Brown)		- propulsion refs
    rja7m@phil.cs.virginia.edu (Ran Atkinson)	- FTPable astro. programs
    rjungcla@ihlpb.att.com (R. Michael Jungclas)- models
    seal@leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov (David Seal)	- Cassini mission schedule
    shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)	- photos, shuttle landings
    smith@sndpit.enet.dec.com (Willie Smith)	- photos
    stephen@gpwd.gp.co.nz (Stephen Dixon)	- shuttle audio frequencies
    sterner@warper.jhuapl.edu (Ray Sterner)	- planetary positions
    stooke@vaxr.sscl.uwo.ca (Phil Stooke)	- planetary maps
    ted_anderson@transarc.com (Ted Anderson)	- propulsion
    terry@astro.as.utexas.edu (Terry Hancock)	- NASA center info
    thorson@typhoon.atmos.coloState.edu (Bill Thorson) - FITS info
    tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Todd L. Masco)	- SPACE Digest
    tom@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley)	- refs for algorithms
    veikko.makela@helsinki.fi (Veikko Makela)	- orbital element sets
    Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org (Wales Larrison) - groups & publications
    wayne@csri.utoronto.ca (Wayne Hayes)	- constants
    weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) - Voyager history
    yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp (Yoshiro Yamada)	- ISAS/NASDA missions
    yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)		- AMES archive server,
	propulsion

    In Net memoriam:
	Ted Flinn

NEXT: FAQ #2/13 - Network Resources
Archive-name: space/net
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:55 $

NETWORK RESOURCES

OVERVIEW

    You may be reading this document on any one of an amazing variety 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.space.news', 'sci.space', 'sci.space.shuttle', 'sci.astro',
    and 'talk.politics.space'. 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 the Usenet sci.space group 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-request@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
    FTPable from directory julius.cs.qub.ac.uk:pub/SpaceDigestArchive (get
    README to begin with).

    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-request@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-request@esseye.si.com to join.

    Space-investors is a list for information relevant to investing in
    space-related companies. Email Vincent Cate (vac@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-tech-request@cs.cmu.edu to join. Archives of old digests and
    selected excerpts are FTPable from directory
    gs80.sp.cs.cmu.edu:/usr/anon/public/space-tech, or by email to
    space-tech-request if you don't have FTP access.

    SEDS-L is a BITNET list for members of Students for the Exploration and
    Development of Space and other interested parties. Email
    LISTSERV@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, sci.space.shuttle, and sci.astro. Email
    LISTSERV@TAMVM1.BITNET saying "SUBSCRIBE SEDSNEWS your name" to join.
    Email saying "INDEX SEDSNEWS" to list the archive contents.

    Ron Baalke (baalke@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 new 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.makela@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 (henry@zoo.toronto.edu) posts summaries of
	space-related stories in the weekly _Aviation Week and Space
	Technology_.

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

    ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASA
	Don Barry (don@chara.gsu.edu) posts the monthly Electronic Journal
	of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic to sci.astro.

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

    LARGE ASTRONOMICAL PROJECTS
	Robert Bunge (rbunge@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 (yee@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 (baalke@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 (tkelso@blackbird.afit.af.mil) posts orbital elements from
	NASA Prediction Bulletins.

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

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

    SATELLITE LAUNCHES
	Richard Langley (lang@unb.ca) posts SPACEWARN Bulletin, which
	describes recent launch/orbital decay information and satellites
	which are useful for scientific activities. Recent bulletins are
	FTPable from directory
	nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov:ANON_DIR:[000000.ACTIVE.SPX].

    SHUTTLE MANIFEST
	Ken Hollis (gandalf@pro-electric.cts.com) 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.

    SOLAR ACTIVITY
	Cary Oler (oler@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 FTPable from
	solar.stanford.edu:pub/understanding_solar_terrestrial_reports and
	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, xi.uleth.ca, has recently been established and
	will be actively supported.

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

    SPACE ACTIVIST NEWSLETTER
	Allen Sherzer (aws@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 (baalke@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 (kd2bd@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 (mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu) posts "Jonathan's Space
	Report" covering launches, landings, reentries, status reports,
	satellite activities, etc.

    TOWARD 2001
	Bev Freed (freed@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.
Archive-name: space/data
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:49 $

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 the
    remainder support some form of file transfer. Many sites are listed as
    providing 'anonymous FTP' (or files referred to as 'FTPable'). This
    refers to the File Transfer Protocol on the Internet. 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 ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com or bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu,
    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
    sitename:filename (e.g. ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/Index). The FAQ
    is phasing out the specification of IP addresses and referring to FTP
    sites only by fully qualified machine name.

    An ever-increasing amount of space-related data may be searched and
    retrieved interactively using gopher, WAIS, World Wide Web, and other
    Internet clients that may be far more convenient than FTP. A description
    of these applications is beyond the scope of this FAQ; see the Usenet
    groups comp.infosystems.{gopher,wais,www} for more information.

    Don't even ask for images to be posted to the net. The data volume is
    huge and nobody wants to spend the time on it.


VIEWING IMAGES

    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 by anonymous FTP from
    export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xv-3.00.tar.Z, as well as the other standard
    X11 FTP sites.

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


ONLINE ARCHIVES

    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 FTPable from
    ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/Index.

    To access the archives by email, send a letter to
    archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov (or ames!archive-server). In the
    subject of your letter (or in the body), use commands like:

	send SPACE Index
	send SPACE SHUTTLE/ss01.23.91.

    The capitalization of the subdirectory names is important. All are in
    caps. Only text files are handled by the email server at present; use
    one of the FTP email servers described in the introduction to this
    section for images or programs.

    The Magellan Venus and Voyager Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus CD-ROM image
    disks have been put online in the CDROM and CDROM2 directories. The
    disks will be rotated on a weekly basis. Thousands of images are
    available in these collections.

    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 MISC/media.guide.

    Any problems with the archive server should be reported to Peter Yee
    (yee@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 ads@cuads.coloradu.edu. The User's Guide and
    "QuickStart" Guide (PostScript files) are FTPable from directory
    sao-ftp.harvard.edu:pub/ads/ADS_User_Guide.

    Contact Carolyn Stern Grant (stern@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 "stelar-info@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 stelar-info@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov. Contact Archie
    Warnock (warnock@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov).


    NASA JET PROPULSION LAB (MISSION INFORMATION AND IMAGES)

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


    NASA LANGLEY (TECHNICAL REPORTS)

    techreports.larc.nasa.gov is an anonymous FTP site offering technical
    reports. To get started, cd to directory pub/techreports/larc/92 and
    retrieve 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.Nelson@LaRC.NASA.GOV"
	 :description "NASA Langley Research Center Technical Reports

    Contact tr-admin@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 dial in at (205)-895-0028 (300/1200/2400/9600(V.32) baud, 8
    bits, no parity, 1 stop bit), or telnet to spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
    (128.158.13.250, also known as xsl.msfc.nasa.gov) if you're on the
    Internet. Anonymous FTP capability (password guest) is now available.

    Most of this information is also available from the Ames server in
    directory 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.
    Internet users can telnet to nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.36.23) and
    log in as 'NODIS' (no password). You can also get the catalog by sending
    email to 'request@nssdc.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:	 request@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. FTP
    stsci.edu:README to begin with. Contact Pete Reppert (reppert@stsci.edu)
    or Chris O'Dea (odea@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!).

    Log on as ``starcat'' (no password) on node stesis.hq.eso.org
    (134.171.8.100) or on STESIS (DECnet). The files created can be
    retreived by FTP. Contact: Benoit Pirenne, bpirenne@eso.org (phone +49
    89 320 06 433) at ST-ECF


    ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES

    The full SAO stellar database is *NOT* available online, probably due to
    the 40 MB size. 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).

    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.

    ames.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 (wayne@csri.utoronto.ca).

    ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/constell.* contains constellation
    boundary data in a form suitable for the construction of star charts and
    atlases.

    Directory iris1.ucis.dal.ca:pub/gif has 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.

    Directory pomona.claremont.edu:[.YALE_BSC] contains the the Yale Bright
    Star catalog. Contact James Dishaw (jdishaw@hmcvax.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.jahn@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

    Various astronomy-related programs and databases posted to the net in
    the past are archived for anonymous FTP at multiple sites, including
    ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9). Also see the ASTRO-FTP list posted to sci.astro
    monthly, which is more complete than this list.

    Astonomical/Space-related sources of interest in comp.sources.unix:

    Volume 8:	    phoon	moon phase and date routines
    Volume 12,13:   starchart	starchart program & Yale Star data
    Volume 15:	    moontool	shows moon phase picture on Suns
    Volume 16:	    sao		reduced SAO catalog

    Astonomical/Space-related sources of interest in comp.sources.misc:

    Volume  8:	    moon	another moon phase program
    Volume 11:	    starchart	starchart program, version 3.2
    Volume 11:	    n3emo-orbit orbit: track earth satellites
    Volume 12:	    starchart2	starchart program, update to version 3.2.1
    Volume 13:	    jupmoons	plotter for Jupiter's major moons [in perl]
    Volume 13:	    lunisolar	lunisolar (not sure what this does)
    Volume 14:	    n3emo-orbit patch to orbit 3.7
    Volume 18:	    planet	planet generation simulator

    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 available by anonymous FTP from
    export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xephem/xephem_2.4e.tar.Z and has been
    submitted to comp.sources.x. Contact Elwood Downey
    (e_downey@tasha.cca.cr.rockwell.com). Ephem is the forefather of xephem
    designed for simple 24x80 character displays. It's FTPable from
    export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/ephem_4.28.tar.Z.

    XSAT, an X Window System based satellite tracking program, is available
    from export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xsat1.0.tar.Z. Contact Dave Curry
    (davy@ecn.purdue.edu) for more information.

    Xsky 2.0.1, a computerized sky atlas for the X Window System, is
    available from arizona.edu:[.software.unix.xsky]xsky2-0-1.tarz. Contact
    Terry R. Friedrichsen (terry@venus.sunquest.com) for more information.

    The "Variable Stars Analysis Software Archive" is available in directory
    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. Contents are relatively sparse
    at present due to the youth of the archive - contributions are
    encouraged. Contact the archive administrator, Timothy Banks
    (bankst@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) for more information.

    The "IDL Astronomy Users Library" is FTPable from
    idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov:README (to start with). This is a central
    repository for general purpose astronomy procedures written in IDL, a
    commercial image processing, plotting, and programming language. Contact
    Wayne Landsman (landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov) for more information.


    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:

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


    SPACE DIGEST ARCHIVES

    Copies of back issues of Space Digest are archived on
    LISTSERV@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.


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 - 43 by July 1993. The list
    will be updated periodically. Where many maps exist for a world (e.g.
    Mars) the best (or a typical) general purpose global map is listed,
    subdivided into relief maps (usually with feature names), topography
    (contours) and geol- ogical maps. Otherwise (e.g. Deimos) the best
    available map is listed. Some (e.g. Comet Encke) are merely simple
    diagrams of possible surface features ('sketch' under map type). Users
    noting errors or omissions are urged to contact Phil Stooke at the
    address below.

    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
    sheets cost about $3 each (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 (i.e. not journal
    illustrations). Apollo-era Moon maps (LAC, LTO) are mostly out of print,
    but may still be available from NSSDC (plus 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:
    stooke@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 POVERKHNOSTY 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 Publishing, SKY+TELESCOPE)
    Mars	  relief     USGS maps I-1618,2179
		  topography USGS map I-2160
		  geology    USGS map I-1802
		  digital    MDIM (set of six CD-ROMs) available from NSSDC
		  atlas      Batson et al., ATLAS OF MARS, NASA SP-438, 1979
		  globe      Sky Publishing (SKY+TELESCOPE)
    Phobos	  outline    Thomas, ICARUS, 40: 223-243, 1979
		  relief     Bugaevsky et al., ADV.SPACE.RES. 12(9):17-21, 1992
		  topography Turner, ICARUS, 33:116-140, 1978
		  globe      Max Planck Institut fur Physik+Astro., 1988
    Deimos	  outline    Thomas, ICARUS, 40: 223-243, 1979
		  relief     Stooke, SKY+TELESCOPE 69:551-553, 1985
    Amalthea	  sketch     Veverka et al., J.GEOPHYS.RES. 86:8675-8692, 1981
		  topography 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     Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
    Pandora	  relief     Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
    Janus	  relief     Stooke, EARTH,MOON,PLANETS, in press
    Epimetheus	  relief     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
    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, in preparation
    Proteus	  sketch     Croft, ICARUS, 99:402-419, 1992
    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
    532 Herculina sketch     Taylor et al., ICARUS, 69:354-369, 1987
    624 Hektor	  sketch     Hartmann+Cruikshank, ICARUS, 36:353-366, 1978
    951 Gaspra	  sketch     GALILEO MESSENGER no. 29, 1992
    Comet Encke   sketch     Sekanina, ASTRON.J. 96:1455-1475, 1988
    Comet Halley  sketch     Moehlmann+,COM.IN POST-HALLEY ERA,p.764,Kluwer 1991
		  relief     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

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
Archive-name: space/math
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:54 $

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, 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 gm) 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:

	    ames.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 (N = -infinity for
	    Mercury, 0 for Venus, 1 for Earth, etc.)

	    This fits fairly well except for Neptune.

    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		       19
    W = pi * d	* delta * V  / (12 * 4.185 * 10  )
			    : projectile kinetic energy in kT 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
    diameter (km)		       (impacts/year)	   (* 5*10^20 ergs)

     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. Note that 5*10^20 ergs = 13 000 tons TNT
    equivalent, or the energy released by the Hiroshima A-bomb.

    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
    Brittanica", (particularly the older volumes) and a tutorial appearing
    in _Graphics Gems_ (Academic Press, 1990). The latter was written with
    simplicity of exposition and suitability of 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.


    SKY (UNIX EPHEMERIS PROGRAM)

    The 6th Edition of the Unix operating system came with several software
    systems not distributed because of older media capacity limitations.
    Included were an ephmeris, a satellite track, and speech synthesis
    software. The ephmeris, sky(6), is available within AT&T and to sites
    possessing a Unix source code license. The program is regarded as Unix
    source code. Sky is <0.5MB. Send proof of source code license to

	E. Miya
	MS 258-5
	NASA Ames Research Center
	Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
	eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov


    THREE-DIMENSIONAL 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 pub/SPACE/FAQ/stars.data and stars.doc on
    ames.arc.nasa.gov).


NEXT: FAQ #5/13 - References on specific areas
Archive-name: space/references
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:59 $

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 (Utah)

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

    Lunar and Planetary Institute
    3303 NASA Road One
    Houston, TX 77058-4399

	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)
    wheate@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


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

    SDI's SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
    suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that should fly in
    mid-1993. Further development towards an operational single-stage to
    orbit vehicle (called Delta Clipper) is uncertain at present.

    An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is FTPable from the
    directory bongo.cc.utexas.edu:pub/delta-clipper. The site can also be
    accessed via gopher. Contact Chris W. Johnson (chrisj@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 FTPable from
    directory ames.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.


    ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES

    A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is FTPable
    from ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/FAQ/Satellites


    SPACECRAFT MODELS

    "Space in Miniature #2: Gemini" by
	Michael J. Mackowski
	1621 Waterwood Lane, St. Louis, MO 63146
	$7.50

    Only 34pp but enough pictures & diagrams to interest more than just the
    modelling community, I feel.

    Marco's Miniatures of Dracut, Mass. have produced a 1/144 Skylab in an
    edition of 500 & a 1/48 Lunar Rover (same scale as Monogram and Revell
    Lunar Modules) in a similar edition. Prices are $45 for Skylab, $24 for
    LRV. Check with them for postage etc. I have no connection with them,
    but have found their service to be good and their stock of rare/old kits
    *is* impressive. Prices range from reasonable ($35 for Monogram 1/32
    scale Apollo CSM with cutaway details) to spectacular ($145 for Airfix
    Vostok).

	 Four Star Collectibles
	 P.O. Box 658
	 Dracut Mass 01826, USA.
	 (508)-957-0695.

    Voyager, HST, Viking, Lunar Rover etc. kits from:

	Lunar Models
	5120 Grisham
	Rowlett, Texas 75088
	(214)-475-4230

    As reviewed by Bob Kaplow:

	Peter Alway's book "Scale Model Rocketry" is now available. Mine
	arrived in the mail earlier this week. To get your own copy, send
	$19.95 + $2.50 s/h ($22.45 total) to:

			Peter Alway
			2830 Pittsfield
			Ann Arbor, MI 48104

	The book includes information on collecting scale data, construction
	of scale models, and several handy tables. Appendicies include plans
	for 3 sport scale models, a 1:9.22 D Region Tomahawk (BT50), a 1/40
	V-2 (BT60), and a 1/9.16 Aerobee 150A (BT55/60).

	I've only begun to study the book, but it certainly will be a
	valuable data source for many modellers. Most vehicles include
	several paragraphs of text describing the missions flown by the
	rocket, various specs including "NAR" engine classification, along
	with a dimensioned drawing, color layouts & paint pattern, and a
	black & white photograph.

	The vehicles included are the Aerobee 150A, Aerobee 300, Aerobee Hi,
	Arcas, Asp, Astrobee 1500, Astrobee D, Atlas Centaur, Atlas-Agena,
	Atlas-Score, Baby WAC, D-Region Tomahawk, Deacon Rockoon, Delta B,
	Delta E, Gemini-Titan II, Iris, Javelin, Juno 1, Juno 2, Little Joe
	1, Little Joe 2, Mercury-Atlas, Mercury-Redstone, Nike-Apache,
	Nike-Asp, Nike-Cajun, Nike-Deacon, Nike-Tomahawk, RAM B, Saturn 1
	Block 1, Saturn 1 Block 2, Saturn 1B, Saturn 5, Scout, Standard
	Aerobee, Terrapin, Thor-Able, Titan III C, Titan III E, Trailblazer
	1, V-2, Vanguard, Viking Model 1, Viking Model 2, and Wac Corporal.


    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:

	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

    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]

    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 (for example, v. 27 no. 1, January
	1991 issue). Every so often they publish 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?

    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.

    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.

    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.


    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 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
    1988?


    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 fairly long writeup on receiving and interpreting weather satellite
    photos is available from ames.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, available from
    ames.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 FTPable from
    ames.arc.nasa.gov:pub/SPACE/MISC/mnemonics (this was formerly a separate
    section of the FAQ).

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
Archive-name: space/addresses
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:32 $

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 by anonymous
	FTP in

	    ames.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

	Aircraft/Rocket propulsion. Space power generation. Materials
	research.

    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 cosmic@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)
    p
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA)
    955 L'Enfant Plaza S.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20024
    (202)-488-4158

NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NASDA)
    4-1 Hamamatsu-Cho, 2 Chome
    Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105, JAPAN
    asuzuki@rd.tksc.nasda.go.jp (Public Relations Office)

SOYUZKARTA
    45 Vologradsij Pr.
    Moscow 109125
    USSR

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 maintains a list with addresses and some info for a variety
of companies in space-related businesses. This is mailed out on the
space-investors list he runs (see the "Network Resources" FAQ) and is also
available by anonymous ftp from furmint.nectar.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.209.111) in
/usr2/anon/space-companies.


NEXT: FAQ #7/13 - Schedules for space missions, and how to see them
Archive-name: space/schedule
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:54:01 $

SPACE SHUTTLE ANSWERS, LAUNCH SCHEDULES, TV COVERAGE

    SHUTTLE LAUNCHINGS AND LANDINGS; SCHEDULES AND HOW TO SEE THEM

    Shuttle operations are discussed in the Usenet group sci.space.shuttle,
    and Ken Hollis (gandalf@pro-electric.cts.com) posts a compressed version
    of the shuttle manifest (launch dates and other information)
    periodically there. The manifest is also available from the Ames SPACE
    archive in SPACE/FAQ/manifest. The portion of his manifest formerly
    included in this FAQ has been removed; please refer to his posting or
    the archived copy. 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
    (kjenks@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 Satcom F2R, Transponder 13, C-Band, 72
    degrees West Longitude, Audio 6.8, Frequency 3960 MHz. F2R is stationed
    over the Atlantic, and is increasingly difficult to receive from
    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
Archive-name: space/probe
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:58 $

PLANETARY PROBES - HISTORICAL MISSIONS

    This section was lightly adapted from an original posting by Larry Klaes
    (klaes@verga.enet.dec.com), mostly minor formatting changes. Matthew
    Wiener (weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu) contributed the section on
    Voyager, and the section on Sakigake was obtained from ISAS material
    posted by Yoshiro Yamada (yamada@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,
    D.C. 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.


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.


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 instru- ments 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  klaes@verga.enet.dec.com

NEXT: FAQ #9/13 - Upcoming planetary probes - missions and schedules
Archive-name: space/new_probes
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:56 $

UPCOMING PLANETARY PROBES - MISSIONS AND SCHEDULES

    Information on upcoming or currently active missions not mentioned below
    would be welcome. Sources: NASA fact sheets, Cassini Mission Design
    team, ISAS/NASDA launch schedules, press kits.


    ASCA (ASTRO-D) - Japanese (ISAS) Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and
    Astrophysics. ASCA is an X-ray astronomy satellite launched into Earth
    orbit on 2/20/93. Equipped with large-area wide-wavelength (1-20
    Angstrom) X-ray telescope, X-ray CCD cameras, and imaging gas
    scintillation proportional counters.


    CASSINI - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. Cassini is a joint
    NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian
    system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe. Cassini
    is scheduled for launch aboard a Titan IV/Centaur in October of 1997.
    After gravity assists of Venus, Earth and Jupiter in a VVEJGA
    trajectory, the spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in June of 2004. Upon
    arrival, the Cassini spacecraft performs several maneuvers to achieve an
    orbit around Saturn. Near the end of this initial orbit, the Huygens
    Probe separates from the Orbiter and descends through the atmosphere of
    Titan. The Orbiter relays the Probe data to Earth for about 3 hours
    while the Probe enters and traverses the cloudy atmosphere to the
    surface. After the completion of the Probe mission, the Orbiter
    continues touring the Saturnian system for three and a half years. Titan
    synchronous orbit trajectories will allow about 35 flybys of Titan and
    targeted flybys of Iapetus, Dione and Enceladus. The objectives of the
    mission are threefold: conduct detailed studies of Saturn's atmosphere,
    rings and magnetosphere; conduct close-up studies of Saturn's
    satellites, and characterize Titan's atmosphere and surface.

    One of the most intriguing aspects of Titan is the possibility that its
    surface may be covered in part with lakes of liquid hydrocarbons that
    result from photochemical processes in its upper atmosphere. These
    hydrocarbons condense to form a global smog layer and eventually rain
    down onto the surface. The Cassini orbiter will use onboard radar to
    peer through Titan's clouds and determine if there is liquid on the
    surface. Experiments aboard both the orbiter and the entry probe will
    investigate the chemical processes that produce this unique atmosphere.

    The Cassini mission is named for Jean Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), the
    first director of the Paris Observatory, who discovered several of
    Saturn's satellites and the major division in its rings. The Titan
    atmospheric entry probe is named for the Dutch physicist Christiaan
    Huygens (1629-1695), who discovered Titan and first described the true
    nature of Saturn's rings.

	 Key Scheduled Dates for the Cassini Mission (VVEJGA Trajectory)
	 -------------------------------------------------------------
	   10/06/97 - Titan IV/Centaur Launch
	   04/21/98 - Venus 1 Gravity Assist
	   06/20/99 - Venus 2 Gravity Assist
	   08/16/99 - Earth Gravity Assist
	   12/30/00 - Jupiter Gravity Assist
	   06/25/04 - Saturn Arrival
	   01/09/05 - Titan Probe Release
	   01/30/05 - Titan Probe Entry
	   06/25/08 - End of Primary Mission
	    (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, which is being built by the Naval
    Research Lab, will be launched in late January 1994 and will go into 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 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.


    GALILEO - Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe, in transit. Has returned
    the first resolved images of an asteroid, Gaspra, while in transit to
    Jupiter. Efforts to unfurl the stuck High-Gain Antenna (HGA) have
    essentially been abandoned. JPL has developed a backup plan using data
    compression (JPEG-like for images, lossless compression for data from
    the other instruments) which should allow the mission to achieve
    approximately 70% of its original objectives.

	   Galileo Schedule
	   ----------------
	   10/18/89 - Launch from Space Shuttle
	   02/09/90 - Venus Flyby
	   10/**/90 - Venus Data Playback
	   12/08/90 - 1st Earth Flyby
	   05/01/91 - High Gain Antenna Unfurled
	   07/91 - 06/92 - 1st Asteroid Belt Passage
	   10/29/91 - Asteroid Gaspra Flyby
	   12/08/92 - 2nd Earth Flyby
	   05/93 - 11/93 - 2nd Asteroid Belt Passage
	   08/28/93 - Asteroid Ida Flyby
	   07/02/95 - Probe Separation
	   07/09/95 - Orbiter Deflection Maneuver
	   12/95 - 10/97 - Orbital Tour of Jovian Moons
	   12/07/95 - Jupiter/Io Encounter
	   07/18/96 - Ganymede
	   09/28/96 - Ganymede
	   12/12/96 - Callisto
	   01/23/97 - Europa
	   02/28/97 - Ganymede
	   04/22/97 - Europa
	   05/31/97 - Europa
	   10/05/97 - Jupiter Magnetotail Exploration


    HITEN (MUSES-A) - Japanese (ISAS) lunar probe launched 1/24/90. Made
    multiple lunar flybys and released Hagoromo, a smaller satellite, into
    lunar orbit. This mission made Japan the third nation to orbit a
    satellite around the Moon. Hiten impacted the lunar surface on 4/10/93.


    MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Has mapped almost the entire
    surface at high resolution. Currently (4/93) collecting a global gravity
    map.


    MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.
    Launched 9/25/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. MO is currently (4/93) in
    transit to Mars, arriving on 8/24/93. Operations will start 11/93 for
    one martian year (687 days).


    TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched
    8/10/92 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the
    TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global
    observations of the sea level for several years, substantially
    increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also
    will increase understanding of how heat is transported in the ocean.


    ULYSSES- European Space Agency probe to study the Sun from an orbit over
    its poles. Launched in late 1990, it carries particles-and-fields
    experiments (such as magnetometer, ion and electron collectors for
    various energy ranges, plasma wave radio receivers, etc.) but no camera.

    Since no human-built rocket is hefty enough to send Ulysses far out of
    the ecliptic plane, it went to Jupiter instead, and stole energy from
    that planet by sliding over Jupiter's north pole in a gravity-assist
    manuver in February 1992. This bent its path into a solar orbit tilted
    about 85 degrees to the ecliptic. It will pass over the Sun's south pole
    in the summer of 1993. Its aphelion is 5.2 AU, and, surprisingly, its
    perihelion is about 1.5 AU-- that's right, a solar-studies spacecraft
    that's always further from the Sun than the Earth is!

    While in Jupiter's neigborhood, Ulysses studied the magnetic and
    radiation environment. For a short summary of these results, see
    *Science*, V. 257, p. 1487-1489 (11 September 1992). For gory technical
    detail, see the many articles in the same issue.


    OTHER SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS (note: this is based on a posting by Ron
    Baalke in 11/89, with ISAS/NASDA information contributed by Yoshiro
    Yamada (yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp). I'm attempting to track changes based
    on updated shuttle manifests; corrections and updates are welcome.

    1993 Missions
	o ALEXIS [spring, Pegasus]
	    ALEXIS (Array of Low-Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors) is to perform
	    a wide-field sky survey in the "soft" (low-energy) X-ray
	    spectrum. It will scan the entire sky every six months to search
	    for variations in soft-X-ray emission from sources such as white
	    dwarfs, cataclysmic variable stars and flare stars. It will also
	    search nearby space for such exotic objects as isolated neutron
	    stars and gamma-ray bursters. ALEXIS is a project of Los Alamos
	    National Laboratory and is primarily a technology development
	    mission that uses astrophysical sources to demonstrate the
	    technology. Contact project investigator Jeffrey J Bloch
	    (jjb@beta.lanl.gov) for more information.

	o Wind [Aug, Delta II rocket]
	    Satellite to measure solar wind input to magnetosphere.

	o Space Radar Lab [Sep, STS-60 SRL-01]
	    Gather radar images of Earth's surface.

	o Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer [Dec, Pegasus rocket]
	    Study of Stratospheric ozone.

	o SFU (Space Flyer Unit) [ISAS]
	    Conducting space experiments and observations and this can be
	    recovered after it conducts the various scientific and
	    engineering experiments. SFU is to be launched by ISAS and
	    retrieved by the U.S. Space Shuttle on STS-68 in 1994.

    1994
	o Polar Auroral Plasma Physics [May, Delta II rocket]
	    June, measure solar wind and ions and gases surrounding the
	    Earth.

	o IML-2 (STS) [NASDA, Jul 1994 IML-02]
	    International Microgravity Laboratory.

	o ADEOS [NASDA]
	    Advanced Earth Observing Satellite.

    1995

	o MUSES-B (Mu Space Engineering Satellite-B) [ISAS]
	    Conducting research on the precise mechanism of space structure
	    and in-space astronomical observations of electromagnetic waves.

    1996

	o PLANET-B [ISAS]
	    Mars orbiter to study the structure and motions of the Martian
	    atmosphere and its interaction with the solar winds.

    1997
	o LUNAR-A [ISAS]
	    Elucidating the crust structure and thermal construction of the
	    moon's interior.


    Proposed Missions:
	o Advanced X-ray Astronomy Facility (AXAF)
	    Possible launch from shuttle in 1995, AXAF is a space
	    observatory with a high resolution telescope. It would orbit for
	    15 years and study the mysteries and fate of the universe.

	o Earth Observing System (EOS)
	    Possible launch in 1997, 1 of 6 US orbiting space platforms to
	    provide long-term data (15 years) of Earth systems science
	    including planetary evolution.

	o Mercury Observer
	    Possible 1997 launch.

	o Lunar Observer
	    Possible 1997 launch, would be sent into a long-term lunar
	    orbit. The Observer, from 60 miles above the moon's poles, would
	    survey characteristics to provide a global context for the
	    results from the Apollo program.

	o Space Infrared Telescope Facility
	    Possible launch by shuttle in 1999, this is the 4th element of
	    the Great Observatories program. A free-flying observatory with
	    a lifetime of 5 to 10 years, it would observe new comets and
	    other primitive bodies in the outer solar system, study cosmic
	    birth formation of galaxies, stars and planets and distant
	    infrared-emitting galaxies

	o Mars Rover Sample Return (MRSR)
	    Robotics rover would return samples of Mars' atmosphere and
	    surface to Earch for analysis. Possible launch dates: 1996 for
	    imaging orbiter, 2001 for rover.

	o Fire and Ice
	    Possible launch in 2001, will use a gravity assist flyby of
	    Earth in 2003, and use a final gravity assist from Jupiter in
	    2005, where the probe will split into its Fire and Ice
	    components: The Fire probe will journey into the Sun, taking
	    measurements of our star's upper atmosphere until it is
	    vaporized by the intense heat. The Ice probe will head out
	    towards Pluto, reaching the tiny world for study by 2016.


NEXT: FAQ #10/13 - Controversial questions
Archive-name: space/controversy
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:48 $

CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS

    These issues periodically come up with much argument and few facts being
    offered. The summaries below attempt to represent the position on which
    much of the net community has settled. Please DON'T bring them up again
    unless there's something truly new to be discussed. The net can't set
    public policy, that's what your representatives are for.


    WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SATURN V PLANS

    Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints
    have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on
    microfilm.

    The problem in re-creating the Saturn V is not finding the drawings, it
    is finding vendors who can supply mid-1960's vintage hardware (like
    guidance system components), and the fact that the launch pads and VAB
    have been converted to Space Shuttle use, so you have no place to launch
    from.

    By the time you redesign to accommodate available hardware and re-modify
    the launch pads, you may as well have started from scratch with a clean
    sheet design.


    WHY DATA FROM SPACE MISSIONS ISN'T IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE

    Investigators associated with NASA missions are allowed exclusive access
    for one year after the data is obtained in order to give them an
    opportunity to analyze the data and publish results without being
    "scooped" by people uninvolved in the mission. However, NASA frequently
    releases examples (in non-digital form, e.g. photos) to the public early
    in a mission.


    RISKS OF NUCLEAR (RTG) POWER SOURCES FOR SPACE PROBES

    There has been extensive discussion on this topic sparked by attempts to
    block the Galileo and Ulysses launches on grounds of the plutonium
    thermal sources being dangerous. Numerous studies claim that even in
    worst-case scenarios (shuttle explosion during launch, or accidental
    reentry at interplanetary velocities), the risks are extremely small.
    Two interesting data points are (1) The May 1968 loss of two SNAP 19B2
    RTGs, which landed intact in the Pacific Ocean after a Nimbus B weather
    satellite failed to reach orbit. The fuel was recovered after 5 months
    with no release of plutonium. (2) In April 1970, the Apollo 13 lunar
    module reentered the atmosphere and its SNAP 27 RTG heat source, which
    was jettisoned, fell intact into the 20,000 feet deep Tonga Trench in
    the Pacific Ocean. The corrosion resistant materials of the RTG are
    expected to prevent release of the fuel for a period of time equal to 10
    half-lives of the Pu-238 fuel or about 870 years [DOE 1980].

    To make your own informed judgement, some references you may wish to
    pursue are:

    A good review of the technical facts and issues is given by Daniel
    Salisbury in "Radiation Risk and Planetary Exploration-- The RTG
    Controversy," *Planetary Report*, May-June 1987, pages 3-7. Another good
    article, which also reviews the events preceding Galileo's launch,
    "Showdown at Pad 39-B," by Robert G. Nichols, appeared in the November
    1989 issue of *Ad Astra*. (Both magazines are published by pro-space
    organizations, the Planetary Society and the National Space Society
    respectively.)

    Gordon L Chipman, Jr., "Advanced Space Nuclear Systems" (AAS 82-261), in
    *Developing the Space Frontier*, edited by Albert Naumann and Grover
    Alexander, Univelt, 1983, p. 193-213.

    "Hazards from Plutonium Toxicity", by Bernard L. Cohen, Health Physics,
    Vol 32 (may) 1977, page 359-379.

    NUS Corporation, Safety Status Report for the Ulysses Mission: Risk
    Analysis (Book 1). Document number is NUS 5235; there is no GPO #;
    published Jan 31, 1990.

    NASA Office of Space Science and Applications, *Final Environmental
    Impact Statement for the Ulysses Mission (Tier 2)*, (no serial number or
    GPO number, but probably available from NTIS or NASA) June 1990.

    [DOE 1980] U.S.  Department of Energy, *Transuranic Elements in the
    Environment*, Wayne C.  Hanson, editor; DOE Document No.  DOE/TIC-22800;
    Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., April 1980.)


    IMPACT OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE ON THE OZONE LAYER

    From time to time, claims are made that chemicals released from
    the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are responsible
    for a significant amount of damage to the ozone layer. Studies
    indicate that they in reality have only a minute impact, both in
    absolute terms and relative to other chemical sources. The
    remainder of this item is a response from the author of the quoted
    study, Charles Jackman.

    The atmospheric modelling study of the space shuttle effects on the
    stratosphere involved three independent theoretical groups, and was
    organized by Dr. Michael Prather, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space
    Studies.  The three groups involved Michael Prather and Maria Garcia
    (NASA/GISS), Charlie Jackman and Anne Douglass (NASA/Goddard Space
    Flight Center), and Malcolm Ko and Dak Sze (Atmospheric and
    Environmental Research, Inc.).  The effort was to look at the effects
    of the space shuttle and Titan rockets on the stratosphere.

    The following are the estimated sources of stratospheric chlorine:

       Industrial sources:    300,000,000 kilograms/year
	  Natural sources:     75,000,000 kilograms/year
	  Shuttle sources:	  725,000 kilograms/year

    The shuttle source assumes 9 space shuttles and 6 Titan rockets are
    launched yearly. Thus the launches would add less than 0.25% to the
    total stratospheric chlorine sources.

    The effect on ozone is minimal:  global yearly average total ozone would
    be decreased by 0.0065%. This is much less than total ozone variability
    associated with volcanic activity and solar flares.

    The influence of human-made chlorine products on ozone is computed
    by atmospheric model calculations to be a 1% decrease in globally
    averaged ozone between 1980 and 1990. The influence of the space shuttle and
    Titan rockets on the stratosphere is negligible.  The launch
    schedule of the Space Shuttle and Titan rockets would need to be
    increased by over a factor of a hundred in order to have about
    the same effect on ozone as our increases in industrial halocarbons
    do at the present time.

    Theoretical results of this study have been published in _The Space
    Shuttle's Impact on the Stratosphere_, MJ Prather, MM Garcia, AR
    Douglass, CH Jackman, M.K.W. Ko and N.D. Sze, Journal of Geophysical
    Research, 95, 18583-18590, 1990.

    Charles Jackman, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch,
    Code 916, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center,
    Greenbelt, MD  20771

    Also see _Chemical Rockets and the Environment_, A McDonald, R Bennett,
    J Hinshaw, and M Barnes, Aerospace America, May 1991.


    HOW LONG CAN A HUMAN LIVE UNPROTECTED IN SPACE

    If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a
    minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your
    breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to
    watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your
    Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal
    experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no
    immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do
    not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

    Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some
    [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue)
    start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from
    lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes,
    you're dying. The limits are not really known.

    References:

    _The Effect on the Chimpanzee of Rapid Decompression to a Near Vacuum_,
    Alfred G. Koestler ed., NASA CR-329 (Nov 1965).

    _Experimental Animal Decompression to a Near Vacuum Environment_, R.W.
    Bancroft, J.E. Dunn, eds, Report SAM-TR-65-48 (June 1965), USAF School
    of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas.


    HOW THE CHALLENGER ASTRONAUTS DIED

    The Challenger shuttle was not destroyed in an explosion. This is a
    well-documented fact; see the Rogers Commission report, for example.
    What looked like an explosion was fuel burning after the external tank
    came apart.

    The medical/forensic report by Joe Kerwin's team confirmed what was
    already suspected for other reasons: at least some of the crew were not
    only alive, but conscious, for at least a few seconds after the orbiter
    broke up. The forces of the breakup were not violent enough for a high
    probability of lethal injury, and some of the emergency-escape air packs
    had been turned on manually.

    However, unless the cabin held pressure -- which could not be determined
    positively, but seems unlikely -- they almost certainly were unconscious
    within seconds, and did not recover before water impact. They did not
    have oxygen masks (the emergency-escape packs held air, not oxygen, for
    use in pad emergencies) and the cabin apogee was circa 100,000ft.

    The circa 200MPH water impact was most certainly violent enough to kill
    them all. It smashed the cabin so badly that Kerwin's team could not
    determine whether it had held pressure or not. Their bodies then spent
    several weeks underwater. Their remains were recovered, and after the
    Kerwin team examined them, they were sent off to be buried.

    The Kerwin report was discussed in Aviation Week and other sources at
    the time. World Spaceflight News printed the full text.


    USING THE SHUTTLE BEYOND LOW EARTH ORBIT

    You can't use the shuttle orbiter for missions beyond low Earth orbit
    because it can't get there. It is big and heavy and does not carry
    enough fuel, even if you fill part of the cargo bay with tanks.

    Furthermore, it is not particularly sensible to do so, because much of
    that weight is things like wings, which are totally useless except in
    the immediate vicinity of the Earth. The shuttle orbiter is highly
    specialized for travel between Earth's surface and low orbit. Taking it
    higher is enormously costly and wasteful. A much better approach would
    be to use shuttle subsystems to build a specialized high-orbit
    spacecraft.

    [Yet another concise answer by Henry Spencer.]


    THE "FACE ON MARS"

    There really is a big rock on Mars that looks remarkably like a humanoid
    face. It appears in two different frames of Viking Orbiter imagery:
    35A72 (much more facelike in appearance, and the one more often
    published, with the Sun 10 degrees above western horizon) and 70A13
    (with the Sun 27 degrees from the west). The feature, about 2.5 km
    across, is located near 9 degrees longitude, +41 degrees N latitude,
    near the border between region Arabia Terra and region Acidalia
    Planitia.

    Science writer Richard Hoagland has championed the idea that the Face is
    artificial, intended to resemble a human, and erected by an
    extraterrestrial civilization. Most other analysts concede that the
    resemblance is most likely accidental. Other Viking images show a
    smiley-faced crater and a lava flow resembling Kermit the Frog elsewhere
    on Mars. There exists a Mars Anomalies Research Society (sorry, don't
    know the address) to study the Face.

    The Mars Observer mission will carry an extremely high-resolution
    camera, and better images of the formation will hopefully settle this
    question in a few years. In the meantime, speculation about the Face is
    best carried on in the altnet group alt.alien.visitors, not sci.space or
    sci.astro.

    V. DiPeitro and G. Molenaar, *Unusual Martian Surface Features*, Mars
    Research, P.O. Box 284, Glen Dale, Maryland, USA, 1982. $18 by mail.

    R.R. Pozos, *The Face of Mars*, Chicago Review Press, 1986. [Account of
    an interdisciplinary speculative conference Hoagland organized to
    investigate the Face]

    R.C. Hoagland, *The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever*,
    North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, USA, 1987. [Elaborate
    discussion of evidence and speculation that formations near the Face
    form a city]

    M.J. Carlotto, "Digital Imagery Analysis of Unusual Martian Surface
    Features," *Applied Optics*, 27, pp. 1926-1933, 1987. [Extracts
    three-dimensional model for the Face from the 2-D images]

    M.J. Carlotto & M.C. Stein, "A Method of Searching for Artificial
    Objects on Planetary Surfaces," *Journal of the British Interplanetary
    Society*, Vol. 43 no. 5 (May 1990), p.209-216. [Uses a fractal image
    analysis model to guess whether the Face is artificial]

    B. O'Leary, "Analysis of Images of the `Face' on Mars and Possible
    Intelligent Origin," *JBIS*, Vol. 43 no. 5 (May 1990), p. 203-208.
    [Lights Carlotto's model from the two angles and shows it's consistent;
    shows that the Face doesn't look facelike if observed from the surface]


NEXT: FAQ #11/13 - Space activist/interest/research groups & space publications
Archive-name: space/groups
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:50 $

SPACE ACTIVIST/INTEREST/RESEARCH GROUPS AND SPACE PUBLICATIONS

    GROUPS

    AIA -- Aerospace Industry Association. Professional group, with primary
	membership of major aerospace firms. Headquartered in the DC area.
	Acts as the "voice of the aerospace industry" -- and it's opinions
	are usually backed up by reams of analyses and the reputations of
	the firms in AIA.

	    [address needed]

    AIAA -- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
	Professional association, with somewhere about 30,000-40,000
	members. 65 local chapters around the country -- largest chapters
	are DC area (3000 members), LA (2100 members), San Francisco (2000
	members), Seattle/NW (1500), Houston (1200) and Orange County
	(1200), plus student chapters. Not a union, but acts to represent
	aviation and space professionals (engineers, managers, financial
	types) nationwide. Holds over 30 conferences a year on space and
	aviation topics publishes technical Journals (Aerospace Journal,
	Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, etc.), technical reference books
	and is _THE_ source on current aerospace state of the art through
	their published papers and proceedings. Also offers continuing
	education classes on aerospace design. Has over 60 technical
	committees, and over 30 committees for industry standards. AIAA acts
	as a professional society -- offers a centralized resume/jobs
	function, provides classes on job search, offers low-cost health and
	life insurance, and lobbies for appropriate legislation (AIAA was
	one of the major organizations pushing for IRAs - Individual
	Retirement Accounts). Very active public policy arm -- works
	directly with the media, congress and government agencies as a
	legislative liaison and clearinghouse for inquiries about aerospace
	technology technical issues. Reasonably non-partisan, in that they
	represent the industry as a whole, and not a single company,
	organization, or viewpoint.

	Membership $70/yr (student memberships are less).

	American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
	The Aerospace Center
	370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW
	Washington, DC 20077-0820
	(202)-646-7400

    AMSAT - develops small satellites (since the 1960s) for a variety of
	uses by amateur radio enthusiasts. Has various publications,
	supplies QuickTrak satellite tracking software for PC/Mac/Amiga etc.

	Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
	P.O. Box 27
	Washington, DC 20044
	(301)-589-6062

    ASRI (Australian Space Research Institute Ltd, formerly ASERA). An
	Australian non-profit organisation to coordinate, promote, and
	conduct space R&D projects in Australia, involving both Australian
	and international (primarily university) collaborators. Activities
	include the development of sounding rockets, small satellites
	(especially microsatellites), high-altitude research balloons, and
	appropriate payloads. Provides student projects at all levels, and
	is open to any person or organisation interested in participating.
	Publishes a monthly newsletter and a quarterly technical journal.

	Membership $A100 (dual subscription)
	Subscriptions $A25 (newsletter only) $A50 (journal only)

	ASERA Ltd
	PO Box 184
	Ryde, NSW, Australia, 2112
	email: lindley@syd.dit.csiro.au

    BIS - British Interplanetary Society. Probably the oldest pro-space
	group, BIS publishes two excellent journals: _Spaceflight_, covering
	current space activities, and the _Journal of the BIS_, containing
	technical papers on space activities from near-term space probes to
	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.

    ISU - International Space University. ISU is a non-profit international
	graduate-level educational institution dedicated to promoting the
	peaceful exploration and development of space through multi-cultural
	and multi-disciplinary space education and research. For further
	information on ISU's summer session program or Permanent Campus
	activities please send messages to 'information@isu.isunet.edu' or
	contact the ISU Executive Offices at:

	International Space University
	955 Massachusetts Avenue 7th Floor
	Cambridge, MA 02139
	(617)-354-1987 (phone)
	(617)-354-7666 (fax)

    L-5 Society (defunct). Founded by Keith and Carolyn Henson in 1975 to
	advocate space colonization. Its major success was in preventing US
	participation in the UN "Moon Treaty" in the late 1970s. Merged with
	the National Space Institute in 1987, forming the National Space
	Society.

    NSC - National Space Club. Open for general membership, but not well
	known at all. Primarily comprised of professionals in aerospace
	industry. Acts as information conduit and social gathering group.
	Active in DC, with a chapter in LA. Monthly meetings with invited
	speakers who are "heavy hitters" in the field. Annual "Outlook on
	Space" conference is _the_ definitive source of data on government
	annual planning for space programs. Cheap membership (approx
	$20/yr).

	    [address needed]

    NSS - the National Space Society. NSS is a pro-space group distinguished
	by its network of local chapters. Supports a general agenda of space
	development and man-in-space, including the NASA space station.
	Publishes _Ad Astra_, a monthly glossy magazine, and runs Shuttle
	launch tours and Space Hotline telephone services. A major sponsor
	of the annual space development conference. Associated with
	Spacecause and Spacepac, political lobbying organizations.

	Membership $20 (youth/senior) $35 (regular).

	National Space Society
	Membership Department
	922 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
	Washington, DC 20003-2140
	(202)-543-1900

    Planetary Society - founded by Carl Sagan. The largest space advocacy
	group. Publishes _Planetary Report_, a monthly glossy, and has
	supported SETI hardware development financially. Agenda is primarily
	support of space science, recently amended to include an
	international manned mission to Mars.

	The Planetary Society
	65 North Catalina Avenue
	Pasadena, CA 91106

	Membership $35/year (ask about the unadvertised student rate).

    SSI - the Space Studies Institute, founded by Dr. Gerard O'Neill.
	Physicist Freeman Dyson took over the Presidency of SSI after
	O'Neill's death in 1992. Publishes _SSI Update_, a bimonthly
	newsletter describing work-in-progress. Conducts a research program
	including mass-drivers, lunar mining processes and simulants,
	composites from lunar materials, solar power satellites. Runs the
	biennial Princeton Conference on Space Manufacturing.

	Membership $25/year. Senior Associates ($100/year and up) fund most
	    SSI research.

	Space Studies Institute
	258 Rosedale Road
	PO Box 82
	Princeton, NJ 08540

    SEDS - Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Founded in
	1980 at MIT and Princeton. SEDS is a chapter-based pro-space
	organization at high schools and universities around the world.
	Entirely student run. Each chapter is independent and coordinates
	its own local activities. Nationally, SEDS runs a scholarship
	competition, design contests, and holds an annual international
	conference and meeting in late summer.

	Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
	MIT Room W20-445
	77 Massachusetts Avenue
	Cambridge, MA  02139
	(617)-253-8897
	email: odyssey@athena.mit.edu

	Dues determined by local chapter.

    SPACECAUSE -  A political lobbying organization and part of the NSS
	Family of Organizations. Publishes a bi-monthly newsletter,
	Spacecause News. Annual dues is $25. Members also receive a discount
	on _The Space Activist's Handbook_. Activities to support pro-space
	legislation include meeting with political leaders and interacting
	with legislative staff. Spacecause primarily operates in the
	legislative process.

	National Office			West Coast Office
	Spacecause			Spacecause
	922 Pennsylvania Ave. SE	3435 Ocean Park Blvd.
	Washington, D.C. 20003		Suite 201-S
	(202)-543-1900			Santa Monica, CA 90405

    SPACEPAC - A political action committee and part of the NSS Family of
	Organizations. Spacepac researches issues, policies, and candidates.
	Each year, updates _The Space Activist's Handbook_. Current Handbook
	price is $25. While Spacepac does not have a membership, it does
	have regional contacts to coordinate local activity. Spacepac
	primarily operates in the election process, contributing money and
	volunteers to pro-space candidates.

	Spacepac
	922 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
	Washington, DC 20003
	(202)-543-1900

    UNITED STATES SPACE FOUNDATION - a public, non-profit organization
	supported by member donations and dedicated to promoting
	international education, understanding and support of space. The
	group hosts an annual conference for teachers and others interested
	in education. Other projects include developing lesson plans that
	use space to teach other basic skills such as reading. Publishes
	"Spacewatch," a monthly B&W glossy magazine of USSF events and
	general space news. Annual dues:

		Charter		$50 ($100 first year)
		Individual	$35
		Teacher		$29
		College student $20
		HS/Jr. High	$10
		Elementary	 $5
		Founder &     $1000+
		    Life Member

	United States Space Foundation
	PO Box 1838
	Colorado Springs, CO 80901
	(719)-550-1000

    WORLD SPACE FOUNDATION - has been designing and building a solar-sail
    spacecraft for longer than any similar group; many JPL employees lend
    their talents to this project. WSF also provides partial funding for the
    Palomar Sky Survey, an extremely successful search for near-Earth
    asteroids. Publishes *Foundation News* and *Foundation Astronautics
    Notebook*, each a quarterly 4-8 page newsletter. Contributing Associate,
    minimum of $15/year (but more money always welcome to support projects).

	World Space Foundation
	Post Office Box Y
	South Pasadena, California 91301


    PUBLICATIONS

    Aerospace Daily (McGraw-Hill)
	Very good coverage of aerospace and space issues. Approx. $1400/yr.

    Air & Space / Smithsonian (bimonthly magazine) - A glossy magazine,
	generally light reading; the emphasis is much more on aviation than
	on space. Contains information about all events at the National Air
	& Space Museum.

	Box 53261
	Boulder, CO 80332-3261
	$18/year US, $24/year international

    Aviation Week & Space Technology - weekly aerospace trade, emphasis on
	aeronautics but usually has several space-related articles. Rates
	depend on whether you're "qualified" or not, which basically means
	whether you look at the ads for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or
	out of genuine commercial or military interest. Best write for a
	"qualification card" and try to get the cheap rate.

	1221 Ave. of the Americas,
	New York NY 10020
	(800)-525-5003 (International (609)426-7070)
	$82/year US (qualified)
	About $50 if you qualify for the unadvertised student subscription
	    rate - I (Jon Leech) got this rate by begging and pleading to a
	    McGraw-Hill representative at the SIGGRAPH '92 conference.

    ESA - The European Space Agency publishes a variety of periodicals,
	generally available free of charge. A document describing them in
	more detail is in the Ames SPACE archive in
	pub/SPACE/FAQ/ESAPublications.

    Final Frontier (mass-market bimonthly magazine) - history, book reviews,
	general-interest articles (e.g. "The 7 Wonders of the Solar System",
	"Everything you always wanted to know about military space
	programs", etc.)

	Final Frontier Publishing Co.
	PO Box 534
	Mt. Morris, IL 61054-7852
	$14.95/year US, $19.95 Canada, $23.95 elsewhere

    Space News (weekly magazine) - covers US civil and military space
	programs. Said to have good political and business but spotty
	technical coverage.

	Space News
	Springfield VA 22159-0500
	(703)-642-7330
	$75/year, student rate ~$49. May have discounts for NSS/SSI members

    Journal of the Astronautical Sciences and Space Times - publications of
	the American Astronautical Society. No details.

	AAS Business Office
	6352 Rolling Mill Place, Suite #102
	Springfield, VA 22152
	(703)-866-0020

    GPS World (semi-monthly) - reports on current and new uses of GPS, news
	and analysis of the system and policies affecting it, and technical
	and product issues shaping GPS applications.

	GPS World
	859 Willamette St.
	P.O. Box 10460
	Eugene, OR 97440-2460
	(503)-343-1200

	Free to qualified individuals; write for free sample copy.

    Innovation (Space Technology) -- Free. Published by the NASA Office of
	Advanced Concepts and Technology. A revised version of the NASA
	Office of Commercial Programs newsletter.

    Planetary Encounter - in-depth technical coverage of planetary missions,
	with diagrams, lists of experiments, interviews with people directly
	involved.
    World Spaceflight News - in-depth technical coverage of near-Earth
	spaceflight. Mostly covers the shuttle: payload manifests, activity
	schedules, and post-mission assessment reports for every mission.

	Henry Spencer comments: WSN and PE have recently (mid-92) mutated
	into much more expensive weekly newsletters, filled mostly with
	stuff that's already available to most sci.space readers in
	sci.space.news. There is still interesting content at times, but the
	signal/noise and benefit/cost ratios have deteriorated pretty badly.
	I can no longer recommend them.

	Box 98
	Sewell, NJ 08080
	$30/year US/Canada
	$45/year elsewhere

    Space (bi-monthly magazine)
	British aerospace trade journal. Very good. $75/year.

    Space Calendar (weekly newsletter)

    Space Daily/Space Fax Daily  (newsletter)
	Short (1 paragraph) news notes. Available online for a fee
	(unknown).

    Space Technology Investor/Commercial Space News -- irregular Internet
	column on aspects of commercial space business. Free. Also limited
	fax and paper edition.

	    P.O. Box 2452
	    Seal Beach, CA 90740-1452.

    All the following are published by:

	Phillips Business Information, Inc.
	7811 Montrose Road
	Potomac, MC 20854

	Aerospace Financial News - $595/year.
	Defense Daily - Very good coverage of space and defense issues.
	    $1395/year.
	Space Business News (bi-weekly) - Very good overview of space
	    business activities. $497/year.
	Space Exploration Technology (bi-weekly) - $495/year.
	Space Station News (bi-weekly) - $497/year.

    UNDOCUMENTED GROUPS

	Anyone who would care to write up descriptions of the following
	groups (or others not mentioned) for inclusion in the answer is
	encouraged to do so.

	AAS - American Astronautical Society
	Other groups not mentioned above

NEXT: FAQ #12/13 - How to become an astronaut
Archive-name: space/astronaut
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:44 $

HOW TO BECOME AN ASTRONAUT

    First the short form, authored by Henry Spencer, then an official NASA
    announcement.

    Q. How do I become an astronaut?

    A. We will assume you mean a NASA astronaut, since it's probably
    impossible for a non-Russian to get into the cosmonaut corps (paying
    passengers are not professional cosmonauts), and the other nations have
    so few astronauts (and fly even fewer) that you're better off hoping to
    win a lottery. Becoming a shuttle pilot requires lots of fast-jet
    experience, which means a military flying career; forget that unless you
    want to do it anyway. So you want to become a shuttle "mission
    specialist".

    If you aren't a US citizen, become one; that is a must.  After that,
    the crucial thing to remember is that the demand for such jobs vastly
    exceeds the supply.  NASA's problem is not finding qualified people,
    but thinning the lineup down to manageable length.	It is not enough
    to be qualified; you must avoid being *dis*qualified for any reason,
    many of them in principle quite irrelevant to the job.

    Get a Ph.D.  Specialize in something that involves getting your hands
    dirty with equipment, not just paper and pencil.  Forget computer
    programming entirely; it will be done from the ground for the fore-
    seeable future.  Degree(s) in one field plus work experience in
    another seems to be a frequent winner.

    Be in good physical condition, with good eyesight.	(DO NOT get a
    radial keratomy or similar hack to improve your vision; nobody knows
    what sudden pressure changes would do to RKed eyes, and long-term
    effects are poorly understood.  For that matter, avoid any other
    significant medical unknowns.)  If you can pass a jet-pilot physical,
    you should be okay; if you can't, your chances are poor.

    Practise public speaking, and be conservative and conformist in
    appearance and actions; you've got a tough selling job ahead, trying
    to convince a cautious, conservative selection committee that you
    are better than hundreds of other applicants.  (And, also, that you
    will be a credit to NASA after you are hired:  public relations is
    a significant part of the job, and NASA's image is very prim and
    proper.)  The image you want is squeaky-clean workaholic yuppie.
    Remember also that you will need a security clearance at some point,
    and Security considers everybody guilty until proven innocent.
    Keep your nose clean.

    Get a pilot's license and make flying your number one hobby;
    experienced pilots are known to be favored even for non-pilot jobs.

    Work for NASA; of 45 astronauts selected between 1984 and 1988,
    43 were military or NASA employees, and the remaining two were
    a NASA consultant and Mae Jemison (the first black female astronaut).
    If you apply from outside NASA and miss, but they offer you a job
    at NASA, ***TAKE IT***; sometimes in the past this has meant "you
    do look interesting but we want to know you a bit better first".

    Think space:  they want highly motivated people, so lose no chance
    to demonstrate motivation.

    Keep trying.  Many astronauts didn't make it the first time.




    NASA
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
    Houston, Texas

    Announcement for Mission Specialist and Pilot Astronaut Candidates
    ==================================================================

    Astronaut Candidate Program
    ---------------------------

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a need for
    Pilot Astronaut Candidates and Mission Specialist Astronaut Candidates
    to support the Space Shuttle Program. NASA is now accepting on a
    continuous basis and plans to select astronaut candidates as needed.

    Persons from both the civilian sector and the military services will be
    considered.

    All positions are located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in
    Houston, Texas, and will involved a 1-year training and evaluation
    program.

    Space Shuttle Program Description
    ---------------------------------

    The numerous successful flights of the Space Shuttle have demonstrated
    that operation and experimental investigations in space are becoming
    routine. The Space Shuttle Orbiter is launched into, and maneuvers in
    the Earth orbit performing missions lastling up to 30 days. It then
    returns to earth and is ready for another flight with payloads and
    flight crew.

    The Orbiter performs a variety of orbital missions including deployment
    and retrieval of satellites, service of existing satellites, operation
    of specialized laboratories (astronomy, earth sciences, materials
    processing, manufacturing), and other operations. These missions will
    eventually include the development and servicing of a permanent space
    station. The Orbiter also provides a staging capability for using higher
    orbits than can be achieved by the Orbiter itself. Users of the Space
    Shuttle's capabilities are both domestic and foreign and include
    government agencies and private industries.

    The crew normally consists of five people - the commander, the pilot,
    and three mission specialists. On occasion additional crew members are
    assigned. The commander, pilot, and mission specialists are NASA
    astronauts.

    Pilot Astronaut

    Pilot astronauts server as both Space Shuttle commanders and pilots.
    During flight the commander has onboard responsibility for the vehicle,
    crew, mission success and safety in flight. The pilot assists the
    commander in controlling and operating the vehicle. In addition, the
    pilot may assist in the deployment and retrieval of satellites utilizing
    the remote manipulator system, in extra-vehicular activities, and other
    payload operations.

    Mission Specialist Astronaut

    Mission specialist astronauts, working with the commander and pilot,
    have overall responsibility for the coordination of Shuttle operations
    in the areas of crew activity planning, consumables usage, and
    experiment and payload operations. Mission specialists are required to
    have a detailed knowledge of Shuttle systems, as well as detailed
    knowledge of the operational characteristics, mission requirements and
    objectives, and supporting systems and equipment for each of the
    experiments to be conducted on their assigned missions. Mission
    specialists will perform extra-vehicular activities, payload handling
    using the remote manipulator system, and perform or assist in specific
    experimental operations.

    Astronaut Candidate Program
    ===========================

    Basic Qualification Requirements
    --------------------------------

    Applicants MUST meet the following minimum requirements prior to
    submitting an application.

    Mission Specialist Astronaut Candidate:

    1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering,
    biological science, physical science or mathematics. Degree must be
    followed by at least three years of related progressively responsible,
    professional experience. An advanced degree is desirable and may be
    substituted for part or all of the experience requirement (master's
    degree = 1 year, doctoral degree = 3 years). Quality of academic
    preparation is important.

    2. Ability to pass a NASA class II space physical, which is similar to a
    civilian or military class II flight physical and includes the following
    specific standards:

	 Distant visual acuity:
	      20/150 or better uncorrected,
	      correctable to 20/20, each eye.

	 Blood pressure:
	      140/90 measured in sitting position.

    3. Height between 58.5 and 76 inches.

    Pilot Astronaut Candidate:

    1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering,
    biological science, physical science or mathematics. Degree must be
    followed by at least three years of related progressively responsible,
    professional experience. An advanced degree is desirable. Quality of
    academic preparation is important.

    2. At least 1000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. Flight
    test experience highly desirable.

    3. Ability to pass a NASA Class I space physical which is similar to a
    military or civilian Class I flight physical and includes the following
    specific standards:

	 Distant visual acuity:
	      20/50 or better uncorrected
	      correctable to 20/20, each eye.

	 Blood pressure:
	      140/90 measured in sitting position.

    4. Height between 64 and 76 inches.

    Citizenship Requirements

    Applications for the Astronaut Candidate Program must be citizens of
    the United States.

    Note on Academic Requirements

    Applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must meet the basic
    education requirements for NASA engineering and scientific positions --
    specifically: successful completion of standard professional curriculum
    in an accredited college or university leading to at least a bachelor's
    degree with major study in an appropriate field of engineering,
    biological science, physical science, or mathematics.

      The following degree fields, while related to engineering and the
    sciences, are not considered qualifying:
      - Degrees in technology (Engineering Technology, Aviation Technology,
	Medical Technology, etc.)
      - Degrees in Psychology (except for Clinical Psychology, Physiological
	Psychology, or Experimental Psychology which are qualifying).
      - Degrees in Nursing.
      - Degrees in social sciences (Geography, Anthropology, Archaeology, etc.)
      - Degrees in Aviation, Aviation Management or similar fields.

    Application Procedures
    ----------------------

    Civilian

    The application package may be obtained by writing to:

	NASA Johnson Space Center
	Astronaut Selection Office
	ATTN: AHX
	Houston, TX 77058

    Civilian applications will be accepted on a continuous basis. When NASA
    decides to select additional astronaut candidates, consideration will be
    given only to those applications on hand on the date of decision is
    made. Applications received after that date will be retained and
    considered for the next selection. Applicants will be notified annually
    of the opportunity to update their applications and to indicate
    continued interest in being considered for the program. Those applicants
    who do not update their applications annually will be dropped from
    consideration, and their applications will not be retained. After the
    preliminary screening of applications, additional information may be
    requested for some applicants, and person listed on the application as
    supervisors and references may be contacted.

    Active Duty Military

    Active duty military personnel must submit applications to their
    respective military service and not directly to NASA. Application
    procedures will be disseminated by each service.

    Selection
    ---------

    Personal interviews and thorough medical evaluations will be required
    for both civilian and military applicants under final consideration.
    Once final selections have been made, all applicants who were considered
    will be notified of the outcome of the process.

    Selection rosters established through this process may be used for the
    selection of additional candidates during a one year period following
    their establishment.

    General Program Requirements

    Selected applicants will be designated Astronaut Candidates and will be
    assigned to the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center, Houston,
    Texas. The astronaut candidates will undergo a 1 year training and
    evaluation period during which time they will be assigned technical or
    scientific responsibilities allowing them to contribute substantially to
    ongoing programs. They will also participate in the basic astronaut
    training program which is designed to develop the knowledge and skills
    required for formal mission training upon selection for a flight. Pilot
    astronaut candidates will maintain proficiency in NASA aircraft during
    their candidate period.

    Applicants should be aware that selection as an astronaut candidate does
    not insure selection as an astronaut. Final selection as an astronaut
    will depend on satisfactory completion of the 1 year training and
    evaluation period. Civilian candidates who successfully complete the
    training and evaluation and are selected as astronauts will become
    permanent Federal employees and will be expected to remain with NASA for
    a period of at least five years. Civilian candidates who are not
    selected as astronauts may be placed in other positions within NASA
    depending upon Agency requirements and manpower constraints at that
    time. Successful military candidates will be detailed to NASA for a
    specified tour of duty.

    NASA has an affirmative action program goal of having qualified
    minorities and women among those qualified as astronaut candidates.
    Therefore, qualified minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

    Pay and Benefits
    ----------------

    Civilians

    Salaries for civilian astronaut candidates are based on the Federal
    Governments General Schedule pay scales for grades GS-11 through GS-14,
    and are set in accordance with each individuals academic achievements
    and experience.

    Other benefits include vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan, and
    participation in group health and life insurance plans.

    Military

    Selected military personnel will be detailed to the Johnson Space Center
    but will remain in an active duty status for pay, benefits, leave, and
    other similar military matters.


NEXT: FAQ #13/13 - Orbital and Planetary Launch Services
Archive-name: space/launchers
Last-modified: $Date: 93/08/01 23:53:53 $

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.
Some prices come from Wales Larrison (wales.larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org).

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.


Vehicle        |     Payload  kg  (lbs)   |  Reliability  | Price
(nation)       |  LEO	   Polar    GTO   |		  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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      1100 - 1350  (2300 - 3000)		     $???
	      [400 km orbit ??? inclination]

Lockheed Launch Vehicle
Lockheed has announced three versions of the LLV, all small rockets
using Castor 120 motors.  Multiple contracts have been signed and
first launch is scheduled for 1994.  I don't have payload and
price figures handy but they are publicly available.


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.  I didn't get around to adding it
to the FAQ for several months, so some of it is a bit stale.
The asterisk marks 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 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.
   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.
   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.
*  Space Launch Vehicle (SLV) (South Africa) - Small all-solid
	       launcher.  Rumored being readied for 1995 orbital
	       launch.	Cost unknown.  Several large solid motor
	       test firings, most recent on 12 October.
	       [I believe that as of 7-93 this project was no
	       longer operating -JBH]
*  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]
