HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: PHARABOD@FRCPN11.IN2P3.FR
Subject: Fireball over The Netherlands Wasn't
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 12:40:12 GMT

From "New Scientist", 29 August 1992:
METEORITE SHAKES DUTCH PROVINCE
Govert Schilling, Utrecht
  Two-and-a-half years after a meteorite crashed through the roof of a
house near the Dutch town of Enschede, another much bigger meteorite
has exploded over the Netherlands. Last Wednesday evening, people in
the northern province of Friesland heard a loud bang and felt tremors,
which set doors and windows rattling.
  With the recent earthquake in the southern part of the Netherlands
fresh in their minds, more than a hundred people called the police.
Others called the Dutch Air Force base in Leeuwarden, thinking its
planes might be taking part in some exercise.
  According to Henk Haak, head of the seismological department of the
Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute in De Bilt, seismic stations near
the town of Assen, to the east of Friesland, registered the passing of
an acoustic shock wave, which ruled out an earthquake. And nor were
any jets flying at the time of the explosion.
  Although the sky was almost entirely obscured by cloud, at least 10
people reported seeing a huge flash or fireball, strengthening the
case for a meteorite. Niek de Kort of the Dutch Meteorite Documentation
Center says the best explanation is the explosion of a large, rather
porous stony meteorite, measuring about a meter across, which exploded
at a height of about 10 kilometers, less than a second before it would
have hit the ground near the town of Joure.
  "This was probably a scaled-down version of the large Tunguska
explosion in Siberia, back in 1908", says de Kort. Most astronomers
think that the Tunguska event was caused by the impact of a chunk of
cometary material. De Kort is pessimistic about retrieving any material
from the Dutch meteorite, which would probably have vaporised during
the explosion.
(end of article)
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

According to Harm Munk (Mon, 31 Aug 1992 07:42:08 GMT), experts in
the Netherlands don't believe any longer in a meteorite, but think it
was a supersonic bang, though no known jet was in the area. This doesn't
explain the "huge flash or fireball". I suggest two other explanations:
1) Somebody (hoaxer or amateur scientist) launched a rather big home-made
rocket, which exploded at rather high altitude (over or inside the
clouds).
2) An air-air or air-ground missile escaped accidentally from a military
jet, and had to be destroyed on flight.

J. Pharabod
From: roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Shuttle seen from air
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:32:36 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology
	formerly National Bureau of Standards


-From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
-Subject: Re: Need GIF (JPG, whatever) of Shuttle Landing
-Date: 26 Aug 92 18:44:05 GMT

-In article <26AUG199212415150@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> afwendy@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (WENDY WARTNICK) writes:
->wouldn't it be cool if NASA or the Air Force or someone would send up some 
->sort of high altitude/space chase plane for cool space shots...

-I've seen a photo of a shuttle launch seen from the air, from the Shuttle
-training aircraft I think.

NASA Select occasionally replays Shuttle launches as seen from the air
(helicopters?), and sometimes video shot out the side of the Shuttle
(ground dropping away).

Of course, video doesn't generally make great still pictures.

John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov

Xref: sparky sci.space:12425 sci.astro:9443
From: roberts@CMR.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Roberts)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: What happened to Viking?
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:58:54 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology
	formerly National Bureau of Standards


-From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
-Subject: Re: What happened to Viking?
-Date: 21 Aug 92 22:27:39 GMT
-Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

-In article <1992Aug20.233734.691@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>
-burris@ennex1.eng.utsa.edu (John Burris) writes:
->I heard through the grapevine that someone sent a bogus signal to it which  
->turned the antenna away from Earth, resulting in LOS.

-That was Voyager II (briefly).

The way I heard it was that the last lander still running was given a
command that effectively translated as "point antenna at ground and wait
for next command from Earth".

Since then, NASA's gotten considerably better at the use of safe modes
and watchdog timers. (For instance, Magellan might have only 1% coverage
rather than 97% without such protection.)

John Roberts
roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov

Newsgroups: sci.space
From: ruca@pinkie.saber-si.pt (Rui Sousa)
Subject: Re: Inflatable Space Stations - Why Not ?
Organization: SABER - Sistemas de Informacao, Lda.
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 09:42:48 GMT
	<BtwzCC.852@news.orst.edu>

In article <BtwzCC.852@news.orst.edu> katzr@ucs.orst.edu (Russell Katz) writes:

   This is a bit related to the topic...I think.

   I have read in several sf stories about using the shuttle main tanks as 
   modules for space habitats...just having the shuttle carry the tank with it
   into orbit.  Some authors stated that it would not take any extra fuel(??)
   to do so.

   Any of you experts out there have an answer as to why NASA doesn't use the
   tanks as at least a temporary habitation?

---

I'm NOT an expert but I've read some of those sf stories and they seemed great (particularly David Brin's "Tank Farm Dynamo").
I've also read NASA is spending some money on a feseability study of putting a small booster under the shuttle ET to give it the extra push into orbit. Then, after parking some ET's in LEO, they could be sold or used by NASA.

Rui
-- 
*** Infinity is at hand!                               Rui Sousa
*** If yours is big enough, grab it!                   ruca@saber-si.pt

                All opinions expressed here are strictly my own
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu (Doug Mohney)
Subject: Re: Saturn class (Was: SPS feasibility and other space
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 15:10:58 GMT
Organization: Computer Aided Design Lab, U. of Maryland College Park
Reply-To: sysmgr@king.eng.umd.edu

In article <1992Aug25.210314.14787@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>In article <BtJutG.CA3@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh 'K' Hopkins) writes:
>
>>I think Nick is right
>>in saying that HLVs have no commercial relevance in this decade.
>
>SS Freedom construction and supply IS a viable commercial market for 
>HLVs this decade.

It is NOT commercial. It is not a market. It is a monopoly subject to the whims
of the Federal Government. 


                 Support U.N. military force against Serbia

  -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Sizing of launch vehicles (was Saturn Class)
X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest
Organization: [via International Space University]
Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Distribution: sci
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 11:26:45 GMT

> programs are under different associate administrators).  The Space
> Station has mandated from the beginning that they will use the  
Space
> Shuttle for delivery, so the question never was asked.
> 


Dani:

As you are no doubt aware, it is being asked now. Goldin has a team  
looking at all the options, including heavy lift and high inclination  
orbits (which could utilize Energiya & allow joint ops with the  
russians). Maybe it's just another study and then again, maybe it  
ain't...
From: leem@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (Lee Mellinger)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: TOPEX, demise of SEASAT & nuclear sub wakes
Keywords: TOPEX
Date: 3 Sep 92 18:51:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: jpl-devv.1992Sep3.185114.26852
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)

In article <1992Aug29.133659.9062@samba.oit.unc.edu> cecil@physics.unc.edu (Gerald Cecil) writes:
:I think that the accepted explanation of its failure after only a few weeks wa 
:a chip burnout, remarkable that there was no redundancy.) Have sub props been 
:modified?  Does anyone have further details on the demise of SEASAT?
:-- 
:Gerald Cecil  cecil@wrath.physics.unc.edu  919-962-7169

The official cause of the failure was metal particles shorting across
the solar panel power slip rings causing a massive and nearly
instantaneous power failure.

Lee

"Mit Pulver und Blei, die Gedanken sind frei."

|Lee F. Mellinger                 Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA
|4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 818/354-1163  FTS 792-1163     
|leem@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV
From: bwallet@apssgi.nswc.navy.mil (Brad Wallet)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: What is the speed of light measured from?
Date: 2 Sep 92 15:43:30 GMT
Organization: Naval Surface Warfare Center

In article <1992Sep2.153142.7358@unocal.com>, stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini) writes:
|> In article <2SEP199204264283@reg.triumf.ca> vincent@reg.triumf.ca (pete) writes:
|> >Neglecting the engineering problems of high speed travel through an
|> >imperfect vacuum, you can travel light centuries in subjective
|> >hours if you accelerate long enough. If you arrive at the Andromeda
|> >galaxy 2 weeks after leaving earth, you could be justified in
|> >thinking you travelled faster than c. It's just that the rest of 
|> >the universe will have aged 2x10^8 years.
|> 
|> No. You would not feel you are going faaster, but the universe got smaller
|> and slower.  These are stardard result of Special Relativity.


Bare with me a second because I am not a physicist.  Why can't it be said
that the frame containing the Earth was moving relative to the traveller's
frame.  If this is the case, the traveller would age more than the Earth.

-------------------------------------------------
Brad Wallet                 Mathematician
bwallet@relay.nswc.navy.mil Naval Surface Warfare Center
(703)663-4950               (AVN)249-4950
DSMAC - "Tomahawk's Eyes"
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Inflatable Space Stations - Why Not ?
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 23:02:08 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <1992Aug21.135325.18668@ornl.gov> geg@ornl.gov (GILES JR G E) writes:
>The LEO environment contains lots of trash.  Thin skins might not
>survive in this environment.

This is a problem whether the thin skins are inflatable or not.  It does
seem to be a manageable problem, however, for either form.
-- 
There is nothing wrong with making      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
Xref: sparky sci.space:12386 news.answers:2749
From: jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Josh 'K' Hopkins)
Subject: Re: Saturn class (Was: SPS feasibility and other space
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:46:59 GMT

Allen said...

>>>SS Freedom construction and supply IS a viable commercial market for 
>>>HLVs this decade.

I said ...
>>How do you figure?  

Allen said ...

>See the Soyuz thread. We can use Atlas/Soyuz for crew rotation and
>one of the Zenith Star launchers for supply.

>Don't worry, I'm not going to mutate the Soyuz thread here. If you didn't
>see the details, I am going to do a writeup on them for my next column 

I did indeed miss most of the Soyuz thread as I was incommunicado all summer,
so I apologise if I'm the questions I ask have already been covered.

1)  Accepting Soyuz (so we don't restart the thread), Freedom still requires
either a return of thrusters to Earth for refueling, or a decision not to 
reuse them, or a redesign.  Which did you have in mind?

2) Accepting that industry is the best choice for resupply (which I think it 
is), how do you plan to use an HLV?   The baseline plans I've seen put Ariane 5
at about the right size, and if you increase the payload, you decrease the 
number of flights to the point where I begin to wonder if it's commercially
viable.  Maybe we need to agree on a definition of Heavy Lift.

-- 
Josh Hopkins                    Friends don't let friends derive drunk
		     j-hopkins@uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: dominop@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Philippos A. Peleties)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Spot Images Corp and EOSAT addresses
Date: 25 Aug 92 18:01:13 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network


I would appreciate it if anyone out there could e-mail me the complete
address (FAX+phone) of Spot Images Corporation (Reston, VA?) and EOSAT
(the company who's marketing EOSAT satellite pictures.)

Thanks in advance


Philip Peleties
-- 


I speak for myself, I think for myself, I work for myself ... but I don't want
to play by myself ... so bring your toys and let's share ...
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Venus orbiters
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 07:07:16 GMT

In article <rabjab.39.0@golem.ucsd.edu>, rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof) writes...
>Is the Pioneer Venus orbiter still functioning?  

Yup, but it is running out of propellent and is due to burn up in the
atmosphere of Venus this December.

>Besides Magellan,
>what other spacecraft (Russian?) may be still functional?

Here's a list of deep space spacecraft that are still operating.

   Pioneer 6, 7 & 8 (solar orbit)
   Pioneer Venus
   Pioneer 10 & 11 (left the solar system)
   Voyager 1 & 2 (left the solar system)
   Hiten (lunar orbit)
   Giotto (solar orbit)
   Ulysses (on its way to pass "underneath" the Sun)
   Galileo (coming back for a Earth gravity assist and then on to Jupiter)
   Sakigake (solar orbit)
   Suisei (solar orbit)
   ICE (solar orbit)

Strangely enough, the Soviets don't have any spacecraft still operating.  
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | 

Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro
From: cecil@physics.unc.edu (Gerald Cecil)
Subject: Re: Chase planes (was Re: Need GIF (JPG, whate
Reply-To: cecil@physics.unc.edu
Organization: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:30:04 GMT

In article 15567@cs.wisc.edu, harlan@oberon.cs.wisc.edu (Harlan Harris) writes:
>In article <26AUG199212415150@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> afwendy@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (WENDY WARTNICK) writes:
>>
>>wouldn't it be cool if NASA or the Air Force or someone would send up some 
>>sort of high altitude/space chase plane for cool space shots
>I seem to remember that in the first few flights they did have some sort of
>chase planes. I don't recall if they had them during the actual launch,
The video Seven Days in Space (excellent) has shots of the launch from a chase
plane -- spectacular! The video is a composite of several pre-Challenger launches.
---
Gerald Cecil cecil@wrath.physics.unc.edu  919-962-7169 
Physics & Astronomy, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 USA
From: rcs@CS.ARIZONA.EDU ("Richard Schroeppel")
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: farthest Laser signal
Date: 4 Sep 92 18:12:54 GMT

>   To date, what is the farthest that a laser has been seen from?

>   Manmade transmitter, manmade receiver, confirmation of receipt,
    of a Laser (optical maser) signal.  What is the maximum confirmed
    link distance of said system?

Whether this fits your definition is borderline:  The signals bounced
off the lunar retro-reflectors traveled about 500,000 miles.
Some possible objections:
(1) Not used for communications, but to measure the distance.
(2) The mirror midway in the path.
(3) The distance between the send & receive points was zero.
(4) The amount of signal received was 10^-x of the original;
    calling the received signal a laser is a stretch.
(4a) The detection of the few photons received may have depended
     on having a phase reference from the source.

Note that radar signals have been bounced off Venus, and were
actually used for some mapping.  I don't know if they exactly
fit your definition either; wrong wavelength band, and I'm
not sure if they were coherent.

Assuming the purpose of your question is to consider "How feasible
are lasers for high bandwidth, semi-private, space communication?",
the moon reflection experiments provide an interesting lower bound.
The experiment requires a big laser (high power) at the transmitter,
and a big telescope (> 1 meter mirror) to receive the faint return.
On the other hand, the tiny lunar reflector loses you a factor
of > 10^6 in returned power.  The signal power delivered to the
moon is spread over something like a Km^2.  Although the returned
bit-rate at the earth is < 1 bit/second, the one-way bandwidth
should be excellent, maybe even GHz.

Rich Schroeppel  rcs@cs.arizona.edu

Newsgroups: sci.space
From: kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu (Kieran A. Carroll)
Subject: Re: With telepresence, who needs people in Earth orbit?
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:09:02 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <1992Sep3.142820.19532@techbook.com> szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo) writes:
>...Telepresence, automated extraction and processing tech,
>and the like are quite important for future space development, as well
>as being the most ripe for spin-offs in Earthside industries.
>
>While space activists and NASA neglect these critical fields,
>the most important such work is still going on down here on Earth,
>in areas from medicine to oil to cable-laying.

Actually, as far as I can tell (and I work in this field), 
most of the research money spent in these areas in the last
5 years or so has come from NASA, leading to a true renaissance
in these fields.
 
-- 

     Kieran A. Carroll @ U of Toronto Aerospace Institute
     uunet!attcan!utzoo!kcarroll kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: benz@calspan.com (Dave Benz)
Subject: Space Industries International
Keywords: who are they
Organization: Calspan Advanced Technology Center
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 16:17:36 GMT

Yesterday Arvin Industries (big worldwide manufacturer of automotive
parts and related products) announced that they have signed a letter
of intenet with Space Industries International (of Houston) to combine
Space Industries with Arvin's Calspan - Advanced Technology Division.
The new company will retain the Space Industries International Inc. name.

I'm looking for some info on Space Industries International.  Are
you guys on internet?  Could some one point me to some info on who
Space Industries is and what they do.  Articles in trade rags,
newspapers, etc.



thanks,
dave

=====
Dave Benz		benz@calspan.com
Arvin/Calspan Advanced Technology Center
P.O. Box 400   Buffalo, NY 14225
Disclaimer: All you've read are my own thoughts, opinions, words,
interpretations, misinterpretations, etc.  I do not speak for Arvin, 
I do not speak for Calspan, I do not like green eggs and ham. 




Newsgroups: sci.space
From: rbw3q@helga9.acc.Virginia.EDU (Robert B. Whitehurst)
Subject: Re: What is the speed of light measured from?
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 13:36:21 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.130555.7676@spuddy.uucp> spark@spuddy.uucp (Steve) writes:
>
>OK. Someone can perhaps clear this little nagging thought in my head.
>
>I haven't done any relativity, or any complicated physics, so please
>keep it simple.
>
...[asks about invariance of speed of light]
>Where is the speed of light measured relative to?
>
>Steve
>
Steve, 
	As other posts in answer discuss, the speed of light (in a
given media) is invariant.  However, its direction of travel and
source speed relative to the observer DOES affect its frequency.  I'm
sure you have heard sirens rise and fall in pitch as they approach and
leave you.  That is the Doppler effect, and light does the same.  The
light is blue- or red-shifted if the source and you are approaching or
leaving each other.  Astronauts traveling very near light speed would
see a very strange star field, with the stars in front shining blue
(or even UV, or X-ray if you are fast enough) and the ones behind
showing red.  Weird stuff indeed!

-- 

Brad Whitehurst    |   Aerospace Research Lab
rbw3q@Virginia.EDU |   We like it hot...and fast.
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: fred@iapetus.earth.nwu.edu (Fred Marton)
Subject: Re: Apollo Video Clips
Organization: Geological Sciences Department, Northwestern University
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:17:10 GMT

In article <27AUG199211290242@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov> afwendy@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (WENDY WARTNICK) writes:
>>In article <17h3qoINNloo@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM> wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM writes:
>>>The famous feather and hammer trick is on the PBS special "For All Mankind".
>> 
>
>pardon my ignorance...what ARE we talking about?
>
>			wendy

"For All Mankind" is a documentary on the Apollo program.  It's unique in that
all the images and words are from NASA, i.e., astronaut-shot footage and
their reactions, explanations, etc..  It also has a score by Brian Eno
(if memory serves).  

fred
 
 *****************************************************************************
 **   F. Cung Marton              **    "You're looking at me as if this    **
 **   fred@earth.nwu.edu          **    weren't a scientific explanation."  **
 **   Dept. of Geological Sci.    **            -- Linus Van Pelt           **
 **   Northwestern University     **                                        **
 *****************************************************************************