| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 880.1 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 12/17/93 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Dec 21 1993 12:33 | 41 |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, December 17, 1993
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
_____________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: OPF Bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: early April CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Remove STS-61 down payloads and payload support equipment
* Thermal protection system post-flight inspections
* Main engine post-flight checks
* Post-landing inspections
* Star tracker post-flight inspections
WORK SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK:
* TACAN system tests
* Forward reaction control system helium tank vent
* Close payload bay doors
* Drag chute hardware removal
* Remove main landing gear wheels and tires
* Orbiter power down for holidays
WORK COMPLETED:
* Post-mission propellant deservicing
* Access to orbiter crew compartment and engine compartment
* Preparations to remove STS-61 payload from orbiter
* Removal of waste collection system
* Hydraulic power up operations
* Chin panel inspections
* Main propulsion system testing
|
| 880.2 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 01/05/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Thu Jan 06 1994 12:31 | 24 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 1994
KSC Contact: Lisa Malone
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LAB-1
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 miles
LOCATION: OPF bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH DATE: Early April CREW SIZE: 6
LANDING LOCATION: KSC MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Removal of the three main engines
* Functional tests of the forward reaction control system
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Inspections of the hydraulic system
WORK COMPLETED:
* Removed heat shields
* Tested the radar altimeter
* Inspected the radiators
|
| 880.3 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 01/10/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Jan 11 1994 17:11 | 33 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Monday, January 10, 1994
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
_____________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: OPF Bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: early April CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Master events controller initiator verifications
* Aft helium tank vent and trickle purge activations
* Waste management post flight servicing
* Fuel cell single cell voltage tests
* Space Radar Lab move from work stand to CITE stand in
Operations and Checkout Building
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Post mission propellant deservicing
* Main propulsion system leak and functional tests
WORK COMPLETED:
* Removal of all 3 main engines
* Remove and replace right hand inboard elevon actuator
* Forward reaction control system thruster checkout
* Removal of drag chute hardware
|
| 880.4 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 01/28/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Mon Jan 31 1994 20:41 | 26 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, Jan. 28, 1994
KSC Contact: Lisa Malone 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LAB-1
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 miles
LOCATION: OPF bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH DATE: Early April CREW SIZE: 6
LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Installation of the left orbital maneuvering system pod
* Testing the power reactant storage and distribution system
* Tile waterproofing
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Install right orbital maneuvering system pod next week
WORK COMPLETED:
* Stacked the right aft center booster segment in the VAB
|
| 880.5 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 02/11/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Fri Feb 11 1994 16:38 | 29 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, Feb. 11, 1994
KSC Contact: Lisa Malone 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LAB-1
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 miles
LOCATION: OPF bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH DATE: Early April CREW SIZE: 6
LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Installation of the right orbital maneuvering system pod
* Thruster flushing and drying operations
* Premate test of the orbiter connections to the payload
* Leak checks and servicing of the fluids and gas lines
* Servicing the potable water system
* Preparations to stack the left aft center segment in the VAB
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Install main engines next week
WORK COMPLETED:
* Completed functional test of the crew module hatch
|
| 880.6 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 02/15/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Feb 15 1994 21:32 | 37 |
| _______________________________________________________________
| |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT |
| Tuesday, February 15, 1994 |
|_______________________________________________________________|
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
_____________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: OPF Bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: early April CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Closeout and clean payload bay in preparation for installation
of Space Radar Laboratory
* Right hand orbital maneuvering system pod verifications
* Thruster washing and inspections
* Transfer Space Radar Laboratory payload to OPF
* Stacking of solid rocket boosters in VAB high bay 3
* Deliver Space Radar Laboratory to Orbiter Processing Facility
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Install Space Radar Laboratory into orbiter
* Orbiter window inspections
WORK COMPLETED:
* Payload premate testing, service kit installation and checkout
|
| 880.7 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 02/18/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Mon Feb 21 1994 20:57 | 35 |
| _______________________________________________________________
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, February 18, 1994
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: OPF Bay 1 INCLINATION: 57 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: early April CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours
IN WORK TODAY:
* Install main engines
* Orbiter window inspections
* Water spray boiler checkouts
* Stacking of solid rocket boosters in VAB high bay 3
WORK SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK:
* Payload electrical connections and interface verifications
* Crew equipment interface test (CEIT)
* Main propulsion system verifications
* Main engine securing and heat shield installation
WORK COMPLETED:
* Verifications of reaction control system mates
|
| 880.8 | Crew List | TROOA::SKLEIN | Nulli Secundus | Sun Mar 06 1994 14:56 | 11 |
| The crew list for this flight is:
STS 59 - Endeavour (6)
- SRL-1 (Space Radar Laboratory)
- Commander: Sidney Gutierrez (2)
- Pilot: Kevin Chilton (2)
- PC/MS1: Linda Godwin (2)
- FE/MS2: Jay Apt (3)
- MS3: Thomas Jones+
- MS4: Michael Clifford (2)
|
| 880.9 | SAREX Fact Sheet | JVERNE::KLAES | Be Here Now | Tue Mar 22 1994 20:36 | 183 |
| Article: 5430
Subject: * SpaceNews 21-Mar-94 *
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 10:40:38 MST
From: John Magliacane <kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com>
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.space,sci.space.news,rec.radio.info
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0321
* SpaceNews 21-Mar-94 *
BID: $SPC0321
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY MARCH 21, 1994
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is
published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution.
* SAREX FACT SHEET - STS-59 *
=============================
WHO: Space Shuttle Endeavour crew
WHAT: Talk via Amateur Radio with students on earth.
WHERE: Earth Orbit. 57 degrees inclination. Altitude 220 kilometers.
WHEN: April 7, 1994 (9 day mission)
WHY: As part of the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX)
component of the STS-59 mission.
LAUNCH: Scheduled for April 7, 1994 at 1207 UTC from the Kennedy Space
Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
AMATEUR RADIO
LICENSED CREW
MEMBERS: Dr. Jay Apt, N5QWL, Mission Specialist
Dr. Linda Godwin, N5RAX, Payload Commander
PAYLOAD: Primary Payload--Shuttle Radar Laboratory 1 (SRL-1). Apt is
the commander of the Blue Shift and will operate the shuttle
systems during the "night" shift, while Godwin is responsible
for overall operation of three large radars in the shuttle's
cargo bay during the "day" shift.
Secondary Payload--Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment or SAREX,
configuration C.
SPONSORS: The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), The Radio Amateur
Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). SAREX is supported by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
SAREX RADIO
FREQUENCIES:Voice Downlink: (Worldwide) 145.55 MHz [Receive Only]
Voice Uplink: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97,
144.99 MHz
Voice Uplink: (Europe only) 144.70, 144.75,
144.80 MHz
Packet Downlink: 145.55 MHz
Packet Uplink: 144.49 MHz
HAM RADIO FM Voice: call signs N5RAX and N5QWL
CALL SIGNS: FM Packet: call sign W5RRR-1
QSL VIA: Send reports and QSLs to ARRL EAD, STS-59 QSL, 225 Main Street,
Newington, CT 06111, USA. Include the following information in
your QSL or report: STS-59, date, time in UTC, frequency and
mode (FM voice or packet). In addition, you must also include
an SASE using a large, business-sized envelope if you wish to
receive a card. The Orange Park Amateur Radio Club in Florida
has generously volunteered to manage the cards for this mission.
INFORMATION:Goddard Amateur Radio Club (Greenbelt, MD) Amateur Radio station
(call sign WA3NAN) news and retransmissions on Amateur Radio
high frequency (HF) bands at 3.86, 7.185, 14.295, 21.395, and
28.65 megahertz (MHz) and on very high frequency (VHF) bands at
147.45 MHz.
Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club (Houston, TX) Amateur
Radio station (call sign W5RRR) news bulletins on HF bands at
3.850, 7.227, 14.280, 21.350, and 28.400 MHz and VHF at 146.64
MHz.
ARRL (Newington, CT) Amateur Radio station (call sign W1AW) news
bulletins (9:45 PM, 12:45 AM EST) on HF bands at 3.99, 7.29,
14.29, 18.16, 21.39, 28.59 and VHF at 147.555 MHz.
SHUTTLE
TRACKING: Current Keplerian elements to track the Shuttle are available
from the NASA Spacelink computer information system BBS (205)
895-0028 and the ARRL BBS (203) 666-0578.
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION:Tracy Bedlack, N1QDO, Educational Activities Department,
American Radio Relay League 203-666-1541 email: ead@arrl.org
SAREX configuration C consists of the handheld transceiver, I/F module,
PGSC, spare battery set, window antenna, packet module, SAREX headset
assembly, personal recorder, and the required cable assemblies. The packet]
module contains a power supply and packet TNC. The power supply provides
power for the TNC and the handheld transceiver. The TNC interconnects with
a radio transceiver so that data to and from the computer is transmitted to
and received from other amateur radio stations.
Configuration C is capable of operating in either the voice or data mode in
communications with amateur stations within LOS of the Orbiter. This
configuration can be operated in the attended mode for voice communication
and either the attended or automatic mode for data communications.
The payload control weights are as follows:
Configuration C 45 lb (20.41 kg)
STS-59 Keplerian elements for a 1207 UTC launch:
STS-59
1 00059U 94097.56425350 .00234441 00000-0 12190-3 0 55
2 00059 57.0018 277.1957 0008733 268.0585 91.9530 16.19594525 26
Satellite: STS-59
Catalog number: 00059
Epoch time: 94097.56425350 = (07 APR 94 13:32:31.50 UTC)
Element set: 005
Inclination: 57.0018 deg
RA of node: 277.1957 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-59
Eccentricity: .0008733 Prelaunch Element set JSC-005
Arg of perigee: 268.0585 deg Launch: 07 APR 94 12:07 UTC
Mean anomaly: 91.9530 deg
Mean motion: 16.19594525 rev/day Gil Carman, WA5NOM
Decay rate: 2.34441e-03 rev/day*2 NASA Johnson Space Center
Epoch rev: 2
Checksum: 307
[Info via the ARRL]
* FO-20 SCHEDULE *
==================
The FO-20 command station announced that FO-20 will be placed in Mode JA
(Analog transponder mode) during Field Day 1994 (25-Jun-94 18:00 UTC through
26-Jun-94 18:00 UTC).
The current operating schedule is as follows:
Analog mode:
23-Mar-94 07:52 -to- 30-Mar-94 08:15 UTC
Digital mode: Unless otherwise noted above.
[Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK]
* THANKS! *
===========
Thanks for all the messages of appreciation sent to SpaceNews this week
especially:
IW1QH KZ1Z VK2TFG AD4HJ KD4VGD KD6DSI G8MWF Erik Simonsen
Nihat Tsolak
* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any
of the following paths:
FAX : 1-908-747-7107
PACKET : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.ocpt.ccur.com -or- kd2bd@amsat.org
MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD
Department of Engineering and Technology
Advanced Technology Center
Brookdale Community College
Lincroft, New Jersey 07738
U.S.A.
<<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>
--
John A. Magliacane, KD2BD * /\/\ * Voice : 1-908-224-2948
Advanced Technology Center |/\/\/\| Packet : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA
Brookdale Community College |\/\/\/| Internet: kd2bd@ka2qhd.ocpt.ccur.com
Lincroft, NJ 07738 * \/\/ * Morse : -.- -.. ..--- -... -..
|
| 880.10 | SIR-C/X-SAR and Internet | JVERNE::KLAES | Be Here Now | Wed Mar 23 1994 14:59 | 63 |
| Article: 10134
From: Admin@ccmail.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (JPL Public Information)
Newsgroups: sci.geo.geology,sci.edu
Subject: SIR-C/X-SAR mission and the net
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 00:47:15 GMT
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/
X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SIR-C/X-SAR)
Since the late 1970s, a variety of NASA satellite missions have used
imaging radar to study Earth and our planetary neighbors. The joint
U.S./German/Italian Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is the next step in that program.
SIR-C/X-SAR will fly aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in April and
August 1994 as part of the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL). The April
mission is STS-59, scheduled for launch April 7. These are two of at
least three planned flights.
The SIR-C/X-SAR mission is a major technical step forward in the
evolution of spaceborne imaging radar. It is the first spaceborne
radar system that will simultaneously acquire images at multiple
wavelengths and polarizations.
An international team of 49 science investigators and three associates
will conduct the SIR-C/X-SAR experiments. A dozen nations are represented,
including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
NASA and the German and Italian space agencies -- Deutsche Agentur
fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA) and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
(ASI) -- will attempt to release some radar images to the press during
the shuttle flight. If this proves feasible, the images will be
processed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
and at the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) in
Oberpfaffenhoefen, Germany, and sent electronically to NASA's Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas, where the images will be released on
NASA Television.
The images will also be available on the JPL Info public access
computer site. Information such as the fact sheet from which this
information was extracted and images of the SIR-C/X-SAR hardware are
already on the site. It may be accessed:
-- Via Internet using anonymous ftp to jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov
(137.78.104.2).
-- By modem over commercial telephone lines to
+1 (818) 354-1333 (parameters N-8-1, up to 14.4 kbps).
Questions about the SIR-C/X-SAR mission may be sent to JPL by
electronic mail to the Internet address newsdesk@jpl.nasa.gov. During
the flight, questions will be able to be forwarded to the SIR-C/X-SAR
operations team.
-- JPL Public Information Office
newsdesk.jpl.nasa.gov
-- Tom Farr
SIR-C real-time science contact
|
| 880.11 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 03/28/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Mar 29 1994 23:02 | 44 |
| SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Monday, March 28, 1994
George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center
STS-59
Vehicle: OV-105/Endeavour Mission number: STS-59
Location: Pad 39-A Orbital altitude: 138 sm
Primary payload: Space Radar Laboratory Inclination: 57 degrees
Launch date: April 7 8:07 a.m. EDT Landing: KSC April 17
Mission Duration: 9+1 days Crew size: 6
STS-59 IN WORK TODAY:
- MSBLS system electronic box reinstallation
- orbiter hydraulic system testing
- thruster wash/dry
- installation of SRB thermal curtains
- launch countdown preparations in Firing Room 1
STS-59 WORK SCHEDULED:
- begin orbiter aft closeouts (midnight tonight)
- aft compartment confidence test (Tuesday)
- avionics bay closeouts (Tuesday)
- install contingency EVA spacesuits (Tuesday)
- load mass memory units (Tuesday)
- begin installation of flight crew equipment (Tuesday)
- ordnance work/hypergolic tank pressurization (Wednesday)
- external tank purges (Thursday)
- Space Radar Laboratory battery charging (Friday)
STS-59 WORK COMPLETED:
- hypergolic loading for orbital maneuvering system/auxiliary
power units, SRB hydraulic power units
|
| 880.12 | TUFI - New tiles | JVERNE::KLAES | Be Here Now | Fri Apr 01 1994 13:27 | 84 |
| Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 09:41:07 +0500 (EST)
From: Jim Brown <ZF_JBROWN@SCSU.SCSU.EDU>
To: Planetarian's Digest <dome-l@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: IMPROVED SHUTTLE TILE TO FLY ON STS-59
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9403310907.A23761-d100000@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
3/30/94: IMPROVED SHUTTLE TILE TO FLY ON STS-59
Charles Redmond
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. March, 1994
Jane Hutchison
Ames Research Center, Calif.
RELEASE: 94-54
A new thermal protection tile developed at NASA's Ames
Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., for the Space Shuttle may
prove more efficient and less costly than tiles currently being used.
The new tile is known as Toughened Uni-Piece Fibrous
Insulation (TUFI). A low-density composite thermal insulation, it will
undergo its first flight test on next month's STS-59 mission. Several
TUFI tiles have been placed on the Space Shuttle Endeavour's base heat
shield, between the 3 main engines. NASA and Rockwell International
technicians will look at how well TUFIs resist impact damage. If all
goes as planned, there will be "significantly less" damage, Dr. Daniel
Leiser of AmesU Thermal Protection Materials Branch said. TUFI is an
advanced version of the material that protects the Space Shuttle from
the intense heat that builds up as the Shuttle orbiter re-enters
Earth's atmosphere.
"TUFI has several times the damage resistance of the standard
system," said Leiser. "Based on successful flight tests, the use of TUFI
may lead to a significant reduction in the labor costs of refurbishment."
Leiser said NASA officials are looking for a tile material
that "can reduce the repair time required between flights." TUFI
represents "quite an improvement" over the current thermal protection
tiles, he said.
TUFI is the first of a new type of composites known as
"functional gradient materials." In these composites, the density of
the material varies from high at the outer surfaces to low in the
interior insulation. It "represents a whole different way of making
these materials," Leiser said.
The current tiles are a rigid glass fiber composite and are
about 93 percent air, with a thin glass coating that sits on top. The
reaction-cured glass (RCG) coating is physically much like window
glass and is only about 12/1000ths of an inch thick.
"The problem with an RCG-coated tile is that the coating gets
little support from the underlying tile," Leiser said. "So when it
gets hit with a rock or something, it cracks or chips."
Unlike RCG, TUFI permeates the pores nearer the surface of the
insulation material. This supports and reinforces the outer surface,
which makes the surface material less subject to impact damage. The
outside has a relatively high density, with an increasingly lower
density within the insulation.
Since TUFI is porous, the pores actually stop cracks from
spreading. When an RCG-coated tile is hit, a crack spreads from the
impact site much like what happens to window glass. If a TUFI-coated
tile is hit, however, the damage is much more limited. The result is
a small dent where the tile was hit. Since the damage is limited, the
tiles are easier to patch.
TUFI has been certified for 6 Shuttle flights, on all 4
orbiters. "I'm convinced it's going to work very well," Leiser said.
"We've got a lot of data that says this material will work extremely well."
If the tests are successful, Leiser said TUFI may be used to
replace tiles in specific, limited areas of the orbiter susceptible to
significant impact damage. These might include the base heat shield
between the engines, near the landing gear doors and near the
thrusters used for orbital maneuvering.
Ames' thermal protection team also has developed several other
improved thermal protection materials for the Space Shuttle. Among
them is the flexible ceramic thermal protection "quilt" that covers
the top of the Shuttle.
|
| 880.13 | Great acronym! | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Fri Apr 01 1994 16:42 | 4 |
| Someone must have thought long and hard to come up with words that would form
that acronym, TUFI!
I hope the dish-washing-pad people (Tuffy) don't sue them :-)
|
| 880.14 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 03/31/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Fri Apr 01 1994 21:56 | 75 |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Thursday, March 31, 1994
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
_____________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: Pad 39A INCLINATION: 57 degrees
LAUNCH DATE: April 7 CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH TIME: 8:07 a.m. EDT WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes
KSC LANDING DATE: April 16
LANDING TIME: 1:14 p.m. EDT
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours/7 minutes (+ 1 day)
NOTE: The countdown for mission STS-59 is scheduled to begin at
11 a.m. EDT Monday, April 4 for a planned liftoff at 8:07 a.m.
Thursday, April 7. Considered in the schedule is the option to
launch Endeavour as much as an hour earlier (7:07 a.m.). This
alternative will be implemented the day prior to launch day if
mission managers judge the weather may not be acceptable at 8:07
but could be acceptable earlier.
IN WORK TODAY:
* Thruster washing
* Checkout contingency spacesuits and airlock closeouts
* Aft engine compartment closeouts
* Test landing gear anti skid electronics
* Launch countdown preparations
* External tank purges
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Crew arrival (8 a.m. EDT Monday, April 4)
* Countdown begins (11 a.m. Monday)
WORK COMPLETED:
* Ordnance installation
* Hypergolic reactant pressurization
* Preparations for prelaunch hypergolic propellant operations
* Microwave scanning beam landing system tests
* Prelaunch hypergolic propellant load
MISSION: STS-65 -- International Microgravity Laboratory - 2
_______________________________________________________________
VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 184 sm
LOCATION: OPF bay 2 INCLINATION: 28.45 degrees
TARGET LAUNCH PERIOD: early July CREW SIZE: 7
APPROX. LAUNCH TIME: early afternoon LANDING LOCATION: KSC
MISSION DURATION: 13 days/18 hours LAUNCH WINDOW: 2 hours
IN WORK:
* Remove remote manipulator system
* Forward reaction control system functional checkout
* Checkout auxiliary power unit no. 3
* Orbital maneuvering system functional and checkout operations
* Water spray boiler leak and functional tests
* Install inertial measurement units
* Power reactant storage and distribution system checks
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Main propulsion system leak and functional tests
WORK COMPLETED:
* Auxiliary power unit and hypergolic deservice operations
|
| 880.15 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 04/01/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Mon Apr 04 1994 23:34 | 52 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, April 1, 1994
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY
_____________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: Pad 39A INCLINATION: 57 degrees
LAUNCH DATE: April 7 CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH TIME: 8:07 a.m. EDT WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes
KSC LANDING DATE: April 16
LANDING TIME: 1:14 p.m. EDT
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours/7 minutes (+ 1 day)
NOTE: The countdown for mission STS-59 is scheduled to begin at
11 a.m. EDT Monday, April 4 for a planned liftoff at 8:07 a.m.
Thursday, April 7. Considered in the schedule is the option to
launch Endeavour as much as an hour earlier (7:07 a.m.). This
alternative will be implemented the day prior to launch day if
mission managers judge the weather may not be acceptable at 8:07
but could be acceptable earlier.
Also, the crew is scheduled to arrive at KSC at 8 a.m. (EDT)
Monday.
IN WORK TODAY:
* Aft engine compartment closeouts
* Launch countdown preparations
* Airlock seal checks and closeouts
* SRL battery charging
WORK SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK:
* Crew arrival (8 a.m. EDT Monday, April 4)
* Countdown begins (11 a.m. Monday at the T-43 hour mark)
* Complete aft closeouts and perform aft confidence test
WORK COMPLETED:
* Thruster washing
* Checkout contingency spacesuits
* Test landing gear anti skid electronics
* External tank purges
* Hydraulic accumulator retests
|
| 880.16 | Possible one day delay | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 05 1994 14:00 | 12 |
| News reports this morning point to a possible launch delay. Worn parts were
found in a oxidizer (preburner) turbopump from a recently flown engine.
Inspections on Endeavour's current engines are underway to assure that the
problem does not exist there as well.
- dave
p.s. In case you are wondering, I haven't posted the press kit because I
have yet to obtain the source for it. Spacelink has been a nightmare to
access and the alternate Usenet source is also quiet. I will keep trying.
|
| 880.17 | Endeavour launch delayed one day | JVERNE::KLAES | Be Here Now | Tue Apr 05 1994 15:01 | 169 |
| Article: 3892
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.local.florida,clari.tw.space
Subject: Endeavour Readies For Mission
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 94 9:20:10 PDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- They've been cramming for more than
a year, poring over atlases and traversing the world to get ready
for this down-to-Earth space shuttle mission.
After completing what amounts to a college geography degree, six
astronauts bound for orbit this week say they should have no
trouble finding and photographing some of Earth's most
environmentally sensitive locales.
While the astronauts take pictures from 138 miles above, the
Amazon River, the Andes, the Alps, Patagonia, the Galapagos
Islands, the Sahara desert, Death Valley and other sites will be
scanned by what NASA says is the most sophisticated radar ever sent
into space for environmental purposes.
At the same time, hundreds of scientists and graduate students
will act as ``truth squads,'' measuring the vegetation, soil
moisture, snow, water and weather conditions at 19 ``supersites''
so NASA can compare the findings.
Endeavour is due to blast off Thursday on the nine-day flight,
part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, an ongoing program to study
the home planet from space. The countdown was scheduled to begin Monday.
``Our planet is unexplored in many regions, and we lack firm
numbers on what's going on in the ecosphere,'' said astronaut
Thomas Jones, a planetary scientist and former CIA engineer.
To remedy this, NASA is taking techniques used to explore other
planets, like the Magellan probe's radar mapping of Venus, and
applying them to Earth to learn ``what's going on in this world so
we can make the right decisions about how to live on it properly,''
Jones said.
Endeavour is loaded with $366 million worth of radar equipment
provided by the United States, Germany and Italy, an $8 million air
pollution monitor, 14 cameras and hundreds of rolls of film and
digital tapes.
It will be a picture-taker's paradise.
The astronauts plan to take up to 14,000 pictures of more than
400 spots on Earth (but primarily the 19 supersites) to supplement
the radar imaging. They expect to map 5 percent of Earth's surface.
``The exciting part of the mission is the geography aspect,''
said pilot Kevin Chilton. ``I can sit for hours with an atlas. ...
I particularly like to fantasize what it would be like to visit the
various countries and lands around the world, places I know I'll
never get to in this lifetime. So it's neat to be able to fly over
them and photograph and image them.''
The radar equipment is an upgraded version of what's flown
before on space shuttles and civilian satellites. The main
objective of this mission is to see how well the radar works and
whether it eventually could fly on a satellite for continuous Earth
mapping.
A bus-size radar antenna aboard Endeavour will transmit pulses
of microwave energy toward Earth in three frequencies, or
wavelengths, and measure the amount of energy reflected back. The
radar waves can penetrate clouds, volcanic dust, vegetation, ice
and dry sand.
The mission is expected to yield 32 trillion bits of radar data,
or the equivalent of 20,000 encyclopedia volumes. Fifty-two
scientists in 13 countries will use the resulting images to better
understand Earth's changing environment, in particular
deforestation, soil erosion, flooding, snow distribution, volcanic
eruptions, earthquake faults and ocean currents.
If the radar performs as expected, scientists will get a peek at
how much vegetation is left beneath the treetops and canopies of
the rain forests. And historians may get clues to past
civilizations; the radar will survey the Sahara for ancient river
drainages and scan Oman for more details about what's believed to
be the lost city of Ubar, uncovered a few years ago by shuttle
radar and other spacecraft sensors.
NASA plans to fly the radar instruments on Endeavour again in
August to observe Earth's environment in a different season. Jones
is to fly on that mission, too, to provide continuity.
Article: 3894
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (Reuter/Beth Dickey)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.local.florida,clari.news.top
Subject: Engine Problems Delay Space Shuttle Launch
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 94 16:40:28 PDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuter) - NASA officials stopped the
countdown for the space shuttle Endeavour Monday and ordered a
safety inspection of the ship's engines.
Problems in a shuttle fuel pump being repaired at Rocketdyne
in Canoga Park, California prompted the space agency to stop the
countdown.
``It'll only be 24 hours (delay) if everything goes real
smooth,'' National Aeronautics and Space Administration
spokeswoman June Malone told Reuters in a telephone interview
from Huntsville, Alabama.
Huntsville is home to the Marshall Space Flight Center,
which manages the shuttle engine program.
Six astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Monday to
get ready for their liftoff. NASA began a three-day launch
countdown at 11 a.m. EDT, but stopped the clocks six hours later.
Malone said a routine inspection revealed some parts of a
turbopump were weak and prone to cracks. If they cracked an
explosion could occur.
She said officials wanted to make sure Endeavour's pumps did
not share the flaw.
The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its
January 28 1986 launch. The deaths of the seven crew members and
the loss of the ship was blamed on the failur of O-ringers
sealing the booster rocket's joints.
Kennedy engineers were scheduled to insert a boroscope, a
tiny camera on a long cable, into each of the shuttle's three
engines overnight Monday.
Malone said officials expect to know by noon Tuesday whether
Endeavour would need repairs or the countdown could resume.
Once launched, the 62nd shuttle mission will study ``how
radar can help us solve problems in ecology, hydrology,
oceanography and geology,'' said NASA scientist Miriam Baltuck.
The ultimate goal is to discern which environmental changes are
natural and which are caused by humans.
The crew of five men and one woman plan to spend nine or 10
days working with Endeavour's $413 million cargo, the Space Radar
Laboratory, bouncing radar beams off the continents and oceans.
The astronauts will train the shuttle's two imaging radars
on forests, deserts, marshes, snow-capped mountains, volcanoes
and open seas. The signals will bounce back to Endeavour's radar
antenna, relaying data such as the temperature, soil moisture,
and amount of volcanic ash in the air.
Tape recorders will store the information, though some will
be transmitted back to scientists for immediate study.
Nineteen locations from California's Death Valley to Kerang,
Australia, have been labeled as special targets. Germany and
Italy collaborated on one of the radars and scientists from 13
nations will be involved in the studies.
Article: 3895
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.local.florida
Subject: Space Shuttle Launch Delayed
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 94 22:20:10 PDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA postponed this week's launch of
space shuttle Endeavour to check the main engines for a defect that
could cause a catastrophic explosion.
Endeavour is now scheduled to blast off Friday, one day late,
provided today's inspection uncovers no problems. The delay was
announced Monday, just hours after the countdown began for
Thursday's launch.
If the inspection finds anything suspicious or is inconclusive,
a more detailed check will be made, delaying liftoff about a week, NASA
said. Replacing a pump or an entire engine would take several weeks.
A routine inspection of an oxidizer pump in California late last
week uncovered a defective metal strip in a pressurization line,
NASA said. One of the 11 small strips that direct the flow of
liquid oxygen through the pump was pointed instead of rounded.
Engineers fear the pointed shape could cause the strip to crack
and send metal chips into the pump. That could lead to an engine
shutdown -- which would require an emergency landing -- or even an
explosion that could destroy the shuttle.
An inspection of 14 other pumps turned up another one with a
pointed strip, NASA spokeswoman June Malone said. The first pump
with the bad part had flown in space several times; the second one
had never flown, Malone said. No cracks were found in either, she said.
Tests of Endeavour's pumps in past months found no evidence of
cracking, NASA said.
The main engines are made by Rockwell International's Rocketdyne
division of Los Angeles.
Endeavour is now due to blast off at 8:06 a.m. with a crew of
six and the most sophisticated radar equipment ever built for
environmental monitoring from space.
The $366 million radar instruments will scan rocks in Death
Valley, forests in North Carolina and Michigan, waterways in
Oklahoma and other environmentally sensitive sites so that
scientists can learn more about changes in the Earth.
|
| 880.18 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 04/05/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 05 1994 21:26 | 109 |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Tuesday, April 5, 1994
LAUNCH MINUS 3 DAYS
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY - 1
_________________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: Pad 39A INCLINATION: 57 degrees
LAUNCH DATE: April 8 CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH TIME: 8:06 a.m. EDT WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: April 17/1:13 p.m.
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours/7 minutes (+ 1 day)
NOTE: The countdown for mission STS-59 is currently holding at
T-27 hours as a result of yesterday's decision by mission
management to make additional inspections on Endeavour's three
main engines. The decision to perform the borescope inspections
on the engines, specifically the high pressure oxidizer turbo
pumps, was as a result of engineers at Canoga Park, Calif.,
discovering smaller than permittable vanes, or stationary guides,
in the preburner that directs the flow of the liquid oxygen
through the pump. Managers will be meeting again today to discuss
the results of the inspections.
Because of this decision, the launch of Endeavour was moved
from Thursday to Friday, April 8. The two-and-half-hour window
opens at 8:06 a.m. (Remaining in the schedule is the option to
launch Endeavour as much as an hour earlier at 7:06 a.m. This
alternative will be implemented the day prior to launch day if
mission managers judge the weather may not be acceptable at 8:06
but could be acceptable earlier.)
The forecast indicates a 60 percent probability of weather
prohibiting launch on Friday with the primary concerns being for
low ceilings and winds exceeding runway crosswind limits.
IN WORK TODAY:
* Countdown at T-27 hours and holding
* Continue inspections of main engine's high pressure oxidizer
turbo pumps
* Verification of shuttle power on system, data processing and
flight control systems
* Preparations to load onboard cryogenic reactants
* Awaiting final results from engine analysis
WORK SCHEDULED:
* Pyrotechnic initiator controller (PIC) tests
* Load cryogenic reactants into onboard power reactant storage
and distribution system tanks (8 a.m. Wednesday)
* Retract rotating service structure (11 a.m. Thursday)
* External tank loading operations (11:46 p.m. Thursday)
_______________________________________________________
SUMMARY OF HOLDS AND HOLD TIMES FOR STS-59
_______________________________________________________
T-TIME ------- LENGTH OF HOLD ---- HOLD BEGINS --- HOLD ENDS
T-27 hours --- 28 hours --------- 3 am Tues.------ 7 am Wed.
T-19 hours --- 4 hours ---------- 3 pm Wed.------- 7 pm Wed.
T-11 hours --- 14 hrs.,46 mins. - 3 am Thurs.----- 5:46 pm Thurs.
T-6 hours ---- 1 hour ---------- 10:46 pm Thurs.- 11:46 pm Thurs.
T-3 hours ---- 2 hours ---------- 2:46 am Fri.---- 4:46 am Fri.
T-20 minutes - 10 minutes ------- 7:26 am Fri.---- 7:36 am Fri.
T-9 minutes -- 10 minutes ------- 7:47 am Fri.---- 7:57 am Fri.
________________________________________
CREW FOR MISSION FOR STS-59
________________________________________
Commander (CDR): Sidney M. Gutierrez (Red team)
Pilot (PLT): Kevin P. Chilton (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS1): Jerome (Jay) Apt (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS2): Michael R. (Rich) Clifford (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS3): Linda M. Godwin (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS4): Thomas D. Jones (Blue team)
__________________________________________________
SUMMARY OF STS-59 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES
__________________________________________________
Thursday, April 7, 1994
6:00 p.m. Wake up (Blue team)
6:30 p.m. Breakfast (Blue team)
6:30 p.m. Sleep (Red team)
11:30 p.m. Lunch (Blue team)
Friday, April 8, 1994
2:30 a.m. Wake up (Red team)
3:00 a.m. Breakfast (Red team)
3:41 a.m. Dinner (Blue team)
4:11 a.m. Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2)
4:11 a.m. Don flight equipment (MS1, MS3, MS4)
4:21 a.m. Don flight equipment (CDR, PLT, MS2)
4:51 a.m. Depart for launch pad 39A
5:21 a.m. Arrive at white room and begin ingress
6:36 a.m. Close crew hatch
8:06 a.m. Launch
|
| 880.19 | | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 05 1994 21:27 | 4 |
| Press kit source in hand... I should have it formatted before launch. :-)
- dave
|
| 880.20 | Press Kit Available | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Wed Apr 06 1994 14:23 | 20 |
| A *very* rough version of the STS-59 press kit is available:
Cool-hypertext version:
http://www-space.lkg.dec.com/nasa/hypertext/sts-59/pk-index.html
... or visit the archives: http://www-space.lkg.dec.com/space-archives.html
Olde-fashioned DECnet way:
pragma::public:[nasa]sts-59.ps (13 pages, 110kb)
There's still a LOT of formatting left to do and the source document was pretty
poor quality (lost information, etc.). I hope to have a nicer paper version
done over the weekend.
- dave
|
| 880.21 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 04/06/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Wed Apr 06 1994 22:32 | 91 |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY - 1
% VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
% LOCATION: Pad 39A INCLINATION: 57 degrees
% LAUNCH DATE: April 8 CREW SIZE: 6
% LAUNCH TIME: 8:06 a.m.(7:06 a.m.) EDT WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes
% KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: April 17/1:13 p.m.
% MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours/7 minutes (+ 1 day)
Mission managers met yesterday and determined Endeavour is cleared to
fly on Friday. Results of the borescope inspections on Endeavour's
three main engine high pressure oxidizer turbo pumps, proved that all
components are well within the desired specifications. Today, workers
at the pad have completed closing the aft engine compartment and are
preparing for the pyrotechnic initiator controller resistance test.
Afterwards, loading of the onboard cryogenic tanks with liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen reactants will begin.
After the cryogenic reactants are loaded, the orbiter's mid-body
umbilical unit will be demated and retracted into the fixed service
structure. Orbiter communications activation and final vehicle and
facility closeouts will also be underway.
Tomorrow, preparations will be made to retract the rotating service
structure to launch position at about 11 a.m. Pending weather
assessments and work schedules, this move could be delayed several
hours. Tanking is scheduled to begin at about 11:46 p.m. Thursday.
Forecasters are indicating a 60 percent probability of weather
prohibiting launch Friday. The primary concerns are for low cloud
ceilings and higher than allowable crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing
Facility. On launch morning, winds are expected to be from the
northeast at 10 - 15 knots; temperature 62-66 degrees F; visibility 7
miles; and clouds broken at about 3,000 - 6,000 feet and scattered to
broken from 6,000 - 8,000 feet. The 24-hour-delay forecast reveals
slightly improved conditions and forecasters list a violation
probability of 40 percent.
The six-member astronaut crew today will be involved with checking out
their mission flight plans, fit checks of their equipment and fly in
the Shuttle Training Aircraft.
Remaining in the schedule is the option to launch Endeavour as much as
an hour earlier at 7:06 a.m. This alternative will be implemented the
day prior to launch day if mission managers judge the weather more
favorable at the earlier opportunity.
SUMMARY OF HOLDS AND HOLD TIMES FOR STS-59
T-TIME ------- LENGTH OF HOLD ---- HOLD BEGINS --- HOLD ENDS
T-27 hours --- 28 hours --------- 3 am Tues.------ 7 am Wed.
T-19 hours --- 4 hours ---------- 3 pm Wed.------- 7 pm Wed.
T-11 hours --- 14 hrs.,46 mins. - 3 am Thurs.----- 5:46 pm Thurs.
T-6 hours ---- 1 hour ---------- 10:46 pm Thurs.- 11:46 pm Thurs.
T-3 hours ---- 2 hours ---------- 2:46 am Fri.---- 4:46 am Fri.
T-20 minutes - 10 minutes ------- 7:26 am Fri.---- 7:36 am Fri.
T-9 minutes -- 10 minutes ------- 7:47 am Fri.---- 7:57 am Fri.
CREW FOR MISSION STS-59
Commander (CDR): Sidney M. Gutierrez (Red team)
Pilot (PLT): Kevin P. Chilton (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS1): Jerome (Jay) Apt (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS2): Michael R. (Rich) Clifford (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS3): Linda M. Godwin (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS4): Thomas D. Jones (Blue team)
SUMMARY OF STS-59 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES
Thursday, April 7, 1994
6:00 p.m. Wake up (Blue team)
6:30 p.m. Breakfast (Blue team)
6:30 p.m. Sleep (Red team)
11:30 p.m. Lunch (Blue team)
Friday, April 8, 1994
2:30 a.m. Wake up (Red team)
3:00 a.m. Breakfast (Red team)
3:41 a.m. Dinner (Blue team)
4:11 a.m. Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2)
4:11 a.m. Don flight equipment (MS1, MS3, MS4)
4:21 a.m. Don flight equipment (CDR, PLT, MS2)
4:51 a.m. Depart for launch pad 39A
5:21 a.m. Arrive at white room and begin ingress
6:36 a.m. Close crew hatch
8:06 a.m. Launch
|
| 880.22 | What I gathered on launch before leaving for work.... | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Fri Apr 08 1994 14:36 | 9 |
| Status on lift-off didn't look good when I was leaving the
house. There was a indefinite hold put on when the count reached
9 minutes. The cloud cover was not looking like it was going to
improve. They put a 1/2 - 3/4 hour hold on while they waited to
see if things improved. The cloud ceiling was low and didn't have
any breaks that they apparently could anticipate would come over
the launch site.
Bob
|
| 880.23 | | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Fri Apr 08 1994 16:48 | 1 |
| It was scrubbed...
|
| 880.24 | pre-launch orbital elements? | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Fri Apr 08 1994 18:35 | 3 |
| Is there a pre-launch set of elements available?
bob
|
| 880.25 | YWIMC | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Fri Apr 08 1994 20:18 | 17 |
|
STS-59
1 00059U 94099.70641906 .00221188 00000-0 11303-3 0 93
2 00059 57.0053 262.7355 0009259 269.9963 90.0094 16.19806752 57
Satellite: STS-59
Catalog number: 00059
Epoch time: 94099.70641906 = (09 APR 94 16:57:14.61 UTC)
Element set: 009
Inclination: 57.0053 deg
RA of node: 262.7355 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-59
Eccentricity: .0009259 Prelaunch Element set JSC-009
Arg of perigee: 269.9963 deg Launch: 09 APR 94 11:05 UTC
Mean anomaly: 90.0094 deg
Mean motion: 16.19806752 rev/day G. L. Carman
Decay rate: 2.21188e-03 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center
Epoch rev: 5
|
| 880.26 | What a guy! ... thanks :-) | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Fri Apr 08 1994 21:02 | 1 |
|
|
| 880.27 | KSC Space Shuttle Status Report - 04/08/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Fri Apr 08 1994 22:52 | 101 |
| _______________________________________________________________
| |
| KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT |
| Friday, April 8, 1994 |
| LAUNCH MINUS 1 DAY/24-HOUR SCRUB TURNAROUND |
|_______________________________________________________________|
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham
_________________________________________________
| |
| MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY - 1 |
|_________________________________________________|
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105 ORBITAL ALTITUDE: 138 sm
LOCATION: Pad 39A INCLINATION: 57 degrees
LAUNCH DATE: April 9 CREW SIZE: 6
LAUNCH TIME: 7:05 a.m. EDT WINDOW: 2 hours/30 minutes
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: April 18/12:12 p.m.
MISSION DURATION: 9 days/5 hours/7 minutes (+ 1 day)
Today's scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour was scrubbed at
about 10:45 a.m. today due to unacceptable weather at KSC. Specifically, low
clouds at the early part of the window and higher than allowable crosswinds at
the Shuttle Landing Facility toward the end of the launch period violated
launch constraints.
Currently, the launch team is performing the 24-hour scrub turnaround
option and they are pressing toward a second launch attempt tomorrow at 7:05
a.m. EDT.
The countdown clock has been recycled to reflect T-11 hours and holding.
The countdown will resume at 5:45 p.m. today.
At the pad, the external tank is being drained of its liquid cryogenic
reactants. At about 10:45 p.m. today operations will commence to again load
the external tank with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen.
Forecasters indicate a 20 percent probability of weather prohibiting
launch tomorrow. Winds tomorrow are expected to be from the northeast at 10 -
15 knots; temperature 66-71 degrees F; visibility 7 miles.
The six-member astronaut crew have egressed the vehicle and are now back
in their crew quarters where they will eat lunch and begin their 24-hour
recycle for a launch attempt tomorrow. Later, they will be given a briefing on
tomorrow's launch weather outlook, make last minute adjustments to their flight
plans and complete their review of launch day activities prior to their
scheduled sleep times. Tomorrow the crew is scheduled to depart for the pad at
3:50 a.m.
____________________________________________________________
| |
| SUMMARY OF REMAINING HOLDS AND HOLD TIMES FOR STS-59 |
|____________________________________________________________|
T-TIME ------- LENGTH OF HOLD ---- HOLD BEGINS --- HOLD ENDS
T-11 hours --------------------------------------- 5:45 pm Fri.
T-3 hours ---- 2 hours ---------- 1:45 am Sat.---- 3:45 am Sat.
T-20 minutes - 10 minutes ------- 6:25 am Sat.---- 6:35 am Sat.
T-9 minutes -- 10 minutes ------- 6:46 am Sat.---- 6:56 am Sat.
NOTE: For this turnaround, the usual built-in hold at T-6 hours
has been eliminated.
________________________________________
| |
| CREW FOR MISSION FOR STS-59 |
|________________________________________|
Commander (CDR): Sidney M. Gutierrez (Red team)
Pilot (PLT): Kevin P. Chilton (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS1): Jerome (Jay) Apt (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS2): Michael R. (Rich) Clifford (Blue team)
Mission Specialist (MS3): Linda M. Godwin (Red team)
Mission Specialist (MS4): Thomas D. Jones (Blue team)
__________________________________________________
| |
| SUMMARY OF STS-59 LAUNCH DAY CREW ACTIVITIES |
|__________________________________________________|
Friday, April 8, 1994
4:59 p.m. Wake up (Blue team)
5:29 p.m. Breakfast (Blue team)
5:29 p.m. Sleep (Red team)
10:29 p.m. Lunch (Blue team)
Saturday, April 9, 1994
1:29 a.m. Wake up (Red team)
1:59 a.m. Breakfast (Red team)
2:40 a.m. Dinner (Blue team)
3:10 a.m. Weather briefing (CDR, PLT, MS2)
3:10 a.m. Don flight equipment (MS1, MS3, MS4)
3:20 a.m. Don flight equipment (CDR, PLT, MS2)
3:50 a.m. Depart for launch pad 39A
4:20 a.m. Arrive at white room and begin ingress
5:35 a.m. Close crew hatch
7:05 a.m. Launch
|
| 880.28 | Endeavour's Up...and A Problem Solved | CXDOCS::J_BUTLER | E pur, si muove... | Sun Apr 10 1994 13:34 | 81 |
|
{ If you haven't heard yet...Endeavour's "up and doing!" -jb-}
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.local.florida
Subject: Shuttle Handles Radar Problem
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 94 15:20:23 PDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- One of the prime experiments on
Endeavour's Earth-monitoring mission ran into trouble Saturday just
hours after the space shuttle's dawn liftoff.
A high-power amplifier for one of two radar instruments aboard
Endeavour wouldn't work, and researchers had to pass up viewing
opportunities with that system. Ground controllers spent several
hours struggling with the problem before activating the amplifier
in a manual mode. The amplifier is vital -- it powers the radar's
antenna.
``Things are looking up,'' Mission Control told the astronauts.
There was more good news: Mission Control extended the flight
from nine to 10 days based on the crew's power conservation.
``Outstanding!'' replied astronaut Jay Apt.
Engineers continued to study the amplifier trouble and were
hopeful they could salvage at least some function.
While that radar was down, the other radar took its first images
as Endeavour flew over Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That instrument
appeared to be working fine.
The equipment is supposed to be the most advanced space radar
ever built for civilian use. The mission is supposed to provide the
most extensive monitoring of Earth's environment ever attempted
from orbit.
The main purpose of the mission is to see how well the radar
works. Scientists will compare the radar images of Earth with
thousands of photographs to be taken by the six astronauts and the
results of on-the-spot surveys by research teams.
After two launch delays last week, the 4.5 million-pound
rocketship thundered from its seaside pad right on time at 7:05
a.m. A tall, billowing cloud of vapor was left in its wake, tinted
peach by the rising sun.
``That was quite a ride,'' pilot Kevin Chilton said. ``You've
got six happy people up here today, that's for sure.''
``And I second that,'' said commander Sidney Gutierrez.
Saturday's weather was far better than it was Friday, when
clouds and strong wind forced NASA to postpone the launch. The
flight had been delayed earlier in the week because of a
last-minute engine inspection.
Moments after reaching orbit, the crew reported a high
temperature on one of three hydraulic power units. Mission Control
said the cooling system likely froze during ascent but should thaw
and pose no problem.
NASA and the space agencies of Italy and Germany provided the
$366 million radar equipment aboard Endeavour. They also assembled
about 2,000 researchers, teachers and students to measure the
vegetation, rocks, moisture and wind at the most important sites to
be studied from Endeavour.
More than 400 locations are to be scanned by the radar and
photographed by the crew; however, only 19 have top billing.
The ``supersite'' list reads like a travelogue: the Amazon
Basin, the Galapagos Islands, the Sahara Desert, the Andes
Mountains, the Austrian Alps, the Apennines. And in the United
States, there are these: California's Death Valley, Oklahoma's
Little Washita River Watershed, Michigan's Hiawatha National Forest
and North Carolina's Duke Forest.
By flight's end, NASA expects to have mapped 18 million square
miles and collected enough data to fill 20,000 encyclopedia
volumes.
The astronauts, working round the clock in two shifts, are to
perform 460 shuttle maneuvers as part of the radar mapping. They
also expect to take 14,000 photographs of Earth with 14 cameras;
controllers at Johnson Space Center in Houston will command the
radar.
Unlike previous space radar, this one is designed to bounce
pulses of microwave energy off Earth in three frequencies,
providing a much more detailed view of forest flooding and
cropland, for example. NASA was limited to two frequencies,
however, because of the amplifier problem.
The massive radar antenna -- it's about the size of a bus -- does
not move on Endeavour. Instead, the antenna beams are steered
electronically toward Earth 138 miles below.
Endeavour is due back at Kennedy Space Center on April 19. Its
next flight, in August, will be a duplicate of this one. NASA wants
to test the radar in a different season.
|
| 880.29 | MCC Status Reports #1-5 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Mon Apr 11 1994 13:09 | 177 |
| STS-59 Status Report #1
Mission Control Center
Saturday, April 9, 1994, 10 a.m. CDT
Endeavour began its sixth mission this morning with an on-time launch at 6:05
am central time. Soon after, the six astronauts began activating the sensitive
radar equipment in the payload bay that will be operated around the clock
during the next 10 days.
The Space Radar Laboratory will be used throughout the flight to gather data on
Earth environmental changes -- both natural and human induced.
Endeavour and the laboratory are both in good shape and operating normally.
The orbiter is flying at 121 nautical miles. This report will be updated as
the science mission gets underway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STS-59 Status Report #2
Mission Control Center
Saturday, April 9, 1994, 5 pm CDT
Midway through the first day of Shuttle mission STS-59, ground controllers have
completed the activation of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) and are
actively collecting radar data which will be used to study the Earth's
environmental system.
Scientists working with the activation of the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(X-SAR), reported about 4:20 p.m. CDT that they had succeeded in activating
the high power amplifier which provides power to the systems antennas. They
are continuing to troubleshoot the difficulty, which appears to have been
traced to a fault in an undervoltage detector but hope to be able to declare
X-SAR operational in the near future.
Endeavour began its sixth mission this morning with an on-time launch at 6:05
am central time. Endeavour appears to be in good shape and flying in an orbit
of 121 nautical miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STS-59 Status Report #3
Mission Control Center
Saturday, April 9, 1994, 7 pm CDT
The Space Radar Laboratory-1 experiments of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth have
been activated and are beginning to study the Earth's ecosystem.
STS-59 ground controllers have finished activating Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C
(SIR-C) and begun processing its first images of the Earth, while engineers
working with the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) have worked their way
through some initial activation problems and are well on their way toward
beginning operations.
Meanwhile, the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellite (MAPS) instrument
has been taking data on the carbon monoxide content and distribution in the
atmosphere since shortly after launch and scientists are processing its data.
During the initial activation of the X-SAR package, controllers reported they
were unable to fully power up the high power amplifier that provides power to
the radar. The problem was in the low voltage circuit internal to the power
amplifier. Engineers were not immediately able to explain the problem, so they
temporarily turned off the power amplifier while developing a troubleshooting
plan. About 4:20 p.m. CDT, power was restored to the amplifier and the first
good response was received.
Since then, X-SAR controllers have continued a deliberate, step by step check
of the instrument and successfully bounced X-band radar pulses off the Earth
and recorded data. All of the instrument's circuits recorded normal readings.
The crew also activated the Space Tissue Loss investigations on the middeck,
and the Get Away Special experiments in the cargo bay.
The Blue Team of Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and Payload
Commander Linda Godwin has begun its sleep shift, and the Red Team of Mission
Specialists Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones has awakened from its first
sleep shift and begun its first full day of on-orbit operations.
Endeavour began its sixth mission this morning with an on-time launch at 6:05
am central time. The orbiter is in good condition and flying in an orbit of
120 nautical miles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STS-59 Status Report #4
Mission Control Center
Sunday, April 10, 1994, 11 a.m. CDT
The Earth observing radar equipment in Endeavour's payload bay has been working
without significant problems since late yesterday, completing all of the
planned observations during the night
When first powered on yesterday, one of the radar instruments aboard Endeavour
experienced problems receiving power from an amplifier built into the
equipment. The radar was shut down for about three hours while engineers on
the ground analyzed the problem. They traced the trouble to an oversensitive
protection circuit, a type of circuit breaker in the instrumentation. The
radar lab engineers then bypassed the protection circuit and began again
turning on the instrument, called the X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, or
X-SAR, at about 4:20 p.m. Saturday, and it has worked without incident since
being repowered, completing 100 percent of its scheduled observations
overnight.
So far in the mission, the radar laboratory has taken data readings on more
than 40 targets including Howland, Maine; Macquarie Island; the Black Sea;
Matera, Italy; and the Strait of Gibraltar. Scientists also have gathered
information on three of the 19 "supersites." The supersites are the highest
priority targets and the focal points for many of the scientific observations.
Today supersite observations have included global carbon and hydrologic cycles
in Duke Forest, North Carolina; hydrological cycles around Otzal, Austria; and
geological data on Lake Chad in the Sahara. Observation sites for this
afternoon include Gippsland, Australia; Sable Island; Toronto, Canada; Bermuda;
Bighorn Basin, Wyoming; Chung Li, China; and Mammoth Mountain, Calif. The
supersite opportunities are Raco, Michigan, and the Gulf Stream.
The Red Team crew of Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and Payload
Commander Linda Godwin has been on duty since about 4 this morning. The Blue
Team crew members, Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones will wakeup about 4
this afternoon to begin their third flight day on orbit.
With all of the orbiter's systems in good shape, the crew was notified that the
capability now exists for an extra day on orbit if that decision is made by
mission managers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #5
Sunday, April 10, 1994, 7 p.m. CDT
The Earth observing instruments in Endeavour's payload bay are continuing
to produce high-quality radar images and data as they peer through clouds
in darkness and daylight at the surface of the land and sea 120 nautical
miles below.
So far, Space Radar Laboratory-1 has taken data readings over
targets including Nelson House, Manitoba, and Sable Island, Nova Scotia,
Canada; the Azores Islands; Gippsland and Alice Springs, Australia;
Toronto, Ontario, Canada; the Bermuda Islands, Cuiaba and Pantanal,
Brazil; Wyoming's Big Horn Basin; Chung Li, China; Sarobetsu, Japan;
Mammoth Mountain, Calif., Cerro Aconcagua, Argentina; Cerro Laukaru,
Chile and the Baikal Forest and Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.
Today's supersite observations by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-
C) and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) -- those taken over
19 areas that have been deemed especially significant by the scientists
planning the observations -- focused on the interaction of plants and
animals in the ecology of the forests of Raco, Mich.; hydrologic cycles
around Bebedouro, Brazil; tectonic plate activity around the Galapagos
Islands in the South Pacific; and the transfer of heat through wave energy
in the Southern Ocean.
The Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution from Satellite instrument also
continued to take readings of the concentration and distribution of carbon
monoxide throughout the troposphere.
Crew members reported good Earth observation photography opportunties
over the Northeast Pacific Ocean and the frozen lakes of the Raco supersite
area, as well as fires in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico.
The Red Team crew of Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and
Payload Commander Linda Godwin began its sleep shift about 5 p.m.
CDT, and will awaken at 2 a.m. The Blue Team crew members, Jay Apt,
Rich Clifford and Tom Jones awakened about 4 p.m. to begin their third
flight day on orbit, and will go to bed about 5 a.m.
With all of the orbiter's systems in good shape, the crew was notified that
the capability now exists for an extra day on orbit if that decision is made
by mission managers.
|
| 880.30 | For the latest news.... | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Mon Apr 11 1994 13:15 | 6 |
| MCC Status Reports and other mission information, including images, will
be available on the World-Wide Web server noted earlier. I will be
reposting the information here as usual, but on a delayed basis (probably
every morning, U.S. Eastern time).
- dave
|
| 880.31 | MCC Status Reports #6,7 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 12 1994 13:31 | 107 |
| STS-59 Status Report #6
Mission Control Center
Monday, April 11, 1994, 6:30 a.m. CDT
The Earth observing radar instruments in Endeavour's payload bay continue to
operate without interruption allowing scientists to record all the scheduled
observations.
Three real-time radar images were downlinked from Endeavour overnight. A view
of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, one of the geology sites, will help scientists
to map surface and subsurface structures. The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and
the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar can penetrate the Sahara's dry sand cover
to reveal centuries-old drainage patterns. The desert salt flat regions showed
up on the image as bright ridges.
Also, the two radar imaging systems were calibrated over Matera, Italy, and
Oberpfaffenhoffen, Germany, near Munich. Students from the University of Munich
are participating in a concurrent ecology project. The students measure soil
moisture, forestry parameters, and the biomass of agricultural crops in the
area at the same time the radar data is gathered. The students' measurements
will be compared with the radar images to help scientists verify information
about the interactions of the various elements of Earth's environment.
Thus far in the mission, all 16 "supersites" planned for observations have been
completed. Supersites are those with highest priority throughout the flight.
Of the 51 total science sites thus far, 40 have been obtained. The 11 that
have been missed due to recalibration operations will be replanned and obtained
during the rest of the flight.
Mission Specialist Tom Jones gave scientists real-time observations of
thunderstorms over Taiwan, the Philippines and New Guinea to augment data being
gathered by the Measure of Atmospheric Pollution from Satellite (MAPS)
experiment. Jay Apt described a "good-sized" dust storm on the northwest coast
of Australia. MAPS takes readings of the levels of carbon monoxide in Earth's
lower atmosphere.
The MAPS project's Vickie Connors reported to Endeavour's Red Team of crew
members that there is good correlation between what the instruments on board
are reading compared to data gathered on the ground. The air pollution
measuring experiment has been in operation since about 3 hours after launch and
has collected more than 38 hours of science data. It has mapped nearly half of
the Earth's carbon monoxide distribution.
The Blue Team of Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones is scheduled for their
sleep period beginning about 8 a.m. The Red Team of Side Gutierrez, Kevin
Chilton, and Godwin went to work a few minutes after five this morning.
Endeavour continues its flawless performance allowing the crew to devote all
its time to science work. The orbiter circles Earth every 89 minutes at an
altitude of 120 nautical miles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-59 Status Report #7
Monday, April 11, 1994, 6 p.m. CDT
The Earth observing radar instruments in Endeavour's payload bay continue to
operate without interruption allowing scientists to record all the scheduled
observations as they test the capabilities of the most advanced radar system
ever used to examine the Earth.
Several real-time images were processed by the X-Band Synthetic Aperture
Radar today, looking at the Sahara Desert in Algeria, a geology site, and the
area around the Japanese Islands, an oceanography site. Endeavour flew over
the southern portion of Japan, and the quick-look processor showed oil slicks
covering the ocean. Scientists from a Tokyo research laboratory are working
with an oceanographer from Hamburg, Germany, to interpret the radar images.
Of particular interest to those scientists was the ocean front where cold
and warm currents meet.
The X-SAR images were being complemented by Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C images
recorded on board for analysis after the flight, and with Earth observations
photography and notes recorded by the crew.
Today's radar work included calibration passes over Palm Valley, Australia,
and the Amazon forests of Brazil; oceanography observations over the
Northeast Pacific Ocean, the Gulf Stream, the Southern Ocean and the gulf of
Mexico; ecology observations over Altona, Manitoba, Canada; geology
observations over the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming; hydrology studies of Mammoth
Mountain, California, and geology studies of the tectonic activity around
the Galapagos Islands of the southeastern Pacific.
Thus far in the mission, all 16 "supersites" planned for observations have
been completed. Supersites are those with highest priority throughout the
flight.
Payload Commander Linda Godwin reported good photography of "tremendous"
thunderstorms over South America and ocean wind patterns around the
Galapagos. She also reported three Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
contacts with students at Ealy Elementary School in West Bloomfield, Mich.,
and Country Club School in San Ramon, Calif., and Boy Scouts in Richardson,
Texas.
The Red Team of Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton, and Godwin went to work a few
minutes after five this morning, and is scheduled to begin its sleep shift
about 7 p.m. The Blue Team of Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones awakened
about 4 p.m.
Endeavour continues its flawless performance allowing the crew to devote all
its time to science work. The crew has reported air bubbles in the water
supply for Endeavour's galley, and flight controllers are working on a plan
to alleviate this nuisance for the crew. The orbiter circles Earth every 89
minutes at an altitude of 120 nautical miles.
|
| 880.32 | Are the post-insertion element set available? | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Tue Apr 12 1994 16:32 | 5 |
| Have adjusted post-orbit insertion elements been posted for someone
to pull off the web? I don't have access to them.
thanks,
Bob
|
| 880.33 | YWIMC again...:-) | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Tue Apr 12 1994 19:45 | 19 |
| STS-59
1 23042U 94020A 94102.29763003 +.00018133 11049-4 10455-4 0 133
2 23042 56.9956 250.2345 0011174 295.7746 64.2190 16.20458533 478
Satellite: STS-59
Catalog number: 23042
Epoch time: 94102.29763003 (12 APR 94 07:08:35.24 UTC)
Element set: GSFC-013
Inclination: 56.9956 deg
RA of node: 250.2345 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-59
Eccentricity: 0.0011174 Keplerian Elements
Arg of perigee: 295.7746 deg
Mean anomaly: 64.2190 deg
Mean motion: 16.20458533 rev/day Semi-major Axis: 6596.4395 Km
Decay rate: 0.18E-03 rev/day*2 Apogee Alt: 225.42 Km
Epoch rev: 47 Perigee Alt: 210.68 Km
(for Shuttle Elements subscription info, email: listserv@alsys.com)
|
| 880.34 | Back door to Web information | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 12 1994 21:21 | 16 |
| If you don't have access to the Web, you can peek in through the "back
door" via DECnet for space shuttle mission information.
During a mission a logical name exist for all mission-related information
that I post for the Web: pragma::sts59:
Orbital elements, MCC reports, News reports, images, etc. are all there --
along with the Web stuff too. You have to sort out what's important to
you if you use this mechanism. I'll do my best to keep it world-readable.
The logical will go away some time after the mission ends (like the
next time my system loses power). pragma::public:[nasa.hypertext.<mission>]
will often work.
- dave
|
| 880.35 | MCC Status Reports #8-10 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Wed Apr 13 1994 13:16 | 153 |
| Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #08
Tuesday, April 12, 1994, 3 a.m. CDT
The Earth observing radar instruments mounted in Endeavour's payload pay
continue their trouble-free operations to record radar images of numerous
land and ocean sites around the world.
A real-time image was downlinked from the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
about 2 a.m. central time showing a region of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia.
The X-SAR quick-look processor in the Payload Operations Control Center at
JSC allows scientists to see a radar image as it is being recorded on special
high-density tapes aboard Endeavour. Scientists hope to learn more about the
topography and climate in the Central Andes including the movement of the
Earth's crust, called plate tectonics, and erosion, such as mudslides, caused
by climatic changes.
During the Blue Team's shift, the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar and the
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C collected images of oceanography sites including
the South Pacific Ocean, the East Australian Ocean currents, and the North
Atlantic ocean; geology sites at Cerro Laukaru, Chile, snow cover at Otztal,
in the Austrian Alps, and Ha Meshar, Israel; and ecology sites at Howland,
Maine, and Duke Forest, North Carolina.
Jay Apt reported a large thunderstorm area over the central Pacific Ocean,
and later mentioned clear weather over South America with no fires spotted.
Tom Jones commented on the largest lightning storm seen so far on the
mission over western Africa, and good Earth observations photography over
Altai, China, and the Yellow River.
Tom Jones, Mission Specialist 4 on this flight, had the second half of his
workday off duty today. Crew members are routinely given off-duty time
during the longer Shuttle flights to relax. Other crew members will
alternate time off as the mission progresses.
The Red Team of Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin will begin
work as planned at about 6 a.m. central time even though Gutierrez and
Chilton will sleep in an extra hour this morning because they were about
an hour and a half late going to sleep last night after working on
an in-flight maintenance procedure to eliminate air bubbles that were
collecting in the drinking and food preparation water. The astronauts
connected the water dispensing hose directly to the supply tank, bypassing
the galley water outlet. A later test during the Blue Team's shift indicated
that bubbles still may get into the drink bags through the opening where
water goes into the drink container.
Endeavour completes an orbit around Earth every 89 minutes at an altitude
of 118 nautical miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #9
Tuesday, April 12, 1994, 9 a.m. CDT
The Red Team aboard Endeavour -- Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin
Chilton and Payload Commander Linda Godwin -- are well into their third
day of work in orbit with the cargo bay radar continuing its Earth
observations uninterrupted.
The Red Team began their work about 6 a.m. central today. During the
day, the radar instruments will observe sites in Oklahoma, California
and Wyoming as well as a host of other observations around the globe as
the crew simultaneously provides photographic coverage of the areas. At
about 10:10 a.m. central today, Chilton will take a break from his
duties onboard to talk with the C-SPAN television and answer questions
from viewers.
Gutierrez and Chilton were given an extra hour and a half of sleep this
morning due to a late maintenance job performed on the Shuttle's galley
water supply last night. The procedure was performed to eliminate air
bubbles that were collecting in the drinking and food preparation
water. The astronauts connected the water dispensing hose directly to
the supply tank, bypassing the galley water outlet. A test during the
Blue Team's shift during the night indicated that bubbles still may get
into the drink bags through the opening where water goes into the drink
container.
Also overnight, a real-time image was downlinked from the X-Band
Synthetic Aperture Radar about 2 a.m. central time showing a region of
the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. Scientists hope to learn more about
the topography and climate in the Central Andes including the movement
of the Earth's crust, called plate tectonics, and erosion, such as
mudslides, caused by climatic changes.
On the blue shift as well, Jay Apt reported a large thunderstorm area
over the central Pacific Ocean, and later mentioned clear weather over
South America with no fires spotted. Tom Jones commented on the
largest lightning storm seen so far on the mission over western Africa,
and good Earth observations photography over Altai, China, and the
Yellow River. Jones had the second half of his workday off duty. Crew
members are routinely given off-duty time during the longer Shuttle
flights to relax, and the other crew members will alternate time off as
the mission progresses. The blue team will again take over operations
onboard for the next shift beginning at about 6 p.m. central today.
Endeavour remains in excellent shape, completing an orbit of Earth
every 89 minutes at an altitude of 118 nautical miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #10
Tuesday, April 12, 1994, 6 p.m. CDT
All three of the STS-59 primary payloads, the Spaceborne Imaging
Radar-C, X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar and Measurement of Air
Pollution from Space continue to function well, achieving all of their
planned Mission to Planet Earth observations.
The Red Team aboard Endeavour -- Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin
Chilton and Payload Commander Linda Godwin -- is wrapping up its third
day of work in orbit with its radar observations of the Earth
continuing. The Red Team is scheduled to begin its sleep shift about 7
p.m. CDT, after handing over to the Blue Team of Mission Specialists
Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones about 6 p.m. The Blue Team was
awakened about 4:30 p.m.
During this shift, live X-SAR moving images were downlinked of the area
surrounding Sarobetsu, Japan, one of the high-priority calibration
sites for the X-band antenna. Scientists on the ground measured the
strength of the radar signal and the size of the swath being imaged.
Ground investigators also were developing topographic maps of Japan and
searching for the optimum way in which to use the three radar antennas
for mapping rice fields.
X-SAR's quick-look processor also showed images of the Bay of Campeche
in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the land around Veracruz, Mexico.
Ground investigators were taking simultaneous measurements of the
ecological test site, looking for soil and vegetation information
during the dry season of the tropical forest there. Comparative
readings will be taken during the wet season with the STS-68 SRL-2
flight in August. Endeavour's crew was asked to document the weather
and human disturbances of the area's ecology, looking in particular for
evidence of fires, storm damage and clear cutting.
The SIR-C L- and C-band radars continue to record data on board
Endeavour and to downlink selected data takes for processing at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Godwin reported that the crew had a cloud-free opportunity to
photography Chickasha, Okla., one of the 19 "supersites" that are
receiving special attention by the radar instruments, and that they had
seen sea ice along the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia.
Crew members reported that bubbles are continuing to form in their galley water
supply, and flight controllers were preparing to uplink and in-flight
maintenance procedure that is expected to eliminate the nuisance.
Endeavour remains in excellent shape, completing an orbit of Earth
every 89 minutes at an altitude of 117 nautical miles.
|
| 880.36 | Thanks for info, & a little meandering.... | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Wed Apr 13 1994 13:27 | 16 |
| Thanks Burns for elements. Also thanks Dave for your info too.
I knew you had a public area where I've pulled the press kits,
reports etc., but wasn't sure if you had current element sets
for active missions there too....will browse there when I need
something. Incidently Dave, after having loaded the STSPLUS program
that you made available to me recently, I must say I am impressed
with a piece of software that Dave Ransom had written. I've used
it alot in the mode for determining site predictions (radio) on MIR.
I've also got the April 12th element set loaded for STS-59.
I made a recent purchase of a 486DX-33 monochrome laptop with 170mb
hard disk 4mb ram, and have found the software to be a nice fit for
the laptop. Now that I'm getting wet with using a pc at home, I'll
be able to learn how to access all that good stuff (legally of course)
out there.
Bob
|
| 880.37 | Contact made | MEOC02::VIETH | | Thu Apr 14 1994 02:06 | 11 |
| Thanks again Dave for providing element sets.
On the 12th of April 8:04 UTC, I made contact with N5QWL, Jay Apt. I asked
him how the Radar imaging was going, and commented that it going fine. He
also commented on my signal and I told him my location (Geelong, Victoria,
Australia.), then I let some other Ham radio operators have a go. They were
only within radio range for 5 minutes.
Roy Vieth VK3TMJ
|
| 880.38 | MCC Status Reports #11-13 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Thu Apr 14 1994 12:41 | 127 |
| Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #11
Wednesday, April 13, 1994, 4:30 a.m. CDT
The Space Radar Laboratory Earth observing instruments in Endeavour's payload
bay are meeting scientists' highest expectations, collecting unique imagery of
important environmental sites around the globe for Mission to Planet Earth.
The STS-59 Blue Team -- Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- will complete
its fifth working day in space with a handover at 6 a.m. central time to the
Red Team of Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin.
During the Blue shift, researchers watched televised downlinks of live X-SAR
moving images of surface and subsurface structures in the Namib Desert in South
Africa to improve researchers' understanding of radar back scatter. Scientists
also viewed radar images of sea ice and seasonal melt in the Sea of Okhstok off
the coast of Siberia and a critical region of expanding drought in the Sahel
area of the Sudan in Africa. At the high-priority calibration site at Matera,
Italy, ground-based engineers measured the strength of the radar signals and
the size of the swath being recorded on the radar tapes aboard Endeavour.
While the X-SAR quick look processor in JSC's Payload Operations Control
Center fed the real-time images to scientists, the SIR-C and X-SAR instruments
recorded the information on special high-density tapes in Endeavour's crew
cabin.
At about 2:45 a.m. Houston time while Endeavour passed over Australia, Jay Apt
exchanged greetings with the Russian Cosmonauts aboard the MIR space station.
Both crews used amateur radio equipment for the contact which was monitored
real-time by many amateur radio stations via telebridge systems and
rebroadcasts.
All three Blue Team astronauts exercised on the bicycle ergometer during their
work shift for an ongoing biomedical study of exercise as a possible
countermeasure for the deconditioning which astronauts experience in their
cardiovascular systems during space missions. The study will evaluate a total
of 72 astronauts over several Shuttle missions.
Mission Specialist 2 Rich Clifford had off-duty time for the second half of his
work day. The astronauts will alternate off-duty time over the course of the
flight.
An in-flight maintenance procedure to install a make-shift seal for drink bags
and food containers at the galley water dispenser helped reduce bubbles in the
drinking and food preparation water.
Endeavour is sailing through the STS-59 mission in excellent condition, circling
118 nautical miles above the Earth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #12
Wednesday, April 13, 1994, 10:30 a.m. CDT
The Earth-looking radar aboard Endeavour is continuing to perform in excellent
fashion this morning, already having gathered information to fill nearly half
of the data recording tapes provided for observations of sites around the
world.
Red Team crew members Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin are on
duty for their fifth shift of the mission. New observations by the Space
Radar Lab-1 (SRL-1) instruments during the past day have included Shuttle
Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) data on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and
calibration data taken simultaneously by the SIR-C and its companion
instrument, the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar, of Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
Observation data obtained by SRL-1 has already been used to produce a
vegetation and biomass map for a forest in Raco, Michigan as well, and more
data has been taken of the rain forest around Manaus, Brazil, in the Amazon
River Basin.
The Red Team will continue on duty until about 6 p.m., when their fellow crew
members will begin a sixth 12-hour shift. Later today, Mission Commander
Gutierrez will be interviewed by CNBC Television's Tom Snyder at 4:12 p.m.
central. Also, Blue Team member Rich Clifford will answer questions from
Mutual Radio network listeners during an interview for the Jim Bohannan show.
That event is scheduled to begin at 11:15 p.m. central.
Last night, during the Blue Team's shift, Jay Apt contacted cosmonauts aboard
Russia's Mir space station using an amateur radio experiment aboard Endeavour
as the two spacecraft passed within 1,200 nautical miles of each other above
Australia. Also last night, the crew performed a maintenance procedure to
install a make-shift seal for drink bags and food containers to help reduce
air bubbles in their drinking water supply.
Endeavour remains in excellent shape in a circular orbit with an altitude of
118 nautical miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-59 Status Report #13
Wednesday, April 13, 1994, 6 p.m. CDT
The Space Radar Laboratory-1 instruments in Endeavour's payload bay are
continuing to work well as they collect data and images of the Earth below
and validate the operation of the radar antennas.
Red Team crew members Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin are
wrapping up their fifth shift, and the Red Team of Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and
Tom Jones is getting ready to go on duty.
The Shuttle Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR)
have processed information on sites including the Kamchatka Peninsula in
Russia, Ruiz, Colombia, and Sonora, Mexico, for geologists; the
Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and Sarobetsu, Japan, calibration sites for the
radar's designers; the Raco, Michigan, and Amazon River Basin forests for
ecologists; and the Southern Ocean for oceanographers. The Measurement of Air
Pollution from Satellite instrument continues to record how much carbon
monoxide is present in the troposphere and where it is located.
The crew reported good photography opportunities over Manitoba, Canada, saying
the lakes appear more "bluish" than anticipated. They also reported their
first opportunity to photograph Chickasha, Okla., one of the 19 supersites that
is of special interest to hydrologists studying the globe's water cycle.
Gutierrez was interviewed by CNBC Television's Tom Snyder and Clifford will
answer questions from Mutual Radio network listeners during an interview for
the Jim Bohannan show at 11:15 p.m. central.
Endeavour remains in excellent shape in a circular orbit with an altitude of
117 nautical miles.
|
| 880.39 | Good Job on Ham Contact | LHOTSE::DAHL | | Thu Apr 14 1994 15:29 | 6 |
| RE: <<< Note 880.37 by MEOC02::VIETH >>>
>On the 12th of April 8:04 UTC, I made contact with N5QWL, Jay Apt.
Totally cool! Do they send QSX or QSL or whatever cards? :-)
-- Tom
|
| 880.40 | A couple of watts on a HT ought to be enough... :-) | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Thu Apr 14 1994 15:51 | 4 |
| Roy, what kind of rig, antenna, & power did you make the contact
with?
bob
|
| 880.41 | MCC Status Reports #14-16 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Fri Apr 15 1994 13:21 | 138 |
| Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #14
Thursday, April 14, 1994, 3:30 a.m. CDT
Endeavour's radar-imaging instruments on the Space Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1)
are keeping up with a full schedule of Earth observations and antenna
calibrations on the sixth day of the STS-59 mission dedicated to studying our
planet's ecosystem.
Mission Specialist Rich Clifford answered listeners' questions about space
flight, the SRL-1 mission objectives, and the quality of life aboard the Space
Shuttle Endeavour during a 20-minute interview on Mutual Radio Wednesday night.
At 12:13 a.m. central time, six minutes of real-time radar images were
televised for scientists as Endeavour flew across Europe. The Otztal, Austrian
Alps, hydrology super site is important to scientists studying how the snow
cover influences runoff in the area and the amount of water available to
surrounding areas from the melted snow. Recent heavy snows in Bavaria will
contribute even more information to researchers. The new images from the
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(X-SAR) will be compared to previous radar images obtained from radar systems
mounted in aircraft.
The SIR-C and X-SAR instruments have recorded images for ecological studies at
Baikal Forest, Russia, Mabira, Uganda, and Western Sayani, Siberia; for
oceanography research at the East Australian coast, the North Atlantic, and the
Gulf Stream; for studies of Earth's water cycle at Mammoth Mountain,
California, Chickasha, Oklahoma, and Bebedouro, Brazil. Images were gathered
for geologists at Cerro Laukaru, Chile, Altai, China, and Mount Pinatubo,
Philippines; along with calibration of the systems' radar beams at the Amazon
River in South America, and at the Flevoland, Netherlands, super site.
The Blue Team reported good photography of a gigantic fire-scarred area in
China that burned in 1987. This region is of special interest to the
Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution experiment for studies of forest regrowth
after a fire event. The MAPS experiment measures the carbon monoxide in
Earth's lower atmosphere to help investigators determine how well the
atmosphere can clean itself of "greenhouse gases," chemicals that can increase
the atmosphere's temperature.
Jay Apt had off-duty time for the first half of the Blue Team's sixth work day
in space. During his off-duty time, Apt exercised on the bicycle ergometer
and recorded his heart rate and perceived exertion for biomedical
investigators. Apt was back on duty at 1 a.m. central time until 7 a.m. when
the Blue Team will hand over to the Red Team of Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton
and Linda Godwin.
Scientists and flight controllers are focusing on the STS-59 mission's science
objectives because Endeavour is performing flawlessly on its sixth day in
space. Flying at 118 nautical miles above Earth's surface, Endeavour
completes an orbit every 89 minutes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #15
Thursday, April 14, 1994, 10:30 a.m. CDT
The array of radar instruments aboard Endeavour has continued to scan Earth
during the past day, taking advantage of its 116 nautical mile high perch and
recent events below to gather imagery of unplanned sites in addition to those
scheduled.
The recently added sites include an observation of flooding in Missouri,
flooding in Germany and three different views of Tropical Cyclone Odille in
the Pacific. An observation of flooding in Colombia also is being considered
as part of SRL's studies of water drainage and patterns. As part of the
geologic studies performed, an observation was made of the San Andreas Fault
in California. All of these observations were recorded on tapes aboard
Endeavour and could not be sent to the ground. As with the majority of SRL's
information, the data will not be available for processing until after
landing. About half of the tapes stored aboard Endeavour to record SRL data
are now full.
Other observations completed today include Hawaii; Palm Valley, Australia;
Big Horn Basin, Wyoming; and the Galapagos Islands. Just before 8 a.m.
Central, the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) completed a pass
stretching from near Bakersfield, Calif., to Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
The X-SAR images were seen by ground scientists shortly afterward, and are
part of the radar's study of snow melt and drainage.
The Red Team -- Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin -- are now at
work aboard Endeavour and will continue their shift until 7 p.m. central.
Last night, the Blue Team -- Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- reported
good photography of a giant fire-scarred area in China, burned in 1987. The
region is being studied by the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellite
(MAPS) instrument aboard Endeavour as part of its study of carbon monoxide in
the atmosphere. MAPS' measurements may help scientists determine how well the
atmosphere can cleanse itself of "greenhouse gases," chemicals that could
increase the atmosphere's temperature.
Endeavour continues to operate flawlessly in a 116 by 115 nautical mile orbit,
completing one circle of Earth every 89 minutes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-59 Status Report #16
Thursday, April 14, 1994, 6 p.m. CDT
The triad of antennas in Endeavour's payload bay is continuing to bounce radar
pulses off the surface of the Earth as the shuttle provides a stable platform
for the Mission to Planet Earth observations.
In addition, the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellite (MAPS) instrument
aboard Endeavour is studying the troposphere's carbon monoxide content and
distribution.
This afternoon's Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
observations included passes over the Northeast Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of
Mexico, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Southern Ocean for oceanographers; Ruiz,
Colombia, Kliuchevskoi, Kamchatka, Stovepipe Wells, Calif., and the Galapagos
Islands for geologists; Sena Madureira, Brazil, for ecologists; and
Bebedouro, Brazil, and Chickasha, Okla., for hydrologists.
The X-SAR science team's quick-look data processor produced moving video images
of the Chickasha site, starting just north of the Oklahoma border in Kansas and
ending just south of the Oklahoma River in Texas. Hydrologists will study the
data to learn how well the radar is able to determine the soil moisture content
as it fluctuates from day to day and week to week, taking advantage of recent
storms that have brought rain to the area. Tom Engman of Goddard Space Flight
Center is working with a team of 15 students from Ninnekah (Okla.) High School
to take ground measurements that will tell scientists exactly how deep the
radar is measuring the soil moisture.
Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and Payload Commander Linda Godwin
are finishing up their Red Team shift and handing over to Mission Specialists
Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones of the Blue Team. Chilton had the
afternoon off to exercise and relax.
Endeavour continues to operate flawlessly in a 116 by 115 nautical mile orbit,
completing one circle of Earth every 89 minutes.
|
| 880.42 | MCC Status Reports #17-19 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 19 1994 15:49 | 118 |
| Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #17
Friday, April 15, 1994, 3 a.m. CDT
The Earth observing radar instruments fastened into Endeavour's payload bay
have
completed nearly six full days of radar imaging for scientists studying how
Earth's global environment is changing.
The STS-59 Blue Team -- Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- are monitoring,
along with ground-based Payload scientists, 26 separate data takes on their
shift. Fifteen of those radar imagery sessions are for oceanographers studying
wave patterns, how the ocean temperatures affect atmospheric heating and
cooling, and the surface features of ocean and sea floors. Geology sites
imaged
today include Ruiz, Colombia, Merv, Iran, and Siberia. The radar antennae were
calibrated on the flight day seven Blue Shift at Mount Fugendake, Japan, and
Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Researchers studying the water cycles of Earth at
the Bebedouro, Brazil, super site; the Khumba, Himalayan, site; and the Orgeval
Watershed, France, site will get radar data from today's orbits to compare with
flyovers on other mission days. Ecology targets recorded overnight include
Baikal Forest in Russia, Thetford, England, and Gujarat, India.
Tom Jones commented that the pollution cloud noted over Manilla Bay in the
Philippines on flight day six was almost invisible today. At about 1:50 a.m.
central time, Jones reported that the astronauts had seen fires along the west
coast of Burma and smoke over Tasmania. These visual observations supplement
data being gathered on the Measurement of Air Pollution by Satellite (MAPS)
experiment, which measures how well Earth's lower atmosphere can cleanse itself
of "greenhouse gases" that affect atmospheric temperatures.
Payload investigators watched a live downlink of X-Band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (X-SAR) images from the coast of Spain over the Oberpfaffenhofen,
Germany, calibration super site. While the X-SAR and the Spaceborne Imaging
Radar-C (SIR-C) recorded the images aboard Endeavour, students on the ground
simultaneously took agricultural biomass measurements and soil moisture samples.
The radar image investigators will include the students' data in the postflight
analysis of the Mission to Planet Earth studies.
Circling Earth every 89 minutes at an altitude of 115 nautical miles, Endeavour
remains in excellent shape to carry out its 10-day science mission.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #18
Friday, April 15, 1994, 11:30 a.m. CDT
As Endeavour's seventh day of around-the-clock observations of Earth winds
down, scientists on the ground are elated with the view already afforded them
by the radar observations completed.
One of the instruments aboard, the Measure of Atmospheric Pollution from
Satelllites, or MAPS, has exhausted its supply of infrared film, and a
preliminary composite of the distribution of carbon monoxide in Earth's
atmosphere it measured is being developed. MAPS' information may assist
scientists as they study the amounts of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere,
gases that could lead to a general warming of the planet.
Other notable images in work on the ground include views of the Mt. Pinatubo
volcano in the Phillipines and a composite image of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano
using all three radar frequencies aboard Endeavour. In addition, views of
the Galapagos Islands and a stereo view of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia,
are being prepared. Still, the vast majority of information obtained by the
Space Radar Lab remains stored on data-recording tapes aboard Endeavour and
will not be available for processing until after landing.
The Red Team -- Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin -- are now in
their seventh 12-hour work shift onboard, continuing to supplement the
radar data with still photography as Endeavour crosses above the various
sites. More than 14,000 still photographs are expected by the end of the
flight as a bonus to the radar information.
Later today, at about 1:05 p.m. central, Chilton will explain to ground
controllers how a vast network of ground scientists and students camped in
the field at many of the worldwide sites assist with the radar observations.
At about 3:32 p.m. central, Godwin will take a brief work break to talk with
the Cable News Network and answer questions from viewers.
Endeavour continues to be in excellent shape in a 116 by 113 nautical mile
orbit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-59 Status Report #19
Friday, April 15, 1994, 6 p.m. CDT
Endeavour and its trio of Earth observations instruments continue to
function as planned, recording and relaying a wealth of data that is
delighting scientists on the ground..
The Red Team -- Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin -- is
winding up its seventh 12-hour work shift, and is scheduled to go to
sleep at 9 p.m. CDT. The Blue Team -- Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Rich
Clifford and Tom Jones -- will awaken at 7 p.m. and begin its workday.
Chilton explained to ground controllers how a vast network of ground
scientists and students camped in the field at many of the worldwide
sites assist with the radar observations, and Godwin answered questions
supplied by Cable News Network viewers around the world.
The crew is continuing to work on a nuisance with it galley, theThe crew is cont
inuing to work on a nuisance with it galley, the
presence of bubbles in the water used for drinking and rehydrating
food. Engineers on the ground developed the in-flight maintenance
procedure in an effort to provide some relief for the crew and to fully
understand the problem so that it can be eliminated on future flights.
Endeavour continues to be in excellent shape in a 116 by 113 nautical
mile orbit.
|
| 880.43 | MCC Status Reports #20-24 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 19 1994 15:51 | 207 |
| MISSION CONTROL CENTER
Status Report #20
Saturday, April 16, 1994, 3 a.m. CDT
The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
instruments along
with the Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution by Satellite experiment have kept
pace with their
scheduled observations at selected sites around the globe.
At about 11:30 p.m. and again at 1:15 a.m. central time, Jay Apt used
Endeavour's Shuttle
Amateur Radio to talk with fellow astronauts Norm Thagard and Bonnie Dunbar and
two Russian
cosmonauts at the Star City training center outside Moscow, Russia. At the
Star City facility,
Thagard is training as the prime U.S. crew member and Dunbar as a backup for a
1995 joint
U.S./Russian mission aboard the Russian MIR space station.
The Blue Team -- Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- reported several
visual observations
including fires burning in Africa and a line of thunderstorms over
northeastern Brazil. Payloads
scientists asked the crew to add the Rugen Island, off Germany's northern
coastline in the Baltic
Sea, to their list of Earth observations photography.
Among the numerous radar images recorded on the Blue shift were views for
oceanographers
over the North Sea and the Labrador Sea; for ecologists over sites at
Chulchaca, Yucatan,
Mexico, Duke Forest, North Carolina, and Manaus Cabaliana, Brazil; and for
geologists at Fort
Zinder in the Sahara Desert, the Karakax Valley, China, and Zhamanshin, Russia.
The Blue Team will be on duty until 8:15 a.m. central time when they will hand
over to the Red
Team -- Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin.
Endeavour continues its flawless performance eight days into this Mission to
Planet Earth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STS-59 Status Report #21
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
Saturday, April 16, 1994, 12:30 p.m.CDT
Endeavour is continuing to operate near perfection as it moves toward
completing an eighth day of radar observations of Earth.
The Space Radar Lab-1 instruments also are continuing to operate well, and all
observations are being made on schedule. Although the majority of information
that has been gathered is stored aboard the shuttle, scientists remain
intrigued by data that has been transmitted to the ground. Recent images
processed on the ground include a composite map of the ancient riverbeds
detected beneath the sands of the Sahara desert. The map will help scientists
study what the region looked like in ancient times and how once-productive
areas can become desert.
The crew was sent a preliminary composite map of carbon moxide distribution in
Earth's atmosphere derived from measurements made with the MAPS instrument
aboard Endeavour, an instrument that studies air pollution.
The sites being observed today include areas of Japan and Italy. All of the
observation sites have been recorded at least once at this point in the flight,
and remaining observations are to supplement the data already obtained.
The Red Team members -- Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and
Payload Commander Linda Godwin -- are on duty as they move through the last
half of their eighth 12- hour shift. The Blue Team of crew members will begin
Endeavour's ninth day at about 8:45 p.m. central.
Endeavour remains circling Earth in a 116 by 113 nautical mile orbit.
###
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
Status Report #22
Saturday, April 16, 1994, 7 p.m.CDT
Endeavour is continuing to operate nearly flawlessly as the crew on board
begins its ninth day of operations on a flight that has been extended to 10
days.
The Space Radar Lab-1 instruments are continuing to record their
observations of the Earth below according to schedule. The sites being
observed today included areas of Japan, Italy, Russia, Chile, China, Uganda
and Saudia Arabia. All of the observation sites have been recorded at least
once, and remaining observations are to supplement the data already
obtained.
The Red Team -- Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton and
Payload Commander Linda Godwin -- goes to bed about 10 p.m. CDT.
The Blue Team -- Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom
Jones -- begin its workday at about 9 p.m. CDT.
One annoyance that has been worked since the first day of the flight has
been laid to rest with the successful in-flight maintenance procedure to get
rid of air bubbles in the crew's water supply, and the crew has worked with
experts on the ground to pinpoint how those bubbles were getting into
food and water containers.
Godwin spent 15 minutes being interviewed by television reporters in
Atlanta and Nashville.
Endeavour is circling Earth in a 116 by 113 nautical mile orbit. Landing
remains scheduled for Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #23
Sunday, April 17, 3 a.m. CDT
The Space Radar Laboratory's imaging instruments continue their
round-the clock data recording on Endeavour's Mission to Planet Earth.
A press conference with the entire STS-59 crew is slated for 7:51 a.m.
CDT on Sunday. The astronauts will take questions about their mission
from reporters at the Johnson Space Center and the Kennedy Space
Center.
The Blue Team --Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- is recording
radar images for scientists studying how elements of Earth's land
surfaces, water resources, and plant and animal life work together to
create Earth's livable environment. Geology sites covered on the Blue
shift include Puerto Aisen, Chile, Charana, Bolivia, and Bangladesh;
ecology sites at Les Landes, France, Western Sayani, Siberia, and
Chimalapas, Mexico; and oceanography sites over the North Sea and,
later this morning, the Equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Two televised downlinks of moving radar images from the X-Band
Synthetic Aperture Radar system fed through the X-SAR quick-look
processor at JSC allowed mission scientists to view regions from the
Sahara Desert to Russia, with a calibration data take at Matera,
Italy. The Payload Operations Control Center later told the Blue Team
that the Matera calibration "was perfect." Another moving image
downlink covered an ecology site at Les Landes, France, south of
Bordeaux, followed by another calibration at the Oberpfaffenhofen super
site. There students from the University of Munich gathered
agricultural crop biomass measurements and soil moisture readings at
the same time aircraft-mounted radar systems, sponsored by the European
Space Agency, also measured the radar beams emitted by the SIR-C and
X-SAR instruments.
The Blue Team winds up its ninth working day in space with a handover
briefing to the Red Team of Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda
Godwin at 8:35 a.m. central time.
Endeavour continues its trouble-free performance, making one orbit
around Earth every 89 minutes at an altitude of 116 nautical miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #24
Sunday, April 17, 12:30 p.m. CDT
Endeavour's flight control surfaces and thruster jets were checked out
today to ensure they are in good working order for Tuesday's planned
landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:53 a.m. CDT. The latest
weather forecast at landing time shows scattered clouds and only a slight
chance of rain offshore.
While consoles in Mission Control concentrated on the orbiter systems
checks, the payload community continued to gather data using the Space
Radar Laboratory equipment located in the payload bay. The round-the-
clock observations with two types of radar and an air pollution monitoring
system is monitored by two teams of astronauts aboard the Orbiter and
three teams of scientists in the payload control room adjacent to the
primary flight control room.
The STS-59 mission's six astronauts held their traditional in-flight news
conference answering questions about the significance of the mission.
Following the news conference, Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin
Chilton and Flight Engineer Rich Clifford checked the orbiter systems
while the payload crew of Mission Specialists Linda Godwin, Jay Apt and
Tom Jones documented activity with the payload.
Blue Team members Apt, Clifford and Jones began their sleep period at
about 12:30 this afternoon and are scheduled to wake up at about 8:30
tonight. The Red Team of Gutierrez, Chilton and Godwin will go to sleep
about 10 tonight and wake up for their final full day on orbit at about 6
tomorrow morning.
Endeavour's sixth voyage in space continues to progress smoothly with no
problems being tracked by the flight control team as the orbiter circles the
Earth every 89 minutes at an altitude of 115 nautical miles.
|
| 880.44 | MCC Status Reports #25, 27 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 19 1994 15:52 | 93 |
| Mission Control Center
STS-59 Status Report #25
Monday, April 18, 1994, 3 a.m. CDT
The STS-59 Space Radar Laboratory instruments have gathered nearly nine
days of radar imaging data complemented by astronaut crew observations
over ocean and land sites around the world. The information gathered
on-orbit will be added to that collected by ground-based observers in
several of the locations so that Mission to Planet Earth scientists can
have the most complete picture of actual conditions in the locations
under study.
Payload controllers opted about 1:30 a.m. CDT to record science data
gathered by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C instruments onto payload
high rate recorder number two for the remainder of the STS-59 mission.
Engineers had been getting a "tape threading fault" message on the
number one recorder that indicates it is not working optimally. For
ease of operation, controllers had been toggling between the number one
and number two recorders for the SIR-C data. SRL payload managers
decided to use only the number two recorder to protect all the
remaining SIR-C radar data takes. The X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
images are recorded on a third payload high rate recorder aboard
Endeavour.
Radar images were recorded overnight at geology sites including
Monastir, Tunisia, Cerro Cumbrera, Chile, and Saudi Arabia; and at
oceanography sites in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and at Norfolk
Islands, Australia.
Endeavour is scheduled to land Tuesday at 10:53 a.m. CDT at the Kennedy
Space Center. Current weather forecasts for landing time show
scattered clouds and only a slight chance of rain offshore.
The Blue Team -- Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom Jones -- will be on
duty until their handover to the Red Team at 8:20 a.m. CDT. Red Team
astronauts -- Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Linda Godwin will wake
up at 6:05 a.m. CDT.
Endeavour is flying 114 nautical miles above Earth and completes one
orbit every 89 minutes on the ninth day of its trouble-free Mission to
Planet Earth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-59 Status Report #27
Monday, April 18, 1994, 5 p.m. CDT
Endeavour's crew is starting to pack its bags for a 10:52 a.m. CDT
landing Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center, while scientists wrap up their
radar observations of Earth for STS-59.
Endeavour's Red Team -- Commander Sid Gutierrez, Pilot Kevin Chilton
and Payload Commander Linda Godwin -- is in the last hours of its 10th
shift of the STS-59 mission. Early in the shift, Gutierrez and Chilton
performed a standard checkout of the systems Endeavour will use for
tomorrow's return home and found them in excellent shape. Gutierrez
and Chilton also maneuvered the shuttle to a new attitude and
calibrated the Heads-Up Display they will use for landing. They will
begin a six and three-quarter hour sleep shift about 10 p.m. tonight.
The Blue Team -- Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Rich Clifford and Tom
Jones -- will awaken from its last planned sleep shift of the mission
about 9 p.m. CDT and finish stowing experiment hardware and the crew's
gear.
Observations with the Space Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1) instruments are
continuing without interruption. SRL-1 is now on the backup
electronics package. Scientists switched from the primary electronics
systems -- which have worked flawlessly throughout the flight -- to
verify that the redundant system functions as well.
SRL-1 will continue observations until just after midnight, when it
will be powered off for the landing. The instruments have taken
advantage of one extra day in orbit, added to the flight because of
abundant supplies, to gain observations over targets of opportunity.
The weather forecast is favorable for a landing in Florida tomorrow,
although flight controllers will be watching a possibility of low
clouds and a slight chance of showers in the area. Endeavour's first
opportunity for landing Tuesday begins with an engine firing at 9:58
a.m. CDT on Orbit 165, and ends with touchdown on KSC's runway 33 at
10:52 a.m. A second opportunity begins with a deorbit burn on Orbit
166 at 11:28 a.m. CDT leading to a touchdown in Florida at 12:23 p.m.
CDT.
Endeavour is flying 112 nautical miles above Earth and completes one
orbit every 89 minutes.
|
| 880.45 | | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Tue Apr 19 1994 16:33 | 3 |
| Apparently the landing was delayed by (at least) one orbit due to bad weather.
Burns
|
| 880.46 | The last crew was *hoping* for something like this! | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Tue Apr 19 1994 17:32 | 3 |
| Landing postponed till Wednesday due to low clouds and a brewing thunderstorm.
Burns
|
| 880.47 | Visual sightings made of STS-59 & MIR over weekend | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Tue Apr 19 1994 21:36 | 12 |
| I got to make 3 sightings of STS-59 over the weekend. On successive
mornings on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, I saw the shuttle make
a roughly WSW to NE passage, roughly 20 minutes earlier each morning.
It appeared to be about a -4 magnitude in brightness, and at the
orbiting altitude, they're flying at, it's really trucking right
along when it comes overhead. The Sunday passage of STS-59 was a nearly
overhead pass with it coming out of shadow at almost its highest
altitude, relative to my location.
I also made a visual of MIR on Monday am going roughly NW to SE. MIR is
pretty bright too.
Bob
|
| 880.48 | Landing opportunities today (Wed, 20-Apr) | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Wed Apr 20 1994 13:17 | 8 |
| There are 2 KSC opportunities and at least 1 Edwards opportunity. Mission
rules will force a return to Edwards today if a KSC landing is not possible.
Weather forecasts for KSC are marginal (they have "a shot at landing" at KSC
today).
- dave
|
| 880.49 | Heading for California | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Wed Apr 20 1994 16:13 | 5 |
| They will land at EAFB at 9:54AM PDT. Weather at the cape was not good enough.
This info from the usenet, though not from a NASA person.
Burns
|
| 880.50 | Help! | STRATA::PHILLIPS | Music of the spheres. | Fri Apr 22 1994 17:01 | 6 |
| Hello....
Has Endeavour landed???? ;)
Incommunicado in HLO-1,
--Eric--
|
| 880.51 | | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Fri Apr 22 1994 17:59 | 3 |
| Yes, at Edwards.
Burns
|
| 880.52 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 04/22/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue Apr 26 1994 14:19 | 27 |
| SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, April 22, 1994
George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center
407/867-2468
STS-59
DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH FACILITY/Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The Orbiter Endeavour has been jacked and leveled and the
cryogenic offloading is occurring today.
The first set of Space Radar Laboratory data tapes were
shipped to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
yesterday afternoon as scheduled. The remainder of the tapes are
being shipped today.
The Space Tissue Loss (STL) experiment is at the Buckhorn
Life Sciences Facility at Dryden and investigators are reportedly
satisfied with the quality of the results.
At this time Endeavour is scheduled to be mated to the 747
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on Monday, depart California on Tuesday,
and arrive in Florida on Wednesday. However, the trip is subject
to further schedule refinement and also depends on favorable
weather conditions.
|
| 880.53 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 04/29/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Fri Apr 29 1994 22:38 | 34 |
| _______________________________________________________________
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Friday, April 29, 1994
_______________________________________________________________
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY - 1
_________________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
LOCATION: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
LAUNCH DATE/TIME: April 9/7:05 a.m. EDT
EDWARDS LANDING DATE/TIME: April 20/12:54 p.m. (EDT)
MISSION DURATION: 11 days/5 hours/50 minutes
NOTE: Plans for Endeavour's departure from Edwards Air Force
Base, Calif., continue to be delayed due to weather in California
and en route to KSC. The orbiter has been mated to the 747
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft since Tuesday but has not been able to
depart due to varying weather conditions along the flight path.
Managers will again meet today to discuss possible time frames to
begin the orbiter's piggy-back ferry flight back to Florida.
Current plans are to depart as soon as weather allows for Biggs
Army Airfield, El Paso, Tx. While there, the orbiter/747
combination will refuel and managers will look for the best
alternate routes to continue east. Once Endeavour is back at KSC,
the orbiter will be towed to OPF bay 1 where processing will
begin for its next mission, STS-68, in August.
|
| 880.54 | | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Mon May 02 1994 21:21 | 9 |
| Jonathon's Space Report reports that Endeavour left EAFB on April 29th for El
Paso. On Apr 30, it flew to Abilene, TX and then to Little Rock, Arkansas. And
today, it headed to KSC.
I wonder why so many stops? Doesn't it usually go direct from Abilene to KSC?
Isn't Little Rock kind of in the wrong direction? And lets not make any cracks
about a certain High Official who comes from Arkansas.
Burns
|
| 880.55 | | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue May 03 1994 13:16 | 6 |
| Weather may have factored in somewhat, but my other guess is the weight
of the orbiter/SRL: this was reported to be the 2nd heaviest flight for
the 747/shuttle combination. That radar setup is pretty massive.
- dave
|
| 880.56 | Better to be safe than sorry..... | LEVERS::BATTERSBY | | Tue May 03 1994 16:08 | 7 |
| RE: The weight thing....
Could be the 747 crew heard some er...creaking of the plane
structure and decided to do some hopping in short flights,
and upon each landing, double checked the supports & tie-downs
of the multi-million dollar shuttle along for the ride.
Bob
|
| 880.57 | | skylab.zko.dec.com::FISHER | Carp Diem : Fish the Day | Tue May 03 1994 16:30 | 3 |
| clari.sci.space said today it was the weather.
Burns
|
| 880.58 | Just missed it!!!! | ZENDIA::ROLLER | Life's a batch, then you SYS$EXIT | Tue May 03 1994 17:03 | 6 |
| Damn, I left Little Rock last Saturday at 12 noon. Looks like I just
missed seeing it. The wx in that area was very bad last week, lots of
thunderstorms, hail and very high winds. Oh yeah, and the temps were
up near 90! Not a great week to go hunting :-(
Ken
|
| 880.59 | KSC Shuttle Status Report - 05/02/94 | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN | Dave Griffin | Tue May 03 1994 22:01 | 32 |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT
Monday, May 2, 1994
KSC Contact: Bruce Buckingham 407-867-2468 (fax 867-2692)
MISSION: STS-59 -- SPACE RADAR LABORATORY - 1
_________________________________________________
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
LOCATION: KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility
LAUNCH DATE/TIME: April 9/7:05 a.m. EDT
EDWARDS LANDING DATE/TIME: April 20/12:54 p.m. (EDT)
MISSION DURATION: 11 days/5 hours/50 minutes
NOTE: The orbiter Endeavour arrived at KSC's Shuttle Landing
Facility at about 9:55 a.m. today following a three-day weather
delayed ferry-flight from California atop the 747 Shuttle Carrier
Aircraft. The orbiter/747 eventually departed from Edwards Air
Force Base, Calif., Friday afternoon and spent the evening at
Biggs Army Airfield, El Paso, Tx. On Saturday the orbiter/747
departed Biggs, stopped briefly for fueling at Dyess Air Force
Base, Abilene, Tx., and continued to Little Rock Air Force Base,
Ark., where it remained until this morning. At about 7:10 a.m.
EDT, the orbiter/747 departed Little Rock and returned non-stop
to KSC. Later today, the orbiter will be demated from the 747 SCA
and be towed to Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 where
processing will begin for its next mission, STS-68, currently
targeted for launch in mid-August.
|
| 880.60 | Radar data to help monitor gorilla habitats | MTWAIN::KLAES | Keep Looking Up | Mon May 09 1994 17:50 | 89 |
| From: US4RMC::"Admin@ccmail.Jpl.Nasa.Gov" "MAIL-11 Daemon" 6-MAY-1994
To: usenet-space-news@arc.nasa.gov
CC:
Subj: JPL/Space radar-Gorilla habitat
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 6, 1994
Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have
provided imaging radar data of the Rwandan jungle to researchers
who are helping to protect the endangered mountain gorillas of
Central Africa.
The data were taken by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) which flew recently as
part of NASA's Space Radar Laboratory onboard the space shuttle
Endeavour.
Researchers at Rutgers University' Center for Remote Sensing
and Spatial Analysis at Cook College will use the radar data as
well as data gathered by Rwandan trackers using sophisticated
Global Positioning System (GPS) units that pinpoint ground
locations using information from satellites to compile a
computer-based Geographic Information System on the gorillas and
their habitat.
Only an estimated 600 to 650 mountain gorillas survive, with
about half living in the Virunga Volcano chain that straddles the
borders of Rwanda, Zaire and Uganda, according to Rutgers
anthropology professor H. Dieter Steklis, executive director of
the Denver- and London-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
The fund carries on the pioneering work of Fossey, the famed
researcher who established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda's
Parc National des Volcans (Volcano National Park) in 1967.
Fossey's efforts to study and protect the apes were depicted
in the movie, "Gorillas in the Mist."
SIR-C/X-SAR, the only three-frequency radar instrument to
fly directly over Central Africa, provides the researchers with a
completely new way of studying the region. "Weather conditions
don't affect imaging with radar. It works in sunny or cloudy
weather, and even rain doesn't hinder its operation. Day or
night, we can obtain pictures," said Scott Madry, associate
director of CRSSA who asked JPL to image the gorilla habitat.
"It's always cloudy and misty over the volcanoes, so regular
aerial photography will not work.
"Even if it could, the fighting between the warring Hutu and
Tutsi ethnic groups would make it unsafe to fly over the area.
Also, the Virunga chain stretches into three countries. You
couldn't fly over three countries without getting permission. We
could not hope to accomplish this mapping without the assistance
of NASA and JPL," Madry added.
Imaging the gorilla habitat is just one of several
experiments that were conducted by SIR-C/X-SAR during its 10-day
mission in April. Scientists are continuing to analyze data from
several hundred sites around the globe which they hope will aid
them in their studies of Earth's changing environment.
SIR-C/X-SAR will fly again on Endeavor next August.
SIR-C/X-SAR is a joint mission of NASA and the German and
Italian space agencies. JPL manages the SIR-C portion of the
mission for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. X-SAR was
developed by Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the Deutsche
Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Agenzia
Spaziale Italiana (ASI). Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft
und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR) is the major partner in science, mission
operations and data processing of X-SAR.
#####
5-5-94 MAH
#9426
NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about the work being done
at Rutgers University, please contact Steve Manas at the Rutgers
News Service at (908) 932-7084.
|
| 880.61 | couldn't resist | AUSSIE::GARSON | achtentachtig kacheltjes | Mon May 09 1994 22:34 | 8 |
| re .60
> Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have
>provided imaging radar data of the Rwandan jungle to researchers
>who are helping to protect the endangered mountain gorillas of
>Central Africa.
I understood that the guerillas were more of an issue than the gorillas.
|
| 880.62 | Three radar images from the mission | MTWAIN::KLAES | Houston, Tranquility Base here... | Fri Jul 29 1994 18:40 | 208 |
| From: US4RMC::"Admin@ccmail.Jpl.Nasa.Gov" "MAIL-11 Daemon" 29-JUL-1994
To: usenet-space-news@arc.nasa.gov
CC:
Subj: JPL/Lost city of Ubar, Yucatan crater images released
Sevral new images from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) experiment that flew on
the space shuttle Endeavour in April 1994 have been released.
The images include:
P-44414: A space radar view of the site identified as that
of the lost city of Ubar on the Arabian Peninsula;
P-44423: The site of an impact crater at Chicxulub on the
Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico thought to be caused by an
asteroid or comet 65 million years ago that killed off the
dinosaurs;
P-44422: A little-known volcano in Colombia, South America.
The images are available by the following methods:
World Wide Web/Mosaic:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
From the JPL home page, select "News flash" and then
the item for new SIR-C/X-SAR images. The images displayed
on the menu pages are a lower-resolution browse version.
You may also click on an item to transfer full-resolution
(up to 6.6-megabyte) versions.
Anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp):
jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov
Browse versions are in the `news' directory as filenames
SC-*.GIF. Full-resolution versions are in the `sircxsar/images'
directory as P*.JPG (under their file numbers).
Dialup modem:
+1 (818) 354-1333
Browse versions are in the `news' directory as filenames
SC-*.GIF. Full-resolution versions are in the `sircxsar'
directory as P*.JPG (under their file numbers).
Hardcopy prints:
Prints may be ordered using the P- file number from the vendor:
Newell Color Lab
221 N. Westmoreland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064
USA
telephone +1 (213) 380-2980
fax +1 (213) 739-6984
Captions for the three images follow.
________________________________________________________________
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION July 28, 1994
P-44414
Ubar (L & C band)
This is a radar image of the region around the site of the lost city
of Ubar in southern Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula. The ancient city
was discovered in 1992 with the aid of remote sensing data.
Archeologists believe Ubar existed from about 2800 B.C. to about 300
A.D. and was a remote desert outpost where caravans were assembled for
the transport of frankincense across the desert. This image was
acquired on orbit 65 of space shuttle Endeavour on April 13, 1994 by
the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SIR-C/X-SAR). The SIR-C image shown is centered at 18.4 degrees
north latitude and 53.6 degrees east longitude. The image covers an
area about 50 by 100 kilometers (31 miles by 62 miles). The image is
constructed from three of the available SIR-C channels and displays L-
band, HH (horizontal transmit and receive) data as red, C- band HH as
blue, and L-band HV (horizontal transmit, vertical receive) as green.
The prominent magenta colored area is a region of large sand dunes,
which are bright reflectors at both L- and C-band. The prominent
green areas (L-HV) are rough limestone rocks, which form a rocky
desert floor. A major wadi, or dry stream bed, runs across the middle
of the image and is shown largely in white due to strong radar
scattering in all channels displayed (L and C HH, L-HV). The actual
site of the fortress of the lost city of Ubar, currently under
excavation, is near the Wadi close to the center of the image. The
fortress is too small to be detected in this image. However, tracks
leading to the site, and surrounding tracks, appear as prominent, but
diffuse, reddish streaks. These tracks have been used in modern
times, but field investigations show many of these tracks were in use
in ancient times as well. Mapping of these tracks on regional remote
sensing images was a key to recognizing the site as Ubar in 1992.
This image, and ongoing field investigations, will help shed light on
a little known early civilization.
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars
illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any
time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses
three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band
(3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international
scientific community to better understand the global environment and
how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and
ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those
environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes
which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and
Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur
fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency,
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt
fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science,
operations, and data processing of X-SAR.
#####
___________________________________________________________
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION July 28, 1994
P-44423
Chicxulub
This is a radar image of the southwest portion of the buried
Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The radar
image was acquired on orbit 81 of space shuttle Endeavour on April 14,
1994 by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SIR-C/X-SAR). The image is centered at 20 degrees north latitude
and 90 degrees west longitude. Scientists believe the crater was
formed by an asteroid or comet which slammed into the Earth more than
65 million years ago. It is this impact crater that has been linked
to a major biological catastrophe where more than 50 percent of the
Earth's species, including the dinosaurs, became extinct. The 180- to
300-kilometer-diameter (110- to 180-mile) crater is buried by 300 to
1,000 meters (1,000 to 3,000 feet) of limestone. The exact size of
the crater is currently being debated by scientists. This is a total
power radar image with L-band in red, C-band in green, and the
difference between C- and L-band in blue. The 10-kilometer-wide (6-
mile) band of yellow and pink with blue patches along the top left
(northwestern side) of the image is a mangrove swamp. The blue
patches are islands of tropical forests created by freshwater springs
that emerge through fractures in the limestone bedrock and are most
abundant in the vicinity of the buried crater rim. The fracture
patterns and wetland hydrology in this region are controlled by the
structure of the buried crater. Scientists are using the SIR-C/X-SAR
imagery to study wetland ecology and help determine the exact size of
the impact crater.
#####
____________________________________________________________
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION July 28, 1994
P-44422
Volcano/Columbia
This is a radar image of a little known volcano in northern Colombia.
The image was acquired on orbit 80 of space shuttle Endeavour on
April 14, 1994, by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR). The volcano near the center of the
image is located at 5.6 degrees north latitude, 75.0 degrees west
longitude, about 100 kilometers (65 miles) southeast of Medellin,
Colombia. The conspicuous dark spot is a lake at the bottom of an
approximately 3-kilometer-wide (1.9-mile) volcanic collapse depression
or caldera. A cone-shaped peak on the bottom left (northeast rim) of
the caldera appears to have been the source for a flow of material
into the caldera. This is the northern-most known volcano in South
America and because of its youthful appearance, should be considered
dormant rather than extinct. The volcano's existence confirms a
fracture zone proposed in 1985 as the northern boundary of volcanism
in the Andes. The SIR-C/X-SAR image reveals another, older caldera
further south in Colombia, along another proposed fracture zone.
Although relatively conspicuous, these volcanoes have escaped
widespread recognition because of frequent cloud cover that hinders
remote sensing imaging in visible wavelengths. Four separate
volcanoes in the Northern Andes nations of Colombia and Ecuador have
been active during the last 10 years, killing more than 25,000 people,
including scientists who were monitoring the volcanic activity.
Detection and monitoring of volcanoes from space provides a safe way
to investigate volcanism. The recognition of previously unknown
volcanoes is important for hazard evaluations because a number of
major eruptions this century have occurred at mountains that were not
previously recognized as volcanoes.
#####
[end]
|