Subject: Re: Three Mars Missions to Launch in Late 1996
From: devens@uoguelph.ca (David L Evens)
Date: 29 Oct 1996 21:59:40 GMT
Gerard J. Gonthier (gonthier@usgs.gov) wrote:
: How about setting full fuel packets in orbit around
: Mars. Then you fill up for a one-way, get there,
: and fill-er-up before head'n home.
An even better solution is a system nicknamed "The Atomic Tea Kettle."
Basically, you take advantage of the fact that some oxides will
dissosciate if heated in the presence of certain catalysts.
For a ship to Mars, you use a catalyst that will assist in the breakdown
of CO2. Refueling at Mars requires little more than pumps and filters.
Heat comes from the nuclear reactor you need for a spacecraft's power
supply at much more than 1 AU from the Sun (and which is nice to have
anyway, since you can dispense with the big ungainly solar collectors).
There are two advantages: You don't need to take your return fuel with
you, so you gain a lot of payload mass or a lot of size reduction, and
you can refuel the ship on Mars as much as you like, giving you
effectively unlimited cruising range at Mars for exploration.
Similar ships could be used to explore the satelites of the outer
planets, as water ice should be readily available on many of them for
refueling a different drive configuration.
--
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Ring around the neutron, | "OK, so he's not terribly fearsome.
A pocket full of positrons,| But he certainly took us by surprise!"
A fission, a fusion, +--------------------------------------------------
We all fall down! | "Was anybody in the Maquis working for me?"
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
"I'd cut down ever Law in England to get at the Devil!"
"And what man could stand up in the wind that would blow once you'd cut
down all the laws?"
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Subject: Re: Magnetic symmetry supports new ocean ridge model
From: devens@uoguelph.ca (David L Evens)
Date: 29 Oct 1996 22:09:52 GMT
Richard Ottolini (stgprao@sugarland.unocal.COM) wrote:
: >If Jupiter has a nuclear furnace at its core, then maybe Earth does too!
: >After all, we're not seeing any neutrinos from the Sun's 'nuclear furnace'-
: >so why would we see any from Jupiter's- or Earth's?
: Probably not enough gravtitational energy for conventional fusion.
: However, one of the original "cold fusion" scientists in the late 1980s
: proposed this mechanism as a heat source in the earth. (Not to be confused
: with the other cold fusion riff-raff that seemed to be scamming the investment
: community.)
Are you refering to the guy who had the cloud chamner tracks of and
actual cold fusion event, who was completely overshaddowed by the guys
with the palladium electrode at the same conference?
--
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Ring around the neutron, | "OK, so he's not terribly fearsome.
A pocket full of positrons,| But he certainly took us by surprise!"
A fission, a fusion, +--------------------------------------------------
We all fall down! | "Was anybody in the Maquis working for me?"
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
"I'd cut down ever Law in England to get at the Devil!"
"And what man could stand up in the wind that would blow once you'd cut
down all the laws?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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on content.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail will be posted as I see fit.
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Subject: Re: Raptors
From: "T. Mike Keesey"
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:11:14 -0500
> So what is the current status of gen. Troodon? I was under the
> impression that Deinonychus had been moved to Troodon. But then again,
> I'm a paleomammalogist...
Deinonychus didn't get moved to Troodon, *Stenonychosaurus* did.
Troodontids and dromaeosaurids were once unified in Deinonychosauria, but
the current conensus (as such) is that this is a polyphyletic group.
Troodontids are probably closer to ornithomimosaurs ("ostrich dinos"), and
tyrannosaurs, while dromaeosaurids are closer to birds. The "switchblade"
claw on the foot of troodontids and dromaeosaurids, which is also found in
the neoceratosaur Noasaurus, are probably a case of convergence.
> On a side note, how do we know that the velociraptorids didn't extinct
> the aliens?
Because the sphenacodonts beat 'em to the punch. (Don't worry, I changed
the subject line).
-Michael Keesey
tmkeesey@wam.umd.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|eodilophoeucoelosaurusonyxvenatorgigaiguanotyrannuscheirusodonomimusrexnodo|
|s /THE r|
|a / Cladograms Essays Pictures a|
|u http://www.wam.umd.edu/~tmkeesey_/ /DINOSAUR Genus List Book List Links p|
|r \/\WEB Glossary Records Ask Mike! t|
|u \ and all sorts of cool junk o|
|s \PAGES r|
|archaeomonoanchiornislambeocamaraultradocuslesothostegopholisheteroceratops|
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Subject: Re: Water down a sink.. which way does it run?
From: "John Friis Løndal"
Date: 30 Oct 1996 10:27:29 GMT
magnetic pole position for the last 2000 years can be seen at :
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/jloendal/ov-04.html
magnetic pole "sign" for the last 8 mill years at :
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/jloendal/ov-19.html
the magnetic field change, sometimes it is zero. (ex for 40.000 years ago)
___________________________________________________
Geologist and Geophysicist
John Friis Løndal
Tlf/Fax : Denmark 8678 6210
Email : jloendal@post3.tele.dk
Homepage : http://home3.inet.tele.dk/jloendal/
Brian Hutchings wrote in article
<1996Oct30.003234.10999@lafn.org>...
>
> In a previous article, lachlan@brookcot.u-net.com (Lachlan-) says:
>
> right (and/or vise-versa .-)
>
> >But the magnetic poles surely have something to do with the geographical
> >poles, 'cos the spin of the Earth causes or helps the Earth's magnetism
> >to occur. Doesn't it?
> --
> You *don't* have to be a rocket scientist. (College Career Counselor
> to me, again )
>
> There is no dimension without time. --RBF (Synergetics, 527.01)
>
Subject: Re: Plate Tectonic Question
From: malcolm@paleomap.com (Malcolm I. Ross)
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 08:37:07 -0500
In article ,
onemind@mindspring.com (Steven Jay Scheiner) wrote:
>Hi all..
>
>would anyone know if South America and Africa provide
>a better fit using current shorelines or continental shelfs?
>
Short answer: continental shelves. Current shorelines are a ephemeral
feature - not the same 10,000 yrs ago, let alone in the Cretaceous.
Longer answer: fit is still not all that great, even using continental
shelves, until internal deformation of the continents and margin
stretching are accounted for.
Cheers,
-Malcolm Ross
PALEOMAP Foundation
Subject: The Uranium Institute 21st Annual Symposium
From: Mike Black
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 15:12:17 +0000
Resources changes: a key factor in a new uranium production economic
cycle - Dr Georges Capus (Senior Market Analyst, Cogema, France) and
Patrice Caumartin.
Developments in the work of the ICRP of importance for radiation
protection - Prof Roger H Clarke (Chairman, International Commission on
Radiological Protection)
The uranium roller-coaster - Prof Phillip Crowson (Chief Economist, RTZ
Corporation, UK)
Radiation protection in the uranium mining industry - Mr Stan Frost
(Vice President, Environment and Safety, Cameco Corp., Canada)
Bury or burn plutonium - the next nuclear challenge - Prof Jacques van
Geel (Director, Institute for Transuranium Elements, European
Commission)
The benefits of low level radiation - Mr John Graham (Immediate Past
President, American Nuclear Society)
The recycling of weapons grade plutonium in nuclear power plants - Mr
Didier Haas (Sales Manager, Belgonucléaire, Belgium)
The concept of an international monitored retrievable storage system -
Prof Wolf Häfele (Director, Nuclear Engineering and Analytics
Rossendorf, Germany)
The importance of not phasing out nuclear power in Sweden - Dr Per
Hedvall (Senior Vice President, Asea Brown Boveri, Sweden)
Nuclear power and recycling in Japan - Mr Ryo Ikegame (Executive Vice
President, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Japan)
The global nuclear fuel market - supply and demand 1995-2015 - Dr Horst
Keese (Senior Advisor, Nukem, Germany)
Carpe diem: opportunity in the future fuel cycle markets - Mr Richard
Kingdon (Vice President, Marketing and Sales, US Enrichment Corp.)
French experience in spent fuel and high level waste transportation - Mr
Bernard Lenail (Deputy Chairman, La Hague, Cogema, France)
Depleted uranium: valuable energy source or waste for disposal? - Dr
Ingemar Lindholm (Director, SKB, Sweden)
Options: the value of flexibilities in long-term uranium contracts - Ms
Mari Angeles Major-Sosias (TradeTech, USA)
Long-term perspectives: energy, development and the environment - Dr
Nebojsa Nakicenovic (International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis)
Enhancing the economic competitiveness of the Olkiluoto nuclear power
plants - Mr MaunonPaavola (Managing Director, Teollisuuden Voima Oy,
Finland)
The world enrichment industry since 1987, and the outlook to 2005 - Mr
Jürgen Paleit (Managing Director, Commercial, Urenco, UK)
Radiation and society: a no regret approach to low level radiation risk
- Dr Morris Rosen (International Atomic Energy Agency)
US utility procurement challenges in the changing marketplace - Dr
Julian J Steyn (President, Energy Resources International, USA)
Nuclear power in a changing world - Mr John Taylor (Chief Executive,
British Nuclear Fuels)
Balancing supply and demand in an evolving market - production,
inventory and HEU - Dr Douglas H Underhill (Uranium Supply Specialist,
International Atomic Energy Agency)
Universal management systems - the way forward for spent fuel storage -
Dr Geoff Varley (NAC International, USA)
The role of nuclear power in environmentally benign energy strategies -
Dr Ivan Vera (OECD - Nuclear Energy Agency)
Mike Black
Computer Network Administrator
The Uranium Institute, London
E-mail mike@uilondon.org
WWW http://www.uilondon.org
Subject: Re: Milankovitch theory ?
From: jnhead@anaxamander.lpl.arizona.edu (James Head)
Date: 30 Oct 1996 17:34:27 GMT
In article Will.Howard@antcrc.utas.edu.au (Will Howard) writes:
>Milankovitch theory, specifically, states that changes in earth climate
>(as manifest in the growth and melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice
>sheets, for example) are driven by changes in summer solar radiation in
>high latitudes. These changes in insolation, in turn, are controlled by
>changes in the earth's orbital geometry, and can be calculated forward and
>backward in time using given astronomical solutions for the orbit.
Much more good stuff deleted...including references.
What was not stated explicitly (to my eyes at least) was the direct
(anti)correlation between orbital eccentricity and insolation. Change
eccentricity and the semi-major axis (the geometric mean distance
from the sun) does not change. However, due to Kepler's Laws, the
time-averaged distance from the sun does change, by a factor of
1+e if I recall my cel mech correctly. The planet moves slower
farther from the sun, spending more time in the cold and less
close to the fire. This can be found in Danby's text, among others.
The point is, if the orbital energy is constant (semi-major axis =
constant) the insolation decreases as eccentricity increases.
--
James N. Head | IMP Calibration Team
Lunar and Planetary Lab | So many pixels
jnhead@lpl.arizona.edu | So little time
Subject: Re: Water down a sink.. which way does it run?
From: "Robert D. Brown"
Date: 30 Oct 1996 18:37:31 GMT
Were Earth a spherically symmetrical structure at every level, its magnetic
poles and rotational poles would be congruent. Earth's magnetic
susceptibility, however, is not symmetrical at any level. At the level of
the crust, iron ore deposits create high intensity magnetic surface
anomalies while oceans produce low intensity field effects, all of which
are asymmetrically distributed on Earth's surface. Within the mantle are
even larger magnetic anomalies. The largest of these is the "African core
spot", a region deep to the African continental plate at the upper
core-lower mantle interface.
We do not actually "detect" the magnetic anomaly that forms the African
core spot via its magnetic signature. The magnetism of this object is
disconnected from the surface field via toroidal wraps of magnetic flux
contained in the core-mantle boundary. We know the object is there, that
is has the density and seismic signature of a deep iron deposit, and that
it generates so much heat that only electromagnetic flux currents between
itself and the planet's core field can explain its production. This is the
standard understanding of its nature. What we know with great certainty is
that the heat rising from the African core spot makes the rocks above it
the hottest region of Earth's crustal surface. The thermal signature of
the African core spot on Earth's surface would be easier to detect from the
distance of Pluto than would be Earth's own Moon, making the African core
spot Earth's most distinctive geological feature. Most core spots (there
are many) are late-appearing accretions of iron originally derived from
large asteroid collisions with Earth's oceans. The African core spot, is
also formed from an impact, the impact that created the Moon.
It is the large number of magnetic defects and focal accretions of iron in
Earth' s mantle that has caused the planet's main magnetic poles to
physically move away from the poles of rotation. RDB
Subject: Re: Milankovitch theory ?
From: Will.Howard@antcrc.utas.edu.au (Will Howard)
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 07:17:17 +1100
In article <5583j3$fjs@news.ccit.arizona.edu>,
jnhead@anaxamander.lpl.arizona.edu (James Head) wrote:
> In article
Will.Howard@antcrc.utas.edu.au (Will Howard) writes:
>
> >Milankovitch theory, specifically, states that changes in earth climate
> >(as manifest in the growth and melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice
> >sheets, for example) are driven by changes in summer solar radiation in
> >high latitudes. These changes in insolation, in turn, are controlled by
> >changes in the earth's orbital geometry, and can be calculated forward and
> >backward in time using given astronomical solutions for the orbit.
>
> Much more good stuff deleted...including references.
>
> What was not stated explicitly (to my eyes at least) was the direct
> (anti)correlation between orbital eccentricity and insolation. Change
> eccentricity and the semi-major axis (the geometric mean distance
> from the sun) does not change. However, due to Kepler's Laws, the
> time-averaged distance from the sun does change, by a factor of
> 1+e if I recall my cel mech correctly. The planet moves slower
> farther from the sun, spending more time in the cold and less
> close to the fire. This can be found in Danby's text, among others.
> The point is, if the orbital energy is constant (semi-major axis =
> constant) the insolation decreases as eccentricity increases.
>
True, I should have mentioned that, though that's a very small effect
compared to, say, the amplitude of the 65N summer insolation variations,
which are themselves small subtle changes. Big area of active research and
controversy, to say the least.
To answer another response to this thread, though the statistical
relationship between climate and orbital variation is compelling and
impossible to ignore, the MECHANISMS by which these subtle changes in
latitudinal and seasonal insolation influence climate are still being
worked on. Big area, etc.
*********************************************************************
Will Howard Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre
University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-80, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia
Antarctic CRC Homepage: http://www.antcrc.utas.edu.au/antcrc.html
E-mail: Will.Howard@antcrc.utas.edu.au
Phones: 61 3 62207888 (sec'y) 61 3 62207859 (office) 61 3 62202973 (fax)
********************************************************************
Subject: Re: Magnetic symmetry supports new ocean ridge model
From: john@mail.petcom.com. (John S.)
Date: 30 Oct 1996 20:10:35 GMT
In article <32767EF4.130A@cardiff.ac.uk>, irvingd1@cf.ac.uk says...
>
>John S. wrote:
>>
>> In article , skrueger@arco.com says...
>> >
>>
>> >
>> >Jupiter is an enormous gaseous planet with a nuclear furnace in it's core
>> >(hence the radiation). What's this got to do with the Earth?
>> >
>> If Jupiter has a nuclear furnace at its core, then maybe Earth does too!
>
>I think it would have been detected by now if there were. If this was the
>case then we would expect to pick it up using seismic methods. As shear
>waves can pass through the core, it must be a solid as a fluid cannot
>support shear forces. We find the properties of the shear waves to be
>those expected in a solid iron-nickel mix with the odd bit of cobalt too.
>
>
>> After all, we're not seeing any neutrinos from the Sun's 'nuclear
furnace'-
>> so why would we see any from Jupiter's- or Earth's?
>> Hey, my watch is powered by the same kind of non-neutrino producing
nuclear
>> reaction. (That was neat how that 'gas' splashed when the comet hit it,
eh?
>> When we were proving what's happening at Jupiter's core, did we also prove
>> what kind of gas forms long-lasting craters?)
>
>You can make a hole in a gas by dropping an object through it (e.g. a
>comet)
But does the gas exhibit a long-lasting (several rotations) SPLASH pattern?
>
>> Actually, the extinctions happened at intervals over a long period of
time,
>> corresponding with the ice ages. The Saber-toothed Tiger didn't go as
early
>> as T. Rex did he? The mammoths were around until just before the last Ice
>> Age, not?
>
>The sabre-toothed tiger was never around at the same time as the
>dinosaurs, in fact it evolved many millions of years later and, as far as
>we know, large glaciations or ice-ages have only been occurring during
>the Quaternary and late Tertiary (about the last 20Ma). How does this
>correspond to dinosaur extinctions, the last of which was approx 60Ma
>ago?
The way it corresponds is that I would think it is a shift in the axis that
would throw ice out in these spirals- because the polar ice cap would become
off-center. Previous to the Quaternary perhaps there were no polar ice caps
for some reason. Maybe there was higher land in those locales than there is
now. But these axis shifts may have been happening since before dinosaurs
were here. I know that the equator used to run close to where I live, which
is in the center of a (rapidly-cooling-off, damn it) Canada.
But an axial shift would still cause large-scale upheaval in the short range.
And it is my theory that a gradual increase in mass is not gravitationally
recognized for some reason until the axis, and therefore the magnetic poles,
are finally pressured into shifting. So it is this sudden incrementation in
gravity that causes the punctuated evolution we see, happening at intervals
like a snake shedding its skin.
>Go to your local library and find some geology books, take them out and
>read them.
Thanks, I will. Are there any you recommend? Have you read "Theories of the
Earth and Universe (A History of Dogma of the Earth Sciences)" by S. Warren
Carey? He's professor Emeritus or some such at some University in Australia.
Read my page, if you like http://www.petcom.com/~john
John (I was kidding about the nuclear reactions at the Earth's center. I
don't even think nuclear reactions happen at the Sun's center.)
Subject: Re: Milankovitch theory ?
From: ba137@lafn.org (Brian Hutchings)
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 19:03:51 GMT
In a previous article, jnhead@anaxamander.lpl.arizona.edu (James Head) says:
but the eccentricity/insolation thing is much less
than other variables, such as glasshouse gasses (H2O esta numero uno)
and albedo (waterclouds & watersnow e.g.). so,
is there a "relativistic" or classical reason
for "delta e" ??
>from the sun) does not change. However, due to Kepler's Laws, the
>time-averaged distance from the sun does change, by a factor of
>1+e if I recall my cel mech correctly. The planet moves slower
>farther from the sun, spending more time in the cold and less
>close to the fire. This can be found in Danby's text, among others.
>The point is, if the orbital energy is constant (semi-major axis =
>constant) the insolation decreases as eccentricity increases.
--
You *don't* have to be a rocket scientist. (College Career Counselor
to me, again )
There is no dimension without time. --RBF (Synergetics, 527.01)
Subject: Re: Three Mars Missions to Launch in Late 1996
From: PGNC
Date: 30 Oct 1996 21:46:26 GMT
dorman@lee.s3i.com (Clark Dorman) writes:
>
> In article
> biobarge@shore.net (Will Warren) writes:
> |>
> |> In article <54isk2$f7t@pace1.cts|>, sjlee@mtu.edu (quibbit) wrote:
> |>
> |> |> In any rate the time can be shorter if you accelerate more. It would cost
> |> |> more to get all the propellant up into orbit, but I think you could have a
> |> |> faster flight if you merely increased your initiall acceleration for earth
> |> |> (and of course deceleration at Mars). Is there any possibility of making
> |> |> fuel from material on Demos or Phobos so as to not having to lug fuel for
> |> |> a return trip.
> |>
> |> There's a movement within the space industry to send some sort of an
> |> automated fuel production vehicle/device well ahead of the astronaughts.
> |> The thing would show up with just hydrogen, then use the carbon in Mars'
> |> atmosphere to produce methane for the return trip. Once the fuelbot has
> |> produced enough it will give us a call, letting us know that we will
> |> indeed be able to get back...
>
> One such idea is discussed in this month's Technology Review. You can see it
> at:
>
> http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/org/t/techreview/www/tr.html
>
> It actually makes a lot of sense, since the launching cost is largely a
> function of weight, and an empty fuel tank weighs a lot less than a full one.
> In addition, I think that the safety of the mission would be greatly
> enhanced.
>
> |> I don't remember the numbers, but the costs of a Mars-Lite trip were
> |> significantly lower than if one had to lug all the fuel.
>
> Yes, the cost would be less than if you tried to take it all there, and
> largely due to the multiplicative effects. In aerospace applications, if you
> can reduce the final wieght by a pound, you can reduce the initial wieght by
> a great deal more than one pound, since the final pound requires additional
> fuel to get it there, and structure to support it (and fuel for the
> structure), etc. The design of aerospace structures has exponential
> parameters.
>
> Finally, since the vehicle is going by itself, it can take its own sweet time
> getting there. Change in velocity is again one of those exponential
> problems.
>
> My only issue with the idea is that there are so many unknowns in launching
> back from Mars. Assuming that the device lands, fuels, and is ready to go
> when the astronauts (marstonauts?) land, who's to say that the structure can
> take off again. We can test the fuel production vehicle for it's use on the
> ground, and we know a great deal about launching vehicles, but a
> Mars-to-Earth launch is tricky. The problem is easier (in my mind) if the
> vehicle remains in orbit with a dedicated lander / launcher with the major
> Mars-to-Earth vehicle remaining in orbit. Since all the fuel is going to be
> on the ground, the main launcher is going to be there as well. It is an open
> question as to whether the main launching vehicle will launch again
> autonomously and wait in orbit, or whether it will launch with the
> marstronauts.
>
>
>
> --
> Clark Dorman "Evolution is cleverer than you are."
> http://cns-web.bu.edu/pub/dorman/D.html -Francis Crick
Subject: 3dRendering: wanted sources for objects and tex-maps,et al.
From: n9145756@janice.cc.wwu.edu (Aaron Johnson)
Date: 30 Oct 96 21:53:45 GMT
I am looking for renderalble objects,ie stuff for 3d studio, 3d max,
truespace 2, et al. for a geology class project. I am also looking for a
realistic solar system to use, a sun with a good corona and believalbe
stars. Basical I do not have to thime torender all of these things for
class next week and looking for predesigned stuff, even iftheyare wire
frames it wouldbe okay.
Texture maps have to be the most important thing here, I need believalbe
stuff... well I have to go to class. bye reply please n9145756.cc.wu.edu