I saw on "Hot Rod Your Head" what is claimed to be a
"Startling Space-Launch Invention" disclosed to the public domain by its
inventor, Dr. Win Wenger.

You can see this page on http://www.botree.com/lanunch.htm
[Mod note: URL is actually "http://www.botree.com/articles/launch.htm" -gwh]

It says that the invention is revolutionary. I don’t know – I’m not an
expert. It just seems much too good. And at the end of the document, he
says he won’t disclose the inverntion if you pay him 7 millon dollars. AH ?
(-:

Looks interesting guys. Real ? I don’t know.
Expecting your opinoin on this subject…

Thanks,
Jerry

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Over the enxt few days we’re going to do our best to keep track of all
that happens on Mars at

            Mars NOW – http://www.astrobiology.com/mars/now.html

–
Keith Cowing – kcow…@reston.com

The Astrobiology Web – http://www.astrobiology.com
NASA Watch – http://www.reston.com/nasa/watch.html
The Whole Mars Catalog – http://www.astrobiology.com/mars/catalog.html
Europa Revealed – http://www.astrobiology.com/europa/index.html
The Lunar Almanac – http://www.astrobiology.com/lunar/almanac.html

BEFORE it lands, minutes from now, I want to get on record  my
enthusiastic approval and respect for the mission philosophy and planning
boldness which has led to this and other faster, cheaper, and (probably)
better missions — a notion that a lot of people snorted at with derision
only a few years ago.

Credit for the inspirational kicks-in-the-ass go to one of the best
kickers in the business, Dan Goldin (there, I said it, and my keyboard
didn’t freeze up!!).

WHATEVER HAPPENS, there’ll be no second-guessing or sniping from me on
this space mission. It looks like it was worth taking the chances, risking
the investment, getting our hopes up. As space enthusiasts we need to all
be fore-armed to respond to any developments and continue the struggle for
the hearts and minds of the public and the mass media.

To quote Tsander, "K Marsu". And here we are…

Putting Science on the EXPRESS Track

Simply moving a box of plants from one shelf to another might seem like
a minor effort, but it represents a major step for scientists planning
research aboard the International Space Station.
Thursday morning, astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Columbia moved the
Astro Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (Astro-PGBA) from its
storage location in the middeck to the EXPRESS rack in the Spacelab
module, and plugged it to electrical power and a data connection. In a
few years, this should be a routine way of getting experiments to Space
Station and results back.

More at
http://wwwssl.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad04jul97_1.htm
and
http://wwwssl.msfc.nasa.gov/msl1/action/highlights.htm

Dave Dooling
D2040797

In case anyone has no access to mass media right now,
Mars Pathfinder entered the Mars atmosphere, survived
reentry and landing, and is upright and following its
post landing operations program properly.   The first
surface image should arrive in 2 more hours according
to the schedule.

Congratulations to the whole JPL Mars Pathfinder team
and the contractors, scientists around the globe, and
other NASA groups which were involved in the long and
hard process of getting Pathfinder there and working!
[And Roll, Rocky, Roll! ]

-george william herbert
Retro Aerospace
gherb…@crl.com

In article <5pgrvv$…@netline.jpl.nasa.gov>, Henry Spencer

<URL:mailto:he…@zoo.toronto.edu> wrote:

> One other casualty of funding cutbacks has been cruise science — at the
> moment, actual science observations (as opposed to calibration) are
> planned to start about six months before Saturn orbit insertion, with no
> science at all during Venus, Earth, and Jupiter flybys.  The only specific
> plan for any activity during those flybys is calibration of some fields-
> and-particle instruments during Earth flyby, for the sake of a well-known
> environment to calibrate against.

Isn’t it just absurd not to take the opportunity to image
Jupiter and/or Io while (presumably) passing close over for a
gravity assist?  Surely the Cassini instruments could add something
to what’s known about the Jovian system?  Quite apart from Venus.

Would it really be so terribly expensive to switch on the
instruments for a week?  This decision seems crazy.

–
Graham Nelson | gra…@gnelson.demon.co.uk | Oxford, United Kingdom

I’m sure glad the aged Mir base block RCS system is about to go off line,
with the gyrodynes back up. Hypergolics — especially OLD hypergolic
hardware — make me very nervous, I used to work with them. This is a
system for which the phrase "graceful degradation" is totally inapplicable
– recall Mars Observer and the Arkansas Titan-2 that blew an H-bomb
through the cement silo lid?  There are four sets of six each RCS jets for
pitch and yaw on the Base Block, and I wonder how many are still
operational? I don’t know of many cases in which they EVER have been used
in recent years, what with gyrodynes and docked Progress vehicles doing
the pitch/yaw control (with assist in roll provided by that boom-mounted
independent package). Let’s just hope that after several days of intense
usage the old, eroded, contaminated valves in every one of those jets, and
the valves in the interior plumbing, have all shut fully and firmly.
"Hope" is all we can do at this point.

OLD NASA                New NASA

Galileo                 NEAR

Gaspra encounter        Mathilde Encounter

$1.5 G                  $150 M  (Appx)

Mars Observer           MGS

Viking                  Mars Pathfinder

$1.7G                   $180 M  Appx.

I don’t know, I sort of like the new way of doing business.

Come on you all, do we really need the ISS for a manned moon
base?

Can we go for a manned moon colony/base with out having to
depend on Mir or ISS. Other than the fact that we have sunk a
heafty chunk of cash/hopes/dreams and such into Mir/ISS.

Is Mir nothing but a vainly covered bail out for Russia?

Maybe we should talk to the Chinese, they seem to be doing quite
well, after all they now have Hong Kong.

So far the chain of what we need to do to get into real space,
not local space. Is to first go to the moon and set up a base
there/mining colony actually. Then to Mars or orbit near or by
Mars. Then to the Asteroids. Then beyond ..
Io/Europe/Interstellar space.

Do we really need to go to Mars other than for scientific
curiousity.
More like what we need is a space station half way between Earth
and the Asteroid belt. Then a mining colony in the asteroid belt.

Reasons for this is the minerals we will need for each step of
the way. After all, why go down into a gravity well, and then
bring things up from said gravity well, then send them to
someplace else. When you can not even go down into the well in
the first place.
Only reason for a person to go into a gravity well is for health
or penal reasons. After all robots can do most of the work
necessary.

My opinions are my own, and I doubt anyone elses, but..