March 1997

CONTENTS

NASA ASTRONAUT JEFF HOFFMAN VISITS LEICESTER UNIVERSITY

UKSEDS were lucky enough to be able to ask Jeff Hoffman a few questions after his lecture on "Tethers in Space" held at Leicester University last month. Dr Hoffman has flown on the space shuttle five times and was one of the astronauts on the successful first Hubble Servicing mission.

What are the main differences between the Russian and American astronaut training programmes?

Their training has been more exam-oriented. Historically we have not taken exams - that’s changing actually with the new group of astronauts. They’ve decided that with so many astronauts to train for the space station, they’ve had to compress the training and so they’re going to give everybody exams to make sure they’re all moving at the same rate. So from that point of view, it will become more similar. They have a lot more written materials - everything that we do is covered in workbooks and computer-based training and simulators. They have a lot more lectures where they have to take notes.

Do you have to start training again every time you prepare for another flight?

No, there’s your basic training, where you learn shuttle systems, space station systems... you only have to do that once. There’s a difference between getting your basic knowledge and then when you’re actually going to fly, it’s not enough to know that this is how the electrical system works - you have to practice the procedures to build up proficiency - studying isn’t enough. It’s that proficiency which doesn’t stay with you. We certainly didn’t spend as much time training for this second tether flight as we did for the first one because we had been there before so it came back very quickly. The three people who hadn’t flown before were separated for the first part of our training and they got a lot more intensive stuff to bring them up to the level where we were.

Have you got any plans to fly again?

I don’t know, I’ll just have to see.

Does it depend on what NASA decides? No, it’s more what I decide. They’ve told me I can fly again if I want to.

Have you flown on all the shuttles?

Not the Challenger.

Is there much difference between the shuttles?

Columbia is a little heavier but inside there’s not much difference, by design. You don’t want to have to go through extra training just because you’re flying on a different shuttle.

What are the quarantine arrange-ments before you fly?

There’s one quarantine week so that hopefully we don’t get sick when we’re up there. It doesn’t make sure but it improves the odds a little bit. To be honest, it’s a very nice way to ensure that you get to relax a little bit because the last few weeks of training are very tense. You go down to Florida, you get to walk on the beach, go swimming...

What a bizzare form of quarantine!

It’s not the beach that you go to! We have our own beach - a private beach. And it’s nice that people can’t get to you.

Do you have to do any quarantine when you get back?

No, not unless we met an alien, and then they’d probably put us in quarantine! Short of that, any microbes we come back with are microbes we took up with us when we went.

Do you think it would be possible for you to land the shuttle if something happened to the people that can pilot it?

Well, there are two of them - the rest of us do not get trained in how to land the shuttle. It would not be easy.

Would it be possible though?

Well, I would certainly try! But I would think my chances of making it are pretty small. I’ve tried it a few times in the simulator and not distinguished myself! Actually the shuttle does have an autopilot function built into the computer and they might suggest using that, which I might be willing to try, but it’s never been tested. It’s a redundant system.

Thanks very much.

Dr. Hoffman’s lecture will be summarised in the next edition of Aurora, the UKSEDS magazine. We are also hopeful that he will be able to attend our November conference.

DISCOUNT FOR UKSEDS MEMBERS AT JODRELL BANK SCIENCE CENTRE

From the beginning of April, all UKSEDS members, on presentation of their membership cards, will be able to enter Jodrell Bank Science Centre for the child price of £2.00.

Jodrell Bank is situated in Cheshire, near to junction 18 of the M6. It houses the largest Planetarium in the country outside London and has a large number of educational displays for all ages. Jodrell Bank is home to the Lovell radio telescope and also has an Arboretum and Environment Centre.

Jodrell Bank is open daily 10.30am to 5.30pm from the third weekend in March to the last weekend in October. Planetarium shows take place every ¾ hour.

For further information, please contact:

Jodrell Bank Science Centre and Arboretum
Macclesfield Cheshire
SK11 9DL

Tel: 01477 571695

by James Monaghan

Second Hubble Servicing mission successful

Although the observatory verification is still underway as we go to press, the preliminary findings suggest that the second servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope was mostly successful.

During the servicing mission, STS-82 (the launch of which was reviewed in last month’s newsletter), eight components were replaced or installed, the two new ones being the Space Telescope Imaging Spectro-graph (STIS) and NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Specrometer). The former has responded well in tests and will shortly begin science operations. The latter however, "has provided both excellent results and some areas of concern". Of its three cameras, two are functioning perfectly but the third appears to be focussing beyond the range of which the instrument is capable. It is thought that the problem is due to heating of the internal parts which need to be maintained at a temperature of 58 degrees Kelvin. It is hoped that the problem will right itself with time.

Of the other six instruments serviced, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2 (WFPC-2) has delighted scientists with new sharpest-ever views of the planet Mars, taken on March 10th, just before the planet reaches its closest point to Earth (Mars opposition). The pictures clearly show "clouds, polar caps and other bright and dark markings". The observations Hubble makes of Mars over the next few months will be invaluable as a ‘weather report’ for the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Missions, both currently en route to Mars. Mars Pathfinder is due to land on the planet on July 4th this year.

For more information on the Hubble observations of Mars, see here.

NASA TO FABRICATE HYPERSONIC VEHICLES

NASA has selected a team led by MicroCraft, Inc., Tullahoma, TN, to fabricate a series of small, unpiloted experimental vehicles that will fly up to ten times the speed of sound. The five-year project, known as Hyper-X, will demonstrate hypersonic propulsion technologies.

When the Hyper-X flies, it will be the first time a non-rocket engine has powered a vehicle in flight at hypersonic speeds - speeds above Mach 5, equivalent to about one mile per second or approximately 3,600 miles per hour at sea level. A booster rocket will carry each experimental vehicle to its flight-test speed and altitude, where it will be launched to fly under its own power.

"We're embarking on an ambitious series of Hyper-X flights to expand the boundaries of aeronautics and develop new technologies for space access," said Daniel S. Goldin, NASA Administrator. “Most impressively, these flights will begin less than two years from now. Under old ways of doing business it might have taken ten years to reach flight tests."

MicroCraft will be responsible for fabrication and flight-test support. This will include not only the four research vehicles but also one research vehicle-to-booster adapter for mating of the research vehicles to the nose of an expendable booster rocket. Each vehicle will be approximately 12 feet long with a wing span of about five feet. "We are ready to prove this technology -- to be the first to fly an air-breathing vehicle at hypersonic speeds," said NASA Langley's Vince Rausch, the Hyper-X project manager.

Program managers plan to demonstrate hydrogen-powered, "air-breathing" propulsion systems that could ultimately be applied in vehicle types ranging from hypersonic aircraft to reusable space launchers.

A rocket carries its own oxygen for combustion. An air-breathing vehicle, the experimental Hyper-X, will burn oxygen in the air scooped from the atmosphere. Because of this, air-breathing hypersonic vehicles should carry more payload and / or offer longer range than equivalent rocket-powered systems.

Four flights are planned -- one each at Mach 5 and 7 and two at Mach 10. The Mach 7 flight comes first. The flight tests will be conducted within the Western Test Range off the coast of southern California.

Each Hyper-X vehicle will ride on the first stage of an Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA, booster rocket, which will be launched by the Dryden B-52. For each flight, the booster will accelerate the Hyper-X research vehicle to the test conditions (Mach 5, 7 or 10) at approximately 100,000 feet. There, it will separate from the booster and fly under its own power and preprogrammed control.

Ground tests and analyses of both vehicle and engine will be performed prior to each flight in order to compare flight and ground-test results. In addition, the Hyper-X Mach 7 and 5 vehicles will be tested prior to flight in Langley's 8-Foot High Temperature Wind Tunnel. The vehicles, with a fully operating ramjet/ scramjet propulsion system, will be put through tests in the tunnel simulating many, but not all, Mach 7 and 5 flight conditions.

Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Hyper-X takes the next essential step in developing hypersonic, air-breathing technology

Images of the Hyper-X vehicles and additional information can be obtained at the Langley Research Center

(thanks to the NASA press office)

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