UMSF space history photo of the month |
UMSF space history photo of the month |
Sep 9 2008, 07:44 AM
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#76
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
Ah! It reminds me the mainframe existing at our university 'til the 80s; a Borroughs B6700!
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Sep 9 2008, 08:19 PM
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#77
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Member Group: Members Posts: 688 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 273 |
Ah yes, those were the days. It reminds me of the Swedish Airforce's IBM 7074, which was the first mainframe I worked with. It was pretty old then, but I've heard that when the Airforce bought it they got a real blast about their profligacy from the Department of Finance which was planning to buy a similar machine to cover the needs of the whole Swedish Government, civil and military....
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Sep 18 2008, 05:44 PM
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#78
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Guests |
Because this month is special (closure of manned spaceflight section) I wanted to post a mixed image:
NASA's Magellan probe to Venus is launched from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle "Atlantis" during STS-30, not the well-known photo but an artist' impression dating from Sep 1988: |
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Oct 1 2008, 06:03 PM
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#79
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Guests |
TelStar 1962, an amazing 77 kg satellite. Since July 1962, Telstar 1 demonstrated transatlantic data, facsimile, voice and television transmissions. It paved the way for commercial satellite utilization and according to the US Space Objects Registry, Telstar 1 was still in orbit as of May 2008...
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Oct 1 2008, 08:24 PM
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#80
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Member Group: Members Posts: 808 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
Telstar 1 can still be tracked with a telescope.
Its orbit is something like 900km x 6000km and it varies in brightness from 6th mag to 13th ...on the heavens above website log in and set your location (important), then
-------------------- CLA CLL
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Oct 1 2008, 09:24 PM
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#81
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
Does anyone else get the feeling that when commercial orbital flight becomes routine, that some enterprising person is going to start a company to retrieve historical orbital objects like Telstar 1, and not just satellites, but pieces of this and that and then return them to Earth to be auctioned off as collectibles?
EDIT: unmanned of course, else I wouldn't discuss it here -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Oct 1 2008, 09:40 PM
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#82
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
It'd be scientifically interesting. Sort of a VVVVVVVLDEF
And, it would be cool. |
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Oct 1 2008, 10:28 PM
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#83
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10227 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
I watched some of the first Telstar transatlantic transmissions. Remember the pop tune named after it?
Regarding recovery of old satellites... the old owners might not consider they have relinquished ownership - better check first. This has been the topic of heated debate on the Google Lunar X-Prize forum, in connection with lunar artifacts. (before that forum got spammed by viagra ads) Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Oct 1 2008, 10:29 PM
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#84
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Some talk about it here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23639980/ I was googling "Who owns old satellites?" Oberg seems to think that it's the original owners, rather than a more maritime free-for-all. |
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Oct 2 2008, 05:26 PM
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#85
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Guests |
Overall, the spin-stabilized satellite measured 88 centimeters as the dimensions were dictated by the limited space in the fairing of NASA’s delta launch vehicle. Telstar 1 communicated through four major ground stations; (1) Andover – Maine USA was the principal ground station for data and tracking operations, (2) Holmdel – New Jersey USA, the “first telephone terminal to outer space” received the data, (3) Goonhilly – England GB, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation was the international coordinator center and (4) Pleumeur-Boudou – France, a station almost identical to the AT&T facility in Maine. NASA facilities and stations in Italy and Brazil conducted relay communications tests.
Telstar 1 certainly was a beauty: |
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Oct 5 2008, 03:30 AM
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#86
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
My brother's stepfather was the late Jack Olson. He was a visionary designer that developed concepts of space vehicles while working for Boeing. [He is also named as the co-inventor of the Boeing Jetfoil (he designed everything above the waterline).]
Jack was a notorious practical joker - in the mid-60's one of his earliest depictions of a lander on the lunar surface had a subtly disguised bleached-out steer skull in the foreground - this was part of a presentation package that the unknowning head of Boeing Aerospace, Joe Stoner, presented to a Congressional subcommittee. Among his many concepts, this image is of a Mars habitation colony that was presented to NASA. (Note the "Welcome" mat near the ladder). This was his last space illustration: At the lower right in the graphic is a very subtle addition (and the link to unmanned spaceflight). If you look below his name, you can see symbols carved into a martian rock. These are the date of the drawing (2-6-1992) in Runic characters. This plays homage to Jack's fascination with Viking runestones in America and also links to the first successful American lander on the Martian surface, named Viking. -Mike [EDIT: He was also an aeronautical genius. I was fortunate to go on a multiple bus trip he organized to view the February 26, 1979 total solar eclipse in Washington state. While the rest of the Pacific Northwest was pretty clouded over (quelle surprise), he successfully found a patch of clear weather for our trip based on a meteorological effect called a "wave window" which would make a hole in the cloud in certain areas downwind from a topographic obstacle.] -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Oct 31 2008, 01:49 PM
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#87
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Guests |
Happy Halloween !!!
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Oct 31 2008, 04:07 PM
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#88
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
GENIUS!!! Thanks, Phil!
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Oct 31 2008, 04:32 PM
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#89
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Guests |
In fact that's an official NASA-JPL image and yes Saturn's moon Titan looks the most scary
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Nov 1 2008, 10:37 PM
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#90
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For November I have chosen a space observatory photo:
Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO-3), was the third of a series of 4 space observatories. OAO-3, a collaborative effort between NASA and the UK’s Science & Engineering Research council, was launched on 21st August 1972 and carried an X-ray detector built by the University College of London in addition to an 80 cm UV telescope built by Princeton University. Once successfully in orbit, OAO-3 was renamed Copernicus to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The spacecraft operated until February 1981, and returned high resolution spectra of hundreds of stars along with extensive X-ray observations. |
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