S P A C E T E A M O N L I N E

UPDATE # 47 - August 5, l998

PART 1: Discuss your plans with us
PART 2: Calendar of upcoming events
PART 3: A NASA Inspection Day success
PART 4: Packing for Mars!
PART 5: Status of Columbia Processing
PART 6: Subscribing & unsubscribing: how to do it!

DISCUSS YOUR PLANS WITH US

Have you noticed that Space Team Online is undergoing some changes? Even
the opening face was lifted a bit just to give us a new fresh perspective.
I hope you like it as much as I do. It's that time of year when "Back to
School" is seen and heard everywhere, and we at STO are racing our engines
preparing for a new exciting scholastic year. 

We'd like this to be a year of interacting more with you, our classroom
participants. These Updates that we send out from Space Team Online are
our chance to keep you up to date on what's happening as STO continues to
grow and change. As we gear up to bring you a new scholastic year of
activities, there are 2 easy ways you can respond to us and to others who
are participating in Quest events to voice your ideas and questions:

1. Discuss your plans with other teachers on the discuss list. We are   
   delighted to announce that a familiar name has returned to our  
   projects. Jan Wee has been a longtime participant in projects with
   Quest and moderated project featured events in the past. She has
   agreed to join us online to help our discuss list to become an even
   more useful tool in assisting our teachers to team with one another,
   helping to implement Quest (and related) projects in the classroom. 
   Join the discussion by sending an email to:
	listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov
   In the message body, write ONLY these words: subscribe discuss

2. Each Thursday, Marc or another of the Quest team joins you online in a 
   live QuestChat intended for candid remarks, general feedback and 
   questions. We can learn a great deal from your experience. Join with us 
   to discuss your needs and interests. See the schedule at:
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/chats.html
  
New this week: Biographic profiles for the Challenge Project are beginning
to come in. You will notice a little different approach in these bios as
they spotlight individuals who are not necessarily NASA people, but who
reflect the Challenge Project's themes of physical fitness and lifelong
learning. Trekkors will enjoy reading about Kate Mulgrew who plays Kathryn
Janeway, the first female starship captain on television's "Star Trek:
Voyager" and Tom Whittaker, the first disabled person to summit Mount
Everest. They join the growing list of challenge takers at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/challenge/team
Read about them now, and plan to join them live during the Scott Carpenter
Space Analog mission September 23 through 30.

In the more traditional Space Team Online motif, both Andrew Petro and,
newcomer to STO, Tony Bruins, speak in their journals below about
preparing for extended time in space; for trips to remote places like Mars
or time aboard the International Space Station. Join Andrew in his chat
listed below in the Calendar.

Help us help you by discussing your plans with us!

Linda Conrad
Space Team Online Project Manager

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

->August 12, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time:  with Andrew Petro, spacecraft design
engineer. Andrew is part of a team involved with planning future projects
and designing spacecraft for returning to the moon and going on to Mars.
His team also works on improvements to space shuttles and designs for
launchers, which will eventually replace the shuttles. As usual, you will
better contribute to the chat if you first read his bio at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/petro.html
If you haven't yet signed up, there are still spaces available! You can
register for the chat at:      http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats

-> August 12th at 9pm EDT (consult you local scheduling) Tom  Whittaker
will be on CBS's Public Eye with Bryant Gumble. See Tom's bio at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/challenge/team/whittaker.html

->August 19, take a tour of the International Space Station. Astronaut
flight crews for Space Shuttle flights and upcoming Space Station missions
receive most of their hands-on training in flight simulators and full-size
mockups at Johnson Space Center. Join us for a tour of the Space Station
Mockup and Training facility (SSMTF) one such simulator. To prepare for
this event, go to:	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/tours/index.html

A NASA INSPECTION DAY SUCCESS
by Tony Bruins

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/bruins.html

July 29, l998
One of the projects I am working on now is an idea conceived by Dr.
Robert Rice of the Institute of Somatic Sciences. It is for a new advanced
spacesuit and software to be used when man goes back to the Moon and
for longer stays in space when man goes to Mars. This project is called
the Somatic Science Simulation (S3 Project). S3 is the first real time
interactive virtual human model. It is also the first and only NASA-JSC
Inspection Day success story, where an actual partnership was formed to
begin development of a new project. 

NASA Inspection Day is where NASA invites surrounding businesses,
industry and educators to come and see firsthand NASA technology, in
the hopes of forming partnerships in existing and new technology. The
partnership is a two-way street where NASA also investigates what
businesses, industry, and academia are developing that may meet
NASA's unique requirements. 

The objective is to model the entire human body, including all visceral
components (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and all other internal organs).
This particular project is needed to support going back to the Moon and
going on to Mars. It will simulate all the different variables (what ifs)
that can happen to the body in differing degrees of gravitational forces
and how to prepare for them. The Moon has 1/6 the gravity that the Earth
has, and Mars has 1/3 the gravity that the Earth has. 

We will put these variables in the computer, along with the astronauts
characteristics and variables -- then we can do simulations of how gravity
affects the body. This will be very useful when man goes to Mars, which
will would take between 6 months and 3 years depending on the flight
mechanics to define the trajectory. During this length of time, the
astronauts neuromuscular skeletal system will lose minerals and begin
atrophy. Atrophy is the wasting away through a lack of nutrition or use.
This will help determine what the various gravitational forces will do to
the neuromuscular skeletal system. We will be able to use this information
to develop counter-measures to react and compensate for this. This also
puts us in a position to do telemedicine, where we can monitor the
astronauts here at JSC or the Texas Medical Center or wherever. 

This is all very cutting edge technology and will be awhile in the making,
but it is now a work in progress. This is NASA Research and
Development (R&D) at its best. 

PACKING FOR MARS!
by Andrew Petro

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/petro.html

July 6, 1998
This last year our focus has been on a Mars mission design, in its
entirety - how it launches off the Earth, what gets packed in which launch
vehicle, how it assembles in orbit, and how the mission is put together
with all its differing pieces. For the kinds of Mars missions we are
looking at now, we plan on sending up return (ascent) vehicles capable of
making their own propellant (fuel) first. This way it has time to produce
the propellant needed to get home. This is where Insitu-Resource
Utilization comes in. The crew goes up later, rendezvous with the other
pieces in orbit, then lands on Mars. When the crew is ready to come home,
their ascent vehicle is full of fuel and ready to go. This mission is
projected to go up around the year 2011. 

In the next couple of months, we will be bringing some closure to our
Mars project. Then we will begin looking at how we would plan a
mission to an asteroid, then later again to the Moon. Many of these
missions will share a lot of similar technology, though each will also
have its share of differences. When we do send people to Mars, it will
take six months to get there. The astronauts would then stay on Mars for
one and a half years. This is necessary to wait for optimal (best) planet
alignment. How the planets are aligned affects the amount of energy
needed. We save energy on a trip to Mars by taking a big curved path. It's
a lot like throwing a ball against a wall. If you throw it in a straight
line, its speed is quick, but you have to throw it a lot harder, than say
if you arced it. If it were arced, it would travel slower, but it would
take less energy so you wouldn't have to throw it as hard. 

Of course, the more mass you take to Mars, the more energy (fuel) you
need. The shuttle carries 25 tons when it goes up. The Mars vehicles will
probably be launched in 80 ton packages, and it will take three to six of
these hauls for the mission. 

We have also been working on the habitat modules to be used on the Mars
missions. We are working on the actual layout of what it will look like
inside. There will be two different habitat modules -- the one the crew
will live in for the six month trip to and from Mars and the one they will
live in for the year and a half on Mars. They will have to be designed
differently because they feel no gravity in space, but Mars has 1/3 of the
gravity Earth has. The Mars surface habitat will take this into
consideration and will have a floor and a ceiling. 

When we start going to the Moon again, I think it will help in figuring
out some of the answers we need for the Mars missions. The Moon has 1/6
the gravity of Earth, and because it's closer, we can really utilize this
resource and gain knowledge from our experiences there. The Moon is a
nearly perfect vacuum, and has no atmosphere. It makes a great lab,
especially using solar power. Mars, on the other hand, has an
atmosphere, which helps shield it from radiation, but Mars only receives
about 1/3 of the solar power that the Earth receives. So on Mars, solar
power will be quite limited and much more difficult to maintain. Another
NASA project is to look into alternative power sources for this mission. 

Much of what I do is quite technical in nature, but I feel if I can't
explain it to someone else in somewhat non-technical terms, then I really
don't understand my job very well. My position is more of a generalist,
not an expert in any particular area. My job is to take all the different
components and package them where they will all work together to achieve
the overall goal or objective of the project. There is a lot of compromise
involved. The whole project is a team effort. No one person can do it. I
like being part of Space Team Online because even though we are all very
busy, I think outreach to the public is an important part of our job. It's
important for people to understand what we are doing and why. 

In a different direction, in February, I was involved in Project Apple.
This had me acting as a 2nd grade substitute teacher for five Tuesdays in
a row. This was quite an experience for me, to teach reading and math. I
think it's a neat project and I enjoyed my participation in it. 

Hope to talk to you during my next chat, which is scheduled for August
12!  Have a nice summer! 

STATUS OF COLUMBIA PROCESSING

Below, we'll provide some details about the post flight work
being done after STS-90 and the subsequent processing of Columbia
as it prepares to fly again as STS-93. These reports will contain
jargon and unfamiliar terms; our intent is not to confuse you, but to
provide a glimpse at all the steps involved. Detailed daily reports
about Columbia's processing can be found at the NASA Shuttle Status
web site at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/status.htm

As Columbia continues  preparation for its next scheduled flight, STS-93
scheduled for January 1999: Calibration of Columbia's main propulsion
system pressure transducer was completed. Replacement of the orbiter's
overboard waste valve is in work and water spray boiler servicing
continues. By the end of July, technicians had removed Columbia's gaseous
nitrogen tank to gain access to power control assembly No. 1
and digital command assembly No. 1 for replacement and installed the new
PCA and DCA. 

This week connection of the hydraulic pumps for auxiliary power units No.
1 and No. 3 were completed. Technicians are replacing Columbia's power
control assembly No. 1 and digital command assembly No. 1. Window No. 1
has been installed and orbiter window polishing begins today. 

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