[Expect some slowdown in AW&ST summaries; we have an off-again-on-again postal strike in progress up here.]
Quayle, in speech at Vandenberg, gives strongest White House signal yet that no more shuttle orbiters will be built. Reportedly Truly lost a showdown in the National Space Council.
Demand for commercial launch services projected by CBO to continue strong until circa 1994 and slip somewhat after that, as backlogs clear and more capacity comes online. However, small-launcher business is forecast to boom.
GAO says GOES-Next program will cost $1.7G, and expresses skepticism that G-N-1 will perform better than GOES-7. Congressional hearings express concern that ITT has been paid 57% of its maximum possible performance bonus on the G-N contract despite screwing up the instrument development.
Latest Hubble result: 21 exceptionally bright blue stars found in cluster 47 Tucanae, complicating theories of such clusters, in which no young stars are expected. Ground-based telescopes can see only a few; the Hubble FOC observations were done in the ultraviolet.
Senate battle imminent over proposal to drastically shift SDI funding towards limited defences, starting with a ground-based deployment in 1996 at the currently-mothballed Grand Forks ABM site and an attempt to renegotiate the ABM treaty to permit a few more sites and more use of space-based sensors.
ESA is regaining control over Olympus, although it is not yet known whether its communications payload has survived the low temperatures. Details on how control was lost. Power is now back to normal, the batteries have been thawed, the propulsion system has been thawed, and propulsion testing is underway.
Boeing and Rockwell make a joint submission to SDI's SSTO competition rather than separate ones. McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics are also bidding (separately) on the contract, which calls for a low-paperwork fast-track development process leading to a one-stage fully-reusable launcher carrying 10-20klbs of cargo either manned or unmanned with very low turnaround time and costs. [McDD got it.]
Atlantis launch slips due to engine-computer problems. NASA is also trying to sort out what caused an SSME fire in a test at Stennis: the mix somehow became oxidizer-rich and the engine walls predictably started to burn. Any effect on the Atlantis launch will be sorted out during the several-day delay while the engine computer is replaced (the replacement itself is not that bad, but getting at the thing on the pad is a lot of work).
Programming graphics in X is like | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology finding sqrt(pi) using Roman numerals. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry