[A light week.]
Spot Image is finding some unusual customers... the Southern Florida Water Management District is doing digital comparisons of Spot data to find violations of wetlands-drainage rules; it's cheaper than doing it with helicopters or ground visits.
White House commemorates Apollo anniversary by photographing the Apollo 11 astronauts with Clinton and Gore. [Whee.]
Pegasus launches to resume with a standard Pegasus, carrying NASA's APEX payload, on 26 July.
House Appropriations kills long-lead funding for another Titan IV buy, citing extremely high cost and dwindling demand (as US military payloads desert Titan in favor of cheaper launchers). The USAF wants the money reinstated; they're expected to claim that the National Reconnaissance Office will continue to need heavylift launches, and that one more Titan buy will give them time to develop an equally expensive, er excuse me I mean much cheaper, replacement.
Shoemaker-Levy 9 hits Jupiter. Photo of fireball rising over edge of planet, seen by Keck in infrared. Hubble photos of impact scars, which are much more prominent than anyone expected. IUE saw the auroras, EUVE saw helium at the impact sites. Late returns still coming in from Galileo, and from data analysis on Rosat, Ulysses, Voyager, and Kuiper results. The Internet sites providing data and pictures were swamped with traffic. Puzzles are starting to appear; for starters, the size and appearance of the impact scars don't correlate well with the apparent fragment size, and nobody's been able to find spectral lines from water, which should have been a substantial component of the comet.
Columbia IML-2 flight wrapping up. One of Columbia's gyros is acting up, and Edwards has been alerted in case an early landing is necessary, but so far they're just watching the problem.
House space subcommittee hearing debates, not expendable vs. reusable launchers -- the reusable enthusiasts appear to be winning -- but how to develop reusables. NASA's current plan envisions more technology development, some flights of the modified DC-X, and eventually some flying demonstrators. Others feel it's time to start flying things without waiting. Simon Worden testifies in favor of a tightly-focused program under a single manager, geared to flying something within three years: "Generic technology development is no substitute for a flight program. Without a flight program, there is nothing to focus technology development. And without the flight experiments, technology programs quickly decay into 'sandbox' activities that survive more on their contribution to local employment and vested interests than on real future needs." On the other hand, he does believe there is also a real need for technology development, and cautions that the flight programs must live within schedule and budget restrictions and not be allowed to "raid the component development when they get in trouble".
Matra Marconi Space will acquire British Aerospace's Space Systems division, becoming Europe's largest space company. This is all subject to approval by zillions of governments. Approval is not expected to be a problem, because the two companies' businesses do not compete much.
Justice for groups that doesn't include justice | Henry Spencer for individuals is a mockery. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu