The View From Missive Control

We’ve entered upon interesting times this summer. The newspapers are full of news about the Clipper – not the Delta, but a silly little scrambling chip for telephonic communications. By the time most of you read this, you’ll already know that not only is it designed to allow government wiretapping, but it has a built-in design flaw that allows other folk to do the same. Yet, the funding is there for this Clipper – design flaws and all. Governmental priorities at work, I suppose.

ISDC 1994 has come and gone. The Space Frontier Society was well represented by Seth Potter, David Millman, Robert DeBiase, Allan Wasser and Ray Noonan. Our cover article this month is David’s report on the conference – and hopefully next month we’ll have a write-up from Seth on the Solar Power Satellite Working Group.

Greg Zsidisin reminds everyone that the deadline for registering for ISDC 1996 at the advance rate of $45 is coming up fast – June 15! If you’re planning to take advantage of this reduced price, get your check in to: Space Expos of America, Inc., P.O. Box 71, Maplewood, NJ 07040.

On other fronts, as reported by Greg in his monthly news coverage, our distant neighbor, Jupiter, is due to receive an uninvited party-crasher – the Shoemaker-Levy comet. The Clementine mission completed its moon mapping and now has gone off on what the Australians might call a walkabout. And the Hubble Space Telescope has gone and found itself a black hole and some rings around a supernova.

In June, NASA has a scheduled Pegasus launch into low earth orbit for further stratospheric ozone study, and in July, a planned launch of the shuttle Columbia will carry a payload that includes microgravity, acceleration, amateur radio, and crystal growth experiments.

Carolyn Josephs reports on the results of our first essay contest and the upcoming teachers’ conference. She has also graciously worked up a list of the participants in the contest, and is busy putting together a presernationa of some of the best work submitted for next month’s issue.

Finally, Linda DeLaurentis has written what she claims is her last President’s Message, as she steps down from her term in office. Linda is the one who signed me up, not only for SFS, but also to edit this newsletter – which was no easy task on her part. A big thank you for a job well done!