:ree lance Space Shuttle: By ANTHONY NEWMAN Collegian Science Writer Leke college students trying to get home for the holidays, University researchers are hitching rides for their experiments aboard the space shuttle. Penn State researchers from a variety of disciplines agree that the craft's most impor tant feature is its ability to address questions that cannot be answered on Earth. John Nousek, astronomy research asso ciate and investigator for one shuttle experi ment, said the shuttle's top priority is not to address these scientific questions but to im prove the commercialization and industriali zation of space. "But (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is also sensitive to the needs of scientists," Nousek said. "Researchers may get kicked off for higher priority pro jects, but (NASA) is doing all it can to insure that any excess space is put to good use." Not surprisingly, the astronomy depart ment is especially eager to catch a shuttle ride into space. Three projects are planned for future space shuttle flights. All three will be scanning the universe for x-rays radiation given off by highly en ergetic objects such as galaxies, quasars and black holes, said Gordon Garmire, Universi ty professor of astronomy. Astronomers must study x-ray emissions from space because the Earth's atmosphere filters this radiation out, Garmire said. To examine these x-rays, Garmire is lead ing a University research team developing the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility. The University is one of four institutions acting as contractors for the satellite, sched uled to be carried into orbit aboard the space shuttle in the early 19905, Garmire said. "The AXAF is the highest-priority astro nomical program for the 1980 s as rated by NASA," Garmire said. University researchers are developing the x-ray detector to be used on board the space telescope, Gartnire said. The detector, called a charge couple device (CCD), consists of several silicon plates, each containing thou sands of x-ray sensors. Because x-rays are emitted by some of the most mysterious objects in the universe, AXAF is expected to provide answers to fundamental questions about these celestial bodies. The satellite will be on the look-out for black holes, Garmire said, locating them by picking up the x-rays emitted when hot material falls inward. The AXAF will also study supernova rem nants (the remains of exploded stars), trying to identify their constituent elements, Gar- Mire added. The University's CCD will be 100 times more sensitive than NASA's previous x-ray observing satellite —the Einstein Observato ry, which burned up in the Earth's atmo sphere in 1982, Nousek said. The AXAF's sensitivity will • also enable extensive study of quasars —extremely bright objects located on the edge of the universe, Nousek said: Since light travels at a finite speed, radia tion leaving a distant object may take mil lions of years to reach Earth. With distant objects like quasars, scientists are looking back in time to a phenomena only present in the early universe. Garmire said studying quasars will tell scientists more about the young universe, and give them clues to the power source of these energetic objects. With a life expectancy of fifteen years, the AXAF satellite will be one of the largest shipments the space shuttle has ever carried, taking up the entire payload, area of the shuttle, Garmire said. Because information carried in x-rays is so valuable to modern astronomers, the Univer sity is launching a second satellite to detect x rays the NASA Spartan project. r t :~y ~_ FY ~ ~.~~}~. :.,Fj Wesley Hymer, professor of biochemistry, displays the "hollow fiber" he devised to implant pituitary cells. Hymer implanted cells that had been exposed to the microgravity environment of space into earth based rats. PSU scientists experiment in space to find answers to Earth's mysteries Nousek, the University's principle investi gator for the Spartan project, explains that the Spartan is a "mini-AXAF," also designed to collect information about x-ray sources. The differences between Spartan and AXAF are size and cost. NASA created the Spartan project because astronomers needed a way to collect x-ray data that was less expensive than a satellite and more reliable than a rocket that would blaSt off, collect five, minutes of data, then come down, Nousek said. "The Spartan will sit in the (shuttle's) payload (bay). Once into orbit, the shuttle arm grabs the Spartan and drops it off, and at the end of the mission returns to pick it up again," Nousek explained. "One advantage here is that the Spartan will collect 40 hours of data while the shuttle can go and do what it wants." Like the AXAF, the x-ray detectors will be collecting data on x-ray emitting celestial bodies, Nousek said. Unlike the AXAF, data will not be transmitted to Earth but will be recorded on the craft. University researchers will be designing the telescope mirrors for the Spartan, while Columbia University researchers are work ing on the x-ray detectors. The Spartan will also cost significantly less than the AXAF satellite, Nousek said. Although the Spartan, costing about $400,- 000, will not compare with the long-term data gathering potential of the AXAF, which costs $750 million, Nousek said he is pleased with the rapid progress being made on getting the project into orbit "The Spartan is scheduled to go up s in March of 1988 not bad considering we started planning six months ago," Nousek said. The third and least expensive astronomy project is part of NASA's Get-Away Special Program, said Dave Burrows, an astronomy research associate. Unlike the AXAF or the Spartan,' the Get- Away Special project, costing only about $lOO,OOO, will not leave the shuttle at all, Burrows said. Instead, it will be placed in one of several small canisters, about the size of trash cans, lining the inside of the shuttle payload area. When the shuttle doors open, the x-ray detectors will be able to quickly scan a small kection of the sky, Burrows said. "It's not a very versatile experiment; it's going to look at many small pieces of the sky and make some quick measurements," Bur rows said, adding that researchers will not be able to control where the experiment is pointed. "However, the experiment is designed to do one job and it will do that particular job very well," he said. Burrows said the main objective will be to study the mysterious diffuse x-ray back ground radiation, which has no known origin but seems to be coming from all directions of the universe. "We're hoping for some information about the variations of this radiation in the galaxy. Does it originate from quasars, galaxies, or an intergalactic source? One of our objec tives is to understand it better," he said. "As in all x-ray emmission studies, we have to get above the atmosphere, and-we wanted to be on the shuttle for a fairly long time," Burrows said. The Get-Away Special project, like all of the astronomy department's shuttle projects, will be funded by NASA. It will be launched with the shuttle sometime next year, -Bur rows said. • 0 • Small as the Get-Away Special containers are, a big effort has been made by 150 engineering students to fit three experiments into a single canister for inclusion on a shuttle flight. The four-year effort will transform into results on December 20th when the space . - . „ „ . . • • • • Collegian PhotolGregg Z6l The space shuttle cargo bay carries Get• Away Special canisters each an astronomy department team are using the program to get their housing an experiment. A group of University engineering students and experiments info space. shuttle is scheduled to carry "Payload G-62" into orbit. Sponsored by General Electric, the College of Engineering and several engineering de partments, the three experiments will inves tigate the behavior of temperature and liquids in a micro-gravity environment, said Robert Nelton, assistant professor of aero space engineering and faculty advisor for the project. One experiment entitled "Convection" will study the transfer of heat through oil, air and a vacuum; "Surface Tension" will study the distribution of a water droplet's mass in a free-floating environment; and "Liquid Slosh," the largest of the three, will contain a miniature satellite equipped with tiny fuel tanks. The students hope the liquid slosh model will provide information about the movements of stored satellite fuel in space, Nelton said. Fuel sloshing in tanks has been recognized as a source of energy loss and students may learn ways to limit this loss, he said. Students have been working on the experi ments as part of their honors theses and as volunteers, Nelton said. Three of these stu dents, Todd Sawyer and Troy Taylor (se niors-aerospace engineering) and Steve Herr (senior-electrical engineering), went to Cape Canaveral Space Center recently to deliver the project, which is currently undergoing safety tests. "These experimehts are very involved. They're not simply neat little lab exercises that are duplicating previous results. They are new experiments in basic science that have never been done before, and we're hoping to get some good results," Nelton said. o • 0 The experimental capabilities of the space shuttle are not limited to physical phenome na. Two University life scientists found a perfect opportunity to test the effects of zero gravity on biological systems during recent space shuttle flights. Paul Todd, University professor of biophy sics, was coinvestigator in an experiment designed to test the method for separating cells and molecules. The technique, called electrophoresis, is a commonly used labo ratory method, allowing scientists to purify cells and their products, such as hormones and enzymes. According to Wesley Hymer, University professor of biochemistry, the purpose of the experiment was to test the role ,of gravity in the electrophoresis process. Electrophorsis works by selectively pulling cells that have a particular electrical charge. Scientists have suspected that gravity played a significant role in the separations of cells, resulting in errors in the interpretation of experimental data. For example, larger and more dense cells would be more likely to separate on the basis of their weight rather than because of their electrical charge. "If we could eliminate the gravity compo nent we could be certain the cells separate on the basis of (their electrical charge) only," Hymer said. "The purpose of the experiment was to test electrophoresis. It was, in fact, a test of , a test," Todd said. In December of 1983, the space shuttle took off carrying an electrophoresis machine and a sample of human kidney tissue. The experi : ment was designed to separate certain en zyme-producing cells from the remaining kidney cells, Todd said. "About five percent of human kidney cells produce an enzyme called urokinase. Elec trophoresis will give you a pure (group) of these cells while removing them in a fashion that keeps them alive. We chose (these kid ney) cells because they would make an inter esting product," Todd said. The experiment proved that the effect of gravity on the method is small, so that scientists can be confident that charge is the major influence of separation, Hymer said. Electrophoresis, then, retains its status as an easy and relatively error-free method of separating cells. "The space shuttle showed us that we can separate cells on Earth . . . and feel that what we learn from that separation is correct," Hymer said. Hymer conducted a similar experiment' on the same flight with rat pituitary gland cells. However, when preparations for flight were being made, he was able to include some leftover cells, intending to examine their Paul Todd, professor of biophysics, examines kidney cells flown in a 1983 space shuttle experiment. The Daily Collegian Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1985 hormone content when they returned. After comparing the space cells with pitu itary cells that did not go up, Hymer found the cells from space did not release as much growth hormone. His chance to test these effects in a living organism came in April, when Hymer exam ined the pituitary glands cells of several rats that traveled on the space shuttle. Hymer and his staff examined the rats' pituitary cells and found that although they were producing just as much growth hor mone as Earth-based cells, much less hor mone was able to move out of the cells, as it must to be useful to the organism. Hymen said the growth hormone producing cell may not be receiving the correct signals from other chemicals that stimulate hormone synthesis and release. Growth hormone is necessary for normal metabolism and growth in mammals. Another hypothesis is that the microgravi ty has a more direct effect on the pituitary gland cell itself, he said. Hymer has been approved to fly more cells in Sept. 1986 when room on the shuttle will again be available. Like the researchers in astronomy and engineering, he has found selection and ad mission to the shuttle programs to be in volved and lengthy. Researchers must write extensive proposals and assure NASA that their experiments are safe and feasible in every respect. "It's important to say that the projects involve a cooperative effort by a large group of people," Hymer said. "But it's worth it it's exciting to be involved in something new and different like the space shuttle." Libel said to inhibit reporters By LAURA O'BRIEN Collegian Staff Writer . News reporters may be investigat ing stories less vigorously for fear of libel suits, according to a recent survey co-authored by a University professor. The pilot survey shows patterns, but no real generalizations, said John Pavlik, co-author of the survey and assistant professor in the Universi ty's School of Communications. Richard E. Labunski, co-author from the University of Washington in Seattle, said the survey suggests that some stories may have been ignored or treated differently because of the threat of legal action. Labunski was an instructor at Penn State until he went to Washington in 1984. Pavlik and Labunski surveyed 80 members at the Annual Convention of Poll to study PSU education quality The Undergraduate Student Government's Academic compared to current prograhi offerings, determine if the Assembly will conduct a survey to assess the University's University's Policies and Rules for Students are followed. student opinion on education quality, assembly president It will also attempt to understand the primary factors of Jay Clark, said. "If everything works right, we ought to be able to run the survey in the first week of December," Clark said. The Assembly chose to survey students in class to The survey, to be conducted in conjunction with the assure higher response than could be expected through a student councils of the University's 10 colleges, will mail or phone survey, Clark said. Last year's plus/minus address academic, advising and instructional quality. grading survey proved successful when done in class, he • "We're surveying 3,300 students," Clark said, "which is added. approximately 10 percent of University Park students." "We received an 85 percent return rate on the plus/mi- Sandra Churchin, president of the College of Engi- nus survey," Clark said, "We should receive at least that neering Student Council, said the survey is the first of its amount in this survey." kind in the United States. She said there have been many In addition, he said there was no question of validity on surveys on a lesser scale, but nothing of this magnitude. the plus/minus grading survey and he does not expect any The survey will attempt to assess students' needs validity problems on this survey. —by John L. Spence ........... ~... .. ~irkl3ll:'-PO;.'''''- .:' - .. 4. t . 1 -, .1:4t 4 • ... _ . . ....,........y. ~ ~,,..,.. ••••••:',... .....:• ..., ~ , •,,,,::::.,,,,,,,,,- ~. ~......:,::.:::::::.............:...........::.::::1::- .....,...1.,,,.::..,.:f: • :` Celebrating Our 13th Year with a Sunshine Imports Our Type is Your Type Experience the latest in "high tech" computerized typesetting with ConilitirM 2 E Commercial Printing's own integrated system. We will keyboard from your manuscript, or process TELECOMMUNICATED copy transmitted by telephone from your word processor and modem ... and turned around to you in just hours not days. Choose from 100 authentic Mergenthaler "Superfont" type faces directly on-line in our system. Be assured of quality repros, produced by the most experienced typesetting staff in Central Pennsylvania. Pasteup and other graphic art and design services are also available (X)IIIIMTWE • COLOR TOUR .' WITH THE Collegian ARTS qu Ay• SECTION • , SALE! 10% to 75% Off Storewide 127 E. Beaver Ave. found only at Investigative Reporters and Editors medical malpractice in the same in St. Louis. time period. they of the people surveyed said they didn't report, or reported differ ently, less vigorously, because of the fear of libel," Pavlik said. their work more deliberate. He added The report said 19.7 percent of the that the work may take longer, but it journalists surveryed believed there will be safer because there will be had been at least one occasion when less carelessness. readers had been uninformed be- "Libel suits in the courts is just the cause the reporter or organization tip of the iceberg," Pavlik said. was worried about being sued, The. threat is actually bigger than Labunski said. what the public sees because of the Four out of five of the reporters number of libel suits settled out of surveyed said there is a moderate to court, he said. very high concern about libel. According to the survey, more than "The concern is well-grounded," Pavlik said, explaining that between 1980 and 1983, the average monetary amount awarded for libel cases was $2 million. This amount is more than three times as much awarded for . ; I;kilitZti f . .:;::• •,.....".:•'''., i . ' ' ' -" " • :•.' ../...; .:.....:.gf:.,. •••:.%. 5 ••:::,. •••,..• :.,•:....'... ...v....: : • . .•. • ;•.. A „. ....., ..„., : •• •.." • ..::•• • • :...: :.„•;•.....: .. ... ~..............• , •• .., .. • But the concern about libel may be healthy, Pavlik said. The constant threat may make reporters more concerned and thoughtful, making 25 percent indicated their organiza tion has between one and six libel suits pending. At least one libel suit has been settled out of court by 32 percent of the organizations, Labunski said. • motivation for students and to evaluate the quality of the colleges. rof********************l * Cross Country Ski Club's * * Fall Semester Meeting 1 * Slide Presentation of • * lcefield Skiing in Alaska ^* Wed., Nov. 6 7:30 pm * * 111 Boucke * Free Cider & Donuts * 0930 * ttorioic44olc44444***********, S T . Ruth K. Lavin . „.• 1 G My name is RUTH K. LAVIN. I'm E running for Borough Council c because I want to represent you, the o citizens of State College; N and because I'd like to serve on c Council with my campaign mates, JOHN A. DOMBROSKI and FREMONT DAN WINAND. I encourage you to vote today for Dombroski, Winand and for me, RUTH K. LAVIN. Nov. sth police log • A State College female reported that a male exposed himself to her on the 200 block of South Fraser Street, State College Bureau of Police Serv ices said. The male, walking in front of her, went between two buildings, yelled to her and then exposed him self, police said. The white male was described as in his 20s and about six feet and wearing blue jeans. • State College Bureau of Police Services reported Sunday that $3,100 in cash and personal checks was missing from Vesuvio Pizzeria, 128 E. College Ave., sometime between 4 a.m. and 11 p.m. collegian notes * The Free University will hold a vegetarian cooking course at 6 to night in 373 Willard. • The Residence Hall Advisory Board will meet at 6:30 tonight in 319 Willard. • The German Club will meet at 6:30 tonight in the Warnock Cultural Lounge. • The Student 'Counselors will meet at 6:30 tonight in 316 HUB. • Circle K Will meet at 7 tonight in rooms 323 and 324 HUB. • The Science Fiction Society will • Robert Zaph, an employee of the Nittany Lion Inn on campus, reported yesterday that three telephones were missing from the Mount Nittany Room, University Police Services said. • A camera and lens worth $225 belonging to Michael Orberg, 1008 Pinchot, were reported missing Sun day after he lost them at Beaver Stadium, Saturday, University police said. • State College police reported Sunday that six mailboxes worth about $9O were missing from the 900 meet at 7 tonight in 316 Boucke • The Business Student Council will meet a 7 tonight in 73 Willard. • The Society of Physics Students will hold elections and laser show practice at 7 tonight in 105 Osmond. • The Student Union Board will meet at 7:30 tonight in 307 HUB. • The Nittany Atari Personal Computer Organization will meet at 7:30 tonight, first floor, U.S.D.A. Pas ture Research Laboratory. e The Fencing Club will meet at 8 tonight in 33 White Building. 12, WEEK BAR tzscksig lijAks 1 Buso_rNiskts '4 t 12. '754 6itwalyzr 'nett k_ol.-ivafranStaio 'EXPERIENCED • A Igr CC PIZZA This Week's Special A Large Pizza for only $ 4.5 0 Large Pizza with 1 Topping only $4.99 Call 238-31112 No Checks Please 418 Cloy Lone Free Delivery co cc w > m cc 33 ci) DRIVERS WANTED DRIVERS DRIVERS WANTED_ The Daily Collegian Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1985-3 block of East McCormick Avenue • Gwen Kaufman, 5 Porter, coor dinator of residence hall programing, reported yesterday that a reserved parking sign from parking area Blue G was missing, University police said. AT THE GRINDER EVERY TUESDAY Fresh, hot pizza and a frosty pitcher of beer. What could be better for friends to share? Your favorite toppings by request. All at a special Pizza Nite price! Music Nightly ori.man country Tavern 11 amlo 11 p.m.dolly • midnight Fridays & Saturdays 825 crlcklewood drive • fortifies • 237-1049 PIZZA MAKER —by Tom Schaffner m 21 0)
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