Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech,americast.usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Thu, Sep 24 1992 Date: Thu, 24 Sep 92 04:37:35 EDT Message-ID: 09-24 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Sept. 24, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MARS OBSERVER LEAVES FRIDAY: After a 17-year hiatus, a U.S. spacecraft heads for Mars Friday to examine the planet in unprecedented detail. "We have explored it; now we are going back to observe it," says project scientist Arden Albee of the California Institute of Technology. The $511 million Mars Observer, a sophisticated robot probe, is set to go at 12:27 p.m. ET aboard a Titan III rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. (For more, see special Mars package below.) HI-TECH TRAINS LOSE FUNDING: House and Senate negotiators agreed Wednesday to kill funding for an exotic new passenger train but left open the possibility of federal money for the controversial project in the future. In a compromise offered by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the two sides agreed to provide $13 million to the Department of Transportation to continue on-going research into magnetically levitated trains. ROCKET MOTOR KEPT ALIVE: House and Senate negotiators on NASA's budget rescued the agency's solid rocket motor project from termination next year by agreeing to provide $360 million for its continued construction and development, lawmakers said Wednesday. The panel agreed on $195 million for development of motor and $165 million for construction of the Yellow Creek plant near Iuka, Miss., to build the motor. SENATE CUTS SDI FUNDING: The Senate approved a $250 billion Pentagon spending bill Wednesday for the coming year that sharply cuts President Bush's request for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Endorsed on a vote of 86-10, the measure now goes to a House-Senate negotiating committee to work out differences between the two chambers' versions. CABLEMATE HOOKS PERIPHERALS: CableMate from Axonix Corp. of Salt Lake City allows users of notebook computers to easily connect peripherals such as printers, video display screens and modems. For $149, this simple device looks and functions like a conventional extension-cord adapter, which lets users plug more than one device into an electric outlet. NINE DEVICES CAN BE PLUGGED IN: Axionix's CableMate plugs into a single interface port on the back of a notebook computer and up to nine different peripheral devices plug into the CableMate. Right now, the device only plugs into Compaq, Toshiba and Dauphin notebook PCs. Axonix says it will make the CableMate available to other manufacturers' notebook PCs later this year. KODAK SELLS VIDEK BUSINESS: Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it sold its Videk business to Performance Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of hardware and software for communications and computer systems, for an undisclosed amount. Videk is a maker of optical scanners used for medical, industrial and scientific application. It has annual sales of about $6 million. NEW BATTERIES BEING DEVELOPED: Two of Japan's largest companies, Toshiba and Asahi Chemical, are forming a joint venture to develop longer-lasting rechargeable batteries. They hope to make lithium-ion batteries that have about twice the capacity of nickel-cadmium batteries. The popularity of laptop computers, camcorders and cellular phones has boosted demand for lighter, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries. CABLETRON TO ENTER JAPAN MARKET: Cabletron Systems Inc., one of the fastest growing companies in the $14.4 billion global market for computer networking equipment, plans to enter Japan soon in an effort to spur international sales, Chairman Craig Benson told Bloomberg Business News Wednesday. Cabletron manufacturers communications hubs that serve as switches among diverse computers. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON MARS: WHOLE PLANET WILL BE OBSERVED: The Mars Observer, set to be launched Friday, is the first Mars mission since the Viking 2, which landed on the planet in September 1976. While the Viking landers could study only small portions of the surface, the Mars Observer will study the whole planet - from orbit. PLANET WILL BE MAPPED OUT: Mars Observer, says Wesley Huntress, NASA solar system exploration chief, "will take the pulse of the planet every day" and allow scientists to understand climatic changes. It also will help determine potential landing sites for robotic missions that NASA says are necessary before humans can hope to reach Mars in the 21st century. MISSION WILL LAST 687 DAYS: The $891 million mission is to last 687 days - one Martian year -and is expected to answer key questions about whether Mars was ever able to sustain life on its cold, rocky surface. The real work begins in December 1993, when the spacecraft starts mapping the Martian surface. IMAGES WILL BE 10 TIMES BETTER: Mars Observer's camera should return images 10 times better than those in the past. More than 100 scientists from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia will help interpret the data. "The images from Mars Observer are going to be spectacular," says Raymond Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. (End of package.) Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM