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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2870.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT British space agency nears formation LONDON An official announcement about the formation of the British National Space Cen tre (BNSC) and the naming of its first director general is expected when the new Par liamentary session begins in the autumn. A committee chaired by Geoffrey Pattie, Minister of State for industry and information technology, has presented its recommen dations to the Prime Minister. It is expected that the BNSC will unite those agen cies and Government depart ments currently involved in space. These include the space branch of the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Remote Sensing Centre at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), Farn- borough, as well as the RAE's space department, and labora tories such as the Rutherford Appleton Research Labora tory. The centre, which will have its headquarters at Farn- borough, will also be responsible for UK partici pation in the European Space Agency. The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), a prominent space organisation which pro posed a national space agency 25 years ago and which has been pushing for its formation ever since, sees several major objectives for the BNSC. These are to establish its own core programme, to settle pri orities and establish long- term policy, to establish user participation and direct links with industry, to provide a coherent voice on space matters, and to consider its role in education and its pub lic policy. Calling for the appointment of a director general with experience in the space indus try, the BIS says the choice of a "non-space" person could be disastrous. "Traditionally," the BIS says, "such plum jobs go to an older dignitary or a personality honoured in another field. For a newly- created agency this could prove a disaster." • Engineers, scientists, and industrialists from all over Britain are receiving invita tions from the Department of Active mast for Shuttle This 60m-long deployment mast, the largest structure yet to be attached to the Shuttle, is being developed by Harris. The programme, called COFS 1 (control of flexible structures in space), will demonstrate the technology for active control of large structures. The system, consisting of the mast, control mechanisms, onboard computers, and measurement system, is to be delivered to Nasa in three years' time. Trade and Industry (DTI) to take part in a far-reaching study into the utilisation of the US Space Station. Many of the people and organisations being consulted will eventually form a poten tial group of users. The infor mation received by the DTI will be analysed by a group of scientific and engineering experts from Government departments, research coun cils, and universities. New competition for Intelsat WASHINGTON D.C. ~~ Orion Satellite has been given the go-ahead from the Federal Communications Commis sion (FCC) to compete with Intelsat. The US company plans to use two 46-transponder Ku-band sat ellites over the Atlantic. It will also need one ground spare. Orion joins International Satellite, Pan American Sat ellite, and RCA Satellite Communications (see Flight, August 10) in the inter national satellite communi cations business. A fifth com pany, Cygnus, has not yet received FCC approval. To improve competi tiveness, Intelsat plans to sell or lease excess transponders on its existing satellites for domestic service. The organisation says that 150 transponders are currently available. In another move, the Soviet Union and Intelsat have signed a memorandum of understanding ensuring that two ground stations run by the Soviet ministry of com munications would have equal rights with ground stations run by Intelsat member coun tries. Intelsat has approved US reception of TV relayed by Intersputnik, the Soviet Bloc communications organisation, via the Gorizont 7 satellite. It has also granted Iraq, Nic aragua, and Algeria access to Intersputnik programmes. Star Module clocks MOSCOW Star Module Cosmos 1686 docked automatically at th*: front port of Salyut 7 on Octo ber 2. Equipment, apparatus, a.id miscellaneous freight was unloaded by resident cos monauts Vladimir Vasyitin, Viktor Savinykh, and Alex ander Volkov who, on Oct aber 4, were operating the Pion experiment to study hea, and mass transfer in liquids. The full story of the re habilitation of Salyut 7 by the crew of Soyuz T13 has now been revealed. Salyut 7 had been "cocooned" last year in preparation for a new three- crew endurance flight. The station suddenly went silent in March this year, and the planned crew was replaced by Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Savinykh, both experienced Salyut cosmonauts, who were sent up to check the failure. Extra equipment fitted to the Soyuz T13 supply craft included an optical direction finder, a laser range finder and an instrument to aid night vision. The docking with Salyut was made on the craft's 35th orbit, one day later than is usual with Soyuz flights to Salyut, 0 The crew noticed that Sa> yut's solar panels were not parallel, but turned 70°-90° towards each other. The orientation system was obvi ously not working, which meant that power and other controls on the station were lost. Using torches, the cos monauts, dressed in warm clo thing and wearing gas masks, entered Salyut to find a com pletely dead ship at a tem perature well below freezing. For five days they worked to coax the station back to life, initially repairing a circuit to restore the solar panels. Power and lights then came on, the station began to defrost, and communications were re-established. Dzhanibekov and Savinykh had to sleep in the Soyuz flight cabin and, despite wear ing extra clothing, fur boots, and gloves were uncom fortable for many days. The commander, Dzhanibekov, has been promoted to Major^ General for his efforts on this, his fifth spaceflight. 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 19 October 198.5
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