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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0464.PDF
Phobos 2 prepared The Soviet Phobps 2 spacecraft, has been manoeuvred from its initial Martian orbit, which it entered on January 29, in the first stage of its protracted rendezvous with the moon Phobos, which it will explore in early April. On February 12, Phobos 2 was moved from its 79,750km by 850km, 76 • 5hr-period, 1 "-inclined Mars orbit into an 81,200km by 6,400km, 86 • 5hr-period orbit, with an inclination of 0 • 9°. Phobos 2 had reached the lowest point of its original orbit on February 1, when it conduc ted the first in a series of close observations of Mars, which were continued on February 5, 8, and 11. During March, Phobos 2 will be manoeuvred into a circular orbit some 200km to 300km higher than that of Phobos. By early April, Phobos 2 should pass to within 50km of the moon, and the spacecraft's 28 thrusters will be fired in stages to place it on course to fly within 50m of the moon. During this slow-speed flypast, the craft will almost hover above the surface of the 27km-long, potato-shaped moon, which is thought to be a captured asteroid, containing primordial material from which the Solar System was formed. Briton in space hope Over 40 British companies have been approached by the Soviet space agency, Glavkosmos, to sponsor the flight of a Briton to the Mir space station in the early 1990s. Glavkosmos is offering com mercial, eight-day flights aboard Mir for a fee of $10 million. Austria has signed an agreement to fly a national cosmonaut in late 1991, but the fee has been reduced to $6 million "to take into account the country's technical contri bution to the mission." Britain has been told it, too, can have a cheaper flight. If sponsorship deals can be agreed, the British cosmonaut will be selected in a national competition promoted by tele vision companies. Shuttle aims for March 10 launch NASA Space Shuttle launch director Bob Seick says that the STS29 mission could be launched no earlier than March 10, provided Discovery's new turbopumps have been installed safely and tested without any additional problems. The first new high-pressure oxidiser turbopump had been installed in one of Discovery's three main engines by February 14. The turbopump was deliv ered from Rocketdyne and tested en route to the Kennedy Space Centre at . NASA's Stennis test stand in Mississippi. The other two oxidiser turbo- pumps should be installed within a week, says NASA. Discovery has until March 14 to launch if NASA is to adhere to its schedule to launch STS30 Atlantis and its Venus radar mapping satellite Magellan on April 28. The agency allows 41 days between Shuttle launches, with a three-day contingency to allow for the roll-back of Discovery and the roll-out of Atlantis. "The Orbiters cannot pass in the night," says NASA. Only Pad 39B is operational, because budget cuts have delayed 39A refurbishment. Magellan mission managers may reluctantly allow a slip to later in the STS30 launch window, which would "degrade the science return", says NASA, but serious delays to STS29 will result in rolling Discovery back to the vehicle assembly building and rolling Atlantis out to Pad 39B. Atlantis is also being fitted with new turbopumps. The turbopump change was ordered as a safety measure. NEWS IN BRIEF Q Spacehab appoints Spacehab has appointed Aeritalia and Mitsubishi to assist in marketing its Space Shuttle pressurised mid- deck extension module, in Europe and the Far East respectively. Spacehab modules will increase four fold the crew living and working space on Shuttle. D NASA selects NASA has selected six scien tific investigations for the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission proposed for 1992 to study global changes in the Earth's environment. EOS is part of a proposed international Mission-to- Earth effort, involving the USA, the Soviet Union, Japan, China, Australia, the European Space Agency, and other countries, making use of five instrumented polar orbiting platforms. Cancellation of Space Station Freedom has been proposed by the Congressional budget office Bush supports NASA by Tim Furniss US President George Bush has told Congress that he wants America's space programme to go at "full throttle up". He is committed to the Space Station Freedom, a safe Space Shuttle system, detailed surveys of the Earth's environment, and increased commercialisation. The President faces a hard fight to appropriate the neces sary funds, however, especially for NASA, whose proposed 20 per cent budget increase for Fiscal Year 1990, to $13-274 billion, is threatened. NASA's budget request includes $2 • 05 billion for Free dom, and $0-639 billion for Space Shuttle capability devel opment, including Spacelab and the development of upper stages and the Orbital Manoeuvring System. Also included in the request is $2-562 billion to continue Space Shuttle operations. Of the $1-995 billion requested for space science and applications, $30 million is required for new-start projects Cassini and CRAF, both using Mariner Mk II spacecraft buses. Cassini will be the Saturn orbiter in a joint European Space Agency project, and CRAF is a comet rendevous and asteroid flyby mission. NASA Administrator James Fletcher has told Congress that the $13 billion request approved by outgoing President Ronald Reagan insufficient to enable Shuttle to meet its manifest requirements or for construction of Freedom. The Congressional budget office has proposed that, by cancelling Freedom and replacing it with long-duration Shuttle missions and unmanned free-flying platforms, it can save $15 billion a year. 10 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 25 February 1989
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