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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0023.PDF
TECHNICAL: SPACEFLIGHT NASA faces five 'major goals' BY TIM FURNISS NASA has set up a task force to try and determine how to implement the recommenda tions of the "Augustine Com mittee" report into the future of the US space programme, re leased in full last month. The task force, led by Donald Puddy, director of flight crew operations at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, will examine the committee's far-reaching recommendations. The committee made a num ber of key recommendations, concluding that the US space programme should consist of five major goals: a science pro gramme of the highest priority, mission to the planet Earth, focusing on environmental monitoring; the long-term aim of human exploration of Mars; an expanded technology devel opment programme; and a robust space transportation system. In terms of programme con tent, the committee also made a number of important recom- India goes after Soviet support India is seeking help from the Soviet Union to develop a cryogenic, liquid-oxygen and liquid-hydrogen engine for the upper stage of the proposed geostationary satellite launch vehicle, designed to launch Insat 2 satellites. The only known Soviet cryogenic engine is the Energia core stage's four- chamber engine. Soviet aid is also being sought for windtunnel testing on ear lier Indian booster models: the augmented satellite and polar satellite launch vehicles, ASLV and PSLV. The ASLV has already failed twice and the PSLV, called Vikas, will be the first Indian booster with a liquid-propellant engine. Both vehicles could fly this year. The ASLV failures, in May 1987 and July 1988, were due to ignition failures of the core stage. • mendations. It urges that the strategic space science plan be implemented along with a pro gramme to revitalise technol ogy. It also wants Space Shuttle missions to be phased over to a new, unmanned heavylift vehi cle, except where human in volvement is essential. In addition, it wants the Space Station Freedom revamped as a life sciences and micrograv- ity research base. Another recommendation is that a per sonnel module for emergency return from the Space Station is developed, sp With regard to finances, the committee says NASA's budget should increase by 10% each year. This should cover the re design and schedule of Freedom, see the deferment or elimina tion of a new Orbiter and place human-exploration goals on a "go as you pay" basis. It recommends a number of management changes, wanting to see the NASA administrator's inclusion on the Executive Committee of the Space Council as well as the review of the mission of each NASA centre. Along with the management changes, the committee wants NASA HQ structure to be re vamped, getting rid of the posi tions of some existing associate administrators so that new asso ciate administrator positions can be established. These would include human resources, ex ploration, spaceflight operations and spaceflight development. It also recommends setting up in dependent cost and systems concepts analysis groups and avoiding multi-centre projects. NASA administrator Adm Richard Truly says that he finds the committee's report, under the chairmanship of Martin Marietta's Norman Augustine, "...extremely supportive of NASA and the civil space pro gramme. Many of the recom mendations are consistent with initiatives already underway," he says. • On 18 December Truly adopted the first recommenda tions by announcing the forma tion of human resources and exploration offices. • SATURN STORM SWELLS An image from the planetary camera aboard the Hubble Space Telescope shows the "white spot" on the planet Saturn, a storm first spotted last September and which has grown dramatically. It is thought that the storm consists mainly of ammonia ice crystals that have bu^st through the atmosphere from a localised "hot spot" beneath the visible surface. The picture, a combination of two colour images, confirms that, despite the problems experienced with the telescope's mirrors, images of Saturn are being returned which are as good as any taken from Pioneer 11 or the two Voyagers as they took their first images en route for closer flybys. Salyut launches space helpline The Salyut design bureau is offering a commercial serv ice of help and advice on the creation, launching and opera tion of stations for the produc tion of materials in orbit, and for the transportation of cargos and research materials weighing from 1.5t to lOOt. These will include multipur pose satellite buses, based on existing low-Earth orbiting and geostationary satellites, plat forms based on Salyut, Cosmos, Mir and Kvant manned modules — and a lOOt platform based on the Polyus station, which flew on the first Energia in 1987. Polyus is a multipurpose plat form, which could be used as "a cargo ship for the transportation of 40 tonnes to orbit", says the Salyut Bureau's chief, Nikolai Gerasimov. It could also be employed as an orbiting solar energy installation for transmit ting electricity to the Earth; or as an orbiting factory for the space-materials processing pro duction. "Return of product to Earth would be achieved by ballistic re-entry capsules and twice- annual visits to the factory could be arranged, for special ists to conduct start-up, mainte nance and loading/unloading operations," says Gerasimov. • Marcol wins ESA simulator order The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded the Mar col Group a two-year, £700,000 contract to develop an opera tional simulator for the infra red space observatory (ISO), as part of an overall Marcol con tract to provide spacecraft simu lators and operational control software to ESA during the next five years. The simulator will be used during pre-launch prep arations at the European Space Operations Centre in Darm stadt, Germany. It will be manu factured at Marcol Space divi sion, Bristol. ISO, to be launched in 1993, carries a super-cooled telescope to ob serve the Universe. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 January, 1991
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