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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 3214.PDF
1 SPACEFLIGHT \ STS44 hit by inertial measurement failure China launches first Fengyun 2 C hina's first geostationary- orbit meteorological satel lite, the Fengyun 2, will be launched aboard a Long March 3 booster in 1993, according to Jiao Yong of the China Astronau tics Association. Two polar-orbiting Fengyun 1 spacecraft were launched on Long March 4 vehicles in 1988 and 1990 but suffered serious malfunctions in space. A second-generation domestic communications satellite, Dongfanghong 3, will also be launched on a Long March 3 in late 1993 or early 1994. Launches planned for 1992 include two by the Long March 2E to carry two Australian Aussat 2 communications satellites on commercial launches. The financially ailing national Aussat organisation is expected to be bought by Optus Commu nications, a three-nation consor tium of Cable and Wireless of the UK, the USA's Bell South and Australian companies led by Mayne Nickless. China has admitted its first Long March 2E launch, in 1990, was not entirely successful. Al though placing a Pakistani sci ence satellite, BADR-A, into a low-Earth orbit as planned, the second stage suffered a fuel-valve short- circuit during a planned restart to achieve a geostationary transfer orbit. • Ariane wins Superbird A Arianespace will launch a Su perbird A communications satellite for Space Communica tions (SCC) of Japan in late 1992. It is the ninth contract to be signed by Arianespace this year and its outstanding order book now comprises 34 satel lites valued at Fr 14.9 billion ($2.7 billion). The Space Systens/Loral Su perbird A replaces the original satellite, launched in 1989 which suffered stationkeeping failure in late 1990. Ariane is also to launch Super- bird B, early in 1992, which is a replacement for the Superbird B satellite lost in the Ariane failure in February 1990 with Japan's BS2X. D BY TIM FURNISS The NASA Space Shuttle STS44/Atlantis mission ended three days early on run way 5 at Edwards AFB, Califor nia, on 1 December after a six- day 22h flight. The mission was cut short when a velocity sensor on one of three inertial measurement units (IMUs) failed in orbit. Although the other two IMUs were work ing perfectly, mission rules dic tated a premature end to the mission which was to have landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 4 December after a ten-day flight. STS44 was an Earth reconnaissance and medi cal experiments mission. The reconnaissance observa tions, conducted mainly by trained "space spy" Thomas Hennen, were thwarted on nu merous occasions by heavy cloud cover. A faulty UHF radio also hampered reconnaissance assessment. Earlier, Atlantis de ployed a Defense Support Pro gram Block 14/DSP 16 early warning satellite. One of the six-member crew, mission specialist Story Musgrave, became the most ex perienced Shuttle flier, on his fourth mission, with 24 days 22h to his credit. STS44 was also the second Shuttle mission in succession to be ordered to evade a large piece of space debris. Atlantis was on course to fly within 2.4 km of the spent rocket stage of the Soviet Cosmos 851 satellite launched in 1976. It performed a small orbital change as a pre cautionary measure. The previous mission, STS48/ Discovery, avoided a 2km near- miss with the Cosmos 955 rocket stage, launched in 1977, during its flight last September. These incidents have empha sised the potential for a cata strophic collision in orbit between a manned spacecraft and space debris. NASA esti mates that there is 30,000t of man-made space hardware in orbit of which about 20,000t is below an altitude of 2,000km. Only 5% of the hardware is working spacecraft. • NEWS IN BRIEF AVICA SUCCESS Avica Equipment has achieved what is believed to be a world first in simulated tests for rocket-engine com ponents. The company, which has been awarded a £4.6 mil lion contract to supply duct ing systems for the Vulcain first stage engine of Ariane 5, tested some of these compo nents to l,600psi (110.4bar), at 760°C, simulating launch conditions in a custom-built 30kW electrical furnace. Successful boost for India's Polar Satellite launch The high-energy solid-propel-lant third stage of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has been test fired for the first time at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Trivandru, Southern India. The 386kN (86,7401b)-thrust engine is pow ered by 7,297kg of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene propel- lant with a 72s burn time. All component stages of the PSLV have now been tested and a maiden flight from Shriharikota could take place next year. It will be able to place a It Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS) into Sun-synchronous orbit. Previous IRS spacecraft have been launched on Soviet Vostok boosters. The PSLV is equipped with six solid-motor strap-on boosters, similar to the two that fly on the Augmented Satellite Launch Ve hicle, which failed in its only two launch attempts in 1987-8. The reason for failure is believed to be insufficient pressure build up in the first-stage booster. The third test flight is now reported to be imminent. PSLV has a solid-propellant first stage and the second stage is powered by a liquid, unsym- metrical demethyl hydrazine propellant Vikas engine based on Ariane's Viking. Stage four has a restartable monomethyl hydra- zine/nitrogen tetroxide engine. • PO FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 11 - 17 December, 1991
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