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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0066.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT Chinese satellite is stranded in orbit BY TIM FURN1SS AChinese Dong Fang Hong 2 national communications satellite is stranded in a 210km (perigee) x 2,500km (agogee) Earth orbit after the third stage of its Long March 3 booster shut down prematurely. It was launched from Xichang on 28 December, 1991. Launch to preliminary low- Earth parking orbit was success fully achieved, but the third- stage burn to planned geosta tionary transfer orbit (GTO) ended prematurely. The incident is similar to the one which occurred on the first Long March 3 launch in January 1984, when the STTW Tl prototype communications satellite failed to reach the correct orbit. There have been eight Long March 3 launches, of which two failed to deliver a payload into the planned orbit. The STTW T2 test communications satellite reached geostationary orbit using its own engine, after being placed into GTO by the second Long March 3 in April 1984. Four operational SSTW satel lites were put into into orbit by Long March 3s in 1986, 1988 and 1990, while China's first commercial launch, of Asiasat 1 in April 1990, flew on the sev enth booster. The latest failure will not af fect plans for China's second commercial launch, which is scheduled for 8 March, says Hughes Space and Communica tions, builder of the Australian communications satellite, HS 601 Aussat Bl, which will be launched by the new Long March 2E booster. The 2E does not carry the Long March 3's restartable H-8 cryogenic third stage with a four-chamber YF-73 engine, but places its payloads into low- Earth orbit using a core stage augmented by four liquid- propellant strap-on motors and a second stage. The 2E flew in July 1990 on a test flight which was not con sidered technically perfect, al though it placed a test satellite and the Badr 1 spacecraft from Pakistan into orbit. Aussat Bl is equipped with a . Thiokol Star 63F solid-propel- lant perigee kick-motor to place itself into GTO, and a liquid- propellant apogee motor. • The financially ailing Aussat organisation has been purchased by Optus Communications. D Magellan radio fault may halt mission The second phase of radar mapping of the planet Venus by the NASA spacecraft Magel lan has been halted by the fail ure, on 4 January, of the primary X-band radio transmitter. NEWS IN BRIEF ISRAELI DATA Elisra of Israel is developing an advanced data system for the Offeq 3 satellite, which is scheduled to be launched in 1993. Offeq 3, which will have extendable solar panels and other improvements, will test components for a recon- naisance satellite to be launched in 1995. The backup transmitter also had to be switched off after 25min because it overheated. Unless either the prime or back up transmitters can be repaired, the highly successful mapping mission may be over. Magellan was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in April 1989, and reached orbit about Venus in August 1990. After a serious computer mal function, which caused the craft to lose its Earth lock, Magellan performed flawlessly, returning spectacular images. By May 1991, it had mapped 80% of the planet's surface. By the time of the malfunction, 95% had been completed. • THE VIEW FROM HERE This synthetic-aperture radar image of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, taken by the European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS I, was received by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Telespazio-built Precision Processing and Archiving Facility at Fucino, Italy. ESA has been severely criticised by remote-sensing companies, such as Spot Image, Radarsat and Eurimage, for being too slow to sign an agreement freeing ERS images for commercial distribution. Whiie the companies have established marketing campaigns and networks for ERS image distribu tion, ESA has placed a low priority of commercialising data from this demonstration spacecraft. Launch of final Mir modules delayed The launches of the two re maining modules required to complete the assembly of the Soviet Mir space station have been delayed to 1993. The Priroda and Spektr 20-tonne class modules were to have been launched this year, completing an assembly of four modules at the front docking port of the core module. The core module was launched in 1986, and the sta tion was expected to be fully assembled by 1990. Launches of new modules — Kvant 1, a small rear-mounted astrophysics ob servatory (1987), the 20t-class Kvant 2 (1989) and Kristall (1990) — were completed suc cessfully after delays caused by technical and financial concerns. • The Soyuz TM14 crew to be launched on 17 March has been confirmed as Alexander Vik- torenko, Alexander Kaleri and German Klaus Dietrich Flade. Viktorenko and Kaleri will re place the resident crew, Alexan der Volkov and Sergei Krikalyov. Krikalyov has now had 385 days in space on two flights. • December launch No. Date Spacecraft Type 83 7 Dec Eutelsat 2F3 Comms 84 16 Dec Telecom 2A Comms Inmarsat 2F3 Comms 85 17 Dec Cosmos 2174 Recon 86 18 Dec Intercosmos 25 Science Magion 3 Science 87 19 Dec Raduga Comms 88 28 Dec DFH 2 Comms * Failed to reach correct orbit log Launcher Atlas 2 Ariane V48 Soyuz Tsyklon Proton Long March 3 Launch site Canaveral Kourou Daikonur Plesetsk Baikonur Xichang* FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 January, 1992
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