FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0867.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT First Optus B launch attempt abandoned BY TIM FURNISS The first Australian Optus B series satellite was left stranded on the Xichang launch pad in China on 22 March, when the launch of the Long March 2E booster was aborted after ignition of its eight first stage engines. A new launch attempt will be made in July. The engines were shut down just before lift-off, when a com puter detected an insufficient thrust level in two of the four YF-20 strap-on booster engines. The Long March 2E core stage is also powered by four YF-20 engines, which use nitrogen tet- roxide and unsymmetrical di methyl hydrazine propellants. These are hypergolic — igniting spontaneously on contact. The undamaged Optus Bl, the first Hughes HS-601 three-axis- stabilised spacecraft, formerly known as Aussat Bl, was re moved from its launcher, while embarrassed Chinese officials tried to diagnose the problem. Optus Communications has paid Hughes $500 million to build, launch arid deliver two satellites, into geostationary orbit. Hughes saved $100 mil lion by choosing China instead of a US launcher company or Arianespace. The first launch was to take place late last year. China reportedly charges about $30 million per launch compared with a US cost of $60 million to $100 million, depend ing on the type of booster. The launch attempt, which had followed extremely cautious preparations, came after the fail ure of a Long March 3 to place a national communications sat ellite into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) last December. China Great Wall Industry will be keen to get Optus Bl off the ground safely, particularly as the Long March is being eyed seriously by the potential cus tomers, including Malaysia and Intelsat. China is already con tracted to launch a second Optus satellite later this year. The country's only commer cial launch was of Asiasat 1 by a Long March 3 in April 1990. The Long March 2E is viewed as the workhorse of the Chinese space programme, but has so far flown only one demonstration flight, which, it has been re vealed, was not a complete tech nical success. The basic two-stage booster places 8,800kg into low-Earth orbit, and satellites destined for geostationary orbit are equipped with perigee kick motors. These take the craft to GTO, from where a small apogee en gine on the satellite circularises the orbit to geostationary. Later versions of the 2E will be equipped with an integral high-energy third stage, which is based on the cryogenic H-18 third stage of the new Long March 3A booster now being developed. • NEW INMARSAT ANTENNA TESTED The 78cm-diameter navigation antenna for one of the Inmarsat 3 series oj four satellites has been tested at Matra Marconi Space (MMS) UK, Portsmouth, in the company's antenna test range. The L-band antenna is part of the navigation payload which will allow Inmarsat to complement the US global positioning system and Commonwealth of Independent States Glonass navigation satellites. MMS is providing the complete Inmarsat 3 communications payload to its partner GE Astro Space, to be integrated on GE Series 4000 platforms. Offeq 3 ready to launch The launch of Israel's third Offeq satellite aboard a Shavit booster is expected next month from Palmachin AB near Tel Aviv. Offeq 3, the first three-axis stabilised spacecraft in the se ries, will carry a small suite of experiments. The spacecraft will also test control systems, in a step towards building a larger indigenous satellite. Maj Gen Oren Shachor, chief intelligence officer, has already admitted that Israel plans to launch a military spy satellite. "A photo-reconnaissance satel lite is a priority. It will have an outstanding impact with non- conventional weapons," he says. • India's third attempt to launch an Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) success fully has been scheduled for next month at Shriharikota. Two launches failed in 1987/8. The ASLV will place SROSS 3 in low-Earth orbit, carrying a National Physics Laboratory aer- onomy payload and a gamma- ray-burst experiment. D PEACEKEEPER ROLE Rocketdyne will provide a modified Peacekeeper fourth- stage engine for a Strategic Defence Initiative Organisa tion SPAS 3 mission aboard the Space Shuttle in August 1994. Firings of the engine, the Liquid Plume Generator, on a free-flying SPAS will be monitored from the Shuttle. JAPANESE IMAGE The first image from the opti cal sensors aboard the Japa- NEWS IN BRIEF nese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS-1) has been received, while an official inquiry board continues to analyse the fail ure of the spacecraft's syn thetic aperture radar antenna to deploy. GALILEO STUCK Heating in sunlight and cool ing in shade has again failed to open the Galileo space craft's stuck high-gain an tenna, threatening to reduce severely the amount of data it will be able to transmit from its mission to Jupiter. LOWLY MAGELLAN NASA's Magellan radar map per will reduce the lpw point (perigee) of its orbit around Venus from 300km to l^Okm in September, to help monitor the planet's interior through perturbations in the space craft's orbit. Atlantis carrying atmosphere and physics research The Space Shuttle Atlantis, launched at the Kennedy Space Center on 24 March, will be used to research the Earth's atmosphere, space plasma phys ics and astronomy. The Shuttle mission — NASA's 46th — will last eight days and has a crew of seven, including Dirk Frimout, the first Belgian astronaut, and British- born US citizen Michael Foale. Atlantis, on its 11th mission, is scheduled to land at the Ken nedy Space Center on 1 April. The launch was delayed for a day after high concentrations of hydrogen gas were found in the orbiter's aft compartment during propellant loading. The crew was not aboard at the time. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - / April. 1992 19
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
