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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0018.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT Optus lost in launch 'explosion7 BY TIM FURN1SS Australia's Hughes-built HS-601 Optus B2 communica tions satellite has been lost in an as-yet-unexplained "explosion" during its launch aboard a Chi nese Long March 2E from Xichang on 21 December. While China Great Wall In dustry claims that the launch into initial low-Earth orbit (LEO) was successful, it appears that the satellite itself exploded "during the boost phase", ac cording to Hughes. A fireball was spotted on video coverage and a search team found pieces US DoD starts Milstar upgrading The US Department of De- rector of the Military Satellite fense (DoD) has begun re- Communications Joint Program placing the Milstar satellite- Office at the USAF Space and communications system with a Missile Systems Center in Los more advanced unit to meet the Angeles. "All other communica- rapidly changing national-secu- tions satellites are transponder- rity requirements emphasised based, requiring ground-site during the Gulf War. designation of time and use. The move came as contractor Milstar is the first satellite to TRW Space Electronics Group provide immediate access." delivered the second Milstar The Milstar programme has payload to prime contractor passed three significant mile- Lockheed on 14 December. stones. In October 1992, US The entire Milstar programme defence secretary Dick Cheney has been revamped in recent gave the go-ahead for the Milstar months, as lessons learned dur- II medium-data-rate payload up- ing Operation Desert Storm have grade for satellites three and been taken into account. Origi- four. A new generation of com- nally envisaged as an eight- munications terminals was satellite constellation, the begun, to provide global access Milstar will now consist of four to field units — including air- satellites, all to be in place be- borne and submarine terminals, fore the end of the decade. It has Pre-launch tests on the first sat- also been changed from a totally ellite are almost complete. The strategic emphasis to a more first two satellites, scheduled for tactical application, filling the launch in 1993 and 1994, will gaps exposed during the Gulf be the first to use high- War in intelligence distribution frequency communications, and battlefield communications. "Milstar marks a new genera- "One of the primary decisions tion of communications services was to increase Milstar's tactical for the DoD — including un- capabilities," says US Air Force precedented security provisions Brig Gen Len Kwiatkowski, di- and on-demand access for field ~ ; : ; : ; subscribers. The Low data rate portion nouses communications systems n overall mission includes com mand and con trol and delivery of intelligence in formation," says Kwiatkowski. Although it will be several years before the first Milstar 2 is launched, Kwiat kowski says that the first two will provide essential coverage over half the planet. • of the satellite and rocket. The Optus B2 would have normally been carried from LEO to a geostationary transfer orbit by a Thiokol Star 63 solid- propellant perigee motor. The orbit would then have been cir cularised by a liquid-propellant apogee kick motor. An explo sion of either of these two sys tems could have occurred during the perigee firing. China has launched three Long March 2E spacecraft. The second launch, of Optus Bl, on 22 March, 1992, was aborted on the launch pad, but was subse quently launched successfully, on 13 August. China has one remaining firm commercial contract, to launch an Intelsat 7A spacecraft aboard a Long March 3A. The launcher is scheduled to make its maiden flight in late 1993, carrying the first national Dongfanghong 3 (DFH) commu nications satellite. D Germany/Japan sign deal for Express capsule The German Space Agency (DARA) and Japan's trade and industry ministry signed an agreement on 17 December to operate and develop ex periments for a commercial recoverable space capsule, called the Express, being de veloped for microgravity and other space research. DARA will invest $20 mil lion in the first phase of the project. Russia is providing the capsule for a proving flight aboard a Japanese MS32 booster, to be launched from Kagoshima in February 1994 for a five-day mission. • The launch of the German- funded Spacelab 02 aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle STS55 has been scheduled for 25 February. • NASA uses CV-990 to test Shuttle gear NASA has begun flight test ing a specially modified Convair 990 airliner in a pro gramme aimed at expanding the operational-landing capabilities of its Space Shuttle. The converted CV-990's first functional flight tests were made in mid-December and evaluation flights of a new Shuttle landing gear will begin early in 1993. The current series of flights will be used to check out the hydrau- lically controlled test fixtures and test the pressurised systems which actuate the Shuttle gear. A representative test fixture of the new Shuttle gear is housed between the two main undercar riage legs and will be lowered onto the surface of the runway after the CV-990's standard gear has made contact. The Convair will land at a speed of around 220kt (400km/h) to simulate the Shuttle's normal landing speed. As the speed decreases, test parameters will be taken, the Shuttle gear will be retracted and the roll-out completed using the standard gear. Landings will be made on the 4,600m (15,000ft) runways at Edwards AFB, California, and at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The Convair has been heavily re-built to accommodate the new gear, which involved the partial replacement of the origi nal keel with two auxiliary keel sections. Heavy metal plates and three bulkheads were also added for additional strength and pro tection against runway debris thrown up during the tests. The heavy engineering adds more than 18,000kg to the CV- 990's gross weight, which now stands at around 90,700kg. Ad ditional weight also comes from a set of 48 nitrogen bottles and 16 hydraulic accumulators, which are capable of producing 345bar (5,0001b/in2) to actuate the gear system. Early flights from NASA's Dryden site will be used to perform static-load tests and cal ibration of the gear before evalu ation of the gear itself on the dry lake bed and Edwards concrete runway. The CV-990 will then be flown to Florida for further tests at Kennedy. • 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 January, 1993
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