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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0706.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT UK maintains ESA funding levels BY TIM FURNISS The UK is to maintain its contribution to the Euro pean Space Agency (ESA) in the 1993/4 financial year, de spite an expected £7 million reduction, to £160 million, in the national space budget. Maintaining ESA contribu tions, particularly to the Earth- observation programme, will ensure the confirmation of the prime contract for polar- platform development to Brit ish Aerospace Space Systems. The spacecraft will be launched by an Ariane 5 in 1998, on the first of several environmental and meteorological missions, called Envisat 1. Speaking at BAe in Bristol at the 22 March unveiling of the first configuration model of the Envisat 1, Edward Leigh, UK Under-Secretary of State for Technology, said that the con tract would be "at risk" with out maintaining the ESA contributions. Of the UK's £106 million contribution to ESA in 1992/3, £42 million was for Earth- observation work. An addi tional £42 million was allo cated to national Earth-obser vation programmes — particu larly space-instrument and ground-segment development — from the £61 million na tional budget. It is the national element from which the £7 million cut is likely to be made in the coming financial year. The UK's controversial deci sion to back off from high- profile manned ESA projects in BAe on course for Envisat 1987 and to concentrate on Earth observation has been jus tified, as the UK is leading the way in environmental studies from space, says Leigh. "This is not just another satellite," says Leigh. "It is the first of a spacecraft series equipped with super-sensitive instruments, providing a verita ble flood of data — primarily via the ESA Data Relay Satellite system — giving the most ac curate and comprehensive view of the Earth's environment." The UK is also developing two payloads for the £1.5 bil lion Envisat 1. Matra Marconi Space in Portsmouth is devel oping the advanced synthetic- aperture radar (ASAR), includ ing a lOm-long, phased-array antenna, with 320 transmit- receive module elements. The ASAR is one of five ESA-funded instruments. The Science and Engineering Research Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory will lead the development of the ad vanced along-track-scanning radiometer, which is one of four planned European nation ally funded instruments. BAe is leading a team of more than 35 contractors from 12 countries to build the 8t, 6.5Kw, four-model version of the polar platform for Envisat 1 and, later, will develop the spacecraft to fly a second mis sion, called METOP, in 2000. Several follow-on missions are also planned. • MDA plans Delta Clipper unveiling Ateam led by McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) will unveil a scale version of the Single-Stage Rocket Tech nology (SSRT) "Delta Clipper" space vehicle in early April. The 12m-high SSRT is a third-scale prototype version of the Delta Clipper, designated the DC-X. After its "roll-out" at MDA's Huntington Beach site in California, the DC-X will be taken to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where it will be subjected to static ground-firing tests in May. In June, the company hopes to demonstrate flights involving vertical take-off and landing. Pratt & Whitney has deliv ered the first set of four RL10A-5 liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuelled rocket engines to MDA for use by the DC-X. The engines, like the vehicle, were developed in only 18 months from the contract award in August 1991. The A-5 is a modified ver sion of the RL10A-3-3A and A-4 models which power the Centaur upper stage for Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. As these are designed only for upper-atmosphere operation, P&W modified the A-5 with a new thrust chamber, designed for sea-level operation, and fit ted it with a variable throttle. During the White Sands tests, the DC-X will be launched to altitudes of up to 30,000ft (9,000m) to demon strate rotation and vertical- landing manoeuvres for a "touchdown footprint" within a 30.5m landing pad. To make this possible, the engine has been designed to throttle down to 30% of its full thrust level for powered landings. The aim of the DC-X dem onstrations is to prove that re-usable cryogenic rockets can be operated economically. • ASLV: about to be replaced India aims at Mercury An Indian Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will launch a space probe to Mercury as part of a major investment by the In dian Space Research Or ganisation (ISRO). Up to 15 spacecraft will be launched before 2000. To combat possible US sanctions over a $200 million contract with Russia for the supply of the cryogenic upper-stage engines (which is vital to the GSLV develop ment), the ISRO has iden tified six national companies which will begin to develop the necessary cryogenic tech nology, including Hindustan Aeronautics. Two Rohini satellites will be launched by augmented satel lite launch vehicles (ASLV) before mey are replaced by the polar satellite launch vehicle. • India's space budget will be raised by 55% over the next seven years, from $140 mil lion to $220 million a year.D Valve failure holds Spacelab back The launch of the Space Shuttle mission STS55/ Columbia, carrying the Ger man-funded Spacelab D2, was halted 3s before lift-off on 22 March, the fourth delay since 25 February. The mission could be post poned until after the STS56/ Discovery mission, due to be launched on or around 6 April on a time-sensitive Earth at mospheric research mission, called the Atlas 2. The cancellation at the Ken nedy Space Center's Pad 39A was caused when computers signalled that a helium purge- line valve in the liquid-oxygen combustion chamber system of engine No 3, the first to ignite, failed to close. • A US Congress task force, appointed to review the safety of the Space Shuttle main en gines, has recommended that improvements be made, pri marily associated with the combustion chamber, heat ex changers and turbopumps. • Former Shuttle astronaut Brewster Shaw has been ap pointed Space Shuttle launch operations director. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 31 March - 6 April, 1993 19
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