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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1595.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT South Africa develops 'PC' satellite BY TIM FURNISS South Africa has made a bid to enter the space business with a lightweight, low-orbit Earth-observation satellite called Greensat. The spacecraft is being de veloped by the Houwteq sub sidiary of the Denel group with the co-operation of partners, including some from Europe, says Johan Alberts, chief execu tive officer of Denel. Alberts will not identify the partners but it is thought that Israel could be involved. The spacecraft, which has been dubbed "the PC [personal computer] of the satellite world", is being offered to cus tomers for specialist manage- INTELSAT THERMAL TEST An engineer's model of the ltelsat 7 is removed from the Space Systems/Loral thermal chamber at Palo Alto in California, after undergoing "simulation of space environment" tests. The first Intelsat 7 launch is scheduled for lift-off by an Ariane 4 booster in November. San Marco project to launch Iridiums Gilardini of Italy has agreed with Motorola that single Iridium satellites will be launched from the San Marco Scout as part of the planned development of a constellation of 65 spacecraft. The San Marco Scout — which is not to be confused with a University of Rome pro ject called the Scout 2 — would be equipped with a first stage comprising five BPD Zephero solid-rocket boosters in a core stage-four strap-on booster combination. The second stage would also be a Zephero, with the third an Iris upper stage of the type which was flown aboard the Space Shuttle Columbus in No vember 1992 to launch the Lageos 2 into orbit. The San Marco Scout would place a 550kg payload into an 800km polar orbit and launches would be made from the San Marco platform off the coast of Kenya. • ment of resources. Israel is thought to be plan ning to fly a similar system aboard its Offeq 3 spacecraft in a bid to develop an operational reconnaissance capability. Key to the Greensat's success will be its near-military recon naissance resolution, down to 2.5m from its digital imaging camera system, which will op erate from a 300-700km orbit. The Greensat offers better per formance than current large satellites, as well as a lighter weight. At 320kg, it has only one-fifth the mass of systems such as the Spot and the Land- sat, with maximum resolution capacity of 15 and 5m respec tively. The spacecraft, also equipped with multispectral cameras, is offered with its own ground-control and manage ment system. The Greensat could be launched as a primary or piggy back payload on most existing commercial launchers. Denel would team up with one launcher partner but wants to "...keep all its options open", says Alberts. South Africa also aims to have its own launcher capabil ity and is testing solid-rocket boosters for a four-stage low- Earth-orbit rocket which could be launched in 1995. The Greensat is expected to be marketed at about $60 mil lion — which is about 20% the cost of larger spacecraft — and Houwteq expects smaller devel oping countries to be the first customers for the satellite. • Group calls for more joint working An international group of space experts from govern ment, industry and the non profit sector has called for increased co-operation in civil and military space activities. Industry and government in dividuals in the USA, Europe and Canada participated in a one-year study, led by US- CREST, a non-profit research institute. No organisations from Japan, China, Russia or India took part in the project. John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a leader in the project, says that it is imperative to elevate the discussion of common space goals to "the highest possible political level". He says that a high-level agreement would provide a framework of political support within which space agency and industry leaders could work together to shape partnerships, such as an internat-ional Earth- observation system. • NEWS IN BRIEF "DEKE" SLAYTON Donald Kent "Deke" Slay- ton, one of the original seven Mercury NASA astro nauts, died of a brain tu mour on 13 June. He played a pivotal role in Apollo flight operations and, in July 1975, he was docking- module pilot of the Apollo 18 when it docked with a Soviet Soyuz 19. TITAN FIRING The Titan IV solid-rocket- motor upgrade booster, being developed under a US Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center programme, achieved the equivalent of 7,565kN (1.7 million pounds) thrust in a test firing at Phillips Laboratory, Edwards AFB, California. Argentine licence given to Nahuel DASA Space Systems, which is leading the Nahuel International consortium, has received a licence from Argen tina to establish a commercial satellite-communications sys tem, called Nahuel. The system will provide tele vision, telephone and business services to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay. As a first step, the consortium (which includes Aerospatiale and Alenia) will provide serv ices from two Anik satellites already in orbit and leased from Telesat of Canada. Later, C-band services will be provided via Brazil's Bra- silsat B2 spacecraft, which still has yet to be launched. The Brazilian Embratel company will also become a member of the newly formed Nahuel SA commercial company. The first proprietary Na- huelsat will be built in 1996 and will be based on the Aero spatiale Eutelsat 2 plat form. This 18-transponder craft will be followed by the 40- transponder Nahuelsat, which was due in 2000. The complete system will comprise a further three spacecraft. • 38 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 23 - 29 June. 1993
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