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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1657.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT ILS clinches first launch contracts for Atlas 2AR TIM FURNISS/LONDON SPACE SYSTEMS/Loral has awarded ILS International Launch Services a contract for two firm launches (with one option) of communications satellites aboard the new Atlas 2AR booster. The launches have been booked for 1998 and 1999. This is the first launch contract ILS has won for the 2 AR, which will have its maiden flight in 1998, pow ered by an NPO Energo- mash/Pratt and Whitney RD-180 first-stage engine. The 2AR, with a capability to place 3,800kg into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), has a single, throttleable RD-180 engine, replacing the Rocketdyne MA-5A powerplant on the current Atlas 2/2A/2AS fleet. The 2AS has a 3,700kgGTO capability. The new 2AR booster will also have a stretched first-stage liquid- Ariane VS1 boosts Intelsat 709 oxygen tank and interstage adaptor. Its Centaur second stage will be powered by a single P& WRL-10E cryogenic engine, replacing two RL-lOs. A potential 2ARS variant, equipped with two Castar solid- rocket boosters, could increase GTO capability to over 4,000kg. ILS — an Energia, Khrunichev and Lockheed Martin consortium — has also announced that its Proton booster will launch the Telstar 5 satellite in May 1997, bringing to ten the number of launch contracts for the Russian booster. The Atlas 2A/2 AS fleet has 11 contracts. The 23 firm bookings for ILS compares with the 44 for Arianespace. The European launcher organi sation, which generated $1.4 billion sales in 1995, has an orderbook val ued at $3.6 billion. Its next launch, the V89/44L, carrying the Arabsat 2A and Turksat 1C satellites, is scheduled for 9 July. • Russian navy plans first satellite launch from a submarine THE RUSSIAN navy will launch its first satellite in October. A former SS-N-23 Skiff submarine-launched ballistic mis sile (SLBM), the Shtil booster, will launch the 70kg Kompas research satellite into a 400km circular, 78° inclination orbit from a Northern Fleet nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea in a bid to generate commercial interest. The Shtil is one of over 300 redundant Russian military mis siles, many of which are being con verted to satellite launchers. Former missile launchers which are already operational include the Start and Rokot. The first Shtil — which became an operational SLBM in 1986 — was used to launch a 105kg German re-entry capsule on a suborbital flight in June 1995. • Soyuz suffers second failure R USSIA LOST ITS second successive Soyuz U booster on 2 0 June when a Yantar photo recon naissance satellite launch from Plesetsk failed at T+50s. The pay- load shroud was torn off and the engines shut down, the booster crashing 8km (4nm) downrange from Plesetsk. The failure appears to have been a duplicate of the demise of the pre vious launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying a Kometa reconnaissance satellite, on 14May. The payload shroud incident on the Baikonur launch occurred atT+49s. With over 700 flights to its cred it, the Soyuz U had the reputation as the world's most successful launch vehicle, once achieving 100 successive successful flights. Russia has experienced further Soyuz problems, with delays in the production of slightly uprated U2 versions, because of cash shortages, altering the schedule for Mir 1 space station missions. The Soyuz U2 is scheduled to carry the Soyuz TM24 cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Pavel Vinogradev to the Mir 1, with a commercial French visitor Claudie Andre- Deshays. This been put back to mid-August, delaying the return of resident TM23 cosmonauts Yuri Onufriekno and Yuri Usachev by 40 days. The TM23 was launched on 21 February. US astronaut Shannon Lucid, who is working with the TM23 crew aboard the Mr 1, after being delivered to the station aboard the Space Shutde STS76, will return to Earth aboard the Space Shutde Atlantis on the fourth Shuttle/Mr Mission, the STS79, on about 9 August, after her 140-day flight. She will be replaced by NASA's John Blaha, who will work with the TM24 crew when it arrives. He will return in December. • See feature, P37. NEWS IN BRIEF • DARWIN PROJECT Thailand's United Com munications has taken a 50% stake in a plan to build a satel lite-launch centre at Gunn Point, north-east of Darwin, Northern Territory, Austr alia. The company will pur chase an interest in Australia's Space Transportation Sys tems to work on an $8 million feasibility study to build the A$630 ($500 million) com mercial spaceport, primarily for Russian Proton boosters. Flights to equatorial geosta tionary transfer orbit will have the advantage of die site's proximity to the equa tor, which will increase die rocket's commercial commu nications-satellite payload capability. The Australian Government has pledged A$126milIion to improve die Northern Territory's infra structure, if the launch-cen tre project proceeds. NASA may book CRV on to Ariane 5 flight NASA HAS EXPRESSED interest in booking a slot on the Ariane 5 launcher to carry a sim plified version of the crew-rescue vehicle (CRV) demonstrator for the future Alpha International Space Station. The agency has requested a possible slot for 1998. French posts and telecommuni cations minister Francois Fillon confirms the possible NASAlaunch request following a meeting with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin after the recent launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Fillon has suggested that co operation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) could include a free ride for the CRV on the Ariane 5 in return for the Shutde carrying the European Alpha module. .. At the last meeting of the ESA, France gained approval for funding preliminary studies and develop ment of a crew-transport vehicle to be carried by the Ariane 5 for trans port of astronauts around the Alpha International Space Station. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 July 1996 21
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