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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0020.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT Second Ariane 5 test is delayed to July TIM FURNISS/LONDON THE SECOND TEST flight of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane 5 booster has been delayed from April to July 1997. ESA and French space agency CNES made the decision to ensure that "each individual operation" can be closely analysed. The third qualification flight, .Ariane 503, to be managed by Arianespace, the European com mercial-launcher organisation, will be delayed from September to November. Arianespace plans to operate the Ariane 5 commercially from flight 504 in 1998 (Flight International, 9-15 October, 1996). The 501 maiden flight failed on 4 June, 1996, after an untested Ariane 4-class inertial-reference unit used on the Ariane 5 caused the vehicle to pitch down and break apart 3 Is after lift-off, with the loss of four Cluster science satellites, costing about $500 million. The 502 flight will carry dummy payloads representing two com mercial-communications satel lites, and possibly an amateur-radio satellite. Flight 503 will carry ESAs Atmospheric Re-entry Demon strator spacecraft and a commer cial satellite to be agreed between Arianespace and the customer. Arianespace hopes to launch four Ariane 5s in 1998, with eight Ariane 4s, but has made provision al plans to order more Ariane 4s if there are further delays. The cost of the Ariane 5 failure is put at about $360 million and is being paid for partly by the vehi cle's contractors. Arianespace, which was originally to have flown the 503 as a fully commercial flight, will sell it back to ESA at a reduced price, making some additional rev enue from the 503's commercial- customer charge. ESA and its Ariane 5 participat ing member states will have to con tribute additional funds and these may be raised by delaying work on potential upgrades to the booster and diverting funds from other programmes, including that of Earth observation. The agency's problems have been made worse by die reluctance of some member states — led by France — to agree to fund new programmes until the Ariane 5 launcher has been proven. A deci sion as to whether to fly a new Cluster mission, costing $300 mil lion, is adding to the dilemma. • NEWS IN BRIEF • INMARSAT LAUNCH An ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2A booster lofted the Lockheed Martin Astro Space/Matra Marconi Space-built Inmarsat 3F3 mobile communications sat ellite into geostationary- transfer orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 17 December. The new satellite will serve the Pacific Ocean region, complementing the first two satellites over the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, launched in 1996. The In marsat 3 s have enabled the introduction of satellite tele phones smaller than an A4- size lap-top computer. • IMAGE INVESTMENT Van der Horst of Singapore will invest $25 million in the Space Imaging company, which will market lm-reso- lution remote-sensing-satel- lite images, joining Lockheed Martin, Raytheon E-Systems and Mitsubishi. • TV SWITCH ON MCFs 1997 domestic US satellite-television service has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission, but MCI will have to request transfer of the licence to new owner British Telecom, for 1998. Indonesian orders boost Space Systems/Loral I NDONESIA'S FT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, of Jakarta has ordered one M2A satellite from Space Systems/Loral for its Multi Media Satellite System, plus long- lead parts for a second craft, and options for a further five satellites in a deal worth $3 50 million (Flight International, 2-8 October, 1996). Loral will also receive a contract from international communica tions-satellite organisation Intelsat to build two Follow-On Satellites (FOS) to replace ageing Intelsat 6 s. The M2 A — based on an origi nal FS-1300 bus designed by the former Ford Aerospace — will be the most powerful C-band trans ponder craft so far launched, with 1 lkW of electrical power. It will be the first C-band craft to be used for direct-broadcast purposes, with a payload (built by France's Alcatel Espace) the equivalent of 84 transponders. X-band transpon ders will also be carried to provide gateway services. The M2 A will be able to support 4 million telephone circuits, carry ing 200,000 simultaneous calls, and will have 100 television channels. The satellite will be located at either 134°E or 118°E in geosta tionary orbit and has been allocat ed a Proton launch in 1999. While ordering the two Loral FOS spacecraft, Intelsat also for mally awarded the contract to Matra Marconi Space (MMS) to build the Intelsat K-TVsatellite to be launched in 1998 (Flight International, 18-31 December, 1996). This will be positioned at 95 °E to provide direct-to-home video/ TV services to the Asia Pacific region with the use of 30 Ku-band transponders. It is Intelsat's first entry into the DBS market and the first contract for a satellite to go to a non-US supplier. MMS lost the Intelsat 8 series prime contract to Lockheed Martin. The Intelsat K- TV will be MMS' 24th Eurostar spacecraft bus (Flight International, 14-20 August, 1996). • Lockheed Martin has been selected to build the third Koreasat communications satellite, having beaten Aerospatiale and Hughes to the deal. Lockheed Martin also builtthe existing Koreasats 1 and2. South Korean companies will manufacture substantial portions of the LVIA2100 spacecraft. • Hughes Space and Com munications will build the second communications satellite for Or ion Network Systems. This will be placed over the Pacific Ocean, while a planned third satellite will complement the MVlS-built Or ion 1 over the Atlantic later. The Orion 2 will carry ten C-band and 33 Ku-band transponders. It will View from the bridge THE VIEW FROM THE FLIGHTDECK of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS80 mission shows the payload bay and the Remote Manipulator System robot arm with the Wake Shield free-flying manufacturing spacecraft attached (Flight International, 18-31 Decem ber, 1996). The STS8VAtlantis is due for a 12 January launch on the fifth Shuttle Mir Mission. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel says that NASA's efforts to stream line Shuttle operations, including the privatisation of operations under the Rockwell/Lockheed Martin United Space Alliance, have not raised risks, but it still warns of potential dangers, including reducing the workforce dur ing Space Station assembly, and unrealistic funding levels. 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 January 1997
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