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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0128.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT Russia details 1997 launch programme FUNDING PERMITTING, Russia plans to launch 28 boosters in 1997, carrying a variety of satellites into orbit. These will include three manned Soyuz TM and four unmanned Progress M tankers to die Mir 1 space station. At least three commercial Proton launches are scheduled, starting with die flight of die Tempo 1 in April, followed by die PAS 5 in June and, in November, rJieAsiasat3. Ten military satellite launches are planned for 1997, including those of three Gonets D1 and three Cosmos satellites on 23 January. Odier launches planned are of die Kupon and Yamal communica tions satellites; the Sun-studying Korona F, togedier widi Okean-O and ResursO-1 ocean-monitoring and remote-sensing satellites. The Government has been told that 5,100 billion roubles ($940 million) will be required in 1997 to meet die schedule, compared widi die 1,100 billion roubles which reached space agencies and organ isations in 1996 (Flight Inter national, 8-14 January). Of die 23 spacecraft launches by Russia in 1996, two failed to place spacecraft in die correct orbits and diere were two launch failures. This record compares widi two failures in 1995 and one in 1994. Shortages of boosters led to delays or cancellations of some missions. There were 44 launches in 1995 and 65 in 1994. Ten military satel lites were launched in 1996, com pared widi 38 and 21 in 1994 and 1995, respectively. • NEWS IN BRIEF • DC-XA CRASH CAUSE An unconnected hose led to the destruction of the Clipper Graham DC-XA technolo gy-demonstrator vehicle at White Sands, New Mexico, on 31 July, 1996. A helium pneumatic-system brake line on one of the landing gear swas unconnected, prevent ing prcssurisation of the brake mechanism and exten sion of the gear. Iridium programme to kick off THE FIRST THREE of Motorola's Iridium satellites were scheduled to be launched by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 10 January. A total of 66 operational satellites to be launched into low- Earth-orbit constellations by 1999 will provide the world's first global telecommunications net work, providing a worldwide wireless services to hand-held telephones and pagers. The $2.65 billion Iridium programme will be in competi tion with Loral's Globalstar and the Inmarsat ICO systems and, possibly, with TRWs pro posed Odyssey (Flight International, 4-10 October, 1995). EELV engine passes key test TIM FURNISS/LONDON FULL-SCALE propellant in jector and dirust-chamber tests of die first-stage engine of die McDonnell Douglas (MDC) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) candidate vehicle have been completed at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, marking a major mile stone in die programme. The 2,850kN (640,5001b)- dirust RS-68 liquid-oxygen/liq uid-hydrogen (LOX/LH) cryo genic main engine from Boeing's Rocketdyne division, has 90% fewer parts rlian die Spac e Shuttle engine from which it is derived. The powerplant, to be fully tested late this year, would power die common first stage of a standard fleet of Delta 4 boosters. It is die most powerful LOX/LH engine yet to be developed. The Delta 4 will be in competi tion with a family of Lockheed Martin boosters, based on die Adas, for die final $1.4 billion EELV contract to be awarded by the US Air Force in 1998. MDC and Lockheed Martin were awarded $60 million final design contracts on 20 December, widi Boeing and Alliant Tech- Systems being eliminated (Flight International, 1-7 January). The first medium-class version of die EELV is scheduled to fly in 2001, to be followed by the first heavy- class vehicle in 2005. The EELV family — which will also feature a small-class model not scheduled for a flight test — will replace die current Titan, Delta and Adas fleets, achieving a reduc tion of 25-50% in launch costs. About 200 EELV missions will be required from 2001 -20, says die USAF, with at least 15 of diem using die heaviest EELV version. Payload range of die EELV will be l,135-20,410kg into equatorial and polar orbits from Cape Canaveral, Florida and Van denberg AFB, California. The top figure compares widi die best Titan 4 capability to polar orbit of 17,690kg. The EELV will also have com mercial potential for die winning company, particularly as it has to be able to place payloads weighing up to 6,125kg into geostationary orbit, a capability far exceeding diose of current models. J Mercury could be target for fifth Discovery NASA WILL MAKE a final decision in April whedier to launch the Hermes Global Orbiter spacecraft to map the planet Mercury as die fifth mission in die Discovery series. The Hermes has been proposed by die Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California and spacecraft-builder Spectrum Astro in Arizona. The US spacecraft Mariner 10 flew past Mercury in 1974 but images of only 45% of die planet were returned. Odier than that, no other spacecraft has yet been used to explore the planet. If selected, die Hermes would "...fill a gaping hole in planetary exploration", says Robert Nelson, a JPL project sci entist. The Hermes will be used to map die entire planet, with images with a resolution down to 1km. It will also measure the planet's chemical composition and very thin atmos phere. The craft would be launched in 2001-2 by a Delta booster and will take advantage of new space technologies being developed and demonstrated by die New Millennium programme. The first New Millennium craft, called Deep Space 1, also built by Spectrum Astro, will use solar- electric xenon-ion propulsion and this will be applied to die Hermes Global Orbiter. The Hermes will cruise past the planets Venus and Mercury itself twice en route, to enable it to be nat urally manoeuvred by die planet's gravitational forces into a path which will take it into the correct orbit around Mercury. Its elliptical 12h orbit will range from 200- 14,880km altitude. The craft will be equipped with a magnetometer, laser-radar re mote-sensing equipment, an ultra violet spectrometer and a plasma experiment. • 22 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 January 1997
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