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Aviation History
1998
1998 - 0020.PDF
SPACCFUQHT Telescope tube is delivered to Dasa PATRIA FINAVICOMP, a subsidiary of Patria Finavitec of Finland, has delivered die tubular structure for the European Space Agency's X- Ray Multi Mirror telescope to prime contractor Daimler- Benz Aerospace's (Dasa) Dornier Satellitensysteme. The 7m-long composite tube, weighing 160kg, is the main structural element of the 3,900kg telescope, to be launched in 1999. AsiaSat 3 drifts in space after failure of Proton upper stage TIM FURNISS/LONDON THE HUGHES-BUILT AsiaSat 3 communications satellite was left drifting in a useless orbit after the the failure of the fourth stage of the Russian Proton K booster which launched it from Baikonur on 24 December. It was the first failure suffered by the US/Russian ILS International Launch Services consortium, which markets the Proton and Atlas vehicles (Flight International, 17-23 December, 1997). The launch was the final in a sequence of six flights undertaken between 20 and 24 December by European, Russian and US vehi cles carrying 17 satellites. The $70 million Khrunichev Proton launch from Pad 23 at Baikonur was also the first in the vehicle's history to be delayed - by two days - because of high winds at altitude. The launch went well up to the first burn of the Proton's Energia DAI stage, which placed the Asiasat 3 and the DM stage into geostationary-transfer orbit. The second DM stage burn to circularise the orbit to a geosta tionary position over the equator cut out only Is into the planned 110s firing, because of a suspected turbopump malfunction. The satellite, which separated from die DM stage, was stranded in a 2 6,008 x 203km orbit at 51.3 7° inclination. It was the third DM failure since May 1996. There is not enough propellant on die 2,5 34kgsatellite to raise it to the required orbit and it will be written off as an insured loss. A replacement satellite will be ordered by Hong Kong-based AsiaSat and could be delivered in 15 months' time. The nine planned ILS Proton launches scheduled for 1998 will be delayed pending an investigation. A new Breeze M upper stage is scheduled to replace die DM stage in about 1999. Also on 24 December, a Start 1 booster - a modified SS-25 missile - launched from the Svobodny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East, successfully placed the US Early Bird commercial remote-sensing satellite into 473km Sun-synchro nous orbit. The Early Bird's 3m-resolution images will be marketed by Earthwatch of Colorado. A lm- resolution satellite, the Quick Bird, is planned for 1999. An Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus XL booster placed eight Orbcomm data-communications satellites into an 810km, 45°- inclination orbit, after an air launch from a Lockheed L-1011 carrier aircraft off the east coast of the USA on 23 December. It was the fifth consecutive suc cessful XL mission of 1997. Ten of a planned 28 satellites for OSC- subsidiary Orbcomm have been launched and these are due to be joined by a further ten by the end of 1998.' The launch was delayed when the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation temporarily revoked a launch licence, pending investigations into OSC's work to ensure that the hypergolic upper stage of the Pegasus XL is safe. In 1995, a similar spent stage explod ed in orbit, creating more than 700 pieces of trackable space debris. Russia launched the Progress M37 tanker on a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 2 2 December, to dock successfully with the Mir space station. On the same day, Arianespace lofted the Intelsat 804 communica tions satellite into orbit on flight V104/42L - the eleventh Ariane 4 flight of 1997, and 19 days after die previous Ariane launch. Ariane- space's next launch will be the V105/44LP, carrying the Brasilsat B3 and Inmarsat 3F5 satellites, and is scheduled for 27 January. Five Motorola Iridium satellites were placed in orbit by a Delta 2 launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 20 December. Forty-six Iridium satellites have been launched in eight months, with 26 more planned this year to provide worldwide mobile-tele phone services by September. • Mr inspection has to be abandoned T HE REMOTE-controlled flight of the Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Inspector free- flying satellite around the Russian Mir I space station on 17 Decem ber had to be abandoned on safety grounds after the vehicle suffered a suspected star-sensor failure. The lm-long, 72 kg Inspector was unable to point towards its planned targets of the undocked Progress M36 cargo craft, which had deliv ered it to the station, and the Mir- especially to inspect damage to die Spektr module. It was decided to let the craft drift away into another orbit, as already planned after the proximi ty operations with the Mir had been completed, and to continue its mission returning images of the Earth, when possible. An early test of the video camera before the craft's ejection from the station was successful and Dasa is confident that it will receive sufficient data to support its work as a potential free-flying craft for the International Space Station. A similar NASA prototype was successfully tested from the Space Shuttle STS87 in November. • Spacehab wins new NASA contract SPACEHAB OF VIENNA, Virginia, which leases pres surised Spacehab modules to NASA for missions on the Space Shuttle, has been awarded a $42 million contract from the US space agency to provide modules for three Shuttle missions to support the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). A further $19 million will come from ISS international partners, which will make use of space on the modules. A potential for a further $22 million of business could result from leasing some space to com mercial customers. An option for a fourth ISS mission could be worth $15 million, if exercised. The first mission, die STS95 in October, will carry a single Spacehab research module, which will be followed by a double logis tics module on the STS96 in De cember. The STS107, set for May 2000, will carry the first double research module, which will be leased to other international and commercial customers. A double logistics module is to be flown on die STS89 on 22 January, the pen ultimate Shuttle Mir Mission. • 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 January 1998
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