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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2598.PDF
More delays expected on ISS TIM FURNISS/LONDON NASA IS EXPECTED to announce further delays to the International Space Station (ISS) assembly schedule. The STS101 Atlantis mission to the ISS, which was due in December, is likely to be delayed until next year, and the major Shuttle assembly mission 3A is expected to be pushed further into the new year. The STS101 logistics mission is being delayed by continuing inspections of the Shuttle wiring system after damage was found during last month's STS93/'Colum bia mission (Flight International, 25-31 August). Meanwhile, Mission 3A, which was originally scheduled for last year, is likely to move from next February to May, according to the NASA Watch web page, which is TEAMS HAVE been selected to bid for the US Air Force's next communications and surveil lance satellite programmes. Hughes Space and Communi cations and Lockheed Martin have each won a S22 million contract to define the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) communi cations satellite system, follow-on to the Milstar programme. SATELLITE television and radio service provider Soc- iete Europeenne des Satellites (SES) has contracted Hughes Space and Communications to build the Astra 2C and 2D com munications satellites to help meet the growing demand for digital services. The new satellites will oper ate from 2 8.2 °E in geostationary orbit, primarily serving the UK and Ireland. The first will be launched late next year and the second in early 2001. The Astra 2 C will be able to operate at 19°, where a network of Astra satel- run by a former NASA employee and monitors and comments on the space agency's activities. The mission will carry the first truss structure, communications systems, a power module and gyros for the ISS. The schedule is slip ping because of delays in the testing and integration of equipment for the mission. NASA says the delay is unlikely to be too long, but could be weeks, or even a month. The 3A delay is likely to push back the first habitation crew's launch from March to June at the earliest. Because of the delay, there are fears within NASA that Russia may launch a national Soyuz crew on a "logistics" flight to the Russian modules, so becoming the first to operate on the ISS. Two Russian crews are training for contingency missions to the ISS. Shuttle missions 4Aand S A have The Advanced EHF constella tion will comprise four crosslinked satellites covering from 6S°N to 65°S. Lockheed Martin has teamed with Milstar payload sup plier TRW to bid for the Advanced EHF programme. The two teams have been award ed 18-month system definition contracts. One will be selected to develop the Advanced EHF, begin- already been delayed from March/ April to June and July, and later 5A.1 and 6A missions, which will carry large logistics modules, have been pushed back, to November next year. Flight 4A will carry the first photovoltaic module and another truss, while 5 A will fly the US Laboratory module. Flight 7A, carrying an airlock, stays on sched ule for next August A test of the automatic docking system on the ISS has been com pleted successfully in preparation for the launch and flight to the ISS of the Russian Zvezda service mod ule in November. The launch of the Zvezda on a Proton will go ahead as planned only if at least one successful Proton launch has been conducted before November, because of con cerns following the recent Proton M failure. • ning in April 2001, with the first launch expected in 2006. In the meantime, the USAF has picked teams led by Spectrum Astro and TRW to enter the pro gramme definition and risk reduc tion phase of the Space-Based Infrared System Low programme to replace Defense Support Programme ballistic missile warn ing satellites. • lites already provides services across most of Europe. The eighth and ninth SES Hughes satellites are different models. The Astra 2C will be an HS-601HP three-axis stabilised craft, similar to otlier SES satel lites, and the 2 D will be a spin-sta bilised HS-376HP version, the first for Luxembourg-based SES. The Astra 2D will fly on an Ariane, while the 2C will fly on an Ariane or a Proton. The 2D will have 15 Ku-band transpon ders, and the 2 C will operate 32 Ku-band transponders, reduc ing to 2 8 after five years. • NASA and Orbital revamp X-34 testing plans to reduce risk NASA AND Orbital Sciences have revised the test pro gramme for the X-34 reusable launch vehicle technology demon strator to reduce risk. The first airframe, vehicle AT, will be upgraded for unpowered flight tests from Orbital's Lock heed L-1011 carrier aircraft. The vehicle has completed one captive flight on the L-1011, and a second is scheduled for 31 August. Flight avionics and hydraulics will be installed in the first airframe and the upgraded A-1A will be used for ground tow tests at NASA Dryden, California, in December. It will also be used for approach and landing flight tests at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, early next year. Originally, the plan was for all flight tests to be conducted with the second and third X-34s, A-2 and A-3. "The revamp takes risk out," says Orbital's X-34 programme manager, Bob Lindberg. The change will allow Orbital Sciences to complete assembly of the A-2 while flight testing of the A-1A is under way, Lindberg adds. The NASA-developed Fastrac rocket engine will be installed in the second vehicle for ground firing tests at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, late in the second quarter of next year. Powered flight tests are expected to begin "within months" of static ground tests, according to Lind berg. The first flights will be con ducted at Dryden, at speeds up to Mach 2. The A-2 will then be shipped to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Kennedy flights will reach speeds of up to M4.5 and will be used to demonstrate autonomous crosswind landings and flight through rain, as well as rapid turn around operations. The A-3 will complete die rest of the planned 27-flight X-34 test programme from Dryden, reach ing speeds of up to M8 and alti tudes up to 250,000ft (76,250m). The X-34 had its first captive flight from the L-1011 TriStar on 29 June, from Edwards AFB, California. • Hughes wins contract for two more Astra satellites SES has ordered Astra 2C (left) and 2D USAF selects contenders for satellite projects FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 September 1999 29
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