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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 1271.PDF
Bids mark first round of RLV contest GRAHAM WARWCK/WASHINGTON DC NYSAHAS received bids in the first round of its $4.5 billion competition for a second-genera tion reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The space agency plans to award mutiple small contracts to begin defining requirements for the sys tem and initiate risk-reduction activities. These will feed into the first major procurement round, set for September, says programme manager Dan Dumbacher. This will result in the award of "more than two" contracts covering the Thruster problems delay Clusters THE LAUNCHES of four European Space Agency DaimlerChrysler Aerospace-built Cluster II science satellites has been delayed by the discovery of a potentially leaking thruster on the spacecraft. The launch of (Musters in pairs on two Starsem Soyuz Fregat boosters planned tor June and July have been set back to August at the earliest. The thruster problem is affect ing several European communica tions satellites manufactured by Matra Marconi Space and Alcatel Space and those supplied with similar thrusters from Daimler- Chrysler Aerospace, Bremen. The insurance community has insisted no satellites be launched until the thruster system has been fully tested. The problem centres on the possible leak of fuel when the thrusters are fired. It is believed that there are tiny amounts of fuel leaking from thruster joints when short firings are made to keep the spacecraft on station. As a result, the Eutelsat VV4 communications satellite will not be launched in May on the maiden Bight of the International Launch Sen ices Atlas IIIA. The Ariane 5 launches of Astra 2B, Nilesat 102, Eutelsat Wl R and Eurasiat 1 arc- also on hold. It is understood that not all satel lites fitted with the German thrusters may be affected. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18 - 24 ; first two years of the five-year risk- reduction programme. Initial contracts, to be awarded next month, will be the first step in defining system requirements to meet NAS.As stated safety and cost goals: a 1 in 10,000 probability of loss of crew; and a S2,200/kg (S4,845/lb) payload to orbit cost. "We don't know if the costand safe ty goals can be met," says Dum bacher. They're aggressive." The risk-reduction phase will involve a number of technology demonstrations intended to ensure there are at least two viable com mercial competitors. The require ments definition process "will tell us what demonstrations we need to do", Dumbacher says, adding the priorities are crew escape, main propulsion and full-scale integrat ed structure demonstrations. Studies will try to "maximise convergence" between NASA, government and commercial launch requirements. Plans call tor development of second-genera tion RLVs to be fully funded by- private enterprise, except for NASA-unique requirements such as crewed missions. "We know there will be some amount of gov ernment funding, but we don't know the number or the mecha nism," Dumbacher says. Recognising NASA is already funding the X-33 technology demonstrator for Lockheed Mar tin's proposed VentureStar single- stage-to-orbit RLY, the risk- reduction programme will be structured "to get as level a playing field as possible", he says. "We will maintain competition." Options include two-stage-to-orbit, towed launch and horizontal take-off concepts, he says. • Starsem joins Skybridge team TI IE FRAXCO-Russian Star sem company has become an equity partner in the Skybridge communications satellite consor tium. Starscm will provide up to 11 launches of its Soyuz-Fregat boost er to the consortium. Eighty Skybridge satellites will provide high-speed, interactive multmedia services to business and private users from 2003. Thirty- two satellites will be launched by Soyuz Fregat boosters, with two satellites possibly flying on one launch and the others in sets ot three. The launch order was from Alcatel, die Skybridge partner and prime contractor. Boeing, another Skybridge part ner, has been awarded a contract to launch 48 Skybridge satellites on board the company's Delta IV medium booster. Q NEWS IN BRIEF I • INTERNET ACQUISITION EchoStar Communications has paid S50 million for a 17.6% stake in Gilat-To- Home, a joint venture with Israel's Gilat Satellite Co mmunications and Microsoft to provide a two-way broad band Internet service via satellite. 27 Air-breathing rockets show improvement NASA breathes easier after sucessfiil RBCC tests G the amount of oxygen the vehicle must carry, reducing launch weight and cost. The latest tests evalu ated modifications to the experimental engines to improve dieir perfor mance in air-augmented rocket mode, to increase thrust at low speed. Aerojet says ground tests of its Strutjet air-breath ing rocket achieved their goal, showing a rise in thrust augmentation. Under its Advanced ROUND TESTS of experi- Space Transportation programme, mental air-breathing rockets NASA is funding work which at Aerojet and Rocketdyne have demonstrated improved Low-speed performance, says NASA. The rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC) engines are being devel oped to power a future "third gen eration" reusable launch vehicle. The RBCC functions as a duct ed rocket at low speeds, makingthe transistion to an air-breathing ramjet and supersonic-combustion ramjet at progressively higher speeds, before converting to a con ventional rocket to boost the vehi cle out of the Farth's atmosphere. The use of air-breathing propul- could result in flight testing of an RB( X !-powered technology demonstrator. The agency is also conducting related experiments, including subscale tests of a mag- netic-levitation track that could be used to accelerate the launch vehi cle inexpensively and cut the amount of rocket boost needed. In another test,vset for late June, X \SA will launch a modified bal listic-missile re-entry vehicle to evaluate an ultra-high-tempera ture ceramic material that could allow reusable launch vehicles to be designed with aerodvnamicallv sion for about half of the flight cuts efficient sharp leading edges. April 2000
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