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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0173.PDF
India to enter geostationary league with satellite flight TIM FURNISS/LONDON THE INDIAN Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will enter the geostationary launcher club with the first flight of the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) next month. It will be carrying the 1,500kg (1,1001b) Indian satellite, G-SAT1. The 49m- (160ft) tall GSLVhas been in development for several years and its maiden flight is more than three years later tlian planned. The booster comprises elements of the operational Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and, for initial flights, a Russian-built cryo genic upper stage engine. It will be launched from the PSLV pad at Sriharikota, but a customised GSLV pad is under development. A second test flight is planned about "12 months after the first test", before the vehicle is declared operational, says ISRO. The GSLV will be capable of launching payloads of 2,500kg into geostationary transfer orbit, including the Insat 3-D satellite which is set to fly on the third GSLV, says ISRO. Other Insat 3 series craft are scheduled for Arianespace launch es as they are heavier. Insat 3 D "will only carry meteorological payloads rather than communications pay- loads or a mix of the two types", says ISRO. The first GSLV flight, designat ed D-1, will carry the lighter G-SAT 1; the second test will carry G-SAT 2. The G-SATs are com munications technology satellites "demonstrating digital audio and C-band transponder applications". The GSLV will also be able to carry 5,000kg payloads into 400km orbit, with each launch costing about $400 million. The booster comprises two strap-on stages powered by the Vikas nitrogen tetroxide- hydrazine engine used on the PSLV's second stage, with a burn time of 158s. The core booster is based on the PSLV solid propellant first stage, which fires for 274s. The second stage is a single Vikas engine-powered stage witli a 150s burn time, while stage three is powered by the restartable Russian KVD 1M cryogenic liquid oxy gen/liquid hydrogen engine used on some Russian Proton boosters, witft a total burn time of 800s. Six further KVD 1 engines will be available for use on the GSLV while India continues to develop its indigenous cryogenic engine in a programme that has been diwarted by technical difficulties. A test firing last February "was aborted 15s into the burn by a technical problem" that has notyet been resolved, ISRO says. "We still have a long way to go," says ISRO, and it is "likely that all die Russian engines will be used" before the introduction of the Indian cryogenic engine. • Chandra observes x-ray radiation, attributed to a white dwarf star SCIENTISTS HAVE discov ered a glowing bubble of hot gas and unexpected bright x-ray radiation from a star within the Cat's Eye planetary nebula in an image captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The phe nomenon could be attributed to the expulsion of material from a star in the process of becoming a white dwarf, which is the end product of the evolu tionary process of stars. It is the first time that such an x-ray emission has been seen from the central star of a plane tary nebula. Chandra, formerly the X-Ray Astrophysics Facility, was deployed from the Space Shuttle Columbia in July 1999. With the European Space Agency's Newton X-ray Multi Mirror spacecraft mission launched in December 1999, it is helping to revolutionise x-ray astronomy. Russia confirms plan for Mir to leave orbit THE RUSSIAN Government has confirmed that the Mir space station will be de-orbited in February/March and will make a controlled re-entry over die Pacific Ocean. Since the launch of die first core module 15 years ago, the station has grown to weigh 137t, and has been visited by 104 Russian and foreign astronauts, and perma nently inhabited for two weeks short of 10 years from 1989. A Soyuz U launch on 18 January will carry a Progress tanker craft to Mir to provide fuel for the the de- orbit burn. Only one Progress craft should be needed for the de-orbit, but another could be launched. A Soyuz TM emergency cosmonaut crew will be on stand-by. Meanwhile, Citizen Explorer Dennis Tito, who was scheduled for a mission to Mir, has been unof ficially added to the Soyuz TM crew pending confirmation by die Russian Interdepartmental Com mission and NASA. Soyuz TM will be launched to the International Space Station in April to swap the original Expedition One Soyuz craft with a new one. J NEWS IN BRIEF • RUSSIAN SPACE PLANS Russia plans to launch 28 spacecraft this year including a first flight of the operational Proton M booster in March carrying an Ekran-M commu nications satellite. The Proton M is equipped with a Breeze M upper stage. This can place satellites weighing up to 2,920kg (6,4301b) into geosta tionary orbit (GEO) with up to four engine burns, compared with the Proton DM, which can place 1,880kg directly to GEO. • SOUTH KOREAN LAUNCHER South Korea has budgeted $4.26 billion to develop a national satellite launch vehi cle capable of carrying 1,000kg (2,2001b) to low Earth orbit by 2010. Apian to develop a rock et by 2005 has been shelved. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16 - 22 January 2001 23
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