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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 2872.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT INTERNATIONAL. SPACE STATION TIM FURNISS / LONDON Age of space tourism draws near Revenue from fare-paying tourists could help increase the number of crew aboard the International Space Station NASA and the Russian space and aviation agency are expected to sign an agreement next month paving the way for fare-paying space tourists to visit the Internat ional Space Station (ISS). The countries' space agencies have drafted criteria for the "space flight participants" programme, which Russia sees as a way of secur ing additional funds to increase the number of crew and volume of science performed at the station. The agreement is expected to state that passengers undergo phys ical training, are able to speak Russian or English and pass a "personal suitability" test. The agreement follows ill-feeling between the Russian and US agen cies after the flight of the first tourist, American Dennis Tito, aboard a Russian Soyuz TM in April. NASA felt that the flight was forced upon it, resulting in it ban ning further tourist flights. South Africa-based Mark Shuttle- worth, who is training at the cos monaut training centre in Star City, could be the first "space flight participant". Revenue from these Russian flights could help to increase the ISS crew. Russia has offered to pro vide two modules, including a back-up for cargo, an additional Soyuz TM ferry and other compo nents to enable a crew increase from three to six by 2004. Yuri Koptev, the Russian space agency's director, says: "Building up the station without increasing the number of crew means that no time is left for any science." He sug gests that components funded partly by tourist revenues are a "less expensive" solution. Meanwhile, the ISS third expedi tion crew has started work after arriving on the STS 105 Discovery mission, launched on 10 August. The crew will remain until Dec ember. Crew 2 were due to return in Discovery on 21 August. Discovery delivered 3.5t of equip ment to the station in the Italian Leonardo logistics module. The next shuttle mission to the ISS is set for late November. EXPLORATION More plans for Express The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to use the space craft bus designed for the 2003 Mars Express orbiter mission for other interplanetary and science missions, the first of which could be launched in 2005. The spacecraft would weigh about 1.2t and would be compat ible with launch by a Soyuz ST, DeltallorAriane5. Three of nine mission propos als submitted to ESA have been selected for further study: a Venus orbiter to study the atmosphere and plasma envi ronment of the planet; a cosmic dust explorer-observatory; and a Big Bang cosmic microwave background radiation spacecraft. LICENSING USA issues Ka-band licences to 11 operators The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has autho rised 11 new and established com munications satellite operators to provide broadband Ka-band ser vices in the USA from geostation ary orbit (GEO). The companies are CAI Data Systems, Celsat America, Direct Com Networks, Hughes Comm unications, KaStarCom World Satellite, Lockheed Martin, Loral Cyberstar, Pacific Century, PanAmSat, Pegasus Development and TRW. The licences to Hughes, Loral and PanAmSat allow them to expand the number of satellites equipped for Ka-band services following licences that were issued in 1997. All companies except Celsat will provide fixed satellite services to US customers, while Celsat will use Ka-band for feeder links to support its mobile satellite sys tem. Pacific Century intends to operate satellites approved by the UK to serve the USA. Thirty-four GEO locations have been assigned for the Ka-band companies. PanAmSat receives six; five go to Lockheed Martin and Pegasus; Hughes and TRW get four; Celsat, DirectCom, Pacific Century and Loral Cyberstar all get two; and CAI and KaStar receive one each. EARTH OBSERVATION Luminous fog obscures Earth view of Milky Way Around one-fifth of the world's population - more than two- thirds of the USA and half of Europe - cannot see the Milky Way with the naked eye due to light pollution, which the UK's Royal Astronomical Society describes as a "luminous fog". This image of Earth lights was obtained from US Air Force meteorology satellites. NASA SPACEPLANE Mars glider secures performance validation NASA's Ames Research Center's Kitty Hawk 3 project team has validated the aerody namic performance of a small 1.2m-long prototype Mars air craft called Orville. The converted 2.4m wingspan NASA 731 remote- controlled glider was dropped from a helium-filled balloon 101,000ft (30,800m) above Oregon. The Orville test followed the low-altitude flight of another vehicle, a NASA 729 glider called Wilbur, last month. California-based ARC has been working on a Mars Airplane concept for several years. The spacecraft would arrive at Mars as a piggyback payload on an orbiter/lander, as a fuselage with folded wings and a rear-mounted propeller. After deployment, it would be able to fly in Mars' carbon dioxide atmosphere, equipped with an array of science instru ments including a high-resolution camera. ARC plans to develop a scale model of the final design and test it in the Earth's atmosphere. 36 21-27 AUGUST 2001 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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