FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2001
2001 - 3616.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TIM FURNISS / LONDON ISS managers under fire Independent task force says NASA cannot complete assembly on its current budget NASA's management of the International Space Station (ISS) and its budget have been slammed by an inde pendent task force set up by the agency to investigate budget overruns and man agement problems. The ISS Independent Management and Cost Eval uation team says NASA will be unable to complete assem bly of a fully functional ISS by 2006 within its remaining $8.3 billion budget. It is also impossible to assess the cost of the pro gramme so far due to NASA's poor and misleading accounting skills, says the task force, headed by former Martin Marietta president Thomas Young. The ISS has gone $13 billion over budget in four years, according to the group, which predicts the total cost of the station could reach $95 billion by the time assembly is completed. The task force criticises NASA for managing the budget on a year-by- year basis rather than controlling the entire programme, and high lights questionable contractor costs total cost of the ISS could reach $95 billion which remain unchecked. The task force indicates that, despite other assembly options, it is likely that the ISS will continue to operate as a three-crew, rather than six-crew base. The scientific potential of the station - its original justification - must be maintained, even with a smaller crew, it says. This will be difficult, however, since the six- crew habitation module has been cancelled and science equipment delayed, including a centrifuge module, now unlikely to be flown to the station until 2008. The task force highlights potential $6.7 billion cost savings over the next five years through reducing the number of Space Shuttle flights to the ISS from six to four a year. Six crew could operate at the ISS for a month if the Soyuz TM crew return vehicle swap-over sys tem is extended from its cur rent seven-day period, while the Space Shuttle could remain attached to the ISS for a month, with the use of an enhanced Extended Duration Orbiter fuel cell system, it suggests. The programme is also criticised for being over-manned, and staff cuts of up to 1,000, including jobs at control centres at Houston and Huntsville, are suggested, as the ISS is also managed from a mission control centre in Russia. The next mission to the ISS will be conducted by a Russian Progress tanker, preceding the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS 108 on a logistics and crew exchange mis sion on 29 November. ODYSSEY IMAGE NASA has released the first image of Mars taken by the $297 million Mars Odyssey orbiter from an altitude of 22,000km (13,600miles). The image taken by the craft's ther mal emission imaging spectro meter shows a 2,000km wide, 6,500km long swathe centred on the south pole, revealing its -120°C (-49°F), 900km diameter frozen ice cap. Once Odyssey is in operational orbit, the imager will be used to detect minerals and possible thermal springs. TRACKING STATION China has completed construc tion of a tracking, telemetry and command station in Swakop- mund, Namibia, to support its manned spaceflight programme. China is due to launch its third unmanned ShenZhou space craft as a precursor to a manned flight in 2003 and the station is beneath the re-entry path. SHUTTLE TEST Alliant TechSystems' Thiokol Propulsion has tested another Space Shuttle reusable solid rocket booster as part of a pro gramme to verify materials and manufacturing processes. O ring materials, a nozzle boot and new adhesive bonds and insula tion on the nozzle were tested. MISSION PROBLEMS NASA fears Genesis may overheat NASA's Genesis mission is being threatened by an over heating battery. The space craft, launched in August, is due to return a small re-entry capsule containing solar wind particles to Earth in 2004, but the battery's temperature in the capsule has reached its upper limit of 23°C (73°F). It is feared that this could increase to over 56°C. The overheating may have been caused by contamination and degradation of white paint on a thermal radiator, which has been polymerised by the sun's ultraviolet radiation. CONTRACTS LS and Eurockot bids successful while Dnepr's business slows down International Launch Services (ILS) and Eurockot have boosted their launch books with new contracts, while attempts by Kosmotras to commercialise the Dnepr booster are flagging. ILS has won a contract from Japan's Space Communications to launch the Boeing Satellite Systems-built Superbird 6 commu nications satellite in October 2003 aboard the final Atlas HAS booster. Superbird 6's slot was made avail able by the DirecTV 5 satellite switching to a Proton launch. ILS says it plans to make 12 com mercial launches next year using Atlas and Russian Proton boosters, including the maiden flight of the Atlas V in May or June. Up to 14 launches by Proton boosters are planned from Baikonur next year, including up to seven by ILS, says Russia. Euro-Russian launch company Eurockot, meanwhile, has won a contract from Japan to launch into a 1,000kg (2,2001b) sun-synchro nous orbit the Space Environment Reliability Verification Integration System (SERVIS) satellite aboard a Russian Rockot-based booster from Plesetsk in 2003. Eurockot's order- book now numbers 11 satellites, comprising six E-Sats, two Graces, two Iridiums and SERVIS 1. Meanwhile, the Russian Dnepr booster - a modified RS-20 intercon tinental ballistic missile operated by Kosmotras - is performing less well after the collapse of the low Earth orbit satellite market. The third commercial mission by the Russian Dnepr booster, carrying Italian and US satellites from Baikonur, has been delayed from late this year to 2002 after a German satellite's place on the launch was cancelled. The Dnepr was being aimed commercially at cluster launches of up to eight small satellites, but Kosmotras now expects just two commercial launches a year rather than the 20 previously predicted. 46 13-19 NOVEMBER 2001 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
