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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0074.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT EXPLORATION TIM FURNISS / LONDON Next Discovery is pegged for 2006 Programme will include new Dawn asteroid exploration craft and further telescopic planet-location efforts NASA has selected two new mis sions costing $299 million each: an asteroid explorer called Dawn and the planet-hunting Kepler tele scope, for its Discovery programme to be launched in 2006. Dawn will conduct a nine-year journey to the solar system's two largest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta, in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. Vesta is thought to be a dry body of basaltic lava flows, while Ceres - the largest asteroid and the first to be discovered - is believed to have a primitive surface, water bearing minerals, frost and a weak atmosphere. Dawn will orbit each asteroid, coming to within 100km (60 miles) of each. Spacecraft for thejet Propulsion Laboratory- QPL) led mission will be developed by Orbital Sciences. The Kepler telescope will search for planets by looking for periodic Dawn will explore the asteroids Vesta and Ceres dimming of stellar discs, which indicates the transit of a planet across the disc. The signature of any dimming will indicate a planet's size and orbit. The telescope, which will be built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies, will be directed con tinuously at a region of space con taining 100,000 stars. Telescopic observations have so far detected around 80 Jupiter-sized planets outside our solar system. Previous Discovery programmes include the NEAR Shoemaker mis sion to the asteroid Eros, the Mars Pathfinder and the Lunar Pros pector. Current Discovery craft are Genesis and Stardust - interplane tary material collectors, which will be followed by the comet-explorer Contour this year and Mercury- orbiter Messenger in 2004. Meanwhile, NASA is developing prototypes of small All-Terrain Explorer Mars rovers which can drive up steep hills and descend almost vertical cliffs, as part of plans to examine the potential water outflows near cliff edges seen in images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. The JPL has so far demonstrated a vehicle that can traverse slopes of up to 50°. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION NASA takes more ISS criticism The NASA Advisory Council has backed the recent Young Committee report on the International Space Station (ISS) budget overruns, saying they "cannot be excused and must not be ignored". The project's potential is being undermined by a loss of confidence in the agency's management abilities, the council adds. It says NASA must not exceed its ISS budget for at least two years during which the station will continue to be crewed by three people. However, it recommends larger crews, and a modest budget to re-start the cancelled Habitation Module programme and continued support for eventual operation of a Crew Return Vehicle. Russia's Rosaviakosmos says that the ISS inter-governmental agreements are "deteriorating seriously" and should be re-thought, adding it could launch a European space station as an alternative. Meanwhile, NASA is planning 15 EVAs from the Space Shuttle and seven from the ISS this year compared with a total of 18 in 2001. Five will be made by the crew of the first Space Shuttle to be launched this year, on the fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission late next month. The crew plan to reactivate an infrared instrument, install an advanced camera, new solar arrays, a power controller and reaction control system gyro. STS 110/Af/anfVs, which will carry three truss segments to the ISS, has been delayed until 4 April after problems with pods on the Orbital Manoeuvring System. STS 11M Endeavour in May will deliver expedition crew five, return crew four and add further components to the Canadian Space Station Remote Manipulator System. Columbia will follow in July on a sci ence mission. The first starboard side truss segment will be attached to the ISS during the STS 112 Atlantis mission in late August, followed by the delivery of expedition crew six and the return of the fifth crew in late September on Endeavour, which will also add a port side truss segments. PROPULSION Atlas V Delta IV and US-Russian powerplants complete final tests Boeing's Rocketdyne and Lockheed Martin have completed testing of the engines for the new Delta IV and Atlas V launchers. Rocketdyne has finished testing and received certification for the 650,0001b-thrust (2,890kN) RS-68 engine, which will boost the Delta IV fleet of launchers, with a first flight set for May. The engine has been test-fired 183 times for a total of 18,645s. Boeing has also com pleted five hot fire tests of the engine integrated with the Delta IV Common Core Booster. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has conducted the final test firing of the US-Russian RD AMROSS- Pratt & Whitney-NPO Energomash RD-180 engine with a 350s burn at 47% and 100% power levels. The engine is now qualified for the Atlas V. The programme has involved 135 tests lasting 25,450s. No Date Spacecraft Type Launcher 51 26 Nov Progress M1 Tanker Soyuz U 52 27 Nov DirecTV 4S Comsat Ariane 44L 53 1 Dec Cosmos 2380-82 Glonass Proton K 54 4 Dec Endeavour" SS STS 108 55 7 Dec Timed Atmos Delta II Jason Ocean 56 10 Dec Meteor Metsat Zenit2t 57 21 Dec Cosmos 2383 Eorsat Tsyklon 2 58 28 Dec Strela/Gonets Comsats Tsyklon 3 deployed Starshine satellite 1" also carried Badra-B. Kompas and Reflektor minisatellites Country Russia Europe Russia USA USA Russia Russia Russia Launch Baikonur Kourou Baikonur KSC Vandenberg Baikonur Baikonur Plesetsk 20 8-14 JANUARY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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