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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3391.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT FINANCE TIM FURNISS / LONDON ESA and NASA push ISS science US agency adjusts budget plan to boost research potential, while European agency revamps marketing NASA is adjusting its 2003 budget to implement a new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) in a bid to ensure the International Space Station (ISS) is properly financed and to boost its scientific research potential. The change comes as the Euro pean Space Agency (ESA) hires a commercial branding agency to market the on-board capabilities of the ISS to increase interest in scien tific activities at the station. The change of focus follows a lack of interest from the scientific community in using the station as a laboratory as the reduced ISS crew limits the research time available. The new ISTP comprises three major programmes - Space Shuttle, Orbital Space Plane and Next Generation Launch Technology. NASA will continue to fly the Space Shuttle with required upgrades for the foreseeable future. Work on a proposed second-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) has been put on the backburner, with activities limited to research, in a major change to the agency's ear lier Space Launch Initiative (SLI). NASA will push ahead with the development of a complementary seven-crew orbital spaceplane launched on an expendable booster to act as an ISS taxi within 10 years. This will have the poten tial to act as the permanent crew rescue vehicle (CRV). In the meantime, NASA will need to order two Russian Soyuz TMA Interim CRVs to be constantly attached to the ISS if the station is to have a six-person crew, rather than the present three. The Shuttle's flight rate may also be increased to speed up completion of the ISS. These changes will be reflected in NASA's five-year budget plan in its 2003 budget request, soon to be sent to US Congress. Meanwhile, ESA has appointed Brussels-based Ogilvy Brand Rela tions to develop a branding and communications strategy for the ISS to boost commercial demand to use the services of its sophisticated laboratories. ESA hopes to develop a commercial package acceptable to industry, because until direct links between space experiments and industry are proven, the ISS will continue to be seen as a unique but expensive place for research. Meanwhile, the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS 113 mission to the ISS on 11 November was delayed until 18 November at the earliest after an oxygen leak was discovered in the orbiter's payload bay during count down on Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The leak was thought to come from beneath the midbody of the payload bay in one of two systems that feed oxygen into the crew cabin and into crew pressure suits. The scientific community has shown little interest in the ISS's laboratories LAUNCH VEHICLES First Ariane 5 ECA booster ready to launch with cryogenic Vulcain 2 IN BRI Arianespace is preparing to launch its first Ariane 5 ECA booster fea turing Snecma's first-stage Vulcain 2 cryogenic engine, which allows the vehicle to carry 10,000kg (22,0001b) into geostationary transfer orbit. Preparations for the launch, scheduled for 28 Novem ber, come after the European launcher company and Internat ional Launch Services (ILS) won new business for the Ariane 5 and Atlas V boosters, respectively. The first Ariane 5 ECA, flight 517, will carry the experimental Stentor telecommunications tech nology satellite and Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7 satellite from Kourou, French Guiana. The Alcatel Space and Astrium-built Stentor, oper ated by France's CNES, will use plasma propulsion for the first time in a Western commercial satellite. Snecma says it has focused on reducing costs with Vulcain 2. "Vulcain 1 cost €1.6 billion [$1.6 billion] to develop and qualify and Vulcain 2 has cost €500 million," says Guy Corteel, director of liquid propulsion at Snecma Moteurs. He attributes this partly to simplifying the design. In the gas generator, for example, design changes mean 72 small fuel injec tors have been replaced by six big ger ones; a new forging system means two pieces in the head can now be forged as one; and other changes have been made to the body. The ECA booster also has a modified Ariane 4 HM-7B cryo genic upper stage. Arianespace has won the con tract to launch Indonesia's Telkom 2 satellite aboard an Ariane 5 booster in 2004. Telkom 2 is being built by Orbital Sciences, and is based on the company's Star 2 spacecraft platform. ILS confirms the award of the contract to launch the Greek-Cyp- riot Hellas-Sat communications satellite aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas V booster in the first quarter of 2003. It is based on an Astrium- built Eurostar 2000-plus craft. The Atlas V's maiden flight was in August on the first launch of a US Air Force-funded Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, on a commercial mission carrying Eutelsat's Hot Bird 6. The Atlas V has seven commitments to launch US military satellites and up to eight commercial satellites. KOREAN LAUNCH South Korea will launch its first liquid-propellant three-stage rocket on 27 November in prepa ration for its first satellite launch in 2005. The 14m (46ft)-long, 27,530lb-thrust (120kN) KSR III rocket will reach 137,700ft. The KSR III is being developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute with a $64 million budget. The institute plans to develop a launch vehicle to place a 100kg (220lb) load into orbit in 2005. VENUS REVIVED The European Space Agency (ESA) has revived the Venus Express mission to orbit the planet and make radar sound ings of its subsurface. It will be launched in 2005 after an extra infusion of C'8.5 million ($8.56 million) and will use the same design as the Mars Express orbiter to be launched in 2003. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19-25 NOVEMBER 2002 31
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