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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0248.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT CONTRACTS RADHAKRISHNA RAO / BANGALORE India to fly microsatellite for Singapore university Delhi's commercial space ambitions lifted as Nanyang becomes fifth overseas client Antrix, the commercial arm of India's space programme, has been selected by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to launch its 100kg (2201b)-class X-sat satellite aboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The deal is a shot in the arm for Antrix, which is promoting the four-stage PSLV as a cost-effective booster for placing small satellites into low- and mid-Earth orbits. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says Antrix's agreement with Singapore calls for the microsatellite to be launched by 2006. The satellite will carry an Earth observation payload for land and coastal monitoring using multi- spectral imaging. Antrix will also provide support and equipment for pre-launch testing of the satellite. The Singapore satellite will be the fifth foreign spacecraft to be launched by the PSLV, which is also being considered for the launch of the European Pleiades remote- sensing satellite. The PSLV, which has logged six successful missions, was originally developed to place into polar orbit It-class Indian-built IRS series Earth observation spacecraft. In May 1999 the 44m (144ft)-tall PSLV, using alternate liquid and solid fuel stages, launched three satellites simultane ously: India's 1,050kg IRS-P4 ocean watch satellite; South Korea's 105kg Kitsat; and Germany's Tubsat space craft weighing 45kg. In October 2001 the booster placed Belgian, German and Indian satellites into their specified orbits. On its first mission to geostation ary transfer orbit in September 2002, the PSLV successfully deliv ered the 1,060kg Indian-built weather satellite Metsat. India's lunar programme, which has yet to receive a formal go- ahead from New Delhi, will use a modified PSLV upper stage as a trans-lunar stage, carrying 2.2t of propellant and capable of sending a 530kg spacecraft on a fly-by of the moon or placing a 350kg payload into lunar orbit. Meanwhile, the second flight of India's three-stage Geosyn chronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the east coast is due to take place in March, says ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan. It will carry the 1,800kg G-Sat-2 experi mental communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. Once the GSLV is declared opera tional it will be used to launch India's multipurpose domestic Insat- series satellites, currently launched by Europe's Arianespace. For heavier communications satellites, ISRO is planning to develop an augmented, Mk3 ver sion of the GSLV capable of launch ing a 4t satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. TEAM FAILS A consortium formed by China Aerospace, Hong Kong Satellite Technology Group and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to market satellites in Asia has collapsed because of a lack of funding. The first two HK-SAT series satellites were to have been built by IAI, based on the national Amos satellite, and launched on Chinese Long March boosters. GLONASS BOOST The Russian Glonass navigation satellite system will become operational again in late 2003 after two launches each of three Uragan satellites, bringing to 18 the number in orbit in six orbital planes. This is still not sufficient to provide global services, which would require 24 craft, but will be used by the Russian military. LAUNCH DELAY The planned launch of the Americom AMS-9 communica tions satellite aboard a Proton booster operated by International Launch Services from Baikonur this month has been delayed until mid-March so the the customer can be assured that the booster is safe to fly fol lowing a Proton K failure in November 2002. CONTRACTS TIM FURNISS / LONDON OSC wins launch deals Minotaur will fly three new launches Orbital Sciences (OSC) has won con tracts worth $60 million from NASA and the US Department of Defense (DoD) to launch one Pegasus and three Minotaur boosters. A Pegasus XL booster will launch the Spectroscopy and Photometry of the Intergalactic Medium's Diffuse Radiation satellite in 2005. The Minotaur, a converted Minuteman 2 missile, will fly three new launches under the US Air Force's orbital/suborbital OSP 1 programme, starting with the 2004 launch of the DoD's Near-Field Infrared Experiment. The four-stage Minotaur is based on converted Minuteman 2 first and second stages, plus third and fourth stages from the Pegasus XL, with a common fairing. Under the OSP programme, the US Air Force contracted for six Minotaur missions a year, begin ning in 1999, with options to cover 24 launches to 2004. The original contract was worth $204 million. Meanwhile, an OSC Pegasus XL booster released from the com pany's Lockheed L1011 TriStar car rier aircraft successfully launched NASA's $122 million, 315kg (6951b) Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment satellite into a 640km (400 miles) orbit on 25 January, beginning a five-year mission. Orbital Imaging (Orbimage) plans to launch its Orb View 3 high- resolution imaging satellite aboard a Pegasus booster in April after credi tors, including OSC, agreed to allow it to emerge from bankruptcy pro tection for which it filed in April 2002. The company lost an Orbview satellite in an OSC Taurus booster failure in September 2001. ACQUISITIONS Liberty bids to rescue Astrolink Liberty Satellite and Technology is to buy out the planned Astrolink satellite system from its partners for $46 million and provide additional investment in the corporate and government Ka-band, high-speed network system. Astrolink's original partners were Lockheed Martin and TRW (now Northrop Grumman) - which will build two satellites- and Telespazio of Italy. The origi nal $3.6 billion system as envisaged in 1999 was to have consisted of nine satellites, but was scaled back and eventually suspended in late 2001, due to the downturn in the communica tions satellite market. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4-10 FEBRUARY 2003 33
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