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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1200.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT ASTEROIDS Muses-C bids for sample flight first Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) launched an M-V booster from Kagoshima on 9 May, carrying the Muses-C spacecraft to aster oid 1998SF36,300 million km (186 million miles) from the Earth. The craft will reach the 0.5km- long body in 2005, in a first attempt to return samples from such an object. Muses-C will fire a projectile into the asteroid to capture 1g (0.04oz) of fragments to be returned to Earth in 2007. Launch of the $160 million mission was the fourth by the three-stage solid-propellant M-V, following the failure of the third flight in 2000. Four more launches are planned up to the end of 2005. The Muses-C launch was the last by ISAS, which is to be merged with the Japanese National Space Development Agency in October SHUTTLE TIM FURNISS / LONDON Safety fears prompt calls for unmanned missions NASA says crews will be reduced or eliminated in response to Congress criticism NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe admits the Space Shuttle is likely to carry smaller crews when it returns to flight, and could even be oper ated from the ground on un manned cargo flights to the Inter national Space Station (ISS). His comments followed criticism from members of Congress and the US Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). House of Representatives space and aeronautics sub-committee member Joe Barton says the Shuttle should be scrapped as too danger ous, or modified to serve as an unmanned cargo vehicle to deliver components and supplies to the ISS. Crew rotation flights could be made by Russian Soyuz craft, he says. House majority leader Tom De- Lay, meanwhile, says NASA's plan ned Orbital Space Plane (OSP), intended eventually to take over the crew transfer mission from the Shuttle, should be reconsidered, and funds put into a longer-term plan for human exploration of Mars. The SFF's Rick Tumlinson sa"ys NASA, rather than "waste billions to pay government contractors to design a spaceplane" specifically for its own use, should transform itself "into a customer for private spaceplanes, instead a competitor". But O'Keefe says the agency "will pursue activities unique to our mis sion - if NASA does not do them, they will not get done. If others are doing them, we should question why NASA is involved." Tumlinson adds: "We don't need one OSP, we need many space- planes. NASA can get all the trans portation it needs, save billions in taxpayer funds and kick-start a huge new industry, including space tourism." Shuttle assembly flights are still required to complete the ISS, however. Although the Russian Proton and Boeing Delta IV Heavy could carry some hardware, some equipment still needs Shuttle trans portation and support during assembly EVAs. • NASA has appointed William Parsons as manager of the Space Shuttle programme following the resignation of Ron Dittemore, who felt his position was untenable after the Columbia accident. Par sons is currently director of NASA's Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi. RE-ENTRY Computer failure made Soyuz veer off course Russian space agency Rosaviokosmos says analysis of the Soyuz TMA-1 flight recorders indicates that a mal function in the spacecraft's computerised control system, not human error, caused the spacecraft to switch from a normal re-entry to a steeper ballistic path during the off- course landing on 4 May. The three-man crew, return ing from the International Space Station, were subjected to higher-than-expected g forces. In addition, a commu nications antenna malfunctioned before landing. The failure of a NASA back-up system after the craft landed - 460km (290 miles) off course - resulted in contact with the crew being lost for about 1 h. SATELLITES RADHAKRISHNA RAO / BANGALORE India's GSAT-2 achieves GEO goal India launched its second geosta tionary satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) on 8 May from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Shrihar- ikota. The three-stage booster car ried the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) 1.85t GSAT-2 mobile-communications technol ogy satellite into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). GSAT-2 became the first Indian- launched satellite to reach geosta tionary earth orbit (GEO) on 11 May. The first GSLV fell short in April 2001, placing GSAT-1 into a lower-than-intended orbit. The satellite, which will be located at 48°E in GEO, carries four C-band and two Ku-band transponders, a mobile satellite service payload and four scientific experiments. The GSLV used a Russian-made cryogenic upper stage - but, according to ISRO, the next devel opment flight, in late 2004 or early 2005, will use an Indian-developed liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper stage. This will be able to GSAT-2 reached GEO on 11 May boost a 2.25t satellite into GTO. ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan says the indigenously developed engine has completed a series of performance tests. Testing of the complete upper stage will begin within the next few months, he says. Although 1.8 billion rupees ($38 million) has been earmarked for development of a GSLV Mklll growth version able to carry a 4t payload by 2007, ISRO says the basic GSLV could be used to launch 2t-class satellites built as an interim step to meet India's growing dem and for transponder capacity. Such satellites could carry up to 24 low-power or 12 high-power transponders, with the potential for five or six commercial launches a year, and could be used to boost capacity once India is capable of launching heavier spacecraft. India plans to declare the GSLV operational after its third flight. "This particular kind of launcher can be very competitive when you talk about launching a 2t-class satellite," says Dr Kasturirangan. "But then there have to be cus tomers for 2t-class satellites. There are a few and we are in discussions with them." 34 20-26 MAY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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