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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2354.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT SHUTTLE RETURN TIM FURNISS / LONDON NASA to add second safety flight STS 121 Discovery will be launched after STS 114 Atlantis and will complete its workload as well as delivering ISS cargo NASA's Space Shuttle return-to- flight mission, STS 114 Atlantis, will be followed by a new flight, STS 121 Discovery, to complete tasks origi nally planned for STS 114 and to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. STS 121 will include spacewalks to continue ISS assembly. The STS 114 mission to the ISS will test an extended remote manip ulator system and sensors to look for damage to the orbiter's thermal protection system. Spacewalks will be made to test tile and leading-edge repair techniques and to attach a new gyro to the ISS. There will also be supply and equipment transfers. Aware that Shuttle launches to the ISS carrying cargo will not res ume until mid-2005, and will be less frequent than previously possi ble, NASA is to augment Russian Progress resupply vessel flights with increased use of the European Space Agency's unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle. Less emphasis will be placed on Shuttle cargo flights, many of which have carried logis tics modules on crewed missions to complete ISS assembly. The next ISS expedition crew was to be launched aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft from Baik onur on 18 October for a 200-day shift in space. The Russian space agency's Alexander Kaleri, TMA-3 commander and ISS flight engineer/ science officer, and NASA's Michael Foale, ISS commander, will replace Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu, who were launched in April. Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque, flight engi neer on the TMA-3 mission, will return to Earth with Malenchenko and Lu after a 10-day mission. IN BRI CSA INVESTMENT The Canadian Space Agency will contribute $8.3 million to the development of Europe's Galileo navigation satellite system, with a view to becoming a major part ner. Earlier, China signed an initial memorandum of understanding to become involved in the project. ALCATEL DELIVERY Alcatel Space has delivered the communications payload for the Express AM22 satellite to Russ ian company NPO-PM. AM22 will be launched by a Proton booster in 2004. Alcatel has previously supplied payloads for five Exp ress series satellites and is prod ucing payloads for three more. SOYUZ BOOSTER Construction of a pad for the Russian Soyuz booster at Eur ope's Kourou, French Guyana, launch site will begin in early 2004, with launches to start in December 2006. European Space Agency funds for con struction of the pad will be repaid by Russia from commercial oper ations of the Soyuz. VINISAT SHORTLIST Lockheed Martin, an Astrium/ Alcatel team and NEC/Toshiba/ Sumitomo, teamed with Orbital Sciences, have been shortlisted to build Vietnam's 28-transpon- der, $200 million Vinisat commu nications satellite, to be launched in 2006. CONTEST Orbital Sciences realigns as it vies for piece of OSP development pie Orbital Sciences has joined the Lockheed Martin-led team compet ing to develop NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP). Orbital's exist ing partner, Northrop Grumman, joined Lockheed Martin's team last month. The three companies are now set to compete against Boeing, NASA's incumbent human space flight prime contractor. Orbital had planned to join both teams, but says "plans change". Lockheed Martin hopes to take adv antage of the company's work on NASA's demonstration for advanced rendezvous technology (DART). "OSP will be flown autonomously, and the USA does not have an auto nomous rendezvous and proximity operations capability," says Michael Coats, Lockheed Martin vice-presi dent reusable space transportation systems. The DART spacecraft will be launched next year by the com pany's Pegasus booster. Orbital's responsibilities on the Lockheed Martin OSP team will Orbital's DART will pave way for autonomous Orbital Space Plane include rendezvous, docking and integration with the International Space Station (ISS). NASA recently accelerated the programme by two years to provide an ISS crew rescue capability by 2008 and a two-way crew transfer capability by 2012 or earlier. Coats says Northrop Grum man will provide the team with vehicle management systems capa bility developed for its unmanned air vehicles, and multicrew experi ence from its B-2 bomber. NASA has completed the system requirements review for the OSP, and hopes to issue a draft request for proposals for full-scale development at the end of this month, followed by the final RFP in late November. IMAGING ImageSat International fails to break civil market ImageSat International - operator of Israel's Eros imaging satellite - will focus on the national security mar ket after failing to increase business in the civil market. ImageSat has moved its central archiving system from Cyprus to its ground control station in Israel. The failure to break into the civil market led to a decision to end an agreement with Core Software, ImageSat's North American distribu tor. The company is looking for opportunities to re-enter the North American market. The Eros high-resolution satellite programme was developed to serve the civil and defence markets. 28 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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