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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2591.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT BOOSTERS TIM FURNISS / LONDON Countries agree to Soyuz launches from Kourou France to pay half of new pad construction cost, although Baikonur will stay in use The Russian, French and European space agencies were due to sign an agreement as Flight International closed for press last week allowing the use of Kourou in French Guiana for launching Russian Soy uz boosters. While France has agreed to pay half the cost of building the launch pad - construction of which has begun - European Space Agency (ESA) member countries have yet to decide their contributions. It is also unclear whether Russia will pay for any of the construction work, although deputy prime minister Boris Alyoshin says Kourou laun ches could earn Russian companies $1.16 billion over five to six years. Soyuz boosters are flown from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and Ples- etsk in Russia, and commercial launches from Baikonur are mar keted by French/Russian company Starsem, in which Arianespace is a shareholder. Rosaviakosmos gen eral director Yuri Koptev says Russia has no plans to withdraw from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which it leases from Kazakhstan, after the ministry of defence indi cated it would consider moving all military launches to Plesetsk. "We could not accomplish either federal or international space pro grammes without Baikonur, even if purpose-designed launch vehicles for Plesetsk and its launch pads are ready on time," says Koptev, refer ring to the Angara booster under development by Khrunichev. With drawal will not happen before 2015, he says, until which time Russia is obligated to continue launches to the International Space Station (ISS). "Placing of commercial satellites into geostationary orbit will con tinue from Baikonur until the Angara proves up to specification." Meanwhile, a decision by the Russian government on an extra Rb2.8 billion ($93.5 million) for Rosaviakosmos for extra Soyuz and Progress flights to the ISS is expected "within weeks", says Koptev. "The prime minister has sent a strong message to the ministry of finance, demanding they provide us with extra cash this year." Even if the US Space Shuttle returns to flight in October-November next year, two months will be needed for test flights. "For the whole of the next year the station will totally depend on Russian-built vehicles," he says. • The European-Russian Eurockot organisation launched a converted SS-19 Rokot booster from Plesetsk on 31 October carrying Japan's Space Environmental Reliability Verification Integrated System (Servis 1) satellite into a 1,000km (620 mile) circular sun-synchronous orbit. Servis is designed to demon strate the viability of using commer cial off-the-shelf electronics in spacecraft. Eurockot is to make two commercial launches in 2004. NAVIGATION China to have $232m stake in Galileo programme China has confirmed its $232 million investment in the $3.7 billion European Galileo global navigation satellite system, while India has expressed interest in taking a $345 million stake in the programme. Galileo is scheduled to be operational in 2008, with 30 satellites operating in medium Earth orbit - 27 operational and three spare - and two ground control centres. Operating the system will cost about $250 million a year. Russia, meanwhile, is discussing with the European Union the possible creation of a "unified" navigation satellite system comprising Galileo and the Russian Glonass sys tem, which at the moment comprises 13 satellites, but is underfunded. Launches of replacement Glonass satellites have been sporadic. SAFETY GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC Escape vehicle passes stability test Lockheed Martin has conducted high-speed windtunnel testing of its pad abort demonstration (PAD) vehicle, which is intended to test crew escape systems for NASA's planned Orbital Space Plane (OSP). Tests proved the vehicle is -J=« Landing/recovery PAD will test crew escape systems for NASA's OSP stable under the manoeuvring required to escape a catastrophic booster failure on the launch pad, the company says. The demonstrator is designed to accommodate alternative propul sion systems and adapt to different OSP configurations. For the first flight in mid-2005, the vehicle will consist of a repre sentative crew escape module mounted on a pusher propulsion module, with a flared structure attached to the propulsion module providing aerodynamic stability. Instrumented mannequins will mea sure loads on the crew. After a 6-9g powered phase lasting 5s, and simulating separation from the launch vehicle after a pad mishap, the PAD will coast from Mach 0.9 to M0.3 when the recovery system will deploy. Aerodynamic stability will ensure safe transition to a parachute recov ery without the need for complex attitude-control systems, says Lockheed Martin. Meanwhile, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe has tried to defuse crit icism of plans to accelerate the OSP, to provide an International Space Station crew rescue capability by 2008, by assuring Congress there will be "ample time" for lawmakers to review the programme. Although a draft request for pro posals has just been released, NASA does not plan to select a team to develop and build the OSP before August next year. IN ORBI • NASA has ordered four launches from Orbital Sciences, scheduled for 2006-8. Pegasus boosters will air-launch the Space Technology 8 and Small Explorer 10 satellites, while the ground- launched Taurus will carry the Glory and Orbiting Carbon Ob server spacecraft. NASA has ordered 25 Pegasus and Taurus launches, 11 of which remain to be conducted. • Launch of the DirecTV 7S satellite has been transferred from an Ariane 5 to a Sea Launch mission in early 2004 under the mission assur ance deal between Arianes pace. Boeing and Mitsubishi. • China launched a Long March 2D from Jiuquan on 3 November carrying an FSW satellite that will return science and observation payloads to Earth on 21 November. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 11-17 NOVEMBER 2003 27
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