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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0571.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT CONTRACT TIM FURNISS / LONDON ESA seals $1.1bn transfer vehicle deal But USA refuses Russian request to double length of ISS shifts from six to 12 months, citing reduced operational state EXPLORATION ROB COPPINGER / LONDON ESA plans to visit Venus with radar and probes Designs for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus mission radar and atmospheric probes will be reviewed in the next two weeks by the agency and UK technology firm Qinetiq, which is leading the project's feasibility study. The review could lead to atmospheric hardware tests in 18 months time. If successful, the radar and its probes would be sent to Venus during the next decade. The mis sion, yet to be named and undergoing a €500,000 feasibility study, would collect Venusian atmospheric data. The 1.5kg (3.3lb) radar would be carried by a balloon in the upper atmosphere and would track the golfball-sized, tear- shaped titanium probes, which would free fall and be destroyed by 150°C (302°F) temperatures and 3bar (43lb/in2) pressures at around 98,000ft (30,000m) altitude. Nigel Wells is project leader at the UK developer technol ogy firm Qinetiq. He says that the probes will have to cope "with temperatures ranging from -100°C at the edge of space to plus 150°C in the atmosphere. There they will encounter 10Om/s [328ft/min] crosswinds. We expect them to travel for 120km [74.5 miles] during the 30min drop down from 80km to 40km." The probes will have micro electromechanical machine technology sensors, photo-sensitive cells for checking cloud opacity and an antenna which is part of the tracking system. The radar sends the signals and they are received by the antenna, the electronics for which then amplify the signal and re-transmit it. This return signal can tell the radar where the probe is to within 30ft. HEALTH US astronauts to get gravity 'shot' '»••• V Six more ai • • -mPtr ransfer vehicles are planned during the ISS's lifetime insufficient countermeasures are in place to offset the effects of longer flights. Russia continues to press for extended flights to begin in October. "Our position is rigid - the next crew must make a long flight," says Yuri Semenov, director of Soyuz manufacturer Energia. "We are ready for long flights. Our equipment is ready. Our partners must listen to their Russian colleagues." R/LONDO ii cy' wil U sasibilit i decade - a i , golfball-sized •e ire (30,000m ut t ' A new $1.1 billion contract for the first automated transfer vehicle (ATV) has been negotiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) with prime contractor EADS Space Transportation. The fixed-price contract was renegotiated after technical problems delayed the first flight of the cargo spacecraft from this year to mid-2005. The first ATV, named Jules Verne, has been integrated and is currently undergoing electrical tests in Bremen. It will be launched by Ariane 5 ECA to rendezvous automatically with the Inter national Space Station, carrying 7.5t of payload. Weighing almost 211 at launch, the resupply vehicle will carry dry cargo, water and air, and propel- lant, allowing the ATV to reboost the ISS's orbit. After six • Lockheed Martin is to build the JCSAT 10 communications satellite for Japan's JSAT, to be launched in 2006. Based on the company's A2100 spacecraft bus, JCSAT 10 will carry Ku- and C-band transponders and will be located at 28°E in geosynchronous orbit. • Space Systems/Loral has handed over the MBSAT communica tions satellite to Japan's Mobile Broadcasting and South Korea's SK Telecom after com pleting in-orbit testing. The 1300-series satellite, launched on 13 March, has electric thrusters for station-keeping, a 12m unfurlable reflector for the S-band antenna, triple-junction gallium arsenide solar arrays for improved efficiency, and laser-gyro stabilisation. • NASA's delayed Gravity Probe B satellite was launched from Vandenberg, California by Boeing Delta II on 20 April. The next Delta II mission will be the launch of the US Air Force's GPS IIR-12 navigation satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida in June. months the craft, with 6.5t of waste, will detach from the station and burn up on re-entry. Six more ATVs are planned to be launched during the lifetime of the ISS. Meanwhile, as the Soyuz TMA4 docked with the ISS on 27 April, bringing a new two-man expedi tion crew for a six-month stay, NASA turned down Russia's request to double the length of shifts to 12 months. The US space agency says "the time is not right" to extend the length of the 10th crew mis sion, scheduled for launch in October, although it is possible that the 11th crew, scheduled for launch in April 2005, could remain on the ISS for a year provided the Space Shuttle has returned to flight. NASA blames the station's reduced operational state and says Work has begun on building an artificial gravity device for long- duration NASA space missions, such as a trip to Mars. The artificial gravity system is a 4m (13ft)-wide upright propeller like machine that would have two people on either side of it. It would spin individuals weighing up to 90kg (1981b) to a maximum speed of 40RPM, creating around 2.5g at the feet. On a long-duration space mis sion, astronauts would use the device to limit bone loss and mus cle wastage. The work is being undertaken at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. One of the UK scientists working with them is Dr Kevin Fong, a co- director of University College London's Centre for Avia tion Space and Extreme Environ ment Medicine (CASE). He says: "The [US space] agency is actively considering it as a potential solution to many of the problems associated with long-duration space flight. The astronauts would use it like a drug, taking it briefly on a regular basis." With centrifuge-generated grav ity, the force experienced reduces dramatically over a short distance. With Fong's team's device, the head feels no pull while the feet feel over two gravities. 36 4-10 MAY 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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