All Space articles – Page 172
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Mars landings
NASA has cancelled the planned Mars landing mission set for launch in 2001. Instead, a replacement for the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was lost in September, will lift off. A replacement Mars Polar Lander (MPL) will be launched in 2002 instead, aiming for the same site as the MPL 1, ...
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NASA details ISS price list
Tim Furniss/LONDON Users of the US share of International Space Station resources will be charged a standard price of $20.8 million a year, according to a preliminary price structure released by NASA. The charge is quoted for use of each of two typical "bundles" of equipment, excluding transportation ...
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Power problem delays IMAGE
Concern about the condition of DC-to-DC power converters on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite has delayed the 15 March launch of the spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, California. Launch preparations for the $153 million Lockheed Martin-built satellite have been halted after an ...
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Second Fregat test precedes commercial debut
Starsem plans to launch the second Soyuz Fregat booster from Baikonur on 19 March to place two dummy satellites into a simulated orbit, using the Fregat upper stage. The mission will pave the way for two commercial launches in June and July, designed to place two pairs of Cluster ...
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Air-launched booster under study by USA
Boeing is studying the feasibility of developing an air-launched booster capable of launching military and commercial payloads on demand. The AirLaunch booster is being designed by Boeing and Thiokol Propulsion as a possible launch system for the USAir Force's planned Space Manoeuvre Vehicle (SMV), a reusable, unmanned spaceplane. ...
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Design flaw found in Polar Lander switch system
The Mars Polar Lander (MPL) Failure Review Board has identified a fatal design flaw that could be a possible cause of the loss of the spacecraft on 3 December. A simple switch system to turn off the $167 million lander's engine when contact was made with the ground may have ...
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RLV faces stiff competition
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA will launch "rigorous trade studies" in March to establish the requirements for its revamped second-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) programme. The space agency anticipates pursuing "more than two architecture options" when it begins the five-year $4.5 billion second-generation RLV programme in October - assuming Congress ...
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Photo first for largest commercial satellite
Hughes Space and Communications has released an image transmitted from its first HS-702 spacecraft, Galaxy XI, in geostationary orbit showing the deployment of the spacecraft's solar panels. When extended, the wingspan of the satellite - 34m (111ft) - is equivalent to the wingspan of a Boeing 737. The 30min sequence ...
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NASA shocked by commercial Mir plans
NASA is calling for the Mir space station to be de-orbited as planned this summer. The US space administration is concerned that plans for commercialising the Mir is diverting Russian attention and funds from the International Space Station (ISS) and contributing to delays of the latter. The space administration ...
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White House calls for range efficiency
Commercial users should have a greater say in running US space launch ranges, concludes a White House-led interagency review of the future management and use of these government-owned facilities. The review was launched last March in response to issues raised by the growth of US commercial launch activity and ...
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Ball plans to bid for radar spot on remote-sensing satellite
Guy Norris/BOULDER Ball Aerospace & Technologies is "gearing up" to propose a synthetic aperture radar to NASA for a free-flying remote sensing satellite. This follows the success of its antennas on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which was completed on 22 February. "We're starting to form a team ...
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NASA research for Spectrum Astro
Spectrum Astro has just been awarded a Phase II contract for its Optimal Orbit Transfer Analysis for Advanced Space Systems project under NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme. The contract provides for a two-year period of performance and funding for the development of prototype software capable of analysing ...
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NASA promises more Shuttle support
NASA will hire 1,850 more engineers in the next five years to concentrate on improvements to the Space Shuttle main engines, auxiliary power units and cockpit avionics. The move follows an independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel assessment which concluded that NASA's manned spaceflight team is too small and too ...
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Tarnished image
Three Japanese satellite launches in the last two years have failed: the country's space programme is in crisis Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Japan's space programme has been tarnished by a series of launch failures that culminated this month in the unsuccessful mission to deliver a government observation satellite into orbit aboard ...
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Ikonos satellite imagery knocks security for a loop
Tim Ripley Singapore would opt to purchase a ground station to allow greater access to digital imagery from the Ikonos satellite for "targeting purposes". The commercially-funded satellite was launched last September by Lockheed Martin and the Space Imaging consortium, which involves US giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Japan's ...
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MIR hopes
MirCorp, established last year to fund the continuation of operations of the Russian Mir space station, says it has paid Russian company Khrunichev about $30 million to keep the orbiting base in space until the summer. The company needs to raise $40 million more from investors. Meanwhile, Russian scientists propose ...
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Proton on course for Zvezda launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The prospects for a launch of the Russian Zvezda service module to the International Space Station (ISS) in July were raised on 12 February by the successful lift-off of a four-stage Proton DM booster from Baikonur. The rocket carried the Asia Cellular System (ACeS) Garuda 1 mobile ...
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Reusable Fregat proves concept with return flight
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW Tim Furniss/LONDON The Fregat upper stage was tested successfully for the first time on 9 February attached to a Soyuz booster. The Soyuz-Fregat placed into orbit and returned to Earth a dummy payload weighing about 110kg. The Fregat is a reusable module which has a unique ...
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China to send men into space
Tim Furniss China is ready to become the world's third nation to put a man into space. The second launch of a Long March 2F booster with the Chinese Shen Zhou spacecraft from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert is expected this year to test the craft before a ...