All Space articles – Page 173
-
News
NASA consents to Contour after Eros lift
NASA has approved the start of development of the Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) spacecraft, which will be launched in 2002 to fly past up to three comets between 2003 and 2008. Contour, which is managed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland, which also built the ...
-
News
X-33 engine passes test milestones
The X-33 Technology Demonstrator's linear aerospike engine has been test fired for 125s at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It was the longest test to date at 100% power for the Boeing Rocketdyne engine, exceeding a previous run by 30s. The test also featured the first demonstration of ...
-
News
Globalstar is ready to go
A Boeing Delta II booster placed four more Globalstar satellites into orbit on 8 February after lift-off from Cape Canaveral. One will become the 48th and final craft in the operating constellation for the Space Systems/ Loral-led worldwide global mobile communications system. The other three will be in-orbit spares. ...
-
News
NASA studies use of UAVs for research into earth sciences
NASA plans to award at least two multiyear contracts to demonstrate whether unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) can support earth science research. The space agency says the technology has progressed to the point that UAVs could "become a robust component of the suborbital programme in earth science". The UAV-based ...
-
News
Internet drives satellite growth
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Demand for Internet services is becoming a driving force behind the creation and expansion of satellite communications networks. While new entrants iSKY and NetSat28 have announced plans to launch broadband satellites dedicated to providing high-speed Internet access, established operators - including Eutelsat and Loral - are ...
-
News
Mars exploration discussed
Representatives from four international space agencies met at the British National Space Centre in London this month to discuss their plans for Mars exploration. NASA intends to launch a Mars orbiter and lander next January, but these plans may change as a result of last year's investigations into the ...
-
News
Japan suffers another launch failure
Japan's space programme has suffered another severe blow with the failure of an M-5 rocket launch and the loss of the Astro-E astronomical observation satellite on 10 January. The failure is being attributed to a first-stage nozzle malfunction, and comes three months after the ¥34.3 billion ($320 million) in-flight ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin enters the airline training marketplace
Lockheed Martin has surprised the airline training industry by announcing the creation of a commercial flight simulator centre. The Orlando, Florida-based facility will open in the second quarter of this year. The company says the move reflects its need to diversify while remaining close to its core business. A ...
-
News
AEW on the attack
After solving a sensitive technology transfer issue to clinch Australia's Wedgetail programme, Boeing/Northrop Grumman has Asia in sight Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC On Northrop Grumman's map of prospective customers for airborne warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, only one country is marked as conquered - Australia. Next to fall, the company ...
-
News
NASA test flies X-38 parafoil for CRVs
The world's largest parafoil parachute was test-flown last month as part of NASA's X-38 lifting body prototype project, . The project could lead to the development of four operational crew return vehicles (CRVs) for the International Space Station. They are designed to return crews in an emergency. The ...
-
News
SeaStar pictures US winter storm
The extent of the intense winter storm that struck much of the eastern USA recently can be seen in this image, which was captured by NASA's sea viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWifs) on board the Orbital Sciences SeaStar satellite. The SeaWifs was built by Hughes. Source: Flight International
-
News
NEAR near
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous NEAR spacecraft is approaching the asteroid Eros for the second time. The first rendezvous attempt was thwarted by a spacecraft fault in December 1998. It is hoped that the NEAR will be in orbit around Eros on 14 February. The craft is sending back images ...
-
News
Minotaur is multiple success
The US Air Force Orbital Suborbital programme was inaugurated on 27 January when the Minotaur booster was launched for the first time, from Vandenberg AFB's commercial launch pad, operated by Spaceport International. The Minotaur carried the Jawsat multipayload adaptor holding the USAF Falconsat; the Arizona University Asusat; the Stanford University ...
-
News
Inflatable heatshield tests set for Fregat
Tim Furniss/LONDON A Soyuz booster is scheduled to test the new Fregat upper stage for Franco-Russian venture Starsem. The test will be carried out after its launch on 9 February. The mission will also test new inflatable re-entry technology heatshields developed by Lavochkin and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. The Fregat will ...
-
News
SpaceDev/Boeing link for exploration
SpaceDev and Boeing have agreed a teaming arrangement to investigate opportunities of "mutual strategic interest" in commercial deep-space exploration and exploitation. They will use as the basis for the study a variety of small low-cost missions formulated by SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration company. The two firms ...
-
News
Mir makes Progress with docking success
A Soyuz booster was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 1 February, carrying a Progress M tanker that docked with the Mir space station on 3 February. The tanker will raise the Mir's orbit to 400km. The Russian Government has approved a proposed 750 million rouble ($26.2 million) programme to ...
-
News
New delay for Endeavour flight
Tim Furniss/LONDON New attempts to launch Space Shuttle Endeavour STS99 on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have been further delayed to at least 11 February because of launch-related commitments at adjoining Cape Canaveral. A possible STS99 launch on 9 February has been ...
-
News
Hope X engine tests completed as Japan freezes funding
US company Aerojet has completed verification testing of the Orbital Manoeuvring Engine (OME) intended to power the Japanese HOPE-X orbiter. Aerojet has been developing the OME under contract from Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI), the vehicle's propulsion system contractor. The testing was completed shortly after the Japanese National Space Development ...
-
News
Cassini tested
Many of the science instruments aboard the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn in 2004 have been calibrated and tested during a 1.5 million kilometres flyby of the asteroid Masrusky. Cassini was launched in October 1997 aboard a Titan 4B en route to Saturn via flybys of Venus and the ...
-
News
Cleaning up the act
The increasing risk to spacecraft from debris is causing concern in the space industry Tim Furniss/LONDON Space debris is a perennial problem. About 8,700 man-made objects larger than tennis balls - of which only about 700 are operational satellites - can be tracked in Earth orbit. Of these, ...