All Space articles – Page 179
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NASA panels to probe loss of Mars Orbiter
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has established three investigation panels to look into the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) on 23 September. NASA's $125 million craft was lost 5min after the firing of its orbital-insertion engine burn. The Orbiter was flying at up to 80-90km too low because the ...
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Lockheed Martin poised for VentureStar review
A critical design review of the proposed VentureStar reusable launch vehicle, based on the Lockheed Martin X-33 advanced technology demonstrator, will take place this month. Work on the X-33 has convinced Lockheed Martin that the VentureStar will use an external payload bay, says Jerry Rising, Lockheed Martin's X-33 and ...
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Telescope launch
Integral, the European Space Agency's (ESA) International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory will be launched on a Russian Proton booster in 2001. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly elliptical Earth orbit. Meanwhile, the ESA's X-Ray Multi Mirror telescope has arrived at Kourou in preparation for its launch aboard the ...
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Wiring snags delay ISS module
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Proton launch of the Russian Zvezda service module to the International Space Station (ISS), planned for 12 November, has been put back to between 26 December and 16 January, with more delays possible. Although Russian launch site testing of the module has been slower than intended, the ...
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Cape Canaveral gets backing for more sounding missions
Spaceport Florida Authority (SFA) is backing plans to allow Cape Canaveral to support major suborbital sounding rocket research missions with the addition of Terrier and Orion sounding rockets to its inventory. At present, SFA operates small Loki sounding rockets. The research missions can be flown for individual experiments, to ...
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X-34 completes tests
The Orbital Sciences (OSC) A-1 X-34 test vehicle completed its final captive test flight last month, under the belly of an OSC Lockheed TriStar, from the Dryden Research Centre in California. The A-1 vehicle will be upgraded and used next year for 120km/h tow tests on a runway, and ...
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Marching towards orbit
Thirty years after putting its first satellite into orbit, China will test fly the vehicle that will perform its maiden manned flight Tim Furniss/LONDON The People's Republic of China may celebrate its 50th anniversary this month with the launch of an unpiloted orbital test flight of a manned launcher, 30 ...
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Metric mix-up led to Mars Orbiter loss
Confusion over the use of imperial and metric units caused the loss of the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft in late September. The NASA spacecraft was lost just minutes after its orbital insertion engine was fired to place it in orbit around the planet. The failure on 23 ...
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Worldwide launch flurry puts nine satellites into orbit
Tim Furniss/LONDON Six launches over seven days have resulted in the orbiting of nine satellites: four Globalstars, the Echostar V, Telstar 7, Ikonos 2, LM-1 and the Resurs F1M. The burst of activity started with a Starsem Soyuz launch from Baikonur on 22 September, which placed four Loral-built ...
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Orbimage and Ikonos moves warm up remote sensing fight
Competition in the commercial remote sensing satellite market will increase sharply because of the launch of the Ikonos satellite and moves by rival Orbimage to boost its market access. Orbimage and Radarsat International of Canada have signed an agreement which appoints Orbimage principal distributor of Radarsat 1 images in ...
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Space station may be turned over to commercial operator
NASA will consider turning the International Space Station (ISS) over to a commercial operator within five to 10 years to fund other exploration priorities, according to the space agency's administrator, Daniel Goldin. The proposal takes Nasa beyond its previously suggested plan to allow commercial companies to take up to a ...
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Cash snags mar DoD satellite plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The ambitions of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to renew its communications satellite constellations could be scuppered by funding challenges facing all its programmes. The first issue facing the DoD is whether it can afford to replace the Milstar II satellite which was launched ...
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United Space accepts shuttle delay costs
The Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Space Alliance, which operates the Space Shuttle fleet for NASA, is to pay "several million dollars" in penalties for delays to the flight schedule caused by wiring defects in the orbiters (Flight International, 29 September-5 October). The cost of the repairs to the Endeavour ...
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Safety team to probe Shuttle maintenance
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has appointed an independent industry team to review the overall safety of the Space Shuttle and its maintenance and refurbishment practices. The team will be led by Dr Henry McDonald, director of NASA's Ames Research Center. The move follows the discovery of maintenance-related damage to ...
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NASA ready to detail transporter plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA will brief the US Administration by the end of September on its proposal to spend $1.2 billion over five years to prepare for a "low risk" competition to select a next-generation space transporter by 2005. The agency is to present its plans to the US Office ...
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Cupola inspected for ISS
Astronauts from the USA and Europe were scheduled to visit the Lindholmen company in Gösteborg, Sweden, on 27 September to inspect the six-windowed cupola destined to give crewmembers a 360° view from the International Space Station (ISS). The 2m (6ft)-diameter domed, hexagonal-shaped cupola will allow crewmembers to control robotic arms ...
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Delta configuration
Boeing is developing a new Delta II configuration to launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility in late 2001. The modified two-stage Delta II will be equipped with nine larger-diameter solid rocket motors, from the Delta III, to increase payload capability to geosynchronous transfer orbit by 10%, to 4,550lb (2,060kg). Source: ...
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Mars Climate Orbiter gets lost
A software navigation error or human error is thought to have caused the loss of NASA's $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter on 23 September. The craft was lost 5min after its orbital insertion engine was fired to send it into orbit around the planet. The orbiter is thought to have ...
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Arianespace moves to reduce launch backlog
Arianespace plans to launch six boosters before the end of the year in an effort to reduce the backlog of launches caused by delays to deliveries of several communications satellites earlier this year. The next mission is due on 24 September, involving the launch of a Telstar 7 satellite ...
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Shuttle schedule switched
NASA has switched the launches of the STS100 Endeavour Shuttle Radar Topography and the STS103 Discovery Hubble servicing missions while inspection and repair work continues on the orbiter's electrical wiring (Flight International, 8-14 September). The tentative launch date for STS103 is 28 October, while STS101 is targeted for a ...