All Space articles – Page 181
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In the works
Tailless fighters, reusable space vehicles, blended wing body transports and hypersonic strike missiles are just some of the technologies on the drawing board at Boeing's Phantom Works Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing's Phantom Works appears increasingly aptly named as it becomes a "virtual" organisation linking the aerospace giant's advanced development centres. ...
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Too late
Iridium's project for a constellation of satellites providing a global telephone service seemed to have real credibility in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Unfortunately, as is often the case with pioneering high technology, high investment schemes, it took too long to materialise, rendering the company a legend even before its own ...
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SpaceDev offers low-cost flights
SpaceDev is offering commercial missions for small scientific and other types of payload to the moon and Mars for a fixed price of $20 million and $24 million, respectively. The company plans to offer the commercial Mars mission for launch in 2003. Meanwhile, Space Dev is continuing with plans ...
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Wiring worry delays Shuttle mission
NASA has delayed the STS 99/Endeavour Shuttle Topography Radar Mission from 16 September to at least early October so that technicians can conduct a full inspection of the orbiter's cargo bay for damaged wiring. STS93/Columbia suffered a short circuit at T+5s on 23 July because of damage to a ...
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Chinese launch
China's state media has reported that the country plans to launch an orbital test of a crewless spacecraft by the end of the year and put a person into orbit in about 2005. A Space Shuttle-type vehicle is also planned, but its development will depend on a new Long March ...
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Cassini has close encounter with earth
The NASA Cassini spacecraft flew 1,171km (730 miles) over the South Pacific Ocean on 17 August, picking up 5.5km/s of speed in the third of four planned fly-bys to place the craft en route to its rendezvous with Saturn in July 2004. Two Venus fly-bys have been completed and a ...
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OSC to build ozone monitoring spacecraft for NASA project
NASA has chosen Orbital Sciences (OSC) to build, launch and operate the QuikTOMS atmospheric ozone monitoring satellite. QuikTOMS will be integrated with the OSC-built Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument. OSC has built five TOMS sensors for NASA, with the latest sensor launched aboard a US Earth Probe satellite ...
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Iridium seeks rescue package as it files for bankruptcy
Tim Furniss/LONDON Mobile satellite communications company Iridium is striving to put together a financial rescue plan after filing for bankruptcy protection from its creditors on 13 August. As the Motorola-led company works on the plan, fellow start-up mobile satellite communications (satcom) company ICO Global Communications is feeling the "Iridium ...
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Asteroid target
NASA's Discovery programme spacecraft - the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) - is on course for a close encounter with the asteroid 433 Eros on 14 February, 2000, following a 2min burn of its hydrazine engine. NEAR will spend a year orbiting Eros and sending back data and images. Source: ...
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Arianespace keeps commercial lead
Tim Furniss/LONDON Arianespace is maintaining its lead in the commercial launcher market with contracts to launch three more satellites, bringing to 43 the number of satellites on its orderbook, worth $3.5 billion. The contracts push Arianespace's satellite launch orders past 200 since it was created in 1980. The ...
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Boeing launch brings Globalstar total to 36
Boeing launched a Delta II from Cape Canaveral on 17 August, carrying four more Globalstar satellites into orbit. This latest launch brings to 17 the number of spacecraft launched on Deltas in 68 days - a record number of launches in such a period. The 17 satellites were 16 ...
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Pollution threat
It will not be possible to enter earth orbit or break into deep space safely in 50 years' time unless the rate of space pollution can be reduced, says Russian scientist Vladimir Lebedev. Eight thousand objects over 10cm in diameter are in orbit with 3.5 million pieces smaller than 1mm. ...
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Italian ISS module goes to Kennedy
Italy's second Alenia Aerospazio-built International Space Station (ISS) Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard an Airbus Beluga freighter in preparation for its launch on the Space Shuttle STS100 Endeavour next July. The first MPLM - Leonardo - will fly in June, on ...
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Lunar Prospector fails to find water
NASA's Lunar Prospector hit the south pole of the moon as planned on 31 July, but no vapour plume was detected after the impact. Scientists hope that an as-yet undetected faint plume may contain traces of either water or the hydroxyl radical formed when sunlight splits a hydrogen atom away ...
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First European experiments for space station ready to fly
Two European Space Agency (ESA) experiments will be flying on the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. A global transmission service (GTS) and the Matroshka radiation monitor will be aboard Russia's Zvezda service module in November . The GTS uses a transmitter with two dedicated frequencies to ...
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First ISS commercial deal won by Spacehab
Spacehab and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have signed an agreement which provides the US company with access to the International Space Station (ISS). In exchange for its contribution to the ISS, Canada is entitled to space on the ISS to conduct experiments. The CSA is letting half of ...
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Seal plug identified as culprit for Columbia's fuel leaks
Tim Furniss/LONDON Three liquid hydrogen coolant tubes - not one as had been presumed earlier - in one of the main engines of last month's Space Shuttle STS93 Columbia were punctured by a small plug used to seal a liquid oxygen injector tube which came loose as the ...
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US export changes hit Canada
Canadian industry is struggling to cope with changes to US export controls which have curtailed its access to US technology and markets. The special status previously accorded to Canadian companies has been removed following changes to US International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITARs). As a result, US companies now ...
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Globalstar services to begin in October
Globalstar will launch initial global mobile communications satellite services on 10 October, coinciding with the Geneva Telecom telecommunications show. The launch is being made possible following the company securing a $500 million credit facility with the Bank of America. The company, led by Loral Space and Communications and ...
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Mir crew deploy delayed antenna
Mir space station cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Sergei Avdeyev completed a 5h 30min spacewalk on 25 July - probably the last to be made from the Russian craft. The cosmonauts completed the deployment of a prototype unfurlable communications antenna that could not be deployed during a walk on 23 July. ...