All Space articles – Page 187
-
News
HOPE-X test flights delayed by redesign and budget factors
Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Test Flights of the H-II Orbiting Plane-Experimental (HOPE-X) reusable space vehicle have been postponed from February 2001 until February 2004 because of a redesign and budget restrictions. The HOPE team, led by Japan's National Space Development Agency and National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), is carrying out a ...
-
News
Hyper-X test on track for July
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The first hypersonic X-43A test vehicle, designed to demonstrate the use of an airframe-integrated scramjet (supersonic ramjet), is expected to be delivered to NASA in July. The 3.6m (11ft)-long X-43A forms the core of NASA's Hyper-X programme. This is aimed at proving the use of air-breathing ...
-
News
Lockheed Martin reviews operations
Tim Furniss/LONDON Lockheed Martin has formed an independent panel of experts to conduct a comprehensive review of programme management, engineering, manufacturing processes and quality control procedures at its space divisions following a series of recent launch failures. In addition, the US Air Force is conducting a broad area review ...
-
News
Launch Services wins $24m West Indian contract
Russian commercial launch company Launch Services, which markets launches of the Cosmos 3M and Start 1 boosters, has been awarded a $24 million contract by the West Indian Space company to launch three Israeli-built satellites. The 300kg (660lb), high-resolution remote-sensing Eros satellites will be boosted into orbit by Start ...
-
News
Russia completes ISS Service Module
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia's International Space Station (ISS) Service Module was rolled out at RSC Energia's factory in Moscow on 26 April for its shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Module is most likely to be launched in November, almost two years behind schedule. Russia says it is aiming for ...
-
News
Japanese hope
Japan is to name its International Space Station laboratory module Kibo (hope). The first component of the Japanese Experiment Module will be carried on the Space Shuttle in 2001. Source: Flight International
-
News
Delta launches NASA Landsat 7
A Boeing Delta II carried NASA's Landsat 7 remote-sensing satellite into orbit from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 15 April, a year later than planned. The satellite's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus camera will produce 250 30m-resolution multispectral images a day. The launch had been delayed by electrical problems with the thematic ...
-
News
Dnepr booster lifts Minisatellite
Russia's Kosmotras organisation launched a Dnepr booster - a former SS-18 missile - from a silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 21 April. The booster carried Surrey Satellite Technology's (SSTL) 350kg UoSAT 12 Minisatellite into a 650km, 65¼-inclination orbit. SSTL's first $5.5 million Minisatellite will demonstrate high resolution ...
-
News
Upper stage failure imperils Chandra X-ray Observatory
Tim Furniss/LONDON The recent failure of the Boeing Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) has put into doubt the planned launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory aboard Space Shuttle STS93/Columbia on 9 July. The IUS, which is due to be used on the Chandra mission, failed to place a Defence Support ...
-
News
USAF writes off cost of stranded DSP19 loss
Tim Furniss/LONDON The US Air Force has written off $682 million following the loss of the Defence Support Programme DSP19 early warning satellite, which was stranded in elliptical orbit on 10 April. The TRW-built satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, into a low earth orbit (LEO), attached to a ...
-
News
Link up
US company Spacehab and Germany's OHB-System have signed a memorandum of understanding to provide jointly commercial life sciences services on the Space Shuttle and on the International Space Station (ISS). They will establish a biotechnology business and upgrade the Commercial Biological Research Unit, which is planned for the STS107 mission ...
-
News
Russian Service Module to roll out this month
The controversial, much delayed, Russian International Space Station (ISS) Service Module will be rolled out by Energia in Moscow on 26 April. Delays to its production have contributed to a two-year hold-up in the ISS programme. Russia says the Service Module will meet its September launch deadline, subject to ...
-
News
Surrey Satellite wins E-SAT contract
Tim Furniss/LONDON Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) is to build the spacecraft buses for six E-SAT low earth orbiting data messaging satellites under a contract with California-based DBS Industries. The contract is part of a $47 million deal, which includes two launches of three E-SAT satellites each by the German-Russian ...
-
News
New launches
Arianespace launched an Ariane 42P booster from Kourou on 2 April, carrying India's Insat 2E communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. It was the 44th successful consecutive flight of an Ariane 4. Arianespace has 38 satellites and one constellation launch on its orderbook and a further 11 flights planned for ...
-
News
Second Nilesat order
Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has won an order from Egypt to build a second Nilesat communications satellite, to be launched next year. The contract covers the satellite, insurance and launch delivery into orbit. The craft will be similar to the 101 model built by MMS. The 1,800kg (3,960lb) satellite will ...
-
News
Virtual solution
A new type of orbit could help avoid signal interference between spacecraft in low, medium and geostationary earth orbits Tim Furniss/LONDON A NEW WASHINGTON-based company is urging the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make compulsory the use of "virtual geostationary orbits" (VGSOs). This would avoid anticipated future ...
-
News
Sea Launch set for first commercial launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The first commercial lift-off from Sea Launch offshore platform Odyssey is scheduled for August following the maiden flight of a Zenit 3SL from the floating launch site. The booster placed a demonstration payload into geostationary-transfer orbit on 28 March. The commercial Zenit 3SL booster will carry a Hughes ...
-
News
Mir deadline
Russia has set a deadline of 30 April to secure private funding to continue operations of the Mir space station. If private funding is not secured, the space base will be taken out of orbit in September. Source: Flight International
-
News
Spar shareholders stir rebellion
Canadian aerospace manufacturer Spar is facing a shareholder mutiny following an attempted hostile takeover by IMP Group, also of Canada. At a meeting scheduled for 13 May, investors controlling some 58% of Toronto-based Spar's stock are expected to oust seven of the company's 12-member board, with an eighth director ...
-
News
On track
NASA has started full-engine hot-fire testing of the low-cost Fastrac rocket engine at its Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Alabama, with a 20s full-power test to demonstrate the operation of the complete engine system. Up to 84 engine test firings are planned this year. The 210,000lb-thrust (935kN) Fastrac will ...