All Space articles – Page 201
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New team sharpens CASA business focus
Sarah Lazenby Spanish aircraft manufacturer CASA has restructured its top team for a sharper focus on future business growth and investment. The re-organisation, announced yesterday at Asian Aerospace '98, comes seven months after Alberto Fernandez was appointed chairman and chief executive. Pedro Mendez will now head the space division, with ...
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Mars experiments
Two additional experiments have been selected to fly aboard the NASA/Lockheed Martin Mars Surveyor Orbiter and Lander/Rover craft, to be launched in March and April 2001. Both craft will carry radiation environment experiments, while the Lander will operate a Mars environmental compatibility assessment instrument, which will identify potential undesirable interactions ...
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Shuttle shuffle
The predicted rescheduling of Space Shuttle launches this year, caused by the delay to the launch of the X-Ray Astrophysics Facility and the Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), has begun with the postponement of the STS90/ Neurolab mission from 2 April to16 April. The STS91 Shuttle Mir ...
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Delta launches the first four Globalstars
The first four Globalstar worldwide mobile voice and data communications satellites were launched into 1,200km circular orbits aboard a two-stage Boeing Delta II from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 14 February. It was the first launch of a Delta II with four (rather than nine) strap-on solid rocket motors. The Space ...
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Waverider prepared for 'fuzzy logic' flight
Accurate Automation is starting tests of its neural network flight and engine control system on its LoFLYTE subscale remotely piloted "waverider" hypersonic demonstrator aircraft. The flight, originally scheduled to have taken place last year was delayed because "a higher priority was placed on increasing the thrust of the engine ...
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Dasa underlines Asia commitment
Sarah Lazenby Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) has underlined its faith in Asia's long-term economic future and its own market growth by presenting a broad range of products and services at Asian Aerospace '98. Dasa, through its various joint ventures, is already active in the Asian market. It is a partner ...
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Ariane launch
The Ariane V105/44LP was launched from the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on 4 February carrying the Hughes-built Brasilsat B3 and the fifth and final Inmarsat 3 (F5), manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The next launch, the V106 will feature an Ariane 42P model to carry the Eutelsat's Hot Bird 4 into ...
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NASA delays X-34 first flight
The first flight of the Orbital Sciences X-34 air-launched re-usable spaceplane technology demonstrator has been delayed from December 1998 to March 1999. NASA has also ordered a second X-34 to reduce risk and increase project flexibility. The test objectives of the $67 million programme are also being expanded. The ...
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NASA may ask Russia to delay ISS Control Module launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA is considering asking Russia to delay the launch of the first component of the International Space Station (ISS) from June to August, to even out the 1998 Space Shuttle launch schedule. The US space agency has also admitted that the launch of the US developed Laboratory ...
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India will launch Belgian satellite for ESA
Verhaert Design and Development of Antwerp, Belgium has received an 8.5 million ECU ($9.5 million) contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to build the 100kg Proba autonomous technology satellite and launch it into polar orbit in July 2000, flying as a piggyback payload aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch ...
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Cuts mar USA year
Tim Furniss/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER The BOEING/Lockheed Martin United Space Alliance (USA) has had a successful first year as NASA's prime contractor for the Space Shuttle programme (see box), but it has been overshadowed by the need to lay off about 363 of its 6,000 workers at the Kennedy Space ...
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Launching services
The Russian Space Agency and national company STC Komplex have established Launching Services, a company which is dedicated to providing transportation services for small satellites to low-Earth orbit, using Cosmos and Start boosters from the Plesetsk and Svobodny cosmodromes. Source: Flight International
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Russia seeks $6.2 billion for International Space Station
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia will need $6.2 billion funding over the next ten years to build and maintain its component of the International Space Station (ISS), according to Russian Space Agency (RSA) director Yuri Koptev. Some $3 billion will be spent on construction, with the remainder going on maintenance, he says. ...
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Shuttle tank heads for May debut
The first lightweight Space Shuttle external tank has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida to be prepared for its first flight on the STS91/ Discovery mission, to make the ninth docking at the Russian Mir space station in May. The aluminium lithium tank, which holds the cryogenic liquid ...
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Giant leaps for Deltas
Tim Furniss/CAPE CANAVERAL Boeing is preparing launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the first launch of the Delta III booster in June. The company is also expecting an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract from the US Air Force in June to start development of the new ...
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Early Bird remote sensor is lost four days after launch
US company EarthWatch has conceded that its first commercial remote-sensing satellite, the Early Bird, has been lost. The spacecraft, built by CTA, now part of Orbital Sciences, was launched into a 470km polar orbit by a Start 1 booster from the Svobodny Cosmodrome in far-east Russia on 24 December. ...
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Israel's Shavit booster suffers a second failure
The Failure of the Shavit booster on 22 January, with the loss of the Ofeq 4 spy satellite, was the second of five Israeli launches which has failed to put a satellite into orbit. The three-stage booster, based on the two-stage Jericho 2 missile, was first flown in 1988 ...
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Spacecraft explores Earth
This image of the Earth's South Pole and part of South America was taken at a distance of about 640km by NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft. The photograph demonstrates the craft's charged-coupled device imager, which was used when the vehicle was flying past the planet at a ...
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Going with the flow
Tim Furniss/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER With six International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions scheduled for 1999, and 18 more due to take place between 2000 and 2002, NASA's Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, is soon going to be a hive of activity. The Photovoltaic Module ...
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Work halts on manned missions
Tim Furniss/LONDON Work at NASA on advanced planning for potential manned Moon and Mars missions has been stopped. Budget difficulties and anticipated future budget restraint have made it obvious to the agency that nearer-term goals must take priority. NASA centres, including the Advanced Projects office at Houston, Texas, ...