All Space articles – Page 206
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Space Station service module stays on schedule
The International Space Station (ISS) project remains on schedule, despite the three-months-late shipment of the Russian Service Module (SM) from manufacturer Khrunichev to Energia in November, caused by the late delivery of components from subcontractors. To make up for the delay, Khrunichev will take over from Energia the ...
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USAF awards contracts
The US Air Force has awarded contracts for competitive development of sensors for the National Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Hughes Aircraft received $37 million and ITT Aerospace/ Communication was awarded $36 million to develop and design the Cross Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and Visible/Infrared Imager ...
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Second Boeing Delta launches ACE
NASA launched the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) on 26 August, using a Delta 2 rocket. On 21 August, the first Delta 2 launch by Boeing since its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas placed five craft into orbit. The first of the two Delta 7960 two-stage models was launched from ...
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EOS array arrives at Lockheed Martin
TRW has delivered to Lockheed Martin the solar array for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth spacecraft, the Earth Observing System, EOS AM-1 is planned for launch in June 1998. The 5,400kg craft will carry five synergistic instruments to study the Earth's clouds, water vapour, aerosol particles, trace gases and other ...
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Boeing rolls out model of Space Maneuver Vehicle
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing and the US Air Force's Phillips Laboratory have rolled out a 90%-scale test version of the Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV) at the former Rockwell site in Seal Beach, California. The SMV is now being prepared for flight tests in November at Holloman AFB, New ...
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ISS connector
The first of two pressurised mating adaptors (PMAs) for the International Space Station (ISS) have arrived at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. The Boeing PMA is a cone-shaped connector which will eventually serve as a passageway between the ISS' Node 1 and the Russian Functional Cargo Block. The PMA and ...
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NASA loses contact with Lewis after four days
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has lost contact with its Lewis remote-sensing and technology satellite, only four days after a successful launch into initial orbit on 23 August. The craft could have just weeks of life left unless contact is regained. An unplanned thruster firing sent the spacecraft ...
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The right attitude
Tim Furniss/BRISTOL If a communications satellite's antennas are not pointing towards the Earth, or a space telescope's lenses are not aimed at the stars, they become not only useless, but an expensive waste of time and effort. Spacecraft only point accurately if their attitude and orbit control systems ...
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Cassini stays on schedule
The NASA Cassini spacecraft and its European Space Agency Huygens piggyback probe are now back on schedule for a launch to Saturn from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 6 October. The Titan-Centaur launch had been threatened by a propellant leak in the Centaur upper stage. The Cassini will become the first ...
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CTV test
The European Space Agency has conducted the first automatically guided descent and landing of a parafoil test vehicle to support the Crew Transfer Vehicle programme for the International Space Station. The vehicle, carrying a 1,700kg payload and a global-positioning system, was dropped from an aircraft at 1,800m altitude. ...
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ESA astronaut qualifies as Soyuz TM commander
Tim Furniss/LONDON Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency's German air-force astronaut, has become the first foreigner to qualify to command a flight of the Russian three-crew Soyuz TM. Reiter, a veteran of a 179-day shift aboard the Mir 1 space station in 1996, which included two ...
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Successful launch of Long March booster
China Great Wall Industry (CGWIC) successfully launched the second Long March LM3B, its most powerful satellite booster, from Xichang on 19 August, carrying the Space Systems/Loral-built Agila 2 communications satellite into geostationary-transfer orbit (GTO) for Mabuhay Philippine Satellite. The launch of the first LM3B failed on 14 February, ...
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Japan's Comets satellite launch is delayed
The launch of the Japanese National Space Development Agency's Comets communications and broadcasting engineering satellite aboard an H2 booster has been delayed by six months to January-February 1998. This will allow more time to assess the cause of the failure in June of the Adeos Earth observation satellite ...
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Mars Pathfinder's primary 30-day mission is now completed
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA's MARS PATHFINDER spacecraft, which landed in the Ares Vallis on 4 July, has concluded its milestone 30-day primary mission, having fulfilled all of its objectives and provided a "new portrait of the Martian environment", says the space agency. The Sagan Memorial Station lander ...
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The Martian chronicles
Tim Furniss/LONDON The success of the Mars Pathfinder mission and of its Sojourner rover have generated huge public interest, especially in the perennial subject of manned flights to Mars. On the back of that success Daniel Goldin, NASA's Administrator, has challenged his scientists and engineers to come up ...
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Hughes plans Expressway satellite system
Hughes Communications is planning a $3.9 billion, 14-satellite, geostationary-orbiting, broadband-communications system, called the Expressway. Plans have already been filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It will complement Hughes' already-announced $3 billion, eight-satellite, system, called the Spaceway, which has been authorised by the FCC. The ...
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PanAmSat launch
Arianespace of France conducted its 27th consecutive successful launch of an Ariane 4 booster on 8 August, placing the Space Systems/ Loral-built PanAmSat 6 communications satellite into geostationary-transfer orbit. The next launch, flight V99, is scheduled to carry Eutelsat's Hot Bird 3 and the Eumetsat Meteosat 7 satellites on 2 ...
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OSC acquires CTA
Orbital Sciences is to acquire the space systems business of CTA for $12 million in cash and the assumption of $25 million in debt. The CTA unit manufactures small satellites and had 1996 sales of $80 million, with an order backlog exceeding $150 million. Source: Flight ...
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Pegasus XL launches commercial OrbView 2 remote-sensing satellite
Orbital Sciences (OSC) air-launched the OrbView 2 commercial remote-sensing satellite aboard a Pegasus XL booster on 1 August. Images from the satellite will contribute towards a better understanding of the Earth's carbon cycle processes and their effect on global-warming trends. The 146kg OrbView 2 carries a Hughes Electronics ...
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MDC wins Thor 3 launch for Delta
McDonnell Douglas (MDC) has been awarded a contract from Telenor of Norway to launch its Thor 3 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit in June 1998 aboard a Delta 2 booster, pictured launching the global-positioning system GPS 2R satellite on 23 July (Flight International, 6-12 August). The Thor 3 is ...