All Space articles – Page 208
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First Space Station modules prepared for 1998 launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON With the first elements of the International Space Station (ISS) due to be launched in a little under 12 months, the USA and Russia, the two leading members of the international consortium building the Station, have begun to reveal progress the initial modules scheduled to be ...
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Arianespace keeps up monthly launch rate
Arianespace completed its 26th launch in 26 months on 25 June when an Ariane 44P carried the Intelsat 802 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. The European commercial launcher company's next launch is due on 7 August, carrying the ...
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Progress will go to aid Mir crew
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Progress M35 unmanned cargo craft is scheduled to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan around 10 July in the first phase of an operation to restore conditions to near-normal aboard the Russian Mir space station. The launch follows the collision on 25 June ...
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ESA will propose a rescue vehicle for Space Station
Tim Furniss/PARIS A European Space Agency (ESA) Council of Ministers meeting in the middle of 1998 is to decide whether to go ahead with the development of a Crew Transport Vehicle (CTV) capsule or a new proposal of a lifting-body Crew Rescue Vehicle (CRV), for use in the ...
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Pathfinder is poised for historic landing
NASA's ambitious plans for a series of Mars Surveyor landers and orbiters, leading to a sample return mission in 2005, depend upon a successful touchdown of the Mars Pathfinder at Ares Vallis on 4 July. The landing site is at the outflow at the bottom of a valley ...
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Space link
United Space Alliance and Spacehab have agreed jointly to develop commercial markets for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. United operates the Space Shuttle for NASA, while Spacehab operates habitable extension modules in the Shuttle's mid-deck. The firms will focus on expanding the non-government market for life and ...
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Lockheed Martin finalises $1 billion rocket-engine deal
Lockheed Martin has agreed an exclusive contract to buy 101 Russian RD-108 rocket engines worth $1 billion from RD AMROSS, the joint venture of Russia's NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney. The engines will be used on the Atlas 2AR satellite launcher to be operated by ILS International ...
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Small is beautiful
Tim Furniss/GUILDFORD When the UK's UoSAT 1 microsatellite was launched in 1984, the project was run by a small team of engineers and graduates in the University of Surrey at Guildford, in the UK. Today that team is Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), a world leader in the ...
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ESA's orbiter prepared to put lander on comet
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is expected to enter orbit round the comet Wirtanen at a distance of as little as 1km during a mission in 2012 which is designed to deploy a small lander on the comet. It is hoped that samples of the Wirtanen can be taken ...
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The great escape
An SSTL-built satellite made history in 1996 as the first officially registered surviving victim of a space-debris impact. The Cerise microsatellite bus, made for Alcatel Espace and the French ministry of defence, was launched into a 700km polar orbit in July 1995, riding piggyback on the Ariane 40 ...
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Spaceport Florida
The Spaceport Florida Authority has been issued a licence by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation to operate a second launch pad at Cape Canaveral. The organisation, a state agency created to boost commercial space enterprises, will charge $300,000 a launch to use the new pad or the recently ...
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Propulsion pioneers
SSTL is also engaged in the development of its own spacecraft-propulsion system. The company has recognised that the lack of an on-board propulsion system has prevented it from exploiting fully the potential of its micro/minisatellite fleet. The company has certainly pioneered the use of small craft to conduct ...
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Son of Hermes
Europe's love affair with the Hermes spaceplane is not over. Years after the first Hermes was cancelled, the European Space Agency and Aerospatiale have come up with the Son of Hermes. It's not quite the old spaceplane, but it'll do. ESA is working on two manned projects which will ...
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Engine makers have plenty to smile about
If the airframe manufacturers have been announcing successes throughout the week, then the engine makers have been rejoicing too. Rolls-Royce is celebrating its selection as power provider to the Airbus Industrie (AI) A340-600 and -500 with the Trent 500 announced on Monday. Disappointed GE and Pratt & Whitney ...
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Alcatel plans 64 satellite system
Alcatel revealed more details yesterday of its planned 64-satellite low Earth orbit Skybridge Ku-band interactive multimedia access system. Alcatel, US company Oracle and other operators and manufacturers will join forces to operate the multimedia satellite constellation that will be capable of reaching 20 million users in 2000. ...
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Shuttle win
Canada's Wescam has won a contract from NASA to supply three radio frequency camera systems for the Space Shuttle. The cameras will be used by Shuttle astronauts during the construction of the International Space Station. This is a space first for Wescam. Source: Flight Daily News
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First X-38 'Lifeboat' arrives at Edwards
The first X-38 atmospheric test vehicle, which will be used to demonstrate the concept of a crew-return "lifeboat" for the International Space Station, arrived at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California on 4 June. The 7.3m-long vehicle resembles the X-24A lifting body, and will be carried ...
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Boeing speeds hypersonic weapon push
Boeing North American has completed initial wind-tunnel work on a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet)- powered waverider lifting body. Now the company is pressing the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support the effort as part of the development of future hypersonic weapons. The call ...
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Russia enters new orbit with reconnaissance satellite
A Russian launch this month marked the introduction of a new class of national reconnaissance satellite - but mystery surrounds its purpose. The Cosmos 2344 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, using a four-stage Proton-K on June 6. The mission for the Cosmos 2344 is ...