All Space articles – Page 214
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International Space Station faces service-module crisis
Tim Furniss/LONDON The International Space Station (ISS) Service Module being built by Russia is eight months behind schedule, meaning a delay in the launch of the first ISS crew until early 1999, NASA has confirmed (Flight International, 27 November-3 December). Russian Government funding for the project has ...
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High resolution
Space Imaging plans to launch its first high-resolution satellite. Tim Furniss/LONDON The race to market high-resolution satellite imagary is on, and the Lockheed Martin-led Space Imaging company, of Thornton, Colorado, aims to win it. With partners Raytheon E-Systems, Mitsubishi and Eastman Kodak, Lockheed Martin is ...
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Launcher proposals
EUROPE Aerospatiale, SEP and BPD of France and Italy are discussing the development of the Ariane Complementary Launcher (ACL). The company-funded ACL would place 1,000kg into 800km LEO. ITALY Vega. Italy's proposed solid-propellant satellite launcher, formerly the San Marco Scout. It comprises two Zefiro ...
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Screw loose
A loose 6mm screw caused the jamming of the outer-airlock door of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS80 mission, leading to cancellation of two space-walks scheduled to practise International Space Station assembly procedures. The screw was found embedded in the door's gearbox. ...
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MSG solar panel problem 'will not hinder NASA's Mars goals'
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA says that the partially unfurled solar panel on the Mars Global Surveyor (MSG) spacecraft, launched on 7 November, will "-not significantly impair" the craft's ability to aerobrake into its orbit around the planet or "-affect its performance" during the cruise and science elements of ...
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Moon ice
The US Department of Defense said on 2 December that its Clementine research satellite, which went into orbit around the Moon in 1993, returned data which indicate the likelihood that ice "-makes up part of the Moon's surface layer near the south pole". The Pentagon has speculated that the water ...
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USAF invites industry spaceplane ideas
Industry has been invited to brief the USAir Force on concepts for a military "spaceplane" capable of being operated in the upper atmosphere and in low-Earth orbit. An integrated concept team (ICT) formed by the USAF to evaluate spaceplane concepts invited interested companies to present their ideas on ...
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NASA's XAF moves
NASA's Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), designed to be the world's most powerful X-ray observatory, is taking shape, with Eastman Kodak delivering the high-resolution mirror assembly. It has also delivered the optical-bench structure to spacecraft prime contractor TRW. The AXAF project is the third of NASA's Great Observatory series, after ...
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Atlas launches most powerful civil-communications satellite
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Eutelsat Hot Bird 2, the world's most powerful civilian communications satellite, built by Matra Marconi Space (MMS), is heading for its operating position at 13¹E in geostationary orbit (GEO). It was launched by an ILS International Launch Services, Atlas 2A from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on ...
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Change of mission
The Dassault Mirage IVP's role has moved from that of strategic strike to one of strategic reconnaissance. Gert Kromhout/MONT DE MARSAN After more than 30 years, the Dassault-Breguet Mirage IVP of the French air force has lost its nuclear mission, with the disbandment of one of two squadrons ...
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Space Station crew switched round
Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Solovyov has been replaced by cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko. Solovyov had been named as the commander of the first Soyuz TM flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in May 1988, flying with Russian flight engineer Sergei Krikalev and US astronaut William Shepherd. Solovyov had featured ...
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Near enough?
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has investigated the reliability of the global- positioning system (GPS), and found it wanting. GPS, it says, is not reliable enough, in its current form, to be used as a sole means of navigation. In this, the CAA is at odds with the single most ...
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T minus 365 days
After long delays, the International Space Station is finally just one year away from its first assembly flight. Tim Furniss/LONDON After a tortuous political and financial gestation period, the International Space Station (ISS) is only one year away from reality. In November 1997, a Russian Proton booster will ...
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NASA schedules X-38 'lifeboat' tests
This X-38 International Space Station Crew Return Vehicle may result from a NASA research project. NASA will conduct atmospheric glide flights of a full-scale prototype of a potential International Space Station (ISS) Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) in 1997. Two models of the test article, designated the X-38, are being ...
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Mars probe may be to blame for failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia's Mars '96 spacecraft plunged into the Earth's atmosphere on 17 November after its Proton D2 fourth stage failed to re-ignite in low-Earth parking orbit. It was the fifteenth Russian Mars failure in 18 launches since 1960. Even the other three flights were considered to be ...
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Lockheed Martin wins $1.8 billion SBIRS contract
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1.8 billion contract to build the five-satellite geostationary orbit Space Based Infra Red System (SBIRS) missile early-warning fleet, which will be launched in 2006. One ground spare will also be built. The satellites will be based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 spacecraft ...
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-while US Army pursues anti-satellite weapon
As the US Air Force moves towards fielding an airborne laser designed to destroy theatre ballistic missiles, the US Army is working on a weapon able to knock out enemy reconnaissance and communications satellites. The anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon being developed by Rockwell International's Rocketdyne Division for the US ...
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Russia will ditch automatic docking system on Soyuz
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Russian space industry's cash crisis has claimed another victim. Future manned Soyuz TM spacecraft will no longer be fitted with the Kurs S-band automatic docking system. The spacecraft is a key part of the Russian manned space programme and is used to shuttle ...
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Russian Mars 96 probe is ready for November launch
Mars 96, Russia's contribution to an international three-craft exploration of the Red Planet, is due to be launched by a Proton K booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 16 November. It will follow the US Mars Global Surveyor, launched on 7 November, and the Mars Pathfinder, set for a 2 ...
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Linear aerospike engine
Much of NASA's investment in the X-33 demonstrator will be in the development of its linear 'aerospike' engines. The aerospike "-is tremendously efficient because it is simpler than the current bell-nozzle rocket engine", says Micky Blackwell, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "It automatically adjusts itself to ...