All Space articles – Page 215
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OSC hit by another Pegasus failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON Orbital Sciences' (OSC) Pegasus XL air-launched satellite booster failed in its mission on 4 November for the third time in six flights. The vehicle's satellite payload - Argentina's first spacecraft, the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-B), and NASA's High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) - failed to ...
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Bold venture
Developing the X-33 VentureStar re-usable launcher prototype will present a difficult challenge. Tim Furniss/LONDON "The VentureStar is going to revolutionise the world of space launch-it is going to open up a thrilling new frontier in space - the business frontier", says Micky Blackwell, president and chief ...
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Hughes selects launchers for 12 communications satellites
Tim Furniss/LONDON Hughes and the Inmarsat-affiliate company ICO Global Communications, have selected four booster types, to carry 12 mobile communications satellites into orbit from late1998. The first ICO craft will be on an ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2AS booster. Three more - probably including ...
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Space Systems/Loral signs up Alliant for conditional EELV deal
Alliant Techsystems, which leads one of the four contractor teams bidding for the US Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) programme, has signed a memo- randum of understanding with Space Systems/Loral to launch up to ten satellites between 2002 and 2006, if it emerges as the competition winner. ...
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Momentum versus kinetic energy
Sir - Mr Alan Mason says that, "mass times velocity says it all". Actually, it doesn't. He seems to be mistaking momentum (MV) for kinetic energy (half MV2) - more than a slight difference when one is talking of speeds of 50,000km/h, or 8.5 miles/s. A given mass ...
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China takes Russian cosmonaut training
A group of Chinese doctors is to attend the Russian cosmonaut training centre in 1997 as part of a $1 million contract to take the first step towards a manned Chinese space flight. The doctors will be trained as cosmonauts to study Russian methods of selecting and training ...
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Powerful Proton M will enter commercial launch market
Tim Furniss/LONDON ILS International Launch Services will offer the up-rated Russian Proton M booster for commercial launches to geostationary orbit (GEO) in 1999. With a 50% increase in payload capability, the rocket will be the most powerful on the commercial market. The Proton M, which ...
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Three spacecraft will soon be launched
Three spacecraft will soon be launched to Mars to continue exploration ofthe "red"planet Tim Furniss/London The "life on Mars" hysteria which swept the world's media in August has added a touch of spice to the launch of three new missions to the Red Planet in November and December ...
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. . .while Canada makes a Start with Russia for commercial launches
CANADA'S AKJUIT Aerospace has joined forces with Russia's Scientific and Technological Center to offer satellite launches to low- polar Earth orbits by Russian Start boosters from the $300 million SpacePort Canada in Churchill, Manitoba. Spaceport Canada is located at Churchill Research Range on the shore of Hudson Bay, ...
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Russian engines eyed for new US launcher concepts-
Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIA'S NK-33 liquid-oxygen/kerosene engines, developed for the N1 Moon rocket project, may be used on two new re-usable satellite launchers being proposed in the USA. The NK-33s, being modified and marketed with US company Aerojet, have been selected, to power the Kistler Aerospace ...
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Spaceport first
The first launch from Spaceport Florida's refurbished launch pad No 46 at Cape Canaveral is scheduled for September 1997, when a Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV 1) will carry NASA's Lunar Prospector orbiter into space. After the failure of the maiden flight of the LMLV 1 in 1995, NASA had ...
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NASA makes plans for Russian pull-out
NASA HAS DRAWN UP contingency plans to cope with the growing likelihood of Russia being unable to meet its commitments on the International Space Station (ISS) programme because of cash shortages. NASA is keen to avoid costly delays if its Russian partners fail to deliver on time, and ...
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Russia prepares for new Start booster
RUSSIA'S STRATEGIC Rocket Forces Start 1 solid-propellant booster is being prepared at the Svobodny cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region of Russia for the first satellite launch from the new space centre, placing a small demonstration satellite, the Zeya, into low-Earth orbit in December. The Start 1, a ...
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Insurers pay for Chinese losses
Tim Furniss/LONDON SPACE INSURERS are paying two satellite operators $83 million for damage to one spacecraft and the loss of the other after launches by Chinese boosters in 1995/6. The People's Insurance of China has paid $25.9 million to China Telecommunications and Broadcasting Satellite for the ...
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Magnetic matters
The first magnetic spectrometer to be sent into space, to capture elusive space particles such as anti-matter and dark matter, will be flown aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in May 1998. The Chinese/Russian/US spectrometer, based on a rare mineral called neodymium iron boron, may then be installed on the International ...
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Japan sounds off with fifth TR-1A launch from Tanagashima
JAPAN'S NATIONAL SPACE Development Agency launched the fifth TR-1A solid propellant sounding rocket from Tanegashima on 25 September, carrying 750kg of science experiments to an altitude of 100km (55nm) during a sub-orbital flight in which they were exposed to 6min of micro-gravity conditions, to qualify technology for use on the ...
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Arianespace will order extra Ariane 4s after Ariane 5 delay
Tim Furniss/LONDON ARIANESPACE HAS been forced to order up to another six Ariane 4 launchers to compensate for further delays in the introduction of the Ariane 5 vehicle to commercial service. The first flight of the European Space Agency's (ESA) new booster failed on 4 June, ...
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NASA starts work on Space shuttle privatisation plan
NASA BEGAN a new era in Space Shuttle operations on 1 October with the formal award of a six-year, $7 billion space-operations contract to the United Space Alliance, a partnership of Rockwell and Lockheed Martin. The privatisation will consolidate ground processing and in-flight operations with a single company, ...
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Loral acquires AT&T Skynet Services
LORAL SPACE & Communications has agreed to buy AT&T's Skynet Satellite Services business for $712.5 million (£475 million) in cash. The deal includes AT&T's network of Telstar C- and Ku-band communications-satellites, and is Loral's first acquisition since the company disposed of its aerospace and defence businesses to Lockheed ...
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Orbital
US space and information systems company Orbital Sciences, of Dulles, Virginia, has appointed Rob Strain executive vice-president and general manager of the electronics and sensor-system division. He was most recently a group vice-president for finance and manufacturing. Source: Flight International