All Space articles – Page 218
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Towards the peak
Tim Furniss/LONDON OF THE 1,360 PAYLOADS expected to be launched into Earth orbit before 2004, 65% are commercial communications satellites, according to the Worldwide Mission Model study produced by the Teal Group, the defence and aerospace market-analysis company based in Fairfax, Virginia. These and similar market ...
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Lockheed Martin wins X-33 contract with VentureStar
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA HAS selected Lockheed Martin to design, build and test the X-33, a half-scale model of a proposed Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) to replace the Space Shuttle fleet. A full-scale vehicle could be operational by 2005. The fully re-useable Lockheed Martin VentureStar will ...
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Small business
IAI's Amos communications satellite is attracting customers from outside Israel. Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH of the Amos 1 communications satellite on 16 May has proved to be the trigger for a major effort to turn Israel's space capability into a profitable business. Israel ...
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ILS clinches first launch contracts for Atlas 2AR
Tim Furniss/LONDON SPACE SYSTEMS/Loral has awarded ILS International Launch Services a contract for two firm launches (with one option) of communications satellites aboard the new Atlas 2AR booster. The launches have been booked for 1998 and 1999. This is the first launch contract ILS has ...
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NASA may book CRV on to Ariane 5 flight
NASA HAS expressed interest in booking a slot on the Ariane 5 launcher to carry a simplified version of the crew-rescue vehicle (CRV) demonstrator for the future Alpha International Space Station. The agency has requested a possible slot for 1998. French posts and telecommunications minister Francois Fillon confirms ...
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Darwin project
Thailand's United Communications has taken a 50% stake in a plan to build a satellite-launch centre at Gunn Point, north-east of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The company will purchase an interest in Australia's Space Transportation Systems to work on an $8 million feasibility study to build the A$630 ($500 million) ...
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Soyuz facelift
Russia's space booster, the Soyuz, is receiving new engines and avionics. Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIA'S CENTRAL Specialised Design Bureau in Samara has formed a partnership with France's Aerospatiale and the European launcher organisation Arianespace to attempt to market the Russian Soyuz booster for launches into low-Earth ...
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Russian navy plans first satellite launch from a submarine
THE RUSSIAN navy will launch its first satellite in October. A former SS-N-23 Skiff submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the Shtil booster, will launch the 70kg Kompas research satellite into a 400km circular, 78° inclination orbit from a Northern Fleet nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea in a bid to generate ...
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Rockwell pushes X-33 technology for Shuttle
Guy Norris/PALMDALE ROCKWELL IS OFFERING to upgrade Space Shuttles with technology developed for theX-33 re-useable launch vehicle. Rockwell is competing for the X-33 contract against teams led by Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas (MDC), and expects a NASA decision as early as 25 June. Thermal-protection ...
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Inertial-platform failure is identified in Ariane 5 loss
Tim Furniss/LONDON INSPECTION of a segment of the vehicle-equipment bay recovered from the debris of the Ariane 5 booster lost on 4 June has revealed a malfunction in the inertial platforms, the European Space Agency (ESA) says. ESA and French space agency CNES had earlier reported ...
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Affordable avionics
Substantially cheaper avionics are essential if the Joint Strike Fighter is to be built. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA MORE THAN a decade before the aircraft is due to enter service, pilots are flying simulated Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) missions to ensure that the aircraft meets its primary objective - ...
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Shuttle launch
The Space Shuttle STS78/ Columbia was launched on the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 20 June. The science mission, which will be similar to a shift aboard the International Space Station, may last for 17 days, the longest to date in the Shuttle ...
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Hughes and MMS share Astra 2 satellite dealy
Tim Furniss/LONDON MATRA MARCONI SPACE (MMS) has broken a virtual monopoly by Hughes Space and Communications by being awarded half of a contract from Luxembourg's Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) to supply the new-generation Astra 2A and B digital television and radio direct-broadcast satellites. The ...
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DC-XA is flown twice, on consecutive days
THE MCDONNELL Douglas DC-XA re-useable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch- vehicle demonstrator and precursor to the X-33, had its second and third test flights on 5 and 6 June. The 26h launch turn around, impressed NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, who comments: "We are going to replace the Shuttle with this". ...
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Fertile ground
Canada's Radarsat has been such a success that a second satellite is planned. Tim Furniss/LONDON IN JUNE, CANADA'S Spar Aerospace-built remote-manipulator-system robot arm was operated on yet another Space Shuttle mission, the STS77/Endeavour. Marc Garneau, one of Canada's four space travellers, was aboard for the ...
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Arcing cause of Tethered loss
THE ALENIA-BUILT Italian Tethered Satellite was lost in space during the STS75/Columbia Space Shuttle mission on 25 February, when its tether broke after suffering "arcing and burning", says an investigation team appointed by NASA (Flight International, 6-12 March). The arcing occurred because the tether was penetrated by either ...
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Brazil in French space link
Brazil has signed space-technology deals with French space agency CNES, Aerospatiale and Soci‚t‚ Europ‚enne de Propulsion (SEP), to build a small science satellite and Earth-observation cameras, and to develop launcher technologies for its $120 million-a-year space programme. The 80kg satellite, to study the space environment in low-Earth orbit, ...
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Ceaseless turmoil
Europe's SOHO spacecraft is showing that the Sun is proving tobe a surprisingly dynamic star. Tim Furniss/LONDON EVERYONE IS IMPRESSED by the SOHO's performance, says Roget Bonnet, the European Space Agency's (ESA) director of science. "By the end of the mission, we shall know the Sun far better ...
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Spar lands $11 million antenna contract
CANADA'S SPAR Aerospace has been awarded an $11 million contract from Lockheed Martin to design, manufacture, integrate and test the transmit-and-receive antenna feed-arrays for the Asia Cellular Satellite (ACES). The ACES satellite will provide mobile, hand-held, telephone services in Asia. The arrays are critical elements, with stringent performance ...
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The Endeavour lands after rendezvous record mission
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE SPACE SHUTTLE Orbiter Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 29 May, after setting a civilian Shuttle record with a series of four space rendezvous. The successful STS77 mission was the 11th flight by the Endeavour and marks the mid-way point ...