All Space articles – Page 221
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UK to invest in Ariane 5 programme
THE UK IS TO INVEST $4.3 million in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane 5 satellite-launcher programme to the year 2000 in a belated bid to capitalise on the potential of the booster in the satellite-launcher market. The booster, which is to have its maiden flight from Kourou, ...
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Space hazard ahead
Man-made space debris is more hazardous to spacecraft operating in Earth orbits below 2,000km than are meteoroids, says a report issued by the US White House National Science and technology Council. Source: Flight International
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Russia goes ahead with Svobodny site
Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Boris Yeltsin has signed a decree approving a new satellite-launch centre at the former military garrison, Svobodny-18, in the Amur region in the far east of the country, close to the Chinese border (Flight International, 14-20 February). The centre, to be ...
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NASA orders inquiry into loss of Tethered Satellite
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA HAS FORMED an independent panel to review the loss of the Italian Tethered Satellite (TSS 1R) from the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS75 mission on 26 February. A report into its findings will be made available within 70 days. "Given the ...
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Proton in doubt after Raduga failure
ILS INTERNATIONAL Launch Services' first commercial Russian Proton launch of the Astra 1F satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 28 March is in doubt after the failure of a similar booster to place a Russian communications satellite into the correct orbit after its 19 February launch. The Raduga ...
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Near far away
NASA's first Discovery programme spacecraft, the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), was launched successfully by a Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 17 February. The NEAR will become the first craft to orbit an asteroid, Eros, in 1999 (Flight International, 17-23 January). Source: Flight International
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Safe keeping?
Can the safety of the Space Shuttle fleet be maintained by privatising the programme? Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA'S CHOICE of the Rockwell/Lockheed Martin joint venture United Space Alliance to operate the Space Shuttle privately may be logical, but to many observers concerned about safety, the privatisation plan itself ...
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Hyflex spaceplane lost after successful J1 flight
Tim Furniss/LONDON JAPAN'S HYFLEX hypersonic flight-experiment space-plane sank in the Pacific Ocean 20min after the successful maiden flight of the J1 booster on 12 February. The 1,040kg Hyflex splashed down 1,300km (700nm) down-range from the Tanegashima launch centre, but sank after a cable linking the ...
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Tether tries again
Tim Furniss/LONDON IF IT DOES NOT WORK THIS time, NASA will probably ditch the project. The Italian Tethered Satellite System (TSS), it is hoped, will be deployed successfully from the Space Shuttle Columbia/STS75 on 24 February, with the aim of reaching a distance of 20km at the end ...
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Russians delay final Mir module launch
THE NEXT LONG-duration flight by a US astronaut aboard the Russian Mir 1 space station will be marred by a delay in the launch of a new Russian module in which US experiments will be conducted. The much-delayed launch of the Priroda module - the last to be ...
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MDC develops new space-tube seal
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) engineers working on the International Space Station programme have developed a process preventing contaminants escaping into space from tube joints to be used on the Station. It involves coating the mating surface of the tube ends, or fittings, with a thin layer of easily malleable ...
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Trying tether
THERE HAVE been four previous attempts at tethered flight between space vehicles. The abortive TSS 1 attempt in 1992 took place 26 years after the previous attempt aboard the Gemini 12. The first tethered flight took place during the sixth manned spaceflight, NASA's Mercury Atlas 7/Aurora 7, ...
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X-34 programme halted
ORBITAL SCIENCES (OSC) and Rockwell have stopped design work on the X-34B launcher project, although NASA, which is partially funding the work, has not yet cancelled the programme. The choice of propulsion system for the X-34B, which was to have been launched atop a Boeing 747 NASA Shuttle ...
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Space and missiles
Winner: Matra Marconi Space Location: Stevenage, UK. Achievement: Success, both commercial and technical, of the versatile Eurostar communications satellite platform. In 1995, Matra Marconi Space began to reap the rewards of its long-term investment in the Eurostar communications-satellite platform. New orders have continued to roll in during ...
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Near thing
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft will be launched aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 16 February. The NEAR will enter orbit around the asteroid Eros in 1999 (Flight International, 17-23 January). Also planned for 16 February launches are China's first Long March ...
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X-34 Halted
A US astronaut and Russian cosmonaut have been named as part of the three-man crew to become the first to inhabit the International Space Station in May 1998. NASA mission specialist William Shepherd, Russia's Sergei Krikalev and an as-yet-unnamed Russian commander will be launched aboard a Soyuz TM spacecraft from ...
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JPL engineers fit key flight hardware to Cassini craft
NASA JET PROPULSION Laboratory (JPL) engineers at Pasadena, California have completed installation of key flight hardware aboard the Cassini spacecraft, which will be launched towards Saturn, by a Titan 4/Centaur booster in October 1997. The craft's attitude- and articulation-control subsystem was integrated, together with the power and pyrotechnics ...
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Crew selection
A US astronaut and Russian cosmonaut have been named as part of the three-man crew to become the first to inhabit the International Space Station in May 1998. NASA mission specialist William Shepherd, Russia's Sergei Krikalev and an as-yet-unnamed Russian commander will be launched aboard a Soyuz TM spacecraft ...
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Launch gets right to the point
THE ACCURATE LAUNCH of a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster in December 1995 has ensured that the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) will be operational for at least 20 years, rather than six years as originally planned, says ESA. The satellite will reach its operational ...
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Near thing
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft will be launched aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 16 February. The NEAR will enter orbit around the asteroid Eros in 1999. Source: Flight International