All Space articles – Page 223
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Galileo probe transmits data from Jupiter's atmosphere
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE 340kg GALILEO probe plunged into the atmosphere of Jupiter on 7 December at a latitude of about 6¡N, and at an initial speed of 170,000km/h. It was the first man-made contact with the planet. The main spacecraft became the first to enter Jovian orbit. ...
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OSC completes
Orbital Sciences (OSC) has completed its stock-swap acquisition of Canada's MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, a leading supplier of commercial space remote-sensing ground-stations. Source: Flight International
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Hughes signs official ICO launch deal
ICO GLOBAL Communications, an affiliate company of Inmarsat, has officially signed a $925 million contract with Hughes Space Communications International to supply and manage launch services for 12 ICO satellites to provide worldwide, hand-held telephone, mobile-communications services. Hughes is ICO's first strategic partner and owns a $94 million investment share. ...
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Space offers
The USA has invited Israel to fly an astronaut aboard a Space Shuttle mission as part of a joint space agreement between the USA and Israel. Russia has also invited South Africa to fly an astronaut on a Soyuz TM visiting mission to the Mir 1 space station. South Korea ...
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Trailblazers
NASA plans a series of low-cost, but ambitious, flights to Mars, starting in 1996. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC A NEW ERA IN Martian exploration will begin in December 1996, when a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 booster will launch the Mars Pathfinder, to blaze a fresh trail to the ...
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Alpha Space Station faces a new crisis
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA IS TO REJECT Russian proposals to include the Mir 1 space station as part of the Alpha International Space Station programme (Flight International, 6-12 December). The US space agency confirms that Russia has made the proposal, but says: "We do not want ...
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China's EPKM is a riddle
THE SUCCESSFUL launch of the Asiasat 2 communications satellite aboard a Chinese Long March 2E booster from Xichang on 28 November included the "maiden flight" of the first nationally built EPKM perigee kick motor, says China. The motor, used to raise the satellite's low-Earth orbit to geostationary-transfer orbit, ...
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SOHO launched on Sun-watch mission
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency's 1,850kg Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), built by Matra Marconi Space, was launched successfully on 2 December by a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida. From its vantage point in solar orbit 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, called the Lagrangian Point, where the ...
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Norwegian satellite
Norway's Telenor satellite Services has awarded a contract to Hughes Space and Communications to supply an HS-376 high-power spin-stabilised satellite, called the Thor 2A, to be launched on a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 in 1997, to provide 15-Ku band services to Scandinavia. Telenor's first Thor satellite was another HS-376 purchased ...
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NASA concerned over Russia's commitment to Alpha station
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA IS BECOMING concerned about Russia's attempts to save money by prolonging the life of its Mir 1 space station to enable it to be incorporated into the initial configuration of the Alpha International Space Station. Statements proposing the plan were first made by ...
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Galileo set for Jupiter
THE GALILEO PROBE will plunge into the turbulent atmosphere of the planet Jupiter on 7 December as its mother ship enters orbit. It will be the first man-made contact with Jupiter, and the first time the planet has been orbited by a spacecraft (Flight International, 28 June-4 July). ...
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Rocketdyne pulls out of Atlas 2AR contest
OPERATIONAL RUSSIAN NK-33 or RD-180 rocket engines will be used to power the first stage of the Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AR satellite launcher, following a decision by Rocketdyne to pull out of the competition. The firm felt that its proposed new MA-5A engine could not meet the production ...
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CAE simulates updated P-3
CANADA'S CAE Electronics has been awarded a C$13.5 million ($10 million) contract to supply simulation systems for the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion update programme. The contract is for three integrated subsystems (ISS) which simulate the AP-3C's updated mission systems, including electronic-surveillance, radar and ...
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Atlantis lands after Mir docking
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE SPACE SHUTTLE Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 20 November after its successful eight-day mission to perform the second docking and joint flight with the Russian Mir 1 space station as part of the Shuttle Mir Mission (SMM) programme. The ...
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Ariane to launch new Eutelsat
ARIANESPACE HAS WON a contract from European satellite-communications organisation Eutelsat to launch three new spacecraft: two Eutelsat 3s and the Hot Bird 4, to be launched by Ariane 4s or 5s. Three Eutelsat 3s are on order from Aerospatiale, with an option for four more. The Hot Bird 4 is ...
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OSC completes
Orbital Sciences (OSC) has completed its stock-swap acquisition of Canada's MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, a leading supplier of commercial space remote-sensing ground-stations. Source: Flight International
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UK expands defence-satellite network
THE UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE IS TO ORDER a sixth Skynet 4 military-communications satellite from Matra Marconi Space (MMS) in 1996, to be launched in 1999. Skynets 4D and E are also being built by MMS and will be launched by Delta 2 and Ariane 4 boosters in 1997 and ...
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Weight watchers
NASA engineers are searching for ways to increase the critical payload of the orbiter fleet. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC THE SPACE SHUTTLE will not be seen as being a fully operational vehicle until about 1999 when it will have flown 100 missions, says Bryan O'Connor, a former Shuttle commander ...
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Countdown to Alpha
T-2 years and counting: the first hardware has been built for the Alpha International Space Station. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC THE ALPHA INTERNATIONAL Space Station "...isn't a paper programme anymore", says Wilbur Trafton, director of NASA's Space Station programme. "We're talking launches just round the corner." ...
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Spacelab workers demonstrate Alpha work
Astronaut mission specialist Catherine Coleman (left) and payload specialist Fred Leslie work inside the Spacelab US Micro-gravity Laboratory 2 during the 16-day STS73/Columbia mission, as a demonstration of a typical shift aboard the Alpha International Space Station. Construction of the Alpha will begin in November 1997. The Columbia's next mission, ...