All Space articles – Page 226
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Huygens Arrives
The Aerospatiale-built, European Space Agency Huygens Titan lander craft has been delivered to NASA for integration with the Cassini Saturn orbiter. The craft will be launched on 6 October 1997. Alenia Spazio has also delivered the Cassini's 3.96m-diameter high-gain antenna. Source: Flight International
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Bigot's battle
The joint marketing of the Atlas and Proton fleet is a major threat to Arianespace. Tim Furniss/PARIS IT WAS THE THIRD day of the Paris air show, and Arianespace chairman Charles Bigot was rattled. The day before, Lockheed Martin and Khrunichev of Russia had announced ...
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MMS wins ESA polar-platform contract is signed
Tim Furniss/LONDON MATRA MARCONI SPACE (MMS) and the European Space Agency have signed a $700 million deal for the development of a polar-platform spacecraft. The first, called the Envisat 1, will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 in 1999, to be operated in an 800km circular ...
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Discovery returns to Kennedy
THE SPACE SHUTTLE STS 70/Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 22 July after an 8 days 22h mission. It had been launched on 13 July, a record six days after the end of the last mission, the STS71/Atlantis. The Discovery crew deployed the final TRW-built ...
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Visionary approach
Surrey Satellite Technology is funding the development and launch of a new MiniBus space platform. Tim Furniss/GUILDFORD SMALLER, FASTER, CHEAPER - these are the qualities by which the products entering the burgeoning "smallsat" market are described. Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) is one of the pack leaders; ...
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MMS to build fourth Hot Bird
Tim Furniss/LONDON MATRA MARCONI SPACE (MMS) has been awarded a $200 million contract to build the 20 Ku-band transponder, direct-to-home, Hot Bird 4 satellite for European communications-satellite organisation Eutelsat. MMS is already building the Hot Birds 2 and 3. The MMS built, 2.7t Hot Birds 2-4, ...
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Lockheed signs deal to launch Superbird C
LOCKHEED MARTIN has signed a contract with Japan's Space Communications (SCC) to launch the Superbird C communications satellite on an Atlas 2AS booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1997. SCC, which is a joint venture of 28 Mitsubishi companies, operates two Superbirds, A1 and B1, which were launched ...
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Galileo capsule on suicide mission
A HUGHES-BUILT, INSTRUMENTED capsule was deployed from NASA's Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft on 12 July, en route for a 170,000 km/s encounter with the giant planet's atmosphere on 7 December (Flight International, 28 June-4 July). During the 75min plunge, the 338kg capsule will return data from the bowels of Jupiter before ...
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Improvements are needed for Shuttle/Mir missions
THE SPACE SHUTTLE STS 71/Atlantis returned to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 7 July after a triumphant joint mission with the Russian space station, the Mir 1, which highlighted minor changes required for future flights. This first Shuttle/Mir Mission, SMM-1, delivered two cosmonauts to the Mir 1 ...
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GE invades European sector
Tim Furniss/LONDON GE AMERICOM IS TO be the first US Company to invade the European communications-satellite industry following a 1992 decision by the European Commission to deregulate the sector by opening it to international competition. The US Company, through its subsidiary GE Capital Satellites International ...
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NASA reviews space access after second Pegasus failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA HAS FORMED a series of teams "...to address all aspects of its strategy for access to space", following the second failure on 22 June in two launches of the new Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus XL. The Administration has four spacecraft due for launches on the ...
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Shuttle docks with the Mir
MARKING THE FORMAL end of the space race, a record ten people were orbiting the Earth aboard a single spacecraft as the US Space Shuttle Atlantis/STS 71 docked to the Russian Mir 1 space station on 29 June. The assembly of a 223t spacecraft in orbit was the ...
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Super Science
The European Space Agency plans to take the lead in space science, with the imminent launch of six satellites. Tim Furniss/PARIS Six European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft are being prepared for launch in 1995, which is described as Europe's "year of glory" by Roger Bonnet, director ...
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Space Systems/Loral wins Asia-Pacific deals contracts
Tim Furniss/LONDON SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL has been awarded contracts for two communications satellites: the ApStar 2R for Asia Pacific Satellite and a high-power spacecraft for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite. The Mabuhay satellite will be in competition with another planned national satellite system, the Agila, the contract for which ...
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The great plunge
NASA's Galileo space probe will shortly be released into a 170,000km/h plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere. Tim Furniss/LONDON On 13 July, an 340kg instrumented probe, will be released from NASA's $1.4 billion Galileo spacecraft, 80 million kilometres away, from the planet Jupiter. The 1.25 x 0.86m ...
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Indian Alliance
India's Antrix is finalising strategic alliances with Daimler-Benz and Ford Aerospace to enhance its exposure in the international aerospace and space markets, offering an "entire spectrum of space services, from satellite building to launch services". The country's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is being promoted for launches to low-Earth orbit. India ...
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A question of US space flight numbers
Sir - You are wrong to say that NASA's STS70 Shuttle mission is the 100th US manned space flight (Flight International, 7 - 13 June, P29). There were 31 US space flights, before the Shuttle flew for the first time in April 1981, and, to date, there have been 67 ...
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Programmes
SCD These 1m-high, eight-sided, 115kg satellites are designed to provide real-time data from environmental data-collection stations, of which more than 250 are planned. A key area being monitored for temperature, moisture, carbon dioxide and ozone is the Amazon River basin and the rain forests. The SCD 1, costing ...
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Ariane 5 evolution
The need for an early growth version of Ariane 5, to meet the demand for higher launch weights, has been deemed essential by Arianespace if it is to compete with other launchers into the next century. A decision on development of the Evolution will probably be taken at the Toulouse ...