Space – Page 186
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Russia abandons Mir after NASA pressure
The Russian Space Agency says it will have to decommission the Mir space station in February 2000 and take it out of orbit due to the "need to contribute to the International Space Station [ISS] and the failure of efforts to find alternative private funding". Mir, which has been ...
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Chandra cleared for launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The STS93 Space Shuttle mission to deploy the Chandra X-ray telescope has been cleared to fly on 22 July. The much-delayed Columbia launch has been put on hold because of concerns about its Boeing inertial upper stage (IUS) after a similar stage failed during a US Air ...
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Israel supports launcher plan
The Israeli Ministry of Defence is supporting efforts to develop a satellite launcher based on a design of Dov Raviv, who was responsible for the development of the Arrow missile. The Israeli Government is not contributing funding to the programme, so Raviv is seeking private investment to start the ...
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Mir August mission likely to be scrapped
The Russian Energia company, which manages Soyuz and Mir missions, looks likely to cancel the Mir mission planned for August, because of funding difficulties. The move comes as Russian President Boris Yeltsin has instructed his space officials to concentrate on the International Space Station (ISS) rather than the Mir. ...
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Lunar impact
NASA is considering targeting its Lunar Prospector at a specific site on the moon before it makes a natural descent, so that it can investigate the existence of water ice. The controlled crash into the Mawson crater at the moon's south pole in July/August will be observed by telescopes, focusing ...
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Taiwan investors get go-ahead to board K-1 reusable vehicle
Andrzej Jeziorski /SINGAPORE The Taiwanese Ministry of Finance has given several Taiwanese banks the green light to invest in the Kistler Aerospace K-1 reusable launch vehicle. The ministry is understood to support the plan primarily because of commitments made by Kistler to offer parts supply contracts to Taiwanese ...
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VentureStar fails to attract private interest
Lockheed Martin has failed to attract private investment for its proposed VentureStar single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) re-usable launch vehicle. The company says it will need government funding or loan guarantees to allow development. Without this, the project will not go forward, says Peter Teets, Lockheed Martin president and chief executive, who ...
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India launches commercial satellites
Tim Furniss/LONDON India entered the commercial satellite launch market on 26 May, when a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was fired from Sriharikota. It carried an Indian 1,050kg (2,300lb) Oceansat 1 monitoring satellite and two sub-satellite payloads from South Korea and Germany into a 727km (450 mile) polar earth ...
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H-2A second stage engine set to power Japan's MT-SAT
Andrzej Jeziorski/PARIS Rocket System (RSC) of Japan will confirm the performance of the second-stage engine of its modified H-2A launch vehicle in an H-2 flight scheduled for the third quarter of this year. According to RSC executive vice-president Hiroshi Imamura, the LE-5B engine is being installed into the ...
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Pegasus places satellites in orbit
An Orbital Sciences (OSC) Pegasus booster was air-launched over the Pacific on 18 May, placing Terriers and Mublcom satellites into low earth orbit. The OSC-built 48kg Mublcom is a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/US Army Communications Electronics Command spacecraft designed to demonstrate to combat forces and civil users ...
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Starcraft Boosters seeks partners
Starcraft Boosters is looking for industrial partners to develop its StarBooster 200 concept for the early low-risk introduction of a reusable launch vehicle. Starcraft chairman and former Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin believes the technology for a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle is not ready. "I do not believe that a ...
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Remote Agent controls Deep Space 1 New Millennium craft
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence as a primary means of controlling a spacecraft. The space agency's New Millennium programme flagship, Deep Space 1, has been placed under the full control of the craft's Remote Agent. The spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral on 24 October ...
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Russian delays 'cost $1.2 billion'
Contingency planning for Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS) will add $1.2 billion to the project's cost, says the US General Accounting Office (GAO). Delays in completing the Russian Service Module for the ISS have contributed to a two-year hold-up in the programme. In addition, NASA concedes ...
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Foreign relations
Crew compatibility will be a major influence in the International Space Station Tim Furniss/LONDON US, Russian, Japanese, European and Canadian cosmonauts and astronauts will soon take part in a 240-day simulation of life aboard the International Space Station (ISS) at the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems in Moscow. ...
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Euroconsult predicts healthy future for commercial satellites
Industry consultancy Euroconsult predicts healthy growth in demand for commercial satellite launches over the next decade. Speaking at the First World Summit on the Space Transportation Business, in Paris on 10-11 May, Euroconsult's executive vice-president for space and communications, Rachel Villain, predicted that demand will average 132-163 satellite launches ...
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ESA nations commit funding to Galileo system
Julian Moxon/BRUSSELS Europe has launched the Galileo second-generation global satellite-navigation system after receiving strong financial commitments from European Space Agency (ESA) nations at the ESA ministerial meeting in Brussels on 11-12 May. The joint ESA/European Union (EU) Galileo programme has firmed up only recently, as it has become clear ...
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Rotary Rocket holds Virgin funding talks
Andrzej Jeziorski/PARIS California's Rotary Rocket is in talks with UK millionaire and Virgin founder Richard Branson on funding for its Roton re-usable launch vehicle (RLV) programme. Rotary Rocket chief executive Gary Hudson is understood to have met Branson to discuss the programme. The company needs about $150 million ...
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ISS Shuttle mission set for launch
The Space Shuttle Discovery will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 20 May on STS96, to rendezvous and dock with the first two elements on the International Space Station (ISS). A week's delay because of damage to the insulation of the external tank, caused by hailstones, may ...
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Older E-2Cs may be sold
Paul Lewis/BETHPAGE Northrop Grumman and the US Navy are discussing offering older Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft for sale on the international market, while also negotiating to place retired A-6E Intruders with at least one potential operator. The US Navy is starting to phase ...
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Hyper-X test on track for July
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The first hypersonic X-43A test vehicle, designed to demonstrate the use of an airframe-integrated scramjet (supersonic ramjet), is expected to be delivered to NASA in July. The 3.6m (11ft)-long X-43A forms the core of NASA's Hyper-X programme. This is aimed at proving the use of air-breathing ...