All Space news – Page 170
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X-38 prototype makes longest glide flight
The X-38 small-scale prototype of the Crew Rescue Vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station made its longest glide-flight from the highest altitude to date on 30 March. The craft was dropped from a NASA B-52 at 39,000ft (11,895m) and landed the craft by parachuting to the desert floor near ...
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Cosmonauts board Mir as USA raises money concerns
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russian cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri docked with the Mir space station on 6 April after their launch on a Soyuz TM spacecraft from Baikonur on 4 April. It is the first manned mission to the ageing station since it was abandoned in August 1999. ...
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NASA shake test error damages HESSI satellite
The launch of NASA's High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) set for July has been delayed until at least January next year by a pre-flight test error at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The $65 million HESSI spacecraft was undergoing launch vibration testing on a shake table, but was shaken ...
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Glass cockpit ready for take-off
STS 101 Atlantis will be the first Space Shuttle orbiter to fly with the new Multifunction Display Subsystem (MEDS) developed by Honeywell Space Systems when its next mission is launched on 24 April. The new Boeing 777-style glass cockpit will also be added to the Columbia, Discovery and Endeavour orbiters. ...
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Feared engine fault delays Clusters
A possible generic problem with the thrusters on the four European Space Agency (ESA) Cluster satellites due to be launched by Starsem's Soyuz Fregat boosters in June and July has delayed the spacecraft's shipment to the Baikonur launch site in Khazakhstan. The flight acceptance review discovered a problem apparently ...
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Gyroscope snags lead to Compton de-orbit
NASA will de-orbit its Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite sometime after 1 June, following the failure of one of its three gyroscopes. The US space agency has decided to de-orbit the Compton, the second in NASA's Great Observatory series - which was deployed from Space Shuttle Atlantis in April 1991 ...
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Delta II launches IMAGE satellite
NASA's $154 million Imager for Magnetosphere-to-Auroral Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite was placed into orbit by a Boeing Delta II booster after launch from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 25 March. The satellite, operating from an 987 x 45,993km, 89.9°-inclination orbit, will be the first to study how the Earth's magnetic ...
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Overload 'caused Mars failures'
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Flaws in NASA's "faster, better, cheaper" approach overloaded programme management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and contributed directly to the failures of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, says the report by the Mars programme independent assessment team (MPIAT). The US space agency ...
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Loral wins MTSAT replacement
Space Systems/Loral has been awarded a contract by Japan's Ministry of Transport to build the replacement for the MTSAT satellite lost in the failure of the national H2 booster last year. The MTSAT 1R will be launched in 2002, but its launcher and launch site have yet to be ...
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Service mission to keep Zarya reliable
The 496-day reliability guarantee for the electronic equipment on the Russian Zarya control module of the International Space Station (ISS) ran out on 30 March. Its life will be extended further with a servicing mission performed by Space Shuttle mission STS101, due for launch later on 24 April. ...
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X-33 deal in renegotiation talks
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA and Lockheed Martin are renegotiating their co-operative agreement on the X-33 technology demonstrator and follow-on VentureStar reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The talks are a result of technical problems with the X-33 and the decision by NASA both to delay and open to competition its ...
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Starsem success in Cluster
Starsem demonstrated the flight profile for launches of two pairs of Cluster satellites in June and July, using a dummy satellite on a Starsem Soyuz Fregat booster from Baikonur on 20 March . The Fregat upper stage's first firing placed the Dumsat payload into initial low Earth orbit. The ...
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Zvezda is cleared for launch despite poor safety levels
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has cleared the launch in July of the Russian Zvezda service module for the International Space Station (ISS), despite US concerns about the failure of the Zvezda and Zarya modules to meet NASA safety standards, such as noise levels and pressurisation integrity. NASA says it ...
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NASA stands up to Mars critics
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON NASA is braced for further criticism of its "faster, better, cheaper" approach, with release of an independent review of recent Mars mission failures due this week. In response to the expected criticism, administrator Daniel Goldin has warned that "NASA will not change course." The Mars Programme ...
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Ariane 5 makes first dual-satellite launch
Ariane 505 flight V128 was launched from Kourou on 21 March, carrying the Asiastar and Insat 3B. It was the first commercial dual-satellite deployment mission by the heavylift booster and its second commercial flight. Ariane 505 carried a 4,835kg (10,650lb) payload to a 560 x 35,785km (350 x 22,225 ...
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NASA replaces Shuttle main engine
NASA is to replace a Space Shuttle main engine on the orbiter Atlantis, being prepared for its STS101 mission to the fledgling International Space Station in mid-April. After finding a defective part inside a metal seal on an engines being prepared for Discovery's mission to the Hubble Space Telescope last ...
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Dump compensation
Boeing has offered to reimburse NASA for the loss of two spare oxygen and nitrogen tanks, valued at $750,000, built for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The 1.5 x 1.5m tanks (5 x 5ft) were left outside an ISS component assembly building in wooden crates and were accidentally ...
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Slow service take-up hits Globalstar/Iridium
Loral Space and Communications is considering selling all or part of its 45% stake in the Globalstar worldwide mobile-communications satellite system following slower than expected sales of the telephone service. Meanwhile, Iridium prime investor Motorola has notified customers of its worldwide satellite mobile-telephone and paging services that it will ...
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NASA reacts to study criticisms
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has promised swift action following criticism in three separate reports of the space agency's Space Shuttle and "faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft programmes. The Space Shuttle Assessment Team has criticised NASA for cutting staff at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), saying that it has eroded safety - ...