All Space news – Page 172
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White House calls for range efficiency
Commercial users should have a greater say in running US space launch ranges, concludes a White House-led interagency review of the future management and use of these government-owned facilities. The review was launched last March in response to issues raised by the growth of US commercial launch activity and ...
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NASA research for Spectrum Astro
Spectrum Astro has just been awarded a Phase II contract for its Optimal Orbit Transfer Analysis for Advanced Space Systems project under NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme. The contract provides for a two-year period of performance and funding for the development of prototype software capable of analysing ...
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NASA promises more Shuttle support
NASA will hire 1,850 more engineers in the next five years to concentrate on improvements to the Space Shuttle main engines, auxiliary power units and cockpit avionics. The move follows an independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel assessment which concluded that NASA's manned spaceflight team is too small and too ...
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Proton on course for Zvezda launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON The prospects for a launch of the Russian Zvezda service module to the International Space Station (ISS) in July were raised on 12 February by the successful lift-off of a four-stage Proton DM booster from Baikonur. The rocket carried the Asia Cellular System (ACeS) Garuda 1 mobile ...
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MIR hopes
MirCorp, established last year to fund the continuation of operations of the Russian Mir space station, says it has paid Russian company Khrunichev about $30 million to keep the orbiting base in space until the summer. The company needs to raise $40 million more from investors. Meanwhile, Russian scientists propose ...
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Reusable Fregat proves concept with return flight
Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW Tim Furniss/LONDON The Fregat upper stage was tested successfully for the first time on 9 February attached to a Soyuz booster. The Soyuz-Fregat placed into orbit and returned to Earth a dummy payload weighing about 110kg. The Fregat is a reusable module which has a unique ...
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NASA consents to Contour after Eros lift
NASA has approved the start of development of the Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) spacecraft, which will be launched in 2002 to fly past up to three comets between 2003 and 2008. Contour, which is managed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland, which also built the ...
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Tarnished image
Three Japanese satellite launches in the last two years have failed: the country's space programme is in crisis Andrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Japan's space programme has been tarnished by a series of launch failures that culminated this month in the unsuccessful mission to deliver a government observation satellite into orbit aboard ...
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X-33 engine passes test milestones
The X-33 Technology Demonstrator's linear aerospike engine has been test fired for 125s at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It was the longest test to date at 100% power for the Boeing Rocketdyne engine, exceeding a previous run by 30s. The test also featured the first demonstration of ...
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Ikonos satellite imagery knocks security for a loop
Tim Ripley Singapore would opt to purchase a ground station to allow greater access to digital imagery from the Ikonos satellite for "targeting purposes". The commercially-funded satellite was launched last September by Lockheed Martin and the Space Imaging consortium, which involves US giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Japan's ...
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China to send men into space
Tim Furniss China is ready to become the world's third nation to put a man into space. The second launch of a Long March 2F booster with the Chinese Shen Zhou spacecraft from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert is expected this year to test the craft before a ...
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Lockheed Martin enters the airline training marketplace
Lockheed Martin has surprised the airline training industry by announcing the creation of a commercial flight simulator centre. The Orlando, Florida-based facility will open in the second quarter of this year. The company says the move reflects its need to diversify while remaining close to its core business. A ...
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Mars exploration discussed
Representatives from four international space agencies met at the British National Space Centre in London this month to discuss their plans for Mars exploration. NASA intends to launch a Mars orbiter and lander next January, but these plans may change as a result of last year's investigations into the ...
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NASA studies use of UAVs for research into earth sciences
NASA plans to award at least two multiyear contracts to demonstrate whether unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) can support earth science research. The space agency says the technology has progressed to the point that UAVs could "become a robust component of the suborbital programme in earth science". The UAV-based ...
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NASA test flies X-38 parafoil for CRVs
The world's largest parafoil parachute was test-flown last month as part of NASA's X-38 lifting body prototype project, . The project could lead to the development of four operational crew return vehicles (CRVs) for the International Space Station. They are designed to return crews in an emergency. The ...
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Globalstar is ready to go
A Boeing Delta II booster placed four more Globalstar satellites into orbit on 8 February after lift-off from Cape Canaveral. One will become the 48th and final craft in the operating constellation for the Space Systems/ Loral-led worldwide global mobile communications system. The other three will be in-orbit spares. ...
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Internet drives satellite growth
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Demand for Internet services is becoming a driving force behind the creation and expansion of satellite communications networks. While new entrants iSKY and NetSat28 have announced plans to launch broadband satellites dedicated to providing high-speed Internet access, established operators - including Eutelsat and Loral - are ...
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AEW on the attack
After solving a sensitive technology transfer issue to clinch Australia's Wedgetail programme, Boeing/Northrop Grumman has Asia in sight Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC On Northrop Grumman's map of prospective customers for airborne warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, only one country is marked as conquered - Australia. Next to fall, the company ...
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Japan suffers another launch failure
Japan's space programme has suffered another severe blow with the failure of an M-5 rocket launch and the loss of the Astro-E astronomical observation satellite on 10 January. The failure is being attributed to a first-stage nozzle malfunction, and comes three months after the ¥34.3 billion ($320 million) in-flight ...