All Space news – Page 174
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Mergers
US motion control systems specialist Parker Hannifin is to buy Commercial Intertech for $366 million in cash and stock, plus the assumption of $107 million of debt. Both companies are based in Ohio. Parker has made 42 acquisitions in the last six years. The takeover of Helicopter Services of the ...
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Shuttle mission to put radar topography on the map
Tim Furniss/LONDON The launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS99 on the 11-day Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) has been set for 31 January. The launch might be delayed by the need to check and, if necessary, replace thermal protection system tiles on the elevons of the orbiter. If work ...
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MMS powers up for Intelsat satellite
Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has won a contract to build the largest and most powerful satellite to be operated by the Intelsat international communications organisation. The 5,000kg (11,000lb) Intelsat NI-Alpha will be located in geostationary orbit at 310°W longitude, and will provide services to the Americas with 36 C-band transponders. ...
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NASDA kills key programmes
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) has cancelled the H-2 launch vehicle programme and suspended several others, to focus development efforts on the H-2A rocket. Japanese space industry sources confirm that NASDA has completely reviewed its programmes and budget for the 2000 fiscal year, following the ...
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Radiation risk
The US National Research Council says NASA should take steps to reduce the risk of astronauts being exposed to large doses of radiation on spacewalks outside the International Space Station (ISS). The risks are especially high during the peak of the 11-year solar activity cycle which coincides with the ...
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US investor to offer trips to refurbished Mir space station
US entrepreneur Walt Anderson plans to set up a new company, Mir Corp, with Energia and other investors to refurbish the Mir and offer trips to the Russian space station. Anderson, who heads the Gold & Appel investment company, will go ahead with the plan if the Russian mission ...
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Snecma and P&W seek to develop cryogenic engine
Snecma's rocket engine division, Société Europèenne de Propulsion, has agreed with Pratt &Whitney to jointly develop a new cryogenic upper stage engine for the Ariane 5, Lockheed Martin Delta IV and Boeing Atlas V. The deal is based around work by the two companies on more powerful engines to ...
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X-33 flights face delay of 18 months
Lockheed Martin's VentureStar programme president Jerry Rising has confirmed that flights of the X-33 sub-orbital technology demonstrator will "definitely not" begin in July. If the decision is made to build aluminium propellant tanks for the vehicle, to replace those made of experimental lightweight composite materials, the delay will be ...
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Commercial ATV
The European Space Agency is studying modification and commercialisation of the Ariane 5-launched Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station. Changes include making it a reusable tug and launch on a new reusable vehicle like the proposed Lockheed Martin VentureStar. Source: Flight International
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ISS service module delayed
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia's Energia company has confirmed that the Zvezda service module to the International Space Station (ISS) will not be launched until August at the earliest, rather than March/April as planned. The slippage has been caused by delays in the Zvezda schedule and by concerns about the ...
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Lockheed Martin delivers Image
Lockheed Martin has delivered the NASA Imager for Magnetopause-to-Auroral Global Exploration spacecraft (IMAGE) to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, for its launch on 15 February. IMAGE, the first of NASA's Medium-class Explorer Mission spacecraft, was developed under a contract with Southwest Research Institute. IMAGE will be launched into a ...
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Intelsat options
Europe's Intelsat is to exercise options with Space Systems/Loral for two additional Intelsat IX satellites - Intelsat 906 and 907 - to be deployed to the Atlantic Ocean region to meet growing demand for Internet services. Intelsat says that this will allow two existing satellites to be redeployed to new ...
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NASA aims for first X-34 tow tests and powered flights
NASA plans to begin ground tests of the X-34 reusable launch vehicle testbed on the dry lakebed at Edwards AFB, California, in mid-February, with flight tests planned for mid-year. The ground tests will involve towing the 17.7m (6ft)-long suborbital X-34 behind a truck for more than 3,000m across Rogers ...
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Boeing lifts space business with Hughes satellite buy
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing is buying Hughes Electronics' satellite manufacturing business for $3.75 billion in cash. The deal will boost Boeing's space revenue by 35%, to $10 billion a year - a figure the company expects to double by 2009. Renamed Boeing Satellite Systems, the El Segundo, California-based unit ...
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Spacehab contract
Spacehab has been awarded a $4.2 million NASA contract to supply an Integrated Cargo Carrier and two Spacehab Oceaneering Space Systems Boxes - unpressurised tool boxes - for the Space Shuttle International Space Station assembly flight 7A.1 to be launched in 2001. Source: Flight International
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Indonesia and South Korea in quest for fresh launch sites
Indonesia is considering developing a $1 billion satellite launch centre on the 52km² (20 miles²) Lembe Island, in the province of North Sulawesi, close to the port of Bitung, according to the province's governor. Two more of Indonesia's 17,000 islands - Biak Island in the Bay of Cendrawasih and ...
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Uncertainties hit NASA's Space Shuttle schedule for 2000
Tim Furniss/LONDON This year's first Space Shuttle mission - the 11-day STS99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission by the orbiter Endeavour (left) - will not be launched before 31 January, according to NASA's preliminary Space Shuttle schedule. This will be followed by STS101 Atlantis on an International Space Station ...
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NASA picks partners for race into space
NASA has selected six contractors for its Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition (Rapid II) programme, intended to reduce the time required to procure satellites for science and technology missions. "Indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity" contracts covering 14 different types of core spacecraft bus have been awarded to Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences, ...
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Orbital wins NASA science contract
NASA has awarded Orbital Sciences a $35 million contract to launch two science satellites in 2002, using its Pegasus air-launched booster. The US/Canadian SCISAT-1 mission to study ozone production in the upper atmosphere will lift off from Vandenberg AFB, California, in the second quarter of 2002. The Orbital-built ...
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Young will head Mars inquiry
Former Lockheed Martin executive Thomas Young has been appointed by NASA to lead the Mars Program Independent Assessment team. It will review the failures of the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), Mars Polar Lander (MPL) and the space agency's approach to robotic exploration. The MCO was lost on 23 September and ...