All Space news – Page 177
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Hyper-X test date put back to May
Flight testing of the first hypersonic X-43A air-breathing free-flight vehicle has slipped by around three months to the end of next May. The delay follows the later-than-expected arrival of the experimental craft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California. The 3.6m (12ft)-long X-43A is a key part ...
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Starsem is cleared for Baikonur
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Franco-Russian venture Starsem has been cleared to launch a Soyuz booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, this month. The launch had been jeopardised when the Kazakh Government banned all launches from Baikonur after the 27 October Proton booster failure - the second recently. Starsem president Jean-Yves ...
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X-33's first flight may be delayed until 2001
The maiden flight of the Lockheed Martin/NASA X-33 sub-orbital technology demonstrator for future single-stage-to-orbit vehicles is likely to be delayed from next July until early 2001. The hold-up is due to damage to the demonstrator's liquid hydrogen (LH) tanks. The outer wall of one of the X-33's two ...
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Beagle 2 Mars lander gets ESA go ahead
The European Space Agency (ESA) has given the go-ahead for the UK to build the Beagle 2 lander, which is scheduled to ride aboard the space agency's Mars Express orbiter when it launches in June 2003. The UK Beagle team, which is led by the country's Open University and ...
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Cold may cripple Mars Lander's engine
Tim Furniss/LONDON The NASA panel investigating the loss of the $327 million Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) has uncovered a potential problem with the Mars Polar Lander (MPL), which is due to touch down on 3 December. NASA has found that temperatures as low as -20°C could affect the performance of ...
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Hubble mission aims for December
Space Shuttle mission STS 103/Discovery has been cleared for launch on 6 December, to complete the third service of the Hubble Space Telescope. The spacecraft stack was scheduled to be rolled to launch pad 39B on 13 November. NASA replaced the orbiter's main engine number three in the Vehicle ...
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Comet chaser
Europe's Rosetta mission will be the first to land a craft on a comet Tim Furniss/LONDON The European Space Agency (ESA) will make history in 2012 when its 100kg Rosetta makes the first soft landing of a spacecraft on a comet. The Rosetta mission launch is due in January 2003, ...
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Ikonos returns quality images from Space
Steve Nichols/DUBAI If you want a bird's eye view of Dubai, try visiting Space Imaging Middle East (E820). The company is showing some of the first high-resolution photographic images of the United Arab Emirates, taken by the recently-launched Ikonos satellite. Ikonos is the world's first commercial high-resolution imaging satellite, circling ...
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SpaceDev wins spacecraft deal
SpaceDev, the commercial space exploration and development company, has been selected by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley to design, build and operate a micro-spacecraft. The vehicle will conduct a one-year astronomy mission in low earth orbit. The spacecraft, the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma ...
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Beagle 2 to face ESA
The UK's Open University-led Beagle 2 Mars lander project goes before the European Space Agency's (ESA) Science Programme Committee on 10 November. It is bidding to take a piggyback ride aboard the ESA Mars Express orbiter in 2003. The 60kg (130lb) Beagle 2 is not yet fully funded but ...
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ISS suffers further delays
Tim Furniss/LONDON The International Space Station (ISS) project has been dealt a new blow with the delay of the next Space Shuttle assembly mission, STS101 Atlantis. NASA has moved it from February next year to no earlier than 16 March. This comes after the Russian Proton launch failure ...
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Fire in Proton second stage caused engine failure
The failure of the Proton booster on 27 October was caused by "fire in the turbopump of the second stage", says the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Engine No 1 on the booster's second stage failed, followed by the shutdown of the other three engines, at 222s into the ...
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SSTL tests electric Resistojet in orbit
The UK's Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) has test-fired the first electric resistojet orbit control thruster to be used in space by a Western European country. It took place aboard the SSTL UoSAT 12 satellite. A resistojet is a form of electric propulsion where a fluid, such as water or ...
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Beyond the Shuttle
NASA is looking to 2020 and beyond in its search for new space transport vehicles Tim Furniss/LONDON While it acknowledges that the Space Shuttle may still be flying in 2015, NASA is looking at vehicles to complement or supplement and, eventually, to replace its current reusable space transportation system. It ...
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Spaceport Australia
Efforts to establish commercial launch facilities in Australia may deliver results, but the economics are harsh Peter La Franchi/CANBERRAThree decades ago, the former European Launcher Development Organisation walked away from the Woomera Rocket Range. Now, the re-emergence of Australia as a portal to space depends on the success of four ...
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KOMPSAT arrives
The Republic of Korea's Korean Multipurpose Satellite (KOMPSAT), has arrived at Vandenberg AFB, California, for its launch on an Orbital Sciences Taurus booster later this year. The KOMPSAT, built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute and TRW, carries space physics experiments. Source: Flight International
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ESA issues warning on space debris
The European Space Agency (ESA) is calling for the introduction of measures to prevent further space debris accumulating in orbit. ESA warns that there is a 1 in 25 chance of the Hubble Space Telescope being seriously damaged by space debris during its 17-year life. There are 8,000 pieces ...
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NASA releases new services request
NASA has released a complicated request for proposals (RFP) for multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) expendable launch vehicle launch services contracts. The RFP involves heavy, intermediate, medium and medium-light vehicles. Proposals are requested by 7 January. The RFP is open to emerging launchers not available at the ...
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Australia opts for new Optus satellite series
Tim Furniss/LONDON Australia has signed a contract with Cable & Wireless Optus (CWO) to provide the satellite and ground infrastructure for a new $327 million hybrid civil-military communications satellite, Optus C-1. The Optus C-1 is to be launched on an Ariane 5 in 2002, although the contract is ...
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US Government wants cash for NASA
The Clinton Administration is to request money in next year's budget for NASA to start a five-year programme to develop technology for a next-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV). NASA has concluded that "the current commercial market and the state of technology are not sufficiently favourable to enable private-sector development of ...