All Space news – Page 179
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Space station may be turned over to commercial operator
NASA will consider turning the International Space Station (ISS) over to a commercial operator within five to 10 years to fund other exploration priorities, according to the space agency's administrator, Daniel Goldin. The proposal takes Nasa beyond its previously suggested plan to allow commercial companies to take up to a ...
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Marching towards orbit
Thirty years after putting its first satellite into orbit, China will test fly the vehicle that will perform its maiden manned flight Tim Furniss/LONDON The People's Republic of China may celebrate its 50th anniversary this month with the launch of an unpiloted orbital test flight of a manned launcher, 30 ...
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Metric mix-up led to Mars Orbiter loss
Confusion over the use of imperial and metric units caused the loss of the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft in late September. The NASA spacecraft was lost just minutes after its orbital insertion engine was fired to place it in orbit around the planet. The failure on 23 ...
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NASA ready to detail transporter plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA will brief the US Administration by the end of September on its proposal to spend $1.2 billion over five years to prepare for a "low risk" competition to select a next-generation space transporter by 2005. The agency is to present its plans to the US Office ...
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Safety team to probe Shuttle maintenance
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has appointed an independent industry team to review the overall safety of the Space Shuttle and its maintenance and refurbishment practices. The team will be led by Dr Henry McDonald, director of NASA's Ames Research Center. The move follows the discovery of maintenance-related damage to ...
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Arianespace moves to reduce launch backlog
Arianespace plans to launch six boosters before the end of the year in an effort to reduce the backlog of launches caused by delays to deliveries of several communications satellites earlier this year. The next mission is due on 24 September, involving the launch of a Telstar 7 satellite ...
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Mars Climate Orbiter gets lost
A software navigation error or human error is thought to have caused the loss of NASA's $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter on 23 September. The craft was lost 5min after its orbital insertion engine was fired to send it into orbit around the planet. The orbiter is thought to have ...
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Delta configuration
Boeing is developing a new Delta II configuration to launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility in late 2001. The modified two-stage Delta II will be equipped with nine larger-diameter solid rocket motors, from the Delta III, to increase payload capability to geosynchronous transfer orbit by 10%, to 4,550lb (2,060kg). Source: ...
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Cupola inspected for ISS
Astronauts from the USA and Europe were scheduled to visit the Lindholmen company in Gösteborg, Sweden, on 27 September to inspect the six-windowed cupola destined to give crewmembers a 360° view from the International Space Station (ISS). The 2m (6ft)-diameter domed, hexagonal-shaped cupola will allow crewmembers to control robotic arms ...
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Shuttle schedule switched
NASA has switched the launches of the STS100 Endeavour Shuttle Radar Topography and the STS103 Discovery Hubble servicing missions while inspection and repair work continues on the orbiter's electrical wiring (Flight International, 8-14 September). The tentative launch date for STS103 is 28 October, while STS101 is targeted for a ...
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Beal booster may fly late next year
Beal Aerospace, the privately funded company that is developing the Beal satellite launcher, could test fly a version of the booster from Cape Canaveral late next year or in early 2001. The all-liquid-fuelled three-stage BA-2 model will be as large as the Titan 4B, the USA's most powerful unmanned ...
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Fregat qualification
Starsem, the Arianespace/Aerospatiale/Russian Space Agency/Samara consortium which markets the Soyuz booster for commercial launchers, has completed qualification of the Fregat upper stage for the vehicle. Added to the Soyuz, the Fregat will improve the booster's low and medium earth orbit capability and enable it to complete planetary-type missions. The Soyuz-Fregat ...
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'Fighter phonebox' studies expand
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin plans to widen its study into using commercial satellites for military telecommunications following the successful demonstration of a call from a supersonic F-16 fighter using the Iridium low-earth orbit constellation. Commercial off-the-shelf communication systems are being viewed as a low-cost alternative to increasingly oversubscribed military ...
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NASA reveals close-up images of moons
NASA has released images of the earth's moon (above) and Io - the volcanic moon of Jupiter (below). The moon image was taken during the close flyby of the earth-moon system last month by the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn, proving the quality of the craft's imaging system in ...
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Russia restarts Baikonur Proton services with launch of Yamals
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia launched two Yamal communications satellites on a Proton K booster from Baikonur on 6 September, marking the first launch of a Proton booster since launches from Baikonur were banned by Kazakhstan after the Proton M failure on 5 July. The launch was also the first by ...
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US delays could keep Mir station in orbit
Russia's Energia company has suggested that, if funding can be found, a new crew could inhabit the Mir space station for six months next year, rather than the short visit planned to prepare the station for de-orbiting. The Russian move is in response to US delays to the International ...
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ISS leaves a headache
Astronauts are trying to play down the bouts of sickness they experienced during their visit to the International Space Station in May Tim Furniss/LONDON Several crew members of the Space Shuttle STS96 Discovery became ill during a logistics supply mission and docking with the International Space Shuttle (ISS) in May ...
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The training drain
The Kosovo conflict pushed the USAF's European forces to the limit - and created a training backlog DeeDee Doke/RAMSTEIN AB An air power victory in the Kosovo conflict did not come without cost to the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), which commands 26,000 active-duty airmen at 14 ...
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First Chandra X-ray images released
NASA has released the first two test images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, deployed into orbit by the STS93 in July. One of the images (left) shows a dramatic view of the leftovers of the Cassiopeia A supernova explosion, revealing debris, shock waves and the bright centre of the ...
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Life comes to an end for Mir space station
The Mir space station has been abandoned after a career which began with the launch of the core module in February 1986. The final habitation crew landed safely in Kazakhstan on 28 August. Although another crew may be launched to prepare the space station for its de-orbiting early next ...