All Space news – Page 180
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Orbital Sciences wins licence to swap information with Canada
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Orbital Sciences (OSC) has received a US export licence to exchange technical information with Canadian subsidiary McDonald, Detwiler & Associates (MDA), raising hopes that the US company will be allowed to supply the spacecraft for Canada's Radarsat-2 earth observation satellite. Delays in granting the licence ...
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SeaStar captures Hurricane Dennis development
The development of Hurricane Dennis late last month was tracked by the Orbital Sciences-built SeaStar satellite. The satellite, launched in 1997, uses a Hughes-built instrument - the Sea-Viewing Wide Field Sensor (SeaWiFS) - which is providing multi-spectral ocean colour data to NASA under a five-year contract for the space agency's ...
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Wiring problems force Space Shuttle delays
Checks on wiring inside the payload bays of all Space Shuttle orbiters following the short circuits during the STS93 Columbia launch have revealed similar damage to all the spacecraft. The orbiter Endeavour has the most serious problems, with over 20 damaged areas of wiring, including some sections down to bare ...
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Boeing bases future designs on X-37
Boeing is looking at future launch vehicle designs which use a derivative of the X-37 experimental spaceplane as a reusable upper stage. "We are looking at expendable launch vehicle options under our contract [with NASA] and we are also looking at air-launched versions," says Boeing X-37 programme manager David ...
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NASA discusses X-33 upgrade
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA and Lockheed Martin are discussing follow-on flight testing of the X-33 to further reduce the risk attached to commercial development of the planned VentureStar reusable launch vehicle. The X-33 technology demonstrator has yet to fly, but talks are under way on an ...
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More delays expected on ISS
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA is expected to announce further delays to the International Space Station (ISS) assembly schedule. The STS101 Atlantis mission to the ISS, which was due in December, is likely to be delayed until next year, and the major Shuttle assembly mission 3A is expected to be pushed ...
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Hughes wins contract for two more Astra satellites
Satellite television and radio service provider Société Européenne des Satellites (SES) has contracted Hughes Space and Communications to build the Astra 2C and 2D communications satellites to help meet the growing demand for digital services. The new satellites will operate from 28.2°E in geostationary orbit, primarily serving the UK ...
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NASA and Orbital revamp X-34 testing plans to reduce risk
NASA and Orbital Sciences have revised the test programme for the X-34 reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator to reduce risk. The first airframe, vehicle A-1, will be upgraded for unpowered flight tests from Orbital's Lockheed L-1011 carrier aircraft. The vehicle has completed one captive flight on the L-1011, and ...
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Shuttle may salvage Orion 3
Tim Furniss/LONDON Hughes Space and Communications and NASA are discussing a possible Space Shuttle mission in 2001 to capture the stranded Loral Skynet Orion 3 communications satellite. The craft was left in the wrong orbit by a failed Delta III launch in May. The mission, which will resemble that ...
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In the works
Tailless fighters, reusable space vehicles, blended wing body transports and hypersonic strike missiles are just some of the technologies on the drawing board at Boeing's Phantom Works Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing's Phantom Works appears increasingly aptly named as it becomes a "virtual" organisation linking the aerospace giant's advanced development centres. ...
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Arianespace keeps commercial lead
Tim Furniss/LONDON Arianespace is maintaining its lead in the commercial launcher market with contracts to launch three more satellites, bringing to 43 the number of satellites on its orderbook, worth $3.5 billion. The contracts push Arianespace's satellite launch orders past 200 since it was created in 1980. The ...
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Cassini has close encounter with earth
The NASA Cassini spacecraft flew 1,171km (730 miles) over the South Pacific Ocean on 17 August, picking up 5.5km/s of speed in the third of four planned fly-bys to place the craft en route to its rendezvous with Saturn in July 2004. Two Venus fly-bys have been completed and a ...
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SpaceDev offers low-cost flights
SpaceDev is offering commercial missions for small scientific and other types of payload to the moon and Mars for a fixed price of $20 million and $24 million, respectively. The company plans to offer the commercial Mars mission for launch in 2003. Meanwhile, Space Dev is continuing with plans ...
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Boeing launch brings Globalstar total to 36
Boeing launched a Delta II from Cape Canaveral on 17 August, carrying four more Globalstar satellites into orbit. This latest launch brings to 17 the number of spacecraft launched on Deltas in 68 days - a record number of launches in such a period. The 17 satellites were 16 ...
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OSC to build ozone monitoring spacecraft for NASA project
NASA has chosen Orbital Sciences (OSC) to build, launch and operate the QuikTOMS atmospheric ozone monitoring satellite. QuikTOMS will be integrated with the OSC-built Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument. OSC has built five TOMS sensors for NASA, with the latest sensor launched aboard a US Earth Probe satellite ...
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Wiring worry delays Shuttle mission
NASA has delayed the STS 99/Endeavour Shuttle Topography Radar Mission from 16 September to at least early October so that technicians can conduct a full inspection of the orbiter's cargo bay for damaged wiring. STS93/Columbia suffered a short circuit at T+5s on 23 July because of damage to a ...
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Too late
Iridium's project for a constellation of satellites providing a global telephone service seemed to have real credibility in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Unfortunately, as is often the case with pioneering high technology, high investment schemes, it took too long to materialise, rendering the company a legend even before its own ...
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Iridium seeks rescue package as it files for bankruptcy
Tim Furniss/LONDON Mobile satellite communications company Iridium is striving to put together a financial rescue plan after filing for bankruptcy protection from its creditors on 13 August. As the Motorola-led company works on the plan, fellow start-up mobile satellite communications (satcom) company ICO Global Communications is feeling the "Iridium ...
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Chinese launch
China's state media has reported that the country plans to launch an orbital test of a crewless spacecraft by the end of the year and put a person into orbit in about 2005. A Space Shuttle-type vehicle is also planned, but its development will depend on a new Long March ...