All Space news – Page 181
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Asteroid target
NASA's Discovery programme spacecraft - the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) - is on course for a close encounter with the asteroid 433 Eros on 14 February, 2000, following a 2min burn of its hydrazine engine. NEAR will spend a year orbiting Eros and sending back data and images. Source: ...
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US export changes hit Canada
Canadian industry is struggling to cope with changes to US export controls which have curtailed its access to US technology and markets. The special status previously accorded to Canadian companies has been removed following changes to US International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITARs). As a result, US companies now ...
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Italian ISS module goes to Kennedy
Italy's second Alenia Aerospazio-built International Space Station (ISS) Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard an Airbus Beluga freighter in preparation for its launch on the Space Shuttle STS100 Endeavour next July. The first MPLM - Leonardo - will fly in June, on ...
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First ISS commercial deal won by Spacehab
Spacehab and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have signed an agreement which provides the US company with access to the International Space Station (ISS). In exchange for its contribution to the ISS, Canada is entitled to space on the ISS to conduct experiments. The CSA is letting half of ...
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First European experiments for space station ready to fly
Two European Space Agency (ESA) experiments will be flying on the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. A global transmission service (GTS) and the Matroshka radiation monitor will be aboard Russia's Zvezda service module in November . The GTS uses a transmitter with two dedicated frequencies to ...
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Globalstar services to begin in October
Globalstar will launch initial global mobile communications satellite services on 10 October, coinciding with the Geneva Telecom telecommunications show. The launch is being made possible following the company securing a $500 million credit facility with the Bank of America. The company, led by Loral Space and Communications and ...
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Mir crew deploy delayed antenna
Mir space station cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Sergei Avdeyev completed a 5h 30min spacewalk on 25 July - probably the last to be made from the Russian craft. The cosmonauts completed the deployment of a prototype unfurlable communications antenna that could not be deployed during a walk on 23 July. ...
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Pollution threat
It will not be possible to enter earth orbit or break into deep space safely in 50 years' time unless the rate of space pollution can be reduced, says Russian scientist Vladimir Lebedev. Eight thousand objects over 10cm in diameter are in orbit with 3.5 million pieces smaller than 1mm. ...
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Lunar Prospector fails to find water
NASA's Lunar Prospector hit the south pole of the moon as planned on 31 July, but no vapour plume was detected after the impact. Scientists hope that an as-yet undetected faint plume may contain traces of either water or the hydroxyl radical formed when sunlight splits a hydrogen atom away ...
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Seal plug identified as culprit for Columbia's fuel leaks
Tim Furniss/LONDON Three liquid hydrogen coolant tubes - not one as had been presumed earlier - in one of the main engines of last month's Space Shuttle STS93 Columbia were punctured by a small plug used to seal a liquid oxygen injector tube which came loose as the ...
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Russian, US booster faults isolated
Tim Furniss/LONDON The failure of the first Proton M booster last month, was caused by a fire in the turbopump of the second stage engine. The fire was started by a stray particle of aluminium, says Russia's Khrunichev. At T+277s, the fire started in the Voronezh-built No 3 ...
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Zarya ISS module made US crew ill
Crewmembers of Space Shuttle Discovery/STS96, which docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in May, suffered headaches, irritated eyes, nausea and vomiting inside the Russian Zarya control module, possibly caused by the build-up of excess carbon dioxide. The symptoms, which subsided when the crew returned to the Shuttle orbiter ...
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Shuttle dependent
The International Space Station is too dependent on the Space Shuttle, say NASA and prime contractor Boeing Tim Furniss/LONDON Flying more than seven Space Shuttle missions a year could jeopardise safety, says astronaut Brewster Shaw, who heads the Boeing International Space Station programme. This conclusion - supported by NASA - ...
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ILS assigned exclusive rights to market Angara launchers
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin and Krunichev have agreed to assign exclusive marketing rights for the Angara family of launchers to their joint venture, International Launch Services (ILS). Krunichev is developing the Angara as a successor to the Proton launcher, marketed commercially by ILS. The first launch is ...
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DARPA plans robotic workhorse
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to demonstrate a robotic spacecraft capable of refuelling, repairing or reconfiguring satellites in orbit. If it is funded, the Advanced Space Transportation and Robotic Orbiter (ASTRO) technology demonstrator would be flown in late 2001. With ...
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Columbia returns to Kennedy after initial mission hiccups
Tim Furniss/LONDON The STS93/Columbia Space Shuttle mission ended on 28 July with a night landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The launch on 23 July - thwarted earlier by an erroneous sensor at T-7s and by lightning - continued to be eventful after it was airborne, coming close ...
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Soyuz crew
Russian Talgat Musabayev will command a Soyuz TM-A mission in October next year to the International Space Station with flight engineer Nadezhda Kuzhelnaya. Source: Flight International
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Finding a role
Russia's new launcher family is searching for a niche in the market Tim Furniss/LONDON A family of new Russian launchers called Angara could be competing in the commercial market by 2001. The Angaras, designed by Russia's Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Centre, will fly from a modified launch ...
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First taker for SpaceDev asteroid mission
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC SpaceDev has secured the first customer for its planned commercial asteroid rendezvous mission. The company has signed a $200,000 contract with Dojin to carry a package on the Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP), to rendezvous with asteroid Nereus in January 2002. Poway, California-based SpaceDev already ...
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India urges industry to join launcher venture
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is seeking increased industry participation in its commercial launch vehicle programme. Following the successful first commercial launch of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in May, ISRO wants the country's manufacturing industry to upgrade its role from that of supplying launch vehicle subsystems ...