All Space news – Page 183
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Hermes knowhow lives again
Dassault Aviation is talking to NASA on conducting further aerodynamics design work on the International Space Station (ISS) Crew Research Vehicle (CRV) and the X-38 reuseable spaceplane, using technology from its ditched Hermes programme. NASA chief Daniel Goldin says the work carried out so far by the French company ...
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Mechanical faults delay Japan's moon probe launch
The launch of Japan's Lunar-A space probe will be delayed for at least another three years, following mechanical faults. The launch was originally planned for mid-1997 and postponed on two occasions by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, because of mechanical problems. During tests, two "penetrators" - which ...
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Rotary Rocket woos investors with low-risk Roton engine
Rotary Rocket will use a low-risk conventional engine for its Roton flight demonstrator, rather than the original RocketJet engine, "so that the development programme can be concluded more rapidly and with less technical risk". The move is believed to be in response to investor concern about the use of new ...
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NASA could pay Russians more to build Space Station module
Tim Furniss/LONDON Frederic Castel/PARIS NASA is considering providing funding to Russia in exchange for hardware to ensure that the Russian service module for the International Space Station (ISS) makes its 12 November launch. Any shortfall in payments by the Russian Government could delay further the launch of the $320 million module ...
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Icy crater
Close-up radar images of the lunar south and north poles by NASA's tracking network antenna indicate that deep craters that do not receive direct sunlight may hold ice deposits. NASA's Lunar Prospector could release up to 18kg of water vapour from the craters when it makes its scheduled controlled crash ...
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Chinese aim for first manned Long March mission in 2003
Tim Furniss/LONDON China will launch the first unmanned test flight of its spacecraft and booster system next year in preparation for its first manned mission in 2003. China Great Wall Industry (CGWIC) says the manned space programme will involve an uprated version of the Long March 2E satellite launch ...
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Successful Delta II launch cheers Boeing
A Delta II booster lifted Boeing's morale on 10 June, when a successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, placed four Globalstar satellites into orbit. It was the first launch since the Delta III mission failed in May. The Delta II is lined up for four more missions this summer, ...
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Eurockot plans Iridium launch on converted SS-19 ballistic missiles
The Russian-German Eurockot company has won a contract from Motorola for the December launch of two Iridium mobile communications satellites. This will be the first launch by the commercial organisation, which uses Rockot-converted Russian SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles as launch vehicles. Eurockot, a joint venture of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and ...
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NASA gives Hamilton $115 million Space Station contract
Hamilton Sundstrand has won a $115 million contract from NASA to design, develop and qualify water and oxygen generation assemblies for the International Space Station (ISS). This is one of the largest development programmes undertaken by the company, which will be renamed Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, following United ...
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Aerospace Industry Awards - the winners
The aerospace industry's major achievements of the past year were recognised in the Flight International Aerospace Industry Awards 1999 at a spectacular gala dinner during the Paris air show. The event, on 14 June at Le Musée des Arts Forains - home of the largest collection of fairground attractions in ...
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Russia develops new family of boosters
Russia's Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Centre has introduced a family of launchers which could compete in the commercial market by 2001. The largest of the five proposed Angara launchers has a maximum performance to low earth orbit of 28t and can place 7,600kg (16,520lb) into geostationary transfer ...
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Germany plans RLV flights
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) is to build a demonstrator to develop reuseable launch vehicle (RLV) technology, with test flights to begin in 2002. The 6m (20ft)-long, rocket-powered Phoenix demonstrator is intended as a testbed for RLV technologies that could later be applied to a longer-term, two-stage to orbit RLV programme ...
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Shuttle could fly until 2020
NASA's Space Shuttle could still be flying in the year 2020 or even 2030, a Boeing executive said yesterday. Richard Stephens, vice-president and general manager of the company's reusable space systems division, says the Shuttle's four-orbiter fleet, which is approaching its 100th flight, is only 25% through its lifetime. ...
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Former astronaut questions Shuttle flight rate
Tim Furniss Former Shuttle astronaut Brewster Shaw, now heading the Boeing space station programme, has questioned the optimistic flight rate of 10 to 12 missions per year which NASA is suggesting may be required to keep the International Space Station (ISS) on target for completion in 2004. Shaw, ...
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Plate supplier
A new century has arrived at Hall 4/F11, where a leading name in the aluminium industry is making its first appearance at the Paris air show. Major commercial and military aircraft manufacturers have made Century Aluminium a preferred supplier of heat-treated plate. Aerospace plate is Century's premier product, ...
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ESA plans mission to retrieve Mars sample
Tim Furniss The European Space Agency (ESA) and the French space agency (CNES) are part of an international effort to return samples of the Martian surface to Earth in 2008. The Mars bid will begin in 2003 with the launch of a Delta III booster which will despatch ...
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Fear of failure makes launch industry nervous
Tim Furniss Satellites failing in space. Spacecraft problems delaying launches. Launch failures. This has been the story of the past year - and the nightmare may not be over. What has gone wrong? Today, we depend on satellites to such an extent that it can directly affect us. ...
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Phantom Works tackles advanced commercial design
Boeing's Phantom Works, which started life in secrecy as part of fighter builder McDonnell Douglas, has begun to get involved in advanced development work for Boeing's commercial airliner group. The Phantom Works is now a "virtual" operation, headquartered in St Louis, but with outposts at all of Boeing's major ...
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First European experiments for ISS ready to fly
Two European Space Agency (ESA) experiments will be flying on the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. Flying on Russia's Zvezda service module in November will be a global transmission services (GTS) service and the Matroshka radiation monitor, ESA announced at the show. The GTS uses ...
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Female team shows who's boss
The success of Thermal Electronics is testament to the business acumen of the fairer sex. The female-owned company specialises in the production of custom cable and wire harness assemblies, printed circuit board assemblies and electronic assemblies. It now manufactures to NASA specifications through its participation in the International Space Station ...