All Space news – Page 196
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The complete cycle
Julian Moxon/PARIS In October, the Ariane 503 launcher will release a cone-shaped craft on a re-entry mission, repeating what the USA first did with the Mercury capsule 37 years ago. While this may seem like re-inventing the wheel, the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD)mission is designed to show that, ...
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Express lift to Mars
Tim Furniss/LONDON Selecting a possible landing craft later this summer will be the last stage in defining the science payloads for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express mission, which ESA hopes to launch in June 2003 if it receives the go-ahead in November. The decision to proceed ...
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SOHO disappears from its deep space orbit
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA spacecraft, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), has been lost in its deep space orbit after operating since December 1995. The spacecraft went into an emergency sun reacquisition mode on 25 June. This is activated when orientation to the sun is lost ...
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A common cause
Arianespace's chairman says that the company must forge partnerships to maintain its market share Tim Furniss/PARIS Arianespace of France and Antrix, the commercial wing of India's Department of Space, signed an agreement on 11 June to pursue a plan to market jointly the Indian Space Research Organisation's Polar ...
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ESA to develop small satellite launcher
Ministers from the European Space Agency member states have agreed to develop a new small commercial satellite launcher called the Vega. The booster will include the Italian/French-built Ariane 5 solid rocket booster, two Fiat Avio motors and a liquid propellant upper stage. The launcher is aimed at placing payloads ...
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Arianespace loses contract as CD Radio moves into new orbit
Tim Furniss/PARIS European commercial satellite launcher company Arianespace has lost a contract for two spacecraft but gained another, bringing to 40 the number of satellites on its launch orderbook. Although it has won the contract to launch the Hughes-built HS376 model Brasilsat B4 communications satellite aboard an Ariane ...
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HGS 1 reaches GEO after lunar flybys
Hughes Global Services' HGS 1 communications satellite has completed its unique mission to reach geostationary orbit (GEO), via two lunar fly bys, after being stranded in a useless Earth orbit following a launch failure in December 1997. The spacecraft is now available to customers. The former Asiasat 3, launched ...
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Russia pleads poverty to delay de-orbiting the Mir space station
Russia is continuing to play a cat-and-mouse game with NASA over the International Space Station (ISS) and national Mir space station programmes. Being pressed by NASA to de-orbit the Mir as soon as possible to pave the way for the ISS, Russia is claiming that lack of funds will ...
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RDL Space wins US licence to build first commercial radar satellite
RDL Space of California has won a licence from the US Government to build, launch and operate the first commercial 1m-resolution synthetic-aperture radar satellite, the Radar 1, which will provide images to the military. Other firms, including Space Imaging-Eosat, are preparing to operate high resolution multispectral satellites for the ...
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All systems go?
In-orbit assembly of the International Space Station is to start this autumn Tim Furniss/LONDON Launch of the first components of the International Space Station (ISS) is due to start on 20 November, but sceptical observers are not holding their breath. The Russian element, which saved the ISS from the US ...
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Ariane 5 hit by W-2 withdrawal
Tim Furniss/PARIS Eutelsat has withdrawn its W2 communications satellite from the next Ariane 5 development flight, leaving the European Space Agency (ESA) to fill the void with a mock-up of the Aerospatiale spacecraft. As a result, ESA's Ariane 503 development flight this October will not carry a commercial ...
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MMS delivers X-ray telescope control system
Matra Marconi Space (MMS) of Bristol has delivered the $47 million Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) for Europe's largest spacecraft, the X-ray Multi Mirror (XMM) telescope, to prime contractor Daimler-Benz Aerospace Space Systems. The AOCS is the "heart of the mission" of the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM, ...
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Supersonic rising sun
Paul Lewis/MITIKA Japanese engineers have long displayed a distinctive flair for futuristic transportation thinking. While there may be a tendency in the West to confine many such notions to the realms of science fiction, it is worth remembering that Japan is the home of the Shinkansen "bullet train" and the ...
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Countdown to Sea Launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON Paul Duffy/MOSCOW A precise satellite launch service to all orbital inclinations from a single location is something that, until now, no launch site operator could claim. Payloads cannot be launched into polar orbits safely from Cape Canaveral in Florida, for example, without flying over the USA. Meanwhile, the ...
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IAI wraps up US Shavit deal
Tim Furniss/LONDON Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has formalised an agreement with Coleman Research in the USA to develop a commercial version of the Shavit launcher. The new booster, called the LK-1, will operate from Spaceport Florida's Cape Canaveral site or from Wallops Island, Virginia. The LK-1 will ...
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mission goals
The 3,300kg Gravity Probe will operate in a 650km circular polar orbit for about 16 months - the lifetime of the dewar container - measuring minute changes in the rotation of the four on-board gyroscopes. The reference telescope will focus on a star to calibrate results. It is hoped that ...
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ISS delay allows time bonus for ground testing
Delays to the International Space Station (ISS) programme have provided an unexpected benefit because of the increased amount of ground testing that is now being performed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), says NASA. The first ISS launch has been postponed to November and the Station will not be completed ...
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Japanese space agencies may have to merge to save costs
Tim Furniss/LONDON Andrew Mollett/TOKYO Japan's ambitious space plans are being reined in under heavy Government pressure to cut costs, with pruning likely to lead to a merger of the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). Streamlining of the space ...
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Sea Launch support vessels completed
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW The Sea Launch commercial satellite launch venture being headed by Boeing, together with partners in Norway, Russia and Ukraine, has completed construction of the two vessels that will support the operation. The Sea Launch Commander rocket assembly plant and mission control centre ship built by Kvaerner's ...
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HSG lunar loop
The Hughes HSG 1 communications satellite is making a second loop around the moon, having completed one such flight in an attempt to salvage the former Asiasat 3, stranded in useless orbit after a Proton failure in December. The new flightpath will refine the satellite's trajectory, to achieve the best ...