All Space news – Page 214
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Atlas launches most powerful civil-communications satellite
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Eutelsat Hot Bird 2, the world's most powerful civilian communications satellite, built by Matra Marconi Space (MMS), is heading for its operating position at 13¹E in geostationary orbit (GEO). It was launched by an ILS International Launch Services, Atlas 2A from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on ...
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Space Station crew switched round
Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Solovyov has been replaced by cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko. Solovyov had been named as the commander of the first Soyuz TM flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in May 1988, flying with Russian flight engineer Sergei Krikalev and US astronaut William Shepherd. Solovyov had featured ...
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NASA schedules X-38 'lifeboat' tests
This X-38 International Space Station Crew Return Vehicle may result from a NASA research project. NASA will conduct atmospheric glide flights of a full-scale prototype of a potential International Space Station (ISS) Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) in 1997. Two models of the test article, designated the X-38, are being ...
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T minus 365 days
After long delays, the International Space Station is finally just one year away from its first assembly flight. Tim Furniss/LONDON After a tortuous political and financial gestation period, the International Space Station (ISS) is only one year away from reality. In November 1997, a Russian Proton booster will ...
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Mars probe may be to blame for failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia's Mars '96 spacecraft plunged into the Earth's atmosphere on 17 November after its Proton D2 fourth stage failed to re-ignite in low-Earth parking orbit. It was the fifteenth Russian Mars failure in 18 launches since 1960. Even the other three flights were considered to be ...
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Lockheed Martin wins $1.8 billion SBIRS contract
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1.8 billion contract to build the five-satellite geostationary orbit Space Based Infra Red System (SBIRS) missile early-warning fleet, which will be launched in 2006. One ground spare will also be built. The satellites will be based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 spacecraft ...
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Russia will ditch automatic docking system on Soyuz
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Russian space industry's cash crisis has claimed another victim. Future manned Soyuz TM spacecraft will no longer be fitted with the Kurs S-band automatic docking system. The spacecraft is a key part of the Russian manned space programme and is used to shuttle ...
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-while US Army pursues anti-satellite weapon
As the US Air Force moves towards fielding an airborne laser designed to destroy theatre ballistic missiles, the US Army is working on a weapon able to knock out enemy reconnaissance and communications satellites. The anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon being developed by Rockwell International's Rocketdyne Division for the US ...
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Linear aerospike engine
Much of NASA's investment in the X-33 demonstrator will be in the development of its linear 'aerospike' engines. The aerospike "-is tremendously efficient because it is simpler than the current bell-nozzle rocket engine", says Micky Blackwell, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "It automatically adjusts itself to ...
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OSC hit by another Pegasus failure
Tim Furniss/LONDON Orbital Sciences' (OSC) Pegasus XL air-launched satellite booster failed in its mission on 4 November for the third time in six flights. The vehicle's satellite payload - Argentina's first spacecraft, the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-B), and NASA's High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) - failed to ...
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Russian Mars 96 probe is ready for November launch
Mars 96, Russia's contribution to an international three-craft exploration of the Red Planet, is due to be launched by a Proton K booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 16 November. It will follow the US Mars Global Surveyor, launched on 7 November, and the Mars Pathfinder, set for a 2 ...
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Bold venture
Developing the X-33 VentureStar re-usable launcher prototype will present a difficult challenge. Tim Furniss/LONDON "The VentureStar is going to revolutionise the world of space launch-it is going to open up a thrilling new frontier in space - the business frontier", says Micky Blackwell, president and chief ...
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Momentum versus kinetic energy
Sir - Mr Alan Mason says that, "mass times velocity says it all". Actually, it doesn't. He seems to be mistaking momentum (MV) for kinetic energy (half MV2) - more than a slight difference when one is talking of speeds of 50,000km/h, or 8.5 miles/s. A given mass ...
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Space Systems/Loral signs up Alliant for conditional EELV deal
Alliant Techsystems, which leads one of the four contractor teams bidding for the US Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) programme, has signed a memo- randum of understanding with Space Systems/Loral to launch up to ten satellites between 2002 and 2006, if it emerges as the competition winner. ...
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Hughes selects launchers for 12 communications satellites
Tim Furniss/LONDON Hughes and the Inmarsat-affiliate company ICO Global Communications, have selected four booster types, to carry 12 mobile communications satellites into orbit from late1998. The first ICO craft will be on an ILS International Launch Services Atlas 2AS booster. Three more - probably including ...
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China takes Russian cosmonaut training
A group of Chinese doctors is to attend the Russian cosmonaut training centre in 1997 as part of a $1 million contract to take the first step towards a manned Chinese space flight. The doctors will be trained as cosmonauts to study Russian methods of selecting and training ...
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Powerful Proton M will enter commercial launch market
Tim Furniss/LONDON ILS International Launch Services will offer the up-rated Russian Proton M booster for commercial launches to geostationary orbit (GEO) in 1999. With a 50% increase in payload capability, the rocket will be the most powerful on the commercial market. The Proton M, which ...
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Three spacecraft will soon be launched
Three spacecraft will soon be launched to Mars to continue exploration ofthe "red"planet Tim Furniss/London The "life on Mars" hysteria which swept the world's media in August has added a touch of spice to the launch of three new missions to the Red Planet in November and December ...
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Russian engines eyed for new US launcher concepts-
Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIA'S NK-33 liquid-oxygen/kerosene engines, developed for the N1 Moon rocket project, may be used on two new re-usable satellite launchers being proposed in the USA. The NK-33s, being modified and marketed with US company Aerojet, have been selected, to power the Kistler Aerospace ...
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. . .while Canada makes a Start with Russia for commercial launches
CANADA'S AKJUIT Aerospace has joined forces with Russia's Scientific and Technological Center to offer satellite launches to low- polar Earth orbits by Russian Start boosters from the $300 million SpacePort Canada in Churchill, Manitoba. Spaceport Canada is located at Churchill Research Range on the shore of Hudson Bay, ...