All Space news – Page 223
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Galileo set for Jupiter
THE GALILEO PROBE will plunge into the turbulent atmosphere of the planet Jupiter on 7 December as its mother ship enters orbit. It will be the first man-made contact with Jupiter, and the first time the planet has been orbited by a spacecraft (Flight International, 28 June-4 July). ...
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Weight watchers
NASA engineers are searching for ways to increase the critical payload of the orbiter fleet. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC THE SPACE SHUTTLE will not be seen as being a fully operational vehicle until about 1999 when it will have flown 100 missions, says Bryan O'Connor, a former Shuttle commander ...
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OSC completes
Orbital Sciences (OSC) has completed its stock-swap acquisition of Canada's MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, a leading supplier of commercial space remote-sensing ground-stations. Source: Flight International
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Atlantis lands after Mir docking
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE SPACE SHUTTLE Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 20 November after its successful eight-day mission to perform the second docking and joint flight with the Russian Mir 1 space station as part of the Shuttle Mir Mission (SMM) programme. The ...
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Rocketdyne pulls out of Atlas 2AR contest
OPERATIONAL RUSSIAN NK-33 or RD-180 rocket engines will be used to power the first stage of the Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AR satellite launcher, following a decision by Rocketdyne to pull out of the competition. The firm felt that its proposed new MA-5A engine could not meet the production ...
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UK expands defence-satellite network
THE UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE IS TO ORDER a sixth Skynet 4 military-communications satellite from Matra Marconi Space (MMS) in 1996, to be launched in 1999. Skynets 4D and E are also being built by MMS and will be launched by Delta 2 and Ariane 4 boosters in 1997 and ...
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Ariane to launch new Eutelsat
ARIANESPACE HAS WON a contract from European satellite-communications organisation Eutelsat to launch three new spacecraft: two Eutelsat 3s and the Hot Bird 4, to be launched by Ariane 4s or 5s. Three Eutelsat 3s are on order from Aerospatiale, with an option for four more. The Hot Bird 4 is ...
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CAE simulates updated P-3
CANADA'S CAE Electronics has been awarded a C$13.5 million ($10 million) contract to supply simulation systems for the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Lockheed Martin AP-3C Orion update programme. The contract is for three integrated subsystems (ISS) which simulate the AP-3C's updated mission systems, including electronic-surveillance, radar and ...
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Countdown to Alpha
T-2 years and counting: the first hardware has been built for the Alpha International Space Station. Tim Furniss/WASHINGTON DC THE ALPHA INTERNATIONAL Space Station "...isn't a paper programme anymore", says Wilbur Trafton, director of NASA's Space Station programme. "We're talking launches just round the corner." ...
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Spacelab workers demonstrate Alpha work
Astronaut mission specialist Catherine Coleman (left) and payload specialist Fred Leslie work inside the Spacelab US Micro-gravity Laboratory 2 during the 16-day STS73/Columbia mission, as a demonstration of a typical shift aboard the Alpha International Space Station. Construction of the Alpha will begin in November 1997. The Columbia's next mission, ...
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NASA makes Shuttle decision
NASA HAS DROPPED the competition to privatise the Space Shuttle programme, saying that it will negotiate solely with a joint venture of Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin called United Space Alliance. The space agency hopes to complete contract talks by September 1996 to transfer the running of the ...
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Canada launches radar satellite
Tim Furniss Martin Hindley/LONDON CANADA HAS launched the world's first operational radar satellite, which it will use to monitor the Earth's surface, particularly ice movements in the North- west Passage and Beaufort Sea, both strategic shipping routes. The Radarsat I, a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite, ...
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Lockheed Martin to develop new version of Atlas rocket
LOCKHEED MARTIN is to develop a new version of the Atlas II expendable booster, the first launch of which is expected in late 1998. The two- or three-engine Atlas IIAR ("R" for re-engine) will replace the Atlas IIAS, which has nine engines: three core, four Castor IVA ...
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Europe remains a player
It was close, but Europe will have a place on Alpha, the international space station. Julian Moxon/TOULOUSE Perhaps it was the fabulously opulent setting of Toulouse's seventeenth century town hall that stimulated the eleventh- hour release of sufficient funds to guarantee Europe's future aboard the Alpha international space ...
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Launch set for new Shuttle-Mir mission
Tim Furniss/LONDON The STS74/Atlantis, the second Shuttle mission to dock with the Mir 1 Russian space station, is scheduled to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 11 November. The primary mission is the installation of a docking module on Mir to improve clearance ...
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Ice cold in orbit
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY'S (ESA) Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) is scheduled for launch on 10 November aboard the Ariane V80/44P mission from Kourou, French Guiana, two years later than planned after the project ran into some development difficulties. The Aerospatiale-built 5.3m-tall ISO, is akin to a giant vacuum flask, filled ...
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First Conestoga booster explodes after launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON EER SYSTEMS' Conestoga 1620 multi-stage, solid-propellant satellite launcher, exploded 45s after launch on its maiden flight from the company's commercial launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia on 23 October. The Multiple Experiments Transporter to Earth Orbit (METEOR) payload was destroyed. The catastrophe could end ...
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Russia's Cosmos forms launcher link with Australia
RUSSIA'S COSMOS group is to link with Australian industry to develop a new liquid-propellant satellite launcher, called the Seagull, capable of placing 1,000kg payloads into low-Earth orbit after launches from a base in either South Australia or northern Australia, says Australian space minister Chris Schacht. Development and marketing ...
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Spacewalk challenge
The STS69 space-walk has paved the way for assembly of the international Space Station. Tim Furniss/LONDON A 6H 46MIN SPACE-WALK BY two astronauts on 16 September, during the STS69/Endeavour mission, has given NASA more confidence in the ability of crews to assemble the international Space ...
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P&W test fires Russian rocket engine
PRATT & WHITNEY has successfully test-fired an RD-120 rocket engine on a test stand at the firm's Government Engines & Space Propulsion rocket test site in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was the first US test firing to be made of the flight-qualified Russian-made rocket engine. The RD-120 ...