TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Shrinking market forces cost-cutting exercise while Boeing presses on with Delta IV
Japan's Council for Science and Technology is expected to recommend shortly that the National Space Development Agency's (NASDA) H2A satellite launcher programme be privatised to cut costs and make it more competitive.
The proposal comes as new launch vehicles, including the Boeing Delta IV, are being prepared for their first missions while the communications satellite business continues to decline.
"Unless we cut costs, we will not be able to survive in the international market," says a Japanese ministry official.
Under the proposal, H2A prime contractor Mitsubishi will take responsibility for booster production and launch operations at Tanegashima. Mitsubishi is the largest shareholder in Rocket Systems, which markets H2A commercial launches, with a 29.8% stake.
The H2A was built to reduce the high costs of the original H2, which made it uncompetitive in the launcher market. However, the H2A has not fared much better, having failed to gain any firm international bookings (Flight International, 7-13 May). It completed a partially successful orbital demonstration flight last August.
NASDA, meanwhile, will decide on design options for the upgraded heavylift version of the H2A by next year. The agency is considering the development of a large liquid-propellant core booster (LRB), with widebody first and second stages, or the mix of the LRB with a widebody second stage.
Meanwhile, Boeing has rolled out the Common Core Booster (CCB) of the first Delta IV to fly a US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) mission later this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The CCB for the flight of a Delta IV carrying the Defense Satellite Communications Systems III B6 craft was rolled out at Decatur, Alabama.
The first Delta IV, however, will fly a Boeing commercial launch in August, carrying the Eutelsat W1 communications satellite. The Delta IV has 21 EELV missions as part of a $1.3 billion contract from the USAF.
The US Federal Aviation Administration predicts an 11% drop in the number of geostationary communications satellite launches from 2002-11. It believes the trend will be towards 5,000kg (11,000lb) class spacecraft buses, with a resurgence of smaller 2,000kg-class craft for "gapfiller" services.Source: Flight International
