All Space articles – Page 174
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ESA budgets for Ariane 5 updates
The European Space Agency (ESA) is allocating $545 million of its $2.13 billion 2000/1 budget to launchers, mainly upgrades to the Ariane 5. For the first time, the ESA budget also features funding for Europe's two-stage satellite navigation programme - the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System and Galileo. Much ...
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Comment3...
Comment3 Headlines USA reconsiders JSF policy4 Dragonair plans 26-aircraft order Dash 8-Q400 delays lengthen5 Lockheed Martin eyes job cuts A400M engine rivals in joint talks 6 MDH to take over former owner's site Air Transport Bombardier picks regional engines8 Crew drills highlighted at Little Rock hearing BM starts CityLine services9 ...
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Radiation risk
The US National Research Council says NASA should take steps to reduce the risk of astronauts being exposed to large doses of radiation on spacewalks outside the International Space Station (ISS). The risks are especially high during the peak of the 11-year solar activity cycle which coincides with the ...
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Mergers
US motion control systems specialist Parker Hannifin is to buy Commercial Intertech for $366 million in cash and stock, plus the assumption of $107 million of debt. Both companies are based in Ohio. Parker has made 42 acquisitions in the last six years. The takeover of Helicopter Services of the ...
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Shuttle mission to put radar topography on the map
Tim Furniss/LONDON The launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS99 on the 11-day Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) has been set for 31 January. The launch might be delayed by the need to check and, if necessary, replace thermal protection system tiles on the elevons of the orbiter. If work ...
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NASDA kills key programmes
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) has cancelled the H-2 launch vehicle programme and suspended several others, to focus development efforts on the H-2A rocket. Japanese space industry sources confirm that NASDA has completely reviewed its programmes and budget for the 2000 fiscal year, following the ...
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US investor to offer trips to refurbished Mir space station
US entrepreneur Walt Anderson plans to set up a new company, Mir Corp, with Energia and other investors to refurbish the Mir and offer trips to the Russian space station. Anderson, who heads the Gold & Appel investment company, will go ahead with the plan if the Russian mission ...
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MMS powers up for Intelsat satellite
Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has won a contract to build the largest and most powerful satellite to be operated by the Intelsat international communications organisation. The 5,000kg (11,000lb) Intelsat NI-Alpha will be located in geostationary orbit at 310°W longitude, and will provide services to the Americas with 36 C-band transponders. ...
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Snecma and P&W seek to develop cryogenic engine
Snecma's rocket engine division, Société Europèenne de Propulsion, has agreed with Pratt &Whitney to jointly develop a new cryogenic upper stage engine for the Ariane 5, Lockheed Martin Delta IV and Boeing Atlas V. The deal is based around work by the two companies on more powerful engines to ...
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Commercial ATV
The European Space Agency is studying modification and commercialisation of the Ariane 5-launched Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station. Changes include making it a reusable tug and launch on a new reusable vehicle like the proposed Lockheed Martin VentureStar. Source: Flight International
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X-33 flights face delay of 18 months
Lockheed Martin's VentureStar programme president Jerry Rising has confirmed that flights of the X-33 sub-orbital technology demonstrator will "definitely not" begin in July. If the decision is made to build aluminium propellant tanks for the vehicle, to replace those made of experimental lightweight composite materials, the delay will be ...
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Intelsat options
Europe's Intelsat is to exercise options with Space Systems/Loral for two additional Intelsat IX satellites - Intelsat 906 and 907 - to be deployed to the Atlantic Ocean region to meet growing demand for Internet services. Intelsat says that this will allow two existing satellites to be redeployed to new ...
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Lockheed Martin delivers Image
Lockheed Martin has delivered the NASA Imager for Magnetopause-to-Auroral Global Exploration spacecraft (IMAGE) to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, for its launch on 15 February. IMAGE, the first of NASA's Medium-class Explorer Mission spacecraft, was developed under a contract with Southwest Research Institute. IMAGE will be launched into a ...
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ISS service module delayed
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia's Energia company has confirmed that the Zvezda service module to the International Space Station (ISS) will not be launched until August at the earliest, rather than March/April as planned. The slippage has been caused by delays in the Zvezda schedule and by concerns about the ...
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Spacehab contract
Spacehab has been awarded a $4.2 million NASA contract to supply an Integrated Cargo Carrier and two Spacehab Oceaneering Space Systems Boxes - unpressurised tool boxes - for the Space Shuttle International Space Station assembly flight 7A.1 to be launched in 2001. Source: Flight International
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Boeing lifts space business with Hughes satellite buy
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Boeing is buying Hughes Electronics' satellite manufacturing business for $3.75 billion in cash. The deal will boost Boeing's space revenue by 35%, to $10 billion a year - a figure the company expects to double by 2009. Renamed Boeing Satellite Systems, the El Segundo, California-based unit ...
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NASA aims for first X-34 tow tests and powered flights
NASA plans to begin ground tests of the X-34 reusable launch vehicle testbed on the dry lakebed at Edwards AFB, California, in mid-February, with flight tests planned for mid-year. The ground tests will involve towing the 17.7m (6ft)-long suborbital X-34 behind a truck for more than 3,000m across Rogers ...
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Ready for work
The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi Mirror (XMM) space telescope has reached its operational 7,365 x 114,000km, 48h-period orbit after four thruster firings. The XMM is "behaving better in space than all our pre-launch simulations", says Dietmar Heger, ESA spacecraft operations manager. Source: Flight International
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Repairs put Terra on target
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has rectified major computer and antenna faults that occurred on its $1.3 billion Terra spacecraft shortly after its launch last month. The Terra, the flagship of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) programme, was launched into polar orbit on 18 December on an Atlas IIAS operated by ...
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NASA picks partners for race into space
NASA has selected six contractors for its Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition (Rapid II) programme, intended to reduce the time required to procure satellites for science and technology missions. "Indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity" contracts covering 14 different types of core spacecraft bus have been awarded to Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences, ...