All Space articles – Page 179
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Space station may be turned over to commercial operator
NASA will consider turning the International Space Station (ISS) over to a commercial operator within five to 10 years to fund other exploration priorities, according to the space agency's administrator, Daniel Goldin. The proposal takes Nasa beyond its previously suggested plan to allow commercial companies to take up to a ...
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Cash snags mar DoD satellite plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The ambitions of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to renew its communications satellite constellations could be scuppered by funding challenges facing all its programmes. The first issue facing the DoD is whether it can afford to replace the Milstar II satellite which was launched ...
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United Space accepts shuttle delay costs
The Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Space Alliance, which operates the Space Shuttle fleet for NASA, is to pay "several million dollars" in penalties for delays to the flight schedule caused by wiring defects in the orbiters (Flight International, 29 September-5 October). The cost of the repairs to the Endeavour ...
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Safety team to probe Shuttle maintenance
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has appointed an independent industry team to review the overall safety of the Space Shuttle and its maintenance and refurbishment practices. The team will be led by Dr Henry McDonald, director of NASA's Ames Research Center. The move follows the discovery of maintenance-related damage to ...
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NASA ready to detail transporter plans
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC NASA will brief the US Administration by the end of September on its proposal to spend $1.2 billion over five years to prepare for a "low risk" competition to select a next-generation space transporter by 2005. The agency is to present its plans to the US Office ...
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Cupola inspected for ISS
Astronauts from the USA and Europe were scheduled to visit the Lindholmen company in Gösteborg, Sweden, on 27 September to inspect the six-windowed cupola destined to give crewmembers a 360° view from the International Space Station (ISS). The 2m (6ft)-diameter domed, hexagonal-shaped cupola will allow crewmembers to control robotic arms ...
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Delta configuration
Boeing is developing a new Delta II configuration to launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility in late 2001. The modified two-stage Delta II will be equipped with nine larger-diameter solid rocket motors, from the Delta III, to increase payload capability to geosynchronous transfer orbit by 10%, to 4,550lb (2,060kg). Source: ...
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Mars Climate Orbiter gets lost
A software navigation error or human error is thought to have caused the loss of NASA's $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter on 23 September. The craft was lost 5min after its orbital insertion engine was fired to send it into orbit around the planet. The orbiter is thought to have ...
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Arianespace moves to reduce launch backlog
Arianespace plans to launch six boosters before the end of the year in an effort to reduce the backlog of launches caused by delays to deliveries of several communications satellites earlier this year. The next mission is due on 24 September, involving the launch of a Telstar 7 satellite ...
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Shuttle schedule switched
NASA has switched the launches of the STS100 Endeavour Shuttle Radar Topography and the STS103 Discovery Hubble servicing missions while inspection and repair work continues on the orbiter's electrical wiring (Flight International, 8-14 September). The tentative launch date for STS103 is 28 October, while STS101 is targeted for a ...
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Fregat qualification
Starsem, the Arianespace/Aerospatiale/Russian Space Agency/Samara consortium which markets the Soyuz booster for commercial launchers, has completed qualification of the Fregat upper stage for the vehicle. Added to the Soyuz, the Fregat will improve the booster's low and medium earth orbit capability and enable it to complete planetary-type missions. The Soyuz-Fregat ...
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Beal booster may fly late next year
Beal Aerospace, the privately funded company that is developing the Beal satellite launcher, could test fly a version of the booster from Cape Canaveral late next year or in early 2001. The all-liquid-fuelled three-stage BA-2 model will be as large as the Titan 4B, the USA's most powerful unmanned ...
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'Fighter phonebox' studies expand
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin plans to widen its study into using commercial satellites for military telecommunications following the successful demonstration of a call from a supersonic F-16 fighter using the Iridium low-earth orbit constellation. Commercial off-the-shelf communication systems are being viewed as a low-cost alternative to increasingly oversubscribed military ...
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US delays could keep Mir station in orbit
Russia's Energia company has suggested that, if funding can be found, a new crew could inhabit the Mir space station for six months next year, rather than the short visit planned to prepare the station for de-orbiting. The Russian move is in response to US delays to the International ...
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NASA reveals close-up images of moons
NASA has released images of the earth's moon (above) and Io - the volcanic moon of Jupiter (below). The moon image was taken during the close flyby of the earth-moon system last month by the Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn, proving the quality of the craft's imaging system in ...
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Russia restarts Baikonur Proton services with launch of Yamals
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia launched two Yamal communications satellites on a Proton K booster from Baikonur on 6 September, marking the first launch of a Proton booster since launches from Baikonur were banned by Kazakhstan after the Proton M failure on 5 July. The launch was also the first by ...
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ISS leaves a headache
Astronauts are trying to play down the bouts of sickness they experienced during their visit to the International Space Station in May Tim Furniss/LONDON Several crew members of the Space Shuttle STS96 Discovery became ill during a logistics supply mission and docking with the International Space Shuttle (ISS) in May ...
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The training drain
The Kosovo conflict pushed the USAF's European forces to the limit - and created a training backlog DeeDee Doke/RAMSTEIN AB An air power victory in the Kosovo conflict did not come without cost to the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), which commands 26,000 active-duty airmen at 14 ...
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Wiring problems force Space Shuttle delays
Checks on wiring inside the payload bays of all Space Shuttle orbiters following the short circuits during the STS93 Columbia launch have revealed similar damage to all the spacecraft. The orbiter Endeavour has the most serious problems, with over 20 damaged areas of wiring, including some sections down to bare ...
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Life comes to an end for Mir space station
The Mir space station has been abandoned after a career which began with the launch of the core module in February 1986. The final habitation crew landed safely in Kazakhstan on 28 August. Although another crew may be launched to prepare the space station for its de-orbiting early next ...