All Space articles – Page 197
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Delayed date set for ISS launch
Tim Furniss/LONDON A new launch date has been set for the first component of the International Space Station (ISS), with the Russian-built Control Module now due to be launched on 20 November, five months late. A date had been set for June, but the launch of this initial Module was ...
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BAe and Lockheed Martin link on Skynet
British Aerospace Defence Systems and Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space have teamed to bid for the development of the Skynet 5 military communications satellite system for the UKMinistry of Defence. The companies are competing with Matra Marconi Space (MMS), which includes the former BAe Space Systems, the original prime ...
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Transparent ambition
Tim Furniss/LONDON Never forget, says Arianespace, "-we are not selling a launcher but a delivery service, every three to four weeks, whether we use Ariane 5 or Ariane 4". This "transparent service" philosophy was emphasised at the ILA Berlin air show in late May by Jean-Marie Luton, the launch ...
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Woomera is reborn
Tim Furniss/LONDON Australia is to join the international space-launch industry by establishing a commercial launch site at Woomera, South Australia, to support flight operations by the US Kistler Aerospace K-1 reusable satellite launch vehicle fleet. Test flights are expected later this year. A capital investment of A$50 million ...
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NASA introduces lightweight tank on next Shuttle mission
Tim Furniss/LONDON A major component change to the Space Shuttle system will be introduced on 2 June when the Discovery STS91 is launched on the ninth Shuttle Mir Mission (SMM). The Shuttle stack will incorporate the first lightweight external tank (ET) which holds the 543,300 litres of liquid ...
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Motorola drops Celestri for Teledesic project
Motorola has abandoned plans to develop its Celestri "Internet-in-the-sky" satellite system and has signed a $750 million deal to take a stake in the rival Teledesic network. The move will result in Motorola securing a 26% share of the Teledesic system, which is already backed by Microsoft's Bill Gates, ...
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Alcatel predicts space boom
Figures released by French space and telecommunications company Alcatel Alsthom predict a 25% growth in the global commercial space applications business between 1998 and 2000. By far the fastest growing segment is in the forthcoming low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations catering for mobile telephones and Internet applications. Alcatel, ...
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France presses for space vehicle
Julian Moxon/BORDEAUX Aerospatiale is pressing the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch development of an unmanned independent European re-entry vehicle demonstrator as a follow-on to its Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD) programme. France pulled out of the NASA-led X-38 re-entry vehicle effort in 1997 when its new Government cancelled financing ...
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Beal means business
Tim Furniss/LONDON THE world's First privately developed expandable medium-lift launch vehicle is to be offered by Beal Aerospace Technologies, of Dallas, Texas. Beal will sell launches to low Earth orbit (LEO) of multiple payloads weighing about 7,710kg - "double the capacity" of the Boeing Delta II - "at a ...
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Australian Navy uses Leasat
The former US Navy Leasat 5 communications satellite is providing ultra high frequency services to the Royal Australian Navy from a new geostationary orbit (GEO) location at 156¼E under a multi-million dollar contract with Hughes Global Services (HGS). Australia has the option to maintain the service for up to five ...
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Mir may fly on after ISS crisis
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia is considering extending the life of the Mir space station into 2000 if the International Space Station (ISS) programme is delayed significantly, according to Mir deputy flight director Yuri Blagov. The move comes as relations between Russia and the USA over delays to the ISS ...
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Hair-raising missions
Tim Furniss/LONDON Some people might think it a rather weird way of making money out of space, but business is business. First, people's ashes were sent into orbit; now the Celestis company, based in Houston, Texas, is inviting people to send samples of their hair into the Universe. Celestis ...
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Counting on Columbus
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Despite recent fears of delays in the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS), Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa)is still working on the assumption that its key contribution - the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) - will be launched on time, or perhaps earlier than expected. Russia is running ...
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Antonov seeks help with An-225
Antonov, in conjunction with Air Foyle, has put together a proposal to re-activate the giant An-225 Myria cargo aircraft to satisfy outsize cargo demands that require an aircraft larger than the An-124 Ruslan. Bruce Bird, director of the charter division of An-124 leasing specialist Air Foyle, has been working ...
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Neurolab returns to Kennedy after 16 day flight
Space Shuttle Columbia/ STS90 returned to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 2 May after a 15 day 21h international Spacelab research mission. The Neurolab was dedicated to research the activity of the brain in weightlessness and involved a menagerie of animals and reptiles, many of which died during ...
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Boeing wins $1.4 billion Ellipso deal
Tim Furniss/LONDON Mobile Communications Holdings has awarded a $1.4 billion contract to Boeing to design, fabricate and launch satellites in the Ellipso system to provide worldwide fixed, mobile and airborne communications from elliptical orbit. Boeing will also provide the ground segment infrastructure for the 16-satellite system in two ...
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Moving up
Tim Furniss/LONDON A key marker in the development of the ILS International Launch Services Atlas III takes place this month when a prototype booster stage with a Russian-based RD-180 engine will be test fired at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. In early 1999 the Atlas III ...
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Russia seeks NASA help to extend Mir missions
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia has requested that US space agency NASA fly two more Shuttle Mir Missions (SMMs) to provide logistics support to extend the life of the Mir space station for at least three further manned missions up to at least mid-1999. The request lends support to evidence ...
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Hughes attempts lunar fly-by rescue plan for Asiasat
Tim Furniss/LONDON Hughes is attempting to rescue the Asiasat 3 communications satellite, stranded in a useless orbit after a launch failure last December, by flying it around the moon to reposition it in an operational geostationary orbit (GEO). The AsiaSat 3 was stranded in a 51¼ inclination, 201 ...
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ICO antennas on Hughes assembly line
The hexagonal transmit and receive active array S-band antennas for the ICO world- wide mobile communications satellites are pictured at the Hughes Space and Communications factory in El Seg- undo, California. Two antennas mounted side by side on the 10 operational medium Earth orbit satellites will each form as many ...