All Space articles – Page 199
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Ariane 503 faces delay to September
Arianespace is preparing to delay the third and final European Space Agency (ESA)-funded demonstration flight of the Ariane 5 satellite launcher from July to September because it cannot find a commercial customer willing to provide a payload. The Ariane 503 launcher will be ready for lift-off in July, with ...
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ESA plan emphasises launchers
Julian Moxon/Paris Development of a 1t launcher, increased capability for the Ariane 5 rocket and a new emphasis on partnership with industry for telecommunications and science programmes are among initiatives planned by the European Space Agency (ESA) in its latest five-year plan. ESA's new director general, Antonio Rodota, ...
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Shuttle conundrum
To develop or not to develop new technologies? That is the question facing NASA Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DCTim Furniss/LONDON The additional $750 million NASA has been given over the next five years to help develop technologies for the next generation of re-usable launch vehicles (RLV) should instead be used for further ...
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Advertising space
US Vice President Al Gore has asked NASA to develop the concept of a small satellite to be launched for less than $50 million. The craft, due to launch in 2000, would sit in a solar orbit 1.6 million kilometres above the Earth, sending back continuous high-definition images to be ...
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Germany clears way for ISS participation
The German Government has approved German participation in the International Space Station (ISS)programme. According to Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa), the move amounts to national confirmation of a commitment made jointly by the participating nations in the original agreement to proceed with the ISS, signed earlier in Washington DC. Germany ...
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UK launch scheduled
The UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency's 100kg Space Technology Research Vehicles (STRV 1C and D) will be launched into geostationary transfer orbit by Arianespace in 1999 using the Ariane 5 Structure for Auxiliary Payloads system. Each STRV will weigh 100kg and each one will be equipped with 25 research ...
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Outlook fine
Tim Furniss/LONDON The European Space Agency (ESA) already has its eyes fixed firmly on the next weather satellite programme, even though a structural and thermal model of the first satellite in the present programme has only just been unveiled. The model, for the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) programme (see box), ...
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Hughes wins three more contracts to build PanAmSat satellites
Hughes Space and Communications has received contracts to build the PanAmSat PAS 6B satellite and two spacecraft for the American Mobile Radio Corporation (AMRC). The PAS 6B is a rapid replacement for the Space Systems-Loral-built PAS 6 which has suffered electrical failures in orbit. PanAmSat has also expressed technical ...
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Arianespace launches Spot 4
Andrzej Jeziorski/KOUROU Arianespace successfully launched the Spot 4 Earth observation satellite for the French Space Agency (CNES) on 23 March after three days of delays. The hold-up was caused by a single bent connector pin on communications equipment. The 2,755kg satellite, built by prime contractor Matra Marconi Space, ...
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High hopes
Space Dev of Colorado has received confirmation from NASA that proposals to provide experiments for its Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP) programme will be considered within the space agency's Discovery programme. The venture is the first by a commercial company to launch a privately financed interplanetary spacecraft. Space Dev has ...
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Sentimental journey
Tim Furniss/LONDON Watching his fourth sunset of the day, sitting on the deck of the USS Noa recovery ship in the Atlantic Ocean after his splashdown on 20 February, 1962, US Marine Lt Col John Herschel Glenn yearned to return to orbit. On 7 November, 1998, Senator John Glenn, who ...
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Russia faces new threat to ISS share
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA is threatening to drop Russia from the International Space Station (ISS) programme after it was revealed that late arrival of Russian equipment could cause new delays. Joseph Rothenberg, the US space agency's associate administrator for spaceflight, has told Congress that NASA will decide on 15 ...
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Comets raised
Japan's National Space Development Agency has raised the perigee of the orbit of the Comets communications technology satellite stranded by an H2 launch mishap on 21 February, from 248km to 390km. The 1,884km apogee remains unchanged. A further series of firings of the satellite's engine is hoped to place the ...
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Loral selects Long March booster
Loral Space and Communications signed an agreement with China Great Wall Industry on 16 March for five launches by 2002 of company-built satellites on the Long March 3B. The LM3B, the most powerful booster in China's fleet, with a geostationary transfer orbit capability of 5,000kg, clocked up two successful ...
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Space lifeboat aims for space test
An unmanned scale model of the X-38 Crew Emergency Return Vehicle "space lifeboat" for the International Space Station will be deployed from the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2000 to conduct an automatic re-entry and landing. The first demonstrator glide test was on 12 March at 23,000ft (7,010m). Tests from ...
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Radarsat contract
Orbital Sciences' Vancouver subsidiary MacDonald Dettwiler has won the $225 million contract from the Canadian Space Agency to develop and manage the Radarsat 2 commercial radar imaging satellite system, due to be launched in 2001. Source: Flight International
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Cause of failure
Japan's National Space Development Agency says that the failure of the H2 launcher to place the Comets satellite into the correct orbit on 21 February was likely caused by gas leaking from the combustion chamber of the LE-5 second stage. This caused the engine parts to overheat and damaged the ...
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Scale model of Space Station lifeboat prototype flies
NASA's X-38 unmanned scale model of a seven-person emergency crew return vehicle lifeboat for the International Space Station (ISS) made its first glide flight over the Mojave Desert, California on 12 March. The prototype lifting body was dropped from a B-52 deployed from Edwards AFB, California, at 23,000ft (7,000m ). ...
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Ice find leads to renewed interest in lunar probe
Tim Furniss/LONDON Prospects for an eventual mission to one of the poles of the Moon to obtain ice samples have been boosted because data returned from the Lunar Prospector orbiter show a "high probability" that water ice exists. NASA, however, will be unable to support a fully funded ...
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Shuttle catches up
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA's Space Shuttle is catching up with the space age. Honeywell Space Systems of Arizona has delivered 11 flat panel displays for the Space Shuttle Atlantis, the first of NASA's fleet of four orbiters to undergo a cockpit display upgrade. Honeywell's Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem (MEDS) has a ...