All Space articles – Page 215
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NASA makes plans for Russian pull-out
NASA HAS DRAWN UP contingency plans to cope with the growing likelihood of Russia being unable to meet its commitments on the International Space Station (ISS) programme because of cash shortages. NASA is keen to avoid costly delays if its Russian partners fail to deliver on time, and ...
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Spaceport first
The first launch from Spaceport Florida's refurbished launch pad No 46 at Cape Canaveral is scheduled for September 1997, when a Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV 1) will carry NASA's Lunar Prospector orbiter into space. After the failure of the maiden flight of the LMLV 1 in 1995, NASA had ...
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Russian engines eyed for new US launcher concepts-
Tim Furniss/LONDON RUSSIA'S NK-33 liquid-oxygen/kerosene engines, developed for the N1 Moon rocket project, may be used on two new re-usable satellite launchers being proposed in the USA. The NK-33s, being modified and marketed with US company Aerojet, have been selected, to power the Kistler Aerospace ...
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. . .while Canada makes a Start with Russia for commercial launches
CANADA'S AKJUIT Aerospace has joined forces with Russia's Scientific and Technological Center to offer satellite launches to low- polar Earth orbits by Russian Start boosters from the $300 million SpacePort Canada in Churchill, Manitoba. Spaceport Canada is located at Churchill Research Range on the shore of Hudson Bay, ...
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Magnetic matters
The first magnetic spectrometer to be sent into space, to capture elusive space particles such as anti-matter and dark matter, will be flown aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in May 1998. The Chinese/Russian/US spectrometer, based on a rare mineral called neodymium iron boron, may then be installed on the International ...
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Insurers pay for Chinese losses
Tim Furniss/LONDON SPACE INSURERS are paying two satellite operators $83 million for damage to one spacecraft and the loss of the other after launches by Chinese boosters in 1995/6. The People's Insurance of China has paid $25.9 million to China Telecommunications and Broadcasting Satellite for the ...
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Russia prepares for new Start booster
RUSSIA'S STRATEGIC Rocket Forces Start 1 solid-propellant booster is being prepared at the Svobodny cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region of Russia for the first satellite launch from the new space centre, placing a small demonstration satellite, the Zeya, into low-Earth orbit in December. The Start 1, a ...
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NASA starts work on Space shuttle privatisation plan
NASA BEGAN a new era in Space Shuttle operations on 1 October with the formal award of a six-year, $7 billion space-operations contract to the United Space Alliance, a partnership of Rockwell and Lockheed Martin. The privatisation will consolidate ground processing and in-flight operations with a single company, ...
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Arianespace will order extra Ariane 4s after Ariane 5 delay
Tim Furniss/LONDON ARIANESPACE HAS been forced to order up to another six Ariane 4 launchers to compensate for further delays in the introduction of the Ariane 5 vehicle to commercial service. The first flight of the European Space Agency's (ESA) new booster failed on 4 June, ...
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Japan sounds off with fifth TR-1A launch from Tanagashima
JAPAN'S NATIONAL SPACE Development Agency launched the fifth TR-1A solid propellant sounding rocket from Tanegashima on 25 September, carrying 750kg of science experiments to an altitude of 100km (55nm) during a sub-orbital flight in which they were exposed to 6min of micro-gravity conditions, to qualify technology for use on the ...
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Loral acquires AT&T Skynet Services
LORAL SPACE & Communications has agreed to buy AT&T's Skynet Satellite Services business for $712.5 million (£475 million) in cash. The deal includes AT&T's network of Telstar C- and Ku-band communications-satellites, and is Loral's first acquisition since the company disposed of its aerospace and defence businesses to Lockheed ...
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Orbital
US space and information systems company Orbital Sciences, of Dulles, Virginia, has appointed Rob Strain executive vice-president and general manager of the electronics and sensor-system division. He was most recently a group vice-president for finance and manufacturing. Source: Flight International
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NASA plans a fifth Discovery mission
NASA has invited proposals for a fifth mission in the Discovery programme aimed at producing "smaller, faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft. The mission will be launched in September 2002 and must cost less than $226 million to build and fly. The planetary-class mission will follow the Near Earth Asteroid ...
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ILS will continue with syntin fuel for Proton
The high-performance Russian hydrocarbon-based propellant, syntin, will continue to be used on the Block D fourth stage of the ILS International Launch Services Proton booster for all currently contracted launches, despite no longer being used on the Soyuz U2 booster, to save costs. The Soyuz U2 will continue ...
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Space knockout
Malfunctions on satellites caused by electrostatic discharges are more common than manufacturers care to admit. Tim Furniss/LONDON THE DATE, 20 JANUARY 1994, does not immediately spring to mind as memorable in space history, but it was a nightmare day for the communications-satellite industry, particularly in Canada. Without warning, ...
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More missions
France will pay Russia to fly two more missions aboard the Mir 1 space station, including a four-month visit in 1999 to gain operational experience for its participation in the European Space Agency's share of the International Space Station. Source: Flight International
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Second decade
Eumetsat has ordered a fleet of spacecraft for polar orbits. Tim Furniss/LONDON EUMETSAT, EUROPE'S weather-satellite organisation, has marked its tenth year of operations by authorising the development of a new $2.3 billion satellite system to send into polar orbits. The satellites will be used to improve weather ...
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Russian U-turn
Russia will discontinue the use of the uprated Soyuz U2 booster for launches of manned Soyuz TM and other craft into low-Earth orbit, and revert to the sole use of the Soyuz U, because of budget difficulties. The Soyuz U2 had more redundant systems and used a more expensive synthetic ...
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Ion drive
NASA's first New Millennium mission, Deep Space 1, will be propelled through interplanetary space by an ion drive engine. Tim Furniss/LONDON AS A PART OF SEVERAL new space-engine initiatives by the US space agency NASA, the prototype of a xenon-ion engine is undergoing a year-long test firing at ...
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ILS launches two satellites on Proton and Atlas boosters
Tim Furniss/LONDON ILS INTERNATIONAL Launch Services has demonstrated its satellite and orbital delivery service by launching, in two days, the Inmarsat 3F2 and GE 1 communications satellites on Proton and Atlas boosters from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and Cape Canaveral in Florida, respectively. The consortium linking Lockheed ...