Frontier Status Report #191 |
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Frontier Status Report #191February 25, 2000Dale M. Gray After three frantic weeks of launches, no launches were reported for thepast week. The Shuttle Endeavour's crew completed the radar mapping of theEarth and safely landed at Kennedy Space Center. The Army introduced a new,safer rocket fuel. India tested a rocket engine. Galileo survived intenseradiation to swoop close to Io, but went into safe mode two days later.Gilat announces the testing of its two-way satellite Internet connection. Anew sub-frontier has been emerging in space, the broadcast of localtelevision stations via satellite. Highlights of the week of February 25 include:
SHUTTLEDespite a small leak in a thruster system, the crew of the Shuttle Endeavourwas able to conserve enough fuel to extend the Shuttle Radar TopographyMission (STS-99) to Sunday, February 19. The conservation measures allowedNASA to add 9 hours and 10 minutes to the mission, which in turned allowedthe Shuttle astronauts to complete one last survey of Australia. However,the additional mapping time removed the possibility of a salvagespacewalk in case the 60-meter-long radar mast jammed during its retraction. While the mast did retract successfully, it took 2.5 hours and threeattempts get its stowage canister's three latches to engage. Had thelatches failed to deploy, Mission Control would have been forced to ejectthe canister using small explosives. The mission logged 7 days ofcontinuous radar mapping. The project recorded 80 percent of the Earth'slandmass -- 47 million square miles -- most of it twice. The radar missionwill result in the most detailed topographic maps of the world ever made (AP;Reuters; Michael R.; Spaceflight Now). The data from the 222-hour mission was stored on 332 high-density tapes.NASA's primary partner was the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency, whichprovides detailed maps for US defense and intelligence agencies. Whilehigh-resolution maps will likely to be classified, lower-resolution maps,which are still superior to most terrestrial-generated topographic maps,will be made public. Because the maps cover every nation in the world, themission generated international interest. This was reflected in the crew ofEndeavour, which included Mamoru Mohri of the Japanese space agency (NASDA)and German astronaut Gerhard Thiele (ESA). Other partners in the missioninclude: the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Italian Space Agency(ASI). An international team of 42 scientists,which include Guo Huadong of the Peoples Republic of China, will review the mission data(Reuters; ESA; Agence France Presse; The Shuttle touched down at 6:22 p.m. EST at the Kennedy Space Center'sShuttle Landing Facility Runway 33. The landing came on the second landingopportunity after excessive crosswinds across the runway violated flightruns for the first landing window. Earlier weather concerns at both KennedySpace Center and Edwards Air Force Base presented a possibility of a rareWhite Sands, New Mexico, landing. The landing at Kennedy was the 21stconsecutive and 50th overall for the Shuttle. Endeavour's next flight willbe STS-97 - ISS flight 4A (NASA; Reuters; Boeing got called on the carpet this past week for cost overruns. NASAInspector General Roberta L. Gross announced that Boeing would forfeit themajority of its profits from the construction of the International SpaceStation (ISS) because of nearly $986 million in cost overruns. The company willreceive only $75.4 million in profits instead of $203 million. The decisionis part of a review of the ISS contract that was ordered last year afterBoeing reported additional overruns only weeks after Goldin announced toCongress that the overruns had stopped. Gross blamed most of the overruns onunexpected costs associated with reorganization after Boeing acquiredRockwell International and merged with McDonnell Douglas. Boeing is theprime contractor on the ISS project with over 150 subcontractors (LA Times;AP; The two orbiting elements of the ISS continue tofunction without any new problems. The next Shuttle flight to the stationwas finalized this past week with the Shuttle Atlantis launching no earlierthan April 13 for an 11-day mission. The flight will include the transferof cargo and supplies, the replacement of defective equipment and batteriesand a spacewalk to assure that a crane attached to Zarya is properly securedin its socket. The mission will be commanded by Jim Halsell and piloted byScott Horowitz. Mission specialists include the second ISS crew of JimVoss, Susan Helms, and Yuri Usachev. Other Mission Specialists for theflight include Mary Ellen Weber and Jeff Williams (Space Daily; A private company, MirCorp, signed an agreement last week to lease the Mirspace station. The company expects to use the orbiting property in avariety of commercial endeavors, which include tourism, manufacturing, andpromotion. Led by American entrepreneur Walt Anderson, MirCorp signed alease for commercial use of the station on February 17. While much of thefinancing of the new venture comes from the west, RKK Energiya is themajority shareholder in MirCorp. Energiya, in turn, is 38 percent owned bythe Russian government. The new corporate administration layer will allowWestern-style marketing of Mir's commercial resources, while removing manyof the bureaucratic hurdles that come with governmental operations. Theamount paid for the commercial rights has not been reported, but is widelybelieved to be between $10 and $20 million. MirCorp's president is Americanbusinessman Jeff Manber, but the corporation will be based out of Bermudaand Amsterdam to avoid conflicts with the American government (RansomWuller, ProSpace; AP; Florida Today; Russian actor Vladimir Steklov (52) is preparing for a role of alifetime. The actor is preparing to play the part of a cosmonaut reluctantto leave Mir in the movie "The Final Journey." While space operas arehardly novel fare for moviegoers, Steklov's new venture will go where no onehas gone before. Much of the movie will actually be shot on location inMir. If all goes as planned, Steklov will be launched to Mir with thereturning Mir crew on March 31. The action will be filmed by Russiancosmonauts Sergey Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri and directed from Russianmission control. Steklov has been in training for the role for two years.Terrestrial-based scenes will include Hollywood actors Sean Penn and GaryOldman and Russian actors Mikhail Ulyanov and Leonid Korolev (BBC). Japan signed a deal on February 23 with the small South Pacific republic ofKiribati for the construction of a landing strip for the HOPE-X unmannedshuttle. The landing strip will be built on Christmas Island. If all goesas planned, the mini-shuttle will be launched on a NASDA H-2A rocket in 2004and use the island as a landing site. To prepare for the event, a quarter-scale model equipped with a jet engine will be used for tests of landingsystems and facilities beginning in 2001. The 20-year lease for use of theisland comes with no price tag, but Japan expects to spend 2.3 billion yen($21 million US) to renovate an old runway and to build infrastructure. TheH-2A development program has been set back by over a year by a string oflaunch failures of the H-2 rocket (SpaceDaily A planned launch of a four-stage Taurus rocket carrying a classifiedmilitary payload has been delayed due to downrange concerns. The delaycame when it was discovered that a small South Pacific Island in the impactzone of the third stage, believed to be uninhabited, was not. TheUSAF was notified on February 25 by the Tahitian government that the islandhad a small population. If the island cannot be evacuated, the launch willbe delayed by a month to reprogram the booster's flight computer(Spaceflight Now; Space Views). A Department of Energy payload, the Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI)was expected to be launched into a sun synchronous polar orbit on an OrbitalSciences Taurus rocket on February 28. Because of the downrange problem,the earliest the rocket can be launched is now March 4. Launch coveragewill be broadcast on SBS-6 Transponder 4 at 74 degrees (frequency 11798MHz). The three-year proof of technology mission will use a telescope toview the Earth in 15 spectral bands. The mission will be conducted inconcert with on-the-ground surveys to establish validity of themeasurements. The satellite also carries a joint NOAA, Czech RepublicAstronomical Institute instrument to measure rare high-energy particlestorms associated with solar flair activity (MediaNews; Orbital SciencesPR). This past week a deal was struck between key members of the US Senate and USHouse over the privatization of Intelsat and Inmarsat. The legislationwould end COMSAT's monopoly over Intelsat access in the U.S and end certainlegal privileges enjoyed by Intelsat and COMSAT as well as end the outsideownership cap on COMSAT. Under the deal, the Members agreed to support thedraft legislation without modification through the legislative process andits enactment into law. The enactment of the law will allow the LockheedMartin/COMSAT merger to move forward (SpaceDaily). The US Army announced the development of a new, safer rocket fuel. TheCompetitive impulse, non-carcinogenic hypergol (CINCH) fuel has beendemonstrated for use in launch vehicles that currently use Aerozine-50,which is a carcinogenic hypergolic fuel. The new fuel is reported to beversatile and can be used in a wide variety of rocket applications. Itreacts on contact with nitrogen tetroxide or inhibited red fuming nitricacid. The fuel was designed to work even in low temperatures. Though nevertested, theoretical calculations show that it work better than RP-1 whenused in thrusters with hydrogen peroxide or liquid oxygen. The preliminaryevaluation of the fuel was conducted at Marshall Space Flight Center.Demonstration projects at Marshall and at Edward Air Force Base are planned. 3M has a pilot plant producing CINCH for commercial applications. Researchfor CINCH was funded by the Army Acquisition Pollution Prevention SupportOffice (Space Daily). A new 7.5-tonne liquid hydrogen/LOX engine was tested this past week atthe Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in southern Tamil Nadu,India. The test marked the beginning of a series of rocket engineground-tests, which are the results of a seven-year development project.The program was initiated when India failed to obtain Russian rockettechnology due to pressure from the US. The engine was placed on a teststand on December 23 and has since been subject to a series of cryogenicpropellant tests. A planned firing of 30 seconds on February 16 was abortedafter only 15 seconds. Scientists will now study the data from the firing tofind and correct the anomaly that caused the shutdown. The engine isdesigned for use in the indigenously designed and produced Geo-synchronousSatellite Launch Vehicle (SpaceDaily; AFP). Rockwell Science Center has announced that it has produced the world'slargest infrared image sensor. The new sensor is capable of detectingminute quantities of heat from distant astronomical objects -- a sensitivitycapable of detecting one billionth of the heat produced by a light bulb.The sensor is the result of a two-year program funded by a University ofHawaii-led consortium of observatories. With 4.2 million picture elementsand 13 million transistors, the device will be used in the next generationof telescopes. The first device is currently being delivered to theUniversity of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy and will soon be in the handsof observatories worldwide. An array of these new generation sensors (100million pixels) will be used in the Next Generation Space Telescope toobserve galaxies formed at the beginning of the universe (SpaceDaily). With one out of two inflatable shields (IRDT) recovered from the frozenmountain slopes of Russia, plans are in the works for a second launch test.A Volna rocket launched from a Russian Navy test site in Northern Russiawould carry the second IRDT test article. The Volna is a converted RSM 50submarine-launched ballistic missile produced by Makeyev Design Bureau. NPOLavochkin, of Russia, has proposed the new test in September to its ESApartners. The first test launched on the new Soyuz Fregat combination was aqualified success, only one of the two reentry shields has been recovered.When a tear developed in the shield material, the inflatable shieldexperienced a loss of pressure late in the descent. Several attachedexperiments were lost and the instrument package protected by the shield hitthe ground harder than expected. The lower section of subsystems and radiobeacon were damaged, but the sensor package, built by DaimlerChrysler,functioned perfectly (Space.com). The European Space Agency has launched (figuratively) a campaign to find aname for the Cluster II space weather satellites. The satellites willreplace the four lost during the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket. Thenew Cluster will be launched on two rockets launched from Baikonur in Juneand July of this year. The competition is available to all ESA member countries. One finalist entry from each country will go tothe final round and the person submitting the entry will get to attend oneof the launches. The grand prizewinner will get a trip for four to Paris inearly autumn 2000 along with an award and model of the satellites. Entriesmust be postmarked by May 10, 2000. For more information, e-mail:cluster@spd.estec.esa.nl . The Terra Earth observing satellite reached its final orbit on Wednesday,February 23. As a result of eight thruster firings, the spacecraft is nowin its final 705-km polar orbit. The $1.3 billion mission is controlled byNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ( As the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft settles into it long-term mission orbiting the Eros asteroid, new information is already floodingin. Observations of the asteroid hint of parallel striations, whichindicated the asteroid was once part of a stratified larger body. Thesurface of the asteroid is saturated by craters -- a sign that the asteroidis of ancient origin; older than the asteroid Gaspera, but younger thanMathilde. Scientists have also determined that the 33-km-diameter asteroidhas a density of 2.4 grams per cubic centimeter, which is the same asEarth's crust. This evidence supports theories that Eros was once part of alarger planetoid that broke apart as a result of collisions. On February24, controllers fired thrusters to move NEAR 25-km closer into a 200-kmorbit around the asteroid. By December, NEAR is expected to pass within 35km of the surface (Andy Cheng NEAR Project Scientist; On February 22, Galileo made its third and closest flyby of the Jovian moonIo. The veteran spacecraft passed within 198 km of the surface at 6:32 a.m.PST. Scientists hope to see how the geologically active moon has changedsince the last encounter and to study the moon at a higher resolution. Thespacecraft was also used in a radio science experiment that was performedwhen Jupiter partially blocked radio signals to Earth -- allowing scientiststo study Jupiter's atmosphere. As with previous Io encounters, radiation-induced false-resets of the computer occurred during the approach.Specially designed software correctly diagnosed the events and kept thespacecraft operational. While much of the data from the flyby wastransmitted within a few hours, it will be several weeks before scientistshave all the information gathered. Two days after the successful flyby, Galileo entered safe mode. Theevent was triggered by the same false readings experienced during the Ioapproach. However, the corrective software was disabled during the playbackof the encounter data. After controllers confirmed it was a false resetevent, Galileo was restored to normal function. Galileo was launched fromShuttle Atlantis in 1989 and is now in its second extended mission. Whilethe early mission was marred by the failure of the main antenna to extend,the spacecraft has since redeemed itself by lasting long after its designlife and enduring twice the planned radiation (Space Daily; AP). On February 22, the Stardust spacecraft extended its aerogel collector andbegan its work sampling the interstellar dust passing through our solarsystem. The return capsule heat shield was commanded to open and a particlecollector was extended out of the capsule. The 0.1-meter-square sampler wasthen retracted 50 deg for correct positioning. The sampler contains 130blocks of silicon dioxide gel known as aerogel. The ultra-light, superinsulating material has been described as frozen smoke. The aerogel will bestowed around May 25. A second sampling period will occur in mid-2002. In2004, the aerogel will be fully extended for the spacecraft's encounter withcomet Wild-2. Following the encounter the spacecraft will return to Earthand drop the samples off. The return capsule is expected to touch ground atthe Utah Test and Training Range in 2006. The spacecraft was launched onFebruary 7, 1999 (NASA; On February 11-12, the antique Pioneer 10 spacecraft was successfullyordered to repoint toward Earth. At a distance of 11.07 billion kilometersfrom Earth, it took the commands 10 hours and 15 minutes to reach the sturdycraft. Because of its power supply has degraded over time, the maneuver hadto be conducted with the transmitter turned off to conserve power. Ninetyminutes after Pioneer 10 completed its turn, the transmitter was turned backon. This is the seventh of a series of such maneuvers without the benefitof the transmitter. The spacecraft is currently being used to test chaostheories, to help develop advanced communications technology and to studythe heliopause and the interstellar medium (SpaceDaily). The Garuda-1 satellite launched on an ILS Proton rocket on February 12 hasreached geostationary orbit. The satellite was released into an ellipticalorbit six hours after launch and has since fired its onboard engine fivetimes to slowly raise its perigee from 6,348 km to 36,000 km. The lastfiring, on Friday February 18, placed the satellite in geostationary orbitat 128 deg East longitude. The Lockheed Martin-built satellite isdrifting 1.5 deg per day to reach its final position at 123 deg Eastlongitude. On February 23, the satellite successfully deployed its two12-meter reflector antennas and solar panels. The satellite is based on theLockheed Martin A2100AXX bus and operates in the L-band. It cansimultaneously handle 11,000 telephone channels and up to 2 millionsubscribers. The Garuda-1 satellite will provide cellular phone service toAsia. The satellite is owned by P.T. Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN).Garuda is the first satellite of the ASIA Cellular Satellite (ACeS) system(PSN PR; The giant HS 702 satellite owned by PanAmSat and known as Galaxy XI hasreached its position in geostationary orbit and has unfurled its solarpanels. The 30-minute deployment was captured by an onboard on camera forthe first time. The satellite has a wingspan of 34 meters -- the equivalentof a Boeing 737. The solar panel features angled solar reflector panels oneach side of an array of gallium arsenide solar cells with an efficiency ofnearly 24 percent. The solar wings were designed and manufactured bySpectrolab Inc. a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics Corporation. Three moreof the powerful satellite will be launched in 2000. In late 1999, Hughesannounced an enhanced version of the satellite, the HS 702+, which willdeliver 25 kW of power. Galaxy XI was launched on an Ariane 4 rocket onDecember 21, 1999 (Business Wire; Debris from the exploding Yukon Meteorite has been found on frozen TutshiLake near Carcoss, Yukon Territory. A 6-ounce fragment has been sent to theJohnson Space Center for analysis. The fragment is believed to be part of a"fireball" that exploded over Alaska and western Canada on January 19. Thefragment was recovered from about 0.3 m of snow. Because it was recoveredbefore being immersed in water and has not been handled by people, thefragment has huge scientific potential. The area resident that discoveredthe meteorite has not been named because of potential controversy over theownership of the land around the lake (Anchorage Daily News). SpaceDev Inc. announced this past week that Stan Dubyn has been appointedpresident and chief operating officer. Dubyn was previously the COO andsenior vice president of Spectrum Astro Inc. He has also extensiveexperience working for Hughes and TRW. The appointment was made to prepareSpaceDev for a period of rapid growth (SpaceDev PR). The Israeli satellite services company Gilat has announced that it will beteaming up with Microsoft and EchoStar to provide two-way high-speedInternet access through satellite connections. Subsidiary Gilat-to-Home,based out of McLean, Virginia, will produce systems that can communicatedirectly with its satellites as opposed to current satellite systems thatrequire an out-going landline. Download speed run from 400 kilobits persecond to 40 megabits, while uploads range from 56 to 156 k. The system iscurrently being tested by Gilat employees with additional Microsoftemployees added to the system next month for a combined total of about 2,000homes. Gilat projects a customer base of 3 million by 2005. In preparationfor the debut of the system, Microsoft has added a special MSN-Gilat-To-Homecobrand portal for the service and EchoStar will bundle the service with itsdish system. Microsoft recently announced that it would invest $50 millionin the system in exchange for a 26 percent stake. The Gilat/EchoStarsystem was announced on February 23 at the DISH Network's annual conferencein Denver. EchoStar will market the service through its system of 20,000retailers nationwide. The standalone system will also be available atRadio Shack. To fund the project over the next three years, Gilat plans toraise $300 million through equity and debt (EchoStar/Gilat PR; USA Today;Broadband Week On-line). Loral Space & Communications has reached an agreement with Hughes NetworkSystems (HNS) for the leasing of transponder capability from their Satmex 5satellite. The arrangement covers the use of 10-Ku band transpondersthrough 2005. Hughes will use the capacity for its DirecPC satelliteInternet service. Satmex 5, owned by Mexico, was launched on December 5,1998, and is located at 116.8 deg West longitude (Business Wire). While EchoStar and DirecTV have been publicly developing their localtelevision services, the Capitol Broadcasting Local TV on Satellite (LTVS)division is working to enter the new frontier as service provider for bothcompanies. The company is planning to launch two Ka-band satellites between2002 and 2003. The $1 billion project is being financed through privateinvestors, though EchoStar recently indicated an interest inthe project. A dual encryption system integrated in the satellites wouldmake it possible to beam signals to both EchoStar and DirecTV customers.The company has to-date signed retransmission agreements with 500 of aplanned 800 television stations in the US. The system is envisioned toprovide high-definition channels, multicast digital networks, anddatacasting. In one possible market application, a new dish would becapable of receiving data from EchoStar's two satellites and LTVS spot-beamsatellites. Customers would then get one bill for the service from EchoStar(Multichannel News). The DISH network announced this past week plans for an ambitious newnine-satellite system, which will include three new satellites. Utilizingspot-beams, two of the satellites, EchoStar VII and VIII, will provide localprogramming to 60 national markets. The satellites will be located at 119and 110 deg respectively. The third satellite, EchoStar IX, will be aKu/Ka-band satellite designed to provide business to business communicationsand may include two-way Internet capabilities. It will be located at 121deg. The addition of the new satellites was announced on February 23 atthe DISH Network's annual conference in Denver.(SkyReport; Business Wire;Lockheed Martin PR). A bill to provide $1.25 billion in loan guarantees for the expansion oflocal satellite TV programming to rural areas was supported by the HouseAgricultural Committee by a vote of 41- 0. The loan guarantees are felt tobe necessary for EchoStar and DirecTV to expand their local programmingservice to rural areas. In its current form, the bill would not providehelp to small cable operators who wished to expand their services to ruralareas. The loan guarantee provision was removed from the Satellite HomeViewers Act passed last year to assure its passage (Multichannel News). The satellite radio frontier reached a new plain of activity this past weekwith an agreement between rivals XM Radio and Sirius to jointly finance thedevelopment of dual-mode radios. The proposed radios would be able toreceive programming from either of the two satellite systems. By sharingintellectual property, the companies expect the new radios to be availableby 2004. Other agreements include the development of a joint service markto identify satellite radios, backup service for each other in case ofsatellite failure and a promise to work on their patent-infringementlitigation. The development of the interoperable satellite radios ismandated by the FCC, but retailers are not required to sell them. Bothcompanies have acknowledged that more can be accomplished throughcooperation than through litigation and competition over alliance partners(Joseph Palenchar). The USAF has decided not to exercise options on a contract to produce globalpositioning satellites (GPS). In 1997, Boeing won a contract to deliver six GPSsatellites with an option for up to 27 more. The contract will be completedwith options for only 6 additional satellites exercised. USAF stressed thatit was not displeased with Boeing's performance, rather it hoped to obtainthe most advanced GPS system by opening the contract up for bidding. Thenew bid requirements will include an anti-jamming feature. Both Boeing andLockheed Martin are expected to bid on the new contract (AP). The Marshall Islands, which contain the Kwajalein Atoll missile range, isseeking a new deal in their arrangement with the US military for the use ofthe range. The US currently pays local landowners nearly $13 million peryear for use of the range. It is estimated that the US has spent $4 billionin missile range infrastructure. The US State Department has stated thatthe issue of increased rent payments is not subject for negotiations.However, the Marshall Islanders have in the past found ways to bring rentincreases to the bargaining table. In the late 1970s and early 1980s,"sail-ins" were conducted, which disrupted test schedules. Ultimately, theprotests were able to raise the rent from a few hundred thousand dollars to$13 million each year (SpaceDaily). With the landing of the Shuttle Endeavour, there are currently no humans inorbital space. Humans have spent a total of 67.5 man-days in orbit in theyear 2000. The first element of the ISS has been inorbit for 463 days. The occupation of the ISS isexpected to begin in the fall of 2000.
Index for Frontier Status Report 2000 |