Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point
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27-29 August (29 August 2008)
The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle used to change the course of the International Space Station on 27 August to avoid a piece of space debris – a piece of the Russian Cosmos 2421 naval surveillance satellite, which was estimated by NASA to have come as close as 1.67km to the orbital space base.
Thales Alenia Space has begun the production assembly, integration and testing of the first of 48 Globalstar second generation satellites, which will be launched by Russian Starsem Soyuz boosters, to follow 32 first generation spacecraft launched in 1999.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity is to exit the Victoria crater that it has been exploring for a year in Meridian Planum. Opportunity and its sister spacecraft Spirit, in Gusev crater, landed on 24 and 3 January 2004 respectively.
The launch of five RapidEye satellites have been integrated with a Dnepr booster at Baikonur ready for launch on 29 August. The prime contractor for the satellites is Canada’s MDA, subcontractor Jena-Optronik in Germany. The satellites will provide global monitoring of the Earth’s surface to provide insurance and food companies, farmers, government and other agencies around the world with immediate information products. The satellites will be placed in sun-synchronous, 630km orbits.
Led by Republican presidential candidate, John McCain with several senators, including Space Shuttle flier senator Bill Nelson are calling for an extension of the operation of the Space Shuttle beyond 2010, when it is planned that the Russian Soyuz TMA will be the only manned transporter to the International Space Station, at least to 2011 and more likely longer. Democratic candidate Barak Obama has recommended at least one extra flight of the Shuttle. The major concern will now be the relations with Russia after the Georgia situation- and the liklehood that the first manned Orion spacecraft will not be launched until 2015 at the earliest.
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has celebrated five years in space with a stunning image of a star-forming inferno studded with multiple generations of brilliant stars covering an area spanning four Earth moons, 6,500 light years away.
NASA’s $690 million Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope, GLAST has been renamed Fermi after Enrico Fermi, the Italian physicist who developed the first nuclear reactor.
50 years ago
27 August 1958
The Soviet Union launch two dogs to a maximum height of 281 miles and returned them safely to Earth. The payload weighed 3,726 lbs.
40 years ago
27 August 1968
The Soviet Union launch a Kosmos booster from Baikonur carrying Cosmos 236, an 875kg Strela 2 military store-dump satellites into a 340-348km, 56deg inclination orbit and from Plesetsk, a Voskhod booster was launched carrying Cosmos 237, a recoverable reconnaissance satellite, Zenit 2 which landed eight days later from its 200-320km, 65deg inclination orbit.
28 August 1968
A Soyuz booster is launched from Baikonur carrying a 6,520kg Soyuz spacecraft on a four-day precursor flight of a planned manned mission in October, into a 203-210km, 51deg orbit. The spacecraft was recovered on 1 September.
23-26 August (26 August 2008)
Jim Oberg reports that the long-running story about the launch of a Thailand remote sensing satellite aboard a former-Soviet military missile, which could have kicked-start a new launch service by Russia has ended in a farce with an “indefinite suspension” of the flight. The major problem is the concern of neighbouring former Soviet states, with in this case Uzbekistan and Kazaktstan having denied permission for the first stages of the rockets to fall on their territory.
Aviation Week reports that a NASA International Space Station status report reveals that Russian crewman cosmonaut, Oleg Kononenko used an 800mm telephoto lens on a digital camera to image “after effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus”. This demonstrates the potential ability of the ISS to conduct reconnaissance from orbit. This is not new of course, since several Salyut space stations flew dedicated military missions with a suite of reconnaissance instruments.
An Alliant Techsystems rocket launched from Wallops Island on 22 August carrying two NASA hypersonic experiments failed and fell into the Atlantic Ocean.
NASA’s Phoenix lander has dug a trench three times deeper than earlier excavations. The spacecraft is expected to complete its 90 days primary mission since it landed on 25 May but has not yet hit an icy layer.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Antrix Corporation commercial arm has won two contracts for Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launches for Algeria and Italy.
The government of Angola plans to develop a satellite, Angosat in a project costing $327 million, aiming for more ambitious spacecraft.
NASA’s relationship with Russia could become difficult after Moscow’s invasion of Georgia, especially as America will depend on Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft to ferry crews back and forth to the International Space Station.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has reported low morale among those working on the Constellation programme. NASA Watch has provided some comments from a very worried engineer who uses phrases such as, “low morale”, “arrogance combined with ignorance”.
50 years ago
24 August 1958
Explorer V was launched aboard a Jupiter C booster from Cape Canaveral and all went well until the final stage collided with the satellite.
21-22 August (22 August 2008)
Iran’s Aerospace Organisation plans to launch an astronaut within ten years as part of a 10-year space programme schedule and in the meantime will continue to launch satellites, including an operational Omid spacecraft within a year.
Forecast International has estimated that during the next ten years 636 expendable launch vehicles worth $48 billion ranging in size from the European Space Agency’s Vega to the US Air Force Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy. Governments will account for 66% of the total worldwide launches. The USA will account for 161, worth $17.9 billion, with 306 by Russia, the Ukraine and China, worth $15.9 billion, through to 2017. The figure for Europe is 92, with India, Japan and Israel, 73.
The Houston-based Oceaneering International, whose NASA $180 million contract was cancelled, is to submit a revised proposal to the space agency.
Orbital Sciences (OSC) has been awarded a contract from Intelsat to deliver Intelsat 18 based on the company’s Star 2 platform to be located at 180degE, replacing Intelsat 701. Intelsat 18 will carry 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders, provided with 4.9kW power. The contract was the third for the Star 2 module, after AMC 21 and NSS-9.
International Launch Services has been awarded a contract to launch a Proton Breeze M, carrying Inmarsat’s EuropaSat-based on a Thales Alenia Space Spaacebus 4000C platform, weighing 5,700kg and equipped with S-band transponders.
It has been revealed that the inflated parachute of a mock-up of NASA’s Orion crew spacecraft for the Constellation programme to return to the moon using Ares boosters, twisted and tumbled, while falling thousands of feet in the US Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona. Trying to be optimistic, a spokesman said that the failure of the most complicated system was one of the most common for these types of tests. The first manned flight of the Orion will not fly until 2014 at the earliest.
40 years ago
21 August 1968
The 13th and final X-15 “astroflight” above 50 miles altitude was completed by Bill Dana on the 197th programme mission using X-15 No 1. It was Dana’s second astroflight and he just reached the required altitude for such a flight - 50.7 miles on the 199th and final X-15 mission. The 200th flight was cancelled due to bad weather and it was decided to end the programmed. The flight time for the 199 missions was 30hr 13min 49.4sec, travelling 41,763.8 miles.
19-20 August (20 August 2008)
Russia launched a Proton Breeze M booster from Baikonur on 18 August, carrying the Inmarsat 4-F3 satellite.
Iran’s “satellite launch” on 17 August appears to have been a test launch using a simulated satellite, Omid that was not designed to be deployed from the 26 tonne, 1.25m diameter Safir (Ambassador) booster, also called Kavoshgar 1. However, the Pentagon says that a satellite was to be delivered into orbit but the booster failed at 500,000ft during the second stage firing, reports Jim Oberg of NBC. Oberg says that the satellite was aiming for a 650km, 62deg inclination orbit. The Safir was based on the Shahab 3, Iran’s most powerful missile, which is the 17m long, 26 tonnes. The USA is concerned that further rocket development could be used for military purposes. However, Iran still has a long way to go to launching operational satellites, says Yithak Ben Israel. The Shihab 3 ballistic missiles are within the reach of Israel. The next satellite to be launched by Iran will apparently be called Besharat (Good News). Russia launched an Iranian satellite, Sina 1 in October 2005. Iran plans to launch four domestic satellites by 2010.
China will launch Venezuala’s Simon Bolivar on 1 November and China’s second reconnaissance satellite in 2013.
Armadillo Aerospace has test-fired the oxygen-methane engine for the planned vertical take-off and landing suborbital tourist vehicle. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin completed the second flight of a prototype reusable launch system at New Mexico’s Spaceport America. The 91kg rocket reached 457m but went out of control during the 12.5 flight.
NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre has completed tests of the Ares 1 second stage, the J-2X. The first manned flight is now scheduled for 2015. Meanwhile, NASA needs to reduce significant vibrations that could shake the Orion spacecraft and its crew. A spring damper ring will be installed between the first and second stages, comprising a five-segment Space Shuttle SRB, called “The Stick” and the J2X engine powering the second stage. It was discovered that the vehicle and crew would have been shaken for two minutes and endure 6Gs. The new design will reduce the Ares 1’s lift capacity by a further 200lbs. What a way to go to the moon! The design is flawed and we haven’t heard the last of this cut-price challenge. Meanwhile, the “Apollo based” parachutes for the Orion spacecraft were tested at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona - but they failed and the mock-up spacecraft was damaged. The landing system consists of drogue chutes and eight Apollo-type main chutes.
15-18 August (18 August 2008)
Iran launched a Safir (Messenger) rocket on 17 August, initially claiming that a “communications” satellite, Omid was placed into a 650km orbit. It was the second flight of the Safir.
NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander has provided the first image of a single particle, using its atomic force microscope. The particle is one micrometer in size - the most highly magnified image ever seen from another world.
Mercury astronaut, Senator John Glenn and Congressman and later Senator Bill Nelson - who hitched a sightseeing flight on the Space Shuttle in 1986 - have endorsed Senator Barack Obama’s recommendation to extend the Space Shuttle programme beyond 2010 to continue US manned capability to fly to the International Space Station. With the Orion spacecraft having been delayed to probably 2015 the US should have a manned spaceflight programme rather than depend on Russian Soyuz TMA ferries, endorsing President Bush’s “Vision for Space Exploration”.
NASA has terminated a contract awarded to Oceaneering International to develop the Constellation spacesuit. The original selected contractor was the Hamilton Sundstrand and ILC, which has provided spacesuits to NASA from Apollo era.
NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter has returned close-up images of the “tiger stripe” fractures on the south pole of the moon, Encaladus. The “stripes’ are about 300m deep with V-shaped inner walls with fractured terrain littered with blocks of ice the size of a house.
John Bull, an astronaut selected among the fifth class of NASA astronauts in 1966 and who was trained to be a Lunar Module Pilot but who was grounded after a rare pulmonary disease in 1968, died on 14 August. Bull was assigned with Commander Tom Mattingly and Gerry Carr as the support crew for the original second manned Saturn 5 mission.
Based on the theory that on Earth, complex organic molecules were the first step in the emergence of life – based on the theory of evolution - the University of Arizona reports in the totally biased publication Astrobiology, that over a few days compounds similar to tholins can react with water at near freezing temperatures, like processes on Saturn’s moon Titan. The university says that on the Earth, complex organic molecules are believed to have been an early step to the emergence of life, citing an experiment in which organic compounds reacted with oxygen from water to form complex organic molecules.
Arianespace launched an Ariane 4 ECA booster from Kourou on 14 August local time carrying Superbird 7 and AMC 21 communications satellites. The Mitsubishi-built DS-2000 spacecraft bus-based Superbird 7 weighed 4,820kg and will be based at 144degE in GEO, providing Ku-band TV with 28 transponders. The Thales Alenia/Orbital Sciences-built 2,500kg AMC 21 will operate at 125degW with 24 Ku-band transponders. The launch was the fifth by Arianspace in 2008.
SpaceRef reports that human cadavers for practical tests to develop landing systems. Three human bodies were used in tests at Ohio State University last year.
India is heading an industry group studying the feasibility and definition of the current EGNOS satellite navigation system in preparation of a future Multi-constellation Regional System for the European Space Agency to be operational no earlier that 2015-2020.
40 years ago
16 August 1968
A Thor Delta was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying the Tiros programme ESSA 7 meteorological satellite into a 1,431km-1,473km, 101deg inclination orbit.
A little later from Vandenberg, an Atlas Burner 2 booster was launched carrying 12 satellites, LCS, three AVL, RM-18, Orbiscal 1, Radcat, OV5-8, two EGRS, UVR and Lidos. The launch failed.
12-14 August (14 August 2008)
The current agreement with NASA to use Russian Soyuz TMA crew ferries for flights to the International Space Station expires in 2011 but Russia says its needs a waiver to prepare new TMA spacecraft for 2012 onward. There are rumblings in many circles about how the White House and NASA have placed themselves in a position to be so dependent on Russia. Political problems between the two nations could stall work on the ISS.
An additional problem are relations with Russia after its action against Georgia. Senator Bill Nelson says that the invasion could have serious consequences for the International Space Station, particularly as NASA will be depending on regular Russian Soyuz TMA missions for many years to come before the Orion flies.
UP Aerospace has launched a test vehicle flight with its partner Lockheed Martin of a proprietory advanced research and technology vehicle, with a view to develop fast-turnaround launches from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the first US purpose-built commercial space facility
Interorbital Systems will conduct the final series of static engines tests for the planned SeaStar launcher at Mojave, California using four and eight cluster firings of the 3,000lb thrust engines. The company hopes to launch the hypergolic Hydrocarbon-X fuming nitric acid propellant and an oxidiser. The first flight tests are planned later this year from a base in southern California.
NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter has transmitted images of the ringed-planet’s moon, Encaladus from a closest distance of 30 miles. The images show the moon’s south-pole water-ice and vapour geysers which supply material to Saturn’s E-ring.
The launch of Ku and C-band transponder Measat 3A on 21 August aboard a Land Launch Zenit 3SLB has been delayed after a crane hit the propellant-laden satellite attached to its Block DM-upper stage of first Land Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The satellite will probably have to be transported back to the satellite builder Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). Measat is based on an OSC Star 2 spacecraft bus.
Meanwhile, the launch of the GeoEye 1 reconnaissance satellite aboard a Boeing Delta 2 has been delayed from 22 August to 4 September after a fault was found in the second stage’s mobile tracker.
The first manned flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft has been delayed one year to no earlier than September 2014 but NASA concedes that 2015 - the agency’s “final” public commitment - is more realistic. This will be five years after the final flight of the Space Shuttle featuring Endeavour. US astronauts will fly to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft. It is still not certain that the Ares 1 first stage booster will feature the original design, using the Space Shuttle SRB, nicknamed “The Stick”. As reported in an earlier posting, a “Space Shuttle” launcher without an Orbiter is being considered. Another concern is fixing “the predicted high vibration which could be corrected using electromagnetic mass absorbers”, says Jeff Hanley, the Constellation programme manager. In 2005, NASA’s administrator Mike Griffin established a goal for the CEV to fly for the first time in 2011.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has completed its 100,000 orbit around the Earth, having travelled 2.72 billion miles or 5,700 round trips to the moon since its launch on 24 April 1990. Celebrating the milestone, NASA has released a spectacular image of the region of the Large Magellanic Cloud near the Tarantula Nebula, 170,000 light years away.
9-11 August (11 August 2008)
Boeing has been awarded a $153.5 million contract from the US Naval Laboratory to demonstrate High Integrity GPS technology concepts through to 2010, which will combine signals from Iridium low earth orbit satellites and GPS spacecraft to enhance availability, integrity, accuracy and jam-resistant capabilities for war-fighters.
The Space Transport Association has circulated an email reporting that astronauts are “pleased with the progress of the Ares programme”. However this report conflicts with the failure of the Parachute Test Vehicle on 31 July and rumbles, rumours and unofficial messages that the Ares 1 could be dumped and replaced by Space Shuttle vehicle without an orbiter but with the Apollo-like Orion crew cabin, providing more thrust than the original Ares. The vehicle could comprise two four-segment Space Shuttle SRBs, with four RS68 engines. Source: Robert Block.
The European Union plans to provide licenses for mobile satellite services covering the 27 states. Satellite operators have a deadline to 7 October to make applications to the EU for services operating in the 2 Ghz bands. This spectrum is reserved for pan-EU services.
The planned launch by Russia’s Kosmotras of Thailand’s remote sensing Theos satellite has been delayed again, due to fears regarding 10 tonnes of debris from the first stage falling to Earth. The spat between the two countries has been going on for a while.
The Ukraine plans to invest $301.6 million in its space programme to 2012.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected “clay deposits” in an old “river bed”. Two other similar sites were observed earlier in Mawrth Vallis and Nili Fossae. The findings, says the ever-hopeful magazine Nature “may shed light on the history of water - and possibly - life on the Red Planet”.
The University of California and a university in London say that Jupiter and Saturn are full of liquid metal helium.
Cape Canaveral’s old US Air Force Pad 36 could be rebuilt as a commercial launch base used by many customers. The work could cost $100 million. The pad could be operated by the State of Florida.
Science News reports that the Earth and its fellow planets “needed perfect conditions to form as observed and those right conditions occur rarely, a new computer simulation reveals. The normal process is chaotic with potential planets colliding and becoming lost, according to data from 307 exoplanets (which cannot actually be seen, of course). The report even intimates that our solar system could be unique – one up for creation, yet again.
It seems that NASA’s Stardust seven-year mission failed in its major mission. The first six candidates of dust particles from the comet Wild 2 were in fact particles from the spacecraft itself or the Earth. Scientists are still looking for interstellar dust from samples recovered after the spacecraft’s capsule landed in 2006.
The cause of the third failure of a Space-X Falcon 1 was caused by the collision of the first and second stages during separation as a result of left over thrust on the first stage. The vehicle reached an altitude of 135 miles. Space-X hopes make a fourth attempt to launch in September.
Malaysia has reconsidered the planned building the Sabar launch pad.
50 years ago
8 August 1958
Dr Keith Glennan was appointed as the first Administrator of the new NASA space agency, with Hugh Dryden as his deputy.
40 years ago
7 August 1968
The US Air Force launched a Thorad Agena D from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a 3,000kg KH-4B reconnaissance satellite for the NRO/CIA into a 160-259km, 82deg inclination orbit. The recoverable capsule landed on 27 August with what was described as the best imagery to date for any KH-4.
8 August 1968
NASA launched a Scout B rocket from Vandenberg AFB, California, carrying the Air Density Explorer 39 into a 670-2,538km, 80deg inclination orbit. Also flying on the mission was the 70kg Injun E magnetosphere research satellite.
10 August 1968
An Atlas Centaur booster was launched from Cape Canaveral’s Pad 36A carrying a 391kg Applications Technology Satellite, ATS 4 into a 220-477km, 29deg inclination orbit in which it stayed after the second burn of the Centaur failed, although two cesium contact ion engines were tested successfully. The mission cost 10 million pounds.
7-8 August (8 August 2008)
The planned launch by Russia’s Kosmotras of Thailand’s remote sensing Theos satellite has been delayed again, due to fears regarding 10 tonnes of debris from the first stage falling to Earth. The spat between the two countries has been going on for a while.
The Ukraine plans to invest $301.6 million in its space programme to 2012.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected “clay deposits” in an old “river bed” . Two other similar sites were observed earlier in Mawrth Vallis and Nili Fossae. The findings, says the ever-hopeful magazine Nature “may shed light on the history of water - and possibly - life on the Red Planet”.
The University of California and a university in London say that Jupiter and Saturn are full of liquid metal helium.
Cape Canaveral’s old Us Air Force Pad 36 could be rebuilt as a commercial launch base used by many customers. The work could cost $100 million.
Science News reports that the Earth and its fellow planets “needed perfect conditions to form as observed and those right conditions occur rarely, a new computer simulation reveals. The normal process is chaotic with potential planets colliding and becoming lost, according to data from 307 exoplanets (which cannot actually be seen, of course). The report even intimates that our solar system could be unique – one up for creation, yet again.
It seems that NASA’s Stardust seven-year mission failed in its major mission, the first six candidates of dust particles from the comet Wild 2 were in fact particles from the spacecraft itself or the Earth. Scientists are still looking for interstellar dust from samples recovered after the spacecraft’s capsule landed in 2006.
The cause of the third failure of a Space-X Falcon 1 was caused by the collision of the first and second stages during separation as a result of left over thrust on the first stage. The vehicle reached an altitude of 135 miles. Space-X hopes make a fourth attempt to launch in September.
Malaysia has reconsidered the planned building the Sabar launch pad.
40 years ago
7 August 1968
The US Air Force launched a Thorad Agena D from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a 3,000kg KH-4B reconnaissance satellite for the NRO/CIA into a 160-259km, 82deg inclination orbit. The recoverable capsule landed on 27 August with what was described as the best imagery to date for any KH-4.
8 August 1968
NASA launched a Scout B rocket from Vandenberg AFB, California, carrying the Air Density Explorer 39 into a 670-2,538km, 80deg inclination orbit. Also flying on the mission was the 70kg Injun E magnetosphere research satellite.
1-6 August (6 August 2008)
The Long March 2F booster for the launch of the third manned Shenzhou flight - which will feature China’s first spacewalk - has arrived at Jiuquan.
Frederick d’Allest, the honorary chairman and ex-CEO of Arianespace, says that the company will not survive unless it develops a more powerful Ariane model.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says that the Space Shuttle will likely need to be flying beyond 2010 to bridge the gap before the introduction of the Constellation project.
NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander has detected what may be perchlorate in the soil. As expected, this has created the usual “life on Mars” stories.
Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technoloy company, SSTL has established a new subsidiary in Colorado. The company was established out of the University of Surrey, which first developed a satellite, UoSat 1 which was launched in 1981. The company now has a staff of 300, still based in Guildford. The University of Guildford owns 85% of SSTL, with 5% of staff and 10% owned by Space-X in the USA.
Images of six massive galaxy clusters observed by the NASA-ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer instruments have uncovered 10 objects believed to lie about 13 billion light years away from where light was emitted when the universe was just a very “young” 700 million years old. Here is another example of a young universe, which has been explained by scientists that the universe must have been “re-ionised” shortly after the Big Bang.
The launch of the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been delayed until February 2009 to allow the launch aboard an Atlas V of the X-37B experimental subscale spaceplane prototype.
Roskosmos is planning a space geophysical monitoring system costing $22 million. The space agency has put out tenders for the ground and space segments called Geosystem and the Ionoprobe satellite costing R130 million and R362m respectively.
Boeing has completed the construction of a $10 million, 20,500sq ft satellite Mission Control Centre in El Segundo, California capable of handling four satellites at once. The first customer will be the US Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM mission. Boeing is also competing to build the Transformational Satellite communications System.
Iridium Satellite LCC has selected Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space to compete for the contract to build the next generation, $2.7 billion satellite constellation, to replace the orginal 66 Motorola spacecraft, which cost $6 billion. The first launches of the new satellites will begin in 2016.
The schedule of five EVAs on the final Hubble Space Telescope to be launched aboard STS 125 Atlantis on 8 October, will feature Hubble veterans John Grunsfield and Mike Massimino, with rookies Michael Good and Andrew Feustal. The other Hubble veteran is commander Scott Altman. Also aboard will be the RMS operator Megan McArthur.
SES reports that nine A2100 Lockheed Martin-built satellites are experiencing varying degrees of power loss on their solar arrays.
Space Exploration Technologies (Space-X) suffered a major blow on 3 August when the third attempt to launch a Falcon 1 booster failed, this time due to the separation problem with the first and second stages. However, the good news for the company was that the first nine-engine static firing of the Falcon 9 at the company’s Texas test facility.
Space News reports that at a European Union space ministers’ meeting in Kourou, chief executives of Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia reported that the project should be accelerated or will face yet more politically unacceptable delays getting the service started. It appears the system might not be ready for service in 2013 or even later, which is typical of the European Commission – over-bureaucratic overstaffed and useless.
Russia’s Lavochkin NPO is increasing its portfolio of orders information systems, astrophysical, planetary, solar, magnetospheric, meteorological and radar research. The company’s orders from 2009-14 are estimated at $3 billion. The company is building ten spacecraft
NASA is considering the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) as a cargo carrier after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. The spacecraft can carry about six tons. The first HTV will be used to equip the Japanese Kibo experimental module on the International Space Station. However, there are conflicting reports from NASA as to how firm the plan is.
Flight International reports that SpaceShipTwo (SS2) builder, Scaled Composites has tested paraffin and asphalt-based solid fuel. The SS2 and White Knight carrier craft were rolled out on 28 July at Mojave. SS1 used a hybrid solid fuel and gaseous oxidiser.
NASA says that new data from the Pheonix lander indicates that the evidence of the soil analysed by the spacecraft’s laboratory is less conclusive than thought at first. Earlier, NASA scientists reported that it was extending the Phoenix lander’s Mars mission until the end of September after a "very successful beginning” with the minimum objectives being achieved. "With that "full mission success" was expected. White substance was confirmed as ice in June. University of Arizona scientist Peter Smith, Phoenix's principal investigator, said ice scooped up by Phoenix's robotic digging arm was being analysed to see if conditions on Mars could have supported life - not that there IS life. Scientists want to see whether there is a habitable zone on Mars with periodic liquid water. Although important nutrients including sodium, potassium and magnesium have been discovered, no organic materials had been found so far, Smith said. The bottom line is that Phoenix is not equipped to detect life anyway! It’s all part of the usual Mars OTT “life on Mars” stories by the media.
The University of Arizona and NASA reports that at least one large lake-like feature, about 7,800 square miles – about the size of Lake Ontario on the Saturnian moon, Titan with a temperature of minus 300 deg F is “wet” and contains liquid hydrocarbons and ethane about three quarter of an inch deep. The NASA Cassini orbiter did not detect Titan global oceans but an infrared instrument.
Cuba is interested in using Russian space systems such as the Glonnas navigation constellation.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the legendary Mercury astronaut, John Glenn, the first American to fly into orbit says that more funds should be put into the Space Shuttle programme to elongate its career while a more long-term programme is developed that is not a stopgap but rather a brand new programme that does not rely on existing hardware and technology, including the modified Space Shuttle SRB, called “The Stick”.
50 years ago
2 August 1958
The first successful launch of a Series B Atlas ICBM with boosters and sustainers was launched from Cape Canaveral marking the first successful staging of a US ICBM.
40 years ago
6 August 1968
The US Air Force launched the first Canyon reconnaissance satellite from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas Agena D booster. The NRO/USAF, 700kg satellite was placed into a 31,680-39,860km, 9deg inclination orbit. The mission was the first by USAF within the National Reconnaissance Office for the National Security Agency.
The US Air Force launched a Titan 3B booster from Vandenberg AFB, California, carrying a KH-8 reconnaissance satellite into a 142-395km, 110deg inclination orbit. The recoverable film capsule returned on 16 August.
