Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

24-30 April (30 April 2010)

Russia launched a Proton Breeze M booster from Baikonur on 24 April carrying the 5,646lb SES World Skies 1 satellite aiming for a 101deg GEO orbit, the first of five planned ILS Proton missions in the next 18 months. The first Orbital Sciences (OSC) Star 2.4 medium class satellite bus is equipped with 24C and 24 Ku-band transponders, replacing the AMC 2 and 4 satellites. The next Proton ILS launch will be made in June carrying the BADR 5 communications satellite. OSC has completed the purchase of General Dynamics spacecraft development and manufacturing facility for $55 million, which had been originally Spectrum Astro until 2004.

NASA and the European Space Agency hope to be able to raise the money and enthusiasm for Mars orbiter and landing missions to return Mars material to the Earth, in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Remember those heady days of the 80’s when these missions were planned but never materialised. "That would be a really good finding on Mars because if we can find the organic matter, then we have a real reason to think that there might once have been life there," said Bill Schopf, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The US Air Force plans to launch a second Space Based Surveillance satellite in 2014 to be placed into GEO. The satellite will be built by Boeing.

Russia launched a Progress tanker to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 28th April. It is the 37th tanker to the sent to the ISS, where Oleg Kotov, Tim Creamer, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and Soiichi Noguchi.

India plans to launch 10 satellites within a year "The aims and objectives of these satellites include natural resources management, augmenting the communications infrastructure, satellite navigation, disaster management support, space science research and planetary exploration”.

US military scientists lost contact with a hypersonic glider nine minutes into its inaugural test flight on 27th April. The unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 “was designed to fly through the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 20, providing the US military with a possible platform for striking targets anywhere on the planet with conventional weapons”. The HTV-2 was launched aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

NASA has delayed the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour from July to November at the earliest to allow time to modify its cargo - a $1.5 billion science experiment - for a longer stay on the International Space Station. Endeavour was initially targeted for a July 29 launch with a crew of six astronauts in order to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the space station. The spectrometer will be installed on the exterior of the space station to study high-energy cosmic rays in the hunt for elusive antimatter and dark matter. 

Russia launched a Kosmos 3M booster from Plesetsk on 27th April, carrying  Cosmos 2463, a Parus navigation satellite.


40 years ago
24 April 1970

China launched its first satellite aboard a three-stage CZ-1 with 381 lb technology satellite from Jiuquan into a 434-2,1,62l mile orbit with an inclination of 68deg. China became the world’s fifth space nation.

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos booster from Kapustin Yar carrying a 650lb atmospheric research satellite into a 48deg inclination.

25 April

The Soviet Union launched eight 110lb Strela communications satellites into 74deg inclination orbits aboard a Kosmos 3 booster from Plesetsk and the fourth Meteor weather satellite into a 81deg inclination orbit.



 

23 April (23 April 2010)

A Boeing Phantom Works spacecraft, based on the X-37B platform, called the Orbital Test Vehicle, 29ft long and weighing 11,000lbs flew a test flight aboard an Atlas V 501 from Cape Canaveral on 22nd April. The Air Force did not release the craft's planned orbit but officials say it is designed to operate at altitudes between 126 to 575 statute miles. Future flights of the reusable spaceship could approach US or foreign satellites, recover old spacecraft, or test out surveillance and repair techniques. Some are expressing concerns over the militarisation of space. The spacecraft will return to the Earth possibly after 270 days. Two more mission are planned for this year and 2011.

An Orbital Sciences Minotour 4 booster was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a prototype hypersonic re-entry vehicle reaching a speed of Mach 17. Two or three more Minotaur IV launches are scheduled for 2010, the first scheduled for 8 July, carrying the Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite from SLC-8 at Vandenberg. In September, a launch from Kodiak Island will orbit the FASTSAT, FASTRAC-A, FASTRAC-B, FalconSat-4, O/OREOS and RAX satellites. A further launch from Kodiak, with the TacSat-4 satellite, was planned for later in 2010.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis STS 132 was moved to Pad 39A on 23 April, scheduled for launching on May 14 to the International Space Station. The crew comprises of commander Ken Ham, pilot Domonic Antonelli, Mike Good, Garret Reisman and Piers Sellers.

40 years ago
23 April 1970

A Thor Delta booster was launched from pad 17A at Cape Canaveral carrying the 645lb Intelsat 3 F7 communications satellite into a geo-synchronous orbit stationed at 19degE, later moved to 314deg.

The Soviet Union launched the 716lb Cosmos 334, an air defence satellite aboard a Kosmos 2 booster from Plesetsk into a 70deg inclination orbit.


 

17-22 April (22 April 2010)

China has selected seven more taikonauts including two females, Captain Yang Waping and Lt Li Lingchao.

Just three more Space Shuttle missions are now left after the landing of STS 131 Discovery which landed at the Kennedy Space Centre on 20 April with commander Alan Pointdexter at the helm. The other crew were pilot Jim Dutton and mission specialists, Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki. The mission lasted for 15 days 2 hours 47 minutes 10 seconds. Three Space Shuttle missions are left to fly and America will be grounded, while Russia takes to lead in manned spaceflight.

Russia has confirmed the Coronas-Photon satellite launched on 30 January 2009 has been lost.

The US Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has selected Ball Aerospace to build the Geosat Follow-On satellite to follow the first satellite launched in 1998. GFO-2 measurements will be used for “global ocean and tactical battle-space characterization” with a six-year operational mission life, following its anticipated launch in 2014.

Russia launched a Kobalt reconnaissance satellite, Cosmos 2462 aboard a Soyuz-U from Plesetsk on 16 April.

NASA will launch the first human-like robot to space later this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station. Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth. The 300-pound R2 consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands. R2 will launch on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission planned for September. Once aboard the station, engineers will monitor how the robot operates in weightlessness. R2 will be confined to operations in the station's Destiny laboratory. However, future enhancements and modifications may allow it to move more freely around the station's interior or outside the complex.

The recent death of the legendry X-15 pilot, Robert White has been followed by the release of the news of the death of flight surgeon Lt Col David Simons, aged 87, who paved the way for astronauts with a mission into 19 miles of space in a balloon capsule on 18 August 1957. 

The crews of the final three Space Shuttle missions have been confirmed. STS 132 Atlantis is scheduled for 14 May with a crew of commander Ken Ham, pilot Domonic Antonelli, Mike Good, Garret Reisman and Piers Sellers. The STS 134 Endeavour mission will be commanded by Mark Kelly, with pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists Mike Finke, Andrew Feustal, ESA’s Roberto Vittori and Greg Chamitoff. The launch is scheduled for 29 July. The final flight of the Space Shuttle will feature Discovery STS 133, with commander Steven Lindsey, pilot EricBoe and mission specialists Alvin Crew, Mike Barratt, Tim Kopra and Nicole Stott. The flight will the 134th Space Shuttle launch and the last of the programme. The launch is scheduled for 16 September.
 

11-16 April (16 April 2010)

India’s Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle-D3, flying the first cryogenic engine carrying a communications satellite failed after launch from Shriharikota on 15th April, when the booster tumbled after the two vernier engines failed late in the flight. Another flight will be attempted next year. The GSLV was to have placed the 2,200 kg advanced communication-navigation satellite, G-SAT-4 into geostationary orbit. Earlier missions used a Russian upper stage. Another GSLV upgrade will introduce a brand new liquid-fueled first stage, two massive solid rocket boosters, a re-startable second stage and a more efficient third stage. The GSLV Mk.3 upgrades are slated to begin flying in 2012.. India plans to launch the smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in May  with the Cartosat 2B Earth observation satellite and several smaller spacecraft for international organizations.

Discovery astronauts will press ahead with their normal flight plan, undock on Saturday and land back at the Kennedy Space Centre on 19 April. There were thoughts of a fouth EVA but these were cancelled. In a recent open letter to the president signed by legendary Apollo flight directors Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, Glynn Lunney and more than 20 former astronauts, including Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell and Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the administration's plan was criticized for ceding America's "hard earned global leadership in space technology to other nations.""We are stunned that, in a time of economic crisis, this move will force as many as 30,000 irreplaceable engineers and managers out of the space industry," they wrote. "We see our human exploration program, one of the most inspirational tools to promote science, technology, engineering and math to our young people, being reduced to mediocrity."Funding shortfalls resulted in a projected five-year gap between the end of shuttle operations and the debut of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule. To bridge the gap, NASA is paying the Russians some $50 million a seat to launch U.S. and partner astronauts to the space station aboard Soyuz rockets. Obama plans a rough timeline for expeditions beyond low-Earth orbit and even the moon, calling for manned missions to nearby asteroids by the mid 2020s, flights to orbit Mars by the mid 2030s and manned landings shortly after. "The bottom line is, nobody is more committed to manned spaceflight, to human exploration of space than I am but we've got to do it in a smart way and we can't just keep on doing the same old things we've been doing and thinking that somehow that's going to get us where we want to go." The new plan comes as NASA is struggling to complete the International Space Station and retire the Space Shuttle, resulting in more than 7,000 lost jobs this year at the Kennedy Space Centre alone. For deep space exploration, Obama plans to proceed with development of a new heavy lift rocket in 2015 that would take the place of the Constellation program's Ares V to boost future manned spacecraft out of Earth orbit to any one of a variety of deep space targets. Possible destinations include the moon, near-Earth asteroids, the moons of Mars and, eventually, Mars itself. Obama also has approved a plan to modify the Constellation program's Orion crew capsule for use as an emergency escape vehicle for the International Space Station. He also promised to use the spacecraft as a test bed for future deep space missions. "We will invest more than $3 billion to conduct research on an advanced heavy lift rocket, a vehicle to efficiently send into orbit the crew capsules, propulsion systems and large quantities of supplies needed to reach deep space," he said."Early in the next decade, a set of crewed flights will test and prove the systems required for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. And by 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the moon into deep space. We'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history. By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it!” 

China is planning to launch three spacecraft between 2011 and 2016 to form the basis of a manned space station,Tiangong 1, during the first half of 2011, said Wang Wenbao. During the second half of 2011, China will launch the unmanned Shenzhou 8 mission, which will meet up with Tiangong 1 in space, performing China's first in-flight rendezvous and docking. China plans to follow up with two more missions – Shenzhou 9 and 10 – in the first and second halves of 2012 respectively, to "make breakthroughs and master the necessary technologies of rendezvous and docking." The second module Tiangong 2, will be launched in 2013. Tiangong 3 will follow  2014 to 2016 and China will continue constructing the space station between 2016 and 2022.  To supply this orbiting laboratory, China is developing a cargo-carrying spacecraft that will hold no less than 5.5 tons, about twice as much cargo capacity as Russia's Progress unmanned spacecraft.


50 years ago
13 April 1960
The US launched a Thor Able Star from Cape Canaveral carrying the 266lb Transit 1B navigation satellite into a 51deg inclination orbit, the first successful navigation satellite - which operated for 89 days – together with the Grab 39lb sigint sub-satellite.

15 April
A Soviet Union Luna satellite was launched aboard a Vostok booster from the Baikonur cosmodrome but  the craft reached 200,000km before plunging back to the Earth.
 
40 years ago
11 April 1970
The Soviet Union launched the Cosmos 332 navigation satellite into a 74deg inclination orbit aboard a Kosmos booster.

NASA launched Apollo 13 aboard a Saturn 5 booster from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral with a crew comprising Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise en route to Fra Mauro highlands of the moon. The white Apollo Saturn booster was just less than three miles away and looked as big (or small) as a matchstick held at arm’s length. The sky was a milky-grey colour and the white rocket did not stand out that well against the background as it had done on previous launches, such as Apollo 11, which took off against a bright blue sky. A huge digital clock on the grassed area of the press site counted down the seconds and about three or so minutes before the launch, everybody got themselves ready and in position. I sat on the edge of the barge turning lagoon with lots of other rather light-hearted people who were perhaps a little more nervous than they wanted to admit. Launching astronauts was a dangerous business. Someone said to me, “if it blows up, just turn and run!” As the final seconds were being relayed over the loudspeaker, everyone fell silent, their eyes or cameras fixed at the white matchstick about to light up. For a Saturn 5 rookie – aged 21 - this was an apocalyptical experience. On 13 April. Apollo 13 reported an under-voltage alarm on the CSM main bus B, rapid loss of pressure in SM oxygen tank No. 2, and dropping current in fuel cells 1 and 3 to a zero reading. The loss of oxygen and primary power in the service module required an immediate abort of the mission. The astronauts powered up the LM, powered down the CSM, and used the LM systems for power and life support. The first manoeuvre following the abort decision was made with the descent propulsion system to place the spacecraft back in a free-return trajectory around the moon. After the spacecraft swung around the moon, another manoeuvre reduced the coast time back to Earth. The crew were saved.


 

8-12 April (12 April 2010)

The launch of an Ariane 5 ECA on 9 April from Kourou carrying Astra 3B and Comsat Bw-2 was scrubbed due to a pressurisation problem.

NASA chief Charles Bolden is trying hard to reassure space workers that the space agency is in good shape with a proposed $19 billion 2011 budget, despite the fact that there are three remaining Shuttle missions to the ISS. Russia will provide Soyuz TMA crew missions after this. The end of the Space Shuttle programme at the end of the year will lead to the loss of 9,000 jobs at the Kennedy Space Centre of 14,000 that exist there today. Rather than spend money on Constellation, the cancelled programme to return US astronauts to the moon, Bolden said, "We are expanding the number of programs we have, so we can try to put people to do work who want to be involved in the space programme." Rather than spend money on Constellation, the cancelled program to return US astronauts to the moon, Bolden said, "We are expanding the number of programs we have, so we can try to put people to do work who want to be involved in the space programme". As part of the administration's new approach, Obama's proposed budget would create a five year, six billion dollar program that puts the KSC in charge of helping the private sector develop launchers capable of ferrying astronauts to the ISS at lower cost said Bolden. The President's budget provides more than two billion dollars to modernize the Kennedy Space Centre NASA's nine other centres in the USA also will be given new objectives. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas will be assigned another five year, six billion dollar programme to develop new technologies. The Marshall Space Centre, in Alabama would have the mission of conceiving new heavy lift rockets to transport equipment needed for manned space missions outside the Earth's orbit. The new work assignments "represent a bold new approach to exploring space that will enable NASA to get beyond low-Earth orbit and create robust near-Earth space flight capabilities," he said. “The US Congress still has the last word on the budget, however.”

Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson made a six-hour 27-minute spacewalk on 9 April, repressurising the ISS's Quest airlock module. The astronauts released a 1,700-pound ammonia coolant tank in Discovery's cargo bay for the ISS and installed a rate gyro assembly. This was the 141st spacewalk devoted to ISS assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fifth so far this year and the first of three planned by Discovery's crew. Total station EVA time now stands at 879 hours and 43 minutes. The 142th EVA was made on 11 April to remove a spent ammonia coolant tank and install a reservoir of fresh coolant for the outpost's network of thermal plumbing.

A Dnepr booster was launched from Baikonur on 8 April carrying the $187 million Cryosat 2 to determine the rate ice is melting, but also provide clues on how the changes will affect Earth's fickle climate and sea levels. CryoSat 2 satellite carries dual radars to measure the thickness of land and sea ice during the mission. Designed to pierce clouds and see through darkness, the instruments will determine ice elevation with a precision of about one centimetre. CryoSat will be the first to measure the thickness and mass of both land and sea ice near the Earth's poles. Approximately 20 percent of the planet's surface is covered by polar ice, and about 80 percent of Earth's freshwater is kept inside continental snow, ice and permafrost.
Polar ice reflects sunlight, insulates oceans from polar climates, regulates ocean circulation, and has far-reaching implications for sea levels and global climate. Built by Thales Alenia Space, the SIRAL radars are based on microwave sensors designed to study sea surface topography on the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason satellites. A Swarm satellite will measure Earth's magnetic field after its launch in 2011.


40 years ago
8 April 1970

A Delta Thorad booster was launched from Vandenberg AFB carrying the 620lb Nimbus 4 into a 100deg inclination orbit. A piggyback 18kg satellite, TOPO 1 was placed into a similar orbit. 

The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Baikonur carrying a Zenit 4 spy-satellite with a recoverable high resolution imaging capsule.

A Titan IIIC booster was launched from Pad LC40 carrying 698lb Vela 12 and 13 nuclear detection satellites into 62,920-74,137 mile orbit at 57deg.
Web site
Spaceport.co.uk
My first launch
Hear launch in Live launches... at the press site... the talk... the sound... the aftermath...at spaceport.co.uk.
8 April 1970 Titan IIIC Cape Canaveral

“8 April 1970 Titan IIIC Cape Canaveral The US Air Force press viewing area was on Merritt Island about two and a half miles from the launch pad 40. It was still night when we arrived for the dawn launch. The pad was bathed in bright searchlights and the rocket could be seen clearly. A voice on a loudspeaker gave a regular countdown status as Ron and Scott (photographers from Florida Today) and I, as well as many other press people, chatted light-heartedly. It wasn’t easy to hear the countdown. A sudden flash appeared at the base of the rocket and billowing smoke gushed out sideways, illuminated by the floodlights and the missile’s exhaust, as the Titan sped rapidly upwards. A few seconds later, a humming noise was followed by the sound of a blowtorch on full throttle. It wasn’t quite as noisy as I had expected. All you could see was the long, golden exhaust of the Titan. We were able to see the flashes as the boosters were jettisoned and also saw staging. I had a great breakfast with Ron and Scott. Where are you now guys? 

 

31 March-7 April (7 April 2010)

31 March -7 April

The Space Shuttle Discovery was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre on 5 April carrying a crew comprising commandeer John Poindexter, pilot James Dutton, flight engineer, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazak and spacewalkers, Richard Marstracchio and Clayton Anderson. The major payload is a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Two EVAs will replace hadware on an ammonia tank and a rate gyro. The mission is the 131st by the Space Shuttle.

Russia’s Soyuz TMA 18 was launched from Baikonur on 2 April, carrying rookies commander Alexander Skvortsov and flight engineer Mikhail Kornienko and NASA’s Tracy Caldwell Dyson on her second flight - en route to the International Space Station (ISS) for a docking on 4 April. They will join the ISS crew Oleg Kotov, NASA’s Tim Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The  Discovery crew created a 13-person crew.

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter circling the Red Planet will listen for the third time in four months to see if the Phoenix Mars Lander has come back to life after experiencing a Martian arctic winter it was not designed to survive.

India plans to cut satellite launch cost by half with the heavy-lift rocket that it is developing, a senior space department official said. The country is also aiming a two-to-three fold increase in the number of spacecraft launches from this year, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan said. GSLV-Mk III that ISRO is developing now would bring down the satellite launch cost at least by half, at present, the launch cost is pegged at around USD 20,000 per kilogram, he said. GSLV-Mk III, which would have the capability to launch satellites of four tonne class, nearly twice the mass that ISRO can currently carry to space, is expected to be operational in next two-three years. ISRO is also developing a heavy cryogenic engine and stage, almost three-times what it would use in GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). that it proposed to launch in the middle of this month. As part of efforts to lower cost of access to space, ISRO is developing semi-cryogenic engine, replacing liquid hydrogen with purified kerosene, bringing down the launch cost price "drastically". In 2013, ahead of India's human space flight planned for 2015-16, ISRO plans to put an unmanned crew module on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, Radhakrishnan said. He also said ISRO is working on a mission to Mars, adding that advanced space-faring nations like US and Russia are eyeing human habitation in Mars from 2030 onwards."For them, moon is not an end by itself, but means to reach Mars and have human habitat there. They are devising new transportation systems to reach Moon and Mars," he said." There are various strategies for reaching Mars. It's a 250-day journey (for Mars). We are working on it. The years 2013, 2016 and 2018 offers good opportunity for ISRO to launch Mars mission," he added.

The European Space Agency is considering an unmanned mission to the moon’s south pole, a prime location for a human exploration of the moon. The objectives are to test the latest navigation technology for landing and to investigate the unique region. Several European industrial teams have already assessed the various mission options and designs. The next step is 'Phase-B, a 18-month phase in the summer, taking the Lunar Lander from a design concept to hardware reality. The goal is for launch by the end of this decade.

Orbital Sciences Corporation has completed a $55 million acquisition of General Dynamics Advanced satellite manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona.

Raytheon has won a five-year contract worth about $250 million to maintain and manage large volumes of sensing data and imagery from space instruments.The NASA Goddard award, known as the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) evolution and development contract, will give climate researchers access to valuable data about the earth’s atmospheres, oceans, lands and their interactions. NASA developed EOSDIS to manage data collected by a suite of earth observation satellites.

Bolivia plans to signed an agreement with China for the assembly and launch of the C and Ku-band Tupac Tatari satellite. Bolivia has certain fixed satellite services frequency rights at 34.8 degrees west longitude, and other broadcast-frequency rights at 87.2 degrees west. It was not clear which slot is intended for the Tupac Katari satellite. If the Bolivian deal is confirmed, it will be the second telecommunications satellite export for China this year, following a similar in-orbit delivery agreement with the government of Laos for Laosat-1. China has signed similar arrangements, which include loans from China for a large portion of the satellites’ construction and launch costs, with Nigeria, Venezuela and Pakistan.

Mars rover Spirit lost radio link with the Mars Odyssey on 30th March. "We are checking other less-likely possibilities for the missed communication, but this probably means that Spirit tripped a low-power fault sometime between the last downlink on March 22 and yesterday," said John Callas, the project manager for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Spirit has lived 25 times longer than its original 90-day mission, and the vehicle is currently beginning its 76th month on Mars since parachuting to landing at Gusev crater on 3 January 2004. Meanwhile, sister ship Opportunity continues driving on the other side of the Red Planet’s Merdiani Planum.

Boeing plans to re-branded its 702 and 702HP spacecraft buses, which includes all 702 satellites launched to date, and the BSS 702MP, which was previously called the BSS 702B. From now on, the BSS 702HP designation will be used for all satellites, which have a payload power requirement of between 12 and 18 kilowatts, while the BSS 702MP is to be used for all satellites which have a lower payload power requirement of between 6 and 12 kilowatts.

The missing Russian lunar rover Lunokhod 2 has been found after being missing for 37 years, from NASA lunar images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Phil Stooke, a British Geography Professor has found the rover from its tracks after looking for it in images of the approximate position on the Moon. 

Russia is considering a contract with Orbital Sciences (OSC) to use provide Soviet-era rockets in support for Taurus II boosters, using the NK-33 engines based on the N1 manned lunar launch vehicle of the 1960s. Aerojet bought about 40 NK-33 engines in mid-1990s, paying $1 million for each unit. Aerojet has already 30 engines at present and will need 20 for 10 launches to the International Space Station." OSC has 30 engines at present and will need 20 for 10 launches to the International Space Station." Aerojet purchased approximately 40 of the NK-33 engines in the mid-1990s and, under contract with Orbital. The company is currently modifying the engines specifically for the first stage of the Taurus II launcher. U.S. companies will need more than 70 NK-33 engines in 2016-2020.

Indian space scientists and engineers are bracing up to launch an average of 10 satellites per year to meet the rising demand for various space applications, including communications and remote sensing. India is planning to launch 10 satellites per year, beginning in 2010-11. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says it could launch three satellites - Oceansat 2,  also carrying six nano-satellites of foreign countries - as additional payloads, Risat, a radar imaging satellite, with association with Israeli Aerospace Industrie and Anusat, a micro-satellite. The launch of two satellites, GSAT-4 and Cartosat-2B  have been delayed for further test, one being further flight duration tests of 800 seconds (13.3 minutes) conducted for the indigenous cryogenic engine to be used for the first time in the heavy rocket GSLV-D3 (geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle). Hitherto, the space agency used Russian cryogenic engines in heavy rockets for launching above two-tonne class spacecraft. As part of its advance preparation, ISRO is also working on launching a Resourcesat-2, Risat-1 and Mega-Tropiques in the remote sensing area during the later part of this year. "In the communications area, we are lining up three heavy satellites -- GSAT-5 and GSAT-6 from Sriharikota and GSAT-8P onboard the Ariane launch vehicle from Korou in French Guiana -- by this year-end or early 2011," Radhakrishna said. ISRO plans to put up Hylas satellite of its commercial arm Antrix before March 2011. Noting that demand for multiple satellites in communications and remote sensing areas would increase in the coming years to meet the diverse needs of a booming economy, the chairman said the space agency was preparing to launch 10-12 satellites a year. 


50 years ago
1 April 1960

A Thor Able II was launched from Cape Canaveral’s LC17A carrying the first in a series of TV and Infrared Observation Satellite Tiros weather satellites into a 48deg orbit, providing 22952 cloud cover images.

40 years ago
3 April 1970

The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 329, a Zenit 2M recoverable area survey recon satellite and Cosmos 330, a Tselina navigation satellite.