Japan's Space Activities Commission approves development of a new intermediate-size booster, using an H-2 strap-on to replace the first stage of the current Mu-series booster. 1000kg to low orbit is expected. Development starts next year, launch schedule not yet set.
Lockheed Space Ops gives NASA several ways to cut shuttle operations costs, notably including a 5% layoff in shuttle processing staff. The affected staff would not be the technicians who actually work on the orbiters.
Japan studies the feasibility of launching a network of 38 small satellites for global surveillance of natural disasters, like the recent volcanic eruptions in Japan and the Philippines.
Ex-astronaut James Irwin dies of a heart attack, first to die among the 12 men who have walked on the Moon.
NASA is getting worried about ESA's ability to fix HST's solar-array wobble problems. NASA has asked US manufacturers what they could offer in the way of replacement solar arrays.
Lennard Fisk, NASA assocadmin for space science, promises word by Oct on the precise work list for the 1993 HST repair mission. Replacing the solar arrays and the gyros is necessary, and *something* must be done about the optical flaw, but the mission schedule may be awfully crowded if both the new wide-field camera and the corrective-optics assembly are to be installed.
Ariane 44L launches Intelsat 6 F5 on Aug 14, somewhat to the relief of Intelsat, which has had more than its share of problems lately.
NASA is now very likely to rework EOS to cut up the big platforms into smaller satellites that can go up on the Atlas 2AS (the new high-end Atlas with solid strapons). The crucial development is that the USAF is going to modify Vandenberg's complex 3E to restore Atlas polar-orbit launch capability. The USAF wants this for its own classified purposes, but it also lets NASA break each EOS platform up into three smaller birds. EOS is also facing budget pressure, and the smaller satellites will ease adjustments to funding crunches. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to say `Gee, it sure would be nice to have a program with more flexibility, especially financial flexibility.'" One small complication is the You're Not Trying That Out For The First Time On My Mission syndrome, since this would require committing to the 2AS before its first flight.
There has been talk of still more drastic subdivision of the EOS birds, for example replacing each Titan platform with nine Delta-sized payloads. Trouble is, some of the instruments are too big for this. There is also some desire to keep the pieces of each platform close together to view the same areas at roughly the same time, and formation flying is felt to be much more practical with small numbers of satellites. The 2AS-class birds would each be about the size of the UARS scheduled for shuttle launch in September.
Atlantis lands smoothly at KSC after deploying TDRS-5. An investigating team is sorting out the effects of one goof in post-landing processing: two of the three fuel cells were left running and some damage occurred when water generated in them backed up. Spare cells are available and no effect on launch schedules is expected. Atlantis's carbon brakes worked well and tile damage was minimal.
Columbia has gone to Palmdale for updating and installation of the long- duration-mission modifications. It will be there about six months, and will fly next on a Spacelab mission in June.
Another setback in Japan's H-2 program, as engine plumbing ruptures under pressure in a component test Aug 9, killing engineer Arihiro Kanaya. The pressure involved was well below what the tubing assembly was rated for; a weld appears to have failed. It is starting to look like the H-2 launch schedule is going to have to slip. This could be a problem, because the first production launch (after two tests) is slated to launch Japan's next Clarke-orbit weather satellite, and there is no slack in the schedule if the new one is to be up before the current one dies.
First US space team to visit Plesetsk Cosmodrome reports no problems as the Meteor-3 satellite carrying NASA's ozone-mapper instrument is launched Aug 15. A Cyclone booster was used, the same type that launches the Soviet antisatellite system, and Plesetsk's Cyclone launch facilities duplicate the fast-response-time antisatellite launch facilities at Baikonur. At T-3hr, the launcher is readied. At T-2h20m, the assembly bay's doors are opened and the launcher, horizontal on a railcar, is towed to the pad. The railcar is backed into position over the pad, with connections on the railcar mating with receptacles on the pad. The launcher is then erected, and the area is cleared. Fueling begins at T-1h15m and is done by remote control, with fuel and oxidizer flowing through the mated connectors. At T-14m, the tanks are full, final checks are done, and they push the button.
Galileo engineers analyze results of the second cold-soak of the antenna, which included 50 hrs in the shade and reduced electricity usage in the antenna area. [No luck.] Three ribs are now thought to be stuck, probably due to loss of lubricant between the rib pins and the sockets in the central tower. Similar antennas are used on the TDRS birds and have had no problems, but they haven't been launched after prolonged shuffling around on the ground, which is thought to have rubbed the lubricant off in Galileo's case. If the cold-soak procedures don't work, next on the agenda is thermal cycling when Galileo is closer to the Sun. There was an attempt to warm the antenna in May, but Galileo was already further out from the Sun than ideal for that procedure, which may be why it didn't work. If nothing works, and Galileo must transmit at 10bps through low-gain antennas rather than 134000bps through the high-gain antenna, the atmospheric probe data is okay but much of the imaging mission of the orbiter is down the drain.
Early images from ERS-1 look fine. Instrument calibration is underway, meant to be complete by mid-November with formal ERS-1 commissioning set for mid-December.
In operating-system code, log(quality) | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology times quantity is a constant. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry