Soviet space officials consider sending Mriya and Buran to the International Aerospace Convention in Huntsville next July.
Solar-A, aka Yokoh (Japanese for sunshine) launched from Uchinoura Aug 30. Solar-flare observations may begin by mid-Sept.
Soviets face serious setback as Zenit booster explodes at low altitude. Payload was reportedly an eavesdropping satellite. This is the second Zenit failure in a row at Baikonur; this one was preceded by persistent technical problems that led to swapping the original booster for a backup Zenit. It's bad news for budget pressures on the Soviet space program, for the Energia/Buran program (since the Energia strap-ons are Zenits), and for international marketing of Zenit. Cause is not definitely known yet; the previous Baikonur Zenit failure has been attributed to an oil leak in the engine system causing engine shutdown a few seconds after liftoff.
NRC panel critical of NASA planning for ASRM testing, saying that the various innovations in design and manufacturing impose substantial risk of delays, and that NASA needs to review certain areas where there seems to be some overconfidence. In particular, the panel notes that there is little reserve in the program plans to cover unexpected problems, and there will be great temptation to explain away unfavorable test results. Indeed, they say it has already happened: a joint test failed Aug 6, and NASA has decided not to repeat the test since the materials used were not those that will be used in the final design anyway. The panel does not dispute this decision in itself, but says that the rules should have been set before the test, not afterward, to keep the test program honest. The panel also urged a serious attempt at a numerical assessment of the desired and expected reliabilities of ASRM.
Centaur stage damaged during fueling test at the Cape, possibly delaying the first launch of a DSCS 3 military comsat. Details not clear; the stage is being replaced by the one originally meant for the second DSCS 3. This is also a bit of a black eye for General Dynamics, since this is the first Atlas 2 launcher.
US and USSR both guarantee free access for civil aviation to their navsats.
Discovery being readied for launch of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, retroactively dubbed the first Mission to Planet Earth hardware. UARS is noteworthy because it is on schedule and under budget; this is credited mostly to experienced management (at Goddard) and clear definition of interfaces between the instruments and the bus.
Details of the new Hotol design from the joint British/Soviet study. Payload to orbit would be circa 5000 kg. Hotol itself would be powered by the Soviet RD-120 engine developed for the Energia core; it would be air-launched from an AN-225 Mriya modified to have eight rather than six engines. The British participants in the study say that Soviet facilities and capabilities could be very valuable to Europe, and urge that perhaps 5% of Europe's planned near-term spending on hypersonic research go to the USSR: "the immediate and long-term rewards would be disproportionately high".
Magellan scientists split over whether a possible landslide on Venus is real or an artifact of different viewing angles between Magellan's first and second passes over the area. The large discrepancy between the two sets of images was discovered during initial experiments with stereo viewing, when one part of the images simply wouldn't line up. If it is a landslide, some 3 cu km of material was involved and it would have been the equivalent of a magnitude 5 earthquake. Interpretation of radar images of steep terrain is difficult, and it might be a false alarm. The next pass over the area will occur in late November.
Telesat Canada puts Anik E2 into full operation; it appears to have suffered no damage from the drastic maneuvers used to get its stuck C-band antenna deployed after it stuck shortly after launch. Expected orbital lifetime is down to 12 years from the original 13, due to the fuel expended during the deployment attempts. There will be no insurance claim, as the policy on Anik E2 only covers 12 years.
SVR4: the first system so open that | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology everyone dumps their garbage there. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry