[Okay, this is the last of the catch-up issues. The Dec 30 issue was an all-photographs issue with zero news content (and no good space photos either). The last non-catch-up summary was for Jan 20, but the next summary will be the Feb 3 issue, because the Post Orifice seems to have eaten my copy of the Jan 27 issue.]
NASP officials looking at using a NASA SR-71 to run more-or-less full-scale tests of external burning -- burning hydrogen outside the X-30's engine nozzle at low speed to reduce drag and increase thrust -- by mounting a full-sized NASP nozzle on the SR-71. Nothing else is big enough and fast enough to run a realistic test.
The latest missile-warning satellite, launched recently by the shuttle, carries about 100kg of ballast mounted where future birds will have a laser communications system to link the satellites with each other. The laser system is expected to be ready for the next one.
Intelsat approves acquiring another new satellite series, 3-7 birds with bids due Feb 14. The board also approved a new director-general, Irving Goldstein, formerly head of Comsat Corp.
SP-100 seems to be in trouble. SDIO has abandoned it, claiming that its thermoelectric technology is inferior to the thermionic technology used in Topaz and would cost much more to develop to operational usefulness. (Allegedly they also think SP-100's ready-by-2002 schedule is grossly optimistic.)
Turmoil in the Soviet space program due to political confusion and funding shortages. Notably, the Ukraine has terminated production of the Zenit, citing a cutoff of Russian funding and the lack of benefits to the Ukraine. Most other space activities are continuing, since they were largely based in Russia, but the pace has slowed, with launch operations at their lowest level in 25 years.
Russia prepares for mid-1992 launch of GOMS, its first Clarke-orbit weather satellite, delayed over a decade by funding and technical problems. That's mid-1992 assuming no further problems. The bird is ready but funding is confused.
Soviet space officials in US to establish ongoing communications links for telemedicine work, like those set up temporarily after the earthquake in Armenia.
GE tentatively wins contract to build two comsats for South Korea.
NASP delayed six months by budget cuts. Layoffs expected. Officials say this is the big year, with crucial decisions on program organization about to be made in preparation for the fly-or-not decision in Sept 1993. The official approach remains building one ground-test vehicle and two full-blown flight vehicles at the start. Alternatives are being thought about, such as being less ambitious with the first craft (i.e., not trying for orbital capability), flying only one, or turning the program into a lower-key longer-term effort that would fly several gradually more ambitious craft. [To my mind, that would make a whole lot more sense than betting the farm on a single extremely-expensive attempt to get it right the very first time.]
FAA to seek industry reactions soon to its proposal for an advanced system to automate surface traffic flow at airports (and reduce the chances of things like runway collisions). GPS is a strong contender for aircraft and vehicle tracking as the result of recent trials that showed differential GPS to be very effective for this. The main issue is, what sort of data link will be used to send in position reports? The obvious candidate, the mode-S transponder link already found in most transport aircraft, can do two-way data, but the 15RPM rotating antennas at the airports mean that individual vehicles get to talk only once every four seconds, which is too slow for good ground tracking. Alternatives exist but mean expensive new equipment in aircraft.
European space industry is unhappy about ESA' indecisiveness. "How can we expect to attract talented young people when we can't give them a clear idea about whether the program on which they work will be approved again next year?" The Munich ESA meeting is being described as "a catastrophe... a disaster for European space". Some firms are already talking about layoffs. There is considerable speculation that the bigger programs, Hermes and Columbus, are in danger of being canned altogether, with the stretchout and its resulting cost increases used as excuses.
Large article on Japanese hypersonic-technology work. Of particular note is that work on the LACE liquid-air engine is going well, with NASDA planning ground tests next year of an LE-5 modified into part of a LACE engine. The missing part, the input compressor system, is in the works and might be available within two years. The next step would be an unmanned flight-test vehicle, possibly around the end of the decade. One reason for a brisk pace is that a [more or less] near-term application for LACE has surfaced: apparently it is now thought to be the preferred powerplant for the H-2 variant to carry the HOPE unmanned spaceplane. The priority of LACE work will depend on whether HOPE gets official support.
France studies Ariane 5 derivatives, notably a heavier version for lunar missions. This version would have four rather than two SRBs, the first stage would be much bigger and would have five Vulcain engines instead of one, and the second stage would have a restartable, somewhat derated, Vulcain. [This isn't so much a derivative as a whole new booster using some of the same components.] This could put 35 tons into a lunar trajectory. [Not bad, that's almost Saturn V performance.] Other launchers studied include smaller ones based on Ariane 5 SRBs. [Shades of SRB-X, once described as "the single worst shuttle-derived launcher ever proposed".]
Japan's Yohkoh (nee Solar-A) solar-astronomy satellite begins to return data, notable in particular because of continuous real-time coverage rather than the snapshots from other satellites. [Well, other satellites except the Skylab solar telescope, that is.]
First Ariane 5 launch may slip due to a casting problem with the first live-fuel SRB segment. The combination of a valve leak and a procedural error caused one of its ten batches of fuel to be made with an inadequate amount of curing agent, and the fuel has not hardened properly. The segment is useless, and engineers are studying the slightly tricky question of how to get the bad fuel out so the casing can be reused. Meanwhile, the next casting test has been postponed until procedures are revised, and casings will be shuffled to get a full SRB assembled for the first test firing, which will slip about six months from the original target of March. The first flight, scheduled for April 1995, will probably slip a bit but it's not clear how much.
France about to sign small development contract for design and ground testing of a small Mach 8 scramjet engine.
Space Systems / Loral will build two complex comsats for Nippon T&T. Award of the contract to a US firm is seen as the result of US political pressure.
Eutelsat 2 launched Dec 7 on the first commercial Atlas 2, after a delay of about four months for investigation of April's Centaur failure; GD is breathing a sigh of relief that this one worked. The review board cited contamination of turbomachinery by "solid particulate" or ice plus marginal startup torque as probable causes of the failure. GD has responded with borescope inspections of plumbing for contamination, a revised startup cycle to provide more turbine torque, tests to ensure that propellant moisture content is within specs, and air delivery of all components (with launch-site borescope inspections if any ground transport ends up being used). A lengthy series of firing tests was done before the Eutelsat launch to confirm proper functioning after the changes.
Atlas 2 incorporates a number of mods, first successfully flown on this flight. Notable are a 10% improvement in first-stage booster-engine thrust, deletion of the vernier engines, a new inertial guidance system, and a longer Centaur using a new tank insulation.
GCC 2.0 is to C as SVR4 is to Unix. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology -Dick Dunn | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry