CNES undertakes major reorganization, aimed at greater efficiency and better accountability.
Thiokol delays test firings at its Brigham City facility due to bad winter weather. Affected are the Castor 120 program and a routine shuttle SRB test.
Russian ground controllers initiate solar sail test on Progress M-15, after its undocking from Mir.
Space station in cost trouble again as Work Package Two threatens major cost overruns. Station supporters are alarmed at the speed with which the debate has started, and also at the fact that Leon Panetta, now head of OMB, has been a prominent critic of rising station costs. Goldin's station organizational changes are on hold until the storm clears. Various excuses have been offered for the WP2 problems.
Harbaugh and Runco, analyzing their experiences during the experimental EVA on last month's shuttle mission, identify one key result: it is not possible to move yourself around manually while towing a heavy load. The astronauts have suspected this, but now they have data to prove it. Movement of heavy loads is usually done while anchored by foot restraints, typically with the aid of the shuttle arm, but planners reportedly have been tempted to bypass this during complex operations when the arm is busy. The astronauts were pleased with the experiment; during normal EVAs, time pressure rarely allows time to analyze problems and identity exactly what part isn't working.
OSC starts full-scale stacking test for Taurus, in preparation for first launch this summer. The new test is using a launch stand that is considerably higher than the previous design, giving a 20ft clearance between the first-stage nozzle and the concrete, to reduce acoustic loads on the payload at launch. (This is a serious concern; the first stage is an MX first stage, meant to ignite in mid-air after being ejected from a silo. Later Tauruses will use the Castor 120 as the first stage, and C120's design changes should reduce the problem.) This will also permit 200lbs less acoustic insulatation in the payload fairing. The Vandenberg pad for the first launch has been poured (it's just a flat concrete pad with some anchor bolts in it). Things are a bit behind schedule, although payload problems reportedly have contributed to this. The payload for the first flight is a classified 450lb DARPA satellite and a 1100lb USAF Space Test Program satellite. The second flight currently on firm order is the Clementine 2 mission in March 1995.
NASA cancels award of its KSC operations contract to Lockheed, after the competitors protest that Lockheed's bid was based on cost savings from combining KSC operations and shuttle component processing -- an improper combination because Lockheed's component-processing contract runs out before the end of the ops contract. The competition will be rerun, with the existing EG&G contract extended until it is.
Ariane launch schedule in for a shuffle after Hughes discovers a problem in solar-array manufacturing on the Hughes 601 comsat series. The first two Ariane missions of 1993 were to carry H601s; those missions have been postponed, and a planned two-month downtime for pad refurbishing will start immediately.
Ariane plans minor modifications to Ariane operations, reducing third-stage fuel reserves and increasing performance slightly.
First results from Topex/Poseidon are being received enthusiastically, as they are already better than earler data.
Investigation of the December Long March failure is being hampered by China's protracted data-analysis procedures and US government technology- transfer paranoia. When t-t restrictions were worked out, nobody had a launch failure in mind. About 65% of the Hughes comsat has been recovered, and Hughes is reassembling the pieces. The general industry guess is that the payload shroud failed, but nobody is sure.
Russian government officially commits to adequate funding for the Mars 94 mission: an imaging orbiter, two small landers, and two penetrators.
Yeltsin, during a visit to India, confirms plans to sell India LH2/LOX upper-stage technology despite [rather silly] US claims that this is missile technology.
Thiokol finishes testing of a new stretched version of its Castor 4A strap-on, with an eye on a number of possible applications including upgrading the old Titan II ICBMs for the MLV-3 launcher competition.
All work is one man's work. | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology - Kipling | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry