Iridium signs for eight Delta launches, carrying five birds each. Largest commercial Delta deal in history.
Vulcain engine (for Ariane 5) fails during an April 11 firing test -- fire in the LOX pump. Impact as yet undetermined.
Titan IV launch possibly imminent at the Cape -- high activity at pad 41.
Interview with Kent Black, executive VP at Rockwell, asks him whether he thinks major shuttle upgrades or an SSTO is the best way to go. Answer: Rockwell thinks SSTO is feasible, although it might have to be larger than their original concepts, but the Congressional support for a new launcher just isn't there.
Argument in progress over the preferred data link for sending differential- GPS corrections to aircraft and receiving automatic position reports from them, focussing on issues of cost, use of existing aircraft equipment, and reliability in dense traffic.
Another argument in progress over whether Inmarsat should be allowed to broadcast wide-area differential-GPS corrections by satellite. DoD does not like the idea, since it amounts to an end run around their ability to degrade GPS accuracy.
Launch of a Resurs Earth-resources satellite, carrying the German Safir-R data-relay package piggyback, set for late May after being delayed due to arguments between Russia and the Ukraine over the price of its Zenit booster.
Kawasaki designing several different H-2 payload fairings [seems like nearly one per launch for the first half-dozen launches -- one would think that standardization might be helpful].
Endeavour launched April 9 on Space Radar Lab 1 mission. Going well so far.
Atlas 1 launch of Goes 8 successful 12 April. NOAA greatly relieved. Spacecraft checkout to occupy most of May, at the end of which NOAA will take over operations and begin calibration, with operational use set for Oct.
White House and NASA both concerned over rising cost estimates for the space station, also dwindling estimates of savings from Russian participation. The latest headache is that the initial Russian proposal for the 1994-7 shuttle/Mir preparatory activities came in at $650M rather than $400M, and was summarily rejected by NASA as not conforming to the contract signed by the two nations in Dec.
[A light week.]
"All I really want is a rich uncle." | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology - Wernher von Braun | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry