Letter from Paul R. Johnson of Houston, observing that if NASA's proposed SSTO testbed can reach 400kft at Mach 20, with a lighter propellant load it could become a reusable first stage, boosting perhaps 20klbs into LEO using a Centaur upper stage.
The Martin Marietta team involved with Magellan aerobraking gets NASA Public Service Medals.
Japanese communications officials are monitoring APSat-1, a Chinese comsat whose location and frequencies appear to conflict with those of Sakura-3A. Japan has asked China to relocate APSat-1 but has received no answer.
Next Ariane launch, carrying Brazilian and Turkish comsats, slips from 30 July to mid-August because of a problem with the third-stage helium system.
NRC's Space Studies Board expresses concern that the shuttle/Mir flights, which will carry Spacelab but use it primarily for storage, are being considered substitutes for previously-planned Spacelab science missions, effectively closing down Spacelab science operations years before the space station becomes available. The SSB also wonders whether the station will be able to provide Spacelab's high-quality microgravity environment.
NASA says that the Pegasus XL launch failure appears to have been due to faulty assumptions in the aerodynamic model used for computer simulations. For example, the roll-due-to-sideslip coefficient used in the model seems to be significantly different from that measured in post-failure wind-tunnel tests. There are no indications of any problems with the XL hardware; the fixes should be confined to the autopilot software. The next flight might be possible late this year. Currently under debate is whether the XL needs a test flight with no payload (or a risk-sharing payload) before entering operational service; NASA and OSC have not reached agreement on whether it should be done, never mind who will pay for it. Possible payloads for the next XL launch are NASA's TOMS spacecraft, which is ready, and the USAF's Step-3, which could be ready by Sept.
Meanwhile, OSC is preparing to use a standard Pegasus to launch the APEX spacecraft. This will be the last Pegasus launch using the NASA B-52.
[Marginally space-related...] NASA research aircraft successfully videotape large flashes of light high above thunderstorms, from two vantage points simultaneously so altitudes can be determined. The flashes have been reported with some frequency by pilots and shuttle astronauts over the last few years, and scattered reports go back over a century. Some of the flashes go as high as 100km; whether they could affect high-altitude aircraft is not known. Also not yet known is whether they have anything to do with the upper-atmosphere gamma-ray flashes seen occasionally by Compton.
Gen. Charles Horner, outgoing head of US Space Command (and air boss of the Gulf War) says US military space programs are handicapped by funding arrangements that don't match user requirements: for example, the Army and Navy want to use Milstar but aren't paying for it, so they support it wholeheartedly, while the USAF -- which does want to use it but is also in charge of paying for it -- is reluctant to sacrifice aircraft programs to fund it, and the Pentagon is reluctant to give the USAF extra money to pay for programs benefitting other services. In the long run, he thinks the best answer might be a separate space force, although this carries enough overhead that he doesn't think it desirable right now.
Horner also thinks that it will eventually be imperative that the US be able to physically destroy other nations' reconnaissance satellites. In the Gulf War, France and Russia agreed not to supply satellite images to Iraq, but as more satellite operators appear, eventually diplomacy may not work with some operators unless it can be backed by an "or else". In the Gulf War, an attempt was made to destroy Iraqi satellite ground stations, but it's not clear that it worked well enough to be a reliable alternative.
KSC crews juggle four orbiters between three OPF bays to meet a complex launch schedule despite some complications: pad 39B must be reactivated after maintenance, two new cranes are being installed in the VAB, the hurricane season is imminent and can interrupt work, contractor morale is poor because of workforce reductions and a NASA policy of shifting work to NASA crews, and EG&G (which maintains some KSC facilities) is still on strike. The orbiter shuffle, which began in May with Atlantis's return from Palmdale, will end in mid-Oct when Columbia heads west for overhaul.
Columbia lands at KSC 23 July, after a one-day delay due to weather. As a result of the delay, the flight set a new record for the shuttle program, at 14d18h.
MSX, the Midcourse Space Experiment for BMDO, prepares for a Sept launch on a Delta. Apart from its studies of ballistic missiles in mid-flight, it will also use its imaging equipment to study atmospheric gases.
Speculation that SL9 may have been "something... between an asteroid and a comet" after spectroscopic data fails to reveal indications of water vapor in the impacts. Still awaited is Galileo data that will pin down impact times more precisely. Two other spacecraft teams have reported negative results: Ulysses heard no radio disturbances, and Voyager 2 neither heard radio emissions nor saw ultraviolet emissions (although it *is* nearly six billion km away).
Lockheed stacks an LLV1 mockup on the intended LLV launch pad, one of the SRB mounts of the defunct Vandenberg shuttle pad. The first LLV1 flight is on track for mid-Nov, carrying a 300lb store-and-forward comsat into polar orbit for CTA. It will be the first actual rocket launch from the 1960s-vintage pad. The mockup stacking produced some small changes in procedures, and discovered one misaligned hole in pad gear. Lockheed plans a setup crew of 25-30 and a launch crew of at most 8.
Justice for groups that doesn't include justice | Henry Spencer for individuals is a mockery. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu