The cover picture this time is Mir seen from Discovery, with Dr. Polyakov watching through the window.
Latest cute GPS trick: USAF Wright Labs are looking into passive range measurement done by listening to the GPS signals reflected from a target.
Khrunichev and Lockheed (subcontractor to Boeing) reach agreement on the price of the Salyut FGB tug: $190M for delivery in orbit.
Goldin orders hiring freeze as NASA sorts out the implications of the unexpected budget cuts. He is also facing some criticism from Congress over attempts to start a few new projects in FY96 despite the cuts; Goldin thinks more efficient operations will save enough for it, but some in Congress say he's going to have to sacrifice other projects eventually and he should make decisions now.
Interview with Norman Augustine. "One has to be very concerned about the future of any industry where your competitors are governments, regardless of the business you're in..." He says he'd prefer to see the US government keep its hands off the launch business, but that may not be practical if the foreign competition doesn't get more commercial. His comment on the comsat business: "...it may be a little like the commercial aircraft business. It's a wonderful market for two competitors, but there always seem to be three..."
Story on DASA's Aestus engine, now entering final testing for use on the Ariane 5 second stage. Various other applications are being discussed. Early work is underway on an upgraded version for a heavier Ariane 5.
Extensive mumbling about a new "space architect" position within the Pentagon, intended to be a single spokesman on military space policy. [If I were being cynical, I would say this sounds like yet another "simplify military space activity -- let the USAF run it all" plan.]
E'Prime Aerospace finally gets agreement from the government that the Peacekeeper missile can be developed as a commercial launcher without major violations of arms-reduction treaties. (It's only taken them five years.) E'Prime proposes upgraded electronics, removal of much of the hardening against nuclear effects, and graphite rather than Kevlar motor cases. E'Prime is proposing a family of vehicles, built out of Peacekeeper parts and small to-be-developed liquid top stages. To get around the problem of the first stage being designed for ignition in mid-air, they propose to use steam pressure to eject it from a canister, with ignition about 200ft up. They propose to launch from the Cape, Vandenberg, and a site on Ascension Island (although they have not yet negotiated with Britain for the rights to the last).
Pictures from the Discovery Mir rendezvous. Various bits of experience will be relevant to future missions; for example, Discovery's rendezvous radar was not a lot of help at close range because Mir is so big -- the radar tended to wander, making the laser rangefinder more important than expected.
The experimental spacewalk was aborted when temperatures within Foale's gloves went "well below 40F". The intent was to simulate space-station assembly conditions, without a nice warm shuttle cargo bay surrounding the astronauts. Despite suit improvements, Foale's hands got uncomfortably cold; gloves with built-in heaters will be tried next time.
There is a difference between | Henry Spencer cynicism and skepticism. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu