henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (11/19/90)
[I'm not *quite* as far behind as the date would suggest. This is from a copy of the space-related parts of the Aug 13 issue, kindly supplied by Nick Watkins after the Post Orifice ate my copy of that issue.] Cover: Japan, imaged by Japan's MOS-1 Marine Observation Satellite. ESA awards Dornier contract for ERS-2, the successor to Europe's first Earth-resources satellite. ERS-1 is ready for launch, slated for Ariane in April. ERS-2 will probably go up in 1994, when ERS-1's nominal life ends. Space Commerce Corp proposes commercial launches of Proton from Florida, anticipating new government space policy which reportedly will permit such things subject to negotiation of fair pricing "rules of the road". JSC to build very large pool for free-fall simulation of space station assembly; construction will start late this year and end in mid-1993. Congress is pushing for a top-to-bottom reassessment of SDI, after imposing deep cuts in the FY91 budget request and explicitly rejecting development and testing of Brilliant Pebbles. DoD audit finds that USAF overstated costs in a 1988 analysis of buying satellite parts directly from subcontractors instead of via the prime contractor. The USAF analysis said it would cost more that way; the auditors say it would have cost less. US military dispatches communications teams to Saudi Arabia to set up satellite ground stations. At least one DSCS-3 military comsat has been shifted to give better Gulf coverage. It is also alleged that at least one Defense Support Program missile-warning satellite has been moved to watch the Gulf area for tactical-missile launches. Schedule for the GOES-Next Clarke-orbit weather satellites jeopardized by mirror problems. [Unrelated, repeat unrelated, to Hubble's.] The two main imaging mirrors were found, in thermal vacuum tests, to have a tendency to warp in temperature extremes. The design was extrapolated from smaller mirrors in earlier satellites, and it appears that the computer analysis used was oversimplified. There were hints of trouble starting last year, but the early test hardware had other problems and only recently was a mirror problem definitely implicated. Solutions are being investigated; it might be possible to reinforce the mirrors without having to redesign them. NOAA is anxious to keep GOES-Next on schedule for first launch early in 1992, because only one GOES satellite of the current generation is still operational and it will be getting old by then; even now there are problems, because two operational birds are really needed for full coverage. GOES-Next development problems continue to cause friction between NOAA and NASA [the subcontractor]. There has been a substantial cost overrun, which NOAA blames on NASA incompetence and NASA blames partly on NOAA specification changes, and a major schedule overrun (originally the first GOES-Next was supposed to be aloft by now). HST inquiry tentatively identifies mirror flaw as due to defective null corrector used for measurements in manufacturing. Magellan loses one of its gyros July 20, annoying but not disastrous. Long set of articles on the Japanese space program in general and the development of the H-2 (Japan's Titan/Ariane-class booster) in particular. The H-2 and other big projects are done by NASDA. The science agency, ISAS, is much smaller, and prefers to stay that way to maintain its efficiency and continuity. ISAS's current projects are an uprated version of its solid-fuel booster (dubbed the M-5, roughly Atlas-class) and a lunar probe carrying multiple surface penetrators. NASDA, however, is talking about getting into the science business with a Mars orbiter to be launched by H-2 in 1999. Misubishi leads coalition of Japanese companies in forming Rocket System Corp, to commercialize aspects of H-2 operations. There is no immediate intent to offer H-2 services commercially, and indeed there is doubt of whether it would ever be price-competitive, but commercial participation is expected to permit useful economies, like buying boosters in substantial lots (which NASDA cannot do within Japan's government budgeting practices). H-2 engine problems continue, and NASDA has tentatively decided to reduce first-stage thrust somewhat to go easier on the engines. The possibility of adding a third SRB to compensate for this is being studied. Studies underway on doubling the size of the HOPE unmanned-spaceplane project, from 10 tons to 20. This would require an uprated H-2 with six SRBs rather than two, or liquid strap-ons of some sort, but would quadruple the cargo load that could be carried to the space station. HOPE first flight is still set for 1997, assuming major funding comes through (the decision is theoretically imminent, although it may be postponed until the H-2 is out of trouble). NASA refuses to sell NASDA hypersonic wind-tunnel time for HOPE development work, citing technology transfer. NASDA will buy tunnel time from US commercial firms and from France instead. SDI interceptor test vehicle flies a 14-second hangar test, including locking its sensors onto a satellite passing overhead. The test was similar to one flown last year, but the satellite tracking was new and so was the fact that the test vehicle only weighed about 15kg. -- "I don't *want* to be normal!" | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology "Not to worry." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry