henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (10/30/89)
Preliminary selection of the first commercial British astronaut, for the 1991 Mir mission, short-lists ten women and 25 men, mostly scientists and engineers. SDI planners bracing for budget cuts point finger at Zenith Star space laser experiment and Pegasus particle-beam experiment [unrelated to the Pegasus launcher] as probable victims. SDI prepares two experiments for January Delta launch: LACE (Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment, a satellite to measure properties of low-powered laser beams from ground sites) and the Relay Mirror Experiment (experimenting with bouncing a ground-generated laser beam off an orbiting mirror). Various minor auxiliary experiments go along. This pair was originally planned for launch in Aug 1988, but various problems (including budget cuts) delayed things. Energia project officials say Energia launch rate will be low for the next few years due to a shortage of missions requiring large payloads. (They observe that the US has the opposite problem: missions but no launcher for them.) The next test will be next year, carrying about 80 tons into orbit, details unspecified. That flight will also try to recover the strap-on boosters, for the first time. Recovery of the core section is now considered too difficult to try any time soon. Viktorenko and Serebrov launched to revive Mir, after preparations including the Progress M upgraded freighter launched to Mir in August. Launch of the first Mir expansion module is set for Oct 16 [since delayed due to an electronics problem]. Of note is that the Soyuz launch carrying the latest crew carried an advertising logo from the Italian insurance company Generali. Last Titan 34D carries a secret military payload up, probably into Clarke orbit, from the Cape Sept 4. This was also the last flight of the Transtage upper stage. Complex 40, the launch site, will now be modified for Titan 4/Centaur and Commercial Titan. The first C.T. launch is set for November, carrying Skynet 4 (British military comsat) and JCSat (Japanese domestic comsat). [Flight International 2 Sept issue notes termination of the mission of the mysterious Cosmos 1870, a Mir-sized satellite in a high-inclination orbit. The official word is that it was a radarsat, but there is speculation that it was a prototype manned military reconnaissance base. Indications are that the Priroda natural-resources agency, the official user of its data, was not actually operating the satellite.] [More from Sept 2 Flight: GStar III, the GTE Spacenet comsat stranded in transfer orbit last year when its apogee motor failed, has now been moved into Clarke orbit using its attitude thrusters. Its life will be short due to lack of fuel, and it cannot make its intended orbital position at 125degW, so GTE has asked FCC permission to operate from 93degW and put GStar IV into 125degW.] [And a third item: Matra wins study contract for the Rosetta mission, a joint ESA/NASA mission for a comet sample return. Rosetta would go up in 2001 or thereabouts and reach comet Churyumov-Guerassimenko in 2005. It would drill down 3m or so for uncontaminated samples, and keep them properly chilled until recovery on Earth a year or two later. Total sample return would be about 20kg. ESA would supply landing gear and the reentry capsule, while the spacecraft bus would be a Mariner Mark 2.] -- A bit of tolerance is worth a | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology megabyte of flaming. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu