henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (12/15/88)
Buran flies.
Editorial congratulates Soviets, notes that the West got live TV coverage
of it ("an unprecedented display of confidence"), observes that Energia
was launched in near-freezing weather through heavy cloud.
Massive coverage of Buran, including a number of very good photographs
(color, close up, sharp and clear). Liftoff was 0800 local time, Nov
15, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch was nearly halted due to
approaching bad weather, but in the end continued, with Energia ascending
through heavy cloud cover. Buran made two orbits and then a smooth
automatic touchdown a few miles from the pad. Reentry heating caused
some surface damage to tiles around the windshield and on the wings.
Buran demonstrated a major cross-range capability, much better than
the US shuttle -- note that the landing was at Baikonur after *two*
orbits. The automatic landing was spot-on and very smooth, with a
glideslope looking flatter than the US one but a similar touchdown
attitude. Landing gear was extended rather earlier than US practice.
(Also, it became apparent for the first time that Buran's nose gear
is much farther back than the US design.) Braking parachutes were
used to shorten the ground roll [the US is working on adding such a
system to its own orbiters].
Misc. Buran facts... The wings are set farther forward than on the US
orbiter, although wing area is the same and shape is roughly (not
exactly) the same. Photos of the cabin of a simulator indicate that
Buran does not have a "glass cockpit": there is one CRT visible,
but conventional analog aircraft instruments fill most of the panel.
Soviets are analyzing data and inspecting Buran, and will know soon
whether any refurbishing is needed before a second flight.
This launch also cleared Energia for 220klb payloads -- Buran weighed
224klbs for this flight, against a reported limit of 235klbs. Energia's
strap-ons did not have recovery parachutes on this mission [and hence,
one might guess, on the first mission last year] but will in future.
Buran's OMS burn to achieve orbit cited as "several hundred feet per
second" [by AW&ST], contradicting claims that Energia doesn't take
its payloads as close to orbit as the US shuttle main engines.
The first manned Buran flight will be the second or third flight,
sometime in 1989. The Soviets expect only 2-4 launches per year, since
the existing Soyuz/Progress system will continue in operation, with the
orbiters used only when their special capabilities (large crews, return
of heavy payloads, relatively gentle ascent) are needed.
Buran's overall dimensions are nearly identical to those of the US
orbiters [looks like Flight International goofed on its "10% larger"
estimate], with gross launch weight slightly lighter but payload and
landing weights heavier. Its rated payload is 67000 lbs, compared
to the 65000 lbs that the US shuttle was designed for and has never
achieved, and non-emergency return payload is 45000 lbs (US limit
about 32000). The payload bay is roughly identical in size.
Oleg Makarov, ex-cosmonaut and engineer in Soviet mission control, notes
that Soviet preference is to test all new systems unmanned, even when
they are relatively modest updates to Soyuz. He comments that the Soviet
space program centers almost entirely around the launcher technology,
without the aviation background that is important in NASA.
Makarov says Soviet space activities will continue to center on Mir;
there will be no sudden changes as a result of Buran. Two new modules
will go up to Mir in 1989, possibly in spring although the date is not
yet fixed: a "technological" module [suggested by other sources to be
a semiconductor materials processing lab] and a module carrying systems
for Earth remote sensing [suggested by other sources to also contain a
new airlock and other support systems, plus more solar arrays]. Both
have hit technical problems that have delayed their launch. They will
be launched in fast succession to keep Mir symmetrical.
Meanwhile, Titov and Manarov passed the existing spaceflight duration
record Nov 12. They are expected to come down on the 21st after a full
year in space.
Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Data Corp. to merge, giving OSC an
in-house manufacturing capability (SDC, a somewhat smaller company,
builds sounding rockets and related hardware).
US and Soviet planetary scientists discuss a joint ground-based
quarantine facility for samples returned from Mars by unmanned probes.
NASA officially would prefer to use the space station for this, partly
for extra isolation and partly as a significant station customer.
Soviet experts on space nuclear power to brief a Western audience at
a conference in Albuquerque... if the feds don't forbid their visit.
[Really.]
ESA loudly criticizes the US for moving quickly on commercial-launch
talks with China after stalling Europe for two years on the same issue.
[Hardly a surprise -- the US expendable industry hopes to undercut Ariane
but has no such optimism regarding Long March.]
The five current prime contractors on the Aerospace Plane will be smushed
together into a single team by 1990 (the year of the go-ahead decision on
the X-30). [Translation, yet another project run by committee. Sigh.]
DARPA changes its mind about using the first Pegasus launch to carry a
cluster of small experimental comsats. Instead the payload will be a
flight instrumentation package, to be supplied by NASA. DARPA basically
has had an attack of caution, given OSC/Hercules's streamlined approach
to development, and is exercising its option on a second launch for the
comsat package.
Major article on Burt Rutan's current activities notes that tooling
for the Pegasus wing is being finished, and construction of the first
one has started. "Innovative cost-cutting practices" are being used,
such as simply lowering an open-bottomed curing oven (urethane insulation,
aluminum panels, and square-tube steel frame, plus heaters and fans) over
a component to cure the resins in the composite structures.
The GStar-3 apogee-burn failure is being attributed to improper loading
of fuel in pre-launch processing, with the finger pointing at the
manufacturers, GE Astro Space.
Hughes signs with Great Wall Industries for two Long March launches for
the first two new-series Aussats.
EPrime Aerospace finally launches its small prototype sounding rocket
from the Cape, more or less successfully.
Letter from Charles Noad of London, suggesting that NASA's ideas on
improving the shuttle sound strikingly like reinventing Energia, and
observing that buying a few Energia launches might be quicker and cheaper.
Letter from Louis Friedman [of the self-styled "Planetary Society", not
normally someone I'm happy to quote, but this time he's being sensible],
following a visit to the Soviet Union:
"...Their problems, internal differences, false starts,
technological difficulties in science and technology [sic],
political and economic constraints are real. But their
vitality and innovation are notable. We are losing our
innovation as we continue to conduct our space program, as
we do all our industrial objectives, with an eye on short-term
profits and near-term thinking... more than simple budget
increases, NASA's program needs redefinition -- the space
program must serve a national policy goal."
--
"God willing, we will return." | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
-Eugene Cernan, the Moon, 1972 | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu