henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/07/91)
NASA formally approves extended mission for Magellan. The original basic-mission goal of mapping 70% of the surface was met on 2 April, and coverage at the end of the basic mission on 15 May is expected to be 84%. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory gets NASA contract to do the ground science center for AXAF. NASP officials estimate $4-8G for construction and flight testing. This is the first public cost estimate from senior people. A more precise estimate will go to Congress next year. Astronaut Manley Carter killed in airline crash 5 April. No word yet on who will replace him on the International Microgravity Lab mission next Feb. Dept of Serious Unhappiness: Galileo attempts deployment of high-gain antenna but it doesn't. The spin rate *did* slow somewhat, but the antenna-deployed sensor did not report success. [In fact, it seems to have deployed partially.] NASA and DoD expected to present NSC a proposal to build a new heavylift booster resembling Energia, using a shuttle tank and SSME-derived engines plus ill-defined solid boosters. They are "reasonably comfortable" with predicting $500-1000/lb for this, and say that ALS's claim of $300/lb "never was realistic". DoD approves development of a new early-warning satellite to replace the current DSP series. Full-scale development to start circa 1994. Bureaucratic fun and games with the Topaz 2 space reactor that the Soviets loaned to the US for display. The NRC is blocking the return of the reactor to the USSR on the grounds that exporting a reactor to any nation which has not signed peaceful-nuclear-energy treaty (the USSR has not) is illegal. Various people, notably including SDIO (which is planning to buy a Topaz 2), are pushing for an exemption. Meanwhile, the Air&Space Museum is asking for Soviet permission to display the reactor until it is cleared for export! Atlantis, carrying the Gamma Ray Observatory, launched 5 April after a model countdown in which everything went right. This is the first flight for the new uprated shuttle computers. The only noteworthy aspect of the launch is that the forward skirt of the left SRB was found to have buckled around a fair bit of its circumference; this is thought to have happened at sea impact, rather than during ascent. First shuttle spacewalk in over five years, and an unplanned one at that, to free GRO's stuck antenna. The antenna failed to deploy despite power on the actuator and latch showing "open". Attempts to shake it loose were unsuccessful, so Jerry Ross and Jay Apt were sent out to do a manual deployment, a procedure practiced earlier underwater. Ross freed the antenna boom, removed a bolt to disengage the actuator, unlocked the boom linkage, moved the boom to deployed position manually, and locked the linkage again. Total elapsed time about 45 min. They took the opportunity to run some of the tests scheduled for their later spacewalk, and then waited in the airlock until GRO was ready and released. The cause of the antenna problem may never be known for sure, although the prime theory is that thermal insulation shifted during launch. ESA's ERS-1, carrying both optical sensors and radar on a Spot bus, readied for launch. There is some concern about whether ERS-2, whose construction start was delayed somewhat by funding holdups, will be ready in time for the end of ERS-1's lifetime; various aspects of ERS-1 are considered to be pushing the technologies and the expected lifetime is only 2-3 years, which will make things tight for ERS-2's scheduled launch in 1994. Story on Langley project to develop endothermic fuels to cool engine components in hypersonic aircraft. Such designs normally use cryogenic fuels for cooling, but the Navy does not want to handle cryogenics on aircraft carriers and is funding investigation of alternatives. The NASP materials-development consortium will shut down later this year, as it appears to have achieved its objectives of sorting out manufacturing processes and testing large components made with suitable materials. -- "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry