henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/21/90)
[Aviation Week & Space Technology subscription address is 1221 Ave. of the Americas, New York NY 10020 USA. Rates depend on whether you're "qualified" or not, which basically means whether you look at the ads for cruise missiles out of curiosity, or out of genuine commercial or military interest. Best write for a "qualification card" and try to get the cheap rate. US rate is $68 qualified, higher for unqualified. It's weekly, it's thicker than Time or Newsweek, and most of it has nothing to do with space, so consider whether the price is worth it to you.] Langley investigators are happy with the results from the Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing experiment (the pod on the fin, an infrared camera viewing the orbiter topside during reentry) on Columbia. With good results now in for the orbiter wing, the next run will look at the upper fuselage. UCAR and NASA tentatively agree to consider thinking about possible future joint ventures involving external tanks. :-) Well, actually, they signed an agreement for NASA to provide five tanks to UCAR, but only after details are sorted out and feasibility and safety issues are settled. Dismantling of LDEF underway at KSC. This will take several weeks, and it will be summer before even preliminary results are in. NASA decides to appoint a manager of space station utilization, basically to give future users a voice in decision-making. Lenoir says the intent is "to set up a somewhat adversarial role so that, every time space station design has a little bit of a problem, utilization doesn't get squeezed". [This sounds like a good idea, except that it should have been done five years ago, about the time when the design *should* have been solidifying.] Lenoir tells House subcommittee that NASA is considering revising shuttle schedules so that, once the station is capable of man-tended operation, what would have been Spacelab missions become station visits instead. This would affect perhaps three missions a year. The station would have more room, more power, and better equipment than Spacelab. [If it's ready on schedule, that is.] ESA slips formal go-ahead decision for Hermes six months, to July 1991, although first flight is still set for 1998. This is partly to settle some technical issues, partly to assess design changes resulting from the latest space-station upheavals, and partly so it doesn't become a political football in West Germany's elections late this year. The final approval must be a "double two-thirds majority", with consent by two-thirds of the nations involved, both as equals and weighted by financial contribution. France, at 43.5%, is the only nation with what amounts to a veto on the project. Major design decisions made so far have included use of ejection seats (rather than an ejection capsule), direct insertion into orbit by Ariane 5 (rather than a final kick by a Hermes propulsion system), structure of aluminum rather than something fancy, and inclusion of an expendable "resource module" on the tail to hold support equipment (although some of that equipment has moved back aboard Hermes). Picture of major assemblies of Endeavour under construction at Rockwell. Orbital Sciences files for approval to sell stock publicly, the first commercial-space startup to go public. Frederic d'Allest (Arianespace head) and Jean-Claude Biget (Arianespace marketing director) to leave Arianespace for Matra. The double departure is pure coincidence. [Update: d'Allest, at least, will probably defer his move until Ariane's latest problems are cleared up.] [Speaking of which...] After 17 straight successes, Ariane #36 explodes about two minutes after launch. Initial indications suggest a problem with one of the first-stage engines. Viktorenko and Serebrov return to Earth after 22 weeks aboard Mir [not a long stay by Soviet standards, although it's nearly twice the US record]. Also on board their Soyuz was Payload Systems Inc's commercial protein- crystallization experiment. West Germany's Rosat X-ray satellite arrives at the Cape for launch by Delta in late May. -- Never recompute what you | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology can precompute. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu