henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (02/22/88)
NASA's Advanced Communications Technology satellite is having serious cost overruns. Soviet cosmonauts aboard Mir are expected to demonstrate a manned maneuvering unit this year. Australia signs space-cooperation agreement with USSR. AW&ST advance scoop on Reagan's new space policy changes Reagan's plans to announce it in his State of the Union address. New space policy stresses government use of commercial services rather than doing the work itself (for civil spaceflight, that is), endorses use of government contracts to guarantee a market for commercial space services, and incidentally removes resolution limits from commercial remote-sensing satellites. JPL presents Mars lander concept using a cruise-missile guidance system, programmed with landing-site terrain data obtained by an orbiter, to permit a pinpoint landing. NASA considers system changes to space station to cut costs. Most potential changes were rejected on grounds that they would yield much higher operating costs. One still under consideration is deferring the mobile base for the Canadian arm, meaning that the arm would have to handle its own movement -- the so-called "inchworm" concept that was rejected earlier. This is politically touchy since Canada is the only firm international partner so far, and will have to approve. Karl Doetsch, Canadian space-station-program manager, says he doesn't think eliminating the transporter is a good idea, but there is time to review the idea again. Another idea being thought about is starting with a hydrazine propulsion system rather than the waste-water-electrolysis oxyhydrogen system currently planned. The trouble is, the waste water still has go somewhere, and lifting considerable amounts of hydrazine to the station will increase demands on the already-strained supply system. One idea that was rejected was shortening or getting rid of the truss structure; it doesn't cost very much. One thing that may be added is a substantial number of small "resource ports" providing power and data hookup; they would be necessary for an "inchworm" arm and could also hold small payloads. Attitude control lost on French Telecom 1B comsat due to system failures. Its workload has been transferred to Telecom 1A. The design of 1C, due for launch in March, is being reviewed. European aerospace contractors are unhappy: "Here we are trying to prove that we are viable competitors in two important international bids [Aussat + Intelsat 7], and two of our spacecraft [the other being TVSat 1] come up with major in-orbit problems. The timing simply couldn't be worse." SDI begins parcelling out funding cuts to its programs. At least two of its space-based projects may die or be put on hold. Japan boosts space budget 15% in FY88. Japan postpones next H-1 launch a few weeks due to problems in the comsat payload. France postpones launch of TDF-1 direct broadcast satellite, opening an Ariane payload slot which will probably be filled by Insat 1C and Europe's ECS-5, to modify its solar panels against a recurrence of the problems with TVSat 1 (which used the same panel design). NRC says that NASA has been so preoccupied with short-term goals that its technology base is in dismal shape, recommends major increases in funding for technology research. "For the past 15 years less than 3% of the total NASA budget has been invested in space research and technology. Of that virtually none has been spent on technology development for missions more than five years in the future." NRC says current initiatives toward more technology work are good but insufficient. Propulsion is cited as a particular disaster area, especially since much information from earlier programs is being lost as people retire. Manned spaceflight is number two needing attention, notably long-term effects of spaceflight, closed- cycle life-support, and better EVA technology. ESA proposes Navsat: an international civilian system to supplement Navstar and eventually evolve into a complete independent navsat system. It would start with satellites in elliptical and Clarke orbits to give full capability in specific areas, notably the North Atlantic. It will also include a capability to warn users of Navstar and Glonass [the Soviet equivalent] of failures in *their* systems, something that Navstar and Glonass cannot do! ESA would not operate Navsat in the long run; the responsibility for operations would be transferred to an international body like Inmarsat (which is interested). The civilian nature of Navsat is seen as a strong selling point; the airlines in particular distrust the US military's control of Navstar, and fear restrictions on access in time of crisis, or even outright abandonment: "something like this already is happening with the US Navy's Transit satellite-based navigation system -- which will be abandoned in the 1990s because they won't have a use for it any longer". ESA is trying to sort out issues like Navsat/Navstar/Glonass signal compatibility and the added complexity of Navsat capability in a Navstar receiver. Navsat will do most of its work in its ground stations, which will track the satellites and send position/time information to the satellites for relay to users. This will also make it practical to detect and turn off a malfunctioning satellite, and to include data transmissions such as warnings of failures in Navstar and Glonass. Bruce Murray criticizes current space-station plans as a "giant WPA in the sky", says it will be nearly useless unless it is designed for a role in a manned Mars mission. He also claims that there is no real scientific interest in a return to the Moon. [Can you say "tunnel vision"?] Harris Corp. proposes an SDI software-test project involving launch of six small satellites as a simulation testbed. The idea has support but is on hold pending funding and launch availability. TVSat 1 program officials say the satellite is probably a writeoff. Its stuck solar panel is firmly stuck; attempts to free it with motor firings failed. (Officials note that it's hard to nudge a 1.2-ton satellite hard enough to shake a lightweight solar panel much.) Other methods are being examined, but nobody is optimistic any more, especially there is still no good idea of the cause of the trouble. The various tests aimed at figuring out how many clips are holding the panel have not been conclusive; the satellite was not designed for such measurements, and the data is down in the noise range of the sensors. However, if the outer panel is open at all, it's not by much. There is some concern that the satellite was not designed to stay in this configuration for any length of time, but overall there doesn't seem to be much of a hurry. If the stuck array stays stuck, the satellite's receiving antenna can't fully deploy, making the satellite useless unless it can be tilted to point the antenna at the ground station; again, people are pessimistic. TVSat 2, originally meant to be an on-orbit spare, is on schedule for launch early in 1990. "Aerospace Forum" piece by James Van Allen, urging "re-balancing" of the space program. [Actually this one is surprisingly mild for him; maybe he's realizing that his strident no-manned-spaceflight position is not popular.] -- Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry