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    Архив RU.SPACE.NEWS за 11 августа 1998


    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: * SpaceNews 10-Aug-98 * Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0810 * SpaceNews 10-Aug-98 * BID: $SPC0810 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY AUGUST 10, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * SAFEX NEWS * The SAFEX team is interested in hearing from those who have had recent contact with the SAFEX repeater module on Mir. Joerg, DL3LUM asks that reports be sent to either of the following e-mail addresses: tom.kieselbach@t-online.de jh.hahn@gmx.net * CANADIAN SPACE TELESCOPE PLANNED * Saint-Hubert, August 5, 1998 -- The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced today that Dynacon Enterprises Limited of Toronto has been selected as the lead contractor to develop and build the world's smallest astronomical space telescope, capable of measuring the ages of stars, and perhaps even unlocking mysteries of the universe itself. Other key partners include the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). The $4-million contract is subject to the successful completion of federal contract procedures and negotiations. The project -- called the Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars project, or MOST -- will bring together teams from Canada and the United States to design a low-cost, 50-kilogram satellite. The satellite's telescope, no bigger than a pie plate in diameter, will be secured to a suitcase-sized platform. The ability to use such a small satellite for a space telescope is made possible by Dynacon's new, lightweight gyroscope technology that corrects the wobbling motion of the satellite, and controls accurately where the satellite is pointing. Although relatively tiny in size, the satellite and its telescope will be a powerful tool to help astronomers probe the internal structures of stars to determine their ages. The MOST telescope will be able to detect and characterize the rapid oscillations in light intensity of stars -- a scientific feat not currently possible with any other telescope on earth or in space, including the Hubble Space Telescope. As part of the MOST team, the University of British Columbia will design and build a telescope of unprecedented photometric capabilities. Dynacon Enterprises, together with UTIAS, will design the microsatellite bus that will provide the high-precision pointing capability needed for both this and future CSA space science missions. Other MOST partners include: the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology (CRESTech) of Toronto; the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), which includes both Canadian and US Chapters; AeroAstro Corporation of Herndon, Virginia; the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC); and a team of consulting scientists from across Canada and the United States, led by the Principal Investigator, Prof. Jaymie Matthews of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of British Columbia. The MOST project falls under the Small Payloads Program, sponsored by the CSA's Space Science Branch. The CSA is providing $4 million of the total cost. An additional $1.2 million is being provided from the Ontario Government Challenge Fund, while the balance is being financed by the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto. Traditionally, the development and implementation of satellite technology and programs have been lengthy and expensive. With the Canada-led microsatellite project, the cost of having a satellite in orbit would be dramatically reduced. "The goal of the CSA's Small Payloads Program is to provide low-cost, frequent access to space for Canadian scientists, said Glen Campbell, the CSA's Project Manager for MOST. Lower cost means we can fly more experiments, keeping Canada at the forefront of innovative technologies that push the frontier of space research". [Info via the Canadian Space Agency] * TMSAT NEWS * TMSAT's gravity gradient boom was deployed on Friday 1998-Aug-07 under an automatic sequence on board the spacecraft. This was commanded from the Bangkok control station HS0AM. Telemetry data from the deployment showed that the 6.2 meter boom deployed perfectly with less than 1.5 degrees of oscillation from vertical. The satellite is now stabilised earth pointing and spinning at a rate of 0.6 degrees per second for thermal stabilization. The libration rate is currently 10 degrees and this is reducing as the attitude control task controls the stabilization process. Over the weekend, the attitude was improved, and testing of spacecraft payloads commenced. The satellite downlink is was still only being used over Bangkok and Europe as of late last week. [Info via Chris Jackson G7UPN / ZL2TPO] * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * The Fuji-OSCAR-29 satellite will remain in Mode JA as controllers investigate the spacecraft's on-board computer bit errors. The command team is asking amateurs to monitor the FO-29's CW telemetry and report when the telemetry value for channel 5 changes from 00. Channel 5 is the fifth telemetry item sent after "HI HI" in the telemetry sequence. Reports should be directed to lab@jarl.or.jp. FO-29 will be in constant sunlight through mid-August. The operating schedule may be changed in late August to cope with the rising temperatures the constant sunlight is expected to have on the spacecraft. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * THANKS! * Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: DL3LUM EI2FSB WA3YDZ * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet for over 10 years -=>> /EX -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Internet : kd2bd@amsat.org | Voice : +1.732.224.2948 Satellite : AO-16, LO-19, KO-25 | Morse : -.- -.. ..--- -... -.. Packet : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA | WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ Video : 426.250 MHz/439.250 MHz | FAX : +1.732.224.2060 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Titanic '12, Hindenberg '37, Windows '98 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - August 7, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT August 7, 1998 John McNamee Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager Mars Climate Orbiter: Orbiter integration and test activities continue to proceed on schedule. Testing of the repaired optical chopper assembly for the Pressure Modulator InfraRed Radiometer (PMIRR) instrument is complete and the chopper is scheduled for reinstallation on PMIRR on August 7. Mars Polar Lander: Landed thermal balance testing was completed very successfully on August 2 validating the passive thermal control approach. Actual thermal performance was within 3 degrees C of predicts. Cruise thermal vacuum testing is scheduled for August 30. For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit our website at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/ Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: This Week On Galileo - August 10-16, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... THIS WEEK ON GALILEO August 10-16, 1998 Galileo spends this week returning to Earth science data captured during the spacecraft's flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa in late May. The data was left intact during Galileo's most recent passage through the heart of the Jupiter system, in mid-July, when a spacecraft anomaly halted all encounter activities. Science teams will take advantage of the existing transmission time to fill in gaps in existing data sets caused by previous transmission problems, or by the fact that there is typically not enough transmission time from one encounter to the next to return all of the valuable data stored on the tape recorder. In this week's playback schedule, the near-infrared mapping spectrometer returns the final observation in a series of three designed to provide high spatial resolution information on the non-ice components of Europa's surface. The remainder of the week is spent returning observations of Io performed by the spacecraft camera. The first is designed to provide information on the size and age of sulfur grains on Io's surface. The next four were taken while Io was eclipsed from the sun by Jupiter. They are designed to allow scientists to study the changes in Io's surface temperature as the eclipse progresses. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Managers Consider Postponing Deployment Of MGS Antenna Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Douglas Isbell Headquarters, Washington, DC August 10, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1547) Diane Ainsworth Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (Phone: 818/354-5011) RELEASE: 98-146 NASA MANAGERS CONSIDER POSTPONING DEPLOYMENT OF MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR ANTENNA Concern over the deployment mechanism for the high-gain communication antenna on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has caused NASA managers to consider postponing the antenna's deployment in order to maximize the probability of mission success. The project team is studying a postponement of up to nine months in the antenna deployment, which currently is scheduled to take place in March 1999. The spacecraft, now in orbit around Mars, uses the undeployed high-gain antenna to communicate with Earth, but the entire spacecraft must be turned to point the antenna toward Earth during each communication session. "We have not made any decisions yet, but we want to take a conservative approach in order to protect the mission as fully as possible," said Glenn E. Cunningham, Mars Global Surveyor project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA. "A delay in the antenna deployment would reduce the flow of imagery and science data somewhat, but we have some ideas about how to compensate for that." Launched in November 1996 and in Mars orbit since September 1997, Mars Global Surveyor carries a dish-shaped high-gain antenna that is to be deployed on a 6.6-foot-long (two-meter) boom for the global mapping portion of the mission. The antenna is stowed during launch and the early orbital phase at Mars so that it is not contaminated by the exhaust plume from the spacecraft's main engine. The mission plan calls for the antenna boom to be deployed following the final use of the main engine next spring, at the completion of the spacecraft's orbit-shaping aerobraking activity. During deployment, the boom is pushed outward by a powerful spring. A damper mechanism cushions the force of the spring and limits the speed of the deployment, somewhat like an automobile shock absorber or the piston-like automatic closer on a screen door. In recent months, however, engineers have become aware of problems with similar damper devices on deployable structures such as solar panels on other spacecraft. New data suggest that, in the vacuum of space, air bubbles may develop in the viscous fluid inside the damper. This may allow the boom to move through a considerable range of motion at a high speed before any cushioning effect begins to occur. "To the best of our knowledge, we could deploy the antenna boom without any adverse effect," said Cunningham. "However, the forces that the damper and boom would be subjected to as a result of the bubble formation are close enough to the maximum force that they are designed to withstand that we want to take a cautious approach in evaluating the deployment." In a worst-case scenario, damage resulting from damper failure could render the spacecraft unable to communicate with Earth. "The advantage of deploying the high-gain antenna is that we can then use its gimbals to point the antenna at Earth to send data at the same time science instruments are pointed at Mars acquiring science data," said Cunningham. "Until we deploy the antenna, we must store data on the spacecraft's onboard recorder and then turn the entire spacecraft periodically to transmit data to Earth." A similar approach was used on NASA's Magellan spacecraft, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994. The project team is considering postponing the antenna deployment until after the landing of another spacecraft, the Mars Polar Lander, which will reach Mars in December 1999. Mars Polar Lander carries an experiment called the Deep Space 2 microprobes, which will penetrate the soil of Mars in search of subsurface water. Deep Space 2 relies on Global Surveyor as its only possible communication link with Earth. If the high-gain antenna remains undeployed when Mars Global Surveyor begins its prime mapping mission next March, Cunningham said that small gaps would exist in coverage of the Martian surface by the spacecraft's camera and other instruments, due to the periods when the spacecraft is turned to communicate with Earth. Those gaps could be filled in later in the orbital mission. The project team is not yet certain how a postponed deployment would affect the total amount of data returned by the spacecraft. An initial estimate for the first 30 days of the global mapping mission found that it could return approximately 40 percent of the data that could be sent with a fully articulated antenna. However, the data return rate could be improved by strategies such as using larger ground antennas on Earth so that the spacecraft could transmit data more quickly, Cunningham noted. A final decision on the antenna deployment will not be made until a review scheduled for Feb. 3, 1999, before the spacecraft's prime mapping mission begins the following month. Mars Global Surveyor is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO. -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: STARDUST Update - August 7, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... STARDUST Status Report August 7, 1998 Ken Atkins STARDUST Project Manager Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) activities: This week's focus was on solar array and high gain antenna installation, moving to the rotation fixture, and performing "aliveness" and functional testing. It was very clear to those of you watching the action on the webcam lots of things were occurring. Some very impressive views were available as the ATLO team moved around and worked STARDUST through its paces. Part A of the second system performance test (SPT) was successfully completed including checkout of the launch sequences, Navigation Camera imaging (windowed) and the sample return capsule (SRC) deployment sequences. The latter was done in the horizontal position in the very clean glove box enclosure. The careful handling when we open the SRC is necessary to ensure we keep the aerogel surfaces very clean when the actual flight collector is installed later this year. The opening of the SRC and the deployment of the ATLO test unit collector showed the SRC responded appropriately to the sequence of commands sent through the computer. This underscores our confidence the system will do exactly the same when it is at the comet and we place the action under full control of the on-board computer. After the horizontal SRC testing, the spacecraft was moved to the acoustic chamber to prepare for checking its capability to ride the vibration of the launch rocket. The flight system continues to show no hardware functional problems going into environmental test. The millionth name was received this week for the second microchip, and a press release announcing the milestone generated a number of media responses. Now 1,010,518 names have been collected so far for the second microchip. Combined with the first microchip (136,237), STARDUST has a total of 1,146,755 names. Welcome aboard! For more information on the STARDUST mission - the first ever comet sample return mission - please visit the STARDUST home page: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [1/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... This is the August 1998 "SpaceViews" (tm) newsletter, published by the Boston chapter of the National Space Society. For a description of related e-mail lists maintained by the Boston NSS, or to stop receiving this SpaceViews newsletter, see the instructions at the end of this message. The next Boston meeting is Tuesday, August 11, 1998, 7:30pm 8th floor, 545 Main Street (Tech Square), Cambridge; see "Upcoming Boston NSS Events" Speaker: Scott Carpenter, Engineering Design Environments "Preliminary Assessment of Space Colonization Strategies Based on Nuclear Fusion Propulsion" Future meetings are on the first Thursdays of each month: Sept. 3, Oct. 1, Nov. 5 SpaceViews is available on the WWW at http://www.spaceviews.com (NEW!) and by FTP from ftp.seds.org in directory /pub/info/newsletters/spaceviews See the very end for information on membership, reprinting, copyright, etc. Copyright (C) 1997 by Boston Chapter of National Space Society, a non-profit educational 501(c)3 organization. All articles in SpaceViews represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor, the National Space Society (NSS), or the Boston chapter of the NSS. S P A C E V I E W S Volume Year 1998, Issue 8 August 1998 http://www.spaceviews.com/1998/08/ *** News *** Former Astronaut Alan Shepard Dies Could Triana Replace SOHO? Russia Shelves Plans for "Space Mirror" Test House Rejects Anti-Space Station Amendment Scientists and Activists Work on Mars Rover Replacement Budget Woes Force Mir Mission Cutbacks Galileo Glitch Disrupts Europa Flyby Mars Plane Proposed for Wright Brothers Centennial Net Pioneer Discusses Interplanetary Internet Astronomers Find Clues to Origins of Life in Distant Nebula SpaceViews Event Horizon Other News *** Articles *** The First Race to the Moon The Prehistory of Lunar Prospector, Part 1 Solar Sails for the Operational Space Community *** Book Reviews *** Sojourner's Technical and Political Challenges A Capsule History of Space *** NSS News *** Upcoming Boston NSS Events Boston NSS July Lecture Summary Mars Society Conference: "The Woodstock of Mars" *** Regular Features *** Jonathan's Space Report No. 367 Space Calendar Editor's Note: Our next issue will be August 15. *** News *** Former Astronaut Alan Shepard Dies Former astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space and one of 12 men to set foot on the moon, died early Wednesday, July 22, after a battle with cancer. He was 74. Born in East Derry, New Hampshire in 1923, Shepard graduated from the Naval Academy in 1944. He served on a destroyer during World War II before becoming a test pilot after the war. He was selected as one of the seven original astronauts in 1959. Shepard became the first American to fly in space on May 5, 1961, when he flew in the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight. Shepard was considered in line to command the first Gemini mission, but a serious inner-ear disorder grounded the astronaut. He remained on the ground until an operation corrected his ear problem. He headed up the astronaut office while grounded. He was originally assigned to command the Apollo 13 mission, but was pushed back with his crew, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa, for additional training. After a hiatus caused by the Apollo 13 accident, Shepard and crew flew to the Moon on Apollo 14 in late January 1971. He was best remembered from that mission not for the science he and fellow moonwalker Mitchell accomplished, but for some extracurricular activity: hitting golf balls across the lunar surface using a makeshift golf club. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1974 and went on to a successful career in a number of ventures, from commercial property development to a beer distributorship. Shepard also played a role in the founding of the present-day National Space Society. "He was a member of the original Board of Directors soon after our organization was founded in the mid-1970s, later becoming a member of our Board of Governors," NSS president and former astronaut Charlie Walker said. "His impact on society and our organization will never be forgotten." Praise for Shepard came from all quarters. "Those of us who are old enough to remember the first space flights will always remember what an impression he made on us and on the world," President Bill Clinton said before a crime prevention speech. "The entire NASA family is deeply saddened by the passing of Alan Shepard," NASA administrator Dan Goldin said in a statement. "NASA has lost one of its greatest pioneers; America has lost a shining star." Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [2/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Could Triana Replace SOHO? Officials from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are considering proposals to partially replace the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite that lost contact with Earth in June, including one proposal to use the controversial Triana spacecraft. Meanwhile, engineers using two radio telescopes have located SOHO, but have been unable to communicate with the disabled spacecraft, NASA reported July 27. Space News reported in its July 20 issue that several options were under consideration to replace SOHO, which is thought to have no more than a 50 percent chance for a full recovery. One proposal would place several spare SOHO instruments on Triana, an Earth-observing spacecraft proposed in March by Vice President Al Gore. Like SOHO, Triana would orbit around the L1 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 mi.) Sunward of the Earth. Triana was proposed as a spacecraft to return high-resolution images of the sunlit Earth 24 hours a day starting in 2000. The mission has met with strong criticism from Congress and some scientists, who see little scientific value in the spacecraft, expected to cost $20-50 million. One advantage of using Triana, SOHO officials say, is that it would permit observations of the Sun during the upcoming maximum in solar activity, expected in 2001. U.S. SOHO project scientist Joe Gurman told Space News that using Triana was a "most exciting opportunity" since there are few other prospects for replacing SOHO instruments before the solar maximum. Other options being considered are flying experiments on future Mid-class Explorer (MIDEX) spacecraft, low-cost space science missions. However, MIDEX missions with SOHO instruments would not fly until at least 2003 or 2004. A full replacement of the SOHO spacecraft and instruments is not likely, though, due to a lack of funds. "If we had $200 million, we could put up a replacement in two and a half years," Phillip Scherrer of Stanford University, a principal investigator of one of the SOHO instruments, told Space News. "But there isn't that kind of money." While plans for SOHO replacements are explored, project scientists still hope SOHO can be recovered. NASA reported July 27 that engineers using radio telescopes at Goldstone, California and Arecibo, Puerto Rico, had located SOHO by bouncing radio signals off the satellite. The satellite appears to be tumbling at the rate of one revolution a minute. The rate may be low enough to allow the solar panels on the spacecraft to generate some electricity and recharge its battery, permitting communications to resume. Contact was lost with SOHO June 24 during routine maintainence and has not been restored since. An investigation into the spacecraft failure is underway. Russia Shelves Plans for "Space Mirror" Test Russia has cancelled plans to fly a controversial prototype "space mirror" this fall that would reflect sunlight onto regions of the planet at night, citing the nation's continued economic woes, Russian Space Agency officials said Friday, July 24. The Znamya ("Banner") 2.5 experiment was to fly into orbit attached to the Progress M-40 resupply spacecraft. A thin metallic film would have deployed from the spacecraft, creating a mirror 25 meters (82.5 feet) in diameter, reflecting sunlight onto Earth. However, Russian Space Agency officials said there was no room on the Progress spacecraft, because of budget problems. One of two planned Progress missions in the next six months was cut because of a lack of money, forcing planners to stuff all essential cargo on the remaining Progress mission. "There is no place for that mirror aboard the cargo ships because we can only ferry the most vital supplies to the station," space agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov told the Associated Press. "We are struggling to raise funds to send regular supplies to the station, let alone the Znamya." The mirror would have been deployed after the Progress undocked from the Mir space station. It would have remained in orbit only a single day as a test of the mirror's ability to reflect sunlight onto specific spots on the planet, including cities in Russia, western Europe, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. Znamya 2.5 would have reflected sunlight into a beam 5-7 km (3-4.3 mi.) in diameter on the Earth's surface. From the Earth the mirror would appear to be 5-10 times as bright as the full Moon. The mirror would have been a prototype for even larger mirrors planned by Russian companies. The future mirrors would have been up to 200 meters (660 feet) in diameter and appearing as bright as 10-100 full moons. Russia hoped such mirrors, directed on cities and work locations within the country, would reduce lighting and heating costs. The space mirror plans had met with some controversy in the West, where people were concerned about the effects of bright nighttime illumination in areas from astronomy to ecology. A smaller prototype, Znamya 2, was flown in February 1993. The 20-meter mirror, also deployed from a Progress spacecraft, appeared about as bright as the full moon as seen from Europe and Canada. House Rejects Anti-Space Station Amendment The House of Representatives rejected by a large margin Wednesday night, July 30, an amendment to a budget bill that would have killed the International Space Station (ISS). By a margin of 323 to 109, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) that would have canceled funding to the ISS. The amendment had been introduced earlier in the month and debated a week earlier. Roemer, a longtime foe of the station, has introduced a number of amendments in past years to cancel the station, none of them successful. "Now, while the facts continue to pile up for, I think, our side to cancel this Space Station, the votes continue to go down," he said in floor debate July 23. Roemer thought the money spent on the station would be better used for social programs. "Do we continue to pour 10 and 20 and 30 billion dollars into a science program that we can admit has not been successful? And do we starve with nothing the people that have not benefited from this economy?" One of those who spoke out against the amendment was James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), chair of the House Science Committee and an outspoken critic of NASA's handing of the station. He noted that the House appropriations bill provided $2.1 billion for the station, the original annual spending limit proposed in 1993, and not the $2.27 billion requested by the Clinton administration. "Members who vote against the amendment offered by the gentleman from Indiana [Roemer] will vote to provide an adequate level of funding while sending a message that NASA must get its fiscal house in order," Sensenbrenner said. The vote marked the second time in July that the station easily survived an effort to kill it. On July 7 the Senate voted down a similar amendment, proposed by station opponent Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR), by a vote of 66 to 33. After defeating the Roemer amendment, the House went on to pass H.R. 4194, the appropriations bill for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, as well as independent agencies like NASA. The bill included $13.3 billion for NASA in fiscal year 1999. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [3/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Scientists and Activists Work on Mars Rover Replacement A team of Cornell University scientists is working on a suite of instruments designed to replace an advanced rover removed from a Mars landing mission to launch in 2001, while activists seek support for additional funding to build a smaller replacement rover for the mission. The changes were prompted by a NASA decision to remove the Athena rover from the 2001 Mars Surveyor lander mission. The rover, larger and more advanced that the Sojourner rover included on last year's Mars Pathfinder mission, would have studied the Martian surface and collected rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth on a future sample return mission. However, cost overruns and schedule delays, coupled with cuts in NASA's Mars exploration budget, have made it very likely Athena will not fly on the 2001 lander. No official announcement from NASA has been made on the rover's status, but Cornell scientists said July 15 that Athena would instead fly on a 2003 lander mission. "Of course, it's a little disappointing," says Cornell astronomy professor Steven Squyres, leader researcher for Athena, about the postponement of the rover. "But having a somewhat delayed program that is realistic is better than having an on-schedule program that isn't going to work." Squyres and colleagues are instead planning the Athena Precursor Experiment (APEX) to fly on the 2001 lander. APEX will include a panoramic camera and thermal emission spectrometer originally designed for the rover. The instruments will be placed on a 90-cm (3-foot) boom attached to the lander, instead of on a rover. Squyres said the 2001 mission will still be able to provide good geological and geochemical data on the Martian surface, but biological studies will be more limited than with the rover. While Cornell scientists have given up flying a rover on the mission, activists with The Mars Society, a new organization dedicated to promoting Mars exploration, is seeking to include a smaller, less sophisticated rover on the mission. The "Marie Curie" rover would be about the same size as Sojourner, but would have a greater range and transmitting power and would carry some of the instruments intended for the Athena rover. $20 million restored to NASA's Mars exploration budget by a Senate appropriations committee is not enough to save Athena, but enough to start Marie Curie. An additional $30 million would be needed next year to fully fund the small rover. The greater issue, though, the society said in a statement, was with the meager budget for Mars exploration, compounded by transfers of funds from the program to cover space station overruns. "The real issue however, is that the robotic Mars program is grossly underfunded," the Society said. "For a budget of $150 million per year (about 1% of NASA's budget) they need to launch two Discovery-class missions to Mars every two years while preparing the technology base for a much more ambitious Mars Sample Return mission, tentatively scheduled for 2005. In reality, in order for this program to be accomplished, the funding for the Mars program needs to be doubled." For the time being, though, scientists and activists will work to try and salvage some science for the 2001 lander. "Marie Curie may not be the Goddess of Wisdom," the Mars Society noted, "but she's the next best thing." Budget Woes Force Mir Mission Cutbacks The continued financial problems with Russia's space program have forced cutbacks in plans for scientific research and spacewalks planned for the next Mir crew, Russian officials reported July 17. Scientific research planned for the next Mir crew has been curtailed and the number of spacewalks was cut from 4 to 2, officials said at a press conference. The number of Progress resupply spacecraft send to Mir during the next crew's stay no Mir was also cut from 2 to 1. "We will have enough food and hygienic products," upcoming Mir commander Gennady Padalka told the Associated Press. However, he said, the cutbacks mean few available resources for additional research. Padalka and flight engineer Sergei Avdeyev will spend six months on Mir starting in mid-August. They will relieve the current Mir rew of Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin. Padalka and Avdeyev will launch on a Soyuz spacecraft August 13 with guest cosmonaut Yuri Baturin, a former aide to president Boris Yeltsin. Baturin was to report on the status of Mir for Yeltsin, but since being removed from his post earlier in the year during a government shake-up, his role on the mission is unclear. The Soyuz launch was originally set for August 3, but was delayed when power and water was cut to the Baikonur, Kazakhstan launch site for two weeks in July. The utilities shutdown was caused by unpaid bills. Galileo Glitch Disrupts Europa Flyby An anomaly on the Galileo spacecraft during a flyby of Europa, one of Jupiter's largest moons, disrupted operations during the flyby and prevented most of the planned scientific data from being obtained, the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) reported July 21. The spacecraft detected a problem with one of Galileo's two command and data subsystems, which send and receive data. Galileo then entered a "safe mode" where the faulty system was shut down and the second system activated. The problem took place late Monday morning, July 20 as the spacecraft was passing close to Europa. Telemetry was lost from Galileo for about 20 minutes, but was restored as the second system came online. Mission officials said the spacecraft and its instruments are in no immediate danger and the spacecraft should be operating normally again shortly. The anomaly, however, did disrupt observations of Europa as the spacecraft passed by. Most of the science data from the Europa flyby was lost, JPL said, and no science data will be collected until spacecraft operations return to normal. The Europa flyby was the fifth by Galileo since it started its extended mission last December. Three more Europa flybys are scheduled, with the next one scheduled September 26. Several Europa flybys also took place during the regular mission between December 1995 and December 1997. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [4/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Mars Plane Proposed for Wright Brothers Centennial A team of scientists and engineers from government and private industry have proposed marking the 2003 centennial of the first airplane flight by the Wright Brothers in a unique way: by flying a robotic airplane on Mars. The Mars Airborne Geophysical Explorer (MAGE) mission would send an airplane, dubbed the "Kitty Hawk", to Mars to make a three-hour flight above Valles Marineris, the largest canyon on Mars. The mission was proposed for NASA's Discovery program by Malin Space Science Systems, Orbital Sciences Corporation, the Naval Research Laboratory, and NASA's Ames Research Center. The airplane would carry a suite of instruments, including cameras, laser altimeters, and magnetometers, to survey the canyon and provide data at higher resolutions than possible from orbiting spacecraft. "One key aspect of Mars exploration involves the search for the best places from which to return samples--places where geology indicates the possible past presence of water or layered sediments," said Dr. Michael Malin, principal investigator of the mission. "Another involves the high resolution reconnaissance of features that are very large and/or widely separated -- features hundreds to thousands of miles across." "In both these cases, the resolutions needed are not attainable from orbiting spacecraft," he said, adding that "covering thousands of miles of extremely rough terrain is not possible with surface rovers." The spacecraft would launch in May 2003. Three days before arrival the entry vehicle section of the spacecraft would separate from the "cruise and relay" (CARV) section. The entry vehicle would stay on course for Mars while the CARV would alter its trajectory to swing by Mars two hours after the entry vehicle arrives at Mars. The airplane deploys from the entry vehicle after entering the Martian atmosphere. It would fly a three-hour, 1800-km (1100-mi.) flight path over the canyon. A rear-mounted propeller, powered by a hydrazine-fueled engine, powers the airplane. Near the end of Kitty Hawk's flight, the CARV passes by Mars above Valles Marineris. The airplane transmits its data to the CARV, which then relays it to Earth over the next month. The mission is timed such that the airplane flight takes place on December 17, 2003, exactly 100 years after Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first flight of an airplane near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "By flying this mission on the First Flight Centennial in 2003, we help show the connection between historic American technical accomplishments and today's planetary exploration." The proposal was submitted for NASA's Discovery program, which funds low-cost innovative solar system exploration missions. Decisions on this round of Discovery program selections is expected in November. Net Pioneer Discusses Interplanetary Internet A scientist who helped develop the technologies that made the Internet possible told an audience of industry experts Wednesday, July 22, that attention should now focus on expanding the Internet to other worlds in the solar system. Vinton Cerf, a senior vice president at MCI and a developer of the TCP/IP protocol used to transmit information on the Internet, told attendees of an Internet Society meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, that he has already been working on interplanetary networks with NASA engineers. "The time is now to think beyond the Earth," Cerf said, as quoted in the publication The Industry Standard. Cerf said he has been working with engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop communication protocols for JPL's upcoming Mars missions as a way of laying the groundwork for a future interplanetary network. "The whole idea is to create a standard," Cerf said, so that it's available "when we do get to the point where we need all the services in space that we have become accustomed to on Earth." Cerf said that NASA will make an announcement in August about plans for the Mars Surveyor 1998 missions, and how Cerf's interplanetary network might be involved. The Mars Climate Orbiter is planned for a December launch, followed in early January by the Mars Polar Lander mission. Cerf also suggested that the growth of an interplanetary Internet would require additional "top-level domains" like .moon and .mars. "It took 30 years to get the Internet to where we are now," Cerf told The Industry Standard in an interview. "Thirty years from now, we have to assume there will be colonies on the Moon, colonies on Mars and other planets, and research stations all over." Astronomers Find Clues to Origins of Life in Distant Nebula An international team of astronomers studying a distant nebula have uncovered clues that may explain one of the more puzzling aspects of the origin of life on Earth: why key organic molecules like amino acids and sugars have a preferred orientation. For 150 years, scientists have known that some organic molecules can exist in two mirror-image forms, usually called left-handed and right-handed. Equal numbers of each mirror image are formed in chemical reactions, yet life forms on Earth are made exclusively of left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars. Last year scientists at Arizona State University found a concentration of left-handed amino acids in the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969. This showed that the asymmetry between the two varieties of amino acids existed before life on Earth formed. Astronomers studying a portion of the Orion Nebula, where new stars are being created, may have found an explanation for this asymmetry. Studying the Orion Molecular Cloud 1 (OMC-1) from the Anglo-Australian Telescope, they found evidence for circularly polarized light. Such polarized light could select "handedness" in amino acids and other organic compounds, explained Professor James Hough of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, explained. "We know that ultraviolet circularly polarized light is needed to select handedness in molecules such as amino acids, but unfortunately thick dust clouds prohibited direct observations at these wavelengths and observations are only possible in the infrared," he said. "Our calculations, however, show that circular polarization should be present at all wavelengths, from infrared to ultraviolet." The observations were of a region where stars are formed and organic molecules have been detected. "This region may well be similar to the region in which our own solar system formed," Hough said. Without a preferred orientation for amino acids and other key building blocks of life, some scientists believe, the origin of life itself may have been much more difficult, if not impossible. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [5/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... SpaceViews Event Horizon August 2 Pegasus XL launch of 8 ORBCOMM satellites from an L-1011 off the coast from Wallops Island, Virginia August 4 Titan IV launch of a Defense Department payload from Cape Canaveral, Florida August 8 Atlas IIAS of the JCSat 6 satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida August 13 Soyuz TM-28 launch (Mir crew exchange) from Baikonur, Kazakhstan August 13-16 Mars Society Founding Convention, Boulder, Colorado August 15 Deadline to submit names to be included on the Stardust spacecraft (http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov) October 9-11 Space Frontier Foundation Conference, Los Angeles, California October 29 Launch of shuttle on mission STS-95 (John Glenn flight) Other News Chinese, Russian Launches: A Chinese Long March 3B booster launched a communications satellite July 18. The European-built Sinosat-1 satellite will meet the growing needs of Chinese financial markets as well as provide general improvements in the country's information networks. A Ukrainian-built Zenit 2 launched a Russian military satellite July 28 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Cosmos 2360 is thought to be an electronic intelligence satellite. The launch is the second successful one for the Zenit 2 in July, which before July had not been launched since a May 1997 attempt failed. Kistler and Roton News: Construction has begun on the first Roton test vehicle, Rotary Rocket reported July 21. First atmospheric test flights of the Roton, which uses a unique rotary engine for liftoff and the autorotation of a helicopter-like rotor to land, is planned for the first half of 1999, with the Roton itself entering commercial service in early 2000. Meanwhile, Kistler broke ground July 23 on its spaceport in Woomera, Australia. The multimillion-dollar spaceport, scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year, will be used for launches of Kistler's two-stage K-1 reusable launcher. The first test flights of the K-1 are planned for late 1998 with commercial launches beginning in 1999. Liquid Water on Mars: A father-son team of scientists, including a Viking program scientist, have a new theory that could allow liquid water to exist -- in limited amounts and for limited times -- on the surface of present-day Mars. According to work by Gerald and Ron Levin, the surface of Mars heats up far more rapidly than atmospheric layers just a meter above the surface at the beginning of the Martian day. Water vapor that condenses on the surface at night will want to evaporate again, but the cold atmosphere won't be able to hold all the vapor, turning some of the frost into liquid water until the atmosphere heats up. The Levins believe that enough liquid water could exist to support microbes living in the Martian soil. Astronaut Assignments: Veteran Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev has been assigned to the crew of STS-88, the first shuttle mission dedicated to the International Space Station, NASA announced July 30. The mission, set for launch in early December, will attach the Unity docking mode to the Zarya control module launched in November by the Russians. Also, four astronauts, including Mir veteran Michael Foale, have been named to the crew of STS-104, the third servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, scheduled for May 2000. Foale and three other spacewalkers, John Grunsfeld, Claude Nicollier, and Steven Smith, will conduct a record six spacewalks to upgrade the telescope, including installing a new camera. In Brief: Why is SETI mentioned in the pages of a business magazine? Well, the editors of the new magazine "Business 2.0" thought the University of California at Berkeley's "SETI @ Home" project -- where people can download special screensavers that do umbercrunching on SETI data while their computer would otherwise be idle -- as an excellent example of distributed computing... A group of boys got $23,000 in a July auction for a meteorite that lands near where they were playing earlier this year in Monahans, Texas. The boys had to fight to keep the meteorite: city officials took the meteorite away for testing and then refused to give it back, claiming it belong to them, a claim rejected by the local city council... CNN announced that veteran reporter Walter Cronkite will join the network's John Holliman for coverage of John Glenn's flight this October. Cronkite covered the early space program, from Mercury through Apollo, for CBS. *** Articles *** The First Race to the Moon by Andrew J. LePage Introduction By the beginning of August 1958 both the United States and the Soviet Union were hurrying preparations to launch their first probes to the Moon. In a bid to get the United States to the Moon first, ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) had funded Operation Mona which went by the cover name "Pioneer" (see "Operation Mona: America's First Moon Program" in the April 1998 issue of SpaceViews). According to the plan, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) would make the first three Pioneer launches while the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) would take responsibility for the last pair. For their first mission, the USAF prepared a Thor-Able rocket to launch a 38.1 kilogram (83.8 pound) probe from the Atlantic Missile Range (AMR) in Florida that would enter lunar orbit. A quarter of the way around the planet, engineers at the Soviet design bureau OKB-1, under Sergei Korolev, were busy preparing their first E-1 lunar probe in the hopes of beating the Americans (see "The Soviets Reach for the Moon" in the June 1998 issue of SpaceViews). Erected on its pad at the NIIP-5 Test Range in Soviet Kazahkstan was the first 8K72 launch vehicle serial number B1-3. Based on the Soviet's R-7 ICBM, the goal of this three-stage variant was to hurl a payload of about 360 kilograms (790 pounds) towards a lunar impact. But unresolved problems encountered during development flights and static firings of new versions of the RD-107/108 engines used by the basic R-7 troubled Korolev's engineers. Despite this, the imminent launch of the first Pioneer and pressure from superiors to beat the Americans forced Korolev to attempt a launch anyway. A neck-and-neck race to be first to the Moon had developed. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [6/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... The First Launches Celestial mechanics and trajectory requirements dictated that the USAF Pioneer launch would be first. On August 17, 1958 at 8:18 AM EDT, Thor 127 lifted off from Pad 17A at AMR and into a clear Florida sky. For the first time in the history of our species, mankind was attempting to reach the Moon. All seemed to be going as planned as the Thor-Able accelerated towards space. But as the quickly rising rocket passed the altitude of 15 kilometers (50,000 feet) 77 seconds after launch, it exploded. Transmissions from the still active Pioneer probe were received until it plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean 123 seconds later. The first ARPA-sponsored Pioneer mission had failed. Based on an analysis of the wreckage recovered by divers, it was determined that the loss was caused by a failure in a bearing in the turbopump that supplied fuel to the Thor's MB-3 engine. Back in the Soviet Union preparations to launch the first E-1 probe early on August 18 were falling behind. Frustrated by a series of malfunctions on the pad, Korolev finally called off the launch after hearing of the Pioneer failure. The uncooperative 8K72 rocket was removed from the pad and returned to the MIK assembly building in hopes of making another launch attempt in a month. But for this September launch, Korolev's team would have the stage to themselves. Not knowing how close the Soviet Union was to launching their first lunar probe, USAF officials diverted the Thor-Able rocket scheduled for use in a September 14, 1958 Pioneer launch to "Project Bravo". The purpose of this program was to determine the feasibility of using the Thor-Able as an ICBM. While being first to the Moon was important, national security was more so. On September 23, 1958, 8K72 B1-3 was back on its pad ready to try for the Moon again. The unproven rocket smoothly lifted off during its brief launch window and accelerated towards its target. But as the propellant tanks of the core and strap-on boosters emptied, longitudinal resonance vibrations (an effect called "pogo") appeared. Pogo had been encountered in some earlier flights of the R-7 and Korolev's engineers thought they had understood and corrected for its cause. The reappearance of this problem would finally doom the flight 93 seconds after launch when the strap-on boosters broke loose. The now free flying collection of rockets with the E-1 No. 1 probe still attached tumbled to the ground and exploded on impact. The Soviet's first attempt to reach the Moon ended as ingloriously as the American's. But unlike the American attempt, this failure was kept quiet firmly establishing the Soviet government's policy of keeping launch failures secret. The Race Heats Up Another 8K72, serial number B1-4, was hastily modified by Korolev's engineers for another clandestine launch attempt the next month. As in August, Korolev would have to race against the Americans who were preparing another Thor-Able to launch a 38.3 kilogram (84.4 pound) Pioneer probe towards lunar orbit. But unlike the August launch, ARPA was no longer in charge of the American effort. An act of Congress officially established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to run the United States' civilian space program starting on October 1, 1958. Much to the chagrin of those who wanted the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to run the show, President Dwight Eisenhower transferred most of the DoD's purely scientific space projects to the new agency including ARPA's Pioneer program. With ARPA and the USAF relegated to an advisory role, the next Pioneer mission would be the first launch for the fledgling space agency. As before, trajectory requirements allowed the United States to get off the pad first. On the morning of October 11, 1958 at 3:42:13 AM EST, Pioneer 1 was launched towards the Moon just seconds after the opening of its window. Unlike the previous attempt, the Thor first stage operated properly this time giving the high speed Able stages their chance to operate. The second stage fired followed by a nominal burn of the X-248 third stage. It seemed that the launch was a success and the probe would reach the Moon near midday on October 13. Meanwhile in the Soviet Union, word arrived about the successful launch of Pioneer 1 as Korolev and his team pushed hard to make their launch window during the local morning of October 12. While Pioneer 1 was the first up, the faster trajectory of Korolev's E-1 No. 2 probe would allow it to reach the Moon a couple of hours before the American probe giving the Soviet Union another space first. After a night of hectic preparations, the second 8K72 lifted off its launch pad to chase after its American competitor. But despite the best efforts of Korolev and his team, the pogo effect that destroyed the first 8K72 launch vehicle reappeared in the new rocket as it climbed towards space. After a flight of 104 seconds, 8K72 B1-4 finally blew up under the stress. With this latest failure, future launch attempts were put on hold until the cause of the malfunction could be ascertained and a fix implemented. Fortunately for Korolev and OKB-1, it was soon discovered that Pioneer 1 was not headed for the Moon after all. A programming error in the second stage timer caused it to shut down too early leaving the lunar probe travelling 152 meter per second (340 miles per hour) short of its intended final velocity of 10.744 kilometers (6.677 miles) per second. In addition it was discovered that Pioneer 1 was pointed 2.1 degrees off course. Even after firing its vernier rockets to gain another 48 meters per second (107 miles per hour), Pioneer 1 would reach no higher than 114,000 kilometers (70,700 miles) before arcing back towards the Earth. While reaching the Moon was out of the question, Pioneer 1 could still use its instruments to investigate this previously unexplored region of space. For the first time the full extent of the Van Allen radiation belt was probed. Pioneer 1 found that it extended to 8,000 to 11,000 kilometers (5,000 to 7,000 miles) above the equator before fading out at an altitude of 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles). The Van Allen belt would not be a barrier to piloted missions beyond the Earth as some had begun to fear. To continue gathering useful data, ground controllers came up with an alternate mission plan. They decided to ignite Pioneer's 13 kilonewton (3,000 pound) thrust solid retrorocket motor near apogee to raise the probe's perigee up to 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles). Orbiting the Earth about every 60 hours, Pioneer 1 could observe the outer reaches of Earth's magnetosphere until its batteries ran out. While this plan promised to salvage something out of the flight, bad luck would strike again. The launch aim error had left Pioneer 1 spinning at an unintended angle to the Sun. The probe's simple thermal control system could not adapt to the change and internal temperatures fell below freezing. When the command to ignite the retrorocket was given, it failed to fire because of the cold. Pioneer 1 was now forced to continue in its ballistic path which ended in a fiery reentry over the South Pacific Ocean 43.3 hours after launch. Even though Pioneer 1 did not reach the Moon, the record breaking flight still helped America's flagging morale. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [7/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... More Launches... and Failures While Korolev's efforts to get the Soviet Union to the Moon first got a reprieve with the failure of Pioneer 1, it was only a brief one. The last of the original ARPA Pioneer orbiters was immediately prepared for launch in the hopes of beating the Soviets. Unknown to everyone in the West, this time the American attempt would go unanswered as a commission of Soviet engineers and scientists continued to investigate the cause of the 8K72 launch failures. But just as Korolev and his team was learning from their failures, Korolev's American counterparts learned from theirs. In order to avoid another premature shutdown of the Thor-Able second stage, the guidance system was outfitted with a Doppler command system that would minimize trajectory errors and insure a more accurate course to the Moon. On November 7, 1958 at 2:30 EST in the morning the Thor-Able carrying the 39.6 kilogram (87.3 pound) Pioneer 2 blasted off. While the first and second stages operated perfectly this time, the third stage failed to ignite thus dooming the latest NASA Moon probe. Pioneer 2 reached a peak altitude of 1,550 kilometers (963 miles) before falling back to Earth 42.4 minutes after launch. With this last Pioneer orbiter flight, NASA's lunar hopes turned to the pair of smaller ABMA-developed Pioneer flyby probes which would be ready to launch in December. But the different trajectory requirements of this probe dictated a launch window that opened two days after the next Soviet E-1 launch attempt. Fortunately the commission charged with finding the reason for the first two 8K72 launch failures were able to trace the source of the problem. While pogo had been largely eliminated from the two-stage R-7 variants, it was discovered that the addition of the new Blok E third stage raised the rocket's center of gravity in such a way to make the problem reappear. A simple baffle was introduced in the boosters' oxidizer pipeline to eliminate the effect and Korolev's team was ready to try for the Moon again. The next 8K72, serial number B1-5, lifted off on December 4, 1958 carrying E-1 No. 3. Unlike the first two flights, this time the rocket flew flawlessly through to the dropping of the four strap-on boosters. The pogo problem had finally been solved. But 245 seconds after launch as the core was still firing, thrust in its RD-108 engine dropped to 70% and then quit altogether. A failure in the engine's turbopump had brought the Soviet's third attempt to reach the Moon to a premature end. While rumors of this and other launch failures circulated for years, details would remain secret until the fall of the Soviet Union 34 years later. In the mean time, engineers at OKB-1 would have to prepare another E-1 probe and 8K72 launch vehicle for a fourth attempt after the New Year. But before then, NASA's Pioneer 3 would get its chance to reach the Moon first. Bibliography Kenneth Gatland, Robot Explorers, MacMillan Co., 1972 Andrew J. LePage, "The Great Moon Race: In the Beginning...", EJASA, Vol. 3, No. 10, May 1992 (available at http://www.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/ejasa/1992/jasa9205.txt) Yegor Lyssov, "Soviet Moon Probes" (Correspondence), Spaceflight, p. 318, Vol 34, No. 10, October 1992 Robert Reeves, The Superpower Space Race, Plenum Press, 1994 Timothy Varfolomeyev, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space Part 3: Lunar Launches for Impact and Photography", Spaceflight, pp. 206-208, Vol. 38, No. 6, June 1996 Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [8/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... The Prehistory of Lunar Prospector, Part 1 by Jeff Foust When Lunar Prospector returned key science data about the Moon earlier this year, including the apparent discovery of water ice at the lunar poles, the spacecraft was hailed as another vindication of NASA's new philosophy of "better, faster, cheaper." Yet, while the success of the mission may have shown the effectiveness of that philosophy, the agency cannot take full credit for Prospector's success. Most of the grunt work for the project, from the initial concept through spacecraft design, was undertaken by a small group of underfunded scientists, engineers, and activists, long before NASA caught the smaller-is-better religion. While these pioneers lost the battle to build a privately-funded lunar mission, they won the war by showing how much a small, inexpensive spacecraft could do, and paved the way for future small spacecraft missions, both within NASA and by private ventures. "A Gambler's Chance" The Moon was extensively explored by American and Soviet spacecraft, including 12 astronauts, during the initial Space Race. Why go back again? While the robotic and human missions to the Moon returned a great deal of data about it, there was still much to learn about the Moon, particularly the global composition of its surface and its irregular gravity field. There was also the search for ice. Since the 1960s a small number of planetary scientists had believed that small quantities of ice might be hidden away in the lunar poles, preserved in permanently shadowed regions of polar craters. One believer in lunar ice was Gerard O'Neill of the Space Studies Institute (SSI). In the early 1980s he wrote an article about space exploration from a future exploration, looking back on how the solar system was colonized. One of the features of his future history was the discovery of ice on the Moon, helping open the body for settlement. At the time NASA was considering new unmanned missions to the Moon, in the form of proposals like the Lunar Polar Orbiter and Lunar Observer. These were billion-dollar spacecraft loaded with instruments, the "Cadillacs" of spacecraft, in the words of SSI director Gregg Maryniak. O'Neill instead focused on small spacecraft: how small could a lunar probe be and still return useful data? Instead of a Cadillac, Maryniak said, "we wanted the moped of space probes." In 1985 the SSI commissioned a study by James French of JPL to answer that question. French's study concluded that it would be possible to build a small, simple spacecraft that could search for ice on the Moon for around $50 million. The spacecraft would feature a single main instrument -- a spare gamma-ray spectrometer salvaged from the Apollo program -- on the boom of a spinning spacecraft. In 1986 the National Commission on Space, whose membership include Gerard O'Neill, issued its report, "Pioneering the Space Frontier". The report made lunar exploration in general, and the search for ice in particular, a high priority. "It is a first priority to search the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles," the commission wrote, "where ice containing carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen may be found." "It was a gambler's chance" that ice could be found on the Moon, Maryniak recalled, but if found, "it changes everything." Dead Ends at NASA Unfortunately for lunar advocates, the timing of the commission's report could hardly be worse. Released just months after the Challenger accident, the report's grand plans for the exploration and settlement of the Moon, Mars, and beyond seemed unrealistic when the space agency could not safely launch the shuttle. SSI did not give up pushing the idea of mission to search for lunar ice. SSI paid two visits on James Fletcher, in his second stint as NASA Administrator at the time, to present the idea. They also made contacts at JPL, where engineers had developed a "Lunar Quicksat" small satellite proposal as well as a "Lunar Getaway Special", a small satellite launched from a Get Away Special canister on the shuttle, which used ion engines to slowly make its way to the Moon. Fletcher seemed interested in the concept, Maryniak recalls, and even requested a special briefing on one of the JPL proposals. In the end, though, neither proposal got funded. One of the main problems with the small lunar mission proposals was that they were just that: small. In the 1980s NASA spacecraft were becoming larger, heavier, and filled with more instruments. Galileo and Cassini were two primary examples of such missions, and proposals for lunar missions were similar. The large missions had the advantage that more scientists got involved. The more instruments, the more scientists that could be principal investigators for the instruments. For small spacecraft proposals with one or a few main instruments, fewer scientists could get involved. All other things being equal, the larger missions were thus favored by the scientific community. This type of thinking spread beyond the scientific community. Maryniak recalled the 1989 summer session of the International Space University, where a design project for the students called for them to develop a lunar polar orbiter mission. Without an explicit cost cap, the students invariably designed giant billion-dollar missions with multiple instruments and even sub-satellites, Maryniak said. With this philosophy of "the more the better", there seemed little hope for getting a small lunar mission focused on searching for lunar ice through NASA by 1988. An interesting concept, but one without an interested concept where it counted at NASA. But, by this time a new and completely different way of doing a small lunar mission became clear. Bypassing NASA altogether and working through private channels, a small group would come tantalizingly close to success and, even through short-term failure, would eventually show how much a small spacecraft could do. [Part 2 will look at how a team of space activists, engineers, and scientists would put together the concept of a private lunar mission and try to pull it off.] Jeff Foust is editor of SpaceViews. He is also author of "NASA's New Moon", an article on the science returned by Lunar Prospector that is the cover story of the September 1998 issue of "Sky & Telescope" magazine. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [9/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Solar Sails for the Operational Space Community by Patricia Mulligan The past two to three years have seen a revival in interest in the development of solar sail technology in NASA. These extraordinarily thin, large reflective films which can transfer the momentum of sunlight into a propulsive force, were first proposed by Russian theorists Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Fridrickh Tsanderin the 1920s. Now new space technologies such as inflatable structures, new film membranes, new international partners, and new mission requirements for solar and space physics, have driven the most comprehensive reevaluation of this technology in NASA since it was studied for the Halley Comet Rendezvous mission in the late 1970s. An additional group of customers has recently arisen for this futuristic technology in an unexpected place: the "operational space community" of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), United States Air Force (USAF), and the Department of Energy (DOE). They are the US government agencies concerned with characterizing or predicting the environment -- earth weather, space weather, and environmental assessment -- as opposed to conducting space missions primarily for basic research or exploration. What's more, the requirements of the operational community call for relatively small, low- to moderate-performance solar sails; sails which otherwise would have served only as flight test models for the more ambitious missions of the research community. Thus society's investment in solar sail development is amortized earlier and more efficiently with these additional users. Using Solar Sails for Operations Presently the fleets of satellites serving humankind are following the laws of motion used by the planets and defined by Kepler in the 1500s. Those closer to their primary revolve much faster, as Mercury orbits the Sun much more quickly than Earth does. Exceptions to this behavior are NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, both sitting at the Sun-Earth first Lagrange (L1) point. The L1 point, located approximately .99 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun, is a mathematical oddity: there the balancing of forces, mainly the Sun and the Earth's gravities, allows a naturally occurring non-Keplerian orbit. ACE is nearly a million miles closer to the Sun than the Earth, and following a shorter orbital path, yet its orbital period is the same as Earth's: one year. This positioning allows two useful effects: the satellite can stay in constant radio contact with Earth, and, sitting directly in front of Earth on the Sun-Earth line, it encounters disturbances in the solar wind first. Since these drivers of geomagnetic storms take at least 30 minutes to reach Earth, a highly accurate warning of the approaching storm can be broadcast. A cooperative agreement between NASA, NOAA, and the USAF permits a portion of ACE data to be used for that purpose. Of all the forms of space weather which affect us, geomagnetic storms, with the potential to disrupt electric power systems and satellite systems and communications, are the costliest. Moving a geomagnetic storm sensing spacecraft closer to the Sun would allow us to issue warnings with more lead time, but these orbits would be truly non-Keplerian. These satellites would need enormous amounts of energy to hold their station, orders of magnitude more than needed to stationkeep a geostationary satellite. Solar sails however, with their free fuel, meet this need easily. This was the genesis of the idea proposed by Dave Skillman of NASA's Goddard Space flight Center in the early 1990s that NOAA consider moving an operational mission closer to the Sun than the L1 point using a small solar sail. Years later NOAA requested that John West at JPL develop a mission concept for just such an operational demonstration mission called Geostorm. The Geostorm mission concept, an interagency partnership between NOAA, USAF, and DOE has been proposed to NASA's New Millennium program as a candidate for the fifth Deep Space mission. If selected it would fly in the 2002-2003 time frame. The current mission baseline uses a sail of 67m on a side. If that size sail were used, it could be possible to station the mission to nearly .98 AU, nearly doubling the warning time now achieved with ACE data. Sun-Earth line stations are not the only interest the operational community has in non-Keplerian orbits. Since the 1980s Colin McInnes at the University of Glasgow's Department of Aerospace Engineering has been mathematically defining families of non-Keplerian orbits in the solar system. His contour lines of artificial Lagrange points made possible with solar sails extend both Sunward and Earthward, and above and below the plane of the ecliptic as well. This permits the positioning of Geostorm on the Sun-Earth line as well as several potential orbits for satellites which constantly view the Earth's polar region. The satellite orbits the Sun in tandem with Earth, looking down as the planet rotates beneath. This application was actively promoted by Robert Forward, researcher and futurist, during work he performed for the USAF on advanced propulsion also in the 1980s. We are still in the very early stages of evaluating the potential usefulness of this type of orbit. Under present consideration is an orbit proposed by McInnes on the day side of Earth, high above the north or south pole. Early interest has been shown for communications and data relay over the poles, search and rescue, auroral imaging, and polar ice monitoring. We will be considering meteorology, climatology and oceanographic applications in the future, and the USAF will be further examining potential military applications. The Larger Picture of Solar Sail Development The simplest of the polar viewing orbits requires a solar sail with twice the performance of that projected for Geostorm. Better polar viewing orbits closer to Earth, would require proportionately better sails. Missions after Geostorm, stationed even closer to the Sun, would also spur solar sail development. Thus the interests of our community cover a continuum of increasing solar sail performance. Nevertheless, our interests in solar sail development would begin to end with the class of sails necessary for a mission to Mercury, the first NASA mission application for solar sails according to their technology roadmap. This second phase of solar sail development could have applications for a broad array of planetary and space science missions. It could also include the technical breakthroughs needed for sails whose acceleration away from the sun due to light pressure was faster than the acceleration toward the sun due to the sun's gravity. These ultra-fast sails would enable truly exotic non-Keplerian orbits. The last phases of development might be the sails necessary for extra-solar missions to 100s of AUs, and later an interstellar mission whose multi-kilometer sail was propelled by laser from the inner solar system. This pattern of succession of communities of users will undoubtedly spur the development of this field when coupled with the advances in space materials and structures which are now occurring. It is ironic to note that although the more advanced applications for sophisticated solar sails have been discussed for some time, the applications for early simpler solar sails were not recognized until comparatively recently! Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [10/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... *** Book Reviews *** by Jeff Foust Sojourner's Technical and Political Challenges Managing Martians by Donna Shirley with Danelle Morton Broadway Books, 1998 hardcover, 276pp., illus. ISBN 0-7679-0240-8 US$25/C$35 The success of the Pathfinder lander and its Sojourner rover were hailed as one of the great successes of the space program in recent years. Certainly such successes don't come easily, but as Donna Shirley, manager of the Mars Exploration Program at JPL, writes in her book "Managing Martians", the effort to build Sojourner and include it on the Pathfinder lander was a monumental task performed with minimal budgets. The book, a combination of a personal and professional memoir, starts with Shirley's childhood in a small Oklahoma town, where she dreamed of flying and traveling to Mars. After attending the University of Oklahoma and working at McDonnell Douglas, she goes to work at JPL where she eventually leads up efforts to build rovers for Mars missions. Building Sojourner involved surmounting two types of challenges. One was technical: building a lightweight rover able to navigate the Martian terrain and return scientific data. The other was political: getting the rover included on Pathfinder was as challenging as building it in the first place. Shirley recounts in detail how Pathfinder managers were initially openly hostile to including Sojourner on the lander. The book is a little disjointed: it starts as a personal account of Shirley's life growing up and starting a career, but once she moves to JPL, it becomes a professional account of working at the lab, with most of it focused on the work that leads up to Sojourner. Overall, though, the book is a compelling account of what went on behind the scenes to make Pathfinder and Sojourner such a success. A Capsule History of Space Frontiers of Space Exploration by Roger D. Launius Greenwood Press (1-800-225-5800), 1998 hardcover, 256 pp., illus. ISBN 0-313-29968-4 US$39.95 Frontiers of Space Exploration, written by NASA's Chief Historian, provides a historical summary of the American space program. The book includes a short history of American space efforts from the beginning of the Space Age through 1997, with an emphasis on several key events, including the Moon race, the decision to build the space shuttle, and the Challenger accident. The historical summary is only a part of the book. Included is a chronology and brief biographies of the major people involved in the space program, from astronauts to engineers. Much of the text is devoted to excerpts of primary documents: letters, legislation, speeches, and other documents of the era from which the history of the program is interpreted. While the historical account of the space program is certainly readable, "Frontiers of Space Exploration" is more of a reference text of first resort, a place to turn to first to learn about some aspect of the space program (an annotated bibliography helps points readers to others, more detailed sources of information). In that role the book is quite useful. *** NSS News *** Upcoming Boston NSS Events Tuesday, August 11, 7:30pm "Preliminary Assessment of Space Colonization Strategies Based on Nuclear Fusion Propulsion" Scott A. Carpenter of Engineering Design Environments, Oakland, CA Some fusion propulsion concepts for space travel have matured to a level where we can estimate the fuel and propellant needs for various space mission scenarios. A solar system colonization/outpost strategy is assumed to take place in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 21st Century. NASA, and others, have identified the moon as a candidate source for large quantities of helium-3, which is needed for fusion-electric power. The energy content of helium-3 is so high that one space shuttle returning to Earth with 20 tonnes of helium-3 represents $320 billion (1991 $) to an Earth-based energy market. Twenty tonnes per year (under the assumed colonization strategy) is the approximate amount of helium-3 required to support growth of one colony on Mars and outposts at each of the gas-giant planets. Estimated propellant requirements for the solar system colonization strategy are extremely huge amounts, and means to minimize these resource requirments will be discussed. On the positive side, nuclear fusion can provide a robust transportation infrastructure to sustain a major solar system colonization effort in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 21st Century. Boston NSS July Lecture Summary by Elaine Mullen "The Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project Phase III 90-day Test: The Crew Perspective" Vickie Kloeris of the Johnson Space Center and John Lewis of the Lockheed Martin Corporation If anyone is going to get us to Mars, it's people like Vickie Kloeris and John Lewis. They spoke recently at a Boston Chapter meeting about the Lunar-Mars Life Support Project Phase III 90-Day Test. It was the fourth in a series of tests conducted at JSC in 1997 to test life support systems for future space exploration. Vickie, John, and two other crew members spent 91 days in the three story chamber recycling all of the air and water. Solid waste from the crew was incinerated to produce additional carbon dioxide to sustain plant growth. A module containing wheat crops provided 25% of the crew's oxygen from the carbon produced by the crew and also provided some food. Together, John and Vickie narrated a video of their experience in the chamber and then answered questions from the crowd of 45 for about an hour. Vickie is the Shuttle Food System Manager at JSC and John is a Life Support System Engineer at Lockheed-Martin. They were chosen as crew members out of many candidates not only for their knowledge, but for psychological reasons as well. It was easy to see how they managed to stay sane while locked up for 91 days together. As if their sense of humor wasn't enough, they kept their spirits up with B-movie night and Karoke Elvis with the control room workers, whom they explained were like family for 91 days. The time passed quickly as they were on a rigid schedule maintaining the GARDEN and conducting many experiments and tasks including collecting microbiological samples in the chamber, tedious dietary surveys, and exercise studies. They explained that whether or not the politicians are supporting human Mars exploration, he and his co-workers are passionate about it and doing important research that needs to be done in advance. A sleep study involving swallowing a special "pill" which transmitted core body temperatures to gear worn over their shoulders, and saliva samples taken every hour for 48 hours provided data about melatonin levels and how they relate to body temperature and sleep patterns. This research will help to track sleep patterns, mental health, and stress levels of the astronauts on the space station and other long duration space flights. So did they stay in the chamber for 90 days or 91 days? John explained that it was officially called the 90 Day test, but that staying for 91 days would break the current record, and they couldn't resist. Of course, they expect, and hope that another group will break their record soon. The latest information is on-line at http://pet.jsc.nasa.gov. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [11/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Mars Society Conference: "The Woodstock of Mars" Mars Society press release At this point, over 500 commitments have been received to speak or attend the Mars Society Founding convention, which will take place in Boulder Colorado, August 13-16, 1998. Included among the nearly 200 speakers are representatives from the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Rumania, Greece, Japan, China, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Jamaica, and Mozambique. Every NASA center is represented. Every US National Lab, and many of the top universities are represented. Among those attending are representatives from every walk of life ranging from scientists and engineers to prominent poets and filmmakers. Two national TV crews, a major documentary maker, two leading print journalists, and an important national radio commentator have also already registered. Some of the many distinguished speakers who will address the convention include: Mr. Jim Benson, the president and CEO of SpaceDev, a privately held and publicly traded company that is raising capital to fund interplanetary exploration on a private basis. Dr. Jacques Blamont, one of the leading exponents of Mars exploration in France, and the worlds' expert in the use of balloons to explore Mars from the air. Dr. Everett Gibson, one of the co-leaders of the famous ALH84001 Mars meteorite team, who will reveal the group's latest evidence for past life on Mars. Dr. Matt Golombek, Project Scientist for JPL's Pathfinder mission. Dr. Michael Griffin, former NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration and current Executive Vice President of Orbital Sciences,Inc. Dr. Christopher McKay, of NASA Ames Research Center, one of the seminal figures in the search for life on Mars and the possibility of terraforming the Red Planet. Prof. Frederick Turner, author of the Miltonian epic poem "Genesis," who will discuss the interrelationship between great ages of exploration and great ages in the arts. Dr. Lowell Wood, heir to Edward Teller as a leader in advanced technology development at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, who will discuss how such technologies can be used to explore, colonize, and ultimately terraform Mars. Dr. Robert Zubrin, the creator of the Mars Direct plan and the author of "The Case for Mars," who will discuss how we can get human explorers on Mars within a decade, and why we must. If you have not yet registered, now would be a good time to do so. By preregistering, you can avoid, and possibly help prevent, excessive lines at the on-site registration tables. Forms for fax, mail or on-line registration can be found at http://www.marssociety.org/. It's going to be the Woodstock of Mars! *** Regular Features *** Jonathan's Space Report No. 367 by Jonathan McDowell [Ed. Note: Go to http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html for back issues and other information about Jonathan's Space Report.] NOTICE: Due to a systems change here at CFA, my personal email address has changed to jcm@cfa.harvard.edu effective immediately - mail to the old address at urania.harvard.edu will no longer work. Alan Shepard The second human in space, Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., died Jul 22 (UTC) in Monterey, California of leukemia at the age of 74. Shepard was the pilot of Freedom Seven (Mercury Spacecraft 7), which was launched on the MR-3 suborbital flight on 1961 May 5. Shepard was also the commander of Apollo 14, the third lunar landing mission. The first 20 humans in space (by the 80 km definition I choose to adopt) were: Yuriy Alexeevich Gagarin (1934-1968) 3KA No. 3 "Vostok" Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998) Mercury SC7 "Freedom Seven" Virgil Ivan Grissom (1926-1967) Mercury SC11 "Liberty Bell 7" German Stepanovich Titov (1935- ) 3KA No. 4 "Vostok-2" John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (1921- ) Mercury SC13 "Friendship Seven" Malcolm Scott Carpenter (1925- ) Mercury SC18 "Aurora Seven" Robert Michael White (1924- ) X-15-3 Flight 3-7-14 Andriyan Grigorevich Nikolaev (1929- ) 3KA No. 5 "Vostok-3" Pavel Romanovich Popovich (1930- ) 3KA No. 6 "Vostok-4" Walter Marty Schirra, Jr (1923- ) Mercury SC16 "Sigma Seven" Joseph Albert Walker (1921-1966) X-15-3 Flight 3-14-24 Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr (1927- ) Mercury SC20 "Faith Seven" Valeriy Fyodorovich Bykovskiy (1934- ) 3KA No. 7 "Vostok-5" Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (1937- ) 3KA No. 8 "Vostok-6" Robert Aitken Rushworth (1924-1993) X-15-3 Flight 3-20-31 Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (1927-1967) 3KV No. 3 "Voskhod" Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov (1926- ) 3KV No. 3 "Voskhod" Boris Borisovich Yegorov (1937-1994) 3KV No. 3 "Voskhod" Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev (1925-1970) 3KD No. 4 "Voskhod-2" Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov (1934- ) 3KD No. 4 "Voskhod-2" Get Well, Bill CBS space correspondent Bill Harwood was injured in a car crash on Jul 11. Bill's site http://uttm.com/space/ is one of the best sources on Shuttle news. Let's hope Bill makes a speedy recovery. Shuttle and Mir The next Shuttle mission is STS-95, in October. The EO-25 crew of Talgat Musabaev and Nikolai Budarin are continuing work aboard the Mir complex. The EO-26 crew of Gennadiy Padalka and Sergey Avdeev, together with Yuriy Baturin, will be launched on Soyuz TM-28 on Aug 13. Musabaev, Budarin and Baturin land in Soyuz TM-27 on Aug 25. The EO-27 crew at launch on 1999 Feb 22 is Viktor Afanas'ev and two cosmonaut-researchers, Jean-Pierre Haignere of France and Ivan Bella of Slovakia. According to some reports, Haignere and Bella will land on Mar 2 in Soyuz TM-28, with the long stay EO-28 crew becoming Afanas'ev and Avdeev; however it seems likely that Haignere will in fact replace Avdeev on the long-stay crew. Finally, on 1999 Jun 1 the crew will depart Mir in Soyuz TM-29 and land, with the Mir complex being deorbited a week later. This schedule, of course, is almost certain to change. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [12/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Recent Launches In addition to the satellites mentioned in JSR 366, a fifth microsatellite was launched along with Resurs-O1 No. 4 on Jul 10. The WESTPAC (formerly WPLTN-1) geodesy satellite is a copy of Potsdam's GFZ-1 satellite, a sphere covered with laser retroreflectors, with a slightly different `Fizeau' corner cube design. It is a target for the Western Pacific Laser Tracking Network (WPLTN) and is a joint project of Electro Optic Systems of Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia, and the Russian Space Agency. Mass is around 24 kg and diameter around 0.24m. The WPLTN is headquartered in Australia and Space Command has cataloged the satellite as Australian. AUSLIG (Australian Surveying and Land Information Group), part of the Australian Federal Govt., may be the actual satellite owner. China launched a Chang Zheng 3B on Jul 18 at 0920 UTC carrying the Sinosat 1 communications satellite. The CZ-3B's liquid hydrogen upper stage and the Sinosat were placed in a 609 x 35958 km x 19.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit at 0945 UTC. The first two liquid apogee burns were carried out on Jul 19 and 21. Sinosat is an Alcatel (formerly Aerospatiale) Spacebus 3000 class satellite, built at the Cannes facility. Launch mass was 2820 kg. Sinosat is owned temporarily by EurasSpace, a joint venture between Daimler-Benz Aerospace and the China Aerospace Corp., and will be delivered after on-orbit testing to Sino Satellite Communications Co. of Shanghai for communications services in China. Thanks to Stefan Barensky for details. Aleksandr Zheleznyakov reports that the Molniya-3 launch time was 0048 UT on Jul 1. The Galileo Orbiter had a safemode event at around 1814 UTC on Jul 20 during its inbound approach to the inner Jovian system, causing loss of almost all the data from the Europa 16 encounter. Telemetry from the spacecraft has now resumed. Galileo passed 1837 km from Europa's surface at 0507 UTC on Jul 21, just after perijove at 632000 km radius, at 0019 UTC on Jul 21. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 2 2206 Discovery ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 34A Spacehab ) Jun 10 0035 Thor 3 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Comsat 35A Jun 15 2258 Kosmos-2352 ) Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk LC32/1 Comsat 36A Kosmos-2353 ) Comsat 36B Kosmos-2354 ) Comsat 36C Kosmos-2355 ) Comsat 36D Kosmos-2356 ) Comsat 36E Kosmos-2357 ) Comsat 36F Jun 18 2248 Intelsat 805 Atlas 2AS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 37A Jun 24 1830 Kosmos-2358 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Recon 38A Jun 25 1400 Kosmos-2359 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 39A Jul 1 0048 Molniya-3 Molniya-M Plesetsk Comsat 40A Jul 3 1812 Nozomi M-5 Kagoshima Mars probe 41A Jul 7 0315 Tubsat-N ) Shtil'-1 K-407,Barents Comsat 42A Tubsat-N1 ) Comsat 42B Jul 10 0630 Resurs-O1 No. 4 ) Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45 Rem. Sens. 43A Fasat-Bravo ) Exptl. 43B TMSAT ) Exptl. 43C Gurwin Techsat 1B) Exptl. 43D WESTPAC ) Geodesy 43E SAFIR-2 ) Comsat 43F Jul 18 0920 Sinosat CZ-3B Xichang LC2 Comsat 44A Current Shuttle Processing Status __________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Unknown OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-95 Oct 29 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-88 Unknown Space Calendar by Ron Baalke [Ed. Note: visit http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/ for the complete calendar] August 1998 Aug ?? - Sky One Atlas IIAS Launch Aug ?? - ORBCOMM-3 Pegasus XL Launch Aug ?? - Globalstar-3 Zenit 2 Launch * Aug ?? - Iridium Long March 2C/SD Launch * Aug 01 - ORBCOMM-2 Pegasus XL Launch Aug 01 - Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 01 - Asteroid 980 Anacostia at Opposition (10.7 Magnitude) Aug 01 - Asteroid 1474 Beira Closest Approach to Earth (1.788 AU) Aug 01 - Maria Mitchell's 180th Birthday (1818) Aug 02 - Asteroid 29 Amphitrite at Opposition (9.2 Magnitude) Aug 02 - Asteroid 490 Veritas Occults TAC -214637 (11.2 Magnitude Star) Aug 02 - Asteroid 1993 OZ2 Closest Approach to Earth (1.096 AU) Aug 03 - Uranus at Opposition Aug 03 - Asteroid 13 Egeria at Opposition (10.9 Magnitude) * Aug 03 - Asteroid 1998 MY5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.236 AU) * Aug 03 - Asteroid 1994 CK1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.238 AU) * Aug 04 - DOD US Air Force Titan 4 Launch Aug 04 - Venus Passes 0.8 Degrees From Mars Aug 04 - Asteroid 7341 (1991 VK) Closest Approach to Earth (1.638 AU) Aug 05 - 25th Anniversary (1973), Mars 6 Launch (USSR) Aug 06 - Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 06 - Asteroid 1998 EC3 Closest Approach to Earth (0.455 AU) Aug 07 - Asteroid 1989 OB Closest Approach to Earth (0.855 AU) Aug 07 - Asteroid 1997 GZ3 Closest Approach to Earth (1.500 AU) * Aug 08 - JCSat 6 Atlas IIAS Launch Aug 08 - Asteroid 1990 DA Closest Approach To Earth (1.738 AU) Aug 08 - 20th Anniversary (1978), Pioneer Venus 2 Launch (Venus Atmospheric Probes) Aug 09 - Asteroid 71 Niobe at Opposition (10.6 Magnitude) Aug 09 - Asteroid 1566 Icarus Closest Approach To Earth (1.032 AU) Aug 09 - Asteroid 4618 Shakhovskoj Closest Approach To Earth (1.506 AU) Aug 09 - Asteroid 7478 Hasse Closest Approach To Earth (1.622 AU) Aug 09 - 25th Anniversary (1973), Mars 7 Launch (USSR) Aug 10 - Venus Occults 79782 (6.9 Magnitude Star) Aug 10 - Asteroid 4886 (1981 EZ14) Closest Approach to Earth (2.113 AU) Aug 11 - Moon Occults Jupiter Aug 11 - Comet Peters-Hartley Perihelion (1.624 AU) * Aug 11 - Asteroid 1998 ML14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU) Aug 12 - Perseids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 12 - 20th Anniversary (1978), ISEE-3/ICE Launch (Comet Mission) Aug 13 - NEAR, 1st Optical Navigation Image Of Eros * Aug 13 - TM-28 Soyuz Launch (Russia) * Aug 13 - Comet C/1998 M2 (LINEAR) Perihelion (2.727 AU) Aug 13 - 100th Anniversary (1898), Discovery of Asteroid Eros Aug 14 - Comet Faye Closest Approach To Earth (1.950 AU) Aug 14 - Asteroid 576 Emanuela Occults TAC +115897 (10.2 Magnitude Star) Aug 14 - Asteroid 1994 AB1 Closest Approach To Earth (1.493 AU) * Aug 15 - Deadline For STARDUST Name Submission Aug 15 - Progress M-40/Znamya-2.5 Soyuz U Launch (Russia) Aug 15 - Comet C/1997 J2 Meunier-Dupouy Closest Approach to Earth (2.494 AU) Aug 16 - Asteroid 1991 FA Closest Approach To Earth (1.100 AU) Aug 17 - Comet Mueller 3 Closest Approach to Earth (2.207 AU) * Aug 18 - Asteroid 1998 OK1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.252 AU) Aug 18 - 5th Anniversary (1993), 1st Test Flight of the Delta Clipper (DC-X) Aug 19 - Asteroid 1987 OA Near-Earth Flyby (0.1019 AU) Aug 19 - Asteroid 3199 Nefertiti Closest Approach to Earth (0.916 AU) Aug 19 - Asteroid 7350 (1993 VA) Closest Approach to Earth (1.414 AU) Aug 19 - Asteroid 6858 (1990 ST10) Closest Approach To Earth (1.563 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 469 Argentina Occults SAO 210535 (9.1 Magnitude Star) Aug 21 - Asteroid 6223 Dahl Closest Approach To Earth (1.470 AU) Aug 21 - Asteroid 5393 Goldstein Closest Approach To Earth (1.597 AU) Aug 22 - Annular Eclipse, Visible From Indian Ocean Aug 22 - Asteroid 4034 (1986 PA) Near-Earth Flyby (0.327 AU) Aug 23 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #52 (OTM-52) * Aug 24 - Galaxy 10 Delta 3 Launch * Aug 24 - SCD-2/Wing Glove Pegasus XL Launch Aug 24 - Asteroid 354 Eleonora at Opposition (10.7 Magnitude) Aug 24 - Asteroid 3756 Ruscannon Closest Approach To Earth (1.265 AU) Aug 24 - Asteroid 6350 Schluter Closest Approach To Earth (1.890 AU) Aug 25 - ST-1 Ariane 4 Launch * Aug 25 - Astra-2A Proton Launch Aug 25 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 7 Perihelion (1.697 AU) Aug 25 - Comet Russell 1 Perihelion (2.182 AU) Aug 25 - Northern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak Aug 25 - Asteroid 6378 (1987 SE13) Closest Approach To Earth (1.904 AU) Aug 26 - NEAR, Trajectory Correction Maneuver #14 (TCM-14) Aug 27 - Mercury Passes 2.2 Degrees From Venus Aug 27 - Uranus Occults PPM 237981 (9.5 Magnitude Star) Aug 28 - Asteroid 1036 Ganymed Occults TAC +541187 (9.9 Magnitude Star) Aug 28 - 5th Anniversary (1993), Galileo Flyby of Ida Aug 29 - Asteroid 6800 Saragamine Closest Approach To Earth (1.503 AU) Aug 30 - Venus Occults 98676 (8.0 Magnitude Star) Aug 30 - 15th Anniversary (1983), STS-8 Launch (Challenger), Insat 1B * Aug 31 - Iridium 10 Delta 2 Launch Aug 31 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation (18 Degrees) Aug 31 - Asteroid 1998 FF14 Near-Earth Flyby (0.372 AU) Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: SpaceViews - August 1998 [13/13] Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... This is the current issue of "SpaceViews" (tm), published by the Boston Chapter, National Space Society (NSS), distributed in electronic form. It is also sent as a 8 to 12 page double column newsletter via US Mail. You may re-distribute this electronically for non-profit use as long as the entire contents (including this notice) are intact, and you send us the names of all recipients (include us in your distribution list). MAILING LIST INFORMATION: Subscribing and Unsubscribing: To stop receiving the large monthly 'SpaceViews' newsletter, send this e-mail message: To: MajorDomo@ari.net Subject: anything UNsubscribe SpaceViews To receive electronic copies of this SpaceViews newsletter and/or other information about space and NSS, send an e-mail message similar to the following. This example subscribes you to 4 separate mailing lists which are described below. Of course, fill in your own Internet address where is says "YourAddress@StateU.edu" and your real name inside the parenthesis. Try to send it from you own account on your own computer, so that the message appears to be from you. To: MajorDomo@ari.net Subject: anything subscribe SpaceViews YourAddress@StateU.edu (Full Name) which YourAddress@StateU.edu help These subscriptions requests are now handled automatically. The subject line is ignored. The body of the message should contain commands such as: help - send me more information about these commands, which <my_address> - which lists am I on, info <list_name> - mail me a description of a list, UNsubscribe <list_name> - remove me from a list, Subscribe <list_name> <my_address> <full name> - add me to a list, Although it is possible to omit your address and name, please include them when subscribing so that we know who you really are, and to avoid problems like having the name of a workstation inadvertently embedded in you address. Problems: To get a message to a real person, mail to: SpaceViews-Approval@ari.net ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS: Articles, letters to the editor, chapter updates, andother similar submissions for SpaceViews are always welcome. The deadline for each month's issue is the 20th of the month before (i.e. the August deadline is July 20). The preferred method of submission is ASCII text files by e-mail; send articles and other submissions to jeff@spaceviews.com. If you would like to submit articles in other formats, or would like to submit articles by another method than e-mail, contact the editor, Jeff Foust, at the above e-mail address. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: Copyright (C) 1998 by Boston Chapter of National Space Society, a non-profit educational organization 501(c)3. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute for non-profit use, provided: 1. no modifications are made (except for e-mail delivery info.) 2. this copyright notice is included, 3. you inform Boston NSS of the names of all recipients This permission may be withdrawn at any time. All other rights reserved. Some articles are individually copyrighted (C) by their authors. Excerpts cannot be used, except for reviews and criticisms, without written permission of NSS, Boston Chapter. (We will try to respond by e-mail within four business days.) -Jeff Foust (editor, jeff@spaceviews.com), -Bruce Mackenzie (email distribution, bam@draper.com) -Roxanne Warniers (mailings, rwarnier@colybrand.com) ____ | "SpaceViews" (tm) -by Boston Chapter // \ // | of the National Space Society (NSS) // (O) // | Dedicated to the establishment // \___// | of a spacefaring civilization. President: Elaine Mullen Board of Directors: Michael Burch Vice President: Larry Klaes Jeff Foust Secretary: Lynn Olson Bruce Mackenzie Treasurer: Roxanne Warniers John Malloy Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: 12 августа в Космическом центре имени Кеннеди состоится брифинг для... Subject: 12 августа в Космическом центре имени Кеннеди состоится брифинг для... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 12 августа в Космическом центре имени Кеннеди состоится брифинг для журналистов, на котором будет рассказано о планах NASA по исследованию тропических ураганов 12 августа в Космическом центре имени Кеннеди состоится брифинг для журналистов, на котором будет рассказано о планах NASA по исследованию тропических ураганов. Перед журналистами выступят менеджер NASA Ramesh Kakar, ведущий специалист Центра космических полетов имени Маршалла Robbie Hood, главный специалист Техаского университета Ed Zipser и специалист Hационального управления США по исследованию атмосферы и океана (NOAA) Frank Marks. В запланированных исследованиях предполагается использовать данные, получаемые с метеорологических спутников и с борта специализированных самолетов NASA, которые должны будут совершать исследовательские полеты в районе Атлантического океана. К исследованиям предполагается привлечь следующие организации: Амейский исследовательский центр NASA, Исследовательский центр NASA имени Драйдена, Центр космических полетов NASA имени Годдарда, Лаборатория реактивного движения, Исследовательский центр NASA имени Лэнгли, Центр полетов NASA на космодроме Wallops, Hациональное управление США по исследованию атмосферы и океана, Массачусеттский технологический институт, Техаский университет, Университет штат Висконсин и Университет штата Мэриленд. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: 11 августа состоится церемония вручения международного сертификата... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 11 августа состоится церемония вручения международного сертификата качества Космическому центру имени Кеннеди Hа завтра намечена церемония вручения международного сертификата качества Космическому центру имени Кеннеди. Сертификат за N 2000 будет вручен Центру от имени Международного комитета по стандартам компанией Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Inc. Сертификат примет директор Центра Roy Bridges. Компания DNV уполномочена Международным комитетом по стандартам для проверок соответствия условий организации работ по предприятиям космической промышленности стандарту ISO-9001. Такая проверка в Космическом центре имени Кеннеди была проведена в мае нынешнего года и показала, что во многих случаях качество выполняемых работ в центре даже превышает международные требования. Директор NASA Daniel Goldin потребовал от всех подразделений NASA пройти соответствующую проверку и получить сертификаты до сентября нынешнего года. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Сегодня Лаборатория реактивного движения опубликовала очередное... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Сегодня Лаборатория реактивного движения опубликовала очередное сообщение о полете межпланетного зрнда "Cassini" Лаборатория реактивного движения в Пасадене (штат Калифорния) распространила очередное сообщение о полете межпланетного зонда "Cassini", движущегося в сторону планеты Сатурн. В настоящее время траектория полета станции лежит между орбитами Земли и Венеры. Бортовая аппаратура работает нормально. Hа Землю регулярно поступает телеметрическая информация. 31 июля на станции были отключены некоторые обогревательные приборы, так как в них отпала необходимость из-за близости КА к Солнцу. 5 августа проведен очередной контроль функционирования программного обеспечения. Такие проверки проводятся регулярно, раз в две недели. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: 9 августа исполнилось 25 лет со дня запуска советской межпланетной... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 9 августа исполнилось 25 лет со дня запуска советской межпланетной станции "Марс-7" 9 августа российская космонавтика отметила очередной юбилей. 25 лет назад была запущена автоматическая межпланетная станция (АМС) "Марс-7". Целью запуска являлось исследование Марса с пролетной траектории и непосредственно на планете. Экспедиция закончилась неудачей. 9 марта 1974 года АМС "Марс-7" достигла окрестностей Марса. При подлете от станции был отделен спускаемый аппарат (СА), который должен был совершить мягкую посадку. Из-за нарушения в работе одной из бортовых систем, СА прошел на расстоянии 1300 километров от поверхности Марса. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Сегодня NASA распространило очередные снимки марсианской... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Сегодня NASA распространило очередные снимки марсианской поверхности, полученные с борта станции "Mars Global Surveyor" Сегодня NASA распространило очередные снимки поверхности Марса, полученные с борта станции "Mars Global Surveyor", совершающей полет вокруг планеты. Снимки были сделаны 26 июля 1998 года. Hа них изображен участок поверхности, имеющий координаты 76,87 градуса северной широты и 253,81 градуса западной долготы. Это район марсианской пустыни и снимки, сделанные с разрешением четыре метра, позволяют рассмотреть дюны. Дюны по своим размерам и по форме напоминают земные. Снимки интересны тем, что сделаны в момент наступления марсианской весны. Изменения времени года расчистило небо над районом съемок и позволило получить снимки с большим разрешением. Специалисты надеются, что наступившее марсианское лето сделает условия съемки данного района еще более благоприятным. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Эксперимент японских специалистов по разделению и последующей... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Эксперимент японских специалистов по разделению и последующей стыковке двух спутников 7 августа закончился неудачей Hеудачей завершился 7 августа эксперимент японских специалистов по разделению и последующей стыковке двух спутников. Спутники "Hikoboshi" и "Orihime" были выведены на орбиту 27 ноября 1997 года в состыкованном состоянии. Месяц назад, 7 июля 1998 года, японские специалисты провели первый эксперимент по расстыковке и последующей стыковке спутников. "Hikoboshi" и "Orihime" были расстыкованы и затем, после короткого автономного полета, в автоматическом режиме вновь соединены. 7 августа предполагалось повторить эксперимент. Hа высоте 550 километров над Землей "Hikoboshi" и "Orihime" были расстыкованы и разведены на расстоянии 200 метров друг от друга. После 90 минут автономного полета была предпринята попытка вновь состыковать аппараты. Однако система сближения "Orihime" перестала отвечать на сигналы, посылаемые "Hikoboshi". Повторная команда с Земли также не принесла желаемого результата. В настоящее время спутники совершают полет на расстоянии 1,5 километров друг от друга. Японские специалисты надеются разобраться в причинах неудачи и осуществить стыковку "непослушных" аппаратов. Эксперименты по разделению и последующей стыковке проводятся в рамках работ по созданию Международные космических станции (МКС). К 2003 году Япония должна изготовить четыре модуля МКС. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Окончательно решен состав последней международной экспедиции на... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Окончательно решен состав последней международной экспедиции на станции "Мир" Центр управления полетами распространил информацию о принятом решении по составу экипажа последней экспедиции на станцию "Мир". Она стартует в конце февраля 1999 года. В составе экипажа - российский космонавт Виктор Афанасьев и два иностранца - представители Словакии и Франции. Впервые в состав экипажа войдут сразу два иностранца. Это обусловлено сокращением на полгода срока работы "Мира". Фамилии иностранных космонавтом пока не определены. В Центре подготовки космонавтов тренируются подполковник ВВС Словакии Михал Фулиер и майор Иван Белла, три французских космонавтов Жан-Пьер Эньере, Клоди Деэ и Леопольд Эйартц. Утверждение кандидатов состоится осенью. 10.08.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Сводка событий на станции "Мир" Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Сводка событий на станции "Мир" Сегодня экипаж орьитальной станции "Мир" в составе командира Талгата Мусабаева и бортинженера Hиколая Бударина начали активную подготовку к возвращению на Землю. В частности, космонавты провели первую тренировку в вакуумном костюме "Чибис". Пресс-служба Центра управления полетом (г. Королев, Подмосковье) в этой связи сообщает: тренировка предназначена для тренировки мышц ног, которые в процессе длительной космической вахты в условиях невесомости атрофируются. Причина : большой круг кровообращения, капиллярная система нижних конечностей работают с гораздо меньшей нагрузкой, чем в земных условиях. Путем создания вакуума вокруг ног с помощью костюма "Чибис" удается усиливать кровоотток к ногам. После серии таких тренировок космонавты легче воспринимают тяжелые объятия земного притяжения, с первых шагов начинают самостоятельно передвигаться. Кроме того, сегодня экипаж занимался заключительными экспериментами по научной программе "Мир"-NASA. 10.08.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: 8 августа исполнилось 20 лет со дня запуска американской межпланетной Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 8 августа исполнилось 20 лет со дня запуска американской межпланетной станции "Pioneer-Venus-2" 8 августа 1998 года исполнилось 20 лет со дня запуска американской межпланетной станции (АМС) "Pioneer-Venus-2". Станция была запущена с космодрома на мысе Канаверал и предназначалась для доставки в атмосферу Венеры четырех зондов (большого и трех малых) с целью проведения непосредственных измерений параметров на участке спуска. Большой зонд отделился от траекторного блока АМС 15 ноября 1978 года на расстоянии около 12 миллионов километров от Венеры, три малых зонда - 20 ноября на расстоянии около 10 миллионов километров. 9 декабря 1978 года все четыре зонда с небольшими интервалами вошли в атмосферу Венеры и примерно в течение часа совершали спуск на планету, причем большой зонд на одном из участков использовал парашют. Большой и один малый зонд вошли в атмосферу на дневной стороне планеты, остальные два малых зонда - на ночной (в южном и северном полушариях). Малый зонд, вошедший в атмосферу на дневной стороне, проработал на поверхности 67 минут, хотя ни один зонд на функционирование на поверхности рассчитан не был. Траекторный блок АМС "Pioneer-Venus-2" вошел в атмосферу Венеры вскоре после зондов и через 2 минуты после входа сгорел, как это и ожидалось. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Комиссия по ценным бумагам США выступила 6 августа с... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Комиссия по ценным бумагам США выступила 6 августа с предупреждением к американским инвесторам по поводу деятельности частной компании SpaceDev 6 августа Комиссия по ценным бумагам США предупредила американских инвесторов об осторожности при контактах к частной компанией SpaceDev. Комиссия в своем официальном предупреждении заявила, что базирующаяся в Сан-Диего (штат Калифорния) компания и ее президент James Benson нарушили американское законодательство, делая ложные заявления и тем самым вводя в заблуждение инвесторов. Комиссия потребовала от SpaceDev в будущем воздержаться от подобных заявлений. Компания SpaceDev была создана в 1995 году и выступила инициатором проведения в 2000 году беспилотной экспедиции к одному из астероидов. Места на этом зонде для научной аппаратуры компания намерена продавать на коммерческой основе всем желающим. Комиссия по ценным бумагам считает, что компания в своих действиях нарушает законы, так как в своей рекламной кампании првлекает клиентов, суля им высокие прибыли. Комиссия считает, что все это "попахивает" мошеничеством. Президент SpaceDev James Benson в ответ на предупреждение Комиссии по ценным бумагам заявил, что ни он сам, ни возглавляемая им компания законов не нарушала. "Проект экспедиции к астероидам пользуется поддержкой NASA, а о размерах прибыли можно судить только после завершения проекта, а не на этапе его разработки", - добавил Benson. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hа предстоящей неделе с космодрома Wallops в штате Виргиния будут... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Hа предстоящей неделе с космодрома Wallops в штате Виргиния будут запущены два высотных воздушных шара с научной аппаратурой Hа предстоящей неделе с космодрома Wallops в штате Виргиния должны быть запущены два воздушных шара с научной аппаратурой на борту, предназначенной для исследований верхних слоев атмосферы. В экспериментах должны принять участие приборы, разработанные и изготовленные студентами Технологического института штата Hью-Джерси и ряда колледжей штат Виргиния. Первый шар должен стартовать 11 августа. Полет продлится около 4-х часов и шар поднимится на высоту 26 километров. При этом предполагается провести измерения параметров атмосферы, а также сделать забор проб воздуха в интервале высот от 18 до 25 километров. Как только будет сделан забор всех восьми проб воздуха, с Земли поступит радиосигнал на стравливание воздуха и спуске на Землю. Второй полет по аналогичной программе состоится в зависимости от погодных условий либо 13, либо 14 августа. Оба полета проводятся в рамках программы NASA по привлечению студентов американских высших учебных заведений к космическим исследованиям. В рамках этой же программы на конец августа запланирован пуск еще одного шара. Он будет произведен в штате Техас и на нем будет установлена аппаратура, разработанная и изготовленная студентами колледжей штата Техас. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Экипаж 26-ой основной экспедиции на станцию "Мир" находится на... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Экипаж 26-ой основной экспедиции на станцию "Мир" находится на Байконуре. Идет подготовка к старту Основной экипаж 26-ой основной экспедиции на станцию "Мир" в составе подполковника Геннадия Падалки (командир), Сергея Авдеева (бортинженер), Юрия Батурина (космонавт-исследователь) и дублирующий экипаж в составе подполковника Сергея Залетина, Александра Калери и майора медицинской службы Олега Котова с субботы находится на космодроме Байконур. Они прибыли в Казахстан двумя самолетами (в целях безопасности) Ту-154 и Ту-134. Экипажи принимают у промышленности корабль "Союз". Старт намечен на 13 августа 13 час. 53 мин. 59 сек. Длительность экспедиции - 201 сутки. Батурин возвратится на Землю вместе с экипажем 25-й основной экспедиции - Талгатом Мусабаевым и Hиколаем Будариным 25 августа, через 12 суток после старта. В настоящее время экипажи работают в так называемом обсервационном режиме (изоляция от общения во избежание инфекций), проходят ряд медицинских проверок, занимаются на тренажере "Бивни", имитирующем стыковку корабля со станцией "Мир". 10.08.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Первый запуск с плавучего космодрома, намечавшийся на октябрь... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Первый запуск с плавучего космодрома, намечавшийся на октябрь, возможно будет отложен Международный проект "Sea Launch" не будет закрыт, хотя, возможно, первый запуск с плавучего космодрома, намечавшийся на октябрь, придется отложить, заявил сегодня в интервью корреспонденту ИТАР-ТАСС заместитель генерального конструктора ракетно-космической корпорации "Энергия" Валерий Алиев. "Hеприятная задержка", по его словам, возникла из-за решения Госдепартамента США о приостановке большей части работ по морскому космодрому. Распоряжение госдепартамента вызвано якобы имевшейся несанкционированной передачей американской компанией Boeing важной технической информации российским и украинским специалистам. Однако, как считает Алиев, "за этими громкими словами" стоит бюрократическая формальность: Boeing поздно начал оформление так называемых разрешительных документов в службах экспортного и лицензионного контроля, в налоговых и таможенных инстанциях. Он отметил, что сейчас Boeing занимается решением этого вопроса и к 20-25 августа, получив разрешение, можно будет возобновить работы. "Когда работы по морскому космодрому проводились в России, за оформление подобных документов отвечала "Энергия" и все было сделано по правилам. Теперь же, когда реализация проекта переместилась в США, за получение документов отвечает Boeing", - пояснил Алиев. Представитель РКК "Энергия" категорически опроверг предположения, что Boeing мог передать России и Украине некие "секреты". Совместное предприятие "Sea Launch" было создано в 1995 году российской "Энергией", украинским объединением "Южмаш", американским Boeing и норвежской судостроительной компанией Kvarner. Общая цена проекта состовляет около $ 2 млрд. Командное судно, с которого должно вестись руководство запуском, оснащенное в России, в середине июля прибыло к месту базирования в США. Сама морская платформа, откуда должны стартовать ракеты, сейчас находится в пути и проходит Индийский океан. 10.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hа 12 августа запланирован запуск очередного разведывательного... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Hа 12 августа запланирован запуск очередного разведывательного спутника США Hа 12 августа с космодрома на мысе Канаверал запланирован очередной пуск ракеты-носителя "Titan-4A", которая должна вывести на околоземную орбиту очередной разведывательный спутник США "VORTEX". Спутник стоимостью $ 1 млрд. изготовлен по заказу Агентства национальной безопасности США и предназначается для ведения радиоэлектронной разведки в "горячих точка" (Индостанский полуостров, Средний Восток, территория СHГ). От своих предшественников, которые были выведены на орбиту в 1994 и в 1996 годах, спутник отличается наличием антенны больших размеров (72 метра в диаметре; на предыдущих - 40 метров) и, соответственно, большими возможностями по перехвату телефонных и радиопереговоров. Первоначально запуск планировалось осуществить 25 июля нынешнего года, но его пришлось отложить, когда при сборке было повреждено теплозащитное покрытие спутника. 11.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Вчера американский межпланетный зонд "Galileo" начал передачу на... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Вчера американский межпланетный зонд "Galileo" начал передачу на Землю научной информации Вчера американский межпланетный зонд "Galileo" начал передачу на Землю научной информации, собранной во время сближения в июле нынешнего года с юпитерианским спутником Европа. В течение начавшейся недели предстоит передать данные с инфракрасного спектрометра и фотографии другого юпитерианского спутника Ио. Эти данные удалось сохранить после того, как 20 июля произошел сбой в работе программного обеспечения и большинство научных данных, на которые специалисты возлагали надежды, были утеряны. 11.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: В Космическом центре имени Кеннеди продолжаются испытания... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... В Космическом центре имени Кеннеди продолжаются испытания итальянского модуля "Leonardo" В Космическом центре имени Кеннеди продолжаются начатые неделю назад испытания итальянского модуля материально-технического обеспечения "Leonardo". Модуль изготовлен на заводе в Турине (Италия) и 31 июля специальным рейсом был доставлен в центр имени Кеннеди. Предназначен для транспортировки на борт Международной космической станции (МКС) научного оборудования, запасных частей и расходных материалов. В настоящее время завершены проверки функционирования отдельных частей модуля и началась комплексная проверка сопряжения модуля с оборудованием кораблей многоразового использования, на которых он будет устанавливаться. Параллельно ведется проверка программного обеспечения бортовой аппаратуры модуля. 11.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=
    Дата: 11 августа 1998 (1998-08-11) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hа микрочипе космического зонда "Stardust" выгравировано уже более... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Hа микрочипе космического зонда "Stardust" выгравировано уже более миллиона имен землян Близится к завершению сбор имен землян, которые будут выгравированы на микрочипе американского космического зонда "Stardust". Когда два месяца назад специалисты NASA объявили, что будут размещены имена всех землян, "пусть даже их будет миллион", они не предполагали, что этот заветный рубеж будет превышен. Тем не менее 6 августа на микрочипе было выгравировано миллионное имя и за оставшееся до завершения компании время (15 августа) предполагается получить заявки еще, по меньшей мере, от 100 тысяч людей со всего мира. Hо и эта цифра не является окончательной, так как чем меньше остается времени, тем более интенсивно поступают заявки. Зонд "Stardust" отправится в космос 6 февраля 1999 года. Ему предстоит сблизиться с кометой Wild-2 и взять образцы кометного вещества, которые в 2006 году будут доставлены на Землю. 11.8.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

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