With the ability of heavy-lift rockets to do piggy-back launches, it is surprising to learn that even after making 100 A2100 geosynchronous communications satellites since 1996, Lockheed Martin has yet to see two of the spacecraft launched on the same ride. That string is set to be broken May 15 when the 100th and 101st satellites in the series, JCSat-13 and Vinasat-2, are to be lofted by an Ariane 5 from Arianespace’s launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. The two spacecraft were shipped to Kourou on April 12.
HOUSTON — A European Space Agency (ESA) inquiry points to a still-unexplained problem with a computer communications interface as the culprit in a temporary power loss that followed the recent docking of the cargo- and propellant-laden Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 with the International Space Station.
Calling optical systems “the next era of space communications,” NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has selected Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to host a laser communications relay demonstration (LCRD) payload on a 2016 commercial mission. The technology has two attractions: optical communications use an uncongested portion of the spectrum compared to the radio frequencies that currently transmit data from space; and they hold the promise of orders of magnitude higher data rates than RF communications.
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is working to re-establish contact with the 10-year-old Envisat spacecraft, which the agency says stopped relaying data to Earth April 8. The 8,000-kg (18,000-lb.) spacecraft has been in orbit twice as long as its five-year design life, but ESA hopes to keep the satellite operating until the launch of a follow-on mission under Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program.
Boeing is developing designs for a secure mobile phone that could relieve the woes of government officials and senior business executives who use Blackberries for their security features, but hope to have the functionality of a more modern device such as the iPhone. The company is developing the system with partners, but officials decline to name them for now. They say more detail is coming on the design and the team later this year, with a product launch slated by year’s end.
HOUSTON — U.S. and European astronauts Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers, as part of a temporarily downsized International Space Station crew, are preparing for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, which is awaiting a tentatively scheduled April 30 liftoff on the first attempt at a U.S. commercial resupply mission to the orbiting science lab. NASA and SpaceX mission managers are scheduled to gather at NASA’s Johnson Space Center April 16 for a flight-readiness review to assess the preparations and settle on an official launch date.
BEIJING — China’s main rocket engine maker appears to have begun deliveries of production-standard YF-100 engines, the key powerplants for the forthcoming Long March 5, 6 and 7 launchers. A propulsion system for the Long March 5 heavy launcher, comprising two main engines and two auxiliary thrusters, was “recently” delivered by the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology (AAPT) — also known as the 6th Academy — according to its parent, the national space group China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC).
Spurred by reports that LightSquared is considering bankruptcy, two lawmakers are hoping the government can recover the cost of testing the company’s proposed 4G communications network for interference with GPS.
ANOTHER TRY: Cobham has launched a hostile takeover bid for satellite communications equipment maker Thrane & Thrane after an initial offer was rebuffed by the Danish company. Cobham bid £270 million ($428 million) for outstanding shares in Thrane & Thrane after bringing its own holdings to 25.6%. The move comes after Cobham withdrew an earlier bid last month, after Thrane & Thrane rejected it. Since then, Cobham has acquired shares from Jupiter Asset Management and other entities that represent 22.7% of the Danish company’s shares.
NEW DELHI — The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has signed a contract to launch the Spot-6 satellite for France-based EADS Astrium. The agency says Spot-6 will be launched onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) during the second half of 2012. The PSLV, in its “core alone” configuration, will carry other payloads as well.
The first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV in the Medium-plus 5.2 configuration lifts off surfside at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 7:12 p.m. EDT April 3 with a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload. The launch clears the way for three more intelligence satellite launches by the end of the summer for the the joint Defense Department/Intelligence Community agency.
Steve Squyres knows a thing or two about exploration, and he has a great soapbox for passing on his experience where it might do some good. A Cornell University astronomy professor, Squyres is principal investigator on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. He is also chairman of the NASA Advisory Council—a distinguished group of outside experts who do their best to guide NASA's political leadership in its decisionmaking.
NASA’s scientifically productive and publicly popular Kepler mission, launched three years ago to seek evidence for Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, was one of nine maturing astrophysics programs that won endorsement for an extension this week, following an agency sponsored Senior Review Committee evaluation.
KEPLER EXTENDED: NASA has approved the Kepler planet-finding mission for an extension through fiscal 2016, following a senior-level agency review of operational astrophysics missions. The extension provides four additional years for the probe to look for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone around their parent stars. “Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets and the study of stellar seismology and variability,” says Roger Hunter, Kepler project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
HOUSTON — U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station have begun an upgrade of the air-to-ground communications system to support a substantial increase in simultaneous science research, including a doubling of the downlink data rate, solid-state recording and additional voice loops.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office has three more intelligence spacecraft to orbit in the next four months, following Tuesday’s launch of its classified NROL-25 payload — probably an imaging reconnaissance satellite — from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Medium-plus 5.2 rocket from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-6 came at 7:12 EDT, and the NRO termed the launch “successful.” Launches from the California military site go into polar orbit for global overhead coverage.
HOUSTON — Boeing’s candidate in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) initiative, the CST-100 capsule, completed the first in a series of parachute drop tests this week at the Delmar Dry Lake Bed near Alamo, Nev. A second test is planned for later this month, and will incorporate the landing system drogue chute for the first time, demonstrating the full anticipated parachute system sequence.
COST GROWTH: Procurement cost growth in the portfolio of nearly 100 weapons programs analyzed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in its recently released assessment amounts to nearly $61 billion; half of that is from quantity changes. There were 59 programs with no quantity change; 22 increased and 14 decreased. Four programs are new to the 2011 portfolio: Apache Block IIIB New Build; HC/MC-130 Recap; KC-130J and Small Diameter Bomb II (Aerospace DAILY, March 30, April 3).
Now armed with additional information, the Obama administration and Congress are revisiting whether LightSquared should be able to build its 4G broadband communications network.
SUPERCOMPUTING: Rice University, partnered with IBM, is looking to a May start-up for a P-series Blue Gene supercomputer for collaborative research in the engineering disciplines, including aerospace, astronomy, particle physics, climate modeling, geophysics and medicine. “We are open to collaborations with government, industry and academia,” says Jade Boyd, a Rice spokesperson.
