Aalice.135
net.columbia
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!research!alice!wolit
Thu Nov 5 14:18:13 1981
NON-SHUTTLE NEWS
[The following information is from the November 2 issue of Aviation
Week and Space Technology.]
NASA's Solar System Exploration Committee met last week to begin
examining solar system exploratory probe proposals for study by the
Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Probes would
be based on a new Mariner-class 3-axis stabilized spacecraft,
designated Mariner Mk.2, and on Pioneer spin-stabilized craft.
Missions would start in the late 1980's.
Mariner Mk.2 missions to be evaluated by the JPL are:
* Ballistic rendezvous with the Tempel 2 comet.
* A Mars geochemical orbiter mission.
* A near-earth asteroid (eg, Anteros) rendezvous.
* Saturn orbiter / Titan flyby probe.
* A Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune flyby/probe carrier.
* Multiple asteroid rendezvous.
Pioneer-class missions include:
* A lunar or Mars geochemical orbiter (JPL).
* Near-earth asteroid mission (JPL).
* Mars upper atmosphere orbiter (Ames).
* Mars orbiter with surface penetrators (Ames).
* Mars hydrology orbiter (Ames).
------------------------------------------------------
The US Air Force has awarded a 1-year contract to General Dynamics to
study the required technology for a small manned space vehicle, known
as AMSC (advanced military spaceflight capability). Launch concepts
include carrier aircraft launch; runway, sled, or accelerator
horizontal launch; and vertical ground launch. The vehicle might also
have folding wings for deployment from the Shuttle.
------------------------------------------------------
The Soviet Union is developing a very large booster, with the ability
of lifting a 390,000 - 455,000 lb. payload into orbit. By comparison,
the U.S. Saturn 5 used during the Apollo and Skylab programs had an
orbital capacity of 280,000 lb. The booster, which could be tested by
1983, may be used to launch a 220,000-lb. class military/scientific
space station, which might be permanently manned by about 12
cosmonauts.
------------------------------------------------------
Recent Soviet satellite launches include:
Designation Date Orbit Mission comments
---------- ---- ----- ----------------
Cosmos 1297 8/18 389 x 209 km reconnaissance
Cosmos 1298 8/21 351 x 179 reconnaissance
Cosmos 1299 8/25 281 x 250 ocean surveillance - nuclear
powered - boosted to 955 x 910
km orbit after 12 days
Cosmos 1300 8/25 675 x 648 military weather satellite
Cosmos 1301 8/27 300 x 224 film-return earth resources
Cosmos 1302 8/28 824 x 783 store-dump communications craft
Cosmos 1303 9/4 398 x 216 reconnaissance
Cosmos 1304 9/4 984 x 917 navigation
Cosmos 1305 9/11 13870 x 648 failed Molniya communication satellite
Cosmos 1306 9/15 458 x 408 ocean surveillance
Cosmos 1307 9/15 418 x 209 reconnaissance
Cosmos 1308 9/18 1107 x 979 navigation
Cosmos 1309 9/18 282 x 225 film-return earth resources
Arcad 3 9/21 1920 x 380 Soviet-French scientific satellite
Cosmos 1310 9/23 525 x 478 antisatellite system test satellite
Cosmos 1311 9/28 521 x 470 unknown
Cosmos 1312 9/30 1530 x 1495 navigation
Cosmos 1313 10/1 314 x 214 reconnaissance
------------------------------------------------------------
In its first multiple-satellite launch, China used an FB-1 launcher to
boost 3 satellites into a 1610 x 240 km orbit on September 19. These
are China's 9th, 10th, and 11th spacecraft since 1970. The FB-1 is a
space launch version of the CSS-X-4 ICBM. One of the satellites
involves a balloon linked by a cable to a solid sphere.
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