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发信人: bage (网事如疯·春心萌动), 信区: AerospaceScience
标 题: SpaceViews -- 2000 October 30(转载)
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (2000年12月22日22:21:27 星期五), 转信
【 以下文字转载自 bage 的信箱 】
【 原文由 hitsma@0451.com 所发表 】
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S P A C E V I E W S
Issue 2000.44
2000 October 30
http://www.spaceviews.com/2000/1030/
*** News ***
Discovery Makes Rare Desert Landing In California
Beal Aerospace Shuts Down
First Space Station Crew Prepares for Flight
NASA Unveils Its 21st Century Mars Campaigns
MirCorp President Begs Russia to Help Save Space Station
Russia Earmarks Funds for Mir
Arianespace Launches Europe*Star Aboard 100th Ariane 4 Mission
NEAR Successfully Skims Eros Surface
Four More Moons Found Orbiting Saturn
FAA Sees Space Launch Recovery in 2001
SpaceViews Event Horizon
Other News
*** Articles ***
Mars Reality Check: Conference Offers Hope, Hurdles
International Space Symposium: NASA + Aerospace Industry =
Business
*** News ***
Discovery Makes Rare Desert Landing In California
By Todd Halvorson
Cape Canaveral Bureau Chief
SPACE.com
Shuttle Discovery's astronauts took a cross-country detour to
California Tuesday, capping a hugely successful International Space
Station construction mission with a relatively rare landing at a
Mojave Desert military base.
With dangerous crosswinds sweeping across Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) in Florida for the third straight day, Discovery's crew was
diverted to a backup landing site - and picture-perfect weather -- at
Edwards Air Force Base.
Trademark twin sonic booms rattled downtown Los Angeles for
the first time in four years as Discovery cruised over the California
coast and headed for a concrete runway scant miles from the factory
where the shuttle was built.
Flying a final approach seven times steeper than that of a
commercial airliner, Discovery plunged like a dive bomber through
clear desert skies, touching down at 4:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
(2059 UT).
The ship's drag chute then popped and the shuttle rolled to a
stop, ending a mission to erect two new additions at the international
station in advance of the scheduled November 2 arrival of the
outpost's first full-time resident crew.
"Wheels stop, Houston," shuttle skipper Brian Duffy said.
"Copy, wheels stop, Brian," astronaut Dom Gorie replied from
NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. "Your great landing
made everybody happy at Edwards Air Force Base. Welcome back to Earth
after a super succesful mission."
The Antelope Valley landing was the first for a NASA shuttle
since March 1996, when Atlantis ferried U.S. astronaut Norm Thagard
back to Edwards after a four-month stay aboard Russia's Mir space
station.
Home of the vaunted Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards is
located on an expansive dry lakebed that is no stranger to shuttle
landings. With 22 different runway options, the test center was NASA's
prime shuttle landing site during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Discovery's touchdown marked the 46th shuttle landing at
Edwards, which is located within a half-hour of the Palmdale,
California assembly plant where all of NASA's winged orbiters were
built.
NASA now prefers to land shuttles at KSC because it costs
about $1 million and takes about a week to ferry a shuttle orbiter
from California to Florida atop a modified 747 jumbo jet.
The weather this week, however, refused to cooperate.
Stiff winds at KSC's swamp-surrounded shuttle runway forced
NASA to forego a half-dozen landing opportunities here since Sunday.
Rain showers scuttled a bid to divert the shuttle to Edwards on
Monday, but the wet weather cleared overnight.
The successful landing was a fitting finale for NASA's most
challenging space station construction to date, launch of which was
also delayed once by windy weather, and twice by technical problems.
"You know, a wise friend of mine told me some time ago that
the road to success is always under construction, and it sure seems
like that sometimes," said NASA shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore.
"You have a pothole here or a bump there that you have to
overcome. And as we prepared for (launch), we had our fair share of
bumps and potholes," he said. "But once we got rolling, this flight
crew and this team did a tremendous job."
Once at the outpost, the astronauts erected the first piece of
the station's girder-like metal truss, installed electrical power
transformers and added a new shuttle docking port to the complex.
Four back-to-back spacewalks were staged to wire up the new
additions. Two key communications antennas were deployed. Rescue
jetpacks were tested and the crew readied the inside of the station
for the arrival in just nine days of its first full-time tenants.
"I couldn't be more happier and pleased with the results of
this mission," Dittemore said. "And I think it puts us in a great
position to start the permanent human presence (at) the International
Space Station with the launch of the first increment crew less than a
week away."
U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts -
Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev - remain scheduled for launch from
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:53 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
(0753 UT) October 31.
The so-called Expedition One crew is due to start a four-month
tour of duty aboard the station after a 4:20 a.m. EST (0920 UT)
November 2 docking at the outpost.
Next up for NASA's shuttle program: The planned Nov. 30 launch
of shuttle Endeavour with a giant pair of solar arrays that generate
electricity to run station systems.
With a wingspan of 73 meters (240 feet), the American-made
solar panels are to be temporarily mounted to the nine-ton metal truss
that was put in place by Discovery's crew.
The five Endeavour astronauts, meanwhile, will notice
something markedly different when they docked with the 13-story, 80-
ton outpost in early December.
"We'll have a welcoming committee the next time we go,"
Dittemore said. "So we're looking forward to that."
Beal Aerospace Shuts Down
By Jeff Foust
Special to SPACE.com
Beal Aerospace, a Texas company developing a commercial heavy-
lift launch vehicle, announced October 23 it was ceasing operations,
citing "intolerable" competition from government-supported
initiatives.
The announcement from the company, founded and funded by
banker Andrew Beal, comes a month after the company laid off 80
employees -- over half its workforce -- in a restructuring effort
triggered by cost overruns and schedule delays in the development of
its BA-2 expendable launch vehicle.
Beal Aerospace had been working on the BA-2, an expendable
launch vehicle that once completed could place 6,000 kg (13,200 lbs.)
into geosynchronous orbit and compete with the largest expendable
boosters currently available, such as the Ariane 5. The company had
met some major milestones in the development of the booster, including
a March test of the BA-810 engine that would be used by the booster's
second stage. That engine was billed as the third largest liquid-
propellant engine developed, after the engines used on the Soviet
Union's Energia booster and the first stage of the Saturn V.
In a statement released by the company Monday morning, Beal
said that those problems were not the root causes of the company's
shutdown. Instead, he blamed the government, particularly the Space
Launch Initiative (SLI), a new NASA effort to fund launch vehicle
development, and the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
(EELV) program, which is supporting development of new versions of
Boeing's Delta and Lockheed Martin's Atlas boosters.
"The most insurmountable risk is the desire of the US
government and NASA to subsidize competing launch systems," Beal said
in the statement. "NASA has embarked on a plan to develop a 憇econd
generation' launch system that will be subsidized by US taxpayers and
that will directly compete with the private sector."
While the SLI is designed primarily to develop human-rated
reusable launch systems that would eventually replace the shuttle,
Beal said such systems could also support markets in direct
competition with his and other private companies. "We find it
inexcusable and intolerable that NASA intends for these subsidized
systems to additionally compete for non-human rated missions including
cargo for the space station and commercial satellite missions."
"Where would the computer industry be today," he asked, "if
the US government had selected and subsidized one or two personal
computer systems when Microsoft or Compaq were in their infancy?"
Beal said Congress's decision last week to fund SLI left his
company with only two options: to evolve into a government contractor
and seek government contracts, or shut down. "We have elected to cease
operations," he concluded.
While the concern over government-funded competition was
Beal's primary concern, he did cite other risks that led to his
decision to shut down the company. Included among those risks were the
potential liability for pre-existing environmental contamination at
the Cape Canaveral launch pads the company was considering for its
initial test launches. Beal was also concerned that the State
Department might not approve the company's plan to build a permanent
spaceport in the northeastern South American nation of Guyana.
Andrew Beal founded Beal Aerospace in 1997 when he saw an
opportunity to enter what promised to be a rapidly growing satellite
launch market. Unlike a number of reusable launch vehicle (RLV)
companies that started up around the same time, Beal focused on
developing a powerful but simpler, and hence less expensive,
expendable rocket that would go after the lucrative geosynchronous
communications satellite market. Beal also set itself apart from other
entrepreneurial launch companies through its funding: rather than seek
venture capital, as RLV companies did with limited success, Andrew
Beal funded the company using the profits from Beal Bank, of which he
owns 99 percent.
Beal Aerospace has also encountered its share of controversy.
The company originally planned to develop a launch site on Sombrero
Island, a small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean near Anguilla.
Those plans were put on indefinite hold by the company after
environmentalists helped delay a report assessing the impact the
launch facility would have on the desolate island. Plans to build a
rocket manufacturing facility in the Virgin Islands were similarly
blocked.
Beal's agreement earlier this year with the government of
Guyana to build a spaceport there has not been without controversy,
either, since the launch site would be located in a region of the
country that neighboring Venezuela claims as its own. The Venezuelan
government has raised concerns about the spaceport, claiming at times
that the facility may be a cover for a US military base.
Beal said he was skeptical that other companies developing
private launch vehicles can be successful. "Unfortunately, development
of a reliable low-cost system is simply not enough to insure
commercial viability," he noted. "There will never be a private launch
industry as long as NASA and the US government choose and subsidize
launch systems."
First Space Station Crew Prepares for Flight
By Yuri Karash
Moscow Contributing Correspondent
SPACE.com
The first International Space Station (ISS) crew and their
backup team tried the Soyuz spacecraft that will carry them to the
outpost on for size last week and found it a perfect fit.
"Everything looked perfect," ISS flight engineer Sergey
Krikalev, told SPACE.com. "We just had to move a few cables inside the
cabin to a more comfortable location."
The main crew consists of mission commander Bill Shepherd,
Soyuz spacecraft commander Yuri Gidzenko and Krikalev. The backup crew
is mission commander Ken Bowersox, Soyuz spacecraft commander Vladimir
Dezhurov and flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin.
"This 'trying on' of a spacecraft is a standard prelaunch
procedure," Yuri Gidzenko said. "We put on our spacesuits, checked
their airtightness, climbed into our spacecraft and sat into our
chairs while dressed in the spacesuits."
Next step was to put the seats in landing position while
seated in them and to see whether there is enough space between the
knees of flight engineer and Soyuz vehicle commander, and the control
panel. This space should be at least 3 centimeters (1.2 inches).
Although the first ISS crew is supposed to return to earth via
space shuttle, the Soyuz will deliver the cosmonauts and astronaut to
the station. Anchored at the station, the Russian craft will be used
as a lifeboat by the crew members in case of emergency. For this
reason the crew is supposed to be equally familiar with both liftoff
and landing procedures in Soyuz.
The first Soyuz spacecraft will remain attached to the ISS
after this crew's departure and will provide a "safety net" for at
least few more crews until it is replaced by another Soyuz.
Who does what?
One of the most intriguing issues related to the work of the
permanent U.S.-Russian crews aboard ISS, is how they will structure
their joint activities on the orbital outpost.
To help Russia to meet its ISS obligations, NASA revised the
fiscal year 1998 Operating Plan to reallocate $60 million in fiscal
year 1998 ISS resources to the Russian Program Assurance Line.
The $60 million dollars did not constitute "humanitarian aid"
to the Russian space program. In return for this funding, NASA leased
Russian research time and space inside Russian segment through the
assembly phase of the ISS.
According to Mikhail Sinelshchikov, Rosaviacosmos Manned Space
Programs Department Director, Russia has leased to the United States
from 25 to 75 percent of its time at certain stages of ISS assembly,
totaling 4,000 hours overall. NASA Associate Administrator for
External Relations John Schumacher has estimated that this transfer
had basically doubled NASA research time and storage space during the
assembly of the station.
Neither main nor backup ISS crews have any idea so far of how
they will separate a work on Russian from work on American tasks and
experiments.
"Nobody said a word to us regarding this issue," said
Krikalev. "The decision of how distribute time between Russian and
U.S. activities on board the station will probably be made by the
program managers on Earth. If I am asked by Mission Control Center to
fasten a bolt inside the station, I won't know, and honestly won't
care whether I do it for Russia or for America."
The two crews are supposed to depart for Baikonur on October
26. The first ISS crew launch has already been postponed a day from
October 30 to 31 because of the Discovery launch delay.
NASA Unveils Its 21st Century Mars Campaigns
By Andrew Bridges
Pasadena Bureau Chief
and Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
SPACE.com
Sobered by the loss of two missions at Mars last year, NASA
officials unveiled on Thursday a scaled-back campaign to explore the
Red Planet over the next 15 years.
NASA will halt ambitious plans to send a lander/orbiter pair
to Mars every 26 months, when the Earth and the Red Planet are closely
aligned. Instead, it will now stagger the pace, dispatching just one
of each at the roughly two-year intervals.
But officials at a press conference at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, D.C., stressed that a less aggressive Mars program would
be more flexible, responsive and resilient than the American space
agency's earlier staccato approach.
"It's a program, not just a collection of missions," said
Scott Hubbard, NASA's Mars Program director.
The revised program also looks out beyond returning a sample
of Martian soil to Earth for study, said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate
administrator for space science. That goal has been pushed back to
2011 or later.
"This program will represent a long-term strategy. It won't
just end with Mars sample return like the previous one did," Weiler
said. Officials said the new program allows for NASA to respond to any
new discoveries on Mars, like the evidence that suggests water may
have flowed on the planet's surface in the recent past, as well as
accommodate the prospect of any of the planned missions failing.
The agency plans on six major Mars missions for this decade
alone, spending as much as $450 million a year on its near-term
efforts. The missions include:
* 2001 -- The Mars Odyssey Orbiter, for high-resolution
mapping and imaging
* 2003 -- Two water-sniffing Mars Exploration Rovers, for
detailed field geological work
* 2005 -- A Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: an orbiter modeled
on NASA's successful Mars Global Surveyor, but capable of imaging
objects as small as 30 centimeters (a foot) in diameter. Jim Garvin,
NASA's Mars exploration program scientist, likened it to putting a
microscope in orbit.
* 2007 -- A "smart" surface lander equipped with a hazard
avoidance system, precision landing capability and designed to deliver
a rover laden with up to 270 kilograms (600 pounds) of scientific
instruments; also in 2007, a "Scout" mission, which could entail a
small Beagle 2-type lander, a balloon or an airplane. Both balloon and
airplane Mars missions have been submitted as proposals in the current
round of Discovery-class NASA projects.
* 2007 -- NASA could also kick off an international
collaborative effort in 2007, teaming up with the Italian space agency
on a telecommunications orbiter for Mars or with the French on a
network of small landers.
* 2009 -- NASA could team up again with the Italians on a
follow-on to the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission.
The probe would carry ground-penetrating radar to prospect for water
on the Red Planet.
* 2011 -- As early as 2011, but perhaps slipping to 2014,
NASA could start a long-term project to return multiple samples of
Martian soil and rock to Earth. The effort, which could cost as much
as $2 billion a pop, had been on tap for 2005 under the previous plan.
"We will seek before we sample," said Hubbard of the new plan
to do more intensive reconnaissance work from orbit before selecting
where to land and collect up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of Mars for
return to Earth.
The seven-month retooling of its Mars campaign was prompted by
the back-to-back loss last year of two spacecraft at the Red Planet.
Subsequent investigative reports, including one authored by retired
Lockheed Martin executive Tom Young, found bad management, a lack of
training and an inadequate system of checks and balances, as well as
too-tight budgets, doomed the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander
missions, a $300 million-plus loss.
"I'm here to say after seven months we feel we have checked
off every box in the Tom Young report," Weiler said.
Hubbard told SPACE.com that he would begin to start presenting
the Mars master plan to various advisory committees, particularly
those at the National Academy of Sciences. And over the next 18
months, NASA aims to refine the revised program's costs and technology
needs.
Indeed, the revised plan hinges on the development of multiple
new technologies. David Lavery, NASA program executive for solar
system exploration, said precision landing is among them.
The Mars Pathfinder landing in 1997 was within a 100x300-
kilometer (60x200-mile) landing ellipse. "Where we want to be by 2007
is down to something that's 1 kilometer by 3 kilometers (0.62 by 2
miles) -- a reduction by a factor of 100," Lavery said. The eventual
goal is to land spacecraft on the equivalent of a Martian dime --
within a tight ellipse just a few hundreds of yards (meters) across,
he said.
Firouz Naderi, the Mars program manager at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said that given a Mars sample-return
launch in 2011, the specimens of Martian rock and dirt would be back
on Earth in 2014. He said that JPL has requested the NASA Johnson
Space Center to study the prospects that the returning samples could
be picked up and returned to Earth via a space shuttle.
As for technology challenges, Naderi said that autonomous
rendezvous and docking in Mars orbit is a must-have. "Everything that
we have done in America has been either ground-aided or pilot-aided,"
he said.
Another technology issue is the survival of rocket fuel after
a long-duration sit on Mars. That propellant -- supercold liquid fuels
or a solid-fuel rocket motor -- is needed to kick the Mars samples off
the planet and into orbit for pickup.
What's missing from the equation are humans. NASA has already
scrapped plans to launch in 2001 a package of experiments that would
have laid some of the groundwork for future human missions to Mars,
including experiments to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere
and to assess the threat of its dust and radiation environments. Now,
similar experiments might not make to Mars until 2007 at the earliest.
Looking to the future of a human mission to Mars, Weiler told
SPACE.com that "before you send humans to a place, you'd like to know
where you are going."
"We are doing the groundwork for eventual human missions to
Mars. This program is not driven by human exploration. It is driven by
science. But we are obviously going to do a lot of homework. We're
going to understand whether there's water near the surface. If we find
water near the surface that has profound effects on human missions,"
Weiler said. Water would be a valuable resource for conversion to
breathable oxygen and to transform into rocket fuel, he said.
MirCorp President Begs Russia to Help Save Space Station
By Yuri Karash
Moscow Contributing Correspondent
SPACE.com
MirCorp president Jeffrey Manber argued in an open letter to
Russian President Vladimir Putin that the world leader must help save
the Mir space station.
Appealing to the Russian leader's national pride, he warned
Russia's participation in the International Space Station (ISS) would
not guarantee that the struggling nation's scientific and economic
interests would be protected.
In an attempt to save Mir -- and keep MirCorp running --
Manber made his plea in a letter published Friday in Kommersant, one
of Russia's major newspapers.
Manber expressed hope that MirCorp and Putin would "jointly
find the way to keep the Mir space station in orbit," reminding the
president that earlier this year the he had stated his firm intentions
to save the almost 15-year-old outpost.
Manber called Mir the "pride and precious creation of Soviet
and Russian engineers, an eloquent example of Russian leadership in
the field of manned spaceflight."
The Russian Space Agency, Rosaviakosmos, responded coolly to
the letter.
"Manber may be a nice guy, and I personally have nothing
against him, but he's asking the Russian government to find funds to
keep Mir in orbit," agency spokesman Sergey Gorbunov told SPACE.com.
"Why is he trying to influence Russian space policy? If he ran a
company that manufactured spacecraft like sausages he would have the
necessary competence, as well as a moral right, to advise the Russian
government on what to do with Mir. But MirCorp's success in Mir's
commercialization has been very modest, to say the least. I just don't
think Manber is competent enough to shape Russia's course of action in
the area of its national manned space program."
According to Manber, specialists have concluded that Mir is
worth "several billion dollars" and that the outpost could stay in
orbit for at least five more years.
Manber warned Putin that in the future Russia would not have
full access to the International Space Station's commercial potential.
"Equal relationship within the ISS program can only be among strong
partners who are having equal opportunities. Unfortunately, because of
the Russia's economic hardships, and the way it is treated [by the
rest of the world], there is no equality [within the ISS program]."
According to Manber, "if Mir is deorbited, Russia will become just a
small part of NASA's station."
MirCorp's main goal, stressed Manber, is "to attract
investments so that Mir would pay its way and get further
commercialized. MirCorp strategy is to make the Russian state free of
any Mir-related expenses, and to let it realize Russian space programs
on board the station free as well."
Manber claimed in the letter that MirCorp had paid for the
last mission to Mir, which lasted 73 days.
Unfortunately, admitted the MirCorp president, there is a two-
to three-month delay in realization of the company's financial plans.
However, according to Manber, by the end of October, the company will
continue paying money to RKK Energia (180 million rubles).
Manber mentioned two space tourists who had expressed their
willingness to fly to Mir in 2001, as well the NBC television network
contest show Destination Mir, as proof of MirCorp's success with the
orbital outpost's commercialization.
"Despite our successful work," said Manber, "efforts are
currently made to liquidate Mir station as soon as possible. This will
completely destroy our preparative commercial programs aimed at the
rescue and continued operation of the station. This will play in the
hands of those who do not want Russia to be equal in space."
"I believe you understand that Russia won't be able to create
such a masterpiece [like Mir] within the next 10 years," said Manber
in his letter.
Manber called on Putin to personally patronize MirCorp
activity, as well as all the decisions regarding Mir station.
At the end of his letter Manber asked Putin to postpone a
decision on the Mir's deorbiting three to four months.
Russia Earmarks Funds for Mir
By Vladimir Isachenkov
Associated Press Writer
for SPACE.com
Russia earmarked funds Thursday for two supply rockets to the
Mir space station, but left the fate of the nearly 15-year-old outpost
undecided, an official said.
The remote-controlled Progress ships will carry fuel to Mir,
which could be used to boost the orbit of the massive station higher
above the Earth and extend its life, or to blast it back into the
atmosphere for destruction.
The Cabinet allocated $27 million to pay for the two cargo
ships, but put off a decision about the Mir's fate until February,
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said.
He has previously said the decision would depend on whether
private funds are made available to keep the station in orbit. The
government has wavered over the station's fate for more than a year.
The Netherlands-based MirCorp, a private firm with ties to the
Russian space industry, has leased time on Mir and intends to use the
station for commercial purposes. MirCorp executives have been in
Moscow trying to persuade the government not to abandon the station
and promising to raise $100 million to $170 million next year.
MirCorp President Jeffrey Manber said this week that the
company might raise enough money to build a new core module to replace
the existing one, which was launched in February 1986.
But Russian space officials have grown skeptical about
MirCorp, following its failure to pay $10 million for the launch of a
Progress cargo ship earlier this month. Manber said that increased
solar activity had forced a launch earlier than planned, and promised
that the company would reimburse the government.
The United States has pressured Russia to dump the Mir and
concentrate its scarce resources on the new International Space
Station, a 16-nation project led by the United States.
On Thursday, U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian
cosmonauts Sergei Krikalyov and Yuri Gidzenko left Moscow for the
Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan for a
planned blastoff to the ISS on Tuesday. They are to become the first
residents on the ISS.
Arianespace Launches Europe*Star Aboard 100th Ariane 4 Mission
By Frederic Castel
Special to SPACE.com
A new satellite operator called Europe*Star has a high-powered
spacecraft in geostationary orbit today and soon will be able to link
five areas of the world for intercontinental broadcasting.
Europe*Star F1 was carried into orbit early Sunday, October
29, aboard the 100th Ariane 4 rocket launched from French Guiana, one
day later than planned because of unacceptable upper level winds.
"As you can imagine, we're very happy to see our baby born,"
said Alain Roger, Europe*Star president.
The $300 million Europe*Star-F1 satellite will be used for a
variety of communication services that can be received by rooftop
dishes as small as two feet in diameter.
Among Europe*Star's capabilities: Direct broadcast of
television programming, rural telephony, high speed data including
Internet and other online services. The satellite also will be able to
connect locations as far apart as London, Singapore and South Africa
with brodcast-quality television services.
"Europe*Star-F1 will be connecting growth markets to areas
that were not previously accessible to them; nobody is doing that at
the moment" says Roger. "With small dish applications, we can make
connectivity though our system, within the reach of emerging markets
(including) Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East, India, Sri
Lanka, Nepal and South East Asia."
Sunday's launch was a very important step for this start up
company, which is a joint venture between Loral Space &
Communications, a U.S. firm holding 49 percent ownership and Alcatel
Spacecom, a French aerospace company with 51 percent.
Components of Europe*Star-F1 were built in both countries.
Europe*Star 1 will be the first European satellite using the
high-powered Ku-band to link Europe and Asia in a single electronic
leap. Its reach covers 76 countries and some three billion people in
some of the fastest evolving emerging markets in the world.
"We are not linking two towns," said Jean Germain, vice
president for Europe*Star engineering and operations, "But, for
example, we can have some TV broadcasting originating in India and
broadcasted to Indian communities spread around Europe".
The Europe*Star concept originated in the early 1990s, when
Dr. Schulte Hillen, the German project founder, filed with the
International Telecommunications Union via German authorities for
three coveted orbital slots over the equator which are precious assets
in today's crowded skies.
Alcatel and Loral will jointly operatw Europe*Star in the
framework of a global space alliance, Loral Global Alliance, that
includes Loral Skynet, Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex), and Loral Skynet
do Brasil.
Through its membership in the Loral Global Alliance, London-
based Europe*Star also is able to offer a range of worldwide satellite
capacity solutions, while still focusing on the local and inter-
regional needs within its coverage area. Although each company is
operated independently, all operators or broadcasters will have access
to the whole worldwide network from any entry point.
Europe*Star already has ordered a second identical 9,262-pound
satellite to be launched by 2002 in the same orbital position as they
expect to have their first satellite capacity sold out in 18 months.
Early next year, when the first satellite will be operational,
30 percent of its capacity already will be sold.
Like Europe*Star-F1, the second spacecraft also will be built
by Alcatel Space Industries as prime contractor. The satellite
structure and integration are made by Space Systems/Loral in Palo
Alto, California and its telecommunications payload is built in
Toulouse, France, by Alcatel Space Industries.
"The first two satellites, launch, ground segment and
financing represents a $500 millions investment," said Roger.
The satellite system will be controlled directly from
Alcatel's Toulouse control center with backup support from Loral
Skynet center in Hawley, Pennsylvania.
NEAR Successfully Skims Eros Surface
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
SPACE.com
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft dropped
within 5.3 kilometers (three miles) of asteroid Eros early this
morning, pulling off a low altitude flyby of the space rock that put
smiles on the faces of scientists.
"The good news is that we didn't hit the asteroid. And there
is no bad news," said Robert Farquhar, mission director for NEAR at
Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,
Maryland.
"There's quite a few images. Things look great. You can see
details in the rocks now. This is about four to five times better than
we've gotten so far," Farquhar told SPACE.com.
Michael Buckley, a spokesman for APL, said that all went well
with the flyby. Imagery from the close-up inspection is to be released
throughout the day, he said.
The low-altitude flyover brought the spacecraft about as close
as a commuter aircraft flies as it crosses the Earth.
Swooping success
NEAR began its swoop over Eros in the early morning hours of
Thursday. The probe shot across Eros making its closest approach over
the asteroid at roughly 3:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (0700 UT)
according to ground control calculations.
Onboard instruments were at the ready to snag a wealth of
science data about the asteroid during the up-close and personal tour.
Slow-going NEAR zipped by Eros at about 6 meters per second (14 miles
per hour).
Farquhar said that later today NEAR will be put into a
transition orbit. That puts the probe into a safe orbit where it
circles the space rock at a higher altitude. Eventually, the
spacecraft is to be pushed into a 200 kilometer (124 mile) orbit.
The giant shoe-shaped Eros is slowly rotating, so great care
was taken to avoid crashing into the hulk. "Today, we just went over
the heel. Next time we'll fly over the toe of Eros," Farquhar said.
Touchy touch down
On February 12, plans are to lower NEAR toward Eros in what is
billed as a "controlled descent", but is also another way of saying
landing. Imagery snapped of the asteroid as it drops toward the
asteroid is expected to be 12 times better than pictures already
received.
When the mission ends in February 2001, NEAR will have
operated for a full year after it began looping the asteroid.
Staggering images are expected from NEAR as it drops toward
the asteroid's rocky surface. Because the camera is, in essence, a
telescope, pictures of the surface will become blurred as NEAR moves
closer and closer to its final resting spot. Images of the distant
horizon, however, are likely to be relayed back to Earth.
Four More Moons Found Orbiting Saturn
By Andrew Bridges
Pasadena Bureau Chief
SPACE.com
An international team of astronomers announced Wednesday it
has discovered four more moons orbiting Saturn, apparently putting the
gas giant back on top of the heap as the planet with the greatest
number of known satellites.
The four faint bodies, spotted over the last two months at
telescopes scattered across the globe, bring the number of known moons
orbiting Saturn to 22. With that, Saturn edges out Uranus, with 21
natural satellites, on the moon front.
The team of astronomers said they know very little about the
moons, other than their brightness. Estimates of their size --
anywhere from 10 to 50 kilometers (6 to 30 miles) across -- are based
on assumptions of their reflectivity.
"We cannot say what orbits they have, we can't even say which
way they are going around the planet," said astronomer Brett Gladman,
in announcing the discoveries during a Wednesday press conference at
the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences
meeting here.
However, astronomers have been able to determine that the
irregular moons -- meaning they orbit outside the plane of Saturn's
equator -- are not asteroids, thanks to orbital calculations done by
Brian Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Nor
are they likely to be comets.
"The probability of that is very small," said Gladman, of the
Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in France. Gladman added that several
more months of calculations should allow astronomers to pin down the
moons' orbits.
The four moons are the only other irregular Saturnian moons
found since William Pickering spotted Phoebe in 1898.
"It's nice to go out and find these things, especially since
it's been more than 100 years," said Philip Nicholson, a Cornell
University astronomy professor and team member.
The moons are believed to orbit Saturn at a distance of
anywhere from 10 million to 20 million kilometers (6 million to 12
million miles). In contrast, Saturn's moon Titan -- which will be
visited by Cassini's Huygens probe in 2004 -- orbits just 1.2 million
kilometers (750,000 miles) from the planet.
Unlike Saturn's regular moons, which formed from the accretion
disk that once surrounded the planet, the newly discovered satellites
were likely captured into orbit after the gas giant formed. As such,
the "new" moons are actually quite ancient. Indeed, the icy bodies
could very well be primitive remnants of the earliest building blocks
of the solar system, Gladman said.
For now, the additional moons bear the provisional code names
of S/2000 S1, S2, S3 and S4. Following additional observations, the
International Astronomical Union (IAU) will certify them as true
planetary satellites, and more lyrical names will be given. By
astronomical convention, Saturn's moons bear the names of Titans and
other figures taken from ancient Greek mythology.
Astronomers used the European Southern Observatory's 2.2-meter
(86.5-inch) telescope in Chile; Canada-France-Hawaii 3.5-meter (138-
inch) telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; MDM 2.4-meter (95-inch)
telescope in Tucson, Arizona; Steward Observatory 1.5-meter (59-inch)
telescope, also in Tucson and the ESO New Technology Telescope, also
in Chile, to make the discoveries.
Between 1997 and 1999, the same team discovered five more
moons orbiting Uranus. While the astronomers caution the new
discoveries at Saturn are preliminary, they also said they have
discovered other objects that are likely Saturnian moon candidates.
Promising a further bounty, the spacecraft Cassini should
reveal even more satellites within Saturn's rings after it arrives in
orbit around the planet in 2004.
FAA Sees Space Launch Recovery in 2001
By Frank Sietzen, Jr.
Special to SPACE.com
The fiscal year just ended saw the lowest number of U.S.
licensed commercial launches in three years, but 2001 should see an
industry comeback, predicts the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
office that regulates the commercial launch industry.
There were 12 licensed commercial space launches in the 2000
fiscal year that ended October 1, 2000 as compared to 17 in 1999 and
22 in 1998, according to data released Thursday by the FAA office of
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. But FAA
space officials predict a comeback is brewing in the year to come. "I
expect to see improvement next year," said Patti Grace Smith, FAA
associate administrator for space transportation. "The circumstances
that led to the difficulties [in 2000] were caused by the problems
related to Iridium and ICO and are not likely to be repeated," Smith
said.
She also noted that three commercial rockets whose launch
failures caused delays in the launch schedules had returned to flight
successfully, clearing the way to resume commercial missions and
absorb the delays in backlogged satellites.
"The technology would [have] worked, but the business plans
haven't so far," said Joseph A. Hawkins, Smith's deputy administrator.
"The biggest reason for the failure of LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite
constellations has been they haven't lived up to expectations,"
Hawkins explained. Robust launch projections of recent years have
predicted explosive growth in low-orbit satellites driving increases
of annual launches. But the 1999 failure of Iridium and troubles
plaguing the ICO satellite projects have cooled investor's enthusiasm
for the satellites, sharply reducing demand for launching services in
the next decade.
Data released Thursday by the FAA reported 23 total space
launches in the third quarter of 2000, with the U.S. fielding seven of
the launches. Nine of the 23 were commercial launches, with the U.S.
producing two commercial space missions. All 23 were successful. Of
the total number of third-quarter launches, Russia produced 48
percent, the U.S. 31 percent and Europe 13 percent. But when
commercial space is reviewed separately, the U.S. share dropped to 23
percent, with Russia and Europe at 33 percent each. China and
multinational space programs accounted for the balance.
For the last quarter of the year, the FAA predicts Russia will
conduct 13 launches or 41 percent of the total, with the U.S. flying
six times or 25 percent, Europe 16 percent (five) and China six
percent (two). The remaining four launches, comprising a projected 12
percent of the total, will be made up of Indian, Israeli and
multinational missions.
Predictions of the first quarter of the new year hold a strong
U.S. comeback. The FAA predicts the U.S. will launch a dozen times in
the first quarter making up 48 percent of the total projected space
launches in the first three months of 2001. Russia will be second with
20 percent and Europe third with 16 percent. But Europe will continue
to dominate commercial launches, with nearly half of those anticipated
in the first quarter. Nine commercial launches worldwide are expected
in the first quarter of 2001, and the FAA projects an average
commercial launch demand of 30 missions per year for the next decade.
That is 10 percent less than the predictions made for the
decade 2000-2010 this same time last year, making for the first annual
commercial space launch forecast that did not predict growth over the
previous year. "This is a demand model," said Bob Cowls, sales
director for the Americas for Boeing's Delta Launch Services. "This
drop was caused by delivery delays, and launch delays," he said. But
Cowls also pointed to what he termed massive growth in large
communications satellites, where rocket makers worldwide have "taken
our breath away in how quickly their size has grown and how quickly
industry has moved," Cowls added.
Cowls also suggested that as satellites continued to increase
in size, and as new types of space services such as remote sensing and
the internet continue to grow, launch rates and services would respond
to the new demand. This would ultimately make up for the loss of
launching business caused by the failure of the smaller low-orbit
satellite projects to develop.
The data on launch forecasting was released during the fall
session of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee
(COMSTAC), an FAA-industry group that jointly tracks the development
of commercial space launches in the U.S.
SpaceViews Event Horizon
Note: You can now add these events to your Palm handheld by clicking
on, or copying and pasting into a Web browswer, the URL below each
event. Visit Coola's Web site at http://www.coola.com/ for more
information about this free service.
October 31 Soyuz launch of a Soyuz spacecraft carrying the
Expedition One crew to the International Space
Station, from Baikonur Kazakhstan at 2:53 am EST
(0753 UT)
http://www.coola.com/cgi-bin/addinfo.cgi?pid=10003&rid=972300557&type=D
November 7-9 Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute's 11th
Conference on Astronautics, Ottawa, Ontario
http://www.coola.com/cgi-bin/addinfo.cgi?pid=10003&rid=972300639&type=D
November 9 Delta 2 launch a GPS navigation satellite, from Cape
Canaveral, Florida at 12:18 pm EST (1718 UT)
http://www.coola.com/cgi-bin/addinfo.cgi?pid=10003&rid=972300703&type=D
November 14 Ariane 5 launch of the PAS-1R communications satellite
from Kourou, French Guiana
http://www.coola.com/cgi-bin/addinfo.cgi?pid=10003&rid=972904568&type=D
November 14 Soyuz launch of a Progress cargo spacecraft for the
International Space Station from Baikonur, Kazakhstan
http://www.coola.com/cgi-bin/addinfo.cgi?pid=10003&rid=972904632&type=D
Other News
Giant Plutino Discovered: Astronomers announced last week that they
have discovered one of the largest Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) yet
found. 2000 EB173, located in March by a team of astronomers using a
1-meter (39-inch) telescope in Venezuela, has a diameter anywhere
between 300 to 700 kilometers (185 to 435 miles), making it one of the
largest KBOs yet discovered and the largest of the "plutinos", a
subcategory of KBOs with orbits that resemble that of the planet
Pluto. "This is the biggest and brightest that has been seen so far,"
said Charles Baltay, a Yale University physicist who headed up the
investigation. Amateur astronomers with 30-centimeter (12-inch) or
larger telescopes should be able to detect the object.
Red, Red Rocks: Another aspect of 2000 EB173 is its dark red color.
This color isn't unique to this plutino: many KBOs discovered by
astronomers since 1993 have a similar reddish color, scientists
reported in the journal Nature last week. The objects appear red
because they absorb more blue light than other wavelengths, according
to Stephen Tegler of Northern Arizona University. "Perhaps, the red
objects are rich in complex organic molecules," he speculated, adding
that he and other scientists have yet to fully understand why many
KBOs do appear red. Another interesting aspect of the color
distribution is that while there is a mix of red and gray KBOs at
distances out to 40 astronomical units (6 billion km, 3.7 billion
mi.), KBOs are exclusively red beyond 40 AU. "The reasons for the
patterns remain a mystery," said Tegler.
Panspermia Reconsidered: Studies of a famous Martian meteorite have
given scientists a chance to take a new look at the possibility that
life can be transferred from one planet to another. A team of
scientists reporting in the journal Science last week said an analysis
of the magnetic signature of meteorite ALH84001 shows that its
interior stayed relatively cool while ejected from the surface of
Mares by a meteor impact and during later entry into Earth's
atmosphere, never heating above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees
Fahrenheit). Those conditions would be benign enough to permit any
microbial life within the meteorite to the survive the trip to Earth,
raising the prospects for panspermia, a hypothesis that says that life
may have originated on one world and later was transferred to others.
"Our findings give a boost to panspermia, since they are the first
experimental evidence that a rock could be transferred from one planet
to another without being heat sterilized," said Benjamin Weiss of
Caltech.
Io, Neptune, and Uranus Images: Galileo images of Io have revealed
layers of sulfuric "snow" neatly everywhere on the Jovian moon's
surface, planetary scientists said last week. "We see this volatile
material everywhere on Io where we've had a close-up look," Alfred
McEwen of the University of Arizona said of the snow. "It looks like
[the snow] is sublimating or eroding away by some means," he added.
"We'd like to know where it's coming from, how the surface layer is
being resupplied."... Ground-based images of Uranus and Neptune are
showing rich detail of the two planets' atmospheres, astronomers
reported last week. The images, obtained from the Keck Observatory
using an adaptive optics system, show in particular the dynamic nature
of Neptune's atmosphere, including winds up to 400 meters per second
(885 mph), as well as small cloud features in Uranus' upper
atmosphere.
*** Articles ***
Mars Reality Check: Conference Offers Hope, Hurdles
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
SPACE.com
It is a This Old House restoration plan for Mars.
By using synthetic gases, the Red Planet could be returned to
the habitable state it once was billions of years ago. Certain insects
and plants would flourish. Liquid water would run freely. Even pine
trees could take root and dot Mars' surface too.
Moreover, this remake of Mars could be accomplished within 50
to 100 years. Future travelers to Mars could walk underneath Martian
skies, outfitted with only a simple breathing mask that spews out
fresh oxygen.
That's the vision of Chris McKay, NASA space scientist from
Ames Research Center.
Mars could be made warmer by using synthetically made
greenhouse gases -- those same nasty gases that are wreaking havoc
with Earth's climate.
"Just the same old modest planet warming that we're doing here
on Earth will work fine on Mars," McKay said.
However, you'll have to hold your breath for a breathable Mars
environment. The time scale that it would take to produce enough
biomass on the planet to make an oxygen-rich atmosphere is a 100,000
years, McKay said.
McKay was among top scientists at Think Mars, held here
October 20-22 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Boom and bust -- or blastoff?
While altering the ecosystem of Mars may be feasible, just
getting human explorers to Mars in the first place may prove a
daunting social task.
A window of opportunity now exists this decade for initiating
a humans-to-Mars program. But that window may close given the
retirement of the baby boom generation from the 1940s, said Robert
Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, based in Indian Hills,
Colorado.
"If we don't get the humans-to-Mars program initiated during
the first decade of the 21st century, it may be a very long time after
that," Zubrin told the MIT audience. "All the incredible technological
capabilities that were created in response to World War 2 and the Cold
War will be allowed to whither away," he said.
Zubrin said the financial wherewithal to put humans on Mars
may be in jeopardy. "The baby boom generation began in 1945. Add 65
years to that and 2010 or so is when the baby boomers start to retire.
By around 2015, you'll have a much larger group that is retired being
supported by a smaller group that is working. So the financial picture
is going to darken," he told SPACE.com.
Unless a humans-to-Mars program is mounted within the first
decade of the 21st century, Zubrin said, such a project is going to
become increasingly difficult to do for another generation.
Martian life: on the rocks
The prospect remains that Mars is a humble, albeit cold and
dry, abode for life.
David McKay, a researcher at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas, said that microbial life on Mars today is likely.
McKay led the team that in 1996 presented "lines of evidence"
for possible Martian life within the Mars meteorite, ALH84001.
"We haven't proved life on Mars. We don't claim we discovered
life on Mars. What we have here is a hypothesis. But we believe that
the evidence supporting this hypothesis is stronger today than it was
in 1996," McKay said.
Studies of the ALH84001 meteorite are ongoing. New research
continues to support the lines of evidence for possible biological
origin, McKay said. "But we don't have a smoking gun," he said.
Continued studies of Martian meteorites recovered here on
Earth, as well as putting life-detection experiments on the Red Planet
are a priority, McKay said. Furthermore, a sample of Mars rock and
soil is needed to put the life on Mars question to rest, he said.
McKay said that any radical hypothesis is always subject to
intense criticism and scrutiny. "That's the way it should be...this is
how science works. The question is, when does it make the grade from
hypothesis to accepted fact?"
"Stay tuned. That's my only advice," McKay told the MIT
gathering.
Medical issues
Ways to keep humans fit on any round-trip sojourn to Mars and
back is getting increased attention at NASA.
The International Space Station is key to prove out techniques
and technologies to ensure astronaut health and well being, said Peter
Ahlf, flight programs lead for life sciences within NASA's new
Biological and Physical Research Enterprise.
"We would probably leave tomorrow if we were willing to accept
the risk as we understand it today. If we want to reduce the risk,
that could very well take some time," Ahlf said.
Similar in view was George Martin, an Air Force flight surgeon
at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. He said that muscle atrophy
and bone mineral loss remain top problems facing long-duration space
crews.
"There's lots of room to learn more," Martin said. "You have
to prepare for the unknowns, as well," he said.
Dragon slayers
Martin said that astronauts and cosmonauts returning from
Earth orbit show that deconditioning of the human body during space
travel remains an issue. The numerous potential medical concerns may
currently represent the most significant operational impediment to
returning a Mars crew safely to Earth, he said.
"There are lots of dragons out there. We have to become dragon
slayers," Martin said.
Building a huge spinning spacecraft to create artificial
gravity for Mars-bound crews is not in the cards at this time, Ahlf
said. "Our first goal is to avoid that engineering challenge is to
come up with countermeasures that involve pharmaceuticals and or
exercise," he said.
A short-arm centrifuge, one that can be carried within a
smaller spacecraft, is technically feasible, Ahlf said.
Alf said that robotic exploration of Mars is also critical to
scope out early potential risks to human crews. The impact on
expeditionary crews from hazards created by dust storms, dust devils
and lightning could prove worrisome, needs to be addressed.
Go for growth
Although dispatching humans to Mars is challenging, that
should not deter ambitions for interplanetary treks between Earth and
Mars, said MIT student, Margarita Marinova, a Think Mars organizer.
There's no reason to be tired and grumpy about the tough road ahead in
making Mars reachable, she said.
"Mars is a challenge. But I strongly believe that when you are
put into a challenging situation, that is when you grow the most, both
personally and intellectually," Marinova said.
"Mars is a big step towards that growth. It's so very
different from anything we know. I think by reaching for Mars,
humanity is going to take a big leap in our understanding of
ourselves, the solar system, and the universe," Marinova said.
International Space Symposium: NASA + Aerospace Industry = Business
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
and Mary Motta
Senior Business Correspondent
SPACE.com
There is a global wake-up call ringing loudly for spacefaring
nations.
The aerospace industry faces a major overhaul if promising
commercial space markets are to be realized in coming years.
Top space leaders from government, companies and organizations
from around the world are meeting here October 24-26 for the 2000
International Space Symposium, sponsored by the Space Foundation.
Today's $100 billion global space industry represents a roster
of competitive and cooperative space projects -- from remote sensing
and rockets-for-hire to a range of satellite navigation and
telecommunications services.
But after four decades of development, is the promise of a
booming commercial space sector more high hope than profitable,
bottom-line marketplace?
Big win
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin opened the symposium Tuesday,
taking to task the naysayers who have derided the building of the
International Space Station (ISS).
"The ISS team across the world...are pulling it off," Goldin
said. With some 61,360 kilograms (135,000 pounds) of ISS hardware now
in orbit, the launch of the first live-in crew is about a week away,
he said.
Once the three-person Expedition 1 crew is aboard, "that will
mark the moment the human species will always have permanent presence
in space. And that is the big win for the ISS team," Goldin said.
"Sixteen countries on the face of this planet have determined it's
going to happen...so it shall," he told the audience.
Stern warning
Goldin chided space industry officials by saying that they
need to look at the space station as a research and test platform for
commercial ideas.
Most aerospace firms have focused too much on station
operations, Goldin said, and are not thinking of visionary and
entrepreneurial ways to best use the orbiting complex.
In particular, the NASA chief pointed to a number of promising
biological and medical experiments done in microgravity. Follow-on
work on the space station could foster such things as new agricultural
products, antibiotics, improved insulin formation and a range of
pharmaceuticals, he said.
The key to the space future, Goldin emphasized, is in
aerospace companies that embrace biology, nanotechnology and
information systems.
Goldin also unleashed a stern warning for his NASA
compatriots.
"We'd like to be able to turn over the keys of the space
station to a private corporation, if some of my dear NASA colleagues
will have the courage to let that happen," he said.
"Survival of the NASA organization is not dependent upon
hugging the space station. So this is a message to my dear colleagues
at NASA. Don't be afraid of the private sector," Goldin said.
Hot-button issue
The International Space Symposium's opening day included a
range of panel discussions.
Addressed was the hot-button issue that seems to be the
obsession of aerospace executives since March 1999. That is when
authority for satellite export licensing was shifted from the Commerce
Department to the State Department.
A panel of industry officials addressing the commercialization
and globalization of space business raised concerns about the
licensing issue by pointing out that U.S. satellite manufacturers have
captured less than half the publicly announced contracts for
geostationary satellites this year.
For the previous 10 years, U.S. satellite manufacturers had
dominated the competition by capturing about 75 percent of the world
market.
The loss in market share has alarmed the satellite industry,
prompting some to call for regulatory changes that include the shift
of licensing responsibility back to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Troubles with China
Congress passed a law in 1998 that returned control over all
satellite technologies to the U.S. State Department in March 1999.
Members of Congress believed the legislation would guard against the
transfer of sensitive U.S. launch technology to the People's Republic
of China and other governments.
When asked by the panel moderator what area of the world has
been the most troublesome for satellite business, half the panelists
said that China was a particularly difficult market to penetrate.
China by far is the most difficult region, said Mark Albrecht,
president of International Launch Services. His company markets the
Russian-built Proton booster and the Lockheed Martin Astronautics-
built Atlas launcher.
Interestingly enough, it was the Italians who said that the
United States was the most difficult market. It takes so long to get
the smallest part approved, said a spokesman for Alenia Aerospazio,
one of Europe's largest space industries and the prime contractor on
all programs managed by the Italian Space Agency.
Aerospace companies have been clamoring to enter China's
market as the economy in Asia has started to recover.
Last month, the U.S. Congress granted China permanent normal
trade status, clearing a major obstacle to China's bid to become a
member of the World Trade Organization.
========
This has been the October 30, 2000, issue of SpaceViews.
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