Frontier Status 215

August 11, 2000

by Dale M. Gray

Frontier Historical Consultants

The Russians led the way this week by launching two international payloads on their Soyuz rockets. One of the payloads, a Progress supply vessel docked with the International Space Station. Meanwhile NASA is moving forward with its preparations for three manned missions to the ISS. NASA also announced plans for not one, but two rover missions to Mars in 2003. One of the more interesting items from the week is Survivor television's plans for a competition to send an ordinary person to Mir.

The history of the new high frontier is now at your fingertips. Research topics from past issues of Frontier Status at Cortesi.com.

Email Frontier Status to a friend!

Highlights of the week of August 11 include:

Russian Soyuz launches Progress to ISS
Starsem Soyuz launches two Cluster satellites
Survivor TV to go to Mir
X-33 tank failure report released

SHUTTLE

The three Shuttle operational fleet continues its preparations for flights to the International Space Station. On August 7, workers moved the Shuttle Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). On Tuesday, August 8, workers attached Atlantis to its external tank and solid rocket boosters. This coming Saturday, the Atlantis stack will be moved to the VAB high bay 2 as part of the VAB safe haven fit check. Atlantis will roll out to Launch Pad 39B in the evening of August 13. Terminal Countdown Demonstration test is slated for August 17-19. Launch of STS-106 (ISS Flight 2a.2b) is scheduled for September 8 at 8:31 a.m. EDT (NASA; Spaceflight Now.

Orbiters Discovery and Endeavor continue flight preparations in the Orbiter Processing Facility bays 1 and 2. Discovery is expected to be moved to the VAB on August 21 (NASA).

ISS

With the arrival of the Progress supply vessel, the International Space Station grew to a total length of 143 feet and a mass of 61,000 kg (67 tons). It has become the fourth brightest object in the night sky after the Moon, Venus and Mir (NASA; Heavens-above).

(Editors note: The transit of the space station across the night sky is indeed quite visible. The station was easily seen on August 11 from the partially darkened interior of my home looking out the front window). NASA ISS sightings; Heavens Above).

Progress

On Tuesday August 8, at 4:13 p.m. EDT the Progress M1 (251) supply vehicle successfully docked with the International Space Station. The docking with the Zvezda Service Module occurred on the first attempt using the KURS automatic system. Docking occurred on the rear Zvezda port. The Progress contains 616 kg of clothes, food, tools, two IBM Thinkpad computers, communications gear, parts for the station's toilet, components for the oxygen generation and carbon dioxide removal systems and other supplies that will be unpacked by the crew of STS-106 in September. Fuel for the Zvezda and Zarya modules will also transferred using an automatic system. The fuel will be used to boost the station from its current 352 x 280 km orbit to the predetermined working orbit of 410 x 460 km. The fuel and equipment delivered by the Progress and the upcoming Shuttle mission are necessary for space station function, but were not installed on Zvezda to reduce its mass for launch. NASA carried the final moments of docking on NASA TV (Spaceflight Now; Interfax; Jonathan's Space Report). Spaceflight Now).

Enterprise Module

The Russian Aviation and Space Agency and RSC Energia (RSCE) have confirmed an agreement to replace the Docking and Stowage Module of the ISS with the commercial Enterprise module. The privately built and funded module is slated to be launched in 2003. The Multi- Purpose Module Enterprise is a joint commercial venture between RSCE and SpaceHab. The announcement was made to clarify any confusion from last week's announcement by Boeing and Khrunichev of their plans to build a Commercial Space Module (CSM). The CSM is slated for launch in mid-2002 (SpaceHab PR; Frontier Status 08/04/00). Spaceflight Now).

MIR

Survivor TV

A new day has dawned for the world's armchair astronauts and space-tourist hopefuls who don't have the $20 million ticket price for a trip to Mir. MirCorp has teamed with Survivor's Mark Burnett to offer an out-of -this-world chance to compete for a trip to Mir. The show, entitled "Destination Mir" will chronicle 13 to 15 contestants as they prepare for a space mission at the Star City training camp. As the training progresses, the field of contestants will be whittled down based on their teamwork, physical fitness and mental agility. The winner will receive a 10-day trip to Mir, riding aloft on a Soyuz spacecraft with a new Mir crew and returning with the crew rotating off the station. MirCorp will conduct the mission and training program for a $20 million fee to be paid by the network that wins the broadcast rights. The selection process for Destination Mir has not yet been announced. Burnett, who originally approached NASA with the idea, is currently preparing for "Survivor 2", which will be filmed in the Australian outback. Destination Space is not expected to air until the fall of 2001 (MirCorp; Gannett News Service; Spaceflight Now). Spaceflight Now).

Frontier Corner

The clock is ticking for your first real chance to ride into space. Just enough time to get back in shape and dust off those Russian language tapes. Since you were old enough to look to the night sky and yearn for a chance to go into orbit, there simply hasn't been enough rides for even the best of the best -- never mind the rest of us. You have read Heinlein and know that someday the common man will be able to travel to space. Indeed, before mankind can begin to migrate upward, space has to become available to the common man. With increasing frustration, you have come to believe that you will not live to see that day.

Yet despite your fears and frustrations, that day has come. Destination Space, for the first time in history, offers an ordinary person with ordinary means a chance to visit space. You probably won't be selected to go to Star City to train, but now you at least have a small, but real chance. A few of us will make it and until the final contestants are announced, you have just as good a chance as anyone. Think of it, after you apply, you will walk through your days knowing that you may just make it to space after all. You will gaze upward at the night sky and wonder if you will soon be out there among those points of light. You will know that if you don't make the cut, your dreams will be carried onward by the someone who may be looking upward at the same night sky with the same sense of wonder.

Together, as the largest television audience in history, we will watch the contestants train for the mission on the Destination Mir series. We will see in them the embodiment of our dreams for space flight. We will watch in silent wonder when the final contestant enters the Soyuz capsule, representing all of us who yearned, but were never given a chance. As the rocket thunders upward, together we will hold our breath and say our prayers. At the conclusion of the program, we will be changed. We will have participated in one of the great events in the course of human history. We will know that we were in the pool from which a one person was drawn up to travel amongst the stars. We will have lived to see the day when a common man slipped the bonds of Earth and began humanity's migration upward to space (Dale Gray).

LAUNCHES

Progress

On August 6 at 2:27 p.m. EDT, a Soyuz-U rocket was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The payload for the rocket was the 7-ton Progress M1-3 supply vessel bound for the International Space Station. This was the first supply vessel to be launched by Russia for the station. On board is fuel and other cargo to be transferred to the International Space Station (Interfax; Florida Today; NASA ISS report; Spaceflight Now).

Soyuz

A Starsem Soyuz-Fregat was launched from pad 6 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 9 at 7:13 am EDT with the Rumba (FM 5) and Tango (FM 8) Cluster satellites as payload. The first stage completed its work at T+2:30 minutes and dropped away. The second stage then burned for almost three minutes. Around T+5:30 minutes into the flight, the second stage completed its burn and the third stage began the final push to orbit. At T+9:30 minutes the Fregat upper stage separated from the spent third stage (Not broadcast by ESA, but deduced from later reports). The Fregat/Cluster payload then coasted for about an hour after the initial Fregat burn. Around T+87 minutes, the Fregat reignited for its final burn then released the two spacecraft into an elliptical 250 x 18,000 km orbit. The deployment was witnessed by a Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on the Fregat, which took 27 color images of the separation. The ESA established contact with the satellites not long after their release. Firings of the satellites engines will gradually move the satellites into a 244,000 x 18,000 km orbit where they will rendezvous with the previously launched Salsa and Samba Cluster satellites (Interfax; BBC; Cluster Home Page; Spaceflight Now).

The Cluster II satellites will fly in formation to study the influence of the Sun on Earth's magnetic field. The results will have a direct application in understanding how the sun can affect spacecraft and even terrestrial power grids. The four Cluster II satellites will fly in a tetrahedron formation with orbits of 16,869 x 121,098 km. The four satellites replace four that were lost during the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 launch system (ESA; Spaceflight Now; Spaceflight Now).

LAUNCH SYSTEMS

X-33

A report released on August 9 has revealed a series of design and manufacturing flaws in the ruptured hydrogen fuel tank that was to be used in the X-33 technology demonstrator. The layers of the tank separated after a test at the Marshall Space Flight Center last year. The report found greater than expected microcracking, which allowed hydrogen to penetrate the central honeycomb core of the tank's skin. The extreme cold temperature (-423 degrees Fahrenheit) create a vacuum in the honeycomb, which pulled in nitrogen from the outside and hydrogen from the inside (Cryopumping). When the tank warmed after the test, these gases expanded and caused the outer layer to unravel. The outer skin of the tank did not stick to the honeycomb core -- probably from a manufacturing flaw. The X-33, a half-scale prototype of the single-stage-to-orbit VentureStar, was to fly in the summer of 1999, but delays with the hydrogen tank redesign have pushed the first fight back to 2002. The X-33 program has cost NASA about $800 million and Lockheed Martin $350 million (Birmingham News; Florida Today).

Ariane 4 / Nilesat 102 / Brasilsat B4

The European Space Agency is making final preparations for the August 17 launch of an Ariane 4 rocket (Flight 131) carrying Nilesat 102 and Brasilsat B4 as cargo. On August 6, the launch vehicle was transferred to the ELA-2 launch zone. The payload section was transferred to the launch pad on Wednesday and attached to the top of the rocket on August 10 and 11. Launch readiness review was conducted on August 11. Fueling will begin on August 16 (Spaceflight Now).

Ariane 5

Having worked through possible problems with thrusters, Arianespace has announced that it will resume flights of the Ariane 5 system with the launch of Astra 2B and GE-7. The rocket will be launched on September 14 (Reuters).

TECHNOLOGY

Trajectory Planning

Purdue University professor James Longuski has developed a mathematical technique that allows a more rapid calculation of the complex trajectories required for interplanetary travel. The new method provides a graphical representation of the many possible routes a spacecraft can take to its destination. To calculate details for each possible path, Longuski used a JPL developed software program called STOUR. By automating the program, it provides faster results. Using the new process, Engineers looking at graphical representations of the possible trajectories can quickly identify the best paths and then confirm the results using STOUR. The method has been used for the Europa Orbiter mission and to compute possible return routes for a manned Mars mission in case of an Apollo 13 type of failure. Use of this technique has determined that an attempt to land a human on Mars in 2014 would provide the best escape route options. While independently derived, the method is fundamentally the same as that developed by 19th Century astronomer Francois Tisserand to compute the paths of comets perturbed by Jupiter (Purdue PR; Spaceflight Now).

Pulse Detonation Engine

A contract for the development of a Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) has been awarded to the McDonnell Douglas Corp (a subsidiary of Boeing). The research will involve the teaming of McDonnell with NASA Glenn Research Center and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. McDonnell will provide the engine to validate PDE inlet and integrated systems performance. Ground tests will be conducted at the Glenn Research Center, while flight tests will occur at Dryden Flight Research Center. The 27 month contract has options up to 36 months and is valued at up to $7.5 million. PDE technology has the promise to decrease fuel consumption by 30 to 50 percent over a conventional jet engine. The technology also has promising applications in the plus Mach 3 realm of flight (NASA Dryden FRC).

EXPLORATION

Mars

Having analyzed the flaws in the previous missions, NASA announced on August 10 that it will be sending two robotic explorers to Mars in 2003. The rovers will be launched on Delta II rockets on May 22 and June 4 of 2003, landing on January 4 and 20 of 2004. The identical rovers will land using the same air bag technology used in Mars Pathfinder. They will each weigh 150 kg and can travel up to 100 meters per day. Landing sites have not yet been determined (NASA; SpaceViews). NASA headlines; Spaceflight Now; Space.com).

Stardust

Engineers concerned that July's solar flares may have damaged the camera onboard the Stardust spacecraft have conducted a test of the device. Without opening the protective shutter, the camera's charge couple device was activated. The test image was a uniform gray -- indicating there was no damage from the flares ( Space.com).

DS1

Having returned to action after a successful startracker by-pass operation, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft is powering its way to a rendezvous with Comet Borrelly in September of 2001. Since its reactivation, the efficient ion engine passed an endurance milestone. In July, the craft surpassed the record for the longest running time of a propulsion system in space. The previous record was established in 1970 by the Space Electric Rocket Test II with 168 days of propulsion. As of August 11, DS1 had logged 196 days of propulsion. Both spacecraft feature super-efficient ion engines. The DS1 engine utilizes 100 grams of propellant each day to accelerate the craft 16 miles per hour each day (Dr. Marc Rayman).

MILITARY

Trident II

A recent test firing at the Navy's China Lake facility demonstrated the use of commercial components for the Trident II D5 third stage. The Integrated Product Team for the test includes: the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems & Missiles & Space Operations, Alliant TechSystems and the Thiokol Corp. The test involved a commercial rocket propellant grain, a co-cured machine-wound elastomeric insulator and a composite prepreg for the insulated chamber. The nozzle components utilized Rayon-free, low-cost materials and a net-molding process. The test firing went full duration and met pre-test performance predictions. The test unit represents a 50 percent reduction in cost compared to the standard Trident II D5 third stage (SpaceDaily.com).

GPS FRONTIER

Magellan

The Magellan Corp., a pre-public company with a majority of stock owned by Orbital Sciences, introduced their new MAP 330(tm) GPS receiver. The PC-compatible GPS unit has 16 Mb of memory and offers a detailed database of street maps, political boundaries, highways, national parks, waterways and railways. It is capable of recording up to 500 user-entered locations and 20 reversible routes. The MAP 330 utilizes MapSend Streets (sold separately, but included in an introductory offer) to provide detailed maps of the U.S. The unit will be available in late August with a suggested retail price of $249.99 ( Magellan).

SATELLITE PHONE FRONTIER

Globalstar

While a technical success with 48 LEO satellites smoothly routing telephone calls, Globalstar appears to be following the lead of Iridium and ICO Global. By its own estimates, Globalstar needs half a million customers to break even. To date it has signed up only 13,000. While still in the game, the company has to work through a resistance created by Iridium's expensive phones becoming worthless. In response, Globalstar's vendors have begun promotions and have trimmed phone prices from $1,000 to $700 with per minute charges ranging from $3 to $0.73. In the second quarter of 2000, the company recorded a five-fold increase in subscribers (2,000 to 10,000) with another 3,000 added in July. Globalstar also signed a deal with In-Flight Network to provide telephone and Internet services to commercial airline passengers. The company also has backers who are willing to spend several hundred million more on the project and has a quarter billion credit line. This is expected to give the company enough time to increase sales (AP).

SATELLITE RADIO FRONTIER

Sirius

The Serious Satellite Radio announced on August 8 that the on-orbit testing of its first satellite, Sirius-1, was successfully completed on July 31. The company's second satellite, Sirus-2, has arrived at Baikonur in preparation for its September launch (PR Newswire).

WorldSpace

WorldSpace engineers have successfully demonstrated two techniques that will assure reception of its satellite broadcast radio. Time Diversity transmits to identical signals 4.32 seconds apart to assure continuous reception in moving vehicles passing through and around obstacles. With a 4.32 second delay, the WorldSpace receivers can provide uninterrupted play. A second technology, Multi-carrier Modulation, broadcasts from three terrestrial based repeaters to assure signal in areas of heavy blockages. WorldSpace plans to provide 40 channels of audio and multimedia programming through its Afristar (launched 10-28-98), AsiaStar (launched 3-21-00) and Ameristar (to be launched in 2001) satellites (PRNewswire; World Space).

SETI

SETI@home

The world's largest aggregate supercomputer, the SETI@home screen-saver program, was given a boost this week with a donation from Joe Firmage. The SETI@home annual budget is reported to be $400,000. The first $100,000 for the project was donated by Paramount Pictures, which featured the project in the film "Star Trek Insurrection". Subsequent donations have come from Fuji Film, Leonard Nimoy and Sun Microsystems. The program is run by two part-time workers, but has 2 million subscribers, with 3,000 new each day. With so many computers grinding away at the data, the project was in danger of running out of data packets from the Arecibo telescope. Firmage's donation, believed to be in the million dollar range, has allowed SETI@home to begin working on data from a telescope in Australia that can cover the Southern Hemisphere. With this new information source, the program has room enough to double its user base (San Jose Mercury News).

DARK SIDE

Smartcard.net

After a 22-month investigation, the Justice Department and U. S. Customs have arrested 15 people and charged them in connection with plans to steal satellite television services. The government sting operation identified individuals who bought counterfeit satellite television access cards for resale and profit. Use of such cards is estimated to cost the satellite TV industry $6.2 million per year. In Operation Smartcard.net, Customs agents were able to apprehend the "cyber-pirates" by using a website and sophisticated electronic countermeasures. The customs service sold 3,195 illegal cards to dealers and 382 cards to individuals, generating half a million dollars. The cards, which gave access to all DirecTV channels including pay-for-view, sold for between $325 and $425 each. Individuals owning the cards can return them under an "amnesty service" and avoid prosecution. The so-called Eurocards were originally seized on the U.S. / Canadian border (Department of Justice; AP).

BUSINESS

VSAT

A report from COMSYS states that the VSAT industry took in more than $3 billion 1999. Further, the VSAT Markets & Forecasts predicts that the market will double in the next five years. The report noted that in the last five years there has been a shift from private hubs to outsourced services. North America is leading the way in the VSAT boom with its TDMA market increasing 26 percent, while the DAMA market dropped for the second straight year (primarily due to unstable foreign markets). (SpaceDaily.com).

Orbcomm

Slow subscriber growth is cited as the cause of Orbcomm scaling back operations and laying of 100 employees. The move is a reflection of both the difficult current satellite business climate and limits to capital parent company Teleglobe can extend. Orbcomm Global LP is a joint venture of Canadian Teleglobe Inc. and Orbital Sciences Corp (Reuters).

SPACE STOCKS

The stock listing is for informational purposes only and not intended for trading purposes. Frontier Status shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Additional stocks may be listed by request (dalegray@micron.net).

Company Ticker Friday Close Previous Friday Change

Boeing BA 49.625 49 0.625

EchoStar DISH 40.5625 38.5625 2.0

GlobalStar GSTRF 7.625 7.5625 0.0625

Hughes Electronics GMH 28.5625 27.125 1.4375

Lockheed Martin LMT 29.625 28.8125 0.8125

Loral Space LOR 6.1875 6.375 -1875

Motorola MOT 34.0 35.4375 -1.4375

Orbital Sciences ORB 10.9375 14.5 -3.5625

Sirius SIRI 49.25 45.0 4.25

SpaceDev SPDVE.OB 1.0938 1.3125 -0.2187

SpaceHab SPAB 5.125 5.5 -0.375

TRW TRW 51.125 48.1875 2.9375

COMING EVENTS

Courtesy J. Ray and SpaceViews

August 10-13 - Third International Mars Society Convention, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
August 16 - Titan 4B, NRO payload, Vandenberg AFB, SLC-4E.
August 17 - Ariane 4, Brasilsat B4 & Nilesat 102, Kourou French Guiana.
August 23 - Delta 3 - Demonstration flight, launch complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
August 23 - Zenit-2, Kosmos, Complex 45, Baikonur, Kazakhstan
August 25 - ISC Kosmotras Dnepr, 5 satellites, Area 109, Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
August 26 - Proton K/ Block DM-2, Kosmos, Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
August 29 - Titan II, NOAA L, SLC-4W, Vandenberg AFB.
August - GSLV (Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), Sriharikota, India.
September 8 - Shuttle Atlantis, STS-106 (ISS 2A.2b), SpaceHab Double Module, pad 39-B, Kennedy Space Center.
September 14 - Titan II, NOAA L G-13, SLC-4W, Vandenberg AFB.
September 14 - Soyuz-U, Progress M2, Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
September 14 - Ariane 5, Astra 2B and GE-7, Kourou, French Guiana.
September 18 - Sea Launch Zenit 3SL, Thuraya, Equatorial Pacific.
September 19 - Shuttle Discovery, landing, Kennedy Space Center.
October 6 - Pegasus XL, HETE 2, Kwajalein Missile Range.
October 6 - Shuttle Discovery, STS-92 (ISS 3A), Kennedy Space Center.

FRONTIER CENSUS REPORT

The space population remains at the baseline of zero. Humans have spent a total of 268.5 man-days in orbit in the year 2000. The first element of the International Space Station has been in orbit for 631 days. The occupation of the International Space Station is expected to begin in early November, 2000.

SOURCES

SERVICES

105 articles archived; 76 used

Dale M. Gray is the president of Frontier Historical Consultants. Frontier Status reports are a free weekly annotated index chronicling the progress of the emerging "space frontier". Send subscription requests (subscribe or unsubscribe).

Previous postings are archived by Simone Cortesi and at the Artemis Society

Search engine and timeline computation courtesy of Simone Cortesi.
E-mail server provided by Jim Sealy, Jr.
Technical support by the Artemis Society.