February 28, 2000
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT)
EDWARDS, California (CNN) -- A
prototype spacecraft designed to
serve as a "lifeboat" for the
International Space Station
developed an unexpected electrical
problem on Saturday, forcing NASA
to scrub a test flight.
Known as the X-38, the low-cost
vehicle is expected to become the first new U.S. manned spacecraft to fly
to and from space in more than 20 years.
High winds on Friday pushed the test back a day. And on Saturday a B-52
took off carrying the X-38. The prototype was supposed to be released
from 35,000 feet and land at the Dryden Flight Research Center.
But within minutes the X-38 experienced a electrical short, possibly in
its
flight control system, said Dryden spokesman Alan Brown. The B-52
returned to Dryden without releasing the X-38.
The problem was "totally unexpected and relatively minor," Brown said.
But since project managers "didn't understand what caused it, they were
worried it might happen again" and decided not to complete the test, Brown
said. The flight will most likely be rescheduled for the end of March.
One reason the flight test in California will be delayed at least several
weeks
is that some of the mission personnel will participate in a test of the
X-38's
parafoil in Yuma, Arizona, later this week, Brown said.
Last month, the X-38 team successfully flew the largest parafoil parachute
ever at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground. Mission engineers released
a parachute with an area almost one and half times as big as the wings
of a
Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
Early proposals to develop and build a crew return vehicle exceeded $2
billion. NASA estimates it can produce the X-38 prototype at one-tenth
the cost, in large part by using many existing technologies and
over-the-counter parts to construct the vehicle.
NASA and the European Space Agency are developing the X-38 primarily
as an emergency rescue vehicle for the ISS. But space officials hope to
apply the design to other purposes, such as a manned spacecraft that could
be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster.
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A study commissioned by NASA has concluded that "non-
traditional" markets, such as education, entertainment, and
advertising, are likely to be the first significant commercial users
of the International Space Station.
The study, "NASA: Commerce and the International Space
Station" was developed by consulting firm KPMG for NASA to study the
various possible commercial markets for ISS. The report was completed
last November but only quietly released to the public in the last few
weeks.
NASA has previously offered up to 30% of its share of ISS
resources to commercial users, but the report found that, overall,
commercial markets for ISS are still "too premature". "In the
larger
sense, markets for the ISS must be nurtured, rather than studied,"
the
report noted.
The panel found that the most probable early use of the
station would be in areas outside the core research and development
applications of the station traditionally considered by NASA and
aerospace companies. These non-traditional areas include
entertainment, advertising, and educational uses, ranging from
corporate sponsorship to for-profit programming.
Two advantages of these areas are that they would provide a
revenue stream over the short term while longer-term R&D
applications for the station are developed, and they would also
increase awareness of ISS and its potentially wide range of
applications.
Any use of ISS must overcome a number of impediments, the
panel noted. These impediments include a lack of awareness of
the
ISS's commercial capabilities, regulatory issues regarding the
commercial use of ISS, the high cost of space access and time on the
station, and technical limitations of the station itself.
"Even if [these impediments] are overcome through a joint
effort by NASA and industry, there is no guarantee that the ISS will
see full paid commercial use of the 30% resource allocation as offered
by NASA," the panel concluded. "It is clear, however, that failing
to
resolve these impediments will most likely inhibit any significant
commercial activity from developing on the ISS in the foreseeable
future."
NASA officials said earlier this month they have found only
minor interest to date in commercial uses of ISS. Speaking at
an FAA
commercial space conference earlier this month, Marguerite Broadwell,
ISS commercial development manager at NASA, said the agency had
received only five formal proposals for commercial use of the station
in calendar years 1997 and 1998.
Broadwell acknowledged the KPMG study's conclusion that non-
traditional station users are the most likely initial customers, but
said these areas pose new challenges for NASA. "Entertainment
and
advertising are some things that we haven't been used to dealing with
in government," she said.
Broadwell said NASA plans to release later this month a
comprehensive pricing policy for commercial uses of ISS.
Some companies, though, aren't waiting on NASA to exploit
commercial uses of ISS. In December SPACEHAB announced a partnership
with Energia to develop a commercial module for ISS. The module,
named "Enterprise", will replacing a planned docking and stowage
module on the Russian side of the station and will have commercial
research space as well as a studio for television and Web broadcasts.
Confirming months of speculation, a Western company has signed
an agreement to lease the Russian space station Mir for potential
commercial uses.
The agreement was signed Thursday in London by representatives
of Energia, the Russian company that built and operates the station,
and MirCorp, an Amsterdam-based company that will attempt to sell time
on the station for a variety of commercial uses.
"With this agreement, we begin a new phase of commercial space
operations," said Jeffrey Manber, the American president of MirCorp.
"The extraordinary Mir space station remains open for business, and
we
believe it will capture the attention of millions of people."
To help keep Mir operating initially, MirCorp is providing
some of the funding for the next crew to occupy the station.
MirCorp
provided financial support for both the February 1 launch of a
Progress cargo spacecraft that docked with Mir two days later, as well
as for a manned mission scheduled for launch in late March or early
April.
Plans for Mir after that mission, slated to last 45 days,
remain unannounced. A statement released by MirCorp only said
the
company would make Mir available for operations "that are expected
to
range from space tourism and in-orbit advertising to industrial
production and scientific experimentation."
To help identify potential uses of the station, and customers
for them, MirCorp has hired Andrew Eddy, the former head of space
station commercialization for the Canadian Space Agency. Last
year
Eddy helped engineer a deal that sold some of Canada's research space
on the International Space Station to the American firm SPACEHAB.
MirCorp is majority-owned by Energia, with some Western
support, notably offshore venture capital firm Gold & Appel, the
company that announced last month it was providing $20 million to
continue Mir operations.
Also investing in MirCorp for an undisclosed sum is Dr.
Chirinjeev Kathuria. Kathuria is executive director of the X-Stream
Network, a company that provides free Internet access to users in
several European countries and South Africa. He is also president
of
New World Telecom, a company that focuses on developing phone services
in emerging markets.
"We hope that when the history books are written, this event
in the pioneering of space commercialization will have the same
significance as the Wright Brothers' contribution to the pioneering
of
aviation," said Kathuria in a statement.
The agreement was hailed by the Space Frontier Foundation, an
organization whose "Keep Mir Alive" effort sought to bring attention
to the potential commercial uses of Mir if it were left in orbit. "The
settlers and shopkeepers are finally moving out into the frontier of
space," said Foundation president Rick Tumlinson, who helped initiate
efforts to commercialize Mir.
Tumlinson said that the MirCorp deal should be seen as a
success by both private interests as well as government space
agencies. "As today's Lewis' and Clarks, these agencies should
be
proud that the place they have been exploring for so long, the 'Near
Frontier', is now about to see its first civilian residents," he said.
Whether such agencies, specifically NASA, will warmly endorse
this deal remains to be seen. "We do not have any right to tell
Russia what to do with its space station," said NASA administrator
Dan
Goldin in Congressional testimony February 16. However, in that
same
testimony Goldin was sharply critical of Energia for selling several
spacecraft and time on Mir for a small fraction of what it wanted to
sell a single Soyuz to NASA.
"Mir is too valuable a resource to be thrown away," concluded
Walt Anderson, chairman of Gold & Appel. "We will build on the
proud heritage of Mir, enabling commercial support to keep the station
alive."
February 18, 2000
Web posted at: 2:43 PM EST (1943 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Trees
that can grow their own protective
greenhouses and computers smart
enough to figure out things for
themselves are some of the tools that
will help future space explorers settle
Mars, scientists predicted Friday.
They said it was becoming clear that
understanding and using biology will be as important to space exploration
as the "harder" sciences of physics and engineering.
And, they told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS), using the imagination is a vital first step to solving
the
problems barring space travel.
Freeman Dyson, a professor emeritus of physics and astrophysics at
Princeton University, thinks space travelers will turn to nature when it
comes to building shelters on new planets -- but nature tweaked by modern
science.
"The way to get to it clearly is to grow the habitat rather than building
it,"
Dyson told a news conference.
"People are used to living in forests," he added, saying he believed forests
could make very nice shelters for Mars colonists.
"You need to have habitats that are cheap and comfortable and
user-friendly."
Genetic engineering could help scientists produce trees that could grow
a
protective greenhouse for themselves to survive the freezing temperatures
and thin atmosphere on Mars.
Then the trees could go about their natural job of producing oxygen and
creating a comfortable environment like the one plants created on Earth
hundreds of millions of years ago.
Dyson said the water needed to do that is readily available on Mars, and
genes could be used that resemble those that animals use to protect
themselves from the elements.
"I think of a turtle growing its shell, or a polar bear growing its fur.
It is
something plants are not very good at but maybe we could teach them,"
Dyson said.
Yoji Kondo, an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard space flight center in
Maryland, said such imaginings were key to figuring out ways to settle
and
explore space.
"When someone like professor Dyson dreams, our minds become
stimulated," Kondo told the news conference.
Kathie Olsen, chief scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), said this was not a completely far-fetched idea.
"I
see the picture," she said.
She described how NASA had already started growing sweet potatoes
that would stay in small trays and yet produce nutritious roots.
Olsen, herself a biologist specializing in neurology, said NASA turned
to
nature in other ways.
She described experiments on building computers that would use neural
nets -- structures more resembling a brain than a present-day computer
that
does calculations one at a time.
They were able to solve problems on their own, at least in computer
simulations. "We had a spacecraft we sent all kinds of bizarre instructions,"
Olsen said. "It was able to decipher them and do what it was supposed to
do and not what we told it."
She said they also ran a successful computer simulation in which an aircraft
had its wing chopped off and yet managed to successfully land itself.
All the scientists agreed that private sector funds were key to getting
people
into space, and one big industry would probably drive this -- tourism.
Dyson predicted hotels would go up almost as quickly as laboratories on
any space settlement.
"People do love to go to weird places for reasons we can't imagine --
mostly because they have too much money," he said.
Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved.
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Friday, 18 February, 2000, 19:28 GMT
The forests of Mars
By BBC News Online's Damian
Carrington in Washington DC
There could be forests of trees on
Mars, growing their own protective
greenhouses, within 50 years, one
space expert said on Friday.
Professor Freeman
Dyson, from the
Institute for Advanced
Study, Princeton
University, was
speaking about the future importance
of biotechnology in space exploration.
He speculated that genetic
manipulation of plants would aid the
colonisation of other planets. He also
thought that future astronauts might
undergo genetic alterations to
prepare them for long space journeys.
His comments were made at the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS)
annual expo.
Space radiation
Professor Dyson told BBC News
Online: "If you think it would improve
your performance then you may well
do it." Examples might include
genetically altering the body clock or
repairing the DNA damage caused by
space radiation.
Dr Kathie Olsen,
the first biologist
to be Nasa chief
scientist, said:
"There are ethical
issues involved
here." She added:
"We will look at
mice and
gene-knock out
research on the
International Space
Station (ISS)."
In suggesting that
trees could be
genetically altered to grow their own
enclosed environment, Professor
Dyson pointed out that other
organisms did this routinely: "Turtles
grow their shells and polar bears
grow their fur. Animals are very good
at it, but plants don't appear to have
learned the trick. But we could teach
them."
Dr Olsen said Nasa believed that
future human space travel would not
be limited by propulsion technology
but by the health and safety of
astronauts. She picked out exposure
to space radiation as the biggest
danger.
Medical gadgets
She also revealed a Nasa plan to
build medical gadgets which could do
the work of a human doctor: "We are
teaming up now with the Cancer
Institute with a budget of $20m to
make sensors which can detect,
diagnose and treat disorders - not
just for cancer but for all types of
disease."
These would be necessary for space
exploration, where astronauts would
not have access to extensive medical
facilities.
Other aspects of biotechnology in
space that Nasa is pursuing include
growing food in space. Some success
has been achieved in a project to
produce sweet potatoes.
Dr Olsen said that much more
research time would become available
in space once the ISS was
commissioned. "Since 1984, there has
been just one year of research time
on space shuttles. The ISS will offer
up a lot of opportunities - a research
vehicle up there for 10 years."
BBC 2/19
Saturday, 19 February, 2000, 16:30 GMT
Spacecraft learn to DIY
By BBC science correspondent
Pallab Ghosh
Nasa scientists are developing
equipment for deep space travel that
mimics living organisms and copies
Mother Nature.
Speaking at the annual
meeting of the
American Association
for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS), Nasa's
chief scientist, Katy Olsen, said the
space agency was developing
systems for spacecraft that can think
for themselves and carry out their
own repairs.
One project to begin next month is to
create an enhanced human immune
system.
The $20m programme aims to
develop tiny sensors in space suits
that will be able to detect when an
astronaut is beginning to fall ill, and
then automatically administer the
appropriate treatments.
Shaping planets
There are also plans to develop
deep-space probes that can think for
themselves - Nasa already has a
probe that is able to override
instructions that it feels would
damage it or endanger the mission.
And in the far future, scientists
suggest that it might be possible to
genetically-engineer trees that would
be able to survive on Mars.
These would form a protective sheath
around themselves, effectively
growing their own greenhouse.
While forests on the Martian surface
may still be a dream, many here
believe that the current rapid
advances in biology will make
travelling and living in space much
easier.
BBC 2/17
Thursday, 17 February, 2000, 17:45 GMT
Mir to be turned into hotel
Mir has a history of technical
problems
A group of investors has signed a
$20m deal to rent the Mir space
station and turn the ageing platform
into an out-of-this-world holiday
spot, a commercial laboratory and
even a film set.
"We're sending a mission up in March
to knock on the door, switch on the
lights and see how everything's going
up there. It's a risky venture but
we're feeling confident," said Jeffrey
Manber, president of MirCorp, the
company behind the project which
was unveiled in London on Thursday.
But a visit to the ultimate tourist
destination orbiting some 200 km
(120miles) above the Earth, does not
come cheap. Tourists will be asked to
fork out $20m a head to visit the
station which measures five school
buses in size.
One of the first visitors may be a star
in his own right, the 52-year-old
Russian actor Vladimir Steklov. He
could soon be playing the part of a
renegade cosmonaut who refuses to
return to Earth. With a budget the
size of the film Titanic, the makers of
this Russo-British film have
tentatively called it "The Last
Journey". Bearing in mind the history
of this space station, this may prove
a very good title.
The 14-year-old station has
surpassed its expected five-year
lifespan, but it is suffering from
metal fatigue, corrosion and chemical
contamination among other problems.
Washington millionaire
It is estimated it will cost over $100
million a year to man and maintain.
Mir was due to be dumped into the
Pacific this year after being
abandoned by its last crew in August,
but was saved after the Washington
millionaire Walt Anderson paid $7
million to keep the station alive.
Walt Anderson has drawn together a
group of investors including venture
capital firm Gold & Appel and internet
investor Chirinjeev Kathuria to form
Amsterdam-based MirCorp.
MirCorp will spend
up to $200 million
renovating the
station. It bought
the rights from
former Russian
state agency RSC
Energia, which
also has a stake in
the new venture.
"We want to draw
other corporations
into this venture as well. This is not
just a hotel for the rich, it has many
potential uses from pharmaceutical
experimentation and beaming live
images back to Earth, to advertising
and satellite repair," said Jeffrey
Manber.
Manber accepts the project is risky.
Mir suffered a near-deadly fire in
1997 and a crippling crash that forced
one section to be sealed off because
of a punctured hull.
"The mission could well go up in
March and find it's not feasible. But
we know from cameras pretty much
what the state of it is now and it's a
wonderful view from up there," he
said.
BBC 2/17
Thursday, 10 February, 2000, 17:08 GMT
Inflatable shields
look
good
The shields were seen to deploy on
radar
The Russians say they have
successfully tested a new upper
stage on their Soyuz rocket and have
brought it back to Earth using a
revolutionary re-entry device.
But the so-called "Fregat" accelerator
block, which is crucial to a number of
upcoming European space missions,
has yet to be recovered. Helicopters
are searching for the vehicle in the
Orenburg region in the southern Ural
mountains.
Much media interest in the mission
has centred on the re-entry
mechanism itself - an inflatable
shield that looks much like a
shuttlecock. This appears to have
worked.
A demonstrator sent up with the
Fregat also seems to have returned
successfully using the inflatable
device. This has been recovered.
Scientists are most concerned about
the performance of the Fregat. The
vehicle is important because it has
the ability to stop and start its
engines several times. The
accelerator block is reported to have
performed two successful test burns
on the flight.
Cluster mission
This capability will be essential when
Europe comes to launch its Cluster II
spacecraft that will study Earth's
near-space environment. A
Soyuz-Fregat will be needed to put
the satellites in their correct
positions later this year. The
European Space Agency hopes it will
work well having watched the first
Cluster mission blow up with the new
Ariane 5 rocket in 1996.
A Soyuz-Fregat will also be called
upon to launch Europe's Mars Express
mission in 2003.
Russian engineers will now be keen
to recover what remains of the
Fregat, which can also be used with
Proton, Zenit, and Dnepr boosters. If
it is in a good condition, there will
much celebration at the German
DaimlerChrysler aerospace company
and the Russian Khrunichev company
who have developed the new
inflatable re-entry and descent
technology (IRDT).
Their massive cone-shaped shield will
decelerate craft coming back to Earth
and promises to reduce greatly the
cost of space technology by allowing
space vehicles to be used several
times.
Robin Zell from DaimlerChrysler
Aerospace Space Infrastructure told
BBC News Online: "The shields
deployed because we saw them on
the radar screen. So far it looks good.
But we can't tell if it is a total
success until we've had a look at the
upper stage rocket and the
demonstrator."
2/7/00
http://www.forbes.com/forbesglobal/00/0207/0303094a.htm
The ultimate trip
By James M. Clash
You're aboard a rocket, strapped in tight as the countdown
ticks off in your headset. At T-minus-two-seconds comes ignition, then
the powerful rumble of engines at full throttle. The takeoff pins you to
your seat. You accelerate to the speed of sound, twice that, three times.
In a few minutes your vessel reaches a height of a hundred kilometers and
touches the outer edge of the atmosphere. You can see the arc of your world
below, a delicate curvature enveloped by a surprisingly thin, translucent
blue halo. Above is cold blackness. Suddenly, you're weightless. You're
in space.
Soon such flights will be available to anyone with physical
stamina and the financial resources to buy a ticket. More than 20 small
companies are currently building spaceships. Through booking agents, they
are selling advance tickets to well-heeled customers. If you've got $5
million to invest in Rotary Rocket, you might be able to go as early as
next year. A $1 million investment in Vela Technology Development offers
a similar possibility. In three to four years there's a good chance that
anyone with a spare $100,000 can buy a ticket on a rocket ship.
Until recently, private space travel has been dogged
by a lack of capital rather than technology. Now the money is starting
to trickle in, enough to help lift a half-dozen space tourism companies
off the ground. Encouraged by demand from wealthy individuals who want
to take the ultimate trip, private investors are beginning to make sizable
bets on space tourism. Richard Garriott, 38, a son of the Skylab astronaut
Owen Garriott and a software developer who made $30 million building Origin
Systems, has put down a five-figure deposit with the booking agent Space
Adventures in Arlington, Virginia, to secure a good place in line. "I've
been to the South Pole and the bottom of the ocean," he declares. "The
only direction left is up."
Space Adventures' main business now is taking thrill-seekers
to the edge of space in Cold War-era MiG fighter jets (FORBES GLOBAL, July
26, 1999). But Eric Anderson, who runs the company, says he has collected
128 refundable deposits of $6,000 each toward the $98,000 price of a space
trip. Another 11 prospective astronauts have paid in full up front. Anderson's
brochure advertises that regular liftoffs will start as early as 2003.
That may prove optimistic, but customers include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut,
Dole Food and First USA, all of which hope to use space trips as contest
prizes. Another booker, Incredible Adventures of Sarasota, Florida, is
also taking deposits, of $5,000; it, too, is aiming for 2003.
Who's going to carry the space tourists? Not NASA (see
box). Nor Boeing or Lockheed-Martin--they're more interested in their joint
partnership with NASA, called United Space Alliance, to develop the next-generation
Shuttle. Other governments with proven space technology, including France
and China, are too busy launching military and commercial satellites. Russia
may eventually provide trips to space for tourists, but right now it's
strapped for cash.
For the next few decades, space tourism is likely to
be handled by entrepreneurial rocketeers like Gary Hudson. A 30-year veteran
of the space industry and a former consultant to NASA, General Dynamics
and Boeing, Hudson started Rotary Rocket, based in Mojave, California,
in 1996. Tom Clancy, the thriller writer, has invested $1 million. "I've
known Gary for ten years, and I think he can do it," says Clancy.
Hudson has hired Burt Rutan, the designer and builder
of Voyager, the first aircraft to circle the globe without refueling. "Burt
is not a guy who fails," says Clancy. Hudson is offering free test rides
to big investors in his company. One who has shown an interest is Richard
Branson, the British billionaire who founded Virgin Air. He has already
declared his intention of launching what could be the world's first commercial
space service, Virgin Galactic Airways, by 2007.
A 1997 joint NASA/Space Transport Association study predicts
that there will be a private space-tourism industry, $10 billion to $20
billion a year, by 2010. Before then, there is the X Prize, created in
1996 by Peter Diamandis, an aviation enthusiast and founder of the International
Space University in Strasbourg, France. Echoing the $25,000 Orteig Prize
that spurred Charles Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic in 1927, the
X Prize promises $10 million to the first privately funded group to take
a pilot plus the weight equivalent of two passengers to a suborbital height
of 100 kilometers, bring him back safely and repeat the feat, using the
same vehicle, within two weeks. So far 17 teams from five countries have
entered the competition. Diamandis, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, has
raised half of the prize money.
The X Prize recognizes that in space tourism's early
stages, you're not likely to see golfers teeing off on the moon, as Alan
Shepard did on his second space trip in 1971. Instead, the first tourists
are likely to do something similar to what Shepard did on his first trip
in 1961--fly a 15-minute suborbital parabola topping out at 188 kilometers
above the earth. This would offer a great view, a few minutes of weightlessness
and invaluable bragging rights--assuming that the passenger makes it back.
What about full orbital flight? This requires rockets
that can fly at 28,000kilometers an hour, fast enough to enter orbit. That,
and the fiery business of reentry into the atmosphere, means that orbital
space tourism is still seven to ten years away.
One method of taking people into space economically is
to design a light, fully reusable craft that can also deliver satellites
into orbit. That's the strategy of Gary Hudson's Rotary Rocket and of Kelly
Space & Technology, based in San Bernardino, California (FORBES GLOBAL,
July 5, 1999).
Vela Technology Development of Vienna, Virginia, is developing
the Space Cruiser--a fully reusable, two-stage rocket. Its president, Charles
(Pat) Kelley, 55, a former aerospace engineer with the U.S. Air Force and
a consultant on antiballistic missiles to the Department of Defense, figures
that he can make money if Space Cruiser carries at least six passengers
at $80,000 a head (net of booking commissions).
Kelley is focusing on passenger comfort. Because the
Cruiser would go only suborbital, the maximum force on passengers would
be two Gs. That's less than the amount produced by a roller coaster and
will make flights accessible to a wide range of people. (NASA's Space Shuttle
maxes out at around four Gs.) Plans call for a "Sky Lifter" plane to carry
the Cruiser, which looks and lands like a futuristic airplane, to 12 kilometers
up and launch it in midair.
A lot of this is still pie in the sky, however. Kelley
is trying to raise $150 million and is in discussions with some deep-pocketed
potential investors. But so far he has raised only $1 million.
Further along is Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites,
in Mojave, California. He already has a working aircraft, called Proteus,
capable of carrying 1,360 kilos--a small capsule, perhaps--to 20 kilometers.
Rutan won't tip his hand as to whether he's building that capsule, but
insiders believe that he is. Rutan also plans to build a space-pilot school
in Mojave and charge $10,000 for a weeklong course that includes a 1-in-10
chance at a flight into space. Rutan compares space tourism today to the
fledgling aircraft industry in the early 1900s. After Wilbur and Orville
Wright began selling rides to the public later that decade, interest in
flying increased exponentially. By 1911 there were 40,000 pilots in 31
countries.
How safe will early tourist spaceships be? Rutan guesses
that a few dozen people will die this decade, as space tourism begins.
But put that in context: In 1911 alone, he reminds us, there were 139 aircraft
fatalities, as aviation took off. "In the entrepreneurial world, we make
daily decisions to take risks," says Rutan. "If it breaks or makes a smoking
hole, by God, we know more than we knew yesterday."
BBC 2/4/00
Wednesday, 2 February, 2000, 19:14 GMT
Inflatable heat shield gets
space test
Tough test: The shield will protect the satellite
By BBC News Online science editor Dr
David Whitehouse
A giant inflatable heat shield could prevent a
space satellite from burning up during re-entry
to the Earth's atmosphere, if a daring test
flight goes according to plan.
If successful, the new heat shield technology
will allow spacecraft to be lighter and less
complex than before. This could allow them to
be reused, something that is virtually
impossible at present because of the damage
suffered by a spacecraft's heat shield during
re-entry.
The only craft that is
reused is Nasa's space
shuttle, with its
heat-resistant tiles.
However, this
technology is far too
expensive to be used
on satellites, at least
for the present.
The inflatable heat
shield is part of a plan
by the European Space
Agency,
DaimlerChrysler
Aerospace and NPO Lavotchkin, a Russian
company that makes tough inflatable materials.
Kazakhstan blast-off
The test flight will begin with the launch of a
Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan on
9 February. The rocket's upper stage will go
into orbit, with an experimental satellite still
attached to it.
After circling the Earth five times, it will begin
a series of braking manoeuvres and, at an
altitude of 150 km, the satellite will separate
from the upper stage.
Both craft will then inflate their heat shields. If
all goes to plan, the massive cone-shaped
shields will decelerate both craft when they
open out.
The first stage of inflation spreads an eight
metre (26 feet) diameter fan of air-filled shield
on the upper stage and a 2·4m (8ft) fan on
the satellite.
While the nose of the satellite takes the brunt
of the thermal shock wave generated on
entering the atmosphere, as well as
temperatures of more than 1000 degC, the
inflatable heat shield, designed to withstand
500 degC, will protect the rest of the
spacecraft.
Second stage
As the spacecraft descend further, their
shields alone are insufficient to slow them
down. A second stage is therefore inflated,
nearly doubling the circumference of each of
them.
It is hoped that the drag induced by the
inflatable heat shields will slow them down to a
safe touchdown speed of about 50 km per
hour.
Using this technique, the upper stage of the
Soyuz rocket could become the world's first
upper stage to be returned to Earth safely.
According to DaimlerChrysler Aerospace,
recent tests have suggested that a similar
technique with a slower landing could
eventually be used for manned missions.
The mission can be followed in real time on the
internet.
BBC 2/4/00
Tuesday, 1 February, 2000, 15:10 GMT
Countdown
for Chinese
astronaut
Shenzou orbited the Earth 14 times in
November
By BBC News Online science editor Dr
David Whitehouse
Speculation is growing that China may attempt
a manned space flight to usher in the Year of
the Dragon which begins on 5 February.
A number of sources of information indicate
that a launch may be imminent, including
recent editorials in two pro-China Hong Kong
newspapers.
In China itself, the People's Army Liberation
newspaper recently carried an interview with
Professor Liang Sili of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, who was quoted as saying that
sometime soon Chinese astronauts "would
travel in space in the Shenzhou series of
spacecraft."
And last month, following a visit to Chinese
space facilities, Russian cosmonaut Anatoli
Berezovoi said that he believed China would
soon become the third nation to be able to
launch people into space, after Russia and the
United States.
Western surprise
Western experts are surprised by this
speculation as they expected China not to
attempt a manned mission for a few years yet.
They point out that the recent Shenzhou
mission, although it went well, is not a good
basis for a manned flight so soon. Or at least it
would not be in the West.
Because of this, such reports have to be
treated with caution, but it is clear that China
does intend to launch an astronaut or a
"taikonaut" as soon as it can.
When they do launch a taikonaut, they will use
the Shenzhou manned spacecraft that was
tested in unmanned mode last year.
In November, China tested Shenzhou, literally
meaning "divine ship". It was in space for 21
hours and orbited the Earth 14 times before
touching down in the northern province of
Inner Mongolia.
Shenzhou is a modified version of the tried and
trusted Russian Soyuz design. November's
launch was designed to test the technology of
the craft for future manned space travel and it
is clear that the Chinese Communist Party
regards putting an astronaut into space as an
important prestige project.
Spaceviews
1/31/00
Radiation May Provide Energy for Europan Life
Radiation from Jupiter's powerful magnetic fields, deadly to
any life exposed to it, may actually provide the energy that supports
life deep within the moon Europa, according to one scientist.
In a paper published in the January 27 issue of the journal
Nature, Stanford University and SETI Institute researcher Christopher
Chyba argues that radiation that strikes the surface of Europa may
set
off chemical reactions that would create fuel for life in the moon's
subsurface ocean.
If correct, this hypothesis could get around one of the main
arguments against the existence of life within Europa's oceans: a lack
of sufficient energy to support life. With no sunlight penetrating
Europa's icy crust, and limited internal thermal energy, some
scientists had argued that there is not enough energy to support
anything more than the simplest life forms.
According to Chyba, charged particles accelerated to high
speeds by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field would trigger chemical
reactions when they collided with ice on Europa's surface. Those
reactions could convert water and carbon dioxide into complex organic
compounds like formaldehyde, as well as create oxygen, hydrogen
peroxide, and other oxidants.
On Earth, one of the most common varieties of bacteria
subsists on formaldehyde as its sole source of carbon. Moreover,
bacteria and other life forms can use oxidants to burn formaldehyde,
generating the energy needed to survive.
However, for the organic molecules and oxidants to be of use,
they must be transported from the surface to the ocean, which may be
up to 100 km (62 mi.) below the surface. Chyba points to evidence of
sudden "melt-thoughs" in the ice, as seen by the Galileo spacecraft;
these may allow microbes to come into contact with the chemicals they
need, creating microbial blooms like those periodically seen in the
Earth's oceans when bacteria comes into contact with a rich source
of
nutrients.
In addition, the gradual recycling of Europa's ice suggests
that life-supporting chemicals may be gradually transported to the
subsurface ocean. Chyba estimates that such recycling could support
a
Europan ocean with one microbe per cubic centimeter -- far smaller
than the hundreds of thousands of microbes per cubic centimeter in
terrestrial oceans, but also far above zero.
Last year a team of Caltech geobiologists argued that Europa
lacks the energy resources needed to support anything more than simple
life, although their calculations were based on only the moon's
internal thermal energy.
The Caltech team did conclude that alternative energy sources
for Europan life forms do exist, such as the possibility of deriving
energy from oxidized iron -- rust -- that may be found in the ocean.
"But we are talking about very simple organisms that can live on these
energy sources," lead researcher Eric Gaidos said last year. "These
are not multicellular creatures."
Spaceviews
1/24/00
China Weighing ISS Participation
The Chinese government is considering plans to participate in
the International Space Station (ISS) project, a government-run
newspaper reported earlier this month.
The People's Daily reported January 14 that China's Ministry
of Science and Technology is "drawing up plans to participate in the
international space station project."
According to Wang Shaoqi, the head of the ministry's
international scientific cooperation division, China was discussing
a
role on ISS with several nations, including Germany, the U.S., the
U.K., France, Canada, Japan and "especially" Russia.
The article gave no specifics about or timeline for China's
proposal, other than to say that the proposal was part of a plan by
the Chinese government to play a larger role in international
scientific projects.
The article did not mention whether participation with ISS
would have any effect on Chinese plans for its own space station. The
Chinese government last year authorized development of such a space
station, called Project 921-2, as a follow-on to its manned spacecraft
program, called Project 921-1 or Shenzhou.
A Chinese proposal to join the International Space Station
project would likely be met with a mixed response, given the shaky
relations between China and the U.S., the major ISS partner. Those
relations have been hurt by American claims of Chinese espionage
against the U.S. as well as reports of human rights abuses within
China, while at the same time the U.S. has been arguing that China
should open its markets more to free trade with the U.S.
A more likely path into the project, as hinted in the People's
Daily article, is through Russia, perhaps as part of a deal to build
some space station components Russia is currently slated to provide.
Relations between China and Russia are currently very good, and the
two have cooperated on space issues in the recent past, including
training of potential Chinese "taikonauts" at Russia's cosmonaut
centers.
Russia also reportedly played a key role in the development of
China's Shenzhou spacecraft, a prototype of a future Chinese manned
spacecraft launched last November. Whether Russia simply provided
technical assistance or contributed key spacecraft systems to China
has been a point of some dispute.
China was also identified for a time last year as the
potential buyer or renter of the Mir space station first reported in
late 1998, but that claim was denied by Russian space officials, and
the deal later fell through.