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Flightglobal’s Space e-Newsletter: get it FREE every month
For those of you that may have missed a day or two of our space coverage, Flightglobal provides Space e-newsletter which lists the most important stories drawn from our main news and Hyperbola web pages during the month. Click on the link below to see the March 2013 edition.
Jeff Bezos and his team recover Apollo Saturn V engines from Ocean
Internet billionaire and space aficionado, Jeff Bezos, who plans to run a space transportation operation via his Blue Origin outfit, has just been congratulated by NASA’s Administrator Maj.Gen Charles Bolden for a more historical endeavour. Specifically, Bezos and his team of divers have managed to bring two Saturn V F-1 first stage rocket engines. The engines, rated at 1.5 million lb thrust, were broght to the surface.
Amos-4 launch on Space International Services’ Zenit-3 SLB will be largest satellite to date on that rocket
The joint Russian-Ukrainian launch provider, Space International Services (SIS) which offers “land launch” Zenit rocket launches from the Baikonur Space Center near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan, has confirmed that the Amos-4 communication satellite, at 4.2 tons, will be the heaviest satellite launch to date by the Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle. The launch is planned for later this year. Amos-4 will offer customers Direct-To-Home (DTH), video distribution, VSAT communications and broadband Internet.
On a lighter if darker note: NASA’s advice if an asteroid is coming…get on your knees and pray!
There were some disheartening revelations at a Congressional review of warning systems and preparations for any potential large asteroid strike on the planet. The Congressional review on 19 March was prompted by the meteorite explosion over the Russian city of Chelabinsk earlier in March. The head of US Space Command, General William Shelton, testified at the review that there had been no warning about the Meteor’s arrival and it was NASA that informed him that it was a meteor only after 470kT equivalent explosion had occurred.
SpaceX announces that Merlin 1D engine has passed its tests
Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) has announced that its latest version of its Merlin first stage and booster engine, the Merlin 1, has achieved flight qualification, follwing a 28 test qualification program. The Merlin 1D accumulated 1,970 seconds of total test time, the equivalent run time of over 10 full mission durations. The program included four tests at or above the power (147,000lb of thrust) and duration (185 seconds) required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch. The Merlin 1D engine was also tested at propellant inlet and operating conditions that were well outside the bounds of expected flight conditions.
Mars Curiosity Rover rebooted following safe mode induced by computer file size issue
Mars Curiosity Rover fell into a safe mode on 16 March as result of on board data file size anomaly. A file meant for deletion was connected to active command file and the safe-mode entry was triggered when the command file failed a size-check by the rover’s protective software. The system the rover’s computer system was rebooted and recovered on 19 March.
NASA travel cuts: Bolden breaks own rules and goes to banned conference
Having tried to show solidarity with his work force over the recent travel cuts by disbarring himself from all but very essential national and internetional conferences, NASA’s Administrator, Major Gen Charles Bolden, caused a fury of criticism by then appearing to break his own travel restrictions. Specifically, Bolden attended the American Astronautical Society’s Goddard Memorial Symposium as a speaker – a conference he specifically disbarred NASA employees from attending.
Review: The Challenger docu-drama gives a fine Feynman account
The BBC docu-drama The Challenger recently shown on BBC television dramatises the investigative process after the Space Shuttle Challenger so memorably blew up some 73 seconds into its flight from the Kennedy Space Center on a cold morning on 28 January 1986 with the doomed astronauts’ shocked families looking on.
Atlas V successfully launches SBIRS GEO-2 early warning satellite
The US Air Force early warning satellite SBIRS GEO-2 (Space-Based Infrared System GEO-2) was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2121 GMT on 19 March aboard an Atlas V 401 launch vehicle. The 4.8 ton satellite is the second in a series of satellites developed by Lockheed Martin and TRW (now Northrop Grumman) as a new generation early-warning designs looking for ballistic missile launches and explosions. The spacecraft which will be located in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) carries two telescopes with triple band IR detectors (scanning and staring) covering short wave and expanded mid-wave infra red as well as see-to-the-ground bands.
Arianespace gets three satellite Ariane 5 launch order from Intelsat
On 18 MarchArianespace announced a launch services contract with commercial satelilte operator Intelsat S.A., for the launch of three satellites through 2017. Weighing more than six tons each at launch, the satellites will be placed into GTO by the Ariane 5 ECA from Europe’s Space Port in French Guiana. The three missions will include the launches of Intelsat’s previously announced, high throughput EpicNG-class satellites. Intelsat EpicNG is designed to address wireless and fixed telecommunications, enterprise, mobility, video and government applications that require broadband infrastructure.
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