SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1014 * SpaceNews 14-Oct-96 * BID: $SPC1014 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY OCTOBER 14, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * MIR NEWS * ============ The Mir spacestation has been making many visible passes during the early evening hours. Reports received indicate that John Blaha has been very active on 145.550 MHz. * DOVE NEWS * ============= Jim White, WD0E, reports that the analog telemetry data being sent by the DOVE-OSCAR-17 satellite is mostly inaccurate. The focus of the current test software that is transmitting this data is to diagnose what appears to be a hardware that is hindering the execution of the regular operating software on the satellite. Work continues in getting DOVE back on-line. * ARIANE LAUNCH NEWS * ====================== European space officials plan to launch the second Ariane 5 booster in mid-April 1997 (that will carry the Phase III D satellite), following a recovery effort that includes rewriting software blamed for the big new rocket's June 4 failure on its first launch attempt, requalifying all flight software under more realistic conditions, and beefing up some systems in light of lessons from the first attempt. Jean-Marie Luton, director general of the European Space Agency, told reporters in Paris that it will cost an estimated 288 million European Currency Units (about $384 million at current exchange rates) to recover from the launch failure. That cost, which includes a 154 million ECU get-well program and 134 million ECU for an unplanned third Ariane 5 qualification flight, will be split among ESA member nations and the companies developing the new commercial launcher, he said, noting that some funds will no doubt come from other ESA programs. "We have no choice," Luton said through an interpreter. "We have to succeed." Charles Bigot, head of the Arianespace consortium that will operate Ariane 5 commercially once it is flight qualified, said at the same press conference that the launch failure will throw off the transition from Ariane 4 to Ariane 5 by about a year. To keep up with its backlog of payloads, Arianespace may decide to buy another "five or six" Ariane 4s to fill in a gap that could develop in 1999 if there are additional problems with either booster, Bigot said. Preparations for the launch of Flight 502, as the second attempt is designated, are scheduled to begin in February 1997, with the launch attempt to follow in mid-April. The reflight will carry two instrumented dummy satellites designed to mimic the large telecommunications platforms Ariane 5 was built to launch, plus a 500-kilogram amateur radio satellite (AMSAT). Overall the payload will weigh 5.8 tons. Tentatively scheduled for September 1997, a third ESA-backed qualification mission designated Flight 503 will carry the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD), designed to characterize the environment for a future European human space transport, and possibly a commercial satellite from the Arianespace backlog. The commercial payload, which Bigot said has not been selected, would fly at a reduced rate because of the perceived greater risk, and any earnings from that payload would help ESA defray the cost of the recovery effort. An independent assessment team blamed faulty inertial guidance system software for the loss of the first Ariane 5 and its Cluster science payload (DAILY, June 5, 6, 12, 19). The get-well plan involves some 40 different tasks, including modification of the inertial guidance software; modification of the software testbed to more closely simulate flight conditions, and analysis of all embedded software and the flight program to ensure compatibility. In addition to software fixes, the plan calls for upgrades to improve the operating margins of certain flight systems, including the hydrogen turbopump interstage diffuser and the reservoirs of hydraulic fluid that drives flight control actuators. Overall flight qualification procedures have been modified, with closer attention to the most complex systems and an effort to locate degraded modes of operation that could impact mission success. Luton and Alain Bensoussan, president of the French space agency (CNES), stressed that recovery activities will be monitored by experts from outside the Ariane 5 program. [Info via Dan Schultz] * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX