NEW DELHI — India launched into orbit its first indigenous reconnaissance satellite Risat-1 on April 26, thereby joining a select group of nations that have access to microwave radar imaging from orbit. The 1,858-kg (4,100-lb.) satellite was put into a polar circular orbit at an altitude of 480 km (300 mi.) and an orbital inclination of 97.552 deg. early in the day by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C19 (PSLV-C19) from Sriharikota spaceport in south India.
Boeing is turning to the Mission Operations Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to support the training for and early flight operations of the company’s seven-person CST-100 entrant in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development initiative.
Platinum and other valuables — including water — are driving space prospectors vying for the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize to design their vehicles to search the Moon’s surface for resources that could be sold in space or on Earth. Moon Express, a Lunar X Prize team spearheaded by Internet entrepreneurs Naveen Jain and Barney Pell, is working with NASA’s Ames Research Center on ways to seek and retrieve valuables like platinum, building on the California field center’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (Ladee).
SpaceX and NASA have agreed to delay the launch the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by one week from its original target of April 30, providing the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program participant more time to complete and follow up on hardware-in-the-loop software testing.
LOS ANGELES — Unexpectedly severe degradation of the protective aeroshell at speeds of up to Mach 20 most likely caused the loss last August of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) second Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), according to a report produced by an independent engineering review board.
PUSHED BACK: SpaceX says it will not make the April 30 target for launching its first Falcon 9/Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station. “After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data,” the company says. “While it is still possible that we could launch on May 3rd, it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected.
SEA LAUNCH: Sea Launch has received Intelsat 19 from Space Systems/Loral at its home port in Long Beach, Calif. Sea Launch will use a Zenit-3SL to launch the satellite in May from the company’s Odyssey platform in the western Pacific. The satellite is to be placed into a geostationary parking orbit at 166 deg. E. long. and replace Intelsat 8. It will provide video services across the Asia-Pacific region.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 23 - 25 — Aviation Week NextGen Ahead Air Transportation Modernization Conference, Washington Marriott at Metro Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.aviationweek.com/events
HOUSTON — Russia’s 47 Progress supply ship sped toward an April 22 docking with the International Space Station (ISS) following a flawless liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, to initiate a two-day transit. The Russian freighter and its nearly three tons of propellant, water, compressed air and other supplies was on course to dock with the ISS’s Russian segment Pirs module at 10:40 a.m. EDT.
Brazil is unusual among top-rated emerging markets because it can support manufacturing, services and natural resource development simultaneously. This is due, in part, to its low external and public debt, low unemployment, an enviable 90% literacy rate, expanding capital markets and declining poverty. And to top it off, the country is self-sufficient in water, food and energy. Brazil recently passed the U.K. to become the world's sixth-largest economy. By 2040, Goldman Sachs expects it to be fourth behind China, the U.S. and India.
Brazil's new entrants in aviation design and manufacturing are specializing in niche markets for domestic consumption and are receiving support from industry, academia and government agencies.
It has been through some tough times, but now the James Webb Space Telescope project has pulled up its socks and is slogging through one of the most complex space engineering efforts ever attempted.
India's long struggle for strategic parity with China passed a milestone last week, with ramifications for India's self-confidence and China's rise, after India's indigenously developed Agni-V missile hit a pre-designated target in the Indian Ocean with a high degree of accuracy during its first test-flight.
Amy Svitak (Paris), Robert Wall (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
The space industry usually takes a crawl, walk, run approach when pursuing new challenges. But flush with cash and hungry to propel itself to the forefront of the global aerospace market, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has no time for baby steps. The UAE is one of a number of Middle Eastern countries that is gradually building a portfolio of space initiatives in response to growing instability in the region, a perceived threat from Iran and a desire to spur local industry.
An article in the April 16 issue (p. 44) incorrectly stated NASA's plans for launching cargo to the International Space Station. The agency plans to use commercial rockets for the missions.
