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Japan's Space Communications Corp. (SCC) has awarded a contract to International Launch Services to loft its Superbird 6 on an Atlas 2AS vehicle in October 2003. The satellite will be a BSS-601, built by Boeing Satellite Systems under a contract signed in September.
Editor's note: All the remaining Atlas 2AS flights had been booked but one became available in September when the launch of DirecTV-5 was moved to a Proton. The last Atlas 2AS have reportedly been sold at low cost as Lockheed Martin Astronautics is closing this production line in favor of its new Atlas 5 family of launchers.

Editor's note: Other commercial launches in 2002 could include the DirecTV-5 and Intelsat 903 satellites, currently manifested in late 2001 but likely to be postponed to next year. According to earlier announcements by ILS, Asiasat 4 and Nimiq 2 are currently planned to fly atop an Atlas 3 and an Atlas 5/500, respectively. These Proton launches should be back-up reservations. Other launches taken into account by Khrunichev may include several ICO satellites and the first Astrolink broadband communication satellite although thses launches are unlikely to occur before 2003. Rosaviakomos launches include ESA's Integral gamma ray observatory as well as possibly the Ekspress A1R or Ekspress AMs or Yamal domestic communication satellites. Military launches would include at least one triplet of Uragan positioning satellites to replenish the Glonass global navigation satellite system.

RD-180
(NPO-EM/P&W)

AeroAstro and Malaysia's Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd have signed an agreement to jointly develop and fly their Small Payload Orbit Transfer (SPORT) module for a demonstration flight piggyback on an Ariane 5 in late 2002. The SPORT module was designed to serve as a microsatellite bus for small payloads or as an orbit transfer module for microsatellites. It will be flown on Ariane 5 missions to geostationary transfer orbits and will use an onboard propulsion system to bring back its payloads into low Equatorial orbits.
Editor's note: AeroAstro has signed an agreement with Arianespace in May 2000 to market SPORT on Ariane 5 launches. Astronautic Technology plans to use the SPORT design to develop the LEqO constellation for messaging services.

No pathological agent was detected in the suspect mail received at Arianespace's headquarters in Evry, near Paris. All activities have returned to normal.

A suspect mail was reportedly discovered in Arianespace's headquarters in Evry, near Paris. The offices were evacuated and the teams were moved to other locations. An investigation is underway by a French military laboratory to determine whether the suspect mail could carry pathological agents.
Editor's note: Arianespace launched 130 out of the current 207 active geostationary communication satellites and thus played a major role in the development of communication and information services in the world. Arianespace has also been the primary launch service for the Muslim world by lofting five Arabsat satellites as well as three Türksats and one Eurasiasat for Turkey; one Palapa, one Cakrawarta and one Telkom for Indonesia; two Nilesats for Egypt and two Measats for Malaysia.

Boeing Expendable Launch Systems reportedly confirms that the customer for its very first Delta 4 launch vehicle, in late April 2002, will be Eutelsat with an unidentified satellite. The announcement, which was not backed by any official statement, was made during the dedication ceremony for the Delta 4 launch complex at Cape Canaveral's SLC-37 after completion of the initial 37B pad. The US$250-million facility will accommodate all five versions of the Delta 4, including the Delta 4 Heavy, and incorporates an Horizontal Integration Facility, partly funded through a US$24-million state financing by the Spaceport Florida Authority.
Editor's note: According to Space News, the first payload of the Delta 4 could be the Alcatel Space-built W1 communication satellite which was damaged during ground testing in June 1998. A US$50-million claim was reportedly filed for the loss of W1 which was not considered recoverable after it was doused by a fire extinguishing system during payload testing in Alcatel's facilities (then Aerospatiale's) in Cannes. The W1 designation was later given to an Astrium-built satellite, initially ordered as Ressat and launched in September 2000. A rumor regarding the launch of the Alenia Spazio-built Atlantic Bird 1 on the first Delta 4 flight has been denied by Eutelsat. However, Alenia still has to obtain a U.S. State Department export license for the satellite's U.S.-built components in time to allow a launch on a Chinese CZ-3A "Long March" booster in early 2002. Alenia Spazio's current contract for Atlantic Bird 1 includes a delivery on orbit.
Eutelsat has contracted for launches on three upcoming maiden flights: Arianespace's Ariane 5ECA (Hot Bird 7), Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 (Hot Bird 6) and Boeing's Delta 4. In the past it also flew the first Atlas 3 (W4) in May 2000 and the first Atlas 2 (Eutelsat 2-F3) in December 1991. Actually, its very first satellite, Eutelsat 1-F1 even flew the first Ariane 3 in August 1984 but the launch had been contracted by the European Space Agency.
SLC-37 was used to launch six Saturn 1 and two Saturn 1B vehicles for NASA from 1964 to 1968. It was decommissioned in 1970. A 37A pad may be added to the new facility if the launch rate requires it.

The first flight model of Boeing's Delta 4 Common Booster Core stage has arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, onboard the M/V Delta Mariner ship. Before its actual launch, in late April 2002, the 48-m-long stage will be used for a static hot firing test on Cape Canaveral's refurbished SLC-37 pad.

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A Lockheed Martin Astronautics refurbished Titan 2 intercontinental ballistic missile, which was planned to launch a military meteorology satellite from Vandenberg AFB, California, last January, is experiencing another delay, from November 14 to late December at the earliest, after leaks were reported on turbopump seals in its Aerojet LR87-AJ-11 first stage engine. The turbopump assemblies will have to be removed and the faulty seals replaced before the launch operations can resume. The stage has been on the launch pad since October 12, 2000, and this lenghty wait is thought to have caused the leaks.
Editor's note: The Titan 23G G-9 'Cindy Mary' vehicle was initially planned for launch on January 20, 2001 but experienced numerous delays and postponements due to ground equipment and onboard malfunctions, payload anomaly and range conflicts.

The Indian Space Research Organisation launched its 6th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C3) from its Sriharikota Range in Tamil Nadu. The four-stage vehicle releades its main payload, the 1,108-kg Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) on a 568-km-high Sun-synchronous orbit. The PSLV was also carrying two piggyback microsatellites. German DLR's BIRD-1 was released on the same orbit as TES while the vehicle's fourth stage was re-ignited to boost ESA's Proba on an elliptical orbit (568 x 638 km).
Editor's note: Little information has been released on TES. The US$25-million program was reportedly decided in July 1999, following skirmish with the Pakistani army in the disputed area of Kargil, in Kashmir, which led to the May-June 1999 conflict with Pakistan. It could also be related to Pakistan's "nuclear outing" in May 1998 and the initial testing of the Ghauri 2 IRBM in April 1999. The mission of TES is likely to focus on the demonstration of military observation sensors. A senior Indian defense official said that Indian defense forces plan to use the satellite to map the borders with China and Pakistan.

The third CZ-2F launch vehicle recently completed flight qualification and will be transported from Beijing to Jiuquan shortly, according to Go Taikonauts, quoting Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology information. The launcher, described as the first "full status" CZ-2F, is expected to loft the third prototype Shenzhou spaceship.

Delta 4 Heavy Demo Flight May Slip

The maiden flight of Boeing's largest Delta 4 vehicle is likely to slip from late 2002 into the first quarter 2003 according to Space News.
Editor's note: Under its initial Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle contract awarded in 1998, Boeing had to conduct a demonstration flight before the first operational mission, in this case the launch of U.S. Air Force's DSP-23 early warning satellite, currently due in August 2003. As prospects for a commercial payload on this mission did not materialize, the U.S. Department of Defense agreed in October 2000 to pay US$141 million to fund the flight. However, Boeing is still allowed to sell payload capacity to a commercial customer. The Delta 4H vehicle is reportedly able to deliver 13,130 kg of payload into geostationary transfer orbit.

PSLV
(ISRO)

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Editor's note: The 900-kg, 5-m-long Tien Kung 1 missile has been operational for theater defense since 1988. It has a reported range of 50 km. A more pwerful version, the 8-m-long Tien Kung 2, was introduced in 1993 with a 80-km-range. In the late 1970s, Taiwan attempted to develop a 950-km-range ballistic missile, the Tien Ma (Sky Horse) but this secret program was scrapped in 1981 under pressure from the United States. It was apparently revived in 1989 as a satellite launch vehicle project but no further information was ever released.

Eurockot Launch Services GmbH confirms that it will launch a pair of Iridium satellites for Iridium Satellites LLC in June 2002 atop a Rokot KM vehicle on behalf of a contract signed in 1999 by the previous Iridium LLC venture. A "pathfinder campaign" was conducted in September in Plesetsk with dummy satellites to demonstrate Eurockot's capability to conduct the mission.
Editor's note: The Rokot demonstration flight, in May 2000, lofted two dummy satellites simulating a pair of Iridium satellites.

MKK Kosmotras has decided to postpone the launch of its next Dnepr 1 vehicle from early December 2001 to the first half of 2002 as one of the U.S. payloads is reportedly late on schedule.
Editor's note: In addition to Italy's Unisat 2, to be flown for the University of Roma "La Sapienza", the next Dnepr is planned to carry a Multi-Payload Adapter provided by One Stop Satellite Solutions to carry a batch of nanosatellites.

Lockheed Martin Astronautics has reportedly put its Athena small launcher program in standby following the last of its manifested launches on September 30. With no more launch planned and little prospects for additional launch contracts, all 50 technical personnel have been reassigned and the commercial staff has been downsized to only one person. The hardware has been placed in storage. A decision to officially terminate the program could be taken in 2002.
Editor's note: The Athena family was first developed in the early 1990s as LLV (Lockheed Launch Vehicles) by Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. (now Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Missiles & Space Operations) in order to compete with Orbital Sciences' Pegasus and Taurus for government launches. The design was also reportedly tailored to allow the launch of Lockheed-built Iridium satellites either on dedicated flights (LLV-1) or by pairs or clusters (LLV-2 and 3). The LLV-3 design, with solid strap-on boosters was never developed.

The first operational launch of Eurockot's Rokot KM vehicle has been postponed from November to February 2002 due to an unspecified technical problem on its payload, the two Gravity Recovery & Climate Experiment spacecraft built by Astrium for Germany's DLR aerospace research agency and NASA's JPL.
Editor's note: The Rokot KM flew once, on May 16, 2000, on a demonstration flight with two dummy satellite mass simulators.

The investigation board in charge of identifying the cause of the mishap on the Orbital Sciences Corp. HXLV booster which led to the loss of NASA's first X-43A hypersonic scramjet demonstrator on June 2 has ruled out most of the 600 identified potential sources for the malfunction and now expects to find a multiple cause for the failure. The investigation team is still working to fully understand the causal relationship among many elements, mostly regarding the vehicle's control system and aerodynamics which represent most of the remainig suspected sources. Extensive wind tunnel testing of a vehicle model and functional testing of the control system are underway. Orbital Sciences' Pegasus vehicles, which use a first stage very similar to the HXLV, will remain grounded until the end of the investigation.

The National Space Agency or Ukraine (NKAU) and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) have agreed to jointly fund the preliminary study phase to prepare for the launch of NPO Yuzhnoye Tsyklon 4 vehicles from Brazil's Alcântara Launch Center. NPO Yuzhnoye is expected to complete a feasibility and cost assessment study by late October. Total cost of the project is estimated at US$100-200 million, with the preliminary phase amounting to about 5% of this sum. NPO Yuzhnoye reportedly hopes to launch about 5 to 6 times per year from Alcântara.
Editor's note: Italy's FiatAvio, which was planned to have a major involvement in the Tsyklon 4 program, announced in June that it will focus its activities on ESA's Vega launcher and play little role, if any, in this program at this point.

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As scheduled, Ukraine blew up the last of its intercontinental ballistic missile silos, a RS-22 launch complex near Pervomaisk, Nikolayev oblast.
Editor's note: 178 silos from the Soviet era have been destroyed since 1996, including 46 for NPO Yuzhnoye-built RS-22 missiles and 132 for RS-20 missiles.

Russia is about to ease its policy regarding the preservation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1972 and could allow the U.S. to proceed with its planned missile defense testing according to the U.S. National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice. Russia may agree to permit the tests, if the U.S. administration decides to put off any decision on withdrawing from the ABM treaty.

Editor's note: First stages of MX Peacekeeper missiles have been used as first stage of Orbital Sciences Taurus 1000 vehicles since 1994. Three flights have been conducted to date. E'Prime Aerospace Corp. (EPAC) has been studying a family of launchers, dubbed Eagle, based on the MX missile since the 1987.

A RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, on a demonstration flight. Its dummy warhead successfully hit its target in Kamchatka.
Editor's note: The RS-18 (SS-19 "Stiletto") is the basis of Eurockot's Rokot and NPO Mashinostroeniya's Strela launch vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Defense has postponed indefinitely two radar tracking demonstrations which could have been considered as a violation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed in 1972 with the Soviet Union. According to an official statement, the tests would have involved a ship-mounted Aegis radar to track a Minuteman 2 ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, on October 24 as a target for an Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle to be launched from Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands. On November 14, the Aegis radar would have tracked the upper stage of a Lockheed Martin Titan 23G launch vehicle due to loft a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program payload, also from Vandenberg.
Editor's note: Although presented as a decision to preserve the ABM treaty before a next round of negotiations with Russia, this postponement had already been dictated by technology. The Minuteman 2 launch has slipped to late November or early December several weeks ago while the Titan 23G launch, on hold since January, has been delayed to December by technical problems. However, the two related Aegis tracking tests have apparently been scrapped for the time being.

U.S. Air Force's Ogden Air Logistics Center, of Hill AFB, has exercised a US$180.9-million option on a contract with TRW ICBM Systems for the production of 80 NS-50 missile guidance sets, 36 RS cable sets, two missile guidance set controls, two missile guidance computers, three gyro stabilized platforms and three gyro compass assemblies in support of the Guidance Replacement Program for the Minuteman 3 ballistic missile for FY2002. However, this option covers activities through July 2004.

The U.S. administration plans to give a 6-month notice to Russia in November, announcing its intent to conduct a missile defense activity that could breach the existing Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed with the Soviet Union in 1972. If no further progress has been made in revamping the treaty to allow the deployment of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Segment (formerly the National Missile Defense system), the U.S. plan to withdraw.

RS-22
(NPO Yuzhnoye)

Russia's Northern Fleet launches an unidentified Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile, presumably a RSM-54 'Shtil' from a submarine cruusising in the White Sea. After a 7,000-km suborbital flight, the missile's dummy warhead reportedly hit its target at the Kura testing range in Kamchatka.

Ukraine has received US$361.5 million out of a planned US$511-million grant promised by the United States, Germany and Canada to eliminate its nuclear weaponry and the related industrial infrastructure within 7 years. The United States gave US$350 million to dismantle Ukrainian ballistic missiles and will provide an additional US$150 million to complete the work. Germany gave US$9 million for the destruction of 18 RS-18 missile silos and 9 RS-22 missile silos. Canada invested US$2.5 million in environmental projects related to the elimination of weaponry of mass destruction. More than 500 companies are reportedly involved in Ukraine's disarmament effort.

Orbital Sciences Corp. was awarded a US$24-million contract by U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) to develop and launch 4 Short Range Air Launch Target on behalf of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. The targets, based on surplus solid rocket motors from decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles, will be dropped under a parachute from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules carrier aircraft and fired on 500-km-range trajectories in order to simulate incoming ballistic missiles for U.S. Navy Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense systems. The air-launch concept will allow to simulate attacks from locations and directions were no launch site is available.
Editor's note: The targets will presumably be developped from one or two of the upper stages of Minuteman 2 missiles.

The composite casing for the first stage motor of the M51 French sea-launched ballistic missile successfully completed a milestone pressure test. The case was filled with water to simulate the pressure it will have to withstand during an actual combustion. This composite structure, 6-m-high and 2.3 m in diameter, is the largest composite casing ever manufactured in Europe. It was built by EADS Launch Vehicles for Snecma Moteurs which shares the prime contractorship for the missile's propulsion with Groupe SNPE under the G2P consortium. EADS-LV is also prime for the overall vehicle. The M51 is due to replace the current M45 on France's latest generation of submarines by 2008.
Editor's note: Snecma and Groupe SNPE are planned to merge their solid propulsion business by year end to form the Herakles joint-venture, due to take over prime contractorship for the M51's propulsion.

Raytheon Systems was awarded a US$12.3-million contract by U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Programs to provide repair services for Mk6 missile guidance systems on Trident 2 (D5) sea-launched ballistic missiles during FY2002.

The next interception test by the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Segment (formerly the National Missile Defense system) has been postponed to late November or early December as Raytheon is performing minor modifications to the Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV). Raytheon is reportedly improving the vehicle's software based on lessons learned from the previous interception tests. Additional ground tests will also be conducted before the next flight. A specific launch date will be decided in early November when the EKV and its support hardware will be shipped to Kwajalein Missile Range, in the Marshall Island, where it will be mounted atop a Lockheed Martin Payload Launch Vehicle.

Orbital Sciences Corp. announces that it has been selected by U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) for the second phase of its Liquid Booster Development Program. Under a US$22-million contract, OSC will design a liquid-fuelled booster stage which could be used as a representative target for theater missile defense and later national missile defense systems. This 18-month effort will include a full-scale static firing of the booster engine. OSC's design, based on technologies developed for the NASA/U.S. Air Force Upper Stage Flight Experiment (USFE) program, will compete with another concept developed by TRW Space & Electronics which already announced its selection for a US$24-million on September 26. A final development phase is expected to include detailed liquid booster system design, development and a flight test in early 2004. The eventual booster, fuelled by non-toxic propellants (hydrogen peroxide and kerosene), will simulate "Scud" types of missiles. A following production contract is expected to be worth US$100-million over 6 years.
Editor's note: Five companies were selected for an initial study in early 2001. Current Hera target vehicles are based on solid-fuelled stages from the Minuteman ballistic missile series. Several Scuds have also been acquired by the SMDC to serve as targets.

A 15-year-old RS-12M "Topol" intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched from Plesetsk by the Russian Military Space Forces and hit a training target at the Kura range in Kamchatka.

The U.S. Senate has approved a US$344-billion defense bill for FY2002 which includes a US$8.3-billion budget for the development of missile defense systems. If needed, US$1.3 billion could be shifted by the administration from this missile defense budget to increase a US$6-billion budget for counter-terrorism efforts. The Senate dropped a provision by the Armed Services Committee that required approval by the U.S. Congress to fund any missile defense tests that would violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty signed in 1972 with the Soviet Union.

U.S. Air Force's Ogden Air Logistics Center, in Hill AFB, has awarded a US$215-million extension to an existing contract with TRW Inc. for full-rate production, ordnance and test support of refurbished solid rocket motors for the first and third stages of Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles during FY2002 on behalf of the Propulsion Replacement Program. Acting as prime for the program, TRW will subcontract work to Thiokol Propulsion (US$112 million) and Pratt&Whitney Chemical Space Division (US$86 million).
Editor's note: Thiokol was prime for the Minuteman's M-56 first stage while CSD is in charge of the M-57A1 third stage. The SR-19 second stage was provided by Gencorp Aerojet.

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NASA and industry officials have confirmed that future Space Shuttle Orbiter Maintenance & Modification (OMM) work will be conducted at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, instead of U.S. Air Force's Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The move will enable NASA to shave space shuttle operating costs.
Editor's note: The move is a second major loss for the Palmdale area after the cancellation of the developemnt of the X-33 single-stage-to-orbit technology demonstrator.

Plasma Wind Tunnel Inaugurated in Italy

The Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA) has inaugurated its Scirocco plasma wind tunnel in Capua. The €77-million facility was funded at 34% by ESA. The core of Scirocco is a 70-MW plasma arc heated hypersonic wind tunnel which will be used to simulate the high energy flux of orbital reentry to test large-scale Thermal Protection System components for future space transportation systems ranging from reentry capsules to two-stage-to-orbit or single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle designs.

In order to overcome cost overruns in the short term, NASA is considering extending the assembly of the International Space Station from mid-2005 to well into 2006. The move would be part of NASA's strategy to reduce the US$4.8-billion extra cost reported earlier this year and which has already led to the cancellation of the U.S. Propulsion and Habitat modules and the 'revision' of the Crew Return Vehicle development program.
Editor's note: Such a decision would definitely translate in an increased total cost of the orbital complex.

NASA's Johnson Space Center announces that it has awarded a US$24.85-million contract to Pioneer Aerospace Corp. to provide the parafoil systems for the X-38 Crew Rescue Vehicle demonstrator. The contract was actually awarded on April 2nd and only announced 6  months later.
Editor's note: The X-38 and the CRV will rely on the world's largest parafoil (700 sq.m.) for final approach and landing.

NASA's Johnson Space Center plans to contract with Applied Research Associates Inc. to procure ablative thermal protection systems test articles in order to conduct thermal testing of conceptual designs for Mars entry and Earth return vehicles.

NASA has decided not to postpone the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on November 29 after elongated bolt holes were reported on orbiter vehicle Columbia's Orbital Maneuvering Systems pods connection joints. According to NASA, testing has showed that the elongated holes do not weaken the ability of the bolts to secure the engine pods on the orbiter vehicles.

NASA's Langley Research Center has issued a request for information regarding potential prime contractor s for the X-43C unmanned hypersonic aircraft as a follow on to the current X-43A. Three X-43C vehicles will be flown to test an hydrocarbon-fuelled ram/scramjet engine developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory under the HyTech program. The X-43C vehicles will be boosted to the Mach 5 and then perform several minutes of accelerating flight with a transition of the propulsion mode from subsonic to supersonic combustion.
Editor's note: No launch system is specified for the X-43C vehicles but earlier illustration issued by NASA showed the vehicle flying a similar Orbital Sciences HXLV booster as the X-43A.

The U.S. Air Force is reportedly planning to initiate a major military spaceplane effort in FY2004. According to Space News, the U.S. Air Force and NASA will soon begin a joint reusable launch vehicle study to support the planning process for the FY2004 budget. This collaboration could eventually lead to an increased military funding for NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program. However, the Boeing X-37 space maneuvering vehicle demonstrator, jointly sponsored by NASA and the U.S. Air Force, could be shelved as it will not provide sufficient payload capacity to perform useful military missions.
Editor's note: U.S. Air Force's funding for the X-37 will stop in September 2002.

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Pratt&Whitney was awarded a US$199-million contract by NASA's Glenn Research Laboratory, presumably to support Pulse Detonation Engine and air-breathing Turbine-Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) engine development on behalf of the Revolutionary Aerospace Engine Research (RASER) program.

University of Queensland's HyShot scramjet demonstrator was launched atop a Terrier Orion suborbital rocket from the Woomera Rocket Range, Southern Australia, but failed to achieve supersonic combustion, apparently due to carrier rocket flight anomalies. The experimental axisymetric scramjet, designed by UQ's Centre for Hypersonics, was due to operate at a velocity of up to Mach 7.6 between 35 km and 23 km of altitude, after reentry from an apogee of 350 km and before crashing into the ground some 370 km downrange. Apparently, a malfunction in the carrier rocket's second stage prevented the payload from reaching its planned altitude and velocity. The payload impacted only 100 km downrange. Collected data are valuable but inconclusive, according to the project leader, Dr Allan Paull.
Editor's note: The HyShot program cost amounts to A$1.5 million (about €800,000).

Windy weather conditions and a last-minute technical check have forced the teams of University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics to postpone the firts test flight of their HyShot scramjet demonstrator to October 30. The experiment will ride a Terrier Orion suborbital rocket launched from the Woomera Rocket Range, Southern Australia, to an altitude of 314 km. The scramjet will be ignited on the way down when it will reach a velocity of Mach 7.6, between 37 km and 23 km of altitude, before crashing into the ground.

India plans to test its indigenously-developped cryogenic engine within two to three months according to N. Vedachalam, director of Indian Space Research Organisation's Liquid Propulsion Systems Center.
Editor's note: In May, ISRO reported that it planned to fly its own cryogenic upper stage on the third flight of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), currently scheduled in 2003. In early 2001, the completion of the development of cryogenic engine has been announced for March 2002. The Cryogenic Upper Stage Program (CUSP) was slowed down by a failure during an early static firing at LPSC's test center in in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, on February 16, 2000.

Editor's note: The investigation board after the July 13 launch mishap identified an hydraulic coupling between the Aestus engine and its propellant lines as the cause of an heterogenous distribution of propellant in the combustion chamber at ignition. This led to a detonation and a re-ignition of the engine under highly deviated conditions. Nevertheless, the Aestus engine demonstrated its high robustness by providing 80% of its planned thrust for more than 900 sec., in spite of multiple burn-through. This robustness saved the payloads. The engine shutdown was not caused by engine failure but by propellant depletion. Unfortunately, one of the payloads, Orbital Sciences' BSAT-2b, was eventually lost because its solid propulsion system could not perform the multiple firings needed to reach its final orbit.

The first flight of University of Queensland's HyShot scramjet demonstrator has been set to October 25. The experiment, conducted by UQ's Centre for Hypersonics, will fly atop a Terrier Orion suborbital rocket launched from the Woomera Rocket Range, Southern Australia. After reentry from an apogee of 350 km, the scramjet will be operated at a velocity of up to Mach 7.6 between 35 km and 23 km of altitude before crashing into the ground. A second flight is planned for October 30. The experiment is expected to confirm data collected during ground-based experimentation in UQ's T4 hypersonic shock tunnel.
Editor's note: The main partners in this AU$1.25-million project include NASA's Langley Research Center, British Aerospace Australia, QinetiQ (the former British Defence Evaluation & Research Agency or DERA, the Australian Department of Science & Technology (DSTO), South Korea's Seoul National University, Germany's DLR, the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI), Alesi Technologies, AECA and Luxfer Australia.

GASL Inc. was awarded a US$26-million contract by NASA's Glenn Research Laboratory to support air-breathing Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) development on behalf of the Revolutionary Aerospace Engine Research (RASER) program.

GenCorp Aerojet was awarded a 17-month, US$13.4-million contract by Orbital Sciences Corp. to continue the development of its AJ-34 liquid propellant engine to power a booster stage under development on behalf of by U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) for the second phase of its Liquid Propellant Booster Development Program. This new contract, which follows a US$350,000 study initiated in February 2001, will include complete design and manufacturing of the engine, as well as a static firing test in a booster configuration. If OSC is selected for the Liquid Propellant Booster actual production, a test flight would be conducted within 12 months later and Aerojet could produce up to 10 engines per year. Honeywell Engines & Systems will provide the AJ-34's turbopump.
Editor's note: The booster stage, to be developed under this program will simulate "Scud" types of liquid-fuelled missiles and serve as a targer for missile defense systems. Although it will burn non-toxic hydrogen peroxide and kerosene, the AJ-34 will be designed to mimick traditional missiles engines characteristics, such as their infrared signature. Scud-type missiles usually burn highly toxic propellants like UDMH and nitric acid or nitrogen tetroxide (Scud B/C and equivalents, Nodong, DF-3).

NASA's Glenn Research Center plans to issue a research announcement to select partners for its In-Space Propulsion Technologies Program in order to foster the development of innovative space propulsion concepts. GRC efforts will cover ion and Hall thrusters as well as more powerful electric propulsion systems from 5 to more than 500 kW, as well as advanced chemical propulsion, bimodal nuclear thermal propulsion and plasma sails.
Editor's note: NASA's Langley Research Center issued a similar research announcement in August.

NASA's Glenn Research Center has awarded a US$5-million contract to Advanced Projects Research Inc. (APRI) to study pulse detonation engine technology on behalf of the Revolutionary Aerospace Engine Research (RASER) program.
Editor's note: APRI has already conducted extensive PDE design and validation using facilities such as Caltech's Explosion Dynamics Laboratory and T-5 hypersonic wind tunnel.

The composite nozzle designed by Thiokol Propulsion for Boeing Rocketdyne's RS-68 engine as successfully completed a series of four flight certification tests at NASA's Stennis Space Center. Two of the tests simulated the most extreme mission cycles that could be experienced in flight and the other two replicated the first two tests at 120% of the mission cycle. The nozzle is due to fly on the first Delta 4 mission in late April 2002.

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The External Relations Commission of the Brazilian House of Representatives eventually approved an amended version of the technology safeguard agreement signed in April 2000 with the United States to enable the launch of U.S.-built satellites and launch vehicles from Brazil's Alcântara Launch Center. The major revisions requested by the committee is the cancellation of two clauses which would have given U.S. authorities exclusive access to areas of the launch center where U.S. equipment would be based and which would have prevented Brazil from usinfg revenues from its commercial launch activities to fund its own space program. The agreement will have to be renegotiated with the U.S. authorities.

The Russian Ministry of Interior is setting up a 300-member force to take over security at the Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Police forces will take over surveillance of the launch facilities from the security personel hired by the industrial contractors.

Russian partners of the Soyuz launch system have agreed to allow Arianespace to take over responsibility for all marketing and launch operations for the Soyuz vehicle from the Guiana Space Center, in Kourou, French Guiana, in order to preclude unfair competition with its own Ariane 5 launcher, according to French Science minister Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg. However, Russia still has to agree with three more conditions: a Russian contribution for at least one third of the building and operating cost of the launch pad (estimated worth US$250-270 million), the confirmation of Starsem's exclusivity for all Soyuz derivatives, including the proposed Aurora design, and a decrease of the cost of the bare Soyuz vehicle from US$20 million to US$12 million apiece.
Editor's note: The possibility to launch Soyuz vehicles from the Guiana Space Center will be discussed by ESA 's council which will meet at ministerial level on November 14-15 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Boeing Expendable Launch Services reports the delivery of the Delta 4 launch table for the refurbishment of the SLC-6 complex in Vandenberg AFB, California. The 650-ton table is 7-m high, 14-m wide and 28-m long.
Editor's note: Completion of SLC-6 refurbishment is planned in 2003. The facility will be able to handle all five versions of the Delta 4 vehicle. Following Lockheed Martin's withdrawal, SLC-6 will be the only launch site for U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles on the U.S. West Coast. SLC-6 was initially built for U.S. Air Force's Titan 3M vehicle to launch the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). Construction work began in March 1966 and was 90% complete when the MOL program was cancelled in June 1969. The facility was completed and mothballed through 1979 when refurbishment began to support Space Shuttle launches to Sun-synchronous orbit, mostly for military missions. The site was reportedly operational in October 1985 but polar shuttle missions were eventually cancelled in May 1988, in the wake of the Challenger tragedy in January 1986, and SLC-6 was mothballed again. The first launch from SLC-6 eventually occured with the failed maiden flight of Lockheed's LLV-1 (later known as Lockheed Martin's Athena 1) in August 1995. A second launch attempt, with an Athena 2 in April 1999, was a failure too. To date, only one successful flight was ever completed from the gigantic launch complex with an Athena 2 lofting Space Imaging's 817-kg Ikonos 2 in September 1999.

Suspect parcels were found in five different mailrooms at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and led to the evacuation of two buildings. The parcels and traces of a powdery substance have been tested negative but local NASA officials have asked mail handlers and other workers to remain vigilant.

The Australian government is considering proposing its Woomera Range , Southern Australia, as an emergency landing site for Crew Return Vehicles from the International Space Station. The proposal would allow Australia to become a minor partner of the ISS program.

Russian authorities have increased security controls on the Baykonur cosmodrome as a consequence of ongoing U.S./British military operations in Afghanistan. The number of guests and reporters for the upcoming Russian/French launch of the Andromède mission onboard the Soyuz TM33 spacecraft, on October 21, has been reduced. These restrictions apply primarily to the foreign media. Launch operations are proceeding normaly, according to Russian press agencies.

A Boeing crane operator was accidentally killed by a overhead crane on the mobile service tower of the Delta 4 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's SLC-37 launch facility. In July, another worker had been hit by a high pressure pipe and killed, also on SLC-37.

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Sweden's Saab Ericsson Space has decided to terminate its talks regarding the acquisition of a 65% share in Fokker Space BV, of The Netherlands, as no consensus could be reached on satisfactory guarantees for certain earlier commitments. Stork Group, which was due to take over the remaining 35%, ended its own negotiations.
Editor's note: Saab Ericsson Space, which provides onboard computers for the Ariane launchers as well as payload adapters and separation systems for Ariane, Atlas, Proton and Zenit launchers, had initiated the talks in November 2000 and planned to rename Fokker as Dutch Space Industry BV (DSI). Originally a member of the Fokker group, Fokker Space was established as an independent company in 1995 and thus went unaffected when the whole Fokker company collapsed in 1996. Mostly known for its solar arrays, Fokker Space provides structural elements for the Ariane launchers, including the thrust frame of the Ariane 5 core cryogenic stage.

Groupe SNPE reportedly expects to re-start some of its chemical production in its Toulouse facilities in early 2002. The production could resume for activities which are not based on phosgen and with new safety rules, mostly to limit the quantity of toxic or explosive materials stored in the facilities. Among these activities, which represent only one third of SNPE's production in its Toulouse plant, would be the production of monomethyl-hydrazine (MMH) for Ariane 5's upper stage and of ammonium perchlorate for solid propellants.
Editor's note: Groupe SNPE's facilities in Toulouse (Tolochimie and Isochem) have been closed since the explosion of the AZF (Atofina) fertilizer production plant on September 21.

United Technologies Corp. and Rosaviakosmos have signed a cooperation agreement for aviation and space activities. No details have been released yet but the agreement is likely to reinforce cooperation between UTC's Pratt&Whitney and Russian motorist NPO EnergoMash.
Editor's note: P&W and EnergoMash jointly operated the RD AmRoss LLC joint-venture to market Russian space engines in the United States. AmRoss is in charge of the export of EnergoMash's RD-180 engines for Lockheed Martin's Atlas 3 and Atlas 5 boosters.

Following the temporary closure of Groupe SNPE's production plants in Toulouse, the incorporation of the Herakles solid propulsion joint-venture with Snecma Moteurs is likely to be delayed to the second half of 2002 according to French trade press. Two SNPE facilities have been closed on September 21 after the explosion of the nearby AZF (Atofina) fertilizer production plant. Talks are underway to move the chemical plants to a less populated area.
Editor's note: Groupe SNPE's plants in Toulouse produced hydrazine, MMH and UDMH as well ammonium perchlorate for Ariane launch vehicles. Current stockpiles are sufficient for all remaining Ariane 4 launches and for more than one year of Ariane 5 launches. Secondary sources have been selected and qualified in order to prevent disruptions in supply.

General Electric Co. and Honeywell International announce that they have terminated their US$41-billion merger agreement. In July, European Commission regulators rejected the deal.

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Lockheed Martin and TRW have decided to pull the plug from their proposed US$3.7-billion Astrolink joint-venture after they failed to attract additional investors. Lockheed Martin has announced that it will not invest more than the US$400 million it poured in the project in May 1999. TRW and Italy's Telespazio invested US$250 million each in December 1999 and Liberty Media US$425 million in 2000.
Editor's note: Four Astrolink satellites were ordered to Lockheed Martin Commercial Space and launches were booked on Atlas and Proton vehicles for at least two of them (apparently with options for two more) with International Launch Services.

ESA is organizing a meeting of more than 300 earth observation and environment scientists on October 30-31 in Granada, Spain, to discuss and recommend the future Earth Explorer missions to be undertaken on behalf of the "Living Planet" program. Two core and one opportunity missions will be selected among five candidates:
• ACECHEM (Atmospheric Composition Explorer for CHEMistry and climate interaction), to study human pollution and its effects on the troposphere and the stratosphere (1,400-kg, Sun-synchronous, launch by Soyuz-Ikar);
• EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer), a joint mission with Japan to investigate the interaction between clouds, aerosol and radiation (1,600-kg, Sun-synchronous, launch by H-2A);
• SPECTRA (Surface Processes and Ecosystem Changes Through Response Analysis), to study the relationship between vegetation and climate change (850-kg, Sun-synchronous, launch by Rokot);
• WALES (Water vapour and Lidar Experiment in Space), to map atmospheric water vapour concentrations (1,500-kg, Sun-synchronous, launch by Soyuz-Ikar);
• WATS (Water vapour and temperature in the Troposphere and Stratosphere), a small satellites constellation to measure tropospheric and stratospheric humidity and temperature by monitoring GPS signals through atmospheric layers (twelve 150-kg microsatellites in low earth orbit).
The recommendations of missions will be proposed to ESA's Earth Science Advisory Committee and Earth Observation Program Board in November before undergoing full feasibility studies.
Editor's note: The first two missions already selected are the Earth's Gravity field and global Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), the Aeolus Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus).

As announced in June, NPO Yuzhnoye has signed a contract with the Egyptian government to build and launch a remote sensing satellite for Egypt. The 100-kg spacecraft will be lofted to a 668-km-high Sun-synchronous orbit by a MKK Kosmotras Dnepr 1 vehicle in 2003/2004.
Editor's note: This new satellite, which might have military applications, is different from the previously reported Desertsat science microsatellite to be manufactured by Italy's Carlo Gavazzi Space - on the basis of the Mita platform - and planned for launch in 2005 to conduct hydrologic and environmental observations on behalf of the Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Science.

Alcatel Space has signed a MoU with China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp. to increase its space cooperation with China. According to China Daily, quoting CASC officials, Alcatel will give priority to use of Chinese Chang Zheng ('Long March') launch vehicles to loft its satellites while CASC will give priority to the application of satellite parts manufactured by Alcatel on its own spacecraft.
Editor's note: The U.S. State Department has not released yet any new exportation license for satellites or satellite parts intended to fly atop Chinese launchers. The prospects of seeing such licenses issued in the near future remain limited.

GKNPTs Khrunichev is reportedly looking for an additional US$50 million to complete the manufacturing of the FGB-2 module. Initially built as a back-up for the Zarya (FGB-1) module of the International Space Station, the TKS-type spacecraft is about 70% complete according to Khrunichev. If the funds can be secured shiortly, FGB-2 could be available for launch in 2003, on a Proton vehicle, on behalf of Rosaviakosmos and RKK Energiya to replace the Docking & Stowage Module on the Russian segment of the ISS.
Editor's note: FGB-2 has been proposed as a commercial module by Boeing and Khrunichev.

Arianespace is reportedly ready to invest US$5 million in Essel Group's Agrani Satellite Services Ltd. venture to support the financing of its US$250-million Agrani 2 satellite system, according to Indian press. Alcatel Space, which was selected to deliver the spacecraft in orbit plans to invest US$15 million in the project. The satellite could be launched by an Ariane vehicle 19 months after the financing is completed.
Editor's note: Agrani 2 is the former Thaicom 4 satellite which has been in storage at Alcatel Space's facilities in Cannes since 1997. The Spacebus 3000-type spacecraft had been built under an option to the Thaicom 3 procurement contract with Shinawatra Satellite (now Shin Satellite). The satellite will be modified with 24 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders to provide direct broadcasting, Internet access and other communication services to India and surrounding regions. As Afro-Asian Satellite Communications Ltd. (ASC), Agrani had ordered two HS-601-class satellites for mobile communication services from Hughes Space & Communications (now Boeing Satellite Systems) in January 1995. The US$700-million deal fell short has ASC could not raise the necessary funding. In May 1998, ASC signed a contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems for a single A2100AX satellite but again the deal did not materialize despite backing financial institutions led by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) as the U.S. State Department denied to issue an export license for the satellite.

NASA has selected three advanced technologies to be flown on three different spacecraft in 2004 under the US$24.8-million Space Technology 6 (ST-6) project, part of JPL's New Millennium Program, to demonstrate autonomous satellite capabilities for formation flying. The selected technologies are an Autonomous Rendezvous in Low-Earth Orbit system, designed by Scientific Systems Co. Inc., which will be flown by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory on its XSS-11 microsatellite; JPL's Autonomous Sciencecraft Constellation control and decision-making software, to be flown on U.S. Air Force's TechSat 21 constellation; and a Low-Power Avionics Sensor Suite, developed by The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and featuring a miniature star camera and a microscopic gyro for attitude determination. This latter experiment will be flown on a Space Shuttle mission.
Editor's note: The Lockheed Martin Astronautics-built XSS-11 will pave the way for an XSS-12 mission in 2006/2007 which will involve a mothership and two microspacecraft to demonstrate autonomous on-orbit servicing of a satellite.

NASA's Langley Research Center is officially conducting a technical assessment on the use of an aerial platform for scientific operations on Mars on behalf of the Mars Scout program. LaRC is seeking partners to design and develop science instrumentation for such a mission as well as the aerial platform itself and its aeroshell.
Editor's note: NASA plans to release the first Mars Scout announcement of opportunity in February 2002 n order to gtadualy downselect mission concepts through May 2003. The actual launch period for these missions will extend from December 2006 to November 2007.

Star One, the former satellite operations unit of Embratel, has selected Alcatel Space to build its first Ku-band communication satellite, Star One C1. This 4,100-kg spacecraft, based on the Spacebus 3000B3 bus and carrying 44 transponders, will be launched in late 2003 or early 2004 to a geostationary slot at 67°W. Star One will procure a launch service later.
Editor's note: The new Star One series of satellites was earlier announced as Brasilsat C. A second satellite is reportedly planned. Star One is 19.99% owned by Luxembourg-based Société Européenne des Satellites which has booked two firm launch contracts with Arianespace for unidentified payloads. All previous Brasilsat satellites have flown on Ariane launch vehicles.

Russian military officials have denied that its plans to launch several military observation satellites in the near future were linked to the current international crisis. The launch plan was agreed with Rosaviakosmos and approved by the government well beforehand.
Editor's note: According to earlier press reports, Russia plans to launch a military communication satellite on a Proton K vehicle on October 6, a missile detection satellite or a military communication satellite on a Molniya M vehicle on October 11 and a military observation satellite on a Soyuz U vehicle at an unspecified date.

NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have selected Lockheed Martin Astronautics to design and build the 1,800-kg Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe due for launch in August 2005. The contract, valued at US$145 million, covers development and operations. NASA will procure the launch separately, presumably on a Boeing Delta 4 or a Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 launch vehicle.
Editor's note: LMA was already in charge of building numerous of NASA's Mars probes including the two Viking landers (1975), the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter (1996), the Mars Climate Orbiter (1998, failed), the Mars Polar Lander (1999, failed) and the Mars Odyssey orbiter (2001).

The U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded a contract extension worth about US$135 million to an industrial team consisting in Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, TRW Space & Electronics and Boeing Satellite Systems to extend the system definition phase for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite Communications System through the end of December 2001.
Editor's note: AEHF satellites (a.k.a. Milstar 3 or Advanced Wideband Satellites/AWS) will be designed to provide secure and survivable communication links to U.S. military forces during all levels of conflict and will form the protected backbone of the U.S. Department of Defense's military satellite communication architecture. First launch is tentatively due in 2008.

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The U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center (SMC), in Los Angeles AFB, officially becomes part of the U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) in order to improve the management of U.S. military space systems. SMC, which is in charge of procuring space systems and launch services for the U.S. Department of Defense, was previously reporting to the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command.

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