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Following two consecutive launch failures of the H-2, the predecessor of the H-2A, in February 1998 and November 1999, Hughes cancelled its contract at no cost in July 2000 and recovered the US$36 million it had already paid. SS/L got a US$7.5-million refund in December 2000 when it cancelled two of its ten launch reservations.

The inaugural flight of Boeing's new Delta 4 launch vehicle has been postponed from July 15 to August 31, apparently to give more time to prepare the launcher. Effects of this delay on the following Delta 4 flights is not known yet.
Editor's note: The flight was initially due in January 2001 but was postponed to April and November 2001 and eventually re-set for April 30, 2002, as the program experienced technical hurdles. Earlier this year, it was moved to July 15, officially upon request by Eutelsat who is expected to fly its W5 satellite atop the new vehicle.

Editor's note: Despite numerous press reports, no firm payload has been announced yet for the first flight of the Delta 4. Eutelsat's W5 satellite (the refurbished W1) is often considered as the best candidate but Eutelsat refused to confirm any launch commitment.

Thailand's Shin Satellite has selected Arianespace for the launch of its iPStar multimedia satellite. This 40-Gbps satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, will fly atop an Ariane 5 vehicle in late 2003. Shin will pay less than US$90 million for the launch. The total budget for the iPSTAR program is US$350 million.
Editor's note: Arianespace launched all three previous Shin satellites: Thaicom 1 in 1993, Thaicom 2 in 1994 and Thaicom 3 in 1997.

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The U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center has decided to postpone the launch of its next Lockheed Martin Titan 4B vehicle due to an unspecified problem with its classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, presumably a geostationary signal intelligence satellite. The launch was due on June 3 and could slip for more than a few days. The Titan 4B vehicle, in a 401B configuration with a Centaur cryogenic upper stage, is sitting on its pad at Cape Canaveral's SLC-40 launch complex.

The Indian cabinet has approved the development of the GSLV Mk3 launcher by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The Rs 24.98-billion (US$510-million) program will lead to the development of a launcher able to loft 4,400-kg satellites to geostationary transfer orbit by 2007/2008 with a growth potential toward a 6,000 kg payload capability through minor improvements. The GSLV Mk3 will feature a L100 core stage powered by two improved Vikas engines and two S200 boosters loaded with 200 tons of solid propellant each. Its C25 cryogenic upper stage will carry 25 tons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. A 25% part of the budget will be spared for "foreign exchange components" in order to ensure a launch rate of two flights per year according to Indian press reports.
Editor's note: The GSLV Mk1 is the current version of India's geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle derived from the previous PSLV with a Russian 12KRB cryogenic upper stage provided by GKNPTs Khrunichev. It flew once, on April 18, 2001. The GSLV Mk2 will be an improved version featuring an indigenously-developed C12.5 cryogenic upper stage. Its maiden flight is due in late 2003.

  
Delta 4 and Atlas 5
(Boeing/LMA)

Under the current schedule, the first EELV mission for Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 is due in 2005.

The U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center has decided to postpone the launch of a Navstar Global Positioning System satellite from May 8 to June 8 at the earliest due to concerns with the new Automatic Destruct System (ADS) on its Boeing Delta 2/7925 carrier vehicle. The decision was made just after a U.S. Air Force inspection of the installation procedures for this upgraded flight termination system on the first Delta 2H vehicle, due for launch in January 2003. The inspection showed that the ADS could become inactive in one failure scenario involving premature separation of the payload fairing and the fairing clamshells damaging the self-destruct system on the second stage. This failure scenario was not covered by the previous flight termination system either.

Titan 23G
(LMA)

The 2022 version will fly in 2003 to launch the MT-Sat 1R meteorology and air-traffic control satellite for Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport (MoLIT). A 212 version with a large Liquid Rocket Booster (actually a first stage with two LE-7A engines) is also under study to increase the payload capability to 7,500 kg to geoastationary transfer orbit but it could be replaced by an evolution of the 204 version with a widebody first stage (see April 6 for detail). A formal decision between the two concepts is expected in June.

Titan 4B
(LMA)

  
H-2A widebody concept and
H-2A/212 (NASDA)

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The U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency confirms the award of six nine-month study contracts for the Responsive Access, Small Cargo & Affordable Launch (Rascal) system. The objective of the Rascal study is to design a two-stage vehicle able to loft 75-kg payloads to a 500-km-altitude orbit for US$750,000 with a capability to launch from a conventional runway 24 hours after the arrival of the payload. The concepts must be based on a Reusable Launch Vehicle as booster stage and an Expendable Rocket Vehicle as upper stage. Northrop Grumman was awarded a US$1.9-million contract for a feasibility study on its proposed concept, based on low-cost RLVs and ERVs with high-powered, short-cycle propulsion systems. The study also includes evaluation of the technologies required to stage the ERV and control the RLV in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Orbital Sciences Corp. will be in charge of the ERV development. Spath Engineering will also be part of the team. Delta Velocity was also awarded a contract, worth US$1.25 million, to study its own version of Rascal, with a modified fighter aircraft as the RLV and a two-stage ERV. Delta Velocity's team includes Allied Aerospace Industries Inc. (A2I2), ATK Tactical Systems, Athena Technologies, CSA Engineering, Advanced Project Research Inc. (APRI) and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The other awardees are Coleman Aerospace (with Vela Technology Development , Pan Aero and XCOR Aerospace), Pioneer Rocketplane (with Scaled Composites, Microcosm, Orbitec and HMX), Space Access (with APRI, Honeywell and Microcosm) and Space Launch Corp. (with Scaled Composites). Each received a contract worth US$1-2 million. Following the initial feasibility study, two teams will be downselected in early 2003 for a 12-month definition study and a single contractor will be picked in early 2004 for actual development and test flight.
Editor's note: A US$70-million budget is considered to build and fly two demonstrators by 2006. The use of a modified fighter aircraft (a Convair F-106 "Delta Dart") as a reusable first stage was proposed in 1996 by Kelly Space & Technology for its Eclipse Sprint and Eclipse Express launch system.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) announces that its subsidiary Galaxy Express Corp., in charge of development, marketing and operations of Japan's new GX medium-lift launcher, has increased its capital to J¥384 million (US$2.9 million) by late March. Further increases are due in the future and new investors might join in, such as Lockheed Martin of the United States. Maiden flight of the GX vehicle is due in March 2006.
Editor's note: Full development of the GX is estimated at J´57-63 billion (US$430-475 million), of which the Japanese government will provide one-third through the National Space Development Agency, the Ministries of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). IHI's partners in the Galaxy Express venture are Kokusai Sohko Kakubishi, IHI Aerospace (the former Nissan Aerospace), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, and Fuji Heavy Industries. Lockheed Martin Astronautics will provide the vehicle's first stage.

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Minuteman 3
(U.S. Air Force)

An Orbital Sciences Corp. Storm 2 ballistic missile target was launched from White Sands Missile Range as part of a theater missile defense test. The Lockheed Martin Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) intended to intercept it failed to launch. The operation was part of a dual interception test conducted on behalf of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Command. A second PAC-3 successfully intercepted a Raytheon PAC-2 missile. Another interception test is due in May.
Editor's note: Introduced in 1997, the Storm 2 single-stage vehicle is based on a decommissioned SR19 Minuteman 2 second stage and the reentry vehicle from a decommissioned Pershing 2 missile.

Trident 2 (D5)
(LMM&S)

India will set up a Strategic Nuclear Command by June to take over control of the country's nuclear arsenal, including new missile units created within Indian Army to operate the Agni ballistic missiles which will be placed under the newly formed Army Strategic Rocket Command.

QRLV-2
(U.S. Air Force)

QRLV vehicles are designed from single- or two-stage combinations of several available rocket motors: GenCorp Aerojet's M56 and SR19 (2nd stage of Minuteman 2 and 3), Alliant Techsystems' M57 (3rd stage of Minuteman 1 and 2) and ATK Thiokol's Castor 4B. Two-stage QRLV designs for have been flown under U.S. Air Force's previous Atmospheric Interceptor Technology (ait) program, also from Kodiak, with the ait-1 (SR19/M57A1) and ait-2 (Castor 4B/M57A1) missions in November 5, 1998, and September 15, 1999. One QRLV launch is planned each year through 2008.

TRW was awarded a five-year, US$29-million contract by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to develop and test fly a liquid-fuelled booster stage which could be used as a representative target for theater missile defense and later national missile defense systems. The booster, fuelled by non-toxic propellants (hydrogen peroxide and kerosene), will simulate "Scud" types of missiles.
Editor's note: TRW was selected for this contract on September 26, 2001, under the second phase of its Liquid Booster Development Program, then on behalf of U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC). TRW will compete with Orbital Sciences Corp., also selected by SMDC, for a following production contract, expected to be worth US$100-million over 6 years. 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.

U.S. Air Force's Ogden Air Logistics Center awarded a US$65-million contract to TRW Space & Missile Systems to extend the life of the Rapid Execution & Combat Targeting Service onboard the Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The U.S. Department of Defense has formed a National Industry Team (NIT) to consolidate all research and development activities for its missile defense programs. The NIT is led by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as the two lead contractors, and also includes TRW, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and various smaller industrial contractors, national laboratories and universities. The objective is to integrate a large number of missile defense platforms and sensors into a layered defense system to intercept incoming missiles during boost, midcourse and terminal phases of flight. A tight schedule has been set as an initial capability is planned in 2004-2006. According to DoD estimates, the previously separate Airborne Laser (ABL), Navy Area Theater Ballistic Missile Defense, National Missile Defense, Navy Theater Wide, Space-Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS-Low), and Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) programs would have cost a total of US$59.1 billion to complete. Now the consolidated Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) would cost "only" US$47.2 billion.
Editor's note: Since Germany and Italy are involved in some theater missile defense systems like the Medium Extended Area Defense (MEADS), based on Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 missile, the NIT could later integrate some European contractors.

The U.S. Department of Defense is considering the possibility to mount nuclear weapons on missile defense interceptors in case the current hit-to-kill system cannot meet its required capabilty to discriminate warheads from decoys, according to the Washington Post. The nuclear interceptors are also considered more efficient to ensure the destruction of warheads carrying biological or chemical warfare. The viability of this concept will be investigated by the Defense Science Board once it has completed its current review of the missile defense programs during the third quarter.
Editor's note: A missile defense system based on interceptors carrying nuclear weapons was developed in the 1950s and 1960s with the Spartan and Sprint programs. These two systems were fielded in 1976 to protect Minuteman launch sites in North Dakota and withdrawn 4 months later. Nuclear interceptions could result in ionized clouds and electromagnetic shock waves eventually blinding ground-based radar systems and scrambling electronic equipment. Moreover, very large nuclear warheads would be needed to eradicate chemical/biological agents in the atmosphere and nuclear explosions could instead further disseminate the spores and contaminated particles.

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Northrop Grumman air-launched concepts
(Northrop Grumman)

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has completed the first milestone review of its US$4.8-billion Space Launch Initiative and downselected 15 promising architectures for future reusable launch systems. This Initial Architecture Technology Review analyzed and evaluated competing 2nd-generation reusable space transportation architectures and technologies proposed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and a Northrop Grumman/Orbital Sciences Corp. team against NASA and commercial mission requirements, as well as safety and cost goals. The selected architectures are mostly two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) systems powered by liquid oxygen/kerosene or cryogenic engines or a combination of both.

Orbital Sciences
Space Taxi concept on Delta 4H
(OSC)

Russia's NPO Molniya has initiated work on the metallic thermal protection systems for its proposed MAKS reusable, air-launched spaceplane. A 60% scale mock-up of the MAKS has been completed and NPO Energomash is still developing the vehicle's RD-701 tripropellant engine. The MAKS will be air-launched from the back of an Antonov An-225 "Mriya" carrier aircraft. A maiden flight is tentatively planned by 2008, if funding can be completed.
Editor's note: In March 2000, the Russian government was reportedly providing 37% of the program's budget with a first launch planned in 2006.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center is testing the Smart Umbilical Mating System which could serve as a next-generation umbilical system for future vehicles developed under the Space Launch Initiative. The automated SMUS, under development by Rohwetter Systems since 1999, incorporates connectors with a mate, demate and remate capability to reduce pre-launch processing time and enhance flexibility.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center plans to contract with Nielsen Engineering & Research (NEAR) to conduct engineering studies regarding the separation of rocket stages from aircraft in flight. These studies will include simulation of the dynamics and separation path of the rocket stage relative to the aircraft and development of conceptual design of separation systems and separation trade studies such as varying wing loading for the rocket stages and varying flight conditions at separation.

Startup space transportation company XCOR Aerospace has acquired selected assets of Rotary Rocket, including full and exclusive rights to all technologies it developed as well as patents for various reusable launch vehicle systems. XCOR plans to use some of the Rotary Rocket technology in its own vehicle and engine designs and may also license technology to clients for other projects. Among claimed technological innovations developed by Rotary Rocket and acquired by XCOR are high-performance liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket engine designs, composite liquid oxygen tank technology, and rocket engine injector technology.
Editor's note: From 1997 to January 2001, Rotary Rocket raised and spent about US$30 million to develop a manned, reusable, single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle, dubbed Roton 9C. The company claimed to be able to build and operate a fleet of Roton vehicles, for a mere US$150 million. Only little preliminary development on a propulsion system due to boost the 180-t vehicle to orbit was reported in 1997/98. Most of the company's public efforts were focused on demonstrating the feasibility of a rotor-powered vertical landing design through three test flights of the US$5-million Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle demonstrator in July, September and October of 1999. XCOR Aerospace is designing a reusable suborbital launch system which could be turned into a suborbital space tourism vehicle or a microsatellite launch system. Since July 2001, under the EZ-Rocket demonstration project, it has been conducting nine test flights of two 1.8-kN XR-4A3 engines mounted on a modified EZ aircraft.

NASA officials announce that the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle program is officially being shut down. The reentry test flight of the X-38 Vehicle 201 demonstrator onboard a Space Shuttle had recently been delayed to 2005, precluding any operational use of a X-38-derived CRV before 2008. According to NASA officials statements, the technologies developed for the X-38 will be applied to a future vehicle, probably a multi-purpose Crew Transport Vehicle (CTV). New options to operate the International Space Station with a crew of 6/7 without any available CRV are under review, including the purchase of additional Soyuz TMA vehicles from Russia. A report is expected by late May.
Editor's note: NASA invested US$185 million in the X-38 development and the European Space Agency contributed for €82 million, including €27 million in components for the V201 demonstrator, all of which have reportedly been delivered, some through Germany's own Technology for Future Space Transportation Systems (Tetra) managed by DLR aerospace research agency. RKK Energiya reportedly asks for a US$65-million fee per additional Soyuz.

NASA's Glenn Research Center is consulting the industry to define specifications for advanced avionics technologies to support the Space Launch Initiative. GRC has issued a request for information regarding the feasibility of three main elements: an advanced modular avionics Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) that could serve as a building block for the control and data handling system onboard a 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle and would be adaptable to any vehicle avionics architecture, a high-speed data bus with deterministic protocol, and advanced real-time software techniques with associated verification processes.

China's third prototype Shenzhou manned spaceship successfully reentered and landed in Inner Mongolia at 08:51Z, after 108 orbits. The service module was jettisoned after deorbiting and destroyed during reentry. The autonomous orbital module was released in orbit. It is expected to perform several maneuvers and remain in operations for six to nine months. Shenzhou 3 was launched by a CZ-2F vehicle on March 25.
Editor's note: Pictures of the Shenzhou 3 capsule were released shortly after landing as they were for Shenzhou 1 in 1999. The absence of pictures from the Shenzhou 2 capsule in January 2001, suggests a failure.

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NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center plans to hire B.G. Smith & Associates for engineering support to the Fission Propulsion Project. This support will encompass the definition of technologies required for nuclear electric propulsion as well as for the definition of a flight demonstrator plan.

Editor's note: EnergoMash is currently under contract with Lockheed Martin to deliver up to 101 engines for the Atlas 3 and 5 vehicles. Initially, under the EELV procurement, Lockheed Martin had to provide a 100%-U.S. production capability for the Atlas 5 vehicle as soon as the very first flight. Over the years, this capability has been regularly postponed as the cost of a U.S.-built RD-180 appeared to be several times that of a Russian built engine. In 2000, the domestic production capability was announced in 2003. Recently, it was not planned before 2008/2010. The RD-180 is not the only part of the Atlas 5 to be built outside the United States. The 5.4-m-diameter payload fairings are supplied by Contraves Space in Switzerland and interstage adapters are built by EADS CASA Espacio in Spain.