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July 30
- The failure of the Proton K vehicle on July 5 was caused by a particle of aluminium entering the turbopump of the second stage’s engine number three. According to Anatoli Kiselev, director general of GKNPTs Khrunichev, talking to Russian newspaper Izvestia, "the fire was started by a stray of aluminium particle in a seam between the cover and the apparatus as a result of a defect in a weld." A particle weighing less than 0.2 grams could have caused the failure. Nevertheless, Khrunichev expects to resume launches in late August and to loft four commercial payloads on behalf of International Launch Services (ILS) before the end of the year.
- Japan’s Sankei newspaper, quoting unnamed Japanese and U.S. sources, reports that North Korea is improving and expanding facilitiues at its ballistic missile launch site. New facilities include propellant storage and fuelling stations.
- The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science introduces the H.R. 2607 bill, to be discussed as the ‘Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act of 1999′ which proposes to give a 10-year extension third-party liability regimes for commercial space transportation activities in the United States which were due to expire at the end of this year. The current regime provides a US$1.5-billion coverage beyond limits of launch providers’ own insurance coverage.
- The Russian Government agrees to pay US$287,000 to Kazakhstan in compensation for damage caused by the crash of the upper stages and payload of a Proton K vehicle on July 5.
- NASA issues preliuminary requirements for a Crew/Cargo Transfer Vehicle (CCTV) as part of Phase 3 of the NASA Space Transportation Architecture Studies. The CCTV would be a space vehicle to carry humans and/or cargo between Earth and orbit as a low-cost early complement por replacement to the Space Shuttle. The requirements include the capability to transport four crew to the International Space Station, four times a year, but also crews and goods to higher orbits to service future Lunar or Mars vehicles or even facilities at L1 or L2 Lagrangian points. Availability is due no later than 2010.
- In addition to compensation for the crash of a Proton K vehicle on its territory and payment of arrears for the rent of the Baykonur Cosmodrome by Russia, the government of Kazakhstan asks for an interesment in the launch contracts involving vehicles departing from Baykonur.
- Arianespace announces its plan to order 20 Ariane 5 vehicles from European space industry. This order will be composed of two batches of 10 vehicles with plans to later extend the procurement to 50 vehicles. Delivery of these new launchers is due from late 2001 to 2004 at a rate of 8 to 10 per year. Firm production contracts will be announced shortly. These new launchers will be of the new Ariane 5 Plus series which integrates upgrades from the Arianespace-sponsored Perfo 2000 effort and the Ariane 5 Evolution program funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). These two programs have been merged with the Ariane 5 Plus program decided by ESA’s ministerial council in May in order to rationalize the resources. The restructured Ariane 5 Plus program is now managed by Arianespace’s Ariane Development Division.
- As a consequence, as soon as late 2001, Ariane 5 vehicles will be available with the new ESC-A cryogenic upper stage to loft up to 10,000 kg of payload in dual launch to the geostationary transfer orbit. A restartable EPS-V bipropellant upper stage will be also available for deployment in low- and medium-Earth orbits.
- Arianespace has already ordered 14 Ariane 5 vehicles in June 1995, 13 of which are still to be launched.
- Launch of NASA‘s space shuttle Columbia is aborted 7 sec. before lift off from Kennedy Space Center‘s LC-39B after an excessive concentration of gaseous hydrogen was reported in the orbiter’s aft compartment. Manual cutoff was ordered half a second before ignition of Boeing Rocketdyne SSME engines. NASA reports that the launch call off was actually triggered by a faulty sensor which recorded a 640 ppm concentration while the actual level was about 114 ppm, i.e. well below allowable limits. A new launch attempt has been set for July 22. This 48-hour scrub is dictated by the need to replace external igniters which are used to burn the gaseous hydrogen vented on the pad during engine chill down and start up to prevent any explosion at actual ignition.
- The U.S. House of Representatives has included a US$3-million grant to California’s Spaceport Authority in the current defense appropriation bill. The grant will support the building of a universal launch complex for the California commercial spaceport located within Vandenberg AFB.
- Aviation Week & Space Technology reports that Space Systems/Loral is planning to pull its Telstar 7 satellite from the maiden flight of Lockheed Martin Astronautics‘ new Atlas 3A vehicle, now due in September, in order to launch it on an Ariane vehicle. Space Systems/Loral currently holds three firm contracts with Arianespace including two which are not assigned to any identified payload. All Atlas launches are currently delayed until completion of the investigation on the failure of a Pratt&Whitney RL10B-2 cryogenic engine on Boeing‘s second Delta 3 vehicle on May 5. The Atlas 3A features a single RL10A-4 engine on its Cen,taur upper stage.
- NASA‘s Glenn Research Center has awarded a US$341,403 contract to Boeing Rocketdyne to develop a Hall effect plasma thruster.