Instrument calibration is expected to be completed in February.Ĭorot’s main observing telescope is scheduled to remain locked on the Monoceros constellation and the surrounding region until April. 27, is on a 30-month mission to map stars and search for Earth-like planets orbiting them. The satellite, built for the French space agency, CNES, and launched Dec. The quality is as good as simulated images,” Michel Auvergne, science payload manager for Corot, said in a Jan. The picture “is even better than I dreamed of. 18 produced its first image, of the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn, located near Orion. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which also paid for the Falcon 1’s unsuccessful debut last March.įirst Image From Corot Exceeds Expectationsįrance’s Corot planet-hunting satellite on Jan. The upcoming launch is a demonstration flight paid for by the U.S. Overall, the SpaceX team is quite happy with the smooth progress so far.” “Given the large number of robustness improvements and the fact that our vehicle/pad health verification system has increased from about 30 checks to almost 1,000, shifts in the launch date are to be expected. “As I’ve mentioned previously, don’t hold your breath for this launch,” Musk said. Musk said the company is now planning for a mid-February launch attempt, but emphasized that it is far from certain that the Falcon will actually lift off then. 24 when the U.S. military is expected to begin preparations for an upcoming Minuteman missile test. SpaceX, which had reserved a two-day window for the launch attempt, loses use of the range for a while starting Jan. After that, he said, the rocket will be taken back to its hangar to permit a thorough investigation of the thrust vector control issue. Since the suspect component does not come into play during the static firing, SpaceX intends to go ahead and conduct the test between Jan. The anomaly was discovered during a final checkout of the Falcon 1 in preparation for the four-second static firing of the vehicle’s main engine. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, in an update posted on the company’s Web site, said the decision to postpone was due to concerns about the thrust-vector-control pitch actuator on the Falcon 1’s second stage.

22 launch from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The announcement came the same day the El Segundo, Calif.-based company was preparing to conduct a static fire test of the rocket in preparation for a what had been a scheduled Jan. 19 that it would not attempt its second launch of its Falcon 1 rocket before mid February. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced Jan. “And if we don’t get sufficient support from European governments, there may not even be room enough for one.”įalcon-1 Launch Attempt Pushed to Mid February “We continue to believe that there is not room enough in Europe for two liquid propulsion companies,” Bechat said. Astrium, owned by Europe’s EADS aerospace giant, has liquid propulsion facilities in Lampoldshausen and Ottobrunn, Germany. Vinci testing continues at Snecma’s Vernon, France site and at Germany’s Lampoldshausen facility with financing from the European Space Agency and the French space agency, CNES.īut full-scale development has not been authorized, and Snecma officials are concerned that a scheduled 2008 meeting of ESA governments to decide a multiyear spending package might overlook Vinci.īechat said that in addition to providing a restartable engine for Ariane 5, Vinci might be adapted as the second stage of the Italian-led Vega rocket, now in development and scheduled for a first launch in 2008.īechat also reiterated his proposal that Europe’s two principal specialists in liquid-fueled rocket propulsion, Snecma and Astrium of Germany, merge into a single company. Today’s Ariane 5 ECA rocket can place two telecommunications satellites weighing a combined 9,500 kilograms into geostationary transfer orbit.

The current Ariane 5 rocket uses a modified version of the upper-stage engine also used on the Ariane 4 rocket, which has been retired.ĭevelopment of Vinci would increase the Ariane 5’s payload capacity by some 1,500 kilograms. The program’s full development, however, was sidelined asĮurope sought to stabilize the initial Ariane 5 design. Snecma, a rocket motor manufacturer, has been developing the Vinci engine for several years in cooperation with its partners Volvo of Sweden and the launcher division of Astrium in Germany. Bechat said the technology also could be used for the Vega small-satellite launcher now in development. 16 to renew their backing for development of a restartable upper-stage motor for Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket. Snecma Chief Executive Jean-Paul Bechat urged European governments Jan.

Snecma Chief Urges Europe To Fund Vinci Upper Stage

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