NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
Nov 7 2005, 03:55 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
NASA Dawn Asteroid Mission Told To ‘Stand Down’ .
The decision to stand down, according to SPACE.com sources, appears related to budget-related measures and workforce cutbacks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051107_dawn_qown.html Rakhir |
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Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Feb 13 2006, 11:36 PM
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Excerpt from the February 13, 2006, issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology:
Space Technology Orbital Enhances Satellite Manufacturing Facilities to Meet Demand Aviation Week & Space Technology 02/13/2006, page 64 Frank Morring, Jr. Dulles, Va. [...] "ALONG WITH THE Pegasus-class spacecraft built on Orbital's MicroStar and LEOStar buses, the company is well along on its first planetary spacecraft, which is sized for a Delta II-heavy. Built for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Dawn spacecraft is a Discovery-class mission that will use three xenon-ion engines to thrust out to the main asteroid belt on a 10-year mission that will take it to the large asteroids Vesta and Ceres. The spacecraft is built around a composite tank with a titanium liner designed to hold 900 lb. of xenon fuel for the solar-electric propulsion system. "A couple of technical issues have left the Dawn mission in limbo for the moment, although its planetary launch window remains open until the second half of 2007. NASA is reviewing the xenon tank for safety, after test failures on similar hardware, and is rechecking the long-term reliability of the power processing unit. "'In both of those cases, we think we see our way clear to getting to a flightworthy situation,' says John McCarthy, Orbital's program manager for the Dawn spacecraft. "IN KEEPING WITH NASA's overall push beyond low Earth orbit under President Bush's Moon, Mars and Beyond exploration initiative, Danko sees planetary spacecraft like Dawn as a promising growth area for Orbital's satellite-manufacturing operation. "'In the satellite business I think growth is going to come basically from two places: one, from the geostationary satellite business, or [two,] from winning a larger market share within the government program,' he says. 'We won the Dawn program several years ago. That was our first entry into our planetary market, and we think we've done a very credible job there. We're looking to get more programs in the deep-space planetary market, which for us is a larger market share of the NASA overall budget.'" |
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