September 8, 1997

September 8, 1997

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HEADLINE NEWS

Global Surveyor Nears Mars

By BRUCE A. SMITH5 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Hot Bird 3 to Boost Eutelsat’s TV Services

By MICHAEL A. TAVERNA4 min

HEADLINE NEWS

French Aviation in Tumult

By PIERRE SPARACO4 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Global Surveyor Nears Mars

LOS ANGELES The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is scheduled for orbit insertion this week, the first step of a comprehensive, two-year science mission expected to greatly expand knowledge about the surface and atmosphere of Mars while setting the stage for future exploration.

By BRUCE A. SMITH5 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Hot Bird 3 to Boost Eutelsat’s TV Services

KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA An Ariane 44LP booster has successfully launched the third in a family of new-generation high-power television satellites that Eutelsat is counting on to expand direct-to-home (DTH), cable-head-end and community (SMATV) antenna television service in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

By MICHAEL A. TAVERNA4 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

French Aviation in Tumult

The Jospin government is seeking to reconcile left-wing dogmas and free enterprise

By PIERRE SPARACO4 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Spaceplane Low-Speed Testbed Rolled Out

SEAL BEACH, CALIF. Boeing North American rolled out a low-speed testbed for its Air Force mini-spaceplane design last week, and plans to start flying it in November. The demonstrator program is funded by the Air Force’s Phillips and Wright laboratories, with Wright Laboratory executing the $5.2-million, 15-month contract with Boeing North American.

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Cassini Removed From Booster to Repair Huygens Insulation

Cape Canaveral Launch of the NASA Cassini mission to Saturn originally scheduled for Oct. 6 will likely be delayed several days because of apparent minor damage to the spacecraft’s European Space Agency Huygens Titan descent probe. Titan is a planet-sized moon of Saturn, and Huygens is to photograph its surface at up to 3-ft. resolution during a parachute descent after Cassini arrives at Saturn in 2004.

By Craig Covault3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Lufthansa Nears Final Step Toward Full Privatization

By Pierre Speraco3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

New Tomahawks Offer Low Price and Agility

WASHINGTON The Pentagon is asking Congress to approve shifting funds to pay for a new version of the ship-launched, Tomahawk cruise missile. The Block 4 “Tactical Tomahawk” should cost less, be quickly retargeted and carry new warheads to strike a greater variety of targets.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Pathfinder Controllers Adjusting to Solar-only Rover Operations

Los Angeles The battery on the rover Sojourner—which supplies power for analysis of rock composition on the surface of Mars—is depleted and cannot be recharged. The 300-watt-hour lithium thionyl chloride battery primarily was used to make night-time measurements with the rover’s Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument when there was no power available from the rover’s solar cells.

By Bruce A. Smith3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Military Group Mirrors Customer Organization

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HEADLINE NEWS

Lessons From Mars Observer

Los Angeles The Mars Global Surveyor is to fire its retrorocket on Sept. 11 to place the spacecraft into an initial orbit around Mars, which will be reduced by a fourmonth period of aerobraking to a final mapping orbit. The point of high anxiety will come on Sept. 9, when the dormant main engine system is pressurized in preparation for the Sept. 11 orbit insertion firing.
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