| T.R | Title | User | Personal
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| 635.1 | Brazil's first satellite in Earth orbit | VERGA::KLAES | Life, the Universe, and Everything | Thu Feb 11 1993 12:55 | 63 |
| Article: 2963
From: [email protected] (IRENE BROWN)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.news.aviation,clari.news.military
Subject: Pegasus rocket launches Brazilian environmental satellite
Date: 9 Feb 93 14:45:03 GMT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (UPI) - An unusual winged rocket launched from
an airborne B-52 jet carried a Brazilian environmental satellite into
orbit Tuesday in the third flight of the commercially built booster.
Soaring 43,500 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, B-52 pilot and former
shuttle astronaut Gordon Fullerton released the 49-foot-long Pegasus
rocket from beneath the right wing of the massive, eight-engine jet at
9:30 a.m. EST.
Problems at a radar tracking station in Bermuda delayed the B-52
takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center and the Pegasus launch about 75
minutes.
In a five-second free-fall, the white rocket dropped about 350 feet
through clear skies before the first of three solid fuel motors fired,
catapulting the booster and its 253-pound payload into space.
Orbiting about 550 miles above the planet, the satellite,
built and owned by the government of Brazil, is to be used to collect
environmental data from ground sensors in the Amazon River Basin and
surrounding rain forests.
The first of four environmental and remote sensing spacecraft planned
for Brazil, the Satelite de Coleta de Dados will save researchers trips
into the 2 million square-mile remote region to collect information
about rainfall, temperature and other environmental factors that help
scientists monitor the health of the endangered land.
``This will put Brazil into the space era,'' said Roberto da Cunha,
coordinator of international relations for Brazil's National Institute
of Space Research.
The satellite is the first built by Brazil, which has invested about
$20 million in the program, including $13.5 million for the Pegasus
launch service.
Tuesday's flight also marked an important milestone for Pegasus
developer Orbital Sciences Corp. of Fairfax, Va., which was seeking to
regain investors' and customers' confidence after a troubled second
Pegasus mission in July 1991. Technical problems in separating the
rocket's first and second stage motors caused the payload -- seven small
satellites for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- to be
placed in useable, but short-lived lower orbits.
The system since has been redesigned, and the government expects to
resume its Pegasus launches later this year.
Orbital Sciences' first flight of Pegasus in April 1990 was
successful.
Tuesday's mission was the first Pegasus flight for a non-U.S.
government customer and the first off the Florida coast. Previous
mission were based at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Orbital Sciences markets Pegasus as a less-expensive, quicker
alternative to traditional ground-based launch systems.
|
| 635.2 | Brazil launches its own VS-40 rocket | VERGA::KLAES | Life, the Universe, and Everything | Mon Apr 05 1993 13:41 | 62 |
| Article: 3018
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.tw.space,clari.news.military
Subject: Brazil launches first rocket
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 10:30:46 PST
BRASILIA, Brazil (UPI) -- Brazil joined the select group of
nations capable of putting satellites in orbit Friday when it
successfully launched its first locally constructed rocket, government
officials said.
Brazilian technicians and scientists launched the VS-40 rocket
at 7:34 a.m. from the Alcantara air base in Maranhao state, 1,400
miles northwest of Brasilia, according to the director of the space
center there, Commander Carlos Augusto Ancilon Cavalcante.
The rocket flew to an altitude of 780 miles and fell 24
minutes later into the Atlantic Ocean off Natal, Brazil, more than
1,200 mileshwest of Alcantara, Ancilon Cavalcante said.
``It was an absolute success,'' Ancilon Cavalcante told
reporters after President Itamar Franco and 60 otheric watched the
launch. ``We have taken an important step toward dominating
satellite-launching technology.''
Franco, 62, then announced his government had decided to
create the Brazilian Space Agency.
``The project will be sent to the National Congress and we
will ask that it is considered urgently,'' Franco said.
Brazilian scientists included an experiment on the rocket to
study solar ray effects. Ancilon Cavalcante said his team of
scientists expects to be able to build a vehicle to launch satellites
within three years.
The South American nation thus hopes to save the $130 million
needed to rent launching pads and vehicles at Cape Canaveral, Fla., or
Kourou, French Guyana.
``Also, it won't be necessary for the country to wait in line
for up to two years for foreign centers to launch satellites,''
Ancilon Cavalcante said.
Ancilon said Alcantara had some of the most favorable
conditions for satellite launching in the world, noting it was two
degrees below the equator, a fact that would allow them to use 30
percent less fuel than Cape Canaveral or Kourou and save time and
money on satellite launches.
He said the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
plans to use the Alcantara base between October and December of this
year to launch 12 test rockets and 20 meteorological satellites.
Ancilon said the Brazilian government was also negotiating
with the world's largest rocket-makers, Lockheed of the United States
and Krunichev of Russia, on renting out Alcantara for launches.
Brazil currently has two satellites, the Brasil-sat, launched
eight years ago, and an environmental and weather satellite launched
in February from Cape Canaveral.
|
| 635.3 | | SKYLAB::FISHER | That's right...you were there for the grovelling | Tue Apr 06 1993 14:03 | 5 |
| If it fell in 24 minutes, that does not sound like it was in orbit to
me!
Burns
|
| 635.4 | | STAR::HUGHES | Less zooty, more dusted | Tue Apr 06 1993 14:12 | 4 |
| They didn't actually claim to make orbit, only that they have the
technology to do so.
gary
|
| 635.5 | Why do I get so involved in nits...? | SKYLAB::FISHER | That's right...you were there for the grovelling | Tue Apr 06 1993 15:08 | 13 |
|
> BRASILIA, Brazil (UPI) -- Brazil joined the select group of
>nations capable of putting satellites in orbit Friday when it
>successfully launched its first locally constructed rocket,
>government officials said.
Well, yes, I see why you say that. But in this case, it is UPI saying
it, and I would not think they could possibly assess whether going
approximately straight up 780 miles shows that they could achieve
orbit. This was more a comment on the news media than on the
Brazilians.
Burns
|
| 635.6 | | HELIX::MAIEWSKI | | Tue Apr 06 1993 17:26 | 12 |
| I bet I know what happened.
I bet that there was a press conference where they announced that they flew
the 780 mile ballistic mission. Then a scientist probably got up and explained
what modifications they could make to allow them to fly the same hardware
into orbit.
The press guy probably didn't understand that part and reported "they flew
the 780 mile ..., now they can fly into orbit ...".
Whatdayeah bet?
George
|
| 635.7 | Nit picking | MAYDAY::ANDRADE | The sentinel (.)(.) | Wed Apr 07 1993 05:00 | 11 |
| Lets not nit pick, the point is that the Brasilians are getting there.
And joining the ranks of the nations capable of orbitting satellites.
I for one find the trend encouraging, more and more nations are become
space capable nations.
Now the question is how much of that rocket is really home grown, and
how much is rented technology... As an example the Japonese use rented
American technology (they still don;t have a 100% Japonese launcher.)
Gil
|
| 635.8 | | STAR::HUGHES | Less zooty, more dusted | Wed Apr 07 1993 11:54 | 14 |
| re .-1
>how much is rented technology... As an example the Japonese use rented
>American technology (they still don;t have a 100% Japonese launcher.)
The Japanese M series launchers are and always have been indigenous.
The N series were licensed versions of the US Delta vehicle. The H-1 is
a license-built Delta first stage with a locally developed LH2 powered
second stage. The H-2 will use only Japanese technology. The licensing
of Delta technology is what prevents them from offering commercial
launch services, btw.
gary
|
| 635.9 | The Brazilian Space Agency | VERGA::KLAES | Quo vadimus? | Mon Feb 14 1994 11:14 | 31 |
| Article: 3728
From: [email protected] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.world.americas,clari.tw.space
Subject: BRAZIL CREATES NEW SPACE AGENCY
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 13:40:03 PST
BRASILIA (Reuter) - Brazil created a space agency Thursday
to help coordinate development of its own rockets and satellites.
President Itamar Franco signed a law creating the Brazilian
Space Agency, combining the old Brazilian Committee on Space
Activities and other space-related offices.
``The creation of the agency has international
repercussions, allowing Brazil to participate in the flow of
transfers of goods and services needed for economic and
technological development,'' Franco said at a ceremony marking
the signing.
Air Force Minister Lelio Lobo said the agency would help
assure Brazilian autonomy in rocket and satellite development
into the 21st century.
Last April Brazil test-launched a rocket designed to carry
satellites in orbit. The first Brazilian satellite was put into
orbit in February 1993 aboard a U.S. rocket.
Brazil and China signed an agreement in November calling for
increased cooperation in space technology. They are working on a
joint $200 million project to build two research satellites.
|
| 635.10 | Brazil/NASA to study ionosphere with sounding rockets | MTWAIN::KLAES | No Guts, No Galaxy | Tue Aug 02 1994 15:30 | 137 |
| From: US4RMC::"[email protected]" "Smith Woody System Administrator"
1-AUG-1994 18:35:10.50
To: [email protected]
CC:
Subj: Press Release 94-126
Donald L. Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
August 1, 1994
(Phone: 202/358-1547)
Keith Kohler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
(Phone: 804/824-1579)
RELEASE: 94-126
NASA Sounding Rocket Campaign to Study Ionosphere with Brazil
ASA will conduct with Brazilian space agencies a joint
campaign to study the Earth's space environment over the magnetic
equator from August 15 through October 20, 1994.
During the campaign, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's
(GSFC) Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Wallops Island, Va., will
launch 33 rockets from the Centro de Lancamento de Alcantara
launch range in the northeastern state of Maranhao, Brazil.
The campaign will help scientists better understand the
unique properties of the Earth's ionosphere at the equator and is
an integral part of the International Equatorial Electrojet Year.
The project has been named the Guara Campaign after a beautiful
species of bird native to the equatorial region of Brazil.
The ionosphere interests scientists because it acts like a
mirror, reflecting high frequency radio waves, carrying currents
that affect power systems on the ground and disturbing satellite
transmissions that must pass through it.
According to the NASA campaign scientist, Dr. Robert Pfaff
Jr., from GSFC in Greenbelt, Md., the Earth's magnetic field
lines, which are parallel to the Earth's surface at the equator,
affect the physics and electrodynamics of the equatorial
ionosphere. This creates a variety of natural phenomena,
including spectacular "eruptions" and turbulence in space, as
well as intense currents or "electrojets."
The location where the field lines are exactly horizontal to
the Earth is known as the magnetic equator. The Alcantara launch
range is within one degree of the magnetic equator.
The sounding rocket campaign will investigate the
electrodynamics and irregularities in the ionosphere and
mesosphere along the magnetic equator and will study their
relationship with the neutral atmosphere and winds. The sounding
rocket experiments primarily will measure electric fields, currents,
electron densities, neutral winds and ionospheric instabilities.
Suborbital sounding rockets provide the only means possible
to take direct measurements in some regions of the Earth's
atmosphere. The sounding rocket experiments during the Brazilian
campaign require simultaneous measurements taken by ground-based
scientific instruments, including backscatter radar,
magnetometers and ionosondes. These instruments will be provided
by scientists from the Brazilian Space Agency, Instituto Nacional
de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE).
More than 50 U.S. and Brazilian scientists will participate
in the Guara campaign, supported by teams of approximately 300
engineers, technicians and staff.
NASA plans to fly a Brazilian science experiment as part of
one of the payloads. The Brazilian scientific participation is
coordinated by the INPE. Both sides will share the data from the
rocket-borne and ground-based instruments. The Commission for
Space Activities of the Federative Republic of Brazil (COBAE)
will provide launch support services to NASA.
The rockets are divided among four experimental groups.
Between August 15 and 27, four Nike-Orion sounding rockets
and 20 Viper 3A small meteorological rockets will be launched.
The payloads will explore the interactions between small-scale
turbulence and large-scale tidal motions and waves in the middle
atmosphere at the magnetic equator. The Principal Investigator
(PI) for the Nike-Orion experiments is Dr. Richard Goldberg from
GSFC, and the PI for the Viper rockets is Frank Schmidlin from the WFF.
From September 1 through 20, four Black Brant VC sounding
rockets will be launched during daytime, sunset and nighttime
conditions carrying experiments to study the equatorial
electrojet. The electrojet is an intense current of electrons
that forms a corridor about one degree wide, encircling the Earth
precisely along the magnetic equator at about 60 to 70 miles (96
to 112 kilometers) altitude. The payloads will measure, for the
first time, the polarization electric fields that drive the
electrojet current, as well as the current density itself. The
PI is Dr. Robert Pfaff.
Four Nike-Tomahawk sounding rockets will be launched between
September 21 and October 6. These experiments include a series
of barium and trimethyl aluminum chemical releases near 127 miles
(205 kilometers) altitude to study the winds and associated
electric fields in the ionosphere at sunset.
The chemical trails are studied using photographs taken on
the ground as well as on board a NASA airplane. The PI is Dr.
Miguel Larsen from Clemson University in South Carolina.
The final launch will be a Black Brant X sounding rocket
carrying experiments to measure the density and electric field
turbulence associated with large depletions (or bubbles) that
occur in the ionosphere at night along the Earth's magnetic
equator. This payload includes the Brazilian experiment to
measure plasma density. The PI is Dr. Jim LaBelle from Dartmouth
College, Hanover, N.H.
NASA has conducted nine previous equatorial sounding rocket
campaigns since 1964 from South America, Asia, Africa and the
southern Pacific Ocean. These campaigns have included launching
97 suborbital rockets.
The WFF manages the NASA Sounding Rocket Program for the Office
of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. The program
conducts an average of 30 missions annually from sites worldwide.
- end -
% ====== Internet headers and postmarks (see DECWRL::GATEWAY.DOC) ======
% Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 16:01:09 -0400
% From: [email protected] (Smith Woody System Administrator)
% Message-Id: <[email protected]>
% To: [email protected]
% Subject: Press Release 94-126
% Sender: [email protected]
|