Spacecraft status
The 'FES Anomaly' (a source of scattered sunlight in the IUE star tracker, on top of the diffuse light present since February 1991) has continued to 'heal', so that the acquisition overhead is decreasing again.
Final Archive production
The IUE Final Archive (IUEFA) production for short-wavelength low-resolution data has been running smoothly after an extensive production-test and science-verification phase. A first set of 6000 low-resolution images recorded at the Villafranca station and processed with NEWSIPS (NEW Spectral Image Processing System), is currently available to external users via an experimental access. A new, more efficient data- distribution system to replace the highly successful ULDA/USSP (Uniform Low Dispersion Archive Support Software Package), yet continuing the distributed model with National Hosts as local distribution points, is currently being defined. The planning foresees minimum-cost maintenance so that the archived data will be available and supported for at least ten years.
Scientific highlights
With a special allocation on the basis of proposals for observing Jupiter around the time of comet Shoemaker-Levy's impact, a programme of 56 eight-hour observing shifts was carried out. A careful study was made in June, before the impacts, to construct a two-dimensional map of reference spectra in latitude versus local Jovian time. Between 13 July and 24 July, the evolution of the impact sites of fragments A, B, E, G, K, Q, R, S and W were monitored extensively and the full observing programme continued until 15 August. Extensive studies were made of the auroral emission zones. Some of the early results include:
The first campaign to study a High Luminosity Active Galaxy through the reverberation technique using the variations in the continuum emission and the subsequent line emission is in progress. The Galaxy (F-9) shows considerable variations and this campaign - lasting almost a full year, with one observation every 5 days- is expected to supply data for a firm answer to the question of the existence of a luminosity/size relation for Active Galaxies.
Scientific highlights
The restored quality of the HST performance is producing a wealth of data of great scientific value. Possibly the most visible example of the new capabilities of HST in 1994 was offered by the observing campaign covering the comet Shoemaker-Levy/Jupiter encounter. An important facet of the above campaign was that the data were made available on the computer net almost in real time.
Archive
During the past months, the main activity of the ST-ECF Archive group has been the transition to the new optical disk media and to the new Archive System, DADS, which has become operative at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. A new interface to the Archive, based on the widely used Mosaic and World Wide Web (WWW) software, has been implemented and offered to the users as an alternative to the existing STARCAT interface.
The SVM was prepared and instrumented for a thermal-balance test simulating transfer orbit (spinning module), which took place successfully at Intespace in Toulouse between 10 and 14 November. The PLM, on the other hand, was prepared for the second thermal-balance /thermal-vacuum test by upgrading some experiments and fitting the thermal-control elements (MLIs).
On 25 November, the two halves of the spacecraft were re-mated and a reference system functional test has been conducted to check the functioning of all systems before the thermal-balance/ thermal-vacuum test.
Other activities, like the upgrading of the solar array and manufacture of the flight model of the solid-state recorder have been pursued in parallel with the flight-model system activities.
NASA
Discussions at senior-management level between ESA and NASA have led to the joint decision to target 31 October 1995 as the new Soho launch date.
Data from the new coupled load analysis are being received from Martin-Marietta/ NASA Lewis Research Center in time for the system flight-model vibration tests.
Preparations for a newly conceived ground-segment compatibility test between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the spacecraft in Toulouse in early January 1995 have been proceeding on schedule, although some difficulties have surfaced regarding the readiness of the software simulator being prepared by NASA.
Experiments
The status of the UVCS, EIT and CELIAS experiments was reviewed by the Director of ESA's Scientific Programme in September.
Both the Mirror Occulter Mechanism and the Spectrometer Assembly (SPA) of the UVCS have progressed towards delivery by the end of 1994, in time for integration with the experiment after the thermal-balance/ thermal-vacuum test. The Cross Delay Line Detectors (XDLs) for UVCS and SUMER were also delivered in October and have since been integrated in the respective flight assemblies. Most of the other experiments are in final flight configuration, with the exception of a few elements that will be finalised in the planned January 1995 activities.
All scientific teams have been defining their flight procedures, in order to operate instruments from the Experiment Operations Facilities being readied at Goddard Space Flight Center. In mid-November, a first simulation was held involving both the NASA ground system and the scientific team's work stations and software.
The F3 and F4 spacecraft have successfully completed the vibration test programme. F3 is now being made ready for DC magnetic testing, while F4 is being prepared for the thermal test programme.
Following completion of the programme the payloads will be refurbished and the spacecraft prepared for delivery to the Agency.
Preparations are now well in hand for the launch campaign, which is due to start in August 1995 for an Ariane- 5 launch (V501) on 29 November.
The flight models of the solid-state recorders have been accepted and the first two integrated on F3 and F4 for the environmental test programme. Retrofitting to other spacecraft will take place during the refurbishment periods.
The ground segment continues on schedule with the first interactive end-to-end validation testing being planned with the PFM in March. This represents a crucial test for the ground segment. Construction and upgrading of the Redu and Odenwald ground stations continues on schedule.
The first delivery of the user interface software has been successfully installed at the individual Science Data Centres. The major system-test phase is planned for late spring 1995.
Work on the Joint Science Operations Centre is proceeding on schedule, with the payload command software under development, and the payload monitoring and control software being defined.
A unique event occurred in early October at IABG (Munich) when all four Cluster spacecraft were in the clean room together. The accompanying photograph shows the scientific Principal Investigators in front of the spacecraft.
The concern mentioned in Bulletin No. 80 that the cryocover had some local warm areas has been resolved. The cover could be made cold enough during the thermal test to properly test the scientific instruments. Overall, the satellite and scientific instruments are being shown to perform very well.
The next step in the satellite test programme is to conduct operational interface tests with the ground segment (spacecraft and science operations) in January/February 1995 and then to perform an extensive integrated system test on the satellite in February/March. The final full satellite ground-segment test will be conducted in April.
Observation programme
Over half of ISO's observing time (so-called 'Open Time') is competitively available to astronomers in the ESA Member States, Japan and the USA; the remaining time ('Guaranteed Time') is reserved for astronomers involved in the construction and operation of the ISO facility.
During December, two major events occurred in the definition of the observing programme for ISO:
International cooperation
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ESA and Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) was signed at the end of September by ESA's Director of Science and ISAS's Director General (see item elsewhere in this issue's 'In Brief' section). This agreement concerns the extension of support to ISO's flight operations to be provided by ISAS in return (mainly) for 0.5 hours/day of ISO usage by Japanese scientists.
Good progress is also being made in the cooperation with NASA, which is upgrading an antenna station at Goldstone for use as the ISO second ground station. This second station will increase the science observation time by about 3 hours/day.In return, NASA will receive (mainly) 0.5 hours/day of guaranteed time for US scientists. The enabling MOU between ESA and NASA is in the final stages of negotiation.
Industrial activities are now at their peak, with integration or testing being performed for three Probe models.
At IABG (Munich, D) the Structural/ Thermal/Pyro Model (STPM) Probe is currently undergoing vibration testing, having already successfully completed entry qualification/centrifugal and physical-properties testing for both launch and Titan-descent configurations.
At Fokker (Amsterdam, NL) the Special Model 2 (SM2) Probe is undergoing final integration and system-level testing with a planned completion in February 1995. This model will be dropped from a balloon at approximately 40 km altitude to demonstrate the correct sequence of operation and deployment of mechanisms and parachutes under conditions dynamically similar to those expected during Titan atmosphere entry. The SM2 is mechanically of flight standard, with electronic subsystems replaced by specific measuring and recording devices.
At DASA (Munich, D), the engineering-model Probe is presently being integrated.
A potentially serious problem arose when a replacement batch of hi-rel gallium-arsenide components for the flight-model Data Relay Subsystem was rejected during lot acceptance testing. A full investigation has been launched to determine the cause of this failure and to find work-around solutions.
Letters of intent have been received from a wide variety of European Institutes covering the Orbiter payload. The Announcement of Opportunity will be issued in March 1995.
Two consortia have submitted proposals for the Surface Science Packages (SSPs), one led by NASA/CNES and the other by Germany and Finland. These are currently under evaluation for accommodation on the Orbiter. A further workshop with both consortia will take place in February 1995.
The Science Management Plan was approved at the November meeting of ESA's Science Programme Committee. It represents the basis on which potential Principal Investigators and their teams will interface with the Agency.
The plan covers also the selection of the Orbiter's scientific payload and the interaction with the selected payloads for the SSPs. It is intended to confirm the selected payload complement at the February 1996 meeting of the Science Programme Committee.
The Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the Integral Phase-B was issued to Alenia (I) on 18 October and it is planned to start Phase-B in June 1995.
The ESA Council has formally approved use of the Russian Proton launcher for Integral, but maintaining compatibility with Ariane-5 as back-up launcher. The Russian Space Agency (RSA) will participate in the Integral programme by providing the Proton vehicle free of charge in return for scientific observation time during the mission. A draft document covering the ESA/RSA Integral Arrange-ment has been jointly prepared for submission to the ESA and Russian approval cycles.
Future programmes
The user Consultation Meeting held at ESTEC on 25-27 September endorsed the basic concept of 'Earth Explorer' and 'Earth Watch' missions. It agreed a set of eight potential Earth Explorer missions and the associated set of user requirements, with three 'priority' missions. It also identified a first Earth Watch mission for coastal zones.
These potential missions will form the backbone of the EOPP activities in the coming year.
Campaigns
The 1994 'EMAC' flight campaign has been concluded and the 1995 campaign is now in preparation. The Shuttle underflight 'Elite' campaign was successfully carried out in September. The final workshop on 'MAC Europe 1991' took place in October and the Proceedings are in preparation.
Meteosat Second Generation (MSG)
The second check point for Phase-B system and subsystem design definition activities has been successfully passed by industry during the Interim Systems Review.
Major subsystem Invitation-to-Tender (ITT) packages have been prepared and issued to industry in the last months, in an open competition to select subcontractors for detailed Phase-B engineering and design activities. Many proposals have already been received and evaluated. One was from an Industrial Consortium, supported by a Prime Investigator, for the supply to ESA of a Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) Instrument for integration within MSG as an Announcement of Opportunity Package (AOP).
Further to the approval of MSG-1 the Eumetsat Council, at its November session, accepted in principle that ESA should be their procurement agent for the MSG-2 and MSG-3 spacecraft, subject to the conclusion of a satisfactory cooperation agreement.
Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP)
Metop
A large measure of agreement has been reached with Eumetsat on the Metop satellite configuration and its payload definition. The satellite system Phase-B industrial study is now going through its tender action. The study itself is expected to start n the second quarter of 1995, given confirmation of the presently defined concept by ESA and Eumetsat delegates.
A programme proposal for the Metop-1 implementation phase (Phase-C/D) has been prepared.
The MIMR (Multifrequency Imaging Microwave Radiometer) and ASCAT (Advanced Scatterometer) industrial studies are progressing.
Polar Platform
Significant effort has been devoted to progressing the final negotiations of the PFF contract at subcontractor and prime contractor level. Most of the subcontracts have been cleared. The merger of the former BAe and Matra Marconi, and the subsequent reorganisation in this new industrial group, have meant that the negotiations on prime-contractor tasks have been somewhat delayed. Signature of the contract is now expected in the first half of 1995. Industrial work is proceeding, however, under cover of an extended Authorisation to Proceed.
Following the integration of structural models of electronics units, the structural model Service Module was subjected to a successful separation shock test with the development model of the Launch Vehicle Adaptor provided by the Ariane-5 Programme.
In the case of the solar-array drive mechanism and the DRS antenna pointing mechanism, where design problems have been experienced, partial redesigns have been studied and implemented and are now subject to validation tests on development models.
For most subsystems of the Payload Module, engineering/qualification model development is entering the integration and test phases. In some cases, anomalies and non-conformances have been detected which require detailed analyses.
Envisat-1 payload
As far as the Envisat Consortium responsible for the ESA-Developed Instruments (EDIs) is concerned, contract negotiations have taken place for the direct subcontractors to the mission prime contractor and for several GOMOS subcontractors. Contract negotiations for most other subcontractors are in preparation. Contractual coverage for the Consortium in 1995 has been provided by an additional Rider to the Phase-C1 formal Authorisation to Proceed.
All instruments, with the exception of the Microwave Radiometer (MWR), have gone through their Preliminary Design Reviews, and engineering-model manufacture has started. Late changes in the industrial consortium had slowed down work on the MWR. For MIPAS also, a redistribution of work had become necessary. A MERIS internal straylight problem, which could have an impact on overall instrument performance, is still under investigation.
Ground segment
The Envisat Ground Segment Concept, including in particular the Payload Data Segment (PDS), was finalised in September and approved by the Earth Observation Programme Board. Work on the PDS is now progressing in the framework of the two parallel consolidation phase contracts with the lead contractors Matra and Thomson-CSF in competition. Mid-term reviews of the PDS architecture have been successfully held with both consortia. In the meantime, ESA is preparing the Invitation to Tender for the final ground segment PDS Phase-C/D implementation contract with industry.
At a first post-flight meeting of Investigators who had experiments on the highly successful IML-2 Spacelab mission (8-24 July 1994) initial experiment results, already including a wealth of promising data, have been reviewed.
A new 16-day Spacelab mission known a 'Life and Microgravity Spacelab', or LMS, is being planned by NASA for June 1996 to provide further flight opportunities to scientists before the Space Station becomes available. NASA has proposed to fly the following ESA multi-user facilities on this mission on a cooperative basis: the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit (BDPU), the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility (AGHF), two Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility (APCF) units, and the Torque Velocity Dynamometer (TVD). This continued cooperation with NASA reflects both the good performance of the ESA multi-user facilities and the satisfaction of the US investigators who conducted their experiments using these ESA facilities.
The 20th ESA parabolic flight campaign was conducted with the Caravelle aircraft in October 1994, with a total of eleven experiments being performed.
At the end of November, the Texus-33 sounding rocket was successfully launched carrying three ESA-funded experiments in the fluid-physics domain.
The next flight in the EMIR-1 programme will be the launch of 'Biopan', an exposure facility for biological samples, on the Russian retrievable Foton 10 satellite. Launch is foreseen for January/ February 1995 and sample integration will be carried out in the ESA laboratory at the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow.
Subsequent actions undertaken by the Executive to meet such an imminent decision date have accelerated the elaboration of a programme proposal for 'Europe's Participation in the International Space Station', and a draft is to be sent to Delegations by 20 December 1994 for review and discussion at a special Manned Space Programme Board meeting planned for 18-19 January 1995. Also, bilateral and trilateral meetings with NASA and RKA have been organised in order to conclude all the necessary principle agreements before the end of 1994 regarding a mixed-fleet logistic scenario, including the Ariane-5/Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) capabilities in particular for the propellant resupply and Station reboost missions, and possible cooperation schemes with the US or Russia mainly on a Crew Return Vehicle/Crew Transport Vehicle (CRV/CTV).
A stepped approach has been further investigated for the CTV, taking into account both NASA's requirements for the availability of a new operational rescue vehicle in 2002, and the expected European budgetary limitations in the 1996/2002 period.
Industry has presented an overall cost estimate for the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF), confirming that the target set by ESA should be achievable. A formally committing offer for the main development phase (Phase- C/D) based on subcontractor proposals will be available by end February 1995.
Following approval of development of the Mission Database (MDB) as an 'Early Contribution Item' to NASA, and the Columbus Ground Software Reference Facility (GSRF) as a COF Enhancement Item, the Executive requested industry to update and finalise their detailed proposals in line with the approved Programme Proposals.
The scientific data and samples from Eurmir-94 were recovered safely and are now being evaluated by the scientists involved in the mission.
Work for the Euromir-95 mission is now concentrated on finalisation of, and agreement between experimenters, ESA and RSC-Energia on the basic experiment and equipment specifications, as well as on the final development of the actual experiment facilities and equipment items.
Launch of another European astronaut to the Mir station is foreseen for 18 August 1995.
Space Shuttle Mission STS-66
ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy participated in this particular mission, which was a coordinated effort to study the Earth's environment. Space Shuttle 'Atlantis' was carrying the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS), based on the ESA Spacelab system, and the German-built Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), with two major instruments: the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere (CRISTA), and the Middle-Atmosphere High-Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI).
Atlantis lifted-off on 3 November from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and landed on 14 November at Edwards Air Force Base in California. As one of the STS-66 crew of six, ESA astronaut Clervoy was having his first experience of space flight, charged with the tasks of Mision Specialist. He played an important role in the mission, using the Shuttle's robot arm to deploy CRISTA/SPAS on 4 November, and conducting other experiments within the Shuttle cabin. He also tested a special seat that will be used next year when Atlantis docks with the Mir space station. It will allow astronauts and cosmonauts to return to Earth in a reclining position after long-duraton Mir flights.
The CRISTA/SPAS satellite was retrieved by the Shuttle's robot arm as planned on 12 November.
European experiments formed an Important part of the ATLAS mission, The Belgian-led SOLCON and the French-led SOLSPEC experiments both gathered data on the Sun's energy and its variability. These instruments were mainly operated remotely from the Belgian Space Remote Operations Centre (BSROC) in Brussels using a telescience system set up by ESA.
Clervoy is the second ESA astronaut to fly as a Shuttle Mission Specialist, Claude Nicollier being the first. Maurizio Cheli has now also completed training at NASA's Johnson Space Center as a Mission Specialist and is awaiting his first flight.
ESA Bulletin Nr. 81.