The mechanical environment tests were successfully concluded in April at Intespace in Toulouse (F). The usual post-test activities (alignment check, functional check) were complemented by a gyro health check, which showed these critical components to be in good condition, and by a 'match-mate' check on the interfaces with the particular launch adapter that will be used by Martin-Lockeed to install Soho on the Atlas launch vehicle.
Radiated and conducted EMC tests followed in May, with excellent results, particularly from the complete flight payload. With the spacecraft back in the clean room at Matra Marconi Space (F), the UVCS experiment was removed and returned to NASA for the agreed extensive end-to-end testing in June/July.
A thirteen-day Ground Segment Compatibility Test followed in the first half of June between the Experiment Operations Facility at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the spacecraft in Toulouse. During this exercise, most flight procedures were tested by the NASA Flight Operations Team, and the Experimenter teams also commanded their instruments from their work stations in the Experiment Operations Facility.
In the meantime, the transponder-anomaly investigation was concluded successfully with the re-integration and testing of the first of the two transponders in mid-June; the other one will follow shortly.
The cause of the failure in reaction wheel no. 3 was also identified and this unit will be re-integrated, after refurbishment, in early July.
MMS-F delivered the Flight Acceptance Review (FAR) data package in mid-May and the FAR Review Board met on 15 June at ESTEC. Several urgent corrective actions were agreed upon and are in progress, with particular emphasis on the thermal flight predictions.
Experiments
The UVCS test and refurbishment activities are reported by NASA to be proceeding according to
plan. The LASCO team has identified the source of the problem in its electronics box and is modifying some
flight hardware and software components off-line, while the unit itself is undergoing pre-shipment system
functional testing in Europe. The CELIAS team has encountered several new problems with its units. CTOF has
been modified, while MTOF, STOF and the Data Processing Units on the spacecraft have been replaced with
updated versions. One of the SWAN sensors, which had exhibited a functional anomaly before vibration
testing, has been modified and was re-installed on the spacecraft in mid-June. The EIT team is in the process
of upgrading its front filter, which is expected to have to operate in orbit at higher temperatures than originally
foreseen.
At the beginning of May, a second simulation test was conducted successfully at GSFC to verify the interfaces between the Experiment Operations Facility and the rest of the ground segment, as well as scientific planning procedures.
All four flight spacecraft have successfully completed the environmental and full acceptance test programme and are in the process of being packed for air shipment to Kourou in two consignments, one week apart, in late August. This shipment date is compatible with the latest quoted Ariane V501 launch date of 17 January 1996, declared by ESA/CNES following the recent successful main-engine tests.
The Flight Acceptance Review (FAR) for the spacecraft and associated support equipment was conducted at the beginning of June. Six points were noted by the Board for further action, and currently just one area remains open. This concerns newly-announced high shock load inputs to the interface plane of both the upper and lower composites during launch, each composite being two stacked Cluster spacecraft on an adaptor. These loads are generated at fairing and at first-stage separation, and their impact on the Cluster spacecraft is under urgent investigation.
The ground segment continues on schedule, with the first system-level end-to-end tests with all four spacecraft having already been successfully completed. A final end-to-end test is planned during the launch campaign in Kourou. The Mission Flight-Readiness Review is planned for the end of September.
Following launch, an intense three-month period of spacecraft performance-evaluation, payload-commissioning, and in-flight-calibration activities is planned before the start of the nominal scientific mission. The post-launch activities will be controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt (D).
Two of the four Cluster spacecraft during testing at IABG (D)
Very good progress continues to be made on all elements of the Infrared Space Observatory project. The star trackers, fitted with new and improved image sensors, were installed on the satellite and the final satellite system tests were then satisfactorily completed. The Satellite Acceptance Review was successfully completed in May, with only a few minor issues remaining to be closed out.
The satellite and all associated hardware were shipped to the Ariane launch site in Kourou in mid-June. The launch campaign is now proceeding at full speed, with the final full Integrated System Test to be completed by end-July.
Very good progress has also been made with the ground segment. The full-scale satellite/ground-segment validation and operations test was completed in May without significant problems. Compatibility tests with the second ground station, Goldstone in California, indicated some interface problems which are currently being resolved. Simulations of the launch-and early-orbit phase (first 4 days of operations after launch) have been successfully completed. The next phase of simulations, those of the science operations, will be conducted in July. The Ground Segment Readiness Review should be concluded in early July.
During recent discussions with Arianespace, it was agreed that ISO will be launched on flight V80, currently planned for 28 October 1995.
In March, the ESA Council approved the Draft Arrangement between the Agency and RKA concerning the provision of a Proton launcher in return for scientific observation time on Integral. The approval process on the Russian side is now in progress and a team has been formed to interface with ESTEC on launcher issues.
Two major milestones were achieved in May. First, ESA's Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) approved the Phase-B proposal submitted by Alenia Spazio (I), thereby allowing spacecraft definition activities to commence. Secondly, the payload selection process was concluded, with the Agency's Science Programme Committee (SPC) approving the following complement of instruments:
as well as the Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC).
Definition activities by Alenia and the instrument teams are now progressing in consultation with the ESTEC Project Team, with the objective of reaching a consolidated requirements baseline for the System Requirements Review, planned for this October.
The mission-definition phase is proceeding with support from the two industrial teams. Both teams have concentrated on the system-level design and are now converging to a similar Orbiter spacecraft configuration. This work will be presented to European Industry at a workshop to be held in late 1995 at ESTEC (NL).
The Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Orbiter payload was issued in early March, with a response date of 1 August. All indications are that the payload will be well-supported.
In the same time frame, the AOs for the payloads of the two proposed Surface Science Packages (SSP) were issued by the respective agencies responsible for the landers. Proposals have been received by both groups and are currently being evaluated. During September, the scientific aspects of the proposed payload for the Orbiter and those for the SSPs will be harmonised by a multi-agency scientific committee.
Thereafter, proposals for the Orbiter payload will follow the normal ESA selection procedure, and the two SSP groups will submit their final proposals for the landers to ESA. Final Orbiter payload selection is scheduled to take place at the February 1996 meeting of ESA's Science Programme Committee.
The planned schedule for the industrial phase foresees the release of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) in June 1996, followed by a Phase-B (design phase) start in June 1997. Phase-C/D (main development phase) is then expected to last three and a half years, leading to spacecraft delivery in mid-2002. The Rosetta launch is scheduled for January 2003.
As a part of the international collaboration on the mission, general agreements have been reached with NASA covering services to be provided in return for major participation in one of the SSPs and the inclusion of NASA investigators in the Orbiter payload.
Ground-based observations of Comet Wirtanen are planned for the coming year. The software for the analysis and interpretation of these observations is currently under development.
Future programmes
Following acceptance of the general principle of a future Earth Observation Programme
consisting of Earth Watch and Earth Explorer missions, efforts are now underway to identify and agree on the
selection procedures to be employed in choosing the Earth Explorer missions. The establishment of such a
procedure, ensuring the widest possible scientific consultation, is a prerequisite for initiation of Phase-A system
studies for the first mission.
A proposal for a further extension of the EOPP, from 1996 to 2001, has been submitted to Delegations.
Campaigns
With the completion of the EMAC 1995 measurement flights, the data-acquisition phase of the last
campaign in the current EOPP period will be completed. Efforts are now directed towards data analysis and
the preparation of plans for the next five-year period.
After its resumption in February, the ERS-2 launch campaign was completed without problem. Following a flawless countdown, Ariane-4 flight V72 lifted off precisely at the beginning of the launch window, at 01.44 UT on 21 April 1995. All flight parameters were completely nominal and the satellite orbit achieved was nearly perfect.
The satellite switch-on procedures were then carried out and all systems and instruments except one were verified to be in excellent condition. The exception was the Active Microwave Instrument, where the anomalous activation of a protection device has made it necessary to run the Image and Wave modes with a reduced transmitter power setting, and did not allow entry into the Wind mode. As this protection circuit can be disabled, and because all parameters that can be measured appear nominal, a return to full AMI operation is anticipated. However, a very thorough investigation is being carried out, including an extensive ground test campaign, to ensure that this step can be taken without risk.
In the meantime, the Image and Wave products from the ERS-2 AMI are of high quality and are being used to support the current tandem operations with ERS-1. The Wind mission is being carried by ERS-1 in the interim.
The performances of all the other instruments on ERS-2, which are now well into their in-orbit commissioning, are up to expectations. The new Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) is working well and producing Earth-shine spectra that exceed the performance requirements. The Precise Range and Range Rate Experiment (PRARE) has already produced sub-decimetre accuracies, and should achieve centimetre accuracies by the end of the commissioning phase. The Along-Track Scanning Radiometer is functioning well, and especially as far as the performance of the new visible channels is concerned. The Radar Altimeter is producing results very close to those of its sister instrument on ERS-1.
A multitemporal image of Amsterdam and the northwestern Netherlands, obtained by combining ERS-1 and ERS-2 data
Following the recommendations of the Eumetsat Council Task Force at its February meeting in Venice, the payload complement for Metop-1 has been confirmed. Subsequently, a three-month bridging phase, prior to full Phase-B release, started in April 1995, with Matra Marconi Space France (MMS-F) as Prime Contractor, and MMS-UK, DASA and Alenia as Co-Contractors. During this bridging phase, a number of fundamental design issues are being studied (e.g. overall configuration, structural-materials choice, system resources, command and control concept).
Adoption of a Resolution by the Eumetsat Council in June 1995 endorsing the Venice Task Force findings means that the full Phase-B will start in July 1995.
In respect of the implementation programme for Metop-1 (Phase-C/D), a series of Potential Participants Meetings have been held, with progress being made towards establishing the legal documents necessary for programme approval.
Day-to-day operations are being carried out using Meteosat-5, with Meteosat-4 in stand-by. The latter is now low on fuel and will be de-orbited later this year. Meteosat-3 has continued its support to NOAA from an orbital position at 70 deg W.
After a long stand-by period, Meteosat-6 was recently operated again to assess the influence of contamination stemming from water vapour trapped inside the radiometer's thermal insulation. The effect turned out to be negligible. The test was performed as part of the investigation to understand a small intermittent anomaly in the infrared imaging chain. Corrective software has been developed and installed at ESOC and overall system performance is presently under assessment.
All subsystems for the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) spacecraft, being built by ESA for Eumetsat, have been delivered to the Prime Contractor, Aérospatiale, with the exception of the radiometer which was damaged due to an anomaly in a vibration facility during acceptance testing. The impact of this is under investigation, but launch is expected to be delayed until mid-1997.
The Meteosat Phase-B programme was concluded with a final successful review in May. At the same time, the industrial Phase-C/D proposal has been evaluated and a Contract Proposal has been submitted to ESA's Industrial Policy Committee for consideration at its June 1995 session. Negotiations with Eumetsat regarding its procurement of two further spacecraft models, MSG-2 and MSG-3, are continuing.
The MSG spacecraft
Polar Platform
Final negotiations with the Prime Contractor (MMS-B) are progressing and
are expected to be finalised soon. The contract is due to be signed on 17 July. All other contracts with
subcontractors have already been negotiated.
Good progress is continuing with the Service Module. A number of Critical Design Reviews (CDRs) have been completed or are in progress for the new equipment and that which is modified from Spot-4. The only remaining difficulties concern the schedule and final design of the Dual Mode Transponder. For the Payload Equipment Bay (PEB), the testing programme for engineering-model units has continued and some equipment CDRs have already been completed. Preparations for PEB integration at Dornier (D) are gaining momentum, with engineering-model equipment deliveries foreseen in the near future.
Envisat-1 payload
Subcontract negotiations are progressing well within the Envisat Consortium. The first
instrument-level contract has been successfully concluded with Alenia Spazio (I) for the Radar Altimeter (RA-2).
Negotiations regarding the mission Prime, GOMOS and MIPAS instrument contractors are expected to be finalised shortly.
The predicted overall payload mass has become an area of concern as it is approaching the limit of the Polar Platform's load-carrying capability in terms of the Ariane-5 environment. Vigorous actions have been initiated to reduce overall payload mass and characterise the Platform's structural limits.
Ground segment
The Payload Data Segment (PDS) consolidation-phase final data packages were successfully
delivered by the two responsible Consortia in mid-February.
The development-phase Invitation to Tender (ITT) was released on 28 February, following Procurement Proposal approval by ESA's Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) and special approval by the Earth Observation Programme Board of the German 'in-kind' development.
The industrial offers were delivered by 31 May 1995 and the Contract Proposal will be submitted to the September 1995 IPC. The PDS development effort is expected to commence at the end of September/early October 1995.
Europe's Contribution to International Space Station Alpha
To respond to a request from NASA to definitively
confirm by March the elements that would make up the European contribution to the International Space
Station, a debate was held in the Agency's Council at its March session. The ESA proposal requested
authorisation for the development of the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) and the Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV), and also included the Utilisation Preparation activities. This debate did not, however, achieve the
necessary consensus among the participating Member States, and so a plan of action was drawn up to address
the outstanding issues, with the objective of reaching agreement in the summer, thus allowing for a decision,
as originally foreseen, at the Ministerial Council planned for October 1995.
Activities have proceeded on several fronts. To tackle the shortfall in contributions to the development programme, intensive negotiations have continued with industry to identify additional savings, particularly in the critical period between 1996 and 2000.
In parallel, a dialogue with Delegations continued at a high political level to respond to concerns expressed by Member States, and to try to increase their contributions to match the foreseen expenditure.
Another area addressed was the European commitment to the exploitation phase of the Space Station. Discussions were held with NASA to define a ceiling for expenditure required for the common exploitation costs, and a working group of Member-State Delegations was set up to consider how the exploitation costs should be funded. Both activities will be concluded during the summer.
Columbus Orbital Facility (COF)
The partial unblocking of the 1995 budget associated with the updated
Columbus Declaration, provided contractual cover for the continuation of work in industry.
The actions undertaken with industry, to investigate areas in the COF Phase-C/D industrial commitment where further cost reductions and payment adjustments could be made, resulted in a potential reduction over the period 1996 - 2000 of the order of 85 MAU, but with a slight increase in the total cost.
The industrial offer for the full Phase-C/D development programme was submitted by industry in mid-March, and its evaluation was completed during April. Industry was briefed on shortcomings identified in the proposal, and an action plan for the removal of unacceptable contractual and technical conditions, and re-submission of the proposal, was agreed.
Early Delivery Items
In order to maintain ongoing industrial activities essential to meet the very demanding
DMS-R development schedule, the Agency authorised continuation of selected work packages relating to the
preparation and conduct of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) scheduled for May/June.
Final approval by the participants in step 1 of the ECLS Programme was not achieved, putting into question the feasibility of completing the industrial work within the very tight schedule constraints imposed by the Italian Mini Pressurised Logistics Module programme, to meet their delivery dates to NASA.
Pending the above approval, ESA continued to work together with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to finalise the text of the ESA/ASI Agreement relating to this development and the provision by ASI of an MPLM structure for the COF 'design-to-cost' baseline. In addition, the technical requirements for the MPLM ECLS development were finalised and approved by ESA and ASI.
The first deliveries of the Columbus Mission Database (MDB) software being developed for the COF, and also to be provided as an early-delivery item to NASA for use in the US segment, have been completed. Installation and testing of this software in the Mission Build Facility at Houston was completed successfully.
Discussions are still in progress with NASA regarding wider use of the MDB software in the US segment (e.g. SSCC, POIC), together with other software tools being developed for the Columbus Programme in the context of the Ground Software Reference Facility.
European Robotic Arm (ERA)
In order to achieve acceptance by the Agency of the Part 2 industrial offer, an
intensive dialogue was undertaken with industry to identify technical, programmatic and contractual aspects
to be corrected prior to the updating and re-submission of their industrial offer.
Based on the results of this dialogue, and parallel negotiations with the Russian Space Agency and Russian industry aimed at relaxing the technical requirements relating to mass and standby power, the Agency released an updated Part 2 Request for Quotation to industry in early April. An updated offer was received at the end of April and was evaluated during May.
Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator (ARD)
The preliminary mission analysis of the Ariane-5 second flight
(AR502) confirmed the adequacy of the mechanical design of the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD)
and the evolution of the trajectory, which will result in a splash-down near Christmas Island.
Progress in industry was satisfactory, with the delivery of the cone and heat-shield structure for thermal- protection integration.
The design and justification of the thermal-protection samples for the ARD have been analysed and qualification tests are planned for June/July.
Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)
The programme for ATV Rendezvous Pre-development and Verification
(ARP) progressed with completion of the System Requirements Review for the ARP Kernel. Definition of the
two ESA ARP flight demonstrations with NASA is progressing and a contract with Russia/RSC-Energia to
prepare an additional flight demonstration using Russian spacecraft (Progress/Mir) is being formulated.
As for the ATV itself, Phase-B activities have progressed in line with the planned schedule, including the definition of the performance of the Ariane-5/ATV composite and interfaces.
A trilateral agreement is being negotiated between ESA, NASA and RSA with the objective of including the Aiane-5/ATV in the nominal ISSA steady-state operations scenario to perform the refuelling and reboost function, together with the Russian Progress vehicles, at regular time intervals.
A review of other possible areas of cooperation between ESA and NASA on the one hand, and between ESA and RSA on the other, is in progress.
Crew Rescue Vehicle/Crew Transportation Vehicle (CRV/CTV)
The first part of the Phase-A study has been
completed by two industrial teams working in parallel.
Substantial progress was achieved in the consolidation of the system and subsystem architectures of both vehicles: the CRV launched by the Shuttle and the CTV derived from the CRV, launched on Ariane-5.
The development plan and the cost estimates have been refined. They are in line with the information given in the draft proposal of December 1994 submitted to Delegations.
Following the issue of Revision 2 of the programme proposal, in which the CRV/CTV was no longer a part, the contacts with NASA on CRV matters were put on hold.
International Co-operation
Negotiations with the other international partners to update the Intergovernmental
Agreement (IGA) are continuing, with the goal of finalising it before the Ministerial Council in October.
Substantial progress has been achieved, and the discussions are now focusing on a range of substantive and
formal issues, with the European requests being dealt with in the group of amendments aimed at reflecting
the integrated approach for Space Station co-operation.
Of particular importance for Europe is the introduction of the 'not to exceed' figure for Space Station common operations costs. The principle has been accepted by NASA, and work is now underway to introduce appropriate text into the IGA to reflect this concept.
The negotiations to update the bi-lateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ESA and NASA are proceeding in parallel. The updated MOU should reflect the revised scenario for the European contribution to the International Space Station, and in particular the role of Ariane-5 and the ATV to offset operations costs. The outcome of the negotiations between NASA and the Russian Space Agency will also be taken into account.
Euromir-95
Following the successful completion of acceptance activities in Moscow, the experiment hardware
was delivered to the launch site in Baikonur for integration. A total of 24 experiments will be flown, covering
physiological and materials-science studies, as well as some radiation-measurement experiments. ESA
astronaut Thomas Reiter was chosen for this three-month mission, which will be the longest ever undertaken
by an ESA astronaut.
Le Bourget
During the bi-annual aerospace event at Le Bourget, a Manned Spaceflight Day was arranged to
present to an invited audience, including the press, the mission and status of the International Space Station,
the European contribution, and the associated astronaut activities.
Microgravity Facilities for Columbus (MFC)
A proposal for microgravity multi-user facilities on the International
Space Station, known as the MFC Programme , has continued to be elaborated in close cooperation with
all interested parties. A two-day workshop was held for Member-State Delegations at ESTEC to acquaint them
with the detailed technical performances of the facilities.
The MFC Programme should be finalised for approval at the Ministerial Council in October as part of the overall European contribution to the Space Station.
EMIR-2
A proposal for continuation of the ongoing European Microgravity Research Programme (EMIR-2) has
been further refined, taking into account the comments of Member-State Delegations. The workshop at ESTEC,
mentioned above, also covered the major facilities of this microgravity research programme.
Foton-10
After the successful flight of the ESA Biobox on the Russian Foton 10 recoverable-capsule flight, the
Foton returned to Earth on March 3. During the capsule recovery in poor weather conditions, the capsule was
dropped by the recovery helicopter and was severely damaged, as was the ESA Biobox. This incident
represented a serious loss of science, but negotiations to refly the ESA experiments are underway.
Missions to Mir
Preparation of the Biorack facility to fly seven ESA and three NASA experiments on a Shuttle
mission to Mir in March 1996 have continued.
Shuttle-borne Missions
Negotiations with NASA have progressed in several areas. It has been agreed to fly the
Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility and the ESA Glovebox on the USML-2 mission in September 1995,
and further plans include the flight of five ESA payloads on the LMS Spacelab mission in June 1995.
Symposia
The Ninth European Symposium on gravity-dependent phenomena in physical sciences took place
in the first week of May in Berlin, with some 300 participants attending, from all continents.
Sounding Rockets
Two parabolic-flight campaigns were carried out with a Caravelle in March and April. On
2 May, a Mini-Texus sounding rocket was launched carrying an experiment module for combustion
investigations. This was the first time that such a combustion experiment had been flown on a sounding
rocket.
M1/H155 firing and timetable for the 501 and 502 flights
The first hot firing of the Ariane-5 cryogenic stage
took place at 21:56 h (European time) on 16 June. All of the objectives that had been set were achieved during
the test, which lasted 590's (compared with a nominal in-flight stage operating time of 570 s). Initial analysis
shows that the Vulcain engine (responsibility of SEP) and the cryogenic stage (responsibility of Aérospatiale)
performed satisfactorily.
This successful test has allowed 6 November 1995 to be set for the start of the launch campaign for the first Ariane-5 qualification flight (flight 501). Combined launcher/satellite operations would then start on 3 January 1996, with a view to a launch on 17 January.
The target date for the second launch (flight 502) is 29 May 1996.
Ground facilities
The Operational Control and Command system (CCO) was accepted in Kourou at the end of
June. This major computer system was developed in Europe and installed and validated on Ariane Launch
Complex number 3 (ELA-3). The CCO is part of the Ariane-5 launcher check-out facilities. During the launch
campaign, including the countdown to the final synchronised sequence, it monitors the ground and onboard
interface systems (fluid and electrical functional checkouts, propellant loading, pressurising and return to safe
configuration in the case of an aborted launch).
Ariane-5 complementary programmes
Following the approval of the 'Ariane-5 Evolution' preparatory
programme, work started on a more powerful version of the launcher. The objective is to raise the launcher's
capacity from 5900 kg to 7400 kg for a dual launch into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
ESA Bulletin Nr. 83.