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IAF REPORT

will require the erection offurther solar panels. Trainingfor such an operation is underway at Star Crfy.

The remote-sens ing moduleis equipped with a largeairlock that will be needed byFrench a s t ronau t J ean Loup

Chretien when he performshis spacewalk to erect spacestructures. His mission to Mirmay therefore be delayed fromNov emb er 1988 to early 1989.

The third science module,dedicated to materialsprocess ing exper iments , maybe launched in 1989, followedby a life science and"technology" module in1990-91. The completed120-tonne Mir complex isexpected to be fully operational around 1992-94.

Some modules will be based

on the Kvant as t rophysicslaboratory now attached toMir. Thei r propuls ion uni tswill be jet t isoned anddestroyed on re-entry,a l though Kvant ' s uni t wasplaced in storage orbitbecause, after two dockingattempts, i t did not haveenough propellant left for acontrolled re-entry.

Other modules may bebased on Heavy Cosmosspacecraft with propulsionunits st i l l at tached. LatestSoviet i l lustrations show Mirwi th two Kvant- type and twoHeavy Cosmos-type modulesa t tached.

The Soviets are calling forin ternat ional co-opera t ion onthe Mir 2 space station to belaunched after 1992. Thiswould comprise a 100-tonnecore vehicle launched byEnergia heavylift booster.Modules weighing 20 tonneswould be launched by P roton.The station would act as anoutpost for manned fl ights tothe Moon and Mars . Cosm onaut Yur i R oma-nenko might not achieve h istarget of 300 days on boardMir. He is reported to begett ing rather t ired and hisworking day has been reducedfrom 8hr to 5hr. The Sovietsare monitoring his healthclosely and if necessary willte rminate the Soyuz TM3mission before December.

Romanenko and col leagueAlexander Alexandrov will bereplaced on board Mir by theSoyuz TM4 crew of commander Vladimir Titov, f l ightengineer Alexander Serebov,and medical doctor Poliatkov.

The crew is to attempt a yearlong spaceflight.

BAe's Multirole Capsule could fly on Ariane 4 in 1992

BAe proposes manned capsuleBritish Aerospace hasunveiled a low-cost al ternat ive to the European Hermesspaceplane .

BAe's Multirole Capsulecould provide Europe with anindependen t manned p re sence in space before Nasa'sSpace Station becomesopera tional in 1996 and beforethe first Hermes flies in1997.

Weigh ing 7 tonn es in orbit ,the 4m-diameter capsulewould carry a crew offoursix if it was being usedas a Space Station emergencycrew rescue vehicle.

The manned capsule wouldhave a payload of 500kg,increasing to 1,500kg if thevehic le i s unmanned. Thecapsule could fly unmannedas early as 1992, as a recoverable microgravity laboratory, says BAe. Ariane 4 or asimilar US launcher could beused.

Ariane 4 would need to bemodified to carry the capsule,BAe admits, including providing an escape rocket for themanned vers ion.

Multirole could be used formissions lasting up to fivedays, with a one-daycont ingency. At tached to theSpace Station the capsulecould remain in orbit for twoyears. The vehicle wouldmake an Apollo-type semi-ball ist ic re-entry to a para

chute splashdown at sea.BAe hopes tha t the need

shared by Nasa and the European Space Agency for aSpace Station crew rescuevehicle will provide thespringboard for Multirole.The company is expected torespond to Nasa's delayedrequest for proposals forpreliminary design studies ofsuch a vehicle. Nasa plans toaward three $10 mill ion studycontrac ts .

Two rescue capsules wouldbe a t tached to the Sta t ion andthe vehicle would fulfil othermissions from spacewalkrescue to food delivery to theSta t ion .

Because i t could provideEurope with a cost-effectivemeans of servicing man-tended space platforms,Multirole is clearly seen as acompetitor for the much moreambi t ious Hermes space-plane. Multirole will bediscussed at the November9-10 ESA council meetingwhich is expected to approvedevelopment of the Herm esspaceplane .

Former as t ronaut BuzzAldrin believes Multirolecould prove a usefulbargaining chip for ESA in i tsSpace Station negotiationswith Nasa. By offering toprovide the crew rescue vehicle and making some concessions to Nasa's otherdemands , ESA could makeprogress towards the auton

omy in space it seeks, hebelieves.

Britaincould lose"unique"

HotolBritain has a lead in the devopment of single-stage-orbit spacep lanes which i t wlose if the UK Governmdoes not fund continued wby Brit ish Aerospace aRolls-Royce on the Holaunch vehicle.

So says Alan Bond , origitor of Hotol 's "uniquai rbrea th ing propuls iconcept. If the UK Govement and industry will fund continued Hotol studBond says he will take ideas abroad.

Bond wants to see tpresent proof-of-concphase "sensibly completeleading to an enabling tenology programme th at w oaddress critical areas suchmaterials. This would last to 2 \ years, and-cost a "ftens of mill ions", says Bon

At the same t ime he wato see Britain embark sensible international discsions that would lead Hotol 's adoption as a Eupean programme in the ea1990s.

Bond feels "very bit tt ha t t he UK Governmewithdrew funding before Hotol PoC phase was evcomplete. BAe and R-R hbai led out the programwith company funds, but bare answerable to shaholders and Bond concerned tha t , wi thoGovernment suppor t , thwill cease backing Hotol.

"If we don't do it the restthe world will," he says. Aresult of a "very large" expementa l programme, boRol ls -Royce and Bond convinced the RB.545 Hoengine will work as predict"If I left, the Rolls effwould stop," claims Bowhose two-year consultancontrac t wi th the comparuns unti l April 1988.

If Britain will not back tproject Bond will take ideas first to France, thGermany, and eventual ly the USA. The engine desiremains highly classifihowever: "Let the Brit i

Government worry abothat," he challenged.:I6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 24October 198