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| Monday / 6 March 2006 | ||
Moon may Brighten
Dark Hour for Stranded Arabsat.
When the Arabsat-4A's Russia Proton-M
rocket's upper stage left it useless in
a lower than intended orbit last Wednesday, some minds turned
to the historical unintended Asiasat-3 Moon mission of 1997-98. That
winter, the Asiasat failed to reach its orbit in a nearly identical
situation to Arabsat's. Ed Belbruno and Rex Ridenoure were instrumental
in enabling Hughes Global Services to buy back its satellite and
use a "weak stability boundary ballistic lunar transfer" to send
the craft around the Moon and into a useable orbit. The Moon enabled
Asiasat-3 to be very successful. It's still in use today under a
different name. Many are hoping Arabsat-4A can follow in Asiasat-3's
footsteps. Friday, the MSNBC Cosmic
Log cited key text from a recent
article by Jim Oberg, who's covering the Arabsat-4A: "A mission rescue
via lunar swingby is under serious consideration, but issues of ownership
remain to
be settled. And even if the probe cannot be moved into an operational
24-hour orbit, it can certainly be sent out to the Moon on an Arab
space mission. ... The Saudis would love it."
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