>From this week's summaries of the articles in "Space News" ( www.space.com/spacenews/spacenews_summary.html ): __________________________
European Officials Brace for Negotiations With CNES By PETER B. de SELDING Space News Staff Writer PARIS - European space authorities are bracing for difficult negotiations over how much money the European Space Agency (ESA) will be granted in 2003 following the overall budget decrease announced by France, Europe's biggest space power. Claudie Haignere, France's research and new technologies minister and a former astronaut, put to rest Sept. 25 any doubts about whether she would favor space spending. France's civilian space budget for 2003, Haignere said, would be 1.307 billion euros ($1.28 billion) in 2003, a 2.6 percent drop from a year ago. The decision, which is likely to be approved by the French parliament, continues a steady slide in recent years of government financial backing for the French space agency, CNES. Without counting inflation, CNES's budget has dropped about 6.5 percent since 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- NASA Faces Higher Cost, Deadline for Mars Rover Mission By BRIAN BERGER Space News Staff Writer WASHINGTON - Design troubles on NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers have driven up the projected cost of the 2003 mission by $100 million, prompting the U.S. space agency to borrow against future space science budgets to cover the added expense. The latest cost projections represent a 16 percent increase over the mission's original price tag of $690 million. Orlando Figueroa, NASA's Mars program director, said he negotiated a deal with NASA's space science chief Ed Weiler over the summer that will permit the program to borrow against its 2004 and 2005 budget reserves. The extra money will be used to cover the cost of redesigning the parachutes and air bags the rovers will use to land on Mars. Like the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft that landed on the red planet July 4, 1977, the twin rovers are to rely on parachutes to slow their descent and air bags to cushion the landing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ISAS Delays Launch of Muses-C Asteroid Mission By PAUL KALLENDER Space News Correspondent TOKYO - Japan's Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) has been forced to delay the launch of the Muses-C asteroid sample return mission from this December to May 2003 due to repairs and extended testing related to a problem with the probe's attitude control system. Kuninori Uesugi, a member of ISAS's space systems engineering department, told Japan's Space Activities Commission Sept. 25 that ISAS discovered a gas leak on one of two attitude control system regulators on the 530-kilogram probe during tests in April. The regulators control the flow of high-pressure helium gas, which is used to push a mix of fuel and oxidizer to the probe's maneuvering thrusters. In a presentation to the commission, ISAS said an inspection found that one of the faulty regulator's O-ring seals had broken. Each regulator has two of these rings, which act as seals. A subsequent inspection found that while the other three O-rings were not leaking, all four were the wrong size and made of the wrong material. Uesugi said the rings were about half the size they should have been, and had been stretched into place. == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
