Feb 12 1996
From The Space Library
Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) experienced a setback when one of its prototypes for a small, robotic spacecraft landed in the ocean and sank. The Japanese officials had anticipated the ocean landing immediately after the launch of the Hyflex shuttle, the Hope-X, from an island in southern Japan. In spite of the loss of its shuttle, NASDA did not consider the exercise an entire failure. The Hope X had launched successfully, separated from its rocket at a height of 70 miles (113 kilometers), and then returned to Earth 19 minutes later, as planned. The problem occurred when the craft splashed into the ocean, and a rope connecting the 1-ton (900 -kilogram or 0.9-tonne) shuttle to its flotation device broke, causing it to sink. NASDA reported that it had intended to collect data during the flight to test the shuttle's fitness for reentry, but had been unable to procure much of the information needed. Japan had manufactured the US$37 million shuttle domestically, planning the exercise as a part of its effort to bolster its fledgling space program.
NASA announced the selection of eight proposals for its newly inaugurated Advanced Concepts Research Projects (ACRP) program. NASA had received more than 100 proposals for the program, founded in September 1995 to identify and support new ideas and technologies that might eventually improve the U.S. space program. The ACRP program, allowing up to US$250,000 in support for each selected proposal, included proposals covering a wide spectrum of technologies and fields, such as: "fusion-based space propulsion, optical computing, robotics, interplanetary navigation, materials and structure, ultra-lightweight large aperture optics, and innovative modular spacecraft architectural concepts.
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