20 August 2000

Satcoms

Belgacom Offers Internet Services With STM
Belgian telecommunications operator Belgacom has selected STM Wireless for the supply of a DVB-based, broadband two-way platform for services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Belgacom, which is partially owned by SBC communications , will immediately purchase a SpaceWeb broadband VSAT system valued at approximately US$ 250,000 for its head-end facilities with remote terminals to be purchased in the future as individual ISPs are added to the network.

The services to be offered by Belgacom target large, medium and small ISPs with a fully integrated solution supplied by STM. The large ISPs will be offered with a two-way satellite system with up to 24 Mb/s downstream throughput and 8 Mb/s upstream data rate. The throughput for medium-sized ISPs will be up to 8 Mb/s in the downstream direction and 2 Mb/s in the upstream.

The small-sized ISPs will have 1 Mb/s downstream throughput and an option for 256 kb/s of upstream throughput via an ISDN or satellite return channel. Additionally, each ISP installation will have an option for an integrated control and monitoring system connecting each site to the STM supplied equipment at Belgacom's network operation centre, and the use of a voice service channel for hotline service support.

Under the terms of the supply agreement, STM will be marketing the Belgacom services to ISPs within the Belgacom service area. Customers may contract directly with Belgacom for the total solution, or they may purchase their remote VSAT equipment from STM and contract for the services with Belgacom.

STM's SpaceWeb system provides broadband connectivity with bandwidth-on-demand voice and data capabilities. The product family includes a line of VSAT products designed for seamless connectivity for ISPs and end users who wish to have a customer premise installation for broadband always-on Internet access. It includes a line of two-way terminals with downstream rates of up to 48 Mb/s and upstream rates ranging from 14.4 kb/s to 8 Mb/s. All of the VSAT terminals are available in both C band and Ku band and are offered with a range of antenna sizes matching the customer's application.

Hudson Bay Railway Opts for Satellite Services from Glentel
Glentel Inc, a leader in integrated satellite solutions, has been awarded the contract to provide satellite communications to Hudson Bay Railway (HBR). Glentel is providing a central dispatch function at Rail Traffic Control and satellite radios for all of HBR's locomotives and vehicles.

Utilising the Glentel satellite system, train crews and track forces will have a more expedient way of contacting Rail Traffic Control through a standby channel and will be able to transmit multi-group communications that will allow a safer, more efficient operation. Among enhanced features to be added in the future is the system's ability to continue to track locomotive operations while, at the same time, transmitting alarms in response to emergency situations such as the unintentional shutdown of a parked locomotive during cold weather.

HBR is part of a North American group of short line railroads that includes over 300 locomotives, covering 2,800 miles of track.

Glentel is an international wireless service provider operating over 240 terrestrial sites while utilising its fixed and mobile satellite communications network to provide its customers with North American-wide wireless data and voice solutions. It operates 33 locations integrating products and services utilising mobile two-way radio, dispatch, data, satellite, paging, cellular and PCS to meet the needs of a broad range of customer applications.

TMI Gains Approval for Venezuelan Services
TMI Communications has been granted full regulatory authority to deliver its mobile satellite communications services to users in Venezuela.

The decision gives Venezuelan business users access to a wide range of services available on TMI's network, including wireless telephone, fax, dispatch radio, packet and circuit switched data, and asset tracking and management systems.

In May, TMI announced its plans to expand into South America after signing a three-year, multi-million dollar agreement under which Caracas-based Telecomunicaciones GlobalSat became a reseller of TMI's mobile satellite services.

TMI and GlobalSat are focusing primarily on providing data communications services to customers in the petroleum and transportation industries.

TMI Communications is North America's leading developer and supplier of mobile data communications solutions, and delivers a full portfolio of wireless digital data, voice, fax and dispatch radio services from the powerful MSAT-1 satellite.

Earth Observation

Algerian Microsatellite Contract for SSTL
SSTL has signed a contract worth approximately £8 million with the Centre National des Techniques Spatiales (CNTS) of Algeria for an advanced Earth Observation microsatellite within a comprehensive know-how transfer and training programme.

At the same time, a long term Collaboration Agreement was also signed between CNTS and the Surrey Space Centre for research and education to prepare Algeria for the development of a national space programme.

Algeria is the first country formally to join the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) led by Surrey and comprising five microsatellites in low Earth orbit to provide daily imaging world-wide for the monitoring and mitigation of natural and man-made disasters and dynamic Earth observation. Last month, the UK BNSC awarded SSTL funding for one microsatellite in the DMC and three further countries are expected to join the DMC during August and September. The DMC is planned for launch in 2002.

Within the collaborative programme between SSTL and CNTS, a team of Algerian engineers will commence work at Surrey in September, working alongside SSTL engineers for 18 months on the design, build, launch and commissioning of Algeria's first microsatellite, AlSAT-1. The programme includes the installation of a mission control groundstation in Algeria and associated training. A number of Algerian engineers will undertake MSc and PhD academic courses at the Surrey Space Centre commencing this autumn.

CNTS are the eleventh international organisation to take advantage of SSTL's detailed satellite know-how transfer and training programmes and flight heritage proven over 18 small satellite missions which enable developing space nations, in particular, to embark upon their own national space programme.

Science

Spacehab Awarded US$ 1 Million to Fly Three Experiments on STS 107
Spacehab Inc, a leading provider of commercial space services, has finalised contract agreements to fly three additional experiments aboard the company's Research Double Module (RDM) on a Space Shuttle mission next year. These agreements, worth more than US$ 1 million, raise the total value of the company's flight contracts for the STS-107 mission to US$ 36.9 million.

Spacehab has signed a US$ 922,000 contract to provide space-based research services aboard Spacehab's RDM for a European Space Agency (ESA) experiment called ERISTO (European Research in Space and Terrestrial Osteoporosis). The ERISTO experiment will fly, along with many others manifested for the RDM, on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Shuttle research mission STS-107, now scheduled to launch in June 2001.

Spacehab also has signed an US$ 83,000 agreement with the Circle for the Promotion of Science and Engineering (CPSE), affiliated with the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the Japanese Space Utilisation Promotion Center (JSUP) of Tokyo to fly a student experiment on STS-107. The experiment, called JUSTSAP S*T*A*R*S, is being developed by Japanese students under the Space Technology And Research Students (S*T*A*R*S) program managed by Spacehab subsidiary Space Media Inc.

In addition, Spacehab has signed a US$ 40,000 agreement with the Japan Space Utilisation Promotion Center (JSUP) and the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Research Foundation for the flight of a Japan/US Space Protein Crystal Growth (JUSPRO) experiment on STS-107. This agreement covers the flight opportunity, payload integration, and the provision of flight and ground experiment blocks.

ERISTO involves academic and industry partners and is the first experiment that Spacehab will handle for ESA's Microgravity Applications Promotion Programme. Spacehab is already under contract to fly a similar experiment, using similar equipment, for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on STS-107. CSA's experiment, OSTEO, also relates to the study of osteoporosis. STS-107 will mark the second flight of CSA's OSTEO experiment, following its initial successful operation on orbit by former Senator John Glenn on Shuttle mission STS-95 in 1998. Millenium Biologix of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, builds the equipment used for these space-based experiments and also provides related ground-based laboratory equipment, used worldwide for research into osteoporosis, a debilitating condition involving bone mass loss.

The JUSTSAP S*T*A*R*S program is a product of discussions held at a Japan-US Science, Technology and Space Application Program (JUSTSAP) workshop in November 1999. The JUSTSAP S*T*A*R*S contract covers sponsorship of the S*T*A*R*S "Super Nova" school that will develop and fly the experiment as well as sponsorship of a limited number of additional schools that will participate in some elements of the student research program.

The JUSPRO protein-crystal-growth experiment will be flown on Spacehab's Commercial Macromolecular Protein Crystal Growth Facility, managed in partnership with UAB.

The agreement to fly the ERISTO experiment was co-ordinated by Spacehab's European marketing agent, Intospace, of Leiden, Netherlands, and involves the amendment of existing contracts for STS-107 flight services. The JUSTSAP S*T*A*R*S and JUSPRO contracts were co-ordinated by Spacehab's Japanese marketing agent Mitsubishi Corporation.

Technology

DS1 Ion Propulsion Goes On and On and On . . .
The Deep Space 1 spacecraft, designed to test new technologies, has run its unique ion propulsion system for more than 200 days (4800 hours), accumulating more operating time in space than any other propulsion system.

Unlike chemical rockets using solid or liquid fuels, the ion drive emits only an eerie blue glow as ionised atoms of xenon are pushed out of the engine.

The almost imperceptible thrust from the system is equivalent to the pressure exerted by a sheet of paper held in the palm of your hand. The ion engine is very slow to pick up speed, but over time can deliver 10 times as much thrust per kg of fuel than conventional chemical rockets. The Deep Space 1 ion engine could have a total operating time of more than 583 days (14,000 hours) by the end of its mission in the autumn of 2001, by which time it will have changed the spacecraft's speed by about 11,000 kph.

Previous ion propulsion systems, like those found on some communications satellites, were not used as the main engines, but only for stationkeeping. Deep Space 1 is the first spacecraft to use this technology as its primary means of propulsion. The NASA Space Electric Rocket Test 2, launched into Earth orbit in 1970, had the previous record for ion propulsion, thrusting for about 161 days.

The only other system that has operated longer is a ground-based replica of the spacecraft's engine. The ongoing extended-life test, being done in a vacuum test chamber at JPL, has run its ion propulsion system for almost 500 days (12,000 hours) and is scheduled to complete nearly 625 days (15,000 hours) by the end of the year.

Launches

Brasilsat B4, Nilesat 102

Launched: August 2000
Site: CSG Kourou, French Guiana
Launcher: Ariane 44LP

Orbit: GEO, 92° W
International Number: 2000-046A
Name: Brasilsat B4
Owner: Embratel
Contractor: Hughes Space and Communications

Orbit: GEO, 7° W
International Number: 2000-046B
Name: Nilesat 102
Owner: Nilesat
Contractor: Astrium

Brasilsat B4 is a telecommunications satellite based on the Hughes HS 376 W bus and carries 28 C band transponders. It will be used for voice and data services within South America. The satellite has a design life of 12 years. It will replace Brasilsat A2.

Nilesat 102 is a television broadcast satellite serving the north African region and carries 12 Ku band transponders (100 W) as well as three Skyplex transponders (two active). The craft is based on the Eurostar 2000 platform and has a lifetime of 12 years. Mass at lift off was 1827 kg. The satellite's solar arrays have a deployed span of 21.5 m and generate 3,750 W of power, end of life.

Lacrosse 4

Launched: 17 August 2000
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Launcher: Titan 4B
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 663 km, perigee: 658 km: inclination: 68°
International Number: 2000-047A
Name: Lacrosse 4 (USA 152)
Owner: National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Contractor: Lockheed Martin

This is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite also known as Onyx. Lacrosse 4 will probably replace Lacrosse 2 which has been in orbit for 9 years and is at the end of its operational life.

Business

iSKY Becomes WildBlue Communications
Future broadband Internet satellite operator iSKY, previously known as KaStar Satellite Communications Corporation, has changed its name to WildBlue Communications.

The WildBlue brand name is intended to embody the frontier spirit of the company. It has also adopted the motto "Broadband. Within Your Reach."

WildBlue's investors include EchoStar, Liberty Media Group, TV Guide, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TRW and TeleSat.

Teledyne Prices Public Offering
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated has announced the pricing of its required public offering of 4,100,000 shares of its Common Stock. The initial public offering price is US$ 19.50 per share. The Company expects to close the offering on August 22, 2000.

Goldman, Sachs & Co, Bank of America Securities LLC and AG Edwards & Sons Inc, are underwriting the offering. The underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional 615,000 shares from Teledyne Technologies.

Teledyne Technologies is a leading provider of sophisticated electronics and communication products, systems engineering solutions and aerospace engines and components, with operations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Products and Services

Iacto Trades Broadcast Facilities and Services
Iacto has become the first dedicated independent intermediary for the broadcast industry with the launch of its Internet and telephone based marketplace.

Initially targeted at users and providers of mobile uplinking, outside broadcast trucks and transmission capacity, the iacto marketplace enables buyers and sellers of such services to find each other quickly and easily, either using iacto's trained telephone staff or by using the iacto web-site

Iacto has been created to address inefficiency in the broadcasting industry which often sees users not being able to find services quickly enough to address their needs and results in providers suffering from unprofitable down-time. Based on industry experience and the knowledge that it's difficult to find an efficient way to buy and sell services - especially on short notice - the iacto marketplace functions as an efficient sales and purchasing channel. Iacto has already signed contracts with significant broadcast industry players, such as Canal+ Spain, Sonera, TV4, NSAB, Fronto, Newsforce and MTG.

The iacto service is available now and has been trialed for several months with major broadcast companies, during which time it has been used to book hundreds of hours of up-link and other production facilities. Iacto charges a commission to providers for deals made on the iacto marketplace. But providers do not pay to use iacto's services until they actually sell services and capacity

Iacto, headquartered in Stockholm, is an independent intermediary providing services to players in the broadcasting industry. Iacto's marketplace, accessed by telephone or the Internet, serves both buyers and sellers of broadcast services. Buyers of broadcast services use iacto to quickly and easily find the broadcasting resources that best satisfy their requirements and providers of broadcast services can now sell unused capacity through iacto. The iacto service currently provides a marketplace for mobile uplinks, production facilities and other broadcasting services.

People

Cidera Appoints Jim Garrettson as Senior Vice President of US Sales
Cidera, an international leader in the satellite delivery of broadband content to the edge of the Internet, has announced that Jim Garrettson has joined the company as Senior Vice President of US Sales.

Garrettson will report to Bob Marggraf, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Garrettson's responsibilities will focus on driving Cidera's continued network deployment, and work toward aggressive sales growth centring on CDNs, ISPs, co-location facilities, resellers, and the enterprise market.

Datron Names Director of its New Airborne Products Business Unit
Datron Systems Inc has announced that Mark Rayner has been named Director of Airborne Products for its wholly owned subsidiary, Datron/Transco Inc.

Located in Simi Valley, California, Datron/Transco supplies remote sensing satellite earth stations, satellite communication systems and mobile satellite television reception systems to worldwide markets.

Rayner will report to John Di Gioia, president of Datron/Transco. The newly created business unit will be responsible for the marketing, design, development and production of airborne antenna products to bring broadband voice, video and data access for commercial airlines, business jets and military aircraft.

Pace Creates National Accounts Team for Americas
Pace Micro Technology Americas has established a National Accounts Team for the North and South American markets.

Headed by VP-New Business Development Neil Jones, the National Accounts Team is responsible for sales and business development for cable, satellite, and xDSL operators in North and South America.

The National Accounts Team comprises of: Tim McCorkle and Jenny Bravo-Perry, based in Boca Raton, Florida., and Stephen Cimino, based in San Diego, California.

Pace's US base in Boca Raton houses its sales, marketing, development and engineering divisions for the Americas markets. Pace Americas VP-New Business Development, Neil Jones, is responsible for management of the sales team as well as for obtaining new business in the cable, satellite, wireless, and telephony markets.

Sandy Colony Joins Gilat-to-Home
Gilat-To-Home Inc, America's first consumer two-way satellite broadband Internet service provider, today announced that Sandy Colony has joined the company as Vice President of Corporate Communications.

In this capacity, she will develop and oversee GTH's public relations strategies, manage media relations, oversee the company website and develop internal communication programs. Colony is now managing GTH's communications plans for its nationwide commercial launch this autumn.

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