10 June 2001

Satcoms

Improving Life on the Road for Wyoming Highway Patrol
California-based Radio Mobile Solutions (RMS) is to use TMI Communications' mobile satellite network to carry a new, specialised wireless solution being developed for the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Using TMI's mobile satellite network, the new application will enable Wyoming Highway Patrol officers to access State data, and selected records from the FBI's National Crime Information Center, directly from their vehicles. RMS will initially install over 200 of its WEDGE mobile computer terminals in Wyoming Highway Patrol vehicles. The WEDGE is a rugged mobile computer that allow officers to write reports, read magnetic strips on driver's licenses and even take colour photos using an internal colour digital camera - all without leaving their vehicles.

By next month, the application will be made available to all public safety agencies within the State of Wyoming. This is the first State-wide public safety application to use TMI Communications' satellite network.

Currently, many safety and law enforcement organisations serve urban centres and populated areas using terrestrial radio services; however, public safety activities are often beyond the reach of terrestrial network accessibility - because accidents, natural disasters and illegal activities can happen anywhere. By integrating TMI's reliable satellite coverage with RMS' leading-edge communications tools, Wyoming Highway Patrol officers will have mobile access to fulfil their duties wherever and whenever necessity takes them.

Intelsat Reaches Out to Cook Islands
Intelsat has introduced the first 64 kb/s on-demand Internet access service between Aitutaki and Avarua in the Cook Islands.

Telecom Cook Islands (TCI) was the first Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) customer in the Pacific, and now is globally the first to implement the 64 kb/s service. Intelsat's new 64 kbps DAMA service has been designed for Internet service providers, and offers flexible, usage-based per minute charges.

TCI had already been a user of the 16 kb/s DAMA service, which handles voice, facsimile and voice-band data. The main site (hub) is located on Avarua and utilises a 13-meter antenna; the remote site, Aitutaki, uses a 7.5-meter antenna.

The 64 Kbps DAMA service is available via a VSAT terminal, and is charged on a per minute basis for the duration of answered calls. There is no fee for unanswered calls, and no long-term or volume commitments are required. This on-demand service is available on global transponder 36/36 on Intelsat's 335.5°E, 174°E and 60°E satellites.

Radyne Comstream Modems Africa Bound
Radyne ComStream has announced a US$ 1.1 million contract with Titan Wireless. This is the first instalment of an expansion project in Africa for Radyne ComStream's RCS10 satellite modem and switching system.

The RCS10 systems, which have already been deployed at international gateways worldwide, will be installed in the West African Republic of Benin.

This project will replace existing point-to-point and microwave links used for the backhaul of remote telephony traffic to the main city of Cotonou. The new systems will be put into service in September 2001.

The Christian Church Selects Loral Cyberstar To Multicast Worldwide Programming
The Christian Church, based in Brunstad, Norway, is to use Loral CyberStar's satellite-based, multicast services to deliver religious programming to its nearly 35,000 members at more than 500 locations worldwide.

The five-year deal will enable The Christian Church to broadcast meetings, conferences and special events to its churches and congregations in areas not readily accessible through traditional terrestrial networks. The Christian Church will use CyberStar s technology and global connectivity to increase member interaction and unify its global membership. This global reach will allow members of The Christian Church to participate in its services wherever they are located.

Before employing CyberStar s services, many members of The Christian Church had limited interaction with other church members due to the vast geographic distances between congregations. CyberStar s satellite technology has eliminated the barriers to building a unified community by allowing church members to participate in events anywhere in the world.

The Christian Church is an international Christian fellowship that began in Norway around the turn of the century. In Norway, The Christian Church is often called "Smith's Friends." Today, The Christian Church numbers between 25,000 and 35,000 members, with fellowships located in more than 55 countries around the world. The Christian Church is an evangelical, non-denominational church.

TMI Communications Chosen for GEOSat's New SeaTrac Service
Florida-based GEOSat Solutions Inc is to use TMI Communications' North American satellite network for its new SeaTrac marine tracking, messaging and monitoring application.

The new application will reduce marine theft, negligence and insurance claims by acting as a round-the-clock security and monitoring system, as well as improve marine safety and communications by permitting two-way messaging even when vessels are far beyond the range of traditional radio signals.

SeaTrac uses a small, inexpensive, battery-powered "packet data" terminal manufactured by EMS Technologies which has the capability to automatically monitor key marine systems, such as bilge levels, electricity voltage, fuel tanks and alarms. The unit can automatically send reports via the TMI Communications MSAT-1 satellite network to a land-based monitoring centre at predetermined intervals, where they can be accessed through a special Internet site with password control. At a glance, the subscriber on land can see the vessel's latest position on a nautical chart and view the status of all sensors on a graphic analogue display. Aboard the vessel, the operator can also transmit specific reports of mechanical problems or emergency conditions using a software application loaded onto a Palm handheld device.

Science

Mars Express to Investigate Phobos
Phobos, the tiny innermost moon of Mars, is to come under close scrutiny after Europe's mission to Mars goes into orbit around the Red Planet late in 2003. Mars Express is due to pass within 3000 km of the 22 km diameter moon a few hundred times during its two-year nominal mission lifetime.

At a distance of 3000 km, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express will be capable of taking images with a resolution at least as good as any taken by Viking. At 1000 km, the Infrared and Visible Mapping Spectrometer (OMEGA) will also be switched on to map the mineral composition of the tiny moon's surface; and when the distance is only a few hundred kilometres, the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) and the Sub-surface Sounding Radar/Altimeter (MARSIS) will record measurements. The Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser (ASPERA) will monitor the plasma environment around the orbit of Phobos during all fly-bys.

Mars Express could generate the most comprehensive suite of observations ever recorded for Phobos. They will help to resolve some of the outstanding puzzles about the Martian moon, many of which came to light during previous observation missions. In addition to Viking, these included the ill-fated Russian mission, Phobos-2, and NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which is still on mission around the Red Planet. Phobos-2 was due to send a lander to the tiny moon in 1989, but was lost just 100 km above the surface.

NASA Approves Mercury Orbiter Mission
NASA has given the first Mercury orbiter mission the go-ahead to move into full-scale spacecraft development. This will be the first trip to the Solar System's innermost planet in more than a generation.

MESSENGER, short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging, will launch in March 2004 and orbit Mercury for one Earth-year beginning in April 2009.

MESSENGER will be only the second spacecraft to visit Mercury. Mariner 10 flew past it three times in 1974 and 1975 but gathered data on less than half the planet.

MESSENGER's seven scientific instruments - including a camera, laser altimeter, magnetometer and several spectrometers - will globally image Mercury for the first time. It also will collect unprecedented information on the composition and structure of Mercury's crust, its geologic history, the nature of its thin atmosphere and active magnetosphere, and the makeup of its core and polar materials.

MESSENGER's five-year voyage includes two flybys of Venus and two flybys of Mercury, "gravity assists" that will help the spacecraft tune its path and match Mercury's quick, elliptical orbit around the sun. The mission team will also use pictures and data from the Mercury flybys to refine the orbit study.

Once in orbit MESSENGER has to deal with the intense heat at Mercury, where the sun is up to 11 times brighter than on Earth. But MESSENGER's instruments will operate at room temperature behind a sunshield made of the same ceramic material that protects parts of the space shuttle. The spacecraft will also pass only briefly over the hottest parts of the planet's surface, limiting the instruments' exposure to reflected heat.

The US$ 256 million MESSENGER mission is the seventh in NASA's Discovery Program of lower-cost, scientifically focused space flights. The mission cost figure does not include the launch vehicle and mission operations.

NASA Selects Two Pluto Missions for Study
NASA has selected two proposals for detailed mission feasibility studies as candidates for a Pluto-Kuiper Belt (PKB) mission to explore the only planet in our Solar System yet to be visited by a spacecraft from Earth.

Although NASA's proposed budget for FY 2002 does not contain development funding for a Pluto mission, Congress has requested that NASA does not do anything which would preclude the ability to develop a Pluto-Kuiper mission until the Congress could consider it in the context of the FY 2002 budget. If funding is provided in the FY 2002 budget and either proposal is ultimately selected, the Agency could down-select a proposal for development to ultimately fly a spacecraft to Pluto and beyond. If a PKB mission is developed, launch would be in the 2004-2006 time frame and the spacecraft would arrive at Pluto before 2020.

Each team will receive US$ 450,000 to conduct a three-month concept study. At the end of the three months, NASA will thoroughly evaluate program content and technical, schedule and cost feasibilities of both proposals to determine if either is selectable.

The selected investigations are:

Pluto and Outer Solar System Explorer (POSSE). Dr Larry Esposito, Principal Investigator, University of Colorado, will lead a team including the following major participants: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Lockheed Martin Astronautics; Malin Space Science Systems; Ball Aerospace Corp; and University of California.

New Horizons: Shedding Light on Frontier Worlds. Dr S Alan Stern, Principal Investigator, Southwest Research Institute, will lead a team including the following major participants: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Ball Aerospace Corp; Stanford University; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; and JPL.

Both proposals are for complete missions, including launch vehicle, spacecraft and science instrument payload. Both address the major science objectives defined in the original announcement. Each proposal includes a remote sensing package that includes imaging instruments, a radio science investigation, and other experiments to characterise the global geology and morphology of Pluto and Charon, map their surface composition, and characterise Pluto's neutral atmosphere and its escape rate.

Launch Services

Inmarsat, L-3 Storm and Astrium Team to Develop SCC Software
Inmarsat Ltd has entered into a partnership with L-3 Storm and Astrium to jointly develop and market advanced Satellite Control Centre (SCC) software for future Astrium satellite customers.

The next-generation SCC software would offer powerful automation features, enabling completely automated command and control capabilities for all types of communications satellites. The first operational use of the software will be for Inmarsat's current satellite fleet of Inmarsat-2 and Inmarsat-3 satellites in early 2002. Following on from that the software will be used to control Inmarsat's fourth generation satellites to be launched in 2003.

Astrium will use and offer the SCC software for all satellites based on the Eurostar 2000 and 3000 platforms.

New Big Dish at Esrange
L-3 Communications' EMP Systems division has been awarded a contract by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) for a 13 m Remote Sensing Satellite (RSS) Data Reception and Telemetry, Tracking & Control (TT&C) Antenna System.

The new S/X-band autotracking antenna will be located at Esrange, SSC's Space Operations Center near Kiruna in northern Sweden.

EMP Systems' Cross El over El over Az positioner geometry features true full hemispherical horizon-to-horizon coverage. There are no operational keyholes to limit performance, regardless of satellite inclination angle or ground station latitude. The EMP Systems design provides the advantages of both the El/Az and X-Y pedestal configuration geometries. The time required to reconfigure and reacquire an in-progress or the next satellite pass is minimised with this special pedestal configuration.

Other features of the EMP Systems antenna include fibre optic signal distribution, and a full suite of automatic test and calibration facilities. Remote control and monitoring, at multiple locations, is provided over a fibre optic Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN).

Launches

Cosmos 2378

Launched: 8 June 2001
Site: Plesetsk cosmodrome, Russia
Launcher: Cosmos 3M
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 1023 km, perigee: 981 km: inclination: 82.9°
International Number: 2001-023A
Name: Cosmos 2378 (Parus)

Cosmos 2378 is believed to be a military navigation satellite. The orbit used suggests it is a Parus spacecraft used for navigation by the Russian navy.

Intelsat 901

Launched: 9 June 2001
Site: CSG Kourou, French Guiana
Launcher: Ariane 44L
Orbit: GEO, 18° W
International Number: 2001-024A
Name: Intelsat 901
Owner: Intelsat
Contractor: Space Systems/Loral

Intelsat 901 is the first of a series of seven commercial communications satellites being built by Space Systems/Loral for Intelsat. It will provide coverage of the Atlantic Ocean Region, replacing the Intelsat 705 spacecraft. Intelsat 901 will provide spot beam Ku band coverage for Europe, as well as C band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean Region.

The satellite, built on an extended FS1300 platform, carries 44 C band transponders and 12 in the Ku band. Onboard power at the beginning of its 13-year life is 10 kW. Spacecraft mass at injection to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) was 4,753 kg.

Business

DBS Industries to Offer Services Through Iridium's Satellites
DBS Industries Inc (DBSI) has signed an operator-to-operator agreement with Iridium Satellite LLC to provide remote monitoring and control services to the energy industry.

Through this agreement DBSI plans to begin business operations this summer by using Iridium's commercially available satellite network, significantly ahead of DBSI's own planned satellite launch in late 2002.

DBSI will continue to pursue automated meter reading services through its E-Sat license and hopes that initially providing related services via Iridium can demonstrate the market opportunity for commercial satellite-based data services in the energy industry, and aid its long-term search for finance.

Products and Services

AlphaStar Launches High Speed Internet Access Service
AlphaStar International is providing direct bi-directional satellite broadband access to commercial and institutional users as part of its SkyCrossing service.

SkyCrossing Direct, as the new service is named, allows Internet access at speeds up to 33 Mb/s and beyond with dishes mounted at the user's premises. SkyCrossing is available within the footprint of GE Americom's GE-5 and GE-6 satellites covering the USA, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Later this summer the service will be extended to include Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

SkyCrossing Direct basic packages start at speeds up to 512 kb/s downstream and 128 kb/s upstream with an allotment of 2 Gbytes per month for US$ 299 per month. Customer pays incrementally, per Mbyte for any bandwidth use in excess of the monthly allotment. Other packages with higher data rates and volumes are also available.

Globalstar USA and Calence Announce Satellite Access to VPN Networks
Globalstar USA/Caribbean and Calence Inc have announced a new technology solution that allows Globalstar customers to establish a Virtual Private Networks (VPN) via satellite.

The Calence integrated technology solution allows customers to use industry leading VPN products from companies such as Cisco and Microsoft on the Globalstar satellite system.

Globalstar USA launched Globalstar Data Services in December 2000. The Globalstar GSP-1600 phone by Qualcomm acts as a wireless modem and attaches via data cable to a laptop computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Previously, Globalstar data customers could remotely access Internet sites, search engines, most consumer email and instant messaging. The next challenge was to develop a solution that would enable satellite phone customer to access a VPN on a narrowband channel. By integrating the critical technologies required to deliver this secure solution, Calence gives Globalstar Data Services a much broader commercial appeal by addressing concerns about network protection.

After installing the selected network server hardware and the VPN software, a customer connects the computer to the Globalstar phone, logs into the data system and launches the VPN application. The VPN software provides 56 bit encryption and is compatible with various corporate network systems including Cisco's VPN (using IPSec) and Microsoft's VPN (using PPTP).

Iridium Launches Internet Service
Iridium Satellite LLC now offers commercial mobile satellite data services, including dial-up connectivity and direct-Internet connections.

Iridium's dial-up data capability provides connectivity to corporate data users at 2.4 kb/s, while Iridium's direct-Internet data services provide an optimised connection to the Internet at 10 kb/s, independent of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN).

Whilst these data rates will not set the Internet world on fire, offering, at best, a connection speed of less than a fifth of that of the ubiquitous 56 kb/s PSTN modem, they are quite adequate for services such as email. By their very nature Iridium phones are used where terrestrial services are not available. Faced with a choice between no Internet service and a slow Internet service, some users will undoubtedly find Iridium's slow connection speeds very attractive.

Iridium's service provider network, which offers worldwide distribution of Iridium's data and voice services, currently sell data-ready Motorola handsets along with data kit adapters for use with laptops and other computers. Costs for Iridium's data services are included with voice telephony at charges that will retail for no more than US$ 1.50 per minute.

NSA Certifies Secure Voice Module for Iridium
Motorola, the manufacturer of the subscriber equipment for the Iridium satellite system, has announced that the National Security Agency (NSA) has certified Motorola's Type 1 Iridium Security Module (ISM) for the new Motorola Satellite Series 9505 portable telephone.

The ISM is intended for the protection of voice communications at security levels up to and including Top Secret. These products are for use with the Iridium global communications satellite network, which is owned by Iridium Satellite LLC.

The module is the first Type 1 certified security product using Motorola's revolutionary new sCore architecture which employs a single, commercial digital signal processor (DSP) supported by commercial programmable logic. With this small attachment, authorised users who subscribe to satellite voice service will now be able to digitally encrypt their sensitive voice conversations.

The ISM provides secure calls between ISM-equipped Motorola 9505 satellite telephones and, when operating through a special interface in the Government gateway, with existing Secure Telephone Units (STU-III). Last December, the DoD completed a multi-year contract with Iridium Satellite LLC allowing up to 20,000 subscribers a year to use the company's voice and data services.

Motorola is currently under contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to operate and maintain the US DoD Iridium gateway and to develop and manufacture the security module for the Motorola Satellite Series 9505 portable telephone.

People

New Exec VP at BSS
Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) has named satellite industry leader Dr Alexis Livanos as executive vice president and second-in-command, reporting directly to BSS President Randy Brinkley. BSS is a unit of The Boeing Company.

As executive vice president of BSS, Dr Livanos is responsible for managing the execution of the BSS business plan, including Spectrolab Inc, and Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices subsidiaries.

New President at Com Dev Space
Michael Pley has been appointed President of Com Dev Space, one of the Com Dev's two major operating divisions.

He replaces John Keating who was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Com Dev in April.

In his new role, Mr Pley will be responsible for all Com Dev Space operations including the Company's main design and manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Ontario and its European space centre in Aylesbury, UK.

New Programmes Director at CNES
Stéphane Janichewski has been appointed as Programmes and Industrial Affairs Director at CNES.

He replaces Joël Barre, who is moving to a new post in industry.

Norsat's CFO Resigns
Norsat International Inc has announced the resignation of Victor Giacomin, Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

Mr Giacomin tendered his resignation following the completion of the recently announced restructuring of Norsat.

Robert Strain Appointed To Lead Orbital's Space Systems Group
Orbital Sciences Corporation has announced that Mr Robert D Strain has been appointed Executive Vice President and General Manager of the company's Space Systems Group (SSG).

Previously the head of Orbital's Electronics and Sensor Systems Group (ESSG) since 1996, Mr Strain has been with Orbital and a predecessor company for 12 years, earlier serving in key finance and manufacturing positions.

The company also announced that Mr James R Thompson, Orbital's President and Chief Operating Officer, will serve as acting head of ESSG until a permanent replacement is selected. In this capacity, he will be assisted by Mr Richard W. Sherman, currently Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager of ESSG.

Orbital's Space Systems Group designs, manufactures and supports the operation of low-orbit and geosynchronous orbit satellites and related spacecraft systems.

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