12 August 2001

Satcoms

Comtech to Provide Emergency Comms Gear for Bahamas
Comtech Telecommunications Corp has received a US$ 680,000 contract for the first phase of work on a satellite communications program that will provide emergency communications from anywhere in the Bahamas island chain.

The contract, the first awarded in a project that is expected to have a second phase and total more than US$ 1 million, was awarded by the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (Batelco) to the Orlando-based Comtech Systems segment of Comtech Telecommunications. Under it, the company will:

• Engineer and manufacture and provide an upgrade of Batelco's existing fixed satellite station in Nassau, The Bahamas.
• Provide a high-capacity, transportable satellite terminal for emergency communications anywhere in the Bahamas.

The contract calls for delivery and activation of the new equipment within 60 days, so that it will be ready for use in the approaching hurricane season.

NASA to Accept TDRS-H Communication Satellite
Boeing Satellite Systems has completed the verification and checkout process for the Boeing-built Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-H, launched June 2000. NASA and Boeing are finalising conditions for acceptance of TDRS-H, and negotiations are expected to conclude in late August.

Upon acceptance of the TDRS-H spacecraft, NASA's existing fleet will expand to seven on-orbit spacecraft. The agency will move the TDRS-H to its operational location at 171° W in September and rename it TDRS-8.

NASA's acceptance of TDRS-H has been delayed due to a performance shortfall on the Multiple-Access (MA) phased array antenna aboard the spacecraft. During on-orbit testing in August 2000, Boeing Satellite Systems, discovered that the MA communication services were performing at less-than-specified capability. All other communications services, including the newly added Ka band single-access services, have been activated and tested and are performing well.

Launch Services

Ariane 5 Inquiry Board Reports
The Inquiry Board appointed by Arianespace to investigate the malfunction of Ariane 5's EPS upper stage during Flight 142 has submitted its report identifying the causes for the anomaly and recommending corrective measures. All of the recommendations have been accepted, and they will be applied by Arianespace as quickly as possible.

Arianespace is now targeting the next Ariane 5 launch for late November, a delay of approximately two months compared to the initial schedule for this mission.

The seven-member Inquiry Board was appointed in mid July following the malfunction in Ariane 5's EPS storable propellant upper stage that occurred during Flight 142 on July 12. This malfunction resulted in the mission's dual satellite payload being delivered to a lower than expected orbit.

The Inquiry Board made a complete analysis of all measurements recorded during Flight 142 and studied the production, quality and technical background documents concerning all Ariane 5 missions to date. Also reviewed by the board was the work of production and development teams in Europe.

The board's findings confirmed that all processing and countdown operations for Flight 142 proceeded nominally, as did the Ariane 5's flight prior to ignition of the upper stage's Aestus engine.

The Inquiry Board's report identified a combustion instability during the Aestus engine's ignition. The resulting degraded engine combustion conditions led to a lower than normal thrust output. In addition, these conditions also resulted in the premature depletion of one of the propellants, which in turn caused the engine to shut down earlier than normal.

The strong pressure variation responsible for the combustion instability at Aestus engine ignition is attributed to a dynamic hydraulic coupling between the upper stage's propellant feed system and the engine's combustion chamber internal circuits.

As part of its investigation, the inquiry board clearly ruled out any link between the Ariane 5's upper stage malfunction and the operation of propulsion systems on the Ariane 4 launch vehicle.

The abnormal operating conditions encountered during Flight 142 will be studied in depth to further define the engine's ignition phase.

The Inquiry Board made the following recommendations:

• The hydraulic conditions that occur during Aestus engine ignition should be dynamically modelled mathematically.
• The upper stage's ignition phase improved to make it steadier and smoother.
• The qualification criteria adapted to the modified ignition phase.
• The test benches adapted to more closely duplicate flight conditions.
• The in-flight operating margins demonstrated by an engine test program.
• The next flight engines should be qualified according to these new criteria.

Spaceport Systems Intl Wins US$ 24 Million Contract for Space Vehicle Processing
Spaceport Systems International (SSI), a limited partnership between ITT Industries and the Snelling Trust has been awarded a Space Vehicle Processing Facility Contract for US$ 24.1 million by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The contract is for 10 years and includes space vehicle and payload-preparation support for multiple missions to be launched from Vandenberg AFB on the Boeing Delta IV Launch Vehicle. The NRO issued the first delivery order in July for Pathfinder operations in SSI's payload processing facility.

SSI is the first federally-licensed private commercial space launch facility operator in the United States. It manages and operates The California Spaceport on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, providing commercial payload processing and launch support services. The California Spaceport consists of an Integrated Processing Facility for satellite processing and a launch site for small launch vehicle operations. The state-of-the-art payload processing facility is designed for simultaneous use by multiple customers. The NRO will use the Integrated Processing Facility for space vehicle processing activities.

Launches

DSP 21

Launched: 6 August 2001
Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launcher: Titan 4B
Orbit: GEO
International Number: 2001-033A
Name: DSP 21 (USA 159)
Contractor: TRW/Aerojet

DSP-21 is a Defense Support Program satellite which will provide early warning of strategic and tactical ballistic missile launches to the North American Defense Command and US Space Command centres within Cheyenne Mountain.

Genesis

Launched: 8 August 2001
Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launcher: Delta 2
Orbit: Legrange 1 point (L1)
International Number: 2001-034A
Name: Genesis
Owner: NASA
Contractor: Lockheed Martin Astronautics

Genesis is a scientific satellite which will collect a sample (10 to 20 micrograms) of the charged particles that constitute the solar wind over a two year period and will return it to Earth.

The spacecraft carries four scientific instruments: solar-wind collector arrays, made of materials such as diamond, gold, silicon and sapphire, designed to entrap solar wind particles; an ion monitor, which will record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind; an electron monitor, which will make similar measurements of electrons in the solar wind; and an ion concentrator, which will separate out and focus elements in the solar wind like oxygen and nitrogen into a special collector tile. Sample collection will conclude in April 2004, when the spacecraft returns to Earth. Genesis will be the first mission to return a sample of extraterrestrial material collected beyond the orbit of the Moon.

In September 2004, the solar samples will be returned to Earth and the Genesis return capsule will be caught by helicopter as it falls through the sky following re-entry.

STS-105

Launched: 10 August 2001
Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Launcher: Shuttle Discovery (STS-105)
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 226 km, perigee: 226 km: inclination: 51.6°
International Number: 2001-035A
Name: ISS 7A.1 (Multi Purpose Logistics Module) on the Shuttle Discovery (STS-105)
Owner: NASA

This Shuttle mission will provide supplies to the International Space Station, will carry new experiments in the Leonardo module and will rotate the crews on the ISS. Mission duration is 12 days.

Crew:
Scott Horowitz, commander
Frederick "Rick" Sturckow, pilot
Patrick G Forrester, mission specialist
Dr Daniel T Barry, mission specialist
Frank Culbertson (ISS 3rd crew commander)
Vladimir Dezhurov (ISS 3rd crew pilot)
Mikhail Tyurin (ISS 3rd crew flight engineer)

Replacing Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin on the return flight will be:
Yury Usachev (ISS 2nd crew commander)
Jim Voss (ISS 2nd crew flight engineer)
Susan Helms (ISS 2nd crew flight engineer)

Business

Echostar Makes US$ 32 Billion Offer for Hughes
EchoStar Communications Corporation has made an unsolicited bid for Hughes Electronics Corporation in a tax-free, all-stock transaction. The holders of shares of Hughes tracking stock would receive EchoStar common stock.

In Echostar's proposal GMH shareholders would receive 0.75 EchoStar shares for each GMH share, or US$ 22.83 per GMH share based on EchoStar's closing stock price of US$ 30.44 on August 3, 2001, representing a premium to GMH shareholders of approximately 18%. In addition, Echostar would assume US$ 1.9 billion of Hughes debt.

With its offer, Echostar is trying to prevent the sale of Hughes Electronics to News Corporation, a deal which has been under discussion for several months. Echostar has chosen to go directly to General Motors, the owners of Hughes Electronics, because Hughes has said it is not interested in a deal with Echostar.

EMS Technologies Announces US$ 18.5 Million Private Placement of Common Stock
EMS Technologies Inc has entered into definitive agreements for the sale of approximately 1.3 million shares of its common stock to selected institutional and private investors.

The stock was priced at US$ 14 per share, for expected gross proceeds to the Company of approximately US$ 18.5 million. Needham & Company Inc served as placement agent on the transaction. Following this private placement, EMS Technologies will have a total of 10.2 million shares outstanding. The Company has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the resale of the shares. The private placement will be concluded when the resale registration statement becomes effective and other conditions to closing specified in the agreements have been satisfied.

Titan Completes Exchange Offer for Datron Systems
The Titan Corporation has announced the expiration of the exchange offer by its wholly owned subsidiary, Gem Acquisition Corp, for all of the outstanding shares of Datron Systems Incorporated common stock.

The offer expired at midnight New York time on Friday, August 3, 2001. All shares validly tendered (and not properly withdrawn) prior to the expiration have been accepted for exchange and will be exchanged promptly for Titan shares and for cash for fractional shares.

Approximately 2,019,260 shares were tendered (including through notices of guaranteed delivery) in the exchange offer prior to its expiration, which constitutes approximately 71.9% of the total number of outstanding shares of common stock of Datron. The pending merger of Datron and Gem Acquisition Corp., Titan's merger subsidiary, will be completed as soon as practicable subject to the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganisation among Datron, Gem and Titan and subject to applicable legal requirements. Once the pending merger becomes effective, Datron will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan.

Founded in 1969 as a defence contractor, Datron has pioneered the development of antennas to track airborne rockets, missiles, weaponry, and spacecraft. Datron has developed expertise in remote sensing, image processing, satellite tracking and antenna manufacturing with products including remote sensing satellite earth stations, image processing software, tracking systems, and voice and data communication radio products.

Products and Services

Andrew Receives Intelsat Type Approval 4.9 m C Band Antenna
Andrew Corporation has received Intelsat F-1 Type Approval for the circularly polarised 2-port version of its 4.9m C band earth station antenna.

The 4.9 m C band earth station antenna is designed to enable systems integrators and designers to bring their antenna systems on line faster and more economically. Intelsat type approval ensures that Andrew 4.9 m C band earth station antennas meet Intelsat's stringent operating performance requirements.

The Andrew 4.9 m C band earth station antenna has a uniquely formed dual-reflector Gregorian optic system that is closely coupled with close-tolerance manufacturing techniques for accurate surface contour, high gain, efficiency, and closely-controlled pattern characteristics. The C band antenna's circular R/T feed system can be changed manually in the field from circular to linear polarisation
.
Andrew also announced that it has applied for Intelsat type approval for its 4-port C band and 2- and 4-port Ku band 4.9-meter earth station antennas.

Immeon Launches Broadband-on-Demand Service
ViaSat Inc and Loral Skynet have formed a joint venture, Immeon Networks LLC, to develop and market the Immeon satellite bandwidth-on-demand service.

Immeon is targeted at enterprises that can benefit from broadband-on-demand, have peer-to-peer connectivity needs for remote locations, or need redundant connections to restore service during wide area network outages. Through monthly service plans similar to cellular telephone service, Immeon subscribers have access to bandwidth for point-to-point and multicasting IP services based on their monthly usage and data rate requirements. Immeon's turnkey service provides its subscribers with a cost-effective alternative to under-utilised fixed circuits.

ABC News and Haverty's Furniture, are among Immeon's first customers. A number of others including StorageTek are in the trial phase with Immeon network connections. These initial customers represent a range of applications that demonstrate Immeon's effectiveness in providing flexible service to mobile or fixed network sites.

ABC News is using Immeon to improve its voice and data communications for on-location satellite newsgathering.

Haverty's will back up terrestrial Frame Relay and ISDN lines with Immeon services to insure reliability for its retailing network. The full-service home furnishings retailer is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and has 105 showrooms in 14 southern and central states.

StorageTek, is evaluating the Immeon system for implementing possible backup services for their terrestrial network from Puerto Rico to its headquarters in Louisville, Colorado. StorageTek delivers a broad range of storage solutions for digitized data.

Immeon uses Loral Skynet's Telstar 4 satellite and ViaSat's StarWire satellite networking terminals to connect users to any location within the satellite's coverage area. The initial service area includes the United States plus portions of Canada and the Caribbean. ViaSat's Paired Carrier Multiple Access (PCMA) technology is expected to enable Immeon to provide highly efficient bandwidth use in a mesh network configuration, and enables competitive service pricing to its customers. The Immeon service allows customers to extend terrestrial network services and establish reliable broadband connections to hard-to-reach or temporary sites for applications such as oil and gas exploration, newsgathering, emergency operations or construction. Immeon also serves as a backup to other high-speed networks in areas where redundant, geographically-diverse terrestrial coverage is not practical or cost-effective.

Loral Skynet is providing capacity, planning, and support for space segment to Immeon, while ViaSat provides service and equipment, network operations and maintenance, installation, integration services, and field support. Ground service and support is provided from ViaSat's Atlanta-based network operations centre.

Metrodata Announces HE1000 For Line Driving HSSI Interfaces
The HSSI Extender HE1000 allows satellite service providers and carriers to locate their routers up to 150 m away from their satellite modems. The main benefit of this product is that it can be used with standard HSSI router modules, and existing ASI satellite modems.

The HE1000 has successfully been tested with Newtec NTC/2077/FO and NTC/2063/LF modems with an ASI interface.

People

BSS Appoints Two Vice Presidents
Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) has named Art Rosales vice president of Commercial Programs and Dr John Konrad vice president of Commercial Marketing and Sales.

Rosales, who began his career with BSS in 1979, will be responsible for executing all BSS commercial programs to meet corporate and customer expectations. This includes assuring customer satisfaction, controlling profit/loss centres, implementing the market segment strategic plan and supporting the vice president of Commercial Marketing and Sales for new business. Most recently, Rosales was vice president and general manager for the Fixed Satellite Systems and the Broadcast Satellite Systems (FSS/BSS) programs. Previously, he held various program management and product line management positions.

Prior to joining BSS, Rosales worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an industrial liaison officer and later as the assistant director of the industrial liaison program from 1977 to 1979. From 1971 to 1973, Rosales worked as an aerodynamicist at McDonnell Douglas Corporation. He graduated from MIT with bachelor of science and master of science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1969 and 1970, respectively.

Konrad will be responsible for leading the marketing and sales teams for commercial business development. This will include creating and/or identifying new business opportunities and alliances and partnering with the vice president of Commercial Programs to maintain and expand our market share with existing customers.

Konrad has been with BSS his entire career, which began in 1976. From 1999 to date, he has been director of the Americas region for the (Fixed Services and Broadcast Services) programs with customers that ranged from Telesat in Canada to Embratel in Brazil. From 1996 to 1999, Konrad functioned as business unit leader for Spacecraft Design and Production. Prior to 1996, he served in increasingly responsible positions at BSS including deputy director of Commercial Business Development. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. In 1976 he graduated with a PhD in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Intelsat Appoints Director of Investor Relations
Intelsat Ltd has appointed Dianne VanBeber as Director of Investor Relations.

In her new capacity, Ms VanBeber will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the Company's investor relations program. She will play a key role in the company's planned initial public offering and will serve as a company spokesperson with regard to the financial media and markets.

Ms VanBeber, who has over 10 years experience in the satellite industry, comes to Intelsat from Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd, where she served as Vice President, Investor Relations since 1998. In addition to creating Gilat's investor relations program, Ms. VanBeber was heavily involved in Gilat's broadband satellite initiatives. From 1994 to 1998, Ms VanBeber served in a variety of business development and marketing roles at GE Capital Spacenet Services, ending as Vice President, Marketing.

Ms VanBeber holds an MBA in Finance and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Kansas.

New CEO and president Takes Charge at Orbcomm
Orbcomm LLC has selected Hans E W Hoffmann as its Chief Executive Officer and President.

Mr Hoffmann has over 35 years of international experience in aeronautical and space engineering and satellite communications. He has held a number of executive management positions with responsibility for the technological development and integration of high-profile satellite and space launch programs, including Spacelab, Ariane and Helios. Mr Hoffmann has also held executive management positions in marketing, sales and business development.

Most recently, Mr Hoffmann served as President of STN Atlas Elektronik GmbH, a 5,200-person German-based corporation that manufactures products for the aerospace, navy equipment and military markets.

Mr. Hoffmann was a Fulbright scholar and the recipient of numerous honours including NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal (for Spacelab development leadership), Aviation Week's Man of the Year Award (for the creation of INTOSPACE), the Engineering Science Award by the International Academy of Astronautics and the Ordre National du Merit by the French Government.

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