25 March 2001

Satcoms

Airia Selects Square Peg Uplink Subsystems
Airia, a joint venture between APR Limited (formerly Live Inflight Video Entertainment Limited), and Inmarsat Ventures Ltd, has selected Square Peg Communications Inc (SPCI) to supply up-link transmission equipment for Airia's global live in-flight service using Inmarsat's existing network of satellites.

Airia's service will initially enable airline passengers to receive live television news from BBC World, the BBC's 24-hour international news and information channel, and a live sports channel carrying international sporting events designed by Trans World International (TWI), one of the world's leading sports television production companies.

Airia will be the first to deliver live global in-flight entertainment, using Inmarsat Aero H/H+ satcom antennas already installed on over 76% of modern long-haul wide-bodied aircraft. Airia will also be adding additional channels and content, along with broadband data services, to meet passenger demand.

To provide global coverage and ensure availability, SPCI will supply three redundant up-link subsystems to be installed at Inmarsat Land Earth Station (LES) sites around the world. These transmit subsystems will receive broadcast channels via a leased data connection from the Airia studio, then format, encode and transmit the data to the satellite via the LES's upconverter. The transmit subsystems will also monitor and control the overall up-link.

AlphaStar Announces Broadband Service for SoHo, Telecommuters and Small Business
AlphaStar International is to launch its two-way Satellite Bandwidth On Demand (BOD) service with full T1 speed to SOHO (Small Office/Home Office), telecommuters, and small businesses in the USA.

The BOD service consists of a monthly basic service of always-on satellite broadband at downstream speed of 512 kb/s and upstream speed of 144 kb/s plus the option to receive BOD at downstream speed of 1.544 Mb/s (full T1 speed) and upstream speed of 384 kb/s. The monthly fee for the basic service is US$ 99.99 with an additional fee for BOD if actual usage exceeds the basic service levels during the month. Consumer equipment costs US$ 399, and installation is US$ 199 (or self-installed).

SkyCrossing's BOD service is provided via Americom's GE-5 satellite, which covers the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and parts of Latin America.

SkyCrossing's technology is based on a hybrid model that integrates satellite as the Internet backbone and local fixed wireless as the final mile. The hybrid model combines the best of both satellite broadband and fixed wireless. The hybrid model completely bypasses the congested Internet terrestrial backbone, and it can be deployed almost instantly. There is no extra ISP fees or hassles with phone or cable companies. There is no need for a 2-way satellite dish at the premises.

BT Broadcast Services Opens Los Angeles Facility
BT North America Broadcast Services has opened BT's newest media facility in Marina del Ray, Los Angeles.

The state-of-the-art West Coast Media Center is at the heart of the Los Angeles broadcast centre and connects with local broadcast switching centres. The new facility will enable BT Broadcast Services to meet increased demand for broadcast and multimedia services in the Pacific Rim and Latin America regions, and complement BT's first US teleport in Washington DC.

The new site offers a complete range of broadcast transmission solutions throughout the US, including satellite, fibre, microwave transmissions, and connectivity to BT's Global Digital Network. Initially, the LA Media Center will be equipped with earth stations to support a wide range of full time, occasional use and IP services. Services will also include permanent uplink and downlinks for distribution of international and domestic broadcasts, as well as analogue and digital options on a wide range of fibre optic paths.

Globalstar USA to Use Qualcomm Modem for Globalstar Packet Data
Qualcomm Incorporated and Globalstar USA/Caribbean have announced a licensing agreement to sell Globalstar Commercial Data Services, two-way data satellite communications using the Globalstar Satellite Data Modem (GSP-1620) by Qualcomm.

This agreement expands Globalstar Data Services beyond Internet and e-mail access to encompass the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), telemetry, fleet management and asset tracking markets.

This agreement is an exclusive arrangement between Qualcomm and Globalstar USA, which enables Globalstar USA to offer Globalstar Commercial Data Services in Globalstar USA's territory for single unit retail rates beginning at a US$ 10 per month for service and usage charge of US$ 0.15 per Kilobyte second.

Using the Globalstar constellation of 48 Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites, the Globalstar Satellite Data Modem provides a reliable, wireless Internet Protocol (IP) data link to remote locations where terrestrial landline and wireless services are unavailable.

Globalstar Commercial Data Services are currently being tested by a number of trial customers including XATA Corporation, Ocuity and Xtra Web Inc.

The Globalstar Satellite Data Modem provides an open-air, full-duplex data pipe that can be integrated into a monitoring and control system. Using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, the modem sends data to a Globalstar gateway in a given territory, which then forwards packet data to the Internet. The modem is compatible with Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000 Dial-Up Networking and offers 9.6 kb/s maximum speed, with a 7.7 kb/s average throughput. Additional features include Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnelling and Short Messaging Service (SMS).

Orbital to Supply C Band Galaxy Satellites to PanAmSat
PanAmSat Corporation has selected Orbital Sciences Corporation to supply one C band geostationary satellite, with an option for two additional similar spacecraft.

The satellites, which will be the next generation of PanAmSat's Galaxy cable satellites, will be based on Orbital's "Star" platform.

The procurement plan calls for Orbital Sciences to initially begin construction on one new spacecraft, designed to operate at 74° W. Following its launch in late 2002 or early 2003, the expansion satellite will offer 24 C band transponders for the delivery of full-time video services.

The agreement also provides PanAmSat with the option for two additional satellites to succeed Galaxy V and Galaxy IR following their scheduled retirements in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The two satellites would each carry 24 C band transponders.

SkyBridge Announces Broadband Services
SkyBridge LP has announced its plans to start offering broadband IP services via satellite to service providers during 2001.

SkyBridge claims to remain fully committed to its Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite constellation. In addition to developing this broadband access system, SkyBridge will provide, using geostationary satellites, both access and content distribution offerings to service providers on a wholesale basis by the end of 2001.

The company will lease satellite capacity from satellite owners. SkyBridge itself will invest in the ground infrastructure and delivery platform for access services, a portfolio of content distribution services as well as value-added services such as e-learning. The positioning of SkyBridge as a "carriers' carrier" remains unchanged. SkyBridge services will be available this year on a wholesale basis to service providers around the world.

Station 12 Changes Name and Announces New Services
Station 12 has changed its name to Xantic and has said it intends to introduce broadband services in addition to its current portfolio of maritime and land services.

Last year, KPN subsidiary Station 12 merged with Telstra Global Satellite and subsequently acquired software company SpecTec. KPN has a 65% shareholding with the remaining 35% held by Telstra.

The new name will be effective from 1 May though the company's existing brands - Station 12, SpecTec and Telstra Global Satellite will be phased out beginning immediately.

Xantic, in addition to maritime and land mobile services, will introduce new broadband services in four main areas: providing Internet access to telecoms operators and Internet services providers; developing content distribution and delivery services; TV and radio broadcasting services; and dedicated, secure satellite private networks to international organisations and governmental bodies.

Internet access services will primarily be offered to telcos, ISPs and corporates, initially in Europe.

In the content delivery field, Xantic will offer streaming services to businesses and content providers, as well as packet delivery and high-speed Internet access.

The new broadband services will be available in Europe in the middle of this year and will be based on the Astra-net platform.

Xantic will also introduce the AmosConnect wireless e-mail solution which "allows ships to become offices," providing end-to-end solutions backed by a 24-hour customer support service. Security would be achieved via SMTP tunnelling to the corporate VPN. The solution also supports the Internet protocol.

Teleglobe Chooses Anik F1 Satellite for Latin American Internet
Responding to growing demand for Internet services in Latin America, Teleglobe has contracted for a three-year lease of four C band transponders on Telesat's Anik F1 satellite.

Launched in November 2000, Anik F1's broadcast capability expands Teleglobe's capacity to carry Internet content between North America and Latin America as well as to deliver Internet caching and streaming media services to Latin American Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Teleglobe's lease of Anik F1 capacity extends the company's terrestrial, sub-sea and satellite global IP network, GlobeSystem, and is part of a planned US$ 5 billion investment to support a suite of web and application hosting, content distribution, Internet, data and voice services.

The Telesat capacity supplements Teleglobe's existing capacity in the region on an array of Intelsat satellites as well as on the Americas II, Atlantica, Maya I and Nautilus cable systems.

Transat to Provide ipWEB Satellite Internet Technology to RACSA
Transat Technologies Corporation has announced that its service provider partner, Inalambrica.net USA Corporation, has signed an agreement with Radiografica Costarricense S A (RACSA), the state-owned telecommunications provider in Costa Rica, allowing RACSA to provide Direct Internet Satellite Access Service throughout Costa Rica.

Under terms of the agreement, RACSA has the exclusive right to sell Inalambrica's Internet Services in Costa Rica. It is anticipated that this agreement will lead to the deployment of thousands of systems throughout Costa Rica. Inalambrica.net will provide its ipWEB Asymmetric Satellite Service to meet the Internet needs of this large underserved market.

Inalambrica's ipWEB Satellite Internet Delivery service uses software solutions developed and owned by Transat Technologies. The ipWEB service employs a flexible network architecture to provide high-speed Internet connectivity, bypassing the bottlenecks of terrestrial networks. Uplink satellite hubs are located in the United Stated and the downlink systems will be deployed in country and allow for the use of remote links hosted off the local server.

Vyvx Provides New Skies With LA Teleport Services
Williams Communications is providing New Skies Satellites teleport facilities for New Skies' Asia Pacific satellite, giving customers a combined fibre and satellite connection between North America and the Pacific Rim.

Under the terms of the agreement, Williams Communications Broadband Media Services, through its Vyvx business, is providing a dedicated 16.4 m antenna at its Los Angeles teleport for New Skies' NSS-513 satellite at 183° E. In addition to the satellite connectivity, the Vyvx teleport gives New Skies access to Williams Communications' network, the largest next-generation fibre-optic network in the United States. Services supported include New Skies' IPsys Internet service, as well as other video and data services.

Xantic to Use Astra-Net Platform
Xantic (formerly Station 12) has entered into an agreement for the provision of broadband satellite infrastructure with SES Group. The deal comprises a complete IP-broadband platform as well as satellite capacity on NSAB's Sirius satellite system to be used by Xantic for a variety of media-rich IP-based applications and services.

SES Group will install an Astra-Net platform in the Netherlands, enabling Xantic to provide corporate broadband services to its European customers and business partners beginning in summer 2001.

Xantic will deploy the Astra-Net technology directly at its uplink and ground control premises in Hilversum and Burum (Netherlands). Xantic will launch its services with one initial transponder on NSAB's Sirius 2 satellite, providing services into Europe from 5° E.

Xantic's service offering to ISPs and corporate subscribers will comprise instant broadband Internet connectivity via a premium broadband satellite service, providing guaranteed direct and dedicated access to the web. Xantic's services to small and medium enterprises (SME) as well as residential and small office/home office (SoHo) users will be based on a prepaid High Speed Internet access solution, enabling subscribers to benefit from high download speeds for large data- and content files through the satellite dish directly to their individual browsers.

Military Space

SBIRS-Low Team Expands
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ES3) has announced the addition of Lockheed Martin Corporation and The Boeing Company to the Spectrum Astro/Northrop Grumman Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Low team.

SBIRS Low is planned as a constellation of satellites capable of performing missile defence, missile tracking, technical intelligence and battlespace characterisation in low Earth orbit. SBIRS Low will be an integral part of the future US national missile defence system, which will track missiles and relay data to destroy them before impact.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, based in Denver, Colorado, will develop algorithms and key aspects of the ground segment.

Boeing's Missile Defense and Space Control Division, based in Anaheim, California, will develop sensors and associated algorithms.

In addition to Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the team also includes Litton TASC, Analex Corporation and the Space Dynamics Laboratory of Utah State University.

For SBIRS Low, Northrop Grumman is responsible for the overall mission sensor design and related ground system data processing and ground segment integration. Northrop Grumman also supplies the infrared sensors for the Space-Based Infrared High component as part of the Lockheed Martin team.

TRW Awarded Phase 1 of CCS-C
One of two US$ 3.4 million contracts representing Phase I of the Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) program has been awarded to TRW Inc.

After a demonstration later this year of a proposed command and control system to replace the ageing segment currently supporting satellite operations at Air Force Space Command, a single contractor will be chosen for Phase II, an eight-year program with a potential value of more than US$ 142 million.

Work on this contract, awarded by US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, will be performed at TRW's facility in Redondo Beach, California. The TRW team includes L3 Communications and Harris Corporation.

Demonstration of the proposed C2 system will take place at CERES (Center for Research), Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The test system will validate its capabilities to command and control DSCS III and Milstar military communications satellites.

US Developing Next Generation Spy Satellite
The USA's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is reported to be funding the development of a new generation of powerful optical and radar reconnaissance satellites over two decades and at a cost of up to US$ 25 billion. The official name of the project is "Future Imagery Architecture".

The satellites will use higher orbits than the low orbits currently favoured and will be much more manoeuvrable than present day satellites allowing them to be deployed rapidly to cover trouble spots anywhere in the world.

The contract will be managed by Boeing at Seal Beach, California and will initially require more than five thousand engineers, technicians and software engineers for the initial satellite design and development. Boeing has already opened a recruitment office in Sunnyvale, California, hoping to recruit workers from rival Lockheed Martin and from ailing dot.com companies in the area.

The manufacture of the satellites, which could well be at Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, will require further thousands of workers. Subcontractors working on the project will also need thousands of new staff to cope with the extra workload. Other contractors in the team include Raytheon., Eastman Kodak and Harris Corp.

It is believed that the new satellites will be smaller than current spy satellites and that between ten and twenty five will be used in orbit at any one time compared t the three optical and three radar satellites currently used in orbit. They will operate in high orbits which will allow them to observe areas for much longer than the ten or so minutes that current satellites can see each site for as they pass over.

The use of smaller satellites in higher orbits will also make the satellites more difficult to track. The US intelligence community has long been concerned that current satellites can easily be tracked visually by even amateur observers equipped with little more than a pair of good binoculars. Orbital data on these satellites is readily available on the Internet. Knowledge of satellite movements allows, for example, troop and artillery movements to be made unobserved if the movements are co-ordinated with times when no observations are being made and if the troops are camouflaged when the satellites are overhead.

Launches of the satellites are scheduled to begin in 2005.

Science

Has NIMA Found the Mars Polar Lander?
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), which has been analysing images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, believe they may have found the remains of the Mars Polar Lander which has been lost since it attempted a soft landing in the south polar region of the planet in early December 1999.

The mission was declared a loss after the project team tried for six weeks to contact the Lander.

NIMA, a combat support agency of the US Department of Defense, analyses imagery from the USA's spy satellites. It has been using techniques developed for imagery intelligence to locate the remains of the spacecraft on the Martian surface after it was approached by NASA following the loss of the Lander.

It has been reported that NIMA may have located the Lander intact, resting on its three legs following a good soft landing. At the time of the loss it was believed that the most likely cause of the loss was a software failure compounded by inadequate testing which resulted in the lander crashing into the surface and being destroyed.

Stardust Camera Problem Recurs
The camera optics on NASA's Stardust comet probe have become cloudy again in a repeat of a problem that first occurred last year.

The Stardust mission to Comet Wild 2 will capture dust particles from the vicinity of the comet in 2004 and return them to Earth.

The camera is designed to guide Stardust to its encounter with Comet Wild 2. Engineers believe that the clouding of the lens might be due to a substance that evaporates and settles, clinging to the coldest parts of the camera. The mission's ground controllers intend to clear the optics by heating them to evaporate the coating off the lens. In December last year this approach temporarily solved the problem.

Manned Space

ISS Fire Alarm Uncovers Problems
A fire alarm in the Destiny module of the International Space Station that went off during the week turned out to be a false alarm. No problem in itself but it closed down the ventilation systems, computers went off line and the crew could not find the documentation to turn everything on again.

The fire alarm appears to have been triggered by dust stirred up by crew members moving equipment. The station's fire control system shut off ventilation in three of the four modules to prevent the spread of smoke and dangerous fumes which would be generated by a fire.

At the same time, for some not yet determined reason, the stations computers turned off. Unfortunately the documentation on how to rest the systems was held electronically on the computers . . . Paper copies were not available. Normally, if documentation is not available it would be emailed to the station's computers by ground controllers - but the computers were not working.

Eventually, the ventilation and the computers were restored by ground command.

Mir Re-enters - End of an Era
After fifteen years in orbit, the Mir space station has finally ended its life, re-entering the atmosphere and burning up over the Pacific Ocean. No injury or damage was reported.

Mir re-entered as planned, on schedule and on target, on Friday morning, the largest man made object to burn up in the atmosphere. During its fall through the atmosphere it broke into several pieces producing a spectacular display over Fiji as it overflew the island group on its last orbit. Many of the larger pieces, along with a large number of smaller pieces, were expected to reach the surface of the Earth, but none have been reported.

The 130 tonne space station was originally designed to operate for three years and, although it suffered several mishaps in its later years, it performed its mission magnificently - an achievement the Russian's are justifiably proud of.

Tito Saga Continues With Confrontation
Now that Russia's Mir space station has burnt up in the atmosphere Dennis Tito's only chance of a stay in orbit as a space tourist lies with the International Space Station. NASA says no way (at least not until October at the earliest). Russia says Tito will fly. Like always, there a re a few twists in the tail.

Originally would be space tourist Dennis Tito was scheduled for a ten day flight to the Mir Space Station. Mir, however, is now a pile of scorched debris on the bottom of the Pacific. The Russians are now determined to fly Tito to the ISS on a Soyuz flight at the end of April. The Soyuz spacecraft, which have a six months operational lifetime, are used on the ISS as "lifeboats" in case of an emergency. Every six months a Soyuz spacecraft with a crew of up to three is launched to the ISS and the Soyuz that has been docked to the ISS for the previous six months returns to Earth with the 3 man crew after a stay of about a week. Russia's plan is to have Tito take the third seat, as a passenger, on one of these Soyuz craft.

The first twist is that Tito will pay some US$ 20 million for his seat. Russia will use half of this to pay for the Soyuz he will fly on and the rest will be used to fund two further flights carrying provisions, fuel, equipment and stores. Without Tito funding the Soyuz flight in April, the flight may well not happen. The Soyuz currently docked to the ISS is fast approaching the point where some essential systems, such as parachutes used for landing, will deteriorate and will become unsafe. With the possibility of a non- operational escape craft the current crew may well have to abandon ship and leave the ISS unmanned.

NASA's argument is that flying an untrained civilian at this stage in the construction of the ISS is unsafe and would interfere with the ongoing construction of the station. Tito, however, has already had some five months cosmonaut training in Russia.

During the week the two man Russian crew and Tito arrived at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for a few weeks training on US module systems before their flight. NASA refused to allow Tito entry because a "variety of issues" had not been resolved. Following the confrontation the two cosmonauts refused to commence training without Tito. The Russias have now started training without Tito and Tito will get a short course on the US systems when he returns to Moscow next week.

NASA is giving the world the impression that it will do everything it can to prevent Tito flying because it does not consider him to be a suitable candidate, apparently because he is buying his seat. NASA, for its part, prefers to sell seats on its flights for political favours rather than cash. It would also prefer passengers to make arrangements with the American companies that NASA has selected to commercialise the space station.

The real issue, though, is about who has control of the space station.

Unfortunately for NASA its role in the ISS is decreasing and it is coming, more and more, to rely on the support of Russia for its effective operation. About half of the modules currently forming the ISS were built by Russia. Most of the flights to the ISS are provided by Russia. Worst of all, for NASA, President Bush is in the process of cutting back NASA's involvement in the space station by axing funding to several US modules. Without Russian support, the ISS could become a very expensive orbital white elephant. Much more interesting, with Russian support, it could well evolve into Mir 2.

Technology

Lockheed Martin to Study Low-Mass Membrane Telescope Technology
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has been contracted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to conduct a study on a low-mass membrane telescope for NASA's New Millennium Program.

The telescope concept is called DART, for Dual Anamorphic Reflector Telescope. The study will be conducted at Missiles and Space Operations in Sunnyvale, the company's Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.

The DART system under study consists of two parabolic-cylindrical trough-shaped reflectors oriented with respect to each other to produce a point focus. Since each reflector contains only a single simple curve, the mirrors can be formed by tensioning a reflective foil over a frame that has a parabolic contour along one axis. The use of an extremely low-mass membrane for the reflective surfaces would significantly reduce the weight (and mass) of the telescope.

In traditional telescope architectures, the larger the aperture desired, the greater is the mass required for the optics support structure. Because the DART architecture uses a thin membrane for its reflectors, the density of the mirror does not increase with aperture size. In fact, with DART, as aperture increases the ratio of structure mass to reflector mass actually decreases. Historically, the lower the mass of an observatory the lower is its cost and the number of launch vehicles required to put multiple telescope systems in orbit.

Using DART technology, telescopes with apertures of 15-25 meters in diameter will weigh a hundred times less than the Hubble Space Telescope - which carries a mirror of only 2.4 m in diameter. Future observatories like the Single Aperture Far Infrared (SAFIR) facility, Life Finder, and Planet Imager become feasible with DART. This revolutionary new technology thus enables very large aperture space observatories to be placed in orbit at modest cost.

The DART technology concept under study by the Lockheed Martin team is one of eight selected for development for future missions. NASA plans to select up to five of the concepts for Space Technology 6 (ST6), the next New Millennium Program project, which will flight-test the new technology concepts in 2003 and 2004. The teams, selected by NASA's New Millennium Program, will study the options during a six-month phase for defining the technology concepts.

Launch Services

ILS to Launch First New ICO Satellite
An ILS Atlas 2AS will launch the first of a series of ICO satellites in early June from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The satellite is one of 14 currently being built by Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. (BSS) for New ICO, and the first of eight ICO satellites scheduled to launch with ILS on its Lockheed Martin-built Atlas and Russian-built Proton rockets.

The ICO satellite is a Boeing 601 model, designed for medium-earth-orbit at an altitude of 10,390 km. New ICO will use it for initial testing of the integration of its space and ground systems.

Long March to Launch Kompsat 2
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has announced that its Kompsat 2 satellite (also known as Arirang 2) will be launched by China's Great Wall Industry Corp using a Long March 2C rocket in April 2004.

Kompsat 2 will be equipped with an electro-optical camera that will provide images with very high resolution. The spacecraft will be put into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 685 km.

Contractors on the Kompsat-2 project include the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Aerospace Industries, Korea Airline and Daewoo Heavy Industries and Astrium. Elop Electro-Optics Industries Ltd will provide the electro-optic payload.

The camera on Kompsat-2 will provide a 1-meter resolution channel and several multi-spectral, 4-meter resolution channels. The payload will also include a data compression, storage and transmission unit, as well as mission management and power supply units.

NASA Adds Athena II to Launch Services Contract
NASA has added Lockheed Martin's Athena II to the NASA Launch Services (NLS) contract using the contract's "on-ramp" provision.

This provision allows new, emerging launch service providers as well as incumbents to introduce qualified launch vehicles not available at the time of the award of the initial NLS contract.

NASA has not yet identified a potential payload and so there is no specific launch timeframe or a dollar value associated with this contract modification as awarded. The contract type is "Indefinite Delivery - Indefinite Quantity" (IDIQ) with a "not-to-exceed" fixed price to be specified for the launch services.

Lockheed Martin is now eligible to compete the Athena II for missions in the future. The initial NASA Launch Services contracts were awarded in June 2000 to Delta Launch Services Inc for the Delta class of vehicles and to Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc for the Atlas class of vehicles.

The NASA Launch Services contracts call for launching payloads that weigh 1,500 kilograms or heavier to a 200 km circular orbit.

Launches

XM-2 Rock

Launched: 18 March 2001
Site: Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean
Launcher: Zenit 3SL
Orbit: GEO, 115° W
International Number: 2001-012A
Name: XM-2 (Rock)
Owner: XM Satellite Radio
Contractor: Boeing Satellite Systems

XM-2 (Rock) is a digital radio broadcast satellite. The second satellite in the series, XM-1 (Roll) will be launched in May. A third satellite will be kept as a ground spare.

The satellite, based on the Boeing Satellite Systems 702 platform weighed 4682 kg at launch. It will generate 18 kW of electrical power at beginning of life. Each satellite carries a 13.3 kW digital audio radio payload built by Alcatel Space Industries of France. It features two active transponders, each with 16 active (and six spare) 228 W TWTAs generating approximately 3 kW of RF power. The satellite has two 5 m folding deployable S band transmit reflectors and one X band global receive antenna. When fully deployed, the solar wings span 40.39 m and the antennas to 14.2 m.

When operational, the satellites will transmit 100 channels of digital radio to the continental United States.

Business

L-3 Communications Combines LNR and STS Units
L-3 Communications has formed Satellite Networks, a new division resulting from the combination of its LNR and Satellite Transmission Systems (STS) divisions.

Based in Hauppauge, New York, Satellite Networks combines the satellite communications products and resources of LNR with the systems integration expertise of STS, to offer a wide range of satellite solutions, from top-of-the-line satellite products such as frequency converters and Fly Away Satellite Terminals, to complex satellite gateways, systems and networks. This combination strengthens L-3's product base, marketing and research and development while reducing operating costs and improving margins.

The company also announced the appointment of two new executives to Satellite Networks: Robert Thompson as president and Joan Mancuso as vice president of sales and marketing.

Scopus Opens Offices in China and India
Scopus Network Technologies, a leading supplier of digital compression technology to the broadcasting industry, has opened offices in Ahmadabad, India and Beijing, China

Scopus, active in India since 1997 with its distributor Modern Communications and Broadcasting Systems (MCBS), has won a number of key contracts with important players in the Indian market such as VSNL, ISRO and SAC. In 2000, Scopus decided to increase its presence in India due to the area's growing digital broadcasting needs. Mr Kishore Shirekar, former director at MCBS, will head the new Scopus India office. Mr Shirekar will direct customer activity and the local support provided by MCBS.

Mr Mickey Mushinskey, Vice President for China and East Asia Operations will head the new Scopus China office that includes highly experienced local sales and engineering support. Scopus' presence in China has grown from its beginning in 1997 with Edge Technologies to a current network of three distributors.

SkyWave Acquires Station 12's Inmarsat D+ Business Assets
SkyWave Mobile Communications Inc, a global asset tracking, monitoring and control solutions company, based in Ottawa, Canada, has acquired the Inmarsat D+ business assets of Station 12, a leading Inmarsat service provider based in the Netherlands.

Inmarsat D+ is a communications service that can transport small packets of information at a low cost. SkyWave uses the D+ service to offer its customers an inexpensive, short-message service, which allows them to track, monitor and control remote, fixed or mobile assets over land, sea or air.

Established in 1997, SkyWave has developed two Inmarsat D+ satellite terminals, the DMR 200 and the DMR 400. With the acquisition of Station 12's D+ business assets, SkyWave emerges as the leading provider of Inmarsat D+ solutions. SkyWave currently owns 80 percent of the D+ hardware market globally and has now taken the lead in the D+ airtime services market. Its network supports over 4,000 active, revenue-generating terminals.

SkyWave's flagship product, the DMR 200, is a compact GPS-enabled device the size of a portable CD player that weighs less than 500 grams and costs approximately US $650 per unit. This allows for inconspicuous installation, making it unnoticeable to operators and thieves. Even smaller in size is the DMR 400, a military spec D+ terminal in use by governmental agencies, which offers more sophisticated features.

Taco Bell's Mir Coup
In the space marketing coup of the year, US fast food restaurant chain Taco Bell offered a free taco to everyone in the USA if the re-entering Mir space station hit a 12 m by 12 m floating target floating in the South Pacific Ocean.

The Taco Bell chain issued vouchers which could have been redeemed for a free taco if the core of Mir had hit the target. Taco Bell also took out an insurance policy to cover the anticipated cost of the free tacos

As events panned out Mir missed the floating target, but by then Taco Bell had benefited from an incredible amount of coverage by the media looking for a new "angle".

Although not in the way that anyone in the space industry intended, Taco Bell has illustrated the sheer commercial pulling power of space when it catches the public imagination.

Products and Services

Amphion Launches Low-Power Turbo Code Core Solutions
Amphion Semiconductor Inc (formerly known as Integrated Silicon Systems) has introduced a highly integrated virtual component (IP core) Channel Coding solutions for Turbo Code encoding and decoding.

The Amphion CS3500 series of Application Specific Virtual Components (ASVC) is intended to deliver the highest forward error correction (FEC) performance in applications such as third generation (3G) wireless handsets and basestation infrastructures, and satellite communications. Standard products in the CS3500 ASVC family are scheduled for ASIC and programmable logic in versions that have been optimised for maximum performance and minimal power consumption. Further economies in power usage have been made possible by incorporating unique signal processing algorithms into Amphion's Turbo Code decoder architectures - especially valuable in 3G terminal/phone designs for mobile cellular communications.

Amphion's CS3510 and CS3610 ASVC offerings support error correction standards as specified by the Third Generation Product Partnership (3GPP) for average data rates of 2.048 Mb/s. In burst processing mode, the CS3500 family supports data rates more than one order of magnitude higher than average rates. A standard 16-bit processor interface enables easy user set-up of coding parameters. The sister CS3520 and CS3620 ASVCs support similar CDMA standards (TIA/EIA/IS-2000.2-A), while the CS3530 and CS3630 cover both standards.

A selection of Amphion's range of Turbo Code products for ASIC (e.g. TSMC 0.18-micron process), Xilinx Virtex-E FPGA devices, and Altera APEX devices will be available beginning in the second quarter of 2001.

Globalstar Introduces New Bundled Minute Plans
Globalstar USA and Caribbean has announced across the board price reductions on all of the company's new bundled minute, single-line Personal Reach service plans.

Personal Reach replaces the company's existing Beyond Service bundled minute plans and includes Internet Access and Call Forwarding free of charge. In addition, customers can sign up for service on a month-to-month basis without a contract. Personal Reach plans are available to all subscribers regardless of their number of active lines.

With Personal Reach, access fee savings range from US$ 20 to US$ 100 per month compared with Beyond Service, depending upon the bundled minute category selected above entry level. Additional minute airtime rates have also been reduced from 10 to 20 cents per minute for all new Personal Reach plans.

Metrodata Introduces LA1000 Satellite Link Accelerator
Metrodata Satellite Division Announces New LA1000 Product For Delivery Of High Speed Data

Metrodata's Satellite Link Accelerator 1000 allows satellite service providers and carriers to offer data services between 600 kb/s and 155.52 Mb/s. It can be used with standard OC-3/STM-1 ATM Router Modules or an OC-3/STM-1 ATM Switch, and existing ASI Satellite Modems.

Using the LA1000 one fractional OC-3 ATM carrier can be sent in the most bandwidth and power efficient manner over a 36/54 MHz saturated satellite transponder.

The LA1000 has successfully been tested with Newtec NTC/2077/FO and NTC/2063/LF modems with an ASI interface.

Founded in 1989, Metrodata is a British company based near London Heathrow. Metrodata designs, manufactures and supplies high performance hardware to the satellite community.

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Boeing Names Randy Brinkley President, Boeing Satellite Systems
The Boeing Company has announced the appointment of Randy Brinkley as president of Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS), reporting to the Office of the President, Boeing Space & Communications. Brinkley had been serving in an acting capacity since March 7, 2001.

As BSS president, Brinkley is responsible for general management of the world's largest manufacturer of commercial communications satellites and a major provider of space systems, satellites, and payloads for national defence, science, and environmental applications.

Prior to his current position, Brinkley was senior vice president of Programs for BSS. He was responsible for execution of all the company's programs, including profit and loss, in its four major markets: Department of Defense-Civil Government, National Security, Digital Processing, and Fixed Satellite Service/Broadcast Satellite Service. He also oversaw the Launch Services Acquisition organisation.

Mark Gercenstein Appointed President and CEO at Tachyon
The Board of Directors of Tachyon Inc has appointed Mark Gercenstein as its President and Chief Executive Officer.

Tachyon is the first service provider to deliver a two-way, broadband enterprise-grade data networking services via satellite, offering businesses a high performance alternative to terrestrial services to extend corporate data networks or access the Internet. Tachyon's proprietary technology eliminates many of the latency issues inherent with traditional satellite services.

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