2 December 2001
Satcoms
Developing an Iridium System to Send Cockpit Audio to the
Ground in an Emergency
Etisalat Places First Order for STM's VSAT
System
PanAmSat Orders Orbital
Satellites
WSNet
Files for US Landing Rights from Two Canadian Orbital
Locations
Science
NASA Selects Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission For Phase B
Study
Technology
Optimal Energy Systems Receives Lockheed Martin Flywheel
Contract
Launches
Progress M1-7
DirecTV 4S
Uragan
Business
Loral Cyberstar and ChinaSat Sign Distributor
Agreement
Loral
CyberStar Commences Debt-For-Debt Exchange Offers For Its
Notes
Motient
and TMI Comms Complete Consolidation Of Mobile Satellite
Businesses
SGI and
Space Imaging Sign Teaming Agreement
Telecom Italia to Sell Some Satellite
Shareholdings
People
Intelsat Global Sales and Marketing Appoints VP
Sales
Oswald
Named Boeing Shuttle Vice President, Program Director
Space Imaging Names Executive VP of Global
Alliances
TRW Names
VP, Science and Technology
Verestar Appoints Chief Operating
Officer
XTAR Names
President of Madrid Office
Developing an Iridium System to Send Cockpit Audio to the Ground in
an Emergency
Honeywell has begun working with Iridium Satellite LLC
to jointly develop a satellite communications link that will send continuous
live cockpit audio from an aircraft in trouble to authorities on the
ground.
The system is called Cockpit Audio Monitoring.
Honeywell plans to develop several versions of Cockpit Audio Monitoring. The
version using the Honeywell/Iridium Airsat I satellite communications system
will be the first.
Honeywell announced in October that it would
develop such systems in response to a US Department of Transportation request.
In compliance with that request, once an authorised aircraft crew member
activates the system, no one will be able to turn it off during the remainder
of the flight.
To accommodate a variety of airlines and other users,
Honeywell also plans to offer other Cockpit Audio Monitoring systems. These may
be based on:
Etisalat Places First Order for STM's VSAT System
STM Wireless Inc's
local agent has signed a contract with United Arab Emirates' Etisalat for the
supply of a VSAT mesh DAMA network. The network, which is planned for immediate
deployment, will provide telephone access and data connectivity to various
foreign offices.
The VSAT system to be supplied by STM
will be interconnected to Etisalat's advanced fibre and digital network using
an existing earth station facility in Dubai. This will allow overseas
government offices within the satellite's coverage area to establish reliable
communications with Etisalat's domestic network.
Etisalat is the
government-owned national telecommunications operator of the United Arab
Emirates. Etisalat's network is comprised of extensive fibre facilities with
high-speed connectivity to several international carriers.
PanAmSat
Orders Orbital
Satellites
PanAmSat
Corp has exercised an option to buy two additional satellites from manufacturer
Orbital Sciences Corp based on the company's geostationary STAR platform.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The
first satellite is to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2003 and the
delivery date for the second satellite is still to be decided.
Previously, PanAmSat ordered a single STAR class satellite from Orbital in
March.
WSNet Files for US Landing Rights from Two Canadian Orbital
Locations
WSNet has
filed with the FCC for landing right licenses in the United States from two
Canadian DBS orbital locations at 91° and 82° W.
In two separate applications, WSNet requested licenses for: an Earth station to
transmit and receive signals from these orbital slots; and one million
receive-only dishes. WSNet intends to use these licenses to further enhance its
rural market wholesale digital satellite services.
WSNet is a
wholesale provider of digital-to-home video programming, serving private and
franchise cable operators, multiple dwelling units (MDUs), and small and rural
cable companies. WSNet is a privately held company.
NASA Selects Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission For Phase B Study
NASA has selected a
proposal to proceed with Phase B (preliminary design studies) for a
Pluto-Kuiper Belt (PKB) mission, intended to explore the most distant planet in
the solar system. The mission will also explore the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, a
source of comets and believed to be the source of much of Earth's water and the
simple chemical precursors of life.
The scientific value
of this mission is highly dependent on a 2006 launch that achieves a flyby of
Pluto well before 2020 because, after this date, Pluto orbits so far from the
sun that its temperature drops to such an extent that its tenuous atmosphere
freezes out and remains frozen for about two centuries. In order to ensure this
launch date, NASA has established two conditions that must be successfully met
at the conclusion of Phase B.
First, the mission must pass a
confirmation review that will address significant risks such as schedule and
technical milestones and regulatory approval for launch of the mission's
nuclear power source. Second, funds must be available. Congress provided US$ 30
million in fiscal 2002 to initiate PKB spacecraft and science instrument
development and launch vehicle procurement; however, no funding for subsequent
years is included in the administration's budget plan.
The lack of
future funding is, however, the crux of the problem with this mission. The PKB
mission is likely to cost in excess of US$ 500 million - a sum not likely to be
found by NASA when it is desperately cutting everything it can to fund cost
overruns and inefficiencies on its flagship International Space Station
project.
The mission, called New Horizons: Shedding Light on Frontier
Worlds, would use a remote sensing package that includes imaging instruments
and a radio science investigation, as well as spectroscopic and other
experiments, to characterise the global geology and morphology of Pluto and its
moon Charon, map their surface composition and characterise Pluto's neutral
atmosphere and its escape rate.
Optimal Energy Systems Receives Lockheed Martin Flywheel
Contract
Optimal
Energy Systems Inc has won a contract from Lockheed Martin Astronautics in
Denver to provide flywheel technology for the Second Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Program.
The Launch Vehicle Program is
considering several designs to improve the efficiency of payload delivery,
including NASA's space shuttle.
Optimal's flywheel technology produces
electrical power for space vehicles at a lower weight and with greater
efficiency than battery systems. A Flywheel Power Module, to be developed under
the contract, will provide electrical power peak reduction using the module's
advanced pulse energy technology.
Total value of the Lockheed Martin
contract with options is approximately US$ 600,000.
Optimal Energy
Systems is a new-technology enterprise with a patented energy management and
power conversion technology that can be applied to electrical back-up power
supplies (Uninterruptible Power Systems), aviation and industrial high-speed
power conversion systems, space satellite energy storage and attitude control
systems, and military pulse energy systems.
Progress M1-7
Launched: 26 November 2001
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launcher: Soyuz U
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 397 km, perigee: 397 km: inclination:
51.6°
International Number: 2001-051A
Name: Progress M1-7 (ISS
flight 6P)
Owner: Russian Aviation and Space Agency
This is an
unmanned resupply mission for the International Space Station. It carried 2.5
tonnes of food, fuel and equipment for the space station. In addition it
transported a Russian-Austrian microsatellite which will be released later from
the space station.
Docking with the ISS on Wednesday was not completed
successfully - whilst the initial capture of the Soyuz module went as expected,
the docking port on the Soyuz capsule was not able to achieve firm latching
with the docking port on the ISS' Zvezda module. It appears that there is some
king of obstruction trapped in the docking mechanism on Zvezda. The station's
crew will perform a spacewalk on Monday to clear the docking port of any
debris. The Shuttle flight which was due to launch on Thursday last week has
been delayed until after the spacewalk.
DirecTV 4S
Launched: 27 November 2001
Site: CSG Kourou, French Guiana
Launcher:
Ariane 44LP
Orbit: GEO, 101° W
International Number: 2001-052A
Name: DirecTV-4S
Owner: DirecTV
Contractor: Boeing Satellite
Systems
DirecTV-4S is a direct broadcast TV satellite for DirecTV's
network. It is based on Boeing's 601 HP platform and features highly focussed
spot beams. The satellite has a launch mass of 4,260 kg and has a spot beam
payload for the transmission of local TV channels with 38 active transponders,
and a national beam payload with 2 active transponders and 8 supplemental
transponders. It has a design life of 15 years.
Uragan
Launched: 1 December 2001
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launcher: Proton
Orbit: LEO
International Number: 2001-053A, B and
C
Name: Uragan (2 satellites) and Uragan-M (one satellite)
Contractor:
Polyot
This launch placed three Glonass navigation satellites in
orbit.
Loral Cyberstar and ChinaSat Sign Distributor Agreement
Loral CyberStar has
signed an agreement with the China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite
Corporation (ChinaSat), the state-owned enterprise that provides satellite
telecommunications broadcast services throughout China. ChinaSat will offer
CyberStar's entire range of services including the ClearStream broadband
services.
Dedicated to providing advanced, reliable,
excellent, and fast telecommunications services throughout China, ChinaSat will
market CyberStar products to government agencies, national corporations and
multinational enterprises. ChinaSat will also become CyberStar's in-country
ground services agent, working to secure necessary licensing authorisations,
conducting site surveys, procuring satellite capacity, and installing and
testing customer site equipment.
With CyberStar's services, ChinaSat
has the ability to offer enterprises a private, satellite-based network that
can bypass most of the terrestrial Internet to avoid congestion and deliver
broadband applications to multiple, geographically dispersed sites regardless
of the existing infrastructure.
ChinaSat also will offer its customers
CyberStar's ClearStream product suite, allowing organisations operating across
China's vast geographical regions to provide standardised and comprehensive
corporate communications and training services.
ClearStream Live uses
open standards digital video broadcast (DVB) technology, a standard Web browser
and the Windows Media Player, to deliver high-quality video and CD-quality
audio communications live to the desktop or conference room monitor. By
multicasting 300 kb/s video streams onto the local area network (LAN),
ClearStream Live offers a bandwidth-efficient method of viewing live video and
enables enterprises to reliably deliver high impact, time-sensitive live
communications to multiple sites with out fear of unpredictable video
performance due to Internet congestion.
ChinaSat, founded in 1985, is
the first state-owned enterprise to manage the telecommunications satellite
business and provide satellite telecommunications broadcast services in China.
Now under the leadership of the Ministry of Information Industry, People's
Republic of China, ChinaSat is charged with the responsibility to develop
multimedia communications systems, broadband high-speed data transmission
systems, rural telephone systems, and domestic mobile satellite
telecommunications.
Loral CyberStar Commences Debt-For-Debt Exchange Offers For Its
Notes
Loral Space
& Communications' wholly owned subsidiary, Loral CyberStar Inc, has
commenced exchange offers and consent solicitations for US$ 927 million of its
debt (plus accrued interest): the senior notes due 2007 and the senior discount
notes due 2007.
The exchange offers and consent
solicitations will expire at midnight, New York City time, on Thursday,
December 20, 2001, unless extended or terminated.
Under the terms of
the offers, holders of these two Loral CyberStar notes would receive in total
up to $675 million principal amount of new Loral CyberStar senior notes due
July 15, 2006, together with five-year warrants to purchase up to approximately
6.7 million shares of Loral Space & Communications common stock (less than
two percent of outstanding Loral shares) at 110 percent of the market price of
Loral stock calculated over the ten consecutive trading days preceding the
second trading day before the closing of the exchange offers.
The
interest rate on the new notes will be 10%, a reduction from the 11.25%
interest rate on the existing senior notes and the 12.5% rate on the existing
seniordiscount notes. Because of the lower interest rate and the US$ 252
million reduction in debt (assuming 100%), Loral's annual cash interest
payments will be reduced by US$ 43 million.
The terms of the exchange
offers also provide that notes not tendered in exchange, if any, will remain
outstanding at their original principal amounts, maturities and interest rates,
but will lose the benefits of substantially all of their covenant
protections.
The US$ 927 million of Loral CyberStar debt is comprised
of senior notes due 2007 (principal amount US$ 443 million) and senior discount
notes due 2007 (principal amount US$ 484 million, with accreted value of US$
470 million as of October 15, 2001). If fully exchanged, holders of senior
notes and senior discount notes will receive US$ 332.4 million principal amount
and US$ 342.6 million principal amount, respectively, in new notes.
Closing of the exchange offers is conditional on, among other things,
acceptance by holders of at least 85% of the existing notes. Holders of more
than 50% of the existing notes have already agreed to participate in the
exchange offers and consent to the requested amendments. The new notes will be
guaranteed by Loral, while the existing notes are non-recourse to
Loral.
Motient and TMI Comms Complete Consolidation Of Mobile Satellite
Businesses
Motient
Corporation and TMI Communications and Company LP have announced that their new
joint venture, Mobile Satellite Ventures LP (MSV) has been granted the
necessary regulatory approvals from both the FCC and its Canadian counterpart,
Industry Canada. These regulatory approvals have allowed MSV to complete the
previously announced combination of Motient's satellite operations with those
of TMI Communications, and to become a standalone operating entity.
The new company has plans to develop, build and operate an
innovative and spectrally efficient spot beam satellite system, complemented by
ancillary terrestrial base stations. MSV's next generation satellite plan is
subject to separate regulatory proceedings in the US and Canada.
As
part of this transaction, MSV issued US$ 55 million in convertible notes to its
joint venture partners, an investor group including Telcom Ventures LLC,
Columbia Capital, Spectrum Equity Investors, MSV Investors, LLC (a subsidiary
of Rare Medium Group Inc ) and Motient. Motient received US$ 60 million in the
transaction, of which US$ 45 million was in cash and US$ 15 million in a note.
Motient remains a minority investor in MSV.
SGI and Space Imaging Sign Teaming Agreement
SGI, the world's
leading provider of high-performance computing, complex data management and
visualisation solutions, and Space Imaging have signed a teaming agreement. The
purpose of this one-year, renewable agreement is to facilitate co-operation
between SGI and Space Imaging to expand revenues in the growing geospatial
marketplace.
As part of the agreement, SGI and Space
Imaging have agreed to: establish Space Imaging as an Authorised Value-Added
Reseller of SGI hardware and services; establish SGI as an Authorised Reseller
of Space Imaging imagery data; establish a collaborative marketing arrangement
between the two companies; and establish a Joint Strategic Opportunity
Committee.
Space Imaging's ground stations are powered by SGI servers
that process the large files of imagery data transmitted to Earth by the Ikonos
satellite. The availability of commercial, one-meter high-resolution Earth
imagery has opened new geospatial markets valued in the billions of dollars for
such applications as urban planning, environmental monitoring, mapping, natural
disaster assessment, telecommunications network planning, oil and gas
exploration and agricultural monitoring.
A Joint Strategic Opportunity
Committee, which will meet on a quarterly basis, will determine mutual revenue
goals in the geospatial marketplace and create business opportunities where SGI
and Space Imaging can develop new solutions and generate incremental revenue.
The committee will also help Space Imaging develop enhanced solution offerings
that would allow it to capture non-traditional revenue around its Regional
Operations Centres.
Telecom Italia to Sell Some Satellite Shareholdings
Telecom Italia has
announced that it hopes to raise some 450 million Euros by selling its
shareholdings in four satellite companies in attempt to reduce its debt.
The shareholdings in Eutelsat, Intelsat, Inmarsat and New
Skies Satellite would be transferred to a new company. Ownership of this new
company will be split between Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners,
IntesaBci, Interbanca and Mediocredito Centrale (total 70% shareholding) and
Telecom Italia (30%).
Intelsat Global Sales and Marketing Appoints VP Sales
Intelsat Global Sales
& Marketing Ltd has appointed Malcolm Campbell as Vice President, Global
Sales & Customer Support.
Based in London, Mr
Campbell will be responsible for leading and managing Intelsat's sales and
customer care activities in more than 200 countries and territories around the
world.
Mr Campbell has been a leading player in satellite-based
communications sales for more than a decade. Prior to his current appointment
at Intelsat, he was Head of Global Commercial and Sales for BT Broadcast and
Satellite Services.
Mr Campbell holds a Graduate Bachelor of Commerce
degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland. He will take up his appointment
in early January 2002.
Oswald Named Boeing Shuttle Vice President, Program Director
Rear Admiral Stephen S
Oswald (USNR) has accepted a position as Boeing Space Shuttle vice president
& program director, effective December 10.
In his
new position Oswald will be responsible for overall strategic direction and
successful execution of the Space Shuttle program.
Boeing is prime
contractor to NASA for International Space Station and subcontractor to United
Space Alliance for the shuttle program. Last July Boeing announced that the
HSF&E Space Shuttle Program Office would move from Southern California to
Houston, and those employees would move to Houston and the Florida Space
Coast.
The businesswide move allows Boeing to complement customer
functions for the International Space Station and Space Shuttle programs
specifically, while addressing the business's growing need for cost
reductions.
Oswald replaces Stan Albrecht who will remain in
Huntington Beach, California, on special assignment for the HSF&E
transition.
Currently Oswald serves as the deputy commander of a
Washington-based Joint Task Force that is responsible for the defence of more
than 3 million Department of Defense computers and associated networks.
Oswald joined NASA in 1984 as an aerospace engineer and instructor pilot
and was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1985. He is a veteran of
three Space Shuttle missions. He commanded mission STS-67 aboard the Space
Shuttle Endeavour in March of 1995 and piloted two missions aboard Discovery in
1992 and 1993. With the completion of his third space flight, Oswald has logged
more than 33 days in space.
After STS-67, he was assigned to NASA
Headquarters in Washington DC, as deputy associate administrator for Space
Operations. He was responsible for Space Shuttle, Expendable Launch Vehicles,
and Space Communications for the agency. Oswald retired from NASA in January
2000.
Space Imaging Names Executive VP of Global Alliances
Space Imaging has
announced the appointment of Paul Tinney to the position of executive vice
president of Global Alliances. Tinney's appointment is effective
immediately.
Tinney is responsible for the business
development and overall management of the company's Regional Affiliate program.
Regional Affiliates are members of a global network who own and operate
regional operations centres that enable them to control the tasking and
collection of Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite within their region.
Before joining Space Imaging, Tinney was the president and managing director of
Terrapin Broadband LLC, vice president of Business Development for California
Microwave and senior vice president of Global Sales & Operations for
Adaptive Broadband Corporation. Prior to that, Tinney worked for Motorola for
15 years, most recently as director of Marketing, Strategy and Development
Ground Systems Division for the Space and Systems Technology Group.
Tinney holds a master's of international business studies from the University
of South Carolina.
Conrad Mueller, vice president of Global Alliances
for six years, has been named vice president of Advanced Systems and Business
Development for Space Imaging's next-generation satellite, reporting to John
Copple, chief executive officer. Space Imaging received license approval from
the US Government on December. 6, 2000 to build and launch a half-meter
resolution, black and white (panchromatic) and two-meter colour (multispectral)
imaging sensor. Mueller will be responsible for business strategies and
securing funding for this next-generation imaging satellite currently in the
final design phase and expected to be operational in 2005.
TRW Names VP, Science and Technology
TRW Inc has appointment
of John Daegele to the position of vice president of science and technology,
reporting to David M Cote, chairman, president and chief executive officer. He
succeeds Pete Staudhammer who is to retire on December 31 after more than 40
years with the company.
Daegele began his career at TRW
18 years ago as a communication system engineer at Space & Electronics
(S&E) in Redondo Beach, California. Since then, he has served in a variety
of system engineering leadership and program management roles spanning nearly
every business area within S&E and several within TRW Systems. Most
recently, he was director of indium phosphide programs in TRW Ventures.
Daegele earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the
University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in electrical engineering from
the University of Southern California. He is also a graduate of the Executive
Program in Management from the Anderson School at the University of California
at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Verestar Appoints Chief Operating Officer
Verestar Inc has
announced that Ray O'Brien has been named Chief Operating Officer. Mr. O'Brien,
formerly Senior Vice President of Sales for Verestar, will continue to lead the
sales organisation in addition to managing operations and the development of
business communications solutions for customers around the world. He will
report to David Garrison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verestar.
O'Brien joined Verestar in January 2001 and brings over 20
years of telecommunications experience to the Company. Prior to joining
Verestar, he held executive level positions with companies including Sprint and
SkyTel. During his 12 years with Sprint, O'Brien had a broad range of
responsibilities including President of several business units. At SkyTel, he
introduced the first two-way narrowband PCS network.
XTAR Names President of Madrid Office
XTAR, a joint venture
of Loral Space & Communications and Hisdesat, has announced that retired
General Miguel Valverde Gomez has been named president for European and Latin
American operations for XTAR Services, XTAR's sales and marketing unit located
in Madrid.
Mr Valverde, 61, has served in numerous
important program management positions with the Spanish Air Force, and was most
recently director general of armaments and material (DIGAM) at the Spanish
Ministry of Defence, where he was responsible for the planning, directing, and
controlling of all programs and acquisitions within the Spanish Ministry of
Defense.
During his 40-year career with the Spanish Air Force (SAF),
Mr Valverde performed numerous duties as a fighter pilot and strategic planner.
During the Gulf War, Mr Valverde was Commander of Torrejon Air Base (Spain) and
the 12th Wing Commander of the SAF.
Mr Valverde also gained extensive
experience in the international community through the development of bilateral
relations with more than 30 nations around the world, distinguishing himself
during significant NATO and other international assignments.
XTAR,
based in Washington DC, is a satellite operator that will provide X-band
satellite communications services to government users in the United States, the
Spanish Ministry of Defence, and other friendly nations. The company's first
satellite, XTAR EUR is currently under construction at Space Systems/Loral
(SS/L) and is scheduled to enter service in 2003.
