4 March 2001

Satcoms

Alenia to Supply Ekspress AM Payloads
Alenia Spazio has signed a contract with Russia Space Communication Co (RSCC) to supply payloads for Ekspress AM communication satellites.

This is the third contract that the RSCC has placed for Ekspress AM payloads. The other contracts were awarded to Alcatel Space and NEC.

The Ekspress satellite platform will be provided by NPO-PM, which will also manage final integration.

The contract is valued at 135 million Euros.

Boeing Awarded Eutelsat e-Bird Contract
Eutelsat has signed a contract with Boeing Satellite Systems Inc (BSS) for the fast delivery of e-Bird, a new satellite optimised for IP access networks with satellite return link capabilities.

Due for launch in the second quarter of 2002, e-Bird will be positioned in geostationary orbit at 25.5° E and will provide 20 active Ku band transponders connected to four spot beams over the European region. The satellite's payload has been designed to accommodate the essentially asymmetric nature of Internet access. The satellite will have a contracted service life of 10 years and uses a spin-stabilised Boeing 376 HP platform.

Cyberstar to Provide Internet to Costa Rica
Loral CyberStar will provide WorldCast Premier, its high-bandwidth, satellite-based Internet backbone service, to RACSA, Costa Rica s primary voice and data carrier.

WorldCast Premier is CyberStar's premium Internet access service designed to cost-effectively distribute Internet content quickly and efficiently anywhere in the world.

Worldcast Premier delivers the highest-quality streaming media and Internet content worldwide through CyberStar s global IP network, which offers both one-way and two-way edge-to-edge solutions. Using dedicated, multi-homed satellite access to the Internet, WorldCast Premier dynamically allocates Internet traffic, reduces network congestion, and eliminates network failures. By matching bandwidth capacity to Internet traffic demands, it lowers costs and achieves superior delivery, and by integrating CyberStar s MultiBurst option into a network, ISPs with multiple points of presence (POPs) can share capacity between all sites.

CyberStar currently serves a broad range of ISPs around the world, supplying broadband access and content delivery services through its satellite networks. WorldCast Premier is CyberStar's premium Internet access service designed for ISPs, government, and educational institutions, and telecommunications carriers that need to extend their access to the Internet backbone.

Fixed Telephony Services Using ACeS in Indonesia
PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, a diversified provider of fixed and mobile satellite communications in the Asia Pacific, and Regional Division VII PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the Eastern Indonesia operating division of Indonesia's primary telephony provider, have reached an agreement in principal for the distribution of fixed telephony equipment and services over the Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) mobile telecommunications network.

The service, to be marketed jointly under the brand name "PASTI," will officially launch in March 2001.

The understanding accelerates PT Telkom's efforts to provide basic telephony services to the many difficult-to-reach areas of Eastern Indonesia, where over 31 million people are served by just 625,000 telephone lines - a penetration of just 2%. Regional Division VII covers an area comprised of 11 provinces and more than 13,000 villages. The ACeS system, launched in September 2000 and operating off a single geostationary satellite, Garuda 1, has subscriber capacity of two million customers and covers all of Indonesia and virtually the entire Asia Pacific.

PASTI is easy to install and requires only two lightweight hardware components. The 0.5 kg "main box" connects to any ordinary single-line fixed telephone and manages signalling and voice processing. The box is connected via coaxial cable to a small (170 x 170 x 100 mm), 0.4 kg outdoor antenna which transmits and receives satellite signals. This configuration allows for easy set-up in either the home, office or a village telephone kiosk. The service is also easily portable.

The two partners will jointly manage distribution, sales, and marketing activities, while PSN will provide gateway access through the ACeS Indonesia gateway on Bataam Island and network management services. Regional Division VII PT Telkom will provide full access to its public switched telephony network (PSTN), part of Indonesia's primary network. More than eight distributors across Indonesia have already joined to support the sales activities. In conjunction with Regional Division VII PT Telkom Indonesia, PSN will first offer pre-paid SIM cards, with plans to later introduce a traditional subscriber model for the fixed services.

GE Americom and Globecomm Co-operating
Globecomm Systems Inc has established a broad co-operative agreement with GE American Communications (GE Americom) that will allow access to each other's key global resources. In addition, Globecomm announced that it has made a pre-launch commitment for bulk bandwidth on two of GE Americom's next generation of transoceanic, Gei satellites, located in strategic orbital locations over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Co-operation Agreement provides for GE Americom to leverage Globecomm's terrestrial infrastructure, "internet in a box" plug-and-play technologies and systems design expertise to provide a broad range of satellite-based technical services to customers worldwide. Similarly, the Agreement allows Globecomm to enjoy enhanced access to GE Americom's rapidly expanding fleet of satellites, and establishes Globecomm among the founding members of GE Americom's Quality Satellite Network (QSN).

Globecomm has committed to a full transponder's worth of capacity on both GE-1i and GE-2i. Scheduled for launch in 2003 at 47° W over the Atlantic and 172° E over the Pacific, respectively, GE-1i and GE-2i will connect GE Americom's prime landmass-based satellites serving Asia, Europe and the Americas. The two large C-band satellites are under construction by Alcatel, based on the Spacebus 4000 platform. The satellites are scheduled to be launched by ILS from either Baikonur cosmodrome or the Cape Canaveral space launch complex. GE-1i will feature 72 x 36 MHz C band transponders providing high-powered flexible coverage of Europe, Africa, North and South America. GE-2i will feature a 60 transponder 36 MHz C band payload with coverage of Asia Pacific, Australia and Western US including Hawaii and Alaska.

iBeam Teams With Crawford and Cramer to Provide Streaming Media
iBeam Broadcasting Corp, the leading streaming media network (SMN), has announced separate teaming agreements for its Activecast service with Crawford Communications Inc, one of the largest broadcast production and telecommunications companies in the South-eastern US, and Cramer, a leading marketing communications company in Boston.

Activecast, a fully integrated interactive Webcast solution, includes streaming audio and video, graphics, text, e-commerce, Web-browsing, and chat in a single user interface. Activecast can be used for dozens of applications, including virtual road shows, employee and customer training, employee and client meetings, new product introductions and press conferences, and to satisfy the Securities and Exchange Commission's new "fair disclosure" rule.

The non-exclusive reseller agreement with Crawford will expand Crawford's services to include iBeam's Activecast interactive Webcasting application and streaming media distribution services.

Under the agreement, iBeam will use Crawford for production, encoding, and satellite acquisition to provide clients with turnkey services. Correspondingly, Crawford will resell iBeam's Activecast applications and streaming media distribution services.

Crawford, which provides a host of communication services such as broadcast design, interactive media, film, audio, production and extensive satellite services through onsite facilities, has a client base that includes broadcasting, cable and business television companies.

In the agreement with Cramer, Cramer will resell iBeam's Activecast applications and streaming media distribution services.

Kingston MediaStream Chosen for Connexion by Boeing Gateway
Kingston MediaStream has been chosen to provide gateway facilities for 'Connexion by Boeing.' This project will eventually provide facilities to enable transatlantic passengers to watch real time television and access the Internet direct from their airline seats.

Kingston MediaStream have been chosen to provide gateway facilities for shows, demonstrations and tests and will contribute direct Internet POP access, routing, and uplink/downlink of IP traffic to geostationary satellites as well as satellite equipment and local project management.

'Connexion by Boeing' will deliver live, real time TV and interactive Internet access to Boeing's aircraft. The system has already been proven to work both at demonstrations including Farnborough 2000 and on European Test Flights taking off from London. Transatlantic customers on Boeing aircraft will be able to check their email, surf the web and watch real time TV, including live news, from 39,000 feet.

OnSat Plans Hotel Network
OnSat.net Canada Inc has completed a Joint Venture Agreement with Corporations At Work Technologies Inc, (C@W) to be named OnSat Hospitality Joint Venture Ltd. (ONH) to provide wireless broadband services including high speed Internet access to the hospitality industry.

The Joint Venture plans to install the system in 250 hotels during the first year of operation.

Avaya's national sales force is co-marketing the ONH products and services and expects significant market penetration in the billion-dollar North American hospitality industry.

The purpose of the Joint Venture is to provide wireless broadband services, movies on demand, long distance telephony and other similar services on a mutually exclusive basis. The Joint Venture will be extended to other areas outside of Canada.

OnSat will operate its equal ownership in the Joint Venture through its wholly owned subsidiary, OnSat Hospitality Inc. The Joint Venture will use Avaya wireless systems and OnSat's private, satellite-based Digital Equity Network that will combine into a complementary wireless solution for the hotel industry.

This will allow hotel guests to have high-speed Internet access from anywhere in the hotel by plugging an Avaya Wireless PC card into their laptops or PDA's. The Avaya Wireless PC cards can be configured with each guest's personalised information to ensure guest security in the event of lost or stolen cards and eliminate the need to change office/network settings for each user. Billing software will provide the hotel with accounting records that allow usage to be tracked and billed for each client.

Since the OnSat satellite technology will provide true broadband access, hotel guests will he provided with a library of more than 500 in-room movie titles through a variety of technologies, including proprietary set-top boxes in the guests' rooms.

C@W and OnSat have fully tested their wireless solution in an operational pilot project located in Penticton, British Columbia since June of 2000.

PanAmSat's Mexican Venture
PanAmSat Corporation has established a Mexican joint venture company, PanAmSat de Mexico, in association with Grupo Pegaso.

PanAmSat de Mexico has filed for a concession with the Mexican government that will permit it to serve as the reseller of all PanAmSat services that require a satellite uplink within Mexico.

PanAmSat de Mexico was formed late last year through a partnership between PanAmSat International Sales Inc. (49%), a subsidiary of PanAmSat, and CorporativoW.com SA de CA (51%), a holding company created by Mr. Alejandro Burillo, majority owner of the private equity investment firm Grupo Pegaso.

The pending government concession will establish PanAmSat de Mexico as the only company within Mexico with transmission rights to PanAmSat's global satellite network. The concession will also give PanAmSat's NET-36 Internet broadcast network access to Latin America's second largest Internet market via the PanAmSat fleet.

SkyBridge Changes Tack
After years of rumour and uncertainty, SkyBridge has been forced to put its plans for a broadband LEO constellation on hold.

Alcatel Space, which is contracted to build the 80 LEO satellites required for the SkyBridge constellation will not deliver the satellites unless SkyBridge can raise the money to pay for them. Alcatel Space has been free-wheeling on the project for years waiting for investors to materialise.

Interesting, because Alcatel is the leader of the SkyBridge consortium and has seen SkyBridge and one of the flagship projects for the company for years.

SkyBridge has had problems on two fronts. Telecoms operators, which SkyBridge hoped to attract to market the broadband services supported by the system, have not been willing to make a firm commitment to project and so SkyBridge is left without a means of marketing its service leaving a big hole in its business plan. Investors, also, have been unwilling to put up the US$ 7 billion required to get the system off the ground. Iridium's failure, even though Iridium offered a completely different type of service, has made investors very wary of financing expensive constellations of satellites.

SkyBridge, which is still developing terminals and gateways, is now likely to lease capacity on existing geostationary comsats to support its broadband offering.

SSET Installs iP3 Broadband Gateways in Beijing
SSE Telecom Inc, a leading provider of broadband satellite products, has installed its iP3 Gateways at China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corp (ChinaSat) in Beijing.

The SSET iP3 Gateways will feature high speed, two-way communication over the ChinaSat network via internet protocol (IP) packets. This system will demonstrate simultaneous Voice (VoIP), video, email, and large file transfer (TCP/IP) traffic at speeds up to 15 Mb/s.

China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation (ChinaSat) was founded in 1985, and it is the first state-owned enterprise that manages telecommunications satellite business and provides satellite telecommunications broadcast services in China. It is controlled by the Ministry of Information Industry, the People's Republic of China.

Currently ChinaSat operates several VSAT systems servicing some 2,000 remote sites. These terminals are extensively used in civil air tickets booking, ocean weather forecast, seismological observation, financial information securities and futures, national interconnection network for pagers and high speed data.

Telesat and One Touch Form Alliance
One Touch Knowledge Systems, a provider of enterprise-wide e-Learning with advanced interactive broadband applications, has announced a distributor agreement with Telesat Canada, a leading commercial satellite operator based in Ottawa.

Telesat's alliance with One Touch will allow the companies to offer customers the most highly interactive e-Learning solutions available on the market.

Although One Touch's suite of e-Learning applications can be delivered over any broadband network, the company recognises the ubiquity of coverage, high quality, and cost effectiveness of satellite as a broadcast distribution medium. As a value-added reseller, Telesat will offer new and existing customers both services and support in delivering One Touch e-Learning solutions via satellite.

Earth Observation

Ikonos Imaging Jamaica
Spatial Innovision (New Kingston, Jamaica), has signed an agreement with the government of Jamaica to take 1-meter, high resolution satellite images of the entire country using Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite.

The satellite imagery would be used by all of Jamaica's land-related and mapping agencies. The project, which is worth more than a million dollars, will be the first time an entire country has been commercially imaged with 1-meter satellite imagery.

According to the Jamaican government, the last colour aerial images assembled for the entire 4,411 square mile island was in 1991. The last comprehensive maps were made 20 years ago. Now, by using current satellite imagery, government agencies will join together to assemble information for many applications such as urban and cadastral mapping, environment, transmission systems design, telecommunications, farming, housing, mining, real estate, public safety, emergency response and population/demographic assessment. The project includes the delivery of 1-meter resolution precision pan-sharpened as well as 4-meter multi-spectral imagery for the entire country.

ImageSat Goes Straight to Eros B
ImageSat International has decided not to develop and launch its Earth Remote Observation System (EROS) A2 satellite. Instead it will skip straight to the more advanced Eros B series.

Eros B will have higher resolution optics and longer service life than the Eros A.

Eros A1 was launched on December 5 using a Russian Start-1 rocket.

Work on Eros A2 has already but this will be transferred to the Eros B production which shares much of the basic structural design with Eros A.

The Eros B series will carry a camera with a resolution of about 0.82 m. Each Eros B satellite is expected to cost about US$ 100 million.

In all, ImageSat intends to launch a constellation of eight of the remote sensing satellites.

Orbimage Introduces Maritime Information Service for Consumer Market
Orbital Imaging Corporation (Orbimage) has introduced the Orbimage Maritime Information Service, which enables navigational software and hardware providers to offer additional data sources to their installed base of customers.

The daily service will deliver detailed weather and sea surface information that is beneficial to coastal boaters and sport fishermen, as well as many coastal commercial vessels.

The Maritime Information Service features daily sea surface information, including plankton concentration data from Orbimage's OrbView-2 satellite, sea surface temperature and daily weather information. Additional information includes local marine forecasts, weather routing, buoy data and value-added analysis by oceanographers.

Orbimage's partner, Applied Weather Technology Inc (AWT), has provided weather data for Orbimage's SeaStar Pro Fisheries Information Service since 1999. Through the extension of its previous agreement with Orbimage, AWT will now provide the weather data and co-market the Maritime Information Service to leading charting software and hardware companies.

Customers of the service will receive digital maps through a web page or through email. They will view the data using their navigational software and hardware. Two major software manufacturers in the market, Maptech Inc and Raymarine Inc (formerly Raytheon Marine Company), have already integrated Orbimage data into their product lines.

Military Space

GPS Source Codes Hacked
On Christmas Eve last year an unidentified hacker gained access to a restricted US government computer and was able to download an outdated version of Exigent Software Technology Inc's OS/COMET ground-control satellite communication software used to command GPS satellites.

Exigent's OS/COMET software is used by the US Air Force at the Colorado Springs Monitor Station to control GPS satellites.

The theft, however, was apparently from the US Naval Research Labs in Washington DC. The software was downloaded remotely over the Internet and remained undiscovered for three days.

The FBI traced the theft to Freebox.com, an Internet server operated by Swedish company Carbonide. A hacker had broken into the account of a legitimate user of the server and had used that person's Internet account. A copy of the stolen source code was found on the server but there was no way of knowing whether other copies existed.

Science

Goodbye Near Shoemaker
After a year orbiting the Eros asteroid and returning a wealth of data, followed by a truly amazing soft landing on the surface of the asteroid, the Near Shoemaker probe has finally been turned off.

The last contact with the probe was made on Wednesday night.

From the end of March the probe will receive less and less light from the sun to power its arrays and from August 8 will be in permanent darkness as the southern hemisphere of the asteroid moves into its winter season.

Following the probe's landing on the surface of Eros on February 12, it has used its Gamma ray spectrometer to collect data on the surface composition of the asteroid. The gamma-ray spectrometer team was able to retrieve data for a period of seven days after the spacecraft landed.

The five year mission to Eros, which culminated in a year long information gathering spree orbiting the asteroid, was managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory which also built the spacecraft. Whilst orbiting the asteroid, Near Shoemaker returned more than 160,000 images of the surface.

Solar Probe and Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission Fall to NASA Budget Cuts
The new Bush administration has instructed NASA to cancel its Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission and Solar Probe spacecraft. NASA is directed to focus its attention "closer to home" on Mars.

NASA's new budget, just released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides a breakdown of how NASA is to spend its US$ 14.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2002.

The Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission which was to study Pluto before its atmosphere freezes in a few years time as the planet's orbit swings it away from the Sun, and the Solar Probe spacecraft that was to take a close up view of the Sun's corona will not be funded because both program's have had a very large escalation in costs.

Money freed by cancelling these two programs will be routed to research into advanced propulsion methods and to the exploration of Mars.

Manned Space

Trimming NASA's ISS Costs
In response to the Bush administration's 2002 budget, NASA is cutting back its International Space Station (ISS) expenditure. The White House is predicting cost overruns of US$ 4 billion over the next 5 years.

NASA intends to cut back or stop work on the Habitation Module, Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) and Propulsion Module, forcing the agency to concentrate on a less ambitious version of the space station. One major constraint will be the reduction in the number of crew members the ISS can support. Both the Habitation and CRV are required to support the full complement of seven crew - without them only three crew members can be safely carried. These elements are now no longer part of the baseline plan for the ISS.

The expectation currently is that, under the new budget proposals, NASA will complete its hardware contribution to the ISS with the addition of Node 2 in November 2003. Node 2 will act as an attachment point for the Columbus Module (ESA) and the Experiment Module (NASDA).

The Bush administration has defined NASA's task as to construct a space station which can support major modules from other countries whilst staying within budget. ISS could, therefore, be heavily dependent of Russian support for its success.

Technology

Solar Sail Test Missions
The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 solar sail mission is to have a test flight in April followed by the main mission which will test the operation of the sail in October.

The deployment test flight will be launched from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea on a thirty-minute sub-orbital flight using a Russian Volna rocket converted from an ICBM. The main mission, which will be the first solar sail flight, will be launched into orbit later this year, also from a Volna rocket.

Once in orbit, the solar sail spacecraft will be as bright as the full Moon (although it will only be a dot in the sky) and will be easily visible from Earth with the naked eye. Images of the sail in flight will be sent to Earth from two different cameras on-board the spacecraft.

The mission represents the first private mission of space exploration technology and the first mission by a private space interest organisation. The total cost of the mission is about $4 million.

The solar sail will use reflected light pressure pushing on giant sails as a source of thrust to changing the orbital energy and spacecraft velocity continuously.

The low cost of this mission is made possible due to the Russian ability to "piggy-back" on a successful program in developing an inflatable re-entry vehicle. Once injected into Earth's orbit, the sail will be deployed by inflatable tubes, pulling out the sail material and then rigidising the structure.

The sail is constructed of eight "blades" or "petals" - roughly triangular in shape. They can be turned (pitched) like helicopter blades, and depending on how they are turned, the sunlight will reflect in different directions. This is how the attitude of the spacecraft is controlled and how the sail can "tack."

The April launch will be a sub-orbital flight test of the deployment of two solar sail blades. An inflatable re-entry shield is planned to bring the pictures of the deployment back to a landing and recovery site in Kamchatka. The actual solar sail flight will commence from an 850 km circular orbit, with a launch being planned in a window between October - December of this year. The sail will be 600 square meters of aluminised mylar, constructed into 8 blades.

Launch Services

Launching Satellites from Aircraft - Russian Style
Russian launch company Air Launch is pushing ahead with plans to put satellites into orbit using Polyot rockets dropped from giant military transport aircraft.

Air Launch is modifying four Antonov 124 Ruslan aircraft, which are on permanent loan from the Russian military, to carry the 100 tonne, two-stage Polyot launch vehicle. Modifications to the first two aircraft are scheduled to be completed in the summer and the first orbital test flight is scheduled for 2003.

The Polyot launcher is expected to be able to deliver a 3.5 tonne payload to LEO from northern launch sites and 4 tonne payloads from the equator. Launch costs are projected to be about US$ 2,500 per kg.

NASA Cancels X-33 and X-34 Launchers
NASA has announced that it will not add Space Launch Initiative funds to the X-33 or X-34 programs, effectively killing both of these projects.

As a result, the current X-33 program will come to completion when the co-operative agreement between NASA and Lockheed Martin expires on March 31, unless Lockheed Martin chooses to go forward with the program with its own funds. NASA is in the process of ending its X-34 contract with Orbital Sciences Corp.

The Space Launch Initiative provides commercial industry with the opportunity to meet NASA's future launch needs, including human access to space, with new launch vehicles that promise to dramatically reduce cost and improve safety and reliability. The primary focus of the Space Launch Initiative is on technology development for concepts that would be able to launch payloads for NASA, commercial and military missions and be able to fly crew to and from the International Space Station.

Continuation of both programs had depended upon their successfully competing for Space Launch Initiative funding under a NASA Research Announcement that will lead to award of some US$ 900 million over the next two-and-a-half years. That solicitation was issued in October 2000, and industry proposals submitted in December 2000. Contract awards could be awarded as early as April, but none of those negotiations will include X-33 or X-34. NASA determined that the benefits to be derived from flight testing these X-vehicles did not warrant the magnitude of government investment required and that SLI funds should be applied to higher priority needs.

NASA began the X-33 program in 1996 as part of its Reusable Launch Vehicle program. It called for the demonstration of a subscale single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, one that would go from launch stand to orbit without using multiple stages or dropping rocket motors and fuel tanks. The X-33 program was intended to lead into development of the VentureStar launch vehicle which, at one time, was seen as a successor to the Shuttle.

Using composite materials to reduce vehicle weight is one of the keys to successfully developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. In November 1999 the X-33's composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing. An investigation into the cause of the failure revealed that composite technology was not mature enough for such a use. Lockheed Martin proposed to complete development of the X-33 by replacing its two composite liquid hydrogen tanks with aluminium tanks. NASA agreed to permit them to compete for SLI funding to do so. But the benefits of testing the X-33 in flight did not justify the cost.

NASA investment in the X-33 program totalled US$ 912 million, staying within its 1996 budget projection for the program. Lockheed Martin originally committed to invest US$ 212 million in the X-33, and during the life of the program increased that amount to $357 million.

The X-34 program also was initiated in 1996, to provide a low-cost technology test bed that would demonstrate a streamlined management approach with a rapid development schedule and limited testing. A joint NASA/Orbital Sciences Corporation review of the project last year revealed the need to redefine the project's approach, scope, budget and schedule. To ensure safety and mission success of the X-34 it became necessary to increase Government technical insight, hardware testing and integrated systems assessments. As a result, the projected cost of completing the X-34 program at an acceptable level of risk rose significantly above the planned budget. NASA decided that such additional funding for X-34 risk reduction would have to be competed within the SLI evaluation process. As with X-33, NASA determined that the benefits to be derived from continuing the X-34 program did not justify the cost.

NASA has invested US$ 205 million on the X-34 project.

Launches

Progress M-44

Launched: 26 February 2001
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launcher: Soyuz U
Orbit: LEO
International Number: 2001-008A
Name: Progress M1 (ISS flight 3P)

Progress M-44 is a resupply vessel carrying fuel, food, water, air supplies and equipment to outfit the Zvezda control module for the International Space Station.

Milstar 2 F4

Launched: 27 February 2001
Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launcher: Titan 4B
International Number: 2001-00A
Name: Milstar 2 F4
Owner: US Air Force
Contractor: Lockheed Martin Space Systems

This is the second launch of a Milstar 2 military communications satellite and is the first to carry a Medium Data Rate (MDR) payload.

The MDR payload, built by Boeing Satellite Systems, can process data at up to 1.5 Mb/s. It dynamically sorts incoming data and routes them to the proper downlinks to establish networks and provide bandwidth on demand. Using a 32-channel extremely high-frequency (44 GHz) uplink and a super-high-frequency (20 GHz) downlink, it sends real-time voice, video and data to military personnel in the field at rates that range from 4.8 kb/s to 1.5 Mb/s.

Business

Financing Satellite Radio
Rival US satellite radio hopefuls Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings have spent the last week ordering their financial affairs.

Sirius Satellite Radio sold 10 million shares of common stock in a public offering which raised US$ 210 million, at a price of US$ 21 per share. Sirius will use the cash to cover its operating and general expenses through to the middle of next year.

Sirius needs to top this up with a US$ 150 million loan from Lehman Brothers Inc. Unfortunately for Sirius, Lehman Brothers have delayed the provision of the loan until Sirius can prove that its radio system actually works, something that Sirius is having some difficulty doing. Software flaws currently prevent the reception of clear audio signals and Sirius is delaying demonstrations of its system until these bugs can be fixed. Time is tight, though, because the consumer launch of the system is due in the next few weeks.

XM Satellite Radio is also not without its financial difficulties.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), XM Satellite Radio has stated that it will need up to US$ 475 million to remain solvent to the end of 2002. Up to US$ 175 million of this is required for operations during 2001. XM Satellite Radio has enough money to launch its system, which is due to start service in September, but not to continue operations long term without an additional injection of capital.

Investing in Skystream Networks
SkyStream Networks, a leading provider of converged broadband networking solutions, has closed a US$ 44 million fourth round of funding from several prestigious Silicon Valley venture firms and strategic corporate investors.

These leading venture firms included Amerindo Investment Advisors, Crosslink Capital, IVP, Integral Capital Partners, Mayfield, Norwest Venture Partners and WestBridge Ventures, as well as AOL Time Warner Investments and Shaw Ventures.

SkyStream Networks provides networking hardware and software that boosts the performance and improves the quality of multimedia-rich content integrating broadcast technologies into broadband networks. SkyStream will use the funds to fuel its rapid growth and enhance its networking hardware platforms, including its Source Media Router family, and its recently introduced zBand Internet Content Distribution Software.

This financing round of US$ 44 million increases the total investment by the venture and corporate community to more than US$ 70 million in SkyStream. Participants in the previous rounds, IVP, Mayfield, and Norwest Venture Partners, all increased their investment in this round.

SkyStream Networks is a worldwide network infrastructure company that enables service providers and broadcasters to create new revenue streams by delivering digital media services like TV-quality Internet video over any network, including satellite, digital television, traditional broadband or digital cable. SkyStream's products intelligently connect networks of satellite providers, cable providers and television broadcasters with those of traditional Internet bandwidth owners of fibre and ATM networks, improving network performance and enabling the personalised delivery of rich media content. SkyStream's customers are leading satellite, content distribution, Internet and cable services providers around the world, including EchoStar Communications Corporation, iBEAM, iBLAST, Granite Broadcasting, Loral CyberStar, Microsoft TV, Pacific Convergence Corporation and Telefonica.

Reorganising Sattel Global Networks
Sattel Global Networks Inc (Colorado) has cancelled the merger agreement whereby its operations would have been consolidated with the operations of Sattel Global Networks Inc (Delaware), a manufacturer of satellite systems for public switched telephone and data networks, and Sattel de Guatemala SA (Guatemala) an operator of rural satellite networks in Central America.

The decision for the cancellation was made as a result of the inability on the part of Sattel in obtaining corporate financing as required by the merger agreement.

As a result of the termination of the merger, the following directors have resigned from the company: Mr George Weischadle, Mr Werner Grieder, Mr Stanley Cohen, Mr Edgar Benavente.

Sattel Global Networks Inc (Colorado) is continuing its search for a replacement merger candidate.

SpaceDev Raising Cash in Australia
SpaceDev Inc new subsidiary, SpaceDev Australia, has lodged a prospectus with the Australia Securities & Investments Commission for a maximum of Au$ 8 million - about US$ 4.6 million. The SpaceDev Australia offering will not be available to US investors.

The SpaceDev subsidiary has allied with the newly formed Space Projects Australia, which will share in the offering proceeds. After fees and splitting the gross proceeds, SpaceDev expects to net up to an estimated US$ 2.6 million, based on current exchange rates.

SpaceDev intends to use part of its share of the proceeds to open the SpaceDev Australia office in Sydney, Australia as a base to expand its sales and marketing efforts in Australia and throughout the Asian region. SpaceDev intends to partner with one or more established Australian space companies for microsatellite assembly and testing activities using SpaceDev micro-satellite designs and subsystems, and to initiate an intern program to identify outstanding Australian space engineering students as potential future employees. SpaceDev satellite subsystem products include an innovative miniature S band transponder weighing about 0.5 kg and a small, low power, high-speed space-qualified single board computer based on the Motorola MPC 750 processor.

Additional uses of the proceeds include international sales and marketing related to the proposed commercial lunar mission that grew out of the collaboration between SpaceDev and Boeing last year, additional design and analysis on SpaceDev hybrid rocket motors targeted for potential use in manned sub-orbital space tourism and package delivery applications, and a significant expansion of SpaceDev's general domestic sales, marketing and lobbying capabilities. The lunar orbiter, supported by corporate sponsors, would feature a live, real time stream of unique HDTV views of the moon's surface beamed back for TV, cable, Internet and Pay per View packaging.

As a result of the initial funding of SpaceDev Australia, SpaceDev issued SPDV stock at an equivalent of approximately US$ 2.15 per share. SPDV closed at Au$ 0.875 the day before lodgement of the offering. All shares issued by SpaceDev to SpaceDev Australia were issued pursuant to Regulation S.

Space Projects Australia has announced its intentions to improve parts of the Woomera launch range it has recently received approval to lease, in expectation of future sounding rocket and orbital launches, and for possible use by commercial sub-orbital space planes.

Products and Services

Invisat Introduces Maritime Broadband Service
Invsat, a wholly owned subsidiary of Inmarsat Ventures Limited, has launched a broadband data application communications solution configured to offer DAMA (Demand Assigned Multiple Access) services.

Invsat has developed the system to operate initially on Loral Skynet's Telstar 12 satellite.

The DAMA network is a single-hop satellite transmission network that allows direct connection between any two nodes with many users sharing a dedicated "pool" of satellite transponder space.

Operators and passengers in the coverage area will be able to choose from several personalised communications services, including Internet and corporate intranet access, e-commerce, transmission and receipt of data, including credit card transactions, even passenger Internet cafes, all in real time.

People

Boeing Announces Key Appointments
The Boeing Company has announced a series of executive appointments to strengthen its Space & Communications Group.

Bob Dean joins Boeing Space & Communications as vice president, business development and international. Dean will be responsible for providing leadership across the 43,000-person Space & Communications organisation for business planning and development activities and will report to the Office of the Space & Communications President. With senior executive-level authority, Dean will oversee business planning and development activities involving assessment of markets and competition, development of investment and business strategies and resolution of key business issues; he also will have overall responsibility for Space & Communications' international business activities.

John Stammreich has been appointed vice president, strategic management at Space & Communications, reporting to Dean. In his new role, Stammreich will be responsible for overall strategic business planning activities in all of the markets served by Space & Communications, including: launch services; human space flight and exploration; missile defence and space control; and information and communications. In addition, he will be responsible for all activities involving assessment of internal and external competencies, the development of investment and business strategies, integration of Space & Communications strategic plans, and implementation plans to ensure Space & Communications and Company business objectives are achieved.

In response to the appointments of Dean and Stammreich, Don Zinn, who had been the acting vice president - business development & international for the past several months, has transitioned to his new assignment as director - marketing, reporting to Dean. In this new role, Zinn will work with the Space & Communications staff and businesses for the planning, development, and implementation of the overall marketing and sales strategies for Space & Communications and assume responsibility for field marketing.

Pace Appoints Director of Technology for Americas Market
Pace Micro Technology Americas has appointed Terry Glatt as director of technology, reporting to Graham Williams, vice president of technology.

Based in Boca Raton, Florida, Pace's US base houses its sales, marketing, service and engineering divisions for the American markets. Terry Glatt is responsible for advanced solutions and technology for Pace's products and services in the cable, satellite, wireless, and telephony markets throughout North and South America.

Pace Appoints Senior Sales Director for North American Market
Pace Micro Technology Americas has appointed David Daucanski as senior director of Sales, reporting to Neil Jones, vice president of Sales.

Based in Boca Raton, Florida, Pace's US base houses its sales, marketing, service and engineering divisions for the American markets. As senior director of sales, Daucanski is responsible for the sales teams in the cable, satellite, wireless, and telephony markets in North America.

Web spacenewsfeed.co.uk