5 August 2001

Satcoms

Andrew Awarded Contract for Spaceway Earth Stations
Andrew Corporation has won an initial US$ 2 million contract to provide Ka band satellite earth stations for the Hughes Network Systems' (HNS) Spaceway program.

The earth stations will be deployed as major communication hubs in the Spaceway global satellite network that will provide a new generation of high-bandwidth services for businesses and consumers.

Two earth station types will be developed as a result of this contract. Andrew will install the initial versions at sites throughout North America in late 2002.

CyberStar and Global Knowledge Team for e-Learning to the Desktop
Loral CyberStar and Global Knowledge Inc have partnered to deliver more than 500 mission-critical technology training programs from Global Knowledge to CyberStar s ClearStream Live customers.

Using CyberStar s Internet Protocol (IP) satellite network, Global Knowledge s IT training courseware will be delivered through a point-to-multipoint network able to distribute high-quality video to hundreds of desktops in multiple locations around the world. Through a combination of IP-based voice, video, and animated graphical content sent across CyberStar s satellite network and routed to the end-user desktop, ClearStream will deliver Global Knowledge's live-virtual classroom courses from Global Knowledge s catalogue of specialised IT training and certification programs.

Delivering the Global Knowledge catalogue of courseware via ClearStream allows companies to avoid the unpredictable nature and poor quality transmissions of the unmanaged Internet. ClearStream offers superior delivery of video and multimedia so that enterprises can now take full advantage of Global Knowledge s Blended Learning Solutions , a flexible means of delivering industry leading IT training content anytime, anywhere in a classroom, virtual classroom, or e-Learning environment.

Delphi Certified to Build XM Satellite Radio OEM Receivers
Delphi Automotive Systems is the first manufacturer to meet the standards and requirements to receive type certification as required by XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) to build OEM receivers for the company.

Delphi Delco Electronics Systems has received approval to proceed with its design for the commercial production of receivers capable of receiving the new satellite radio service.

Delphi will begin building the receivers beginning in the fourth quarter of this year for 2002 model vehicles.

Type certification involves rigorous testing of the receiver to meet predetermined requirements that guarantee high quality station reception and audio quality over the wide variety of listening conditions drivers encounter in a vehicle. The testing includes parametric lab measurements as well as actual field testing in vehicles.

Intelsat Restriction Lifted to Allow for US Domestic Service
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has lifted its previous restriction on Intelsat's customers using their earth stations to provide US domestic service via the Intelsat system.

The lifting of this FCC restriction on earth station licensees allows those Intelsat customers to expand their markets domestically in the US. Previously, Intelsat customers in the US were authorised to use their earth stations for international, but not domestic, service.

The removal of this condition, issued in an FCC public notice, conforms the scope of US earth station licenses to the full authority granted Intelsat in its US space station licenses. Those licenses allow Intelsat to provide domestic and international service to the United States.

Intelsat, formerly an intergovernmental organisation, was privatised on 18 July.

MHU Improves Distance Learning with Scopus Digital Platforms
Scopus Network Technologies and Syrus Systems have installed an MPEG-2 DVB digital TV data transmission and Internet access system at Russia's Modern Humanities University (MHU) headquarters in Moscow.

The University, the largest non-governmental university level educational institution in the Russian Federation, operates a satellite TV training system based on its own television port, MHU-Teleport. Up to now, two TV training programs were broadcast over the LMI-1 satellite using the MPEG-2 DVB digital format.

To extend MHU's educational capabilities, Syrus Systems updated the MHU Teleport station by introducing an IP data transmission system that, apart from the two TV programs, includes a high rate data transmission and Internet access channel. Due to this service, 300 MHU branches in Russia, CIS and other countries acquire global network access capability, guaranteed delivery of training materials and use of interactive multimedia educational applications as well.

The MHU-Teleport digital station is based on Scopus Codico E-1000 encoders, and Codico RTM-3600 multiplexers. The MHU Teleport station is 1+1 redundant. The IP system is based on Scopus' Codico IGW-600.

MHU was established in 1992 and is the largest non-governmental higher education institution in the Russian Federation. Currently, MHU manages 240 educational centres in Russia and 45 educational centres in the CIS and other foreign countries with more than 110,000 students.

New Skies Networks Awarded Carrier Licence
New Skies Networks Pty Ltd, one of Australia's leading satellite system integrators and network service providers, has been granted a licence by the Australian Communications Authority to operate as a national telecommunications carrier.

New Skies Networks (NSN) intends to focus on providing innovative, low-cost two-way satellite services to support Internet delivery and other IP-based applications.

NSN's major service offerings are:

• the provision of satellite-delivered access to the Internet backbone;
• point-to-multipoint delivery of IP-based content for commercial and government clients;
• managed voice/data domestic and international networks including SCADA (Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition) operations for several Australian oil pipelines; and
• teleport services for third party organisations, including up/downlinking, service hosting and telemetry, tracking and control activities.

NSN's services are currently provided in both C and Ku bands.

An aggressive expansion program by the New Skies parent company is expected to result in additional capacity becoming available to serve the region within the next 18 months.

The NSS-803 satellite is expected to be drifted in mid-2002 from the Atlantic Ocean where it is now serving Europe, Africa and the Americas to Asia Pacific where it will replace NSS-513 and provide a quantum boost in power and capacity.

Additionally, at the end of 2002 New Skies Satellites plans to launch a new satellite, NSS-6, to 95° E for full coverage of Australia and Asia, with reach from the Middle East and South Africa in the west to Japan and Korea in the east.

NSS-6, an all Ku/Ka band satellite featuring full beam interconnectivity, has been designed specifically to offer broadband interactive multimedia communications. Its special capabilities will enable NSN customers to operate fully-interactive, high-speed networks of small terminals, capable of carrying Internet and other bandwidth intensive services.

STMicroelectronics Receives Initial Orders for 170,000 XM Satellite Radio Receiver Chipsets
STMicroelectronics has received orders from radio manufacturers for 170,000 two-chip receiver chipsets for XM Radio, the US digital satellite radio service to be launched commercially this summer by XM Satellite Radio Inc.

At least 70,000 of these chipsets are scheduled for delivery in the third quarter to support the initial startup of commercial service; the remaining 100,000 chipsets are forecast for delivery before the end of 2001.

XM Radio chipsets are being delivered to equipment manufacturers including Sony, Pioneer, Alpine and Delphi Automotive Systems for both vehicle and home receiver products that will also include AM and FM radio capability. The sole supplier of XM chipsets, STMicroelectronics applied its system-on-chip technology to condense the complex functions of the XM receiver into just two chips, reducing the size and cost of radios.

ST completed the development of the XM chipset in late 2000, delivering first pass chip samples to XM for evaluation in October 2000. The production version of the chipset was delivered in March 2001 to the XM radio manufacturers for final validation, testing and integration into XM-capable receivers. Currently these receivers are being field tested across the US by employees of XM Satellite Radio and its business partners.

The two-chip custom chipset developed by ST for XM Satellite Radio allow XM radios to receive and decode signals broadcast from XM's two geostationary satellites - `Rock' and `Roll' - and city-based terrestrial repeaters.

Earth Observation

Boeing to Build NPOESS Weather Instruments
Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) has been awarded a US$ 130.8 million contract by the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Integrated Program Office for two Conical Microwave Imager Sounder (CMIS) weather instruments.

The contract includes options for up to four additional weather instruments for a total US$ 298 million contract.

NPOESS is the next-generation low earth orbit environmental satellite system that will save the US government US$ 1.8 billion by converging existing systems operated by the Department of Defense (DoD) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CMIS is one of the weather instruments included on the six NPOESS satellites. The first CMIS instrument is scheduled for delivery by 2005 with the second to be delivered by 2007. The first NPOESS satellite is scheduled to be available for launch in 2008.

CMIS will be the first conical microwave imager/sounder to be carried on a US civil weather satellite. CMIS will provide three times better resolution and the capability to detect more weather phenomena than previous weather instruments. The CMIS weather instrument will provide timely, accurate and cost-effective weather data for civilian, military, and scientific users.

CMIS will be an "all weather" sensor with a microwave imager and sounder capability to provide 20 different environmental data records. The microwave imager channels help measure environmental data such as wind speed and direction over the ocean, and soil moisture. The sounder complements the data provided by the microwave imager in much the same way that three-dimensional mapping provides a more complete picture than two-dimensional mapping.

The CMIS sensor consists of three different subsystems: antennas; receivers; and data handling. The antennas gather microwave energy from the earth scene. The receivers divide the microwaves into numerous specific channels and measure the "brightness" of the earth within each channel. The data handling subsystem formats the weather data and other critical information for transmission to the ground. There, algorithms turn the data into maps showing such things as ocean temperature, ocean wind speed, and snow cover.

As prime contractor, BSS leads a team composed of Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) Inc; Remote Sensing Systems; Millitech; Honeywell Space Systems Division and Integral Systems.

Military Space

More Orders for Comtech Under Movement Tracking System Contract
Comtech Telecommunications Corp has received approximately US$ 5M in new orders for equipment and services connected with the Movement Tracking System (MTS) that it is supplying to the US Army.

This is the third large round of MTS-related orders that the Army has awarded to Comtech. All were awarded to the company's Maryland-based Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation subsidiary. Comtech has an eight-year contract with a potential total value of US$ 418 million to provide the Army's Logistics Command with the new MTS for tracking mobile assets and communicating with them in real time.

These latest orders cover satellite tracking and messaging equipment for Army logistics vehicles and mobile control stations as well as associated satellite-based communications services. They bring the number of MTS units ordered to date to over 1200. Units covered by these new orders will be delivered in the first quarter of Comtech's 2002 fiscal year, which begins on August 1, 2001.

Comtech will install equipment on a variety of vehicles and also train the Army's MTS operators in the use of the tracking and messaging applications that are part of the system.

Science

Spectrum Astro Ships Coriolis Spacecraft to Naval Research Laboratory
Spectrum Astro has shipped the Coriolis spacecraft to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington DC for final testing and integration of the WindSat payload.

As the Prime Contractor to the Department of Defense's Space Test Program, Spectrum Astro has total system responsibility, including spacecraft development, bus integration and test, experiment integration, space vehicle environmental testing, launch processing, ground Operations Center integration and on-orbit checkout. At the NRL, the Coriolis spacecraft will undergo EMC testing, followed by the WindSat payload integration, and finally, environmental testing in preparation for launch in summer 2002.

Coriolis is a DoD Test Program mission to fly Naval Research Laboratory and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) payloads. Spectrum Astro's contract was competitively awarded in March 1999 through NASA Goddard's Rapid Spacecraft Development Office.

The spacecraft shipment follows more than five months of flight system integration and testing that included all subsystem integration and testing plus several integrated systems tests. Spectrum Astro completed the Payload Integration Readiness Review following a 24-month spacecraft design and development program. The company has since integrated the AFRL's Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) payload with the spacecraft.

The WindSat payload integration will be performed at the NRL due to WindSats large size and the availability of suitable environmental test facilities. Spectrum Astro will then follow the space vehicle processing through the completion of environmental testing. Afterwards, the spacecraft will be shipped to Vandenberg AFB, California for launch processing. On-orbit space vehicle checkout will be done from the Air Force's RDT&E Support Complex at Kirtland AFB, NM, utilising the Air Force Satellite Control Network.

Coriolis is a high reliability, fully redundant, EMI-quiet, 3-axis stabilised spacecraft designed to demonstrate two Department of Defense payloads on a three-year test mission. One instrument, WindSat, is a 341 kg yaw-spinning polarimetric microwave radiometer experiment designed and built by the NRL to passively measure the ocean surface wind vector. The AFRL's SMEI is the other instrument and will monitor solar activity with the goal of more accurately predicting geomagnetic disturbances to orbiting satellites.

Technology

Star Tracker Patent for Boeing
A deceptively simple innovation has led to a US patent award for Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS). The invention - a new method of positioning optical star trackers on satellites - enables BSS to achieve extremely precise determination of spacecraft attitude.

This technology helped BSS win a significant US government weather-satellite contract and meet the demanding design requirements for the Spaceway broadband satellite system being built at BSS.

For this invention, BSS scientists Yeong-Wei "Andy" Wu, Douglas H. Hein and David L. Augenstein, along with Garry Didinsky, a former BSS employee, received US Patent 6,236,939, "Method and apparatus for controlling spacecraft attitude with rotational star trackers." Spacecraft attitude describes the orientation and position of the satellite relative to the earth's surface. Their work advances the field of stellar inertial technology, which involves the use of star trackers rather than earth sensors to achieve up to 505 greater pointing accuracy for satellites in orbit. This patent is one of more than 20 stellar inertial systems patents that BSS scientists have received or are submitting.

Star trackers are on-board telescopes that scan areas in space and digitally record the position and brightness of stars. Processors aboard the spacecraft compare those images with star maps in memory to determine the spacecraft's exact attitude and position. That information helps ground controllers to more precisely orient the satellite for maximum pointing accuracy.

However, distortions in the trackers' optical components have traditionally led to a relatively high level of errors that lessened the accuracy of the star tracker images.

The co-inventors discovered that, by rotating the star tracker 45° so that imaged stars cross its pixels on a diagonal path, errors in the images were reduced by approximately 50%.

Launch Services

Astrotech Sells Sounding Rocket Assets
Spacehab's Astrotech Space Operations unit has sold the assets of its Oriole sounding rocket program and related property to DTI Associates Inc, of Arlington, Virginia.

The sale, effective July 26, turns over all physical and intellectual property assets of Astrotech's sounding rocket program, including the design of the Oriole rocket, except for those required for Astrotech to fulfil the terms of an agreement with an existing customer.

Astrotech successfully completed a demonstration launch of the Oriole suborbital launch vehicle on July 7, 2000, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Astrotech developed the Oriole as a next-generation sounding rocket for launching scientific and commercial payloads and as a target vehicle for Theater Missile Defense system testing. The Oriole is the first privately developed sounding rocket in US history and the first new suborbital launch system developed in the last 25 years.

Astrotech will fulfil the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Queensland in Australia to provide payload integration and launch services for two Terrier-Orion sounding rocket launches scheduled for October at Australia's Woomera range. These rockets will launch scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) technology demonstration payloads for the HYSHOT Project. In conjunction with this launch activity, Spacehab subsidiary Space Media Inc, will help develop unique multimedia courseware with University of Queensland faculty members on the benefits and prospects for scramjet technology. Space Media will employ this courseware in its STARS Academy global education program, supported by the United Nations.

EZ-Rocket Test Flights Begin
XCOR Aerospace as begun flight tests of a manned rocket aircraft, the EZ-Rocket. The first successful flight test was performed on July 21 at Mojave Airport.

The EZ-Rocket is a modified Long-EZ airplane, and powered by twin 400 pound thrust rocket engines designed and built by XCOR Aerospace. It is XCOR's research and development test bed for a reusable rocket plane which will carry tourists to space on suborbital flights.

XCOR's test pilot is retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dick Rutan, a Vietnam veteran. Col Rutan also flew around the world without refueling in the Voyager aircraft, and has flown around the world in his own Long-EZ.

The EZ-Rocket is a modified Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft. The aircraft is powered by twin 400 lb thrust regeneratively cooled rocket engines. The EZ-Rocket includes an external composite fuel tank and an insulated internal aluminium liquid oxygen tank. The modifications were performed at XCOR Aerospace's Mojave, California shop. Tests are performed at the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center.

Launches

Koronas-F

Launched: 31 July 2001
Site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
Launcher: Tsyklon 3
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 517 km, perigee: 474 km: inclination: 82.5°
International Number: 2001-032A
Name: Koronas-F
Owner:
Contractor:

Koronas F is the first Russian scientific satellite in almost two years and is the second Koronas mission. The satellite will study the Sun and its influence on the Earth.

Business

Boeing Reorganised Human Space Flight Business
Boeing has announced a major transition of work in its Human Space Flight & Exploration (HSF&E) business to better support its customers, United Space Alliance and NASA.

Approximately 1,100 jobs will be redistributed with a significant portion being relocated from Southern California to Florida and Texas. The business-wide move of functions and related skills will allow 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.

The headquarters and associated functions for Human Space Flight & Exploration will remain in Huntington Beach, which will become the Design and Development Center for HSF&E. Sustaining engineering will move to Texas and Florida. The sites in Huntsville, Alabama, and Palmdale, California, will continue in their current roles.

The company will provide a competitive relocation package to those moving. For those who do not wish to relocate, every effort will be made to find them another position with Boeing.

Eutelsat Invests in Hispasat
Eutelsat SA has signed an agreement with Hispasat to acquire 21.15% of the company with the potential to increase its stake in excess of 30%. Eutelsat will be a key strategic shareholder and partner in Hispasat.

Eutelsat and Hispasat also announced that they are establishing a joint venture company called Amazonas that will launch a satellite to 61° W in 2003 with the purpose of commercialising capacity in the Americas and the transatlantic marketplace. Eutelsat will participate together with Hispasat in this company, that will develop new products and services with particular focus on the broadband market.

Eutelsat's investment in Hispasat will be completed in two phases. Eutelsat will acquire 17% of the existing shareholders' capital released in proportion to their holdings and will simultaneously acquire 5% through the subscription to a capital increase of Hispasat. In the second phase Eutelsat could potentially acquire up to a further 8% of the company from shareholders and 5% through newly issued shares.

Credit Suisse First Boston acted as exclusive financial advisor to Eutelsat in this transaction.

JSAT in Joint Venture with PanAmSat
Japanese communications satellite operator JSAT Corporation is to form a joint venture with PanAmSat.

The joint venture, to be called Horizons Satellite, will be capitalised at US$ 100 million and will be equally owned by both partners. It will launch its first satellite at the end of 2002 and will provide business communications in the US and across the Pacific.

PanAmSat Moves House
PanAmSat Corporation has consolidated its headquarters operations from four separate locations in Greenwich, Connecticut into one office complex in Wilton, Connecticut.

The new 75,000 square-foot headquarters will enable to company to reduce operating expenses and improve efficiencies and communications between all departments.

The new headquarters is located an hour from New York City and approximately 20 minutes from its former location in Greenwich.

The new facility at 20 Westport Road is located near the intersection of Highway Seven and Highway 33 in suburban Wilton. PanAmSat's previous headquarters in Greenwich housed more than 200 of the company's 900 employees in office space at One and Two Pickwick Plaza, 41 West Putnam Ave and 53 Forest Ave in Greenwich. In addition to its headquarters in Connecticut, PanAmSat operates 11 other offices worldwide and seven technical facilities in the United States.

Products and Services

HNS Launches Teleworker Service by DirecWay
Hughes Network Systems (HNS) has introduced its new Teleworker Service by DirecWay. The service package offers business-class IP connectivity and enhanced networking capabilities, giving teleworkers a reliable, at-home broadband solution with nationwide US coverage and no need for a second phone line.

In addition to providing a secure, reliable, always-on broadband Internet connection via the DirecWay satellite system, the Teleworker Service by DirecWay is a communications platform that creates value for both enterprises and employees.

Enterprises will benefit by solving some of the most daunting challenges surrounding the deployment of a teleworker program. DirecWay offers static IP addresses and custom network development to ensure that the service meets the needs of the enterprises. The service is available nationwide across the USA, and a team of professional installers connect the service, which operates over a standardised platform, allowing enterprises to deploy a teleworker program quickly and reliably while decreasing the ongoing costs of maintaining a remote network.

The service offers a complete solution for people who want to work from home and still have the same network access they have in the office.

The Teleworker Service package also includes a variety of value-added services provided by DirecWay. Businesses can deliver content, provide business TV, or conduct customised training via DirecWay for a fraction of the cost associated with other methods.

Employees using their DirecWay Teleworker service package will not only benefit from the high-speed connection to e-mail, the Internet and their corporate Intranet, but from other valuable options such as DirecTV programming and "always-on" connectivity. The service also integrates with most popular VPN clients, so users never have to worry about the security of their data. In addition, the service includes an unlimited dial-up account so employees can stay connected even while travelling.

People

New CFO at TRW
Robert H. Swan, 41, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of TRW Inc, effective immediately.

Since April Swan has been chief executive officer of Webvan Group Inc, an Internet retailer established to offer home delivery of groceries and other consumer products. He joined the company in October 1999 as vice president for finance and subsequently served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

At TRW Swan will be responsible for TRW's domestic and international financial operations, treasury, taxes, investor relations, internal audit, shareholder services, risk management, pension accounting, and information systems. In addition, he will be responsible for the business development function.

Swan holds a BS in management from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MBA from the State University of New York in Binghamton. He and his family will be relocating to the Cleveland area soon.

Space Imaging Appoint COO
Space Imaging has announced the appointment of Jody Tedesco to the position of chief operating officer. Tedesco's promotion is effective immediately.

Tedesco now is responsible for the overall operations management of the company including sales, production, services, and development organisations. Tedesco has an extensive background in operational management primarily in the high tech sector.

Before joining Space Imaging, Tedesco worked for Seagate Technology, where he held various executive management positions including senior director of desktop-released products and senior director of strategic planning.

Tedesco graduated in 1981 from Colorado College with graduate work at the University of Colorado.

Tenzing Appoints New CEO
Tenzing Communications Inc, the leading inflight email and Internet solutions provider, announced the appointment of Cathay Pacific Airways executive, Edward Nicol, as its chief executive officer (CEO).

Nicol's appointment will be effective August 1, 2001.

Nicol is a 25-year veteran of Cathay Pacific and has held several key positions including general manager, sales and revenue management; general manager, in flight services; director, Asian Frequent Flyer PTE Limited; and, most recently, CEO of Cathay Pacific's 11 catering companies throughout Asia and North America. Nicol is an Oxford graduate and is married with two children.

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