14 July 2002
Satcoms
Globalstar to Assume Ownership of French Gateway
Globecomm Systems Awarded US$ 6.1
Million Follow on Contract with Atlanta Direct to Home
iDirect and SolaComm to Improve
Comms Quality For Oil & Gas Industry
Earth
Observation
Pathfinder
Missions to Enhance Understanding of Earth
Sharp New NASA Maps to Improve Lives
Everywhere
US DoD
Awards RSI Three-Year Contract
Military
Space
ViaSat Receives
US$ 16.5 Million Order for 2nd Generation DAMA Modem Modules
Science
NASA Awards Contract to Support Astrobiology and Space
Research
New
Spanish Dish Will Aid NASA’s Interplanetary Communications
Orbital Selected for
US$ 39 Million Contract to Build NASA Atmospheric Science
Satellite
Technology
Boeing Rocketdyne Awarded Air Force Hydrocarbon Study
Contract
Revolutionary Air-Breathing Engine Rockets Past Key Milestone
Ahead of Schedule
Launches
Cosmos 2390 and 2391
Demonstrator-2
Business
Boeing Realigns Defence,
Intelligence and Space Businesses
Products and Services
DigitalGlobe Releases New QuickBird Imagery Products
StarBand Launches
High-Speed Internet Service in Puerto Rico
People
Aerospace and Satellite Communications Attorney Joins Pillsbury
Winthrop's Washington DC Office
Globalstar to Assume Ownership of French Gateway
(9 July
2002) Globalstar has assumed ownership of its network satellite gateway in
Aussaguel, France. This gateway has been operated by TE.SA.M, the Globalstar
service provider for much of Europe and North Africa.
Under an agreement closed on July 2, Globalstar Europe SARL, a European
subsidiary of Globalstar LP, will take ownership of the Aussaguel gateway
antennas and other related equipment previously administered by TE.SA.M,
allowing Globalstar to manage sales and operations activities in countries
served by this gateway. The transaction is subject to licensing approval from
the French telecommunications authorities.
This follows similar
acquisitions by Globalstar of operational assets in North America, where the
company now has a major equity stake in Globalstar Canada, and recently
received Federal Communications Commission approval to acquire Globalstar
gateway operations in the US and the Caribbean.
Globecomm Systems Awarded US$ 6.1 Million Follow on
Contract with Atlanta Direct to Home
(8 July 2002) Globecomm Systems Inc has been
awarded a follow-on multiyear contract valued at approximately US$ 6.1 million
from video content distributor Atlanta Direct To Home (ADTH).
Under the terms of the contract, Globecomm Systems will
increase its provision of TelStar-12 capacity from 27 MHz to 54 MHz, providing
ADTH the usage of an entire transponder. This enables ADTH to transmit multiple
digital MPEG television channels of ethnic programming into Europe and South
Africa.
Atlanta, Georgia-based Atlanta Direct To Home provides
direct-to-home content delivery services and "niche" language programming to
countries around the globe.
iDirect and SolaComm to Improve Comms Quality For Oil & Gas
Industry
(10 July 2002) Sola Communications Inc, an integrated
telecommunication service provider that manufactures stabilised antenna systems
for marine applications and operates teleport facilities, has selected iDirect
to provide a satellite system that provides both Quality of Service (QoS) and
dynamic bandwidth allocation.
Established in 1986, Sola
provides IP based network solutions that guarantee a QoS necessary for critical
communication applications, especially for Sola's Oil & Gas industry
customers. To offer this new communication solution, Sola turned to iDirect who
is able to deliver this platform by way of their integrated control channel
that facilitates bandwidth on demand and network management system
"iMonitor."
Pathfinder Missions to Enhance Understanding of Earth
(9 July
2002) As part of the Earth System Science Pathfinder small- satellite program,
NASA has selected two new space mission proposals that will yield fresh insight
into our home planet's carbon cycle and how oceans affect and respond to
climate change.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a
mission that partners with industry and academia, will generate knowledge
needed to improve projections of future carbon dioxide levels within Earth's
atmosphere. Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have raised concerns
about global warming. Even though the biosphere and oceans are currently
absorbing about half of the CO2 generated by human activities, the nature and
geographic distribution of these CO2 sinks are too poorly understood to predict
their response to future climate and land-use changes.
Aquarius will
provide global maps of ocean-salt concentration on a monthly basis over its
planned three-year mission life. By gaining these global, monthly maps
researchers can better understand the nature of Earth's oceans and their role
in storage and distribution of heat and thus their role in global climate
change.
Aquarius will measure variations in salinity to determine how
the ocean responds to the combined effects of evaporation and precipitation,
ice melt and river runoff on seasonal and interannual time scales. This is
critical information to understand how salinity variations modify ocean
circulation and the global redistribution of heat.
In addition to the
two selected new missions, a third proposal, called HYDROS, has been selected
to serve as an alternate to the selected missions, should the primary missions
encounter difficulties during the initial development phases. The HYDROS
mission concept calls for a spacecraft that would monitor soil moisture from
space - a measurement that would improve current models for weather and climate
predictions.
NASA will fund up to US$ 175 million for each of the two
selected missions. The selected missions will have approximately nine months to
refine their proposals to mitigate risk before mission development is fully
underway.
NASA issued an Announcement of Opportunity and initially
received 18 proposals, six of which were selected for detailed assessment, with
two now moving on toward final implementation.
Sharp New NASA Maps to Improve Lives Everywhere
(11
July 2002) NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), partners in
the shuttle mapping mission, agreed this week on a policy to provide 90-meter
resolution digital-elevation mission data from sites outside the United States
to qualified researchers. Selected data will simultaneously become available to
the public. The two agencies also this week made public the mission's
research-quality 30-meter resolution topographic data for the entire
continental United States.
The practical benefits of
space-based synthetic-aperture radar data, which can see through clouds and
provide researchers with terrain data of exceptional quality, can be applied to
uses as diverse as flood plain mapping and location of cellular telephone
towers in mountainous regions.
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data
are being processed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) into
research-quality digital-elevation models one continent at a time. When each
continent is completed, the data will be sent to NIMA for additional finishing
and then to the US Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems Data
Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for final archiving and distribution.
NASA is processing mission data for research purposes in response to
requests from NASA principal investigators and other qualified scientists.
Under the terms of the new agreement, researchers will submit their requests
for international topography data to NASA/JPL. The requests will be reviewed by
NASA and NIMA, and the data will be released either for use by the approved
researchers or for broad public access. Decisions on how data will be released
will be made on a case-by-case basis.
NASA began processing mission
data in April 2002 and expects to have all mission data processed and delivered
to NIMA by the end of this year. All international 90-meter resolution data is
expected to be available to the public no later than two years after JPL makes
its final data delivery.
Still in discussion is a release policy for
international 30-meter resolution measurements. However, at the National
Imagery and Mapping Agency's discretion, some 30-meter resolution international
data may be made available in special situations in which the information can
help protect life and property, such as during volcanic eruptions and floods;
NASA, however, will have access to such data for its sponsored scientific
research.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (Feb. 11-22, 2000) made
3-D measurements of more than 80% of Earth's landmass between 60° N and
56° S of the equator, areas home to nearly 95% of the world's
population.
US
DoD
Awards RSI Three-Year Contract
(11 July 2002) Radarsat International (RSI)
has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by
the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), an agency of the US Department
of Defense (DoD). The IDIQ is a direct contract vehicle with NIMA/DoD in the
form of a standing offer worth a maximum of US$ 1.7 million per year for the
next three years in the form of Radarsat-1 data and services.
The NIMA IDIQ was established as a result of the superior
products and services provided by RSI in responding to NIMA/DoD's needs. These
include near-real time delivery of Radarsat-1 data, flood information products,
feature extraction, digital elevation models (DEMS) and imagery intelligence
training.
RSI, through its distributors, has been working with NIMA
since 1996. This current contract will see RSI working directly with
NIMA.
ViaSat Receives US$ 16.5 Million Order for 2nd Generation DAMA
Modem Modules
(10 July 2002) ViaSat Inc has been awarded a contract
valued at US$ 16.5 million from Raytheon Systems Company for second generation
UHF Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) modem modules. The contract also
includes a software upgrade to the Second Generation Modem (SGM) to add the
MIL-STD-188-183A waveform. Combined with another previous order for the SGM,
ViaSat now has a backlog of over 6,000 units that are scheduled to be delivered
by the end of calendar 2004.
The SGM is a key component
of the PSC-5C and PSC-5D battery-operated, portable UHF DAMA terminals that
Raytheon builds for the US Army. The ViaSat SGM module automatically requests
communication channels on military UHF satellites for selected destinations at
a designated time when the operator needs to send a message or transmit data.
Operators can transmit and receive secure voice or data from almost anywhere in
the world using the UHF DAMA Network Control System, also developed by ViaSat.
DAMA is a technique that increases the communications capacity of satellites by
enabling many users to share satellite bandwidth.
NASA Awards Contract to Support Astrobiology and Space
Research
(11 July 2002) NASA's Ames Research Center has awarded
a contract valued at more than US$ 300 million to Lockheed Martin Space
Operations, Houston, to provide supplies and services for Ames' Astrobiology
and Space Research Directorate.
Under the terms of the
contract Lockheed Martin will support numerous activities involved in the Space
Station Biological Research Project, Flight Payload Integration, and
Fundamental Biology Programs Office. The contract also will support Space
Station Payload Projects, Discovery Missions and Shuttle Space Flight missions
and payloads, in addition to maintaining project and mission schedules and
supporting co-ordination of science planning between Ames and NASA Headquarters
in Washington, other NASA centres, science working groups and other
entities.
Lockheed Martin will provide support for planning and
analysis options for potential space flight opportunities and support
experimenters during development of flight experiments and hardware, including
flight hardware and support equipment; orbital and ground support equipment;
and associated software.
The cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at
US$ 310 million and has a period of performance of eight years consisting of a
three-year base period, one two-year priced option and one three-year priced
option.
New Spanish Dish Will Aid NASA’s Interplanetary
Communications
(8 July 2002) Construction workers erecting steel
components atop a new concrete chamber near Madrid, Spain, this summer are
helping NASA study Mars and comets.
They are building a
big antenna for the Deep Space Network, which provides radio communications for
spacecraft exploring the solar system. The network operates clusters of
skyward-facing dish antennas at sites in California, Spain and Australia. The
antennas catch radioed information from spacecraft as near as Earth orbit and
as far as more than twice the distance to Pluto. They also send commands to the
spacecraft. JPL administers the network for NASA.
NASA needs this new
antenna operating by the time an unprecedented peak in demand for deep-space
communications hits in November 2003. During the following three months, three
rovers and two orbiters from the United States, Europe and Japan will arrive at
Mars, two other spacecraft will encounter comets, and a third comet mission
will launch. That's on top of the continuing communication needs of many other
missions.
The new antenna will span 34 meters in diameter and will use
an advanced design called "beam waveguide," which steers the gathered radio
signals to a protected, underground electronics room. The design gives more
reliable operation than the older antenna design with processing gear up in the
dish.
The pedestal encloses the electronics room and will support more
than 500 tons of antenna structure.
Custom-made steel pieces for the
antenna's giant dish and other components are being fabricated at the factory
in Tarragona, Spain, of the project's prime contractor, Schwartz-Hautmont
Construcciones Metalicas.
This antenna is the biggest piece in about
US$ 54 million worth of improvements NASA chose as priorities for increasing
the Deep Space Network's capabilities by November 2003.
It will become
the network's sixth 34-meter, beam-waveguide antenna. Three are at the
network's Goldstone station near Barstow, California. The stations near Madrid
and near Canberra, Australia, each have one already in operation. Each of the
three stations also has a 70-meter antenna and several smaller ones.
The stations take turns linking with various spacecraft as Earth's rotation
puts the target spacecraft in view of each station in turn.
Putting
the new antenna at Madrid gives the biggest possible advantage for handling the
upcoming peak in communications needs, including pictures from two advanced
rovers from JPL that NASA plans to land on Mars in early 2004. This antenna
will add about 70 hours of spacecraft-tracking time per week during the periods
when Mars is in view of Madrid. That's a 33% increase from the station's
capacity with its existing antennas.
A coincidence of solar system
geometry will intensify demand on network resources during the crunch period:
The comet encounters by NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour spacecraft in November 2003
and by NASA's Stardust spacecraft in January 2004 will happen in the same
direction from Earth as Mars will be. That will minimise opportunities to have
one station track the comet missions while another tracks the Mars
missions.
Orbital Selected for US$ 39 Million Contract to Build NASA
Atmospheric Science Satellite
(11 July 2002) Orbital Sciences Corporation
has been selected for a contract, valued at approximately US$ 39 million, by
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to design, manufacture and support mission
operations of a new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
atmospheric science satellite.
As part of the space
agency's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) small satellite program,
Orbital will design, develop and build the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)
spacecraft at the company's Dulles, Virginia satellite manufacturing facility
over the next four years. NASA's ESSP missions are funded up to a total of US$
175 million, which includes the spacecraft, the onboard science instrument, the
launch vehicle and overall mission operations. NASA's OCO mission, managed by
JPL, intends to provide the first high- resolution global maps of atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentrations in order to identify the natural and man-made
processes that regulate this important greenhouse gas.
The OCO
satellite will be based on Orbital's LEOStar spacecraft platform. The baseline
plan for the OCO program calls for the satellite to be launched aboard an
Orbital-supplied Taurus space launch vehicle in 2006. NASA's Kennedy Space
Center is responsible for procuring the mission's launch service and will make
a final selection at a later date.
The primary mission of the OCO
satellite is to provide environmental researchers with the answer to the
question of where human-generated carbon dioxide is absorbed from the
atmosphere by natural processes. Carbon dioxide is produced whenever fuel, such
as oil, natural gas and coal, is burned and is one of the principal factors in
global climate change.
The OCO satellite will carry an instrument that
measures the intensity of reflected sunlight from the Earth's surface. The
intensity level changes with the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By
making global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, scientists will be
able to locate where it is being removed from the atmosphere. These
high-precision measurements have been identified as critical data by the
world's scientific community and will be used by researchers from NASA, the US
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and numerous US and
international universities.
Boeing Rocketdyne Awarded Air Force Hydrocarbon Study Contract
(10
July 2002) The Boeing Co will make a significant contribution to improving and
enhancing US rocket propulsion technology under a one-year, US$ 2.6 million Air
Force contract awarded to Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power unit to
pursue hydrocarbon booster studies under the Integrated High Payoff Rocket
Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program.
The Air Force
Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate has been leading the IHPRPT
mission since 1993, with NASA and other government agencies as well as industry
representatives actively participating. Boeing Rocketdyne is already supporting
IHPRPT in other categories, such as cryogenic propulsion through the Integrated
Powerhead Demonstration (IPD) effort.
Rocketdyne is also developing a
number of other propulsion initiatives, including a reusable hydrocarbon engine
- the RS-84 - under NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI).
The primary
focus of this hydrocarbon study is to address IHPRPT hydrocarbon phase II
goals. IHPRPT calls for time-phased, integrated technology demonstrations, with
each phase successively more challenging. The five IHPRPT hydrocarbon boost
phase II goals represent a quantum leap over the currently base lined
technology.
For example, the Air Force is looking for substantial
improvement in specific impulse (Isp), the mathematical measure of a rocket's
fuel efficiency, while also requiring substantial improvements in reliability
and cost.
Hydrocarbon-fuelled vehicles offer some benefits over other
propulsion systems. The vehicle is heavier when fuelled with kerosene, but
because of the propellant's nature, it is lighter when empty - a benefit in
reduced vehicle weight and cost. Also, kerosene costs less to produce and
use.
As the propulsion system is defined, vehicle architecture will be
determined. The IHPRPT goals will be balanced against the Air Force's
requirements for the Space Operations Vehicle concept. Following completion of
this one-year study contract, Rocketdyne hopes to receive a follow-on contract
to design and build a demonstration engine.
Revolutionary Air-Breathing Engine Rockets Past Key Milestone
Ahead of Schedule
(8 July 2002) Initial design of a new prototype
air-breathing rocket engine for NASA - one that could revolutionise air and
space travel in the next 40 years - reached a major milestone ahead of schedule
last week.
The engine's design team, the Rocket Based
Combined Cycle Consortium (RBC3(cubed)), completed its first major engine
systems requirements review - an exhaustive examination of the engine's design
and performance parameters - three months earlier than originally planned.
The flight-like ground test engine (ARGO) is being developed as part of
NASA's Integrated System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket (ISTAR) program, which
intends by the end of the decade to flight-test a self-powered vehicle to more
than six times the speed of sound, demonstrating all modes of engine
operation.
ARGO's unique engine design allows it to function as a
rocket, ramjet and scramjet. Key among its technical advantages: the ability to
use air as an oxidiser. Compared with conventionally powered rocket vehicles,
this technology will significantly reduce vehicle weight by eliminating a
significant amount of its required on-board oxidiser.
The ISTAR
contract calls for completion of conceptual system design and subsystem testing
by November 2002. Ground testing of the flight-weight, fuel-cooled engine
flowpath is scheduled to begin in 2006.
The innovative air-breathing
rocket engine for the operational vehicle would get its initial power boost
from specially designed rockets in a duct that captures air, an arrangement
that improves performance about 15% above conventional rockets. Once the
vehicle has accelerated to more than twice the speed of sound, the rockets are
turned off and the engine relies solely on oxygen in the atmosphere to burn its
hydrogen fuel.
When the vehicle has accelerated to more than 10 times
the speed of sound, the engine converts to a conventional rocket-powered system
to propel the craft into orbit.
Spacecraft powered by air-breathing -
or rocket-based, combined cycle - rocket engines would be completely reusable,
able to take off and land at airport runways, and ready to fly again within
days.
Cosmos 2390 and 2391
Launched: 8 July 2002
Site:
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
Launcher: Cosmos-3M
Orbit: MEO, apogee:
1505 km, perigee: 1465 km: inclination: 82.6°
International Number:
2002-036A and 2002-036B
Name: Cosmos 2390, Cosmos 2391
This was a
classified launch of two Russian military satellites. No official information
on the satellites has been released.
Analysts believe that this could
be the first of two launches of pairs of Strela-3 military communications
satellites which will eventually form a four satellite
constellation.
Demonstrator-2
Launched: 12 July 2002
Site: Ryazan submarine in
the Barents Sea
Launcher: Volna
Orbit: not known
International
Number: TBD
Name: Demonstrator-2
Demonstrator-2 is reported to be
an experimental inflatable spacecraft which could be developed into a re-entry
system to bring payloads or people back from orbit.
The project is
reported to be a joint venture between the European Space Agency, Astrium and
the Babakin Space Centre.
The Russian navy, which monitored the
flight, reported that the craft entered orbit and then re-entered over the
Kamchatka peninsular in Russia’s Far East, where a recovery operation is
currently underway. It is not yet clear whether the craft only performed a
partial orbit, or several orbits or was a suborbital flight.
The craft
was packed into a 0.8 m diameter ball for launch. For re-entry, the craft as
inflated into a 3.8 m long panel which enclosed a second 2.3 m long
panel.
Boeing Realigns Defence, Intelligence and Space Businesses
(10
July 2002) Boeing has announced the creation of Integrated Defense Systems, a
US$ 23 billion business merging the company's total space, defence, government,
intelligence and communications capabilities into one business unit. Jim
Albaugh, 52, has been named president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense
Systems which will be headquartered in St. Louis, with 78,600 employees
world-wide.
Concurrent with the announcement of the new
organisation, a new series of top-level leaders within the new Integrated
Defense Systems unit were named:
John Lockard, 58, vice president and
general manager, Navy Systems, St. Louis
George Muellner, 59, vice
president and general manager, Air Force Systems, Long Beach, California
Jim Albaugh, (Acting) vice president and general manager, of Army Systems,
(location to be named later)
Mike Mott, 52, vice president and general
manager, Human Space Flight, Houston
Jim Evatt, 61, vice president and
general manager, Missile Defense Systems, Washington DC
Rick Stephens, 49,
vice president and general manager, Homeland Defense, Seal Beach,
California
Roger Roberts, 55, vice president and general manager, Space and
Intelligence Systems, Seal Beach, California
Bill Collopy, 52, vice
president and general manager, Commercial Space Systems, Seal Beach,
California
David Spong, 62, vice president and general manager, Aerospace
Support, St. Louis
In order to ensure integration across the
customer-facing businesses, two integrating organisations have been
established:
Carl O'Berry, 66, vice president, Strategic
Architecture
Ron Prosser, 55, vice president, Advanced Integrated Defense
Systems. Prosser will report also to the president of Phantom Works.
Boeing also announced the promotion of Bob Krieger to president of Phantom
Works, Boeing's internal technology and advanced research and development
organisation. He replaces George Muellner, who is becoming Integrated Defense
Systems' vice president and general manager of Air Force Programs.
Although these changes will be effective immediately, there will a transition
period as the integration of this organisation takes place.
The
creation of Integrated Defense Systems combines all the capabilities and
programs formerly under Military Aircraft and Missile Systems, headquartered in
St. Louis, with Space and Communications, headquartered in Seal Beach. The new
unit will have concentrated operations in St. Louis; Southern California;
Seattle; Houston; Huntsville; the Space Coast of Florida; San Antonio, Texas;
and Washington DC.
Jerry Daniels, the president and CEO of Military
Aircraft and Missile Systems since May 2000, has elected to retire and will
assist Albaugh in the merger transition.
Albaugh has led Boeing's
Space and Communications unit since April 1998. A former president of
Rocketdyne, Rockwell's rocket engine unit, he joined Boeing when the Rockwell
aerospace and defence businesses were acquired in 1996. Under his leadership,
Space and Communications has grown to be the world leader in several key
markets - including commercial and government communication satellites,
airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, human space flight and missile
defence - with a significant position in launch services and classified
programs.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems will be a provider of
integrated battlespace solutions for military services around the world. It
will continue to expand its leadership role in providing system-of-systems
solutions to customers by closely aligning its platform business with its
network-centric activities. By doing so, Integrated Defense Systems can design
into product offerings the capability to link to the network and as a result
provides greater value to its customers.
The unit will design,
produce, modify and support a wide range of fighters, transports, aerial
tankers, bombers, rotorcraft, surveillance and sensor platforms, missiles and
munitions. Along with the F-15, F/A-18, C-17 and various helicopters, Boeing is
already flying an experimental unmanned combat air vehicle and sees a wide
range of applications for this technology in the future.
The
extraordinary range of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' related products and
services includes missile defence, the National Reconnaissance Office's Future
Imagery Architecture program, airborne lasers, battlefield management and
several advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs. The
unit is NASA's largest supplier and the systems integrator of the International
Space Station. It produces a variety of satellites, provides human space flight
and launch services support, builds and launches a family of Delta rocket
vehicles, is a partner in Sea Launch, and produces advanced rocket propulsion
systems.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems will also serve commercial
satellite and launch customers, and will be closely aligned with Phantom
Works.
DigitalGlobe Releases New QuickBird Imagery
Products
(9 July 2002) DigitalGlobe has announced the
availability of QuickBird Orthorectified, QuickBird Color (Pan-Sharpened) and
QuickBird Two-Foot Imagery.
About the new, GIS-ready
QuickBird products:
QuickBird products enable
users to identify features, classify image data, detect change, and to use
imagery as a backdrop for GIS and mapping applications. Using recent global
imagery at the highest resolution available from a commercial imaging
satellite, users can map large areas faster with fewer files to manage, process
and mosaic, resulting in higher quality products.
DigitalGlobe's
commitment to an open systems approach makes QuickBird imagery compatible with
all popular commercial software packages.
QuickBird imagery can be
acquired directly from the DigitalGlobe archive or can be tasked by submitting
a new collection request. Products and image metadata are delivered on the
customer's choice of standard digital media.
StarBand Launches High-Speed Internet Service in Puerto Rico
(11
July 2002) StarBand has launched high-speed satellite Internet service for
consumer and small office customers in Puerto Rico.
StarBand is the first satellite-delivered Internet provider officially
launching service on the Island. The company's high-speed satellite-based
network marks the end of Internet isolation for many in Puerto Rico.
StarBand has signed up several other StarBand Direct Dealers including Hytech
Satellite Communications and expects to have dealers located throughout Puerto
Rico in the next several months.
In conjunction with the service
launch in Puerto Rico, StarBand will link to a web portal with Spanish language
content. The company's call centre will also provide assistance for
Spanish-speaking customers.
Aerospace and Satellite Communications Attorney Joins
Pillsbury Winthrop's Washington DC Office
(10 July 2002) Pillsbury
Winthrop LLP has been joined by partner Franceska Schroeder, who will practice
in the areas of aerospace, communications, and international trade in the
firm's Washington DC office.
Schroeder represents
domestic and international clients including space-segment manufacturers,
satellite and launch operators and terrestrial communications companies, as
well as investors in commercial space and communications projects. Her work
includes contract drafting and negotiation, insurance and risk management,
regulatory compliance including export control and FCC licensing, and advising
on legislative and policy matters.
Since 1993, Schroeder has served as
legal counsel to the American Astronautical Society, and, in that capacity, was
appointed by the US Department of State as private sector advisor to the US
Delegation to the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space. She is a member of Women in Aerospace and the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and has published numerous articles
on commercial space and communications issues.
Schroeder received her
JD from American University, Washington College of Law, where she was Executive
Editor of the International Law Journal. She received a BA from Tufts
University, where she graduated magna cum laude.
In conjunction with
the firm's Northern Virginia office, the Washington DC office offers clients
expertise in intellectual property, corporate securities, regulatory and
litigation with an emphasis on aviation and aerospace, energy, environmental
and international trade matters.
Pillsbury Winthrop is an
international law firm with core practice areas in litigation, technology,
energy, capital markets and finance. The firm has 16 offices world-wide and
nearly 800 attorneys.
