22 September 2002
Satcoms
APT Satellite Expands Capacity with Harmonic Digital Headend
Systems
Sat@Once
Service Passes 13.000 Registered Users
Launch
Services
Arianespace
to Launch Spainsat
Business
Scrambling for Space in Space
People
Former Astronaut Frank L Culbertson Jr Joins SAIC
G Scott Hubbard Named
NASA AMES Research Center Director
New Chief Executive of Iridium Holdings LLC
Spectrum Astro
Promotes Patricia Oleson to Executive VP And COO
Swales Aerospace
Reorganises
APT Satellite Expands Capacity with Harmonic Digital Headend
Systems
(18
September 2002) APT Satellite Holdings Limited has significantly expanded the
broadcast capacity of its existing satellites by deploying Harmonic's DiviCom
digital video encoders and statistical multiplexing systems.
By fitting more television channels into the existing
bandwidth, these highly efficient MPEG-2 video solutions enable APT to increase
its revenue potential and the return on its satellite network investments while
maintaining the original picture quality.
A leading provider of
satellite network services throughout the People's Republic of China (PRC) and
the Asia-Pacific region, APT leases capacity to content providers and other
broadcast networks. International broadcasters such as Disney, HBO, Sony
Pictures Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Galaxy and Viacom are leasing
bandwidth on APT's Apstar-I and Apstar IIR satellites while, at the same time,
prominent regional broadcasters - including CCTV, China Entertainment, One
Leader and Po Hsin - are leasing capacity on Apstar-IA.
Satellite
network bandwidth, unlike that of a land-based network, is extremely expensive
to upgrade once deployed. Typically, adding bandwidth means launching a new
satellite. The advanced compression and noise reduction capabilities of
Harmonic's DiviCom MPEG-2 encoders combined with Harmonic's DiviTrackXE
statistical multiplexing increase the effective bandwidth of their existing
network, yielding a more practical way to expand their revenue generating
capacity. By implementing this Harmonic-based solution, APT was able to more
than double the number of leasable channels it offers.
Sat@Once Service Passes 13.000 Registered Users
(16 September 2002)
Sat@Once, a satellite multicast Internet extension operated by the European
Space Agency and SES Astra jointly with the CSP research centre in Turin, has
registered its 13,000th user, less than 6 months after its launch.
The Sat@Once free of charge service distributes, by
satellite and at 2 Mb/s, most popular parts of the most popular web sites and
newsgroups from the Internet. The popularity of these contents are determined
by “votes” coming directly from the audience of Sat@Once users. The
local PC automatically determines and filters among the huge amount of
broadcast data (20 GB a day) what is interesting to its owner, doing this in
total privacy.
A dedicated receiver software, available for free
download at http://[email protected], together with a standard DVB-Data
equipment, are all that are needed for a PC user to enjoy this new Astra
satellite extension to the Internet. The contents distributed come from the
Internet and can be viewed with the standard players: Internet Explorer, Flash,
Real Player, Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, etc. The missing links
that are not sent by satellite can be retrieved seamlessly using a classical
Internet connection (modem, ISDN, ADSL, etc.).
The advantage for web
authors is a better exposure to the market since the most popular pages,
quickly available, will lead the interested users to the more specific parts of
their site.
The advantages for web advertisers are a higher surf rate
from the users and a faster display of their ad banners since most of the
contents already came by satellite.
The advantage for users is a
better Internet experience with the most popular contents available at high
speed, closest to their private preferences and renewed every day at no
recurrent cost.
The Sat@Once service is operated by SES Astra and the
CSP, and jointly financed by SES Astra and the European Space Agency as part of
the ARTES-3 programme.
Arianespace to Launch Spainsat
(16 September 2002) Arianespace and Hisdesat, the
Spanish military operator, have signed a launch service contract for Spain's
first military communications satellite, Spainsat.
Spainsat will be boosted into orbit by an Ariane 5 in 2004, from the Guiana
Space Centre, in Kourou, French Guiana.
Spainsat is the first
satellite in Spain dedicated to secure governmental communications. The
satellite will be operated by Hisdesat, a new company founded in 2001 by
Hispasat, INSA (100% owned by INTA), EADS CASA Espacio, INDRA y SENER. Its
first customer is the Spanish Ministry of Defence. Spainsat will take over for
the Secomsat military payloads on the Hispasat 1A and 1B satellites.
Built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, Spainsat will weigh
about 3,700 kg at launch, and will be positioned at 30° W, over the
Atlantic Ocean. It will be fitted with 13 X band transponders, plus one Ka band
transponder. Several of the satellite's major parts will be built in Spain, as
will the ground segment.
Hispasat
1D
Launched: 18 September
2002
Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launcher: Atlas
2AS
Orbit: GEO, 30° W
International Number: 2002-044A
Name:
Hispasat 1D
Owner: Hispasat
Contractor: Alcatel Space Industries
Hispasat 1D is a commercial communications satellite which is owned and
operated by Hispasat.
Hispasat 1D is based on Alcatel's Spacebus
3000B2 platform and had a launch mass of 3,250 kg. It carries 28 Ku band
transponders and has a design life of 15 years. It will provide TV broadcast
and communications services (including broadband Internet, interactive and
multimedia services) over a coverage area spanning Europe, North and South
America, North Africa and the Middle East.
Scrambling for Space in Space
(16 September 2002) The International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) upholds the right of all nations - rich or poor -
to equal affordable access to satellite orbit space. However, there is an
urgent need to reduce an avalanche of applications for satellite 'slots', many
for systems that will never leave earth. These 'speculative' systems are known
as 'Paper Satellites'.
The backlog of satellites
awaiting co-ordination stands at 1,200, with ITU receiving between 400-500
requests for new systems each year.
The huge world demand for
satellite-based telecommunication services has seen steady growth during the
past 15 years. This has been a boon for service providers and consumers alike
but it has resulted in a densely packed orbital space neighbourhood and a
scramble for desirable orbital slots. This rush for prime orbital real estate
could well increase as new services such as third generation mobile telephony
and proposed broadband access systems that envisage high-speed wireless
connections through large constellations of rapidly moving satellites become a
reality.
The challenge for ITU is that because no two radio systems,
including satellite responders, can operate on exactly the same frequency and
in the same orbital position without causing harmful interference to one
another, global co-ordination of radio frequency applications is essential.
The problem of 'paper satellites' has been recognised for years, however,
satellite operators have been reluctant to pay processing fees and some
developing countries argue that fees contravene the international principles of
fair and equitable access to orbital slots and the frequency spectrum that
governs them. Despite this, four years ago at the Plenipotentiary conference in
Minneapolis a sliding scale fee was implemented. While these fees and other
efficiencies implemented by ITU have gone some way to discourage casual filing,
over-filing of 'paper satellites' remains an issue. One of the important issues
expected to be tackled by the Marrakesh Plenipotentiary (being held in
Marrakesh, Morocco from 23 September to 18 October 2002), is the question of
what action to take if administrations filing a satellite co-ordination request
fail to pay their processing fee and whether to bring into effect the decision
taken by the 2000 World Radio Conference to cancel automatically any filing for
which fees have not been settled within a six month period. There will no doubt
be arguments from some nations, mostly in the developing world, that arbitrary
cancellation effectively contravenes their right to unrestricted access to the
orbit. With opinions strongly polarised over an issue that many argue currently
favours rich over poor, the question of non-payment of fees seems certain to be
a future source of vigorous debate.
The Plenipotentiary Conference is
the top policy-making body of the International Telecommunication Union. Held
every four years, the Conference sets the Union's general policies, adopts
five-year strategic and financial plans and elects the senior management team
of the organisation, the members of Council and the members of the Radio
Regulations Board. In other words, it is the key event at which ITU Member
States decide on the future role of the organisation, thereby determining the
organisation's ability to influence and affect the development of issues such
as convergence, the Internet, universal access and electronic
commerce.
Former Astronaut Frank L Culbertson Jr Joins SAIC
(16 September 2002)
Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Space, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences (SEAS) Group has announced that Frank L Culbertson Jr, USN
(ret) has been named senior vice president and program manager of the Safety,
Reliability and Quality Assurance (SR&QA) contract at the National
Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas.
In this role, Culbertson will be responsible for
overall management of the SR&QA contract, drawing upon his extensive
experience in NASA human space flight operations. The SR&QA contract
provides support to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station
programs.
Prior to joining SAIC, Culbertson had a distinguished career
as a NASA astronaut, which includes logging more than 144 days in space on his
three space flights and more than five hours of extra-vehicular activity (space
walk) time. In 1999, Culbertson was selected to command the third expedition to
the International Space Station.
That mission was launched in August,
2001, and returned to Earth in December, 2001. Culbertson and his two Russian
crewmates lived and worked in space for 129 days and he commanded the Space
Station for 117 days.
In 1994, Culbertson was named deputy program
manager of Phase 1 of the Shuttle-Mir program, and became manager of the
program the following year. During this period, Culbertson was responsible for
a multi-national team which built the flight hardware, developed the joint
procedures for seven American astronauts who worked aboard the Mir for more
than 30 months, and executed nine Shuttle docking missions to the Russian Space
Station Mir.
In 1984, Culbertson was selected as a NASA astronaut and
was a member of the NASA team that investigated the Challenger accident. His
subsequent assignments included lead spacecraft communicator in the Mission
Control Center for seven Shuttle missions. Culbertson piloted the Atlantis on
STS-38 in 1990 and was commander of STS-51 aboard Discovery in 1993.
This mission deployed two satellites, retrieved one satellite and conducted a
seven-hour spacewalk in preparation for an upcoming Hubble telescope repair
mission. He also executed the first night landing of a Shuttle at the Kennedy
Space Center.
Culbertson is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the
US Naval Test Pilot School. His Navy career includes several carrier
deployments and tours as an instructor pilot and automatic carrier landing test
pilot. He has logged more than 6,500 hours flying time in 50 different types of
aircraft and has made more than 350 carrier landings. He retired as a US Navy
Captain from active military duty in 1997.
G
Scott Hubbard Named
NASA AMES Research Center Director
(19 September 2002) G Scott Hubbard, Deputy Director
for Research at NASA's Ames Research Center has been selected as Center
Director, effective immediately.
Hubbard replaces Dr
Henry "Harry" McDonald, who will join the faculty at the University of
Tennessee (UT) at Chattanooga after assisting with the transition as Hubbard's
special assistant. McDonald has been named Distinguished Professor of
Computational Engineering at UT.
As Center Director, Hubbard will be
responsible for Ames, which is located in the heart of "Silicon Valley." Ames
was founded in 1939, as an aircraft research laboratory by the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 became NASA. Ames
specialises in research geared toward creating new knowledge and new
technologies that span the spectrum of the agency's missions and interests.
In his previous position, Hubbard was responsible for the organisation and
oversight of Ames' research efforts. Hubbard helped establish NASA's
Astrobiology Institute at Ames, which addresses fundamental questions about the
origin and evolution of life in the universe, and served as its initial
Director.
He is widely acknowledged as the originator of the highly
successful Mars Pathfinder mission concept and was the project manager for
Ames' portion of that 1997 mission. He also served as the NASA Manager of the
1998 Lunar Prospector Mission, which returned outstanding science data at very
low cost.
In 2000, Hubbard was named to NASA Headquarters in
Washington to serve as the first Mars Program Director.
In his 15
years at Ames, Hubbard served in a variety of increasingly responsible
management positions, including Deputy Director of Space. He also led his own
research as principal investigator for several detector technology projects.
Hubbard has been a contributor to, and the developer of, space research
missions since 1974.
Prior to joining NASA in 1987, Hubbard conducted
both basic and applied work in radiation detection materials and devices, both
in private industry and at Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory. His innovative work in technology creation found application in the
agency's space science missions.
Hubbard received his bachelor's
degree at Vanderbilt University and graduate education in solid state and
semiconductor physics at University of California at Berkeley.
New
Chief Executive of
Iridium Holdings LLC
(16 September 2002) Stephen N Carroll has assumed the
position of President and CEO of Iridium Holdings, parent company of Iridium
Satellite LLC. Gino Picasso, President and CEO of Iridium Satellite LLC will
remain in his current position and report to Mr Carroll.
Mr Carroll has a solid history of corporate leadership and industry expertise.
Before joining Iridium, Mr Carroll most recently was a co-investor with the
Soros Private Equity Group where he served as Chairman of Storm
Telecommunications of New York and London as well as Chairman of ACCESS 7, a
Germany-based VPN/IP telecommunications company. He has also served as
President of WorldCom International (formerly IDB Worldcom) and as an investor
and entrepreneur in several domestic and international telecommunications
ventures including LCR, which was later sold to Primus Communications. In his
new capacity, Mr Carroll will direct all aspects of Iridium Holdings LLC,
including service provider relations, product development and delivery, and
geographic and vertical market outreach and cultivation both in the US and
abroad.
Spectrum Astro Promotes Patricia Oleson to Executive VP And
COO
(17 September
2002) Spectrum Astro has announced the promotion of Patricia M Oleson to
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, she will be
responsible for all day-to-day operations of the company, including financial,
engineering, and other business areas.
Formerly Spectrum
Astro’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ms Oleson has
been with the company for over 11 years, overseeing many business operations of
the company including Contracts, Subcontracts and Purchasing, Accounting,
Finance, Cost Analysis, Human Resources, Facilities, and Security. Prior to
being promoted to that position, she was the company’s Controller. Ms
Oleson is also a member of Spectrum Astro’s Board of Directors.
Ms Oleson has over eighteen years of experience in the aerospace industry.
Prior to joining Spectrum Astro in 1991, Ms Oleson was the Deputy Director for
Classified Programs at Tecolote Research Inc, a company that specialises in
cost, schedule, and financial analysis of space, launch, and command and
control equipment for major spacecraft programs. Her career experience also
includes five years with the B-1 Division of Rockwell International where she
supported the B-1 Flight Test Program. Ms Oleson received a Bachelors Degree in
Accounting from State University of New York and an MBA in Finance from Loyola
Marymount University.
Swales Aerospace Reorganises
(17 September 2002) Swales Aerospace has announced the
promotion of Frank Hornbuckle to the newly created position of Chief Operating
Officer reporting directly to Tom Wilson, Chief Executive Officer. The company
also announced the realignment of its engineering function into two separate
units headed by Paul Sanneman and Dr. Mehmet Basci. All appointments were
effective on September 1, 2002.
Prior to joining Swales,
Hornbuckle was employed by CTA Space Systems in Beltsville, Fairchild Space
Company in Germantown, and at RCA Astro in East Windsor. He holds an MS degree
in electrical engineering from Rutgers University and a BS degree from
Tennessee State University. With the realignment of the engineering function,
Sanneman becomes Director of Aerospace Systems Engineering and Dr Basci assumes
duties as the Director of Mechanical Systems Engineering.
Sanneman has
managed Swales' Guidance, Navigation & Control Group since joining the
company in 1998 when Swales purchased Welch Engineering Ltd. He has been keenly
involved in providing engineering management and technical oversight to
numerous NASA programs and also served as the NMP/EO-1 spacecraft attitude
Control Subsystem lead engineering. He holds a BSEE from Worcester Polytechnic
Institute and an MSEE in Controls from the University of Southern
California.
Dr Basci has been with Swales for more than 20 years in
various fields of structural mechanics supporting NASA projects and other
aerospace-related activities. He earned his doctorate in structural engineering
from George Washington University and both his bachelors and masters degrees
from Istanbul Technical University.
