May 27, 1997 Vol. 1 - No. 4 ============================== THE ORBITAL REPORT ON-LINE ============================== Space Executive's Weekly News Digest This issue of Takyon International's latest on-line newsletter was published in cooperation with New Space. (www.newspace.com) OReOL covers space industry news, market trends, and provides the necessary background information for immediate analysis. Please feel free to contact us for any comment. === HEADLINES === * A Khrunichev PROTON K/DM3 launch vehicle successfully lofted the TELSTAR 5 communication satellite (24C, 28Ku) from Baykonur, Kazakh- stan, to geosynchronous transfer orbit on May 24. Built by SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL, of Palo Alto, this FS-1300 class high power satellite will improve the SKYNET constellation which was acquired by LORAL SPACE from AT&T earlier this year. Telstar 5 will provide video and data transmission services to the Continental US and the Caribbean, as well as parts of Canada and Latin America from 97°W. The launch was conducted on behalf of INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES (ILS), a joint-venture between Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Maryland, GKNPTs Khrunichev, of Moscow, Russia, and RKK Energiya, of Korolev, Russia. This was the first Proton mission since the loss of the MARS 96 probe in November 1996. The cause of this launch failure has not been identified yet. * A McDONNELL DOUGLAS DELTA 2-7925 vehicle successfully lofted the THOR 2A direct broadcasting satellite (15Ku) on May 20, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This Hughes-built HS-376 satellite will be operated by Norway's TELENOR SATELLITE SERVICES to provide direct-to- home services to Scandinavian countries, replacing the ageing THOR 1, launched in 1990 as BSB-1. * A Ukrainian ZENIT 2 launch vehicle, carrying a TSELINA 2 electronic intelligence satellite for RUSSIAN MILITARY SPACE FORCES (VKS) was destroyed 48 sec. after liftoff from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, on May 20, apparently due to a major first stage propulsion failure. An investigation is underway. This failure could have a major impact on several US commercial ventures since three ZENIT 2 vehicles are due to loft 36 GLOBALSTAR satellites next year, the ZENIT 2 is also plan- ned to be used as the lower part of SEA LAUNCH's ZENIT 3SL commercial launcher and the RD-171 engine, which apparently failed, is the basis of the RD-180 due to power LOCKHEED MARTIN's new ATLAS 2AR vehicle. === BUSINESS === * CONSTELLATION COMMUNICATIONS INC., of Fairfax, Virginia, has selected RAYTHEON E-SYSTEMS, of Greenville, Texas, to develop the gateway stations for its ECCO low Earth orbit satellite constellation for mobile communications. The three-year contract is worth more than US$300 million. * TELENOR, of Oslo, Norway, has awarded a contract worth an estimated US$180 million to HUGHES SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of El Segundo, Cali- fornia, for the manufacturing and launch of the THOR 3 direct broad- casting satellite (14Ku). Like THOR 1 & 2, the new satellite will be based on HUGHES' HS-376 spin-stabilized bus. In-orbit delivery is planned for August 1998. TELENOR has apparently scrapped its earlier plans to order a larger HS-601 class satellite. * US Air Force's SPACE & MISSILE SYSTEMS CENTER (SMC), of Los Angeles AFB, California, has awarded a US$64.6-million contract to HUGHES SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of El Segundo, California, for pre-engineer- ing and manufacturing development of US Department of Defense's ADVANCED EHF COMMUNICATION SATELLITE over the next three years. * NASA has awarded two US$4-million contracts to BOEING NORTH AMERICAN's SPACE SYSTEMS DIVISION, and LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE MISSION SYSTEMS & SERVICES, both in Houston, Texas, to study the feasibility of consolidating various of the agency's space operations to one contractor in order to save money and free up funding for new projects. These 8-months studies prepare the selection of a single contractor for the 10-year CONSOLIDATED SPACE OPERATIONS CONTRACT (CSOC), potentially worth US$4 to 6 billion. CSOC will include in- orbit operations of more than 100 existing and planned spacecraft. ********************************************************************* * As part of the New Space Journal, two interactive columns are now * * being published. "Minimum Cost Design" by Arthur Schnitt focuses * * on the MCD criteria and its application to space launch vehicles. * * "Reality Check" by Rick Fleeter takes a critical look at current * * space industry issues and concepts from the perspective of a * * seasoned veteran. You can view these columns on the web: * * * * www.newspace.com/schnitt -or- www.newspace.com/fleeter * ********************************************************************* === MARKETS === * ICO GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS, of London, Great-Britain, operator of the 12-satellite ICO constellation in medium Earth orbit for global mobile communications, has signed distribution agreements for 91 countries including China, Japan, Russia and the whole EEC, but excluding the United States, Canada and most of Latin America. === TECHNOLOGIES === * SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS landed on Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Strip on May 24, at the end of a 9-day mission to Russia's MIR space station. ATLANTIS brought back to Earth 1,123 kg of samples and equipment including results from Germany's MIR 97 mission experiments. KAYSER-THREDE, of Munich, Germany, overviewed this return to Earth on behalf of DARA, the German space agency. * TRW SPACE & ELECTRONICS GROUP, of Redondo Beach, California, has delivered the 425-kg ROCSAT-1 science satellite to NATIONAL SPACE PROGRAM OFFICE (NSPO), Taiwan's space agency. ROCSAT-1 is due for launch on a LMLV-1 vehicle in April 1998. * LOCKHEED MARTIN MISSILES & SPACE (LMMS), of Sunnyvale, California, has completed the design, development testing and integration of the qualification model for INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION's SOLAR ARRAY. LMMS is under contract to provide 8 flight models of the 33x9-m solar arrays to supply electrical power to the station. Each array will feature 32,800 solar cells to provide more than 30kW. ********************************************************************* * The Orbital Report On-Line is a great way to get your message out * * to space executives all over the world. For more info, visit our * * web page at http://www.newspace.com/oreol -or- send e-mail to * * requests@lists.newspace.com with only the words "info oreol" in * * the message body. * ********************************************************************* === PREVIEW === * Late May The elements of the second ARIANE 5 QUALIFICATION VEHICLE will be shipped to Kourou, French Guyana. The vehicle is planned to loft two dummy payloads and two small science piggyback satellites on September 16. * June 3 An ARIANE 44L-3 launcher is scheduled to carry two satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit from Kourou, French Guyana. They are the INMMARSAT 3-F4 mobile communications satellite for the INMARSAT organi- zation, and the INSAT 2D communication satellite for the INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION (ISRO). The Orbital Report On-Line is published 3 to 4 times per month by Takyon International (RCS Paris B 401 465 398) 34, boulevard Exelmans, 75016 Paris, France Phone: +33 (0) 146 566 490 * Fax: +33 (0) 146 561 355 Editorial hotline: +33 (0) 607 995 056 E-mail: orbirep@worldnet.net Chief Editor: Stefan Barensky Technical Contributor: Samuel Szdat © Takyon International - May 1997 Takyon International also publishes The Orbital Launcher Report, a monthly space transportation newsletter. ------------------- End of issue Vol.1, No.4 ----------------------
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