June 15, 1997 Vol. 1 - No. 6 ============================== 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 === * ARIANESPACE's shareholders may not meet on June 16 as planned to confirm the appointment of Mr. Jean-Marie LUTON as chairman & CEO of the company in replacement of Mr. Charles BIGOT who retires. FRANCE's new minister in charge of SPACE, Mr. Claude Allegre, has decided to review the nomination process. Mr. LUTON was backed by France's former government against ARIANESPACE's Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Francis AVANZI, who was backed by most of the industrial shareholders. The French governments controls 47.76% of ARIANESPACE through CNES and state-owned AEROSPATIALE and SEP. * CHINA GREAT WAKLL INDUSTRY CORP. (CGWIC) successfully launched a CZ-3 'LONG MARCH' vehicle on June 10, lofting the FENG YUN 2B meteorological satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. === BUSINESS === * ARIANESPACE, of Evry, France, has unveiled four launch contracts on June 12. ARIANE vehicles are due to loft the SIRIUS 3 direct broadcasting satellite for NSAB of Sweden in 1998 and an unidentified satellite for SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, in 1999. A previous SS/L contract will be used for the launch of TELSTAR 6 in late 1998. Two more launches were contracted by an undisclosed customer. * E-SAT, of Englewood, Colorado, has signed with EUROCKOT Launch Service GmbH, of Bremen, Germany, for the launch of two clusters of three satellites in low Earth orbit on ROKOT vehicles in late 1998 and early 1999. E-SAT is a joint venture of ECHOSTAR CORP., of Englewood, Colorado, and DBS INDUSTRIES, of Mill Valley, California. EUROCKOT is a joint venture of DAIMLER BENZ AEROSPACE, of Bremen, Germany, and GKNPTs KHRUNICHEV, of Moscow, Russia. The ROKOT vehicle is a derivative of the RS-18 (SS-19 'Stiletto') ICBM. ********************************************************************* * 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 === * INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES (ILS), of San Diego, California, is introducing the latest upgrade of the PROTON vehicle, the PROTON M, onto the commercial launch market. The vehicle's new upper stage, the BREEZE-M, will be test flown in mid-1998 on a current PROTON K vehicle due to loft a Russian RADUGA military communication satellite. A full PROTON M is planned in late 1998, possibly with a commercial payload. The improved PROTON M will be able to loft up to 3,000kg to geosynchronous orbit. === TECHNOLOGIES === * A FAULTY COMPONENT has been detected in the liquid oxygen turbopump of the VULCAIN engine due to fly on ARIANE 504. Since the origin of the flaw was identified as a possible production defect and a similar element is known to be in the pump of the engine already mounted on ARIANE 502 (recently arrived in Kourou), ESA and CNES have decided to remove the engine and replace it with the one originally scheduled for ARIANE 503 which features a component from an older production batch. This replacement will take about a fortnight. The effect on the targeted launch date is not known yet. * NASA has selected UNIVERSAL SPACE LINES, of Newport Beach, California, SUMMA TECHNOLOGY, of Huntsville, Alabama, GENCORP AEROJET, of Sacramento, California, and PIONEER ROCKETPLANE, of Bladewood, Colorado, for six-month study contracts on small launch vehicle concepts within the BANTAM program. Total value of the contracts is about US$8 million. ******************************************************************** * The latest issue of THE ORBITAL LAUNCHER REPORT (Vol. 3 - No. 8) * * was published on June 14. * * It includes an overview of current space propulsion effort, * * an in-depth coverage of latest launch contracts signed by * * Arianespace, ILS, Eurockot, the Zenit launch failure, the X-38, * * latest news about expendable/reusable launchers ,and much more ! * * * * For subscription information, contact us: orbirep@worldnet.fr * ******************************************************************** === PREVIEW === * June 16 Beginning of the ARIANE 502 launch campaign in Kourou, French Guyana. * June 18 Launch of a cluster of 7 IRIDIUM global telephony satellites on a PROTON K vehicle from Baykonur, Kazakhstan. * June 27 NASA's NEAR EARTH ASTEROID RENDEZVOUS (NEAR) spacecraft flyby of Asteroid 253 MATHILDE en route to mission objective Asteroid 433 EROS. * June 29 Launch of the PROGRESS M35 cargo to Mir on a SOYUZ U vehicle from Baykonur, Kazakhstan. 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 - June 1997 Takyon International also publishes The Orbital Launcher Report, a monthly space transportation newsletter. ------------------- End of issue Vol.1, No.6 ----------------------
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