November 28, 1997 Vol. 1 - No. 18 ============================== 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 Launchspace. (www.launchspace.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 === * Japan's fifth H-2 vehicle was launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, on November 27 on behalf of Japan's NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NASDA). It lofted two payloads to low Earth orbit: the joint NASDA/NASA US$512-million TROPICAL RAINFALL MEASUREMENT MISSION (TRMM) spacecraft and NASDA's ETS-7 ENGINEERING TEST SATELLITE. Built by NASA's GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC), in Greenbelt, Maryland, the 3,620-kg TRMM satellite carries five instruments, including a Ku-band PRECIPITATION RADAR (PR) developed by NASDA and TOSHIBA CORP., of Tokyo, Japan, to monitor rainfalls over tropical and subtropical regions. The Toshiba-built ETS-7 satellite is composed of two space- craft, a 2,370-kg CHASER ('Orihime') and a 403-kg TARGET ('Ikoboshi'), which will practice numerous rendezvous and docking maneuvers over a 18-month mission. (***) * NASA's space shuttle COLUMBIA was launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on November 19, for the STS-87 mission. The 6-member crew includes a Japanese and a Ukrainian astronauts. The primary pay- load is the fourth US MICROGRAVITY PAYLOAD (USMP-4), which includes the French MEPHISTO furnace for metal solidification. The US$10-million SPARTAN 201 solar observation platform was released on November 21 but lost attitude control shortly after. Attempts to recover the 1,600-kg spacecraft using the orbiter's remote manipulator system ('Canadarm') were unsuccessful. The satellite had to be recovered by two space- walking astronauts on November 25. SPARTAN 201 might be released again for a few hours mission before the end of the flight. Test of a remotely controlled free-flying camera was cancelled. (***) * A Samara Space Center SOYUZ U vehicle was launched from Plesetsk, Northern Russia, on November 18, to loft the RESURS F1M remote sensing satellite for GOSTSENTR PRIRODA, of Moscow Russia. The satellite probably carries two 2-m resolution KFA-3000 cameras. Recovery is expected by mid December. * The 100th first generation ARIANE vehicle, an ARIANE 44L-3 (V102), was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on November 12. It success- fully released two satellites in geostationary transfer orbit. The 2,937-kg SIRIUS 2 (32Ku), built by AEROSPATIALE SATELLITES, of Cannes, France, will provide Ku-band direct broadcasting services over Europe for NORDISKA SATELIT AB (NSAB), of Stockholm, Sweden, and GE AMERICOM, of Princeton, New Jersey. The 1,385-kg CAKRAWARTA 1 (5S), the first geostationary satellite ever built by ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. (OSC), actually by CTA Space Systems which was acquired by OSC last August, will provide S-band direct broadcasting to Indonesia on behalf of PT MEDIA CITRA INDOSTAR, of Jakarta, Indonesia. (***) * A Proton K/DM-2 vehicle lofted the KUPON 1 communications satellite (24Ku) from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, on November 12. The 2,300-kg space- craft, the first commercial satellite ever built by NPO LAVOCHKIN, of Khimky, Russia, will be operated by GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC. (GIS) of Moscow, Russia, to provide data transmission services to Central Bank of Russia's BANKIR network. (***) * A Boeing DELTA 2-7920 vehicle was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, on November 9. It deployed a fifth cluster of 5 IRIDIUM mobile telephony satellites for IRIDIUM LLC, of Washington, DC. === BUSINESS === * AEROSPATIALE ESPACE & DEFENSE, of Paris, France, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CO. (MELCO), of Tokyo, Japan, SHARP CORP., of Nara, Japan, SOCIETE REGIONALE D'INVESTISSEMENT DE WALLONIE, of Belgium, and SPAR AEROSPACE LTD, of Mississauga, Ontario, have joined the SKYBRIDGE consortium led by ALCATEL ESPACE, of Nanterre, France, which plans to launch a US$3.5-billion 64-satellite constellation for broadband communication services circa 2001. LORAL SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of New York, and TOSHIBA CORP., of Tokyo, Japan, had joined earlier. (***) * The US AIR FORCE has awarded a 6-year contract worth US$84.8-million to HUGHES INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HIS), of Reston, Virginia, for the development of the GLOBAL BROADCAST SERVICE (GBS) due to provide high- capacity transmissions to US military forces. GBS payloads will be integrated on three Hughes-built US Navy UHF FOLLOW-ON (UFO) communi- cations satellites. * The US government has cleared the sale of CASTOR 4A-XL solid rocket motors by THIOKOL CORP., of Ogden, Utah, to MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES (MHI), of Tokyo, Japan. The motors will serve as strap-on boosters for the H-2A launch vehicles (2022 and 2024 versions). Total value of the contract could reach US$50 million. First delivery is due in 2000. * The ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY, INC. (AURA), has awarded a 5-year contract worth US$37 million to COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP. (CSC), of Falls Church, Virginia, for engineering services in support of NASA's HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE (HST) program. * EUROPROPULSION SA, of Suresnes, France, has awarded a DM57-million (US$33-million) contract to MAN TECHNOLOGIE AG, of Karlsfeld, Germany, for the development of welded solid rocket motor casing for ARIANE 5's strap-on boosters. (***) * NASA's GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC), in Greenbelt, Maryland, has awarded the first contract under the 'Quick Spacecraft Acquisition Program'. BALL AEROSPACE & TECHNOLOGY CORP., of Boulder, Colorado, will build the US$32-million QUICK SCATTEROMETER (QUIKSCAT) spacecraft due for launch in November 1998 atop a Lockheed Martin TITAN 23G vehicle to replace the NSCAT instrument lost onboard the Japanese ADEOS-1 remote sensing satellite on June 30. * The US AIR FORCE has awarded a US$18-million grant to ALASKA AERO- SPACE DEVELOPMENT CORP. (AADC), of Anchorage, Alaska, for the building of the KODIAK LAUNCH COMPLEX (KLC) at the Narrow Cape site, on Kodiak Island, Alaska. First launch from KLC is due in September 1998. * NASA's JET PROPULSION LABORATORY (JPL), in Pasadena, California, has awarded a DM30-million (US$18-million) contract to DORNIER SATELLITEN- SYSTEME GmbH (DSS), of Friedrichshafen, Germany, for the procurement of two FLEXBUS small satellite platforms for the pair of GRAVITY RECOVERY AND CLIMATE EXPERIMENT (GRACE) spacecraft due to be launched atop a Polyot KOSMOS 3M vehicle in August 2001. (***) * SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, has awarded a ¥2-billion (US$16-million) contract to TOSHIBA CORP., of Tokyo, Japan, for the procurement of solar arrays for two direct audio radio broad- casting satellites ordered by CD RADIO INC., of Washington, DC. * NASA's STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC), in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has awarded 11 contracts for the procurement of Earth observation data. The contractors are ASTROVISION INC., of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; EARTH SATELLITE CORP., of Rockville, Maryland; EARTHWATCH, of Longmont, Colorado; FINAL ANALYSIS INC., of Lanham, Maryland; JACKSON & TULL, of Seabrook, Maryland; POSITIVE SYSTEMS, of Whitefish, Montana; RESOURCE 21, of Englewood, Colorado; SPACE IMAGING EOSAT, of Thornton, Colorado (2 contracts); TRW CIVIL & INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS, of Redondo Beach, California; and the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, in Madison, Wisconsin. * ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. (OSC), of Dulles, Virginia, has awarded a contract to SEAKR ENGINEERING, of Torrance, California, for the procurement of a solid state recorder for the fifth TOTAL OZONE MAPPING SPECTROMETER (TOMS-F5) payload, due to fly in July 2000 on Russia's METEOR 3M-N2 spacecraft. * NASA's MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (MSFC), in Huntsville, Alabama, plans to hire LEE & ASSOCIATES, also of Huntsville, to provide inde- pendent system engineering and technical assistance for the first phase of the LOW-COST BOOST TECHNOLOGY (LCBT) program. * KRUG INTERNATIONAL CORP., of Houston, Texas, a major NASA contractor for life sciences support at JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC), in Houston, Texas, has sold its Life Sciences Inc. and Technology Scientific Services Inc. subsidiaries to WYLE LABORATORIES INC., of Redondo Beach, California. (***) * VELA TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INC., of Washington state, has selected AEROASTRO, of Herndon, Virginia, as prime contractor for its SPACE CRUISER manned suborbital two-stage rocket vehicle due to loft space tourists to an altitude of 100 km. A first commercial flight is set for December 1, 2001. === MARKETS === * The 1997 WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE (WRC'97), in Geneva, Switzerland, completed its work on November 21. Frequency bands were allocated to non-geostationary broadband fixed satellite systems such as TELEDESIC, SKYBRIDGE or Motorola's CELESTRI. WRC'97 decisions allow reuse of frequencies by multiple systems. A project to use frequencies currently allocated to maritime emergency services for satellite systems was not accepted. * The Government of Canada has allocated orbital slots to TELESAT CANADA, of Gloucester, Ontario, for the launch of two ANIK F communi- cations satellite in 2000. * HUNGARIAN BROADCAST CORP. (HBCO) and MAGYARSAT LTD, both of Budapest, Hungary, will incorporate a joint-venture (69% HBCO, 31% Magyarsat) by year end to order and operate the CENTRAL EUROPE REGIONAL COMMUNICATION SATELLITE (CERES). The CERES spacecraft will be ordered to ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES LTD (IAI), of Tel Aviv, Israel. * GLOBALSTAR LP, of San Jose, California, has decided to postpone the launch of its first 4-satellite cluster from early December to early February, to allow final testing of its ground segment. Globalstar F1 to F4 will ride atop a Boeing DELTA 2-7420 vehicle. (***) * ARIANESPACE, of Evry, France, took over operations of the ECU800-million (US$900-million) ARIANE 5 launch processing facilities in Kourou, French Guiana, on November 25. Next ARIANE 5 vehicle (L503) is due to lift off in May 1998 for the last qualification flight on behalf of ESA and CNES, the French space agency. ARIANESPACE's first commercial launch (L504) is planned for the second half of 1998. === TECHNOLOGIES === * EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) has confirmed its plans to fly the ECU30-million (US$34-million) ATMOSPHERIC REENTRY DEMONSTRATOR (ARD) atop the third qualification ARIANE 5 vehicle (L503) in May 1998 despite uncertainty on the future of ESA's CREW TRANSFER VEHICLE (CTV) program. The 2,665-kg ARD capsule, built by an industrial team led by AEROSPATIALE ESPACE & DEFENSE, of Paris, France, is to be delivered to ESA in February 1998. The CTV program is under review following the announcement, on October 21, of France's withdrawal by its minister of Education, Mr. Claude Allegre, a geologist opposed to manned space flights. However, French president, Mr. Jacques Chirac, took position in favor of manned space programs on November 24 during a trip to French Guiana. * SEP, of Suresnes, France, and DAIMLER-BENZ AEROSPACE AG (DASA), of Munich, Germany, have signed an agreement on November 18 regarding the joint development of an advanced storable propellant upper stage for ARIANE 5. The new stage will be available in 2003. SEP is developing a new turbopump-fed engine for this stage, the 100-kN MS-100 whilst DASA has teamed with BOEING ROCKETDYNE, of Canoga Park, California, to propose the 53-kN AESTUS-2 engine, an upgraded version of the pressure- fed AESTUS engine currently flown on ARIANE 5's upper stage with a turbopump assembly from Rocketdyne's XLR-132 engine. A cryogenic upper stage is also expected circa 2008. * KAYSER-THREDE GmbH, of Munich, Germany, has delivered the flight units of the three confocal telescope mirror modules developed for ESA's X-RAY MULTI MIRROR (XMM) spacecraft. The 3,900-kg XMM is due for launch atop an Ariane 5 in late 1999. * The SCIENCE PROGRAM COMMITTEE (SPC) of the EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA), has approved the development of the MARS EXPRESS probe on behalf of ESA's HORIZON 2000 PLUS science program. An Announcement of Opportunity will be released in early December. The MARS EXPRESS, to be launched atop a SOYUZ vehicle by mid 2003, will be composed of a 1,100-kg orbiter, featuring instruments from the ill-fated MARS'96 mission, and a series of small landers. * NASA and ESA are studying a possible European cooperation to the US- led MARS SURVEYOR program. Among the scenarios under study, an ARIANE 5 vehicle could launch a US-built MARS LANDER in 2003 for a sample return mission. Some European space officials estimate that the lander should carry some European instruments too. * NASA, the US NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF), the US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DoE), the US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA), and the US NATIONAL OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) will release a joint research announcement on December 15 regarding proposals of research on terrestrial ecology and global environmental change. * HUGHES SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of El Segundo, California, is testing loop heat pipes designed for thermal control of its newest HS-702 satellite bus onboard space shuttle COLUMBIA. * Construction of the US$30-million LAUNCH FACILITY for NASA's X-33 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR (ATD) began on November 14 at Haystack Butte, in Edwards AFB, California, on behalf of SVERDRUP CORP, of Saint Louis, Missouri. First flight of the hypersonic vehicle is scheduled in July 1999. (***) * SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS has been ferried to BOEING REUSABLE SPACE SYSTEMS' facilities in Palmdale, California, for a 9-month refurbish- ment effort. Among other improvements, the 12.5-year old spacecraft will get a new 'glass cockpit' and a GPS navigation system. ATLANTIS will return to flight in January 1999 for the third US mission to the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). (***) * ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS SPACE & STRATEGIC GROUP, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has completed a series of 3 ground firing tests of the GEM-LDXL solid rocket motors due to be used as strap-on boosters on BOEING's new DELTA 3 launch vehicle. A first set of 9 motors will be delivered to Boeing in January, for a first launch by mid 1998. * TRW, of Redondo Beach, California, THIOKOL CORP., of Ogden, Utah, and UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP.'s CHEMICAL SYSTEMS DIVISION (UTC-CSD), of San Jose, California, have successfully test-fired a remanufactured second stage of a MINUTEMAN 3 intercontinental ballistic missile on November 14 in support to their bid for the MINUTEMAN 3 PROPULSION REPLACEMENT PROGRAM (PRP). * A Russian experimental SEA-LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILE (SLBM) was destroyed at an altitude of 200 m during a test flight from the Nepoksa naval firing range near Severodvinsk, Northern Russia, on November 19. * ROMANIA plans to launch its first microsatellite in 2000 to monitor pollution in the Black Sea. Total cost of the project is US$600,000. **************************** ADVERTISEMENT **************************** * 32nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly and Associated Events * * 40th Anniversary 12 - 19 July 1998 in Nagoya, Japan * * * * About 80 meetings and symposia covering the following areas * * * * - The Earth's Surface, Meteorology, and Climate * * - The Earth-Moon System, Planets, Small Bodies of the Solar System * * - The Upper Atmospheres of the Earth and Planets * * - Space Plasmas in the Solar System, incl. Planetary Magnetospheres * * - Research in Astrophysics * * - Life Sciences as Related to Space * * - Materials Sciences in Space * * - Fundamental Physics in Space * * - Satellite Dynamics * * - Scientific Ballooning * * - Space Borne Geophysical Data for Global Change Studies * * - Science and Engineering Aspects of Solar System Exploration * * * * COSPAR Secretariat, 51 bd de Montmorency, 75016 Paris, France * * COSPAR@paris7.jussieu.fr / www.mpae.gwdg.de/COSPAR/COSPAR.html * **************************** ADVERTISEMENT **************************** To advertise in OReOL: orbirep@worldnet.fr or josh@newspace.com === PREVIEW === * December 2 An ARIANE 44P-3 vehicle (V103) is planned to launch the HUGHES-built JC-SAT 5 communication satellite for JAPAN SATELLITE SYSTEM INC. (JSS), of Tokyo, Japan, from Kourou, French Guiana. The EQUATOR-S plasma science satellite from MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE, of Garching, Germany, will fly as a secondary payload. * December 3 A GKNPTs Khrunichev PROTON K/DM3 vehicle is due to launch ASTRA 1G, a HUGHES-built direct broadcasting satellite, for SOCIETE EUROPEENNE DES SATELLITES (SES) of Betzdorf, Luxembourg. * Early December SOCIETE EUROPEENNE DES SATELLITES (SES) of Betzdorf, Luxembourg, is expected to select a manufacturer (either AEROSPATIALE SATELLITE, of Cannes, France, or HUGHES SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of El Segundo, California) for its ASTRA 1K satellite. * December 5 Space shuttle COLUMBIA is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at the end of the 16-day STS-87 mission. * December 5 A pair of IRIDIUM mobile telephony satellites are expected to be launched from Taiyuan, Shaanxi province, China, atop a Chinese CZ-2-3 'LONG MARCH 2-3' vehicle. * December 7 A Chinese CZ-3B 'LONG MARCH 3B' heavy-lift launch vehicle is scheduled to lift off from Xichang, Sichuan province, China, to loft the CHINASTAR 1 communications satellite built by LOCKHEED MARTIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS of Sunnyvale, California, for CHINA ORIENT TELECOM SATELLITE CO. LTD., of Beijing, China. * December 8 A Lockheed Martin ATLAS 2AS vehicle (AC-149) is planned to launch the GALAXY 8I communications satellite for PANAMSAT CORP., of Greenwich, Connecticut. * December 11 An Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) PEGASUS XL vehicle is due to deploy a cluster of 8 ORBCOMM messaging satellites from Wallops Island, Virginia. * December 11 Delegates from ESA member states will meet in Paris to discuss the future of the CREW TRANSFER VEHICLE (CTV) program following French government's decision to withdraw from its development. (***) (***) Subject developed in the latest issue of ISIR (Vol.1, No.2), published on November 17. The Orbital Report On-Line is published 3 to 4 times per month by Takyon International (RCS Paris B 401 465 398) BP 2148, F-34027 Montpellier Cedex 1, France Phone: +33 (0) 467 664 681 - Fax: +33 (0) 467 607 155 E-mail: orbirep@worldnet.net URL: www.orbireport.com Chief Editor: Stefan Barensky Technical Contributor: Samuel Szdat © Takyon International - November 1997 Takyon International and Launchspace Publications also publish The International Space Industry Report (ISIR), a biweekly newsletter on space business and technology ------------------- End of issue Vol.1, No.18 ----------------------
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