November 18, 1996
                                        Vol. 0 - No. 0
                                        By subscription only
                ==============================
                  THE ORBITAL REPORT ON-LINE
                ==============================
             Space Executive's Weekly News Digest
This is an experimental issue of Takyon International's latest
on-line newsletter. OReOL is intended to cover space industry's
news and market trend and provide the necessary background
information for immediate analysis.
         Please feel free to contact us for any comment.
=== HEADLINES ===
* Contact with the US$64-million Mars 96 Russian/international
probe was lost 77 min. after its launch by a Proton K/DM vehicle
from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, at 20:48 UT on November 16. Built by
NPO Lavochkin, the 6,700-kg spacecraft carried 38 experiments
from Russia, ESA and 18 countries (24 on Orbiter, 6 on two
landers and 8 on two penetrators). It was due to enter Martian
orbit on September 12, 1997, and study Mars for one year.
Apparently, the second burn of the RKK Energiya-built Block DM
upper stage either did not happen or did not provide enough
thrust to boost the probe on its trajectory to Mars, leaving the
spacecraft in Earth orbit.
* Arabsat 2B and Measat 2 were successfully launched by an
Ariane 44L-3 vehicle (V92) from Kourou, French Guiana, at
22:40 UT on November 13. Arabsat 2B (22C, 12Ku) was built by
Aerospatiale under a US$257.9-million contract from the Arab
Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat). It will be
positioned at 22=B0E. Built by Hughes under a contract from
Malaysia's Binariang, Measat 2 (12C, 4Ku) will be located at
91.5°E.
* Spot 3, France's latest remote sensing satellite, lost
attitude control on November 14 causing interruption of its
mission. An investigation is underway. If attitude control can't
be restored, CNES, the French space agency plans to revive
Spot 1 and launch Spot 4 as soon as possible in 1997. Spot 2
still performs correctly on parts of its orbit.
* NASA has decided to postpone all of its missions currently
planned for launch on Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Pegasus vehicles
following the loss of Argentina's SAC-B and MIT's HETE
spacecraft on November 4.
=== BUSINESS ===
* Alenia Spazio, of Rome, Italy, was awarded the AU845-million
(US$1,125-million) prime contractorship for ESA's Integral gamma
ray astronomy satellite.
* US Air Force's Space & Missile Center has awarded three
contracts for suborbital  sounding rocket launch services in
support of the Launch Test Program through November 2001 to
Coleman Research Corp., of Orlando, Florida (US$136 million),
Orbital Sciences Corp., of Chandler, Arizona (US$67.6 million),
and Space Vector Corp. (US$63.4 million).
* Auspex Systems Inc. of Santa Clara, California, will provide
software to NASA to ensure continuous access to critical data by
Johnson Space Center's mission controllers.
* US attitude control systems manufacturers, Ithaco, Inc., of
Ithaca, New York state, and Space Sciences Corp., of White
Plains, New York state, have completed their merger. The
resulting entity will keep the name Ithaco and be headquartered
in Ithaca.
=== MARKETS ===
* Matra Marconi Space, of Velizy, France, proposes to develop
the US$2-billion WEST (Wideband European Satellite
Telecommunications) network for broadband communication services
over Europe using one or two geostationary satellites and nine
satellites in intermediate circular orbit before 2003
* McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace, of Huntington Beach, California,
holds preliminary talks with Arianespace, of Evry, France, on
the possibility to launch Delta vehicles from Kourou, French
Guiana.
=== TECHNOLOGIES ===
* Rohr, Inc., of Chula Vista, California, plans to order two
carbon-carbon test models of X-33's nose tip to Aerospatiale of
Paris, France.
* Societe Europeenne de Propulsion (SEP), of Suresnes, France,
has shipped the Vulcain engine (serial number M16) for the
second Ariane 5 test flight to Aerospatiale's Les Mureaux plant
for integration on the vehicle's Core Cryogenic Stage (EPC) on
November 15.
* MAN Technologie AG, of Augsburg, Germany, has delivered the
100th Ariane thrust frame to SEP on November 7.
* The experimental aircraft flight control system developed by
NASA and the US Air Force for the LoFlyte waverider demonstrator
and based on neural networks, has been named one of the 100
'Best of What's New' in the annual Popular Science magazine
competition.
=== PREVIEW ===
* Nov. 18: France's CNES and Japan's NASDA space agencies sign
cooperation agreement.
* Nov. 19: Launch of Columbia for STS-79 mission. Main payload
is Germany's Orfeus-SPAS telescope and University of Houston's
Wake Shield Facility (WSF-2).
* Nov. 20: Launch of Progress M33 resupply spacecraft to Mir.
* Nov. 21: Mars Surveyor trajectory correction maneuver possibly
used to fully deploy solar array.
* Nov. 22: Launch of Eutelsat's Hot Bird 2 on an Atlas vehicle.
Next issue is tentatively planned for November 25.
The Orbital Report On-Line will be published 40 times per year
        by Takyon International (RCS Paris B 401 465 398)
           34, boulevard Exelmans, 75016 Paris, France
      Phone: +33 (0) 148 935 781 * Fax: +33 (0) 148 935 725
             Editorial hotline: +33 (0) 607 995 056
                  E-mail: [email protected]
                 Chief Editor: Stefan Barensky
              Technical Contributor: Samuel Szdat
             (c) Takyon International - November 1996
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                 The Orbital Launcher Report,
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