November 8, 1997 Vol. 1 - No. 17 ============================== 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 === * Europe's ARIANE 5 launch vehicle successfully performed its second qualification flight on October 30. A higher roll torque than planned on the core stage caused an early shutdown of its VULCAIN engine. The two MAQSAT dummy payloads and the TEAMSAT technological package were lofted to a subsynchronous transfer orbit with a 27,000-km apogee. The third and last ARIANE 5 qualification flight is planned for next spring. * Brazil's VLS-1 small launch vehicle failed on its maiden flight on November 2. One of the four strap-on boosters apparently failed to ignite and the vehicle had to be destroyed 65 sec. after liftoff. The payload was a refurbished engineering model of the SCD-2 data collection satellite. Next VLS-1 flight is planned in September 1998. * NASA's MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR (MGS) resumed its aerobraking maneuvers in the upper Martian atmosphere on November 7 after a two-week long hiatus. * The third Lockheed Martin TITAN 4 vehicle in less than a month was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 8. The Titan 401A vehicle, featuring a CENTAUR cryogenic upper stage, apparently lofted the US$1-billion TRUMPET 3 signal intelligence satellite on behalf of the US AIR FORCE and the US NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA). * A Boeing DELTA 2-7925 vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 6, to loft the last Boeing-built NAVSTAR Block 2A satellite for US AIR FORCE's GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) constellation. * Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov performed two spacewalks outside the MIR space station on November 3 and 6. They removed and replaced the damaged solar array on the SPEKTR module and released the PS-2 satellite, a 3-kg replica of SPUTNIK 1. * A Lockheed Martin ATLAS 2A vehicle (AC-131), with an IABS upper stage, lofted the US Air Force DSCS-3B-13 military communication satellite directly into geostationary orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The US Air Force Academy's FALCONSAT technological payload rode piggyback on the vehicle's Centaur upper stage to test GPS positioning above the GPS constellation. * A Lockheed Martin TITAN 403A heavy-lift launcher lifted off from Vandenberg AFB, California, on October 23. It possibly carried a 16-t LACROSSE military radar observation satellite for the US NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE (NRO). **************************** ADVERTISEMENT **************************** * The Fifth Annual Silicon Valley Technology Partnering Conference: * * * * "Cyberspace to Outerspace" * * * * introduces this generation's vanguard of CEO industry visionaries * * who represent today's ideal entrepreneur, and illustrate tomorrow's * * extraordinary new business opportunities in information and space * * commerce technologies. The conference will clearly demonstrate the * * potential of unique new industry alliances, public/private partner- * * ships as well as specific technology and product matches. Look for * * representatives from industry leading companies such as Lockheed * * Martin, AT&T, Hughes, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Boeing, FedEx, Space * * Systems Loral and others. * * * * The event takes place on November 13 and 14, 1997, at the San Jose * * Fairmont Hotel and the new San Jose Repertory Theater. The keynote * * speaker is Vice President Al Gore and the recipient of the Annual * * DSC David Packard Award is Mr. Dan Tellep, first Chair and CEO of * * Lockheed Martin Corporation. * * * * For agenda, schedule or registration information please contact the * * Defense/Space Consortium at (408) 292-1194 x15 or www.svdsc.org * **************************** ADVERTISEMENT **************************** To advertise in OReOL: [email protected] or [email protected] === BUSINESS === * MOTOROLA SPACE & SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY GROUP, of Scottsdale, Arizona, has selected MATRA MARCONI SPACE, of Velizy, France, to provide some 70 satellite platforms for the CELESTRI constellation to be deployed in low Earth and geostationary orbits circa 2003. Total value of the contract will exceed US$1 billion. * EUTELSAT, of Paris, France, has ordered a fourth W24 communications satellite to AEROSPATIALE ESPACE & DEFENSE, also of Paris. This EUTELSAT W4 (32Ku) will be launched in early 1999 and colocated with SESAT-1 and TDF-2 at 36°E. * HUGHES SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS (HSC), of El Segundo, California, was selected to build the BONUM-1 (8Ku) direct broadcasting satellite for Russia's MEDIAMOST GROUP. Launch is planned in November 1998 atop a BOEING DELTA 2 vehicle. * GENERAL ELECTRIC will exchange a US$2.8 billion in LOCKHEED MARTIN shares for the 5 million shares of GLOBALSTAR LP currently owned by the aerospace firm as well as for two small non-space companies and about US$1.5 billion in cash. === MARKETS === * The US AIR FORCE officially announced on November 6 that it will procure EVOLVED EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES (EELVs) from both BOEING SPACE SYSTEMS, of Seal Beach, California, and LOCKHEED MARTIN ASTRONAUTICS, of Denver, Colorado. The two contenders are due to submit proposals regarding their own investment in the program in March 1998. Award of production contracts are expected in June 1998. * The government of Mexico has selected LORAL SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of New York, in partnership with TELEFONICA AUTREY, of Mexico City, Mexico, to take over up to 75% of SATELITES DE MEXICO (SATMEX), the national satellite communications operator. * LORAL SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS, of New York, has signed a MoU with MODI ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS (MEN), a major Indian entertainment company part of the K.K. Modi Group (KKM), of Bombay, India, for the development of DIRECT TO HOME (DTH) television services in India. LORAL and MEN will jointly apply for satellite systems operating licenses from the Indian government. === TECHNOLOGIES === * The Critical Design Review (CDR) of NASA's X-33 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR (ATD) was completed on November 3, three months late on initial schedule. On November 4, NASA announced its intention to proceed with the program. First flight of the X-33 is planned in July 1999. * The LINEAR AEROSPIKE SR-71 EXPERIMENT (LASRE), a subscale model of the engine intended to power the VENTURESTAR single stage to orbit vehicle, was successfully flown atop a NASA SR-71 plane on October 31 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. The test campaign, intended to study the behaviour of aerospike engine's exhaust plume at various speeds and pressures, is 18 months late on schedule. * NASA officially gave up its efforts to recover contact with the MARS PATHFINDER lander on Mars on November 4. Last useful contact with the probe was on September 27. * The first improved 'CANADARM' remote manipulator system (RMS) built by SPAR AEROSPACE, of Mississauga, Ontario, as part of the Canadian participation to the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS), successfully completed its acceptance review by the CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY. Launch is planned in June 1999 on the STS-99 space shuttle mission. * The X-ray telescope of NASA's ADVANCED X-RAY ASTRONOMY FACILITY (AXAF) was mated to the spacecraft bus at TRW SPACE & ELECTRONICS GROUP's facility in Redondo Beach, California. The orbital observatory will be launched by a space shuttle with an IUS upper stage in August 1998. **************************** 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 * * [email protected] / www.mpae.gwdg.de/COSPAR/COSPAR.html * **************************** ADVERTISEMENT **************************** To advertise in OReOL: [email protected] or [email protected] === PREVIEW === * November 10 An ARIANE 44L-3 (V102) is due to loft the SIRIUS 2 and CAKRAWARTA 1 direct broadcasting satellites for NSAB, of Sweden, and PT MEDIA CITRA INDOSTAR, of Indonesia, respectively. * November 12 A Proton K vehicle is intended to loft the KUPON 1 communications satellite built by NPO LAVOCHKIN for GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC. (GIS) of Moscow, Russia. * November 18 Japan's fifth H-2 launch vehicle is planned to loft the joint NASDA/NASA TROPICAL RAINFALL MEASUREMENT MISSION (TRMM) spacecraft and the ETS-7 ENGINEERING TEST SATELLITE for experimental rendezvous and docking maneuvers. * November 19 NASA's space shuttle COLUMBIA is due to lift off from Kennedy Space Center for the STS-87 mission carrying the fourth US MICROGRAVITY PAYLOAD (USMP-4). * November 22 A Russian START 1 vehicle (derived from the RS-12M/SS-25 ICBM) is due to be launched from the Svobodniy Cosmodrome, in Eastern Siberia, to loft the EARLYBIRD-1 commercial remote sensing satellite for EARTHWATCH INC., of Longmont, Colorado. 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) 607 995 056 - Fax: +33 (0) 467 607 155 E-mail: [email protected] 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.17 ----------------------
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