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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