Разношерстные новости

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S Korea to develop geostationary satellite for environmental monitoring

SEOUL, May 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea has fully embarked on the development of a geostationary environmental satellite with the goal of launching it in 2018, the government said Monday.

The Ministry of Environment said that it is pushing ahead with efforts to promote the development of the satellite, which will monitor air pollution and climate change in Northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula.

To meet the goal, the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) under the ministry will select overseas companies for development cooperation within this year and will manufacture the satellite by 2015, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that the satellite will be the first of its kind to be placed into geostationary orbit after Europe and the United States sent similar satellites into low orbit.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2012-05/28/c_131615919.htm

[Salo]

http://lenta.ru/news/2012/05/29/strand/

Сенсор Kinect задействуют для стыковки спутников


Спутники STRaND, кадр из видеоролика с сайта SSTL

Компания Surrey Satellite Technology приступила к разработке парных спутников STRaND-2, оснащенных сенсором Kinect. Об этом пишет The Register.

Спутники будут по отдельности выведены на орбиту, а затем состыкованы. Kinect будет служить летательным аппаратам "глазами" - с его помощью спутники будут во время стыковки определять свое расположение относительно друг друга.

Размеры каждого спутника составят 10 на 10 на 30 сантиметров, а вес - менее четырех килограммов. По этому показателю они относятся к классу наноспутников - космических аппаратов весом менее 10 килограммов.

На сайте проекта сообщается, что спутники STRaND могут выполнять в космосе несколько задач: путем стыковки образовывать крупные модули, например, космические телескопы; убирать "космический мусор" или осуществлять техобслуживание более крупных аппаратов.

STRaND-2 станут вторым проектом Surrey Satellite Technology. Первым будет спутник STRaND-1, запуск которого намечен на конец 2012 года. Аппарат будет использовать смартфон Nexus в роли бортового компьютера.

Сенсор Kinect позволяет человеку управлять играми для консоли Xbox 360 с помощью телодвижений. Kinect оснащен микрофонами, датчиками глубины и цветной камерой. Существует версия Kinect для Windows, но она предназначена для разработчиков ПО.

Ссылки по теме
- New Brit nano-satellite to use Xbox Kinect for docking in space – The Register, 28.05.2012

Сайты по теме
- Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd

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Satmex Undecided on Second Satellite Under Deal with ABS and Boeing
http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/120531-satmex-undecided-2nd-sat.html

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Совместное производство российской РКК "Энергия" и европейской компании "Астриум" будет создано через полтора - два года

МОСКВА, 5 июня. (АРМС-ТАСС). Совместное производство российской Ракетно-космической корпорации (РКК) "Энергия" и европейской компании "Астриум" будет создано на территории РФ через полтора - два года. Об этом сообщил журналистам президент, генеральный конструктор "Энергии" Виталий Лопота.

"Если говорить о сроке создания сборочного производства, я думаю, это должно произойти в течение полутора - двух лет после утверждения проекта", - заявил президент корпорации. По его словам, совместное производство будет располагаться на территории РКК "Энергия" в подмосковном Королеве. "Нам важно, чтобы это всё соответствовало самым лучшим мировым стандартам", - добавил Лопота.

В июне 2011 г. Лопота и глава компании "Астриум" Франсуа Ок на 49-м Международном аэрокосмическом салоне Ле-Бурже подписали соглашение об организации совместного производства перспективной космической техники. Планируется создание систем оптико- электронного наблюдения, радиолокационного наблюдения и спутников связи.

"Энергия" еще в 2011 г. заказала у компании "Астриум" разработку проекта испытательно-сборочного производства, напоминает ИТАР-ТАСС. "Сейчас мы уточняем проект сборочного производства, чтобы не было дублирования оборудования. У нас есть и свои испытательные стенды", - пояснил Лопота.

Как особо подчеркнул президент РКК "Энергия", совместно будут производиться космические аппараты различного целевого назначения. "Это действительно открытая книга, которую мы начали создавать, формировать отношение к будущему", - сказал он.

Лопота напомнил о том, что у РКК "Энергия" существуют длительные контакты с фирмой "Астриум". Ни одно десятилетие российская и европейская компании совместно создают космические аппараты. "В частности мы делали вместе с ними все европейские грузовые космические корабли ATV, а также цифровую вычислительную машину для Международной космической станции 1-го этапа", - отметил он.

Сейчас РКК "Энергия" производит космические аппараты для зарубежных и российских заказчиков вместе с "Астриум".

"Только пока это не совместное производство, а партнёрство в кооперации, - пояснил Лопота. - Мы заказываем им определенные компоненты, вместе разрабатываем, а затем интегрируем в конечный продукт".

Президент РКК "Энергия" уверен, что совместное производство будет строиться на принципе равноправного партнерства. В техническом плане оно объединит лучшие достижения обоих предприятий - европейские оптические и радиотехнические комплексы, российские системы космической навигации и негерметичную служебную космическую платформу разработки РКК "Энергии". "Конкурентные преимущества наших организаций будем совмещать. И, надеюсь, займем достойное место на российском и международном рынке", - сказал он.

Компания "Астриум" ("дочка" Европейского аэрокосмического и оборонного концерна, ЕАДС) - европейский лидер в космической отрасли. Создана в декабре 2006 г.

http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/438990.html

[PIN]

"В частности мы делали вместе с ними все европейские грузовые космические корабли ATV, а также цифровую вычислительную машину для Международной космической станции 1-го этапа",

В первом случае РККЭ была поставщиком нескольких узлов и систем + поддерживала (по части МКС) интерфейсные тесты + тренировки. Во стором случае Астриум поставил "железо", а в РККЭ писали ПО для него. "вместе" в обоих случаях мало что делалось.

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Senate Bill Tasks ORS Office To Develop Low-cost Weather Sat

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate defense oversight panel recommended allocating $60 million next year to develop a low-cost weather satellite under the auspices of an office that the Pentagon has marked for closure.

In its markup of the 2013 defense authorization bill (S. 3254), the Senate Armed Service Committee flatly rejected the proposed elimination of the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office, which was established just a few years ago to develop space capabilities quickly in response to emerging military needs. The office's first operational satellite, ORS-1, built to meet what Pentagon officials described as an urgent need for surveillance of Iraq and Afghanistan, was launched a year ago.

"The Committee finds the Department's rationale, to cancel a program because it is successful — curious," the lawmakers wrote in the report accompanying the bill. "The Committee rejects the proposed termination."

The markup took place in May but the report was not published until June 4.

The panel recommended that funding for the quick-reaction weather satellite be taken from the $123.5 million appropriated in 2012 for a follow-on weather satellite system. The Air Force has yet to define that system and has proposed to use that funding over the next two years to develop next-generation weather sensors and system architectures.

The lawmakers authorized the $60 million transfer but deferred to their colleagues on the House and Senate appropriations committees to determine the precise allocation of the funds currently budgeted for the follow-on weather satellite system. "If funding is transferred for a low cost weather satellite, the committee directs the Secretary of the Air Force to report to Congress no later than December 31, 2012, on the total cost and launch date for the satellite," the report said.

The weather satellite should resemble the ORS-1 in terms of cost and technological simplicity and be launched within three years, the report said.

In its 2013 budget request, sent to Capitol Hill in February, the Air Force proposed closing the ORS office and spending $10 million to integrate ORS concepts into other military space programs. In addition to assigning the ORS office the task of building a weather satellite, the Senate panel recommended providing $45 million to keep the organization up and running, $20 million more than is allocated in the House version of the defense authorization bill, which was passed in May.

The Senate panel also recommended that the ORS office no longer report to the Air Force's executive agent for space but instead report to the commander of the service's Space and Missile Systems Center, according to the committee report. However, the report said the office should not be co-located with Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles.

The ORS program's executive committee should include the commander of Air Force Space Command, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, the commander of U.S Strategic Command and the Pentagon's executive agent for space, the report said.

Also like their counterparts in the House, the Senate authorizers rejected the Pentagon's bid to discontinue the long-running Space Test Program, which is used to find rides to space for promising technologies and applications. The Senate measure provides $44.8 million for the program next year. The House version of the bill provided $45 million.

In other notable actions, the Senate committee also:

    * Allocated $560.7 million in 2013 funding for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor program. This is $100 million more than the agency requested for the procurement of additional interceptors.
    * Prohibited the obligation of funds for the Medium Extended Air Defense System in 2013. This would reduce the funding for the program by $400.9 million.

    * Allocated $100 million for the MDA's joint U.S.-Israeli cooperative missile defense programs in 2013. The agency's original request did not include any funding for those programs.

http://www.spacenews.com/policy/120608-senate-tasks-ors-weather-sat.html

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Intelsat To Order Two High-throughput Satellites

PARIS — Intelsat will order two multifrequency satellites starting in the coming weeks as part of a new offering designed to marry the low per-megabit cost associated with Ka-band services with the widely installed base of C- and Ku-band ground equipment among corporate and government customers, Intelsat announced June 7.

Luxembourg- and Washington-based Intelsat sent bid requests to satellite manufacturers earlier this year and is prepared to order at least the first of its planned Epic spacecraft within about a month, according to Dianne J. VanBeber, Intelsat vice president for investor relations and communications.

VanBeber declined to say whether Intelsat had booked anchor customers for either of the first two Epic satellites. In a document describing the Epic program, Intelsat said the first two satellites, to be called Intelsat 29e and Intelsat 33e, would by themselves "cover all of the populated continents."

The document says each Epic satellite will be capable of between 25 and 60 gigabits per second of throughput — several times that of most of today's satellites but only about half the capacity of the largest new-generation Ka-band spacecraft now entering the market for consumer broadband applications.

Consumer broadband has not been an Intelsat priority in the past and does not appear to be the focus of Epic. Intelsat is pitching the new product line as extending the advantages associated with Ka-band — frequency reuse, high throughput and multiple spot beams — to the C- and Ku-bands where most of its corporate and government customers already do business.

But because the Epic satellites each will have a relatively high throughput, customers who today use several spacecraft will be able to concentrate their business on a single satellite.

Customers whose current ground hardware allows them full use of the C- or Ku-band spectrum likely will be able to make full use of the Intelsat Epic satellites, VanBeber said. Others may need to purchase new equipment, as is the case today with consumer broadband customers who wish to upgrade to the new high-throughput Ka-band satellites.

But in general the document says, the Epic satellites will be backward compatible and tailored for "carrier-grade, fixed data rate services, versus consumer-grade, highly concentrated best-effort broadband applications."

 As the world's oldest satellite fleet operator and a former intergovernmental organization, Intelsat has a large inventory of orbital slots and frequency allocations in C- and Ku-band. It also has 25 unused orbital slots reserved for Ka-band.

In a May 18 filing to prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock, Intelsat said it would try to develop the Ka-band slots with other operators.

"Given our heritage in operating in C, Ku and Ka and our collection of orbital rights, Intelsat has the unique ability to deploy the spectrum based upon what is best suited to the application of the customer," Intelsat says in the document outlining Epic. "Unlike many new satellite operators, Intelsat is not constrained to Ka-band."

VanBeber said the initial two Epic satellites each will have at least two operating bandwidths. She said both satellites' estimated costs, with launches in 2015 and 2016, have been factored into Intelsat's previous forecasts of its capital investment.

The company has promised investors that its capital spending on 10 new satellites would peak in 2012 at between $775 million and $850 million.

Intelsat announced its intention to sell up to $1.75 billion in equity in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as market conditions are deemed favorable.

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/120608-intelsat-order-sats.html

[ZOOR]

Комитет по использованию космического пространства в мирных целях
Пятьдесят пятая сессия
Вена, 6-15 июня 2012 года
Доклад Научно-технического подкомитета о работе его сорок девятой сессии
 
  Долгосрочная устойчивость космической деятельности [/size]
 
  Рабочий документ, представленный Российской Федерацией [/size]

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/limited/l/AC105_2012_CRP19R.pdf

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AsiaSat Hedges Bet on SpaceX Launch

PARIS — Satellite fleet operator AsiaSat on June 22 said it had booked a launch aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket in a $107 million contract that protects AsiaSat against possible delays at launch-services provider Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX).

Under the ILS contract, AsiaSat will make a down payment of $10.3 million by July 5 to preserve the right to a March-to-May 2014 slot aboard an ILS Proton for either the AsiaSat 6 or AsiaSat 8 satellite. Both are under construction by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif.

The total price for the launch of either satellite is $107 million, AsiaSat said in a June 22 submission to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

AsiaSat in February signed with Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX for the launch of the two satellites on separate Falcon 9 rockets. Under that contract, AsiaSat agreed to pay $52.2 million per satellite — half the ILS price.

But the SpaceX contract stipulated that the AsiaSat 6 contract will be canceled, and all advance payments refunded, if the launch does not occur by March 31, 2014. For AsiaSat 8, the launch deadline is May 31, 2014.

AsiaSat has entered into a partnership with fleet operator Thaicom of Thailand that gives the two operators joint use of AsiaSat 6, which Thaicom calls Thaicom 7. The partnership enabled Thailand and Thaicom to retain access to the 120 degrees east orbital slot, assuming the launch occurs on time.

SpaceX is modifying its Falcon 9 rocket with a new engine, a larger propellant tank and a wider payload fairing to compete for the launch of telecommunications satellites designed to operate in geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers over the equator.

SpaceX has contracted to make its first geostationary launch in 2013, of the SES-8 satellite owned by fleet operator SES of Luxembourg. But the new propulsion system and fairing must be successfully tested during a launch before SES ships SES-8 to SpaceX.

That test flight has not yet occurred, and while SES is maintaining its SES-8 reservation with SpaceX, the operator has secured a backup option with Europe's Arianespace launch-services provider. SES routinely secures backup options when it books flights even on veteran providers Arianespace of Europe and Reston, Va.-based ILS.

If SpaceX is able to keep to its schedule for geostationary-orbit missions and launch AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 on time, the ILS contract will revert to the AsiaSat 9 satellite, which AsiaSat has not yet ordered. AsiaSat said in its June 22 announcement that AsiaSat 9 will be built to replace AsiaSat 4 at 122 degrees east in geostationary orbit. AsiaSat 4 was launched in 2003 and has a contracted 15-year service life.

AsiaSat has agreed to pay ILS $109 million for the AsiaSat 9 launch.

A third possibility is that ILS will be needed to launch either AsiaSat 6 or AsiaSat 8, and that AsiaSat still wants to launch AsiaSat 9 aboard an ILS Proton. The contract provides that this option may be exercised for $108 million.

"In view of the possible inflation in the prices for launch services ... it is commercially beneficial for the company to secure the provision of a launch service for one of its future satellites," AsiaSat said in its stock exchange filing in reference to the AsiaSat 9 launch option.

http://www.spacenews.com/launch/120622-asiasat-hedges-spacex-launch.html

ILS заключила новый контракт на запуск спутника AsiaSat в 2014 году

МОСКВА, 22 июн - РИА Новости. Компания International Launch Services Inc. (ILS) заключила новый контракт с Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) на запуск спутника связи серии AsiaSat с помощью российской ракеты-носителя "Протон", запуск планируется осуществить в 2014 году с космодрома Байконур, сообщила в пятницу ILS.

Согласно контракту, с помощью "Протона-М" на орбиту гарантированно будет выведен один из трех спутников связи - AsiaSat-6, AsiaSat-8 или AsiaSat-9. Тот спутник, который будет запущен, заменит AsiaSat 4, который был выведен на орбиту в 2003 году.

Кроме того, дополнительная опция контракта предусматривает возможность использования ракеты-носителя "Протон" для еще одного запуска любого из этих трех космических аппаратов.

http://ria.ru/science/20120622/679375475.html

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L-3 Wins U.S. Special Operations Satellite Terminal Contract

WASHINGTON — L-3 Global Communications Solutions of Victor, N.Y., will supply deployable satellite terminals to U.S. Special Operations Command under a contract potentially valued at $500 million over five years, the Pentagon announced June 20.

    The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for the Special Operations Forces Tactical Assured Connectivity System (SOFTACS) family of terminals has a minimum value of $7.5 million, the Pentagon said.

    According to a Special Operations Command SOFTACS bid solicitation, the terminals will be compatible with military and commercial satellite communications systems operating in the C-, X-, Ka- and Ku-band frequencies. Antenna aperture diameters will range from less than 1 meter to 2.4 meters, depending on the operating frequency.

http://www.spacenews.com/military/120621-l3-spec-ops-sat-terminal-contract.html

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O3b Networks Setting Sail with Cruise Ship Contract

PARIS — Startup satellite broadband provider O3b Networks will deliver 500 megabits per second of Ka-band broadband connectivity to the world's largest cruise ship under a contract expected to be announced June 23.

In the latest demonstration of the growing appeal of the maritime sector for satellite fleet operators whose core business is elsewhere, O3b is signing a five-year contract with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to provide bandwidth to the Oasis of the Seas starting in mid-2013. The ship, whose itinerary is limited to the Caribbean, has capacity for 8,000 crew and passengers.

O3b, based in Britain's Channel Islands, is building a unique satellite infrastructure that features satellites in 8,100-kilometer equatorial orbits that provide Ka-band bandwidth to telecommunications operators and other corporate customers located between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south of the equator.

Backed by SES of Luxembourg, a major fixed satellite services fleet operator, O3b has 12 satellites under construction by Thales Alenia Space of Cannes, France.

The satellites are scheduled for launch starting in early 2013, when four spacecraft are set to be orbited by a Europeanized version of Russia's Soyuz rocket operated from Europe's Guiana Space Center on South America's northeast coast. A second group of four satellites is set for launch on a Soyuz between April and June of next year, forming the core network of eight spacecraft. With these eight satellites, O3b expects to start commercial service by September. A third group of four satellites is scheduled for launch in 2014.

Operating in low Earth orbit, O3b's satellites drift over their 600-kilometer-diameter coverage areas, requiring tracking antennas to switch to each succeeding satellite as it passes overhead.

Given this network architecture, O3b's capacity over the oceans in its coverage area would be fully available for maritime users. The alternative is that they fly empty for the part of their orbit.

Each satellite has 10 beams, each capable of handling 600 megabits per second of bandwidth downlink and 600 megabits per second uplink.

O3b Chief Executive Steve Collar, in an interview, said the O3b satellites can offer maritime customers a multiple of the bandwidth they could get from competing satellite systems in Ka- or Ku-band.

Collar said his company is positioning itself as an alternative for that portion of the maritime market that needs real broadband. For the moment, he said, O3b is focusing on cruise ships and mega-yachts.

"The cruise ship industry today is lacking in broadband," Collar said. "We can offer the part of the market seeking high-end connections. We are thinking of a market that is between 30 and 40 vessels in this class. We are also targeting the oil and gas sector. Today there is no good existing solution for seismic operations and we can address that market. The same is true for [maritime] government applications, which have a similar demand for broadband."

Hardly a week has passed in recent months without a satellite industry consultancy, a satellite fleet operator or a manufacturer of satellite ground gear pointing to growing demand for broadband among maritime customers.

Those already in the maritime market, such as mobile services operator Inmarsat of London and Telenor of Norway, are adding Ka-band capacity to their fleets to provide increased bandwidth.

Those historically out of the maritime market, such as fleet operators SES, Intelsat of Luxembourg and Washington, Eutelsat of Paris and Telesat of Canada, are tinkering with their fleets to capture maritime customers.

Collar said none of them can offer the throughput of O3b with the low latency — the speed of the signal's round trip between the satellite and the user — that O3b's low-orbiting satellites can provide. The relative merits of low orbit versus geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers over the equator for voice transmissions and certain Internet applications are regularly debated in the satellite telecommunications industry.

Once its O3b service begins, Royal Caribbean will be able to conduct a side-by-side comparison of O3b's Ka-band offer with a competing Ku-band service the cruise company has installed on other vessels. The Oasis of the Seas will be outfitted with three 2.2-meter tracking antennas to communicate with the O3b satellites.

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/120622-o3b-cruise-ship-contract.html



http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/o3b.htm

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Hispasat Orders Two Satellites from Orbital

TOULOUSE, France — Spanish satellite fleet operator Hispasat on June 25 announced it has contracted with Orbital Sciences to build two telecommunications satellites that will be used to serve South America, with the second one employing Orbital's new, higher-power satellite platform.

Madrid-based Hispasat said the Orbital-built Amazonas 4A will carry 28 Ku-band transponders and will be launched in early 2014 into Hispasat's 61 degrees west longitude orbital slot to address the company's growing Latin American market.

Amazonas 4B, whose exact payload configuration has not been determined, will use a higher-power platform and will launch in 2015, also into the 61 degrees west position.

Dulles, Va.-based Orbital has been developing a larger version of its telecommunications satellite platform to accommodate the growing demand for higher-power applications such as direct broadcast television.

The company has said the new satellite platform will provide up to 7.5 kilowatts of power to its telecommunications payload, compared with about 5 kilowatts in Orbital's current product line.

Hispasat's announcement said one reason for the selection of Orbital was the company's ability to deliver satellites in less than 24 months. It is unclear when Orbital first received an Authorization to Proceed to begin ordering parts for Amazonas 4A. An early 2014 launch would suggest a delivery cycle much faster than 24 months.

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/120625-hispasat-orders-two-satellites-from-orbital.html

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July 12, 1962: The Day Information Went Global

Telstar was launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and was the first privately sponsored space-faring mission. Two days later, it relayed the world's first transatlantic television signal, from Andover Earth Station, Maine, to the Pleumeur-Bodou Telecom Center, Brittany, France.



Developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories for AT&T, Telstar was the world's first active communications satellite and the world's first commercial payload in space. It demonstrated the feasibility of transmitting information via satellite, gained experience in satellite tracking and studied the effect of Van Allen radiation belts on satellite design. The satellite was spin-stabilized to maintain its desired orientation in space. Power to its onboard equipment was provided by a solar array, in conjunction with a battery back-up system.

Although operational for only a few months and relaying television signals of a brief duration, Telstar immediately captured the imagination of the world. The first images, those of President John F. Kennedy and of singer Yves Montand from France, along with clips of sporting events, images of the American flag waving in the breeze and a still image of Mount Rushmore, were precursors of the global communications that today are mostly taken for granted.

Telstar operated in a low-Earth orbit and was tracked by the ground stations in Maine and France. Each ground station had a large microwave antenna mounted on bearings, to permit tracking the satellite during the approximately half-hour period of each orbit when it was overhead. The signals from Telstar were received and amplified by a low-noise "maser" (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), the predecessor of the modern laser. After demonstrating the feasibility of the concept, subsequent communications satellites adopted a much higher orbit, at 22,300 miles above the Earth, at which the satellite's speed matched the Earth's rotation and thus appeared fixed in the sky. During the course of its operational lifespan, Telstar 1 facilitated over 400 telephone, telegraph, facsimile and television transmissions. It operated until November 1962, when its on-board electronics failed due to the effects of radiation.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/telstar.html

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U.S. Air Force Eyes Purchase of Commercial Satellite Platforms

FARNBOROUGH, England — Several U.S. satellite builders are expected to submit bids in the coming weeks for a novel U.S. Air Force program that would purchase three generic commercial satellite platforms to which the service would add its own payloads, according to U.S. industry officials.

The program, called Lynx, appears to be an evolution of what the Air Force had called Muscle, or Multi-Use Satellite Commercialization Experiment. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles sent out a request for information on the Muscle program in early 2011.

The idea is to provide the Air Force with an ability to launch a telecommunications satellite into geostationary orbit quickly by buying generic spacecraft platforms, or buses, in advance.

As described in the January 2011 request for information, the Muscle program would include "delivery on-orbit of a small-medium weight class commercial bus with a high-rate RF subsystem, ground terminals to interface to satellite planning/control center, and satellite command and control software. A bus dedicated to only the payload or co-hosting with other commercial or military payloads may be considered, so long as all objectives can be met. User terminals and their mission planning/control are not included."

Industry officials said these elements are still found in the Lynx competition.

Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems, said Boeing's Seal Beach, Calif.-based space division expects to respond to the solicitation in the coming weeks by proposing three satellite platforms, including the company's new 702 SP product line.

The 702 SP uses all-electric propulsion to reduce a satellite's weight by up to 50 percent of what it would be at launch if it used conventional chemical propellant. The drawback to an all-electric design is that the thrusters used to put the satellite into final geostationary orbit pack less punch than chemical thrusters, meaning it can take several months after launch before a satellite reaches its operating position 36,000 kilometers over the equator.

In a July 10 briefing at the Farnborough Air Show here, Krone acknowledged that the all-electric propulsion design is not usually associated with rapid response. But by using a heavier launcher to place the lower-weight satellite directly into geostationary orbit, the objective of fielding a communications capacity quickly could be achieved.

"With direct injection we are in final position within a couple of weeks — not months," Krone said.

Boeing inaugurated its 702 SP product earlier this year with an order for three or four satellites from two commercial satellite operators — Asia Broadcast Satellite of Hong Kong, and Satmex of Mexico.

The all-electric design has captured the interest of several other satellite fleet operators. Other satellite manufacturers have said they are working on similar designs.

Krone agreed that having the U.S. Air Force as an early customer likely would accelerate the market's adoption of the technology. Krone said the Air Force solicitation, which he declined to discuss in detail — or even to name — appears to be looking for a satellite bus with a capacity in the vicinity of the 702 SP and Boeing's mid-size bus, the 702 MP, which uses conventional propellant to raise a satellite's orbit from its drop-off point after launch.

Joanne Maguire, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., said her company is also interested in the Air Force solicitation. Maguire likewise declined to discuss the program in detail but described it in general terms in a March interview as an example of the Air Force's push to adopt commercial procurement methods to cut costs.

"I think we have some products that could answer the mail, so we're in the hunt for that one," Maguire said.

http://www.spacenews.com/military/120711-af-eyes-commercial-sat-platforms.html

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Boeing, ULA Suing Air Force for $385 Million

WASHINGTON — Boeing and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, are suing the U.S. Air Force, claiming the service owes the companies more than $385 million in costs incurred on the Delta 4 rocket program.

The lawsuit, filed June 14 with the United States Court of Federal Claims, says the Air Force reneged on its contractual commitment to reimburse Boeing "hundreds of millions of dollars" incurred under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.

"The Air Force agreed to reimburse these costs in a set of interrelated agreements designed to secure Boeing's continued participation in the EELV program after the Air Force decided to restructure it," the lawsuit says. The costs were incurred between 1998 and 2006, the companies said.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Chicago-based Boeing and United Launch Services LLC, which is 90 percent owned by ULA, with Boeing and Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin evenly splitting the remaining shares. Denver-based ULA, which today launches the vast majority of U.S. scientific and national security satellites, was created in 2005 when Boeing and Lockheed Martin merged their struggling launch business at the Air Force's request.

Boeing originally developed the Delta 4 as the competitor to Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 under the EELV program. The Air Force in 2005 proposed to restructure the EELV contract in a manner that threatened Boeing's plan to recover Delta 4-related costs through pricing on future missions.

"Boeing clearly and repeatedly conditioned its willingness to participate in the restructured program on the government's agreement to contract terms ensuring Boeing's recovery of its inventoried costs, including DSC," the lawsuit states. DSC refers deferred support costs on the Delta 4 program.

In late 2006, the lawsuit alleges, the Air Force, following reviews by auditors with the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Contract Audit Agency, agreed to Boeing's terms, the lawsuit alleges. The agreement specifically approved the methodology Boeing used to account for these costs, the lawsuit states.

But the Air Force has refused to pay any such costs since 2008 and in 2011 demanded that Boeing repay $72 million, plus interest, that the service had paid the company for costs incurred on the Delta 4 program, the lawsuit states. ULA "promptly" complied to avoid paying the interest and penalties, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that the Air Force never said the costs in question were improperly billed or that the companies failed to meet their obligations under the EELV contract. Rather, the lawsuit says, the government maintains that the previous agreements to reimburse Boeing and ULA for the deferred Delta 4 costs are "nonbinding and unenforceable." In making that case, the Air Force has reversed an earlier judgment that Boeing's claim was consistent with federal cost accounting regulations, the lawsuit states.

In a written statement provided to Space News July 11 by Boeing spokeswoman Jenna McMullin, Boeing acknowledged suing the U.S. government to recover the deferred costs on the Delta 4 program. "ULA and Boeing filed the complaint to preserve their rights to recover these costs, which the government contractually agreed to pay in 2006 and 2008. These costs are legitimate, allowable costs of the Delta IV program that Boeing incurred prior to the creation of ULA in 2006.

"ULA and Boeing believe that the 2006 and 2008 agreements with the Government are appropriate recognition of legitimate, allowable costs, and that the United Launch Alliance's recovery of these costs is fully compliant with all Cost Accounting Standards and government regulations. We believe ULA is entitled to the full amount at issue and that the agreements with the Air Force are valid and enforceable."

http://www.spacenews.com/military/120711-boeing-ula-suing-af.html

[ОАЯ]

Старая новость, но ...
"В Норвегии с ракетного полигона Андёйа, расположенного на севере страны, была успешно запущена 13-метровая ракета SHEFEX-II. "

Из http://www.norge.ru/news/2012/07/08/19051.html

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Евролуч

ESA Could Add Third Satellite to Data-relay System

FARNBOROUGH, England — The European Space Agency (ESA) wants to team with an industrial partner to launch a third data-relay satellite in geostationary orbit over Asia or the Americas to form a global network to deliver video and imagery from unmanned aerial platforms directly to users, ESA's head of telecommunications said July 12.

Magali Vaissiere said the data-relay proposal, tentatively budgeted at 200 million euros ($250 million) plus the industrial contribution, is part of a 1.6-billion-euro telecommunications package she hopes to submit in November to ESA government ministers.

Given the financial pressure faced by several of ESA's biggest member states, the telecommunications budget approved by ESA ministers in November may fall far short of 1.6 billion euros. In that case, these governments will be asked to select from among the different projects Vaissiere's directorate is proposing.

An expanded data-relay service, called GlobeNet, is one of these. It would provide a third platform in geostationary orbit to speed the flow of data from unmanned aerial vehicles and Earth observation satellites to users.

The satellite likely would be owned by Astrium Services of Europe, which is already managing ESA's European Data Relay Satellite Service (EDRS).

EDRS has two data-relay platforms in development. The first is a payload to be launched aboard the Eutelsat 9B commercial telecommunications satellite in 2014 and operated from 9 degrees east. Astrium Services, whose sister company, Astrium Satellites, is building Eutelsat 9B, has already contracted with Eutelsat for the service.

The second EDRS is a full satellite, under construction by OHB AG of Germany, which would carry a data-relay terminal and be operated from an orbital position secured by Avanti Communications of London, a company that is developing a satellite broadband business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Avanti has been coy about disclosing the orbital slot that this satellite, called Hylas 3, will occupy when it is launched in 2015. The company has secured rights to various orbital positions, including 61.5 degrees east and 31 degrees east, but some of these reservations will expire before the satellite is launched.

Avanti raised 73.8 million British pounds ($114 million) for Hylas 3 in February, telling investors it had secured an agreement with ESA to place Avanti's Hylas 3 Ka-band broadband communications package as a hosted payload on the ESA satellite.

MDA Corp. of Canada announced July 10 that it is building the Avanti Hylas 3 Ka-band payload under a contract valued at 35 million Canadian dollars ($34.3 million).

That would leave about $80 million remaining from Avanti's stock issue to pay ESA to host the broadband payload.

In a July 12 interview here during the Farnborough Air Show, Vaissiere declined to disclose the value of the Avanti deal, but said it fell within the income estimate embedded into the EDRS services contract with Astrium Services.

The contract calls for Avanti to pay a one-time fee. It does not require annual payments, she said.

Vaissiere said ESA is not concerned with the exact orbital slot selected by Avanti for Hylas 3 so long as it is far enough away from the 9 degrees east location of the Eutelsat-hosted EDRS terminal to provide maximum coverage.

Adding a third EDRS satellite, Vaissiere said, would provide a global network of data-relay services for customers around the world with Earth observation satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles.

These platforms generate huge amounts of data that must either be stored or downlinked directly to ground networks that may not be immediately available.

ESA's EDRS uses laser optical terminals to beam data between low-orbiting Earth observation satellites and the ground via the data-relay spacecraft in higher geostationary orbit. In the months since the EDRS contract was signed, ESA has been persuaded that the business model would be strengthened if it widened its appeal beyond Earth observation to include unmanned aerial systems.

Another advantage of the three-satellite scenario, Vaissiere said, is that it would enable direct laser links between the three EDRS spacecraft.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120712-esa-add-sate-data-relay-system.html

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U.S. Air Force Deferral of Last DMSP Upends Plan for Launching ICESat 2

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Air Force decision to defer, until 2020, the launch of an aging weather satellite has scuttled NASA plans to fly a high-priority climate change research satellite as a co-passenger, according to a senior NASA official.

NASA had hoped to launch the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat 2) in 2016 together with the Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F20 aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. But that tentative arrangement fell through in March when the Air Force opted to push back the DMSP mission, said Michael Freilich, NASA's Earth science director.

Up until then, NASA had been working on "a real sweet deal" in which it would contribute $50 million to help Atlas 5 maker United Launch Alliance (ULA) complete development of a dual payload launch adapter in exchange for a ride to orbit, Freilich told the U.S. National Research Council's Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space July 10. But the Air Force decision torpedoed the plan because NASA did not want to wait until 2020 to begin the ICESat 2 mission, he said.

As a result, Freilich said, "we don't have a launch vehicle for" for ICESat 2, whose mission has been assigned a high priority by the Earth science community in its 2007 decadal survey of missions. NASA still hopes to launch the spacecraft in 2016, Freilich said.

"We were working this 'adapter' design with the Air Force for 18 to 24 months, stopping in March 2012 when the Air Force pushed back their launch date," NASA spokesman Steven Cole said via email July 12. Discussions were "at a very early stage [and] no NASA funds had been spent" on the dual launch adapter, he said.

DMSP F20 is the last of two remaining satellites in the DMSP program, which has provided weather data to the Pentagon since the 1960s. It was built in the 1990s, along with the DMSP 19 satellite that is slated to launch in 2014.

Air Force plans for a next-generation weather satellite system are uncertain following Congress' cancellation of the Defense Weather Satellite System.

ULA also has been working on an Atlas 5 dual payload adapter to launch the Air Force's GPS 3 navigation satellites two at a time starting around 2017.

Jessica Rye, a spokeswoman for Denver-based ULA, said the GPS dual launch arrangement is not affected by NASA's cancellation of plans to launch ICESat 2 together with DMSP F20.

ICESat 2 is a follow-on to NASA's ICESat 1 observatory, which was decommissioned in 2010 after its primary instrument failed. Like its predecessor, ICESat 2 will measure changes in sea ice thickness and in the height of global vegetation canopies.

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is building the ICESat 2 spacecraft under a $135 million contract awarded in 2011. Fibertek of Herndon, Va., holds a $26 million contract for ICESat 2's primary instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System.

The White House requested $157.2 million for ICESat 2 in 2013, which is expected to be the peak spending year on the mission. NASA expects to spend $752.4 million on ICESat 2 through September 2016, up from the $650 million price tag originally assigned to the mission.

Although NASA's Earth science budget has been increasing — from $1.4 billion in 2010 to $1.76 billion by 2012 — agency officials say skyrocketing launch costs have crimped budgets for new missions. Freilich said July 10 that at current prices, NASA can afford to launch "one to two" Earth science missions a year.

The fully fueled ICESat 2 satellite will weigh about 1,431 kilograms, according to NASA. That means there are several rockets in the NASA Launch Services 2 catalog capable of lofting the satellite to its intended orbit: ULA's Delta 2, Atlas 5 and Delta 4; Orbital's Antares; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s Falcon 9. Of these, only the ULA vehicles currently have enough missions under their belt to qualify to launch high-value scientific satellites like ICESat 2.

The Delta 2, once a workhorse for NASA and the Air Force, is out of production, but ULA has five vehicles remaining in its inventory. NASA in March identified Delta 2 as the leading candidate to launch three satellites from 2014 through 2017: the Soil Moisture Active-Passive satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and the Joint Polar Satellite System-1.

Freilich said NASA could announce an award for these launches as soon as July 16.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 originally was supposed to fly atop Orbital's Taurus XL, but the contract was canceled after that rocket experienced back-to-back failures that destroyed a pair of NASA Earth science satellites. Freilich said the mishaps cost NASA about $1 billion combined.

Operators of uncertified rockets with at least one successful flight are eligible to bid for launches of NASA science payloads as long as they also submit a plan for gaining certification prior to the scheduled launch date, said George Diller, a spokesman at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Falcon 9 has flown three times. Antares' maiden flight is scheduled for December. To get certified, rockets have to log multiple successful launches and pass many NASA reviews.

In March, Steve Volz, associate director of flight programs in NASA's Earth science office, said while fledgling rockets like Falcon 9 might be acceptable for missions late this decade, they carry an unacceptable risk for mid-decade launches.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120713-af-deferral-upends-launch-icesat2.html

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CICERO (Community Initiative for Cellular Earth Remote Observation) is an array of 24+low-Earth Orbiting (LEO) micro-satellites for performing GPS and Galileo radio occultation (GNSS-RO) of Earth's atmosphere and surface remote sensing by GNSS reflection. The system will deliver critical data on the state of the earth to scientists and decision makers worldwide. Products will include high-accuracy profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and moisture; 3D maps of the electron distribution in the ionosphere; and a variety of ocean and ice properties. Principal applications will be weather forecasting, climate research, and space weather monitoring.

CICERO will be built up over time, starting with the launch of a first spacecraft in early 2013. The initial operational constellation (CICERO-I) will consist of 12 LEOs in multiple orbit planes for broad global coverage. CICERO-I is scheduled to become fully operational in Q1/2014.

The first one or two satellites are planned to be launched in 2013 with the initial constellation becoming operational in 2014. For later launches, GeoOptics reportedly has an agreement with Virgin Galactic to use the LauncherOne rocket.



Nation:    USA
Type / Application:    Earth observing
Operator:    GeoOptics Inc.
Contractors:    GeoOptics Inc.
Equipment:    GPS radio occultation payload
Configuration:    
Propulsion:    
Power:    Deployable solar array, batteries
Lifetime:    
Mass:    
Orbit:    

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/cicero.htm

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http://www.intelsat.com/_files/resources/knowledge/corporate/Intelsat_EpicNG_brochure.pdf
http://www.intelsat.com/_files/resources/knowledge/corporate/Intelsat-Epic-Fact-Sheet.pdf

или

http://www.intelsat.com/network/satellite/ng/newsmedia/downloads.asp#epicvideos