99 City Road London EC1Y 1AX, UK Tel. (44-207) 728-1000; Fax (44-207) 728-1044 www.inmarsat.com Inmarsat2-F1 Broadcasting, business services, mobile communications. Orbital location is 143.5° E. Carries demand-assigned L-band transponders. Launched 1990. 10-year design life. Ongoing service as a spare and for leased traffic. Inmarsat2-F2 Broadcasting, business services, mobile communications. Orbital location is 98° W. Launched 1991. 10-year design life. Ongoing service as a spare and for leased traffic.
NATO has selected Italy’s Sigonella base as the main operating facility for the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) fleet of Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. The final candidates were Italy, Germany and Turkey. The reasons for the site selection appear to be both geographical and political. In the latter case Italian participation in the AGS was in jeopardy as a result of budget cuts. An earlier Italian defense ministry recommendation called for eliminating funding for the program.
Intelsat has chosen Sea Launch to orbit its Intelsat 17 communications satellite late next year. Launch from the Odyssey oceangoing platform will be the first of five missions covered in a service contract that was announced earlier. The spacecraft, built by Space Systems/Loral, is intended to replace Intelsat 704, which is operating at 66 deg. E. Long. It will carry 28 C-band and 46 Ku-band transponders over a target 15-year service life for customers in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and India.
John S. Edwards/Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com
The FAA lists 23 active and emerging commercial reusable launch vehicle programs in the U.S. Some of them are well developed and being pursued by companies that have been in the space business for decades; others are being developed by companies that are creating space hardware for the first time. But the one unifying factor is that only a small fraction will make it out of the paper chase and onto the launch pad.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) will be chair of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics in the new Congress, succeeding Mark Udall (D-Col.), who has moved to the Senate. Giffords will be a key player in overseeing NASA and the U.S. civil space program. Beginning her second term representing the Tucson area on Capitol Hill, Giffords is a “blue-dog Democrat” who has promoted fiscal conservatism. She is married to shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly, commander of the STS-124 space station assembly mission last year.
Italian authorities are considering shutting down Ciampino, the airport closest to Rome, in favor of bolstering the larger Fiumicino airport. Low-fare carriers now operating at Ciampino would likely be moved to Viterbo, which is yet another military-commercial airport. But Viterbo is located about 100 km. (62 mi.) from the Italian capital. Authorities promise to improve public transportation to the facility. No schedule has been established for the changes.
NASA veteran Christopher Scolese will serve as acting administrator until Obama appoints a replacement for Michael Griffin, who departed when the new administration took office Jan. 20. A decision could come soon, if word of a possible break in the logjam that has stalled Obama’s reported favorite for the job is true. Former Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration’s lack of space experience has run afoul of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who chaired the panel that confirms NASA administrators in the 110th Congress and probably will in the new one as well.
Raymond Jaworowski (Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com)
The recent airline business environment has been characterized by erratic swings in profits, fuel prices and traffic statistics. But even in such tough financial conditions, aircraft manufacturers can find opportunities to lay the foundation for growth in profits and market share. The world airline industry posted a net profit in 2007, for the first year since 2000. Net profitability was achieved largely because U.S. major carriers finally joined the recovery. Previously, their financial results had been lagging behind the rest of the industry.
Team/Network Group 206 Jungja-dong, Bundang-gu Sungnam City, Kyunggi Province 463-711, South Korea Tel. (82-31) 727-4260; Fax (82-31) 727-4279 www.kt.co.kr Koreasat 2 (Mugungwha 2) Business services, multimedia, VSAT networks. Orbital location is 113° E geosynchronous. Carries 15 Ku-band transponders. Launched 1996.
Radical reorganization of the Chinese aerospace industry has created an array of specialist companies that policy makers hope will have the focus needed to succeed in the international market. The former twin conglomerates Avic 1 and Avic 2 have been merged back together as Avic. But the key to the reform is the subsequent parceling of their many factories and research institutes into five specialist aerospace companies plus the so-called Defense Div., itself a nascent integrated military contractor.
7 Menachem Begin St. Ramat Gan 52521, Israel Tel. (972-3) 755-1000; Fax (972-3) 755-1001 www.amos-spacecom.com Amos 1 Broadband, broadcasting, corporate and government services, Internet access. Orbital location is 4° W geosynchronous. Carries seven Ku-band transponders. 2008 EOL. Amos 2 Broadband, broadcasting, corporate and government services, Internet access. Orbital location is 4° W geosynchronous. Carries 11 Ku-band transponders. 2015 EOL.
