Observations reveal that since being founded in 1980 Arianespace has signed over 300 launch Service & Solutions contracts, and launched 265 satellites for 70 customers, of which more than half of all commercial satellites are now in service worldwide. The company continued its sustained launch rate in 2008, with one Soyuz and six Ariane 5 launches, boosting more than 70 metric tons of payload into orbit. 2008 - ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Service Photo Optique Video du CSG
With 28 successful consecutive launches that included; Ariane 5 launched the Jules Verne ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) to the International Space Station last year; and launched 10 geostationary satellites, with half of all those launched worldwide. In just 12 months, from August 2007 to August 2008, Arianespace carried out nine Ariane 5 launches. The company logged approximately 950 million euros in consolidated sales for the year, and it anticipated to achieve break-even or better for the sixth consecutive year. However, the global financial crisis limited the number of new contracts available in 2008. Only 18 new launch contracts were signed last year, versus 25 in 2007, as launch capacity exceeded market demand. The tight credit situation had varying effects. Several new operators froze their projects, but the largest operators were unaffected, and they are pursuing their development, which underpins a solid replacement market. Photo Jules Verna ESA Multimedia
Arianespace also won 13 contracts out of a total of 18 open to competition, and was chosen to launch the entire Galileo constellation. As of January 1, 2009, Arianespace had a record backlog of orders, including 27 geostationary satellites, plus launches into other orbits: eight by Ariane 5 and seven by Soyuz. These figures do not include Galileo launches.
Regarding bookings for this year, Arianespace just announced that it has signed a contract with the international satellite operator Intelsat, for the launch of one satellite, with the option to launch four more satellites between 2011 and 2015. Commenting on this latest contract, Arianespace Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Yves Le Gall said: "We are very proud to have launched 48 satellites for Intelsat in the last three decades, and we are extremely honored to continue this partnership with the contract signed today. Through this new contract, Arianespace clearly shows its ability to offer Intelsat custom-tailored launch services and solutions that meet its need for flexibility." Six to eight Ariane 5 launches are also slated for this year, including the Herschel-Planck and Terrestar-1 missions. In addition, Soyuz will be launched for the first time from the Guiana Space Center, enabling Arianespace to carry out eight Soyuz missions by the end of 2010, from either French Guiana or Baikonur. The development of the Vega light launcher will be completed in 2009, leading to a commercial service entry in 2010.
Another noteworthy factor is that the average weight of satellites decreased. Out of the 13 contracts signed by Arianespace in 2008, seven were for "3 ton" class satellites, and there was a limited number of satellites in the "6 ton" class.
Arianespace's Family Increases, Good Returns
TS2 Satellite Technologies Goes Portable to the Extreme
TS2 Satellite Technologies brings new portable modems to Inmarsat's BGAN global satellite broadband network, and includes all available terminals such as TT Explorer 110/ 300/ 500/ 700, Hughes 9201 and SABRE. The devices are specific to persons and companies requiring mobile communications while working or operating in areas that have no cellular networks or ground-based telecommunications.
Global access to secure broadband satellite services, e-mail, high-quality simultaneous audio and video transmission in real time, two-way data transfer up to 492 Kbit/s (Hughes 9201, T&T Explorer 700), ISDN and VoIP telephone interfaces, SMS with granted independence and unlimited mobility, are in all the new TS2 portable BGAN terminals.
BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) satellite modem is a small laptop-sized device which weighs less than a kilogram (T&T Explorer 110) and which ensures transfer and reception of files of any size within a satellite network from almost any place on Earth. Equipped in USB, WLAN, Bluetooth and ISDN - BGAN makes a control unit or communications center with a decision centre in any place in the world. On land, water, or in the air, both high in the mountains and on deserts BGAN provides you with a portable office.
BGAN terminals are gaining increasing interest, particularly among foreign correspondents, soldiers, crisis management units, police, fire brigades, emergency services and other safety services. Travelers, participants of exotic expeditions, extreme sports lovers, sailors and officers of international organizations all over the world also form a numerous group of users.
The new technology can be used for communications even in most extreme conditions. The terminal is resistant to water, humidity, shock, dirt and temperatures ranging from -40ºC to +80 ºC. Its additional accessories such as a solar panel, car antenna or power generating unit eliminate additional limitations, and there is ease-of-use when connecting several computers and other compatible devices to one modem make it suitable for use in countless situations.
SICRAL Satellites To Provide Newly Contracted Telecom Services
Telespazio has signed agreements for two separate contracts with DRS Technologies, which was acquired by Finmeccanica in October of 2008. The agreement covers the provision of telecommunications services via the Italian SICRAL satellites and the Telespazio satellite telecommunications centre in Fucino.
Under the first contract, which is for 12 years and worth around 30 million euro, Telespazio will provide DRS Technologies with satellite capacity via the Italian SICRAL military communications satellites, including SICRAL-1B, the second satellite in the system, which is scheduled for launch in February 2009. Telespazio’s direct investment in the construction of SICRAL-1B means it has access to a portion of the satellite’s transmission capacity. The second contract is for seven years and worth 4 million euro, and involves the supply of satellite transmission services (uplink) via the Fucino Space Centre. The signing of these agreements will provide a platform for further growth in the U.S. market in the military communications and global network communications sectors. This agreement also increases DRS Technologies’ opportunities to provide the US defence forces with connectivity services in theatres of operations via the use of ground infrastructure (global network communications at the Fucino Space Centre) and satellite capacity made available by the Finmeccanica Group.
ncur Additional UAS Knowledge At Upcoming ASD Conference...
Currently, billions of dollars are pouring into Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) development as the DoD’s need for new and inventive unmanned aircraft and payloads is nowhere close to being satisfied.
New missions are continually being developed for this growing technology as new threats and obstacles are constantly being realized in these ever-changing times, at home and abroad. Persistent ISR continues to evolve and be an indispensable advantage to combatant commanders. Smaller UAS ISR systems are being continually refined to excel at the tactical level. And while UAS national airspace integration comes closer to fruition, missions and system capabilities are being developed for homeland defense needs. These expanded roles for UASs bring forth a breadth of opportunities for UAS development as critical capability gaps will need to be filled. Hence the need for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems conference, which will be held from March 3rd through 4th at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina in San Diego, CA. Conducted by Technology Training Corporation for Aerospace & Defence Network, this timely conference examines technology gaps and covers the broad range of UAS platforms, missions and payload opportunities.
Towers That Protect the Power
Talk about a major target for lightning, NASA has become proactive and so — on Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a crane completes construction of one of the towers in the new lightning protection system for the Constellation Program. Image Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
Other towers are being constructed at left and behind the service structures on the pad. Each of the three new lightning towers will be 500 feet tall with an additional 100-foot fiberglass mast atop supporting a wire catenary system. This improved lightning protection system allows for the taller height of the Ares I rocket compared to the space shuttle. Pad 39B will be the site of the first Ares vehicle launch, including the Ares I-X test flight that is targeted for July 2009.
NASA Guarantees Big Win In Vegas
Not everyone is lucky in Las Vegas, however, some Las Vegas students are as they will have an opportunity to chat with NASA Expedition 18 astronauts Mike Fincke and Sandra Magnus, who are aboard the International Space Station. The live chat will take place on Thursday, January 8, from 10:10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. PST, at the Jim Bridger Middle School, 2505 North Bruce Street, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It should be an exciting event as the live educational downlink connects an auditorium filled with hundreds of middle school students and teachers with the space station crew members to learn more about what life is like in space and how gravity affects our lives on Earth.
Jim Bridger Middle School is an alumnus of the NASA Explorer Schools Program. The program offers a three-year partnership between NASA and school teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. Focusing on underserved populations, the program is designed for education communities at the fourth to ninth grade levels to help middle schools improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and math education.
The downlink event is one in a series with educational organizations in the U.S. and abroad. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching from Space Program. The program promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.
NASA's Kepler Getting Pre-Launch Makeover At Canaveral
Back in May of 2008, NASA announced an opportunity for anyone to submit their name to be included on a DVD, which will be rocketed into space as part of NASA's Kepler Mission. The launch is now scheduled for March 5 2009 from launch pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a Delta II 7925 launch vehicle.
The Name in Space DVD was mounted onto the exterior of the spacecraft last November. The Name in Space is an international activity associated with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Johannes Kepler's publication of his first two laws of planetary motion.
Kepler arrived at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center on January 6th. Work is under way to remove the spacecraft from the shipping container, with initial testing to start on the 9th of January. Launch preparations for the Delta II rocket continue on schedule at Pad 17-B. Loading the first stage with liquid oxygen as a leak check and to serve as a countdown demonstration and certification for the launch team is scheduled for January 19th. A flight simulation which exercises the electrical and mechanical systems of the rocket as they will operate after liftoff during flight will be conducted on January 20th. Leak checks of the first stage fuel system are complete, and the checkout of the guidance and vehicle control system was finished before the holidays, as planned.
Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA Ames is the home organization of the science principal investigator and is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations, and science data analysis. Kepler mission development is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system.
Cassini Seizes Astounding Aurora
Saturn has its own unique brand of aurora that lights up the polar cap, unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system. This odd aurora revealed itself to one of the infrared instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Auroras are caused by charged particles streaming along the magnetic field lines of a planet into its atmosphere. Particles from the sun cause Earth's auroras. Many, but not all, of the auroras at Jupiter and Saturn are caused by particles trapped within the magnetic environments of those planets. Jupiter's main auroral ring, caused by interactions internal to Jupiter's magnetic environment, is constant in size. Saturn's main aurora, which is caused by the solar wind, changes size dramatically as the wind varies. The newly observed aurora at Saturn, however, doesn't fit into either category. The new infrared aurora appears in a region hidden from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which has provided views of Saturn's ultraviolet aurora. Cassini observed it when the spacecraft flew near Saturn's polar region. In infrared light, the aurora sometimes fills the region from around 82 degrees north all the way over the pole. This new aurora is also constantly changing, even disappearing within a 45 minute-period.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
(Image is of the northern polar region of Saturn and shows both the aurora and underlying atmosphere, seen at two different wavelengths of infrared light as captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
Globecomm's VSATs Aid Peace Corps
Globecomm Systems Inc. [NASDAQ: GCOM], announced that the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Globecomm Services Maryland has received a contract from Peace Corps valued at $2.4 million. Globecomm provides satellite-based communications infrastructure solutions and services on a global basis.
The contract is for five years, including options, and will provide Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) for a communication network, including maintenance of the Agency's existing network equipment, installation, hook-up and maintenance to new VSAT sites and moves between VSAT sites.
