Wellesley House North 2nd Floor 90 Pitts Bay Road Pembroke, HM 08, Bermuda Tel. (441) 294-1650; Fax (441) 292-8300 www.intelsat.com Galaxy 3C Broadcasting, business services, cable programming, direct-to-home TV broadcasting, Internet access, mobile communications, telecommunications, VSAT networks. Orbital location is 95° W geosynchronous. Carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. Covers North America. 2017 EOL.
The French air force has conducted a new series of flight trials of Sagem’s SIDM UAV to prepare the medium-altitude long-endurance aircraft for operation. The latest trials, on Jan. 15-16, were intended to review missions the SIDM could perform in an overseas theater. The Sagem UAV is expected to be deployed to Afghanistan this year as part of a reinforcement of France’s operational capability there.
In Michael Goldberg’s Viewpoint article “How To Ease Engineering Gap” (AW&ST Nov. 17, 2008, p. 62), he advises to lower the number of hours spent on the design task, which is certainly a worthy goal. In the next sentence or two, he counsels “reducing engineering rework, especially downstream in the development cycle.”
Defense Force Bell Helicopter Textron 47G (1) CASA C-212-300 (2) Cessna 182Q (1) Police Bell Helicopter Textron 412 (3) Dornier Do 27A (1) MBB BO 105 (1)
Air Force Aero Vodochody L-39 (4) Mikoyan MiG-25 (1) Mil Mi-2 (9) Mil Mi-8 (11) Mil Mi-9 (2) Mil Mi-24K (2) Mil Mi-24P (8) Mil Mi-24R (2) Sukhoi Su-25 (5) Sukhoi Su-25K (9) Sukhoi Su-25UBK (1) Yakovlev Yak-52 (16)
Air Force AgustaWestland Merlin HC3 (22) BAE Systems 146 CC.Mk 2 (2) BAE Systems Harrier GR7 (37) BAE Systems Harrier GR9 (26) BAE Systems Nimrod MR2 (15) BAE Systems Nimrod R1 (3) Bell Helicopter Textron 412 (14) Bell Helicopter Textron 412EP (2) Boeing Helicopter Chinook HC2 (32) Boeing Helicopter Chinook HC3 (8) Boeing C-17A (6) Boeing E-3D (6) Bombardier Sentinel R1 (1) British Aerospace HS. 125-1 (5)
10802 Parkridge Blvd. Reston, VA 20191-4334, USA Tel. (703) 390-2700; Fax (703) 390-2770 www.msvlp.com MSAT-1 Mobile communications. Orbital location is 106.5° W geosynchronous. Carries one Ku-band and two L-band transponders. Launched 1996. MSAT-2 Mobile communications. Orbital location is 101° W geosynchronous. Carries one Ku-band and two L-band transponders. Boeing 601 model. Launched 1995.
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.
