Ariane 5 Launcher Puts TerreStar-1
into Orbit
Europe's Ariane 5 ECA rocket on July
1 successfully placed the TerreStar-1 mobile communications satellite — the largest commercial spacecraft
ever built — into geostationary transfer orbit
from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.
The
6,910-kilogram TerreStar-1, built by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif.,
is designed to provide mobile voice and data communications in North America to
smartphone-size handsets using the 2-gigahertz, or S-band, portion of the radio
spectrum. The system is designed to function with a network of ground-based
signal amplifiers to permit service in areas the satellite cannot reach, such
as urban canyons and areas outside the line-of-sight view of the spacecraft.
The launch
was the third of a planned seven Ariane 5 ECA launches in 2009. Because of its
size, TerreStar-1 was the sole payload on board the vehicle, which typically is
used to place two telecommunications
satellites at a time into geostationary transfer orbit.
In addition
to its size, TerreStar-1 is distinguished by its 18-meter-diameter unfurlable
S-band antenna, built by Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla. The antenna will be
unfurled in the coming weeks, and the satellite is expected to be put through
several months of ground tests before entering commercial service toward the
end of the year, according to officials from Reston, Va.-based TerreStar Networks
Inc. TerreStar-1 will operate from 111 degrees west longitude.
With its
satellite now launched, TerreStar faces some of the same challenges that ICO
Global, also of Reston, faced following the launch of its S-band mobile
communications satellite in mid-2008: how to secure the remaining investment
needed to deploy the network of ground repeaters, called the Ancillary Terrestrial
Component, which are crucial to making the service work. It is an investment
likely to total at least several hundred-million dollars. ICO has since filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to reorganize its debt.
Asia Broadcast Satellite Agrees To
Buy KoreaSat-2
Satellite operator Asia Broadcast
Satellite (ABS) of Hong Kong, which in June announced a joint agreement with
SingTel Optus for the purchase of the new ABS-2 satellite, announced July 2 it was purchasing
the aging Koreasat-2 satellite from South Korea's KT Corp. and moving it to ABS
slot at 75 degrees east.
Pending
regulatory approval of the deal, the satellite will be renamed ABS-1A, co-located
at the same slot as the current ABS-1 and will be operated in inclined orbit — meaning
without maintaining stability on its north-south axis — for between two and five
years before its fuel is expected to run out, ABS said. ABS-2, under
construction by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Space Systems/Loral, is scheduled for
launch in 2012.
Koreasat-2
was launched in 1996. ABS said the satellite has sufficient power remaining to
provide high-powered Ku-band capacity to ABS customers in the Middle East. KT
Corp. will continue to perform ground control for the satellite, under contract
to ABS.
KT Corp.
Senior Vice President Sung Man Kim said the transaction should lead to a strong
business relationship with ABS for future business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific
region.
ABS
currently operates only the ABS-1 satellite and the company reported revenue of
about $33 million in 2008.
Confirmation Hearing for NASA Chief
Set for July 8
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee
will hold a confirmation hearing July 8 for retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen.
Charles Bolden and Lori Garver, the White House nominees for NASA administrator
and NASA deputy administrator, respectively.
Bolden is a
former space shuttle commander and Garver is a former NASA associate
administrator for policy and plans. The two were nominated as a pair May 23.
During the July 8 hearing, the committee also will consider
President Barack Obama's picks to head the National Transportation
Safety Board and Federal Maritime Commission, and his nominee for a senior
policy post at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
ILS Proton Launches Sirius FM-5
Satellite
An International Launch Services
(ILS) Proton rocket on July 1 successfully placed Sirius XM Satellite Radio's
Sirius FM-5 direct-broadcast radio satellite into geostationary transfer orbit,
a satellite New York-based Sirius said will add backup capacity to the
three existing Sirius satellites.
The Proton's
Breeze upper stage placed the 5,280-kilogram Sirius FM-5 into orbit some nine
hours and 14 minutes after liftoff from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The satellite, which manufacturer Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif.,
said is one of the most powerful commercial spacecraft ever built, is designed
to provide more than 20 kilowatts of power at the end of its 15-year service
life.
In addition
to the four satellites now in orbit, Sirius has a ground spare
satellite, called FM-4, already built.
The current
Sirius satellite constellation consists of three spacecraft in highly elliptical
orbits whose apogees are over North America. The FM-5 launched July 1 is Sirius'
first geostationary-orbit spacecraft and will operate at 96 degrees west longitude to provide
backup to the current fleet and improve radio-broadcast availability
for some customers.
The
satellite features a 9-meter-diameter deployable antenna built by Harris Corp.
of Melbourne, Fla.
The launch
was the third in 2009 for Reston, Va.-based ILS, which said its next launch, of
the AsiaSat-5 satellite for AsiaSat of Hong Kong, will occur in early August.
Ares 1-X Official Sees Test Launch
Slipping Past Sept.
The first test launch of the U.S.
space agency's Ares 1 rocket program, scheduled for Aug. 30, is now expected to
slip beyond September, according to NASA's Ares 1-X Mission Manager Bob Ess. In
a July 2 interview with Space News, Ess attributed the anticipated delay to a
combination of hardware assembly challenges and launch range availability. Although Aug. 30 remains the official
date for launching the prototype rocket from a converted
space shuttle pad at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Ess said the launch is likely
to slip easily into the fall.
"This is
the first time we've put this rocket together, it is taking longer than planned
... and we are seeing two or three weeks needed for more testing," he said.
Meanwhile, the on-pad assembly of the
rocket's four solid-fueled booster segments and dummy fifth segment has been pushed from June 30 to no
earlier than July 8. Ess said a decision to start stacking the Ares 1-X vehicle
out on the pad awaits analysis of work done to the rocket's aft skirt and the thrust
vector control system it houses.
"We might
hold off for a few days or another week, with no significant impact to the
launch date," he said.
NASA also
must bring Ares 1-X into compliance with range safety requirements imposed
by the U.S. Air Force, which operates the Eastern Range. These include a need
to ensure the rocket's flight termination system can withstand potentially intense
vibrations long enough into the flight to blow up the rocket if it veers off
course. Ess said the Ares 1-X team is
working closely with the Air Force to resolve the Air Force's safety concerns.
"We have a
responsibility to justify why we believe our flight termination [system] is going
to survive in the environment it needs to," Ess said. "It's not like we have a technical
disagreement [with the Air Force]. The burden is on us to show that the flight
termination system will perform its intended function. And we're just not done
yet."
Pentagon Chief Names New DARPA
Director
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates has appointed Regina E. Dugan to be director of the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to a July 2 Defense Department
announcement.
DARPA is a
technology development arm of the Pentagon that focuses on high-risk,
high-reward concept demonstrations and system developments. Dugan follows previous
director Tony Tether, who resigned in February.
Dugan was
most recently chief executive of RedXDefense LLC, a company that she co-founded
in 2005 to develop defenses against explosive threats, the announcement said.
Dugan previously served at DARPA from 1996 to 2000, during which she received
the program manager of the year award for her leadership on the Dog's Nose
Program for detecting the explosive content of land mines. Dugan's official biography
identifies her as the sole inventor on a patent for refueling satellites in
orbit, a task DARPA demonstrated in 2007 during the 120-day Orbital Express
mission.