Sat-ND, 22.8.97

Sat-ND, 22.08.97 -- Now with a lighter, crisper taste


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Today's Headlines

LAUNCHES & DELAYS

The official date for the launch of PAS-5 aboard a Russian Proton from the Baikonur cosmodrome has now been set to August 28, 6:33 a.m. local time. As reported, the launch had to be delayed because one of the satellite's antennas got damaged. A transmission of the launch will be carried on Galaxy 9 (123 deg. West) on transponder 6, beginning at August 27, 8 p.m. ET.
The launch of NASA's Lewis satellite (no, not Carl Lewis) from Vandenberg Air Force Base is now scheduled for August 23rd, during a launch window of 2:51 a.m. to 3:07 a.m. Eastern time. There is no planned live coverage of this launch, but NASA TV [not available in Europe, by the way] will show a taped replay on Monday, August 25. Lewis is an advanced Earth-imaging satellite that according to NASA is intended "to push the state-of-the-art in scientific and commercial remote sensing."
The launch of GE-3, originally scheduled for August 27th, has been delayed owing to an unspecified problem with the Atlas IIAS launch vehicle. The delay is expected to last eight to ten days.

There some bits and pieces on Indostar 1, built by Orbital Sciences, in yesterday's Sat-ND, and as almost nothing has happened today, here are some more bits and pieces directly from the horse's mouth.
Indostar 1, which will provide Indonesia with high-power S-band direct-to-home (DTH) television programming from 107.7 deg. East, is to be launched aboard an Ariane 4 rocket this October.
The satellite is equipped with five 70-watts transponders that will allow 40 digital television channels to be distributed [at a rather high compression rate.] As reported, the satellite will broadcast in the S-band on frequencies even lower than that used in the C-band. Why? Let's face it, this bird can't really be compared with those manufactured by the big guys even though it generates 1.5 kilowatts of electrical power and has a 12-year design life. As Indonesia is a region known for heavy rainfalls, higher frequencies than those of the S-band could not reliably be received with 70-cm dishes as they tend to get attenuated during their way down though the Earth's atmosphere (a fact that will cause the upcoming Ka-band services some trouble.)
What else? Indostar 1 is based on he lightweight STARBus satellite platform, pioneered by the Canadian company CTA that was recently taken over by Orbital's Space Systems Group.

As reported yesterday, the merger of British Telecom and MCI Communications -- although okayed by the U.S.' FCC -- had run into trouble. Today both companies announced that the deal to build one of the three biggest telecommunications companies in the world would go ahead, although not quite as planned.
Because MCI expects losses from local market operations of up to US$800 million this year, the new terms give MCI shareholders about 20 percent less than they would receive under the terms of the original deal struck last November.
The deal, the largest in UK corporate history, ranks as the eighth largest in global terms, and is the biggest ever foreign acquisition of a U.S. company. The resulting company, Concert Plc, will have 43 million customers and a six percent share of the global telecoms market.

Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. said it would discontinue its shared-use VSAT operations. According to the company, shared-use VSAT was less competitive now that there are frame relay and upcoming services from LEO satellites.
Japan's Dentsu Inc, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, has won its first television broadcast rights for a sporting event. The company acquired the rights to broadcast athletic championships on Japanese television for six years beginning in 2000 from the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Dentsu, by the way, is no newcomer in this area -- for instance, they hold stakes in a German programming provider.

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