Sat-ND, 29.8.97

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Date: Sat, 30 Aug 1997 19:06:34 +0200

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Sat-ND, 29.8.97

Sat-ND, 29.08.97 -- My budgie's going mental

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LAUNCHES: Ariane to lift Hot Bird 3, Meteosat 7; Space plastic; Long March Insurance Co.
LAW & ORDER: SkyBridge's odd frequencies
RUPERTWATCH: Rupert's urge to merge; TV hackerz and descramblerz
DIGITAL: ARD, ZDF go digital

Editorial Note

Owing to some ongoing trouble with StarOffice (has the message been sent? has it not?,) the last two issues weren't delivered to the subscribers of this mailing list. Sorry for the delay, and my apologies should anything have been sent more than once. BTW: you have to ask Netscape why it inserts something like "file:///C|/Eigene Dateien/Sat-ND/97-08 Sat-ND/970829.htm" into the email body (I think it does, I never tried sending email with this program before :-)

LAUNCHES

Ariane to lift Hot Bird 3, Meteosat 7

The 99th Ariane launch (V99) is scheduled to take place on September 2 at 07:14 p.m. Kourou time (10:14 p.m. GMT; 00:14 a.m. CEST on September 3.)
The European Space Agency ESA said in a statement that the Ariane 44 LP version (equipped with 2 solid and 2 liquid strap-on boosters) will lift off from the Guiana Space Centre, i.e. the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The launcher will place into geostationary transfer orbit the telecommunications satellite Hotbird 3 for Eutelsat, and Meteosat 7 for the European Meteorological Satellite Organisation Eumetsat. Hot Bird-3 will provide digital and analogue broadcasts to Europe from 13 degrees East. Meteosat-7 will provide meteorological services from 0 degrees longitude.
The launch window opens at 07:14 p.m. and closes at 07:57 p.m. (10:14 p.m. - 10:57 p.m. GMT; 00:14 a.m. 00:57 a.m. CEST on September 3.) Coverage of the 99th Arianespace launch will begin at 5:45 p.m. ET on Galaxy 4/11 C band. Unfortunately, I don't have any details for Europe, but if you're working at ESA's HQ in Evry, you are invited to contact Ms Colombier-Sist (Ext. 7427) should you wish to attend the transmission :-)

Space plastic

For the second time in less than a month, a Pegasus XL rocket built by Orbital Sciences successfully launched a satellite into its targeted low-Earth orbit (LEO.)
Orbital deployed the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events (Forte) satellite in today's Pegasus mission.
The Forte satellite, weighing in at 227 kg, is the first satellite in space that utilises an all-plastic platform. To be exact: it was built by snapping together parts of graphite-epoxy, a composite carbon material. That makes the satellite not only lighter but also cheaper. The material's manufacturer, Composite Optics, said all major satellite manufacturers have contacted Composite Optics about working together on satellite design.
Forte was originally designed as a test-bed spacecraft for treaty-monitoring technology for use as part of the United States' nuclear detection system. The spacecraft will also serve in another capacity by assisting scientific researchers with their investigations into the Earth's ionosphere and the physics of lightning. The Forte satellite will record optical flashes and radio-frequency emissions generated by lightning storms. This same data will also give scientists a new tool for climate modelling and weather prediction.

Long March Insurance Co.

Subsidies come in many disguises. China will subsidise its fledgling commercial satellite launch business by setting up an insurance consortium.
China's indigenous Long March rocket so far has not been able to totally convince the rest of the world that it was as reliable as others, to put it in a nice way. This led, of course, to rising insurance rates that diminished the price advantage of a Long March launch (launch provider Great Wall Industries was said to offer launches at half the price of Western competitors but also with just half the reliability rate.)
The new Consortium, which will specialise in [Chinese] satellite launches, includes the People's Insurance Co of China (PICC), China Pacific Insurance Co, Pingan Insurance Co and six other insurance companies. It will be headed by PICC general manager Sun Xiyue.

LAW & ORDER

SkyBridge's odd frequencies

SkyBridge, a project led by Alcatel Alsthom of France, has applied to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate 64 LEO satellites under its previously announced plan for a space-based telecommunications network.
The FCC said in a statement that SkyBridge had acknowledged that some of its proposed frequency bands did not conform with current domestic or international allocations. As a consequence, the FCC warned changes to the company's application might be necessary to conform with rules for transmissions in the bands SkyBridge wants to use. SkyBridge has told the FCC that operating restrictions will ensure there is no interference with existing users of the spectrum.
Last June, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. and Alcatel Alsthom of France announced that they have formed a strategic partnership including cross investments in Loral's geostationary (GEO) satellite CyberStar project and Alcatel's SkyBridge project. Alcatel has said it plans to launch the first satellite in the network in 2001.

RUPERTWATCH

by Dr Sarmaz

Rupert's urge to merge

Japan's Fuji Television Network Inc. has signed an agreement with Japan Sky Broadcasting Co. (JSkyB) that will open Fuji's comprehensive TV programme library to Mr Murdoch's planned digital service.
Fuji TV will purchase a 25 percent equity in JSkyB for ¥5 billion (US$42 million), becoming an equal partner with the other three owners, Mr Murdoch's News Corp., Softbank Corp. and Sony Corp. Fuji TV says it will have executives on the board of JSkyB.
As reported, BSkyB has recently agreed to share a common digital platform with its Japanese rival PerfecTV. Observers noted that Mr Murdoch's latest Japanese move is yet another effort to rein an ill-advised move into digital satellite TV -- so far, he has not been able to repeat the success he experiences with the UK's (analogue) satellite pay-TV service BSkyB.

TV hackerz and descramblerz

Almost immediately after it went on air, DirecTV, the first digital DTH service in the U.S., had to realise that the encryption technology provided by Mr Murdoch's News Datacom wasn't as safe as claimed (Sat-ND, 26.03.97.) Others have since discovered that topic :-)
North American readers, and others with an interest, may want to take a look at an MSNBC Web posted article entitled "Hacking the Dish" at http://www.msnbc.com/news/105840.asp which quotes, amongst others, old TVRO friend Jim Shelton. There is some good background information and links to an online discussion of the subject.
MSNBC says that DirecTV "spent an estimated US$40 million over the last year to upgrade security and 'kill' compromised descrambler boxes. Less than a month after the project's completion, pirate Web sites were selling new and improved hacks enabling customers to watch satellite programming for free."

DIGITAL

ARD, ZDF to go digital

German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF unveiled their digital television plans yesterday -- not really, most of it was known anyway.
In a move to keep up with their commercial competitors' foray into digital, ARD as well as ZDF will offer digital bouquets as well. They won't consist of original programming though, just more of the same -- they have do that kind of recycling to in order to get noticed in a multichannel landscape anyway. At least, that's the misconception the pubcasters' officials cling to: "The future belongs without question to digital TV," ARD general manager Udo Reiter was quoted as saying. However, there's neither any proof nor the slightest indication that digital TV will replace the common TV distribution channels over the next 10 or 20 years.
"ARD Digital" will offer 30 free digital channels over satellite, while ZDF plans to offer five digital TV channels under the name "ZDF.Vision." Both services will initially be available on satellite only as the pubcasters haven't managed to strike cable distribution deals so far. Commercial competitors have critisised the ARD/ZDF move, saying they would misuse TV license fees for digital offerings without any additional value.

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