FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2063.PDF
TECHNICAL: SPACEFLIGHT Matra to build Locstar satellites Locstar, the European space telecommunications consor tium, has signed a FFrl billion ($151 million) contract with Matra Espace for the manu facture of two satellites for radio location and radio commu nication with mobile trains, trucks and buses. Both satellites will be launched by an Ariane 4 Spelda rocket in the spring of 1992, for service soon after, with one million subscribers from the UK to Turkey and from Norway to Italy. In due course Locstar expects to extend its coverage and network to the Middle East and Africa. Matra clinched the deal in the face of tough competition, mainly from Alcatel, putting into operation the first space-based international interactive mess aging and radio location service with mobile units. Matra based its technical offer on Eurostar, the most modern platform avail able internationally which has already been selected for the Telecom-2 and Inmarsat-2 programmes. Eurostar makes it possible to produce third-generation satel lites with total weights of 1,350kg each on take-off, includ ing payload and with life spans of 10 to 15 years, depending on the mission, Matra chairman and chief executive Jean-Luc Lagardere tells Flight. For Locstar, Matra Espace designed a system allowing the highest possible performances in terms of transmission and recep tion. The satellites will have a very powerful transmitter and ultra-sensitive receiver, and an extra-high-gain antenna for S- and L-band communications. S-band signals will be amplified by travelling wave tubes of nearly 100W power, providing, with the antenna gain, a minimum of 51dBW useable on the. ground— enough to deliver audible signals while remaining compatible with the flux limitations imposed by radio communication regu lations, says Claude Gourny, Matra Espace division chief. The satellite's L-band receivers will be highly sensitive, using low-noise FET transistors. The return transponder which links with the dispatch centre will be manufactured with high- power, solid-state amplifiers, with technology developed for the next generation of satellites from the Intelsat organisation. Locstar chairman Frederic dAllest tells Flight that messages exchanged between the trans mitting and receiving centres should allow for 300,000 "transactions" per hour, serving the million subscribers. At present Locstar has 27 share holders in nine European coun tries and the USA, including Geostar. "We expect to increase our capital (initially set at FFr100 million), work out a financial package of FFr2 billion, and welcome new shareholders before the end of the year," dAllest says. Matra Espace is the industrial prime contractor for Locstar. British Aerospace, Matra's part ner in Satcome International for Eurostar, is among the manu facturers, which include GEC- Marconi Space Systems for payload repeaters (bands used for communications) and Selenia Spazio for L- and S-band anten nas. Aerospatiale, CASA, Dornier, and Fokker are also associated with Locstar. • Galileo arrives at Canaveral Both components of the Galileo mission to Jupiter have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center for their launch on Space Shuttle Atlantis on Octo ber 12. The Galileo Jupiter orbiter was delivered from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Galileo atmospheric probe from Hughes. The combined spacecraft is in the Kennedy Space Center's Spacecraft Assembly and Encap sulation Facility 2, and will be moved to the Vertical Processing Facility for mating with its IUS upper stage in late July. The stacked Galileo-IUS combination will be mated with the Atlantis shuttle orbite'r on August 28. The STS 34 Atlantis mission, commanded by Donald Wil liams, with a crew of four, will deploy Galileo for its six-year cruise to Jupiter, flying, once around Venus and twice around the Earth to pick up gravitational energy to divert it on a path towards its final encounter. During its mission Galileo will explore the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. • NASP PROPULSION SYSTEM "EXCEEDS GOAL Pratt & Whitney claims that its propulsion system for the proposed US National. Aerospaceplane (NASP) has exceeded performance goals in initial tests. Data from testing verifies that the design "meets NASP requirements," according to P&W space propulsion vice-president Joseph Zimonis. Low-speed-engine tests take place at Wyle Laboratories' hydrogen technology centre, which provides high-pressure liquid and gaseous hydrogen to evaluate engine and airframe components. SFENA success blow for Ferranti The successful operation of two SFENA laser gyro refer ence system units on the latest Ariane 4 launch V31 on June 6 —the first launch with two laser gyro inertial systems—may adversely affect the bid by Ferranti to become prime contractor for the ring laser gyro for the Ariane 5 vehicle.- Ferranti has supplied guidance systems on all previous Ariane launches. These were gtmballed inertial measuring systems. Ferranti has a contract to develop the ring laser gyro technology in preparation for Ariane 5, but the UK's lack of financial support for the new booster may be an addi tional adverse factor. • BSB/Atlantic satellite joint venture possible The IBA's decision to award British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) two further DBS channels has made a joint venture between the company and Atlantic Satellite, the Government- approved Irish DBS company, a possibility. With two operational satellites in orbit by August next year, BSB could have ten channels avail able. Hughes Space and Commu nications Division, which is supplying the HS 376 satellites for BSB, is also a shareholder in Atlantic Satellite. Hughes vice-president Steven Dorfman says that such a venture is "technically feasible, and is a clear option to be considered". He says, "It is clearly useful to think about an English-speaking ten-channel capability at 31°E for BSB and Atlantic. Clearly, it would need approval from respective govern ments." BSB's first satellite is due to be launched on August 10. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 July 1989 21
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
