ATI Space Email Newsletter - September 1998
In this issue:
SOHO INVESTIGATION REPORT POSTED
NASA SELECTS FIRST UNIVERSITY-CLASS EXPLORERS
GLOBALSTAR ZENIT LAUNCH FAILS with 12 SATELLITES ONBOARD
IRIDIUM TO BEGIN FREE TEST SERVICE SEPTEMBER 23, FULL SERVICE
PLANNED NOVEMBER 1,1998
NEW ATI SPACE TRAINING SCHEDULE POSTED ON INTERNET
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SOHO INVESTIGATION REPORT POSTED
SOHO Mission Interruption Joint NASA/ESA Investigation Board Report Posted.
The final SOHO investigative board report is posted on the Internet. It is interesting
reading to remind everyone of the complexity of space mission operations. It also shows
the risks of time pressure and downsizing. Recovery efforts are proceeding and the
spacecraft is responding.
The Board finds that the loss of the SOHO spacecraft was a direct result of operational
errors, a failure to adequately monitor spacecraft status, and an erroneous decision which
disabled part of the on-board autonomous failure detection. Further, following the
occurrence of the emergency situation, the Board finds that insufficient time was taken
by the operations team to fully assess the spacecraft status prior to initiating recovery
operations. The Board discovered that a number of factors contributed to the
circumstances that allowed the direct causes to occur.
The Board strongly recommends that the two Agencies proceed immediately with a
comprehensive review of SOHO operations addressing issues in the ground procedures,
procedure implementation, management structure and process, and ground systems. This
review process should be completed and process improvements initiated prior to the
resumption of SOHO normal operations.
See SOHO Mission Investigation Board Final Report.
NASA SELECTS FIRST UNIVERSITY-CLASS EXPLORERS
Small spacecraft to study the vast region between our Sun and nearby stars and the
interaction of Earth's radiation belts with the solar wind have been selected as the first
missions in NASA's University-class Explorers (UNEX) program.
The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) spacecraft will use an
extreme ultraviolet spectrograph during its one-year mission to study the "Local Bubble,"
a tenuous cloud of hot gas surrounding our Solar System that extends about 300 light-
years from the Sun. The Principal Investigator for CHIPS is Dr. Mark Hurwitz of the
University of California, Berkeley. The Earth-orbiting mission will cost $9.8 million,
including launch, and will be launched aboard a commercial Final Analysis Inc. Satellite
(FAISAT) as a secondary payload on a Russian Cosmos rocket in mid-2001.
The second mission, the Inner Magnetosphere Explorer (IMEX), will study the response
of Earth's Van Allen radiation belts to variations in the solar wind. IMEX will be
launched into a 217-mile by 21,748-mile (350-kilometer by 35,000-kilometer) elliptical
orbit around Earth with instruments to measure the populations of energetic particles and
related magnetic and electric fields throughout Earth's radiation belts on a regular basis.
The Principal Investigator for IMEX is Dr. John Wygant of the University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis. IMEX will cost $13 million and is planned to be launched as a
secondary mission on an Air Force Titan IV rocket in June 2001.
The UNEX Program is designed to provide frequent flight opportunities for highly
focused and relatively inexpensive science missions whose total cost to NASA is limited
to $13 million. The program is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD.
GLOBALSTAR ZENIT LAUNCH FAILS with 12 SATELLITES ONBOARD
A Zenit-2 rocket carrying 12 Globalstar commercial satellites crashed on September 10.
The launch rocket's maker NPO Yuzhnoye said two faults appeared in quick succession
in the two-stage Zenit-2 rocket's computer system just minutes after the rocket blasted
off. "As a result (the computer) sent an order to cut the engines," a company statement
said, adding a special commission had been created to investigate the converted Soviet
ballistic missile's crash.
IRIDIUM TO BEGIN FREE TEST SERVICE SEPTEMBER 23, FULL SERVICE
PLANNED NOVEMBER 1,1998
(You may also wish to read the Via Satellite September 98 article by ATI instructor
Robert Nelson. )
Two Thousand Select Customers Will be First to Use Worldwide Wireless Service.
Following eleven years of design, development and implementation, Iridium LLC
announced that the Iridium system will be introduced to a limited number of subscribers
worldwide beginning on September 23, 1998. Two thousand handsets will be distributed
to individual, corporate and government customers in a controlled service rollout
intended to refine system performance and quality. Full commercial service - including
messaging and paging - will commence November 1, 1998.
"We are on the cusp of delivering the most extensive wireless capability the world has
ever seen," said Edward F. Staiano, Iridium LLC Vice Chairman and CEO. "We'll use the
time between now and the full commercial launch of service to learn from a controlled
subscriber base, and will apply this insight to enhance the level of service we provide to
our customers. We have been very pleased with the voice quality and are working to
improve operational stability of the network," he continued.
The Iridium satellite constellation, network control facilities, gateways, billing
infrastructure and inter-protocol cellular roaming facility have been undergoing
integration and testing in preparation for subscriber loading. Regulatory and licensing
progress in the past few months, including a landmark International Telecommunications
Union accord facilitating transborder movement of subscriber equipment, has
substantially advanced Iridium service availability across the planet.
The August launch of two Iridium satellites aboard a Long March IIc launch vehicle, and
September 8 successful launch of five Iridium satellites on a Delta II launch vehicle,
replace satellites that had experienced anomalies during the deployment phase of the
constellation. Altogether, Iridium has orbited 79 satellites aboard seventeen launch
vehicles in sixteen months, completing the most ambitious launch program in history,
and orbiting the world's largest satellite network.
The Iridium constellation consists of 66 satellites in 6 planes around the equator. The
additional satellites are spares. The satellite lifetime is expected to be 5 to 8 years. Each
satellite has a capacity of 1,100 channels and is in view only about 9 minutes. The signal
link has a margin of 16 dB. The constellation is managed from a network operations
center in Lansdowne, Virginia. The price for a typical handset is around $3000. The
technical details and system design are discussed by Dr. Nelson in his Via Satellite
article.
"Iridium's premium service image must be substantiated through the delivery of high
quality service and superior system functionality," said Mauro Sentinelli, Executive Vice
President of Marketing and Distribution. "With operational execution improving steadily,
system performance measurements trending upward, and voice quality already meeting
and exceeding expectations, commercial launch on November 1 will be a smooth
transition from trial subscribers to paying customers," he continued.
Commercial grade software has been loaded in all the satellites. The constellation is fully
crosslinked, enabling call handoff between and among satellites and network control data
flow. Network control facilities in the United States and Italy are continually managing
and monitoring system performance through telemetry and control facilities located in
Hawaii, Canada, and Iceland.
Iridium telephones are being manufactured at Motorola and Kyocera factories with 1998
volumes to reach more than 100,000. Motorola and Kyocera telephones have been
certified for type approval in the United States and Europe, along with the other countries
that recognize these approvals.
More than 295 distribution agreements have been negotiated with service providers and
roaming partners serving more than 100 million subscribers in 122 countries and
territories. 113 distribution partners will complete integration to accept Iridium
customers roaming onto their networks and to enable their subscribers to roam onto the
Iridium system and other partner networks by November 1.
To date, Iridium has received service authorizations in nearly 100 countries and
territories and expects to increase service availability to more than 150 countries by year
end. Iridium products will be the first commercial products to carry the newly approved
International Telecommunications Union "mark", intended to enable subscribers to carry
Iridium products into, and out of, countries without experiencing customs difficulty.
Direct sales forces targeting corporate, industrial and government customers are actively
engaging prospects and negotiating service contracts.
Iridium LLC is developing and commercializing a global wireless communications
network that will combine the worldwide reach of 66 low-earth orbit satellites with land-
based wireless systems to enable customers to communicate using handheld telephones
and pagers virtually anywhere in the world. Iridium World Communications (NASDAQ:
IRIDF) is the public investment vehicle of Iridium LLC.
NEW ATI SPACE TRAINING SCHEDULE POSTED ON INTERNET
The new schedule of ATI space and satellite technical training has been posted on our
web site. Brochures were mailed at the end of August. Call Casey at 410-531-6034 if you
did not receive your copy. See ATI Schedule
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||| Space directory editor http://www.newhoo.com/Science/Space/
/ | \ James Jenkins, Executive Director
'' `` The Leader in Space Technical Training since 1984
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