China's satcoms: relying on the West.
While the Chinese government steadfastly supports its Long March space launchers, the official attitude towards satellite procurement is much more pragmatic. However many Long March vehicles may fail, there appears to be no way that a Chinese satellite operator could elect to chose a Western launcher. On the other...

Learning to compete in Japan, part 2.
LONDON: IN THE SECOND AND FINAL PART OF OUR SERIES ON THE JAPANESE SPACE SECTOR, WE FOCUS ON TELECOM AND BROADCASTING SATELLITES. Telecommunications in Japan - as in most countries - used to be a monopoly of state-owned operators. Two organisations had the business to themselves from 1952 onwards....

China's satcoms: relying on the West
CHRIS BULLOCH However many Long March vehicles may fail, there appears to be no way that a Chinese satellite operator could elect to chose a Western launcher. On the other hand, there appears to be a tacit understanding at high level that Chinese-built satellites - at least those performing...

Satellites jostle for slots over Asia.
LONDON: THE NUMBER OF TRANSPONDERS IN ORBIT OVER THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION IS EXPECTED TO JUMP FROM 500 TO 900 BY THE YEAR 2000, PROVIDED ORBITAL SLOTS CAN BE FOUND FOR THEM. At present, there about 500 satellite transponders in orbit over the Asia-Pacific region, as defined below. By the...

Calling all cars.
Undeterred by the, bankruptcy of Iridium and ICO, investors are now lining up to back Digital Audio Radio Services (DARS) Little more than a year after Iridium and ICO went into bankruptcy (the former now permanently, it seems), satellite entrepreneurs are trying again. Further, they are finding...

Israel's Amos starts the countdown.
TEL AVIV: THE ISRAELI SPACE PROGRAMME ALREADY HAS TO ITS CREDIT THE SHAVIT LAUNCHER AND TWO OFEO SATELLITES SUCCESSFULLY PLACED IN ORBIT. THE NEXT STEP WILL BE THE AMOS COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE. As in most countries, Israel's small but active space programme depends largely on state funding and government-owned or...

India ready to move into higher orbit.
The GSLV launcher, set to fly, in March, is designed to give India autonomy in launching future members of its Insat communication satellite family As India prepares for the maiden test flight of its most powerful space booster, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), from the Sriharikota...

Satellite upswing: the telecom satellite market is showing the first signs of a recovery that is widely expected to gather momentum in 2006.
In retrospect, 2005 looks like it could go down as a transition year for the telecom satellite sector--the market was relatively stable, with real growth expected to take off this year. The year was also marked by the appearance of some new platforms. There are now six EADS Astrium...

NASA under siege.
Had the National Aeronautics and Space Administration applied proper risk management guidelines, the destruction of shuttle Columbia last year might have been averted. In an investigation, it was revealed that the risk of flying with damaged insulation tiles had been identified by engineers. Yet they were stonewalled, they claimed,...

Europe banks on Ariane 5 to maintain market lead.
LONDON: EUROPE'S NEW HEAVY-LIFT LAUNCHER IS SET TO MAKE ITS FIRST FLIGHT IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. ARIANESPACE IS COUNTING ON ARIANE 5 TO KEEP AHEAD OF US, RUSSIAN AND CHINESE RIVALS IN THE WORLD LAUNCHER MARKET. With relatively little programme slippage for an all-new launch vehicle, Europe's new...