BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 May 07 - 01:53 PM

Rapaire,

Taking orders now...


(Dulles, VA 1 May 2007) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) today announced that it has been selected by Intelsat, LLC to design, build and deliver the Intelsat 15 (IS-15) commercial communications satellite. This satellite will be based on Orbital's flight-proven STAR 2 platform. The satellite will generate 4.6 kilowatts of payload power and carry 22 active Ku-band transponders. The Intelsat 15 satellite will be located in orbit at 85 degrees East longitude following its launch in early 2009. The Intelsat 15 satellite contract is the 20th Orbital geosynchronous commercial communications satellite ordered by customers throughout the world and will be the sixth in the Intelsat fleet.

In addition to the IS-15 spacecraft, Intelsat also confirmed a contract to complete the Intelsat 16 (IS-16) spacecraft (formerly known as the PAS-11R prior to the merger of Intelsat and PanAmSat) that will serve as a ground spare for Intelsat 11. Since early 2006, Orbital has been working under an authorization from Intelsat to complete certain long-lead items on IS-16. Orbital will now complete the remaining manufacturing and testing activities required to deliver the satellite for launch in 2008.

"With two recent new orders from repeat customers, Intelsat and Optus Networks, together with the IS-16 order confirmation, Orbital's commercial satellite business has begun 2007 with very strong momentum," said Mr. Carl Marchetto, Orbital's Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Space Systems Group. "From an operational perspective, our satellite manufacturing facility expansion is now complete, substantially increasing our capacity to meet the growing demand for our STAR satellites and to deliver them to our customers on schedule."

The Intelsat 15 satellite is the second order placed in 2007 for Orbital's STAR-based platform. Earlier this year, the company announced that Optus Networks of Australia had ordered its third satellite from Orbital, the Optus D3 spacecraft, following on its orders for the D1 and D2 spacecraft in 2004.

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: Amos
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 11:44 AM

Well, fair enough. I'll send you ten bucks. If you invest it reasonably, it will grow to enough to pay for the whole job by the time you are ready to deliver.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 10:39 AM

" a six-person FTL cruiser with cargo capability"

A long lead-time order, then. Put the deposit down and we will get back to you in a few hundred years...

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: Amos
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 10:34 AM

I'm holding out for a six-person FTL cruiser with cargo capability. I am going to set up a trading post selling rum, shovels, Levi's, and pickaxes on that Earth-like planet they discovered 20 lightt-years out.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 08:49 AM

http://www.orbital.com/SatellitesSpace/GEO/Optus/index.html

Just get donations...

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 08:41 AM

Can I have one? I want a communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit over Pocatello, Idaho. It would really help. Pretty please?

Subject: RE: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 03:43 PM

or this one:

"NASA's AIM [Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere] spacecraft began its two-year mission April 25, 2007 after a flawless ride to Earth orbit aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. Launch took place at 1:26 PDT. Launch operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ran smoothly, with no technical or weather issues causing concern.

The AIM mission is the first dedicated to exploring mysterious ice clouds that dot the edge of space in Earth's polar regions. These clouds have grown brighter and more prevalent in recent years and some scientists suggest that changes in these clouds may be the result of climate change."

Source: NASA, "Launch Success! AIM Heads for Orbit" (www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aim/index.html

Subject: BS: Spacecraft- for everybody!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 02:20 PM

BTW, theis is an SS-18 ICBM...



"A Dnepr rocket laden with 14 small international satellites flew out of an underground missile silo and soared into space Tuesday on its first mission since failure struck the launcher last year.

The three-stage rocket lifted off at 0646 GMT (2:46 a.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 111-foot-tall booster worked as planned and its cache of payloads were successfully deployed from the rocket's third stage a few minutes later."

"Half of the 14 satellites put in space Tuesday were orbited for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while seven others were tiny palm-sized craft in the CubeSat program.

Three P-POD deployment systems built by students and professors at California Polytechnic State University housed seven miniature CubeSat payloads during launch. The CubeSats were to be ejected from the P-POD devices a few moments after arriving in orbit, according to project officials.

The CubeSat program - developed and run by officials at Cal Poly and Stanford University - offers universities and low-budget satellite programs an affordable way to put payloads in space."

[Only 12 of the 14 payloads have been identified as of this date.]