------NBNS------NATURE VOL. 31920 FEBRUARY 1986 613 Japanese broadcasting satellites oxygenlhydrogen engine. Delays have also lessened the chances of international acceptance of the HDTV pays price of failure standards developed in . It was The rush to build broadcasting satellites hoped that speedy development of the BS- THE successful launch last Wednesday of - Yuri-2a was the first in the world - is 3 series would enable NHK to introduce Yuri-2b, Japan's second direct intended to provide a lead in direct broad­ high-definition broadcasts before anyone broadcasting satellite, has not quietened casting technology. In particular, J apan­ else, and to seize the initiative in setting critics of the project. A series of delays ese companies are looking at the poten­ international standards. The present sat­ and failures had slowed progress and tially huge market for the roof-top para­ ellite will be used for experiments with raised costs. One casualty had been the bolic antennas and decoders needed to such television broadcasts and super high­ Toshiba Corporation, the main contract­ pick up satellite transmissions. fidelity FM digital broadcasts. Its main or. In an unprecedented move, it has been In order to make these small and easily purpose however, will be to eliminate dropped from the project and replaced by marketable, the Yuri-2a satellite's trans­ poor reception in outlying and mountain­ NEe. mitters were much more powerful than ous regions of Japan. Another casualty might be said to be the had previously been tested in space. It was Whether lost time can now be made up general public, because the satellites are these that broke down. The just-launched depends on the success of the satellite intended for the broadcasting Yuri-2b satellite has the same equipment when it is switched on in a couple of service, NHK. One newpaper urges its aboard but all has been checked and re­ months. The satellite's insurers are clearly readers to ask how much money has been checked, putting back the launch date by not totally confident - the premium has poured into the project next time the man six months. That in turn has delayed other been increased to 30 per cent of the satel­ from NHK comes around to collect pay­ launches and the testing of the new H1 lite's value from the 12 per cent set for the ment of the television licence. rocket with its home-developed liquid previous satellite. Alon Anderson Problems really began to attract notice when the first broadcasting satellite, Yuri- Malaria vaccines 2a, broke down soon after it went into operation in May 1984, leaving only one of its three transponders functioning (see Biogen revives forgotten project Nature 309, 295; 1984). The fault seems COMMERCIAL interest in the production of Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research to have been in travelling wave tubes de­ a malaria vaccine has taken another turn in Melbourne, Australia, and in Sweden signed to beam television signals to the with the decision of Behringwerke AG, at the University of Stockholm. And vac­ Japanese islands and supplied by a French the of Hoechst AG based in cines based on proteins on the surface of and a US company. These failures pro­ Marburg, West , to take over a the sporozoite stage of the parasite, the voked furious complaints to the visiting project started by Biogen, the Boston and form in which it is passed from the mos­ US Vice-President George about Geneva-based biotechnology company, quito into the blood stream, are in an the quality of foreign workmanship. And which has been through a bad patch. advanced stage of development both at to take the blame the president of the Indeed, the Biogen malaria vaccine New York University, probably in con­ National Space Development Agency project was a casualty of the company's junction with Hoffman-La Roche, and at (NASDA) was forced to resign. problems over a year ago which led to a 20 the Walter Reed Army Institute of Re­ Next, it was decided that Toshiba would per cent cutback in staff, and the removal search in Washington, DC, in conjunction be replaced as prime contractor by NEC of both Professor Walter Gilbert as chief with Smith Kline and French for future broadcasting satellites. This is a executive officer and Dr Julian Davies as Laboratories. serious blow to Toshiba and may put it out research director in Geneva. It is no coincidence that the military of the satellite business altogether. For the past year or so, malaria vaccine are involved in the last project, for it is Japan's three long-term satellite develop­ work at Biogen has continued only be­ military personnel who form one of the ment programmes, in communications, cause members of staff are allowed to prime targets for vaccination, at least broadcasting and weather observation, spend 20 per cent of their time on their where money is no object. A second group had been given out one each to Mitsubishi own projects and because of collabora­ in the same category are travellers from Electric, Toshiba and NEC so that each tions with Dr Luc Perrin at the Geneva developed countries to areas where mal­ can independently acquire sufficient Blood Centre and Dr Bernard Mach at the aria is endemic. Figures that emerged in expertise eventually to compete with each University of Geneva. London last week show the steady rise in other and with foreign companies. NEC The result, say observers, is that the cases of malaria among that group. Over will now continue the broadcasting series. Biogen project has fallen behind its rivals 2,000 cases of malaria among travellers Next in line are the BS-3 satellites which and that the company has been lucky to from Britain were recorded last year and will be launched at the end of the decade. strike a deal with Behringwerke. 85 - 90 per cent of the cases were the result They are intended to broadcast high­ The Biogen approach to a vaccine has of failure to take medication as instructed. definition television (HDTV) signals concentrated on the blood-borne stage If ever there is an effective vaccine, that which will give a picture quality as good as (merozoite) of the Plasmodium Jalciparum problem would be solved. 35-mm film projection. parasite, and particularly on a large pro­ While Behringwerke tries to make the It may be that much of the high cost and tein that is exposed on the merozoite's most of Biogen's malaria work, Biogen is the failure of the broadcasting satellite surface. Well come Biotechnology in Brit­ developing a new strategy under its chief programme is due to the particular de­ ain and Hoffman-La Roche in Basel, in executive of two months, James Vincent. velopment strategy Japan is pursuing. collaboration with Dr John Scaife's group His first task is to improve the financial Satellites can be bought much more at the University of Edinburgh, are pursu­ position of the company, which took a cheaply abroad than they can be built in ing the same approach, but seem to be considerable turn for the worse to judge Japan, even though only a third of the considerably closer to a real test of wheth­ by the year-end figures released last week. components of the Yuri satellites are Jap­ er the protein will protect experimental Total revenues for 1985 at $21 million anese. But satellite imports have been monkeys against malaria. were $10 million down on 1984, giving a banned in order to allow domestic indus­ Other merozoite proteins are being in­ net loss in 1985 of $19 million compared tries to master construction technology. vestigated as vaccines at the Walter and with $13 million in 1984. Peter Newmark

© 1986 Nature Publishing Group