Worldwide Satellite Magazine July / August 2008 SatMagazine - GEOSS To The Rescue - Expert insight from Chris Forrester, NSR’s Claude Rous- seau, WTA’s Robert Bell - Times Are A’ Changin’ For MSS Operators - Universal Service--Who Pays For It? - Boeing’s President of SSI In The Spotlight - In-Depth Look At GOES - ICO MSS Trials Set To Start - Part Three Satellite Imagery... - San Diego Venue Big Hit - Relay Examined - ...and more Mobile Satellite Services www.avltech.com Patented Roto-Lok® Cable Drive only from Thousands of Antennas, Thousands of Places SATMAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2008 CONTENTS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FEATURES GOES Image Homage to Excellence Navigation + Registration by Stephen Mallory by Bruce Gibbs 05 For me, two of the most important stan- 32 GOES, operated by the National dards to live by are honor and integrity. Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), continuously track evolution of IN MY VIEW weather over almost a hemisphere. The Importance of GEOSS by Elliot G. Pulham MSS Goes Live In The Here’s a major global space effort that S-Band, Or, “Meet Me 07 doesn’t receive adequate recognition 44 In St. Louis” from the press—GEOSS. by David Zufall The MSS industry is on the cusp of delivering ground- breaking mobility services to meet Americans’ love for EXECUTI V E SPOT L IGHT mobility and connectivity. Stephen T. O’Neill The Re-Birth Of Block D President by Jim Corry Boeing Satellite Systems Int’l In January of 2008, the Federal Com- 24 47 munications Commission (FCC) con- ducted an auction of 62 MHz... Mick Gardina Director of Vertical Solutions iDirect Technologies Here’s Looking At Every- 30 thing—Part III 52 by Hartley & Pattie Lesser Thanks for returning for Part III of INSIGHT the satellite imagery article. NHK + Ultra-HD by Chris Forrester The History of Satellites — NHK’s laboratory is nothing if not Part 4 by Donald Martin, Paul Anderson & 10 futuristic! 68 Vol. 6 No. 4 Lucy Bartamian The Relay program [1 + 2] was undertaken by NASA to July/August The Times... They Are A perform active satellite communications 2008 Changin’... FAST! by Claude Rousseau When Bob Dylan sang the lyrics that CASE STUDY 17 comprise this article’s title... Telesat Integration of Universal Service—Who Telstar Fleet Operations Pays For IT? by Tom Protzman + Dough Mathias by Robert Bell 75 Nine months were allocated to transfer 21 You probably know about the surcharg- operations for all ten satellites from Loral’s Hawley, Penn- es that appear on your phone bill... sylvania, facility MSS. Status Check For First FOCUS Responders by Andrea Maléter 79 First responders around the United ISCe, Epitome Of Efficiency States are already dealing with the by Pattie Lesser beginnings of a busy and difficult season of managing natural disasters. 66 FEATURED SATE ll ITE Online VSAT Course by Peter Xilliox AsiaSat-2 71 In 2008, AsiaSat celebrates their 20th 83 anniversary... 2 SatMagazine — July/August 2008 SATMAGAZINE EDITOR’S NOTES July/August 2008 obile Satellite Services (MSS) are a crucial component of the EDITORIAL + PRODUCTION satcom industry. The main difference between MSS and a cell system is—mobility! MSS has proven its efficacy for providing Silvano Payne M Publisher communication services across the globe, especially in servicing those areas that have poor or few communication options, including developing Hartley Lesser countries and the vast oceans of Earth. Editorial Director P.J. Waldt With MSS, there are several positive aspects. Some include: Associate Editor • very high bit rates THIS ISSUE’S AUTHORS • channels dynamically assigned to users who are located in various Paul Anderson areas of the world Linda Bartamian • the cost of doing business (i.e., the transmission itself) is indepen- Robert Bell dent of distance Jim Corry Chris Forrester • a station that’s handling the data transmission can, itself, receive its Bruce Gibbs own transmission, which is a definite plus when transmission control Pattie Lesser is needed Andrea Malateir Stephen Mallory There are other considerations as well as various plusses and minuses Donald Martin for MSS providers when using either a geosynchronous or low Earth orbit Doug Mathias satellite. Tom Protzman To obtain a clearer view of the MSS market, I asked one of the leading Elliot G. Pulham MSS providers to comment on this segment of the satcom industry. Claude Rousseau Peter Xilliox Iridium Satellite’s Don Thoma, the company’s Executive Vice President, David Zufall took up the cause. He noted the MSS market growing this year and added SALES in those areas where he believes the growth will be experienced. Jill Durfee “Iridium Satellite continues to achieve double-digit growth across all verti- Advertising Director cal markets for MSS. At the end of the first quarter of 2008, Iridium’s sub- [email protected] scriber base had grown to more than a quarter-million. That’s a 37 percent increase over the same period last year. DESIGN + DEVELOPMENT “Regionally, traffic in the U.S. and Canada was up almost 100 percent, Simon Payne largely driven by churn from faltering competitors. The Asia-Pacific region Creative Manager was also a very strong market, with traffic up 61 percent.” Don then delved into the short-burst arena by stating, “In the maritime market, the number of active subscribers grew 17 percent, with airtime for voice and circuit-switched data up 28 percent, and short-burst data (SBD) Published monthly by traffic up 122 percent. Satnews Publishers 800 Siesta Way, Sonoma, CA 95476 USA Phone (707) 939-9306 Fax (707) 939-9235 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.satmagazine.com © 2008 Satnews Publishers SatMagazine — July/August 2008 3 EDITOR’S NOTES The dramatic increase in SBD usage is being I inquired as to what issues Iridium will have driven by growing demand for vessel tracking to confront, and how will such issues be ad- and monitoring, and unmanned oceanographic/ dressed. Don replied, “We are laying the foun- weather sensors. We continue to capture a dation now for our next-generation satellite con- growing market share, especially in prepaid stellation with our Iridium NEXT program. Ear- crew calling services for ships at sea. lier this year, we announced agreements with “We are poised to make further market share three companies — Lockheed Martine, Space gains with the introduction of our new Iridium Systems Loral and Theles Alenia Space — to OpenPort enhanced-bandwidth service, which develop design concepts, review critical engi- will provide a cost-effective alternative to Fleet neering trades, and evaluate performance and 77 and Fleet Broadband services. More than capabilities required for NEXT, along with costs six major international Service Providers have to manufacture and launch the system. We will already signed agreements to distribute Iridium downselect two finalists this summer and award OpenPort products and services, and preorders a contract to the prime contractor in mid-2009. for Iridium OpenPort ship terminals have far ex- ceeded projections.” We are on schedule to commence satellite launches in We expect to offset a significant Does the same hold true for the aeronautical portion of the estimated $2.6 billion cost for market? “We have seen similar rapid growth NEXT deployment by adding secondary pay- over the past 12 months, with subscribers up loads onto the satellites, for applications such 51 percent. Airtime usage for voice and circuit- as weather observations.” switched data was up 46 percent over last year, while short-burst data (SBD) traffic rose 77 Thanks, Don, for your opinions. percent. Iridium’s growth encompasses all sec- tors of the market, including fixed-wing aircraft This issue of SatMagazine includes a variety of and helicopters, to meet the rising demand for material we hope you will find intriguing and reliable, secure voice and data communications interesting, ranging from our continued look with global gap-free coverage over regions not at satellite imagery with truly expert content served by other MSS providers. from those in the know... to a continuation of the history of satellites, a case study and “While we foresee continuing growth in our more. Enjoy! traditional core market of business jets and helicopter fleets, we are projecting a major up- Hartley Lesser surge in the commercial aviation sector. This is Editorial Director buoyed by the ICAO approval earlier this year for Iridium to provide AMS(R)S (Aeronautical Mobile Satellite (Route) Services) for commer- cial aircraft on transoceanic routes. Iridium is the only MSS provider with complete gap-free coverage over the important polar routes. “The M2M mobile data sector is Iridium’s fast- est growing market, driven by emerging mar- kets for asset tracking and remote monitoring. Our total number of SBD subscribers grew 169 percent over first quarter 2007.” 4 SatMagazine — July/August 2008 “HOMAGE TO EXCELLENCE ” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, For me, two of the most important standards to live by are honor and integrity. This has also served me well in business practices. However, as we all know, it is not uncom- mon to encounter and endure less savory entities during our journeys. I learned long ago to cultivate the honorable, not to compromise one’s principles, and to stand by those who share those lofty endeavors, personally and professionally. I took a serious risk twenty years ago when I walked away from my lifelong dream as a foreign correspondent to concentrate on my personal family responsibilities. At that time, while based in Tokyo, I hocked the farm to buy a used Ku uplink truck, hired six people to start a television news service based in the California Capitol, and began to build a transportable uplinking business that has taken our teams around the world. Over the years, we met and worked with some absolutely wonderful people… and some less so.