France in Space #209
** 1: ENDEAVOUR FINALLY TOOK OFF ON JUNE 5TH
June 5, 2002 at 5:22 p.m. local time, Endeavour took off from the Kennedy
Space Center, Florida, as scheduled. On board, NASA STS-111 mission crew
includes the American Kenneth D. Cockrell, flight commander, Paul S.
Lockhart, pilot, Franklin Chang-Diaz, chief mission specialist, and the
French CNES astronaut Philippe Perrin. Two Russian astronauts, Valeri
Korzoun and Serguei Treshev, and the US astronaut Peggy A. Whitson are also
on board to replace the three members of Expedition 4, as ISS permanent
crew. During the 9 day mission, scientific equipment will be moved to the
Italian logistic module, Leonardo, to pursue the settlement of the American
Destiny Laboratory. Perrin and Chang-Diaz will make three extravehicular
activities (EVA). They will set up equipment needed for going on
construction of the station and repairing the Canadarm 2 robotic arm.
Philippe Perrin will be the first French astronaut to walk out from the ISS.
[CNES Press Releasse, 06/05/2002]
** 2: LES AUTOROUTES AVANCENT GRåCE AU GPS
Pour obtenir des engins de terrassement une précision de travail
centimétrique, GTM Terrassement et Thales Navigation ont mis au point un
système de guidage par GPS. Chaque engin possède deux récepteurs GPS qui
fournissent sa position au centimètre prés et suivent ses déplacements dans
l’espace. A bord des machines, un ordinateur compare en permanence les
données issues desDû6eacute;cepteurs GPS à une modélisation du tracé de l’ouvrage
stockée en mémoire. Le système est compatible avec le futur procédé de
positionnement européen Galileo. Il devrait permettre d’éviter les erreurs
des procédés de métrage traditionnels, dont la correction sur le terrain
augmente le coût du chantier et nuit à l’environnement (emploi excessif de
goudron et de béton, stockage de remblai excédentaire, etc.).
[Science & Vie, 06/04/2002]
3: NEW LAUNCH SUCCESS FOR ARIANESPACE
On June 5th, 2002, Arianespace orbited the Intelsat 905 communications
satellite for international communications provider Intelsat. Intelsat 905
is the fourth satellite to be launched in the Intelsat IX series by
Arianespace. Built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, the
Intelsat 905 was launched by an Ariane 4. It will join Intelsat’s fleet of
satellites providing internet connections, telephony, television and
enterprise network services for the Americas, Europe, Africa and the
Middle-East. Two more Intelsat IX satellite are scheduled for an
Arianespace launch.
[Arianespace Press Release, 06/05/2002]
4: ARIANESPACE IN MEXICO
Arianespace has further reinforced its position as the leading launch
services provider in Mexico with a contract to orbit the Samtex 6
telecommunications satellite. Samtex 6 will be lofted by an Ariane 5 in the
first quarter of 2003 and is to be positioned at 109.2 degree West to
provide coverage for all Mexico, as well as other portions of Latin and
North America. Arianespace has already launched Solidaridad 1 for Samtex in
1993, Solidaridad 2 in 1994, and Samtex 5 in 1998. Launch of the 5,700
kilograms Samtex 6 in 2003 will be the first mission for a Mexico satellite
on Ariane 5. Samtex is a member of the Loral Global Alliance, and provides
telecommunications, telephony and radio broadcasting in 31 countries in its
service region.
[Arianespace Press Release, 05/31/2002]
5: ISS PARTNERS MET ON JUNE 3RD
The leaders of the space agencies taking part in the ISS program, including
NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the
National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan and the Russian Aviation
and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos), met on June 3rd, 2002, at ESA’s
Headquarters to discuss the status of the ISS program. The ISS
International partners reaffirmed their commitment to work together on the
development, assembly and use of the ISS for scientific and applied
research. They noted the tremendous achievement that have already been
accomplished through this cooperation. They also discussed and agreed upon
a timeline for next steps to assure that the ISS can be assembled and
operated on a way that meets its unique world-class research objective,
while not compromising the basic requirements of sound system engineering
and safety.
[ESA Press Release, 06/03/2002]
[From Arianespace Press Release, CNES Press Release, ESA Press Release,
Science & Vie]
