France in Space #214

** 1: ARIANESPACE PREPARES ITS NEXT LAUNCH

Preparations are moving ahead on schedule for Arianespace’s ninth mission
of 2002. On August 27th, an Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher will put into
orbit two satellites : Atlantic BirdTM 1 and MSG 1. Atlantic BirdTM 1 will
ride the upper payload position atop the Ariane 5, and will be released
first during the dual-spacecraft deployment sequence. The three-axis
stabilized satellite was built by Alenia Spazio and will be operated by
Eutelsat as part of its telecommunications spacecraft fleet. The MSG 1
satellite will provide improved global weather data for Europe as a
follow-on to the Meteosat spacecraft series data. MSG 1 is a
spin-stabilized platform built by Alcatel Space Industries for a
cooperative program of the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT (European
Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).
[Arianespace Mission Update, 08/05/2002]

** 2: SPOT IMAGE CONTINUES ITS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Spot Image has signed a fourth channel partnership agreement with BSA
Ingenierie, a subsidiary of the Mauritanian BSA group specializing in
remote sensing, mapping, geographic information systems, sociometry and
software development. Under the agreement, BSA will be the exclusive
distributor of all SPOT products and services in Mauritania, Senegal, Mali,
Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia. “This channel partnership
agreement marks a new step in our business development strategy”, said
Jean-Marc Nasr, Spot Image’s Chairman & CEO. “BSA has now joined
DigitalGlobe in the United-States, ImageONE in Japan and Iunctus Geomatics
Corp. in Canada.”

[Spot Image Press Release, 08/05/2002]

** 3: THE MEDITERRANEAN FIREFIGHTERS WILL WORK WITH STENTOR

The firefighters of the Mediterranean shores are testing a new system,
through which images of fires can be transmitted to the operational control
station in real time and via satellite. These images will provide a better
understanding of fires and of the areas threatened. The transfer will
follow three steps: a firefighter, carrying a video camera will board an
helicopter equipped with a GPS. The images as well as the helicopter
positioning will be sent to a mobile ground-air station. The station will
then send the data to the satellite, which in turn will transfer them to
all Control Stations equipped with receivers. The experiment was initiated
on the occasion of the launch in October, by CNES (French Space Agency) of
a new telecommunication satellite called, STENTOR. The satellite will carry
out free technical demonstrations and experiments. To validate the
transmission channel, tests started as soon as July 23 with the Eutelsat
satellite.
[La Gazette du 08/12/2002]

** 4: TEN ASTRONAUTS TO MEET IN EUROPE FOR TRAINING ON ISS

For the first time, from August 26, to September 6, the European Astronaut
Center (EAC) of European Space Agency (ESA), in Cologne, Germany, will be
hosting an international group of astronauts for training, in preparation
for their missions to the International Space Station (ISS). There will be
ten participants: four ESA astronauts, four Japanese astronauts from NASDA,
and two NASA astronauts. The main objective of this training session is to
prepare the astronauts for the tasks they will have to perform when the
Japanese experiment module (JEM) and ESA’s Columbus laboratory are docked
with the core of the ISS in the near future. The advanced training at the
EAC will focus on the Columbus systems ant the Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV). It will consist of 24 lectures on the Columbus and ATV systems,4 on
payloads, and 2 sessions in the Columbus Trainer. The group of astronauts
started their advanced training in April 2001 at NASA’s Johnson Space
Center (JSC), Houston, followed by a training session at NASDA’s Tsukuba
Space Center, Japan, in December 2001, and additional training sessions at
the JSC in May 2002.
[ESA Press Release, 08/19/2002]

[From Arianespace Mission Update, ESA Press Release, La Gazette, Spot Image
Press Release]