France in Space # 267
** 1: EUTELSAT DROPS ITS GALILEO BID
On September 1 in Brussels, two candidates applied for the Galileo
concession, which will allow them to deploy and operate the future European
navigation system. Three candidates were initially in the race but the group
led by Eutelsat stepped down. The competing teams are Inavsat, involving
EADS, Thales, Inmarsat and SES Global, and Vinci Concessions Consortium,
composed of Vinci, Alcatel and Finmeccanica. The bids were submitted to the
headquarters of the public corporation Galileo, prime contractor of the
system, who will make recommendations on one candidate at the end of
September. The Member States will then have two months to review the
potential operator before the European Union Transportation division
announces the final decision in December. Candidates were required to detail
their financial contribution to the system in their bid. The European
leaders ask that the operator contribute a minimum of 1.4 BEuros, that is to
say 2/3 of the remaining amount needed for the deployment of the system,
after the 1.1 BEuros already contributed by the European Commission and ESA.
[AFP 08/31/2004, Reuters 09/01/2004]
** 2: A ROOM WITH A VIEW FOR THE ISS
Development phase completion of the European-built observation module, or
“cupola”, for the International Space Station will be marked by a ceremony
at the Alenia Spazio facility in Turin, Italy on Monday 6 September. The
cupola, currently scheduled for launch in January 2009, is an observation
and control tower for the ISS, with windows that will provide a panoramic
view for observing and guiding operations on the outside of the station. The
pressurized module will accommodate command and control workstations and
other hardware, enabling crewmembers to control the station’s robotic arm –
for attaching and assembling various station elements – and to communicate
with other crewmembers in other parts of the station or outside during
spacewalk activities. The cupola will also be used for observational
applications in the areas of Earth observation and space science. The cupola
project is the outcome of a bilateral barter agreement between the European
Space Agency and NASA, under which ESA is providing the cupola for the ISS
in exchange for Shuttle transportation of European equipment and experiments
to the station. The completion of the cupola marks the end of the
development phase of the project, which began with the signing of the cupola
contract between ESA and Alenia Spazio on 8 February 1999. Under the
contract, Alenia Spazio acted as prime contractor for production,
responsible for coordinating six other firms: CASA (Spain), APCO
(Switzerland), SAAB Ericsson and Lindholmen Development (Sweden), EADS Space
Transportation (Germany) and Verhaert (Belgium). The 1.8-tonne cupola is now
ready to be transported to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral,
Florida. There, it will go through a final set of checks before being put
into storage for four years, at the end of which it will be prepared for
launch. [ESA 08/30/2004, AFP 09/02/2004]
** 3: ENVISAT WITNESSES RETURN OF THE SOUTH POLAR OZONE HOLE
Envisat data show 2004’s ozone hole is appearing about two weeks later than
last year’s, but at a similar time period to the average during the last
decade. The precise time and range of Antarctic ozone hole occurrences are
determined by regional meteorological variations. The ozone hole typically
persists until November or December, when increasing regional temperatures
cause the winds surrounding the South Pole to weaken, and ozone-poor air
inside the vortex is mixed with ozone-rich air outside it. The ozone hole of
2002 was an exception to this general pattern, when a late September
slowdown of the polar vortex caused the ozone hole to split in two and
dissipate early. Envisat’s predecessor mission, ERS-2, monitored the
process. The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on Earth from harmful
ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The ozone thinning represented here is
ultimately caused by the presence of man-made pollutants in the atmosphere
such as chlorine, originating from man-made pollutants like
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), now banned under the Montreal Protocol. Just
because they were banned does not mean these long-lived chemicals have
vanished from the air, so scientists expect the annual South Polar ozone
hole to continue to appear for many years to come. Launched in March 2002,
ESA’s Envisat satellite is an extremely powerful means of monitoring the
state of our world and the impact of human activities upon it. Envisat
carries ten sophisticated optical and radar instruments to observe and
monitor the Earth’s atmosphere, land, oceans and ice caps, maintaining
continuity with the Agency’s ERS missions started in 1991. After two and a
half years in orbit, more than 700 scientists from 50 countries are about to
meet at a special symposium in Salzburg in Austria to review and discuss
early results from the satellites, and present their own research activities
based on Envisat data. [ESA 09/01/2004, AFP 09/02/2004]
** 4: PANAMSAT AND DIRECTV CHOOSE ARIANESPACE
Arianespace has been chosen by U.S. operator PanAmSat to launch the Galaxy
17 satellite. Galaxy 17 will be orbited by an Ariane 5 as early as late 2006
from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Alcatel Space will build
the satellite using its Spacebus 3000 B3 platform. Galaxy 17 will provide TV
broadcast and telephony services for North America. Offering a design life
of 15 years, it will weigh about 4,100 kg at liftoff and will be fitted with
24 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders. This will be the 21st Arianespace
launch for PanAmSat, a global provider of satellite communications services
and the Number 1 operator in the United States. Arianespace has also
announced the signing of its sixth and seventh contracts of the year, and
fifth and sixth overall with The DIRECTV Group. The first contract will be
for the launch of the Spaceway 2 satellite in April 2005. This 6.1 metric
ton satellite carries an all Ka-Band payload destined to expand and enhance
DIRECTV’s direct-to-home (DTH) television service and to provide satellite
broadband services across the United States. The second contract is for an
un-named direct-to-home satellite. Both payloads will fly the Ariane 5 from
Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Launch preparation of the
Spaceway 2 satellite will be completed in a record-breaking seven months
from contract signature to launch. The speed of the campaign demonstrates
how only Arianespace can deliver true mission assurance to customers
worldwide. [Arianespace 09/09/2004]
** 5: ARIANESPACE SAYS “NO SHOWSTOPPERS” FOR HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT FROM KOUROU
There are “no showstoppers” in using the Soyuz launch pad planned for the
European Space Center at Kourou, French Guiana, to send astronauts and
cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Arianespace CEO Jean Yves Le
Gall says a “small Working group” formed to consider the issue has found the
only additional facility needed to support human spaceflight in Kourou is a
“specific building for the preparation of the astronauts.” The pad to be
built there will be identical to the famous “Start 1” pas at the Baikonur
Cosmodrome where ISS flights originate today, and the over-ocean flight path
to ISS will not be restricted by the need to avoid populated areas as at
land-locked Baikonur, he adds. Although Le Gall stresses that nothing is in
the works, Soyuz launches by Arianespace could give NASA and ESA a way
around the Iran Non-Proliferation Act, which is complicating funding
arrangements among ISS partners by prohibiting US government payments to
Russia for ISS support. Arianespace is preparing to launch the first
European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to ISS on an Ariane 5 next year.
Longer term, NASA has included the Ariane 5 in its survey of potential
vehicles for future deep-space exploration. Le Gall notes that just as
Kourou’s proximity to the Equator is ideal for commercial satellite
launchers, so would it be for lifting exploration spacecraft. [Aviation Week
& Space Technology 16/08/2004]
** 6: IN BRIEF
Dr. Serge Plattard, former CNES director of International Relations who also
used to be previously Counsellor for Science and Technology at the French
Embassy in Washington DC, has become the first Secretary General of the
European Space Policy Institute, founded by ESA and the Austrian Space
Agency (ASA) in November 2003 and located in Vienna (Austria). ESPI will
identify and develop research themes relevant to European space policy,
which will be used to initiate, support and promote political and societal
debate fostering public awareness of the importance of space-based
infrastructures and services. [ESA 09/07/2004]
Alcatel has delivered the second flight-article Helios II high-resolution
optical imager to EADS Astrium for the Helios IIB satellite set for launch
late in 2009. The second-generation instrument duplicates the imaging system
to be launched by the end of the year on the Helios IIA spacecraft. Program
manager on the twin defense satellites is France’s DGA military procurement
agency, with the French Space Agency CNES as system prime contractor and
EADS Astrium as industrial prime on the two satellites. Belgium and Spain
are partners in the system. [Aviation Week & Space Technology 23-30/08/2004]
A new date has been set for the second flight of Ariane 5 heavy lift vehicle
(10 tonnes), which will be the qualification flight after the failure of the
maiden flight in December 2002. The launch, which has been pushed twice this
year already, is scheduled to take place on October 22, 2004, 22 months
after the accident. [Air & Cosmos 08/27/2004]
French scientists recommended 4 formation flying missions to CNES: APSICS,
coronagraph where one satellite would hide the sun and the other study the
solar corona, SIMBOL X and MAX, X-rays and gamma-rays observation missions
where one satellite would capture the light and send it over to the second
one located and PEGASE, an infrared interferometry mission composed of 3
satellites. CNES will undertake preliminary studies for these missions. The
selected mission will have a budget of 200 MEuros. [La Recherche 09/2004]
[From AFP, Air & Cosmos, Alcatel, Arianespace, Aviation Week & Space
Technology, Cercle Finance, CNES, EADS Astrium, EADS Space, ESA, Le Figaro,
Launch Services Alliance, La Lettre de l’Expansion, NASA, La Recherche,
Reuters, Space News, Spacetoday.net, La Tribune]
—-
France In Space is a weekly synthesis of French space activities based on
French press. Its content does not reflect an official position of the
French Government or CNES. It is provided by the CNES office and the Office
of Science and Technology of the French Embassy in Washington D.C
Editors: Vincent Sabathier, Thibaut Girard, Valery Tessier-Leon
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action is to serve France’s ambition to sustain a strong space capability
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