Sat-ND, 11.11.1997 – Soli Deo Gloria
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Today's Headlines
Globalstar, L.P. announced today that it has rescheduled the launch of its first four satellites to the first week of February 1998, two months later than planned.
The consortium said in a press release the postponement "was adopted to allow for further testing and rehearsals of the tracking, telemetry and control (TT&C) ground equipment that will monitor the launch and deployment of the Globalstar satellites." Which comes as a bit of a surprise launching satellites into low-Earth orbit is not exactly a revolutionary new technology.
All other elements of the project – including system design, satellite and CDMA technology, gateway design and handset production – were on track, said Globalstar chairman and chief executive officer Bernard L. Schwartz.
"Globalstar now expects to begin commercial service no later than in the first quarter of 1999 following the launch of 44 satellites during 1998. The remaining 12 satellites will be launched in early 1999 as scheduled.
"The first four Globalstar satellites are at the Cape Canaveral launch site and four additional satellites for the second launch have successfully completed integration and testing. In addition, satellite and major subsystem assembly, integration and testing necessary for the first Zenit launch is underway."
Globalstar, led by Loral Space & Communications, has signed agreements to send 36 of its low-orbit satellites up on three Russian-Ukrainian Zenit rockets. Last May, A Zenit-2 carrying a Russian Kosmos military satellite crashed just 48 seconds after lift-off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The launch of Arianespace Flight 102 (Sirius 2/Cakrawarta 1) has been postponed twice since Monday owing to the unfavourable direction and speed of high altitude winds over French Guiana.
Yesterday, the countdown was halted 24 minutes before scheduled lift-off from the European Space Agency (ESA) launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The problem with those high altitude winds is that in case of an in-flight explosion, debris could be blown outside the safety zone.
The unfavourable conditions continued today so that the launch has meanwhile been rescheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, during a launch window between 6.48 p.m and 7.33 p.m local time (2148-2233 UTC.)
The satellite dish ban in China has reportedly always been handled differently from region to region. Notwithstanding, there have always been satellite transmissions for cable systems. But so far I hadn't heard of Chinese officials promoting individual satellite reception.
However, this is what happens in and especially around Beijing right now. The Beijing Daily reported that about 800,000 residents in the mountainous areas around the Chinese capital cannot get Beijing TV on their screens, and nearly half of them cannot receive the city's radio channels.
Beijing Television and Radio stations will therefore begin satellite broadcasting on January 1, 1998, which is not too unusual – other local and regional Chinese channels have been available on satellite for quite a while.
However, news agency Xinhua quoted the vice-secretary of municipal party committee Li Zhijian as saying local governments should help residents in small villages to set up satellite antennas. He added a good management system should be set up to maintain normal operations for receiving satellite programs.
Venezuela's Cisneros Television Group (CTG) will use a transponder on the PAS-5 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite to deliver several Spanish-language television channels to cable and other redistribution systems in that region.
PanAmSat said in a press release it will provide CTG with a full transponder on the PAS-5 C-band Americas beam, which provides total coverage of North America and South America, as well as access to Europe. In addition to satellite services, PanAmSat will also furnish CTG with a full-range of teleport services at PanAmSat's teleport facility in Homestead, Florida, USA. This includes providing the uplink and digital compression equipment needed to transmit the television channels to PAS-5.
CTG presently operates a total of nine television networks. The Cisneros Group of Companies also has holdings in a number of media, entertainment and telecommunications companies around the world.
If you read computer magazines, you'll probably have quite an impressive collection of AOL CDs by now. They're just about everywhere, but unfortunately nobody has yet come up with a good idea what to do with them and how to dispose of them safely.
A serious suggestion I recently read said those CDs could be used to scare away birds from cherry trees. However, AOL now seems to have noticed that this way of acquiring subscribers is a bit costly. This does not mean that you will escape the AOL software – no way!
America Online cut a deal with Sony Music to include its software on selected audio compact discs in the U.S. and Canada. The CDs will also allow users to connect to artist Web sites, using Microsoft's Internet Explorer which is also included on the CD (which means there will be not too much space left for the music anyway.)
Not a loss, really, as Sony said the first two CDs to be equipped with the software are Michael Bolton's "All That Matters" and Celine Dion's "Let's Talk About Love." I wouldn't buy either of them anyway, AOL software included or not.
Thomas Krampe wrote in to tell me that the world's (probably) smallest satellite radio broadcast vehicle was that of Fritz, a German regional youth station.
The equipment fits nicely into the boot of the black Rover Mini, and a flat antenna upon its roof uplinks the signal to the satellite. Even if you don't understand German, you can still have a look at some pictures of the car at
It's up to you to believe the rest ;-) Thomas added that the reporter Patricia who can be seen on one of the pictures sounds just what she looks like (but said that stated no criticism.) Anyway, you get the idea ;-)
Irek Defee wrote he found yesterday's report on Radio Maria/Maryja "good overall" but that he had some remarks and corrections which you can find below, unedited.
I will not comment on them as a detailed discussion would be beyond the scope of this so-called newsletter. Remember, you can always feed some of the catchwords into your favourite search engine and do some research on your own. There's quite a lot to discover out there. And here's what Irek wrote.
1. Vatican was not funding Solidarity, no evidence on this
2. Recent election results in Poland can not be attributed to Radio Maryja, but to the fact that political right has united. In previous elections they have been divided into many small groups which could not pass election threshold. Former communists also fared quite well, increasing their support.
3. Financing of Radio Maryja is indeed interesting question. Apart of their satellite broadcast they build in short time FM network covering whole country, they transmit their programs to America via satellite and they broadcast via shortwaves to Russia. It is known that part of their funding and equipment is coming from Germany.
4. There is no reason to suppose that people involved in Radio Maryja activities in Poland are not honest. They are devoted catholics who are also strongly (sometimes paranoid) nationalistic.
Copyright 1997 by Peter C. Klanowski, pck@LyNet.De. All rights reserved.
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