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To: djane who wrote (5666)	7/12/1999 11:41:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29987

Wired. No Cash for Rocket Crash Oscar S. Cisneros 12:30 p.m. 9.Jul.99.PDT The Russian Proton rocket that crashed over Kazakhstan on Monday carried only payload insurance, leaving no liability coverage to pay for any cleanup costs associated with the toxic fuel and smoldering rocket chunks it left on the ground. "We hear that enough chunks fell that undoubtedly there's going to be some kind of cleanup and repair effort," said Alden Richards, CEO of Space Machine Advisors, a company that provides insurance and consulting services for space missions. "I know that there was coverage on it for US$14 million, and that's not much." Because Russia is essentially a landlocked country, its rocket launches take place over land, exposing citizens to dangers from mishaps. This has created tension between the state and its citizens, who are concerned for their safety and the environment. See also: Russian Launch Site in Jeopardy The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the Proton rocket was launched, has become a favorite place for Western companies to launch their payloads into space. International Launch Services, a joint venture between Lockheed-Martin and several Russian companies, is one of the companies selling Baikonur-based launches, said ILS spokeswoman Julie Andrews. ILS typically insures only the payload of its flights, leaving the liability coverage to the agencies in charge of the launch, she said. "We don't make insurance arrangements for the mission only because we don't launch the rocket," Andrews said. "That's the function of the builder of the Proton, Khrunichev." Russian space officials who will likely share the liability from the rocket crash could not be reached for comment. David Martin of the Siberia Wilderness Campaign, a nonprofit group that monitors environmental threats around the Pacific Rim, said that the insurance arrangements are irresponsible given the dangers involved. "There may not be a lot of physical damage, but that fuel is incredibly toxic," he said. "It's my understanding that if you're in direct contact with it you can die instantly." The Cosmodrome launch trajectory is directly over protected wilderness areas. Martin reported that 118 rocket parts have fallen there in recent years, and points to studies showing that many children near the launch site are born with jaundice, a disease that causes yellowing of the skin. "At a minimum, they need to revamp their launch procedures and certainly the insurance issue so that there's some money if there's an accident," Martin said, adding that the Proton rocket carries 66 tons of toxic fuel. But Richards said that though the impetus may not come from insurers, there may indeed be a way to clean up the holes and smoking pieces of debris. "There are collectors around that would love to have it," he said. "To me, it's in the same category as meteorites -- it's a cosmic object." "I have a 30-pound meteorite in my office and I'd love to have it matching with a piece of smoking proton."

To: djane who wrote (5666)	7/12/1999 12:03:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Infonet Offers Y2K Back Up Via Satellite By Sheridan Nye 09 July 1999 Infonet Services Corp is offering multinational companies a satellite back-up facility in case Y2K bugs cause their terrestrial networks to fail. Infonet, of El Segundo, California, said it will target new and existing customers for its VSAT Connect Y2K Contingency Service Plan, which provides a fall-back local loop connection for mission critical applications. The Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite service is aimed predominantly at multinationals with offices or manufacturing plants in countries where Y2K glitches are more likely to cause problems, said Erica Angus, product market manager, Infonet. South American and African countries where infrastructure investment is low will be particularly vulnerable when the clock ticks from 1999 to 2000, according to Gartner Group consultancy of Stamford, Connecticut. By Gartner's reckoning, Asian territories such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan may have fewer problems, but it will be harder to predict where those problems might occur. Infonet says its own global core network is not the issue but the final connection to the customer provided through local carriers. The customer-sited VSAT uplink will bypass the local terrestrial loop, passing IP and Frame Relay traffic on to the global satellite network provided by Hughes Global Services and Hughes' satellite operating arm, PanAmSat. Corporates will pay start-up costs and a monthly flat fee for the dedicated VSAT link for a minimum 12 months. Infonet guarantees to pay this money back if the satellite link or customer premises hardware fails and isn't fixed within 12 hours. Angus acknowledges that ISDN might be a cheaper back-up solution for companies in regions where the dial-up alternative is available. The Y2K option is the first of three VSAT-based services Infonet will roll out in the coming months. VSAT Connect will be a straight replacement option for companies wanting to switch to satellite from their terrestrial loop. For instance, a central office could become a hub for VSAT links to multiple remote offices, or the remote sites could link to an Infonet interconnection point. VSAT Connect Back Up service will allow multiple sites to share satellite link capacity in the event that one or more of the sites loses its terrestrial connection. All the VSAT services will carry IP and frame traffic, as well as ATM when Infonet launches this service in 2000. Customers will need to be aware of the limitations of satellite-delivered connections, said Angus. Feeds to geostationary satellites will experience an inherent link delay and, in the event of a terrestrial failure, switchover to the VSAT service would take some 3-8 seconds - time for Cisco router to redirect traffic and then to activate the satellite link. © EMAP Media 1999