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To: djane who wrote (5669)	7/12/1999 12:40:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Kazakhstan launch ban has MSS firms reviewing plans July 9, 1999 By Antony Bruno The government of Kazakhstan's temporary ban on Russian rocket launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome has mobile satellite service providers with upcoming launch dates there watching the situation carefully. The ban was initiated after a Russian-made Proton K booster rocket carrying a Russian military satellite exploded and rained debris over neighboring villages in the country. The Kazakh government, which owns the facility but leases it to Russia for launches, said it would allow no further launches until an investigation into the explosion is complete. That investigation is expected to last at least a month. Mobile satellite companies with scheduled launches from the Baikonur facility include ICO Global Communications and Globalstar Communications L.P. Both are in the process of establishing their respective low-earth-orbit satellite networks. Whether this temporary ban will interrupt either company's schedule remains unclear. Globalstar's next several launches have been scheduled to take place at Cape Canaveral, Fla., but the company does have several other launch dates reserved at Baikonur for later this year. ICO, which has yet to launch a satellite, has greater concerns. The company planned to commence with its launch schedule later this year using the Proton K rocket from the Baikonur facility. ‘‘As a consequence of the Proton failure, the rocket is grounded,'' said Joe Tedino, ICO spokesman. ‘‘Our launch manifest is under review.'' ICO intends to use several different rockets in its launch rollout. They include the Proton K, the Atlas II, the Delta III and the modified Zenit rocket from SeaLaunch. However, the Delta III rocket also is grounded pending investigation of an April incident in which the rocket's second stage booster failed to place an Orion satellite in its proper orbit, resulting in a complete loss. While Tedino said these investigations are of some concern, he said they do not represent a delay for ICO's launch schedule, as there has never been a specific launch date to miss. ‘‘It's not like we were supposed to launch next week and now we can't,'' he said. ‘‘We expect to launch in the next few months, but we just don't know specifically when.'' Despite the recent failure, Tedino expressed faith in the Proton K rocket. ‘‘It's a proven rocket,'' he said. ‘‘It's reliability percentage is somewhere in the nineties.'' The Proton K rocket is marketed by an international consortium called International Launch Services, made up in part by U.S. firm Lockheed Martin Corp. and Russian companies RSC Energia and Khrunichev, which actually builds the rocket. The failed rocket was testing a new type of upper stage rocket designed to better carry satellites to orbit. Copyright 1999, all rights reserved. Please report problems to webmaster.rcr@inlet.com July 12, 1999 rcrnews.com

To: djane who wrote (5669)	7/12/1999 3:18:00 PM
From: djane	Respond to of 29987

PCWorld. Sailing the High-Tech Seas [I* phone] (via I* yahoo thread) Racing to Hawaii, Philippe Kahn takes along e-mail, phone, and satellite communications gear. by David Needle, special to PC World July 9, 1999, 3:42 a.m. PT Philippe Kahn is out to sea, but never out of touch. Kahn, the colorful entrepreneur behind Borland International, Starfish Software, and a new Internet company called LightSurf, is skipper of a high-tech yacht hoping to win a grueling 2225-mile race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. As of late Thursday Kahn's boat, the Pegasus, had completed two-thirds of the race and was in fourth place. Naturally, the boat is well-equipped with technology tools including wireless e-mail and a Motorola Satellite Series 9500 portable telephone. Kahn took advantage of these to take a breather and answer my questions via e-mail and phone. Are We Having Fun Yet? As an old saying goes, yacht racing is like taking a cold shower while ripping up $100 bills. And although Pegasus is one very fancy yacht, its crew is hardly living the good life. "The considerable cost of these giant race boats [several million dollars for each boat] is not spent in luxury amenities, but in super-high-tech designs that are all executed using state-of-the-art aerospace composite technology," says Kahn. "We sleep in carbon fiber bunks. The only table in this huge yacht is the navigation station," which has many computer systems and a full network running. "The goal in these boats is to make them super light and over-power them with huge sails in order to go very fast. We divided the crew of 12 into two watches. Each watch is on for 4 hours and off for 4 hours. You never sleep more than 2 to 3 hours in a row." Who's Out There? If you were on the yacht, it might be easy to forget there was a race going on but for the frenetic activity of the crew. "We haven't seen a single boat in the whole race," says Kahn. On Wednesday the Pegasus averaged 14 knots over 24 hours with a top speed of 22.7 knots—very high speed for a sailboat. "With more wind we'll go faster," says Kahn. In a long race like this, Kahn says, it's easy for the participants to put considerable distance between themselves. The farthest anyone can see across the ocean is about six miles. And while the other boats are equipped with e-mail and some have Iridium phones, Kahn says they don't communicate with each other. ("Offshore sailing is a very competitive sport!") Race participants are not supposed to receive help from the outside beyond daily weather maps. But the Pegasus has three notebook computers on board to help interpret the maps, plot strategy, and plan tactics. Kahn wrote a few simple programs he says help optimize decision making. "We don't have the biggest or the fastest boat, but we can be smarter and more aggressive," says Kahn. Aggression has its limits at sea, though; another yacht capsized on Wednesday and the crew was rescued by Coast Guard helicopter. Iridium Issues In my interview, the connection via the Iridium phone was as good as a very good cell phone connection; in fact it was all too much like a cell phone call. The connection was fine for about 10 minutes, then there was static, sentence fragmentation, and disconnection. One minute later Kahn reconnected and the interview finished without a problem. "You can't replace the cell phone," says Kahn. "This is technology for where there is no land-based infrastructure like if you're going to go to the Amazon, or out on an oil rig." The Iridium phone won't work indoors because it has to have a line of sight to the satellite that makes the connection to the phone network. Kahn also uses the Iridium pager, which is the only global pager that can connect from anywhere in the world. The 40th Transpac race is sponsored by Iridium North America, a global telephone and paging company. Through a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites circling the globe, customers can make or take calls and receive pages in the most remote regions on Earth. After developing the initial concept, Motorola incorporated Iridium as a separate company in 1991. Kahn became an advisor to Motorola's top brass after the company bought Starfish last year. He remains chief executive officer of Starfish and chair of Lightsurf. After such a tough race, will Kahn kick back and enjoy Hawaii? Yes, he will until his wife and kids meet him. Then they'll jet off to his idea of a real vacation: helicopter-snowboarding in New Zealand.