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To: Sawtooth who wrote (16361)	10/12/1998 10:30:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Tim, Is this recent news; Globalstar satellites, rocket burn up as Russian launch fails The Journal Record MOSCOW (AP) -- Twelve U.S. commercial satellites and the rocket that carried them partially burned up in the atmosphere when the Russian-organized launch failed minutes after blastoff Thursday. The Zenit-2 booster was launched by Russia's space agency from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which Russia rents in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan. The rocket's control system failed in its fifth minute of flight, shutting down the engines. The Ukrainian manufacturer acknowledged it might be responsible, saying it was probably a computer malfunction. Fragments of the rocket and the Globalstar satellites fell in a sparsely populated area in southern Siberia, the Russian Space Agency told the ITAR-Tass news agency. The satellites were built by Space Systems Loral, a subsidiary of [ Loral Space ] and Communications Ltd. of New York. The contract value wasn't announced, but a usual price for such launches is about $30 million, ITAR-Tass said. The Russian Space Agency blamed Yuzhnoye, the Ukrainian government-owned rocket design and production center, for the failure, ITAR-Tass reported. "The launching was considered Ukraine's responsibility; the Russian side exercised only general coordination of the work," space agency spokesman Vyacheslav Mikhailichenko said. The Yuzhnoye press office acknowledged the manufacturer might be at fault. "We definitely exclude a rocket design error, but we can theorize about manufacturing errors," the Interfax news agency quoted the press office as saying. Yuzhnoye officials said the cause most likely was a malfunction in the rocket's computer, which controlled its engines. The computer was produced by an institute in Moscow, Interfax said. Yuzhnoye said upcoming launches should not be affected by Thursday's failure. Five more launches are planned by mid-1999 to put 36 more Globalstar satellites into orbit. Two Zenit-2 rockets will carry 12 satellites each, and the other 12 will be put into orbit by three Russian Soyuz rockets. Thursday's launch was the eighth failure of the two-stage Zenit-2 out of a total of 31. The same rocket is to be used in the Sea Launch international project to carry out commercial launches from ocean platforms. On the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares of Globalstar plunged 40 percent, losing $7.12 1/2 to close at $10.75 per share. Shares of Loral Space dropped $5.06 1/4, or 28 percent, to close at $13. Loral Space was the most heavily traded issue on the New York Stock Exchange, with 21 million shares changing hands. (Copyright 1998) _____via IntellX_____ Publication Date: October 12, 1998 Powered by NewsReal's IndustryWatch ...back to top

To: Sawtooth who wrote (16361)	10/12/1998 10:33:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Silicon Germanium chips by IBM have been coming down the pike for a while. They will benefit QUALCOMM more than the competition because it will make the air interface energy more important than energy going into processing. The processing power is also more important for CDMA than for GSM and analogue which is heading for irrelevancy. With cdma2000 the processing power will be even more important. QUALCOMM is the main prospective beneficiary, other than the chip producers of course. People will have Earcell [TM] stereophonic systems, one in each ear, produced by the likes of Phonak, initially to help hearing impaired people but eventually all of us. You'll be able to pop a little ear canal hearing aid in each ear, with a wireless link to a little control box which will receive and transmit signals to Globalstar satellites or terrestrial cdma2000 systems. I asked Phonak about such a thing several years ago, but they weren't doing anything about it then. Maybe they and others will be taking a look again. Stereophonic hearing protecton, sound filtering [great for driving, noisy factories etc], adapted to individual hearing needs. It will be like having the person you are talking to right there in full stereo. The box will send and receive super weak signals to the Earcells which will have a micro battery, rechargeable in the main box, with GPS, security alarm, and all that stuff, right down to the Vegemite dispenser. The Earcells can have voice pickup from sound transmission through bones to the ear rather than talking into a machine. Once again, the advantage is mostly to CDMA and QUALCOMM. Mqurice