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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sawtooth who wrote (6106)	5/10/1999 6:05:00 PM
From: djane	Respond to of 10852

Can Anyone Save Loral Orion 3? skyreport.com Can engineers and scientists save the Loral Orion 3 satellite? There's talk that the stranded bird - placed in a useless orbit by a Boeing Delta III rocket late Tuesday night - can be put on top or close to its intended location over Asia and the Pacific with a little help from Hughes Space and Communications, the satellite manufacturer. Options include sending an astronaut crew on a very expensive rescue mission or burning the spacecraft's precious on-board fuel to boost the satellite from its present orbit 854 miles from Earth. The most popular option, however, is sending the spacecraft on a trip around the moon in a looping bid to reach its proper orbit. Last year, Hughes rescued a satellite using the celestial object. The company sent a misplaced satellite around the moon twice after it was left in a useless orbit by a Russian rocket. The craft used lunar gravity to propel itself into a geosynchronous orbit. Hughes personnel continue to watch Loral Orion 3 and are in direct communication with the bird, said Hughes Space and Communications spokesperson Diana Ball. However, due to its low orbit, the satellite is traveling at very fast speeds, making it difficult to send extensive commands to the spacecraft, she said. Hughes also has to consider the wishes of its customer. "Right now, we want to stabilize it and keep it in a holding pattern until Loral Orion tells us what to do with it," Ball said. Loral may likely write off the fully-insured satellite as a total loss. If the company uses it, there's the possibility that it will have limited capabilities. Analysts didn't have much to say about the launch failure and the consequences for Loral. ING Barings' Rob Kaimowitz maintained his "Strong Buy" rating and $27 price target given that Loral's first quarter results met expectations and the loss of Orion 3 would "only cost the company roughly 50 cents in our sum of the parts valuation." Bear Stearns' Vijay Jayant said the valuation impact, assuming a two year replacement time for Loral Orion 3, is between 50 cents and 75 cents. "However, we expect the psychological reaction to be greater," he said.