November 11 News Items

Dish Profit Drops 54% on Subscriber Losses, Charges (Source: Bloomberg)
Dish Network Corp., the nation's second-largest satellite-television provider, reported a 54 percent drop in third-quarter profit on subscriber losses and an investment writedown. The shares fell 15 percent. Net income declined to $91.9 million, from $199.7 million a year earlier. Sales climbed 5.1 percent to $2.94 billion. Dish lost 10,000 customers in the quarter, leaving it with 13.8 million. Increased competition from cable and phone companies may force the company to spend more on marketing and lure customers away, Dish said in the statement. Dish launched a new satellite in July to increase high-definition capacity to 100 channels from 45 by the end of the year. (11/11)

Sirius XM Radio Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results (Source: Sirius XM)
Sirius XM Radio announced third quarter 2008 results, including pro forma revenue of $613 million (up 16% over the year ago quarter), total subscribers of more than 18.9 million (up 17% from last year) and a 64% improvement in the pro forma adjusted loss from operations of $37 million before purchase accounting and restructuring costs. During the third quarter 2008, SIRIUS XM added 344,100 net subscribers. Pro forma net loss was $217 million, for the third quarter of 2008, compared to a pro forma net loss of $265.5 million in the third quarter 2007. (11/11)

ORBCOMM Announces Quarterly Results (Source: MarketWatch)
ORBCOMM, a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. Total Revenues were $8.0 million, an increase of 15.3% from the third quarter of 2007. Service Revenues for the third quarter increased 39.2% to $6.3 million from the comparable period of 2007. Operating loss for the quarter improved by 55.5% year-over-year, but a $1.2 million decline in interest income and $0.3 million of foreign exchange transaction loss led to the increase in net loss versus the same period in the prior year. Net loss for the third quarter was $1.0 million versus $0.4 million in the third quarter of 2007. (11/11)

EchoStar's 3Q Losses Surge (Source: AP)
EchoStar Corp., which sells set-top boxes and provides satellite television services to Dish Network, said Monday that its losses surged in the third quarter due to write-downs and other losses on troubled investments. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, EchoStar's loss widened to $308 million, compared with losses of $7 million a year ago. Quarterly revenue jumped 52 percent to $616 million from $404 million in the third quarter of 2007. (11/11)

$4,000 to Ride Weightless on Europe's "Darebus" (Source: Reuters)
Europe plans to enter the fledgling space tourism market by offering a chance to experience weightlessness to help pay for scientific research. With Europe's space ambitions facing a budget squeeze due to the weak economy, the plan to mix science with adventure was unveiled during a "zero G" flight for European officials on a converted Airbus jet. Novespace, a unit of France's CNES space agency and the 17-nation European Space Agency, claims to be leading the field in scientific deployment with a converted Airbus A300 jetliner.

"Today there are no regulations that authorize this, but a few times a year we could have exceptional authorization where we mix science and demonstrations for observers," an official said, adding he hoped to start public flights within a year. The price tag would be 3,000 euros ($3,869) for 30 parabolas or 22-second bursts of weightlessness -- 11 minutes in all. A U.S. company, Zero Gravity Corp, has offered low-gravity or weightless flights to the public since 2006. The Novespace ticket sales would not aim to make a profit but would help sponsor research carried on board. (11/11)

NASA Faces Moon Plan 30-Month Delay and $7 Billion Cost Hike (Source: Flight Global)
The maiden flight of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle and its Orion crew exploration vehicle could be delayed until after September 2017, along with an Ares/Orion development cost hike of $7 billion, according to a US Congressional Budget Office report. The 30-month delay figure consists of 18 months represented by the office's $7 billion overrun estimate, combined with its Monte Carlo simulation showing NASA is unlikely to complete the remaining Shuttle missions until December 2011. The $7 billion is calculated from a previous analysis of NASA programs by the budget office that found an average of a 50% increase on original cost estimates.

"If NASA's total budget grew by no more than 2% annually, such cost increases...would imply a delay of as much as 18 months beyond March 2015 [for Orion/Ares' first flight]," the report says. "A one-year delay in retiring the [Shuttle] would result in a...one-year delay [for Orion/Ares]." The remaining flights are the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, eight International Space Station trips and the launching of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment to the ISS. However president-elect Barack Obama can cancel the AMS mission under the NASA Authorization Act 2008. (11/11)

Cold Front Could Thwart Friday's Shuttle Launch (Source: Florida Today)
An approaching cold front could thwart NASA's plans to launch space shuttle Endeavour on Friday on a flight to the international space station. The front was moving across the central part of the nation Tuesday and was expected to bring rain and thick clouds to the launch site by week's end. There is a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions at the 7:55 p.m. Friday liftoff time and only a 40 percent chance on Saturday. "The timing of the front will be critical," said a NASA weather official. (11/11)

Orbcomm Reports Problem with New Satellites (Source: Space News)
All six satellites launched in June for two-way messaging service provider Orbcomm Inc. have suffered attitude-control problems in orbit, raising questions about how effective they will be once they are integrated into the company's current 27-satellite constellation, Ft. Lee, N.J.-based Orbcomm said in a Nov. 10 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). (11/11)

FAA Aims to Extend its Space Tourism Rules Worldwide (Source: Flight Global)
Development of personal spaceflight safety oversight should be part of a United Nations process separate from existing international aviation organizations, according to a regulatory model being promoted by the FAA. This year the FAA has discussed the matter with the UK's British National Space Center, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), Sweden National Space Board and Singapore's Economic Development Board. Under the outer space treaties the UK will bear some responsibility for the Anglo-American company Virgin Galactic's operations anywhere in the world. The SSC's Spaceport Sweden wants Virgin Galactic to operate there early in the next decade and Singapore was identified as a possible spaceport for Space Adventures' proposed suborbital project.

The FAA views this international approach as a basis for suborbital point-to-point transport. This year the FAA has helped form a new International Astronautical Federation commercial spaceflight safety committee. It has a tri-chair that consists of the FAA, Virgin Galactic and the SSC. (11/11)

Defense Panel Urges "Bold Action" on Cost Cutting (Source: AIA)
An internal Pentagon panel is warning President-elect Barack Obama that current budget levels are "not sustainable" in the current economic environment. The Defense Business Board is recommending cuts in unspecified weapons programs to ensure funding for sufficient ground forces. "Business as usual is no longer an option," says a briefing prepared for the presidential transition team. "The current and future fiscal environments facing the department demand bold action." Defense analysts say expensive, delay-plagued projects like the F-35 fighter jet and several new Navy ships would be mostly likely to get the ax under any cost-cutting push. (11/11)

Virgin Making Strides in Mideast (Source: Dubai Business)
Virgin puts great emphasis on this personal relationship with its customers, publicizing the project’s development milestones with events that the passengers are invited to, and are hosted by Virgin’s enigmatic creator Sir Richard Branson. A recent event was the unveiling of the White Knight Two carrier aircraft in California. Direct advertising of the product is a no-no, as it cheapens the exclusivity of what’s on offer. “Instead we opt to work with our media partners on story angles and features,” says Sharon Garrett, Virgin Galactic’s head of space marketing and PR. “We compliment these activities with client direct opportunities and guest speaking arrangements.” A seven-page feature in [Gulf News’s] Friday magazine netted two ticket sales, she points out.

“The most difficult challenge to overcome is misleading and untruthful reports by media, particularly with regard to spaceports. The UAE media shares an amazing fascination with spaceports,” she says. False rumors of an Emirati spaceport recently made the rounds, prompting a slew of customer inquiries into whether Virgin Galactic would shift its planned take-off from the US to the UAE...You can’t help but wonder if space exploration even needs promotion. It’s almost too easy for Virgin. “You really just need to talk about the experience in personal terms so people can visualize it,” says Wincer. Garrett agrees. “When these people phone, it is the experience and the detail that they are most interested in. Cost plays a secondary role. Most sales are converted in 72 hours.” (11/11)

Do You Have the Right Stuff for Space Travel? Take the Test ... (Source: Evening Standard)
Londoners will be able to see if they have the "right stuff" to become an astronaut at the Science Museum this week. The museum's Dana Center will encourage visitors to take tests used by the European Space Agency to choose its astronauts. They include assessments of performance under pressure, in which space wannabes must hit changing targets with a laser pointer via a series of mirrors. The exercise aims to discover whether subjects can perform quickly under intense deadlines. Visitors will also be tested on teamwork, co-operating with others to guide a small remote-controlled helicopter through an obstacle course.

They will be assessed on their resilience to G-force, with volunteers strapped to a chair, spun around and asked to fit blocks through a cut-out template. Each visitor will receive a score showing their fitness for space. Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy from the European Space Agency will give a talk. Maya Mendiratta, of the Dana Centre, said: "We hope people will have a lot of fun, but also get a better understanding of what it takes to be an astronaut." (11/11)

China Fears India-Japan Space Alliance (Source: Asia Times)
India and Japan's agreement to expand cooperation in the field of disaster management from space, has the raised the ire of a China fearful that the US is masterminding a powerful space alliance between its allies in the region. The growing ties come just as India and Japan are devising an action plan to advance security cooperation. "China is concerned about the general effort of the US during the Bush Administration to form a Japanese-Indian alliance to contain China," said an analyst. "They are more concerned about what this implies about US intentions rather than what it implies about the intentions of the Japanese or the Indians, particularly as it concerns space."

The agreement is a concern for China, as it would be for any nation when their traditional regional adversaries talk about cooperation, adds Weedon. "Most countries still see the national security angle of space as a unilateral effort and are unlikely to collaborate in that area. They will, however collaborate in scientific or civilian areas." There is considerable turmoil in Japan concerning the future of JAXA and how much money the government should be spending on it. The situation is made more complicated by Japan's recently enacted Space Basic Law, which for the first time permits Japan to consider deployment of national security space assets, which the Japanese had denied themselves until now. (11/11)

India Space Effort Important on Many Levels (Source: Sunday Herald)
Indians around televisions in tea shops and streetside electronics stores to glimpse the launch of the country's first-ever Moon mission last month, a huge ego-boost for a country trying to shrug off its former standing as one of the world's poorest and least-developed nations. The Prime Minister said the mission goes toward cementing the country's status as a serious contender in a new space race with China and Japan. Still, the two-year mission is not without its detractors. A few critics griped about spending more than $80 million to map the Moon when there are urgent problems closer to home: crumbling roads, grinding poverty and child malnutrition rates higher than in many African countries.

But the spin-off benefits of India's space program are too good to pass up, say analysts. It boosts India's military and diplomatic clout, coming on the heels of a nuclear deal with the US that ended its status as a nuclear pariah. Its satellite capability is focused on helping speed up telecommunications development, weather forecasting, educational broadcasting, and resource mapping to help farmers improve their crop yields. Arguably, one of the biggest benefits of the mission is that it helps India's bid to win a larger share of the world's estimated $15 billion-a-year commercial satellite launch market. (11/11)

Mother Set to Become 2nd Japanese Female in Space (Source: Mainichi Daily News)
Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki is set to become the second Japanese female astronaut to travel in space when she flies on the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis in February 2010. "It's a privilege that I can be involved in the final stage of the construction of the (International Space) Station," 37-year-old Yamazaki said. "I'd like to make my mission successful, for my family and many other people who supported me." (11/11)

Land Launch Aims for Second Lift-Off (Source: Flight Global)
The international joint venture Land Launch is preparing for its second flight to launch the Space Systems/Loral built Telstar-11N telecommunications satellite in December following its 28 April maiden mission to send an Israeli spacecraft into orbit, says the Russian Federal Space Agency. A Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Zenit 3SLB will be launched from Russia's Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan with the payload. The rocket is capable of putting 3,600kg (7,920lb) into geostationary transfer orbit. Land Launch's joint venture's members include Norway's Aker, Russia's Energia, Boeing and Ukraine's Yuznoye. These companies have been working together for Sea launch. It is through Sea Launch that Land Launch's services are marketed. (11/11)