Apr 29 1980
From The Space Library
NASA reported that France and West Germany signed an intergovernmental agreement today for joint development of a direct-broadcast television satellite to be launched on Ariane late in 1983. The two nations would split the cost of the initial three-satellite system, estimated at $250-$300 million. The sponsors said major return on the investment would come from sales of 15 to 20 such television satellite systems over the next 10 years to third parties such as Scandinavia's Nordsat, Radio Luxembourg's Luxsat, and People's Republic of China. ESA would continue definition work on LSat, a parallel television-satellite effort without French and German participation. (NASA Actv Rpt, May 1/80)
Aerospace Daily reported that the Soviet Union today launched Cosmos 1176, possibly the first nuclear-powered ocean-surveillance satellite since radioactive fragments of Cosmos 954 crashed into Canada in January 1978. Orbit parameters were 265-kilometer apogee, 260-kilometer perigee, 89.6-minute period, and 65° inclination. Until the 1978 incident, the Soviet Union had routinely used radar-carrying satellites powered by nuclear sources traveling in pairs in similar orbits to detect ships; at end of mission, the nuclear source would be propelled into higher orbit to decay in outer space, but Cosmos 954 had malfunctioned. (A/D, Apr 30/80, 338)
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