Mar 6 1978
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NASA announced plans to launch from Cape Canaveral no earlier than Mar. 23 an experimental Japanese direct-broadcast communications satellite capable of sending television programs directly into an individual's home. The satellite, technically named Medium-Scale Broadcasting Satellite for Experiment Purposes (BSE) had been a project of Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA). As agreed by the U.S. and Japan, NASA would launch BSE on a Delta rocket; NASDA would reimburse NASA for the cost of the launch vehicle, launch services, and other administrative costs. NASA's worldwide Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) would track BSE until it achieved final orbit, when NASDA would take over tracking. Present Japanese TV, though covering 97% of the main islands, had not been economical for remote islands and mountain regions; also, tall buildings had degraded TV reception in large cities. NASDA had designed BSE to transmit high-quality color television to the Japanese islands and Okinawa at lower cost; user antennas could be as small as 1 to 1.6 meters (3.3 to 5.2ft), with production costs estimated at $200 per unit. The high power of BSE could transmit directly to individual TV sets even in bad weather, making TV available to Japanese living on the offshore islands and in inaccessible mountain areas.
Goddard Space Flight Center would manage the Delta vehicle for NASA's Office of Space Transportation Systems, and KSC would manage launch operations. General Electric Co., Valley Forge, Pa., had built the BSE under contract to Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co. The Japanese Broadcasting Corp., the Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, and the Radio Research Laboratories of Japan would sponsor or participate in the program. (NASA Release 78-33;, MOR M-492-212-78-01 [prelaunch], Feb. 28/78; Spaceport News, Mar 17/78, 1)
The House subcommittee on space science and applications had added funding of $4 million to the NASA FY79 budget for a fifth Space Shuttle orbiter and a new stereosat earth resources spacecraft, Av Wk reported. The subcommittee had also added $7 million to NASA's Office of Space Transportation funds for advanced planning, plus $3 million each for. large space-structures work and solar power satellite studies. (NASA's initial budget request had not included solar power satellite funding, because of Dept. of Energy priority in this area.) The subcommittee had added $40.5 million to the NASA request and cut $25 million, resulting in a net $15.5 million increase.
Funds for a stereosat came with a subcommittee call for development of the $40- to $45-million spacecraft based on significant funding from the user community; primary users would be geologists exploring for petroleum and minerals. Other subcommittee additions were $10 million for distribution of Landsat data and training programs to states for crop-, prediction research, encouragement of microwave development, and work on an operational Landsat system; $4 million to stimulate, bioengineering work; $1.5 million to support industrial application of NASA technology; and $4 million for modifying NASA's tracking system to facilitate full and timely handling of Spacelab data early in Spacelab's flight program. (Av Wk, Mar 6/78, 13)
Av Wk reported that the Navy's Electronic Systems Command planned to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to establish and operate a follow on system to the Navy/TRW fleet satellite communications (FltSatCom) system. The Navy would lease from the contractor capacity on the new system, designated Leasat, which could be either a hybrid (providing service to merchant shipping as well as to the Navy) or dedicated (serving only the Navy). The RFP would require 3 satellites positioned over the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The first satellite should be available Oct. 1, 1981; the second, Apr. 1, 1982; the third, Oct. l, 1987. A satellite that failed would have to be replaced within 30 days. The contractor would also build and operate a telemetry, tracking, and control system with central headquarters for coordination at 4 Navy communications stations in Va., Hawaii, Calif., and Guam. (Av Wk, Mar 6/78,14)
Upon successful completion of the Spacelab Critical Design Review [see Feb. 3], ESA announced it would authorize manufacture of the Spacelab flight unit and confirm technical orientation already given in certain critical areas. Plans called for delivery of the engineering model to NASA in mid-1979; ESA would deliver the flight unit to NASA in two shipments (in autumn 1979 and early 1980) to satisfy requirements of the first 2 Spacelab missions, scheduled for Dec. 1980 and Apr. 1981. (ESA Release Mar 6/78)
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