What should have been a blow to the U.S. mobile satellite services industry is turning more into a tap on the shoulder as MSS companies conduct business as usual despite Congress’ recent findings that Loral Corp. and Hughes Electronics Corp. helped political and economic rival China improve its nuclear capabilities.
At least for now, MSS providers are successfully launching communication satellites from various spots around the world-including Russia, China and the Ukraine.
Struggling satellite communications provider Iridium L.L.C. said it has and will continue to launch its satellites from Russian and Chinese soil, having received government clearance to do so before Congress’ crack down.
“Iridium launches on a very tight schedule and we had to look to other places to launch,” said Robert Edwards, manager for media and analyst relations, Motorola Satellite Communications Division.
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is the only U.S.-based polar orbit launch site, said Edwards. Cost, timing and unexpected technical problems make it virtually impossible to launch exclusively from the United States.
“Unfortunately, there have been a number of anomalies of launch vehicles in the past few months and when there is an anomaly, it takes a minimum of five to six months to fix the problem,” said Edwards. “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Congress is trying to break U.S. mobile satellite system providers of this practice and consequentially step up national security. Several weeks ago the Senate Commerce Committee passed a bill, sponsored by Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), to extend commercial space-launch indemnification by the U.S. government to 10 years to limit the amount of insurance coverage needed by commercial launch firms.
The House International Relations Committee also passed an amendment to set up a two-tier regulatory structure at the State Department for handling commercial satellite applications, and $2 million was authorized for the department to expeditiously hire more staff to review the applications.
The government’s efforts to make the United States a more user-friendly launching ground may be coming too late for some MSS providers who are finding private, non-terrestrial launch sites an easier, more cost-effective way to send up their satellites. But even Sea Launch, a multinational launch service provider that contracts with companies to launch their satellites from a reconfigured oil rig platform floating 1,400 miles south of Hawaii, has come under investigation for export law violations.
Boeing, a U.S. investor in the company, paid a $10 million fine last October as part of a consent decree with the State Department, following claims the firm broke federal export laws.
Legal problems aside, Sea Launch holds a distinct advantage over launch sites based in the United States, Russia and China in that satellites are launched into orbit from the equator, helping its customers significantly cut costs and increase efficiency.
“If you launch directly from the equator you actually conserve fuel,” said Terrance Scott, Sea Launch spokesperson. “Saving fuel helps you lift a heavier payload into orbit and you can place a satellite into higher orbit, keeping a satellite going longer.”
Sea Launch conducted a successful demonstration launch March 27 and is scheduled to put a DirecTV satellite into orbit in late August or early September. Hughes and Loral have 14 satellites and five satellites, respectively, scheduled to go up during the next few years.
Edwards said Motorola/Iridium likes the idea of reusable launch vehicles, but he stressed the technology has to be proven.
Other companies, such as Orbcomm Global L.P., are avoiding the technology-transfer dilemma altogether by launching their satellites using Pegasus rockets, which are attached to a satellite dropped from a L10-11 plane at high altitude. This method is very efficient for Orbcomm because the company’s low-earth-orbit satellites are so small, said Wende Cover, Orbcomm spokesperson.
She said Orbcomm uses a NASA facility on Wallops Island, Va., as well as Vandenberg Air Force Base for its launches.
Other MSS providers are going to have to wait and see what effects recent legislation will have on their business practices.
“It’s too early to take a look at how recent legislation is going to affect the industry as a whole,” said Edwards. Industry watchers seem to think the effect will be minimal though.
“World Mobile Satellite Telephony Markets: 1999-2007,” compiled by The Strategies Group, Washington, D.C., projects the MSS industry will surpass a projected 17 million subscribers by 2007.
