Really Rocket Science

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the communications support agency for the Department of Defense, has a pretty big RFP out there – $500 million/year for a new satellite services contract:

The Defense Information Systems Agency has kicked off a follow-on procurement for commercial satellite services that could be worth $500 million a year and may attract a large field of bidders, ranging from small businesses to large systems integrators.

The procurement, which could directly effect operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to be a pretty competitive process – continuing what they beleive to be an efficient public-private partnership:

The Defense Department has mandated that all the military services use DSTS-G, Cowen-Hirsch said, which leverages the department’s buying power. DISA’s cost for satellite services is 25 percent below the industry average. The agency said in its request for information for the Future Commercial Satellite Services Acquisition that it wants to maintain this "price competition, while ensuring maximum effectiveness by considering lessons learned, market evolution and anticipating future DoD needs."

It appears that a large pool of vendors stand ready to meet these requirements, and not just the small businesses that won the DSTS-G contracts in 2001. Eaton estimated that about 50 bidders submitted written responses to the new RFI, including his company and the two other DTTS-G incumbents, Artel Inc. and Spacelink, acquired by DRS Technolgies in 2006.

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch is the director of DISA’s program executive office for satellite communications. In a recent interview before the follow-up procurement was announced, she was eager to defend the agency’s commercial partnerships:

There has been much debate over the advantages or perceived disadvantages of our primary contract vehicle for acquiring commercial SATCOM services. And yet it remains an incredibly successful tool in acquiring fixed satellite services, bandwidth for our customers. It continues to provide the warfighters great flexibility at some of the best prices in the industry. In fact, we have shown that the DSTS-G contract has provided service globally tailored to the unique needs of the warfighters with prices that are on average 25 percent lower than market averages. This value is derived principally by openly competing COMSATCOM requirements across the commercial marketplace and leveraging the benefits of competition, DoD’s buying power, and DISA’s strong partnership with the commercial satellite industry. We are able to procure very short duration leases, say on the order of a few days or a month, or long multiyear leases. The competition created by our vendors has been very beneficial to the department. Additionally, we have been able to add within the scope of our existing contract capabilities the warfighter values such as protection, access to commercial X-Band, portability, responsiveness and additional flexibilities.

While DSTS-G has been very effective is supporting the DoD, it will come to the end of its life cycle in 2011 [with all options exercised]. We are actively strategizing for our future services acquisition to build on our past experiences and to put in place the DoD’s next generation of commercial SATCOM services. We will continue to rely on DSTS-G while we plan for the future.

Despite the large-scale increase in capacity, some vendors think the procurement should be more expansive:

Tom Eaton, president of Arrowhead Global Solutions, one of the three vendors on DISA’s current Defense Information System Network Satellite Transmission Service-Global (DSTS-G) contract, said his company intends to bid on the follow-on procurement, known as the Future Commercial Satellite Services Acquisition. He said DISA should widen the scope of the procurement to include mobile satellite services as well as the fixed satellite services covered in the current contract, which expires in 2011.

Eaton said DISA also should consider bundling satellite terminal hardware into the Future Commercial Satellite Services Acquisition, along with mobile services, to cut down on administrative overhead and consolidate all commercial satellite communications requirements into one contract vehicle.

Eaton said that demand for satellite communications bandwidth far outstrips the capacity of military systems, a gap that can be filled by commercial satellite services.

DISA, by the way, is constructing a new building at Fort Meade in Maryland. The design contract was almost as much as this satellite procurement—$370 million—but it looks like the design firm knows what they’re doing.

1. Led Zeppelin: "Stairway To Heaven"

2. John Lennon: "Imagine

3. Mika: "Grace Kelly" 

4. Louis Armstrong: "What A Wonderful World"

5. Avril Lavigne: "Girlfriend"

Those were the top five songs submitted by students from member states in the European Space Agency’s competition to determine which songs get included in a playlist being carried by the ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). The songs will be download and enjoyed by the astronauts. Not sure if the RIAA let this one through. Here’s the winning playlist, sumitted by 14-year-old Therese Miljeteig of Norway:

The Beatles: "Here Comes The Sun" 
Frank Sinatra: "Come Fly With Me" 
Elton John: "Rocket Man" 
Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes: "Up Where We Belong"
John Lennon: "Imagine"
Irene Cara: "What A Feeling" (from Flashdance)
Dire Straits: "Walk of Life"
Celine Dion: "Fly"
Status Quo: "Rockin’ All Over The World" 
R Kelly: "I Believe I Can Fly"

The ATV, the "Jules Verne," will also carry become the Ariane 5’s heaviest payload at 20.7 tons when it launches this weekend (9 March 2008) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Wait a minute. Was that 20.7 tons?! That’s got to be double their heaviest payload ever. But if you think about it, the previous record was for launching into geosynchronous transfer orbit, which is much, much higher than the International Space Station’s.

According to yesterday’s piece in the New York Times, this increases the ESA’s ISS participation substantially:

Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, said the inauguration of A.T.V. flights — along with last month’s delivery of the Columbus science module and activation of a European control center — cements Europe’s major new role in space.

"This makes us full partners and a significant player in the space station and space in general," Mr. Dordain said of his organization, which represents 17 European nations. The supply vehicle, Columbus laboratory and other components represent Europe’s investment of more than $7 billion in the station project.

Jules Verne and at least four spacecraft like it are to be launched to the station about every 18 months. Until now, American space shuttles and Russian Progress cargo ships have been the main lifeline to the station.

Michael Suffredini, NASA station program manager, noted that the European craft carries almost three times as much cargo as a Progress and will have an increasingly significant role. "It will be most important after 2010, when the space shuttle retires," he said.

The Jules Verne is the first fully automatic cargo spacecraft of its kind. After launch, it is designed to fly itself to the vicinity of the space station and use a unique system of laser-optical sensors to rendezvous and dock with no human assistance.

The ESA published a great video on the project. Enjoy:

If—somehow—you have not seen the deluge of trade group tv ads, here’s the deal: millions of analog TV sets will no longer display broadcast TV signals unless they are connected to cable, satellite, or to a converter. Millions are being spent in easing this transition, including a free converter coupon program. Still, nervousness is spreading.

FCC Commissioner (and apparent theater fan) Michael Copps wants to schedule a practice:

"Broadway shows open on the road to work out the kinks before opening night," he wrote. "The DTV transition deserves no less."

Copps noted that other countries, like the United Kingdom, have made the shift in stages and that the "single transition date does not afford us the luxury of a built-in learning curve."

Martin, in a reply letter, said Copps had presented some "interesting ideas that I am in favor of pursuing, including switching a small number of test markets to all-digital service before February 17, 2009."

On Feb. 18, all full-power broadcast television stations will stop transmitting an analog signal. Viewers with cable or satellite television will not be affected. Over-the-air viewers will need a converter box, which the government will help pay for.

A test run would present challenges, Martin noted. It would require the "voluntary participation of an entire community or market." Martin said he will ask the agency’s digital transition task force to begin exploring how such field tests could be done.

Those annoying commercials have done their job – in the past year "2009 transition" awareness has almost doubled from 41 to 74 percent of consumers. But the education efforts are not over:

Washington — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday issued a DTV Consumer Education Order requiring television broadcasters, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), telecommunications carriers, retailers and manufacturers to promote awareness of the nation’s transition to digital television.

The FCC also said it will assist the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in ensuring that retailers are getting digital-to-analog TV converter boxes on shelves.

The mandated activities and reporting procedures for those efforts come after increased pressure from some members of Congress who want to ensure that consumers are aware of the upcoming analog TV broadcasting cutoff in time to make necessary adjustments. Previously, FCC chairman Kevin Martin had encouraged voluntary industry education efforts.

Well, sort of. With a little investment, the Brits could be an important player in space exploration and business:

Britain can play an important role in space exploration by exploiting its skills in the satellite sector rather than joining the competition in manned space flights, according to David Williams, head of Avanti, a satellite communications company. "There aren’t unlimited resources – we have to prioritise in areas where we have an economic advantage," he said.

Britain should be creating the communications infrastructure that will be needed as exploration expands deeper into space, he said. Countries such as the US, China, India and Russia, as well as the European Space Agency, are working on deep-space exploration. "If mankind is going to exploit the resources of the solar system, you are going to have to travel over very long distances and you are going to have to communicate over very long distances and you will need a network of data-relay satellites. The UK has a big advantage. We have the opportunity to control the space internet, which is going to be this network of data-relay satellites."

As The Guardian explains, these hopes are part of the government’s space strategy, drawn up by the British National Space Centre, which aims to double the number of British companies involved in the space business by 2012. Unfortunately, a trip to the moon is NOT part of the plan:

However, many space enthusiasts will be disappointed to learn that the plan has little to say about long-held aspirations for a British astronaut, though officials are to launch a review of the costs and possible benefits of human spaceflight.

In the 1960s ministers opted out of all crewed space missions, a stance governments have maintained since, but last year several key groups of experts, including the Commons science committee and a panel commissioned by the BNSC, warned that Britain risked being left behind if it did not end its long-standing opposition.

The failure to back a British astronaut dismayed some experts who believe Britain has missed any chance of being involved in European and Nasa plans to send humans back to the moon.

"There’s no commitment at all from this strategy. We’re the only developed nation that doesn’t have an astronaut, despite the fact that we’re the fifth largest economy," said Nick Spall of the British Interplanetary Society, who has been leading a campaign for a British astronaut.

"The government has missed a huge trick in terms of being able to offer inspiration to young people. In particular the chances of the UK contributing to a return to the moon, from a human spaceflight point of view, are very limited now. If we don’t have an astronaut with spaceflight experience we won’t get a look in on either of those missions."

Instead of "catching up" with other national manned space programs, Britain is going to try to conquer what it beleives to be an emerging focus of space research – climate change and disaster warning/relief:

The threat of climate change to planet Earth is to become the cornerstone of Britain’s role in the heavens, following an extensive review of space policy. British experts will develop satellites and other sophisticated technology capable of gazing back at Earth and taking the pulse of the planet from orbit, by monitoring melting ice sheets, dying rainforests and violent storms, under plans to be published by the government today.

The satellites will help create an early warning system for natural disasters, including hurricanes and tsunamis, and help to police international carbon-cutting agreements, such as pledges to avoid deforestation in some of the world’s environmental hotspots.

The move is at the heart of the government’s space strategy, drawn up by the British National Space Centre, which aims to double the number of British companies involved in the space business by 2012.

Under the plans Britain will become home to a major new European Space Agency facility based at Harwell in Oxfordshire. It will be dedicated to understanding climate change from space and developing robotics for space exploration. Britain is the only major contributor to the ESA that does not yet have its own facility.

According to BNSC officials, Earth observation from space is prioritised to help Britain become a hub for expertise in environmental science and disaster relief. During the 1990s natural disasters killed half a million people and caused £380bn of damage. Some 80% of those disasters were weather related, the report states.

It says: "Global satellite-based monitoring systems underpin our understanding of the health of the planet, alert us to dangers and speed up our responses. Satellites have a significant role in accurately assessing changes in sea [level] and temperature, the melting ice caps, and the effects of solar activity on the Earth and its environment."

JAXA‘s new spacecraft, launched via an H-IIA rocket last week, promises 155-Mbps downlink and 6-Mbps uplink speeds:

It is expected that this information and telecommunications network’s speed and capacity will be much higher than anything achieved previously. KIZUNA satellite communication system aims for a maximum speed of 155Mbps (receiving) / 6Mbps (transmitting) for households with 45-centimetre aperture antennas (the same size as existing Communications Satellite antennas), and ultra-high speed 1.2 Gbps communication for offices with five-meter antennas.

In addition to establishing a domestic ultra high speed Internet network, the project also aims to construct ultra high speed international Internet access, especially with Asian Pacific countries and regions that are more closely related to Japan.

KIZUNA project is responsible for the demonstration of the validity and usefulness of technologies related to large-capacity data communications in our space infrastructure project, "i-Space," the purpose of which is to promote the use of satellites in such fields as Internet communications, education, medicine, disaster measures and Intelligent Transport Systems.

JAXA’s been working on this "i-space project" for a while now:

The Japanese Government announced in January 2001 that Japan becomes one of the most advanced countries in the world in the field of Information Technology (IT). They also set a ambitious target to launch an ultra-high speed Internet satellite (i.e. WINDS) by 2005 and completes verification testing of its function.

Recognizing the importance of this commitment toward an advanced information society and in response to a growing social demand to realize broadband communications environment and advanced mobile communications, JAXA proposes a new space project named "i-Space Project". The i-Space Project intends to make contribution to a revolutionized information society, and is accomplished by developing new space-based communication capabilities effectively integrated with ground communication infrastructure. It is also promoted by demonstrating an experiment(s) to prove its effectiveness in as many space-based application areas as possible.

Here’s the launch video: