These key decisions were made on 25-26 October at the 29th board session of the Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications in Sofia, Bulgaria, where Director General Gennady Kudryavtsev was reelected for another term.

Intersputnik's decision to move ahead with the small- and medium-sized satellite program will enable the organization to take full advantage of the improvements in spacecraft design, while meeting the current and future requirements of the telecommunications market.

"The new project designated Intersputnik-100M provides great possibilities for private investors with limited funds and for countries with average demand for telecommunications traffic, which are willing to establish communications networks using their own satellites", Gennady Kudryavtsev said.

In taking its decision, the Intersputnik board acknowledged that the current use of modern heavy satellites with many transponders is not always economically viable or efficient for regional and national communications networks with medium and small capacities. In these cases, a network of smaller capacity, lighter satellites would be very efficient.

Intersputnik's new project to develop a global fleet of small telecommunications satellites for domestic, regional and international communications and broadcasting networks will be presented at Telecom Asia'2000, which will take place December 4 to 9 in Hong Kong.

Intersputnik possesses extensive orbital resources, which consist of 15 geostationary orbital slots (from 97 West to 153.5 East), where the organization has filed 51 satellite networks (15 C- and Ku-band and 36 S-, Ka- and V-band) with the International Telecommunication Union. These slots will serve as a basis for the deployment of the prospective satellite communications system.

The investment required to manufacture and inject one small satellite is equal to approximately US$ 35-40 million which is several times less than the production and launch of a heavy satellite. A Proton-class rocket can put up three small satellites simultaneously, while lighter rockets including former military missions converted into cost-efficient commercial launch vehicles will be able to carry one satellite.

The startup of Intersputnik's small satellite project will not only lead to dramatic reductions in the investment required for new satellites, but it will also trim the length of time these investments are required allowing an increase in profitability and reduction of technical and financial risks. As a result, tariffs for customers will be reduced, enabling operators to offer less expensive, but high-quality satellite communications services.

Production of a standard small satellite bus for Intersputnik will use the international aerospace industry's growing experience in manufacturing such spacecraft for meteorology, remote sensing and other purposes. With the new satellite bus, it will be possible to create a full range of payload configurations depending on network functions.

Mass production of the Intersputnik standard small satellite bus will allow the organization to stock ready-for-use spacecraft and payload modules on the ground to meet the market demand instantaneously. With this plan, it will take six to nine months to build a satellite carrying a payload tailored to customer requirements.

With its orbital frequency slots, Intersputnik has the capability not only to use these resources for the launch of communications and broadcasting networks, but also to store small satellites in the so-called 'parking' orbital positions.

Such in-orbit back-up satellites may be relocated to any operational geostationary position within 4-6 weeks. This satellite reserve could prevent technical failures of existing satellites, or be provided to any customer interested in additional relay capacity.

Intersputnik plans to start building its fleet of small satellites by launching and storing at the 'parking' slots an increasing number of spacecraft with 10 to 16 C- and S-band transponders. Each satellite will have hemispheric steerable-beam antennas.

The production of small spacecraft featuring other combinations of frequency bands (Ku, C/Ku, Ku/Ka, Ku/S) will be carried out as ordered by operators or investors, based on customer requirements.

The Intersputnik board reviewed the concept of the Intersputnik-100M project and outlined specific steps towards its further development and promotion.

The 29th board session in Sofia also approved the restructuring of the LMI (Lockheed Martin Intersputnik) joint venture.

Given the new objective situation after the launch of the project, which the joint venture had to live with, Intersputnik proposed to carry out a restructuring of the joint venture that would be non-discriminating in its operation and mutually beneficial for both parties.

As a result of the restructuring, Intersputnik provides the joint venture with the orbital resources of the Interbelar-2 satellite network to operate the LMI-1 satellite (75 East) for a 15-year term. In addition, Intersputnik retains responsibility for all contracts for LMI-1 capacity leases already signed with customers. The joint venture's shareholding has not been changed.

The frequency resource of 14 orbital slots becoming available after the restructuring is to be used by Intersputnik in its new small satellite project. "In its new form, our alliance is mutually beneficial for both parties.

Moreover, we plan to move ahead with developing and extending the joint venture," Kudryavtsev said. "The LMI restructuring is very promising for Intersputnik because, on the one hand, structure of the joint venture is maintained and new cooperation forms are developed, and, on the other hand, there are prospects to establish strategic alliances and to carry out new projects using Intersputnik's extensive orbital resources."

Another action of the latest Intersputnik board session was the reelection of Director General Kudryavtsev to another four-year term. The board voted unanimously for the reelection proposed by the Telecommunication Administration of the Russian Federation.

At the invitation of the Telecommunication Administration of the Russian Federation, the jubilee 30th board session will take place in Russia in October-November 2001.

Intersputnik is an international intergovernmental organization established in 1971 to operate a global satellite-based telecommunications system. Today, Intersputnik has 24 member nations and benefits from some 29 years of experience as one of the leading operators of global satellite-based telecommunications systems. The Intersputnik communications system includes Gorizont- and Express-series spacecraft, as well as the new-generation LMI-1 and Express-A satellites. Intersputnik provides high-quality international, domestic and regional communication services in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. Intersputnik's users include state-run and private telecommunications and broadcasting organizations worldwide.

Intersputnik [email protected] www.intersputnik.com Community
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