<strong>Back</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Contents</strong>16EXECUTIVE MOVESBurgess is assuming the leadership of the Special Programsbusiness area in Orbital’s Advanced Programs Group. TheSpecial Programs business area specializes in developing newspace-based capabilities using advanced technologies onaggressive schedules <strong>to</strong> meet emerging national security spacemission requirements. In this capacity, he will be assuring thecontinued success of ongoing programs and expandingOrbital’s business base in this area. Mr. Burgess is transitioningfrom his role as Program Manager of the MiTEx satelliteprogram, which Orbital designed and built for the DefenseAdvance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aposition he has held for the last three years. Mr.Burgess’ 14 years at Orbital has spanned technical,business development and program managementroles in aircraft, space transportation and satellitesystems.Telcordia Technologies, Inc., a supplier of software and services<strong>to</strong> the telecommunications industry. Desch was instrumental inmoving Telcordia in<strong>to</strong> new wireless and international markets,and spinning off the company <strong>to</strong> private equity from SAIC, Inc.Prior <strong>to</strong> Telcordia, Desch spent 13 years at Nortel Networks,leaving in 2000 as President, Global Service Providers andresponsible for Nortel’s business in Europe and Asia.SMPullen has been with Orbital for the past 18 years atTSD. For the past two years, he has acted as Low’sdeputy head of the division, which is based inGreenbelt, MD. He is a trained electrical engineerwith broad familiarity with the company’s currentcus<strong>to</strong>mers and of the overall market for TSD’sservices. Jack Danko, who, until recently, was headof the Space Systems Group, Orbital’s largestbusiness unit, will serve as an advisor <strong>to</strong> Pullen ona part-time basis.Iridium Satellite NamesMatthew J. Desch as NewCEOBETHESDA, Md. —Iridium Satellite LLC hasnamed Matthew J. Desch,48, as chairman and chiefexecutive officer of thecompany, replacing DanColussy as chairman.Colussy said that Deschwill replace him as CEO ofIridium Satellite. DeschMatthew J. Desch will become CEO ofIridium Holdings, theparent of Iridium Satellite, while Colussy will remainchairman of Iridium Holdings.Desch was most recently CEO of New Jersey-basedOc<strong>to</strong>ber 2006SATMAGAZINE.COM
NEW PRODUCTS<strong>Back</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Contents</strong>17SES Astra <strong>to</strong> Launch Astra2ConnectBroadband InternetBETZDORF, Luxembourg — SES Astra, an SES Global company,will launch Astra2Connect, a fully satellite-based interactiveand low-cost broadband internet access <strong>to</strong> serve theresidential market, the small and home offices as well as smalland medium enterprises.SES Astra said Astra2Connect will provide a full satellite-based“triple play” infrastructure service enabling broadband internetaccess, voice-over-IP and other content related access servicessuch as IPTV or Video-on-Demand. It is expected <strong>to</strong> be operationalin the first quarter of 2007 and will mainly target homes inEurope, which can not easily get terrestrial broadband internetservices.Ferdinand Kayser, president and CEO of SES Astra, saidAstra2Connect is a great innovation that brings broadbandinternet access <strong>to</strong> everyone. He said the end-consumers willbenefit from an affordable and always-on two-way connectivity.Astra2Connect is currently offered on a wholesale basis <strong>to</strong> largeEuropean service providers such as telecommunication opera<strong>to</strong>rs,internet service providers and broadband opera<strong>to</strong>rs thatconduct pro-active marketing and sales activities in the residentialand small enterprise markets.The necessary equipment consists of an interactive satelliteantenna as well as a low-cost and easy-<strong>to</strong>-install satellitemodem. For the design and procurement of the satellite platformand the related modems, SES Astra has entered in<strong>to</strong> a cooperationwith Newtec, a recognized market leader in satellite communicationsystems. Astra 2Connect uses advanced technologydeveloped with the support of the European Space Agency(ESA).Lockheed Martin Instrument Suiteo Study Dynamic Solar Activity onNew International Sun MissionPALO ALTO, Calif. — A suite of instruments called the FocalPlane Package (FPP) — designed and built at the Solar andAstrophysics Labora<strong>to</strong>ry of the Lockheed Martin AdvancedTechnology Center (ATC) in Palo Al<strong>to</strong> — is scheduled forlaunch on the Solar-B satellite from the Uchinoura Space Center,Kagoshima, Japan on Sept. 23, 2006.Lockheed said the primary scientific goal of the Solar-B missionis <strong>to</strong> observe how changes in the magnetic field at the Sun’ssurface propagate through the different higher layers of thesolar atmosphere.Solar-B is an international cooperative mission between NASA,the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), theParticle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UnitedKingdom, and the European Space Agency. It is the secondmission in the Solar Terrestrial Probes Program within theHeliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Direc<strong>to</strong>rate,and follow-on <strong>to</strong> the successful Solar-A (or Yohkoh) mission,for which Lockheed Martin provided the Soft X-ray Telescope.The FPP comprises four distinct sub-systems — a broadbandfilter imager (BFI), a narrowband filter imager, a spectra-polarimeterand a correlation tracker <strong>to</strong> stabilize the images — andresides on the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) whose mirror andstructure were designed and developed by the NationalAstronomical Observa<strong>to</strong>ry of Japan and Mitsubishi ElectronicsCompany. The SOT is the largest solar optical telescope ever <strong>to</strong>be flown in space and will be able <strong>to</strong> resolve features on thesurface of the Sun just 90 mi. (150 km) across.Solar-B will perform coordinated measurements of the differentlayers of the solar atmosphere from a Sun-synchronous orbitaround the Earth. Three instruments will perform these measurements,the previously mentioned SOT, an Extreme UltravioletImaging Spectrometer and an X-Ray Telescope.These instruments will measure the Sun’s magnetic field in thepho<strong>to</strong>sphere and the ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, emitted bythe transition region/low corona, and the upper corona.Scientists will use the data obtained <strong>to</strong> gain a more preciseunderstanding of the sources and mechanisms of the Sun’svariability.Dish Network Launches BroadbandInternet OptionsENGLEWOOD, Colo. — EchoStar Communications Corporationand its DISH Network satellite TV service announced onThursday that consumers now have the option <strong>to</strong> sign up forDSL high-speed Internet service while choosing their DishNetwork programming.EchoStar said the functionality is made possible by technologyfrom GetConnected, Inc., a point-of-sale platform that searchesOc<strong>to</strong>ber 2006SATMAGAZINE.COM
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