Karen Walker
A former NASA astronaut who helped in the famous Intelsat-6 satellite rescue is leading an industry initiative to provide global satellite services to small, independent operators.
Rick Hieb is now director, commercial space, at AlliedSignal Technical Services in Maryland. He is better known, however, as the astronaut who took part in the first and only three-man spacewalk in the early 1990s to rescue and repair the Intelsat-6 satellite.
The mission, from the Shuttle Endeavour, was successful and the satellite is still working today.
Now, Hieb is promoting an innovative new project called DataLynx which will effectively allow companies to "rent" satellite services. AlliedSignal will build ground stations, operations centres and a complete communications infrastructure dedicated to providing satellite flight control and data management for commercial and government customers worldwide.
Hieb, who joined AlliedSignal from NASA three years ago, says he was eager to take the skills he learned from working for the US government and put them to use in the commercial world.
OUTSOURCING
"There quite clearly is going to be a trend in the commercial satellite use in which companies want to go away from being satellite operators and turn to outsourcing. Our strategy was straightforward - take our core skills and see if we can support those companies," he says.
Among potential customers that AlliedSignal is courting are those with remote sensing needs, such as the agricultural industry which uses satellite imagery to pinpoint the best harvest locations. The mining, construction and forestry industries all use satellite imagery as well. AlliedSignal estimates there is a $7 billion industry for satellite and ground operations services that can be hired by such industries.
AlliedSignal is now committed to making DataLynx fully operational by May 2000.
It has invested "tens of millions of dollars" in the project. The control centre will be near Washington DC while the first ground tracking station will be in Fairbanks, Alaska - an ideal location for remote sensing satellites in polar orbit.
AlliedSignal has put out a request for proposals to provide the commercial software package for this ground station and a decision is expected this month. Companies in the USA and the UK have bid.
Hieb says the control centre will be completed in 1999 in readiness for first customers in early 2000. In 1999, the company will also procure its next antennae for a second site in Norway.
Hieb says 1999 "-is going to be a busy year." But he is keen to keep up the momentum.
"No-one else is offering the full cradle-to-grave service that we are, although there is competition that can offer a partial service. We have made our announcement now that we are seriously committed to this.
"It is our core business - we have been involved in 700 satellite launches, which is about half of all the US launches. We were there from the beginning and have been involved in everything from the littlest ones right up to Hubble."
Hieb says there is worldwide interest in DataLynx, although the company has yet to fully explore the non-US markets.
And Hieb has a personal incentive for making DataLynx successful. "I am very interested in seeing man go to Mars," he admits. "And the only way we can do that is to get it down to commercial prices. So we have to have commercial satellite services.
Source: Flight Daily News
