Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency document, dated 3 February 1989, contains translated foreign press reports on telecommunications and space programs, marked for official use only. It covers Italian modem deregulation and Videotel expansion, Telettra rural telephone systems for the USSR, Spain's planned direct television and communications satellite system for 1992 with four manufacturers bidding, Britain's Skynet 4 military satellites and the alleged Zircon spy project, and the UK online database market. It contains no UFO material.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
programs. In fact, the Spanish cabinet will meet early in November to confirm its commitment to the project, at an estimated cost of 40 billion pesetas, i.e. about Fr2 billion, Jose Carballal indicated. The invitation to bid, which was exceptionally concise (60 pages), stressed compliance with the schedule for the construction of ground facilities and the delivery of two operational satellites. The complete ground control station (OCS) and project management center (PMC) will have to be installed and acceptance procedures completed by 1 October 1991. The two satellites will have to be delivered in time to be launched on 1 December 1991 and 1 April 1992, and set into service on 1 March and 1 July 1992. An option covers the eventual procurement of a third satellite, the launching of which will be decided as soon as possible. The contract to be signed with the manufacturer will include acceptance of the satellites on orbit, but the invitation to bid covers neither the launchers nor insurance for the satellites (with free relaunching). A launcher will be selected independently by the INTA before the end of 1989, we were told by Jose Carballal. In principle, the INTA intends to use the European launcher and is not considering negotiating for a U.S. or Chinese launcher, he added. Satellites should not weigh more than about 2 tons, corresponding to one half of an Ariane-4 launcher (twin launch); otherwise the payload would have to be reduced (from 3 to 2 TV channels). The INTA has received four proposals from satellite manufacturers. Three are from European groups. Satcom International, consisting of Matra [Mechanics, Aviation and Traction Company] (France) and British Aerospace (Great-Britain), proposed a Eurostar platform with a payload to be supplied and integrated by Matra. The Eurosatellite team, consisting of MBB [Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm] and ANT (Germany) together with Aerospatiale and Alcatel Space (France), counts on a Bluchat-2 platform, whereas Selenia Spazio (Italy) joined forces with GE Astro Space (United States). Finally, Hughes Aircraft (United States) stands alone, probably with its new HS-601 platform which has already been adopted for some 12 civilian (Aussat 2) and military (UFO) satellites. The INTA also consulted Gesat (Germany) and Ford Aerospace (United States), but they did not bid. The two geostationary satellites (31x West) will carry a triple payload, corresponding to 5 direct television broadcasting and civil and military communications missions. Direct TV using the C-MAC process will use two or three 100-W channels to cover Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands with 60-cm ground antennas, as well as Europe (France, Germany, Benelux, Italy and Great-Britain) with 1.5-m receiving antennas. Three channels will be provided for Ku-band TV broadcasting over Spain, and one channel over the Americas (PAL and NTSC standards). Public communications (telephone, fax, data transmission and videoconferencing) will use five Ku-band channels through 4.5-m (120-Mbit) or 1-m to 2-m (2-Mbit) stations. Finally, government X-band (encrypted) links will provide telephone (64-Kbit) and data-transmission (16-Kbit) service through fixed 3-m to 7-m stations and 1.8-m offshore or mobile stations. Thus, it will be possible for government links to be received throughout the Spanish territory and up to 500 nautical miles (930 km) off the Spanish coasts, with coverage of Equatorial Guinea as an option. The consultation initiated by the INTA provides for participation of the Spanish industry to the manufacturing of satellites and stations. This clause should favor manufacturers which already have Spanish subsidiaries, such as Matra (with Crisa) and Alcatel, which will create a new subsidiary of Alcatel Standard Electrica in October; the new subsidiary will specialize in electronics and will be called Alcatel Espacio. Technical Specifications for the Satellites and Stations of the Spanish Project Mission Band Satellite Channels Satellite Beams Ground Stations Number2 or 3 Power100 W max. Width27 MHz Number2 EIRP*53-56 dBW CoverageSpain+Islands+Europe Diameter0.6m Quality**+9 db/xK Direct TV 12 GHz TV relay- Spain Ku 3 50 W max. 72 MHz 1 or 2 52 dBW Spain 2-2.5m(TV)3.5-4m(HDTV) 20-22 dB/xK25-27 dB/xK TV relay-Americas 1 100 W max. 36 MHz 1 45 dBW North&South America,Mexico 3m 24 dB/xK Civil communications Ku 5 20 W(?) 72 MHz 1 32 dBW Spain 4.5m 29 dB/xK 1-2m 13-20 dB/xK
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.