D. Matra Marconi Space

4. Matra Marconi Space

D. Matra Marconi Space

4. Matra Marconi Space (MMS)

The radio was invented by Marconi.

Satellite communications its future A. J. Roberts (Matra Marconi)

Nilesat with Matra Marconi Space Direct broadcasting (for Egypt)

Worldstar with Matra Marconi Space worldwide digital broadcasting (for the United States).

In addition, Matra Marconi Space is taking part in the Inmarsat 3 and Koreasat programmes as the payload contractor.

This satellite, the fourth in the series, was constructed by Matra Marconi Space and Alcatel Espace was a co contractor.

The fourth United Kingdom Orbital Debris Co ordination Group Meeting was held at Matra Marconi Space in Bristol, England, on Tuesday, 14 May 1996.

Matra Marconi Space is developing a line in platforms for future low orbit missions (Leostar), to be used in minisatellites (up to 1 tonne).

Matra Marconi Space is leading a consortium comprising the University of Kent and DERA to research improved methods for implementing cost effective shielding on unmanned spacecraft.

Some 70 of jobs are provided by the main companies, including Aerospatiale, Alcatel Espace, Matra Marconi Space and SEP. The remainder are made up of the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), the research sector and small and medium sized companies.

The space industry was represented by participants from EUROCONSULT (France), Iridium Germany (Germany), Matra Marconi Space (France United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), SpaceImaging EOSAT (United States), Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company (United Arab Emirates), and WorldSpace Inc. (United States).

One is used by Matra Marconi Space for business communications between five sites in the UK and two in France, the other setup by ESA has been heavily used for support of the EUROMIR 94 and 95 missions to the MIR space station.

SHARED was a pilot platform to support a remote health care structure and was originally proposed and coordinated by the San Raffaele International Biomedical Science Park in Italy in cooperation with ESA, the Italian Army, Marconi Alenia and Joanneum Research of Austria.

In the field of meteorology, Matra Marconi Space is constructing the instrumentation for the Meteosat satellites and will be the contractor for the Metop satellite intended for the European Meteorological Organization (Eumetsat), the development of which is being carried out by ESA.

Representatives of the following organizations were also in attendance the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), EOSAT, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), ESA, the International Development Research Centre, Inmarsat, Matra Marconi, NASA, Nuova Telespazio and the Regional African Satellite Communications Organization (RASCOM).

In the field of Earth observation, Matra Marconi Space is the contractor for the SPOT satellites (SPOT 4 will be launched in 1998 and SPOT 5 is currently being developed) under the CNES programme for Helios military satellites intended for the General Armaments Office.

The French space industry is dominated by some 60 companies. The 20 largest account for nearly 95 percent of this industrial activity, while 70 percent of jobs are in the group of four space contractors (Aérospatiale, Alcatel Espace, Matra Marconi Space and Société Européenne de Propulsion).

Aware of the extent of the stakes involved, the French Armaments Office (DGA), France Télécom, CNES and the industrial contractors (Matra Marconi Space, Aérospatiale and Alcatel Espace) have pooled their efforts to propose a technological programme able to enhance the competitiveness of the French industrial firms.

A United Kingdom coordination meeting took place on 29 January 1998 at the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), Herstmonceux Castle, involving Advanced System Architectures, BNSC, Century Dynamics, DERA, Fluid Gravity Engineering, the Ministry of Defence, Matra Marconi Space, RGO and the universities of Cranfield, Kent, London and Southampton.

This brought together academia, industry and Government, including the British National Space Centre, the British Geological Survey, Fluid Gravity Engineering, Cranfield College of Aeronautics, Advanced Systems Architectures, Century Dynamics, Matra Marconi Space, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Queen Mary and Westfield College, SIRA, Vega, the University of Kent and the Defence Research Agency.

Matra Marconi Space constructs more than 50 per cent of the radar satellites for the European Space Agency (RES 1 and RES 2 are operational and Envisat will be launched in 1999), including the platform, the synthetic aperture radar and the instruments for measuring atmospheric ozone, and the microwave radiometers.

When Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission over a century ago, he was competing with the telegraph in point to point communication he never envisioned popular mass broadcast radio. Thomas Edison designed the phonograph to help the blind and filed a lawsuit to prevent it from being used to play music.

In the telecommunications field, Matra Marconi Space is the contractor for the following programmes Silex (Optical Intersatellite Liaison System ESA CNES) Hot Bird (Eutelsat) Skynet D, Skynet E and Skynet F (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Nileset (Egypt) ST 1 (Singapore and Taiwan Province of China) Astra 2 (Luxembourg) Intelsat KTV and Nato 4 (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

Matra Marconi Space have exploited the experience of the Unit for Space Sciences at the University of Kent in order to understand how solar array materials respond to hypervelocity impact.M. K. Herbert, J.A.M. McDonnell, Morphological Classification of Impacts on the EURECA and Hubble Space Telescope Solar Arrays, Proceedings of the Second European Space Debris Conference, ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany, 17 19 March 1997, ESA SP 393.