NEWS BRIEFS

STS-78 TO LAUNCH JUNE 20TH

STS-78 is on schedule for launch June 20th at 10:49 EST. The Shuttle carries about the SpaceLab "Life and Microgravity Sciences" mission and Canada's 5th astronaut in space. Bob Thirsk, who was hired in Canada's first astronaut competition in 1983, takes part in the mission as Payload Specialist. The principal Canadian experiment aboard is the Torso Rotation Experiment. A planned 1 day extension to the flight will make this the longest shuttle flight to date. Find more information at our STS-78 Site.

MSAT-1 ON-LINE

TMI Communications transferred all customer lines served through American Mobile Satellite Corporation over to MSAT-1 on June 3rd. MSAT-1 is now fully operational bringing to fruition a project that began two decades ago. MSAT-1 was launched April 20th and provides North American and Caribbean coverage to users of mobile voice and data products.

RADARSAT INTERNATIONAL SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH RESTEC OF JAPAN

RADARSAT International (RSI) in May announced a new agreement with the Remote Sensing Technology Centre of Japan (RESTEC) for RADARSAT data distribution in Japan. RESTEC is a non-profit organization involved in remote sensing product distribution. RSI is currently on a world wide promotional tour which recently concluded for the summer in Tokyo May 30th and will start up again in August in Bangkok.

SPACE AGENCY WEB GOES PUBLIC

The long awaited official Canadian Space Agency web site is alas visible although no formal announcement has yet been made. Find the link to the CSA web site through the Canadian Government's web site at http://canada.gc.ca/

UVAI TAKES SUMMER VACATION IN CANADA

The Ultra-Violet Auroral Imager (UVAI) was returned to Canada in late-May 1996 for a 3-week refurbishment and systems check-out period. The UVAI will be returned to Moscow in mid-June for final integration to the Interball Auroral Probe spacecraft. The Interball Auroral Probe is now scheduled for launch on 29 August 1996. The UVAI instrument is the Canadian contribution to the Interball mission, a 2-satellite international program dedicated to solar-terrestrial physics. UVAI is the third in a series of Auroral Imagers developed by Canadian industry and academia; the previous two flew on the Swedish Viking and Freja spacecraft.

SPAR WINS $11 MILLION CONTRACT

May.21.96 - Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, PQ - Spar Aerospace Announced it has won an $11 million contract for a transmit and receive antenna feed array from Lockheed Martin Astro Space for the Asia Cellular Satellite program - for mobile personal comm services in Asia.

CSA ANNOUNCES $1.5 MILLION AWARDS FOR RADARSAT PROGRAM

May.30.96 - St-Hubert, PQ - CSA announced $1.5 million in contracts for the RADARSAT User Development Program:

Geology: SynMap Information Technologies, Halifax, N.S. - to develop a system to process and integrate mineral exploration information.

Mapping and Land Use: Geomatics International inc., Burlington, ON - to demonstrate RADARSAT capabilities in mapping Africa over a wide range of ecological conditions, land usage and climatic extremes.

Environment: Hatfield Consultants Ltd., West Vancouver, B.C. - to assess environmental effects of the Viet Nam war (1961-1975) using RADARSAT imagery.

Agriculture: PCI Enterprises, Richmond Hill, ON - to develop an Agricultural Monitoring & Analysis System (AGROMA) using cloud-penetrating RADARSAT data for crop monitoring and forecasting.

LOCKHEED MARTIN $1 MILLION CONTRACT

May.29.96 - Kanata, ON - Lockheed Martin Canada was awarded a $1 million contract in support of routine operations for the RADARSAT program.

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