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| News For Immediate Release |
| Contact: David Benton (703) 414-1045 John Cunningham |
First Globalstar Satellites Arrive at Cape Canaveral for Initial Satellite Launch in December
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - October 15, 1997 - The first two Globalstar mobile communications satellites, FM-1 and FM-2, have arrived safely at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, from Alenia Aerospazio's satellite assembly plant in Rome, Italy. The satellites, along with two soon-to-be-arriving companion satellites, FM-3 and FM-4, will be launched here December 4, at approximately 6:21 a.m. (EST) aboard a Boeing Delta 2 launch vehicle.
The satellites arrived at the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility on Saturday, October 11, 1997, aboard a commercially chartered C-130 Hercules aircraft from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. They had been transported to New York from Rome, Italy, aboard a commercial Boeing 747 cargo aircraft.
Globalstar plans to launch a total of 56 low-earth-orbing (LEO) satellites, 48 primary satellites and eight in-orbit spares, before the end of 1998. The next four satellites are scheduled for launch from the Cape in February 1998 aboard a second Delta 2 launch vehicle. Globalstar will then use three Zenit-2 Ukrainian-built launch vehicles to launch the next 36 satellites, 12 satellites per launch, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Globalstar will complete the constellation by using three Russian-built Soyuz launch vehicles to launch the remaining 12 satellites, four satellites per launch, also from Baikonur.
Globalstar is a low-earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite-based digital telecommunications system that will offer wireless telephone and other telecommunications services worldwide beginning in late 1998. Globalstar will provide low-cost, high quality telephony and other digital telecommunications services such as data transmission, paging, facsimile and position location to areas currently underserved or not served by existing wireline and cellular telecommunications systems.
Users of Globalstar will make or receive calls using hand-held or vehicle-mounted terminals similar to today's cellular telephones. Because Globalstar will be fully integrated with existing fixed and cellular telephone networks, Globalstar's dual-mode handsets will be able to switch from conventional cellular telephony to satellite telephony as required.
Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., is the prime contractor for the Globalstar space segment. The three-axis, body-stabilized LEO satellites weigh 450 kilograms each, and have total transponder power of over 1,000 watts. The satellites in the first-generation constellation are designed to operate at full performance for a minimum of 7 1/2 years.
Globalstar, led by Loral Space & Communications, is a partnership of the world's leading telecommunications service providers and equipment manufacturers, and includes QUALCOMM Incorporated, AirTouch Communications, Alcatel, Alenia, DACOM, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, Elsag Bailey, France Telecom, Hyundai, Space Systems/Loral and Vodafone. Globalstar, through its strategic partnership, has service provider agreements in 105 countries. For more information, visit Globalstar's web site at www.globalstar.com.
Loral Space & Communications Ltd., a high-technology company headquartered in New York City, concentrates on satellite manufacturing and satellite-based services. Loral manages and is the largest equity owner of Globalstar, in which it holds a 38 percent interest. Loral's wholly owned subsidiary, Space Systems/Loral, is a premier manufacturer of commercial communications and weather satellites. Loral owns Loral Skynet, a leading U.S. satellite communications service provider that owns and operates the Telstar satellite constellation. Loral also is the developer of CyberStar, a geostationary satellite-based, open protocol, digital telecommunications system that will offer a variety of low-cost, high-speed, data and telecommunications services worldwide, initially from leased Ku-band transponders, and subsequently through a dedicated constellation of geosynchronous Ka-band satellites.
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