• This Day (Nigeria) aagm: Political Economy of Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria (2)

cell powered vehicles in these areas.
8. Lease transit and business HICE fleets that return to a garage each day for access to a central hydrogen generator unit.
9. Expand current research in nanomaterials for hydrogen storage; initiate research for hydrogen generation from solar photocatalysis and genetically modified organisms (biohydrogen).
Phase II-Expand Hydrogen Infrastructure Beyond Core Metropolitan Areas (2010-2015)
1. Release prototype fuel-cell automobiles made readily affordable by financial incentives provided to automakers, oil companies, and consumers. Oil companies complete their transformation into energy companies.
2. Expand the number of fueling stations across the country that are based on hydrogen produced from electrolysis.
3. Install new facilities powered by advanced wind generators, solar photovoltaic cells, and other renewables for efficient, economical generation of "green" hydrogen by electrolysis.
4. Convert most large sea vessels to run on fuel-cell power.
5. Construct hydrogen pipelines where necessary in metropolitan areas.
6. Build new high-capacity hydrogen storage tanks based on breakthroughs in nanomaferial research.
Phase III-A Nation on Hydrogen (2015-2020)
1. Electric utilities increasingly become power distributors and much less power generators, as homes and businesses supply greater levels of power to the grid.
2. Consumers "plug in" their fuel-cell vehicles when idle to supply electrical power to the grid at peak-cost periods. This helps defray the cost of their vehicle.
3. Hydrogen is provided by businesses to employees as a benefit.
4. Most service stations are converted to produce hydrogen via solar photovoltaic-powered electrolysis, or by access to the hydrogen pipeline system.
5. New technologies for generating and storing hydrogen emerge, including hydrogen via solar photocatalysis and via genetically modified organisms such as algae (bio-hydrogen). -Julian Gresser and James A. Cusumano
Shifting the global economy away from dependence on rapidly depleting supplies of oil to renewable, clean-burning hydrogen must happen sooner rather than later. If the world were constant and only the demand for oil increased - without the concomitant decrease in production that we project - a significant rise in the price of oil could be managed solely as an energy supply problem as it was in the 1980s. But the world has become far riskier and uncertain, and the coming sharp spikes in the price of oil could have severe impacts. When tightly coupled systems become as stressed as they currently are, and when these stresses do not abate, but rather compound as now seems likely, there is a tendency for these systems to reach a tipping point - when a single event, though not catastrophic in itself, has the potential to unleash a cascade of disorder and turbulence.
Copyright World Future Society Mar/Apr 2005 | About the Authors | Julian Gresser is chairman of Alliances for Discovery ( www.breakthroughdiscoveries.org), a nonprofit organization based in Santa Barbara, California, dedicated to accelerating breakthrough discoveries, inventions, and innovations for humanity. He has served as an adviser to the U.S. State Department, the Prime Minister's Office of Japan, and the European Commission, as well as many U.S., European, and Japanese companies on their international alliances. His most recent book is Piloting Through Chaos: Wise Leadership/Effective Negotiation for the 21st Century (Five Rings Press, 1996). [e-mail]. | James A. Cusumano is founder and retired chairman of Catalytica Inc. and Catalytica Energy Systems Inc. He is a former research director for Exxon, with numerous publications and patents, and is currently vice chairman of the World Business Academy ( www.worldbusiness.org). He is also chairman of Chateau du Catalyst s.r.o., which owns and operates Chateau Mcely ( www.chateaumcely.cz), a holistic executive training center in Prague, Czech Republic. E-mail [e-mail].
Document IACA000020050302e13100009
Technical report: Satellite insurance - Is satellite insurance starting to sparkle?
1,769 words

1 March 2005

Reinsurance

REINS

19

English

(c) 2005 2005. Reinsurance. All rights reserved.
After several bad years, satellite insurance might be improving. Marc Jones looks at an area of the market that has seen both fireworks and damp squibs.
Rather like a comet as it starts to approach the sun again, the satellite insurance market is starting to show signs of returning to life.
The market has been showing slow but steady improvement over 2004, making up for what has been a bad couple of years, both in terms of insurance and actual launches.
By 2002, satellite insurance had become becalmed in the doldrums of the market. A number of high-profile satellite malfunctions had led to high payouts, falling profits and relatively low levels of business that forced several companies, such as Generali, to stop underwriting and leave the market.
The situation has now improved. According to Roger Bathurst, chief executive of International Space Brokers, the market is turning the corner. He told Reinsurance: "2003 was a profitable one for insurers, and for 2004 so far underwriters are in profit. The amount of capacity available is slightly larger than last year. People are looking forward."
Technology clouds take-off
However, there do still seem to be some clouds ahead on the horizon.
The simple fact is that the satellite insurance industry needs satellites in order to do business, and in recent years, the numbers of launches has declined from an average of around 20 new satellites a year down to around five. There are a number of reasons for this, one being the nature of the satellites being placed into orbit.
Over the past ten years, satellite technology has made a number of leaps forward, with better batteries, more efficient solar power panels, faster computers and other elements that mean that the average life of a satellite has increased from an average of eight years to around 15. At the same time, the increased flexibility offered by satellites means that they can be reprogrammed far more quickly and efficiently then before, making their replacement less urgent.
"The design life of a satellite depends on many functional elements that all need to work," said Bruce R. Elbert, president of Application Technology Strategy. "Batteries now have a lifespan of more than 20 years and satellites have multiple redundancies built in. However, their mission lifespan depends on how much fuel they have on board for man'uvering, which is much more efficient than it used to be but does still impose limitations. And their final mission lifespan relies on how they are launched - a perfect launch into orbit can extend their lives because they don't have to be moved around. So you have to look at all these elements."
As well as becoming more flexible, they have also become more sophisticated, especially those that are built for the telecommunications industry, where technology is constantly advancing and infrastructure must keep pace.
The advent of ever-faster software means that old and less flexible computers are less able to keep with the demands of the market.
Increased sophistication has also led to a debate within the satellite industry about whether it is better to launch one large satellite that can deal with almost anything, or a series of smaller satellites that are less sophisticated. On the one hand, the main problem with a large satellite is that if it malfunctions it will have a greater impact, but will probably have a longer lifetime than smaller ones, where the loss of one will not have much of an effect.
The large versus small debate is an ongoing one, but there have been some developments in recent months. In October 2004, Boeing announced that it had produced the world's largest communications satellite. Known as the Anik F2, the satellite is 157 feet long, 27 feet wide and has a design life of fifteen years. The satellite is now in orbit. Large satellites are also able to offer more frequencies for satellite television companies, which are therefore able to offer their customers more choice in terms of channels.
As in recent years, satellites have been growing in size. As a result, those satellites that previously passed for being large get reclassified as medium-sized. However, the larger the satellite, the larger the launch vehicle required, creating limitations due to the fact that modern rocket technology can only be taken to certain set limits.
Another problem is that the process of launching a satellite into orbit has lost none of its risks. One option, that of using the space shuttle, has been on hold since the destruction during re-entry of the shuttle Columbia in February 2003 due to damage sustained to one wing during launch.
Although the shuttle programme is set to restart in March, it will be a while before a regular programme of shuttle missions begins again, while the US government is also reviewing the use of the remaining shuttle fleet to place commercial satellites in orbit. This option is unlikely to become available again in the near future.
The second option is therefore gaining ground but, again, has its risks.
Using rockets to propel satellites into orbit has been the main method since the late 1950s. Unfortunately, rocket technology has yet to be perfected despite the decades that have passed since the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.
It is rocket science
The construction of a reliable rocket design is vital for obvious reasons, as insurers are bound to be slow to insure a satellite that might be destroyed by a launch failure before it even starts its working life. Unfortunately, rockets are immensely complex pieces of machinery that can prove to be surprisingly delicate. A malfunction can sometimes be triggered by a single part failing to operate for the correct amount of time or, worse, causing other parts to fail around it.
More options are available here than before. Commercial launch facilities are now run by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) the Japanese space agency JAXA and the Russian space agency. Other countries that are getting involved in the market include China, which is co-operating with Nigeria to build a communications satellite. However, Brazil's satellite programme has yet to recover from the explosion of a test rocket at its launch facilities that killed around 20 people in 2003.
Accidents do still happen. Even comparatively old hands at rocket construction, like the US Air Force (USAF), have had problems with their rockets in recent years. In December 2004, the USAF launched the inaugural Boeing Delta-Heavy rocket, which is designed to carry large satellites. However, the rocket's three main engines shut down prematurely and the final stage failed to reach the correct orbit. According to the USAF, the problem was caused by a sensor glitch that cut fuel to the engines by mistake.
Fortunately, the rocket was not carrying a satellite at the time and the USAF has announced that it is working on correcting the problem for future launches.
The ESA has also been working on building a large and reliable rocket, but the Ariane 5-ECA, which is designed to lift up to 10 tonnes into orbit, is proving to be a difficult project to get right, due to technical problems.
In 2002, the first flight of the Ariane 5-ECA went disastrously wrong when the rocket veered off-course and exploded four minutes into its flight.
The ESA was preparing to launch a new version of the rocket in late February 2005, after Reinsurance went to press, in the hope that the technical problems have now been worked out.
The ESA is placing a great deal of expectation on the successful launch of the Ariane-5-ECA. In the past, the agency has had a great deal of success with its rockets, especially the extremely reliable Ariane-4, which was used to launch a large number of satellites into orbit. However, the Ariane-4 has now been withdrawn from service, leaving the Ariane-5 and the bigger Ariane-5-ECA to carry on with the rest of the agency's satellite-launch programme, a decision that will weight heavily on the ESA until it perfects the rockets.
In order to ensure future orders, the ESA is naturally concerned about making sure that future launches are trouble-free and has been keeping the insurance sector fully informed about developments. The ESA has provided full technical and operational details about changes to the rockets in the wake of past failures as well as full details of inspections and engine tests.
Even with new technology and more reliable rockets, satellite failures are also still occurring. In January 2005, an Intelsat 804 satellite built by Lockheed Martin suffered an unexpected power system anomaly that led to its total loss. The satellite had been in orbit since 1997. This was the second failure that Intelsat had faced in just two months, having lost the Intelsat Americas 7 satellite at the end of November 2004 following a different electrical problem. Neither satellite was insured because the company only covers satellites with a net book value of more than $150m.
Life after launch
The post-launch life of a satellite is in many ways the hardest to quantify.
Every satellite is designed with a certain lifespan in mind, but malfunctions can occur due to mistakes made in construction or when the satellite is being deployed in orbit. These can include power unit failures due to faulty wiring to the failure of a solar panel to properly extend. Although these are elements that can be analysed on the ground to prevent them from happening in the future, this does still leave the business and the insurance company with what can be a dead investment. Sometimes a satellite can be coaxed back into life, such as the Intelsat Americas 7 mentioned above, which has resumed partial operation. However, satellite maintenance and repair is virtually impossible, even if the space shuttle does resume normal operations and is made available again for commercial missions.
The space insurance market's good couple of years is so far no indication of the future, and the technical challenges that are facing parts of the market add to the difficulty in assessing just what does lie ahead in that future. At the moment, it would be prudent to say that the market is in better shape then it was a few years ago, but if it will soar into the heavens or fall back to earth is another question. 'Wait and see' might be the prevalent attitude of the market.
Document REINS00020050222e1310000n

China, U.S. Seek Equity in Nigeria's Satellite Project
by Lere Ojedokun

659 words

17 February 2005

03:05 PM

All Africa

AFNWS

English

(c) 2005 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved
Abuja, Feb 17, 2005 (Daily Champion/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
Prospective investors from China and United States (U.S) are among top bidders for equity participation in the proposed Nigeria Communication Satellite, expected to be formally launched in December 2006.
Emerging facts indicate that the federal government may grab as much as 60 per cent equities in the multi-million dollar project while the remaining 40 per cent would be thrown to local and international private sector operators.
Already, Chinese EximBank and New Stars of U.S. had approached the government with offers to inject funds into the mega project estimated to cost between $250 million and $300 million.
Federal Executive Council (FEC) had last week approved immediate commencement of the project following its satisfaction with the viability business plan submitted by the minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun.
Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Prof. Robert Boroffice who gave update on the project, told newsmen in Abuja that the composite cost of the project was exactly $311 million.
He explained that this comprised the satellite itself, launching, insurance and commissioning just as he stressed that discussions were still going on with the prospective investors.
"We already have offers from organisations that are willing to give us loans within the limit prescribed by the federal government. These are the Chinese EximBank and we've been to China to discuss with them. New Stars have also agreed to give us a loan but we have not given a commitment to any of them", he said.
Prof. Boroffice who described the project as tremendously beneficial to the country's socio-economic and political endeavours, stated that cost of telecommunications would reduce drastically by the time it came on stream.
According to him, lease of space either for telephony or broadcasting currently stood at $95 million annually while trunking of calls between Africa and Europe was about $600 million per annum.
On preparedness for the satellite communications the NASRDA boss said the implementation programme has commenced in earnest with the signing of agreements with contractors who would design and fabricate it.
In few days to come, the director-general revealed that kick-off meeting would be held with them in China while by July, local engineers would be leaving for the Asian country to join in the project's design and manufacture.
Prof. Boroffice added that the second Nigerian Satellite (Nigeria SAT-II) would also commence this year as necessary documentations and agreements were already being worked on.
"Actually we have started to do a new assessment study to see if we can improve on the capacity and characteristic of Nigeria SAT-1", he said.
On other activities of his agency, he pointed out that NASRDA intended to expand its remote sensing and data generation which would be networked to connect all sectors of government, embark on massive training of personnel as well as infrastructural development.
He added that the agency would also advance on its hover aircraft project and the first gyro plane which could be used for the patrol of coastal areas by the armed forces, police, customs and immigration.
In his contribution, project manager, Nigeria communications satellite limited, Mr. Timassaniyi Ahmed Rufai, an engineer, asserted that the technology would provide traffic backbone for major Global System of Mobile (GSM) telecommunications operators in the country.
He said that while V-Mobile and M-Tel spent about $220 million annually to provide interconnectivity for about 2,000 lines, MTN could only take 2,000 calls simultaneously out of its three million subscriber base due to low capacity.
"That's why we have very poor quality of service because of traffic jam. But with the communication satellite, we can spontaneously give them a back up capacity of well over 25,000 to 60,000 depending on the frequencies and techniques?
Document AFNWS00020050217e12h001gz

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE SUE W. KELLY (R-NY) HOLDS HEARING ON DISRUPTING TERRORIST FINANCING - COMMITTEE HEARING
17,701 words

16 February 2005

Political Transcripts by Federal Document Clearing House

CHTS

English

(c) 2005 CQ Transcriptions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES: SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS HOLDS A HEARING ON DISRUPTING TERRORIST FINANCING
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
SPEAKERS: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE SUE W. KELLY (R-NY) CHAIR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL (R-TX) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEVEN C. LATOURETTE (R-OH) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MARK R. KENNEDY (R-MN) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT GARRETT (R-NJ) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE J. GRESHAM BARRETT (R-SC) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE (R-GA) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK (R-PA) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE GEOFF DAVIS (R-KY) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE PATRICK T. MCHENRY (R-NC)
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE LUIS GUTIERREZ (D-IL) RANKING MEMBER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS MOORE (D-KS) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CAROLYN B. MALONEY (D-NY) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN F. LYNCH (D-MA) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ARTUR DAVIS (D-AL) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-MO) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAVID SCOTT (D-GA) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE GWEN MOORE (D-WI)
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ED ROYCE (R-CA)
WITNESSES: JUAN ZARATE, ASSISTANT TREASURY SECRETARY FOR TERRORIST FINANCING
MALLORY FACTOR, PRESIDENT, MALLORY FACTOR INC.
DOUGLAS FARAH, AUTHOR
[*] KELLY: This hearing of the subcommittee on oversight and investigations will come to order.
Since September 11, 2001, the subcommittee on oversight and investigations has conducted a series of hearings on terrorist finance. This subcommittee has led efforts to improve our financial defenses and shut off the flow of terrorist money into this country. Working with the treasury department, we have created the office of terrorism and financial intelligence and increased the resources available to FinCEN, OFAC, and the office of intelligence analysis. Since the attacks on our country, our financial defenses have improved dramatically. We are constantly making strides forward and discouraging terrorists and international criminals from using our financial systems against us.
The global war on terror is a dynamic process, however, and our foe is ruthless and cunning. The improved state of our financial defenses requires Al Qaida and its allies to find new means to carry out their ends. In turn, our own nation must ensure that new financial routes do not become safe havens for terrorist finance.
Finally, we must make sure that our efforts to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist finance do not drive out legitimate cash-handling institutions, drive them out of business. I appreciate Secretary Snow and Undersecretary Levey's recent public comments on this issue. The U.S. does not have the resources to police all monetary transactions for money laundering and terrorist connections. In West Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, cooperation with local regulators and financial institutions is essential for achieving our policy goals. Multilateral associations such as the Financial Action Task Force and the Egmont Group can help facilitate this cooperation.
FATF is a group of 33 nations, including the United States, that develop anti-money laundering policy and best practices. The Egmont Group consists of 94 financial intelligence units from around the world who share information on terrorist financing and money laundering. Encouraging the creation of the FIUs and strengthening their information-gathering capacities is essential to tracking changes in the terrorist financial activities.
Unfortunately, not all nations that are committed to establishing an FIU have done so, leaving a gap in our ability to fight terrorism and threatening relations with nations that do not match their words with actions against our mutual enemies. An example of the important role an FIU might play arose earlier this month. New reports emerged that Arab Bank in New York was being used to transmit funds form Saudi Arabia, convert them to dollars or shekels, and then transmit them as rewards to the families of terrorist bombers. This reported that families would simply present martyrdom certificates and Arab Bank branches and receive compensation. From what I have seen, when they present these martyrdom certificates, the Arab Bank would then list that they had given $7,000 to the family or 20,000 shekels to a family that had in fact had a child or a family member who had blown themselves up, and in the process blown up other people.
There is a price that has been paid to people to kill others through the Arab Bank branches, as far as we can see. If that is true, perhaps a Saudi FIU could have accelerated the flow of information to the U.S. so our treasury department and financial regulators could have responded and responded quickly. Perhaps there are other instances where the absence of a Saudi FIU slowed or entirely prevented action against terrorist activity. Saudi Arabia announced that it established an FIU in 2002. However, it appears that there was no corresponding action with this announcement. In August of 2004, treasury Undersecretary Levey informed the financial services committee that the Saudi FIU had still not been established, despite their announcement in 2002. Today, more than two years after that announcement, it is quite reasonable to doubt that an operational Saudi FIU exists. There is a news report this morning where a Saudi spokesman states that an FIU has been established, and that to say otherwise disregards the facts.
This subcommittee recognizes Saudi Arabia as a critical ally in fighting terrorism, and welcomes any additional information that the Saudi Arabian government is willing to provide on the FIU issue and other matters which Mr. Royce and I have recently raised regarding terror