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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1986)
* a » Wednesday. August 20. 1986/The Battalk>n/Page 3 State and Local Shuttle change opens up $6 billion industry Companies grab for launch business SPACE CENTER. Hou*ton (AP) — “Havr Rorkrt* — Will Launch" is thr mrssagr from compamcs Rear ing up to grab (heir share of an esti- mat ed S6 billK >n space launch busi ness created b% the government's decision to remove commercial satel lites from NASA's shuttle. ('.ompanies that manufatture or are planning to launch spar e rockets said their phones started ringing earlier this month when rumors cir- culated about the c hange in govern ment polics. President Reagan confirmed the rumors Fridav by announcing that onlv 14 ol 44 satellites scheduled for the shuttle would be launched once the craft resumes flights in IWH And on I uesdav. Martin Marietta said it Hill offer its Titan III to launch commercial satellites ‘’We’ve had enough inquiries and market analvsis to believe that there is a market there." said spokesman |ack Bovd. ‘T mil the president made the announcement the other dav, we weren't sure it was a viable business We examined it and have now decided it is." Denver-based Martin Marietta said it is the onlv compam in the na tion currently operating a produc tion line for space launch vehicles and the first launch could be as scxm as earlv I9H9. Titans have had 129 successful flights in 134 launches; the last two failed Mark Daniels of Space Services Inc., said Reagan's announcement “was a green light for the ELV (ex pendable launch vehicle) industry. We anticipate a very strong investor response Daniels said Space Services has signed two customers to bunch a to tal of eight satellites on us t onestoga II, capable of putting onlv 300 pounds into a high orbit. I he first launch is expected bte next year. Rick Endres, corporate vice presi dent of Transpace Carriers Inc. which owns the marketing rights to the Delta rocket, said his company believes there is a need for 120 satel lite launches, both military and com mercial. over the next six years. F.ndres estimates that satellite bunch service from now until 1992 represents about a $b billion busi ness, and other companies confirm the estimate. Transpace ahead\ has signed two customers, said Endres. and re ceived “about 20" expressions of se rious interest |ack Isabel of (General Dynamics, which makes the Albs Ontaur. said seven companies have made inquir ies He said his firm expects a short term need for 15 to lb bunches a year. (.ommciiial services would use government bunch facilities. Most of the companies are waiting lor decisions bv the Air Force before making major commitments. Endres said there are only three completed Delta rockets, and One of those will be used by NASA to bunch an Indonesian satellite The Air Force has first rbua on the other two complete Deltas and on eight that were mothballed before they were finished Transpace cannot make final bunc h pbns until the Air Force releases its cbtm. he said. He expects, though, to bunch a private Delta bv the fall of I9H7. The Air Force is expected to make a decision on Feb. H about a new me dium-sized bunch vehicle. Martin Marietta. (General Dynamics and a partnership of Hughes Aircraft and Hoeing Aerospac e are all bidding for the contrac t Whoever wins the contract will have a guarantee of at least four Air Force satellite launches a year, enough to keep a production line open. This would enable the win ning company to more easily com pete for commercial business Hughes and Boeing propose us ing rocket engines from the Saturn V booster of the Apollo program to build a launcher called the Jarvis, named for Hughes engineer Gre- ~ >rv Jarvis, who died in the Chal- nger explosion. Richard Dorr ol Hughes said the jarvis would be able to bunch four to six satellites at once, putting 85.000 pounds into high orbit. But the system would be budt only if it wins the Air Force competition AN of the systems propcrsed for commercial launches would use time-tested tec hnology . The I itans. Deltas and Atlases were all devel oped for military use in the '54H and 'bOs and have reliabiltv records of fietter than 90 percent. Interim dean for business announced University News Ssrvice Dr. Donald Hellriegel has been named interim dean of business administration at Texas A&M. announced Provost Donald Me - Donald. Hellriegel takes over trooi Dr William H. Mobley, who was named deputv chancellor of the T exas A AM l niversity System. Hellriegel served as head of the Management Department from 1977 until 1980 He served as interim vice c hancellor for aca demic programs in 1982 He previously taught at Penn- svlvanb State University. Univer sity of C olorado and the Univer sity of Washionglon He is a fellow of the Academy of Man agement and the author of a widely used management text- book. "Organizational Behavior." Sheriff: Violations by guards allowed inmate to escape BREC'.KENRIDGE (AP) — A death row inmate received the opportunity to escape from a countv |ail because a jailer and trusty moved a prisoner in order to have sex with two female in mates. the sheriff savs. Stephens Gountv Sheriff James Gain says an investigation into the esc ape of condemned killer Rich ard Donald Foster shows that he ~ died a knife on jailei Mark La voie. 23. while f^Bonte and a trustv were mming a female pris oner out of his cell. The woman. Candy Davis, had been placed in Foster’s cell while the two men went into the female prisoners cell to have sex with two other, unnamed, female in mates. Cbm said Mondav. The escape investigation by Texas Rangei Sid Merchant of Abilene showed that the lailer put Davis in Foster’s cell while he and trusty Larry Burns went into the female prisoners' c ells to have sex with two othei female inmates. Gain savs. "I felt like this was a violation of a sacred trust," (bin told the Fort Worth Star- IctcfftAm “It vi olated every rule." Foster escaped from the Ste phens County Jail Aug. 3 and was recaptured Aug. 7. Foster was in the Stephens Counts jail awaiting trial in Gai nesville on aggravated kidnap ping charges. The abduction chaiges stem from a May 10, 1984. hostage siege at Gitizens National Bank in Brec kenndge Foster was sentenced to death lor the 1984 murder of a Spring- town man. (bin said he will trans port Fostei hark to Stephens (aHinty on Thursday from the El lis Unit in Huntsville for arraign ment on the escape charges. When the (ailet opened the door to bring the woman out of Foster’s cell. Foster held a knife to his throat. Icxked him in the cell and fled in his pic kup with Davis. Cbm said Davis surrendered to authorities the next dav. Striking city workers fired Whitmire fires 150 Houston trash collectors HOUSTON (AP) — The mayor on Tuescias fired about 150 city trash collec tors involved in a one-day wildcat strike called to protest in creased workloads due to city worker bvoffs. Mayor Kathv Whitmire dismissed an estimated 150 workers who re turned to their jobs I uesdav. but re fused to actually work, said Joanne Adams, spokeswoman for the mayor. Termination letters were be ing drafted for those fired, she said. " That’s legal." Adams said of the fiiinfn. Other who continued to call in sick or simply did not report to work also could be fired, she said. Adams said Houston police will escort garbage trucks Weanesdav in an attempt to prevent possible con- fron tat ions between striking and non-striking workers. “We’ll see how many (workers) we can get out that wav," she said. Sanitation department officials also are scheduled to meet Wednes day with workers' representatives to discuss their complaints, Adams said. Gitv officials on T uesday contin ued to urge workers to return to work Wednesday, warning that tem porary workers would assume the duties of striking empkivees. Paul Mabry, a spokesman for Whitmire, said T uesdav. “Basically we are drawing the line in the dirt. We are asking the people who want to work to step over that line." Whitmire had asked some 900 sanitation workers who called in sick Monday to return to their jobs. However, only 54 out of 402 gar bage workers scheduled to work left from a city service center Tuesday to retrieve trash. Solid Waste Manage ment Department spokeswoman Juamia Howard said. Only 18 of 32 garbage trucks were on the streets, she said. Idled workers milled about out side the yard and police were sum moned but no trouble was reported. Of 1,100 people working for the solid waste department. 159 were dismissed and routes were length ened bv 20 percent on Aug. I in a second round of planned layoffs. Syate law forbids public employees from striking, said Rickara Tim mons. business manager for a local American Federation of State. County and Municipal Employees He added, however, that the law does not restrict individual action on job problems. If you're considering retirement. Consider moving to Walden. Come home to Aggieland. 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