Beal's technology tested and proven -- Corporate Affairs Director By Gitanjali Singh Stabroek News December 1, 1999 Beal Aerospace Technologies' rocket launching technology has been proven and tested, Corporate Affairs Director, Wade Gates, says. "Our choice of propellants, hydrogen peroxide/kerosene, is one of the most proven and tested systems in the industry--first developed in 1938," Gates told Stabroek News yesterday. Gates, in response to concerns raised by a letter [please note: link provided by LOSP web site] writer in this newspaper last Saturday, said that Beal's engines have completed "hundreds of tests" without a malfunction. He also indicated that 40 consecutive tests were carried out on Beal's 44,000-pound thrust stage three engine alone. The initial test for Beal's stage two engine, which will be the largest engine developed in the last two to three decades, is to be done later this month. "In January, we will test our first completed Stage three 'representative flight article' which is essentially identical to the final flight-configured article that will fly into space. By the time we make our initial launch in 2001, each and every system will be thoroughly flight tested and checked countless times," Gates said. The initial launch is set to take place from Cape Canaveral in Florida. A letter writer in Stabroek News, Robert Ross, had raised a number of questions regarding the safety of Beal Aerospace's operation. The writer noted that the company was only formed in 1997 by a retired millionaire banker, Andrew Beal. Gates, responding to the issue of potential malfunctioning of satellite vehicles said that that was why the company was asking for a large public safety buffer area (76,000 acres) and was selecting a location with open sea to the north and east for its launches. "We will obtain flight-safety certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration and will use NASA-standard flight-safety hardware and procedures--just like what is used at Cape Canaveral," Gates stated. It has been noted the FAA approval will require the company to operate as if it were in the US. As to the company's containment policies to prevent pollution and spillage, Gates again referred to the use of hydrogen peroxide, an environmentally friendly propellant, rather than more modern alternatives available. "All of our facilities will employ containment basins and other safeguards, as mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency in Guyana and other standards," Gates assured. And Gates said that equatorial flights will be launched due east, perhaps a little east-northeast over the ocean. The vehicles, he said, will then begin a slow arc over open ocean. He indicated that there was no general lists of coordinates that could describe every launch since each will be unique and specific to the payload and mission of the satellite. But there will be a flight plan for every launch, detailed within the flight-safety programme and reviewed by flight-safety officials. "Our computer programmes will trace an exact path for the vehicle at every moment of flight. This is the same flight safety programme that is used by NASA at Cape Canaveral," Gates assured. He also assures that Beal is an equal opportunity employer and will be hiring 500 persons in the short term and 200 in the long term. Jobs will not only be created at the launch site, but at its offices in Georgetown and at Timehri. Beal Aerospace and the government are close to signing an agreement on the company setting up a satellite launch site in the Waini district, subject to approval from Guyana's EPA, the US State Department and political risk insurance. The engines are being manufactured in St Croix. Testing on the engines is being done in McGregor, USA. Gates indicated yesterday that some finer points of the agreement with the government are still being discussed, noting that many of the issues are very complex and need to be fully examined by all parties before moving forward. The government had sent a firm commitment to the company to which it was to respond with a draft final agreement, having secured the green light from its lawyers that the commitments from the government were reasonable. The Beal official also confirmed that the company will buy at fair market value, 26,010 acres of land from the government and will pay easement to use the buffer area. "The goal is to develop a solution that provides benefit and protection to all parties involved, particularly the public," Gates said. Liability insurance is being provided for the company's operation and there is recourse to the indemnification fund governed by the US government but never used to date. Meanwhile, the government was yesterday expected to set a date for a meeting with the parliamentary parties and civic bodies on the deal. Concerns have been raised about the lack of involvement of the Guyana Defence Force in the process, as well as the absence of experts in the satellite launch business on the government negotiating team. There was also concern about the paucity of information on the project. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples