Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz 2-1b; Payload: Kosmos 2441; Date: 26 July 2008, 1831 UTC; Site: Plesetsk, Russia. The classified military satellite was successfully deployed in its target orbit nine minutes after lift-off.

EMCORE Corporation announced that its world record Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) solar cell technology has been chosen by R&D Magazine for an R&D 100 award.

U.S. hedge fund Harbinger plans to bid for Inmarsat, pending regulatory approval, and combine the group with its SkyTerra business, Harbinger said.

China aims to build a leading aerospace industry by 2015, Xinhua news agency said.

NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, designed to image global interactions at the outer reaches of the solar system, today began its move to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB).

COM DEV International Ltd. has been awarded a C$12.3 million dollar contract by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to deliver the payload for Project SAPPHIRE, the first dedicated space mission for Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND).

Chile will reportedly purchase an Earth observing satellite from EADS Astrium.

The European Satellite Operators Association (ESOA) welcomed an agreement achieved by EU ministers but warned that a new regulatory framework for electronic communications, currently debated in the European Parliament (EP), may “jeopardise the long-term stability of distribution of services provided by satellite operators.”