Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz U; Payload: Kosmos 2450; Date: 28 April 2009, 1658 UTC; Site: Plesetsk, Russia. The classified military satellite reached its target orbit eight minutes after lift-off.

Boeing has successfully completed the system-level Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system (TDRS) K-L programme.

The JSC Academician M.F. Reshetnev – Information Satellite Systems said it was proceeding with work on the Amos 5 telecommunications satellite for the Israeli communication service provider, Space Communication Ltd.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that it has won a C$4 million () contract to provide an advanced technology solution to EADS Astrium.

Ducommun Incorporated announced that its Miltec Corporation subsidiary delivered flight-ready nanosatellites to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) in Huntsville, Alabama on 28 April 2009.

DigitalGlobe Inc. has set the terms for a US$250 million initial public offering and scheduled its pricing for mid-May.

GHL Acquisition Corp. and Iridium Holdings LLC jointly announced the signing of an amendment to the definitive agreement under which they plan to combine.

Now that additional checks on the Ariane 5 ECA launcher have been completed, Arianespace and ESA have set the launch date of Herschel and Planck for Thursday, 14 May.