Satellite snippets this week

[BGonaSTICK]

A few one-liners from the satellite world this week...

ESA to examine Alcatel-Astrium satellite merger 20 Apr 2006 ESA has created a task force to examine the consequences of a possible merger of EADS Astrium and Alcatel, Europe's two principal satellite manufacturers.

HyShot scramjet test declared failed 20 Apr 2006 The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said a scramjet engine flight test on 30 March failed.

Arabsat 4A report, Hotbird 8 launch delayed 19 Apr 2006 The commission investigating the Arabsat 4A launch failure will take longer for its work than expected, which as a result is delaying (at least) the next Proton/Briz-M launch.

NASA tests LOX-methane engine 18 Apr 2006 NASA, industry and the U.S. Air Force have achieved a major milestone in the development of next-generation spaceflight technologies, successfully completing a 103-second hot-fire test of an engine fuelled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane.