French Space Agency Launches
French Space Agency Launches Planet-Hunting Satellite Corot (Bloomberg.com)
Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — France today launched the first satellite dedicated to finding planets outside the solar system, the French National Center of Space Studies said.
Deployment Status of the Large Deployable Antenna Reflectors of the Engineering Test Satellite VIII KIKU No. 8 (SpaceRef)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) started to deploy the large deployable antenna reflectors (LDR) onboard the Engineering Test Satellite VIII "KIKU" No. 8" at 5:31 p.m. on December 25 (Japan Standard Time, JST), and, after completing the deployment of the booms, we started to release the upper holding mechanism of the sending antenna at 8:02 p.m. (JST.) However, we exceeded the …
Completion of the Critical Phase of the Engineering Test Satellite VIII KIKU No. 8 (SpaceRef)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shifted the attitude control mode of the Engineering Test Satellite VIII "KIKU No. 8" to the regular control mode at 4:14 a.m. on December 27, 2006 (Japan Standard Time, JST). All functions of the satellite have been verified to be normal after the control mode shift.