India and Brazil have signed a framework agreement for space co-operation, beginning with the launch of a Brazilian microsatellite on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The first European/Chinese Double Star science satellite, launched by Long March on 29 December, was placed into an orbital apogee 12,000km (7,450 miles) higher than planned, and one of the booms used to point the instruments has failed to deploy. Launch of an Ariane 5G carrying the delayed European Space Agency comet explorer Rosetta is scheduled for 26 February. Rosetta will reach the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. Loral Skynet is to begin limited service with Telstar 14/Estrala do Sul 1 communications satellite, despite one of two solar arrays only partially deploying after launch on 10 January. NASA says the leak in the Destiny laboratory module on the International Space Station was due to crews using the air hose on a viewing window as a handhold. The Boeing/Lockheed Martin United Space Alliance (USA) that operates the Space Shuttle for NASA is to forfeit $42 million for its role in the Columbia accident.
Source: Flight International
