News

Third success in a row for the M51: With the success of its third test flight on the 13 November, the M51 ballistic missile has passed another milestone that confirms its fitness for carriage on board a submarine.

After two ‘launch pad’ firings from the Ballistic Launching Base in Biscarosse, south-west France, the M51 was launched from the submarine module immersed in the launching base basin.

This test enabled French defence procurement agency (DGA) and Astrium personnel to validate the M51’s launch, ignition and spoiler deployment phases.

Watch the video clip on the French MoD website

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Astrium’s Skynet 5 team wins specialist awards: Patrick Wood (centre) and Phil Wadey (right) receive the Gold Award on behalf of the Skynet 5 team from Royal Aeronautical Society President Captain David Rowland

The outstanding work of Astrium’s Skynet 5 satellite design and manufacturing team has been recognised with two specialist awards from the Royal Aeronautical Society.

The Gold Team Award is given in recognition of ‘outstanding work, which has led to substantial advances or contributions in specialist disciplines in the aerospace industry’. The second, the Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award, recognises ‘significant contributions to space’.

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Press releases: Successful first submarine launch of M51 Nov 14, 2008; ASTRA 1M satellite ready for launch Oct 30, 2008; Lloyd’s selects Infoterra, a subsidiary of Astrium, to provide a web-based flood risk assessment service Oct 28, 2008; More…