spacetoday.net: Orbimage reaches bankruptcy deal to permit satellite launch

Posted: Thu, Jan 23, 2003, 10:19 AM ET (1519 GMT)
Satellite remote sensing company Orbital Imaging Corporation (Orbimage) announced Wednesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with its creditors, including Orbital Sciences Corporation, that will permit Orbimage to emerge from bankruptcy protection and launch a high-resolution imaging satellite. Under the agreement, Orbital will pay Orbimage $2.5 million to keep the imaging company going, and all parties will release their mutual claims on one another. Orbital also agrees to launch Orbimage’s OrbView-3 spacecraft by the end of April or else Orbital will pay Orbimage unspecified penalties. That launch, on a Pegasus booster, is currently scheduled for late April. Formal approval of the settlement plan is expected by a Virginia bankruptcy court next month. Orbimage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2002 when the market for remote sensing products failed to grow as planned. Orbimage had pinned its hopes on two high-resolution imaging satellites, OrbView-3 and 4. However, OrbView-4 was lost in a Taurus launch failure in September 2001.