by Frank Sietzen "SpaceCast News Service"
Washington, DC - Jan 2, 1998 - EarthWatch ground stations have reported receiving new signals from the orbiting Earlybird 1 satellite, SpaceCast learned late Dec. 31th. The satellite was out of contact with the ground for several days following its launch Dec. 25th.

Industry officials report the satellite's builder, Ball Aerospace, was working the problem of the spacecraft's transmitters, and was optimistic that a permament fix would be found. The troubleshooting would continue through the craft's orbital checkout phase, now underway.

Earlybird-1 is the first launch of a commercial, private remote sensing satellite system with panchromatic and multispectral imagery capability in black and white and color. The satellite's cameras are the most advanced now flying on a commercial, non-U.S. government spacecraft.

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