In the previous IRAM Newsletter (No. 63, August 2005) we reported on the planned Cloudsat satellite launch, whose active cloud radar operates at power levels which can permanently damage the receivers of telescopes observing at 3mm wavelengths.
So far, the satellite has not been launched because of minor technical problems and the side effects of a Boeing workforce strike. According to the latest news available at the edition of this Newsletter, the launch of the Delta-II rocket which will carry the CLOUDSAT and CALIPSO satellites is planned at the earliest for February 2006.