What's in this week's issue of Space News? Every Monday we post quick, concise summaries of the current issue's top stories.

The most recent smaller stories from all corners of the space community, collected in one convenient place.

PARIS — Commercial satellite launch prices have continued to rise in recent months despite the excess of launcher capacity worldwide and early signs that the global credit crunch is delaying some satellite programs, Arianespace Chief Executive Jean-Yves Le Gall said Jan. 6. He said a fully loaded Ariane 5 rocket, with two telecommunications satellites weighing a combined 8,500 kilograms, currently is priced at around 160 million euros ($220.1 million).

PARIS — Telespazio will provide capacity aboard Italy's Sicral military communications satellites to U.S. military contractor DRS Technologies under contracts Rome-based Telespazio announced Dec. 29. The deal is one of the first examples of the synergies that Telespazio's owner, Finmeccanica Group, hopes to create following its $5.2 billion purchase of New Jersey-based DRS in October.

MOSCOW — Russia's Federal Space Agency said Dec. 25 it had successfully launched three Glonass navigation and positioning satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton-M rocket.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has officially terminated the current competition to build the Transformational Satellite (T-Sat) communications system and this week will issue a request for proposals for a scaled-down version of the system, according to a Dec. 23 Air Force press release.

WASHINGTON — NASA has awarded contracts totaling $3.5 billion to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., to deliver cargo to the international space station through 2016, the U.S. space agency announced Dec. 23.

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — Telespazio has been awarded a contract to provide the Turkish Defense Ministry's Gokturk optical reconnaissance Earth observation satellite system in a contract valued at more than 250 million euros ($348 million), Rome-based Telespazio announced Dec. 22.

PARIS — The fourth and last of the Italian government's first-generation Cosmo-SkyMed high-resolution radar Earth observation satellites will be launched in 2010 aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Boeing announced Dec. 19. Boeing Delta 2 vehicles also were used to launch the first three Cosmo-SkyMed spacecraft, between June 2008 and October 2008.

PARIS — Fish swim, birds fly and Globalstar Chief Executive Jay Monroe, month after month, continues to buy stock in the mobile satellite services operator. The latest purchase was registered Dec. 18 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

PARIS — The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing Satellite Systems a $233.9 million contract to build a sixth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft, exercising an option in an existing contract, the Air Force announced Dec. 17.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee is recommending that NASA Administrator Mike Griffin be kept in his post through the transition to the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.