spacetoday.net: News briefs: December 6

Posted: Fri, Dec 7, 2001, 8:09 AM ET (1309 GMT)

XM Satellite Radio announced Thursday that it has secured $178 million in additional funding, enough to support the company through 2002. The funding came from a previously-announced $66 million financing deal with Boeing and a secondary offering of 10 million shares of stock that raised $112 million. XM completed the nationwide rollout of its satellite radio service last month.
The US Senate has cut funding for a military space radar system, setting up a showdown with the House over the program, Space News reported Thursday. The Senate cut $25 million from the $50 million proposed for 2002 for a radar satellite reconnaissance system. The House approved full funding for the program; the difference will be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of a star-forming region in a nebula, scientists reported Thursday. The Hubble-V nebula, about 200 light-years across and 1.6 million light-years away, contains dozens of stars just 4 million years old, each about 100,000 times brighter than the Sun.