The air-purification system for the Alpha International Space Station has passed a 30-day evaluation test at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama. During a simulation of conditions during manning by four crew, engineers injected carbon dioxide and water and removed oxygen for a 175m3 (6,200ft3) test module.
Source: Flight International
China’s AVIC has secured a contract from the China Manned Space Agency to develop a winged, reusable spacecraft called Haolong.
The UK Space Command’s first owned earth observation microsatellite has been launched, providing the inaugural element of a planned space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation.
Orbital launch pioneer SpaceX is being contracted by the American space agency NASA to develop a so-called “US Deorbit Vehicle” that can safely return the International Space Station to Earth via controlled re-entry.
