The International Space Station's (ISS) Russian Zarya control module is operating on two-thirds of normal battery power after battery number two, one of five, failed to discharge. Battery number one, which failed earlier, is due to be replaced by the STS101 Atlantis crew in March. A second battery change could be scheduled for this servicing and logistics mission to prepare the ISS for its first operational crew.
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.
