Exploration The European Space Agency (ESA) is to provide instruments for India's first Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1. The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch a 1,050kg (2,310lb) lunar orbiter that will carry an imaging X-ray spectrometer and a near-infrared spectrometer provided by ESA along with equipment for the probe's high-energy x-ray spectrometer. Data from the instruments will be available to ESA members.
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.
