The low-cost ($1 million) Fastrac liquid-oxygen/ kerosene-burning, 265kN (60,000lb)-thrust engine which will power the Orbital Sciences X-34 re-usable launch vehicle technology demonstrator air-launched spaceplane has undergone critical-component tests at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, says NASA. The X-34 is to begin a series of 25 flights, reaching Mach 8 in late 1998.
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.
