Nasa has selected 10 candidates for a low-cost Mars Scout mission that could be launched in 2007. Concepts include a martian atmospheric sample return mission, science orbiters, reconnaissance gliders, surface rovers and weather stations. Each should cost less than $300 million. The 10 will receive up to $150,000 funding for six months of continued study. NASA plans to initiate a competition to select a Scout mission next year.
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.
