NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous NEAR spacecraft is approaching the asteroid Eros for the second time. The first rendezvous attempt was thwarted by a spacecraft fault in December 1998. It is hoped that the NEAR will be in orbit around Eros on 14 February. The craft is sending back images of the elongated rock body.
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.
