NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, has started work on a new generation National Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) with the release of four study contracts to industry. The precursor NPP satellites will extend the scope of measurement by some instruments being flown on the NASA Earth Observing System spacecraft.
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.
