NASA has released the first image of Mars taken by the $297 million Mars Odyssey orbiter from an altitude of 22,000km (13,600miles). The image taken by the craft's thermal emission imaging spectro-meter shows a 2,000km wide, 6,500km long swathe centred on the south pole, revealing its-120íC (-49íF), 900km diameter frozen ice cap. Once Odyssey is in operational orbit, the imager will be used to detect minerals and possible thermal springs.
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.
