The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi Mirror (XMM) space telescope has reached its operational 7,365 x 114,000km, 48h-period orbit after four thruster firings. The XMM is "behaving better in space than all our pre-launch simulations", says Dietmar Heger, ESA spacecraft operations manager.
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.
