Europe's Rosetta comet explorer may have found a new target. The European Space Agency spacecraft was due to rendezvous with the comet Wirtanen in 2012, but missed its January launch window because of the Ariane 5 grounding. The Astrium-built Rosetta may be now be launched in February next year with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as its target, arriving there in 2014.
NASA, meanwhile, is preparing for the delayed launch of the last in its Great Observatory series of spacecraft, the Lockheed Martin-built Space Infrared Telescope Facility. The craft is due for launch on 15 April.
Source: Flight International