A University of Pittsburg study shows humans may need to trick their bodies into maintaining a 24h cycle if long missions, particularly to Mars, are to succeed. After 12 weeks in space, astronauts lose sleep and sleep less soundly because microgravity (in which they use less energy), the absence of day-and-night cues and the constant 45min night-day orbital cycle disrupt internal clocks.
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.
