Matra Marconi Space has been awarded a $2.5 million contract from the European Space Agency to develop the Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer (MELFI) for the International Space Station (ISS). Three flight models will be built for NASA and one for Japan. The MELFI, which will become the first European payload to be flown to the ISS aboard the US laboratory model in 1999, will provide low-temperature storage for experiment samples.
Source: Flight International
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.
BAE Systems has completed its acquisition of Ball Aerospace, with the move further strengthening its US business presence.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has retired its Mars helicopter Ingenuity after the craft suffered damage upon landing.
