Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space has completed the engineering model of the first of eight planned photovoltaic solar arrays for the International Space Station, to be launched on a Space Shuttle in March 1999. The eight-array system will supply 264kW of power. The 33m-long engineering model has been extended and retracted 84 times during tests. Final tests take place at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama.
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.
