The International Space Station's multinational partners are working on plan to keep the orbital outpost in use until 2028. The original ISS concept called for de-orbiting in 2016. At a meeting in Japan this week space agency heads agreed to use the station until 2020 at least. They said they are all working to certificate on-orbit elements up to 2028 and "reach consensus...on the continuation...to the next decade".
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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.
The Boeing X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle, operated by the US Space Force, will return to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster for its seventh long-endurance flight mission.
The US space agency is asking aerospace suppliers to design a new orbital craft that could be used to perform a controlled de-orbit of the multinational space station, which is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030.
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 54th flight over the red planet, after NASA was able to re-establish control of the rotorcraft after it executed an emergency landing in July.
