THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY'S (ESA) $5 billion Ariane 5 satellite launcher, is scheduled to have its maiden flight on 15 May. The booster is being assembled at Kourou, French Guiana, and will resemble the vehicle mock-up pictured above in 1995. The 30.5m-high Ariane 5 will be used to fly two ESA development missions before the project is handed over to Arianespace, primarily for launches into geostationary-transfer orbit of two satellites weighing a total of 5,900kg.
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.
