China plans to launch the world's largest and most advanced space solar telescope (SST) in 2008. The $120 million SST, with a 1m (3ft) -diameter mirror capable of observing a 70km2 (27 miles2) area of the solar surface, will be placed into a 735km (455 miles) Sun-synchronous orbit to study the Sun's magnetic field, fine structure, energy, solar flares and Sun-Earth interaction.
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.
