The UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency's 100kg Space Technology Research Vehicles (STRV 1C and D) will be launched into geostationary transfer orbit by Arianespace in 1999 using the Ariane 5 Structure for Auxiliary Payloads system. Each STRV will weigh 100kg and each one will be equipped with 25 research experiments.
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.
