An insect-like robot designed to inspect and repair spacecraft exteriors is one of six concepts to be developed by Northrop Grumman with $137 million funding from NASA's space exploration programme. Others include a restowable heat-resistant skirt that deploys before re-entry to slow a spacecraft and reduce heat damage, and an engine for a lunar surface-to-orbit ferry than can be refuelled from materials mined on the Moon.
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.
