Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences is planning to launch a spacecraft on an MV booster in 2007 to orbit Venus. The craft will be equipped with an infrared camera to penetrate the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. It will then make a three-dimensional survey of the surface, at the same time searching for active volcanoes.
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.
