The European Space Agency (ESA) has revived the Venus Express mission to orbit the planet and make radar soundings of its subsurface. It will be launched in 2005 after an extra infusion of €8.5 million ($8.56 million) and will use the same design as the Mars Express orbiter to be launched in 2003.
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.
