Congress and the White House are headed for a funding brawl over the expensive robotic spacecraft known as flagship planetary-science missions. Flagship missions are rare, because they cost $2-3 billion, and they may become rarer. In its spending request for fiscal 2013, NASA pulled back from work on a peer-reviewed flagship mission to return samples from the surface of Mars, and left it unclear if there will be any more flagship flights to explore elsewhere in the Solar System.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has helped to block airline consolidation in the past, and now he has set his sights on the proposed union of US Airways and American Airlines. Schumer, a leading Democrat in the Senate, met last week with US Airways CEO Douglas Parker. Shortly after, Schumer followed up with a letter to the airline executive expressing his concerns about the merger's potential to disrupt airline service in upstate N.Y. Schumer is also asking whether a merger would derail American's plan to expand its hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

When Republicans talk about reducing the deficit, they don't mean reducing defense spending. House lawmakers last week passed a bill that would prevent massive budget reductions from taking place at the Pentagon next year by instead cutting funding for food stamps and other social programs. “This plan ensures that we maintain our fiscal discipline and commitment to reducing out-of-control government spending, while making sure our top priority is national security,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said after the bill passed.

If only the court system worked faster. A judge last week dismissed drunken driving charges against former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt after watching video of the incident and concluding Babbitt should not have been pulled over in the first place. And although his legal record and now his reputation are restored, the decision will not allow him to return to his old job. His former deputy, Michael Huerta, has been nominated by the president to replace him and is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Suborbital spaceplane project reveals two fundamental truths.

Astrium has successfully completed the Launch and Early Orbit Phase operations of the Y1B satellite, conducted from its spacecraft control centre in Toulouse (France) and passed control over to the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat). Astrium and Thales Alenia Space (TAS), co-prime contractors of the Yahsat satellite telecommunications system, will continue to support the Emirati satellite telecommunications operator during payload testing prior to entry into service.

Composites improve aircraft performance but production must quicken.

Automated non-destructive inspection of composite parts for delamination and other defects is a critical step that is becoming more challenging as structures become larger and more complex. Ultrasound inspection conventionally requires parts to be immersed in a water tank or sprayed with water jets to guide the pulses. Now non-contract laser ultrasound is allowing remote, robotic inspection of complete airframe sections. Airbus, with EADS Innovation Works and France's Ecole des Mines, is evaluating a laser ultrasound system using a composite forward-fuselage demonstrator.