A multibillion-dollar commercial satellite imagery program and a showcase example of the Obama administration's forward-looking commercial remote-sensing space policy has been targeted for cuts that could impact U.S. military and allied operations and potentially lead to industry consolidation in the U.S. sector.

Are defense contractors earning too much money in an era of budget austerity? That question is being asked at the Pentagon after earnings results showed the industry managed to maintain and in many cases bolster profit margins in 2011, even as growth evaporated.

The first of the retired space shuttle orbiters to go on display will arrive at its final destination April 17. Discovery is due to land at Washington Dulles International Airport atop a shuttle carrier aircraft and then be delivered to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center there two days later. NASA's workhorse shuttle will replace the atmospheric test article Enterprise in the museum display.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to distribute some of the minute samples its Hayabusa probe returned from the asteroid Itakowa. The spacecraft, which imaged its shadow against the type-S asteroid as it approached in the fall of 2005 (see photo), returned more than 1,000 asteroid particles measuring about 10 micrometers (0.0004 in.) despite control problems at its target (AW&ST Nov. 22, 2010, p. 18). The tiny samples have been analyzed by Japanese scientists and now will be available in a peer-reviewed opportunity.

The Vega launch vehicle is the first European rocket to be developed in nearly two decades. But in a departure from Europe's recent past, the small-class Vega was not designed with the commercial launch market in mind.

Engineers from the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) say that the DubaiSat-2 project has completed a crucial stage in its design phase.

Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat is preparing to launch its second satellite into orbit within the next two months.

Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The problem appeared shortly after NPP returned this first full-Earth VIIRS image on Nov. 24. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.