Space

The looming U.S. presidential election and the possibility of changes in Congress have many in the nation’s civil space community worried.

The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ended with a bang and not a whimper, a planned crash into a deep pit in the comet, with final images sent on its way down.

Elon Musk outlines plan to build a transportation system to create a self-sustaining human “civilization” on Mars and make mankind a “multiplanet species.”

This week’s Washington Outlook: Virginia statesman praises Clinton; debate on reorganizing military space; and FAA probes Santa Monica’s airport closure plan.

The transfer of propellant, the budget and the effects of long stays in space are still challenges facing SpaceX’s dazzling proposal. They are achievable, though, Dan Dunbacher, a Purdue University professor and former NASA official tells Aviation Week’s Frank Morring.

More than 40% of cubesats launched since 2000 failed in their missions.

Artificial gravity for spacecraft had been largely abandoned as unnecessary, but it is making a comeback as a result of impaired vision issues.

SpaceX is spending “10s of millions” of company funds on an ambitious architecture to fulfill founder Elon Musk’s dream of setting up a self-sustaining human “civilization” on Mars.

The vice administrator of the China National Space Administration said the relay spacecraft designed to communicate with the planned Chang’e 4 lander on the Moon’s far side would also be available to international users operating there.

Investigators examining the Sept. 1 pad explosion have found evidence of an apparent rupture in the helium system used to pressurize the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank.

In this week’s Washington Outlook, American Airlines and others continue fight to overhaul the FAA; U.S. needs to move faster to counter Chinese and Russian space prowess; rethinking Syrian conflict; Boeing can sell aircraft to Iran.

Reaction Engines is firming up plans to build a fighter engine-size ground demonstrator of its reusable hypersonic propulsion system.

United Launch Alliance is taking the first steps along an alternate path involving recovery of only the first-stage engines.

The recent accident that destroyed a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket offers competing launch service providers an opportunity to tout their relative strengths.

New head of Germany’s DLR space agency and her colleagues across Europe lobby for money to fund future projects.

Lower cost is key for Europe’s future launchers.

While Iridium has been able to raise the $3 billion needed to build and orbit the new system, which includes spares for backup, getting back to space has been a challenge.

Satellite fleet operators old and new see rising growth in aeronautic, maritime broadband.

SpaceX is planning to be back in flight swiftly after the catastrophic failure of a Falcon 9 rocket, while competitor Arianespace is touting a reliability advantage for the “proven” Ariane 5.

Despite SpaceX and Blue Origin’s advances on reusable engines, the 16 old space shuttle engines are the only way right now to power flight crews into space.

Still to be revealed are the payload masses for Blue Origin’s two New Glenn variants. Both versions of the new launcher will have a 23-ft. diameter. The two-stage version will stand 270 ft. tall, while the three-stage vehicle will be 313 ft.

ISRO’s satellite center will help train companies to assemble and test spacecraft.

Boeing is to build a 702 satellite, called GiSAT, with a new digital payload offering twice the capacity of previous digital payload designs to support Sub Saharan communications.

The focus of the investigation is on specific failures, faults and combination of events that might have led to the destruction of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and its payload on the launch pad during preparations for a routine static-fire test of rocket’s first-stage Merlin engines.

The $1 billion probe's long journey will place it at the 1,600-ft.-wide asteroid Bennu in August 2018.