In this week’s Washington Outlook, research funding for advanced helicopter engines; the SpaceX-ULA spat; managing risk at the border and the hunt for counter-UAV technology.

In this week’s roundup, U.S. Army upgrades Hellfires; Philippines receive Korean light attack aircraft; Romania accepts Portugese F-16s; managing space traffic.

The Russian airline-based S7 Group plans to modernize the Sea Launch project as it looks to diversify and venture into space launches.

As the number of smallsat constellations grows, international satellite tracking bodies see increased risk of space debris problems unless mitigations measures are adopted.

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.