Our weekly roundup of aerospace and defense news.

The launch, managed by Proton commercial service provider ILS, is the Russian heavy-lifter’s first flight since a mishap last May resulted in the loss of a communications satellite.

New Horizons probably will aim for a tiny object 1 billion mi. past Pluto in an extended mission.

"Craters should be bowl shaped, but this one had terraces," said Ali Bramson, University of Arizona graduate student researcher.

The country’s efforts to develop an indigenous sounding rocket and nanosat launch capability advance, as Nammo plans a suborbital test flight of a new hybrid rocket motor.

As satellites and their antennas get bigger, they become harder to launch. Spacecraft-maker Space Systems/Loral thinks on-orbit self-assembly, reconfiguration and repair using an onboard robotic arm could make satellites more powerful and more flexible over their lifetimes.

Prize challenge seeks drag-reducing ideas; precision location for NASA Langley UAS testing; carnivorous plant inspires morphing flap design; rocket-propelled fireballs will incinerate chem/bio agents; bend it, stretch it, wear it—Pentagon backs flexible electronics

We round up five of our most read stories in August, and your reaction to them.