European officials acknowledge the competitive threat a reflyable Falcon 9 may pose, they seem less interested in reusable launchers than in mimicking a more mundane aspect of the SpaceX business model—volume production of a common engine.

NASA's fire-safety experiments on Cygnus could pave the way for future commercial free-flyers to extend space station research.

SpaceX is ready to launch the SES-9 commercial communications satellite for Luxembourg fleet operator SES on Feb. 24. But the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company will not attempt a land-based recovery of the Falcon 9 core stage, owing to performance requirements needed to get the 5,330-kg spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit in the first quarter of this year.

The new SS2 will begin captive carriage flight tests beneath the company’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft later this year, leading to glide flights and later powered flights using the new motor.

In the Air Force’s 2016 budget request, officials sought to focus on how to use space in the face of military threats and on developing the ability to deter and defeat potential attacks. That emphasis translated into funding for programs such as Space Fence and the Joint Space Operations Center Mission System. Since threats have continued to evolve, the Air Force is working with the intelligence community to make space systems more resilient in its fiscal 2017 request, says Winston Beauchamp, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for Space.

The initial payloads on the first launch of the heavy-lift Space Launch System will be relatively small CubeSats, but the results could be huge, heralding a day when swarms of minuscule satellites ride piggyback deep into the Solar System for missions now conducted by billion-dollar, custom-built spacecraft.

The U.S. Air Force will need help from Congress to pursue its next-generation launch system plan, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continues pressure against the use of RussianRD-180 rocket engines.

The Indian space industry is aiming to correct a chronic criticism-—that it lacks the heavy-launch vehicles necessary to compete on the international commercial space launch market.