It it the most sophisticated piece of space hardware Europe has ever launched, a massive cargo vessel capable of docking automatically at the International Space Station with a precision of better than 6 cm (2.4 in.) and boosting the station to a higher orbit. But with three of the Automated Transfer Vehicle's (ATV) five missions now behind it, the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for an opportunity to advance its already cutting-edge platform—along with a means to pay for it.

In 1981, during the space shuttle's maiden voyage, co-pilot Robert Crippen proclaimed, “We are really in the space business to stay.” Last week, another veteran astronaut, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, made a similar pronouncement, but under quite different circumstances.

Craters are ubiquitous in the inner Solar System. They exist on Earth, where they are obscured by erosion, and on the rocky (and icy) moons of the outer planets. Some are ancient—products of the period of “heavy bombardment” 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago, when the planetary disk of debris around the Sun was coalescing into the bodies we see today. Others are newer, created by the random but inevitable collisions that occur when there is so much material hurtling around in space.

Aviation Week Senior Editor for Space Frank Morring, Jr., received the National Space Club's 2011 Press Award on March 30 in Washington. The club, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting U.S. space activity and interests, gave the award to Morring at its annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner.

Australian forces deployed in Afghanistan will have improved tactical UHF satellite links starting in May, when the Intelsat 22 commercial communications satellite reaches its operational orbit at 72 deg. E. Long.

It is too early to tell if it just another case of engineering exuberance associated with hypersonics or something more substantive, but there is a palpable sense among French developers that high-speed missile and air vehicle concepts are ready for the development stage.

It's no secret that Boeing's space systems unit is aggressively pricing bids in an effort to grow its commercial business segment as government spending flags. But even the most bullish observers were taken aback by an estimated $400 million deal just signed with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex) to build the first all-electric commercial telecom spacecraft intended for launch to geostationary orbit.

Robert J. Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, went to Capitol Hill on March 14 with a message for lawmakers: You're making my life hell. At issue are automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending scheduled to take effect next January. If Congress and the Obama administration cannot reach a budget compromise by then, military budgets will be hit with a $53 billion cut in 2013 and another $450 billion in reductions during the next nine years.