Next U.S. Mars orbiter will focus on the planet's escaping atmosphere.

Space Exploration Technologies Inc. isn't the only space-services company in Hawthorne, Calif., looking for ways to cut launch costs. Established in 1984, tiny Microcosm Inc. has found a way to make strong, lightweight tanks for space applications that it says can handle high pressure as well as the low temperatures needed to hold cryogenic propellants. That capability could come in handy as some new space entrepreneurs look to pressure-fed propulsion systems to loft their payloads.

Boeing pursues GPS work as rival's payload provider resolves technical snag

Pentagon turns to UAS for discriminating missile warheads

Aerospace and defense companies large and small plan to hire in 2013. While much of the hiring will replace workers leaving for retirement or a new opportunity, the numbers also include some all-new jobs and new skills.

As a war-weary nation grapples with how to cut military spending and a dysfunctional Congress allows meat-ax budget cuts to fall on the Defense Department and NASA, one might expect that the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry's best and brightest talent would be heading for the exits. Indeed, one-in-five A&D professionals under the age of 35 submitted resignations in 2012, up from 12% the year before. The good news: most left to go work for another aerospace company.