A United Launch Alliance Atlas V sent NASA’s newest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) toward its geostationary orbit late Jan. 23, beefing up the constellation as demand for space network links grows with the utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) and a swarm of scientific satellites.

Two of the five Earth-science missions NASA plans to launch this year will end up on the International Space Station (ISS), which is growing in importance as a relatively low-cost spot to operate downward-looking sensors. The station’s low altitude and relatively high inclination also can give scientists a new perspective for their observations, which typically are taken from sun-synchronous polar orbits.

The spacecraft bus that will power and point the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) passed its critical design review five months early, as the deep-space infrared instrument continues moving toward its targeted 2018 launch date.

Virgin Galactic’s plans to supplement its suborbital human spaceflight business by launching small satellites from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft are advancing with hot-fire ground tests of the two kerosene-fueled rocket engines it has designed for the application. Developed and built by Virgin Galactic engineers, the 3,500-lb.-thrust NewtonOne and 47,500-lb.-thrust NewtonTwo are the first- and second-stage engines, respectively, for the company’s planned LauncherOne rocket.

HOUSTON — Competition remains a crucial factor in the final stages of the NASA-funded Commercial Crew Program (CCP), according to Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF). CCP is intended to restore the U.S. ability to transport humans to low Earth orbit lost when NASA’s space shuttle fleet retired in 2011.

BOLDEN RECOGNIZED: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Jr., a former astronaut, will receive the National Space Trophy for career contributions to human spaceflight, in Houston on April 11. The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) foundation announced its annual trophy selection on Jan. 21. Bolden became the agency’s administrator on July 17, 2009.

COLLISION THREAT: Catastrophic collisions of space junk and orbital assets are likely to occur every five to nine years, and the space debris population may have already reached a “tipping point,” U.S. congressional researchers say in their latest review. “Many experts now believe that mitigation efforts alone are insufficient to prevent the continual increase of space debris,” the Congressional Research Service reported earlier this month. “A growing view among experts holds that some level of active removal of debris from the space environment is necessary.

HOUSTON — NASA’s Morpheus prototype planetary lander ascended to an estimated 305 ft. and traversed 358 ft. during a 64-sec. free flight at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Jan. 21, the vehicle’s highest and longest ascent yet in a test-flight campaign expected to last into March. The latest test flight eclipsed a Jan. 16th ascent, in which the methane and liquid oxygen-fueled Morpheus rose to 187 ft. and covered 154 ft. during 57 sec. of flight near the test site adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway.