Researchers and entrepreneurs interested in using the International Space Station as a satellite bus for Earth remote-sensing sensors will have a chance at government subsidies for launch and operations under a renewed request for proposals from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis).

ASTEROID ASSISTANCE: More countries should participate in the activities of the International Space Station, and the Obama administration would welcome international support for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, a U.S. official told the International Space Exploration Forum recently. Moreover, governments should explore more ways to encourage entrepreneurial ventures in space, as well as do “much more” to defend Earth from near-earth objects and space debris, according to remarks by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

ATK’s Solar Electric Propulsion MegaFlex solar array design is in line for thermal vacuum deployment testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station this month, following a full deployment demonstration at the company’s Goleta, Calif., facilities in December.

PARIS — Europe’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft emerged from 31 months of deep-space slumber Jan. 20 to reestablish communications with Earth. The €1.3 billion ($1.76 billion) European Space Agency (ESA) mission made contact with NASA’s 70-meter-dia. ground station at Goldstone, Calif., 48 min. into a nail-chewing hour-long window that opened at 12:30 p.m. eastern.

The National Space Society says it “strongly opposes” passage of a U.S. House of Representatives bill (HR 3625) pushed prominently by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). The bill would exempt the International Space Station, heavy-lift Space Launch System and Orion crew vehicle from termination without proactive congressional approval, as well as free $507 million in funds held to cover termination liability costs under a contract interpretation by NASA’s Democratic management of the Anti-Deficiency Act.

Analysis of temperature and other data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations worldwide has found 2013 was the seventh-warmest year since 1880, adding more evidence to the long-term rise in global warming, according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Nine of the 10 warmest years in the 134 years covered by the analysis have occurred since 2000, and the 10th was 1998. The latest GISS analysis finds 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 in global temperature averages.

A parachute-deployment test of NASA’s Orion crew capsule Jan. 16 added another level of complexity to the preflight work that must be done before the vehicle’s Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), atop a Delta IV rocket in September.

Space-science units of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences are planning two meetings this year designed to bring young scientists from the two countries together for discussions on space astronomy and solar and space physics. The U.S. Space Studies Board and the Chinese academy’s National Space Science Center set up meetings in Beijing and Los Angeles for space scientists under 40 to “build informal bridges between the space-science communities in China and the United States,” according to a joint announcement.