NASA’s Kepler extrasolar-planet finder has discovered its first Earth-sized planet orbiting a distant star, but don’t crank up the interstellar spacecraft yet. While its composition is rocky like Earth’s, its 8.5-hr. orbit means it is far too warm to lie in the “Goldilocks zone.” That is the name scientists give to the habitable zone around stars, where the temperature is “just right” to sustain water in its liquid state, and perhaps life that would need liquid water to survive.

Hoping to gain entry into a potential U.S. market for non-toxic “green” satellite thrusters, the Swedish National Space Board will permit NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to ground test environmentally friendly propulsion technology already flight tested on a European spacecraft.

Problem forced autonomous engineering test article to veer off runway

Ukraine, eager to push the commercialization of its Soviet-heritage space industry, will begin bilateral talks with NASA on possible cooperation in civil space exploration, including lightweight radiation shielding and a possible liquid-fuel upper stage for Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares launch vehicle.

HOUSTON — The Association of Space Explorers (ASE), a nonprofit that represents experienced space travelers from 35 countries, is urging the international community to launch an asteroid deflection demonstration mission through the United Nations within a decade. The group is also recommending steps to deal with the threat posed by small, undetected — but still destructive — near-Earth objects (NEOs).

The Sirius FM-6 satellite is performing post-launch orbit-raising maneuvers as planned following its Oct. 26 launch aboard a Proton M Breeze M from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On Oct. 27, the satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral (SSL) for Sirius XM radio, began the first of several thruster firings to propel itself from geostationary transfer orbit to its final geostationary orbit at 116.15 deg. W. Long.

HOUSTON — After departing the International Space Station (ISS) early Oct. 28, the European Space Agency’s ATV-4 has embarked on five days of solo flight to set up an atmospheric re-entry that will be documented by station astronauts. The European space freighter, christened Albert Einstein, undocked from the station’s Russian segment Zvezda module at 4:55 a.m. EDT, ending a 4 1/2-month stay.

PARIS — The potentially faulty component that caused the launch of Europe’s €940 million ($1.25 billion) Gaia star-mapper to be postponed will also need to be replaced on the BepiColombo Mercury probe ahead of a planned 2015 launch, the European Space Agency (ESA) says.