REACTIVATED: NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will be revived in September to spend another three years discovering and characterizing asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth or be suitable candidates for exploration. NASA anticipates WISE will use its 16-in.

Under pressure from sequestration budget cuts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is delaying the launch of the first of a new breed of weather satellites.

HOUSTON — So far, Mother Nature has not disappointed the 250 scientists, engineers and flight-support personnel participating in a NASA-led airborne research campaign to understand how regional summertime pollution from urban areas, forest fires and other sources influences air quality and climate on a global scale.

Advocacy campaign heats up

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), of McLean, Va., has unseated incumbent contractor Wyle Laboratories for a potential $1.76 billion, 10-year contract supporting a wide range of human spaceflight-related biomedical and biotechnology research and operational activities at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The agreement, effective Oct. 1, includes a five-year base period with two options to extend.

Sierra Nevada conducted test flight on Aug. 22

Long-serving NASA astronaut, research pilot and U.S. Air Force test pilot Gordon Fullerton died Aug. 21, aged 76.

NEW DELHI — After scrubbing the launch of its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) Aug. 19 due to a fuel leak in the rocket’s second stage, India may consider destacking the rocket and swapping for a backup engine. “We have the standby for the second-stage engine. It is similar to the one used for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [PSLV],” a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says. But “first we have to see what went wrong with the [GSLV] launch,” he says.