U.S. Strategic Command will operate the missile-warning spacecraft

NASA’s long-lived Opportunity rover is rolling toward a new destination at Endeavour Crater on Mars, following one of the nine-year mission’s most striking discoveries, a rock rich in clay minerals that points to an early, biologically friendly era dominated by water with a neutral chemistry.

NEW DELHI — India’s plans to loft France’s SPOT-7 satellite and six other small international spacecraft by early next year reflect a boost in demand for India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the global market, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). “We are getting launch orders from around the world,” a senior ISRO official says.

Reauthorization of the Commercial Space Launch Act (CSLA) – and its federal indemnification coverage and potential new federal mandates over seeking informed-consent waivers from launch participants and crew — could be hot topics as U.S. lawmakers and industry prepare to update the nearly decade-old law this year.

Eyeing migration of black carbon, organic gases and aerosols

KOUROU, French Guiana — The European Space Agency’s (ESA) fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) launched atop an Ariane 5 ES heavy-lift rocket from the Guiana Space Center here June 5, sending more than 20,000 kg (44,000 lb.) of cargo and fuel to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).

MOONWARD: The Republican chairman of the House Space subcommittee is doubling down on his preference for NASA to prioritize returning astronauts to the Moon, even as the embattled agency continues promoting its asteroid-capture plans. Rep. Steven Palazzo (Miss.) told the ABA Forum on Air and Space Law in Washington June 6 that while the ultimate goal is landing humans on Mars, returning to the Moon is the logical next step. Why? “We have other countries that are aggressively pursuing space exploration programs, and the Moon is one of their specific destinations,” he says.

Kicked off four-year study of problems that surfaced among crew