501-day trip would have to launch in January 2018

Efforts to dispose of costly, little-used facilites are moving slowly

PARIS and BERLIN — In the coming years, as the U.K. replaces Italy as the European Space Agency’s (ESA) third-largest contributor, the Astrium space division of EADS stands to benefit from Britain’s 25% increase in ESA spending approved last November. With major operations in the U.K., Astrium will take advantage of a funding boost targeted mainly at developing next-generation telecommunication satellite technologies and supporting Earth observation and meteorology programs.

NASA’s inspector general and the lawmaker who chairs the subcommittee that controls the agency’s purse strings in the House are reviewing the Space Act Agreements (SAAs) that have been the agency’s procurement vehicle of choice for support of the emerging “new space” industry, in part because they require less rigorous oversight than standard government purchases of goods and services.

TEL AVIV — Israeli officials are revealing new details of their national space program, including plans for a new spaceborne computer. During a recent international space conference, Menachem Kidron, manager of the Israeli Space Agency (ISA), said the computer should be operational in a few years. It will provide processing capabilities that are currently very hard to achieve in space, as a computer in space must withstand extreme cold and heat as well as powerful radiation. The computer’s development is budgeted at NIS 180 million ($45 million).

SINGAPORE — Satellite manufactures are responding to the challenge of tight fiscal budgets by adopting new business models, such as public-private partnerships, and looking further afield for partners.

GO-3S is the company’s new geostationary Earth observation satellite

Falcon 9/Dragon launch pad 'hot fire' test took place Feb. 25