Click here to view the pdf

The panel of outside scientists that advises NASA on its spending priorities wants the agency to restore aid for robotic planetary exploration in its fiscal 2014 budget request, and urges agency managers to keep the same scientific priorities for Mars regardless of funding levels.

Piggyback government payloads on commercial spacecraft probably won’t win more than 1% of worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the cost savings that might be gained, according to a new study.

HOUSTON — U.S. and Canadian ground control teams initiated a robotic refueling demonstration outside the International Space Station this week to underpin future commercial initiatives aimed at extending the operating life of aging satellites. The two-year, $22.6 million multiphase Robotic Refueling Mission (RMM) demonstration also may advance efforts to develop space-based refueling depots for future deep-space human exploration, according to Julie Robinson, NASA’s ISS program scientist.

Registration has opened for an online competition to develop software designed to enable a servicing satellite to capture a tumbling spacecraft. Targeted at high schools and colleges, the Autonomous Space Capture Challenge could benefit a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) program to harvest and reuse components from defunct satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

GAG ORDER: NASA’s leadership challenges the logic of asking experts for their honest opinions when science chief John Grunsfeld reminds scientists on the NASA Advisory Council that they are “temporary” government employees when in formal session, and as such required to support — at least in theory — the fiscal 2013 NASA budget proposed by President Barack Obama. The budget would gut the joint Mars exploration program with the European Space Agency. Grunsfeld apparently is not keen on having his independent advisory body become too critical of the administration’s plans.

TURKISH HELO: Turkey is launching a competition for medium helicopters for use by the country’s national police force. The move comes after last year’s contest for 15 light utility helicopters for the police. The new bidding is for seven rotorcraft, associated mission equipment and spares. Bidders have until March 21 to formally receive the request for proposals from the Turkish defense armaments agency, SSM, with bids due on April 24.

WINNING LOSS: When the Indian government named the Dassault Rafale as the low-cost bidder in the country’s Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft competition, beating out the Eurofighter Typhoon, it was seen as a setback for EADS, whose Cassidian unit led the Typhoon campaign. But how much of a loss did EADS really suffer in the MMRCA program? Perhaps less than many suspect. EADS holds a 46% share in the Eurofighter consortium, but also controls 46.3% of Dassault Aviation shares.