The U.S. government spends more on weapons development than any other nation on the planet, but its plans for doing so are caught up in a larger financial debate.

Repurposing of com-sat antennas could yield substantial savings

NASA applies its human-spaceflight standards to lithium-ion batteries

The first of three advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) spacecraft, procured for $354 million each, is heading for checkout in a temporary geostationary slot after this Jan. 30 nighttime launch on an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 41.

Iranian space officials say their nation's launch and recovery of a live monkey on a suborbital spaceflight advances the goal of an orbital human mission, but that day apparently is more distant than the stated 2020 date. The Iranian Space Agency is said to have used a variant of the Kavoshgar rocket for the 120-km (74-mi.) flight, following a 2011 test that reportedly carried a sealed biocapsule, but no monkey. The 22-meter-long (72-ft.) rocket is believed to have a payload capacity of 50 kg (110 lb.). Israel dismissed the flight as a “publicity stunt,” while a U.S.

A technology that turns computer-aided design (CAD) drawings into tangible hardware has advanced far beyond producing toy rockets and airplanes from plastic as a Science Technology Engineering and Mathmatics hook for schoolchildren. Today advanced versions of what once was called 3-D printing, and now is more commonly termed additive manufacturing (AM), is well on its way to producing large flightworthy components for real rockets and aircraft.

Viewpoint: Ross was chief of NASA's Vehicle Integration Test Office

North Korea said last week it would conduct its third nuclear test and continue long-range missile trials designed to reach the U.S. just as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was gearing up for a long-awaited return to flight of the system designed to protect the U.S. homeland from such an attack. The vow came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a Washington-backed set of sanctions for Pyongyang in response to its December rocket launch.