SpaceX is ready to launch the SES-9 commercial communications satellite for Luxembourg fleet operator SES on Feb. 24. But the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company will not attempt a land-based recovery of the Falcon 9 core stage, owing to performance requirements needed to get the 5,330-kg spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit in the first quarter of this year.

The new SS2 will begin captive carriage flight tests beneath the company’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft later this year, leading to glide flights and later powered flights using the new motor.

The initial payloads on the first launch of the heavy-lift Space Launch System will be relatively small CubeSats, but the results could be huge, heralding a day when swarms of minuscule satellites ride piggyback deep into the Solar System for missions now conducted by billion-dollar, custom-built spacecraft.

The U.S. Air Force will need help from Congress to pursue its next-generation launch system plan, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continues pressure against the use of RussianRD-180 rocket engines.

The Indian space industry is aiming to correct a chronic criticism-—that it lacks the heavy-launch vehicles necessary to compete on the international commercial space launch market.

NASA seeks funds for mission that could test techonology now slated for threatened asteroid-redirect effort.