With more countries and companies eyeing missions to Mars, a U.S. National Academy of Science report recommends NASA develop and demonstrate a more nuanced, flexible approach toward meeting planetary protection protocols for landed missions, while still protecting potentially habitable zones from contamination by Earth microbes.

CAES, the former Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions now under private equity, has announced construction of its new additive manufacturing (AM) operations in Exeter, New Hampshire, for the 3D-printed radio frequency (RF) products partnership that the U.S. company unveiled earlier this year with SWISSto12.

A 12U cubesat housing a nearly 900-sq.-ft. solar sail system developed by NASA will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rideshare mission in mid-2022 for a trial run in low Earth orbit.

The Space Development Agency’s transition to the U.S. Space Force should not add additional bureaucracy because the agency is already going as fast as companies can move to bring new systems to space and unnecessary oversight would slow down that process, the SDA’s leader said.

Muon’s small satellites will focus on dense, scientific-grade measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, and land processes.

NASA has reassigned astronauts that were to have flown on the first crewed flight test and first planned operational flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) as the company continues to work through a propellant valve issue that delayed a second attempt at an uncrewed test flight.

The upgrades should help prevent issues encountered during previous flights, including a debris strike that damaged a drogue parachute used during the descent of the Crew-1 mission in May.

The United Arab Emirates plans to follow its ongoing Mars mission with a second spacecraft, slated to launch in 2028, to explore seven asteroids in the main asteroid belt, culminating with a landing attempt in 2033.