Russia plans to test its Angara rocket in 2016 with a real payload. The heavy lifter is scheduled to enter service in 2021 and replace the Proton launcher in 2025.

Modifications to the Falcon 9 v1.1 will lead to a new design for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

Sierra Nevada Corp. will use folding wings and a pressurized/unpressurized “cargo trailer” with the Dream Chaser Cargo System it has entered in NASA’s second-round competition for unmanned vehicles to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

Europe’s Vega light launcher has scored its first U.S. customer with a contract to launch a tranche of small, high-resolution remote-sensing satellites under Google’s Skybox Imaging initiative.

Company president Gwynne Shotwell says she expects the U.S. Air Force to certify the Falcon 9 by midyear, “if not sooner,” to fly midsized national security payloads.

Satellite Internet startup LeoSat has contracted with manufacturer Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy to conduct a one-year cost study of the company’s planned low Earth orbiting (LEO) constellation of high-throughput broadband satellites.

Built for Paris-based Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) of Bermuda, the electric propulsion spacecraft need eight months to reach their final orbit, creating a lag between their March 1 launch and their ability to generate revenue.

"A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.