HOUSTON — Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus demonstration resupply capsule departed the International Space Station (ISS) early Oct. 22, concluding a 24-day stay that brings the Dulles, Va.-based company’s participation in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program close to its conclusion. Orbital plans to begin regular cargo deliveries to the ISS in December under the terms of a $1.9 billion, eight-flight Commercial Resupply Services contract signed with NASA’s space station program in late 2008.

The launch of India’s first Mars orbiter, scheduled for Oct. 28, has been postponed for a week due to rough weather in the Pacific Ocean, a senior space scientist says. “The weather in the south Pacific Ocean has slowed things down as movement of two Indian ships, carrying terminals on board to track the rocket after it is launched, was delayed due to bad meteorological conditions,” Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says.

The three 18-sided Spheres are free-flying software testbeds

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis) issued a request for proposals Oct. 17 for potential remote-sensing missions that could fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The nonprofit group tasked with managing research on the orbiting outpost’s U.S. national lab segment says it expects to award $1.5 million in grants to selected Earth-observation projects proposed in response to the request for proposals.

Two weather satellites received rare mention in re-start law

HOUSTON — Workers eagerly returned to their jobs at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Oct. 17, following a 16-day furlough, though many remained apprehensive about future budget clashes. The 3,200 civil servants among Johnson’s 14,000-member workforce have been assured by Congress they will be paid for the interlude, potentially along with their next scheduled paycheck on Oct. 25.

Europe’s Rosetta comet probe remains in a deep sleep as it winds through the coldest part of its trajectory through the Solar System to a year-long encounter with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but ground crews are getting ready for its awakening next January, as it begins to move back toward the Sun.

The next two Falcon 9 v 1.1 launches must perform flawlessly for upstart rocket provider Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to be eligible for certification to carry critical U.S. national security payloads as planned in its cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Air Force. The agreement calls for SpaceX to execute three successful Falcon 9 v1.1 launches, two of which are to be consecutive. The service also is assessing certain engineering and process data for the company to verify compliance with certification criteria.