LE BOURGET — The European Space Agency (ESA) and its industrial partners need to reduce the weight of a service module they are developing to fly on NASA’s Orion multipurpose crew exploration vehicle in 2017, a hurdle that will delay preliminary design review of the project by a little more than three months.

SINGAPORE — Australian satellite operator NewSat acknowledges that one of the pitfalls in securing business from Australia’s defense department and other national militaries is that if NewSat were to ever be sold to a foreign party, Australia’s military may take issue.

NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program has been overly aggressive in payments to Orbital Sciences Corp., the agency’s second commercial cargo provider for the International Space Station, according to an audit by the agency’s Inspector General Paul Martin. Orbital, unlike rival COTS provider SpaceX, has yet to carry out its first demonstration mission to the station. Martin characterized $150 million in transfers to the company as premature. Discussions were underway to advance another $70 million, he said.

LAUNCH FAILURE: When it comes to the space launch marketplace, Americans are too busy fighting themselves while losing ground to Russia and other countries in the global sector, says a key author of the Obama administration’s 2010 National Space Policy.

Engineers plan to resume Morpheus free-flight test campaign

Plans to cut product costs, increase international share of business

Four Indian satellites are slated using Indian and foreign launchers

Despite the fact that the deal creates a monopoly for certain advanced propulsion systems, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said June 11 that it will not challenge GenCorp’s acquisition of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for about $550 million. Approval was given “primarily because the Department of Defense wishes to see the transaction go forward for national security reasons,” the FTC said.