COLORADO SPRINGS — Lockheed Martin is entering the final assembly, test and launch phase of NASA’s Maven spacecraft, which will be launched in November on a mission to investigate what caused the disappearance of most of the Martian atmosphere.

Two Astrophysics Explorer-class missions are set for launch in 2017 under a NASA selection announced April 5: a planet-finding satellite and an X-ray timing detector to be mounted on the International Space Station.

BUDGET COVERAGE: When the U.S. government’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal is released on April 10, Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers should be sure to visit http://www.aviationweek.com/awin/USBudget2014.aspx, which will feature all the latest budgetary and programmatic news, data and analysis grouped together in one place. To allow for the most up-to-date budget news to be included, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report subscribers should expect a delay in the arrival of their issue dated April 11.

COLORADO SPRINGS — The senior officer overseeing U.S. Air Force Space Command says he refuses to lose sight of looking toward a future of more resilient architectures for spacecraft and launchers, though the near-term focus is on slicing $508 million from its operations and maintenance budget through the end of September.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Next year’s flight test of the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle will include an operational practice session for NASA flight controllers, as well as data collection needed to refine the heat shield and other design elements. When the Delta IV Heavy carrying the Orion clears the launch tower at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., control of the flight will shift to Mission Control Center-Houston, just as it did during shuttle-era human launches.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Lockheed Martin will begin anechoic tests this week of the GPS non-flight satellite testbed (GNST), an engineering, manufacturing and development pathfinder for the future GPS III constellation.

A total of 216 U.S. small businesses will be able to negotiate for $38.7 million worth of NASA contracts under the latest round of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program bidding.

Boeing is set to begin detailed wind tunnel tests of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) spacecraft following a successful preliminary design review of the launch vehicle adapter structure. The CST-100 is designed to carry crews to the International Space Station as well as take space tourists to the Bigelow Aerospace orbital space complex, and could make its first test flight as early as 2016.