NEW DELHI — India plans to loft its first navigation and timing satellite in June, the country’s top scientist says. The first satellite of the seven-spacecraft Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will be launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C22) from the spaceport at Sriharikota off the coast of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, according to the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), K. Radhakrishnan. Once launched, IRNSS-1 will be tested in orbit for nearly four months.

Return-to-flight scheduled for next week

Federal law enforcement authorities arrested a former NASA contract employee as he attempted to leave the U.S. for his native China on March 16, charging him with lying about electronic media he was attempting to take with him. Bo Jiang, a computer imagery-enhancement expert who has been the target of whistleblower charges that he has taken “volumes” of sensitive NASA data back to China, was arrested at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

Under pressure from a powerful member of Congress, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin is launching an audit of how the U.S. space agency handles access by foreign nationals to its facilities. Martin told Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) about the new audit after a face-to-face drubbing the day before, in which Wolf — chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA — told Martin he was “disappointed” in the way the Office of the Inspector General has enforced laws and regulations designed to protect sensitive technology.

Confirms what planetary scientists have long suspected

Civil servants and contractors at NASA will have their wings clipped for the rest of the fiscal year by the automatic sequestration budget cuts that went into effect March 1, with sharp restrictions on travel to conferences and on training not considered essential to doing their jobs.

DIYRockets is spearheading an creation of 3D-printed rocket engines

Cerebrotech Medical Systems Inc. hopes to develop a non-invasive sensor to monitor brain fluid changes believed responsible for vision changes detected in astronauts assigned to long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station.