IN ORBIT: South Korea’s STSAT 2C satellite is operating nominally following the Asian nation’s first successful launch from its Naro Space Center Jan. 30, according to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. Succeeding on the third try with its two-stage KSLV-1 launcher, South Korea became the 11th nation to orbit its own spacecraft. Weighing less than 100 kg (220 lb.), the satellite will test space hardware and measure radiation levels from its elliptical polar orbit. Lofted from the facility southeast of Seoul, it follows North Korea’s Dec.

LOS ANGELES — Scaled Composites’ veteran Kevin Mickey has been named president of the Northrop Grumman subsidiary, taking over from Doug Shane, who is taking on a special assignment to focus on completing the Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch programs.

Lockheed Martin will help human-rate Dream Chaser reusable spacecraft

NASA is casting a wide net as it offers research opportunities aboard the U.S. segment of the International Space Station to small businesses, industry, academia and other governmental agencies for projects with the potential to advance technologies critical to space exploration. Those technologies include in-space propulsion, space power and energy storage, closed-loop life support, thermal control, robotics and telerobotics, and automated systems.

NASA visions underfunded, turning LEO over to commercial providers

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) constellation is scheduled to receive its first on-orbit update in a decade on Jan. 30, sustaining the workhorse fleet as demands for its services continue to grow. TDRS-K, the first of three third-generation TDRSS birds, is scheduled to lift off at 8:52 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V 401 with a 4-meter-dia. (13-ft.) fairing to contain the large, folded single-access antennas that deliver two-way high-data-rate service.

HUTCHISON HONORED: The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation has selected Kay Bailey Hutchison, who influenced U.S. space policy as a member of the U.S. Senate from Texas for two decades, as the 2013 recipient of the National Space Trophy. Hutchison, who retired in January, led efforts to designate U.S. elements of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory, opening access to non-NASA researchers.

Thirteen technologies are scheduled on five types of platforms