BARCELONA, Spain — Astrium is trying to drum up European interest in its geostationary Earth-observation (EO) satellite concept, including a recent briefing to the European Defense Agency (EDA) to garner funding support.

Boeing has filled out its 702 satellite group with the launch of the “small platform” family on a joint order for four spacecraft from Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (Satmex). The first two spacecraft, ABS-3A and Satmex 7, are scheduled to be delivered together for tandem launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in the fourth quarter of 2014 or first quarter of 2015. Launch plans and details on the second spacecraft for each buyer have not been announced.

NEW GIG: Michael Lopez-Alegria, retired NASA astronaut and lead for the International Space Station’s multilateral crew operations panel, is becoming president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, effective March 19. Lopez-Algria, a former naval aviator who holds the current record for U.S. spaceflight of 215 days, will serve as the federation’s chief Washington liaison. The seven-year-old organization represents more than 50 commercial spacecraft developers, suppliers and support service providers.

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The panel of outside scientists that advises NASA on its spending priorities wants the agency to restore aid for robotic planetary exploration in its fiscal 2014 budget request, and urges agency managers to keep the same scientific priorities for Mars regardless of funding levels.

Piggyback government payloads on commercial spacecraft probably won’t win more than 1% of worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the cost savings that might be gained, according to a new study.

HOUSTON — U.S. and Canadian ground control teams initiated a robotic refueling demonstration outside the International Space Station this week to underpin future commercial initiatives aimed at extending the operating life of aging satellites. The two-year, $22.6 million multiphase Robotic Refueling Mission (RMM) demonstration also may advance efforts to develop space-based refueling depots for future deep-space human exploration, according to Julie Robinson, NASA’s ISS program scientist.

Registration has opened for an online competition to develop software designed to enable a servicing satellite to capture a tumbling spacecraft. Targeted at high schools and colleges, the Autonomous Space Capture Challenge could benefit a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) program to harvest and reuse components from defunct satellites in geosynchronous orbit.