Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.

Republican members of Congress are bristling about the Obama administration’s decision to work with the European Union on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that the U.S. would not sign on to an EU Code of Conduct but would continue to work with the EU to develop a broader international code.

OPEN SOURCE: NASA has unveiled an open-source development website that allows the public to “view and improve software source code,” the space agency says. The site, http://code.nasa.gov, is part of a White House open government initiative aimed at making the workings of federal agencies more transparent. The space agency uses open-source code for specific project and mission needs, to accelerate software development and to inform the public about its research.

In a “first step” toward implementing a more efficient procurement strategy for rockets, the U.S. Air Force has issued a $1.5 billion contract to United Launch Alliance for nine Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) to support launches in fiscal 2014, according to service officials.

LightSquared has rejected as rigged government testing of the potential for its L-band wireless network to interfere with GPS satellite signals, and vows to fight its case in court, if necessary.

PARIS — The U.S. military has removed links to Phobos-Grunt tracking data posted on a public website detailing orbital parameters of the ill-fated Russian Mars mission that Russia says re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 15.

NEW DELHI — India will finalize the schedule for the next launch of its heavy Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) by May or June of this year. Ground testing is in progress for the GSLV-Mk III, which can lift a 4-ton spacecraft. “Once all the parameters are tested it will be launched on an experimental mission,” says K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It will be fitted with an Indian-made cryogenic engine. The previous two launches of GSLV were unsuccessful.

Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) won’t be ready to fly its first mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 7 as planned, and may run into an upcoming space traffic jam in March that could delay a doubled NASA payout for the consolidated flight.