Space

The Obama White House has punted on a host of civil, commercial and military space issues.

In this week’s Washington Outlook: a look at Trump’s secdef shortlist; a change of plans after Clinton’s loss and potential for public-private partnerships.

NASA has had trouble gleaning financial support from Congress for its Earth science needs, but smallsats could be part of the solution.

With the takeover agreement by InFin Innovative Finance AG, of Switzerland, Mars One would become the first Mars exploration initiative to go public.

NASA does not want to try to service the James Webb Space Telescope once it is 1 million mi. from Earth.

On Nov. 8, the U.S. elected Donald Trump its next president, as well as a Republican House and Senate. Aviation Week editors explain how they think those dynamics will shape the nation’s policy and spending choices in the short term and the long run.

As the Schiaparelli Mars lander investigation progresses, ESA and the European Commission take a step toward integrating space policies.

In this week’s Washington Outlook, the Pentagon acquisition chief defends procurement reforms; the FAA maintains a ban on flights over Ukraine; and insiders speculate who will lead Senate space policies.

Keep NASA pointed toward Mars, bring China into the fold and don’t let climate-change deniers kill Earth science.

New NASA facility will simulate SLS launch loads, while planners study flight tests for secondary payloads.

Using rockets over and over like airplanes can hold down launch costs, but it will take a lot of launches to overcome the cost and weight penalties.

Two years after a fatal SpaceShipTwo crash, Virgin Galactic looks to move forward, confident about upcoming glide tests with an improved rocket motor.

Virgin Galactic test pilots have developed procedures that greatly improve takeoff and balanced field length performance of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

The first of Russia's upgraded Soyuz crew transports departed the International Space Station (ISS) late Oct. 29 and descended to Earth in remote Kazakhstan to end a 115 day assignment aboard the orbiting science laboratory for NASA's Kate Rubins, Russia's Anatoli Ivanishin and Japan's Takuya Onishi.

In this week’s Washington Outlook: companies create new ways to contain potential battery fires; the hunt for new space policy champions; and a recommendation for changing remote-sensing regulations.

In this week’s roundup, the CH-53K is poised for production; an Indian and French company create a joint venture for helicopter maintenance; Embraer pays at least $205 million to settle corruption charges and a U.S. weather satellite breaks up in space.

The Chinese seem to be following in the footsteps of their former Soviet allies, developing a space presence that could lead to low-Earth-orbit commercial possibilities.

Nuclear-thermal propulsion could be an option for travel to Mars, but more work is needed.

Although ExoMars mission's landing demonstration may have failed, the orbiter’s mission to search for life will continue.

The rendezvous and docking of Shenzhou-11, a manned mission launched on Oct. 17, with the Tiangong-2 orbiting laboratory relied on improved technology.

Missions tend to fare better when countries share information and technology. That certainly appeared to be the case last week - from Russia's Soyuz launch , to China's Shenzou mission, Antares's return to flight, and a rocky landing on Mars.

First on the international space station, then in cislunar habitats, NASA is set to begin researching human survivability for travel to Mars.

NASA’s faltering commercial-spaceflight endeavor enjoys a spectacular return to flight of the Orbital ATK Antares launcher laden with supplies for the International Space Station (ISS).

Musk’s approach is flawed. If he truly believes that what is at stake is the long-term survival of humanity, then he should not expect to charge people $200,000 for the trip, opines Antoine Gelain.

The ExoMars—for “exobiology on Mars”—mission begins with a landing demonstration.