Ikaros will demonstrate the principle of solar sailing, which has long been touted as a means of moving spacecraft around the Solar System.
This will have to wait until a public navigation signal is switched on, and it is likely to be 2015 before there are enough spacecraft in orbit for the system to start to show its true capability.
While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop these capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
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This includes implementation across all aspects of the space system, including the spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations.
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The final constellation of 30 satellites will more than double the spacecraft providing the American Global Positioning System, increasing the accuracy and reliability of navigation and timing signals that can be received across the planet.
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Before leaving the space station, the Progress 47 spacecraft conducted a test of an upgraded docking system that Russia intends to use on future unmanned Progress and manned Soyuz vehicles.
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Nanosats could also act as relays for spacecraft sent to the outer reaches of the solar system.
Asteroid Braille, believed to be about one to five kilometers (.6 to 3 miles) across, will be the smallest body in the solar system ever studied up close by a spacecraft.
The head of space agency Roscosmos said that an investigation into the short-lived spacecraft had discovered that radiation caused a glitch in the onboard computer system, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
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Both spacecraft make use of the US space agency's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) to speak to the ground and controllers do not want any conflicts.
OHB-System is part of the German-UK consortium that is constructing 14 of the first 18 Galileo spacecraft.
This propulsion system produces exquisite levels of thrust by accelerating charged atoms of xenon through nozzles at the rear of the spacecraft.
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