NASA's Scientific Balloon Program is scheduled to conduct two super pressure balloon (SPB) launches from Wānaka, New Zealand, to further test and qualify the technology, which can offer cost savings compared to space missions.

While the two launches are primarily to test the SPB technology, NASA is also flying science payloads as missions of opportunity on each balloon. The balloons may also be visible from the ground during their flights, which are planned for up to 100 days or more.

"The super pressure balloon technology is a real game-changer for conducting cutting-edge science at the edge of space at a fraction of the cost of flying into space," said Debbie Fairbrother, NASA's Balloon Program Office chief based at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

New in-space propulsion techniques seem to be popping out of the woodwork. The level of innovation behind moving things around in space is astounding, and now a company from Japan has just hit a significant milestone. Pale Blue, which I assumed was named as a nod to a beloved Carl Sagan book, recently successfully tested their in-orbit water-based propulsion system, adding yet another safe, affordable propulsion system to satellite designers' repertoires.

Using water to jet around space might seem relatively simplistic. However, despite its simplicity and relatively low cost, water jets for satellitepropulsion systems have not yet been widely adopted. This first Pale Blue system, which launched with Sony's EYE satellite as part of its STAR SPHERE program to take pictures of the Earth, was the first time the company successfully tested its system in space.

They did so by operating it for approximately two minutes in early March and adjusting the EYE satellite's orbit in LEO.

Kenya will launch its first operational satellite next week in a landmark achievement for the country's space program, the government said on Monday.

Taifa-1, or Nation-1 in Swahili, is scheduled to be launched on April 10 aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

"The mission is an important milestone," the defense ministry and Kenya Space Agency said in a joint statement, adding that it would contribute significantly to the country's "budding space economy".

The observation satellite is "fully designed and developed" by Kenyan engineers and will be used to provide data on agriculture and food security, among other areas, the statement said.

Testing and manufacturing of the parts were done in collaboration with a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer, it added.

An East African economic powerhouse, Kenya is suffering its worst drought in decades after five failed rain seasons.

The satellite launch will add to a push by African nations for scientific innovation and the development of space programs.

Egypt was the first African country to send a satellite into space in 1998.

In 2018, Kenya launched its first experimental nano-satellite from the International Space Station.

As of 2022, at least 13 African countries had manufactured 48 satellites, according to Space in Africa, a Nigeria-based firm that tracks African space programs.