KENNEDY SPACE CENTER A robotics snafu on the International Space Station that disrupted the Endeavour crew’s third excursion outside the ISS is sparking an investigation into configuration control procedures and has uncovered potential operational issues, especially important to less-forgiving robotic operations planned in 2003.

WASHINGTON Transportation Security Administration officials aren’t saying anything about what might be done to foil man-portable missile attacks on passenger jets, but the FAA and Pentagon have conducted extensive studies and found that remedies would be expensive and imperfect.

WASHINGTON The U.S. military will be ready to employ several new weapons against Iraq that weren’t available months ago for the Afghanistan campaign, including technology to better attack facilities that manufacture weapons of mass destruction.

PARIS and KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA SES Global moves to downplay the effect of the loss of Astra 1K and assurances from Snecma minimizing the potential impact of a solar array problem may bring some calm to the reeling space insurance and investor communities.

KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA WASHINGTON Satellite operators and manufacturers are attempting to minimize strains caused by yet another contract cancellation that threatens to worsen the already precarious position of the production side of their industry.

MUNICH LONDON Germany late last week took an ax to several key air force and army procurement programs, wielding numbers cuts aimed at paring defense expenditure by several billion euros over the next few years. However, the move should break the Berlin-induced logjam on collaborative European programs such as the six-nation Meteor air-to-missile and the A400M military airlifter.

LONDON PARIS Twelve European nations last week approved a feasibility study into a grand plan to collectively address future military fast-jet training needs. The future of one or more nascent European jet trainer projects also hangs on the outcome of the partner nations’ Eurotraining efforts.