Q&A with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (members only)

An optical reconnaissance satellite for the French military took off atop a Soyuz launcher Tuesday, riding the Russian-made rocket from a tropical spaceport in South America into a 300-mile-high polar orbit to begin a 10-year mission surveying the globe.

A Japanese H-2A rocket is set for launch Thursday with the country’s second navigation satellite, growing a network of beacons in the sky to give emergency responders, security forces and the public more accurate positioning and timing signals in Japan and neighboring regions.

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark spoke with Rolf de Groot, head of ESA’s robotic exploration coordination office, on Sept. 25, discussing the two-month launch delay of Europe’s ExoMars orbiter and landing demonstrator set to depart for Mars in 2016 and the status of an ambitious rover mission in 2018.