Iddo Genuth writes "Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of West Palm
Beach, Florida has successfully completed the third round of its
Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine (CECE) testing for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). CECE is a
new deep throttling engine designed to reduce thrust and allow a
spacecraft to land gently on the moon, Mars, or some other non-
terrestrial surface." NASA is also set to launch a new satellite
on Tuesday — the Orbital Carbon Observatory — that will monitor
the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. On the research
front, NASA has announced this year's Centennial Challenges. $2
million in prizes are available for a major breakthrough in
tether strength (one of the major obstacles for developing a
space elevator), and another $2 million is being offered to
competitors who are able to beam power to a device climbing a
cable at a height of up to one kilometer.