The systems, designated the Deployable Ship Integration Multitouch Systems, upgrade the "Quija board" currently used to organize hanger bays by allowing handlers to plan for future missions or unexpected scenarios. It also allows for easier communication up the chain of the command.

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Boeing is collaborating with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to design and test an experimental spaceplane capable of reaching deep space and returning to Earth. The Phantom Express would travel to the edge of space carrying and deploying expendable satellites.

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Last weekend the U.S. Air Force’s experimental X-37B spaceplane landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, FL. The event culminated almost two years worth of nonstop flight on a classified mission.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) projects that it will make great strides in 2017. From biotech, to vertical take offs and landings, the year will be packed with technology moving through various stages from concept to fruition.

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The mars atmosphere and volatile evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft carried out a rocket motor burn that boosted its velocity by 0.4 m/s. NASA says this is the first collision avoidance maneuver that the MAVEN spacecraft has performed near Mars to steer clear of Phobos, the planet's lumpy, crater-filled moon.

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