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According to the N-Prize web site, the challenge is, "to launch an impossibly small satellite into orbit on a ludicrously small budget, for a pitifully small cash prize."

The N-Prize of £9, 999.99 cash (US$20,000) is for the first person or group to put into Earth orbit, a satellite with a mass of between 9.99 and 19.99 grams. By comparison, a US quarter weighs approximately five grams, so the satellite should not weigh more than four quarters. The winners will have to prove that the satellite has completed at least nine orbits.

After a 10-month, 422-million-mile journey, NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander completed a successful touchdown in the Martian arctic. Radio signals received at 2353 GMT on May 25 confirmed the Phoenix Lander had survived its final descent, 15 minutes earlier.

The space shuttle Discovery launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 5:02 p.m. EDT Saturday, May 31. It will deliver the second component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAEA) Kibo laboratory.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is recruiting. It is inviting applications from citizens of the 17 ESA member states, starting Monday May 19 for four weeks. Successful applicants will be boldly going to the International Space Station, the Moon and beyond.