Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of March 18, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• Dragon soars from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40 on SpaceX’s 30th cargo mission to the Space Station
• Soyuz MS-25 crew launch aborts seconds before liftoff;
• SpaceX’s workhorse launch pad now has the accoutrements for astronauts;
• Watch Russian Soyuz rocket launch 3 spaceflyers to the ISS on March 21;
• It’s time to study lunar lava tubes. Here’s a mission that could help;
• Boeing begins fueling Starliner capsule ahead of 1st astronaut launch;
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• DARPA picks Northrop Grumman to develop ‘lunar railroad’ concept
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• SpaceX planning rapid turnaround for next Starship flight
• Soyuz crew, Cargo Dragon await Space Station launches 7.5 hours apart on Thursday;
• NASA beefing up SLS Moon rocket for its Artemis program
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Sierra Space tests upcoming in-space habitat as other commercial space stations continue development

Space Science

• Mars Sample Return dominates House hearing on NASA science;
• Two dozen CA congressional reps urge NASA to commit funds to Mars Sample Mission;
• Rocket launch marks big step in building China’s lunar infrastructure;
• Billions of stars have swallowed up a planet;
• Arrokoth the ‘space snowman’ and other Kuiper Belt objects may be packed with ancient ice;
• Explosive star event will create once-in-a-lifetime sight in the sky. Here’s how to see it;
• Gravity from Mars has an effect on Earth’s oceans;
• What is emergent gravity, and will it rewrite physics?;
• NASA’s x-ray telescope faces a long goodbye;
• Bad news for life on Mars? Red Planet’s wet epoch may have been shorter than we thought;
• Geomagnetic storm watch;
• Mars Sample Return science continues amid budget uncertainty
• Solar eclipse 2024
• Mercury slammed by gargantuan eruption from the sun’s hidden far side, possibly triggering ‘X-ray auroras’

Opinion

• The future of the Space Force isn’t on Earth – it’s in the solar system
  SpaceNews.com (3/20): Now aged 5, the U.S. Space Force must prepare to expand its national security focus from the Earth and low Earth orbit to the Moon and even Mars and beyond, according to Rick Tumlinson, co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation and X Prize founding board member. Noting the need for a branch of the military focused on the Earth and orbital assets, he adds, “We must begin immediately to build a Space Force that is ready to protect our interests ten and 20 years from now on the Moon and beyond, or we will have sacrificed the long game for the short win and we will lose it all.”

Other News

• House advances four space-related bills
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• Electron launches NRO mission from Wallops;
• Launch providers look for competitive advantages in an era of transition;
• Pentagon’s innovation unit steps up role in Space Force’s responsive launch program;
• Apollo astronaut Lt. Gen. Tom Stafford passes away;
• Full Committee markup of H.R. 272, H.R. 6219, H.R. 7687, H.R. 4152, H.R. 7630, H.R. 7686, H.R. 7073 & H.R. 7685;
• The U.S. government seems serious about developing a lunar economy
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Satellite manufacturers defend diminished GEO market;
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Maxar eyes spring launch of long-delayed WorldView Legion satellites;
• Peregrine payloads returned useful data despite no lunar landing;

 

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• Spacepolicyonline.com (3/17): NASA and its International Space Station (ISS) partnership will be wrapping up the first crew exchange for 2024 on Thursday with Russia’s launch of the Soyuz MS-25 mission to the orbital outpost. Replacing NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who will join the ISS Expedition 71 crew for a six-month stay with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya. After a crew exchange of several days, Novitskiy and Vasileveksya will be joined by O’Hara for a return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-24 that launched with her and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on September 15, 2023.
• Also on Thursday, the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee will host a 10 a.m. EDT, hearing on NASA’s cost challenged science budgets for the fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
• At 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, the Universities Space Research Association will host a presentation on Space Nuclear propulsion.
• The American Astronautical Society’s annual Goddard Symposium is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday with the theme, “Space 2040 Pathways to the Future.”
• The launch of NASA’s 30th NASA contracted SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission to the ISS is set for Thursday at 4:55 p.m. EDT. Also on Friday, NASA’s Johnson Space Center will host briefings on Boeing’s upcoming crew test flight of Starliner to the ISS beginning at 10 a.m. EDT, over NASA TV and streaming over www.NASA.gov/nasa.live.
• In the meantime, Congress is facing a deadline on Friday at midnight on funding a large portion of the federal government for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year. NASA and NOAA were among federal agencies funded under a minibus for the remainder of 2024 passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The Department of Defense, Homeland Security and the legislative branch itself, however, are among those awaiting a passage of a second minibus budget measure to avoid a shutdown.

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