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Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of June 25, 2023:
Human Space Exploration:
- Astronaut’s history-making mission is the latest step for a nation with grand space ambitions
- Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen says a Canadian will walk on the Moon one day
- NASA to add fourth pair of roll-out arrays to ISS
- Sierra Space describes long-term plans for Dream Chaser and inflatable modules
- Virgin Galactic set to launch crucial 1st commercial SpaceShipTwo mission on Thursday
- Orion heat shield for Artemis II has been installed
- SpaceX conducts six-engine test fire as it gears up for second Starship flight
- NASA sees Moon lunar mining trial within the next decade
- SpaceX making more than 1,000 changes to next Starship rocket
- Virgin Galactic sets July 29 for first commercial crewed flight
- NASA just recycled 98% of all astronaut pee and sweat on the ISS (engineers are thrilled)
Space Science
- ‘No do-overs’: NASA team preps for return of historic asteroid mission
- Mars has liquid guts and strange insides, InSight suggests
- Mars helicopter Ingenuity phones home, breaking 63-day silence
- European “dark energy telescope” launched to probe cosmology’s biggest mystery
- James Webb Space Telescope sees 1st starlight from ancient quasars in groundbreaking discovery
- Two new space telescopes will bring dark energy into focus
- British startup powers up sensor for monitoring tiny orbital debris
- What will astronauts on deep space missions eat? ‘Neurogastronomy’ may have the answer
- China conducts parachute tests for asteroid sample return mission
- Solar Max is boosting airglow
- Germany is building a tiny rover that will roam the surface of Phobos
- Webb telescope detects crucial molecule in space for the first time
- How artificial photosynthesis may be key to sustained life beyond Earth
- NASA’s Mars Sample Return has a new price tag and it’s colossal
Opinion
- Investing in space exploration research and technology
TheHill.com (6/27): “NASA was wise to implement its Commercial Crew Program, due to its redundancy in the selection of Boeing as well as SpaceX to develop post space shuttle-era spacecraft for transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). That is wise despite the delays Boeing has encountered in certifying its CST-100 Starliner, writes Alex Dubin, a fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, in an op-ed. The fixed price rather than cost plus contracts that were implemented are cost savers. And eventually having two providers is critical to preserving vital momentum in space operations, he writes. Even companies that didn’t win one of the contracts, for example Sierra Space, are on track to provide future astronaut transportation for low Earth orbit astronaut missions. “As NASA spends billions on spaceflight beyond Earth in the coming years, this model should continue to be replicated as we explore and expand into the cosmos,” according Dubin, who cites NASA’s efforts to advance the concept with the Artemis program’s Human Landing System (HLS).”
Other News
- China’s Changguang Satellite demonstrates space-to-ground laser links
- King Charles III unveils Astra Carta at Space Sustainability event
- DoD to invest in startup developing mobile space-launch platforms
- Trend or aberration? Russia is launching foreign satellites again
- ESA, European companies back “zero debris” agreement
- Space explorers mourn the loss of Titan submersible’s 5 crewmates
- Second Orbiter transfer vehicle malfunctions
- First Vulcan launch further delayed for Centaur modifications
- NASA analog astronauts “depart” for year inside mock Mars base
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
- Major activities this week include plans by Virgin Galactic to conduct the company’s first commercial suborbital spaceflight from Spaceport America in New Mexico, with the Italian Space Agency as a customer. The launch window for the Galactic-01 flight extends from Tuesday through Friday. Virgin Galactic anticipates a live stream broadcast.
- The European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch of the Euclid space observatory to study the universe’s dark energy and dark matter is planned for Saturday at 11:11 a.m. EDT, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Euclid is to join the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at the L2 Sun/Earth observation point about 1 million miles from Earth for observations.
- Lockheed Martin is sponsoring an AIAA webinar on Wednesday entitled “Space 2050: Our Future Shaped by Today’s Space Technology Advances.”
- George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute and the Aerospace Corp. are hosting a seminar on Thursday entitled, “Public-Private Synergy in the Space Sector” with former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as the keynote speaker. Panel discussions are to follow his remarks.
- The final launch of Europe’s Ariane 5 is planned for Tuesday, July 4, between 5 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT, from French Guiana with a pair of communications satellites. The launch is scheduled for a live broadcast by ESA-TV. Ariane 6, the successor to Ariane 5, is planned for its debut launch in 2024 after a series of delays.
- The next session of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on NASA’s Critical Workforce, Infrastructure and Technology is to meet virtually on Thursday and Friday.
- The U.S. Senate returns to business on July 10 and the U.S. House on July 11, each with much to do on appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year that begins October 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee is to mark up the Commerce, Justice Science (CJS) spending legislation, which includes NASA and NOAA, on July 13. The House Appropriations Committee has not yet released a schedule for its CJS markup.