What You Missed Last Week

Jul 16, 2023

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Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of July 09, 2023:

Human Space Exploration:

  • NASA’s new Artemis ‘astrovans’ arrive for use by Moon-bound crews
  • Ten days in a capsule: An interview with NASA’s Jason Hutt
  • NASA awards “crossover” spacesuit task orders to Axiom and Collins
  • The psychology of space exploration and why it matters on Earth
  • Interest grows for human spaceflight in Europe

 

Space Science

  • A hyperactive sunspot
  • Second Israeli lunar lander faces funding uncertainty
  • Building blocks of Mars life? Perseverance rover digs up diverse set of organic molecules on the Red Planet
  • One year into science operations, Webb continues to rewrite the textbooks of science
  • The biggest telescope in the world is half built
  • Here come the Moon landing missions (probably)
  • NASA decides not to launch two already-built asteroid probes
  • NASA is celebrating 1 year of James Webb Space Telescope science on July 12. Here’s how to participate
  • We can leave the Solar System, but arriving anywhere is not happening soon
  • The climate of Mars changed dramatically 400,000 years ago, Chinese rover finds
  • Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are leaking radiation that harms deep space astronomy, study warns
  • The 1st light to flood the universe can help unravel the history of the cosmos. Here’s how
  • There’s a huge radioactive slab of volcanic granite buried on the Moon
  • In-space manufacturing startup aces pharma experiment in orbit
  • Morphing NASA robot could someday walk, fly and drive over alien planets (video)

 

Opinion

  • Reality is underrated: Fox’s “Stars on Mars” takes off
    Thespacereview.com (7/10): In an op-ed, writer Dwayne Day offers a re-appraisal of the Fox Network’s “Stars on Mars,” a production he now endorses as offering “a thing or two about the kind of personalities needed for a successful space mission.” He now declares the production as a potential reflection of how spaceflight and current dreams of humans on the Red Planet are “primarily entertainment, not reality. With the Hollywood writers’ strike still going on and movies and TV shows being delayed, we could end up with more shows like this. That’s not what I, or really anybody, wants. But for now, ‘Stars on Mars’ is a reasonably fun bit of summer reality sci-fi fluff,” Day concludes.

 

Other News

  • North Korea launches ICBM on record-breaking 74-minute flight
  • China’s Landspace reaches orbit with methane-powered Zhuque-2 rocket
  • Blue Origin’s next-gen BE-4 rocket engine fails dramatically during testing in Texas
  • Can space governance keep up with space sustainability?
  • AI, quantum and nuclear technologies are key to Lockheed Martin’s vision for Space 2050
  • Saudi Space Agency discusses cooperation with Chinese agencies and businesses
  • Rocket update: Ariane 6, Vulcan Centaur maiden flights remain unscheduled
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for record-breaking 16th time, lands on ship at sea

 

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

  • NASA on Wednesday will mark the first anniversary of scientific observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has been looking out to the formation of the first galaxies and peering into the atmospheres of extrasolar planets for evidence of biosignatures.
  • . On Friday at 5:05 a.m. EDT, the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) is preparing for the launch of Chandrayaan-3, a second attempt to deliver a lander and rover to the Moon at the lunar south pole in late August.
  • Meanwhile, the U.S. House and Senate are to be in session this week, with a focus on developing a budget for the 2024 fiscal year that begins on October 1. Another issue is where to locate the headquarters for the U.S. Space Command, Colorado Springs or Huntsville. Alabama.
  • Also on Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee is to mark up the Commerce, Justice and Science Committee funding bill that includes NASA and NOAA. It’s possible House appropriators might markup similar legislation regarding NASA and NOAA spending this week as well.
  • The House Science, Space and Technology Committee has scheduled a hearing on “Continuing U.S. Leadership in Commercial Space At Home and Abroad,” for Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.