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Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of November 12, 2023:
Human Space Exploration:
- FAA clears SpaceX for second Super Heavy/Starship test flight
- 1 year after Artemis I launch, NASA readies Artemis II to shoot for the moon again (video)
- Starship cleared for November 17 launch
- Cathy Koerner to take over Artemis program as Jim Free moves up to AA
- SpaceX Dragon cargo ship docks at ISS with laser experiment and more (video)
- Nelson confirms funding for deorbit tug in supplemental as appropriations drama continues with shutdown looming
- A VR headset that could help astronaut mental health is launching to ISS on SpaceX rocket this week
- Russia’s future orbital outpost to operate for half a century
- India plans to send humans to the moon by 2040
- Astronaut Luca Parmitano on NASA’s return to the moon: ‘It’s no longer a dream’ (exclusive)
Space Science
- Life might be easiest to find on planets that match an earlier Earth
- A new galaxy Atlas charts the skies for scientists and the public alike in unprecedented detail
- Supermassive black hole at heart of the Milky Way is approaching the cosmic speed limit
- Comets that ‘bounce’ from planet to planet could spread life across the universe
- Leonid meteor shower 2023: When, where & how to see it
- Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is telling us more about its alien ocean
- NASA’s Mars robots are on their own right now here’s why
- A small step forward for space-based solar power technology
- This AI robot chemist could make oxygen on Mars
- James Webb Space Telescope finds an ‘extreme’ glow coming from 90% of the universe’s earliest galaxies
- SETI Institute gets $200 million to seek out evidence of alien life
- Intuitive Machines planning up to three lunar lander missions in 2024
- NASA “pauses” Mars Sample Return program while assessing options
- China Focus: Scientists build Martian atmospheric model for sample return mission
- Juno discovers salts and organic compounds on Ganymede’s surface
- NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter flies on back-to-back days to prep for ‘solar conjunction’ (video)
- Europe’s Euclid space telescope amazes astronomers with initial razor-sharp images
- Supermassive black hole found only half a billion years after Big Bang
- Big rockets for big science? (Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Northrop Grumman)
Opinion
- Charting the course: A blueprint to continued U.S. leadership in space
SpaceNews.com (11/6): U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, of Texas and chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, declares 2023 the time to ensure current legislation provides support for the private sector as the prospect for growth in a global space economy continues to rise. Babin has joined with Frank Lucas, of Oklahoma and chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, for the introduction of legislation that establishes certification processes intended to improve space situational awareness. The measure also seeks to reduce the risks posed by orbital debris; extend the learning period for commercial human spaceflight to support innovation; and ensure the U.S. operates within international treaty obligations, which helps to ensure American companies can operate without international interference.
Other News
- China launches new-gen Haiyang ocean monitoring satellite
- Amazon says Project Kuiper satellites ace orbital tests including video streaming and online sale
- NASA and Japan to launch world’s 1st wooden satellite as soon as 2024. Why?
- ULA chief on the Vulcan rocket: “The path to flight one is clear”
- Rogue rocket that slammed into the moon last year confirmed to be Chinese vehicle
- White House proposal would split mission authorization between Commerce and Transportation
- Space companies say ASAT tests threaten economic development Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
- Senate passes CR ending shutdown threat until early 2024
- U.S. advisory commission: Intense U.S-China rivalry is ‘the new normal’
- Europe needs to be strategic with its space ambitions, DLR head says
- Sale of United Launch Alliance is nearing its end, with three potential buyers Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin
- House passes CR to keep government open until early 2024
- Air Force warns programs will come to ‘screeching halt’ without budget deal
- NASA Associate Administrator, former astronaut Robert Cabana retires after nearly 38 years of service
- Transportation Department official suggests industry help pay for FAA commercial space office
- DART asteroid-smashing team and record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson honored for impact on space science Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
- Meet Washington’s shadow diplomat. Spoiler…’it’s NASA
- Canadian government backs 2024 space accelerator in Southern California
- Virgin Galactic lays off staff as it focuses on next-generation suborbital vehicle
- ESA: Time to assert Europe’s “rightful place in space”
- Florida Lt. Gov.: Expect a record 80 launches this year from Cape, followed by 101+ in 2024
- NASA viewers invited to “space out” on new streaming platform
- China launches mystery satellite on Long March 7A rocket (photo)
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
- Uncertainty over a federal budget for the 2024 fiscal year that began October 1 continues as the current budget continuing resolution (CR) that keeps government agencies operating at 2023 spending levels expires on Friday. Without congressional approval of a second CR, or perhaps an omnibus spending plan for the remainder of the 2024 budget year, federal agencies, including NASA, could face a shutdown.
- Depending on a licensing decision by the FAA and an environmental review, SpaceX is saying it could be prepared for a second attempt at an orbital test flight of the Super Heavy/Starship from south Texas as soon as Friday. SpaceX is under contract to NASA to provide the Starship for transportation of astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface of the moon and back to lunar orbit for the Artemis III and IV missions, the first post Apollo missions to place human explorers on the surface of the moon. The April 20 initial test flight ended abruptly and destructively.
- NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee is meeting on Monday through Tuesday, with an agenda that includes updates on the future of a joint NASA/European Space Agency Mars Sample Return mission to gather samples of the Martian surface collected by the Mars Perseverance rover for return to Earth to assess rock and soil for possible evidence of past Red Planet biological activity. An update on NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program, which is nearing its first launch, is also planned.
- Also on Tuesday, the Secure World Foundation will discuss the status of 2022 a call from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for all nations to halt anti-satellite weapons testing.