Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of September 16, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• SpaceX Crew-9 astronaut launch delayed to September 26
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• I am Artemis: Chris Pereira
  Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, L3Harris Technologies;
• NASA’s uncrewed Artemis mission highlights radiation risk to astronauts;
• Intuitive Machines lands $4.8B NASA contract to build Earth-Moon communications infrastructure;
• Space Perspective sends balloon and capsule up 100K feet during Gulf of Mexico test flight;
• What the Polaris Dawn mission could reveal about human health in space;
• Russian cosmonauts Kononenko and Chub mark one year in space;
• Record-setting Polaris Dawn crew safely splashes down in Gulf of Mexico;
• Starliner astronauts adjust to long-term ISS stay
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;

Space Science

• Europe’s Mars ‘fetch rover’ nails sample pick-up test in the field (video);
• Europa Clipper launch window extended;
  
• India approves Moon sample return, Venus orbiter, space station module and reusable launcher;
• 2nd Kuiper Belt? Our solar system may be much larger than thought;
• SETI scientists scan TRAPPIST-1 for technosignatures;
• Earth will have a tiny new mini-moon for a few months;
• Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS nears the Sun this month. Will it be visible to the naked eye?
• A $5 billion NASA mission looked doomed. Could engineers save it?
• NASA and ESA missions unexpectedly collaborate to reveal what accelerates solar winds;
• An ambitious mission to Neptune could study both the planet and Triton;
• Could we turn the Sun into a gigantic telescope?
• A gravity map of Mars uncovers subsurface mysteries;
• Astronauts 3D-print first metal part while on ISS;

Other News;

• Small launch vehicles press ahead despite market setbacks;
• Earth observation companies wary of Starshield;
• United Launch Alliance prepares for crucial certification flight as U.S. Space Force watches closely;
• NASA’s “Hidden Figures” honored in Congressional Gold Medal ceremony;
• The Aerospace Corporation pushes research on hard-to-spot spacecraft reentries;
• Space Force chief urges readiness for new era of competition;
• A partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon supermoon is coming this week. Here’s everything you need to know;
• Space Force awards $45 million to universities for propulsion and power research;
• Navigating new frontiers: Assessing the opportunity for U.S. entities to launch and return space missions in Australia;
• Virgin Galactic plans to spend $30M on new hangar at Spaceport America;

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• Lawmakers are still struggling to reach agreement on a budget continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown with the start of the 2025 federal fiscal year on October 1.
• In space, the 15-nation ISS is in the initial stages of its latest crew exchange, which began with the launch of Russia’s Soyuz MS-26 last week with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner for a six-month stay.
• The FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) meets Monday with virtual public participation.
• A Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on Wednesday will honor four “hidden figures” from NASA’s earliest days.
• On Thursday at 12:00 p.m. EDT, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will host a 90-minute Town Hall on the “Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars” study it is conducting for NASA.
  .

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter:
Don’t miss the latest developments in space policy, science, and exploration with Deep Space Extra, delivered directly to your inbox from Monday to Friday.