Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of November 24, 2025:

Human Space Exploration

• Crew works wide variety of research and awaits new arrivals;
• China launches uncrewed Shenzhou capsule for 3 astronauts stuck on Tiangong space station;
• Blue Origin to build a “Super Heavy” rocket to compete with Starship;
• NASA to fly only cargo on next Starliner mission under modified contract
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• ‘Like a mermaid swimming through a sea of auroras’: ISS astronauts photograph 2 comets dancing above the northern lights;

Space Science

• After nearly 100 years, scientists may have detected dark matter;
• Voyager 1: World’s farthest spacecraft nears historic one-light-day from Earth;
• After 5 years on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover may have found its 1st meteorite (photos);
• Finding 40,000 asteroids before they find us;
• Satellite data reveals a huge solar storm in 2024 shrank Earth’s protective plasma shield;
• NASA finally releases images of 3I/ATLAS taken by its missions at Mars;
• New research suggest Earth and Theia were neighbors before they collided;
• Maybe that’s not liquid water on Mars after all;
• Where was the Big Bang?;
• The ‘other’ comet ATLAS;

Other News

• Space Force awards first prototype deals for space-based interceptors under Golden Dome;
• AI is making spacecraft propulsion more efficient and could even lead to nuclear-powered rockets
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• ESA unveils Thales Alenia Space-led consortium for its Argonaut lunar lander;
• First next-generation Starship booster damaged in testing;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• China it appears plans the uncrewed launch late Monday, U.S. time, of the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft to the Tiangong space station. It will replace the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft that was damaged by orbital debris strikes before it was to depart with a crew of three after their six-month mission aboard Tiangong. The threesome ended up returning to Earth in early November aboard the Shenzhou-21, which launched a replacement crew and docked to Tiangong on October 31. The Shenzhou-22 will provide the newcomers with a lifeboat and serve as their transportation back to Earth later in 2026.
• On Thanksgiving Day, the Russian Soyuz MS-28 is planned for launch from Kazakhstan at 4:27 a.m. ET, with NASA astronaut Chris Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. With a successful launch, they are to dock with the seven-person ISS about three hours later at 7:38 a.m. ET, to begin an eight-month stay. NASA will provide live coverage.
• Also on Thanksgiving Day, the European Space Agency (ESA) has scheduled a 7 a.m. ET, news briefing from Germany on the results of a two-day Council of Ministers meeting focused on ESA’s budget and programs for the next three years. Europe has been emphasizing a desire for greater autonomy and resilience in space.
• Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.

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