Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of Mar 1, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• NASA makes a “course correction” for the Artemis program
  Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Axiom Space, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman;
• NASA overhauls Artemis Moon program and Blue Origin’s lander may be given a bigger role
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• NASA on ‘aggressive’ schedule to complete SLS repairs for April launch;
• Victor Glover will become first black astronaut to fly to the Moon;
• Russia says damaged launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome has been repaired;
• NASA repairs Artemis II rocket, continues eyeing April Moon launch;
• Jeremy Hansen on dealing with Artemis II emergencies;
• Senate committee advances NASA bill to establish permanent Moon base amid U.S.-China space race;
• Making hummus on the Moon? Scientists just grew chickpeas in simulated lunar dirt;
• Anderson breezes through Senate nomination hearing to be NASA deputy administrator;

Space Science

• Would Earth still be habitable without us?
• Curiosity rover finds clues to Mars’ watery past in rocky ‘spiderwebs’;
• Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS shines in new image | Space photo of the day for March 2, 2026;
• NASA’s MAVEN detects first evidence of lightning-like activity on Mars;
• Jupiter’s moons may have been born with life’s building blocks;
• Sunspots are back;
• Predicting the Sun’s most violent outbursts;
• The world’s 1st private space telescope just spotted its 1st star. Here’s what it saw;
• Lunar eclipse reveals hot spots on the Moon;
• Red dwarf stars might starve alien plants of the “quality” light they need to breathe;
• Asteroid impacts could launch living microbes from Mars;
• A chemical ‘Goldilocks zone’ may limit which planets can host life;
• Cosmic voids aren’t empty – they’re full of something far stranger;
• No chance asteroid will slam into the Moon in 2032, NASA says;

Other News

• The total lunar eclipse tonight will be the last until New Year’s Eve 2028;
• U.S. Space Force pauses national security launches on ULA Vulcan rocket due to booster glitch;
• Space City goes all in to snag 2029 Astronautical Congress at George R. Brown;
• We asked scientists what they think we’ll learn from the government’s UFO files. Here’s what they said;
• JAXA to test vertical-landing reusable vehicle demonstrator;
• Isaacman’s “NASA Force” envisions term-limited industry positions in NASA
  Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• U.K. announces £500 million package for industrial growth and national security;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• As NASA works to address issues leading to a delayed, early April launch of the Artemis II mission with four astronauts on a 10-day mission around the Moon and back to Earth, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to markup a two-year NASA reauthorization bill on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, which will be webcast. Included is a provision that would extend ISS operations from the current 2030 safe deorbit to at least 2032.
• The Commerce Committee is slated to meet again on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, for a hearing on the nomination of Matt Anderson to be NASA’s deputy administrator. Anderson is currently the vice president, U.S. Space Force and Air Force client executive at CACI International and Chief Growth Officer at the Space Force Association. Anderson would join NASA’s recently appointed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in governing NASA’s ambitions to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon and transition ISS operations to multiple commercial low Earth orbit destinations.

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