Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of May 13, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• FAA reauthorization bill includes short-term learning period extension;
• NASA details plan to build a levitating robot train on the Moon;
• Boeing Starliner launch slips to May 21 to verify helium leak fix
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Artemis II astronauts simulated a day in the life on their Moon mission. Here’s what they learned (exclusive)
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Blue Origin targeting May 19 for 1st crewed spaceflight since 2022;
• Paul Hill leading IRB on Orion’s heat shield
  Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• Lunar lander company ispace sees opportunities in Japan-U.S. Artemis agreement;

Space Science

• Where did Earth’s water come from? This ancient asteroid family may help us find out;
• Three of the oldest stars in the universe found circling the Milky Way;
• Sun launches strongest solar flare of current cycle in monster X8.7-class eruption;
• NASA selects proposals for new line of Earth science missions;
• These rocks formed in an ancient lake on Mars;
• How a giant sunspot unleashed solar storms that spawned global auroras that just dazzled us all;
• NASA and JAXA to operate XRISM as-is despite instrument issue;
• NASA wants a cheaper Mars Sample Return – Boeing proposes most expensive rocket
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• The big storm is over;

Opinion

• Beyond ISS: America must lead in LEO, cislunar and beyond
  Noting that NASA-led operations of the ISS are planned to end in 2030, three experts in the fields of space exploration and national security emphasize the strategic significance of a human presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and that it should not end. “An American retreat from LEO would be a clear signal to others that international space leadership is up for grabs,” according to an op-ed from Charles Bolden, a former NASA administrator,astronaut and retired Marine Corps major general, Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute and Bill Liquori, a former Director for Space Policy at the National Security Council and retired U.S. Space Force lieutenant general. The ISS has been continuously staffed since November 2000 and must be followed up as part of a sustainable human presence across cislunar space to maintain a strategic and moral high ground that could otherwise fall victim to China and the adversarial ambitions of others, the authors warn.
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Other News

• Smashing into an asteroid shows researchers how to better protect Earth;
• Lithuania becomes 40th nation to join NASA’s Artemis Accords;
• Intuitive Machines making upgrades to second lunar lander;
• ULA could fly dummy payload on next Vulcan launch if Dream Chaser is delayed
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• NASA appoints 1st AI chief to keep agency on ‘the cutting edge’;
• NASA’s strategy for space sustainability;
• Musk sees fourth flight of SpaceX’s Starship in 3-5 weeks;
• FAA to conduct new environmental review for SpaceX’s Starship operations in Florida;

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• After a delay from May 6 to address an Atlas V rocket upper stage propellant valve concern, NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance are looking toward the launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test on Friday at 6:16 p.m. EDT.
• NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams are prepared for a nine-day trip to the International Space Station. Launch coverage over NASA TV and streaming over www.nasa.gov/nasalive will begin Friday at 2:00 p.m. EDT..
• Congress this week may complete a five-year reauthorization of the FAA, including a short-term provision that extends the “learning period” for commercial human space flight that restricts additional regulation until January 1, 2025.
• Arizona State University interplanetary initiative is among the sponsors for a Space Intersections Symposium scheduled for Monday and Tuesday that will be livestreamed and feature a discussion on how religious and political ideologies might define the future of human space exploration.

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