Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of May 26th, 2025:

Human Space Exploration

• Turn up the sustain: The Gateway’s demise
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Space Ops: Blue Origin poised to leapfrog SpaceX to the Moon;
• Musk still hoping for first Starship to Mars next year;
• Space power satellites at the Moon could keep a base warm;
• SpaceX loses contact with its Starship on 9th test flight after last 2 went down in flames;
• The FAA is taking extra precautions for SpaceX’s next Starship test flight;

Space Science

• ‘One of the most geometrically perfect’: What is this mysterious sphere deep in the Milky Way galaxy?
• NASA switches to backup propellant line on Psyche spacecraft;
• China launches Tianwen-2 mission to sample near Earth asteroid;
• Astronomers discover mystery cosmic body bursting with X-rays: ‘This object is unlike anything we have seen before’;
• Ongoing surface modification on Jupiter’s moon Europa uncovered;
• A passing star could fling Earth out of orbit;
• Webb telescope helps refines Hubble constant, suggesting resolution to long-standing expansion rate debate;
• Scientists worry Trump’s budget cuts will halt satellite air pollution studies: ‘It’s incredibly short-sighted’;
• ‘Raindrops in the Sun’s corona’: New adaptive optics shows stunning details of our star’s atmosphere;
• Pluto’s ‘extreme cousin’ is a dwarf planet found at the far reaches of our solar system;
• Scientists question possible signs of life on exoplanet K2-18b in new study: ‘We never saw more than insignificant hints’;
• China is building a constellation of AI supercomputers in space and just launched the first pieces;
• Why are some rocks on the Moon highly magnetic? Scientists may have an answer;

Other News

• Sierra Space awarded lunar logistics contract by NASA;
• Chinese launch startup conducts vertical takeoff and splashdown test;
• Noctilucent cloud season 2025 is upon us! Here’s how to spot elusive ‘night-shining’ clouds;
• Russia sets $56B space program, seeking to close gaps in space race;
• Brian Hughes to become NASA Chief of Staff;
• Senate sets up early June vote on Isaacman nomination to lead NASA;
• Dawn Aerospace begins sales of Aurora suborbital spaceplane;

Major Events This Week:

• On Tuesday, the Aerospace Corp. and George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute are hosting the “Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Civil and Commercial Uses of GPS,” which stands for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system and its many communications and navigational assets.
• Also on Tuesday, the Lunar and Planetary Science panel for a new National Academies Sciences, Engineering Medicine study of “Key Non-Polar Destinations Across the Moon to Address Decadal-level Science Objectives with Human Explorers” opens a three-day session. Those that are open will be livestreamed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The objective is to determine what places on the Moon other than the south pole would be of value for human exploration.
• Though the timing could change, SpaceX is looking to Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EDT for the nineth Integrated Flight Test (IFT) of the Super Heavy/Starship rocket combination. SpaceX plans to webcast the activities beginning 30 minutes prior to liftoff. Prior to the planned launch, SpaceX’s Elon Musk is hosting a webcast at 1 p.m. EDT about making life multiplanetary.
• Also, the annual Mars Exploration Summit is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at George Washington University with live stream access.
• Of note, China is anticipated to launch an asteroid sample return mission, Tianwen-2, possibly on Wednesday but Thursday Beijing time. The mission destination is the asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3), which may have been ejected from an impact with the Moon that created a crater on the lunar far side.
• Without a specific date, it’s also anticipated the U.S. Senate is close to voting on President Trump’s nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA’s next administrator.

  .

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.