Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of June 28, 2026:
Human Space Exploration
- ‘PROMISE’ me the Moon? NASA wants to send spare nuclear-powered Mars rover to the lunar surface;
- Spacewalkers successfully replace broken “wrist” joint in space station’s robot arm;
- Public interest in space: revealing new survey;
- NASA awards more CLPS contracts, may send Mars rover engineering model to the Moon;
- ISS repair spacewalk highlights concerns about station health;
- Astronauts returning from six-month missions describe a persistent ‘observer’ sensation the feeling of watching their own lives from a half-step outside the frame, weeks after they’re back on the ground;
- Next-gen astronaut Moon rovers aim for deployment ahead of Artemis IV crew arrival;
Space Science
- ESA outlines high-tech lander instruments for 2050 Enceladus;
- Sun unleashes powerful X-class solar flare and Earth-bound CME that could spark northern lights for July 4 weekend;
- ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has yet to detect methane on Mars;
- A swift effort to boost the prospects for satellite servicing
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman; - Mars orbiter watches Perseverance rover cross the marathon finish line;
- How do the largest geomagnetic storms light up Earth’s skies?;
- Euclid studies Milky Way center, supports future Roman observations;
- Europa’s ice shell secrets unlocked by ground radar study;
- Japanese probe set for super-close flyby on July 5: ‘We’re going to discover another beast to put in the zoo of asteroids’;
- Could future astronauts use oysters as water filters? Here’s why one company thinks so;
- NASA’s cheapest missions deliver less scientific bang for the buck, study finds;
Other News
- Orbital propellant depots move closer to reality with NASA cryo coupler tests;
- Blue Origin pivots to redesigned launchpad after explosion in push to fly by end of 2026;
- How NASA’s ‘America 250’ celebrations are reaching from the sky to the moon;
- Rocket Lab buys Iridium in $8 billion deal to take on SpaceX;
- NASA races to save Swift telescope from falling back to Earth with daring rescue mission
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman; - NASA backs dozens of projects on the space frontier, including some with Northwest connections
Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Lockheed Martin; - SpaceX stock has cooled. Hiring for jobs in the space economy hasn’t;
Major Space-Related Activities for the Week
With July 4 looming as Independence Day and America’s 250th birthday, there are space-related milestones ahead.
- On Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. EDT, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and NASA Moon Base Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galán will host a virtual presentation on new awards for lunar lander missions and preview upcoming opportunities.
- Also on Tuesday at 7 a.m. EDT, NASA is to begin virtual live coverage of a spacewalk by NASA astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir as they set out outside the ISS to replace a dysfunctional wrist joint on the orbital lab’s critically important Canadian Space Agency robotic arm.
- Prior to both of those NASA events, the agency is to provide coverage on Tuesday of the planned 6:23 a.m. EDT, launch of Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL air-launched rocket and Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft on a mission to rendezvous with and boost the altitude of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, to prevent its re-entry.
- Also Tuesday, is an in-person Washington Space Business Roundtable presentation, “When Launch Stops: Is the Space Economy Built for Disruption.”
- Tuesday is International Asteroid Day, marking the 118th anniversary of the devastating 1908 Tunguska airburst asteroid encounter over Siberia. NASA provides date and time information of its virtual coverage of selected events on www.nasa.gov/live.
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.
|
|