Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of August 5, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• Life on the Moon: Lockheed Martin shares exploration vision for 2044
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• Terraforming Mars could be easier than scientists thought;
• NASA ‘getting more serious’ about backup plan to bring Starliner astronauts home if needed
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Long-term Moon mission safety depends on sturdy infrastructure;
• SpaceX targeting August 26 for historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission;
• Mars Society brings its convention – plus strategies for space startups – to Seattle;
• NASA pushes Crew-9 launch to September amid uncertainty of Starliner’s return timeline
  Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing;
• NASA chief will make the final decision on how Starliner crew flies home
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Private Cygnus freighter arrives at the ISS with 4 tons of supplies (photos)
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
  
• Hungary and Poland to join India on Ax-4
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• GAO questions Gateway’s mass, schedule;
• Cygnus spacecraft suffers glitches after launch
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;

Space Science

• These nearby star systems could be good targets in the search for alien life;
• Mars Express orbiter takes a deep dive into ancient Red Planet lake (images);
• NASA sends final command to its NEOWISE spacecraft, ending more than a decade of asteroid observations;
• James Webb Space Telescope finds a shock near supermassive black hole (image);
• If advanced civilizations are using quantum communications, is that why we’ve never seen them?;
• Earth’s ‘evil twin’ Venus may have mirrored our planet more than expected;
• NASA Moon probe plays laser tag with Japanese lunar lander;
• Was life on Earth sparked by cloud-to-ground lightning strikes?
• Astronomers see planets forming around binary stars;
• X-class solar flares;
• Mystery of Moon’s ‘tenuous’ atmosphere solved;
• China’s lunar samples contain graphene flakes;

Other News;

• SpaceX to build three new rocket landing zones on Space Coast as Starship planning proceeds;
• Commerce Department preparing to turn on initial version of space traffic coordination service;
• Chinese megaconstellation launch creates field of space debris;
• U.S. Army gears up for space warfare, drawing lessons from Ukraine;
• NASA budget pressures create opportunities for smallsats;
• Safran to open electric thruster production line in U.S.;
• China launches first satellites for Thousand Sails megaconstellation;
• Aerospace CEO lauds smallsat innovation and risk-taking;
• Intuitive Machines and SEOPS partner on lunar rideshare services;
• Aerospace CEO lauds smallsat innovation and risk-taking;
• Intuitive Machines and SEOPS partner on lunar rideshare services;
• Perseid meteor shower 2024 peaks this weekend. Here’s how to see summer’s best ‘shooting stars’;
• Canada strikes deal to use U.S. space tech, clearing way for rocket launch pad in N.S.

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• Launched Sunday after a day’s weather delay, Northrop Grumman’s 21 NASA Cygnus resupply mission to the ISS experienced a thruster issue following separation from its Falcon 9 rocket. NASA and Northrop Grumman were working to determine if the rendezvous strategy for the Cygnus and its 8,200 pounds of crew supplies and scientific research with the ISS might change.
• NASA indicated previously that the agency and Boeing may have an update this week on the status of the extended Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test.
• Meanwhile, the 38th annual Smallsat conference is underway this week in Logan, Utah with the theme, “Automation: Enabling New Capabilities.”
• The annual Space and Missile Defense Forum takes place Tuesday through Thursday. On Wednesday, the Beyond Earth Institute is hosting a space debris webinar.

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