Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of October 6, 2025:

Human Space Exploration

• NASA’s Lunar Electric Rover rolls across Arizona | Space photo of the day for October 9, 2025;
• The first stage of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket has made it to the launch pad ahead of next week’s test flight.
• Blue Origin launches 6 ‘Space Nomads,’ including mystery passenger, on suborbital space tourist flight (video);
• Composing crews for Mars missions: Team diversity may foster resilience;
• Amid cuts, uncertainty, Sean Duffy, the acting NASA Administrator, focuses on the future of space travel;
• NASA’s Artemis II mission is crucial as doubts build that America can beat China back to the Moon;
• New DARPA ‘field guide’ looks for ways to jump-start a Moon economy;
• With 15,000 workers furloughed and funds uncertain, NASA focuses on one mission — return to the Moon;

Space Science

• A stream of solar wind is approaching the Earth;
• Yes, Mars once had an ocean, says new research;
• Completed Plato spacecraft is ready for final tests;
• Interstellar comet passing by Mars seen in rare images;
• New comet Lemmon could shine bright enough to be seen with the naked eye this October;
• Rocket test proves bacteria survive space launch and re-entry unharmed;
• NASA’s Juno probe orbiting Jupiter may have come to an end, but no one can confirm;
• Did NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just see interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in the Martian night sky?
• 3I/ATLAS’s coma proves another cometary formation theory;
• With new analysis, Apollo samples brought to Earth in 1972 reveal exotic sulfur hidden in moon’s mantle;
• Artemis II tissue samples poised to transform how NASA studies space effects on humans;
• Bill Nye asks Congress to push back against ‘extinction-level’ NASA budget cuts;
• Europe teams with Japan on asteroid mission, beefs up space cooperation with South Korea;

Other News

• Japan prepares new ISS cargo vehicle as trio of cargo spacecraft deliver new experiments and hardware 
  Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Collins Aerospace, Northrop Grumman;
• Space infrastructure investments surge to five-quarter high;
• New private ‘Arc’ spacecraft aims to deliver cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in less than an hour (video);
• Developing technology to deploy stabilized solar arrays and enable spacecraft docking;
• Opening lines of communications for space safety;
• Don’t forget Comet Lemmon;
• Space Force awards ULA, SpaceX $1 billion for seven launches;
• Vandenberg Space Force Base breaks annual launch record with SpaceX rocket launch;

Major Events This Week:

• • With the U.S. House in pro forma session this week, the Senate is scheduled to vote for a fifth time Monday on a Continuing Resolution that could end the government shutdown that’s been underway since last Wednesday.
  •  In opposition to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s proposed cuts to NASA’s science budget, The Planetary Society, American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union and 20 organizations in all are to participate in a Washington news conference on Monday at 1 p.m., EDT. The activities will be livestreamed on The Planetary Society’s website (https://www.planetary.org/advocacy/day-of-action).
  • Three National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committees are meeting from Monday through Thursday with some open sessions to be livestreamed. The themes include Astronomy and Astrophysics; Human and Biological Sciences; Astrobiology and Planetary Science.
  • Blue Origin has scheduled a six passenger New Shepard suborbital launch from West Texas on Wednesday at 9 a.m., EDT.
  • Also on Wednesday, Space News has scheduled a webinar, “The Space Investment Horizon,” from 11 a.m. till 12 p.m., EDT.
  • Thursday through Saturday, the University of Southern California is hosting the Mars Society’s 28th annual convention, with a virtual option available.

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