Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of October 21, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• 4 space station fliers return to Earth after record-setting 235-day mission
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• China’s Deep Blue Aerospace reveals suborbital tourism plans;
• Blue Origin lofts new New Shepard capsule into space for test run before carrying crew;
• Where do Boeing’s Starliner, other space efforts fit as the company tries to reinvent itself?
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts undock from ISS after weather delays (photo);
• JAXA announces 2 new astronauts to boost its space roster to 7;
• Watch Blue Origin debut 2nd human-rated New Shepard rocket on October 23 after delays;
• To land safely on Mars and the Moon, we may need to measure dust;
• Remote-control robots could help humanity explore the Moon and Mars;
• Latest Starship flight prompts praise and worries at IAC;

Space Science

• NASA delays decision on Chandra and Hubble cuts;
• Breakthrough coming? Iceland could get solar power from space in 2030;
• Did some of Earth’s water come from the solar wind?
• Space Development Agency selects 19 companies for low-Earth orbit demonstration program;
• India to target Moon’s south pole with sample return mission;
• NASA on track to decide new approach for MSR by end of year
  Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman;
• The Pluto problem: Is it time to rethink our definition of a planet?
• Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a Halloween visitor from the spooky Oort Cloud – the invisible bubble that’s home to countless space objects;
• NASA achieves impressive bandwidth with its new laser communications system;
• What happens when black holes merge?
• NASA just found places where microbial Martians might be able to thrive;
• NASA’s next-generation Nancy Roman Space Telescope aces crucial ‘spin test’;
• China’s ambitious new space plan includes call to bring home a bit of Venus’s atmosphere;

Other News;

• Aerospace Corporation lays out key space issues for next administration;
• Boeing-made satellite explodes in space after experiencing an “anomaly”
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Launch companies need to diversify to survive, say industry executives;
• Cyprus signs NASA’s Artemis Accords, becoming 46th nation to commit to safe space exploration;
• ULA begins stacking Vulcan rocket in anticipation of first national security mission
  Coalition Members in the News – L3Harris, Northrop Grumman;
• Access to capital remains tough for space companies;
• Northrop Grumman unveils flying data center for military intelligence
  Coalition Members in the News – L3Harris, Northrop Grumman;
• The evolution of the Space Force in an increasingly commercial space age;
• NASA’s Europa Clipper isn’t just a spacecraft – it’s a work of art;
• Unprecedented launches: Space Coast poised to break its yearly rocket record before Halloween
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• After a number of weather-related delays, NASA on Monday will be assessing the next opportunity for the Crew-8 Dragon’s three NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonaut to undock from the ISS no earlier than Monday at 9:05 p.m. EDT for a return to Earth, potentially as soon as Tuesday at 12:55 p.m. EDT. Weather conditions on the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic sides of the Florida peninsula are being assessed as parachute assisted splashdown and recovery options. The Crew-8’s Matthew Dominick, Mike Dominick and Jeannette Epps and cosmonaut Aleksandr Grebenken launched to the orbital lab on March 3. Their early October return to Earth has been delayed by a sequence of weather concerns, including Hurricane Milton.
• Also meeting Monday and Tuesday is the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences. Topics include the status of planning for the NASA led Mars Sample Return mission.
• NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is holding two virtual Town Hall meetings on Thursday, one for heliophysics and one for astrophysics. Like The National Academies session, the heliophysics and astrophysics town halls offer virtual access.
• Following two launch scrubs earlier this month, Blue Origin is looking to Wednesday at 11 a.m. EDT for a third attempt at launching the company’s second human rated New Shepard suborbital rocket and crew capsule from East Texas. The test flight will be uncrewed.

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