Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of October 28, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• NASA updates list of Artemis III landing sites;
• NASA safety panel praises NASA’s response to Starliner CFT anomalies
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• China’s space station could help beat U.S. in race to Moon, expert says;
• NASA’s Starliner astronauts to achieve feat … technically … during SpaceX Dragon relocation
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• China selects 2 proposals for crewed moon rover;
• China’s new crew has arrived at space station in sign of growing influence in field;
• NASA’s oldest active astronaut is also one of the most curious humans;
• Europe’s bold ‘Explore 2040’ campaign aims to get astronauts to the Moon and Mars;
• China wants to make its Tiangong space station bigger and better;
• NASA identifies root cause of Orion heat shield char loss
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;

Space Science

• India targets 2028 for Chandrayaan-4 sample-return mission to Moon’s south pole;
• Dark matter might live in a dense haze around stellar corpses;
• Members of Congress seek details on Chandra funding and operations;
• Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn’t been used since 1981;
• Tiny fragments of a four-billion-year-old asteroid reveal its history;
• NASA achieves impressive bandwidth with its new laser communications system;
• There’s another ocean moon candidate: Uranus’ tiny moon Miranda;
• VIPER passes all its tests, but future still uncertain;
• The Sun just swallowed a comet;
• Add astronaut nutrition to the list of barriers to long-duration spaceflight;

<!– Opinion

• Space isn’t all about the “race”: rival superpowers must work together for a better future
  In an op-ed, Art Cotterell, a research affiliate with the Australian Centre for Space Governance, expresses concerns of a growing rivalry between the U.S. and China over the future human exploration of the Moon. “Humanity has much to lose if global superpowers don’t cooperate on space governance. There is a real and growing risk of exporting and exacerbating our earthly conflicts in space. This will invariably increase tensions on Earth,” he writes. Cotterell notes that despite their Cold War rivalry, the U.S. and former Soviet Union cooperated on the 1975 Apollo Soyuz mission and became signatories to the U.N. Outer Space Treaty. As the Cold War ended, the U.S. and Russia led a 15-nation effort to assemble the ISS.

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Other News;

• Atlas V set for final missions ahead of retirement;
• Lockheed Martin completes acquisition of smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• Blue Origin rolls out New Glenn’s first stage for testing;
• NRO announces space tech agreements with three commercial companies;
• Pentagon’s commercial satellite internet services program soars to $13 billion;
• Satellite servicing industry faces uncertain military demand;
• NASA generated $76 billion for U.S. economy in 2023, report says;

<!– 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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