Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of November 17, 2025:

Human Space Exploration

• Future Moon base? Robots explore lava tubes as shelter for astronauts;
• L3Harris testing brand new RS-25 engines for future Artemis launches
  Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Amentum, Boeing, L3Harris;
• China to launch Shenzhou-22 spacecraft November 25 to provide lifeboat for astronauts;
• Orion: Safeguarding humanity’s return to the Moon and the journey beyond
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• Can America beat China back to the Moon?
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• SpaceX Starship timeline delays astronaut Moon landing for NASA’s Artemis III mission to 2028: Report;
• Virgin Galactic on track to begin commercial flights in 2026;

Space Science

• Astronomers spot “first stars” billions of years after they were supposed to die;
• Rubin Observatory peers into the ‘hidden universe’ and discovers stream of stars longer than our entire Milky Way;
• Scientists put moss on the outside of the International Space Station for 9 months then kept it growing back on Earth;
• An intense ground level event-first results;
• The Moon is farther from Earth tonight than it will be until 2043;
• What’s driving dark energy?
• New NASA images confirm comet 3I/ATLAS is not aliens;
• Private mission to save NASA space telescope will launch in 2026 on a rocket dropped from a plane
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Machine learning framework can scan for signs of extraterrestrial life;
• Mars was habitable for far longer than we thought, new study reveals;
• Scientists create “key” to find alien life in clouds;
• Watch interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS speed away from the Sun in free telescope livestream on November 18;
• Demand for JWST’s observational time hits a new peak;
• Almost everything about NASA’s latest mission to Mars is unusual;
• SpaceX launches second international satellite to monitor sea level changes – key indicators of climate change;

Opinion

• How spacefaring nations could avoid conflict on the Moon
  There’s NASA’s current Artemis Accords and the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty that offer potential means of avoiding conflict as the U.S. and China and their partners attempt to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon, ones that include identifying and mining resources like subsurface water ice. Then there is the 1979 U.N. Moon Agreement, which neither the U.S., China nor Russia have signed. It calls for transparency in the sharing of information about lunar activities and an international effort to manage lunar resources. The Moon Agreement could be the best path forward for lunar exploration, according to an op-ed from Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab at Italy’s Bocconi University.

Other News

• Space Force roadmap set to define what the service needs and why;
• Blue Origin supersizes New Glenn rocket to send heavier payloads to Earth orbit and beyond;
• U.S. government and companies criticize draft EU Space Act;
• Golden Dome faces challenges of size, scope and scale from every angle;
• China’s space ambitions hit a new gear;
• Senate schedules confirmation hearing for Isaacman;
• Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test;
• FAA lifts ban on daytime rocket launches after government shutdown ends;
• Maryland delegation presses NASA on Goddard closings, NASA replies to Lofgren;
• Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket landed its booster on a barge at sea an achievement that will broaden the commercial spaceflight market;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• With the reopening last week of the U.S, federal government, the House and Senate are back in session this week prior to a Thanksgiving holiday recess. The Dubai Air Show will be underway Monday through Friday.
• NASA’s Outer Space Assessment Group meets virtually on Tuesday through Wednesday.
• The National Academies Space Studies Board and Board of Physics and Astronomy meet Tuesday through Thursday, with some sessions virtually accessible..

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