Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of December 2nd, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• Jared Isaacman tapped to be next NASA administrator;
• A new reconfigurable structure could be used to make space habitats;
• More delays: Artemis II slips to April 2026, Artemis III to mid-2027
  Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing, Lockheed Martin;
• NASA will update us all on its Artemis Moon landing program on December 5. Here’s how to watch live.
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Lockheed Martin unveils solar power array for Artemis program
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• How China plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2030 (video);

Space Science

• Evidence mounts for undiscovered planet in solar system;
• Could we use an asteroid to shield astronauts on their way to Mars?
• India launches European Proba-3 satellites to create artificial eclipses in space (video);
• We’ve never been closer to finding life outside our solar system;
• Here’s how interstellar objects and rogue planets can be trapped in the solar system;
• A small asteroid hit Earth and burned up over Siberia;
• Team links comet water to Earth’s oceans;
• Could dark matter have been forged in a ‘Dark Big Bang?’;
• What’s inside Uranus and Neptune? A new way to find out;
• Foust Forward | Who gets the final word on Mars Sample Return?
• Ancient Venus didn’t have oceans after all;
• China reveals secrets of 1st sample taken from the far side of the Moon — and it contains a volcanic surprise;
• World’s 2nd fastest supercomputer runs largest-ever simulation of the universe;
• Japan’s priceless asteroid Ryugu sample got ‘rapidly colonized’ by Earth bacteria;
• VERITAS Venus mission seeks to avoid further delays;
• Voyager 1 interstellar spacecraft finds its voice again as NASA restores communications;

Opinion

• How American entrepreneurs can help win the space race against China
  China is on track to surpass the U.S. as a space power, according to Steve Kwast, the CEO of SpaceBilt, Inc. and a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general, in an op-ed. He cites evidence in the fields of lunar robotics and commercial satellite remote sensing and potentially reusable rocket launches on the scale of SpaceX’s Super Heavy/Starship. While the U.S. long ago won a race to the Moon with human explorers under the Apollo program, the new challenge is leading an emerging industrial revolution in space, according to Kwast.

Other News;

• Bezos not concerned about Musk’s influence on Trump administrationch startups;
• Europe’s Vega-C rocket launches Earth-observation satellite on 1st liftoff since 2022 failure (video);
• Long March 6A launches third batch of Thousand Sails constellation satellites;
• Sierra Space partners with companies for space-based semiconductor manufacturing;
• Lockheed Martin challenges narrative on GPS vulnerability
  Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, L3Harris;
• Space superiority is the goal as U.S. Space Forces Japan activates at Tokyo air base;
• Name change reflects expanded focus for Commercial Space Federation;
• Tollways in space: from sci-fi to saving grace;
• What will it take to defend the world from an asteroid?
• Trump renews hope of Space Command HQ reset with Alabama lawmakers;
• Scotland breaks ground on third rocket launch site;

Major Space Related Activities for the Week of Dec 2nd:

• Absent a budget for the 2025 fiscal year that began October 1, the DOD and federal agencies like NASA are operating under a budget continuing resolution (CR) that expires December 20. With the House and Senate scheduled to adjourn on December 19 and 20, respectively, it appears the CR will be extended.
• Wednesday at 5:00 a.m. EST, India’s PSLV rocket is to launch the European Space Agency’s Proba-C mission, a pair of satellites that are to study the Sun’s corona.
• The European Vega-C rocket is planned for launch from Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. EST. It will launch with the Sentinel-1C satellite, a return-to-flight milestone for the rocket which conducted an inaugural launch in July of 2022 but experienced a failure on its second launch the following December.
• On Thursday, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will release its latest Decadal Survey regarding NASA solar and planetary science mission priorities.
• Also Thursday, NASA’s latest SpaceX commercial resupply mission (CRS) to the ISS is to undock at 11:05 a.m. EST for return to Earth.

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