In Today’s Deep Space Extra… New U.S. House Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee chair has expressed support for NASA’s Artemis initiative. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 launch date advances to no earlier than March 25. The investment community shows signs of increasing interest in commercial space. 

 

Human Space Exploration

New House Appropriations CJS Subcommittee Chair supports Artemis
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/25): Pennsylvania Congressman Matt Cartright is the new Democratic chair of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, which funds NASA. Cartright has expressed support for the agency’s Artemis initiative to return humans to the surface of the Moon to establish a sustainable presence and prepare for future expeditions to Mars. However, he’s questioned the previous administration’s goal of moving up the lunar return from 2028 to 2024.

Boeing bumps up Starliner launch date, docking with Space Station
Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, United Launch Alliance
Click Orlando (1/25): Boeing is targeting a no earlier than March 25 launch date for its Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), a potential four-day advance. The new target launch date is enabled by different factors, including the availability of the launch vehicle, steady progress on hardware and software, and an International Space Station (ISS) docking opportunity. The test flight will send an uncrewed CST-100 Starliner into orbit for an automated docking with the ISS. The first attempt at the test flight, OFT-1, in December 2019 was unable to raise its altitude following launch into orbit because of software issues.

Axiom Space names first private crew to launch to Space Station
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
Collect Space (1/26): Axiom Space today revealed its clients for its first privately funded and operated mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which is arranged under a commercial agreement with NASA. Commanded by former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, the crew of this first entirely private space mission will include the second Israeli in space and the 11th Canadian to fly into space.

Roscosmos continues discussing joint Moon base with China
TASS (1/25): Russia is in discussions with China and other nations on plans to establish a base on the Moon, according to Dimitry Rogozin, chief of the Russian space agency. Russia plans to initiate its human lunar initiative in 2028. (Editor’s note: TASS is a Russian government-owned news source).

 

Space Science

Tree rings reveal 1,000 years of solar activity
Universe Today (1/25): Tree rings, it turns out, offer a long-standing record of changes in solar activity, which has left telltale traces of Carbon 14 within the ring structures, according to a study team led by the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics at ETH Zurich, of Switzerland. The findings are published in the journal Nature GeoScience.

 

Opinion

Is public capital ready to help fuel the private space economy?
SpaceNews.com (1/25): Along with growing public interest, the investment community is showing support for the commercial space industry and its potential. Much of the growth can be traced to the return of a U.S. capability to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), China’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission, and the upcoming arrival of NASA’s Perseverance rover at Mars planned for February 18, says Brant Arseneau, a founding partner of 9Point8 Capital and founder of Spaced Ventures.

 

Other News

Seven facts about the new head of NASA, Steve Jurczyk
Futurism (1/25): With the change in administrations, Steve Jurczyk is now NASA’s acting administrator. With more than 30 years at NASA, he rose from associate administrator, the top civil servant post. A hands-on engineer, he’s a proponent of human exploration and climate research. Jurczyk is set to hold the post until President Biden nominates a replacement for Jim Bridenstine, the former administrator, an appointment that requires Senate confirmation.

Ex-NASA administrator Bridenstine hired by Oklahoma firm
Orlando Sentinel via Associated Press (1/25): Oklahoma City based Acorn Growth Companies announced Monday that recently departed NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has joined the enterprise as a senior advisor.