Human Space Exploration

Luxembourg space programme to work with NASA on Moon mining
Financial Times (2/15): Luxembourg intends to play a part in NASA’s plans to establish a base camp near the Moon’s south pole as part of the Artemis initiative. Luxembourg’s interest is focused on providing an ability to search for resources and process them into materials such as oxygen and fuel, which will be required for long-term human habitation on the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA intends to establish a sustained human presence at the Moon.

 

Space Science

NASA Mars InSight lander limits operations due to dusty solar panels
CNET (2/15): As dust collects on InSight’s solar panels and winter comes to Mars’ Elysium Planitia, the mission team is following a plan to reduce science operations to keep the lander safe. The team expects to ramp science operations back up more fully in mid-2021 as Mars gets closer to the sun. InSight is the first mission to Mars to explore subsurface activity including Marsquakes.

Asteroid or icy comet, where did the dinosaur-killing impactor come from?
Deccan Herald (2/15): It was 66 million years ago that the Earth was struck by another celestial body on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The aftermath led to the demise of the dinosaurs, and it has long been thought the impactor was an asteroid. A new study led by the Center for Astrophysics, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has uncovered evidence the impactor may have been an icy comet. The findings were published in Scientific Reports.

 

Other News

ISS tests Boeing-UQ developed antimicrobial surface coating
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
Aerospace Technology (2/16): International Space Station (ISS) crew members are testing a surface coating jointly developed by Boeing and Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ) that was developed to help curb the transmission of viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Later this year, the objects used for the test will be returned to Earth for analysis.

Reflecting core American values in the competition for the final economic frontier
The Space Review (2/15): A look at the push in space beyond low Earth orbit to the cislunar region and the role economic growth will or won’t play in the success of efforts to set new policy and attempt to advance. Will space be considered critical infrastructure to an all of government approach by the U.S.? Can the nation recognize an urgency posed by competition from China?

SpaceX successfully deploys 60 Starlink satellites, but loses booster on descent
Spaceflightnow.com (2/16): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully placed another 60 Starlink internet connectivity small satellites into orbit, following a launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Monday at 10:59 p.m. EST. Efforts to recover the Falcon 9 first stage failed.

Despite its small size, Space Force plans to have its voice heard in the Pentagon
SpaceNews.com (2/12): The Space Force is by far the smallest branch of the U.S. military and will have to “punch above its weight” to get its share of military funding and other resources, said Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief of space operations.