What You Missed Last Week

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Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of February 5, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• • ‘It takes courage to make the right decision:’ Artemis II astronaut explains why Moon mission was delayed to 2025 (exclusive);
  • Watch private Ax-3 astronauts return to Earth in SpaceX capsule on February 9 (video);
  • Humans on Mars could conduct far better science than any machine;
  • Ax-3 astronauts depart ISS in SpaceX Dragon capsule for splashdown on February 9 (video);
  • Ax-3 astronauts enter Dragon for departure live on NASA TV;
  • Space Force chooses its first “Guardian” to go to space;
  • NASA compiling lessons learned from Artemis I;
  • A Russian cosmonaut sets a new record for the most time spent in space;
  • While Artemis II schedule remains uncertain, NASA EGS preparing to be ready and waiting for stacking;
  • Nuclear power on the Moon: NASA wraps up 1st phase of ambitious reactor project;
  • Ax-3 targets Tuesday splashdown, ending two week Space Station stay;

   

  Space Science

  • NASA’s Juno probe sees active volcanic eruptions on Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io (images);
  • Countdown begins for April’s total solar eclipse. What to know about watch parties and safe viewing;
  • The “Martian sunspot” is facing Earth;
  • NASA launches PACE to advance knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions;
  • Saturn’s tiny moon Mimas seems to have an ocean, too;
  • New NASA mission launches to observe ‘invisible universe’ on Earth;
  • Searching in infrared finds a big collection of black hole star destruction;
  • NASA’s asteroid-hopping Lucy probe heads back toward Earth after acing crucial engine burn;
  • 1st look at asteroid Bennu samples suggests space rock may even be ‘a fragment of an ancient ocean world’;
  • The JWST discovers a galaxy that shouldn’t exist;
  • The case for a fleet of Martian helicopters;
  • Poor weather forces SpaceX to scrub the launch of NASA’s PACE mission Tuesday morning;
  • A Valentine’s Day launch for the next U.S. Moon mission;
  • A super-Earth (and possible Earth-sized) exoplanet found in the habitable zone;

   

  Other News

  • AI spurs space sector innovation;
  • Astronaut Hall of Fame to add shuttle vets Hilmers and Ivins in June;
  • China to launch lunar navigation and communications test satellites;
  • Space industry urged to take a broader view of sustainability;
  • Budget cuts to Mars Sample Return mission prompt hundreds of layoffs at JPL;
  • Virgin Galactic investigating dropped pin on most recent suborbital flight;
  • The last vestige of old space architectural thinking;
  • Marshall Space Flight Center gets new director;
  • Sierra Space unveils Dream Chaser space plane ahead of 1st flight to ISS (video);
  • Inland spaceports seek ways to host orbital launches;

   

  Major Space Related Activities for the Week

  • With some weather concerns, the launch of NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Earth Science mission from NASA’s Kennedy’s Space Center (KSC) is planned for Tuesday at 1:33 a.m. EST. A NASA PACE pre-launch news briefing is planned for Monday at 9 a.m. EST, with NASA launch coverage beginning on Tuesday 12:45 a.m. EST. Live coverage over NASA TV and live streaming coverage over www.nasa.gov/nasalive for each is planned.
  • The departure of Axiom Space’s (Ax-3) four-person, all European private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom capsule was initially planned for late last week, but weather delays in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico splashdown site options have moved the departure to early Tuesday. The mission is Axiom Space’s third private astronaut voyage to the ISS.
  • The three-day SmallSat Symposium gets underway Tuesday in Mountain View, California.
  • On Wednesday, NASA plans to host a virtual workshop on ideas for a low-cost mission to the asteroid Apophis, which is to make a close flyby of the Earth on April 13, 2029. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which dropped off samples of the asteroid Bennu to Earth in late September, is to enter orbit around Apophis following the Earth flyby. However, scientists are interested in a pre-flyby, low cost, scientific encounter with Apophis to gather data comparing the asteroid before and after the flyby.