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Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of December 10, 2023:
Human Space Exploration:
- Biden hosts four NASA astronauts, the first crew aiming to fly around the moon in a half-century
- SpaceX yet to select launch pad for next Axiom Space private astronaut mission
- Massive ‘lighthouses’ on the moon could light the way for future lunar astronauts
- Deep into the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons is still doing science
- NASA’s Voyager 1 probe in interstellar space can’t phone home (again) due to glitch
- SETI is searching for alien life at previously unexplored frequencies
- Agencies sign agreement to collaborate on space weather activities
- Cubesat offers template for future astronomy missions
- SpaceX private Polaris Dawn space mission delayed to April 2024
- Newly-opened facility at Ellington Airport is the next step toward commercialized space flights, officials say
Space Science
- DART showed we can move an asteroid. Can we do it more efficiently?
- Cyanide in the ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be good for life
- Strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle
- JWST finds the smallest free-floating brown dwarf
- Mars’ atmosphere swelled like a balloon when the solar wind stopped blowing. Scientists are thrilled
- Creating a Venus exploration program
- Why was it tricky to know the distances to galaxies JWST was seeing?
- 2024 promises opportunities to study the solar corona
- Japan may delay its Mars moon sampling mission, MMX, due to rocket problems
- An asteroid will eclipse the puzzling red star Betelgeuse on December 11
- Debris from a near-Earth comet could create a new meteor shower this week.
Opinion
- Rethink the Mars program
SpaceNews.com (12/7): In an op-ed, Robert Zubrin, who head the Mars Society, calls for an end to the NASA-led Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission effort, whose technical challenges are high and that a new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit found is likely to cost $10 billion. The joint MSR effort with the European Space Agency (ESA) seeks to return samples of the Martian surface gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover back to Earth for analysis to determine whether they hold evidence of past biological activity. Though judged a high Mars science priority by the National Academies of Sciences, MSR could fail and alternative missions could be stalled by an absence of funding, according to Zubrin.
Other News
- Space Force eyes new breed of satellites that adjust their orbit and respond to threats
- ULA’S Vulcan debut set for January as year of lunar landers begins
- Senators question White House mission authorization proposal
- China launches secret space plane on 3rd-ever mission
- Space Force reorganizes command structure to streamline operations
- Effects of Falcon Heavy launch delay could ripple to downstream missions
- Blue Origin will return to flight with uncrewed mission on December 18
- Helicity Space raises $5M to unlock fusion propulsion – and fast travel in deep space
- House committee debates space mining
- SpaceX scrubs Falcon Heavy’s X-37B space plane launch due to ground issue
- SpaceX scrubs Falcon Heavy launch of secretive X-37B military spaceplane
- China’s reusable rocket race heats up with new hot test
- Experts raise concerns about U.S. commitment to GPS modernization
- Northrop Grumman tests new solid rocket motor technologies
- GAO wants FAA to improve how it investigates space launch mishaps
- First ULA Vulcan launch apparently slips to January
- SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch of secretive X-37B space plane delayed to December 11
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
- NAfter a weather delay, launch of the U.S. Space Force X-37B was moved from Sunday to Monday at 8:14 p.m. EST, from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
- The American Geophysical Union is meeting Monday thru Friday in person in San Francisco and virtually with a focus on planetary science, solar and space physics and Earth science with substantial NASA participation.
- The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s Space and Science Subcommittee meets on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. EST, for a session on “government promotion of safety and innovation,” in a growing space economy.
- The annual Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law meets Wednesday in Washington D.C.
- The Space Force Association is gathering in Orlando, Florida, with a “Preserving and Protecting Our Legacy in the Stars” theme.
- The U.S. House and Senate adjourn for the year on Thursday and Friday, respectively.