Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter:
Don’t miss the latest developments in space policy, science, and exploration with Deep Space Extra, delivered directly to your inbox from Monday to Friday.

Signup

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of February 26, 2023:

Human Space Exploration:

  • Crew-6 launch scrubbed
  • SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts will answer ‘burning questions’ with Space Station science
  • Space Station crew welcomes replacement Soyuz amid Crew Dragon launch preps in Florida
  • Next spacewalk under Russian program will take place in April or May
  • NASA plans to start work this year on first Gateway logistics mission
  • China unveils lunar lander to put astronauts on the Moon
  • JAXA’s 2 new astronauts could be first Japanese on the Moon
  • NASA’s William Hartwell updates on Artemis I and future ESMs
  • Here are 10 things you need to know about NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 launch just after midnight Thursday
  • China to expand its space station, international astronaut selection underway
  • Second time’s the charm for Crew-6
  • Auroras, spacecraft mods and more: SpaceX Crew-5 astronauts reflect on their time in orbit
  • Does the Moon need its own time zone? We may need to decide soon
  • China’s Shenzhou-15 astronauts conduct secretive second spacewalk
  • SpaceX Crew Dragon docks at Space Station, delivering three-country, four-man crew for sixth stay

 

Space Science

  • Asteroid Ryugu is rich in organic molecules that can be building blocks of life
  • Venus is like an exoplanet that is right next door
  • Strong geomagnetic storms
  • Heliophysics director named NASA associate administrator for science
  • China’s Zhurong rover reveals complex layers beneath the surface of Mars
  • Scientists from Russia, India developing Marsoplane to study Red Planet
  • NASA’s DART impactor shows how planetary defense can work
  • Remember the DART impact? Hubble made a movie of the debris
  • Artemis astronauts may be able to spray away sticky Moon dust
  • Mars helicopter Ingenuity soars between Red Planet airfields on 46th flight
  • Study highlights concerns over satellite interference with Hubble observations
  • China plans Tianwen-2 mission for asteroid sampling

 

Opinion

  • Why space companies want to make solar cells from lunar dirt

 

Other News

  • Startup developing sea-based launch pads
  • Commercial space a key topic for National Space Council advisory group
  • After Vulcan comes online, ULA plans to dramatically increase launch cadence
  • Tennessee company gets multibillion-dollar NASA contract for Kennedy Space Center operations
  • Democrats step up pressure on Biden to reverse Trump’s decision on space HQ
  • Blue Origin continues investigation into New Shepard anomaly
  • Industry group to examine potential security threats in cislunar space
  • Rocket Lab reconsidering mid-air recovery of Electron boosters
  • White House cybersecurity strategy warns of ‘complex threat environment’

 

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

  • Scrubbed for launched on Monday at 1:45 a.m. EST, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the four NASA Crew-6 astronauts, NASA’s Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi are looking for a second chance to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday at 12:34 a.m. EST.
  • Five days later, NASA’s Crew-5 astronauts, NASA’s Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina are to descend to Earth for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the Florida peninsula.
  • Among several space policy conferences planned for this week is the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s three-day “NASA Mission Critical Workforce, Infrastructure and Technology” session that gets underway on Wednesday with a closed session, followed by two days of open sessions on Thursday and Friday.