What Will A Second Trump Term Mean for Space Policy?

What Will A Second Trump Term Mean for Space Policy?

Last night’s election of Donald Trump to return to the White House four years after he left office could portend significant changes in U.S. space activities. Or not. One day after any election is too soon to guess what any politician will do and Trump’s alliance with Elon Musk throws a wild card into the mix, but speculation is rampant.

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Engineers Ignored Warning Signs in Arecibo Telescope Collapse

Engineers Ignored Warning Signs in Arecibo Telescope Collapse

A new report from the National Academies concludes that the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed in 2020 due to failures of cable sockets that supported the platform above the dish because of accelerated zinc creep. Structural engineers who inspected the cables and sockets missed warning signs, especially after winds from Hurricane Maria placed extra stress on the cables. The authors also speculate that the electromagnetic environment may have been a contributing factor.

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SpaceX Cargo Dragon To Demonstrate ISS Reboost

SpaceX Cargo Dragon To Demonstrate ISS Reboost

SpaceX launched its 31st cargo mission to the International Space Station this evening. As usual it is delivering several tons of supplies and scientific experiments, but one difference is that for the first time the Dragon spacecraft will be used to reboost the ISS. The primary purpose of the test is to collect data SpaceX needs to develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle NASA will use to send the ISS into the ocean at the end of its lifetime.

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Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 28-November 3, 2024

Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 28-November 3, 2024

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com from October 28-November 3, 2024 including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.

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What’s Happening in Space Policy November 3-9, 2024

What’s Happening in Space Policy November 3-9, 2024

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 3-9, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess until after the November 5 elections except for pro forma sessions.

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Shenzhou-18 Crew Back on Earth

Shenzhou-18 Crew Back on Earth

China has completed another crew rotation on its Tiangong-3 space station. The Shenzhou-18 crew landed in the Gobi Desert today after about six months in space. Their replacements on Shenzhou-19 arrived last week.

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NASA Safety Panel Praises NASA’s Response To Starliner CFT Anomalies

NASA Safety Panel Praises NASA’s Response To Starliner CFT Anomalies

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel is praising NASA for how it dealt with decision-making when Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test experienced several anomalies this summer. Ultimately NASA decided to return Starliner to Earth empty instead of with the two crew members who were aboard when it launched. ASAP’s interest is particularly in NASA’s safety culture and found it to be an inclusive process in this case.

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VIPER Passes All Its Tests, But Future Still Uncertain

VIPER Passes All Its Tests, But Future Still Uncertain

The project scientist for NASA’s VIPER lunar rover said today the spacecraft has successfully completed all of its pre-launch tests, but its future remains uncertain. NASA intends to terminate the mission even though it is completely built because of concerns about potential future cost overruns. NASA invited other organizations to submit proposals to take over the program as long as there is no further cost to the agency and is evaluating them to determine if there is a path forward.

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New Chinese Space Station Crew On Its Way

New Chinese Space Station Crew On Its Way

China launched a new crew to the Tiangong-3 space station today. The three person — two men and a woman — Shenzhou-19 crew will replace the three taikonauts who have been aboard the space station since April.  Although China is years behind the United States and Russia in operating permanently occupied space stations, and Tiangong-3 is much smaller than the International Space Station, over the past two years they have settled into a similar crew-rotation regime allowing them to conduct scientific experiments and learn how humans adapt to long durations in weightlessness.

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Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 21-27, 2024

Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 21-27, 2024

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com from October 21-27, 2024 including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.

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