SpaceX tested a Starship prototype today, setting a new altitude record and demonstrating complex aerial maneuvers that almost led to a successful landing back on Earth. The fireball at the end was unplanned, but SpaceX was exuberant about how well the test went overall and is ready for the next.
The Trump Administration released a new version of U.S. National Space Policy today. It made one change to the Obama-era 2010 policy in 2017, but otherwise has dealt with space issues through Space Policy Directives and Executive Orders. This is a complete update and supersedes the 2010 version.
The Trump Administration has renamed two legendary Air Force installations on Florida’s Space Coast to reflect their transition from the Air Force to the Space Force.
NASA identified 18 members of its astronaut corps today who are the first cadre of Artemis astronauts eligible for assignment to travel to and perhaps land on the Moon. The Trump Administration directed NASA to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024. While many question the deadline, bipartisan consensus seems to exist on the goal itself and these are the astronauts who will be among the first to make the trip.
The House passed the conference version of the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today by a vote of 335-78-1. The margin is wide enough to overturn a threatened veto by the President, which requires a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. Voting to override a veto is a different political calculus that voting in favor of a bill, however, so the NDAA’s fate is anything but clear. The next step is a vote in the Senate.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of December 6-12, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Japan’s Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return capsule landed near Woomera, Australia this afternoon Eastern Standard Time, ending a 6-year quest. Returning samples of asteroid Ryugu was Hayabusa2’s primary purpose, but now that it has dropped off the capsule, the main spacecraft is continuing on to rendezvous with another asteroid in 2031.
While it seemed like a long shot, at best, just days ago, the House and Senate defense authorization committees finalized the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, defying two veto threats from President Trump. Determined to make it 60 years in a row that an NDAA has been enacted, the two parties and the two chambers reached a deal this afternoon.
NASA today announced the winners of contracts to collect lunar soil and transfer ownership to the U.S. government while the samples are still on the lunar surface. The initiative is not designed to bring samples back to Earth or even collect anything of scientific value, but to underscore U.S. policy that ownership of resources on the Moon or elsewhere in the solar system does not contravene U.S. obligations under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) released chilling video today of Tuesday’s collapse of the instrument platform above the 305-meter dish of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. NSF owns the facility and officials said today a decision on whether to rebuild must go through the agency’s usual process to determine what major equipment and facilities to fund.