National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed today that Russia is developing a “troubling” antisatellite, or ASAT, capability, but stressed it is not an immediate threat. Kirby was reacting to speculation in the press following statements by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) yesterday that Turner said revealed a serious national security threat. Citing anonymous sources, several media outlets asserted the matter involves Russia’s development of a nuclear ASAT.  Kirby declined to provide many details, but tamped down concerns that any threat is imminent.

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A U.S. spacecraft is once again on its way to the Moon. If successful, it will be the first U.S. lunar lander since the Apollo era.  Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic tried last month, but its Peregrine lander suffered a propulsion failure. Now Houston-based Intuitive Machines is hoping to enter the history books not only with the first U.S. landing since 1972, but the closest to the Moon’s South Pole.

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A congressional hearing today illuminated a wide range of policy issues awaiting resolution as the International Space Station nears its end, but the answers remain elusive. The ISS is expected to be decommissioned in 2030 and NASA is counting on the private sector to build new space stations in low Earth orbit, or LEO, where NASA can be just one of many customers. But timing is a challenge and the overriding concern is to avoid a gap between ISS and whatever comes next lest the only space station in LEO belongs to China.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the past two weeks, January 29-February 11, 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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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 11-17, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is in session this week. The Senate’s schedule is uncertain.

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Greece just became the 35th country, and the 12th member of the European Space Agency, to sign the U.S.-led Artemis Accords. The Accords are a set of non-binding principles for responsible behavior on the Moon. ESA is one of NASA’s partners in the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon for long-term sustainable exploration and utilization.

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The four-person Axiom-3 private astronaut crew is home at last, days late because of poor weather in Florida. Their ride to and from the International Space Station was aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that splashes down either in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast. Rough seas meant they spent almost a week longer in space than expected. The mission included Türkiye’s first astronaut, ESA’s first “project astronaut,” and the first Italian astronaut to make a suborbital spaceflight before visiting the ISS.

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Early this morning NASA launched the PACE satellite to advance understanding of the oceans, the atmosphere, and how they interact. The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean-Ecosystem satellite’s launch today is the culmination of a long journey for the program, which survived repeated cancellation attempts by the Trump Administration. The launch is also the first time a U.S. government satellite has launched into a polar orbit from Florida since 1960.

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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced today that it is laying off 580 people, 8 percent of its workforce, plus contractors, because Congress has not passed FY2024 appropriations. One of JPL’s flagship missions, Mars Sample Return, would be drastically cut in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s version of NASA’s funding bill and while that outcome is far from certain, NASA and JPL have to plan for the worst.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appointed Joseph Pelfrey as the new Director of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL today. Pelfrey has been acting Center Director since Jody Singer retired last summer.

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