As India readies for a test flight of the crew escape system for a new human-rated launch vehicle this weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out exploration goals including an Indian space station by 2035 and a man on the Moon by 2040. India is celebrating the success of the Chandrayaan-3 robotic lunar lander in August and also looking forward to future robotic missions not only to the Moon, but Venus and Mars as well.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com in the last week, October 9-15, 2023, 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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NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is finding his readjustment to Earth’s gravity after 371 days in space pretty straightforward. Two weeks after landing, he considers himself 100 percent back to normal functionally and 80-90 percent overall. Every astronaut reacts differently to spaceflight, though, so he declined to generalize about what his experience may mean for people staying in space for even longer periods of time, like on trips to Mars.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of October 15-21, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House schedule is uncertain.

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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft started a billion mile journey to an asteroid by that name between Mars and Jupiter this morning. Of all the thousands and thousands of asteroids, Psyche is one of only nine discovered so far that is composed primarily of metal instead of rock. Scientists think it may have been the core of a tiny planet and thus may hold clues to the cores of Earth and other planets. Psyche also is being used as a technology testbed for a Deep Space Optical Communications system.

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NASA’s Office of Inspector General is skeptical that NASA will achieve significant cost savings by shifting procurement of future Space Launch System rockets to a commercial services contract. In a report released today, the OIG called NASA’s goal of saving 50 percent “highly unrealistic” and estimated each of the first 10 SLSs under the new contract will cost at least $2.5 billion to produce. Still, it endorsed NASA’s idea of changing how it procures SLS, the space transportation system that will send astronauts back to the Moon.

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NASA officials refer to this as Asteroid Autumn and they’re not kidding. Today they revealed the first samples that were just returned from the asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft while at the same time getting ready to launch the Psyche mission to a very different type of asteroid tomorrow. Those are just two of several asteroid missions in development, operations or analysis at the agency right now as scientists continue their quest to discover how the solar system — and life — formed.

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Russia’s newest International Space Station module, Nauka, began leaking coolant from a radiator today. This is third Russian radiator to spring a leak in less than a year. The Nauka radiator actually has been in space for over a decade waiting for Nauka to arrive so whether there is any commonality to the failures is difficult to assess. Roscosmos acknowledged the leak, but said the module itself is working fine and there is no cause for concern.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com in the last week, October 2-8, 2023, 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 October 8-14, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in recess except for pro forma sessions. The House schedule is uncertain.

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