To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the first science-quality images from the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA and its JWST partners released a stunning image of a star-forming region 390 light years away. That is nearby, cosmically speaking, allowing an unobstructed view of the stellar nursery.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 9-15, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
The last launch of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket went off without a hitch today. Carrying two communications satellites, one for Germany and one for France, it brought to a close an almost-perfect record as Europe waits for its replacement, Ariane 6. The end of the run for Ariane 5 is emblamatic of the changes taking place in the global space launch market overall.
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of June 26-July 2, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks, July 2-14, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this coming week, returning the week of July 10.
ESA’s Euclid spacecraft is on its way to the L2 Lagrange point where it will spend six years collecting data to help scientists understand the nature of dark energy and dark matter — what some call the Dark Universe. Between them, they make up 95 percent of the universe, but scientists do not know any more than that and hope data from Euclid, NASA’s upcoming Roman Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes will provide some answers.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic finally launched its first commercial SpaceShipTwo flight today. Galactic-01 took four Italians and two Americans across the threshold between air and space for a few minutes of weightlessness. Three of the Italians were mission specialists conducting microgravity experiments while the fourth was one of the pilots. The next commercial flight now is planned for August with monthly flights thereafter.
King Charles III unveiled his Astra Carta seal at Buckingham Palace today to underscore his interest in space sustainability. Astronauts, aerospace executives, scientists and environmentalists were among the participants. The Astra Carta takes a broader view of space sustainability than only ensuring that Earth orbit remains usable for future generations, but also the role space plays in a sustainable future on the planet.
The first launch of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket will be further delayed because the Centaur V upper stage needs modifications. ULA had targeted May 4 for that inaugural launch, but a Centaur V test failure at the end of March disrupted the plans. An investigation determined that a portion of the Centaur V structure needs to be reinforced. Another test will be needed to verify the changes. A new launch date has not been set.
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of June 19-25, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.