Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: August 28-September 3, 2023

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com last week, August 28-September 3, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.

What’s Happening in Space Policy September 3-9, 2023

September 3, 2023.  Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 3-9, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate returns from summer break on Tuesday. The House remains in recess except for pro forma sessions until September 12.

NASA’s LRO Spots Likely Luna-25 Crash Site

September 1, 2023.  NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted the likely crash site of Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft on the Moon. Luna-25 was intended to make a soft landing near the Moon’s South Pole, but a propulsion system failure caused it to crash instead. Russia published the coordinates of where it thought it crashed and LRO recently imaged the area.

SBAG Wants Reconnaissance Mission to Apophis Before Its Reaches Earth

September 1, 2023. NASA’s Small Bodies Assessment Group is encouraging NASA to find a way to send a spacecraft to study the asteroid Apophis before it reaches Earth in 2029. Apophis will come close enough for ground-based telescopes to get a good look as it whizzes by, but scientists want before and after measurements, too. Plans are already set for detailed in-space studies afterwards, but not before. One option is repurposing a pair of small spacecraft called Janus about to be put in storage even though they are built and ready to launch.

“Asteroid Autumn” Begins Next Month With OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return

August 30, 2023. In a preview today of the imminent return of samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA declared the next few months as “Asteroid Autumn.” The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is just one of three during that time period that will seek to enhance our understanding of asteroids — rocks in space left over from the formation of the Solar System. O-REx as it is fondly called is nearing the end of the first phase of its mission when samples collected from Bennu land in Utah on September 24.

SILENTBARKER To Be U.S. “Watchdog” in Geosynchronous Orbit

August 28, 2023.  Weather permitting, tomorrow the United States will launch the first satellites in a new system to keep track of what is happening in geosynchronous orbit. How many satellites are aboard the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket is a secret as is the total number of satellites that will comprise the SILENTBARKER system, but the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force are publicly sharing some information to make the point to our adversaries that a state-of-the-art “watchdog” is on duty up there. [UPDATE: The launch has been postponed because of Tropical Storm Idalia.]

Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: August 21-27, 2023

August 28, 2023.  Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com in the last week, August 21-27, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.