SpaceX’s Elon Musk said today he is planning at least a dozen Starship launches in 2022, starting in January if the FAA gives approval by the end of the year as expected. Renowned for his view that humanity must become a multi-planet species to survive and begin sending millions of people to Mars this decade, his timetable for that was more reserved this time though his conviction remains fervent.
Russia confirmed today that it conducted an antisatellite test against one of its own satellites yesterday, but denied resulting debris will pose harm to other satellites or space stations. Bragging about the accuracy of the system, Russian officials insisted they violated no international agreements and did nothing that other countries have not done in the past. Meanwhile, the heads of the U.S. and Russian civil space agencies spoke via telephone and agreed on the need to protect the safety of the crews on the International Space Station.
NASA’s Inspector General does not agree the next American astronauts will arrive on the Moon in 2025, the date announced by NASA last week, which is a year later than earlier planned. A new audit released today concludes it will be 2026 at the earliest and estimates the cost of the Artemis program at $93 billion through 2025.
The U.S. Government said today that Russia conducted an antisatellite test that generated 1,500 pieces of trackable debris and thousands that are untrackable. Calling it reckless and irresponsible, officials pointed out the debris threatens not only satellites, but the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. ISS operations are being affected. The head of Russia’s space agency will meet with NASA officials in Moscow tomorrow at a previously scheduled meeting where this topic is certain to be discussed.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 14-20, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Almost a dozen space stakeholders signed the Net Zero Space Declaration today, agreeing to take action to avoid the creation of new hazardous space debris and remediate what is already there. This initial group includes actors from across the space ecosystem including a launch company, satellite operators, companies offering tracking/servicing/debris removal services, a space agency, and a university.
SpaceX took another step forward in the development of its Starship system to take people and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Today’s static fire test of the Starship second stage with all six engines was successful according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Glen de Vries, who just flew to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard-18 four weeks ago, was killed in the crash of a private airplane in New Jersey today. He was 49.
As part of her ongoing visit to France, Vice President Harris and French President Macron have agreed on additional space cooperation. It includes initiation of regular bilateral meetings and a partnership on a Space Climate Observatory to make space data accessible to local communities to help mitigate climate change.
Four astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance are in orbit tonight, headed to the International Space Station. The launch was delayed by weather and a minor medical issue afflicting one of the crew, but everything went smoothly today. They will dock tomorrow evening.