A new report from the National Academies concludes that the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed in 2020 due to failures of cable sockets that supported the platform above the dish because of accelerated zinc creep. Structural engineers who inspected the cables and sockets missed warning signs, especially after winds from Hurricane Maria placed extra stress on the cables. The authors also speculate that the electromagnetic environment may have been a contributing factor.

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SpaceX launched its 31st cargo mission to the International Space Station this evening. As usual it is delivering several tons of supplies and scientific experiments, but one difference is that for the first time the Dragon spacecraft will be used to reboost the ISS. The primary purpose of the test is to collect data SpaceX needs to develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle NASA will use to send the ISS into the ocean at the end of its lifetime.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com from October 28-November 3, 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 November 3-9, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess until after the November 5 elections except for pro forma sessions.

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China has completed another crew rotation on its Tiangong-3 space station. The Shenzhou-18 crew landed in the Gobi Desert today after about six months in space. Their replacements on Shenzhou-19 arrived last week.

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NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel is praising NASA for how it dealt with decision-making when Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test experienced several anomalies this summer. Ultimately NASA decided to return Starliner to Earth empty instead of with the two crew members who were aboard when it launched. ASAP’s interest is particularly in NASA’s safety culture and found it to be an inclusive process in this case.

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The project scientist for NASA’s VIPER lunar rover said today the spacecraft has successfully completed all of its pre-launch tests, but its future remains uncertain. NASA intends to terminate the mission even though it is completely built because of concerns about potential future cost overruns. NASA invited other organizations to submit proposals to take over the program as long as there is no further cost to the agency and is evaluating them to determine if there is a path forward.

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China launched a new crew to the Tiangong-3 space station today. The three person — two men and a woman — Shenzhou-19 crew will replace the three taikonauts who have been aboard the space station since April.  Although China is years behind the United States and Russia in operating permanently occupied space stations, and Tiangong-3 is much smaller than the International Space Station, over the past two years they have settled into a similar crew-rotation regime allowing them to conduct scientific experiments and learn how humans adapt to long durations in weightlessness.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com from October 21-27, 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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NASA has identified the root cause of the unexpected char loss on Orion’s heat shield after it returned from the Artemis I uncrewed test flight to the Moon almost two years ago.  Solving the problem is required before the next mission, Artemis II, can launch with a crew of four. How to do that is still under discussion, with testing underway. The heat shield for Artemis II is already built so options are limited. A NASA official said today the NASA Administrator will make the final decision on how to proceed.

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