In marking today’s 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed hope that the space program can unite the country again as it did decades ago. The fractious political climate of 2024 is not so different from the 1960s, he believes, and just as the Apollo program brought everyone together then, space exploration can do it now.
To the delight of planetary defense experts, ESA is beginning work on a probe to visit the asteroid Apophis before it reaches Earth in 2029. Apophis will not impact Earth, but its very close approach presents a unique opportunity for scientific analysis not only by ground-based instruments, but spacecraft that can obtain before and after data to assess how it changes as it passes by. NASA already has a probe that will study Apophis afterwards and ESA now is leading an international team to study the before phase.
NASA and SpaceX are providing more details about the spacecraft SpaceX will develop to safely send the International Space Station to a watery grave about 6 years from now. The U.S. Deorbit Vehicle is based on SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon, but will be much more powerful so it can control the 420 Metric Ton conglomeration as it breaks apart descending through the atmosphere. NASA is still working on getting Congress to approve the $1.5 billion needed to build and launch the USDV, but they have clearance to proceed and will take the money from elsewhere in their budget if necessary.
NASA announced today that it intends to cancel the highly-anticipated VIPER lunar rover that was to search for water ice at the Moon’s South Pole. Stressing that the VIPER team did outstanding work, NASA officials blamed the decision on cost growth at a time when NASA’s science budget is under severe constraints as Congress demands deep cuts to federal spending.
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the past two weeks, July 1-14, 2024 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 week of July 14-20, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.
SpaceX suffered a rare failure of its Falcon 9 rocket last night. The company’s record launch rate — last night’s was the 70th this year — and reliability has made it the go-to rocket for many customers, government and commercial alike. When it will return to flight depends on what measures are needed to correct the failure and FAA approval. The agency said it will investigate even though it was a second-stage failure in orbit that did not threaten anyone on Earth.
Three months before the scheduled launch of the $5 billion Europa Clipper mission, NASA has revealed that it is evaluating whether the spacecraft can withstand Europa’s intense radiation environment. At least some of the transistors that control the flow of electricity to operate spacecraft systems are not as radiation resistant as expected. Testing is underway to better understand the implications.
The two NASA astronauts who are flying the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test said today they are confident the spacecraft can bring them safely home. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are enjoying an extended stay aboard the International Space Station while NASA and Boeing conduct ground tests to determine why several thrusters failed and helium leaks occurred on the way to the ISS a month ago. NASA and Boeing insist Starliner can bring them home anytime, but they want to keep the capsule in space a while longer in case in-orbit tests also are needed.
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee approved a new NASA authorization bill today on a unanimous bipartisan vote. The bill essentially reaffirms existing policy in support of human exploration, especially the International Space Station and the Artemis program, and NASA’s science, technology and aeronautics activities. Ensuring U.S. leadership and facilitating the growth of the U.S. commercial space sector are consistent themes.