NASA said today the beloved Hubble Space Telescope will continue making discoveries into the mid-2030s despite failing gyroscopes. Of the six gyros that enable the telescope to point at specific regions of the universe, only two remain reliable. They have decided to use just one and keep the second as a backup, which will slow observations, but keep it viable for another decade.
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the last week, May 27-June 2, 2024 including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.
NASA, Boeing and the United Launch Alliance said today the ground equipment problem that scrubbed yesterday’s launch of the Starliner Crew Flight Test is remedied. They are ready to try again on Wednesday. This will be the third attempt to launch the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner commercial crew spacecraft since May 6.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of June 2-9, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session for at least part of the week.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission landed on the far side of the Moon this evening Eastern Daylight Time. China is the only country to land on the lunar farside, first with a lander/rover in 2020 and now with this mission that will return samples to Earth.
The first customer to buy a flight on Elon Musk’s Starship rocket is calling it quits. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said today it is taking too long for Starship to be ready to send him and a group of companions around the Moon and he needs to get on with his life. His “Dear Moon” project has come to an end.
The second attempt to launch Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test was halted today less than four minutes before liftoff. A computer called an automated ground launch sequencer that controls the launch in those last four minutes triggered the hold. The cause is still being determined and a new launch date is pending. NASA said late this afternoon they will not try tomorrow. The next opportunity is June 5.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are ready for launch tomorrow on Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test. This is their second try after a faulty valve on the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas rocket scrubbed the mission on May 6 and technical glitches later discovered in Starliner delayed it until now. NASA, Boeing, ULA and the crew are convinced the problems are sufficiently understood, if not entirely remedied, to ensure a safe test flight. The weather forecast is 90 percent favorable, but there’s a chance onshore winds could be “feisty.”
Peru and Slovakia signed the Artemis Accords today at NASA Headquarters, bringing the number of signatories up to 42. Countries from all six continents that have governments — Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America — have agreed to the U.S.-led non-binding principles for responsible behavior on the Moon, nine of them this year alone.
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon did not wake up when JAXA sent a signal yesterday (EDT). The sturdy lander has surprised everyone by continuing to operate after repeated long, cold lunar nights that doom other landers that have only solar cells for power. JAXA has not given up on SLIM and will try again next month when the Sun returns to the landing site.