Videos of the explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket over the Gulf of Mexico captured everyone’s attention yesterday, but today the focus is more on what happened to those billowing clouds of dust and debris that erupted from the launch pad four minutes earlier. Local residents are dealing with a layer of dust-like material. The FAA said there have been no reports of public damage or injuries, but it will ensure SpaceX complies with regulations developed through environmental reviews prior to launch.

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House Republican leadership may be proposing dramatic funding cuts for agencies like NASA, but the Republicans — and Democrats — on NASA’s appropriations subcommittee seem much more concerned about staying ahead of China. At a hearing on NASA’s FY2024 budget request, the praise for NASA and the agency’s Administrator, Bill Nelson, could not have been more glowing. What it all means for how much money NASA ultimately gets will be interesting to watch.

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket left the launch pad this morning, but ended in a fireball a few minutes later when the first and second stages failed to separate. The combination exploded — what is humorously referred to as a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly or RUD. Nevertheless, SpaceX cheered the milestones they did achieve — getting off the launch pad and through a critical point called maximum dynamic pressure or Max Q. The FAA says it will oversee the investigation into what went wrong and determine when Starship can return to flight from a public safety perspective.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a congressional subcommittee today that he learned just two weeks ago that the Mars Sample Return mission needs an additional $250 million in this current fiscal year, FY 2023, and another $250 million on top of what is requested for FY2024, to stay on track for launch later this decade. Senators queried Nelson about cuts they are seeing to other NASA science projects to pay for MSR.

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SpaceX scrubbed the first launch of the Starship/Super Heavy rocket today because of a pressurization issue on the first stage. Elon Musk tweeted they will try again “in a few days.” Another SpaceX official said it is a minimum 48-hour turnaround.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of April 10-16, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 16-22, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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The FAA completed its long-awaited review of SpaceX’s application to launch its enormous Starship/Super Heavy rocket from Boca Chica, TX today. SpaceX now can launch whenever it is ready and plans to make the first attempt as early as Monday, April 17. Starship will not quite make it all the way around Earth, splashing down in the ocean near Hawaii, but it nonetheless is being referred to as the first orbital launch.

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The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, began its 8-year journey to Jupiter this morning. The spacecraft needs five gravity assists so will not arrive until 2031. Once there, it will perform a detailed examination of Ganymede, the only moon in the solar system known to have a magnetosphere. JUICE will also study two other icy Jovian moons, Callisto and Europa, the latter in concert with NASA’s Europa Clipper.

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NASA announced today that Orlando Figueroa, once NASA’s “Mars Czar,” will chair the second independent review of the Mars Sample Return mission planned for launch later this decade. Scientists are excited about bringing samples of Mars back to Earth for analysis, but also concerned that the high cost will hurt other NASA science projects.

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