Should the FAA regulate all space activities?
Original Publication Date: 2023-06-10 18:05
The Outer Space Treaty requires nation-states to provide “authorization and continuing supervision” of the activities of their nationals in space. Dale Skran, David Huntsman: The FAA would be a bad fit for the Authorization and Continuing Supervision Role. Skran, Huntsman: It would be far more logical for the Department of Commerce to authorize and supervise all new commercial activities in space that are not transportation.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 to dispatch 72 spacecraft to orbit on Monday, June 12th — USSF’s SSC has 3 experimental smallsats aboard — dozens of further payloads for deployment… – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2023-06-10 00:00
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the Transporter-8 mission to LEO is expected to occur at Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E), at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The 57 minute launch window opens at 2:19 p.m. PT (21:19 UTC) There will be 72 payloads on this flight, including smallsats, a re-entry capsule and orbital transfer vehicles (OTV) carrying spacecraft for orbit deployment at a later time.
Boulder Bonanza! Science and Sampling Attempts at the Onahu Outcrop - NASA
Boulder Bonanza! Science and Sampling Attempts at the Onahu Outcrop Written by Eleni Ravanis, Student Collaborator at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Recently on Mars, Perseverance wrestled with sampling a crumbly rock and continued our boulder-bonanza!
NASA's Perseverance Rover Captures View of Mars' Belva Crater – NASA Mars Exploration
The Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently collected 152 images while looking deep into Belva Crater. Impact craters can offer grand views and vertical cuts that provide important clues to the origin of these rocks with a perspective and at a scale that we don’t usually experience.
Images From NASA's Perseverance May Show Record of Wild Martian River – NASA Mars Exploration
Images taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover may show signs of what was once a rollicking river on Mars. The river was part of a network of waterways that flowed into Jezero Crater. Understanding these watery environments could help scientists in their efforts to seek out signs of ancient microbial life that may have been preserved in Martian rock.
Curved Bands of Rocks at 'Skrinkle Haven' – NASA Mars Exploration
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this mosaic at a location nicknamed ‘Skrinkle Haven’ using its Mastcam-Z camera. Scientists think that the bands of rocks seen in this image may have been formed by a very fast, deep river – the first of its kind evidence has been found for on Mars.
Curiosity Finds a Book-Like Rock – NASA Mars Exploration
The Curiosity Mars rover took this close-up view of a rock nicknamed ‘Terra Firme’ that looks like the open pages of a book. Rocks with unusual shapes are common on Mars, and often were formed by water seeping through cracks in a rock in the ancient past. Curiosity took the selfie using a camera called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)
This Week In Spaceflight: Vulcan fires up, Canadian fires from space, and JWST deep field data
Original Publication Date: 2023-06-09 19:30
Three methalox rockets are marching toward their upcoming launches: ULA’s Vulcan, Landspace’s ZhuQue-2, and SpaceX’s Starship. Vulcan finally performed its Flight Readiness Firing this week after several delays due to issues with the engine igniters. Rocket Factory Augsburg has completed a full-duration firing of their Helix engine. The James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) advanced extragalactic survey data was officially released.