• In the expanse of Chile’s Atacama Desert, a colossal dome towers high above the sand, reminiscent of something from a Frank Herbert novel. This is the world’s largest telescope, which is preparing for its 2028 debut. And because the space community can’t always be creative with its acronyms, the project is known as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). That it is…that it is.

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• To minimize the risk of space junk collisions, satellite operators are told to send retired spacecraft to their fiery death at the threshold of Earth’s atmosphere. But this method of satellite disposal is not without its own risks. The MIT Technology Review examines a study of how satellite ash might affect the ozone.

• As it turns out, the number 21 does not only represent the age of your first legal mojito – it also characterizes a very special radio wavelength. Why is the "21-cm signal" so special? It’s less affected by the universe’s expansion compared to visible light and can hence reveal previously diluted details about the early universe.

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• The COVID-19 pandemic is still rearing its ugly head when it comes to the supply chain, and the US defense industry is tired of waiting. But beyond hardware delays, the Space Development Agency (SDA) explains its efforts around sourcing its software locally, as foreign writers could pose a national security risk.

• Sometimes, it’s hard to let things go. In the case of NASA’s Genesis spacecraft, which collected samples of solar wind particles before crashing in 2004, researchers were not willing to give up on potential scientific discoveries. It only took twenty years of sorting through the rubble to finally unearth data “not just on solar wind, but space weathering and how things change due to the radiation damage,” according to one of the project scientists.

• Speaking of not letting things go, NASA engineers have spent nearly a year studying the crash of Ingenuity, the agency’s helicopter surveyor of the Red Planet. Finally, we have some answers on what went down.

• To round us out this weekend, please enjoy this space-themed virtual fireplace to throw up on your television screen at your next holiday gathering. Because burning wood is far too rustic for the 21st century, these flames come from NASA’s SLS engines. It’s a great backup gig, anyway, if Starship swoops in to take the rocket’s Artemis glory.

Sunday Space Jam:

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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Vega C-ing Is Believing – Kicking off Continuum this week with some launch news, we have Europe’s long-anticipated Vega C rocket, which blasted to the skies on December 5th. Led by Arianespace, the launch was a valiant return to flight for the rocket, after its last attempt in 2022 ended abruptly in the loss of two Earth-observation satellites. In the years since its failure, prime contractor Avio redesigned and tested the rocket’s Zefiro-40 motor – all while withstanding mounting pressure from Europe, who was eagerly waiting for a sovereign rocket after Ariane 5’s retirement. Fortunately for all, the motor performed well: one hour and 45 minutes after launch, Vega C’s upper stage deployed its precious payload, the Sentinel-1C Earth observation satellite. Built by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission, the satellite is part of the continent’s Copernicus program. Not wasting any time, Sentinel-1C has already delivered its first radar images, including a high-res visual of ice coverage around a remote archipelago in Norway. All in all, a flawless flight and spacecraft deployment meant a “double win” for Europe, and we’re here for it.

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A New Dawn – Earlier this month, President-Elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce Jared Isaacman as his pick for NASA Administrator. Sure, why not add another billionaire to the mix? Should the Senate approve the nomination, Isaacman – the entrepreneur behind two private space missions including Inspiration4 and this year’s Polaris Dawn – will replace Bill Nelson as the next administrator for the US space agency. In regard to the President-elect’s reasoning, Trump highlighted Isaacman’s “dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration,” and this checks out: the Polaris Dawn mission not only achieved the first private spacewalk but also reached the highest altitude of any crewed mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Maybe Isaacman doesn’t have the same government background as someone like Nelson, but he carries a wealth of industry experience that’s relevant in a time when NASA and commercial space are tightly connected. Plus, considering that Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn were both led by SpaceX, Isaacman will already have a friend at the political table. Leading the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk will join Isaacman in a seat of power, and an existing professional relationship will hopefully lead to smooth sailing. Simultaneously, while the duo could certainly enhance space progress, there is a question of “at what cost?”. With federal agencies like the FAA on the side of industry, launches will be faster – but so could environmental impacts. How does Nelson feel about it all? Well, he’s “basically optimistic.” Funny, I said the same thing about getting my Christmas shopping done before the 24th.

State of Artemis – On his exit, current NASA Administrator Bill Nelson leaves behind Artemis, the agency’s central human spaceflight program designed to return humans to the Moon. As with other NASA flagship efforts, Artemis has been plagued with cost overruns and scheduling delays, and the latest is a delay of the first crewed flight from 2025 to 2026. Three NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut were prepared to take off next September as part of Artemis II, a mission that would use the agency’s colossal Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule to orbit the Moon before returning to Earth, setting the stage for a lunar landing with Artemis III. Now, largely due to problem solving around Orion's heat shield, the agency is aiming for April 2026 and mid-2027 for Artemis II and III, respectively. While this would still put US astronauts on the Moon before China plans to touch down in 2030, further delays could jeopardize that reality. Perhaps, it’s time for a change. Musk’s Starship has been considered as a more efficient and cost-effective replacement for the SLS. But, Musk could have his Starship sights set on Mars. It’s unclear if Musk’s Red Planet-colored glasses would pull focus (and funds) away from Artemis in the coming administration; the thought of surrendering the Moon’s south pole real estate to China might just be enough drive to stay on course.

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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UFDs (Unidentified Flying Drones) – In New Jersey, the past few weeks can only be described as chaos, with numerous accounts of unidentified flying objects drones lurking in the night skies. As this comes on the heels of a recent Congress hearing around secretive UAP programs in the US, the panic was quick to set in. Social media conspiracy theories have run amuck, including one that claims that the government is “testing us” to see how we’ll react to such phenomena. While state officials have assured the public that there is no immediate threat, local law enforcement and the FBI are investigating the identity and purpose of the drones. Now, when the word “UAP” comes up, NASA isn’t usually far behind. But is this a job for the agency’s UAP Independent Study Team, or is some government agency being mum about an undisclosed experiment? Surely, everyone will feel a whole lot better when the intentions of the aircraft are exposed. For now, the FAA has banned the use of drones in certain areas – like a golf course frequented by Trump – until they have control over the situation.

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

SALLY – A feature-length documentary about the life of astronaut Sally Ride will premiere at Sundance Film Festival next month. Directed by Cristina Costantini, the film depicts the sacrifices made by Ride in order to become the first American woman in space.

Another One – The commercial spaceflight “learning period” will be extended yet again, from January 1st to the end of 2027, punting FAA regulation three more years.

A Space Room for Everyone – Madame Tussauds New York just unveiled a new “Space Room” exhibit, welcoming an Elon Musk figure to haunt your dreams inspire celestially-inclined visitors. I’m sure if there was audio involved, it would be a recording of Musk waxing poetic about his Martian settlement.

Floodgate – On its face, a burst water pipe might not stand a chance against the Sun, but it can take down a data processing center and cut off our observation of the powerful star. With NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) processing center down due to flood damage, tracking incoming solar storms will have to wait until 2025. So, I guess we’ll just cross our fingers?

Call in the Magnetometers – Fortunately, not all hope is lost for predicting celestial storms. Under a $26.1 million contract, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will develop magnetometers for NASA and the NOAA. These tools can measure the magnetic fields of solar winds to more accurately forecast space weather.

The JWST Download

• Astrophysicists have studied two years of JWST observations to confirm that a notorious discrepancy in the universe’s expansion rate, known as the Hubble Tension, is still – well, tense. With the corroboration that the universe is expanding 8% faster than expected, scientists must now shift focus to why – and they believe the answer lies in the dark matter and dark energy that makes up 96% of the universe.

• Webb and Hubble may finally be on the same page, but there’s soon to be a new lass in town – and she goes by Nancy. Set to launch in May 2027, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope recently received its final major component, the Optical Telescope Assembly. The telescope now waits in the largest clean room in NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to be integrated with the rest of the observatory.

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

ESA & ISRO – A four-stage Indian rocket known as the PSLV-XL launched a pair of European spacecraft to orbit on December 5th. The European Space Agency (ESA) thanked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its “picture perfect” delivery of Proba-3, a “double satellite” that will perform complex maneuvers, effectively creating an artificial solar eclipse. As you can imagine, the task is far from easy; according to the mission manager, to pull off the faux-eclipse, the spacecraft will need to achieve “positioning accuracy down to the thickness of the average fingernail while positioned one and a half football pitches apart.” It’s a tall order, but if Proba-3 succeeds, it could just deliver a radical view of the sun’s corona,

Japan – Not so lucky in the launch department this month was Japan. After a second explosion during ground combustion tests, JAXA has announced that it will likely punt its Epsilon S rocket launch beyond March of 2025, as planned. The problem lies in the second-stage solid-fuel booster, which succumbed to combustion pressure – twice. In addition to a failed test last month, the booster suffered a similar fate in July of 2023. While last year’s loss was attributed to melted igniter parts, the latest snag is still being investigated. It’s an unwelcome delay for a rocket destined for sovereign satellite launches – effectively postponing Japan’s efforts to build prominence in LEO.

China – Whether in space or in a crowded department store one week before Christmas, it’s good to be spatially aware. One country that seems to be heeding this lesson more than most is China, with the development of a comprehensive space object catalog and upcoming satellite launch for its Guowang low Earth orbit (LEO) megaconstellation. The recent rollout of a Long March 5B rocket at Wenchang spaceport along with temporarily restricted airspace – running until December 16 – suggests that the country aims to launch its Guowang satellites sometime in the coming week. These spacecraft will be the first to launch for the national network, backed by China’s central government, which will eventually consist of 13,000 satellites. The Guowang constellation is not to be confused with the Shanghai-based Thousand Sails project, which has put 54 spacecraft into orbit so far this year.

Panama & Austria – The US-led Artemis Accords hit the big 50 this week, with Panama and Austria signing the set of principles in two ceremonies held on December 11th. It’s a good sign for space collaboration, with the total number of signatures reaching 17 in 2024, more than any other year. While 50 is a solid number to go out on, departing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson might be lucky enough to squeeze in two more before he “hand[s] the baton off” to the new administration. What’s so great about two signatures? A total of 52 signatures means that a majority of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) members would be attached to the Accords.

Russia – Care packages are typically a welcome gift, but when the cosmonauts on board the Russian segment of the ISS opened the hatch for their latest cargo delivery, they were met with a notably unwelcome, “toxic” smell. Of course, the cosmonauts did the sensible thing and closed the hatch immediately. NASA activated air scrubbers and used contaminant sensors, ultimately deeming the space station as safe. That being said, the origin of “spray paint”-like smell remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Starliner smiles from its deathbed, grateful to not be the leaky ISS spacecraft everyone’s talking about.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition and for keeping up with the cosmos!

• A group of students from the University of Southern California's Rocket Propulsion Lab recently broke a suborbital altitude record with a 13-foot rocket that reached hypersonic speeds. Sure makes that vinegar-baking soda volcano trajectory you were so proud of as a kid feel far less impressive, doesn’t it? 

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• Once considered the evasive “great white whale” of the search for habitable systems, a red dwarf known as the Barnard Star finally has a confirmed planet. And we have a precise spectrograph called ESPRESSO to thank. Maybe that’s what Sabrina Carpenter was singing about all this time? 

• Astronomers love to tell us that everything we thought we knew about the universe is a lie. Jumping in to save our spiraling sanities is the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which claims that observations from 6 million galaxies support Einstein’s 1915 theory of general relativity.  

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• A surprise windstorm can be the difference between a good hair day and a tragic hair event. As it turns out, it can also make the difference in our understanding of a planet’s magnetosphere. New research suggests that Voyager 2’s documentation of Uranus in 1986 was thwarted by solar wind, and hence might not accurately depict the planet’s true environment. 

• A set of declassified 1970s spy satellite images were recently put to new use by a team of archeologists. Buried within them: the site of a 7th century battle in Iraq, and a pivotal moment in Islamic history.

• In honor of the first wooden satellite in space, we thought we’d include a piece on Sashimono, a Japanese woodworking technique that involves precise, adhesive-free wood joining. The LignoSat team assembled its magnolia wood panels using this reliable craftsmanship.

Sunday Space Jam:

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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That Sh** Is Bananas – This week, SpaceX’s Starship hit the skies once again for the rocket’s sixth demonstration. In attendance was Musk’s new bestie, President-elect Donald Trump, who got to witness both successes and imperfections of the demo. While Starship’s Super Heavy booster failed to repeat an impressive landing back on the launch tower, as it accomplished during October’s flight test, the upper stage had a much more fruitful journey – literally. The spacecraft carried a toy banana as a zero-g indicator, effectively becoming the first “payload” carried to suborbital heights by Starship. As if that breakthrough wasn’t appeeling enough, the Starship team also reignited a Raptor engine in space for the first time, a key milestone for Starship’s ultimate goal of guiding itself to a ground landing. To commemorate the showing, SpaceX is pre-selling replicas of the banana plushie, which for scale, are 1/247 the size of Starship.

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An Inside Job – Already a definitive leader in the space industry, SpaceX is about to get, let’s say, a super heavy boost by the incoming president. With their appointment to a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are tasked with reducing bureaucracy, cutting regulations, and restructuring federal agencies. Basically, they’ll be taking some bolt cutters to the regulatory shackles Musk believes are holding him and SpaceX back. It’s no secret that SpaceX and the FAA have a contentious relationship, and in this new structure, Musk will wield a lot more power – not only over the FAA but also environmental agencies monitoring Starship testing in Boca Chica. Plus, with Trump’s new appointment at the FCC, Starlink may be just as in luck as Starship. Power trip aside, this could be great news for space exploration and industry progress. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to find deficiencies in a system that’s been in place for a long time. Simultaneously, checks and balances are necessary to avoid corporate monopolies and maintain safe practices. Otherwise, anyone or anything that stands in the way of “progress” gets trampled. Speaking of uhm, BOUNDARIES..., the US Senate is currently calling for an investigation of Musk’s secretive chats with Putin, recently revealed by WSJ. Because space deals are one thing – national security threats are another. 

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Everything’s Fine Up Here – When concerned social media citizens aren’t nagging the two stars of Disney’s Wicked, they’re talking about the supposedly suspicious weight loss of NASA’s Starliner astronaut, Suni Williams. Williams – whose stay was extended due to Starliner’s notorious helium leaks – addressed concerns around her health in an interview with the New England Sports Network last week. After assuring Bostonians that yes, she did have her Patriots shirt with her on the ISS (phew), Williams confirmed that while “there are a lot of changes that go on” in microgravity, she’s at the same weight that she was when she arrived. So no, it’s not a mysterious illness, certainly not “the O,” just some shifting fluid creating the rumors and nastiness. That said, the concerns around Williams come after a Crew-8 astronaut experienced an undisclosed medical condition after his return from the ISS. What, so NASA gets to keep its astronauts’ medical records a secret, but Musk can’t have a sneaky side-chat with Putin? The HIPAA-crisy! 

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

Eager Beaver – The final supermoon of 2024 adorned the night sky last week, known as the “Beaver Moon” after the loveable semiaquatic mammals that fortify their dams in November. Apparently, beavers mean more to NASA than just naming inspiration; the space agency actually lends its fleet of Earth-observation satellites to the Beaver Rewilding Project in Idaho. 

Knock On Wood – Earlier this month, Japan launched the world’s first wooden satellite launched into space, by way of a SpaceX rocket. Credited with the original idea is Japanese engineer and former NASA astronaut Takao Doi, who believed in leveraging a renewable and environmentally-friendly material like wood, which would produce less harmful particles upon reentry burns compared to its metal counterparts. 

Eyes of Oz – A celestial watch dog has now posted up down under. To expand beyond its Colorado facility, the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC) opened its first international operations center in Australia earlier this month, as concerns grow over cyber threats to satellites.

Here Comes the (Sonic) Boom - New research suggests that the sonic booms emanating from Starship launches could cause property damage in surrounding neighborhoods, from cracked plaster to broken windows. Maybe Boca Chica will end up with the equivalent of California’s earthquake codes for Starship proximity.  

Started from the Bottom – Texas A&M University just broke ground on a $200 million Space Institute in Houston near NASA's Johnson Space Center. The facility will feature landscape replicas of the Moon and Mars, so students can prepare for a celestial future from the safety of Earth. 

The JWST Download

• Using data from the JWST and Chandra, astronomers have discovered a black hole that’s growing 40 times faster than we previously thought possible. Found just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, LID-568 challenges our current models of supermassive black hole formation, offering a new glimpse into the early universe. You got to love the JWST, here to make us question everything we thought we knew.

• Similarly challenging existing theories, a joint project between Hubble and Webb recently confirmed a lack of planets around Vega, a hot young star approximately 25 light years away from Earth. The discovery echoes conjectures made by Carl Sagan in his 1985 science-fiction book, Contact – and the subsequent movie starring Jodie Foster and pre-Interstellar Matthew McConaughey. 

• Thankfully, we don’t have to question everything this week. Webb did just help to confirm the existence of an "Einstein zig-zag," a phenomenon where light from a quasar passes through two regions of warped space-time.

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

ESA – Despite a successful inaugural launch in July, Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket may still not be enough to support ESA’s ambitious mission slate. With SpaceX’s growing power, those working in European space policy want to maintain the continent’s self-sufficiency. With this in mind, ESA has awarded a combined €44.22 million ($46.7 million) in funding to four launch vehicle startups: HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, Orbex, and Rocket Factory Augsburg. The funding follows another supportive move by the agency last month, with ESA proposing an increase in down payments on new contracts in an effort to ease mounting financial pressure faced by European space firms. 

China – Advancing steadily towards its 2026 debut, China’s Long March 10 rocket performed well this week during a fairing separation test, conducted by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The demonstration involved the rocket shedding its fairing, or protective shell, which it will need to jettison when it ultimately passes through Earth’s atmosphere. China has designed the rocket to carry astronauts to LEO and the Moon, with the first crewed lunar mission penciled in for 2030. When it’s not throwing around its lunar rocket parts, China is sending spacecraft to Tiangong, with the nation’s Tianzhou-8 cargo ship arriving at the space station just last week. The spacecraft delivered 6,000 kg of supplies for Shenzhou 19, a crew of three, including some bricks made of lunar regolith simulant. The astronauts will install the bricks outside the space station to test their durability in high-radiation conditions, as a way to assess whether the soil could be a reliable material to build lunar habitats.

Japan – In addition to its wooden wonder, LignoSat, Japan launched its Kirameki No. 3 satellite into orbit this month, leveraging the country’s flagship H3 rocket. Keeping the mission entirely in-house makes sense, as the craft is categorized as a military defense satellite for Japan. Kirameki No. 3 will reportedly use X-band communication for high-speed, stable data transmission between the country's Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces. The launch – along with a recently inked agreement for shared use of a US military satellite network – signals that Japan is taking its military coordination seriously, possibly in response to rising tension from neighbors Russia and China. The mission marked the third consecutive successful H3 flight after a destructive debut in 2023. 

Russia – Japan may have lofted two satellites into space this month, but Russia is clearly playing a numbers game – recently launching over 50 satellites to orbit atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket. The Soyuz rocket, which took off from Vostochny spaceport in early November, carried two “heliogeophysical” satellites, which will contribute to an Earth-observation constellation focused on studying the planet’s ionosphere. In addition to these two primary spacecraft, the Soyuz rocket carried 53 secondary payloads, including 49 Russian satellites, two Iranian spacecraft, one Russia-China satellite, and one Russia-Zimbabwe satellite. 

Scotland – A new plan was approved for Sutherland spaceport, a launch site in northern Scotland that’s been in the works since 2020, despite a billionaire landowner’s best efforts to kill the project due to potential disturbances. With construction back on track, it looks like the power goes to the people, with the local chamber of commerce expecting “new job opportunities and community benefits” for an area that’s faced depopulation and economic hardship.

Australia – Also preparing for a new spaceport is South Australia, with the state’s planning minister recently giving final approvals to Adelaide-based Southern Launch. Situated on the Eyre Peninsula, the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex is roughly 400 kilometers (248 miles) from Koonibba Test Range, where California-based Varda plans to land its orbiting pharmacies. In response to environmental concerns, approvals for the spaceport’s operation came with 59 conditions, including launch caps, noise restrictions, and native vegetation protections. 

Artemis Accords – Over the course of the past month, the number of signatories has grown to a total of 47 on the Artemis Accords, the US-led agreement that promotes safe and civil space operations. In late October, Chile signed Accords, as did the Republic of Cyprus. Thailand is expected to be the next to sign the set of principles, which would make it the first nation to join both the US-led and Chinese initiatives, having already signed on with the ILRS in April.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition and for keeping up with the cosmos!

• You may have already put the horror movies on the shelf for the season (and welcomed the Hallmark holidays), but if you’re still open to scary stories, you should read about two frightening black holes: one is defying astrophysics in a “triple” system that shouldn’t exist, and the other is gobbling up stars like a serial killer. 

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• The Leonids are here, and here’s how to up your chances at witnessing the winter meteor shower. 

• The University of Hertfordshire is “devastated” after the theft of its cosmodrome – the UK’s largest inflatable planetarium – which brings space education to kids across the country. Authorities are looking for a silver Land Rover as the culprit. Good luck trying to sell a planet-themed bounce house on the black market, buddy.

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• How can Artemis cost $100 billion for the United States but a series of ambitious space projects costs India only $2.7 billion (227 billion rupees)? This article examines how India manages such a cost-effective space program as it heads into its next ventures: a Moon mission, a Venus orbiter, a space station, and a new reusable rocket.

• Not only does the Europa Clipper hold promise for a potentially habitable Jovian moon, but it also holds a poem, courtesy of the US Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. Read about how the Europa Clipper team’s craftsmanship and curiosity about the universe inspired Limón’s work. 

• Not a space read but a space watch: Matthew Dominick, the International Space Station’s resident documentarian, reminds Earthlings how crazy it is to eat in microgravity with his latest ketchup-squirting video. Warning: for better or worse, this is about to live in your head rent-free. 

  

• Last month, a rare comet known as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS appeared to sky watchers on Earth after first being discovered in 2023. Visible to the naked eye, it manifested as a bright fireball with a long tail across in the western sky. If you missed it, well, its orbit is only 80,000 years – so, just hang tight.

Saturday Space Jam:

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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Hello Celestial Citizens,

Welcome to our first-ever (and maybe our last depending on the comments section) space politics edition of Continuum! Before you dive into some of the topics below, please note that this newsletter is not an endorsement of any candidate or party. We simply thought that our readers might appreciate a pre-election roundup of politically themed space news articles, with a healthy dose of our characteristically quirky hot takes.

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MSGA – With the US presidential election fast approaching, a MAGA hat might be one of the most divisive things in the nation right now – but MSGA is a different story. And no, not the tasty chemical compound that got a bad rap for no good reason, we’re talking about the concept of making space great again. Putting other policies aside for a moment, Donald J. Trump's advancement of US space policy in his first term as President did garner wide, bipartisan support – even from the Biden administration, which vowed to uphold the same policy. Trump’s presidency included space milestones such as establishing the National Space Council, launching the Artemis program aimed at returning Americans to the Moon, and creating the United States Space Force. Today, setbacks – particularly related to NASA’s Artemis program – call for experienced leadership to get things back on track. The question is: who will properly captain the ship? Now, that question is divisive. Two SpaceNews authors say that Vice President Harris and her lack of determination while chairing the National Space Council are responsible for letting things slip, and a second Trump administration is the solution that the US desperately needs. And unless you’re a sub-rock dweller, you know that the belle of the space ball industry, Elon Musk, also supports a Trump presidency – going so far as to offer $1 million to people who vote for the man.  

A “Space Aficionado” – Of course, not everyone feels the same about Trump being the space savior, and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is one of those people. In her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Vice President Harris emphasized space and artificial intelligence as industries she will prioritize in leading the US ahead of China. While some might be disappointed in her time as National Space Council chair, the position did give her unique access to national security space policy and NASA's Artemis program. From this post, Harris also facilitated international collaboration through the Artemis Accords, which now has 45 signatory countries. Harris is not the only one backing her space promises, though. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson calls Harris a “space aficionado,” and head of space at the Paris Peace Forum, Jérôme Barbier, credits Harris with the successful ban of direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles, which “wasn’t an obvious thing in the beginning of the term.” Former NASA administrator, Sean O’Keefe – a Republican who served under George W. Bush – also  endorsed for the VP back in August, characterizing the VP as “a very active candidate for president who supports space objectives to the benefit of all humankind.”

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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The US Wears Prada – Regardless of political affiliation, there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on: NASA’s mission to the Moon is in deep sh– er, trouble. And that trouble is to the tune of $100 billion. Now, good things cost money – the $10 billion JWST is evidence of that – but NASA’s 10-times-as-expensive Artemis program, intended to return astronauts to the Moon after a 55-year hiatus, has not actually achieved any crewed launches. Critics chastise Artemis for being overly complex, citing the expendable Space Launch System and the resource-sucking Gateway space station as elements that have added unnecessary layers to the program, siphoning dollars and time away from other science projects. This is accentuated by SpaceX’s more rapid progress, specifically with Starship – which has the capacity to go directly to the Moon without the stopover of Gateway. All of this is to say: whoever the next US president is will have to decide whether to shepherd the US along the existing course of Artemis, or execute an overhaul, a la that of the Mars Sample Return. And yes, he or she will also have to answer to the $1 billion Prada spacesuit. 

Humans to Mars – As if there wasn’t enough pressure on the US to get astronauts to space, the Mars Society has come in to double it. And by “double,” we actually mean multiply it by a couple hundred. Even at its closest approach, Mars is roughly 200 times farther than the Moon for us Earthlings, yet the Colorado-founded Mars Society is officially kicking off a Congressional campaign urging NASA to construct a plan to get humans to the Red Planet within the next decade. The nonprofit organization’s draft, called the Mars Exploration Act, is meant to inspire emerging talent and elevate the US agency into a space program “worthy of a nation of pioneers.”

Voting in Space – With the future of space exploration hanging in the balance, you would hope that active astronauts have a say in the upcoming election. Luckily, that hope is a reality, after a 1997 Texas law made it possible for NASA astronauts to vote from space. This year, astronauts like our favorite Starliner duo can cast their votes via a “specially designed, electronic absentee ballot” from a private voting booth on the ISS. The ballot is then transmitted through NASA’s Near Space Network, managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Yeah, yeah – let the election interference claims roll in.

Honorable Mentions

Our final (politically-charged) notable nuggets.

• Elon overshadowed SpaceX’s recent Starship success with his “political crusade untethered from economics,” in the words of the former head of California’s business development agency.  

• Two space agencies prove the power of international cooperation with the launch of Europa Clipper, officially kicking off the space probe’s journey to Jupiter’s icy moon. NASA’s spacecraft will work in conjunction with ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which was launched in April 2023 and is set to arrive at Jupiter in July 2031.

• The US Space Force, the nation’s space-based military defense branch, just started testing an innovative “aerobraking” maneuver with its X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7). If all goes well, the new technique should be able to change a spacecraft’s orbit with minimal fuel.

• Space debris mitigation was a hot topic at this year’s International Astronautical Conference (IAC) in Milan, categorized as an issue with no simple solution. Surely, we can expect evolving policy around international space sustainability in the coming years. 

• To support the growing space economy, the US Department of Commerce just changed export control rules for space technologies. The changes – which include reclassifying certain technologies as commercial rather than military – should allow for easier sales of satellites to allied countries, while maintaining national security safeguards against adversaries like China and Russia.

The JWST Download

• This month, Webb captured a “super star cluster” – the largest in our galaxy – which astronomers anticipate will experience over 1,500 supernovae in the next 40 million years. Considering the cluster has stars that shine 1 million times brighter than our sun, those supernovas are about to go crazy. 

• As part of the JWST Advanced Extragalactic Survey (JADES) collaboration, astronomers recently relied on Webb to confirm suspicions around an early galaxy’s “inside-out” star formation. If this “inside-out” business is anything like the beloved Pixar franchise, these researchers were crying their eyes out during this discovery (RIP Bing Bong). 

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

Dominican Republic – In what feels like a final push from the US administration before the election, NASA scored another couple signatures on the US-led Artemis Accords this month. First, the Dominican Republic became the 44th signatory on October 4th, represented by ambassador Sonia Guzmán. The Dominican Republic also participated in a meeting between the Artemis Accords signatories which took place during the IAC on October 14th. Guzman commended the agreement for “expanding the opportunities particularly for our young Dominicans in science, education, and economic development.”

Estonia – Following the Dominican Republic was the northern European country of Estonia, which became the 45th Artemis Accords signatory ahead of the IAC kick-off. Representing Estonia for the signing was Erkki Keldo, the nation’s minister of economy and industry, who promised Estonia would contribute its proficient “e-governance” to the global space community. Chile is expected to follow as the next Artemis Accords signatory, at a signing ceremony scheduled for this Friday, October 25th. 

UAE – Further solidifying its international cooperation with Japan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the United Arab Emirates announced it would fly an asteroid-focused mission on an H3 rocket in early 2028. The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) will explore the main belt from 2030 to 2034, including flybys of six asteroids and a rendezvous with a seventh, Justitia, where a lander will be deployed. The announcement follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the UAE Space Agency and JAXA in August, the goal of which was to strengthen cooperation between the two national space agencies.  

China – While the UAE and Japan run off into the sunset, former sandbox pals China and Russia appear distant. At the Italy-hosted IAC, which notably excluded Russia, China showcased a lunar sample from its recent Chang’e 6 mission. Of course, this was no ordinary chunk of rock – China’s Chang’e 6 sample is the first exploit from the Moon’s far side. Also on display at the venue was NASA’s OSIRIS-REx samples collected from asteroid Bennu last year. With the shifting geopolitical environment, Russia might be starved of a piece of the Bennu and rare lunar regolith pie. 

France – Last month, France’s nominee for European commissioner Thierry Breton suddenly resigned and was replaced by Stéphane Séjourné, the outgoing French Minister of Foreign Affairs. The whole thing was dramatic, which was on brand for Breton, who regularly went to war with Musk over content regulation for X (a war which he waged on X). While Breton may have been a divisive leader, he is responsible, at least in large part, for putting in motion IRIS², the EU’s internet constellation to compete with Musk’s Starlink. But given Breton’s history with Musk, we have to wonder if the IRIS initiative came from a passion for the space industry, or an axe to grind with Elon. Either way, the project is nearly a reality, regardless of Breton’s untimely exit.  

And that’s a wrap on this special Cosmopolitics Edition! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

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Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

Crew-9, Feelin’ Fine – Hope they have enough Tang up in Earth’s orbiting space station because the ISS just gained two new passengers. As part of the Crew-9 mission, astronauts Nick Hague of NASA and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Rosmosmos flew to the International Space Station on September 28th, by way of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. While the ISS crew rotation missions typically host four people, two astronauts – Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson – got booted from the flight. This was to make room for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose ride (*cough* Starliner *cough*) ditched them on the station to fly back to Earth solo. According to NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, Ken Bowersox, the agency “looked at the skill mix of the crew” to decide on Hague and Gorbunov over Cardman and Wilson. Phew, glad to hear it didn’t have anything to do with their being women. Moving right along, the Crew-9 launch also marked the first crewed mission to take off from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 40, a launch pad dating back to the 1960s. At NASA’s request, SpaceX began building a crew tower on the pad a couple years ago, establishing SLC-40 as an alternate to the existing Launch Complex (LC) 39A. The use of the new pad allowed NASA to prepare LC-39A for the Europa Clipper mission, which could launch with a Falcon Heavy rocket as early as October 10th. 

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You’re Grounded! – Luckily, Crew-9 snuck into the station just before SpaceX had to ground its Falcon 9 rocket, in order to investigate an anomaly with its upper stage. Despite the successful astronaut delivery, the rocket’s second stage had an issue with its deorbit burn and hence landed outside of the FAA-approved safety zone. Of course, SpaceX was quick to clarify that the booster still “safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area." This wouldn’t be much to sneeze at if it wasn’t the third Falcon 9 anomaly in the last three months. Also, the snafu comes as tensions have already been high between the FAA and SpaceX over Starship. So, we can’t imagine the agency will be too lenient with the Musk-led space firm while overseeing its newest investigation. That said, important science missions relying on Falcon 9 rockets have put pressure on the federal agency, such as NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s Hera planetary defense mission. 

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Been Hera Before – As it turns out, the European Space Agency’s timely asteroid observation mission was enough to move the FAA needle, with the agency making a one-time exception to the Falcon 9’s grounding, permitting the Hera mission to launch to orbit on the SpaceX rocket yesterday. The Hera spacecraft – along with its two CubeSat sidekicks – has set out to investigate an asteroid known as Didymos, and its orbiting “moonlet,” Dimorphos. The shape and orbit of Dimorphos was altered by NASA in 2022, when the space agency’s DART spacecraft intentionally bumped into it, as a demonstration of asteroid deflection. While we’ll have to wait approximately two years for Hera to reach the asteroid duo, we look forward to the progress it could incite regarding planetary defense strategies.

Without a Leak to Stand On – The thing about leaks is that you can ignore them up to a certain point. The same applies to the International Space Station, which has been battling a leak in the Russian “Zvezda” module since 2019. More recently, the leak rate has significantly increased, so much so that NASA’s Office of Inspector General released a report categorizing the risk level as the highest in its risk management system. While the agency assured the public ahead of the Crew-9 launch that everything was under control – adding that recent repairs had reduced the leak rate – NASA is still faced with some serious decisions moving forward. Some solutions thrown out include keeping the hatch door to the affected area permanently closed, until the end of the decade and thus, the space station’s life. But what if the station’s replacement isn’t ready in time? Given the condition – not to mention geopolitical tensions – extending the lifespan of the ISS might not be in the cards. So, no pressure, Axiom. Until then, we’ll keep our eyes on the leak; according to the OIG report, “NASA and Roscosmos have not reached an agreement on the point at which the leak rate is untenable.” 

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

Eternal Sunshine – As Angelenos, we’re spoiled with sunlight. But to capture enough to make the world run on solar power, even Los Angeles would need more. That’s why a startup has set out to control the sunlight aimed at Earth, through a delicate dance of space mirrors. And before you “@” them for playing god, we’re only talking about laser-like light directed at solar panels – not a complete manipulation on the diurnal cycle. Apologies to any Alaskans reading this. 

Keeping it SSPICY – NASA is funding a space debris inspection mission dubbed SSPICY, or Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability. The mission will investigate a group of defunct US satellites in LEO, and will be the only NASA-funded servicing mission outside of OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1), the fate of which is uncertain due to cost overruns and delays. 

You Beta Work – Systems to navigate traffic are essential, both here on Earth (shoutout Google Maps) and in space. In an effort to establish a Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), the US Office of Space Commerce has kicked off beta testing of the work-in-progress service. 

The JWST Download

• Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, apparently contains frozen carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on its surface, according to new JWST findings. The discovery can tell us a lot about irradiation in our solar system, as the hydrogen peroxide was formed by years of sun-driven ultraviolet radiation on water ice.

• Now, “superheated gas” may not sound like a good thing, but in the space realm, it’s pretty cool. Webb has spotted a galaxy with a unique light signature caused not by its stars but by, well, extraordinarily hot gas.

• The JWST has recently attributed differing atmospheric compositions to the lopsided nature of a “puffball” exoplanet. Sheesh, astronomers, a lopsided puffball? Lay off WASP-107 b – it’s doing its best!

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

China – At a ceremony held in Chongqing on September 28th, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled a new spacesuit. With a design inspired by traditional Chinese armor, the nation intends to use this suit for crewed missions to the Moon, which it aims to accomplish before 2030. Compared to China’s current Feitian EVA suit, which has been used in LEO missions, the newly revealed design will be more lightweight, enhancing mobility for low-gravity tasks on the lunar surface. Other key features include a strong fabric that can stand up to lunar regolith, a helmet with integrated cameras, and red stripes depicting the “flying apsaras,” or flying celestial figures often featured in Buddhist art. Along with this space fashion reveal, China also launched Shijan-19 at the end of September, a reusable satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). Carried to orbit by a Long March 2D rocket, Shijan-19 contains plant seeds, with which the nation aims to conduct breeding experiments. The goal is to assess how LEO’s radiation could positively affect breeding, such as accelerating breeding cycles. Despite the mission patch featuring rabbits, there are no animals on board this mission – not this time, anyways. 

ESA – Yesterday’s Hera launch is not the only big news for the European Space Agency this week. As part of its Zero Debris Charter initiative, ESA also plans to launch an investigative mission in 2027, to study exactly how satellites break apart during reentry. The mission, dubbed DRACO, or Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object, is essentially a spacecraft built to die. Specifically, the propulsion-less craft will feature 200 sensors and four cameras, which will capture its destruction during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. A small capsule built to survive the blast will save and transmit the data back to the agency within a 20-minute window as it falls to the ocean.  And if you think that sounds implausible, well, you’ll soon find out that some wizarding families space missions are better than others, Potter. Sorry, but you simply cannot name your spacecraft DRACO and expect us not to make a Harry Potter reference.

Russia – With a growing number of commercial Earth-observation satellites, militaries can no longer hide their secret missile testing. Russia is no exception. Picked up by Maxar and Planet spacecraft, the nation attempted to test its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in September from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. However, the missile exploded during launch, marking the second Sarmat failure – or second recorded, at least – in less than two years. It doesn’t look great for Russia, which often touts its nuclear capabilities, particularly amidst tensions over Ukraine. Satellite imagery showed a large crater at the launch site, amongst other damages. Maybe it’s a sign to lay the “super weapon” to rest, and we can all put down our swords. We know – world peace isn’t realistic, but come on, let us have our pipedreams.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

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Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• Don’t ask Oppenheimer to back this up, but according to a new study, nuclear weapons could actually be used for good in space. After firing X-rays at a series of coffee bean-sized pseudo-asteroids, physicists in New Mexico have concluded that such rays – produced from a nuclear explosion – could probably divert an incoming asteroid. 

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• If you know anything about galaxy M87, it’s probably its central supermassive black hole. But what you might not know is that one of the colossal particle jets originating from that black hole may be causing a clustering of nova explosions, according to new research. 

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• Doomsday preachers have warned us that there’d come a time when the sun would explode and we’d all turned to toast. In reality, we’re looking at another six billion years, which is when astronomers predict the sun will become a red giant, consuming its surrounding planets and incinerating Earth. But a distant, rocky world orbiting a white dwarf suggests that Earth could perhaps survive the violent transition – albeit, an uninhabitable Earth. 

• In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in the Southeastern United States, we are reminded of the importance of forecasting storm paths. Of course, Earth-observation satellites are a key part of this process, as is – for better and for worse – artificial intelligence. The Smithsonian’s interview with computer scientist and meteorologist Amy McGovern illuminates where A.I. comes into the picture, and how much we can trust it when it comes to severe weather. 

• The famously serious Cards Against Humanity has sued SpaceX for $15 million in damages to a plot of land it owns in South Texas, bought back in 2017 to essentially gatekeep it from former President Trump’s border wall. But the game company won’t play hardball; if Musk isn’t willing to fork over the cash, it will “accept Twitter.com in compensation.” 

• Four people have reentered society after a 45-day Mars simulation at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, concluding the third HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) study. What did we learn from this analog? Apparently, a combination of isolation and five-minute communication delays can lead to disproportionate excitement over a plastic baggy hydroponically-grown lettuce.

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This edition of Sunday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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• Life on the Moon’s South Pole isn’t all sunshine and roses – literally, there is very little sunlight at all. NASA’s Artemis astronauts will experience truly otherworldly phenomena, from a floor of sharp lunar regolith shards that’ll have them singing Annie Lennox, to giant shadows – including the permanently shadowed Shackleton Crater. And, despite NASA’s ShadowCam finally illuminating the crater in an image, no one has actually gone down there. So, here’s hoping The Thing isn’t on our astronauts’ Halloween watch list this year.

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• We love to hate on helium, particularly when it comes to rocket leaks, but there’s a reason we keep coming back to the element. It’s light and it’s a (figuratively) cool cucumber, meaning it can commingle with other elements without throwing a fit. But helium’s small size makes it easy for it to slip through the cracks. The question is: does that mean finding a new gas, or making better valves?

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• With Starliner finally back on home turf, you’d think it would finally be curtains for the Boeing-built spacecraft. However, NASA continues to stand behind the company. This article explores why that is (hint: it may have something to do with avoiding a power trip from a man rhyming with “Husk”).

• We’ve covered it in the past, but this dramatic telling of the Europa Clipper’s brush with death is worth a read. 

• Saving the Europa Clipper was not the only heroic feat to take place at the US space agency this month. In another act of vigilant finesse, Voyager 1 engineers pulled off a thruster swap on the 47-year-old deep space traveler, letting it live to see another (dark) day. 

• If there’s more than one way to skin a cat, there must be more than one way to make a planet, an astronomer thinks. Published in Nature this month, a team of astronomers are exploring a “top down” method of planet formation.

• Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first space-bound astronaut in 40 years, will assist commander and longtime NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson on Axiom-4, a mission to the International Space Station launching in the spring of next year. This article reviews how Shukla is preparing to be the inaugural astronaut from India on the ISS. 

• An interesting space watch is this video by a content creator called smallstars, which discusses the tradeoffs between less vs. more first stage engines in powering super-heavy rockets like Starship. It won’t be surprising to most that SpaceX went with more.

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This edition of Saturday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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And now, the space beat you came here for…

Top Headlines

“A Perfect World” – Approximately 450 miles (730 km) above Earth’s surface, two private astronauts floated out of a Crew Dragon hatch and peered down at our familiar blue planet. While no satellites were fixed nor valiant space battles fought, the mission was historic: it was the first private spacewalk. Funded by Jared Isaacman – a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Shift4 – and executed by SpaceX, the Polaris Dawn mission not only claimed the private spacewalk milestone, but also demonstrated other key “firsts.” For one, the mission served as a debut for the new SpaceX-designed Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suits, gleaning important mobility feedback from its spacewalkers, Isaacman and SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis. Additionally, the spacewalk was a test of SpaceX’s ability to depressurize the Crew Dragon cabin ahead of a vehicle exit, technology the firm will continue using in future deep space missions. The science community will simultaneously leverage this mission to study the effects of radiation on the human body, with the astronauts ultimately traveling to a high point of 870 miles (1400 km) above Earth’s surface. Finally, the mission was a successful demonstration for SpaceX’s 2.5-year private training program. Of course, private endeavors are a double-edged sword. One one hand, there is inherent risk where profit pressure is involved; we were reminded of this fact just this week. On the other hand, a new perspective can positively disrupt the way things have always been done at an agency level. We certainly hope the latter is true for the sake of future space travel. As of Sunday, the crew is back on Earth, where, to quote Isaacman as he drifted by his tether in orbit, “we all have a lot of work to do.” But perhaps the new perspective will do them good. After all, from above, “Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”

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New Crew, Who Dis? – Space got a little crowded last week, as the Polaris Dawn crew were not the only astronauts entering orbit. Three additional celestial travelers arrived by way of a Russian Soyuz rocket on Wednesday, September 11th. Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, as well as NASA astronaut Don Pettit, flew a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from Baikonur to the International Space Station, where they joined nine other crew members already on board. The trio will spend six months on the station conducting research. During this time, they’ll get to witness the two Crew 9 astronauts arrive – likely to happen later this month – and depart alongside our favorite stranded happy crew, Suni Williams and Butch, in February of 2025. 

Mini-Moon – Okay, we’ve got to talk about the “mini-moon” – and no, we’re not referring to a short, romantic and cost-saving post-wedding getaway. Our mini-moon in question is an asteroid that got caught up in Earth’s gravity last month. We get it – who wouldn’t get absorbed in our planet’s allure? At any rate, the newest rocky satellite gives astronomers an unanticipated opportunity to study close-flying asteroids, from both a mining and planetary defense perspective. Spotted initially on August 7th by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the asteroid, known as 2024 PT5, will continue a two month long, horseshoe-shaped orbit around Earth before slinging back into space. All we can hope is that gravity doesn’t want to bring it down. Maybe the mini-moon should have a chat with John Mayer about all this. 

Shake & Bake – NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft just completed the “shaking, chilling, baking, and other testing,” required to confirm it can withstand the harshness of launch and deep space, according to a NASA blog post. The spacecraft, destined to study the properties and geography of water on the Moon, was built by Lockheed Martin under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, and hopes to lay some groundwork for future lunar missions. With its environmental testing complete, the Lunar Trailblazer team can look ahead to flight simulations ahead of a launch in late 2024 or early 2025, on which the spacecraft will be hitched to Intuitive Machines’ second lunar lander.

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

Up to Standard – Following White House orders from earlier this year, NASA has put its Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program in charge of developing a standard Moon time, or Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), if you’re fancy. Much like our universal time here on Earth, the space agency will determine lunar time via a weighted average of atomic clocks on the Moon. 

May the Force Be With You – The US Space Force is looking to the country’s bright young minds to propel its space programs into the future – literally. With $34.9 million to University of Michigan and $9.9 million to Rochester Institute of Technology, the defense department’s latest awards will fund space power and propulsion research. 

Sky Spotting – This week, a partial lunar eclipse kicked off the spooky season with Earth’s umbral shadow. Also delighting skywatchers this week were auroras from a G4 geomagnetic storm, seen as far south as the Texas Panhandle. 

The JWST Download

• Smile like you mean it: this spiral galaxy image, produced jointly by the JWST’s NIRCam and MIRI, appears like a smiling face as a result of a collision with an elliptical galaxy. The JWST composite adds more color – figuratively and literally – to NASA’s previous documentation of the collision with its Spitzer telescope in 2005. 

• A new JWST image from the Extreme Outer Galaxy region of the Milky Way has captured the volatile stellar daycares, or star-forming clouds, of our very own galaxy – complete with protostar plasma tantrums – er, jets.

• A team of researchers at the University of Cambridge used the JWST to confirm a theory that black holes could “starve” a galaxy, in essence cutting off the gas it needs to form new stars.

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

China – After jettisoning its lunar sample back to Earth, China’s Chang’e-6 dove deeper – into space, that is – to test the celestial waters of Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2). The special place in our solar system is home to a balance of gravitational and centrifugal forces, meaning that a spacecraft can remain somewhat stable with minimal interference. Most likely, China sent Chang’e-6 there in preparation for its future exoplanet-focused mission known as Earth 2.0, an observatory reminiscent of NASA’s JWST and ESA’s Gaia. If all goes to plan, China would launch Earth 2.0 in 2028, where it would join the JWST in L2 and enjoy uninterrupted views of deep space. In other news, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) has nearly completed the Long March 8A rocket, the nation’s next iteration of Long March 8. With a successful launch site rehearsal, China paves the way for the more voluminous rocket, which will be integral in deploying satellites for its planned megaconstellation, the “Thousand Sails.”

Japan – Scheduled to launch in December of this year, Japanese firm ispace’s next Hakuto-R lunar lander, known as RESILIENCE, is now integrated with the TENACIOUS micro rover, built by the company’s European division. Following this announcement, the firm revealed the target destination for Mission 2 as “near the center of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) [...] an expansive basaltic plain situated in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.” Also riding along with TENACIOUS will be a tiny model house, known as Moonhouse, constructed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg and intended to be dropped off on the lunar surface. But artistic endeavors are only one objective for the rover; TENACIOUS will also collect lunar regolith to share with NASA, as per a 2020 deal.

France – At the Paris-based Space Defense and Security Summit this week, France revealed its plans to develop a sovereign surveillance constellation in LEO. The program, known as Toutatis, will complement another national work-in-progress dubbed Yoda, being built for geosynchronous orbit. Toutatis satellites will reportedly detect and target threatening spacecraft, and their development will be a collaborative effort between French startup U-space and European missile manufacturer MBDA.

Europe – Quelling any doubts about the rocket, Europe’s Arianespace assured the public this week that the continent’s Ariane 6 would launch its second mission before the end of the year. The launch provider chalked up the shortcomings of its debut launch in July to a software flaw that was “easily fixable.” Whether the assessment is an honest one or an attempt to keep its European customers from jumping ship to SpaceX remains to be seen, but CEO Stephane Israel is confident about one thing: Arianespace “will be fully available for IRIS² when it comes,” referring to the European Commission’s 6-billion-euro internet constellation.

India – Kicking its space ambitions into high gear, India has unveiled plans for a reusable rocket, a new space station module, a lunar sample return mission, and even a Venus orbiter. Prime Minister Modi, in his typically understated fashion, called it “great news for the space sector” on X. With $2.7 billion allocated for these projects, India seems likely to catapult into the ranks of the top three space powers by the 2030s.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• What do phones and astronauts have in common? They both need to be plugged in. That’s right, astronauts’ space suits are designed to connect with launch and reentry vehicles, providing access to the electronics on board. You know, sort of like the Matrix pods – but less slimy. This article explores the parallels between compatibility control in the mobile phone charging industry (*cough* Apple *cough*) and commercial human space travel, and how the latter could be far more dangerous. 

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• One hundred years ago, a radio receiver built for war was co-opted to listen for Martians. The resulting signal – the waves of which appear like a face – may have been the match that ignited the fire in our search for extraterrestrial life.

• Late teacher Christa McAuliffe, who lost her life aboard the Challenger in 1986, would have turned 76 this week. In her honor, New Hampshire’s governor – joined by McAuliffe’s family and former students – unveiled a statue of the “Teacher in Space” outside the Concord statehouse on her birthday, September 2nd.

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• For anyone who has ever said there’s nothing in South Dakota, hold up. South Dakota is now the home of DUNE – just, not the one starring Timothée Chalamet. Read about the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) and what tiny cave particles could teach us about the Big Bang.

• A recent study took a closer look at a 900-mile crater on Ganymede – a Jovian moon that also happens to be the largest moon in our solar system – only to find that an asteroid 20 times larger than the dinosaur-annihilator was likely the culprit.  

• According to this piece by the Washington Post, only 80 asteroids are actually big enough to, well, unalive us all. And, an impact is “unlikely to happen anytime soon.” Cool-cool-cool. Would love it if that “80” could become “0” and that “unlikely” could be a “definitely not.” 

• Four years after the Space Force did a fit check, unveiling their dress uniforms for the Guardians to varying reviews, the department released an official rollout date of December 2025. It may seem like a long time to wait for “new pants,” but word is there’s also an “optional” pullover sweater.

• A farmworker in his early life, Mexican-American José Hernández was rejected by NASA 11 times before getting his foot in the agency’s door. Eventually, he would become a renowned astronaut and the Ambassador of The Kennedy Space Center, his story inspiring the film A Million Miles Away. Take a listen to our interview with the film’s producer, Mark Ciardi.

• Not a space read but a space watch: see this collection of social media videos capturing an asteroid burning up in the atmosphere over the Philippines this week. 

• Sticking with the video theme, this interview with Matthew Dominick – the International Space Station’s resident photographer – is the first to be conducted from the cupola, an observation module with stunning views of Earth.

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This edition of Saturday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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I don’t know if it’s the apocalyptic heat wave in Los Angeles right now (seriously, the projected high temperature for today is 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius for our international readers), Starliner woes, or just a general sense of delay happening in the space sector right now…but things could definitely pick up.

However, I know all too well that some of the best progress is made out of the limelight. So perhaps, we are just gearing up for some real momentum building in Q4?

Either way, at least we’ve got Polaris Dawn to look forward to (despite all the delays), as well as Crew 9, Hera, and Europa Clipper on the horizon. But with the latter two missions not on the docket until October, I might still be singing to the tune of Wake Me Up When September Ends for the next handful of weeks.

I don’t know or maybe I just need an ice bath.

And now, the space beat you came here for…

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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So Intuitive – Order up: NASA will take another round of Intuitive Machines. Adding to three prior NASA contracts – all part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program – the Houston-based space exploration company will now launch a new mission to the lunar south pole in 2027. The $116.9 million CLPS contract is the first to be awarded since March 2023, when NASA contracted Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander for a mission to the lunar farside launching later this year. According to the agency’s CLPS lead, the hiatus between awards allowed NASA to assess its previous commercial lunar contracts and “make some changes to the most current task order.” Under this new order, Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander will deliver four payloads for NASA, one for the University of Colorado Boulder and one for ESA. The latter, known as PROSPECT, will drill into the lunar surface in search of water ice – an experiment clearly in line with US and European interests around a sustained lunar presence. The number of science-focused payloads certainly sets the stakes high for Intuitive Machines, but having already successfully (ish) landed on the Moon, the company is up for the task. 

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Polaris Dawn – Two billionaires will attempt to make history, but not without an inevitable series of delays. Polaris Dawn, a “civilian astronaut” spaceflight led by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and entrepreneur-slash-spaceman Jared Isaacman, was forced to postpone its launch several times over the past week due to helium leaks, weather conditions and an FAA grounding of the Falcon 9 rocket after a fiery booster landing. In other words, the mission was delayed in every possible way it could be. But let us not tempt fate. The current plan will now see the team of four to the skies no earlier than Monday, September 9th. And the mission is no casual suborbital flight; in fact, Polaris Dawn intends to travel well into space, past the International Space Station, to what could be the farthest distance traveled by humans since 1972. In addition to its distance dreams, the Isaacman-funded mission also plans to execute the first spacewalk by privately trained astronauts. Surely, someone will bring a camera to capture SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits in action. Or not – the conspiracy theorists will say it’s a green screen anyway. 

Here's Lookin' At You, Butch – Just as Rose left Jack in the middle of the ocean (unforgivable), Starliner will leave its passengers behind to return to Earth today, empty handed. As per an official decision by NASA, its abandoned astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain at the ISS until next year, when they will fly home as part of SpaceX’s Crew 9. It’s not the ending that Boeing and the US space agency hoped for in their first Crew Flight Test (CFT), nor was the strange sonar-like sound pulsating from Starliner’s speakers on anyone’s mission bingo card. But as Mick Jagger says, you can’t always get what you want. Also heeding this lesson are two NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, who got booted off of Crew 9 to make room for Wilmore and Williams. Those that did make the cut are NASA vet Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who will travel to the space station later this month and return with Starliner’s exiles in February of next year.

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

(Solar) Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away – At the end of August, NASA completed a successful test of its “sail-hoisting boom system,” designed to deploy reflective solar sails in orbit. You can check @NASAAmes on social media to find out when to see the tennis court-sized panel passing over your area.

School of Rock – The Artemis II crew just took a trip to Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park to practice their rock skills – er, go through “lunar geology training.” Apparently, the volcanic rock and icy soil of the remote region bears resemblance to the lunar south pole, making it a perfect place for faux-spacewalking. And if you are dying for more Icelandic astronaut training, you can check out our 3-part Celestial Expeditions series where our favorite analog astronaut, Bailey Burns, takes us on a journey retracing the footsteps of the Apollo astronauts.

Europa Clipper – After some initial concern around the hardiness of its electronics, NASA has approved the Europa Clipper for (deep) spaceflight in October. 

The JWST Download

• The JWST is going rogue with its new discovery of six planet-like worlds, a thousand lightyears away, simply existing – without a gravitational tether to a star like the Sun. Astrophysicists hope the findings will lead to understanding star formation. We hope so too, because right now the only image coming to mind for being untethered in space is Sandra Bullock screaming into the void. 

• The universe literally just hit astronomers with a "?"! The JWST spotted a wild optical illusion where two galaxies, 7 billion light-years away, are bending space (thanks, gravitational lensing) to form what looks like a cosmic question mark. Even Einstein's got to be smiling at this one.

• Cosmology crisis averted: new data from the JWST suggests that galaxies of the early universe may not actually be as concerningly massive as we feared. Hence, our long-held theories about the Big Bang are probably not uprooted – at least, not yet. 

• While we may not have to worry about rewriting our model of cosmology, we could have another upset coming with Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid and target of a current NASA mission. Recent JWST observations found the presence of hydroxyl on Psyche, which might have come from impacts with other asteroids – or, the call is coming from inside the house the hydrated minerals are coming from inside of the asteroid’s core.

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

Europe – Goodnight, Vega. With a successful deployment of Sentinel-2C – a powerful (and expensive) Earth observation satellite for the EU’s flagship Copernicus program – Europe’s Vega rocket officially retired on Wednesday, September 4th. As the first gen rocket lays to rest, its replacement, the larger Vega-C, is scheduled to return to service in November – nearly two years after a launch failure in December 2022. Neither the Vega nor the Vega-C have been able to break into commercial industry thus far, but it seems they’ll always be championed by Europe, as the rockets (now rocket) guarantee the continent “autonomous access to space,” in the words of Stéphane Israël, the CEO of Vega’s launch provider Arianspace. And if you’re no good at goodbyes, you can always relive the glory days by watching “Vega for ESA: the story.”

ESA/JAXA – This week, ESA announced that its Mercury-focused mission with JAXA will be changing course. Launched in 2018, the collaborative mission, known as BepiColombo, has conducted multiple flybys of Mercury, but an anomaly in its thrusters earlier this year forced the agencies to rethink its trajectory. Now, the spacecraft will take a detour to account for the reduced thrust, pushing its arrival into Mercury’s orbit from December 2025 to November 2026. Hey, what’s an extra year in space? Just ask Butch and Suni. 

Senegal – As of this week, Senegal is the latest nation to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) initiative. The head of ASES, the Senegalese Space Study Agency, signed an agreement with the China National Space Administration yesterday at a conference in Eastern China. The move comes after the African nation launched its first satellite earlier this month. 

​​Korea – The chief of the Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA) announced that the country would be reinstating an astronaut training program, in an effort to send the second Korean astronaut into space and hence keep in step with the global space momentum. The last time an astronaut represented Korea in space was in 2008.

China – A new group of classified Yaogan-43 satellites made their way into space on a Chinese Long March 3B rocket this week. The lack of public detail of course points to a probable military nature of these spacecraft, but who are we to assume? The nation was far more willing to be transparent about its Mars sample return mission, known as Tianwen-3, which is now set to launch in 2028. Should that schedule hold firm, China may in fact beat the US to the punch, with NASA continuing to grapple with its own MSR. That is, unless any new ideas shake things up. 

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• Lunatics probably already know that this coming Monday’s full Moon will be both a Supermoon and a Blue Moon. Depending on where you are in the world, this special Moon may go by a different name entirely. For the low down on all these lunar qualifiers, this article by retired NASA executive Gordon Johnston has you covered.

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• Recent research suggests that terraforming Mars could be a (warm) breeze. All we need to do is use what we know, and what we know (and are good at) is global warming. Inspired by our own greenhouse effect, a University of Glasgow team has simulated injecting Mars’ atmosphere with millions of tons of tiny iron and aluminum particles to increase the planet’s temperature.

• While adding aerosol particles could take care of heating Mars, there’d still be other things we’d need to survive on the Red Planet. Luckily, recent seismic data points to the presence of an ocean of water miles beneath Mars’ surface. Who has a shovel?

• What kind of water might be lurking in the depths of Mars’ interior is still anyone’s guess. A salty sea might not sound as promising for human life as a freshwater source, but if countries like Spain are desalinating their ocean water here on Earth, could we apply the same technology in a Martian settlement?

• If we want “multiplanetary life,” Elon Musk says we need Starship. But Florida fisherman and residents worry about the Earth-rattling rocket’s effects on their health and livelihood.

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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• While it can be a polarizing condiment in the culinary field, mayonnaise might actually have some value in space. No, we’re not talking about space station grub. We’re talking about fusion energy. Read about how researchers used a jar of Hellman’s to improve inertial confinement fusion, a tool used in the development of nuclear energy – which of course, is good news for deep space travel. 

• Meet me in Lompoc, said the U.S. government to the public in the 1980s, enticing tourists to the central California town with its space shuttle program. This article documents the ebb and flow of tourism in Lompoc over the last 40 years, from the post-Challenger recession to the arrival of SpaceX. Of course, things could certainly shift again if Elon picks up and moves everything to Texas. 

• If you’re intoxicated by the space-time continuum, we recommend checking out the latest work from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which recently did the math on syncing Earth and Moon time, or in order to create a "Lunar Celestial Reference System."

• With the remnants of dinosaurs lay the remnants of their executioner – of course, we’re talking about the feared Chicxulub impactor. Now, as scientists collect more data relating to the space rock that ended it all for the big lizards, we have a clearer idea of the far flung reaches of space from which it came. 

• If you subscribe to Continuum, you may have seen a research paper referenced in our last Space Reads about tree rings containing “fingerprints” of past solar events. But if you didn’t read the science paper – we don’t blame you. Luckily, BBC has now written about the topic in more layman’s terms. 

• Like that basil plant in your kitchen that just won’t grow, us humans are sensitive to the light. That’s why ESA is conducting an experiment with a lighting system to help astronauts – who experience multiple sunrises and sunsets a day on the International Space Station – maintain their circadian rhythms. 

Saturday Space Jam:

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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Hope you had a wonderful and earthquake-free week. Or if you are like me and a Los Angeles resident, then you might have spent most of Monday afternoon googling emergency survival kits in preparation for the “big one.” Anyway, I’ve mostly recovered and have been planning some fun space content for you this fall. And in the spirit of that, I was hoping that you all could help me with that by taking another community-wide poll.

And now, the space beat you came here for…

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Top Headlines

50 Ways to Leave the ISS  – This will be fun, they said. This was always meant to be a test, they said. It’s true that NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test was always intended to be a developmental mission, but Starliner’s blemished performance so far – which has led to an extended stay on the space station for mission astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – has inevitably captured the world’s attention. With the anticipated week-long mission now crossing the two month line, NASA continues to punt the astronauts’ return date as engineers examine concerns surrounding Starliner’s thrusters and helium leaks.  Of course, a safety decision such as this demands time and attention, and the agency is committed to weighing all options. While it might be slow, it’s ultimately better than “unilateral decision-making,” a phrase NASA used to describe itself in the age of the Columbia tragedy. One possibility is for the agency to throw the Starliner astronauts a life raft in the shape of a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle. Essentially, NASA would send the Crew-9 mission – scheduled to launch in September – with two astronauts instead of the usual four who participate in six month-long stints at the station. Those two astronauts would absorb Williams and Wilmore into their crew, and the foursome would fly home together in February of next year. It could be a tough pill to swallow for both the Starliner astronauts and for Boeing, which would have to watch its rival play savior in its botched mission.

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Boeing Outta Luck – We really hate to kick a figurative horse when it's down, but sadly Starliner is not the only headache for Boeing. A NASA “watchdog” – not unlike the dreaded restaurant health inspector – recently visited a New Orleans facility where Boeing has been conducting work on a new version of NASA’s Space Launch System, which the agency defines as the “backbone for deep space exploration and Artemis.”  And let’s just say, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) did not come out with an “A” rating for the operation. In fact, the investigation of Boeing’s work on the launch vehicle’s core and upper stage – intended for Artemis 4 – churned up 71 corrective action requests (CARs), largely stemming from a lack of adequate staff training. The OIG also estimated the project to be roughly $700 million over budget, signaling probable delays for the mission scheduled for 2028. 

VIPER? I Hardly Know Her! – When it’s not serving searing reviews, NASA is giving away spacecraft. Word on the street is (and by that we mean NASA’s website) the agency is offering up its VIPER rover – but not exactly for free. After canceling the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission in July, the agency put out a request for interested parties – or, “partners” – to explain how they would use the rover. It seems the agency’s for a commercial rescue, to carry out the VIPER’s originally intended mission – and then some – ideally at “no additional cost to NASA.” Responses are due by September 2nd.

Thousand Sails Pieces of Debris – Everyone wants to compete with Starlink, but at what cost? Despite completing a successful satellite deployment, a recent Long March 6A launch left behind a distressing trail of debris. The Chinese mission was the first contribution to the nation’s Qianfan mega-constellation, delivering 18 flat panel satellites to low Earth orbit. However, a breakup of the rocket body resulted in “over 300 pieces of trackable debris” as per the US Space Command. It could even be more, according to SSA specialist LeoLabs, which has noted “at least 700 debris fragments and potentially more than 900.” Regardless of the exact total, concern for other LEO spacecraft is certainly warranted. Particularly at an altitude with less atmospheric drag, satellites will be at risk for years into the future. We should add that Qianfan means “Thousand Sails,” assuring that the country plans to launch many more. With Long March 6A’s messy track record this year, it doesn’t seem implausible that future launches could yield the same destruction. Here’s hoping ADRAS-J is up for the task – but that’s a lot of debris for one junk-hunting robot.

The Vibe I Bring to the Conjunction – Believe it or not, Mark Zuckerberg’s blue statue of his wife was not the wildest thing on social media this week. In the early hours of Wednesday, August 14th, Jupiter and Mars shared a small corner of the sky, their orbits aligning in what’s known as conjunction. To Earth dwellers, the brightly lit planets appeared to touch within the constellation Taurus, a phenomenon that will not happen again until 2033. Between the Mars-Jupiter conjunction, the Perseid meteor shower, and CME-fueled auroras – it’s certainly been an eventful week for space-watchers. 

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

Fram2 – What do Elon Musk and crypto bros have in common? Probably a lot. But one thing is for sure: they’ll be sharing a ride to space. A cryptocurrency entrepreneur just bought a private SpaceX Dragon flight, which will be the first human space flight to pass over Earth’s poles.

Going Nowhere FAA-st – Speaking of SpaceX, the FAA postponed a set of hearings scheduled for this week to discuss environmental impacts of Starship launches from Texas, the cadence of which SpaceX plans to increase. While the agency did not explicitly make this connection, the hearings were punted on the same day that CNBC reported on repeated cases of unregulated wastewater from Starbase. Maybe that deluge system wasn’t a flawless solution for the rocket, after all.

SCALPSS – Via its CLPS program, NASA will hitch a camera system to Blue Origin’s lunar lander mission, scheduled to launch as early as next spring. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) will study how engine plumes affect Moon dust on the surface of the South pole – or, lunar “regolith,” if you’re fancy. 

Palomar, No More – It looks like astronomers at Palomar Observatory will have to commit to a life of Red Vines to power them through a long night with the “Big Eye,” now that the historic Palomar restaurant has closed its doors.

The JWST Download

• Webb's NIRCam just captured a new image of Messier 106 as part of a study to examine the spiral galaxy’s “active galactic nucleus,” according to ESA. In it, red, orange and teal tones show off the central region’s diverse range of dust and gas. 

• Thanks to the JWST, researchers have been able to take a closer look at some hot, hot dust around the galaxy called ESO 428-G14.  While astronomers previously assumed the dust was heated by radiation from the galaxy’s central black hole, the source of the energy may actually be collisions of super fast gas, also known as “shocks.” 

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

Australia – Last month, a team of Australian researchers organized a demonstration involving lasers and a tricked-out Jeep. While that may sound too cool to be true, the experiment was a great success. Designed to test optical communication, the team set out to receive a laser signal from a German satellite with TeraNet, its network of three ground stations situated across Western Australia. One of those ground stations is a modded Jeep, making it a uniquely mobile option. This is a helpful trait for a laser-focused (pun intended) station, as clouds and other weather can interfere with optical transmissions. The TeraNet demonstration proved that within fifteen minutes of arriving at a clear-skied site, the Jeep could be set up to receive a signal. By solving the weather problem of laser communication – which is 10 to 100 times faster than transmitting data through radio waves – Australia could really change the game not just for itself but for the world.

Canada – The government of Canada is doing all they can to launch their Lightspeed constellation at, well…lightspeed. Beyond the federal government committing 2.14 billion Canadian dollars ($1.6 billion) to the flagship constellation in March, the satellite operator Telesat now expects to receive 400 million Canadian dollars from the government of Quebec. With its future 198-satellite constellation, Telesat plans to stand out against SpaceX’s Starlink by establishing the network as “enterprise-class,” and catering its services to government customers. 

Russia – This week saw a shuffling of Russian cargo freighters at the ISS. After one Progress cargo craft departed the space station on Monday, August 12th, another launched atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur on Thursday, August 15th. As is usual, the latest Progress mission is a robotic mission, carrying a few tons of food and supplies for the astronauts on board. Here’s hoping there was an extra pair of clothes for Suni and Butch, who may still be operating off of a week’s worth of underwear. 

China – Its debris scandal aside, China’s recent launch of eighteen inaugural “Thousand Sails” satellites does bode well for the nation from a geopolitical perspective. With Starlink’s dominance in LEO, China – along with any other nation at odds with the US – finds itself with a military disadvantage. With a first step towards a sovereign LEO network, China could soon stand on equal footing with Starlink-friendly countries, particularly when it comes to wartime communication. The nation is similarly developing a lunar communication relay system to avoid a dependence on other countries’ ground stations. And hey, if it’s not these new systems giving China its edge, it’ll be the debris from their respective launches knocking out rival spacecraft.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• When studies of tree rings created a discrepancy in seventeenth century sun cycles, a team of Japanese and Belgian astronomers looked back at the sketches of Johannes Kepler to crack the code. Also, we were today years old when we learned tree rings contained “fingerprints” of solar activity. 

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• Jealous of the Artemis astronauts scheduled to fly to lunar orbit next year? For only $260, you can have your own Space Launch System right now. Okay, maybe it’s a little small – and made from plastic bricks – but give it a (le)go before you criticize. 

• What do astronauts and footballers have in common? A trainer, apparently. 

• Not that the Mars Sample Return needs any more pressure, but scientists are pretty stoked about “the most compelling rock that we have collected so far” from the Red Planet. Features of the rock hint at the presence of microbes from an ancient river valley, but we won’t know much for certain until we can examine it back on Earth. 

• We’d be remiss not to share this read, which is really more of a visual experience, demonstrating how NASA’s new camera exposes the shadowed craters of the moon. 

• One of the main perceived challenges of human travel to Mars is time, and the consequences of how much time the journey requires. A new hurdle being considered is the shelf life of modern medications. Because when you’ve got a killer headache in deep space, expired Ibuprofen is a cruel tease.

Saturday Space Jam:

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

More about the Space Resources program!

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is also supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

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A big thank you to everyone that participated in the poll from our previous newsletter edition. The results were spread fairly even across the categories with climate research winning out as highest priority for a majority of folks. We also had a suggestion for space debris to be added to the policy topic areas. Always great to hear from this community! Sharing the results here for everyone:

And now, the space beat you came here for…

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

More about the Space Resources program!

Top Headlines

I’m Back, Baby! – As soon as the Federal Aviation Administration gave the greenlight for SpaceX’s famed Falcon 9 to return to flight, the company was at the ready. In only a couple short weeks since an anomaly temporarily grounded the world’s hottest reusable launcher, SpaceX completed an investigation of the failure – a leak caused by a crack in the upper stage sensor line – carried out the necessary modifications, restored its license and launched three rockets back-to-back. The July 27th and 28th Falcon 9 missions delivered a total of 67 Starlink satellites to orbit over the course of a single weekend. The triumphant return was enough for NASA to confirm proceeding with an August launch of Crew-9 to the International Space Station. Between the rare Falcon 9 failure and Starliner’s helium leaks, the U.S. space agency may or may not have been a little, well, stressed. Certainly, with this progress from its problem children trusted vendors, NASA is relieved to restore traffic at the ISS, which is always a delicate docking dance. 

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Homeward Bound? – Speaking of problem children, NASA is making moves this week with its Crew Flight Test mission, commonly referenced by its associated spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner. After numerous helium leaks in June led to an…extended stay on the ISS, the mission team carried out a hot fire test of the spacecraft on July 27th, reportedly confirming a stable helium system and normal operation. The agency then released a statement on Tuesday referencing a “return readiness review,” from which it promises to establish a return date for the mission’s astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. Despite the continued rumors about Williams and Wilmore being “stuck” in space, NASA maintains its gentle parenting of Starliner, claiming the lengthy ISS mission was actually an opportunity to test how the spacecraft would perform in space. 

The Final Countdown – Also seizing its opportunity this week was ULA, which launched the nearly-retired Atlas V rocket on its final national security mission on Tuesday. In sunny Florida weather, the Atlas V rocket soared to geostationary orbit with a payload for the U.S. Space Force in tow. Although we don’t know details of the classified payload, the mission patch painted on the exterior of the rocket included the words “Alis Grave Nil,” Latin for “nothing is too heavy for those who have wings.” Not to dampen the grandeur of that statement, but we’d be remiss not to point out that winged rockets do, in fact, have payload capacities. But we digress.  Although this may have been the final national security mission for the Atlas V, it’s far from the end of ULA’s government-funded missions. The Atlas V rocket will be succeeded by the company’s new Vulcan model, assuming its fall demonstration goes well.

MSR 2.0 – This week, we also saw important updates on less imminent missions, such as the Mars Sample Return. During the recent AIAA ASCEND conference in Las Vegas, a few companies previewed concepts they’re developing as part of a 90-day MSR study funded by NASA. The agency offered up to $1.5 million to each of the seven studies it selected in June, but concept details have been hush-hush, so far. One reveal from the ASCEND panel – a concept helmed by Quantum Space – includes an alternate plan for the ERO, or Earth Return Orbiter. With its development led by ESA, the spacecraft is currently meant to travel from Mars’ orbit to Earth. However, Quantum’s study will examine time and cost savings of splitting the journey into two parts. In theory, ESA would only have to construct a vehicle that travels from Mars’ orbit to lunar orbit, where a version of Quantum’s Ranger spacecraft could carry the sample the rest of the way. Offering a less piecemeal approach at the panel was Boeing, who despite not being selected for an MSR study, still shared its concept for a more comprehensive vehicle. Boeing’s theoretical lander would launch the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) directly back to Earth from the Martian surface. It sounds easy enough. But Boeing would like to get one thing straight now: a delayed MAV return would not mean the vehicle was stuck on Mars. It would be an intentional opportunity.

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

Aurora-struck – This week, auroras were serving as far South as Northern California. The geomagnetic storm-fueled colors were a result of a series of CMEs that took place over the weekend. 

Living the Stream – Fans of cable will be forced to join the cord-cutters later this summer when NASA sunsets its television station in favor of the agency’s new streaming service, NASA+ .

Senate Appropriations – In usual fashion, the Senate and the House are at odds about NASA spending. While the House seeks cuts for FY25, the Senate’s CJS committee wants to give NASA more than what they asked for. We’re biased, but here’s hoping the Senate wins this fight – for the love of science! 

Guardians of the Galaxy – It’s a great time to be a guardian – a Space Force Guardian, that is. The U.S. defense branch is making efforts to retain its talent by offering up to $180,000 as an incentive to workers who reenlist. A leaked list clarified which fields qualified for the incentive, including mainly cyber defense and cryptology. 

The JWST Download

• Adding to a relatively small group of images that exist of exoplanets, the Webb used its coronagraph to capture a gas giant located approximately 12 light years from Earth. Although the exoplanet, named Epsilon Indi Ab after its parent star, is slightly warmer than our own gas giant, Jupiter, it’s still one of the coldest exoplanets we’ve directly imaged to date. 

• It’s very fitting that Ariel, a Uranian moon, is now thought to harbor a hidden ocean. According to recently published findings from the JWST, a subsurface ocean might be the cause of a curious presence of carbon dioxide ice on Ariel. We have to say, a secret ocean sounds nice – so nice, we wish we could be part of that world. 

This edition of Continuum is supported by the Open Lunar Foundation. Open Lunar's work sets precedents, creates pathways, and builds projects that enable a peaceful, cooperative lunar presence. Learn more about Open Lunar's work by joining their upcoming events.

A Global Space

ISRO & NASA – The first Earth science project between the Indian and United States space agencies has been pushed to next year after an optimistic launch projection for this past Spring. The NISAR spacecraft, which stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, is an imaging satellite that intends to support natural resource management on a global scale. The hold-up seems to be the spacecraft’s antenna, which according to a recent assessment, requires additional protective coating to withstand high launch temperatures. While NASA, who is working on said coating, says the antenna is nearly complete, the agencies will not announce a launch date until the hardware is shipped back to India and reinstalled on the spacecraft. That said, NASA and ISRO have blacked out October to February due to temperature variables within that window, suggesting that February 2025 would be the earliest possible launch date. 

Australia – SpaceX is courting Australia for permissions related to the recovery of Starship boosters, as the future of the powerful rocket begins to take shape. Essentially, in order for SpaceX to land and retrieve their Starship boosters from the waters off the coast of Australia, the company will need to alter the United States’ export controls on Australia-bound space technology. Of course, SpaceX won’t be able to do this on their own, so political conversations will need to happen – some already have. 

China – While impressive, the Queqiao relay satellites orbiting the Moon are apparently only a piece of the puzzle for China, as Chinese scientists have now pitched an entire cislunar infrastructure. The plans, recently published in Chinese Space Science and Technology, involve a complex constellation that would support everything humans need to live life in cislunar space, from communication and navigation to maintenance. Of course, China is not the only country considering such an infrastructure. The United States is casting similar priorities, as is ESA with its Moonlight initiative. The race is on. Or, you know, we could all work together?

UK – It’s a good time to be a space startup in the United Kingdom, because local financial advising firm Citicourt & Co is initiating its first venture capital fund, for which they hope to raise 100 million pounds ($129 million). Citicourt’s resume includes advising Scottish developer SaxaVord, shepherding the company’s novel spaceport from concept to fruition. Now, the firm is putting on its investor hat, hoping to leverage the many “private equity and VC funds willing to participate in the space industry,” according to Citicourt founder and CEO Jodie Bartin. Specifically, Citicourt has its eye on sustainability-focused initiatives, not unlike fellow U.K.-based space investor, Seraphim. To make all this happen, Bartin brought in Stuart Martin, former CEO of a British nonprofit known as Satellite Applications Catapult. And we’d say he seems right for the gig: with Catapult, Martin raised approximately $1.7 billion for space companies in the name of expanding the UK space industry.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• Celestial spelunkers rejoice! There is, finally, a confirmed cave on the Moon. The researchers who discovered the lava-formed tunnels beneath a “lunar pit” believe they could be possible human habitats. After all, being cavemen is in our blood. We love a full circle moment.

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• Now, all we need is to locate similar caves on Mars, for future martians to shelter from the Red Planet’s seismic meteorite strikes.

• With as much power as SpaceX and Elon Musk yield in the American space economy, the birds of South Texas don’t stand much of a chance. If you find yourself wondering why the chicken great blue heron crossed the road – it was probably to get away from Starship debris. 

• Like wrangling the dregs out of a tube of toothpaste (just us?), planetary scientists are still squeezing discoveries out of the late Cassini spacecraft’s Saturnian system data. The latest study found oceans of liquid hydrocarbon on Titan, the second largest moon in our solar system.

• If a 1-gigawatt space-based power plant could generate the same amount of energy as Earth’s top five solar farms, then transitioning to celestial solar power seems like a no brainer. The catch? That plant would not only have to withstand intense radiation and unpredictable debris, but it’d also need to be “100 times the size of the International Space Station,” according to Nature. 

• Did you know there is a group of people responsible for naming things in space? While we go hunt for that job application, check out the hottest tea in astronomical naming.

• Long summer days throwing off your dinner schedule? If the days are feeling longer than ever, that’s because they are – thanks to a new, climate change-fueled rotation.

Saturday Space Jam:

This edition of Saturday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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For those living in the U.S., you might find yourself experiencing the all too familiar pangs of political anxiety with the election inching closer and closer each day. Investors may find themselves offering up the old “let’s wait and see what happens” with evermore frequency, stock performance seems to already believe the election has happened, and the GOP space plank gets finalized with an emphasis on in-space manufacturing, continuation of moon to Mars rhetoric, and expansion of commercial partnerships. Dems have also recently released a draft of their 2024 party platform - focusing their NASA support on climate research, the ISS, and continuing efforts to get humans to the moon.

And now, the space beat you came here for…

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Top Headlines

Ariane 6 – Ten years after its inception and one (long) year after its predecessor’s retirement, ESA’s Ariane 6 rocket finally made its debut on July 9th, ringing in a huge milestone for European space travel. The expendable launch vehicle, built by French aerospace company ArianeGroup with an estimated 4 billion euros, carried out its stage separations and deployed nine small satellites in orbit, with an auxiliary power anomaly cutting the mission only slightly short. Despite the few payloads that didn’t get their day in the sun in orbit, the mission was indisputably deemed a success – and thank the lucky stars for that. There was only, you know, a mild amount of pressure on the rocket to do well, with ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher positing pre-launch that "Ariane 6 will power Europe into space. Ariane 6 will make history." The achievement means that Europe has officially ended its rocket-less hiatus, which began after the final launch of Ariane 5. With it, Europe also concludes its reliance on international partners like SpaceX. Of course, a shoo-in customer for the powerful Ariane 6 is SpaceX competitor Amazon, who has 18 launches contracted for Project Kuiper satellites over the course of the next few years. We’ll have to see how launch prices stack up between the tried-and-true, reusable Falcon 9 and an expendable newcomer like Ariane 6, but it’s always great to see more fish in the pond.

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In a R.U.D. – Perhaps in an act of divine balance, SpaceX’s workhorse, the Falcon 9, suffered a rare setback on July 11th. The rocket experienced a liquid oxygen leak during a Starlink mission, resulting in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” or “R.U.D.,” essentially deploying 20 Starlink satellites too early. The loose spacecraft will eventually fall back into Earth’s atmosphere but “do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety,” according to the company. This is the Falcon 9’s first failure since 2016, which still makes for an impressive track record, but does serve as a reminder that nothing is infallible. On that note, the anomaly forces NASA to evaluate their next astronaut launch, Crew 9, which is set to fly on a Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS in mid-August to relieve Crew 8.

Europa Clipper – Similarly fallible is NASA’s Europa Clipper, a spacecraft destined for Jupiter’s moon that goes by the same name. The agency recently announced that they are conducting new tests of the vehicle’s transistors, which have shown concerning results related to their resistance to radiation. This factor is, well, a pretty big deal when we’re talking about a region with over 50 times more radiation than what we have here on Earth. While the agency will complete a full analysis of the transistors by late July, the uncertainty makes the mission’s October launch window a question mark. A launch delay would not be simple to rectify. To get to the faraway Jovian system by 2030, the spacecraft would need to harness the power of other planets’ gravitation, a.k.a. gravitational assists. These boosts are based on orbital patterns, so changing the trajectory could necessitate additional flybys, altering the arrival timeline exponentially. Hence, NASA won’t be keen to confirm a delay, even if the Clipper’s launch vendor, SpaceX, is also facing potential vehicle delays. In fact, the agency’s associate administrator for science has confirmed that the agency is still “marching towards that Oct. 10 launch window.”

VIPER – Whether or not the Europa Clipper will go on, it’s now official that NASA’s VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will not. The agency announced the cancellation of the lunar mission on July 17th, citing cost overruns and schedule delays. The $433.5 million CLPS mission was designed to investigate the presence of water ice in the Moon’s south polar region, and was set to launch as early as 2025. Canceling now, before making inevitable vehicle adjustments informed by environmental testing, will save at least $84 million for the agency. NASA still plans to use Griffin, a lunar lander they contracted from Astrobotic to be the rover’s ride, in delivering a simulator payload to the Moon. However, all hope is not lost for the canceled VIPER rover, as the agency is accepting proposals until August 1st from anyone interested in sniping the vehicle for their own projects. Otherwise, this little guy will be destroyed for parts.

Texas Hold 'Em – After California governor Gavin Newsom signed a law this week protecting LGBTQ+ students from a requirement forcing teachers to disclose details about their gender identity (read: out them) without their permission, the famously sensible Elon Musk announced he would be moving the headquarters of his two California-based companies to Texas. Of course, this includes SpaceX, which Musk plans to relocate from Hawthorne, California to the company’s rocket facility called Starbase, near Brownsville, Texas. The timeline of this transition is anyone’s guess, as the announcement came informally via X, but this isn’t the first notion of relocating to the Lone Star State. Musk, along with Kanye West and Grimes, have plans to establish an Austin-based hellscape town known as Snailbrook, revealed last year by the Wall Street Journal. If you’ve watched Severance, you know the type of corporate town we’re talking about here. Ultimately, the dramatic reaction is based on Musks’ belief that Newsom’s law and others like it are “attacking both families and companies'' who will now have to “leave California to protect their children.”

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

• Bang Bang – If you live in the New York City area, the large “boom” reported by your neighbor on Nextdoor this week was actually not, famously, a car backfire. NASA believes that a “daylight fireball,” or a meteor invisible during the daytime, may have caused the recent bang that shook the Big Apple and parts of New Jersey. 

• New Name, Who Dis? – Now that it’s graduated to geostationary orbit, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-U satellite thinks it’s cool enough to go by a new name, GOES-19. 

• Supa Dupa Fly To Venus – Missy Elliot’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” was transmitted to Venus last week via a radio dish in California. It’s fitting, because we can’t, in fact, “stand the rain” on the hot planet…because it’s made of sulfuric acid. 

• ISSolated – Our favorite Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni and Butch remain at the ISS with no return date in sight. We have to wonder if they’re asking themselves, is this gonna be forever?

• Leaving on a Jet Plane Barge – NASA’s SLS core stage, which will be used for Artemis 2 next year, is officially starting its journey from NOLA to Florida. 

• Do You Want to Build a Snowman? – Even Percy rover can’t resist the siren song of Disney executives…kidding. However, a dusty little rock snowman did make for an exciting cameo on Mastcam-Z on Sol 1208. 

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  The JWST Download

  

• A birthday celebration is in order for the JWST, which just hit the two-year anniversary of its first imagery release. 

• As though it still had something to prove, Webb served up some brand-new imagery this week of two (civilly) interacting galaxies located in the Beta Pictoris system. And we have to say, even though the nicknames for these captured galaxies are sometimes a stretch (no offense, Crab Nebula), in this case, “Penguin and the Egg” is spot on. 

• The JWST has spotted a young but surprisingly evolved black hole-powered quasar, as well as its two colliding satellite galaxies. In its observations, Webb shows off its talents to see “redshift,” or light after it’s been “stretched” over the 12 billion years it took to reach the observatory.

• Thanks to Webb, we now have “weather maps” of some relatively nearby brown dwarfs. Spoiler alert, they’re super hot, with temperatures of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (925 degrees Celsius) at the top of their cloud cover. While these dwarfs may not be the most inviting celestial bodies, astronomers can use the same weather mapping techniques on other exoplanets. 

• In fact, astronomers have already used the JWST to examine the weather on WASP-39 b, an exoplanet tidally locked to its parent star. Hence, the planet enjoys a surprisingly breezy eternal morning. Our question is, who will be directing the Eternal Sunrise of the Spotless Exoplanet?

A Global Space

ESA – Europe continues to dunk on NASA this week with their Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), ESA’s contribution to the Mars Sample Return mission, which just passed a critical design review. The milestone means ESA can commence manufacturing of ERO, a spacecraft with the ability to catch a basketball-sized capsule of Martian dust in space, then bring it home to Earth. If you’re wondering how this all plays into potential MSR restructuring teased recently, well, ESA isn’t worried. The agency has remained in step with NASA, claiming that “the Earth Return Orbiter works for what was planned to do and more, whatever the alternatives are.” Following this good news, ESA announced a new mission to asteroid Apophis during its close Earth flyby in 2029, in hopes of gathering valuable data to improve our asteroid defense systems. In a similar vein, ESA set a 2027 launch date for its other planetary defense-focused mission, LUMIO, the agency’s lunar meteoroid-observing CubeSat.

China – Also focused on planetary defense is China, which just moved its own asteroid mission to 2029. Although China plans to change the orbit of asteroid 2015 XF261 – through a high-velocity impact – the mission will now fall in close (time) proximity with the Apophis flyby, making 2029 the year of “asteroid awareness and planetary defense,” as titled by the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition to protecting Earth, China is invested in protecting its space station. On the heels of Russia’s recent satellite annihilation, two Chinese astronauts conducted a spacewalk outside of Tiangong to add protective “armor” to the space station, in the case of debris collisions. Perhaps, this armor will also protect China from itself – as new data from a Swiss space surveillance company suggests that the nation’s Long March 6A rocket might actually be leaving a trail of small debris.  

South Korea – Deciding to come out and say what we’re all thinking, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) recently raised the alarm about spacecraft collision risks in our increasingly crowded lunar orbit. During last week’s Secure World Foundation’s Summit for Space Sustainability, KARI’s senior researcher Soyoung Chung urged that the voluntary coordination between ISRO, NASA and KARI – which has worked so far in avoiding collisions between lunar spacecraft like NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter and ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 – will not be sustainable as more countries and companies launch their own lunar vehicles into orbit. As it stands, “not all actors are involved in this process,” according to Chung. Read: China. 

Kazakhstan – While China may not be playing in the same lunar sandbox as KARI, NASA and ISRO, the nation is inviting more friends into its International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) initiative. This month, Kazakhstan was the latest country to sign on as an ILRS collaborator, which is good news for China, as the “mutually beneficial” agreement will also likely give China access to Kazakhstan’s launch pads, like its Sary Shagan Test Site, and maybe even Baikonur Cosmodrome – if they can navigate its lease of the site to Russia until 2050. 

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum

• Let’s talk hypothetically. If extraterrestrials are – hypothetically – jetting around the universe on their Unusual Air Planes (that’s what UAP stands for, right?), then – hypothetically – they’d need to be using warp drives to travel such far distances. New research suggests that the failing warp drive could create a gravitational wave detectable with our planet’s technology, meaning that we might have a new way to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. Hypothetically. 

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• Of course, if mysterious space ripples don’t get us anywhere with aliens, we can always look for signs of exoplanet terraforming. With a telescope as powerful as the JWST, scientists believe we could spot greenhouse gasses in exoplanet atmospheres, which could sign of intentional terraforming of “an otherwise-uninhabitable planet.” 

• And speaking of terraforming, a new Chinese study looked into terraforming Mars with a desert moss. When exposed to extreme conditions like frigid temperatures, drought, and radiation, the moss – known as Syntrichia caninervis – reacted by "drying without dying.” Coincidentally, this was also my goal while spending the weekend in Joshua Tree. 

• If you read this week’s newsletter, you know that here on Earth, it’s been raining cats and dogs satellites. While many of these spacecraft are intended to help us combat climate change, those same satellites – or at least, their inevitable fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere – could actually be contributing to it.

• Has the rise in falling space junk stopped SpaceX from launching more Starlink into orbit? Of course not. But the company did start a hotline for the next time you run into a hunk of metal on the sidewalk. 

• If you can’t wait for NASA’s dark energy-hunting Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – set to launch in 2027 – check out this interview with Bente Eegholm, optics lead on the pioneer technology.  

Sunday Space Jam:

This edition of Sunday Space Reads is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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And happy fourth of July to those reading this from the United States! I'm still recovering from the over stimulating displays of patriotism and of course the chaotic neon battleground that is Los Angeles on this much anticipated summer holiday. For that reason, you’ll have to excuse the late Friday newsletter — hopefully at least some of you will enjoy this over an end-of-the-week cocktail or adaptogenic beverage (looking at you, longevity friends) if that’s your vibe.

And without further ado, the space beat you came here for…

This edition of Continuum is brought to you by the Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines.

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Top Headlines

Chang'e 6 Returns – Guess who’s back, back again – and with the world’s hottest lunar sample? Of course, it is China, having now completed its second lunar sample return mission. The approximately four-pound sample, which plummeted to Earth at 25,000 miles per hour on June 25th, also makes China the first nation to retrieve material from the Moon’s elusive far side. While the former Chang’e 5 sample – retrieved in 2020 – provided valuable intel on the soil of the Moon’s near side, the Chang’e 6 sample offers international scientists an unprecedented look at the geologically diverse far side, characterized by its deep impact craters. Sadly left out of this science sandbox is the United States. Per a 2011 ban on US-China bilateral cooperation known as the Wolf Amendment, U.S. federally-funded programs like those of NASA cannot apply for a piece of the pie space dust. Perhaps, U.S. researchers will fight for the same exemption as they did for Chang’e 5; however, a brand new defense bill might make that difficult. But for China, these sample returns are not only promising from a planetary science perspective, but also for China’s in-space operations, as they establish techniques essential for future human lunar travel.

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GOES-U – As one space asset comes down, another goes up. On the same day as the Change’ 6 sample delivery, NASA’s newest weather satellite – an NOAA satellite known as GOES-U – began its journey to geostationary orbit with the help of a Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch caught the eyes of weather experts and SpaceX stans alike, with the NASA contractor’s visually compelling simultaneous landing of two boosters gracing social media feeds everywhere. The satellite will be the fourth and final installation to NOAA’s GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) constellation, which strives to improve Earth and space weather forecasting in the US. The latest installment also contains a powerful coronagraph, offering scientists a closer look at the Sun’s corona, hence the power to better predict CMEs. 

Through The Roof – The suit we all expected is here. And no, it didn’t come out of Paris Fashion Week. This suit hails from Sunshine State, where a shard of the International Space Station ripped through a family’s rooftop a few months ago. Now, the Florida family has filed a lawsuit against NASA, the agency responsible for the space debris. And Florida isn’t the only state reaping gifts from the sky lately, as a North Carolina “glampground” recently stumbled upon a nifty piece of a SpaceX Dragon vehicle on its grounds. In this case, the space souvenir did not spark legal action nor emotional damages, but instead inspired potential financial gains, with the property putting it on display as a tourism draw. Perhaps if the metallic rocket part had torn through a canvas tent, it would have been a different story – but we digress. Space debris continued to saturate the news last week when a retired Russian spacecraft spontaneously combusted in LEO, splitting itself into one hundred little puzzle pieces that have the potential to collide with other space objects in orbit. So this summer, may we all prepare ourselves for sunny skies and occasional showers of space junk. 

Destroyer of Worlds – Speaking of destruction, NASA has hired a hitman for the International Space Station, and he goes by the name of Elon Musk. Last week, SpaceX won an $843 million NASA contract to safely kill – er, deorbit the 24-year old space station once it reaches its expiration date in 2030, a task once intended for Russia. NASA’s sovereign alternative, which is being referred to as the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, will be developed and built by SpaceX and then absorbed by the space agency to drive the operation. What exactly will take the place of the ISS remains to be seen, but commercial stations from Airbus and Blue Origin are currently in the running. 

Don’t Stand Too Co-Planar To Me – The U.S. is concerned about a Russian satellite launched back in May, which is now hanging out on the same geometric plane as a U.S. national security satellite. This co-planar positioning “doesn’t seem to be accidental,” according to Gen. Stephen Whiting. The U.S. Space Command has been tracking Russian spacecraft that fall into this “class of counter-space weapon” for decades, but only now does there appear to be one with “operational capacity.” Should Cosmos 2576 carry out any funny business – such as blocking GPS signals or disrupting military communications – the U.S. Space Command believes they’ll be ready to defend U.S. space assets, given their recent prioritization of this type of conflict.

Honorable Mentions

Our final notable nuggets.

• Definitely Not Stranded Starliner – Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took the stage – or at least, a NASA live stream – on Wednesday July 10th to answer media questions about Starliner and what it’s like to be stranded absolutely loving it on the ISS, as NASA needs the media to know. Really, they’re NOT stranded, okay? We mean it. 

• Leaky Blinders – The International Space Station is nothing if not consistent, rounding out its eventful June with another leak – this one from a spacesuit – postponing yet another planned spacewalk for NASA. Perhaps, the station is feeling a bit of senioritis as it rounds the corner into its final years. 

• Word to the NEOWISE – An astronomy satellite turned asteroid hunter is finally losing steam – er, coolant. The NEOWISE spacecraft will begin its hibernation at the end of this month, with a reentry planned as early as late this year. The new NEO Surveyor will take its place in 2027. 

• Fa-HERA-well – NASA’s Texas-based HERA analogue just wrapped up a faux-month on Mars.  

• Asteroid Day – June 30th was international Asteroid Day, an awareness “holiday” that falls on the anniversary of Earth’s largest observed asteroid strike, which occurred over Russia in 1908. 

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The JWST Download

• Just in time for the 4th of July, the JWST captured flashy “fireworks” of outflows radiating out from a protostar.

• Harnessing the combined efforts of the Hubble and JWST telescopes, NASA reveals one of the most iconic space images in a new three-dimensional visualization. So, get out your popcorn and screen the latest NASA flick, portraying the ethereal Pillars of Creation, or Eagle Nebula.

• First detected by the JWST in 2022, three “Tiny Red Dots” continue to perplex astronomers. New research suggests these dots – or young galaxies – contain a dense amount of curiously old stars, challenging our “standard models of cosmology and galaxy formation,” according to study author Bingjie Wang. 

• Another youthful galaxy was recently captured through the eye of the Webb, with the added magnification of gravitational lensing. A recent study of the Cosmic Gems arc galaxy led to the discovery of five massive star clusters, which astronomers hope will continue to clarify the functionality of the earliest galaxies. 

A Global Space

Japan – Despite recently revealing that its space agency, JAXA, was the target of multiple cyber-attacks in recent months, Japan provided assurances that all was well with the launch of their H3 rocket, which successfully delivered a valuable Earth-observation satellite to orbit on July 1st. The Mitsubishi-built satellite, known as ALOS-4, is equipped with superpowered vision – thanks to its advanced synthetic aperture radar – even in dark and cloudy conditions. It’s a nice comeback for the H3 rocket, which failed on its initial launch attempt in March of 2023, destroying ALOS-3 – predecessor to ALOS-4 – in the process. 

China – Much like many roadside-bought fireworks this week, a Chinese rocket went off without warning during a recent ground test, begetting a fiery – yet arresting – explosion in the nearby mountains of China’s Henan Province. The private Space Pioneer-owned Tianlong-3 rocket was thought to be secured to the ground when teams attempted to test its propulsion system, but apparently a “structural failure” compromised the rocket’s platform connection. It’s certainly not a great start for the Tianlong-3 – which has potential to rival the illustrious Falcon rocket from SpaceX – but we would guess that Space Pioneer will be quick to get the rocket back on track, with intentions of using the rocket to deliver China’s sovereign satellite network.

Ukraine – A Kickstarter campaign may be annoying when it’s for your nephew’s newest Wes Anderson-inspired short film, but crowdfunding efforts put in the right place can actually deliver significant impact (no offense to your nephew). A new Ukranian satellite, purchased from Finnish company ICEYE through crowdfunding, has allowed the country to spy on Russian troops amidst the Russo-Ukrainian war. Earning it the reputation and nickname of the “people’s satellite,” the ICEYE spacecraft utilizes SAR technology to provide high-resolution observations of Russian military positioning, even when they are “carefully camouflaged,” according to the Ukrainian Military Intelligence. The acquisition tactic highlights the power of private space funding, which apparently has a place even in matters of war.

Russia – While on the ground, the nation may be getting beat by a micro-satellite, Russia plans to build up its presence in the celestial sphere. Conveniently ignoring its recent destructive behavior in LEO, Roscosmos touts its schemes to add more in space – namely, the core of its space station, which the agency anticipates to establish by 2030. To support its sovereign station, Russia also aims to design complementary spacecraft and ground systems. Russia’s efforts seem to be in service of establishing autonomy in the space sector, where the country can be free of the “limitations” of its current “international agreements,” according to the space agency. 

India – Maintaining momentum from an early June announcement, the U.S. and India cement their plans to collaborate on human spaceflight with a new partnership between India, U.S.-based SERA (Space Exploration and Research Agency), and private company Blue Origin. The program will select and send six “citizen astronauts” from India and other underrepresented countries to suborbital heights in Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. According to SERA’s website, candidates must be over 18 and meet certain physical requirements, and can earn votes to secure their seat. Who votes, you ask? The public. Applicants are encouraged to secure votes from their country through social media, or in SERA’s words, through “themed content prompts to reach a broader audience.” And if all this sounds like it belongs on a televised popularity contest akin to Love Island – or perhaps more aptly, Stars On Mars – well, you’re not far off, because SERA’s website also claims its finalists will “have their journeys documented as they push through the final phase of the selection process.” Cue our collective sigh.

And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.

Keep it celestial people,

Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum