Astronomy Prints 🌌: Moon, Mars

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04/10/2025

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NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman told senators he believed NASA should pursue human moon and Mars programs simultaneously. At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, he told the Senate Commerce Committee that he supported a human return to the moon before 2030 even while stating that NASA should "prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars." He said that NASA "could be paralleling" the lunar and Martian initiatives. Isaacman endorsed the Artemis effort, including the use of the SLS and Orion at least for near-term missions. Isaacman also supported continuing operation of the International Space Station to 2030 as NASA shifts to commercial stations. While he said that he has not been in contact with Elon Musk since being nominated, he declined repeatedly to say if Musk was present when President Trump offered him the NASA job. [SpaceNews]

International space agencies stressed the importance of partnerships with the United States and each other despite geopolitical strains. Representatives of several agencies around the world emphasized during a Space Symposium panel Wednesday that strong, cooperative relationships are essential for achieving ambitious missions and ensuring space remains a peaceful domain for exploration and commerce. Those comments came despite uncertainty over future collaborations and investments caused by trade wars and other geopolitical challenges. [SpaceNews]

Military space alliances are also largely unaffected by geopolitics. Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, former commander of the U.K. Space Command who currently serves at the Pentagon on the U.S. Space Force staff, said at Space Symposium it was "business as usual" in military space cooperation, suggesting that rifts that hinder other aspects of transatlantic cooperation don't impact space issues as much. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, used a keynote address at the conference to emphasize the Space Force's push to deepen international partnerships, a move he said is essential to staying ahead of threats and maintaining technological interoperability. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force is preparing a strategy aimed at expanding international collaboration. Gen. Saltzman said at Space Symposium he will soon release an "International Partnership Strategy," describing it as a framework to enhance collaboration with allies, improve interoperability, maximize information sharing and secure collective interests in space. The strategy is currently in its final coordination steps, he said, and will be released in the coming weeks. One key element of the policy involves leveraging the comparative advantages of different partners, from launch capacity to geographic locations of ground stations. [SpaceNews]

A push by NATO members to increase defense spending will benefit space. At a NATO summit meeting in June, member states may agree to increase defense spending from a current commitment of 2% of GDP to 3.5%, which would add about $400 billion a year to military budgets. Some of that additional spending will go to space programs, officials said at Space Symposium, such as what one called "effects-based space capability targets for each ally." [SpaceNews]

Defense experts warn that bureaucratic obstacles and sluggish procurement processes are keeping the Pentagon from keeping up with China in space. Retired Gen. John Hyten, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, claimed in an interview that U.S. military capabilities in space are "basically the same" as 10 years ago even as China and Russia have advanced their own military space systems. He blamed the labyrinthine acquisition process that hampers rapid modernization, saying military leaders need more flexibility to procure the systems they need, while also criticizing continuing resolutions and delayed appropriations that create funding uncertainty that further slows procurement. [SpaceNews]

Other News

Weather scrubbed a launch attempt Wednesday of the first operational Project Kuiper satellites. United Launch Alliance called off the Atlas 5 launch Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral after weather failed to improve during a two-hour launch window for the KA-01 mission. ULA did not immediately announce a new launch date. The Atlas 5 is carrying 27 Kuiper satellites, the first in a constellation intended to include more than 3,600 spacecraft that will provide broadband services for Amazon. [NASASpaceFlight.com]

Rocket Lab believes it has found a niche for its Electron rocket that does not compete head-to-head with SpaceX rideshare launches. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in an interview that the company is seeing strong demand for Electron from customers deploying smallsat systems that need more control over schedule and orbit, an advantage offsetting the lower cost of rideshare launches. The company is targeting at least 20 Electron launches this year. Other companies have failed to tap that market, Beck argued, because of technical or financial problems, or choosing to develop vehicles in the one-ton class that he believes fall in a "no man's land" between Electron and large rideshare missions. [SpaceNews]

An exercise in the coming weeks will test how the Artemis 2 mission will deal with space weather events. The tabletop exercise at the end of April and early May will simulate the effects of solar storms taking place during Artemis 2, the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and the protection of its magnetosphere since Apollo 17. That will include understanding how to best monitor and predict solar activity and relay warnings to the crew. If there was a major solar storm during Artemis 2, the crew does have the ability to huddle in a makeshift "pillow fort" storm shelter inside Orion. [SpaceNews]

Space and AI experts say the space industry should be doing more with AI technologies. At a recent symposium, speakers said the space industry has been slower than others to adopt AI in both spacecraft and ground systems, which some attributed to a more conservative mindset among traditional space companies. "If you say that you're not doing AI, people think you're very strange," said one NASA official at the meeting. [SpaceNews]

One satellite manufacturer predicts a surge of orders for GEO communications satellites, although ones far smaller than traditional models. Emile de Rijk, CEO of Swissto12, said in an interview that he believed one-ton GEO satellites like what his company is producing can unlock new markets for such satellites, from secure national connectivity to targeted broadband services. Orders for commercial GEO satellites, which once averaged around 20 per year, fell to just six in 2024, but de Rijk said demand for small GEO satellites could push those orders above historic levels in just a few years. [SpaceNews]

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is expecting a decision soon on moving the headquarters of Space Command. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said in a podcast interview this week that he expected President Trump to announce later this month that Space Command headquarters would be moved to Huntsville, Alabama. That announcement, he suggested, could be linked to the Senate confirmation of Troy Meink as Air Force secretary. [Huntsville (Ala.) Times]

NASA's Juno spacecraft went into safe mode during its latest close approach to Jupiter. The spacecraft went into safe mode twice last week, shortly before and again after the closest point in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter. Controllers have since put the spacecraft back into normal operations as they investigate what happened. Juno went into safe mode on two previous occasions since entering orbit around Jupiter in 2016, and in those cases fully recovered. [NASA]

In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream for Ice Cream

"To each of you, all the children deserve ice cream. They've been awesome today."

"I would ask Sen. Blackburn, is the ice cream limited to the children?"

– Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during the confirmation hearing Wednesday for Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator and Olivia Trusty as FCC commissioner.

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