Plus: Why bother with spacesuits on the moon?
By Dan Robitzski
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.
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When Troy Meink, secretary of the Air Force, disclosed that the United States had deployed weapons on orbit but didn't specify anything about then, he introduced a new degree of risk to space operations, argued CASS research assistant Mustafa Bilal.
"The world now knows that American weapons are in orbit, but since officials left their number, capabilities and locations undisclosed, there is no reliable public way to tell them apart from other spacecraft. For other operators, that silence adds to the dual-use dilemma, since an American spacecraft that appears to be inspecting or servicing a satellite may now turn out to be one of those weapons.
"The uncertainty will persist until Washington identifies the orbital systems," he continued.
See the full commentary article here.
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A model of Axiom Space’s lunar spacesuit on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex before the Artemis 2 launch. Credit: SpaceNews/Jeff Foust
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When human astronauts reach the moon again and eventually reach Mars, will treks by foot in a spacesuit be necessary? Prioritizing missions with remote-operated and other vehicles may help reduce the risks and potential injuries of moving in a spacesuit, according to a commentary article by journalist and author Dennis Meredith.
"Astronauts would be more productive if they didn’t have to spend time donning, doffing, cleaning and servicing spacesuits," he wrote. "They would experience less fatigue and a lower risk of injuries if they spent their exploration time in a comfortable shirtsleeve environment. Less energy expended would mean lower consumption of oxygen, water and food."
Read the full article here.
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