Universe Today
• Matthew Williams
The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will pass close to Earth on September 28, using the encounter to change its speed and trajectory as it continues toward Jupiter. The maneuver is a key step in the spacecraft’s ongoing interplanetary journey.
Space Exploration & Science Missions
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The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will pass close to Earth on September 28, using the encounter to change its speed and trajectory as it continues toward Jupiter. The maneuver is a key step in the spacecraft’s ongoing interplanetary journey.
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A former NASA chief is raising concerns that Beijing’s lunar exploration plans extend beyond scientific discovery, describing them as an intended strategy to dominate the “high ground of the twenty-first century.” The warning frames lunar activity as a strategic and geopolitical competition.
High activity
AstroForge plans to launch what it describes as the first fully autonomous asteroid-mining mission in 2027. The mission could mark a significant step for commercial space exploration by demonstrating whether spacecraft can independently conduct an asteroid-focused operation without direct human control.
Astrolab and Interstellar Mapping are partnering to identify and map water resources on the Moon. The collaboration highlights growing commercial efforts to characterize lunar resources, information that could support future exploration and surface operations.
TRL11 has secured a NASA contract to develop imaging systems for Space Reactor-1’s SR-1 Freedom mission to Mars. The award positions the company to supply mission-critical imaging technology for a nuclear-powered—or space reactor-enabled—Mars exploration effort.
The return to the Moon could support a lunar economy worth $566 billion by 2050, according to Deloitte. Reaching that figure will require building the transportation, surface systems and other infrastructure needed to make sustained lunar activity commercially viable.
MIT PhD candidate Lanie McKinney is developing technology to convert chemicals in the Martian atmosphere into rocket propellant, potentially enabling astronauts to produce the resources needed for their return journey on Mars rather than transporting all return propellant from Earth.
Germany’s DLR is preparing to launch the MAPHEUS-17 suborbital research mission from Esrange Space Center in Sweden as early as Oct. 1. The flight will support DLR’s ongoing use of suborbital missions for scientific and technology research, although no further payload or schedule details were provided.
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