Payload
• Victoria Woodburn
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.
Space Exploration & Science Missions
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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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China is integrating crewed and robotic missions into its broader lunar exploration program while advancing plans to return the first samples from Mars. Separately, a student-led spacecraft is being developed for a 2029 flyby of near-Earth asteroid Apophis, extending the country’s deep-space ambitions.
NASA says the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could operate for as long as 22 years—more than twice its previously announced lifespan—even before reaching its planned orbit. The extended mission would give the flagship observatory substantially more time to conduct wide-field space science and sustain long-term research programs.
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter detected a previously unrecognized crater roughly 222 meters wide, formed when an asteroid or comet struck the Moon in May 2024. The event, named McGetchin, is estimated to occur about once a century and offers a fresh record of lunar surface evolution.
NASA has started activating instruments aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope for the first time as the observatory travels nearly 1 million miles to its final orbit. The commissioning milestone precedes Roman’s scientific mission to study the universe with a wide field of view.
Space Cargo Unlimited has contracted to fly microgravity research payloads on SpaceX’s Starfall reentry vehicle, adding an in-space research option as the company develops broader access to microgravity missions. The agreement positions Starfall as a potential platform for recurring commercial payload opportunities.
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