Economy
Government Space Budgets
Ariane 6, Europe’s long-awaited launch vehicle, makes maiden flight
Ariane 6, the launch vehicle designed to ensure the European Space Agency’s access to orbit, flew from French Guiana on Tuesday, ending four years of delays with triumph.
Senate approves bill to limit space debris amid budget battles
A measure aimed at reducing space debris has passed the U.S. Senate with unanimous support and is headed to the House floor. The Orbits Act would require NASA to establish a pilot program for clearing debris from orbit, and orders tighter regulations to limit space junk.
India P.M. calls safe landing of lunar probe ‘Dawn of a New Era’
Space workers in India celebrated the landing of their Chandrayaan-3 probe, making it the fourth nation to safely land a spacecraft on the Moon, and had their efforts lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “India is on the Moon,” Modi boomed in a broadcast to India’s 1.4 billion residents.
Space Force unveils antisatellite weapons program, reserve branch plans at Senate hearing
Space Force leaders pulled back the veil of secrecy on one of the service’s most-secretive programs and made a push for congressional authorization of a new part-time branch during a May 2 hearing before the Senate.
U.S. budget proposals for 2024 would add $5 billion in space spending
Unclassified federal space spending would top $60 billion in 2024 under budgets proposed by the White House March 10, with an extra $5 billion planned for civil and military programs.
New congress names Space Committee leaders
With Republicans reclaiming a narrow majority in the U.S. House, leaders have spent January determining who will get gavels on the committees and subcommittees that set military and civil space… November Space Council Meetings Could Shape Commercial Regulations
The National Space Council asked for comment on new commercial space systems and how the commercial space sector could be regulated during a pair of online meetings set for November. The council wants input from industry and the public. The move is part of a Biden Administration push to deal with issues including crowded orbits and the safety of space tourists.
ESA Sending Heroic, Fictional Sheep Aboard Artemis I
NASA says its Artemis I flight set to launch as soon as late August will be an uncrewed lunar fly-by. The Paris-based European Space Agency would beg to differ. Shaun is leaving the happy confines of Mossy Bottom Farm to lead the flight around the Moon, an agency press release announced.
Partisan Fight Threatens to Delay Pentagon, Space Force Budget
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee sent warning signals on Wednesday that the Pentagon’s $762 billion spending plan for 2023 could snag in the Senate over hot-button policy provisions. . .
Share of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Budget by Budgetary Authority, 2020
Almost 44% of all U.S. space spending was allocated to NASA in 2020 — over $22.6 billion.184 This figure is a 5.3% increase over 2019 and a 22.8% increase over the preceding decade. The largest share of this budget, 31.6%, was allocated to the Science Program, which expanded in 2020 to include Biological and Physical Sciences for the first time.