2022
Budget Gridlock Delays Spending on New U.S. Space Programs
Congressional gridlock delayed a 2023 spending plan for U.S. government space programs, which have made up about 12 percent of the global space economy in recent years. The delay stalled budget increases for NASA and the Pentagon topping $6 billion, but a stopgap measure keeps agencies operating at 2022 spending levels.
New Spacesuit Design Promises to Fit Diverse Generation of Future Astronauts
NASA’s newest spacesuits, under a contract announced in September, will be rented by the agency much like tuxedos for a wedding or high-school prom night. Unlike suits in use since the Space Shuttle program, they’re designed to fit astronauts of any size, taking the agency back to the early days when all those headed to space got a custom suit.
Handheld Bioprinter Could Be a New Tool in an Astronaut’s First Aid Kit
Astronaut safety in space is always a top priority, especially as deep-space missions become a reality and the risk of medical emergencies increases. Alongside traditional 3D printing applications, bioprinting has the potential to support astronauts for medical issues ranging from small abrasions to lifesaving organ transplants.
8 Stories from the Front Lines of the New Space Workforce
Getting to space and keeping the space industry moving ahead takes a diverse group of people with a wide range of talents, including many who didn’t picture themselves as part of the race to the stars just a few years ago. Here are few of them.
Space Force: Thousands Apply, Few Accepted as New Branch Builds Pipeline of Future Space Workers
While the space industry struggles with a tight employment market, the Space Force, a key military pipeline for building the future civilian space workforce, is deluged with youthful applicants. Only 3% of would-be recruits will make the cut.
Europe Continues to Lead in Global Workforce Job Growth
The space industry relies on skilled individuals from a wide variety of fields to enable the cutting-edge developments taking place in this sector. While many countries do not regularly produce metrics on the size of their workforce, these data are available for several major space actors, including the United States, Europe, Japan, and India.
Space Matters: Kennedy’s Space Speech 60 Years Ago Transformed the Space Race and the U.S. Economy
Sixty years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech still credited for propelling the United States program to the Moon. That undertaking transformed the national economy through… Rivals Launch Military Satellites Amid U.S.-led Space Defense Drills
A flurry of military and intelligence satellite launches by rival powers this month came as the United States and two dozen partner nations wrapped up the largest global space defense wargame in history.
Russia launched what some leaders have described as a spy satellite for Iran and its own on-orbit snooping satellite Cosmos-2558, which is circling Earth in an orbit conspicuously close to a recently launched U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite, a Netherlands researcher confirmed.
Solving Space Junk Problem Could Net Federal Prize
A grand prize could be in the offing for inventors who come up with new methods to prevent orbiting debris or design tools that can clean up space junk, according to recommendations from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Aug. 4 Sets Record for Most Launches in One Day
The beginning of August saw a flurry of launch activity as Aug. 4 set a record for most orbital launches on a single day (based on UTC launch times). The final launch count for the day reached five – three American and two Chinese.