2023
Space Policy, Monitoring Increasingly Crucial Amid Rise in UAP Reports
In 1952, former Director of Central Intelligence Walter Bedell Smith estimated the chances of UFOs posing a threat to national security to be one in 10,000, “but even that chance could not be taken.”
U.S. Space Firms Face Dilemma as Trade Student Numbers Sink
As the space industry works to mass-produce satellites and launch vehicles, space firms continue to struggle to acquire skilled labor.
OSIRIS-REx Delivers Asteroid Sample After Seven Years in Space
After more than a decade’s worth of planning, seven years of space flight, and 1 billion miles of travel, a sample from the asteroid Bennu has returned to Earth — but the work is only beginning.
ESA: satellite finds young trees better at consuming atmospheric carbon
In a discovery that upends conventional wisdom, the European Space Agency revealed a study Thursday that shows old-growth forests are outclassed by younger trees when it comes to capturing carbon from the atmosphere.
OSIRIS-REx delivers asteroid sample after seven years in space
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned a sample from the asteroid Bennu, which could help scientists better understand the formation of the solar system. After more than a decade of planning and seven years of space flight traversing more than 1 billion miles, a sample from the asteroid Bennu safely landed on Earth.
Crew-7 Arrives on ISS following NASA, SpaceX launch
SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station — each representing a different agency. The Dragon capsule carried NASA astronaut and mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut and pilot Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut and mission specialist Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Konstantin Borisov.
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.
As Russia, India reach for Moon, NASA supporters work to stop budget cuts
As India and Russia race to land spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole, America’s space agency is staring down proposed budget cuts. India’s Chandrayaan-3 is poised to make a soft lunar landing, which would make the nation one of only four spacefaring powers to ever place a payload safely on the lunar surface.
S-Network Space Index vs. Benchmark Indexes, H1 2023
In the first half of 2023, the S-Network Space Index (SNET SPACE) underperformed other benchmark indexes, declining 0.6%. This compares to a 17% increase for the S-Network U.S. Equity 3000 Index (SNET 3000), which tracks the 3,000 largest (by market capitalization) U.S. stocks.
Space Force Tracked Rocket Bodies in Orbit, June 2023
The accidental detonation of a rocket in space caused the biggest debris event of NASA’s early efforts, with a Thor Ablestar upper stage exploding into more than 300 pieces in 1961. The danger of debris dawned on NASA after the explosion.