Splish splashdown (12/12/22)

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Orion Splashes Down

Artemis I is complete. At 12:40pm ET yesterday, the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, marking the end of its 26-day, 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon and back again.

By all accounts, the first mission in NASA’s grand return to the Moon went smoothly. SLS, the agency’s long-awaited (and over-budget) Moon rocket launched on Nov. 16 and placed the Orion crew capsule squarely on its trajectory toward the Moon. 

• Over the course of the mission, Orion completed two lunar flybys, passing within around 80 miles of the lunar surface each time.

• Not every part of the mission went perfectly—a handful of science cubesats that tagged along for launch were not able to power up and establish communications from space.

“For years, thousands of individuals have poured themselves into this mission, which is inspiring the world to work together to reach untouched cosmic shores,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said yesterday. “Today is a huge win for NASA, the United States, our international partners, and all of humanity.”

Orion’s touchdown also drew attention and praise from high places. VP Kamala Harris, chair of the National Space Council, piped in with her own support for the mission:

What’s next? NASA’s got its hands full preparing to launch the next few missions in the Artemis program. Artemis II, which will send a crew around the Moon and test life-support systems, is currently planned for 2024. Artemis III, the first crewed lunar landing in the program, could launch as early as 2025.

Spaceships passing in the night

As Orion returned home, another spacecraft was just beginning its journey toward the Moon. Last week, Japanese startup ispace launched its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander aboard a Falcon 9. 

The HAKUTO-R lander is poised to mark a handful of historic firsts. If it successfully soft-lands on the lunar surface, it would be the first Japanese spacecraft to do so, and potentially the first ever fully privately funded craft to land on another celestial body. 

1. The lander has some competition from Houston’s Intuitive Machines and Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic, which could launch their own machines early next year. 

• The mission is also carrying a small rover named Rashid for the UAE, which would also be the country’s first craft on the Moon.

Yesterday, ispace announced that it has established a communications link with HAKUTO-R. The craft is taking the long way to the Moon to conserve as much fuel as possible. Keep an eye out for its touchdown on the lunar surface in about three months.

NDAA FY23: The Latest

Last week, Congress released a compromise defense bill with $858B in topline funding. That represents a ~10% annual increase over last year. 

The fine text: The fiscal year 2023 (FY23) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compromise bill went to the House floor last week, and was passed in the lower chamber by a 350-80 vote. The bill is expected to be taken up by the Senate this week. 

• The annual bill sets funding levels and policies for the Pentagon. 

• It doesn’t provide funding—that’s what the appropriations committees do. 

• Instead, it steers how funds will be allocated and establishes, modifies, or continues programs. 

Space provisions

This year’s bill contains a $333M boost over the Space Force’s $4.97B funding request, bringing the total to $5.3B. Notably, language calling for the formation of a Space National Guard was dropped. The bill also calls for close USSF oversight, establishing a number of reporting requirements: 

• In conjunction with the intelligence community, the chief of space operations must release a strategy on protecting national security space assets. 

• The chief must also consider defense and resiliency requirements before kicking off new major satellite acquisition programs. 

The NDAA would also expand the “tactically responsive” space program beyond launch and add $100M for R&D efforts not requested by the USSF. 

Finally, per Breaking Defense, the bill directs the Pentagon to make a final call on exempting the Space Development Agency (SDA) from JCIDS, a cumbersome process for setting and assessing requirements for new weapons systems. 

+ While we’re here: Read our new explainer on the National Defense Space Architecture.

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In Other News

• Jielong-3, a new four-stage Chinese rocket, successfully launched 14 satellites from a mobile sea platform. And a Long March 4C just launched the Shiyan-20A and B satellites. 

• SWOT, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, was encapsulated in a Falcon 9 in preparation for launch.

• When asked by Bill Nelson if Elon’s ownership of Twitter could pose a distraction to SpaceX’s NASA work, Gwynne Shotwell said “I assure you it is not.” (h/t Eric Berger). 

• The UN General Assembly voted to adopt a draft resolution calling on member states to not conduct direct-ascent ASAT weapons tests. 155 nations voted in favor, while nine were against and nine abstained.

• Researchers suggest that we should send an atomic clock to space to figure out how dark matter works.

• Fleet Space, an Australian satellite manufacturer, passed 100 in headcount. 

• Yusaku Maezawa announced the crew for dearMoon, a circumlunar Starship flight targeted for no earlier than 2023. Congrats to Tim Dodd, aka Everyday Astronaut, for making the cut! Here’s the crew and backup crew:

The View from Space