Exploration architectures and alternatives

Later today NASA will hold a press conference to announce its “global exploration strategy and lunar architecture”. What exactly this announcement will entail isn’t known, although the Houston Chronicle reported in today’s edition that NASA has selected a half-dozen justifications for its lunar exploration program, ranging from science to improving international relations. While these reasons […]

Sensenbrenner to return to House Science Committee?

According to an AP report, Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), a former chairman of the House Science Committee, is seeking to become the ranking minority member of the committee. Sensenbrenner had served the last six years as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and because of internal term limits would have had to give up the […]

ULA saga comes to an end

When Boeing and Lockheed Martin jointly announced the formation of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) 19 months ago, they noted that they believed that the deal would close by the end of the year. They were right—so long as they’re not specific about what year. Today the ULA deal finally closed, as the joint venture […]

UK opens the door to participation in the Vision

The British government has tended to be disdainful of space exploration and human spaceflight over the years, focusing its ESA contributions and its own national space agency, the BNSC, on earth and space sciences as well as commercial applications. However, the UK now seems willing to take on at least a small role in the […]

Is space law broken?

G. Madhavan Nair seems to think so. Nair, the chairman of the Indian space agency ISRO, told attendees of an Indian Law Institute seminar that “International Space Law” is losing its relevance because of new developments, such as orbital debris and space weaponization. The space law he refers to is the series of treaties anchored […]