ISSUE #003 · 2026-05-23
Top Stories
Starship V3 reaches space on Flight 12, but Super Heavy lost after failed boostback burn
SpaceX flew its redesigned Starship V3 for the first time on May 22, lifting off from a new second pad at Starbase, Texas at 6:30 p.m. EDT. The 408-foot vehicle reached space despite losing one Raptor engine on Super Heavy at liftoff and one of Ship 39's six upper-stage engines during ascent. The bigger problem came after stage separation: Super Heavy's boostback burn failed, sending the booster on an uncontrolled descent into the Gulf of Mexico rather than a planned splashdown. Ship 39 continued its suborbital trajectory, deploying 20 dummy Starlink satellites and two sensor-equipped spacecraft designed to photograph the vehicle's heat shield tiles from outside. SpaceX had already planned a water landing for the booster on this flight rather than a chopstick catch, given the risks of recovering new hardware on its first outing.
↗Source: Space.com
NASA Merges Mission Directorates in Agencywide Restructuring
NASA is consolidating its mission directorates under a restructuring announced May 22, folding the Exploration Systems Development and Space Operations directorates into a single Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, and merging Aeronautics Research and Space Technology into a new Research and Technology Mission Directorate that will also lead nuclear power and propulsion development. Mission directorate heads will now report directly to the administrator rather than through the associate administrator, who takes on the additional role of chief engineer. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the changes are intended to cut bureaucratic overhead and sharpen focus on Trump's National Space Policy priorities, including accelerating Artemis, establishing a lunar base, and developing nuclear space reactors. No workforce reductions, program cancellations, or center closures are planned, with cost savings expected to come from more efficient execution.
↗Source: NASA Breaking News
Webb survey of 9,000 star clusters finds mass determines how fast they escape their birth clouds
A James Webb Space Telescope study spanning nearly 9,000 star clusters across four nearby galaxies has found that more massive clusters clear their surrounding gas and dust faster than smaller ones. The work, led by researchers at Stockholm University under the FEAST JWST program, used near-infrared imaging to track how clusters shed the dense molecular clouds where they form. That emergence timescale matters because it shapes how energy and material get redistributed across a galaxy, influencing where the next generation of stars and planets can take hold. One of the four target galaxies was M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, whose spiral arm structure makes it a useful reference for studying how star formation varies across different galactic environments.
↗Source: NASA Breaking News
Missions & Launches
NASA Researchers Discover New Material That Resists Molten Lunar Regolith
Researchers at NASA's Glenn Research Center have identified a previously unknown material formed by combining simulated lunar dust with scandium oxide and applying extreme heat. The substance resists corrosion from molten regolith and can withstand temperatures up to six times hotter than a kitchen oven, making it a candidate for pipes or containment basins in future in-situ resource extraction systems on the Moon. Unlike platinum and other precious metals typically used in high-temperature applications, the scandium oxide-based material is significantly cheaper. The team plans to refine the material further to improve purity and reduce production costs before it could be incorporated into lunar hardware designs.
↗Source: NASA Breaking News
FAA closes New Glenn NG-3 investigation, clears vehicle to fly again
A cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line caused the BE-3U engine on New Glenn's second stage to lose thrust during the April 19 NG-3 mission, stranding AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite in an unrecoverable orbit. The FAA approved Blue Origin's mishap report on May 22 and identified nine corrective actions the company must implement before the next flight. Blue Origin is already preparing the NG-4 vehicle, with CEO Dave Limp posting footage of it being moved to a transporter-erector and noting an integrated hotfire is next. No launch date or customer for NG-4 has been disclosed, though AST SpaceMobile expects a future New Glenn mission to carry four of its BlueBird satellites.
↗Source: SpaceNews
Science
AGN Winds From Active Black Holes Can Strip Exoplanet Atmospheres Across Galaxy-Scale Distances
A study in The Astrophysical Journal finds that ultrafast outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGN), the sustained high-energy phase when a supermassive black hole is consuming matter, can erode exoplanet atmospheres well beyond a galaxy's dense inner regions. Led by Jourdan Waas at Florida Institute of Technology, the work models how AGN produce two wind types, energy-driven and momentum-driven, both capable of heating atmospheres, accelerating molecular escape, and degrading ozone. More massive black holes produce stronger effects, though the damage diminishes with distance from the galactic center. The findings add AGN activity to the list of large-scale astrophysical factors, alongside supernovae, that constrain where in a galaxy life could plausibly take hold.
↗Source: Universe Today
Policy & Defense
NASA Opens JPL Management Contract to Competition for First Time Since 1958
NASA plans to open the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's management contract to competitive bidding, ending a sole-source arrangement with Caltech that has stood since JPL transferred from the Army to NASA in 1958. The current Caltech contract runs through September 2028 and carries a potential value of up to $30 billion. NASA says the growth of the commercial space sector may now support a viable competitive market for running a federally funded research lab of JPL's scale. The agency says it will maintain continuity for active missions during the procurement process and keep JPL at its current Southern California location.
↗Source: NASA Breaking News
Global Roundup
ESA's Prodex programme marks 40 years with expanded funding and active instrument pipeline
ESA's Prodex programme, which funds scientific instrument development across 17 member states, received €327.52 million at the 2025 Ministerial Council, a 38% increase over 2022 commitments. The programme currently manages over 400 contracts and is actively supplying hardware for missions including Comet Interceptor, Envision, and SMILE, which launched May 19. Recent work includes a Norwegian sounding rocket that gathered plasma turbulence data during an auroral substorm, and instruments from Poland and Estonia nearing delivery to the Comet Interceptor prime contractor.
↗Source: ESA Top News
Quick Links
NASA Seeks Creative Partners to Document Artemis, Nuclear Propulsion, and Aeronautics Work — NASA is accepting proposals through June 30 from filmmakers, writers, and other creators for unfunded Space Act Agreements to tell stories about upcoming missions.
Hubble images galaxy cluster MACS J1141.6-1905 in visible and infrared light — Hubble captured galaxy cluster MACS J1141.6-1905, located about 4 billion light-years away, using data from two programs studying massive X-ray-bright clusters.
Gemini North captures new image of the Crystal Ball Nebula — The Gemini North telescope in Hawaii has released a new image of NGC 1514, a planetary nebula about 1,500 light-years away in Taurus shaped by two orbiting stars.
Teams in Europe race to build compact exercise gear for future space stations — Multiple teams are developing compact exercise devices for future lunar bases and space stations, aiming to cut the two-hour daily workout ISS astronauts currently require.
Armstrong ground crews keep NASA's expanding research fleet mission-ready — NASA Armstrong added two F-15s and a Pilatus PC-12 this year, with maintenance crews now supporting simultaneous operations across Peru, Panama, and Colorado.
Roscosmos Cosmonauts to Spacewalk May 27 for Solar Experiment and Hardware Removal — Expedition 74 cosmonauts Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev will conduct a roughly five-hour spacewalk on May 27 to install a solar radiation experiment and remove science hardware from the ISS Roscosmos segment.
Until next time — keep looking up,
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