BUMPED: 12th Starship/Superheavy test delayed another day to May 21, 2026

10:08 am

UPDATE: One day after its announcement below, SpaceX announced another one day delay. The 12th Starship/Superheavy launch is now targeting May 21, 2026, with a launch window beginning at 5:30 pm (Central).

Original post:
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SpaceX earlier today announced a revised launch date for the 12th Starship/Superheavy orbital test flight, delayed one day from May 19, 2026 to May 20, 2026, with a launch window opening at 5:30 pm (Central).

No reason was given. I suspect weather might have played a factor, but it is also possible that some technical issues required a short delay.

Either way, the link to the X live feed will be posted here once it goes live. I will also embed it on Behind the Black once it goes live.

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Several major American satellite companies release a joint guide on “orbital safety”

9:19 am

Working with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American satellite companies building large orbital constellations — SpaceX, Amazon, Iridium, and Eutelsat — have now released a joint reference guide for building and operating their satellites, dubbed “Satellite Orbital Safety Best Practices 3.0.”

  • Emphasizes the design phase for improved orbital safety
  • Stresses pre-launch coordination and collision avoidance analysis, especially near crewed vehicles, mitigating hazards during post-launch identification and cataloging of new orbital objects
  • Provides guidance on data sharing across design and operations emphasizing the critical importance of sharing and screening high quality ephemeris with covariance from deployment through disposal
  • Includes an Appendix with data exchange recommendations to mitigate conjunctions

The companies have apparently decided they needed to get together to make sure they were not stepping on each other’s toes. I would expect other companies to soon join this cooperative effort, as it is in no one’s interest to have satellites colliding in orbit.

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Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

New fuel startup unveils rocket and jet fuels that it says are as much as 32% more efficient

9:07 am

A new startup, CycloKinetics, has announced a product line of chemically engineered rocket and jet fuels that it says are as much as 32% more efficient that standard fuels.

CycloKinetics’ approach is to create “plug-in” fuels that can replace conventional fuels in various vehicles without requiring modifications to the craft or its engines. There’s nothing particularly wild or exotic about this, and no unobtanium-type elements are involved. It’s more a matter of changing the geometry of the hydrocarbon molecules that make up the fuel itself.

Conventional aviation fuels consist of linear and branched hydrocarbon molecules, which limits how much energy can be packed into a given volume. CycloKinetics instead engineers cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons – that is, ring-shaped molecular structures that pack more carbon and hydrogen atoms into the same space as would be occupied by conventional fuels.

The upshot is 32% more energy in the same volume as standard Jet A fuel. That means, for example, an aircraft capable of flying 1,500 nautical miles (1,726 miles, 2,778 km) on standard fuel could potentially exceed 1,950 nautical miles (2,244 miles, 3,611 km) using the new superfuel, while reconnaissance aircraft could remain on station up to 30% longer.

The company is also selling its version of RP-1, the kerosene fuel used for example by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

It remains unclear whether it will be cost effective for rocket or airline companies to consider buying this fuel. For one, the extra cost to make it might outweigh the fuel savings. For another, it is unclear the company will be able to produce enough to meet the market. Nonetheless, the concept is intriguing, and could pay-off for this startup in the long run.

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Scientists: Europa’s theorized plumes of water vapor might simply be statistical noise

8:56 am

Europa in true color
Europa in true color, taken by Juno September 2022.
Click for full image.

The uncertainty of science: Based on a re-analysis of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists now say that the plumes of water vapor that Hubble had supposedly detected erupting from the surface of the Jupiter moon Europa might not exist, and could instead simply be statistical noise in the data.

The new paper looks at the last 14 years of data from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) focused on Europa’s Lyman-alpha emissions. Lyman-alpha is a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted and scattered by hydrogen atoms. From 2012-2014, the team was pushing the limits of the Hubble telescope’s capabilities.

“One of the difficulties in interpreting the data back then was determining where to place Europa within its context,” Retherford said. “The way Hubble works left some uncertainty in terms of placement relative to the center of the image. If Europa’s placement was off even just by a pixel or two, it could affect how the data gets interpreted.”

As a result, what they thought could be evidence of a water vapor plume could also just be statistical noise. “Our reanalysis took our original 99.9% confidence in the plumes’ existence and reduced it to less than 90% confidence,” said Dr. Lorenz Roth (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), the paper’s lead author. “That’s simply not enough evidence to support the certainty of claims we made at the time.”

The plumes might still exist, but the data used here is simply more uncertain that previously thought. It is hoped that when Europa Clipper and Juice both enter Jupiter orbit in a few years they will be able to settle this issue more definitively.

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Conscious Choice cover

Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!

 

From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.

 
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.  
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.

 

“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.

 

All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.

Astrolab’s Flip lunar rover will carry 4 NASA payloads

8:37 am

Moon's south pole, with landers indicated

When NASA cancelled in 2024 its Viper rover, removing it as the main payload on Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander, the company quickly made a deal in 2025 with the rover startup Astrolab to put its s FLIP prototype lunar rover on board instead.

Astrolab yesterday announced that NASA has agreed to purchase payload space on FLIP, placing four different science instruments on the rover, each from a different NASA center.

The map to the right indicates the location where Griffin is supposed to land, about 100 miles from the Moon’s south pole. Nova-C, Intuitive Machines first attempt to soft land on the Moon, landed at the green dot, but failed when it fell over at landing. Its second lunar lander, Athena, also fell over when it landed in the same region that is now Griffin’s target landing zone.

Griffin’s launch itself has been delayed repeatedly. Astrobotic was originally issued its NASA contract for Griffin in 2020, with a launch planned for November 2023, carrying NASA’s Viper rover. In July 2022 however it was delayed one year to November 2024 because Astrobotic said it needed more time. This date was then delayed to 2025 when Viper was canceled, and then in October 2025 the launch was pushed back again to July 2026.

According to the press release at the link above, that July 2026 launch date is now invalid, with the new launch date set for before the end of 2026. I strongly suspect that date will slip again.

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France’s space agency CNES gives ESA 5-year extension at French Guiana spaceport

8:14 am

French Guiana spaceport
The French Guiana spaceport. The Diamant launchsite is labeled “B.”
Click for full resolution image. (Note: The Ariane-5 pad is now the
Ariane-6 pad, and the Soyuz pad is now controlled by rocket startup
MaiaSpace.)

France’s space agency CNES and the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday announced a new five year agreement extending ESA’s operations at France’s French Guiana spaceport.

The contract covers all activities required to operate Europe’s Spaceport that is on French territory and so falls under the responsibility of the French government represented by CNES. The contract includes both daily operations and running of the facilities and continuous upgrades to adapt the Spaceport to changes taking place in the space sector, including the arrival of new rockets and launch services.

The signature covers three years of operations, renewable for a further two years, including a total investment of over €1 billion with €635 million funded by the European Space Agency – showing the agency’s central role in supporting the operation of Europe’s Spaceport. In support of the transformation of the space sector, the contract takes new launch operators into account as well as sharpening safety requirements even more – ensuring launches from Europe’s Spaceport are reliable, safe and competitive.

While the deal is not surprising — neither ESA nor CNES have any reason to end this arrangement — there is one aspect of the deal that is significant: Nowhere in the press release or agreement is there any mention of Arianespace, ESA’s commercial division. For decades Arianespace ran French Guiana for ESA and France. It is now gone, eliminated as an unnecessary middle-man as Europe shifts to the capitalism model.

At the moment, ESA has reduced Arianespace’s role to just one task, marketing and launching the Ariane-6 rocket. At the same time numerous European nations are doing whatever they can to encourage the development of competing independent rocket companies, all aimed at replacing Ariane-6 eventually, and as soon as possible. While that effort will take at least a decade, it is definitely happening.

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Leaving Earth cover

Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.

 

If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.

 
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke

Louisiana passes legislation favorable to aerospace rocket companies

7:40 am

Pecan Island SpaceX facility?

In what appears to be a direct response to the rumors that SpaceX might be considering buying a gigantic swath of land near Pecan Island on the Louisiana coast for future launch operations, the Louisiana state legislature this week passed several laws providing tax breaks and protection from frivolous lawsuits to “aerospace flight entities”.

The tax breaks relate to the sales and property taxes. As for the lawsuit protection:

The bill would protect aerospace companies from temporary restraining orders for claims of noise pollution and similar public nuisance lawsuits by creating what’s called a “special motion to strike,” which would require a plaintiff to show the court early on that they’re likely to win their lawsuit.

Apparently the legislature has been negotiating with at least one or two big aerospace companies on these matters, and has taken these actions in response to these negotiations. Non-disclosure agreements prevent the legislators from revealing the companies involved, but it does appear based on all the local rumors that SpaceX is a likely candidate to buy that 200+ square mile plot near Pecan Island. It also appears it wants some legal protections before it commits, based on its experience at Boca Chica.

With the passage of this legislation, we should find out relatively soon what companies are involved.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Avio completes its first Vega-C launch for ESA

10:25 pm

The Italian rocket company Avio today successfully completed its first Vega-C launch for the European Space Agency (ESA), placing into orbit ESA’s SMILE telescope, designed to study the Sun’s solar wind and its interaction with the Earth’s magnetic field.

The significance of this launch is that it is the first time the Vega-C was launched under the management of Avio, which manufactures it, rather than ESA’s commercial division Arianespace. Arianespace is being cut out of the picture. At the moment I think it only has one more Vega-C launch on its manifest. All other future Vega-C launches will be sold and managed by Avio directly.

As this was Avio’s first official launch in 2026 (or ever), the leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged.

57 SpaceX
28 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 57 to 50.

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May 18, 2026 Quick space links

2:44 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

3 comments

The weird tilted layers on the floor of Danielson Crater on Mars

1:00 pm

Tilted layers inside Danielson Crater
Click for original image.

Today’s cool image to the right returns us to a previous cool image from 2022. Then I called this strange terrain visible on the floor of the 41-mile-wide Danielson Crater “freaky badlands,” because of the innumerable layers that are all tilted and appear eroded in the same way by prevailing winds coming from the northeast.

Today’s image shows more of the same. The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on March 26, 2026 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It not only shows these layers, in the full image (which I strongly suggest you look at), it also shows several terraced mesas with the same tilt, each looking almost like wedding cakes that have slumped sideways. The aquamarine colors in the hollows suggest finer-grained dust, while the orange colors on higher terrain suggest coarser materials and bedrock.

As I noted in 2022:
» Read more

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Cargo Dragon docks with ISS

9:47 am

Spacecraft presently docked to ISS
The spacecraft presently docked to ISS.

The unmanned Dragon capsule that SpaceX launched on May 15, 2026 successfully docked with ISS early this morning, bringing with it almost 6,500 pounds of cargo to the station.

In addition to cargo for the crew aboard the space station, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including a project to determine how well Earth-based simulators mimic microgravity conditions, a bone scaffold made from wood that could produce new treatments for fragile bone conditions like osteoporosis, and equipment to help researchers evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space. The Dragon spacecraft also will carry a new instrument to study charged particles around the Earth that can impact power grids and satellites, an investigation that could provide a fundamental understanding of how planets form, and a instrument designed to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the Moon.

It also delivered a French-made spacesuit prototype to be tested by French astronaut Sophie Adenot to see if its design will allow her to get in and out of the suit in under two minutes. Based on what Adenot reports, engineers will use this prototype to develop “a new prototype” for further ground testing. (I wonder if this project is like most European space projects: After this second prototype is tested, they will build a third prototype, followed by a fourth and fifth, with the real article not actually going into operation for decades hence.)

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SpaceX prepares for the biggest IPO in history

9:35 am

SpaceX logo

As SpaceX and numerous banks get ready for the company’s initial public offering of stock (IPO), several tidbits about the structure of the stock and the company post-IPO have been dribbling out.

First, prior to the sale the company split its stock, converting each existing private share from one to five. It appears this action served to protect the value of that previously issued stock, much of which had either been issued to employees or purchased by major investors, including Musk. This split maintains their control over the company.

It also lowered the expected price of the stock in the IPO, ranging from present estimates of $100 to $160.

The absolute level of a stock doesn’t typically matter all that much, but a lower price might help smaller retail investors build positions. Retail shareholders are expected to be important for SpaceX. They hold a lot of Tesla shares.

Second, these preliminary stock arrangements appear designed to guarantee Elon Musk will remain in control of the company, even after it goes public. His shares, numbering 260 million (which could be more than a billion if prior to the stock split), will be given supervoting powers, ensuring his mastery of the company.

When the IPO happens remains uncertain. The Wall Street Journal says June 12, 2026, while Bloomberg says it could be as soon as May 20th.

Either way, it will be a major financial event, and should shake up the entire global launch industry in ways that cannot be predicted. It will certainly give SpaceX the funds it needs to develop Starship/Superheavy fully, making access to space cheap and affordable. It will also allow the company to pursue its goals in space, establishing data centers constellations in orbit and on the Moon (for profit) as well as colonies on Mars.

Whether the IPO will suck all the investment capital out of the rest of the industry remains uncertain, though some are claiming this. In reality, it could just as easily end up doing the opposite, as the market is never zero-sum game. Success in one place usually ends up fueling success all around.

Either way, this IPO is going to change things for sure. It will establish without question what I have been saying for more than a year, that the real American space program is being run by SpaceX, and that NASA’s Artemis program is merely a long term ineffective sideshow that is simply aiding the company achieve its goals.

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China launches another 18 Qianfan internet satellites

12:55 pm

China today successfully launched 18 more Qianfan internet satellites (also called SpaceSail), its Long March 8 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

Though China’s state run press did not reveal the number of satellites launched, other sources said the rocket placed 18 satellites into orbit. If so, there are now 173 Qianfan satellites in space, out of a planned constellation of as many as 12,000. The first phase of the constellation however only requires 648, which China hopes to reach before the end of the year.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

57 SpaceX
28 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 57 to 49.

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SpaceX launches cargo Dragon to ISS

3:11 pm

SpaceX today launched an unmanned Dragon freighter to ISS, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The first stage completed its 6th flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral. The capsule is also making its sixth flight to ISS, and will dock with the station at 7 am (Eastern) on May 17, 2026.

57 SpaceX
27 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 57 to 48.

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May 15, 2026 Quick space links

2:58 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

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The barren hills west of Jezero Crater

10:56 am

The barren Martian hills west of Jezero Crater
Click for full panorama.

Overview map
Click for interactive map.

Cool image time! The panorama above, cropped and reduced to post here, was created on April 5, 2026 using 46 pictures taken by one of the high resolution camera’s on the Mars rover Perseverance. It also attempts to show this terrain in natural color.

The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks Perseverance’s present location. The green dot indicates where I think the rover was when the panorama was taken. (Note: I think the press release incorrectly lists the Sol number for these dates, but as I am not sure I can only guess.) The yellow lines indicate approximately the terrain seen in the full panorama.

As the press release notes, “the panorama offers one of the richest geological vistas of the rover’s mission, revealing a windswept landscape of diverse rock textures.” It also appears this is the direction the rover is presently headed.

I ask my readers to once again look at this panorama. It shows an utterly barren terrain. There is no life here, and if there ever was it was gone billions of years ago and never did much to shape the landscape. While some at NASA and in the planetary community like to tout the possibility of life on Mars in order to lobby for funding, the reality we see says there is none, and that life will only appear on Mars when humans finally arrive there to build new human societies.

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Intuitive Machines buys British ground station company

9:22 am

The lunar lander startup Intuitive Machines is now in the process of buying the British ground station company that operates antennas used for deep space communications in both Britain and the U.S.

Intuitive Machines announced May 14 that it entered into an agreement to acquire Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. and its American subsidiary, Comsat. Intuitive Machines will pay 37 million pounds ($49.6 million) for Goonhilly, split equally between cash and stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter pending regulatory approvals in the U.S. and U.K.

Goonhilly operates a ground station in Cornwall, England, that includes 30- and 32-meter antennas that have been used for lunar and deep-space communications. Through Comsat, it operates teleports in Southbury, Connecticut, and Santa Paula, California, that have dozens of antennas.

This antenna deal gives the company added flexibility in its future lunar missions. It also gives it a capability it can sell to both the European Space Agency as well as NASA. NASA for example is looking to accelerate in the next few years the number of unmanned lunar landers it will buy from the commercial sector. It also is looking for commercial options to improve its communications capabilities for those missions. Intuitive Machines is now better placed to compete for this work.

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Northrop Grumman completes successful test of new nozzle for its solid-fueled boosters

9:13 am

Unexpected debris falling from rocket at about T-1:00
Nozzle failure during February 12, 2026 Vulcan launch

Northrop Grumman on April 15, 2026 successfully completed a test of a new nozzle design of a GEM solid-fueled booster, the strap-on booster whose nozzle failed on two previous ULA Vulcan rocket launches.

On April 15, the company said Northrop Grumman performed a successful static fire test of a Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM) 63XL Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). A spokesperson told Spaceflight Now on Thursday that the test served to “demonstrate nozzle design enhancements which were already in work and an advanced propellant technology for future solid rocket motors across their portfolio.”

“The information gathered from this test, along with findings from the investigations will provide critical data to validate analytical models and support Vulcan’s return to flight,” the spokesperson said.

At the moment the Pentagon has grounded all Vulcan launches because of this nozzle issue, and has given several planned Vulcan payloads to SpaceX instead. ULA hopes to resume normal Vulcan flights using GEM boosters before the end of the year, but it also hopes to launch Vulcan sooner without the boosters. It is right now preparing a boosterless Vulcan to do a launch for Amazon, placing an as yet undetermined number of Leo satellites into orbit. It is also possible it will do the same with AST SpaceMobile’s Bluebird satellites.

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Virgin Galactic releases ’26 first quarter financials; stock at new low under $3

8:53 am

The suborbital tourist company Virgin Galactic, that promised much over two decades and delivered little, this week released its ’26 first quarter financial statement, claiming its situation is “strong” with the completion of its “new SpaceShips”.

Two details however contradict this conclusion. First, revenue in the quarter were only $200K, down from $500K earned in the first quarter of 2025. Second, the company’s stock is now trading at under $3 per share, a far cry from the high of $62, when Richard Branson sold the bulk of his holdings and got out when the getting was good. It is also a quarter of the stock’s initial value when first issued in 2019.

The company hopes to resume flights with these new spacecraft later this year, but whether there is any substantial interest in suborbital tourism remains unknown.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.

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China launches five classified satellites

8:39 am

China today successfully placed five classified satellites into orbit, its Kinetica-1 rocket (also called Lijian-1) lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

No word from China’s state-run press where the rocket’s lower stages crashed. The rocket itself is built by pseudo-company CAS Space, which is wholly controlled by a government agency.The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

56 SpaceX
27 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 56 to 48.

SpaceX scrubbed a Starlink launch this morning, rescheduling it to tomorrow. It also hopes to launch a cargo Dragon to ISS this afternoon, a launch that has twice in the past week been scrubbed due to weather.

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May 14, 2026 Quick space links

2:44 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

  • Video of the launch of Venera 10 on May 14, 1975
    The lander operated for 65 minutes on the surface of Venus, taking the second picture ever of that surface. It worked in conjunction with Venera-9, which launched a week earlier and took the first picture ever of Venus’s surface.
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Brain terrain on Mars?

11:00 am

Brain terrain on Mars?
Click for original picture. For full image go here.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and expanded to post here, was taken on April 2, 2026 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Labeled simply as a “terrain sample”, such images are usually taken not as part of any specific research project, but to fill a gap in the camera’s schedule. The camera team needs to take pictures at a regular cadence to maintain its proper temperature.

When they have such a gap, they try to find interesting things to photograph, and usually succeed. In this case we are looking at what I think the scientists dub “brain terrain,” a feature unique to Mars that is thought related to near surface ice and its sublimation, though at present the origins of brain terrain remain murky. The scale is approximately 100 meters across the width of this picture.

However, the location of this brain terrain makes any conclusions about its origin difficult.
» Read more

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Japanese company NEC initiates its own orbital tug project

9:08 am

Having won a grant from Japan’s $6.6 billion strategic fund (designed to encourage private enterprise in space), the Japanese company NEC Corporation has now begun work on its own commercial orbital tug, which it dubs an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV).

Moving forward, NEC plans to conduct market feasibility studies, conceptual design, and demonstrations for OTVs by the end of fiscal year 2027 to clarify the required functions and other specifications. Following this, NEC plans to begin development of a demonstration model in fiscal year 2028, with the goal of launching it and conducting in-space demonstrations in fiscal year 2032, and aims to bring the technology to practical use in the future.

While the overall goal makes sense, the timetable seems far too slow. By the time NEC is ready with its operational OTV in 2032, at least a half dozen tugs will have been in operation for at least three to five years. Already several tugs have flown missions, with several more in the pipeline. Moreover, these companies have found less demand for tugs than expected, and have been repurposing their technology to other purposes.

Regardless, it does appear Japan is beginning to use this strategic fund as intended, to encourage the development of a private space industry, independent of its government space agency JAXA.

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Europa Clipper and Juice make simultaneous UV light observations of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas

8:52 am

Overview of November observations
Overview of November 2025 observations.
Click for original image.

By viewing interstellar comet 3I/Atlas when it was between the Jupiter probes Europa Clipper and Juice (on their way to Jupiter) in November 2025, the science teams for both were able to get a 360 degree view of the comet in ultraviolet wavelengths.

“As the comet passed between Juice and Europa Clipper, we were able to informally coordinate observations between the two spacecraft,” said Dr. Kurt Retherford, the principal investigator of Juice-UVS and Europa-UVS. “Crucially, we observed hydrogen, oxygen and carbon emissions. These elements are produced when gases escaping the comet’s nucleus break apart into atoms when exposed to sunlight.”

…“Observing the interstellar comet was some exciting bonus science. The resulting rare and unique dataset includes gas emissions and scattered dust,” said SwRI’s Dr. Philippa Molyneux, co-deputy principal investigator for the Juice-UVS instrument. “This was the first time we’ve had simultaneous direct views of a comet’s coma of escaping gas from two directions. Europa Clipper showed us the night side of the comet, with a great deal of scattered dust, while Juice imaged mostly glowing gas on the day side.”

…The researchers found higher levels of carbon emissions from 3I/ATLAS than expected early on, especially in comparison to typical comets from our solar system, corroborating similar findings through other observations about the interstellar comet’s origin and composition. Observing the trends of emissions over several days revealed how the ratios of these molecules changed and how the comet evolved during its journey through our solar system.

These results confirm once again that while Comet 3I/Atlas is from outside our solar system and has some unique features, it is still remarkably similar to ordinary comets found within our solar system.

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Pharmaceutical company to use Varda’s capsules to manufacture heart drugs in space

8:34 am

Varda's W-5 capsule after landing today
Varda’s fifth capsule after landing on January 29, 2026

The pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics Corporation has purchased space on an unspecified number of future Varda’s recoverable capsules so that it can manufacture pulmonary drugs in space.

Through the collaboration, Varda and United Therapeutics will conduct pharmaceutical processing of small molecule medicines for pulmonary disease aboard Varda’s orbital manufacturing and reentry platform during multiple missions to low Earth orbit.

The companies will utilize microgravity’s influence on the structure and crystallization properties of therapeutic compounds in pursuit of novel formulations that may improve stability, bioavailability, and other delivery characteristics. The first compounds to be analyzed onboard Varda spacecraft will likely be focused on therapies for patients living with life-threatening pulmonary diseases.

Varda has a deal in Australia to land 20 more capsules through 2028. This deal helps fill the payload space on those capsules.

As I have noted repeatedly, there is money to be made manufacturing drugs in weightlessness for later sale back on Earth, a reality that NASA has blocked on ISS for decades. Varda is now grabbing that market, which is also why a lot of investment capital has become available for a whole slew of proposed competing recoverable capsule companies.

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Chinese pseudo-company launches its expendable Zhuque-2 rocket

11:20 pm

The Chinese pseudo-company Landspace successfully placed an experimental payload into orbit today (May 14th in China), its expendable Zhuque-2 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

Video of the launch (found by BtB’s stringer Jay) can be seen here. Zhuque-2 was the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit, but it is not reusable, as is Landspace’s larger Zhuque-3 rocket that has made one failed attempt to land its first stage. The company hopes to try again before the summer.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

56 SpaceX
26 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 56 to 47.

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